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FRIDAY, FEBRUARY15, 2008/26 PAGE, 2 SECTIONS


Gas cheaper in Georgia? Maybe not


SHANNON MALCOfM
 News-Leader


 Gas pumps at two truck stops in
Camden County, Ga., popular with
Nassau County residents looking to
save money, have been locked and
are not pumping fuel by order of
the Georgia Department of
Agriculture.
 Both stores Cisco Travel Plaza
#1 and Cisco Travel Plaza #2 were


the area.
The investigation followed an
anonymous tip to the Georgia
Department of Agriculture and sev-
eral consumer calls.
 Thursday morning both busi-
nesses were open for customers,
selling everything but gasoline.
 "The pumps have been locked
because they were shorting cus-
tomers by not delivering enough
gasoline," Georgia Commissioner


of Agriculture Tommy Irvin said
in a statement posted on the depart-
ment's website (agr.georgia.gov).
 After the pumps were shut
down, inspectors with the depart-
ment's Fuel and Measures Section
discovered the seals on the pumps
had been broken.
 "Preliminary indications are
that the pumps may have been tam-
 GAS Continued on 3A


made to stop selling fuel Tuesday
after an inspection revealed the
pumps were not delivering enough


gasoline, thereby shorting cus-
tomers who thought they were buy-
ing some of the cheapest gas in


Sex offender

back in jail
 PAGE IIA


Amelia by

sketchbook
 PAGE lB


*1~ .1"


 American Profile
 FEATURE MAGAZINE



 EXTRA

 ^BXXTRI

 50 YEARS AGO
 Sheriff H.j. Youngblood
,dumped 335 gallons of moon-
shine whiskey down the drain
following a series of raids.
 February 13, 1958

 25 YE RS AGO
 Nassau and Camden coun-
ty officials met to discuss the
impact of 22,000 new resi-
dents connected with Kings
Bay and how to make the
naval station pay its way.
 February 16, 1983

 10 YEARS AGO
 A vote by the Greater
 Nassau County Chamber of
 Commerce on unification
 with the East Side chamber
 was inconclusive, with 42 for,
 25 against and 38 unreturned
 ballots.
 February 18, 1998


 INDEX
 CLASSIFIED 6B
 COMMUNITY 8A
 CROSSWORD/SUDOKU ..... 5B
 EDITORIAL 7A
 FISHING 16A
 LEISURE IB
 MOVIES 2B
 OBITUARIES 2A
 OUT AND ABOUT .................. 1B
 RELIGION 9A
 SCHOOLS 13A
 SPORTS 14A
 TELEVISION 3B


 NEWS-LEADER
 154thyear No. 14
 Copyright, 2007
 The News-Leader
 Fernandina Beach. L .
 Printed on 100%
 recycled newsprint.
 I III3




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 0 1, 1




A design plan for parking lots C and D at the city marina calls for 1) a buffer where the boat ramp ultimately may be relocated; 2) a multi-purpose pavilion; 3)
boat trailer parking for 14; 4) a 150-foot-wide greensward that might ultimately be the site of an amphitheater; 5) landscape buffer; 6) loading zone for marina
and park; 7) pavilion with bathrooms, playground and arbor; 8) parking for 80 vehicles; 9) marina riverwalk with shelters; 10) loading zone for marina and retail
businesses; 11) landscape buffer; 12) retail business(seafood, marina sundries); 13) small pavilion, perhaps a fountain; 1'4) existing boat ramp; 15) existing
bathhouse/marina office (proposed to be Welcome Center); 16) two-way Front Street same as today; 17) Ash Street; 18) railway. The remarder of the marina,
including parking, Brett's restaurant and Centre Street, is to the north (right) of this rendering by Cotner Associates Inc.

'This is a compromise... more pragmatic and affordable than Utopian'


 ANGELA DAUGHTRY
 News-Leader
 Although there was no formal
approval, Fernandina Beach
Commissioners had a mostly posi-
tive reaction to a city waterfront
plan focusing on parking lots C and
D, the southernmost on the Amelia
River.
 The plan, which features an
open multipurpose green and
boardwalk with sun shelters, was
designed jointly by the Parks and
Recreation Advisory and


Waterfronts Florida Partnership
committees. It was presented at the
Feb. 5 regular commission meeting
and will be back before commis-
sioners for final approval on
Tuesday.
 Commissioner Ron Sapp said
although there were a few things he
would change, overall he was very
pleased with the plan. He urged
commissioners, to "get started right
now" to implement the design,
which features gazebos, landscap-
ing and extra space allocated for a
boat ramp and amphitheater.


