Anonymous person donates $32,000 to cannery

Somebody sent the county finance department a $31,907 cashier's check last Friday with instructions to use it to help fund the salary of the sole Little Rock Cannery employee.

Circuit Court Clerk Karen Nicolai called it the single largest anonymous donation ever received.

But the unknown benefactor will have to wait awhile to see if the county heeds his or her wishes. The matter could possibly be broached at the board's July 28 meeting.

Nicolai said it will be up to county commissioners to decide what to do with the check. For now, it's locked safely inside her department's vault, she said.

Even if she wanted to return it, there is no return address, Nicolai said.

The county budgets about $49,000 a year for the facility, which employs one full-time person who is paid about $32,000. County commissioners have considered closing the cannery as one way to save money.

The Little Rock Cannery is located at 15487 Citrus Way, at U.S. 98 and County Road 491, about nine miles north of Brooksville, near the border of Citrus County.