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jwachter @ lakecityreporter . com
Vol . 146 , No . 179 tbritt @ lakecityreporter . com
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Associated Press mmcmullen @ lakecityreporter . com
JAMIE WACHTER / Lake City Reporter
+ PLUS >> United Way awards $ 62K in grants , Below
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Live Oak ’ s new Publix grand opening scheduled Dec . 10 .
LIVE OAK — The pleasure of shopping at a new , larger Publix will be coming within two weeks .
The grand opening of the Publix at Live Oak Crossing — the intersection 72nd Trace and U . S . Highway 129 North — is scheduled for Dec . 10 . The final day for the South Oaks Square Publix is Dec . 9 , according to Publix officials .
Previously , a Publix spokesman said the store would open in early 2021 .
The new grocery store is around 46,000 square feet , 10,000 square feet larger than the current Live Oak store on the southern side of town .
That will also make the Live Oak Publix larger than the Lake City Commons Publix , which is 45,000 square feet , Christopher
PUBLIX continued on 2A The Publix at Live Oak Crossing , which is set for a Dec . 10 grand opening , is located on the northern end of Live Oak along U . S . 129 .
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78 63 Chance showers , 2A
HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL
Tough schedules has CHS ready for Mainland
See Page 16A
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NFL
Jaguars turn to Glennon after Luton ’ s struggles
See Page 16A
Shopping will be a pleasure
Hardin ’ s Kids Closet seeking donated clothes
Clothing drive teachers having a closet in for students runs school .”
And that ’ s where the through Dec . 4 . vision for the Clothes 4
By JAMIE WACHTER Kids Closet began . The closet is holding its second clothing drive through
It began small but Dec . 4 . Clothes , shoes , Shannon Hardin ’ s vision for socks and underwear may the Clothes 4 Kids Closet is be dropped off at the Lake much , much bigger . City Fire Department , 224
Three years ago , Hardin NW Main Blvd .; Cheek wanted to sponsor a schoolage child that needed Highway 90 W .; Olympic
& Scott Drugs , 4785 U . S . clothes .
Health Chiropractic ,
When she heard there 618 S . Marion Ave . Ste . was a list of 15 families at 3 ; or Ashley Furniture the school in need , Hardin Homestore , 161 SW Faith started thinking bigger . Road .
“ I knew there was a greater need ,” she said . “ I had
Although Hardin said it ’ s saw something online about CLOSET continued on 3A
United Way awards $ 62K in grants
Eight local agencies Committee awarded grants and personal care items ; trying to be unique in their receive assistance to eight local non-profit n Guardian Ad Litem service delivery so they for special projects . agencies . Anchors said a Voices for Children program — $ 8,000 , for fees clients .”
can meet the needs of their grand total
By TONY BRITT of $ 62,000 for travel and emergency United Way of Suwannee in grant items for children ; Valley Community funds was n Three Rivers Legal Investment Committee
The United Way of awarded Services — $ 8,000 , for fees Chair Barbara Doonan
Suwannee Valley is looking
The agencies and arrest records ; regarding the ability to
for individuals to expunge expressed her pride to improve the education , health and financial stability of residents in the area were : Behavioral Health Services additional grant dollars .
Anchors amounts n CDS Family and award the agencies with during the global pandemic .
$ 1,340 ; for four IPad minis — $ 10,000 , for building established three com-
n Happy House — Runaway Youth Shelter “ Our local United Way As such , the United for touchless sign-in to repairs ; and
munity impact areas Way recently announced reduce the spread of covid- n Love , INC — $ 9,660 , which include education , that several local agencies 19 ; for operational expenses . health and financial stability ,” Doonan said in a would be the recipients of n Columbia County “ It ’ s very important to grants supporting special Senior Services — $ 10,000 ; continue to fund these prepared statement . “ The projects to help with those for client assistance and agencies ,” Anchors said . grants awarded will help efforts . installation and monthly “ Due to covid right now local agencies work with Jennifer Anchors , fees for virtual senior program ; needs and issues and this to achieve their goals with-
they have so many more our community members
United Way of Suwannee Valley executive director , n Suwannee Valley funding was special funding . It was different from board is pleased with our
in these three areas . Our announced earlier this PALS program — $ 10,000 month that the United for after school activities ; our normal community United Way ’ s ability to support our community with
Way of Suwannee Valley n Vivid Visions — investment fund . This was Community Investment $ 5,000 , for shelter supplies to fund agencies who are any funds secured .”
