Informing more than 17000 readers daily in print and onlie JACKSON COUNTY who may recognize anriy of the individuals to his office at 3524361, the sheriff's department at 482-9648, or CrimeStoppers at 526-5000. One of the clerks at the Cottondale store happened to be outside when the truck they were See CASH, Page 6A Uncertainties in health premiums nChipley Highn 2 obSeq51 PkgSeq002A **********ORIGIN MIXED ADC 325 School hosts IBRAY OF FLORIDA HISTORY 0PO BOX117007 Pre-Majors J GAINESVILLE FL 32611-7007 World Series 7A Vol. 91No. 147 Counterfeit cash passed to area Dollar Generals BY DEBORAH BUCKHALTER dbuckhalter@jcfloridan.com Cottondale Police Chief WilliamWatford and other area law enforcement officers are on the trail of four women suspected of passing counterfeit money to at least two area Dollar General stores Tuesday. Watford said he had reviewed surveillance footage from a Marianna-area case and confirmed that it appears that the women involved in that incident were the same ones who passed a total of $900 worth of $100 bills at the Cottondale Dollar General on Tuesday evening., Washington County authorities are looking into a Sunny Hills Dollar General case, but he did not immediately know if the same individuals are suspected in that incident. The women suspected in his case were believed to be traveling in a black F-150 Ford truck at the time they visited the store in Cottondale, at 3310 Main St, Watford said. Staffers at the Cottondale store learned that the bills were counterfeit when an employee tried to make a deposit Wednesday around 5 p.m. Bank detection devices identified the bills as counterfeit, Watford said. The womeh suspected in the case came into the store around 7 p.m. lTuesday. Two of them bought Visa cash cards using fake $100 bills. One of them used three bills to obtain a $300 card, and the other used four to obtain a $400 card, he said. The other two women each ised' a fake $100 bill to make small purchases, and received legitimate store cash in change. Neither Watford nor store employees recognized the women as people known in the coImmunity. He provided surveillance images and asks that ,anyone Three of four suspects sought in connection with a counterfeit billpassing case are seen in a still image of video surveillance footage provided by Cottondale Police Chief William Watford. The video was recorded Tuiesday evening at the Dollar General store in his jurisdiction. County to set tentative a E AFIIP RAII taxrateonMonday BYlD~t/AH/BUKHALT/ KRISTIECLOUD/FLORIDAN Irene Hadley (left) and Christine Dilmore enjoy a day at the moVies Thursday at Marianna Cinemas. The ladies, aswell as fellow residents and staff members from the,, Nursing Pavilionat Chipola Retirement Center, recently renamed Chipola Health and Rehab, were in line to see the new "Planet of the Apes" movie. Social services and activities director Cara Mount said they originally had a fishing trip planned for the group, but the rain prevented-1hem from going. She said the residents love watching movies at the Pavillion and were looking forward to seeing a film on the big screen. CARCATCHES FIRE police and fire officials responded to a car fire Thursday at the residence of Mercedes Smith on Borden Street in Marianna. According to police, Smith was driving the car around - . .. her front yard because it had been sitting unused for some time, when the car suddenly caught fire. Firefighters extinguished the blaze, and police officers remained to take a statement from Smith and KRISTIECLOUD/FLORIDAN document the scene. BY DEORAH BUCKHALTER dbuckhalter@jcfloridan.com Jackson County commissioners will set,a tentative tax rate Monday as the board's 2014-15 budget.deliberations continue. The board members have spent eight. days trimming the individual budgets submitted by their various departments and others seedig fliicl'Thiplfrt from 'the board. They've trimmed thousands of dollars by cutting high-dollar purchas:es requested, such as for vehicles and road equipment, but are still well shy of balancing the numbers, that the requests are being measured against. The Road and Bridge Department's : request for more than $4 million wor$h of equipment, for instance, was culled to a mere $600,000 in preliminary discussions, although the board has not yet set any of its early decisionsin stone. If they stick with the current tax rate, charging $7.32 for every $1,000 of taxable valie, that 7.32 percent millage rate would generate about $10,494,753. Because of changes in overall property values over the. year, that rate would actually generate $92,970 more' than the same hiillage geneated lastyear. If the county does this, come missioners would have to .adviti se a poposed tax increase beUse theo-to taincreasesurpasses the threshold that kicks in the advertising requirement. . Or, the county could adopt the rollback rate of 7.257, meaning that property owners would instead pay justover $7.25 per $1,000 of taxable value in the coming fiscal year. It would result in less than $3,000 extra being collected in the coming year. The county has a long history of adopting the rollback rate. In a decade's time, doin' this resulted in enough backpedaling to take the millage from 8.5 in 2004 down to the current 7.32. It has See TAX, Page 6A Sheriff warns again of grandparentseam'L BY ANGLE COOK acook@jcfloridan.com Area law enforcement is again warning of a deceit sometimes known as the "grandparent scam." Accordingto astatement from the Jackson County Sheriff's Office, a scammer posing as a grandchild of the would-be victim will call, saying he or she is in jail somewhere and in need of money. In other accounts of the same scam, callers may say their car is broken down or reference some other situation that requires monetary assistance. Though sometimes prepared with basic knowledge of the potential victim's life - through social media, the phone book or other publicly available source - the scammer may simply say, "This is your favorite grandchild," and never give a name. The hope is the victim will offer a name in response. In this most recent warning, the Sheriffs Office again advises the public not to send anyone any money in cases of this nature. Many safety experts also advise against giving any personal information during an unsolicited phone call. SIf you believe you or someone you know has been the victim of a scam, contact the Jackson County Sheriff's Office at 482-9624. CLIFIED." 5 ENTTI N Eill3B V LOA. .3 s B ITUA IS.7 STT..6 I SIRS IB)WETER SUBMITTEDPHOTOS Two of four suspects sought in connection with a counterfeit bill-passing case are seen inr a still image of video surveillance footage provided by Cottondale Police Chief William Watford. ))CLASSIFIEDS...5B ENTERTAINMENT...3B ,> SPORTS.,.1B ) WEATHER...2A LOCAL..3A > OBITUARIES...7A a STATE...6A