Local News

Congressman Allen Boyd (D-North Florida), a member of the House Appropriations Committee, has secured a total of $300,000 for two important projects in Gadsden County. Boyd included funding for these projects in the Omnibus Appropriations bill for Fiscal Year 2009, which passed in the House of Representatives this week.

Boyd secured $200,000 to loop the north water main in Havana. Looping the north water main will provide increased water supply to rural areas, while also increasing the availability and pressure of the water in the current water main.

Following nearly two days of jury selection and interviewing over 100 prospective jurors, the first-degree murder trial of 36-year-old Hernandez Lopaz Daniels began Feb. 10. Daniels, a convicted drug dealer serving a life sentence, is accused of paying $5,000 to have Constance Dupont, 39, of Havana killed in 2002. If convicted, he faces the death penalty.

A 12-member jury unanimously found 36-year-old Hernandez Lopaz Daniels of Havana guilty of premeditated first-degree murder in a Gadsden County courtroom filled with relatives of the victim and the defendant. Daniels, who is serving a life sentence in federal prison, showed no emotion when the verdict was read.

Assistant State Attorney Richard Combs, who had requested the death penalty in the case, did not want to comment on the verdict.

The Gadsden County Times has welcomed a new general manager.

Alana Rich, a native Floridian who was raised mostly in Citrus County, is excited to be in Gadsden County and says she has fallen in love with the community.

“From the moment I drove into Gadsden County, I knew this was a special community,” she said. “The beauty of the area and historic homes are breathtaking. I am enjoying meeting with community leaders, festival coordinators and residents.”