News Update for 4/.3/24

Officials of Highlands County Emergency Management are warning residents to brace themselves. The county is under a wind advisory until 5:00 this evening as a cold front moves through the area.
Both wind and thunderstorms have been predicted for later this afternoon.

There will be two new faces on the Lake Placid Town Council. Voters in the Caladium Capital yesterday vaulted challengers Coleen Charles and Joy Eberhard into office. They outdistanced longtime incumbents Ray Royce and Charles Wilson,
Eberhard was the top vote getter with 192 ballots, followed by Charles with 189.
They will be sworn in next Monday April 8th, before the next council meeting. They then will take office immediately.

There also was an election in Lake Wales – and both incumbents there also were defeated. Challenger Carol Gillespie routed Danny Kreuger 1.325 to 983 in the District 4 commission race.
The District 3 race was a lot closer. With Daniel Williams leading Brandon Alvarado by a single vote. That one apparently is headed for a re-count.

It appears Agape Farms will be allowed to re-open, but with a number of restrictions. Tops on the list will be parking – with patrons required to put their motor vehicles on the Agape property.
Apparently neighbors had complained about intrusion and other motorists cited people parking on the right-of-way.
It’s not over yet. Apparently there still are some pending zoning issues for the Sebring-area Agri-Tourism facility that still are being hashed out.

Traffic again will be disrupted in Sebring today, while television crews document what HGTV designers are doing to downtown Sebring. Today, Lakeview Drive will be closed from Chicago Avenue to Kenilworth Blvd until at least 1pm. Yesterday and this morning the historic Circle and spoke streets down to Wall Street were shut down.
Tomorrow and Friday, parts of Lakeview also will be closed off for filming.

Following an investigation, Wauchula Police swooped down on a suspected drug house. They rousted ten people out of the North 10th Avenue address, then took five into custody.
Among other things, they confiscated an amount of methamphetamine. No other details on the bust have yet been released.