I would like to report a crime; two crimes actually. The first is a decade of destruction to public property by the users of ATVs, Jeeps and trucks in the Henscratch and Leisure Lakes areas of the protected Lake Wales Ridge properties. ...more

March 6, 2009

Drive south on U.S. 27. Just three miles east of S.R. 70, the country begins to change. The Lake Wales Ridge drops dozens of feet in elevation, and the hilly land becomes flat. ...more

February 22, 2009

The 112 canals running along the Lake Wales Ridge in Highlands County have never been inspected or maintained by the county. ...more

January 10, 2009

If the state approves, Southwest Florida Water Management District is planning to spend $1.8 billion in the next two decades to clean up lakes in eight Central Florida counties. ...more

October 27, 2008

The federal government owns about 1,700 acres in Highlands County and is asking for public input on how to best manage the property at a meeting tonight. ...more

September 25, 2008

Efforts to place on the 2008 ballot a property tax to help the county conserve environmentally sensitive lands appeared to be dead late Wednesday afternoon after its backers conceded to a county advisory commission that the worsening economy would dampen its support. ...more

August 1, 2008

More than 1,500 acres of citrus groves about seven miles south of town, off the south side of S.R. 70, could become a top quality, 311-home "equestrian community." ...more

July 24, 2008

TAMPA - Rainfall the past two weeks has eased the wildfire threat and turned lawns from crispy to lush but hasn't been enough for water managers to recommend lifting the once-weekly watering restrictions in West Central Florida. ...more

June 23, 2008

LAKE PLACID — Progress was achieved during what might have become a bureaucratic nightmare Thursday, when a dozen representatives from several state and federal agencies descended on Archbold Biological Station. Florida Gas Transmission Co. employees and public officials met to discuss a proposed natural gas pipeline that might skirt a property line at the 9,000-acre biological station. The session took place prior to a public scoping meeting designed to hear the concerns of the public, to be held later that night. ...more

June 12, 2008

SEBRING — A Lake Placid veterinarian's push for a new ballot initiative, which would create a new property tax to build a land acquisition fund, may reach the county commissioners next month. Dr. Elton Gissindanner and his supporters convinced the Natural Resources Advisory Commission Wednesday to draft a bill that would create a tax of 0.2 mils, or $10 for a property valued at $100,000 after the $50,000 homestead exemptions are considered. If the county commissioners approve it, it could appear on the ballot in November. Gissindanner said that 29 Florida counties had a conservation fund of some sort. Polk County's program bought more than 12,000 acres so far. ...more

May 29, 2008