Higginbotham

A Macclenny man was sent off to prison for one year after pleading guilty on August 24 to being drunk at the wheel of a pickup truck that collided late last year with a vehicle containing a couple and their five children on their way to church.

For 55-year-old Ronald J. Higginbotham, it was his fourth DUI conviction.
Circuit Judge Peter K. Sieg also tacked on a three-year, nine month probation following the defendant’s release from prison, fined him $2000 and $448 court costs and took his driver’s license away for life.

A hearing later will determine a restitution amount to compensate the family of Michael and Debbie Combs of Macclenny, who were injured when Mr. Higginbotham’s 2004 Dodge pickup drifted across the center line on Woodlawn Rd. on a curve and struck their vehicle head-on.

The accident occurred the early evening of December 20, 2009 as the Combs family headed off to a church service in Macclenny.

The secret’s out.

Northeast Florida is being primed to accept an estimated two million additional shipping containers in the next decade with at least five large-scale inland port projects on the horizon.

These storage and distribution centers strategically located near railroads and highways could work in concert to fill the demand created by mega-ships docking at an expanded Jacksonville port after the Panama Canal is widened, possibly as soon as 2015.

But depending on the level of demand and how soon the seaport is ready for the influx of goods from Asian markets, the inland ports, including two planned for Baker County, could end up competing for a slice of the transportation logistics pie.

There’s between 25 and 30 million square feet of industrial warehouse space on the drawing board today at five locations in Baker, Duval, Columbia and Nassau counties.

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Suspected murderer Aaron Fox agreed to plea no contest to second degree murder and an additional robbery charge in exchange for 50 years in prison the afternoon of September 1 in front of Judge Phyllis Rosier.

The judge will announce her ruling on the plea agreement September 10. If she accepts it, Mr. Fox could be sentenced at that time.

Jury selection was about to begin for Mr. Fox's case with a week-long trial set for September 7.

Public defender George Nelson said he believed the state had evidence that could lead a jury to find the defendant guilty of murder.

Mr. Fox is accused of stabbing to death his Sanderson neighbor, Sterling Howell, in an attempted robbery and then fleeing in the victim's truck in April 2009.

See next week's edition of The Press for the full story.

Renovations are underway at Connie's Country Kitchen in Macclenny, but the planned changes will involve more than just the building.

Restaurant owner George Elias hopes to covert the restaurant to a steakhouse, "If they let us," he said, alluding to some issues with the plan.

He declined to discuss them, however.

A new name has been chosen — Sixth Street Steakhouse — the moniker included in a recent filing with the state for a fictitious name by ME Investments LLC, the company managed by Mr. Elias' son Michael Elias of Jacksonville.

The restaurant is located at 1199 S. 6th St., a property owned by Douglas Klotz.