Aired on WUFT August 30, 2013
The sequel to the popular comedy, Boeing-Boeing is now on stage at the Hippodrome State Theatre in Gainesville. Don’t Dress For Dinner, which is the first play of the Hipp’s 41st season, has had success on Broadway and in London. Donna Green-Townsend talked with Michelle Bellaver who plays Suzette the cook in the play. Bellaver says she’s glad the season kicks off with a comedy.
Don’t Dress For Dinner runs through September 22. Longer version of the interview:
By Justin Galicz, Tori Saputo, Yelena Orrelly and Donna Green-Townsend on August 30th, 2013
The Lake Butler community mourned the death of Marvin Pritchett on Friday. Pritchett was a life-long resident of the community and business leader who was shot and killed by former employee Hubert Allen Jr. this past weekend.
More than 1,000 people paid tribute to the life of Marvin Pritchett at the First Christian Church in Lake Butler. The main church was filled to capacity an hour before the ceremony began. Guests who did not get a seat in the main church were redirected to a second building and lawn area where the ceremony was streamed live.
Thousands of flowers filled the church, including a red rose arrangement that completely draped the casket. Pictures from Mr. Pritchett’s life were projected onto the wall behind the casket as those in attendance waited for family members to arrive.
During the service many of Pritchett’s accomplishments and contributions were highlighted, including his support for Union County Schools, the University of Florida and First Christian Church.
The ceremony was led by pastor Art Peterson and included thoughts and anecdotes from Pritchett’s family. Jon Pritchett, son of Marvin Pritchett, shared the story of his father’s humble upbringing. Marvin Pritchett was orphaned at the age of 10 and raised by his grandmother.
“What made my dad so remarkable was not that he overcame such hardships, but rather that he never used his circumstances as an excuse,” said Jon Pritchett during his Eulogy.
Marvin Pritchett founded Pritchett Trucking, Inc. in 1973, a business that expanded to employ hundreds of people in the Lake Butler Area.
Pastor Peterson brought a smile to everyone’s face when he said: “I don’t know if there will be any trucks in heaven’s highways, but if there is, that’s where we’ll find Marvin.”
Pritchett left behind 13 grandchildren, seven who spoke at the service in remembrance of their “poppa”. One of his grandkids said “he was large in stature and even larger in life.”
It’s been nearly a week since Hubert Allen, 72, a former employee of Pritchett Trucking, went on the shooting spree that killed three and injured one before turning the gun on himself. Marvin Pritchett, 80, David Griffis, 44, and Rolando Gonzalez-Delgado, 28, were killed and Lewis Mabrey was injured in the shooting.
During the ceremony Pastor Peterson spoke about the tragedy calling it an act of evil, and asking community members to look at the good happening around them.
The Pritchett family has created a victims’ fund at TD Bank in Lake Butler in honor and support of the David Griffis, Rolando Gonzalez-Delgado, and Lewis Mabrey families.
By Amanda Jackson and Donna Green-Townsend on August 27th, 2013
Flags remain at half-staff outside many businesses around Lake Butler, where a community mourns the loss of a third victim from a deadly Saturday shooting spree.
Forty-four year old David Griffis was shot in the stomach and rushed to the Shands at UF Trauma Unit on Saturday. After undergoing numerous surgeries and remaining in critical condition for three days, Griffis died of his injuries early Tuesday morning. He was the fourth to die by Hubert Allen Jr.’s gun, authorities said, including Allen himself.
Allen, 72, a former employee of Pritchett Trucking Company had written the names of his four victims in what Union County Sheriff Jerry Whitehead described as a suicide note left at his residence. Although the note mentioned the names of his intended victims, the sheriff’s department said it still has not determined a motive.
Whitehead said all the guns used have been located. He said Allen purchased them legally.
Lake Butler residents laid flowers by the sign at the entrance of Pritchett Trucking on State Road 121, where all the victims were employed.
Shortly before WUFT was asked to leave the premises, reporters overheard a conversation between two co-workers.
When one was asked how she was holding up, the other said, “We’re keeping things going. That’s the way he would have wanted” (an apparent reference to the deceased owner of the company, Marvin Pritchett).
Whitehead said the community is really coming together during this difficult time.
“We pull together through our schools and our church, that’s what we are,” he said.
This town isn’t a stranger to tragedy. In 2006, a truck/bus crash left seven children dead and several more seriously injured.
“Learning how to grieve is just something you have to go through. It can’t be taught,” Whitehead said. “My father told me many, many years ago that in these situations you have to get up, put your boots on, tie them real tight and go to work.”
In Lake Butler, it seems almost everyone has a family connection. Coincidentally, Whitehead’s own mother passed away just two weeks ago. His mother was the sister of Pritchett’s widow.
