CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK

News-Leader162nd year. No. 22

Copyright, 2016

The News-Leader

Fernandina Beach, FL

Printed on 100% recycled newsprint with soy based ink.

INDEXBUSINESS ................................... 4ACLASSIFIEDS ............................. 7BCOURT REPORT ......................9ACROSSWORD/SUDOKU .... 6BEDITORIAL ................................. 7A

FISHING/TIDES ....................... 2BLEGAL NOTICES ............................. 8AOBITUARIES ........................................ 2APEOPLE AND PLACES ...........4BPOLICE REPORT ................... 9ASPORTS .................................................... 1B

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 16, 2016 / 20 PAGES, 2 SECTIONS • fbnewsleader.com

ROAD CLOSURES/DETOURS ON 3A

$1.00

St. Johns River Water Management District board members announced at a monthly meeting last week that mandatory water restrictions will continue in Nassau County. Restrictions were extended for at least a month in the entire district with a possible year-round water conservation rule to be approved in April. March 20, 1991

LOOKING BACK

25YEARS

Randy Scott Lingelbach, 33, who stole a television from Walmart at 1385 Amelia Plaza in Fernandina Beach last April then led police on a high-speed police chase that ended with him being shot, was sentenced to 20 years in pris-on March 11 in Nassau County District Court.

According to police reports, Lingelbach and a female passenger had been on a “meth binge” when he stole a TV from Walmart and was detained by loss-prevention officers.

Lingelbach got away with the TV after threatening to stab store employ-ees with a syringe. The incident was

caught on security cameras trained on the parking lot.

City police chased his truck across the parking lot and onto Bonnieview Road driving at speeds up to 80 mph, where it came to a dead end, according to reports.

Lingelbach then reportedly made a U-turn past the pursuing officers. Officer Jason Smith

PEG DAVIS/NEWS-LEADER

Gooding & Company realized $60,162,150 in a single day of auctioning rare and collectible cars last Friday, part of last weekend’s auto-centric activities surrounding the Concours d’Elegance. According to a news release, the company set nine new world auction benchmarks. Comedian Jerry Seinfeld was present to say good-bye to several cars from his Porsche collection, but any grief must have been assuaged by the fact they went for a total of $22,244,500. Even with the world-famous comedian in the house, the “star of the day” was this 1961 Ferrari 250 GT SWB California Spider which went for $17,160,000.

“We are delighted with our auction results and are proud of the new auction records we have set,” stat-ed David Gooding, president of Gooding & Company, in a news release.

On Thursday, March 17, up to 40 vintage racing cars will visit downtown Fernandina Beach as part of the Sportscar Vintage Racing Association’s Amelia Island Vintage Gran Prix event this weekend at the Fernandina Beach Municipal Airport.

The cars will leave the paddock area on the race track at 11:15 a.m. behind a police escort, tour north on Buccaneer Trail to Amelia Island Parkway and onto Fletcher Avenue, then to Atlantic Avenue and final-ly to Centre Street. The Race Car Tour should arrive and park along Centre Street. between Front Street and Third Street at 11:35 a.m. The tour will remain in place along Centre Street through the lunch hour and will depart, with a police escort, back to the racetrack paddock at 1:30 p.m.

From Friday, March 18, through Sunday, March 20, the Sportscar Vintage Racing Association will have more than 140 vin-tage racing sports cars, dating from 1928 forward, testing, practicing, then racing at the Fernandina Beach Municipal Airport.

More than 40 vintage racing motorcycles will also compete on the original and historic 2.1-mile “Golden Crown Prix “ racing circuit.

There will also be a dozen vintage “war bird” aircraft flying in for the event and on display throughout the weekend.

A world class Pinewood Derby Racing event (open to anyone to participate) is also being held.

Event access to the Amelia Island Vintage Gran Prix will be located at the Amelia River Golf Club, 4477 Buccaneer

ANGELA DAUGHTRYNews-Leader

Forest fires are good … which is just the opposite of what Smokey Bear taught us as children. That is, “pre-scribed” forest fires, as opposed to wildfires.

These carefully controlled fires are good and even necessary because they keep forests healthy by stimulating natural vegetation, contributing to the biodiversity of wildlife, and reducing the likelihood of wildfires.

