Alachua

Maybe I was in the dark but is it well known that the Alachua Chronicle has a huge racism problem? The comment sections on their articles are unbelievably racist.

When you leave a comment on their website, their is a prompt that warns you that the comments are moderated and they do not allow racism. However, the racist comments are never ending and the only comments that get moderated are the ones calling out the racism.

Just this past week I saw a comment advocating for eugenics. Yesterday there was an article about a shooting- there was literally no information about the victim or the shooter whatsoever. The comments are all statistics of black on black crime, despite the article not mentioning the race of anyone involved. If I comment asking how those statistics are relevant to the article, my comment is blocked from being published. These are two small examples, but it’s much more excessive than that. Pretty much any of their crime articles are littered with extremely blatant racist comments.

Was it a well known fact that I was unaware of that the Alachua Chronicle tolerates and endorses racist rhetoric?

I recently had a loved one in the jail for a few weeks and it sounds like the conditions are really bad. He already has some really bad PTSD (from something that happened at a young age) and not having access to his medication or mental healthcare has sent him down a bad spiral. I worry that he’ll never be the same. There were maggots, and roaches, and what appeared to be mold in the showers/bathrooms.. Only 10 people were allowed to the library in a pod with 100+ people. I mean no wonder people end up going back to jail repeatedly. They feed people at 6:30 am, 11:30 am, and 4:30 pm. That is 14 hours without food! (Which is already disgusting as is!) Blaring lights in your face at all times. They only go off from 11:30-5:30/6am. 6 hours of sleep is not enough! Diabetic patients get woken up at 3 am every night. Was left for hours without any shoes, a towel, soap on other occasions. He was very scared to tell them at times that he was feeling suicidal that they would take his clothes and put him in a room by himself. Since he’s gotten out he’s been having nonstop panic attacks that last for days, and was even hospitalized for a couple days because his heartbeat was abnormal. He has always managed his PTSD pretty well up until this point. Just wanted to speak up about the lack of mental health care and some of what he went through.. Obviously there’s some people out there that deserve to be in jail, but they should be learning trades or doing something productive… Not abusing sleep medication, and pacing around in circles like lunatics all day. I didn’t realize jails were still like this in 2024

Alachua County Commission voted unanimously to enact an indoor mandatory mask mandate, despite our satanist governors senseless threats. Proud of our Commission and our School Board to do what is safe and right, despite threats.

Hi Everyone,

I'm trying to encourage people to express themselves on or before the school board meeting on December 5.

I've learned that the superintendent is going to be asking for a $50,000 raise as well as other financial incentives.  I don't know about you but in a time in which we all know someone experiencing financial hardship to have a top-level manager asking for a raise almost equal to the median income in Alachua County is completely ridiculous. , but it gets even worse because these financial incentives will come at the expense of teachers.. I know a handful of teachers who have to work two jobs to meet their monthly expenses and this is a particular slap in the face when you remember Alachua County pays less than the surrounding counties to its teachers. The Alachua County Education Association as well as others are encouraging the public to show up and tell the board to vote no on the raise and financial incentives for Superintendent Andrew. I would like everyone who receives this email to spread the word and do the same. 

A full document of what needs asking for can be found here

Here are the details if you want to attend the meeting in person

Tuesday, December 5th at 6:00 pm at the district office board room at 620 East University Avenue Gainesville, FL 32601.

If you cannot attend but would still like to make your voice heard. You can always email the Alachua County school board members and let them know how you feel. The email is by noon on 12/5 to have your input heard.

Pretty much every other North Florida county is closed tomorrow in light of this winter storm that’s supposed to blow through?!

does anyone know what they are building here? Apartments or more shopping?

Who is our representative that voted to take away children from loving parents for some inane crusade against wokeness? I'd like to discuss our county's rep that voted yea on Florida house bill 1421, Charles "Chuck" Clemons. Among other things, House Bill 1421 intends to grant the state of Florida the ability to take custody of children whose parents and Doctors have given them gender affirming care. Chuck for some reason thinks the state of Florida should pull children from their parents and likely put them in the states over burdened foster care system, for decisions made between parents and medical professionals. Chuck didn't actually win his election. The Republican that won, Joe Harding, resigned after the federal government indicted him on fraud charges. According to Justice.gov Joe Harding plead guilty to wiire fraud, money laundering, and making false statements in connection with Covid-19 Relief fraud. So Chuck Clemons, lost to a soon to be criminal that was robbing every US tax payer. However when Harding resigned Chuck Clemons stepped in and now makes roughly 18k for 60 days of work. Chuck's actual job is shockingly, a Vice President for Advancement at Santa Fe College in Gainesville FL where chuck is paid roughly $160,000.00.per year. This office is tasked with public relations, cultural programs, and cultural festivals. If you've ever been to a cultural festival in Gainesville FL it's pretty obvious that Gainesville residents include LGBTQ+ people. They are our friends, neighbors, bartenders, servers, professors, doctors, etc… they are part of our community and culture, and Chuck Clemons has voted to not just continue the insanity of abusing our community members, but enacting laws that steal children from their parents because he ostensibly hates the LGBTQ community. If he was worried about sexualizing children it seems he should attack Hooters with the same veracity. He and the Florida GOP don't because this is all about attacking the LGBTQ+ community, not protecting Children. At no point should the state steal children from loving parents because politicians think they know better than parents and medical professionals. This is insane and we must do something for our friends, family, and community.

Edit It's been pointed out that I was mistaken and Chuck Clemons did actually win his election. I apologize for the inaccuracy.

There's a guy who's homeless that my husband has been talking to since we moved to Alachua. He passes by asking for jobs he can do to get cash or food or whatever. We don't keep cash so we usually give him food. We've also helped him with kerosene for his heater (he stays in an abandoned house he's told us has no heat or electricity).

Recently he asked my husband if we would help him get a prepaid phone. One he can go to a local store to buy minutes for.

Does anyone have any experience with this? Or perhaps know of any programs that can help him with this in the city of Alachua? He only has a bike so none of the resources in Gainesville will help him. And we don't feel comfortable driving him places. We really want to empower him by sharing some local resources he may be able to take advantage of.

So to recap, anyone have experience helping someone who's homeless get a prepaid phone? Or have resources for homeless people in the city of Alachua?

Thanks!

Alachua County declared a State of Emergency this afternoon, going into effect at 1PM, due to increased COVID incidents.

Did you know that all dogs, cats and ferrets must be licensed in Alachua County? I just got a notification in the mail for one of my dogs. It's $25 and I must provide proof of rabies vaccination. I guess my vet had been adding this fee to his annual exam fee previously because I've never paid for this by mail.

I'm just wondering, why should I do this? Will there be any consequences? It's not like Fido will be pulled over by a cop and asked to see his license! My dogs are fully vaccinated BTW.

Floridians Protecting Freedom estimates they are over halfway to the 1,200,000 petitions needed to put abortion rights on the 2024 ballot in Florida. In particular, more petitions are needed from Alachua, Duval, Marion and Leon Counties. You can download and sign the petition here, go to a number of restaurants and bars in Gainesville to sign a petition, or seek out those of us with clipboards trying to gather petitions and keep abortion between a woman and her doctor.