A 72-year-old Lake Butler man who killed himself after fatally shooting his former boss and a coworker and wounding two others left a hand-written note listing targets, Union County Sheriff Jerry Whitehead said Monday.
Starting at 9 a.m. on Saturday, Hubert Allen Jr., a longtime employee of Pritchett Trucking Company, sent members of Lake Butler looking for answers after the sheriff’s office said the man drove to several locations in Union County, shot four men and returned to his farm to kill himself.
Whitehead said the sheriff’s office recovered Allen’s “suicide note” Saturday afternoon. It was three-quarters of a page long, Whitehead said, and looked as if it had taken two or three sittings to write.
Investigators at Allen’s home also found a .22 caliber rifle, a .410 small bore shotgun, and an unfired .32 caliber handgun, Whitehead said.
Whitehead said the suicide note contained names of people Allen planned to kill. There was one name listed that Allen did not go after. Whitehead did not release the name, but said his office interviewed the man, and he was fine.
Whitehead said he was shocked by Allen’s behavior.
Allen did not have any previous incidents with the law, Whitehead said.
He never knew Allen to suffer from any kind of mental health disorder, he said, and could not determine a motive.
Three of the men Allen shot were former coworkers at Pritchett Trucking, according to Union County investigators. The fourth was 80-year-old company owner Marvin Pritchett.
The sheriff’s office said Allen shot Pritchett and Rolando Gonzalez-Delgado, 28, killing both men.
Allen worked for Pritchett for 35 years, Whitehead said. Just nine days before the shooting, interviewees told the sheriff’s office, Allen had retired from the company with no issues. The men were described as friends.
One of the wounded men, David Griffis, 44, was in critical condition and the other, Lewis Mabrey Jr., 66, was in good condition at UF Health Shands Hospital in Gainesville, Whitehead said.
To show its support, the community is organizing local blood drives to help Griffis.
“It’s tough,” Whitehead said. “We’re going to get through it.”
James Tallman, a Union County commissioner, said Pritchett’s death leaves a hole in the community.
“Mr. Pritchett was an absolute pillar to this community,” Tallman said, “and we’re going to dearly miss him.”
“We lost not one person,” he said, “but we lost several friends in this community.”
Tallman said the recovery from the tragedy will be a community-wide struggle.
“I think a lot of prayer is what we need right now,” he said.
Tonight (8/17/2013) there was a reunion of sorts. That’s when musicians Gabe Valla and Sam Pacetti gave their long-awaited second performance in Gainesville’s Thomas Center. The two guitar players, who now both live in the St. Augustine area, first met as teenagers at a memorial service for the late Gamble Rogers, who is now honored in the Florida Artists Hall of Fame. Valla, who grew up in Gainesville around the acoustic music scene, talked with WUFT’s Donna Green-Townsend about the uniqueness of the scheduled show:
The concert was sponsored by the Shakerag Culture Center and the City of Gainesville Department of Parks, Recreation and Cultural Affairs.
By Elle Newbold and Donna Green-Townsend on August 13th, 2013
Or to hear highlights click on the video below:
Click to hear the 2000 Edward R. Murrow Award-Winning documentary on “Apalachicola Doin’ Time” produced by WUFT’s Donna Green-Townsend, Bill Beckett, Daniel Beasley and Josh Azriel.
Updated: After joining Rubio and Nelson Tuesday in Apalachicola, Gov. Rick Scott announced the state would sue Georgia over its water usage.
“This lawsuit will be targeted toward one thing – fighting for the future of Apalachicola. This is a bold, historic legal action for our state. But this is our only way forward after 20 years of failed negotiations with Georgia. We must fight for the people of this region. The economic future of Apalachicola Bay and Northwest Florida is at stake,” he said in a statement.
The suit will be filed in the U.S. Supreme Court and will seek to limit the amount of Apalachicola headwaters Georgia can use.
A five-minute audio interview by Donna Green-Townsend with State Sen. Bill Montford (D-District 6) can be heard below. He discusses how the Apalachicola Bay will be a priority in the state legislature and his hopes for the federal government to take a stronger interest in the Tri-State Water War involving Alabama, Florida and Georgia over the river system they all share. Montford also addresses the criticism of those who say besides the drought in 2012, oysters were overharvested just after the BP oil spill.
Original story: There was much emotion Tuesday at the congressional field hearing scheduled to examine the lack of water flow into the Apalachicola Bay.
Due to decreasing levels of water flow into the bay from the Apalachicola watershed, the town’s once-thriving oyster industry has collapsed. The town of Apalachicola, known for its oysters, has reported that this season has found an insignificant amount of the mussels to be harvested from the bay.
