Sebring city officials, veterans and interested citizens turned out this morning at the Alan Jay Ford dealership to watch the largest American Flag in Highlands county be raised for the first time.
Nelly Ford sang both The National Anthem and God Bless America. VFW Post 4300 members raised Old Glory as bugler Richard Woods played the posting of the colors.
The 50-pound nylon flag immediately caught the breeze and will remain atop the 110-foot flag pole around the clock. It will be illuminated at night by a number of LED lights.
Alan Jay officials say it was mounted at the southern gateway to Sebring as a tribute to area veterans.
Another new phase for the City of Charm begins tonight, as new Avon Park City Manager David Flowers attends his first city council meeting in that capacity. There are a number of large scale items to deal with – including the kerfluffle over a generator that was ordered for city hall.
Council also will consider the annexation of better than 100-acres in the Lake Lotela area and a brace of issues regarding the use of the Martin Luther King jr. Sports Complex.
Officials from Duke Energy say Highlands County has received more than $22,000 in grant funding from the power company. It’s the local share of better than three million dollars and 20,000 hours of community service work invested by Duke in non-profit agencies across the Sunshine State.
Among other things, there were $5,000 grants to the Highlands County Education Foundation, The Highlands Art League, and the US Sport Aviation Expo. There also was a $2,000 grant to Nu-Hope Elder Care Services.
Today begins Severe Weather Awareness Week. It starts with “Lightning Awareness Day.” We are considered to be the lightning capital of the United States and are located in an area dubbed as “Lightning Alley” – which stretches from Tampa to Titusville.
Because of the frequency of electrical storms here, we also lead the nation in the number of lightning-related deaths.
Local Emergency Management officials are gearing up for Wednesday, when there will be a statewide tornado alert drill.