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Local News

  • Williston lays off six

    The city of Williston announced Monday that it will lay off six employees on Nov. 30, in order to maintain a balanced budget.

    The sticking point, according to city council president Debra Jones, is the employees’ union, AFSCME, insisting on the retention of a “Cadillac” insurance plan whose rates have escalated to the point at which the city can no longer afford to keep its current staff and pay the insurance premiums for them.

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  • Bronson mayor refuses to resign

    Bronson resident C.W. Gilbert wants the mayor to resign. And he’s not giving up at making the request just once.

    During the Town Council’s November’s meeting, Gilbert said Mayor Franklin Schuler’s actions in public have been inappropriate and that he needed to step down. Schuler refused.

    Gilbert has asked to be on the agenda for the meeting on Dec. 7 at 7 p.m. to speak on the same topic.

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  • James Pitt lands role in new James Cameron film

    James Pitt, a Hollywood film actor, former Williston resident and graduate of WHS, has landed the role of space shuttle pilot in James Cameron’s upcoming film, Avatar. The film is Cameron’s first feature film project since the 1997 blockbuster Titanic.

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  • Yearty, Parker trial begins Monday

    Levy County Commisioners Sammy Yearty of Gulf Hammock and Anthony “Tony” Parker of Bronson were on top of the world just a little over a year ago. Both had been re-elected — Yearty handily and Parker in an 88-vote squeaker.

    The next day, Yearty was in federal court accused in an unsealed federal indictment of soliciting and accepting bribes in return for using his position on behalf of a fictitious company, Gideon Development and the developer, an undercover agent who went by the name “Sean Michaels,” and of lying to federal investigators.

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  • Up in Flames

    Kathryn Mauldin watched her house burn to rubble on Nov. 17.

    “It feels like a burden is lifted off my shoulders,” she said.

    Mauldin donated her termite-infested home, on the corner of Northeast First Street and First Avenue, to the Williston Fire Department for training.

    The fire department, which eventually burned the house completely to the ground, used Mauldin’s home to practice different scenarios including a live training burn, said Danny Wallace, the public information officer of the Williston Fire Department.

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  • Ten Commandments going up in a month

    The Levy County Commission has approved the construction of a Ten Commandments monument on the County Courthouse forum between the courts building and the annex.

    The approval came during the commission’s regular meeting on Nov. 17.

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  • Celebrate 130 years with us

    Only in our print edition, a look back at our community and the newspaper that watched it evolve. A definite keepsake–buy yours today. On sale Wednesday.

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  • Forgotten county joins Purple Heart Highway

    The Military Order of the Purple Heart in Florida wants to have Levy County join a national movement to rename U.S. Highway 27–about three years late.

    “How could they forget us,” asked Commissioner Chad Johnson, when the item came up for a vote at Tuesday’s Board of Commissioners meeting.

    “Especially in three years,” County Coordinator Fred Moody said as the room broke into laughter.

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  • No go yet on water authority

    The Levy County Commission did not act on forming a new countywide water authority, although Comissioner Danny Stevens of Williston wanted it to OK a resolution saying they look forward to doing so.

    Instead, the commission settled for sending a letter, signed by Chair Nancy Bell of Chiefland, saying they have agreed to hold a joint workshop on the region’s water supply with the Suwannee River Water Management District and South West Florida Water Management District. The county’s eight municipalities will also be invited to the session.

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  • We’re having a birthday

    In 1879, visionaries committed to providing their friends and neighbors with news that affected them founded what would become the newspaper you are now holding in your hand.

    2009 marks the 130th year that the Williston Pioneer Sun News has continuously served the people of Williston and the surrounding area.

    To celebrate our birthday, we are extending an invitation to our readers to submit old photographs of Williston and its communities for a special commemorative issue that will be published in November.

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