Communication Builds Our Community
Communication Builds Our Community
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More than 900 communities have lost their local newspapers in recent years. The print version of the Lake Wales News was nearly 100 years old when its owners decided it no longer was viable. Market conditions, printing costs and lack of advertisers contributed to its demise. Enter LakeWalesNews.net. Nearly two dozen area residents have come together and volunteered to create a free, online news site. The goal is to serve as a watchdog of the public interest and a promoter of community spirit. Local businesses already have...
Wow! It's hard to believe our Lake Wales online news site is almost 1-month-old. We did a "soft launch" with little fanfare Feb. 13 so we could load the site with great content before most people even got their first look. Our online readership is growing daily and many more are accessing the highlights on our Facebook page. In the last five days our posts reached more than 2,000 people, and more than half engaged in some way. We're the "new kid on the block," but we're...
Like this owlet our new baby, LakeWalesNews.net, is perched to watch our community from a vantage point not from a safe branch on a tree, but on the ground where life and community are happening each and every day. We know it will take time to develop and strengthen our wings. Our sustenance does not come from our mother's timely feedings. It is fed to us by the members-residents, visitors, businesses and organizations-who are concerned that Lake Wales's flight path will be...
City of Lake Wales officials continue to restrict access to the condemned 1929 Seminole Hotel in downtown Lake Wales to the frustration of developer Ray Brown. A code enforcement officer and three police officers met Brown at the site Tuesday, April 30 and threatened him with arrest for trespassing if he entered the hotel building. Brown says he has a contract to purchase the hotel and notarized permission to enter by the current owner. Brown was there Tuesday to meet senior...
A "City in a Garden" with landscaped streets, a redeveloped Grove Manor featuring a mix of housing types, and a new "town square" were among the ideas presented to Lake Wales citizens Friday evening to cap a week of intensive study by the planning firm of Dover Kohl. Most of the 100 in attendance were excited by the possibilities. The week-long effort, sponsored by Lake Wales Mainstreet and funded by local businesses, included gathering ideas and suggestions from the public,...
Lake Wales City Commissioners Tuesday, May 14 kicked off budget talks for the 2019-20 year by sharing their priorities and opinions with city staff. There was clear consensus that the report from urban planners Dover Kohl, expected in mid-June, will drive spending decisions, particularly use of Community Redevelopment Agency trust funds. Vice Mayor Robin Gibson, who chairs the CRA, said he expects Park Avenue in historic downtown to be the top priority and to set the standard...
Lake Wales Charter Schools System Superintendent Dr. Jesse L. Jackson has announced the appointment of Donna Drisdom as the new Principal of Edward W. Bok Academy North. For the past two years Drisdom has served as principal of McLaughlin Middle School Fine Arts Academy in Lake Wales. "I cannot imagine a better outcome for Edward W. Bok Academy North.," Dr. Jackson noted. "I am very much looking forward to having Mrs. Drisdom on board as the principal." Drisdom received her...
The historic Seminole Hotel in Lake Wales is in "good condition and solid enough to restore," according to Architect Darrin Engel, who has more than 30 years' experience in historic building restoration. A senior project manager with REG Architects of West Palm Beach, Engel did a walkthrough assessment April 30 along with his assistant, Brian Lara. "I've been in some very dangerous buildings that do require care but that is not one of them," Engel said. "I was comfortable...
Gayle S. Reeder, 75, died April 27 in Lake Wales. She was born December 10, 1943, in Mebane, Alamance County, NC to Roy Clifton Smith, Sr. and Lottie Corene Blackard Smith. She moved with family to Lake Wales, Florida, in 1959. Gayle graduated from Lake Wales High School in 1962, married Dennis Reeder August 3, 1962. Their son William Luke Reeder was born 1970. She was predeceased by her husband, Dennis Reeder, and parents, Roy C. Smith, Sr. and Lottie Corene Blackard Smith...
New restaurants, coffee shops, micro-breweries and grocery stores planned for the heart of Lake Wales are eligible to take advantage of up to $50,000 from a new CRA grant program to help get them off the ground. The grants are designed to stimulate the development of new food-related businesses in Lake Wales' two Community Redevelopment Districts. They are administered through the City's Community Redevelopment Agency. Targeting a variety of food and beverage businesses, the...
Where Kathy Bangley sees rodent droppings, leaking water and rotten wood, Ray Brown sees a solid, old building with great potential. Where Kathy Bangley sees an old hotel in "horrific" condition, Ray Brown envisions new studio apartments. Where Kathy Bangley sees trash, Ray Brown sees treasure. Kathy Bangley is the pragmatic director of planning and development for the City of Lake Wales. Ray Brown is a visionary historic preservationist and developer. Brown wants to restore t...