Before the state was populated by Europeans, Florida’s forests were controlled naturally by cycles of wild-fires caused by lightning strikes, which burned up the understory, allowing for fresh growth to take place.

According to Annaleasa Winter, a wildfire mitigation specialist at Florida Forest Service, the first Europeans to settle in Florida saw the positive impact wildfires had on fields of grass-es and wildflowers by observing Native

Americans using controlled burns.“They saw that controlled burning

opens the forest canopy and allows seeds to germinate,” Winter said. “In the 1920s, when they started logging, they were using massive resources. That’s when the first organized fire suppression came into place.”

Low intensity burns, she said, can result in a natural recycling of resourc-es. Because there is not much understo-ry with live oaks, they do not produce intense fires, but intense fires can be created with understories made up of plants such as palmetto and gallberry.

“If you allow the understory and the overstory to meet, it creates a fuel lad-der,” Winter said.

According to Winter, a mosaic pat-tern is the ideal prescribed burn, which means some woodland areas are left unburned to provide shelter for wildlife.

“In the weeks after a burn you’ll see lush grass,” Winter said, “and animal

HEATHER A. PERRYNews-Leader

Bronson Roth suffered a severe, traumatic brain injury at birth and has cerebral palsy, a seizure disorder and autonomic dysfunction. Despite these obstacles, the eight-year-old teaches others without saying a word.

“Bronson cannot talk, but he has the unique ability to reach people where they are without a word,” said his mother, Tricia Roth, a former infant and toddler develop-mental specialist who has worked with many special needs children in Nassau County.

“We have learned many distinctive truths from Bronson, truths that we would have never learned without him. We have learned that, regardless of someone’s ability or dis-ability, everyone has a very distinct purpose; a purpose that only that person can fill and no one else.”

Bronson brings his message of inclusion out into the world by participating in races throughout the area.

The father-son team of Rick and Dick Hoyt inspired Bronson’s dad, Brent Roth. Rick also suffered birth trauma, which left him a spastic quadriplegic with cerebral palsy, unable to speak. He and his dad have participated in races since the late 70s. Dick pushes his son in a specially made wheelchair called a Hoyt chair.

Wearing his special race shirt, happy socks, shorts and headband around his signature spiky hair, Bronson rides in his lime green Hoyt chair accompanied by his team of nine able-bodied runners.

Team Bronson has participated in 24 races, including two half-marathons and one 55K ultra-marathon.

“When Bronson started ‘running,’ the joy of excitement

took over and the wind in his face made him giggle loudly. This was the beginning of racing,” said Tricia Roth, who formed Brave Like Bronson with her mother, Yvette Patch. The nonprofit aims to teach children how to embrace indi-viduals with special needs.

“We encourage people to run with him because when he starts running, he gets the biggest grin on his face and the people – some have never run with someone in a wheelchair –they just get the biggest kick and now they’re addicted,” said Patch.

“Brave Like Bronson, Inc. brings light on disabilities during classroom visits and teaches inclusion by engaging activities through hands-on experiences,” said Roth, who wants children to learn how to love and embrace children with special needs.

“Disabilities cover a wide range. Some are obvious, such as a child with physical disabilities who uses a wheelchair. Other disabilities are more hidden, for example, children

$17.16 MILLION FOR RARE FERRARI

Planned fires help woodlands

Walmart robber gets 20 years

A still frame from Walmart store security

video shows Lingelbach

leaving with the TV with-

out paying for it. You can

view the video at youtu.be/

QZAv5Cvab8w.FERNANDINA BEACH

POLICE/SPECIAL

Lingelbach

FIRES Continued on 11A

ROBBER Continued on 11A

Vintage racers to visit downtown in advance of Gran Prix event

SUBMITTED

March 18-20 the Sportscar Vintage Racing Association will have more than 140 vintage racing sports cars, dating from 1928 for-ward, testing, practicing, then racing at the airport. Spectator days are March 19 and 20.

RACERS Continued on 3A

Teaching others bravery

SUBMITTED

Bronson Roth rides in a specially designed Hoyt racing wheelchair pushed by Team Bronson member John-Frazier Strickland.

“If our next generation can learn how to embrace each other regardless of their uniqueness, the world will

look different in many ways.”TRICIA ROTH

FOUNDER, BRAVE LIKE BRONSON, INC.

