The old Gobblers have won many battles, but they may have lost the war to create a public library in the former Turkey Creek High. ...more

August 23, 2008

HUNTER'S GREEN - Carol Poland has been a neighborhood activist in New Tampa almost as long as there has been a New Tampa. ...more

August 20, 2008

Monday was a day to hurry up and wait as officials prepared for whatever Tropical Storm Fay brings to Hernando County. ...more

August 19, 2008

The Emergency Operations Center will be staffed by emergency management staff only. The phone lines will be open at the Public Information Center all day today. When the center was opened Monday morning, volunteers fielded 71 calls in three hours. ...more

August 19, 2008

Neither County officials nor the National Weather Service knows exactly what to expect from Tropical Storm Fay. ...more

August 18, 2008

Public schools throughout Highlands County will be closed Tuesday as the county braces for Tropical Storm Fay. Two of those schools, including Woodlawn Elementary in Sebring and Lake Placid High School, will be activated at 6 p.m. Monday as hurricane shelters, Highlands County Emergency Operations director Bill Nichols said Sunday. The county will also open the Avon Park Recreational Center for shelter. The County Board of Commissioners will hold an emergency meeting at 8 a.m. Monday to decide if other county services will be halted Tuesday, when Fay is expected to pass through Highlands County. National Weather Service projections indicate that the eye will go over Hardee County. ...more

August 17, 2008

In her monthly address to the Highlands County Board of County Commissioners, Sheriff Susan Benton told the board the jail population is down largely due to streamlining the process. ...more

August 16, 2008

Design and construction of the new Highlands County Sheriff's Building will start early next year as planned, according to the proposed county budget for the new 2008-09 fiscal year, which starts Oct. 1. ...more

August 14, 2008

The New Tampa Community Council wants to recognize Carol Poland's efforts by renaming the New Tampa Regional Library in her honor. ...more

August 13, 2008

It is not certain which environmental organization came up "Pave it or Save it," but I am beholden to them as it stirred my recollection of words to that effect, thrown as a challenge; "If you want to save that piece of wild land, buy it!" How many times have I heard that from local and other bureaucrats, and even a newspaper whose editorial staff must have been influenced by developers or big agriculture? ...more

August 13, 2008