Six candidates for local office squared off debate-style at the high school the afternoon of October 20, exactly seven days before early voting begins here and across the state.

It was the second election forum organized by The Press this year and featured a more lively format allowing candidates to respond to their opponent’s answers.

The first forum in late July did not include rebuttals and each candidate for the same office answered the same questions. This time around, some questions were posed to specific candidates while others were answered by all the commission or sheriff candidates.

Questions were collected from both readers and the newspaper’s staff during the weeks leading up to the debate, which started at 3 pm in the school auditorium and drew 100-200 attendees. Commission hopefuls fielded nine questions and the sheriff candidates seven.

Below are highlights from the event, but you can see all the action at the following links: sheriff debate (20 min) or commission debate (29 min).

County commission debate

From left: Eddie Davis Jr., Mark Hartley, Gordon Crews and Leonard Davis.

Candidates for county commission took the stage first, addressing issues like the Barber Road closure, sand mining, their political affiliation and others during the 40-minute portion of the program dedicated to the county’s governing board.

Democrat Mark Hartley, the District 5 incumbent, is facing Republican Eddie Davis, Jr. while Gordon Crews, the board’s current chairman and a Democrat, is up against Republican Leonard Davis in the District 3 race.

Their first question from debate moderator and Press publisher Jim McGauley: “Why would you be a better commissioner than your opponent?”

Both incumbents said their respective experience on the commission and in the community sets them apart from their challengers.

Mr. Crews pointed to his eight years on the board and his nurse management experience in Fraser Hospital’s ER. Mr. Hartley cited his 12 years in office and ample volunteer work in the community.

Leonard Davis leaned on his resume as well, noting his experience in the Civil Service managing large budgets, planning, and developing policies and procedures for the government.

James Harmon

A Macclenny man arrested nearly a year ago for supplying vodka to a teenage girl who later died was sentenced in county court on October 18 to a year in jail.

James Roy Harmon, 24, entered a no contest plea before Judge Joey Williams to a single count of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. A companion charge was dropped as part of the plea agreement.

Mr. Harmon, who has been out on bond since his arrest on November 22 of last year, begins his jail term the evening of October 26.

He admitted to furnishing Alexis Lloyd, 14, with the shots the evening of November 17 when she, her brother and other friends showed up at the defendant’s Barber Circle residence to eat pizza.

The teen returned later that evening to her mother’s residence on Twin Oakes Lane in Glen St. Mary where she became ill. Her mother Rachel told police she checked on her daughter in a bedroom and she had stopped breathing.

The girl was flown to Shands Jacksonville that night and died November 25 at Wolfson Children’s Hospital without regaining consciousness.

Her blood alcohol level at the hospital was .08, equal to legal intoxication.

Mrs. Lloyd described her daughter, a BCHS student, as “very outgoing and free-spirited with an infectious laugh.” She also said Alexis was “not a party girl.”

Charles Scarborough

Just over a year after the state stripped Dr. Charles Scarborough of his medical license, investigators arrested him on one count of fraud in excess of $50,000 and 821 counts of filing false or fraudulent insurance claims.

Dr. Scarborough was taken into custody at 8 am this morning at his residence in southwest Clay County, said Special agent supervisor Andrew Shedlock with FDLE's Jacksonville Regional Operations Center.

The single count is a first degree felony that could net Dr. Scarborough, 76, up to 30 years in prison. The other counts are third-degree felonies, which are punishable by up to five years in prison.

The investigation began last year when authorities identified Dr. Scarborough as "a significant prescriber of controlled substances in Northeast Florida," according to a statement from FDLE.

Defendent Marshall Mann.

A six-member jury stayed out just over a half-hour the afternoon of October 12 before returning not guilty verdicts on all six counts of sexual battery and molestation against Marshall Mann of Sanderson.

The swift decision, after nearly four days of often damning testimony against the defendant, stunned the courtroom, according to several officials who were there.

Mr. Mann, 48, the City of Macclenny’s computer and Internet technician who was allowed to keep his $49,000 job following his arrest in March, 2011, still has two counts of lewd and lascivious molestation pending against him. Those charges involve two other female victims who were between the ages of 12-18 when the alleged abuse took place between 2002-2004.

The jury decided the state failed to prove the defendant guilty on three counts each of engaging in a sex act with a victim 12-18 in a familial or custodial role and lewd and lascivious molesting.

Mr. Mann, who did not testify, could have gotten life in prison.

“I won’t have any other comment other than I presented the case and I presented the law,” said assistant state attorney Ralph Yazdiya early this week.