LIVE OAK — As a new year begins, staff members at the Suwannee Democrat looked back at the top stories of the past year, based on the amount of interest the topic received from our readers and the significance of the story.

While there were a number of noteworthy issues in 2018, the following are our Top Ten news stories of the year.

1. Murder suspect captured after manhunt

A Suwannee County murder suspect was captured by the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office in Micanopy on May 30, a day after he fled from Suwannee County.

Ricardo Fuentes, 35, was tracked down by authorities around 9:45 a.m. that morning with the help of the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office K-9 unit.

Fuentes, also known as Ruben Gutierrez and Ruben Portillo Gutierrez, was supposed to meet the day before with authorities regarding the disappearance of his 32-year-old girlfriend Delia Cruz, who was reported missing the morning of May 28 from their residence in the 22000 block of 41st Road in Ranchettes.

But Fuentes had fled by the time authorities arrived May 29 for further questioning, meeting his sister in Gainesville, who then told the SCSO that he had confessed to killing Cruz and burying her body.

The SCSO with the help of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement’s Mobile Crime Lab found her body in a shallow grave near the residence on May 29.

2. Reed makes history; Nobles retires

Looking to bring change to District 1, Robintina Reed also made history May 8.

Garnering 65 votes to incumbent John Yulee’s 58, Reed became the first female — and black female — elected to the Live Oak City Council.

“That was great, being the first female, the first African-American female, yeah that is great,” Reed said about becoming a history maker. “That’s a record-breaking thing there.

“It felt great (when I heard the results). I was very excited.”

Reed isn’t the only new face on the council as Mark Stewart, who previously served on the council, won a runoff election in June against Norman Crawford for the District 4 seat. John W. Hill and Jerry Poole also ran for that seat.

Live Oak also got a new mayor in 2018 with Frank Davis winning office in a face against Tommie Jefferson. Davis had been serving as the District 4 councilman.

“I’m going to be a representative of the city in all matters, an ambassador,” Davis said.

Davis replaced Garth “Sonny” Nobles, who decided to retire instead of seeking reelection after 16 years as mayor and 42 years of holding public office.

3. Kirby receives maximum sentence

Former Live Oak Police Sergeant Kyle Kirby received the maximum sentence March 21 on child pornography charges.

A federal judge sentenced Kirby to 120 years in a federal prison on charges of producing, attempting to produce, possessing and accessing child pornography. He was found guilty by a jury Dec. 8, 2017.

Kirby was arrested on October 28, 2015, and has remained in custody since that time.

He was arrested after FBI investigators found 87 images depicting child pornography on his patrol car laptop.

4. Bank robbery suspect caught in Georgia

A Live Oak robbery suspect was caught in southwest Georgia on Dec. 21.

Identified by the Live Oak Police Department, 46-year-old Robert Glenn Ray, of Orlando, was taken into custody in Terrell County, Georgia, that morning.

Ray also has two open warrants for bank robbery, one in Seminole County and one in Orange County.

The suspect, a white male wearing a ball cap and a tan jacket, entered the TD Bank branch in Live Oak around 3:40 p.m. Dec. 20 and told a teller, “Don’t do anything stupid,” according to authorities.

The man then directed the teller to give him certain denominations of money, adding “don’t give me the money with the stuff in it,” authorities said, adding a weapon was never shown to bank employees.

Authorities said the man left with around $2,500.

5. Texas woman charged for false Amber Alert

A nationwide Amber Alert was issued Sept. 27 for two children reported missing in Live Oak that afternoon.

It turns out the two children were never in North Florida at all.

Their 24-year-old mother Rosangel Sikiu Sanchez, of Houston, Texas, has been charged with making a false report, knowingly giving false info to LEO about an alleged crime.

Sanchez was a fraud suspect after attempting to pass a bad check at the J&K Food Mart convenience store at 969 Ohio Ave. N in Live Oak at the intersection with Winderweedle St. around 3:30 p.m. Sept. 27.

According to authorities, the woman claimed she left Houston with her two children — 7-year-old Brian Mejias and 6-year-old Gabriela Mejias — on Sept. 26 to come to Madison and then Live Oak with four men.

She told authorities that when she attempted to cash the check at the J&K store, the men who were with her fled the area in the car that contained her children, the report states, adding they had allegedly threatened her children if she cooperated with law enforcement leading to an Amber Alert being issued.

On Sept. 28, the suspect told authorities that her mother had told her the children were home and had been sent to school, the report stated.

