SEBRING Bob Germaine wants to bring the services offered through the Highlands County Clerk of Courts to the people, as opposed to the other way around. ...more

October 18, 2008

At least two employees with the Highlands County Clerk of Courts office apparently have received subpoenas on behalf of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, but the reason why is unclear. ...more

October 15, 2008

There could be a collective sigh of relief in Thunderbird Hills after the city of Sebring agreed to buy its waste water system, which had been reportedly operating without a state permit for about six years. ...more

October 9, 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

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

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 — David Flowers, director of county facilities management, is under investigation for sexually explicit, instant messages he exchanged on county computers with fired budget department employee Treasa Handley. Rick Helms, the assistant county administrator, is in charge of the investigation of Flowers, a former county commissioner who failed in his bid this week to become director of the county's new division of administrative services. ...more

January 31, 2008

SEBRING — By accident, a routine financial audit of expenditures for the 9-1-1 emergency call system uncovered voluminous sexually explicit messages sent between three Highlands County employees in the budget department. The sexually explicit messages, all public-record documents open to public inspection, led to the firings Monday morning of: Treasa Handley, former coordinator of non ad-valorem assessments; Jared Lee, former budget analyst; and Christine Edwards, former budget technician. ...more

January 30, 2008

SEBRING — Highlands County Clerk of Courts Luke Brooker announced Friday morning that he would not seek re-election in 2008. According to Highlands County Courthouse Director of Court Services Bob Germaine, Brooker made the announcement during an employee of the year meeting, saying that he wants to focus on his family after his term expires in January 2009. "Luke's been here for a long time, and he's been an excellent boss," said Germaine. "I think it came down to wanting to be able to spend more time with his family. He wants to focus on his grandchildren and his health." Brooker, who has been elected to serve for four terms, could not be reached for comment Friday. Brooker originally took office in January 1993. He ran unopposed in 1996 and had opposition in 2000 and 2004. ...more

December 22, 2007