SEBRING – The search for an executive director for Florida's Heartland Rural Economic Development Initiative will contine Monday, June 2 when the selection committee meets in Sebring. Six candidates for the position are scheduled to be interviewed, according to Roger Hood, who is a member of the committee. The FHREDI board of directors' regular meeting will be held Monday, June 16 at the Agri-Civic Center in Sebring. A recommendation will likely be made from the committee to the board at that time. Following the retirement of Lynn Topel earlier this year, the board advertised the position. The committee chose three candidates to be interviewed and offered the position to the top two, but both declined. Salary might have been an issue with those two individuals, according to Hood, who is also a member of the board. ...more

May 31, 2008

The plight of Mr. Anaya came to light in your paper over the last weekend. He was born in Texas in 1956 and promptly his parents were given deportation orders, it stated. He spent the next and first (15) fifteen years of his life in Mexico. This makes him a citizen of Mexico! He claims an American citizenship due only to his birth in Texas. In 1866, Sen. Jacob Howard clearly spelled out the intent of the 14th Amendment by stating: "Every person born within the limits of the US, and subject to their jurisdiction, is by virtue of natural law and national law a citizen of the US. This will not include persons born in the US who are foreigners, aliens, who belong to the families of ambassadors of foreign ministers accredited to the Government of the US." This understanding was reaffirmed by Sen. Edward Cowan, who stated: "(A foreigner in the US) has a right to the protection of the laws; but he is not a citizen in the ordinary since of the word." ...more

May 23, 2008

AVON PARK — Congressman Putnam's office has called Lucio Anaya Sr. and to say his passport will arrive soon. "He called me," said Patricia Austin, who wrote Putnam on Anaya's behalf. "He said they have approved his passport. "That's wonderful," said Austin. "Hopefully, he'll get it within two weeks." Anaya, an Avon Park vegetable stand operator who lives in Frostproof, has applied twice for a passport, but was sent a letter with requests for more documents. ...more

May 20, 2008

TAMPA - Two men took part in a Dade City drug deal Monday that involved a kilogram of cocaine and nearly $20,000, police say. ...more

May 20, 2008

OKEECHOBEE – Despite a valiant fourth-quarter comeback, the Avon Park boys basketball team fell to Okeechobee 57-55 on Saturday night in the Brahman gym. Early foul trouble forced the Red Devils to sit freshman Alonzo Robertson, who finished with 11 points, and Tim Dennis, who did a good job on the boards. Okeechobee took advantage by taking a 35-18 halftime lead. Freshman Avierre Conner finished with 12 points and helped the Red Devils mount their second-half comeback. ...more

February 4, 2008

SEBRING — It wasn't an injury that kept T.J. Williams out of the Sebring football team's first two games. His knees were fine — his back, shoulders and ankles all in working order. Instead, the problem that kept Williams on the sideline for what should've been the first two games of his senior season was found under his helmet. "It was my attitude," said Williams, who was suspended for the first two games of the season by Blue Streak coach Jared Hamlin after skipping practice and not buying in to what the team was doing. "I wanted to be out there. I just asked God to humble me." When he stepped onto the field for his first game of the season against Okeechobee in week three, Williams was admittedly "antsy," but according to Hamlin, the rest of the team was feeling something far different. ...more

January 19, 2008

SEBRING — Bubba Latimer and the Bub-ba-Q team from Jasper, Ga. is the Grand Champion at the 12th Central Florida BBQ Festival. Latimer was ecstatic after his team beat competitors from all over the Southeast in the weekend-long barbecue festival, also called the "Pig Fest." He has been competitively barbecuing for only the past year and a half. He already knew where his prize was going when another competitor suggested mounting his trophy wooden pig statue. ...more

January 14, 2008

SEBRING – Before last weekend, it had been four years since Lynn Topel had taken a bike ride. Topel also loves gardening but there has been no time for that either. However, that will soon change for the executive director of Florida's Heartland Rural Economic Development Initiative (FHREDI). Topel will be leaving her position after four years in leading the organization that covers six counties – Highlands, Okeechobee, Glades, Hendry, DeSoto and Hardee – as well as communities in Palm Beach and Collier counties. In the first two years on the job, 80-hour weeks were the norm for Topel because of the devastating impact from the hurricanes – especially Charley – had on the region. "I can tell you that those weeks were long," she said. "Now it's gotten much better. This past year has been much more normal – 40 to 50-hour weeks. But it also took those two years to create those relationships all through the state that are important to the region." ...more

January 13, 2008

Bubba Latimer and the Bub-ba-Q team from Jasper, Ga. is the Grand Champion at the 12th Central Florida BBQ Festival. ...more

January 12, 2008

"I was 8 years old when this whole thing happened, home with our father in bed asleep, less than a mile from where they hung Uncle Sam," Robie Mortin remembers. "It was New Year's Day, 1923." ...more

January 6, 2008