Baker County High School varsity football coach Ryan Sulkowski was suspended without pay for ten days for using a school district credit card to purchase alcoholic beverages at a Clay County restaurant in February.

School Superintendent Sherrie Raulerson said the suspension that began last week and runs through spring break this week was “the stiffest penalty I could give under the circumstances.”

“He should not have put the alcohol on the card; it’s not acceptable,” said Ms. Raulerson in an interview last week. I didn’t feel this was an offense punishable by death (firing him) but I lost some sleep and prayed before deciding this was the best way to put this behind us.

“At the same time, I wanted to send a strong message to employees of the district that behavior like this won’t be tolerated.”

Coach Sulkowski, recruited to Baker County from Colorado three years ago, advised BCHS bookkeeper Terry Langford of the charge before the credit card bill reached the school at month’s end.

Mr. Moody (right) with his attorney at sentencing.

When Robert Hewett lost his father at a young age, it was his uncle who filled the void.

“Think about the one person in your life that’s had the most influence on you. That’s who he was to me,” Mr. Hewett told Circuit Judge Mark Moseley minutes before the judge accepted a plea agreement from David Curtis Moody for two counts of vehicular homicide the morning of March 26.

In return for his no contest plea, Mr. Moody was adjudicated guilty and sentenced to four years in prison, minus 24 months credit for time served, and 10 years of drug offender probation.

Mr. Hewett’s uncle, Arthur S. Hewett, 61, was killed when the speeding 2009 Pontiac allegedly driven by the defendant crossed the center line on SR 121 south and collided with the victim’s Toyota pickup about 6:15 am on February 2, 2009.

The crash also took the life of Charles C. Sharp of Jacksonville, who was inside the Pontiac and pronounced dead at the scene along with Arthur Hewett.

“He made me the Christian man I am today,” Robert Hewett said of his uncle, a construction supervisor from Lake Butler.

Facing nine counts that included vehicular homicide, DUI, DUI with property damage or injury and careless driving on a suspended license resulting in death or serious injury, Mr. Moody was close to accepting a plea deal last December.