Communication Builds Our Community

Articles from the February 23, 2022 edition


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  • AAUW to Honor Three Local "Women Who Made History"

    Robert Connors, Managing Editor|Updated Mar 20, 2022

    A special event this Tuesday, March 22 will honor three area "Women Who Made History." The event will be hosted by the Lake Wales chapter of the American Association of University Women. "Women Who Made History on the Ridge" will honor Johanna Buscher-Shedler, Kathe Galloway, and Ethel Austin, (posthumously) will be feted for their work. Charlene Bennett, speaking on behalf of the AAUW, invited area residents to "join us in learning about the contributions, challenges, and...

  • Central Avenue To Be Closed West of US 27 For Three Weeks

    Robert Connors, Managing Editor|Updated Mar 18, 2022

    Central Avenue will be closed at the intersection on the west side of US 27 for approximately three weeks beginning Monday, March 21, 2022. . This closure will allow crews to construct concrete pavement in the western portion of the intersection. This is the segment at the entrance to Huston Cadillac GMC and Beef O'Brady's. US 27 will continue to have two lanes of traffic northbound and southbound. Movement in and out of Central Avenue west of US 27 will be closed. Movement...

  • Charter School Trustees Choose Dr. Wayne V. Rodofich to Lead System

    Suzie Schottelkotte and Robert Connors, Lake Wales News Staff|Updated Mar 7, 2022

    A nearly year-long search to recruit a new superintendent for Lake Wales Charter Schools concluded Tuesday evening, leaving many in the community determined to heal the divisions created during the process. After an effort that at times seemed more like an election campaign than a search and involved seemingly unending political maneuvering, the Board of Trustees settled upon Dr. Wayne V. Rodolfich, who comes to the city from Pascagoula, Miss. As the vote was taken he was...

  • Mary Palmer Foutch Wagoner, 1925-2022

    Updated Mar 4, 2022

    Mary Palmer Foutch Wagoner was born on January 8, 1925, in Springfield Illinois. She attended Illinois College in Jacksonville. Her first job was secretary to mayor Buddy Kapp. During Buddy Kapp's tenure several projects changed Springfield dramatically, including construction of Lake Springfield and the power facility, construction of the John Hay Homes, and administration of 92 federal projects (WPA, CWA, PWA). She later became Society Editor of the Springfield Journal...

  • County Suspends Recycling? Not Here!

    Tom Paulson, City Editor|Updated Mar 2, 2022

    Word that Polk County residents won't receive pick-up of their recycling is sweeping social media around the Lake Wales area, but the alarm is unfounded. East Polk residents will continue to receive their collections service as normal. The serious collections issues that have plagued a different contractor serving Polk west of US 17 has led the county to call for the one month suspension of recycling collections in order to allow the trucks and crews to try to catch up on the...

  • Connected Plan Revives the Goal of City's Founders

    Brian Ackley, Special to the News|Updated Mar 2, 2022

    When Lake Wales gathers April 30 to celebrate the life, legacy and work of Frederick Olmsted Sr. at "Olmsted Day in the Park," local residents will be paying homage to more than just the famed landscape architect whose influence is still very much alive in the city today. By 1929 when Lake Wales civic leaders hired his son Frederick Olmsted Jr. to create a master plan to enhance the city's "Garden City" concept – developed in England 1898 by Ebenezer Howard – Lake Wales and...

  • Free Food to be Offered at B Street Center

    Tom Paulson, City Editor|Updated Feb 28, 2022

    A number of community volunteers and organizations will host a free food giveaway at the B Street Center, which has been approved to be a Food Distribution site in collaboration with Central Florida Health Care. The announcement by Kassandra Noel, Food Distribution Coordinator, provides a handy location for homebound, needy and elderly persons to access a food bank that can help meet critical nutritional needs. Narvell Peterson, Executive Director of the B Street Center, and...

  • Extremely Low Water Starting to Affect Fishing

    Charlie Wynperle, Fishing Expert|Updated Feb 28, 2022

    Editor's Note: We would like to share photos of you with your big catch! If you have tips or photos you care to share, please email them directly to [email protected]. Low water on area lakes due to the very dry winter have resulted in some hazards for area fishermen, especially on the Kissimmee Chain of Lakes. On Lake Hatchineha, rumor says shell crackers are starting to show up, so try using red worms in the pads. Speck fisherman are catching fish around scattered hyd...

  • Scenic Highway and Mountain Lake Intersection Construction Continues

    Tom Paulson, City Editor|Updated Feb 25, 2022

    Construction is near the halfway point at Scenic Highway and Mountain Lake Road as contractors work to improve the intersection and add a full traffic signal to replace the existing caution light. Crews have repaved and restriped a portion of Old Scenic Highway (Mountain Lake Road) east of the intersection and near the district offices of Duke Energy, but have yet to begin installing the new signals. The project began January 31 and is scheduled to be completed in April....

  • City Candidates' Forum Happens Monday Night

    Tom Paulson, City Editor|Updated Feb 24, 2022

    Lake Wales voters will have an opportunity to see and hear most of the candidates seeking to represent them in city government on Monday. A forum sponsored by Rotary on the Ridge and LakeWalesNews.Net will be held at the law offices of Bill Ouelette, 151 East Central Avenue beginning at 7:00 pm. Three of the five remaining candidates will speak and answer questions during the event, which will also be streamed via Facebook. Brandon Alvarado will return as moderator of the annu...

  • Highlanders Open Baseball Season Wednesday Against Mulberry

    Updated Feb 24, 2022

    The crack of the bat, the chatter in the pen, fresh clay on the mound, and lights on "The Hill" tell us that the Highlander Baseball season has begun. Hopes are high for the first home varsity game against Mulberry on Wednesday, March 2. The game will begin at 7:30 p.m. "I have watched and worked with these young men in baseball for 10 years," said Steve Wilmoth, Highlanders coach,. "This year's team has worked very hard off season, and we look forward to us accomplishing our...

  • A National Audience of Veterans Listens to Lake Wales Radio Show

    Robert Connors, Managing Editor|Updated Feb 23, 2022

    A nationally-syndicated and web-streamed radio show aimed at veterans originates in a Lake Wales for most of the year. Local residents Mike and Irene Spotswood record the "Cup of Joe Radio" show, often with Mike's service dog Truman at their feet. Mike, a Marine who did two tours in Vietnam over the course of 19 months, and Irene, a former nurse say their two-hour radio show is "80% music, 20% information." Their mission statement is "The healing power of music." Their show...

  • Fishing Still Spotty as Weather Heats Up

    Charlie Wynperle, Fishing Expert|Updated Feb 23, 2022

    Editor's Note: We would like to share photos of you with your big catch! f you have tips or photos you care to share, please email them directly to [email protected]. Warmer weather is raising water temperatures on area lakes just as bass are starting to spawn, so many fish are mobile right now. Fishing on Lake Walk-in-the-Water seems to be producing specks at night under lights, using minnows drifting. Bass fishing picked up a little last week with the moon, so try...

  • Avian Influenza Confirmed in Wild Birds in Florida

    Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission|Updated Feb 23, 2022

    The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) has been notified by the National Veterinary Services Laboratory of confirmed cases of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) strain: H5 2.3.4.4 in a lesser scaup, black vultures and other avian species. There is a low risk of HPAI transmission to humans and, to date, there have been no known human infections in North America. The FWC is currently investigating bird mortalities in Brevard, Indian River and Volusia...