There was some spirited back-and-forth last night at the Avon Park city council session about plans for utility services to the planned NuCOR steel manufacturing facility that involve the City of Charm.
It began with Councilwoman Maria Sutherland expressing her displeasure with plans by Duke Energy to erect 100-foot power poles through the city. Apparently those plans were seen by the former city manager and never broght before the council in a formal presentation.
Later, council members questioned a nearly million-dollar grant that would run municipal water & sewer lines to the county’s border. County officials lobbied hard, saying if the city did not take advantage of the grant, the money would go someplace else.
While a GoFundMe page for the victims of the January shooting at the main SunTrust bank branch in Sebring continues to grow, a public meeting was held last night by a committee that is set to disperse the funds.
They outlined the protocol for distribution, and heard public input on the matter. Some speakers urged that in addition to the families of the five victims of the shooting, the branch manager also be included.
Goal for the fund has been set at a half million dollars, it stands at just short of $330,000.
A local business has made the Top 10 in their field. Officials at the Sebring Regional Airport have announced that Technam’s P2008 was one of the Top 10 best selling aircraft last year.
The 2-seater has a range of 633 nautical miles with a maximum cruise speed of nearly 140 miles per hour. In the polling by General Aviation News, the locally-produced aircraft tied the Cirrus SF50 Vision Jet for ninth position.
Technam set up shop at the Sebring airport back in 2014.
Highlandes County firefighters joined Florida Forest Service units in containing a brush fire on the south end of the county yesterday in Venus. One mobile home was damaged while a camper trailer and a 5th-wheel camper were destroyed by the flames which ate up two-acres off Moss Road.
Later, Highlands Lakes firefighters and Florida Forest Service Units were called out in the northern reaches to snuff a two-acre blaze in the Avon Park Lakes community. Officials say thick vegetation intensified the fire – however, light winds actually assisted in suppressing the flames.
Officials warn this is the time to be cautious with burning as we enter the annual dry season.