Join us tonight at the Clay County Courthouse, 825 N Orange Ave, Green Cove Springs, FL 32043 around sunset (8pm-ish) to remember Cassidy.

I went to bed shortly after midnight. I thought about trying to stick it out for another hourish but decided there had been too many sleepless nights for that. It was the right call.

I finished Professional Troublemaker and Some Days (the latter is a children’s book I downloaded from Amazon for World Book Day.)

Total pages: 561

306: Professional Troublemaker

211: Band of Sisters

24: Some Days

10: Artcurious

10: Turnip Greens & Tortillas (cookbook I’ve read before but am hoping we can actually make something from – soon.)

~~~

1. How would you assess your reading overall?

Generally speaking, not bad. I was tired, the hen was broody, the dogs needed wrangling. It could have been a LOT worse.

2. Did you have a stategy, and if so, did you stick to it?

My strategy was to do whatever I felt like I could do – and not feel stressed about what I couldn’t do. I stuck to it.

3. What was your favorite snack?

Favorite snack was probably the Jalapeno Pimento Cheese sandwich w/tortilla chips that I had while I waited for some frozen empanadas to bake. That was a snack because I considered the empanadas my dinner. I didn’t snack much, really. I napped instead.

4. Wanna volunteer for our next event? Stay tuned for the recap post!

Maybe. It’s been awhile since I helped out. Let’s see what the world looks like next time.

I did it. I finished a book during this readathon. It was touch and go there for a bit because we have a broody hen who escaped and could not coax back to her coop right at sundown. Silkies are a pain in the ass and as adorable as they are, I do not want any more of them. Remind me of that if I am ever in the mood to buy more chickens… anyway, back to reading.

Professional Troublemaker, by Luvvie. I finished it. Honestly, I wondered off and on why I was reading it because I, too, am a professional troublemaker so it was much like the troublemaker leading the troublemaker for me. But of course I read it because one reads whatever Luvvie writes because one is not an idiot, obviously.

Yay, Luvvie and big YAY for troublemakers, professional or otherwise.

1. What are you reading right now?

Same two books I started with: Band of Sisters and Professional Troublemaker.

2. How many books have you read so far?

I haven’t finished anything, yet.

3. What book are you most looking forward to for the second half of the Read-a-thon?

I’m most looking forward to whatever book I manage to finish. Hah.

4. Have you had many interruptions?

Just my need to sleep. There have been several of those needs.

5. What surprises you most about the Read-a-thon, so far?

How quiet the dogs have been and how little snacking I’ve done.

Reading is going slowly. I’m tired. So tired, I took a pretty long nap and then made a huge sub sandwich and chatted with my son and his dogs, read a sentence, chatted some more, read a sentence… rinse/repeat. Now I’m feeling like I need another nap.

I’ve read about 150 pages, from three books (I added a cookbook to the original list and one of those three is a cookbook) – at this rate, I’ll probably have six naps in and finish one book.

I’m OK with that.

(Why does my blog look weird? A question for another day…apparently. Ugh.)

It’s that time again! I’m not sure what’s going to happen today but I intend to do not much more than read, eat, nap, and wrangle dogs. Probably more wrangling of dogs than anything else, but I’m here for the reading. Sort of.

1) What fine part of the world are you reading from today?

Still here in Keystone Heights, FL – where the COVID-19 infection rate is high and the belief in science is low.

2) Which book in your stack are you most looking forward to?

Band of Sisters, which is what I’m starting with.

3) Which snack are you most looking forward to?

Gin Cornichons.

4) Tell us a little something about yourself!

I’m tired. I’m very tired.

5) If you participated in the last read-a-thon, what’s one thing you’ll do different today? If this is your first read-a-thon, what are you most looking forward to?

This is my zillionth readathon and the difference this time around is I’m going with all e-books – I don’t believe that has ever happened to me before! (I’ll likely go track down a print book from the shelves just because typing this is making me twitchy.)

Also, and more importantly, I’m very tired and very stressed out. That makes for a different type of readathon. But hey, all readathons are good readathons. Let’s do this!

