Local News Headlines 11-27-20

Just a reminder – today is Thursday if you speak “Trash Talk.” Highlands County serviced trash collections from yesterday will be picked up today. If you’re on a normal Friday route, your trash pickup will come tomorrow.

Highlands County Fire and Rescue crews were kept busy yesterday – one in Lake Placid where the house filled with smoke when a frying pan with grease in it got left inside an over set to self-clean, another on Valerie Boulevard north of Sebring, where they found ANOTHER stove fire. And yesterday evening, a three-vehicle crash at the corner of New Life Way and Highway 27 in Sebring brought two ambulances and a couple fire units into play, with three persons transported to area hospitals. The State Patrol is investigating that wreck.

The day after Thanksgiving is Black Friday – and with lots of stores passing on Thanksgiving Day evening presales, the race began bright and early today. Walmart threw a bunch of special up online yesterday evening at 7pm, and the stores opened at 5am. Down the road at the Mall, Beall’s opened at six, Belk at 7am. This is traditionally the biggest retail sales day of the year, but stores have been pushing the specials out for a few weeks now in an attempt to work around customers leeriness over the scrum over the doorbuster specials on Black Friday itself. Walmart’s website says customers will form a single, straight line to enter the store, be directed to shop down the right-hand side of the aisles and they’ll limit the number of customers into the store.

The Sebring Chamber of Commerce will be looking for a new CEO – Liza Barber announced her departure from the Chamber earlier this week. She’ll be taking a position with the County as its grants coordinator. Barber has been at the head of the local Chamber since 2013.

Just a little excitement, Florida style, yesterday afternoon in the Bob Evans restaurant parking lot … the Highlands County Sheriff’s Office posted a photo to its Facebook page yesterday afternoon showing deputy Tyler Bumby posing with a tiny alligator he had to wrangle up. “While most people are enjoying today off and getting ready to eat, Deputy Tyler Bumby risked getting eaten (well, at least a slight nip,)” the post said. According to the post, Deputy Bumby found the little “monster” in the parking lot of a Bob Evans. “Hey, even gators are looking for a good meal today!” the sheriff’s office joked in its post, adding #onlyinflorida.