VOLUME 7 ISSUE 24
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10 reasons to garden Page B1 June 5 - 11 2026
Food waste special use permit voted down
The Gaston Tree & Debris request to compost human-grade food waste was met with considerable neighborhood opposition.
Keeping rescuers healthy Firefighters work together to maintain physical and mental well-being as they serve the community.
By Belea T. Keeney belea@magnoliamediaco.com
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n a nearly full auditorium on June 2, the Marion County Board of County Commissioners voted 4-0 to deny a special use permit that would have allowed grocery store food waste to be processed at the Gaston’s Tree & Debris composting facility on Northwest Gainesville Road. Wood Resource Recovery, LLC, is the parent owner of the compost operation. Traci Walker, co-owner of the Canyons Zipline & Adventure Park, which is located across the street from the facility, was tearyeyed after the vote and said, “I am surprised. I was terrified coming into this… this is kind of the Wild West for these kinds of operations. There should be a very clear path of regulations to shut down… so we don’t go through what we went through with Compost USA.” The mid-afternoon hearing started with 40 people sworn in to speak, along with Alexandra Scales, an attorney working for neighborhood interests. Twentyone people spoke in opposition citing concerns about odor, waste water leaching into the aquifer, chemical pollution from the composting gases, traffic, proximity to Fessenden Elementary School and general incompatibility with the rural area. Levin Gaston, owner of the Gaston Tree & Debris business, acknowledged neighbor’s attitudes. “I do understand people’s concerns…,” Gaston said at the podium. “If we can’t do this right, we either have to fix it or shut down.” While odors were the main cited reason for worries, several speakers addressed the area springs and aquifer being contaminated. See Gaston Tree & Debris, page A7
Clayton Blalock, firefighter/EMT; Jacqueline Nettles, FEO/paramedic; Chase Moore, firefighter/EMT; Capt. Jesse Blaire, captain/paramedic; and Tim Herff, FEO/paramedic; left to right, talk between calls at Ocala Fire Rescue Station 7 on Southeast 31st Street in Ocala on May 28, 2026. [Bruce Ackerman/Ocala Gazette]
By Jennifer Hunt jennifer@ocalagazette.com
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spent two days recently riding along with crews from Ocala Fire Rescue’s Station 7 while reporting a story about the challenges facing Marion County’s growing elderly population. Between calls, another important issue emerged, this one about how these firefighters work to stay physically and mentally healthy while caring for others in distress. Firefighters face elevated risks of cancer, cardiovascular disease, sleep disruption and psychological trauma,
according to numerous studies. At Station 7, conversations around the dinner table, workouts in the station gym and even debates about red dye and ice baths reflected a profession increasingly focused on staying healthy enough to spend a career helping others. “What adversity did you face, and how did you overcome it?” That is what 25-year-old firefighter/ EMT Chase “PT” Moore said he was asked by an official at a neighboring fire department when he interviewed for a job after he graduated from the Florida State Fire College at age 22. “I really couldn’t answer the first part of
the question, let alone the second part,” he said. “You really hadn’t had any adversity in your life?” I inquired. “No, I have a good family and couldn’t think of one thing to say and I didn’t want to just make something up,” he explained. With almost two years under his belt at OFR, Moore talked about some of his hardest calls. I won’t repeat them in this story, but they all tragically included the deaths of adults and children and a description of the smell of death. “It’s a horrible smell,” he said. See Keeping rescuers healthy, page A4
In ‘Celebration’ of Horse Fever’s 25th anniversary Members of the community can still help paint the equine statue that will go on permanent display at the Brick City Center for the Arts. By Susan Smiley-Height susan@magnoliamediaco.com
Laurie Zink, co-chair of the Horse Fever 25th Anniversary, left, and Maggie Weakley, the Celebration horse artist, right, paint during the Community Paint Day at the Brick City Center for the Arts in Ocala on May 30, 2026. [Bruce Ackerman/Ocala Gazette]
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f your inner Picasso or Monet has a yen to be part of the group of people who are painting the Horse Fever 25th Anniversary statue named Celebration, there is still time to get in on the fun.
On May 30, a number of people picked up brushes and started the process of painting the full-size equine, designed by local artist Maggie Weakley, at the Marion Cultural Alliance’s Brick City Center for the Arts, at 23 S. Broadway St. in downtown Ocala. Laurie Zink was one of the cofounders of the popular Horse Fever
public art project and has been deeply involved over the 25 years of its existence. She was at the community painting event on Saturday. “Point of interest — and we told the story a lot on Saturday — Maggie gave me a paint by number family portrait for Christmas. See Anniversary, page A3
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Hear Us Roar III........................... A4 A Portrait of Devotion................. A6 Real estate reports........................ B2 Local authors sign books............. B4 Calendar......................................... B6
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