UPDATE 5/26/21: I’m adding updates at the top now. The original story will appear below, without edits.

The case review scheduled for 5/24 at 9 am was shifted to an arraignment held on 5/24 at 1:30 pm. We attended via Zoom. Both attorneys indicated they were waiting for records and evidence and the State’s attorney (that’s our guy) said that additional charges may be filed, pending receipt of evidence (fingers crossed!) Jonathan L. Davis’s fancy lawyer, Zachary Richter Shafter was multi-tasking and wasn’t ready when his case was called so he stumbled a bit over what he wanted to say. I wasn’t impressed. He reiterated the not-guilty plea for his client etc. etc.

Judge Lester called for a pre-trial hearing to be held on June 21 and as of now, this hearing will be IN PERSON and not on Zoom. That will be … interesting.

In the meantime, Cassidy’s brother has started an Instagram account called @JusticeForCassidy. Follow it for updates from Cassidy’s family, please.

UPDATE 5/19/21:

It’s been almost 6 weeks since Jonathan L. Davis hit Cassidy in a head on collision and hid in the woods. It’s been almost 6 weeks since Cassidy died. Jonathan L. Davis is still in the Clay County Jail and on Monday, May 24, a case Review will happen with Judge Don H. Lester.

During Review, the Judge will speak with the lawyers, see how the case is progressing, see if the case needs to go to trial or whether a plea can be agreed upon, and… the judge could also review the bond.

We do not believe that Jonathan L. Davis should receive a reduced bond. We do not believe he should be released from jail at all. His previous jail time did not stop him from breaking law after law after law. There’s no way that six weeks in the Clay County Jail has reduced the likelihood that he will drive again. Six weeks is not enough to teach him not to drive recklessly or while under the influence. Six weeks is NOT enough to ensure the safety of other drivers.

Join us at the Clay County Courthouse, on Monday, May 24 – any time between 9 am – 12 pm. Cassidy’s brother, Patrick, has some t-shirts available for protesters and some food will be provided. Contact Chris or Patrick if you need a ride – or leave a comment on this post and I’ll see if we can figure out how to get you there.

Help us make sure the Court and the community know that we’re still fighting and we want #JusticeForCassidy.

***************ORIGINAL POST BELOW***************

Cassidy came into our lives when our son Chris started spending more time with her last year. We were just starting to get to know her, had the honor of sharing our Christmas Eve and Christmas day celebrations with her, and looking forward to spending more time with her and her Treeing Walker Coonhound (just like Skeeter!) , Maggie, once we all made it through the pandemic.

You might have noticed a young woman in our Christmas photos… wearing a mask. She was good about that – keeping everyone safe, because as a UPS warehouse worker, she was always at risk for an exposure to COVID and she did not want to put anyone at risk, including herself. Cassidy cared deeply about people – her commitment to workers rights through the Local 512 Teamsters United https://www.facebook.com/512TeamstersUnited was just another way for her to make the world a better place for people. (You can read their post about her here https://www.facebook.com/512TeamstersUnited/posts/3821828661234458)

She was strong. She was kind. She was funny. She was caring. She was personable. She was a hard worker. She was passionate about human rights. She loved paddling rivers and springs. She loved the ocean. She was 23 years old when a habitual traffic offender took her life in a head on collision… and walked away, literally, from her as she fought to live.

Shortly after midnight on Saturday, April 10, Cassidy got in her old red Toyota Tacoma truck and drove home from her second job as a beer slinger at Tabula Rasa (the photo below is the one she took when she went on shift, April 9.) It takes a little more than a half an hour to get home. She didn’t make it because 10 minutes from her home, Jonathan L. Davis swerved a Silver Yukon into her lane, hitting her head on. He got out of that vehicle and WALKED down County Road 218 as people tried to help Cassidy.

Cassidy’s parents were informed of the accident and drove from the Tallahassee to the hospital in Orange Park, FL. Her mom and dad and Chris held her hand as life support machines were turned off somewhere around 2 pm. 14 hours and she was gone.

