Summer is here again and the same people driving boats and wave runners are out of control on the main canal in Leisure Lakes. ...more

July 2, 2008

The city has postponed a mail-in referendum to determine whether waterfront homeowners are willing to pay a special tax for dredging the canals in their backyards. ...more

June 28, 2008

SEBRING — An enthusiastic crowd of more than 200 people filled the parking lot of the Agri-Civic Center Wednesday for the first-ever Highlands County Conservation Connection community festival. "We will definitely have another event, because it was a good community event," said Corine Burgess, the natural resources specialist for the county's Soil & Water Conservation District. Representatives of 17 county, regional and state environmental agencies not only passed out information and answered questions, but also had displays and handed out dozens of "give-aways." The crowd would have been much larger, many festival goers said, if it was held on a Saturday instead of a week day and if it also was held in the winter instead of during the heat of late June. ...more

June 26, 2008

TOWN 'N COUNTRY - In the war against neighborhood blight, abandoned shopping carts have been a nuisance the Town 'N Country community has been fighting for more than a decade. ...more

June 18, 2008

TOWN 'N COUNTRY - Property taxes, canal dredging and minipark dedications were the topics of the night at the quarterly Bay Crest Park Civic Association meeting. ...more

June 4, 2008

I read with interest the article by James J. Dean regarding the channel between Little Lake Jackson and Lake Jackson. Also, the article about the canal cleanup at Lake Istokpoga. Both of our local newspapers should interview residents of Erin Park, who live on the three canals to Little Lake Jackson, and also take pictures of the three canals, as two of them are literally "seas of grass." We have little water in the middle canal and in the past few weeks, a lot of the fish have died and we've gotten flocks of buzzards on the bank feeding on the dead fish. We haven't had our boats or pontoons out on either lake for almost two years. A lot of the boats and pontoons are sitting high and dry. It would cost each owner around $600 to have a crane come in and remove them. We have contacted local county officials several times, but all we get are words! Something needs to be done. ...more

May 24, 2008

Having Problem With That Boat Starter? Many of us who live on the canals used to get access to Lake Grassy in Sun 'N Lakes, south of Lake Placid, really have little use of our boats until we get a substantial amount of rain. It is hard to imagine how much rain it will take to fill the lake to its normal level, which is almost four feet above the present level. However, I still want to keep my boat running in case it ever rains. Here's a tip if you have found that your boat is getting hard to start or the battery seems to be a bit low, as was my problem a few weeks ago when I tried to warm up the 20-year-old engine. ...more

May 22, 2008

Homeowners along 13 West Shore area canals will vote soon on whether to tax themselves $8,000 each to help pay for dredging the waterways in their backyards. ...more

May 20, 2008

LAKE PLACID — Highlands County Lakes Manager Clell Ford said he hopes to begin dredging and cleaning up several residential canals feeding into Lake Istokpoga by November. The county already did some testing on 17 residential canals, including some of the canals located in Mossy Cove, Palms Estates and near the Istokpoga Marina. Ford said he also needed to choose a dump site for an estimated 25,000 cubic feet of sand and muck that would be taken out of the canals. The state budget has $800,000 slated for the maintenance work, and he said he'll try to get some of the needed permits for the projects next month if the county commissioners approve the project in today's meeting. ...more

May 20, 2008

Monday's small brushfire in Avon Park Estates will hopefully serve as a reminder for residents to be prepared. To see just how devastating brushfires can be, check what happened in Brevard County last week. All it took apparently was tossing a cigarette and the result was thousands of acres of land burned, 30 homes destroyed, 140 structures damaged, people displaced and lives impacted for years to come. Although May is officially the last month of the brushfire season, the threat of fire is still very possible in many parts of the state. It has been dry – as evidenced by lawns turning brown – and will likely continue to remain that way. May is traditionally one of the driest months of the year in Florida. ...more

May 17, 2008