The Houston Police Department responded to Magnum Elementary School for a welfare check on the children around 9 a.m. and advised that the children’s welfare was good, further adding the children had been at school the previous three days as well, according to the report.

6. Chamber Awards

At its platinum Gala in February and at the Business of the Year Dinner in September, the Suwannee County Chamber of Commerce recognized the top individuals and businesses in the county.

Trannie Lacquey was named the Citizen of the Year for her work in the community in Branford, including through the Rotary Club of Branford and Shelterbox.

The Trailblazer Award winner was Allison Scott.

Winners at the Business of the Year dinner were Skinner’s Paint & Body (Small Business of the Year), McCrimon’s Office Systems (Mid-Size Business of the Year), Cheek & Scott Drugs (Large Business of the Year) and Love INC (Non-Profit of the Year).

It was the first time the Chamber had recognized a non-profit and marked the first time in the five years of the Chamber honoring its members with an awards ceremony that a mid-sized category was added as well.

7. New year greeted by winter storm

Out with the old and in with the cold.

The winter weather that accompanied the new year in 2018 included an icy storm Jan. 3 that led to power outages across the Suwannee Valley.

According to the National Weather Service, Suwannee, Hamilton and Lafayette counties received up to 0.75 inches of precipitation with the storm, predominantly in the form of freezing rain.

That ice led to downed tree limbs and power lines.

Suwannee Valley Electric Cooperative had 22,571 of its 25,599 consumers without power during the storm.

A warming station was opened Jan. 3 at the Suwannee County Coliseum before closing the next day.

8. Heritage Square Master Plan unveiled, recognized

Kimley-Horn’s Jon Sewell presented the Heritage Square Master Plan draft to the Community Redevelopment Agency in April and the plan earned statewide recognition in October.

The CRA held a community outreach meeting in February to get input from community members and stakeholders regarding the plan for redeveloping Heritage Square, which encompasses the area between U.S. Highway 129 on the west, Duval Street on the north, Mussey Avenue on the east and the railroad on the south.

The Phase 1A area includes the Suwannee County Train Depot and the Suwannee County Historical Commission building, which resides in the old freight depot.

For Phase 1A, the plan includes building a parking lot in the open space between the depots and the railroad tracks, landscaping the area and installing pedestrian crosswalks across the CSX rail corridor.

There are nine phases total. The other phases also include potential restaurants, retail buildings and apartments.

The estimated full buildout cost would be $5,182,000.

The plan earned the CRA the President’s Award at the Florida Redevelopment Association’s annual meeting in October.

9. SCSD implements Guardian Program

The Suwannee County School Board voted unanimously to implement the Coach Aaron Feis Guardian Program at its April meeting.

The Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act created the option of a guardian program to aid in the prevention or abatement of active assailant incidents on school premises. The program would arm school employees that are licensed to carry a concealed weapon as well as meet other qualifications. Teachers without other school duties are not permitted to be armed, according to the legislation that set up the program.

Volunteers will undergo background checks, psychological evaluations and 150 hours of training.

Sheriff Sam St. John said the training will be tough and the volunteers that complete the training will be equal in training to a deputy sheriff.

The resolution the school board passed states the district “intends to utilize all options available to meet the requirement of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act,” which includes the Coach Aaron Feis Guardian Program.

10. Weather dampens Christmas on the Square

For two days, Christmas on the Square was as good as the Suwannee County Chamber of Commerce could have hoped for.

Expanded to three days — including two days with vendors — for the first time, the 34th annual festival was a hit until torrential rain soaked the concluding day of the event Dec. 1.

Despite the rain-soaked Saturday and the postponement of the lighted Christmas parade, Chamber Executive Director Jimmy Norris said it was still a very good Christmas on the Square.

“Obviously, we’re a little disappointed with the rain Saturday,” Norris said. “But we also know that we’ve been having this for 34 years and sooner or later, you’re going to get a bad weather day.

“You can’t control that.”

But the portions of Christmas on the Square that could be controlled were a success.

For the first time, Christmas on the Square featured vendors on Friday in addition to Saturday. Those vendors, along with the return of Snow on the Square for the second time, made downtown Live Oak a popular destination Friday night.

Norris said the Chamber hoped to draw around 5,000 — which is what it estimated attended last year’s inaugural Snow on the Square — but easily surpassed that Friday.

The Chamber decided the morning of Dec. 1 to postpone its annual lighted Christmas parade until Dec. 15.