Lockleys to recuperate at Weems

The coronavirus pandemic has hit the leadership of Franklin County.

County Commissioner Noah Lockley, and wife Georgann, were both admitted to Tallahassee Memorial Hospital on Thursday, Dec. 31.

In addition Supervisor of Elections Heather Riley has been forced to quarantine until Monday, Jan. 11. Deputy Clerk Jennifer Hicks said the quarantine was due to exposure to a relative who had tested positive for COVID-19, and was not connected to any possible exposure to Deputy Clerk Ryanna Lockley, a granddaughter of the Lockleys’ who has not tested positive.

Hicks said Riley was tested Monday for the coronavirus, and is awaiting the results.

Lockley’s daughter Trina said her parents have received oxygen at TMH but have not needed to be admitted to the intensive care unit.

“We have been talking to the nurses but he hasn’t been in the mood to talk to anybody,” she said.

She said TMH is not allowing visitors, and that there will likely be restrictions when her parents are transferred to Weems Memorial Hospital for continued observation, Trina Lockley said Tuesday. That transfer was slated to take place.

She said her mother is also slated to be moved to Weems. “She is doing better but she’s not full all the way came around,” she said.

At Tuesday’s commission meeting, colleagues all sent their prayers for Lockley’s swift recovery.

In addition, while they discussed some of the issues relating to how animal control will be extended to both cities, they unanimously agreed to stop short of any formal action, and to visit the issue when Lockley returns so he can participate, since his district encompasses residents of the city of Apalachicola.

While Carrabelle has given a blanket no to the request by the county that they pay $7,000 to help fund an animal control officer who would cover the city, Apalachicola has agreed to pay last year’s fee of $3,500 and to negotiate a price tag and ways to better monitor call volume.

In outlining the commission’s perspective, that having the cities support an additional officer is in no way extortion, Commissioner Smokey Parrish stressed that it is important that a police officer accompany any animal control officers on calls. Calling it “an olive branch,” he also said that any modification of the county’s $7,000 fee, extended to Apalachicola, be extended to Carrabelle as well.

This article originally appeared on The Apalachicola Times: Lockleys to recuperate at Weems