VOLUME 6 ISSUE 26
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Crowning achievement
JUNE 27 - JULY 3, 2025
Pg B11
Cellphone alert aids in serious crash Workforce housing proposed
Innovative housing developer aims to build Florida’s first community for school staff in Marion County By Lauren Morrish lauren@ocalagazette.com
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Marion County Fire Rescue Lt. Kyle Bagwell, Firefighter/EMT Jacob Banta and Firefighter Paramedic Justin Forester work to free the driver from the Reddick rollover crash. [Photo courtesy Marion County Fire Rescue]
The iPhone crash detection function notified 911 as the man, impaled by fence boards, was trapped inside his pickup truck. By Andy Fillmore andy@ocalagazette.com
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ighly trained first responders and an initial iPhone crash detection 911 call led to the swift rescue of an injured crash victim trapped in a pickup on June 23 in Reddick. Marion County Fire Rescue Chief James Banta said the cellphone technology is a “game-changer for emergency response.” According to a Marion County Fire Rescue online post, crews were dispatched at 5:32 a.m. to a rollover crash with entrapment in the 5400 block of West County Road 329. The crash involved a pickup truck that had crashed through a fence and the driver was “impaled by fence boards” and trapped inside. See Cellphone, page A6
company with a mission to help essential educators remain in their school districts through affordable housing plans to establish its first Florida community in Marion County. Upward Communities is privately funded and was created nearly two years ago to establish residential areas with affordable rates exclusively for school staff. CEO Jason Roberts spoke at the Marion County School Board meeting on June 19 to address an issue he hopes to solve—recruiting and retaining educators. “What we realized was staff felt like they were making a living sacrifice to be a teacher,” Roberts said. He said 17% of educational staff nationwide leave or resign from the workforce every year because living costs increase beyond their income. “If I had any private company that was losing 17% of my staff a year, we would be out of business,” Roberts said. “You guys have been very good. You have got like a boat with a whole bunch of holes in it and you are patching it with substitutes, certifications, teachers and bus drivers.” He said he is trying to offer a solution that will incentivize staff to teach in Marion, lifting the weight of filling gaps off the board. “Then you could actually do the other things you would like to do with your job, which would be focusing on education and helping our kids succeed and do other things, versus just trying to fill it with warm bodies,” Roberts said. Roberts also said that 30-50% of school district employees’ income goes toward housing, causing them to commute from cheaper options further away or to reside in worse conditions. Upward listed base prices for one- to four-bedroom homes that
EMT Tyler Pyle look on while Firefighter Paramedic Justin Forester treats the patient inside the rolled over pickup truck. [Photo courtesy Marion County Fire Rescue]
See Housing, page A6
Ocala’s 2025 election looms Here are the open seats, candidates to date and key details. By Jamie Berube jamie@ocalagazette.com
O Ocala Mayor Ben Marciano is running for re-election. [File photo by Bruce Ackerman/Ocala Gazette]
cala’s general election on Sept. 16 will shape the city’s future, with the mayor’s seat and three city council positions at stake in the nonpartisan elections.
As candidates file to run and campaigns are created, voters will decide who they think will best address key issues such as population growth, cost of living and public safety. Here is an early look at the elected positions on the ballot, who has filed to run and
critical deadlines for the 2025 election cycle. The positions include the office of mayor of Ocala, which has a two-year term and a $550 monthly salary. The mayor holds veto power and oversees the Ocala Police Department. Incumbent Ben Marciano,
elected unopposed in 2023 with $110,200 campaign donations raised, has filed for re-election. He has reported $1,000 in monetary contributions and no expenditures to the Marion County Supervisor See Election, page A8
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INSIDE:
OPD chaplain................................ A7 Mayoral candidate........................ A9 Heart of the Park........................ A10 $1 million partnership................. B1 Calendar......................................... B6
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