Baker County High School varsity football coach Ryan Sulkowski was suspended without pay for ten days for using a school district credit card to purchase alcoholic beverages at a Clay County restaurant in February.

School Superintendent Sherrie Raulerson said the suspension that began last week and runs through spring break this week was “the stiffest penalty I could give under the circumstances.”

“He should not have put the alcohol on the card; it’s not acceptable,” said Ms. Raulerson in an interview last week. I didn’t feel this was an offense punishable by death (firing him) but I lost some sleep and prayed before deciding this was the best way to put this behind us.

“At the same time, I wanted to send a strong message to employees of the district that behavior like this won’t be tolerated.”

Coach Sulkowski, recruited to Baker County from Colorado three years ago, advised BCHS bookkeeper Terry Langford of the charge before the credit card bill reached the school at month’s end.

Mr. Moody (right) with his attorney at sentencing.

When Robert Hewett lost his father at a young age, it was his uncle who filled the void.

“Think about the one person in your life that’s had the most influence on you. That’s who he was to me,” Mr. Hewett told Circuit Judge Mark Moseley minutes before the judge accepted a plea agreement from David Curtis Moody for two counts of vehicular homicide the morning of March 26.

In return for his no contest plea, Mr. Moody was adjudicated guilty and sentenced to four years in prison, minus 24 months credit for time served, and 10 years of drug offender probation.

Mr. Hewett’s uncle, Arthur S. Hewett, 61, was killed when the speeding 2009 Pontiac allegedly driven by the defendant crossed the center line on SR 121 south and collided with the victim’s Toyota pickup about 6:15 am on February 2, 2009.

The crash also took the life of Charles C. Sharp of Jacksonville, who was inside the Pontiac and pronounced dead at the scene along with Arthur Hewett.

“He made me the Christian man I am today,” Robert Hewett said of his uncle, a construction supervisor from Lake Butler.

Facing nine counts that included vehicular homicide, DUI, DUI with property damage or injury and careless driving on a suspended license resulting in death or serious injury, Mr. Moody was close to accepting a plea deal last December.

With last month’s FCAT writing test finished, students and teachers are now prepping for the reading, math and science exams in April. Spring break next week will be a welcome reprieve for parent Kathrine Tidwell, who says her child gets stressed and moody when testing time rolls around.

“The best part is the hives,” she said on The Press’ Facebook page recently. “They emphasize this test way to much!” Another Facebook user, Rebecca Scribner, said her son usually comes home exhausted with a headache after standardized testing.

Angela Callahan teaches second grade at Westside Elementary and leads the local teachers union. She said high stakes testing, while entrenched in public education, takes a toll on teachers, too.

“My son worries about it for sure,” she said. “He is a wonderful student and makes excellent grades, so he has no reason to worry, but he still does.

Mr. Wheeler listens to victim statements during his sentencing hearing.

A Glen St. Mary man was sentenced to 15 years in prison this week for his part in a drunk driving accident on U.S. 90 that killed two Sanderson men more than two years ago.

Christopher Wayne Wheeler, 37, was at the wheel of a 1994 Jeep Cherokee that ran the stop sign at the Smokey Road intersection and collided with the Ford Explorer driven by Ardris D. Paige, 43, a part-time basketball coach on his way home from practice at the Baker High the evening of November 16.

Mr. Paige and passenger Christopher V. Jefferson, 20, a former Wildcat athlete who played in a scrimmage game that night, were ejected in the crash and died. Two players on the basketball team, Delano Lee Paige, 19, and Marquis Paige, 17, were injured.

Members of victims’ family expressed their grief during a tear-filled sentencing the morning of March 19. Many members of both the victims’ and defendant’s families were present and comforted one another after the hearing before Circuit Judge Mark M. Moseley.

“If you were in his [Christopher Jefferson] presence, you were easily smiling,” said the victim’s cousin and friend Marcell Thomas.