A new report by Smartest Dollar shows that when it comes to pay, local first responders are making below the national average. The survey indicates the average here for police officers, firefighters, EMT’s, paramedics and the like is just short of $50,000 annually – when adjusted for the local cost of living – which is 13-percent below the national average.
When adjusted, first responders nationally are raking in an average of just over $60,000 a year. The numbers were distilled from Bureau of Labor Statistics figures.
A Lake Placid man has died in a weekend traffic crash. Florida Highway Patrol reports say the 65-year-old driver was traveling south of Pershing Avenue early Saturday morning and failed to negotiate a curve.
His pickup traveled through some brush, then slammed into a large oak tree. Troopers say it is unknown whether or not he was buckled up.
A Sebring man died Saturday morning in a Hardee County traffic accident. The 71-year-old driver was eastbound on State Road 64 when his car went off the road and ran into a fence. The driver was pronounced dead a the scene. Troopers say he WAS wearing his seatbelt.
Firefighters from the City of Avon Park had to fight the flames at a weekend structure fire. They were called to a blaze in a large workshop in the 800 block of South Palmer Avenue late Saturday afternoon.
No injuries were reported. So far, the cause and a damage estimate has not been released.
Residential impact fees may be re-instated this evening as members of the Frostproof city council meet in regular session. The council will hear the second reading of an ordinance terminating the moratorium on the collection of such fees involving the construction of new homes and other dwellings in the Friendly City.
In other action, commissioners are expected to ink an agreement with the Central Florida Regional Planning Council to serve as the city’s planning department and will make preparations for their part in Polk County’s annual 39-mile yard sale coming in November.
A third victim now has died following a violent attack where an angry man wielding a knife and baseball bat killed three co-workers and injured another at the home in Davenport they shared.
Polk County Sheriff’s officials say Shaun Runyon punched his supervisor then and returned to the home he where he was temporarily living with his co-workers.
The sheriff said Runyon has confessed to beating one man to death while he slept and killing another man on the front porch. A third victim suffered critical injuries and later died at the hospital.