AVON PARK — The Avon Park City Council decided to form a seven-member committee to recommend a new police chief from the 61 applications the city received. In creating the committee, the council decided to fill the police chief's position before they found a new city manager, using the committee's recommendations to help interim City Manager Sarah Adelt pick out Frank Mercurio's successor. The city has not begun advertising for the city manager's position. ...more

January 16, 2008

SEBRING – The first babies born at Highlands Regional Medical Center and Florida Hospital Heartland Division wasted no time joining the world. ...more

January 2, 2008

AVON PARK — A hired consultant has called the soccer field near Memorial Field a "liability" to the city and recomended it should be overhalued. The city council, meanwhile, was reluctant to close it and instead ordered City Manager C.B. Shirey to "evaluate" the field by Wednesday. Dan Morgan, an agronomist from Lithia who was hired by the city to examine all of its parks, said it was overused, while its current condition creates a safety hazard. The park system in general also had problems. "The potential for injury is good," Morgan said. Though he said he wasn't exactly suggesting it should be shut down entirely, he said, "they need to shut it down and rennovate it." ...more

November 29, 2007

AVON PARK — Sharon Schuler retained the mayor's seat and Al Hinson will take over Doug Eason's city council position after both won by comfortable margins in the official count. ...more

November 7, 2007

AVON PARK — With both major precincts counted, an unofficial count had Mayor Sharon Schuler almost 100 votes ahead of the next-highest candidate for mayor, while Avon Park Middle School teacher Al Hinson held a sizable lead in the council election Tuesday night. Schuler, with 329 votes, will likely remain mayor for another three years as she holds an insurmountable lead over former Gordon Marshall in the mayoral race. Marshall, with 223 votes, is a distant second, while Ed Dickerson had 159 votes and Gonzalo Lezama 47. Schuler said she wasn't expecting it. Truly. "Everyone has an opportunity to win," she said as she came to the supervisor of election's office to see the vote counting. "I'm very happy." Hinson, meanwhile, has 250 votes, holding a solid lead over Paul Miller's 202 backers, Michael Shirey's 177 and James Rahenkamp's 140. Hinson, reached by phone Tuesday evening, was cautiously optimistic that he would hold on to the lead. "I thought it would be close," he said. "I feel good... I guess the people went out and voted. Hopefully it's official but I am happy." ...more

November 6, 2007

AVON PARK — It has been more than a year since then-mayor Tom Macklin brought up an ordinance to penalize landlords for renting to illegal immigrants. Though it failed in June 2006, it mobilized several businesses and most of the Hispanic community, and for better or worse, it changed many residents' views of their city and the actions of City Hall, even to this day. "They're (the customers) more careful now, because they know they're after them," said Angel Del Valle, who worked at the Broken Spoke Flea Market during the unfolding controversy last year. He now owns the store, and had several Hispanic customers browsing the shelves when interviewed Wednesday afternoon. "They try not to be too obvious." Though Macklin was the mayor of Avon Park for six years, most people only remember him for his final months, when he brought the Illegal Immigration Relief Act to the council chambers. He earned a large group of detractors, but also earned the support of those like James Geer, who wrote in a 2006 letter to the editor that "the federal government is not doing its job." ...more

November 4, 2007

AVON PARK — If the size of a candidate's bank account is a clue in who's going to win the election, then Mayor Sharon Schuler is way ahead in the mayoral race, while James Rahenkamp has a comfortable lead in the race for Doug Eason's open council seat. According to campaign treasurer's reports submitted Oct. 19 to the city, Schuler didn't need to use a dime of her own money to raise $1,335 in her campaign. Rahenkamp, meanwhile, plunked $200 of his own money and collected more than $820 from a handful of big-dollar donators in his council bid. On the expenses, Schuler spent $1,119, almost double the amount spent by Gonzalo Lezama, the next-biggest spender for the mayoral race. Rahenkamp has held on to most of his contributions, spending a mere $428.81 as of Oct. 12. Notably, Schuler was the only candidate to use campaign mailers. Even though Paul Miller bought business cards, none of the other six candidates spent money on any other form of advertising, using their funds only for filing fees and campaign signs. Several of the other candidates bankrolled their campaigns using mostly their own money. Mayoral contestants Ed Dickerson and Gordon Marshall relied only on their own wallets to raise $641.87 and $300, respectively. ...more

October 30, 2007

SEBRING — Ricky Singer donned a hair net Wednesday morning as he stood in front of the Sweetbay's meat department in Sebring. ...more

October 17, 2007

RIVERVIEW-- Accidente de un autobús escolar dejo a 11 niños heridos. Todos los estudiantes que estuvieron envuelto en el accidente de esta mañana con autobús escolar ya esta fueran del hospital, dijeron los oficiales de distrito escolar. ...more

September 4, 2007