Communication Builds Our Community
Communication Builds Our Community
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Nighttime lane closures will require extra caution for drivers on US 27 at the signalized intersection of Washington Avenue in Lake Wales. Turn lanes will be closed to allow Polk County crews to resurface the busy cross street, which handles truck traffic for Florida's Natural Growers as well as other area industry. Drivers can expect turn lane closures from US 27 onto Washington Avenue between 8:30 pm and 5:00 am. Lane closures are expected to be nightly for approximately...
For the second year in a row, Webber International University's team has left the annual Future Business Leaders of America conference with a number of awards. Twelve FBLA students traveled to Atlanta to attend the FBLA Collegiate National Leadership Conference (NLC). The group was accompanied by their advisor, Associate Professor Dr. Joanne Muniz, who serves as the chair of the university's Accounting and Honors program. The freshman team of Michelina Arrigo, an IMC major,...
A Babson Park man has been arrested and charged after a crash that took the life of a local woman. Coleden Snowden was arrested by Polk County Sheriff's deputies after an extensive investigation indicated that he was driving as fast as 112 miles per hour just prior to causing a crash that resulted in the death of a Frostproof woman in March. Snowden, 20, has been charged with vehicular manslaughter, a second degree felony. According to investigators, a reconstruction of the...
"Another day, another heat advisory," is the phrase that begins the daily weather forecast from the National Weather Service in Ruskin for the Lake Wales area. High temperatures and higher humidity are combining to make conditions dangerous if precautions are not taken. In a summer that has already seen below-normal rainfall and scorching heat, "above average temperatures and less rain through the remainder of the week" are the expected conditions, according to...
Polk County's Indigent Health Care program has issued a Request For Applications (RFA) to healthcare-related, non-profit organizations who are interested in receiving Community Partner Grant funding to provide healthcare services to qualified Polk County residents. Applicants who submit an RFA must be able to provide direct healthcare services or coordinate the delivery of those services to county residents with incomes of up to 200 percent of the Federal Poverty Level. This R...
A two-year wage and benefit agreement finalized last month between Polk County and the International Association of Firefighters (IAFF) Union 3531 has allowed Polk County Fire Rescue (PCFR) to begin offering a $10,000 sign-on bonus and additional incentives for qualified single-certificate Paramedics and Firefighter/Paramedic applicants. To qualify for the sign-on bonus, applicants must be nationally registered or have completed their State of Florida equivalency...
Thousands of area students will stream back to school tomorrow for an unusual Friday start to the new school year. Seven schools operated by Lake Wales Charter Schools and several other area schools controlled by the Polk School District will draw in more than 5,000 students to face the new academic year with high hopes. Some students in the northwestern portion of the Lake Wales area will be assigned to a new elementary school in southeast Winter Haven, which has changed...
Two Lake Wales men were killed Sunday evening in a pair of shootings, and investigators are seeking reasons. According to reports, the first victim was found in an apartment in the Grove Manor public housing complex around 8:00 pm Sunday suffering from a gunshot wound. Marquese Johnson, 23, was found by witnesses and transported to a local hospital where he died. Witnesses reported that they had seen a man identified as Kendrick Akins leaving the apartment as they arrived,...
The re-growth of a business district in the heart of the Northwest Neighborhood is the goal of a $1.2 million investment of American Rescue funds by the City of Lake Wales to spur creation of a business incubator. A ribbon cutting ceremony is now scheduled for noon on August 1 to mark the grand opening of BizLINC, located in a former dental office at 225 Lincoln Avenue. The grant of the federal funds last July has allowed Florida Development Corporation, a Tampa-based...
Teachers and staff preparing for a new school year at Spook Hill Elementary were the happy recipients of a complimentary "thanksgiving" lunch this week in gratitude for their efforts to teach children and positively affect their lives. Tammy James delivered a stack of pizzas and beverages which had been purchased by the Lake Wales Area Democratic Club as part of their "Teacher Appreciation Month." James had approached school principal Michelle Browning about the donation, and...
A face and voice familiar to most Polk County residents will soon be sharing lots of information about Lake Wales as Ken Suarez begins his duties. No stranger to the camera, the long-time Tampa Bay-area broadcaster recently left his full-time job as a television journalist to begin serving the City of Lake Wales as part-time host of a video series about events in the area. Suarez worked for years at WINK TV in Fort Myers before moving into the Tampa market almost 35 years...
Fourteen new Southern Live Oaks and ten Florida Holly trees were planted last week as the latest landscaping contribution toward recreating the "City in a Garden" ideal of Lake Wales founders. Lake Wales Heritage, an Olmsted Conservancy, undertook the plantings as part of their city-wide efforts. The trees in the Druid Hills neighborhood are the latest step by the Heritage organization toward completing the landscape design of Frederick Law Olmsted Jr., who planned both the...
An attempted traffic stop by a Highlands County deputy sheriff near Avon Park Thursday evening ended in a chase to Frostproof, an exchange of gunfire, the wounding of a deputy sheriff, and the death of a shooter. The shooter, identified as Ramon Martinez, 37, had an active felony warrant for his arrest for violation of probation, and a criminal history that included 16 previous felonies and 13 misdemeanors. According to police reports, the deputy attempted to stop a car...