 "We have some monies to work
with," Sapp said. "We should get
started as quick as we can."
 A motion was later approved to
bring back to the commission the
cost of sun shelters for the water-
front park. According to Parks and
Recreation Director Nan Voit, the
sun shelters have been engineered
but have not been installed because
the Historic District Council must
give its approval.
 There is also "no money bud-
geted for anything," she said.
 But City Manager Michael


'One big neighborhood' aids


wounded soldier's family


 MICHAEL PARNELL
 News-Leader
 A U.S. Army soldier from
Fernandina Beach faces months
of recovery from injuries suffered
in Iraq, but he has been buoyed by
prayer and support from family,
friends and even strangers, his
mother said.
 "I am better every day know-
ing that he is getting better every,
day," Lisa Harter said about son
Taylor Harter, 20, injured last
month in a bomb blast southeast
of Baghdad.
 "My son is well taken care of'
at Walter Reed Army Hospital in
Washington, D.C., where she
spent two weeks after he was
wounded, Harter said. She com-
plimented the Army for its care
of her son and his family. 'That
place is amazing.... I don't think
I'd want Taylor any other place."
 Lisa Harter returned home to
attend to her 10-year-old son and
her two businesses, but plans to
return Feb. 22. Taylor may be


Taylor Harter Lisa Harter

moving then from his hospital
room to outpatient quarters in a
cottage on the Walter Reed
grounds.
 His mother is comforted from
the calls she receives each day
from a high school classmate, U.S.
Army Col. Bruce Haselden, a
Fernandina Beach High graduate
who works at Walter Reed. He
made contact with Lisa Harter
after his sister, who lives here,
sent him a newspaper story about
the bomb blast that injured Taylor
and killed one of his crewmates in
their armored vehicle when it
rolled over a buried explosive


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device.
 Taylor is recovering from two
surgeries to deal with head
injuries, including broken teeth,
and a broken foot and ankle. He
was bruised from head to toe, but
"he looked far better than I
thought he would look," his moth-
er said, grateful just to "hold his
hand and talk to him."
 While months of physical and
psychological therapy will be nec-
essary to heal his injuries, Lisa
Harter has faith and the suste-
nance of broad community sup-
port.
 Her co-workers at La Bodega
and As You Like It "have been
incredible." Attorney Teresa Sopp
circulated an e-mail urging friends
to support the two businesses as
a way of supporting Lisa and
Taylor, and they have. "People
we've known forever (and) peo-
ple from the south end" of the
island she's never met are fre-
quenting her businesses and offer-
 WOUNDED Continued on 3A


Czymbor said after the meeting that
funding would come from a com-
bination of sources. About $1 mil-
lion is left over from $6 million that
was set aside to buy property for
Egans Creek Greenway and
improvement of parks and board-
walks. Other sources, he said, are
Community Redevelopment Area
funds and money from the general
fund.
 The waterfront park plan was
also discussed and formally'
approved at a Waterfronts Florida
Partnership Committee meeting


Tuesday, which was attended by
several members of the Parks and
Recreation committee.
 John Cotner, whose architec-
tural firm put the plan on paper,
said it was a "multi-pronged design
problem" that involves vehicular
and downtown parking issues.
"This ultimately was a compro-
mise," he added. "It's a very broad-
stroke document that most cer-
tainly will be changed."
 "We've got to start somewhere,"
 PARK Continued on 3A


Next election:


city on April 8
 MICHAEL PARNELL
 News-Leader j


 Qualifying has begun for candi-
dates who seek election to the
Fernandina Beach City Commis-
sion.
 Fernandina Beach voters will
elect two commissioners April 8 to
the seats now held by Mayor Bill
Leeper and Vice Mayor Joe Gerrity.
Leeper and Gerrity have each said
they will not seek reelection.
 Susan Hardee Steger has qual-
ified by petition to seek Gerrity's
seat, while Eric Childers is circu-
lating petitions to qualify to seek
Leeper's seat. Both are for three-
year terms.
 Also on the ballot will be
changes to the city charter to give
the city attorney and city clerk direct
supervisory control of their employ-
ees. Those employees now are
supervised by the city manager.
 The city manager, city attorney
and city clerk are all hired by the
commission and report directly to
the commissioners.


deeper Gerrity

 Qualifying for office began
Friday and concludes at 5 p.m.
March 7. Qualifying packets may be
obtained from the city clerk's office
in City Hall, 204 Ash St., between 8
a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday-Friday.
 To qualify, candidates must live
within the city limits and may either
submit petitions with voter signa-
tures or pay a filing fee.
 There are five city commission-
ers, each elected to three-year
terms. Other commissioners are
Bruce Malcolm and Ron Sapp,
whose terms expire next year, and
Ken Walker, whose term expires
in 2010.


wwwibnewsleade.com

 Florida's Oldest Weekly NewVpe~the web


4


'I have been commissionerfor nearly 40years.
This is by far one of the most serious offenses
 we have had since I have been here.'
TOMMY IRVIN, GEORGIA COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE


City may approve waterfront design plan
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