VOLUME 6 ISSUE 32
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10 things to improve the jail Pg A4 AUGUST 15 - 21, 2025
Marion County feed store goes up in flames
Controversial Bear Hunt Gets Go-Ahead
File photo: Marion County Sheriff Billy Woods speaks during a County Commission Capital Improvement Project Workshop in the County Commission auditorium at the McPherson Governmental Complex in Ocala, Fla. on Monday, March 21, 2022. [Bruce Ackerman/ Ocala Gazette] 2022.
Sheriff cuts back staffing demands to accommodate budget constraints By Jennifer Hunt Murty Jennifer @ocalagazette.com
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arion County Sheriff Billy Woods has cut his request for more patrol deputies by more than half in response to budget concerns raised by Marion County Board of County Commissioners during the 2025-26 budget talks held on July 23. While pressing the need for the agency to have more deputies, Woods noted the agency’s patrol side is now at full staff, thanks to an unlikely source: “Chopper Cops.” The popular television show follows the agency’s Air One aviation unit as it assists ground deputies in responding to calls within the 1,600 square miles the MCSO patrols. “I’m full,” he said. “Every position on patrol side is full right now. I don’t have a vacancy. About 225 applicants are on hold right now. When I took office, we barely had 10.” “The value of the benefit, there’s no monetary value on what the show does for us. It highlights the work in which the men and women do every single day, and it gets me the positions filled like it should,” he explained. During the budget workshop, Woods cut his request for patrol deputies from 28 to 12. The sheriff ’s department proposed budget for 2025-26 year was $218,913,093, rising 17% over last year. This reduction in patrol deputies comes on the heels of a staffing study the MCSO conducted in May that indicated they were short on the number of patrol deputies needed to meet nationally recognized staffing benchmarks for coverage and response. The $75,000 staffing study by Miller Justice Consulting, indicated that currently there are 215 deputies See Sheriff budget, page A6
By Jim Turner
A raging inferno consumes the Tizwhiz Feed and Hay as firefighters with Marion County Fire Rescue try to contain the fire from spreading on Northwest 44th Avenue Road in Reddick, Fla. on Tuesday, August 12, 2025.
By Jennifer Hunt Murty jennifer@ocalagazette.com
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arion County Fire Rescue crews remained on scene Wednesday morning after a fire tore through a commercial property used as a feed store in Reddick late Tuesday. No injuries have been reported, and the cause of the fire is under investigation. MCFR indicates they were dispatched to 15398 NW 44th Avenue Road at 7:33 p.m., after multiple 911 callers reported smoke
and flames visible, and responding crews could see a large column of black smoke from miles away. According to MCFR, “Engine #11 arrived on scene at 7:37 p.m. to find the Tiz Whiz Feed and Hay store fully engulfed in flames, with nearby homes threatened. As firefighters quickly deployed hose lines, multiple explosions were heard.” Engine 11 was joined on scene by other units for a total crew of 29. See Feed store, page A2
A fresh start back to school The school year starts on a positive note but with some of the same old logistical concerns. By Jennifer Hunt Murty jennifer@ocalagazette.com
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t was a Herculean effort by Marion County’s largest employer, now numbering 6,700 of both part-time and fulltime workers, to get more than 46,000 kids back to school on Monday after the summer hiatus. According to Marion County Public Schools, roughly 88% of the anticipated number of student started the first day, with 259 more than last year’s opening day. The first day of kindergarten took a staggered start approach with six students a day joining the class for the first three days. Therefore, Aug. 14 is the first full day for all kindergarten students. In addition to the usual struggles, the district added to two new elementary schools to the mix in Marion Oaks and Winding Oaks, which were still being
Motorists negotiate the entrance to Ross Prairie Elementary School where there are no flashing yellow lights for the 20 mph speed limit in the school zone on the first day of school at the new Ross Prairie Elementary School in Marion Oaks, Fla.
readied for students up to the last minute. The Sunday before, Interim School Superintendent Dr. Danielle Brewer praised her IT team for working in overdrive to get the technology and necessary connections in the
new schools done in time. The new schools were designed with longer car lines that kept traffic from backing up on the public roads, a dangerous situation
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espite pleas from animalrights advocates, Florida wildlife officials on Wednesday approved holding a 23-day bear hunt in December that could lead to 187 bears being killed. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission approved rules for the state’s first bear hunt in more than a decade. The hunt will take place in four regions of the state and use a lottery process for hunters to obtain permits. Opponents announced plans to quickly file a lawsuit to fight the hunt, contending the commission hasn’t followed its own rules about the need to follow a science-based approach. “They haven’t taken into consideration habitat loss for these animals, and they (bears) should actually be recognized as an endangered species,” Raquel Levy, of the group Bear Warriors United, said. But Commissioner Gary Lester said the agency’s staff members brought forward “good, solid science for us to follow.” Commissioners otherwise made few comments about the hunt during a meeting that drew an overflow crowd to the Florida Public Safety Institute in the Gadsden County community of Havana. Hunt supporters wore orange shirts, while opponents mostly sported black. Supporters pointed, in part, to increased interactions between bears and residents. “I’ve seen how these bears impact us. They have completely skyrocketed,” hunter Jason Smith said. “It used to be, when I was a kid, you didn’t see very many bears. Now they are all over the place. They are in our yard all of the time.” But opponents of the hunt exited the meeting yelling that the “FWC has blood on their hands” and “shame on you.” “This is solely based on greed,” opponent Bella Schwartz told the commission. “Let’s say even if the bears did need their population managed, we don’t need trophy hunting to do that.” Officials from Gulf, Jefferson, Liberty and Franklin counties expressed support for a revival of
See Back to school, page A5
See Bear hunt, page A3
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