The Highlands County Commission got organized for the upcoming year yesterday – after swearing in returning Commissioners Kevin Roberts, Scott Kirouwac and Chris Campbell for fresh terms, the Commission elected Arlene Tuck as Board Chairperson for the upcoming year and Don Elewell as Vice-Chair.
The Sebring CRA Board decided Monday to accept a proposal for the old Nan-Ces-O-Wee Hotel site on North Ridgewood in Downtown Sebring. Dance Unlimited plans to build a state of the art studio on the site with other facilities on a 10,000 square foot foundation. The company has secured a little over two and a third million from the Small Business Administration for the project.
A messy crash on State Road 70 early yesterday morning heading into Arcadia in Desoto County claimed one life after a sedan and a pickup truck collided head-on. The car driven by a 35 year old Indiantown man reportedly was attempting to pass other drivers heading west and hit the eastbound pickup driven by a 28 year old Arcadia man head-on. The Indiantown man in the sedan was pronounced dead at the scene – others in the car and truck were treated at local hospitals.
FEMA’s Disaster Recovery Center in Highlands County IS open today, 9am-7pm at the Bert J. Harris Jr. Agricultural Center, south of Sebring on Highway 27.
Oops. The Texaco C-store at the corner of North Ridgewood and the Sebring Parkway, downtown, had an unexpected visitor Monday afternoon. A car evidently didn’t – or couldn’t – stop, and drove into the front of the building. Sebring Police, along with three units from Highlands County Fire Rescue responded – no injuries, except to the window.
There MAY be hope for the citrus industry yet in their fight against citrus greening. University of Florida researchers met with area growers last week over in Zolfo Springs and shared results of studies they’ve been doing on citrus trees around the state using injections of antibiotics into the trunks of orange trees. Depending on dosage, the UF Food and Ag Sciences representatives say they saw yield improvements in treated trees in tests up to double over untreated trees.