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LAKECITYREPORTER.COM


Woman injured in crash with


police cruiser now in hospice
 -c.


LCPD officer, who pleaded not
guilty to speeding violation,
faces possible fines, loss of job.

By TONY BRITT
tbritt@lakecityreporter.com
 Earline Parker, a Lake City businesswoman
who has been under constant medical care
since a September car crash involving a Lake
City Police cruiser, has been moved to a hos-.


'Halftime'

TV spot

spawns

political

debate

By COREY WILLIAMS
Associated Press
 DETROIT People rarely
pick a fight with Dirty Harry.
But Chrysler's "Halftime in
America" ad featuring quint-
essential tough guy Clint
Eastwood has generated fierce
debate about whether it accu-
rately portrays the country's
most economically distressed
city or amounts to a campaign
ad for President Barack Obama
and the auto bailouts.
 The 2-minute ad holds up
Detroit as a model for American
recoverywhile idealistic images
of families, middle class work-
ers and factories scroll across
the screen.
 "People are out of work and
they're hurting," the 81-year-old
Eastwood says in his trademark
gravelly voice. "And they're all
wondering what they're gonna
do to make a comeback. And
we're all scared because this
isn't a game. The people of
Detroit know a little something
about this. They almost lost
everything. But we all pulled
together. Now, Motor City is
fighting again."
 Conservatives, including
GOP strategist Karl Rove,
criticized the ad as a not-so-
thinly veiled endorsement of
the federal government's auto
industry bailouts. Others ques-
tioned basing a story of eco-
nomic resurgence in a city that
remains in fiscal disarray, with a
$200 million budget deficit and
cash flow concerns that have it
fending off a state takeover.
 But is it political? That
depends on who you ask.
 "I can't stop anybody from
associating themselves with a
message, but it was not intend-
ed to be any type of political
overture on our part," Chrysler
Chief Executive Sergio
Marchionne told WJR-AM in
Detroit "You know, we're just
an ingredient of a big machine
here in this country that makes
us go on."
 Last year was a pivotal
turnaround year for Chrysler,
which nearly collapsed in 2009.
The company and its financial
arm needed a $12.5 billion
government bailout and a trip
through bankruptcy protection
to survive. Chrysler has since
repaid its U.S. and Canadian
government loans by refinanc-
ing them, but the U.S. govern-
ment says it lost about $1.3
billion on the deal.
 The ad with Eastwood, who
previously publicly slammed
 DEBATE continued on 3A


pice unit in Illinois, family
members and friends said
Monday.
 "Wednesday of last week
she was beginning to fail,"
said Georgia Palmer of
Dubois, Ill., Parker's sister.
"She has not eaten any meals Parker
since the accident of Sept 6.
Because she is not eating,
she is not getting any potassium and she's
gotten weaker and visits to the doctor just trau-'
matize her. We were going to call in Hospice


on the first of March, but we moved that up to
today (Monday)."
 Palmer said Parker is being cared for at a
rehabilitation facility in Cahokia, Ill.
 'They moved her here to be next to me so
I could vtsit her, take care of her and oversee
her care," Palmer said.
 Parker, 87, was moved from Gainesville to
the Cahokia facility on Nov. 3.
 "They can't even do therapy with her any
more. She's too weak," Palmer said.

 PARKER continued on 3A


 ASSOCIATED PRESS
The Monument to Joe Louis statue is displayed in downtown Detroit on Monday. What exactly is Chrysler selling with
the"It's Halftime in America," Super Bowl ad which aired during Super Bowl XVLI, on Sunday? Chrysler's recovery or
Detroit's or the country's? The city is fighting to stay out of financial receivership, for one, and its image as-a symbol of
recovery is incomplete.