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Lake City Reporter SPORTS
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Friday , July 2 , 2021 www . lakecityreporter . com 1B
2021 LAKE CITY REPORTER SPRING SPORTS ALL-AREA
SOFTBALL PLAYER OF THE YEAR
SHS pitcher Karis Smith bounced back from injury to lead area in HRs while excelling in the circle .
By MORGAN MCMULLEN
Proud to be covering
Live Oak and Suwannee County !
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LIVE OAK — Karis Smith diligently prepared .
The Suwannee ace had a nice , long session of stretching out her muscles before the Bulldogs ’ season opener against Dixie County . The previous day , Smith and her teammates finished out their preseason training regiment with a series of wind sprints . But besides a lingering soreness from that , Smith said she felt fine heading into the pitcher ’ s circle against the Bears .
But on her fifth pitch of the new season , Smith felt something weird in her left hamstring . The right-hander tried to shake it off as she prepped for the full count .
“ I throw the pitch , and it just completely snapped ,” Smith said . “ It did not feel good .”
Smith had to be helped off the field after the hamstring pull , an injury that would cost her three games over the next nine days . It also set the table for a remarkable streak that saw Smith knock the most home runs ( six ) of any area softball player and lead her team in numerous batting and pitching benchmarks on her way to earning recognition as the Lake City Reporter ’ s Softball Player of the Year .
Smith wasn ’ t alone in coming back from her injury . In fact , she never has been . She has always had a close relationship with her grandfather , Terry Mixon , who was the first to nudge Smith toward a life in athletics .
When Smith was about 5 years old , she remembers Mixon flatly telling her one morning that she was going to play T-ball . In one of her first outings , she faced a similar scenario she would confront in that first game against Dixie County roughly 12 years later .
“ I got hit in the face — and I remember this clear as day — ( Mixon ) told me that I had to decide right now if I wanted to play softball ,” Smith said . “ Ever since then , he has taught me basically everything I know . He ’ s taken me to pitching lessons , he ’ s gone out and practiced numerous days . He ’ s caught me pitching .”
That bond that Smith forged with her grandfather culminated in her playing for him as her coach during her 8th-grade season .
“ He ’ s just somebody I really look up
Suwannee pitcher Karis Smith is the LCR ’ s Softball Player of the Year . SMITH continued on 4B n See Page 4B for the entire softball all-area team . The LCR ’ s Baseball Player of the Year will be unveiled on Saturday .
The Jacksonville Jaguars and first-year coach Urban Meyer were fined for violating rules governing offseason practices on Thursday . Meyer was docked $ 100,000 while the team was fined $ 200,000 for excessive contact between receivers and defensive backs during 11-on-11 drills June 1 .
“ The Jaguars are vigilant about practicing within the CBA rules and will re-emphasize offseason training rules as they relate to contact ,” the team said . “ We are looking forward to the start of training camp later this month .”
NFL teams returned to in-person work in the offseason after the pandemic forced all the interaction last spring to be virtual . Last year ’ s training camps were the first live environments .
Meyer is making his NFL debut after a twoyear coaching hiatus following a long and successful college career that was interrupted by a year because of his first retirement . Meyer won two national championships at Florida and a third at Ohio State .
NFL Meyer , Jags fined for violating non-contact rule during OTAs
New head coach and the team docked a total of $ 300,000 for excessive contact in drills .
Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Urban Meyer stands on the sidelines during drills at minicamp on June 15 .
STANLEY CUP FINAL Canadiens , Lightning final getting rugged
Montreal put up a better showing in Game 2 , but Tampa Bay still leads 2-0 .
By STEPHEN WHYNO
Lightning at Canadiens
What : Game 3 of Stanley Cup final When : Today , 8 p . m .
Corey Perry walked into TV : NBC the locker room after his Series : Lightning lead 2-0 164th career NHL playoff game and 19th with the
ing to win one of Games 3 Montreal Canadiens and and 4 to avoid a sweep and told his teammates to the end of their season . savor the experience .
The Lightning looked “ This is hockey ,” Perry like dominant favorites in said . “ It ’ s fun . Enjoy it .” the series opener . They will It would have been certainly take the Game 2 far more enjoyable for victory thanks to Andrei the Canadiens had they
Vasilevskiy ’ s goaltending won , which they probably and Blake Coleman ’ s timely deserved by outplaying the scoring , but they now know Tampa Bay Lightning in they ’ re in for a fight . Game 2 of the Stanley Cup
“ I think it ’ s probably a Final . Instead , they showed little stock correction for they could hang with the us in how we approach defending champions but the rest of this series ,” still trail the series 2-0 and go home to Montreal need-
FINAL continued on 2B
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