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Some Stuff I Wrote and Some Stuff I Didn't (2011) H. Morris Williams

A study authored by Supreme Court Justice J. H. Whitfield that verified
the Florida-Georgia border in question in the area was submitted as
evidence.

The Reporter weighed in with its support and also accused Buchholz of
insulting Gov. Dave Sholtz in an exchange with Lake City attorney Joe

Ferguson.

Dr. R. B. Harkness, Sr. provided a possible motive for Buchholz’s zeal

with a Nov. 26, 1920 article from the Times Union in which Buchholz
had accused Lake City players and fans and coach Ham Downing of

threatening umpires and mistreating his boys.

“Gainesville’s team was subjected to every kind of vile statement hurled

at them from the sidelines and some members of the Lake City team,”
Buchholz wrote. He further went to say Lake City players were sullen

and ugly during the last quarter, slugging and fouling indiscriminately
and vowed that all athletic relations between Gainesville and Lake City

would be permanently severed.

Lake City’s Rotaiy Club and Kiwanis Club sent in proclamations of

support for Hooser, as did the County Board of Public Instruction
consisting of Superintendent George Graham, Chairman T. H. Bates,

Myrtle Brown and Walter Hackney.

Supervising principal Jerome F. Eastman and Hooser were exonerated of

intent in the incident and Eastman released the following statement: “We
accept the decision of the executive committee in good faith and will

abide by the ruling as rendered.”

The Carter family was not so forgiving, as they assembled an all-star

team of attorneys that included R. H. Chapman, law partner of soon-to-
be governor Fred Cone and himself a future justice of the Florida
Supreme Court; G. A. Buie Jr., who later served many years as

Columbia County judge; and A. P. Rivers.

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