On Thursday evening, the Highlands County commissioners will hold the first of two required evening public hearings on the proposed county budget for fiscal year 2008-09, which starts Oct. 1. ...more

August 13, 2008

A Clewiston man was found guilty in the theft of an ATM machine torn from the wall of the Highlands Independent Bank branch using an excavator machine stolen from the Walgreens construction site on New Year's Eve in 2006 - 2007. ...more

August 7, 2008

Clewiston man was found guilty in the theft of an ATM machine torn from the wall of the Highlands Independent Bank branch using an excavator machine stolen from the Walgreens construction site on New Years Eve in 2006 – 2007. ...more

August 6, 2008

The Highlands County Homeowners Association will break from tradition at its monthly meeting Monday morning by having not one but three guest speakers. ...more

July 13, 2008

Where Were Journalists? "Dishing On Hillary" (Commentary, June 15) featured guest columns by three individuals whom I hold in very high esteem: the honorable Sandy Freedman, Clerk of Courts Pat Frank and historian Doris Weatherford. Freedman, Frank and Weatherford echoed what many of us have said for months. Though a Clinton supporter, my concern in this instance is apolitical. My concern is the same when Barack Obama suffers racial slurs and John McCain is judged incompetent to lead because of his age. ...more

June 22, 2008

SEBRING — Court fees, traffic fines and an assortment of other charges are going up as a result of the passage of Senate Bill 1790, and clerk of courts officials are scrambling to get the changes recorded before July 1, when these increases kick in. The bill was approved by Gov. Charlie Crist on June 10. The Highlands County Clerk of Court's staff is going through the 73-page senate bill making all the mandatory changes it contains to its fee schedules, said Bob Germaine, senior director of court services. ...more

June 18, 2008

SEBRING — The formal legal process for the appeals of two county employees for exchanging inappropriate and often sexually explicit instant-messages will begin in six days, on Monday. Jim McCollum, the attorney for ex-county employees Jared Lee and Treasa Handley, will take sworn statements, recorded verbatim by a legal stenographer, from four people, starting at 9 a.m. in a conference room at the Highlands County Government Center. Handley and Lee were dismissed more than five months ago for sending thousands of personal instant messages to each other, and others, on their county computers during working hours. Many of the messages were sexually explicit, and all of them are public record, accessible to anyone, with a request to either the county's public information officer or the Highlands County Clerk of Courts office. ...more

June 16, 2008

Hillsborough County Supervisor of Elections Buddy Johnson's tenure has been plagued by questions - about hush-up payments to a former aide, his failure to his pay property taxes on time, even his willingness or ability to forthrightly explain his office's operations. ...more

June 13, 2008

SEBRING — A Sebring contractor has filed a construction claim of lien against the city of Sebring for its building in the Sebring Circle, currently occupied by the Greater Sebring Chamber of Commerce. Mark Stewart, owner and president of MCS Contracting, doing business as Stewart Construction, located at 2714 Kenilworth Blvd., swore out the claim of lien on May 15, stating that his firm provided labor, services and materials to remodel the old chamber building. According to the document filed with Highlands County Clerk of Courts L.E. "Luke" Brooker, Stewart claims his business did the remodeling for $43,429.46, starting on Nov. 29 and completing the job on March 13. ...more

May 19, 2008

SEBRING — In the old days, which were only a few weeks ago, a Highlands County deputy would cite drivers for speeding in his ticket book. The driver was handed a carbonless copy, and the original went to the sheriff's office, where it was transferred to the county clerk of courts and to the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles. Now, the sheriff's office gives out electronic citations, said Sheriff Susan Benton. ...more

May 4, 2008