Thanksgiving will be later this week, and in Avon Park they are ramping up for the holiday season. At the request of city councilman Jim Barnard, staff members have moved a number of their “Merry Christmas” signs up Main Street closer to Highway 27 in an effort to greet motorists coming into the downtown area of the City of Charm.
The Avon Park Christmas Parade will kick off a week from today – it’s the first processional of the season here in Highlands County.
There’s been another rash of car burglaries in Highlands County. This time, thieves have rummaged through vehicles at Sun ‘N Lake and across the street at Sebring Ridge.
Highlands County Sheriff’s detectives are looking for homeowners who may have surveillance camera or other recordings that will help in determining who the thieves are. They say many of the vehicles that were burgled were left unlocked.
Sheriff’s officials urge citizens to follow the 9:PM routine and make certain car doors, homes and outbuildings are locked up tight.
The resentencing of a Polk County man convicted of killing three people decades ago has been delayed.
A judge has decided to postpone the early December sentencing of 70-year-old Paul Beasley Johnson.
Johnson was originally sentenced to death after his conviction in the 1981 slayings. But the jury’s recommendation for death was not unanimous, and many inmates have been granted new hearings following a 2016 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that they must be.
A status hearing has been set Dec. 13 for Johnson. No new date has been set for the second sentencing.
Johnson was convicted of fatally shooting a deputy, a cab driver and another man during a January 1981 crime spree.