Communication Builds Our Community
Communication Builds Our Community
Sorted by date Results 126 - 150 of 333
Rotary on the Ridge held its first "hybrid" meeting Monday, June 22 to install new President Trey Heath and offer thanks to outgoing President Herb Gillis. About 15 members gathered in person, while another 10 used the ZOOM platform to participate online. District 6890 Governor Kip Kipnis was installing officer for Heath, who officially becomes club president July 1. The club postponed its annual celebration and further recognition of Gillis and other members to July 22, in...
The City of Lake Wales may take possession of the historic Seminole Hotel, now two and one-half years after it was first condemned as unsafe. The Lake Wales Code Enforcement Board Thursday, June 25 authorized the city to move forward with foreclosing on the property, since owner Cardiff Howell had been unable to correct multiple code violations or to sell the hotel to someone who could restore it. If the city takes possession, commissioners will have to decide what to do with...
Lake Wales Assistant City Manager Kathy Bangley resigned Thursday morning June 18, effective immediately. She quit less than a week after Interim City Manager James Slaton put her on a six-month probation for "poor performance and unprofessional behavior." A 14-year city employee, Bangley worked closely with and got superior evaluations from recently retired City Manager Ken Fields, who in October 2019 gave her a $2,612 raise and the title assistant city manager for planning...
City Commissioner Al Goldstein is proposing that the city fund a "Lake Wales Black Music and Cultural Center" on Lincoln Avenue. He brought it up at the end of the June 16 commission meeting, and plans to talk more about it during the July budget workshop. "Why music? Because Blacks are famous in music," Goldstein said, noting Elvis Presley was greatly influenced by Black musicians and Black gospel music. Goldstein said Black children often have low self-esteem and that creati...
After nearly eight years chasing bad guys and sniffing out drugs, Lake Wales Police K9 Badge is hanging up his collar. After his retirement, the Belgian Malinois is transitioning from working dog to family pet in the home of his handler, Officer Dale Hampton. Badge basked in the attention at his retirement party Friday, June 19, playing with his stuffed toys and accepting "good boys" from about 50 people who came out to wish him well. The partygoers got to take home a special...
Qualifying ended Friday, June 12 and four of the five Polk County constitutional officers – Sheriff Grady Judd, Clerk of the Court Stacy Butterfield, Property Appraiser Marsha Faux and Tax Collector Joe Tedder were re-elected without opposition. Twenty-year incumbent Supervisor of Elections Lori Edwards will face challenger Debbie Hannifan, a Lakeland Realtor, in the nonpartisan race. Listing no party affiliation, Martin Grenfell qualified to challenge two-term incumbent Distr...
Lake Wales City Commissioners spent a little under two hours in a workshop session June 10 becoming familiar with next Tuesday's regular June 16 meeting agenda and sharing their opinions informally with their colleagues and city staff. Commissioners indicated they like the new pre-agenda workshop proposed by new Interim City Manager James Slaton to identify and address commissioner questions prior to distribution of the formal agenda and to obtain their input on proposed...
Body worn cameras for Lake Wales police officers got put on the back burner during a budget workshop June 3, but not without heated discussion and passionate disagreements among city commissioners. Commissioners Terrye Howell and Curtis Gibson advocated for body cameras to be a budget priority, but Mayor Eugene Fultz, who previously supported them, cited budget concerns and his doubts that cameras would resolve issues between police and citizens. Deputy Mayor Robin Gibson...
Lake Wales Police Detective Travis Worley was suspended with pay Friday June 5 pending the conclusion of an active internal investigation, which Deputy Chief Troy Schulze called "the best decision for everyone involved." Worley was the prime target of a protest May 31 by the Winter Haven-based civil rights group the Poor and Minority Justice Association, which called for his termination for allegedly using racial slurs, excessive force, stealing from suspects, planting drugs a...
Lake Wales Finance Director Dorothy Abbott tried to calm commissioners' fears at the first 2020-2021 city budget workshop June 3. She said she's been preparing city budgets for 19 years and if she's not panicking over the likelihood of reduced revenue, neither should they. "Everybody just stay calm, tell us what you would like to see and trust your staff to bring back a budget document," Abbott said. "If I'm not too worried yet, please don't be too worried yet." Abbott said sh...
About 125 peaceful protesters gathered Sunday afternoon at the Lake Wales Police Department, but unlike groups around the country their issue was not the killing of a black man by a white Minneapolis police officer. Instead, they were calling for racial justice at the local level and demanding the firing of a Lake Wales police detective, who ironically was named 2019 Officer of the Year. The Poor and Minority Justice Association, a Winter Haven-based civil rights group,...
Some ran and others walked. Some offered flowers, others balloons. Several carried homemade signs. But in all, several hundred people showed up, united in their desire to celebrate the life of Irys Wright, a 10-year-old lost May 24 to raging ocean riptide off Siesta Key Beach. Her parents, Parys Miller and Freddie Brinson, expressed their gratitude to the crowd that helped honor the memory of their beautiful child. Miller's co-workers at the Lake Wales Wal-Mart were there,...
