News Update for 9/29/21

A new study by the firm Construction Coverage shows that carpenters in the Sebring area earn an average of $36,600 a year. Even with the figure adjusted to $42,000 annually based on the local cost of living, it pales in comparison to the national average of $49,500 a year – which is an unadjusted number.
The survey points to supply chain problems as a critical factor in the construction industry.

Code enforcement officers in Avon Park say they are suffering the slings and arrows of a problem which is not of their making. Municipal code enforcement officer Randy LaBelle told Avon Park council members he has been called every name in the book, when he asks people for their names and addresses when filing a code enforcement complaint.
Labelle simply is following state law, passed during the last legislative session. It mandates code enforcement complainants identify themselves. He says, without that information, officers may not respond to the issue.

Highlands County’s Sheriff’s K-9’s have been busy over the past few days. First, it was Hooch that made a collar, now comes word that K-9 Gentry ferreted out a couple of Polk County men who were found during the early morning hours at an Avon Park scrapyard.
When ordered to halt, two of the three men found – fled into the dark. However, Gentry was able to sniff them out and detain them. All three subsequently were arrested and taken to the Highlands County jail.

A two vehicle accident in Sebring last night sent two people to the hospital. Police in the City on the Circle say a pick-up truck and a passenger car collided at the intersection of Kenilworth Boulevard and the Sebring Parkway about 7:45 last night.
Two people were taken to the hospital with what were described as “non-life threatening injuries.”

A Hardee County man reportedly has been killed in a Manatee County traffic crash. Florida Highway Patrol reports indicate a car driven by a Sarasota man went across state road 64, striking a Wauchula’s man’s car head-on.
Both drivers were pronounced dead at the scene.