In the hours after the crash that took Cassidy’s life, we learned that the vehicle was incorrectly tagged and it might be difficult to find the driver… but later that same day, 38 year old Jonathan L. Davis turned himself in.

He was cited for:

• HIT AND RUN – FAIL TO STOP REMAIN AT CRASH INVOLVE DEATH (316.027(2)(c))  – a first degree felony
• NONMOVING TRAFFIC VIOL – ATTACH REGISTRATION LICENSE PLATE NOT ASSIGNED (320.261)  – 2nd degree misdemeanor.

His bond was set at $75,755.00 ($750 of that was for the license plate violation) and he was assigned a public defender.  His review hearing was set for May 24 and a few days later, a request to reduce bond was made and that hearing is now scheduled for April 28.

We DO NOT want his bail reduced

Jonathan L. Davis is a habitual traffic offender. He’s 38 years old and:

• His first offense occurred in 2001 (he was 18) – 316.122 Fail to yield-to oncoming traffic/vehicle passing on left when making left turn.
• Almost exactly a year later, he was sited for having an open container in his vehicle.
• There are two additional cases that are related to drugs or alcohol.
• In 2008, he was forced to go to driving school.
• In 2013, he was charged with Driving While Licenses Suspended or Revoked (Habitual Offender) (322.34(5) – He received the same charge 2 years later.

In 20 years , he’s been cited 39 times.

He had 4 open cases when he killed Cassidy.

You can review his record by going to the Clay County Docket Search https://www.clayclerk.com/case-search/ and entering his MOST RECENT case docket number: 2021 CF 000519 .

• When you get there, click his linked name to see his record.
• You can right click/open in a new tab each of those docket numbers to read what he was charged with and what happened with each case.
• Along with his Traffic Offenses, he earned himself a Domestic Battery charge last November (though the charges were dropped, as they so often are with domestic battery cases.)

From his record, it is clear that the only lesson this man has learned is that he gets off pretty easily and laws intended to keep people safe are not applicable to him. There is no doubt in my mind that if he is let out on bond, he’ll find another vehicle to drive illegally. And another. And another. And another.

How long would it before he hits someone else? How long before he kills someone else? How long before he changes a family’s life forever, like he has ours and Cassidy’s? I don’t believe he has earned the right to be released on bond. Do you?

UPDATED: The request for a reduced bond was released for public view. Click the link to access it here.

NO BOND SOUNDS GOOD TO ME.

You can reach the State’s Attorney for this case here:

Hector Fernando Murcia Bustos

State Attorney’s Office- 4th Judicial 825 N Orange AveGreen Cove Springs, FL

Office: 904-269-6319 Cell: 904-269-6319 – No Text Messages

Email: hmbustos@coj.net

https://www.floridabar.org/directories/find-mbr/profile/?num=98706

The Clay County Clerk Twitter is here: https://twitter.com/ClayClerk

Office of the State Attorney for the 4th Circuit Court is https://twitter.com/sao4florida

Both of these news outlets covered the crash.

Action 4 News https://twitter.com/wjxt4/ and https://www.facebook.com/WJXT4TheLocalStation/

First Coast News https://twitter.com/fcn2go?lang=en and https://www.facebook.com/FirstCoastNews/

Here are the links to their initial posts on Facebook w/article about the crash. The images and/or video show the damaged vehicle but are not otherwise graphic.
https://www.facebook.com/FirstCoastNews/posts/10159219649888987
https://www.facebook.com/ActionNewsJacksonville/posts/5471098212962620

This is a screenshot of every case… I know, it’s hard to read but you can save it and enlarge it if you prefer to view it this way rather than go to the docket search.

1. How would you assess your reading overall?

Well… I enjoyed it. That’s pretty much all the assessment I can do. Heh.

2. Did you have a strategy, and if so, did you stick to it?

I did have a strategy, which was to read until I needed to sleep and that’s what happened. Which is why I slept for 3 hours within the first 6 hours of the readathon. I knew I was going to nap more than usual but that was a LOT of napping.

3. What was your favorite snack?

The Asiago cheese and Pop Chips.

4. Wanna volunteer for our next event?

Maybe. It depends on life and work and my exhaustion level. As usual.

I only finished one book, A Starless Sea – which I had already started… twice! I’m feeling good about finally finishing that. And I enjoyed it a lot. Possibly more than Night Circus (sacrilege, right?)