Lake Wales City Manager Ken Fields and the city commission agreed Tuesday June 2 to part ways in something akin to an "amicable divorce" but it took a lengthy discussion to reach agreement on the terms for the split. "I hope I am viewed as someone who has made Lake Wales a better city," Fields said, noting leaving two years before his contract expired wasn't his choice but he was resigned that it was time to go. Fields' departure was effective immediately, but everyone made...
Toward the end of their June 2 Lake Wales City Commission meeting is an agenda item labeled "Status of the Employment of the City Manager." Commissioners asked for the item to be placed on the agenda after Deputy Mayor Robin Gibson at the last meeting suggested it was time for Ken Fields to consider early retirement. Gibson said it is time for a "new voice" and new leadership to oversee from the ground up the city's ambitious downtown redevelopment initiative. But Gibson also...
Trying to make sense of her 10-year-old daughter's drowning death, Parys Miller concluded in a TV interview: "Maybe it was just her time." The loss of Spook Hill Elementary student Irys Wright, who was caught in a riptide current Sunday at Siesta Key Beach, set off an outpouring of sympathy and support for the family she left behind. Her former 4th grade teacher, Amy Rietschel, shared on social media and in a TV interview her memories of the amazing "precious angel" who...
When Gus hops on the bus he may have some extra stop options in Lake Wales. Erin Killebrew, director of external affairs with the Citrus Connection, gave city commissioners an update on the four local routes at their May 19 meeting. Killebrew said the current routes take riders from Lake Wales to Haines City, Lake Wales to the Eagle Ridge Mall, the mall to Legoland and the mall to Babson Park. The transit system is asking the city to nearly double its annual contribution to...
Lake Wales City Commissioners at their May 19 meeting approved hiring a Clearwater consultant to determine the feasibility of building a sports and recreation complex that might attract tournaments and other special events. The city will pay Sports Facilities Advisory (SFA) $42,500 plus travel expenses for the study, which would be one element of an overall recreation master plan funded by recreation impact fees. Rather than do its own request for proposals the City...
From his service 10 years ago as a police officer Dr. Anthony DeWald still remembers end-of-shift backaches after repeatedly getting in and out of his patrol car wearing a heavy duty belt and other equipment. That's what made him feel even better about giving free exams and treatments this week to members of the Lake Wales Police Department as a thank you for their service: "There's kind of an instant camaraderie when people find out you were law enforcement as well." DeWald...
Lake Wales Deputy Mayor Robin Gibson surprised his fellow commissioners at the end of their Tuesday May 19 meeting with a call for City Manager Ken Fields to begin planning for an early retirement. Gibson said he met with Fields Monday and told him he wanted him to leave on a positive note after he helps prepare the 2020-21 budget, which takes effect Oct. 1. Fields' current contract expires in 2022. "I want when there is a parting for everybody to respect each other and for th...
Lake Wales city officials are asking commissioners to green light a study to determine the feasibility of building a sports and recreation complex that might attract tournaments and other special events. The study would be one element of an overall recreation master plan that would be funded with recreation impact fees. At their May 19 meeting commissioners will be asked to approve a contract with Clearwater-based Sports Facilities Advisory (SFA) for $42,500 plus travel...
Three months after a Jan. 30 city workshop to discuss body worn cameras for Lake Wales police officers Commissioner Terrye Howell asked City Manager Ken Fields for an update. She believed the commission gave clear direction that body cameras were to be included in the 2020-21 budget. Instead of offering options and the requested cost analysis, Fields emailed all commissioners a potential first-year price tag of $175,000 and advised that the project should not go forward. That...
Lake Wales City Commissioner Al Goldstein wants a return to in-person commission meetings sooner rather than later. He says while technology is improving he laments the loss of citizen participation since the commission started online meetings. Goldstein said through a Florida League of Cities conference call he found out some other cities, including Auburndale, have restarted in-person public meetings, but with precautions. "I feel Lake Wales can also take the lead on this...
EDITOR'S NOTE: This article was first produced for a presentation to a retired teachers' organization. We thought the content might be helpful to share. Not quite a year and a half ago I retired. After working close to 50 years, I figured I deserved a break. But after a few months of reading books and sitting around - a lot - I realized my memory was getting worse and my brain was becoming a lot less sharp. I called it mushy brain. I'm no expert, but for years I've been...
As a little girl growing up in Lake Wales Cassandra Denmark set her sights on first becoming an attorney and then a judge. That determination resulted in her current successful law practice in Bartow, and 18 years' experience that prepared her for her new role as a circuit judge in January. Denmark was elected without opposition Friday, April 24 when she was the only person to qualify to fill the vacancy created by the retirement of Circuit Judge John Radabaugh. Circuit judge...
Since September Raymond had been living in his car. The music education major at Polk State College said he had two blankets for cold nights, but if he didn't remember to tape his car's door gaps on rainy nights the water poured in and woke him. Raymond stayed committed to his studies despite spending most nights in a WalMart parking lot. Two weeks ago he left the ranks of the homeless and moved into the new Lenfestey Scholarship House at the Manse on Avenue Q in Winter...