Access to the busy Lake Wales Care Center Thrift Store will be restricted until after the Independence Day holiday as crews from the Williams Company reconstruct curbing and resurface the parking lot at the store. The lot is connected to the Park Avenue reconstruction being performed by the contractor as part of the Lake Wales Connected project. Closure of one access point to that street and the redesign of sidewalks and curbs caused significant impact, which led to the...
Two employees of a popular Lake Wales pizza outlet found themselves arrested Thursday after police alleged that pizza was not the only thing people were buying at the restaurant. According to a statement issued by the Lake Wales Police Department, detectives from the department's Crime Suppression Unit launched an undercover investigation after they received a tip that drugs were being sold by an employee of Pizzano's Pizza. A phone call to restaurant restaurant manager Leon...
A special on-line discussion on "Complete Streets and Mobility" with nationally-recognized transportation expert Wade Walker will be offered to area residents Thursday at 4:00 pm. The presentation is part of the Lake Wales Envisioned effort to reshape and redirect the future of growth and development in Lake Wales. The Envisioned effort is addressing multiple facets of that challenge. Another recent presentation focused on what is being described as "the big green network"...
Homeowners should "beware and to proceed with caution" when approached with 'PACE' agreements to pay for energy-efficient and storm-hardening features on their property tax bills, according to Polk County Tax Collector Joe G. Tedder. Some contractors are offering Polk homeowners a variety of home improvements without provisions for billing, saying that all they need to do is sign a "PACE" agreement. Property Assessed Clean Energy, or PACE, offers a loan program to property...
A proposal to add a huge swath of northern Lake Wales to the current Community Redevelopment District map will be the topic of a staffed public presentation at the Eagle Ridge Mall food court this Wednesday. The public is invited to stop by between 11:00 am and 7:00 pm to learn about the effects that would flow from the expansion and offer their opinions. A large tract west of US 27 between Thompson Nursery Road, Chalet Suzanne Road and Mountain Lake Cutoff Road being...
The second phase of the city's annual street resurfacing project will begin in coming days as seven new streets are addressed by contractors. Portions of eleven streets are included in the overall resurfacing effort, which is being performed by Asphalt Paving Systems of Zephyrhills at a total cost of $593,144.32. Four streets were addressed earlier this fiscal year. "Our multi-year pavement management program, created in 2019, is fully funded for the first time," said City...
In a long-delayed ruling, the State Attorney's office has announced that their investigation into a exchange of gunfire between police and a suspect last August determined that police use of deadly force was justified. Earnest Borders, 57, of Lake Wales, was killed. A police department K-9, Max, also died in the gunfire. A letter signed by Assistant State Attorney Mark Thomas Levine states that "it is my opinion that Officer Jared Joyner and Officer Esaul Hernandez were justif...
A fire in a mobile home in a remote location nearly took the life of a Polk County resident early Sunday. Polk County Fire Rescue firefighters responded to 2:20 am medical call in Babson Park that was quickly escalated into a structure fire with a trapped victim. Rescuers responding to 1562 Pfundstein Road, southeast of Babson Park, found a mobile home in flames, and at least one resident who had managed to flee the structure with injuries. After unsuccessfully attempting to g...
Polk County Emergency Management has release the "Polk County Public Shelters" maps for 2023, revealing that there remains only a single shelter to serve the nearly 100,000 residents of Southeast Polk County. Spook Hill Elementary, at 321 Dr. J. A. Wiltshire Ave East in Lake Wales, is the only shelter in a broad area that Includes Dundee, Frostproof, Babson Park, Nalcrest, and other area communities. The 2023 map includes 47 shelters, including three "Special Needs Shelters"...
The Lake Wales High School Softball team is angling to bring back a second state championship in a single scholastic year after defeating Lemon Bay (Englewood) 5-0 in a semifinal game played in Clermont. The game was scheduled to start at 11:00 am, but was moved an hour earlier to avoid anticipated heavy rains in the afternoon. The Highlanders will face the winner of the other semifinal game between Key West and Wakulla. The Highlanders are the top seed in the tournament. The...
Police are seeking the whereabouts of a Haines City man who reportedly drove at high speed and ran a red light on US 27, resulting in the deaths of his two passengers. Lake Wales Police have obtained an arrest warrant for 40-year-old Aljerune Brooks of Haines City. An investigation confirmed Brooks was the driver of the Cadillac that failed to stop at the signal at Washington Avenue, crashing into a "yard dog" truck cab owned by Florida's Natural. The driver of the truck,...
An early-morning fire that left Lake Wales firefighters battling the blaze until dawn left a gaping hole in a local apartment building, and in the lives of 23 residents of the building. At least eight units appear to have been heavily affected by flames, smoke, and water. The hours of flames burned away much of the roof of the building, leaving melted siding and charred timbers The American Red Cross is currently providing assistance to nine families, a spokesperson for the...