 Guards, 8 inmates hurt in crash


By TONY BRITT
tbritt@lakecityreporter.com
 LIVE OAK Two prison guards
and eight inmates were injured
Sunday morning when the private
transport vehicle they were travel-
ing in was struck head-on by a
car going the wrong direction on
Interstate 10.
 The crash occurred around 4
a.m. Sunday on 1-10 westbound
near the 291 milemarker in


Suwannee County.
 According to Florida Highway
Patrol reports Charles Henry
Glover, 59, of Jackspnville, was
eastbound on 1-10 in" Suwannee
County in the westbound inside
lane in a 1997 BMW four-door.
 Timothy Scott Chappell, 26, of
Portland, Tenn., was driving a 2011
Chevrolet Van, a prison transport
vehicle for PTS of America LLC
with Di Do, 41, of Crossville, Tenn.,
as his passenger, along with eight


Pat's new home


 JASON MATTHEW WALKER/Lake City Reporter
Dennille Decker (left), Lake City/Columbia County Chamber of Commerce executive
director, presents Alpata 'Pat,' the Chamber Champion Traveling Trophy, to Melinda
and Brian Sganga, the co-owners of Pro Motion Physical Therapy, located at 404
Northwest Hall of Fame Drive. Pro Motion will have the bragging rights of being the
first business to display Pat after bidding $1,100 during a live auction during'the 2nd
Annual Chamber Ball on Jan. 28. Pictured are Decker (from left), Chamber director
Steve Briscoe, Chamber president Todd Wilson and the Sgangas.


prisoners, when Glover's vehicle
struck them head-on.
 Glover suffered minor injuries in
the crash and was taken to Shands
in Gainesville.
 Di Do, the right front passenger
in the van, was taken to Shands
in Gainesville with life-threatening
injuries.
 Chappell suffered minor inju-
ries and was taken to Shands
 WRONG-WAY continued on 3A


FHP:

Man has

2 crashes

in I day

By TONY BRITT
tbritt@lakecityreporter.com
 A Glen St Mary man
who was involved in hit
and run crash in Columbia
County on Saturday,
was seriously injured in
another wreck later that
afternoon when his car
ran through a ditch and
overturned in Suwannee
County, said the Florida
Highway Patrol.
 William Leland Curry,
49, Glen St Mary, suf-
fered serious injuries in
the second crash, which
occurred 12:23 p.m.
Saturday on County Road
137, about three-tenths of
a mile south of Interstate
10.
 CRASHES continued on 3A


Chief

wins

praise


at city

meeting

By GORDON JACKSON
gjackson@lakecityreporter.com
 Audience members at
Monday's LIake City Council
meeting defended Police
Chief Argatha Gilmore for
accompanying three wound-
ed officers to a Gainesville
hospital while the gunman
remained barricaded inside
his estranged wife's home.
 The support for Gilmore
came in response to sus-
pended police Capt Robert
Smith and other officers
question-
ing why
she left
the scene
instead of
remaining
there until
the stand- Gilmore
off was G
resolved.
 "It's absurd," said
Elizabeth Allen of the criti-
cism.
 Allen, said she has talked
with Lake City officers who
say the stress in the depart-
ment has been high because
of the "internal power strug-
gles." Capt. John Blanchard
and Smith, the department's
other second in command,
have been on administrative
leave with pay while their
futures with the police force
are determined.
 She said Gilmore made
the correct decision accom-
panying the wounded offi-
cers to the hospital.
 "These men need to know
the chief has their back,"
Allen said. "They should
thank her, not slam her."
 Allen and others also
credited Gilmore and City
Manager Wendell Johnson
for working to clean iup
prostitution and open drug
dealing in city neighbor-
hoods.
 "Prostitution and drug
dealing in the open no lon-
ger happens," she said.
 Lorenzo Dixon, of
Arcadia, said he supports
Gilmore's efforts to lower
crime in the city and the
way she handled the shoot-
out response.
 "I've read all the facts,"
Dixon said. "I support her
efforts in cleaning up pros-
titution and drug dealing.
I'm very proud to see this."
 He urged City Council,
members to allow city
administrators to handle
the department's internal
problems.
 "It's not fair to Chief
Gilmore or the city," he said.
"I wish the council wouldn't
allow this to happen. The
chief has a job to do and
sometimes it's not pleasant"
 Gilmore thanked every-
one for their support/for
her and the department
 "I'm very proud to be
your police chief," she said.
"We have some of the finest
officers who put their lives
on the line every day."
 Councilman George
Ward thanked everyone
who complimented Gilmore
and the department, say-
ing it's rare when audience
members say nice things
about the city.
 "I really appreciate it," he
said. "It's nice to get an atta
boy."


Volume 137, No.316
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(386) 752-1293
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TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2012


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