BRONSON Continued on 3A

FOR LOCAL PRIMARY ELECTION RESULTS VISIT FBNEWSLEADER.COM

who have autism spectrum dis-order or a sensory processing disorder.

“Our passion is for special children to not only be included, but to be under-stood as well. The entire worldview of the special needs community could shift for the better in the tiny hearts of our next generation. If our next generation can learn how to embrace each other regardless of their uniqueness, the world will look different in many ways.”

“Bronson is a gift to us and we don’t need to sit on this because, with our background, we can show and help so many others,” said Patch. “He’s a miracle. God gave him to us and we have to share him.”

For the past seven years, Roth has led a Bible study group for parents of special needs children.

Recently the Bronson team has acquired puppets, which they use to portray the message of inclusion to schoolchildren.

“As the children listen, they will learn more about why everyone has their own unique characteristics. The younger a child is when they are exposed to others with disabilities, the less ‘weird’ those disabled children become,” said Roth. “The puppet team holds their attention by constantly keeping the little minds questioning and learning.”

The puppets came about because of Tricia’s background in child development and because children often find it

easier to talk to puppets than to grownups.

“Following the puppet show, we break down into small dis-cussion groups called Empathy Centers,” said Patch. This is when the MediKin doll is uti-lized to explain things such as Bronson’s feeding tube to the children who each receive an “I Am Brave” certification for their participation in the free program.

To learn more about Bronson, donate, or learn more about the puppet team, visit www.bravelikebronson.com or email BraveLikeBronson@comcast.net.

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CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK

3AWEDNESDAY, MARCH 16, 2016 NEWS News-Leader

JESSICA WATERSNews-Leader

With the passing of the Feb. 1 deadline for the approval of non-legislative ballot measures for the November General Election, two initiatives met the required qualifications for direct-initiated measures.

Those two initiatives – one measure regarding solar power and one regarding the use of medical marijuana – will be included on the November ballot.

In addition, three legislatively referred amend-ments to the Florida State Constitution were approved through a joint resolution adopted by the Florida House and Senate. The Florida Tax Exemptions for Renewable Energy ballot mea-sure will be on the Aug. 30 Primary Election ballot. The Florida Tax Exemptions for First Responders amendment and the Florida Property Tax Breaks for Senior Citizens amendment will both appear on the Nov. 8 General Election ballot.

•••Florida Right to Solar Energy Choice InitiativeListed as Amendment One, the Florida Right

to Solar Energy Choice Initiative was one of two direct-initiated ballot measures dealing with the availability of and regulations on solar power in Florida.

Amendment One, if approved by voters, will grant Florida residents the right to own or lease equipment that produces solar energy for per-sonal use.

“Electricity consumers have the right to own or lease solar equipment installed on their prop-erty to generate electricity for their own use,” states the text of the amendment.

“State and local governments shall retain their abilities to protect consumer rights and public health, safety and welfare, and to ensure that consumers who do not choose to install solar are not required to subsidize the costs of backup power and electric grid access to those who do,” adds the second clause of the amendment.

Proposed through the efforts of the Consumers

for Smart Solar organization, the amendment was certified as a ballot measure after receiving 720,395 valid signatures by the Feb. 1 deadline, exceeding the 683,149 required signatures.

•••A second direct-initiated ballot measure

regarding solar power, the Florida Right to Produce and Sell Solar Energy Initiative, failed to secure the required number of signatures for certification and will not appear on the November ballot. The initiative, according to sponsors Floridians for Solar Choice, would have provided businesses and individuals a constitutional right to produce up to two megawatts of solar power and the right to sell that power directly to others at the same or contiguous properties. Sponsors of the initiative stated that those rights would have been secured by the process of limiting the ability of government and electrical utilities to impose “barriers to supplying local solar elec-tricity.” Under current legislation, only “utilities” can sell electricity, from any source, directly to consumers.

“Government regulation of local solar elec-tricity suppliers’ rates, service and territory” or “unfavorable electric utility rates, charges or terms of service imposed on local solar electricity customers” were specifically identified as “bar-riers” that would be banned under the initiative.