The Florida Department of Environmental Protection calls the Apalachicola one of the most productive bays in the nation, providing approximately 90 percent of the oysters consumed in Florida. In addition to oysters, the bay supports extensive shrimping, crabbing and commercial fishing. Only 20 percent of the river lies in Florida, according to FDEP. The Apalachicola River headwaters, which actually begin in Georgia’s Chattahoochee River, becomes the Apalachicola where it crosses the Florida-Georgia line.
U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio scheduled the field hearing at the Franklin County Courthouse in Apalachicola to hear evidence concerning the oyster collapse. Speakers blamed the collapse on last year’s drought and poor water conservation practices in Georgia along the Chattahoochee river.
Senators Bill Nelson and Marco Rubio headed the field hearing because Congress has the authority to direct the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to provide the freshwater flows necessary to save the Apalachicola Bay.
(pictures from the day’s hearing below: Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, Full Committee Field Hearing on “Effects of Water Flows on Apalachicola Bay: Short and Long Term Perspectives.” August, 13, on August 13th, 2013 2013, Franklin County Courthouse Annex Bldg.
The late Will McLean spent his life writing songs to save Florida through music. Now the foundation named after the father of Florida folk is marketing an environmental CD trying to continue McLean’s lifelong mission. The acoustic CD features musicians from across the Sunshine State singing about a wide variety of environmental stories and issues. As Donna Green-Townsend reports even the CD title, These Diamonds carries a story behind it.
Florida musicians included on the CD are:
The Eagles Fly – Mindy Simmons
Lullaby of the Rivers – Bob Patterson
Rose and the Gold – Mem Semmes
Florida Pines – Paul Garfinkel
Paw Prints in the Sand – Ken Skeens
These Diamonds – Grant Livingston
Turtle Tears – Amy Carol Webb
Rand McNally Map of Florida – Jim Bickerstaff
Plumes – Steve Blackwell
Apalachicola Doin’ Time – Dale Crider
Song For Our Children – Mary Ann Dinella
Flutist George Tortorelli and harpist Lisa Lynne can often be found at Gainesville’s Downtown Arts Festival each November. You can also often find them performing at the Florida Folk Festival in White Springs on Memorial Weekend…that is when they’re not touring across the country with their New Age Music. For many years George Tortorelli played music in a rock ‘n roll band. These days he prefers the soothing sound of his homemade flutes from his bamboo forest around his Gainesville home. Along with music partner Lisa Lynne, they’ve had a number of CDs top the New Age charts. He talked with Donna Green-Townsend about the switch in his musical taste.
Tortorelli talking about one of their latest projects, a Christmas CD performed on ancient acoustic instruments:
The late Mem Semmes from Dunnellon loved music. Not only did she write hundreds of songs, but she also helped provide a long time venue for Florida’s singer songwriters through the monthly concert series, The Sunday Sampler. Just a few years before she died her son Jon Semmes helped Mem produce her first CD. Mem talked about songwriting with Donna Green-Townsend in this one hour special aired on WUFT in December of 2007 on Across The Prairie.
Mem Semmes on These Diamonds CD Project
The late Will McLean spent his life writing songs to save Florida through music. Now the foundation named after the father of Florida folk is marketing an environmental CD trying to continue McLean’s lifelong mission. The acoustic CD features musicians from across the Sunshine State singing about a wide variety of environmental stories and issues. As Donna Green-Townsend reports even the CD title, These Diamonds carries a story behind it.
Florida musicians included on the CD are:
The Eagles Fly – Mindy Simmons
Lullaby of the Rivers – Bob Patterson
Rose and the Gold – Mem Semmes
Florida Pines – Paul Garfinkel
Paw Prints in the Sand – Ken Skeens
These Diamonds – Grant Livingston
Turtle Tears – Amy Carol Webb
Rand McNally Map of Florida – Jim Bickerstaff
Plumes – Steve Blackwell
Apalachicola Doin’ Time – Dale Crider
Song For Our Children – Mary Ann Dinella
Singer Songwriters Steve Gillette and Cindy Mangsen from Bennington, Vermont often tour in Florida. While in the Gainesville area for a house concert the popular duo met up with WUFT’s Donna Green-Townsend.Gillette, who has had a number of his songs recorded by national recording artists, has ties to one of Florida’s legendary guitar players. Steve and Cindy recalled how they first met the late Gamble Rogers. Rogers, who is in the Florida Artists Hall of Fame, is nationally known for his quick wit and guitar playing ability, all while weaving stories about a mythical Oklawaha County in Florida. He died in 1991 trying to save a drowning man off Flagler Beach. Gillette and Mangsen talked with Donna Green-Townsend at the home of environmental troubadour Dale Crider from Windsor, Florida about their mutual friend.