The initiative was reviewed by the Supreme Court and approved for circulation in December 2014. On Feb. 17, 2015, the amendment’s com-mittee announced to the media that they had col-lected approximately 100,000 of the 683,149 sig-natures required. However, in December 2015, Floridians for Solar Choice filed suit against the signature-gathering company they had engaged. Floridians for Solar Choice claimed the compa-ny charged them $200,000 more than what the committee had agreed to pay for their services; in response, the company refused to release 212,000 signatures until they received payment.

On Jan. 11, Floridians for Solar Choice

Five amendments to state constitution on ballots

Measures include solar power and medical marijuana initiatives

Trail, in Fernandina Beach. Tickets in advance are $25 a day or $45 for the weekend. Tickets are available locally at the Fernandina Beach Welcome Center on Centre Street or Eight Flags Auto Sports located at 2588 South Eighth Street, Fernandina Beach.

“We certainly hope that the public will enjoy the opportunity to see these rare vintage rac-ing cars up close while they are downtown and the merchants will gain new business while these folks are downtown,” wrote Ralph Thomas of the Amelia Island Vintage Gran Prix in a news release for the event.

More details and schedules are available at www.svra.com/events/2016-amelia-island-vin-tage-gran-prix.

Street closures/reroutesMotorists in the area of the Fernandina Beach Municipal

Airport should expect heavy traffic and some delays from Friday, March 18 through Sunday, March 20.

Buccaneer Trail between A1A and Amelia Island Parkway will experience traffic diversions from 7 a.m. until noon on both Saturday, March 19, and Sunday, March 20. Northbound traffic on A1A will be diverted east on to South Fletcher Avenue at the roundabout at Gerbing Road. Motorists can pick up the Amelia Island Parkway again northbound at the traffic light at the entrance to The Ritz-Carlton, Amelia Island.

Southbound traffic should not be affected.Also, per the Fernandina Beach Police Department: o parking on the right of way on Amelia Island

Parkway or Buccaneer Trail. Event parking is inside Amelia iver olf Course. Local traffic will be managed within the affected area. o parking on Centre Street between midnight and

2 p.m. on Thursday, March 17 between Front Street and Third Street as the Vintage Car Tour leaves Amelia River at 11:15 a.m. and arrives downtown at 11:30 a.m.

RACERS Continued from 1A

BRONSON Continued from 1A

SUBMITTED PHOTOS

Tricia Roth and her mother Yvette Patch take their mes-sage of inclusion out into the community through puppets and their website, Brave like Bronson.

Bronson and his parents, Tricia and Brent Roth gear up to participate in the Gate River Run on March 12.

BALLOTS Continued on 11A

Did you know that teen driv-ers are three times more likely to be involved in a fatal crash as other drivers? That is why the NCSO has partnered with the Florida Sheriff’s Association and is offering a program called the Teen Driver Challenge, according to a news release. It is a free course designed to help teens boost their driving skills and lessen the chances of being involved in a crash. The program will provide a mixture of class-room instruction and hands-on driver training. Teens 15-19 are eligible and must have a valid Florida Operators License and participants must provide their own vehicle. A current copy of their driver license, vehicle regis-tration and insurance is required.

Each class is limited to 15 students.

“We try to take young drivers and help them with their driv-er skills in crisis and everyday traffic,” Sheriff Bill Leeper said. “It’s all about awareness. There’s defensive driving and you need to be aware of what you’re doing, but also be aware of other motor-ists.”

All instructors are Nassau County sheriff deputies. Upon successful completion of the program, students will receive a certificate of completion. Certificates can be presented to auto insurance companies for a possible reduction on insurance premiums.

The Teen Driver Challenge program will be conducted on the

following dates:• Thursday, March 31

5 p.m. – 9 p.m.Saturday, April 2

8 a.m. – 4 p.m.• Thursday, June 9

8 a.m. – 2 p.m.Saturday, June 11

8 a.m. – 2 p.m.• Thursday, Aug. 4

8 a.m. – 2 p.m.Saturday, Aug. 6

8 a.m. – 2 p.m.• Thursday, Nov. 3

5 p.m. – 9 p.m.Saturday, Nov. 5

8 a.m. – 4 p.m.To find out more about the

two-day program or to sign up, contact the Nassau County Sheriff’s Office Training Division at 548-4031.

Teen Driver Challenge program