Lake Wales police joined officers from Bartow, Haines City and the Polk County Sheriff's Department as part of the Polk County High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Task Force investigation that resulted in 44 arrests, three warrants and the seizure of 50 pounds of methamphetamines with a street value of $1.4 million. The task force also seized $50,000 in U.S. currency and assets along with four firearms. According to the sheriff's department, the suspects were collectively...
A 12-stop walking tour of Lake Wales is included in a free mobile application produced by the Florida Humanities Council. The Florida Stories application can be downloaded at the Apple Store or Google Play. The Lake Wales tour includes stops at the Atlantic Coast Line Depot, the Woman's Club, Lake Wales State Bank, J.T. Rhodes Building, Rhodesbilt Arcade, Post Office, Dixie Walesbilt Hotel, Lake Wales News, Bullard Building, Scenic Theater and Lake Wales City Hall. Each stop...
Do YOU have an interest in the future of Lake Wales? In how our city grows, and the services and lifestyle we will enjoy? Then this is your moment to speak up. (See the outcome of a week of planning by clicking here) More than 100 of your fellow citizens have already shared their ideas and energies by participating in a Monday evening "charrette" at the Austin Community Center, organized by Lake Wales MainStreet and the planning firm of Dover Kohl and Partners. MainStreet...
Four representatives of the urban design firm Dover Kohl and about a dozen interested citizens took a walking tour Wednesday morning of the northwest business district in Lake Wales. Dover Kohl planners are in Lake Wales all week obtaining citizen input on how to revitalize and connect the historic downtown and northwest section so they can design a plan for the next 20 years. Local attorney Sara Jones, chairperson of the Northwest Advisory Committee, and former city...
An "Open Design Studio" is drawing visitation and input from citizens interested in helping plan a bright future for Lake Wales. Part of the "Connecting Lake Wales" effort sponsored by the Lake Wales MainStreet program, the studio workshop is filled with planners, architects, and designers actively working on concepts that will be shared with the public in a special presentation on Friday evening, April 5. The Studio will be open to the public from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on...
Lake Wales City voters have their final opportunity to vote for the mayor and one city commissioner from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Tuesday, April 2. Voters also are being asked to change the City Charter to increase the mayor's and commissioners' terms from two years to three. Incumbent Mayor Eugene Fultz is being challenged by Bob Wood, who ran unsuccessfully for a city commission seat in 2016. Political newcomer James Tucker is challenging incumbent Commissioner Curtis Gibson for...
Eugene "Gene" Wilhoyte Brackin of Lake Wales, Florida passed away Friday, March 15 at Lake Wales Medical Center. He was born September 28, 1931 in Sebring, FL to the late James and Jeanette (Oliver) Brackin. He has been a resident of the area since he was a child. He was a retired building contractor and veteran in the United States Navy serving in Korea. Gene loved fishing and watching the news on T.V. He is preceded in death by 2 sisters and 2 brothers. He is survived by his wife Janie Brackin, daughter Cindy Wilkinson of...
Dr. Tameka Bradley Hobbs set the tone with famed jazz singer Billie Holiday's haunting 1939 classic "Strange Fruit," a musical tale of lynchings, burning flesh and dripping blood. Her Black History lecture Thursday, Feb. 21 at the Lake Wales Museum continued with fascinating but disturbing stories, statistics and photos of far too many black men and women hung from trees in the South. While many Black History lectures celebrate the accomplishments of African Americans, Hobbs...
Lake Wales Highlanders Varsity baseball took a turn for the better Monday night at Highlander Hill after splitting two games last Thursday and Friday with rival non-conference foe Bartow Yellow Jackets. Monday night's contest results were welcome news to Coach Don Bridges and his hard working Assistant Coaches Steven Wilmoth, Lorenzo Parker, Mike Gerlosky and Levi Borders managing a tricky game with two similar strength teams and Lake Wales needing to avenge an earlier loss...
The Lake Wales Public Library's Lifelong Learning series will host Victim Services Specialist, Theresa Adlam at noon Thursday, March 14 as she presents Facts about Identity Theft. Adlam is a Victim Services Program Specialist with the Division of Victim Services and Criminal Justice Programs in the Florida Office of the Attorney General, specializing in the area of Identity Theft. Adlam began her career in the field of criminal justice serving as a county probation officer. Sh...
The Lake Wales Arts Council is presenting an evening of classical masterpieces at 7 p.m. Friday, March 22 with GRAMMY-Nominated Yamaha Performing Artist Tom Brantley. A professor of trombone, Brantley grew up in a musical South Louisiana household, listening to classical, jazz, Latin, soul, pop/rock, country, bluegrass, and Cajun. A third-generation trombonist, Yamaha soloist, clinician, and recording artist, Brantley performs with the University of South Florida Faculty...
If we at the Lake Wales Area Chamber of Commerce and Economic Development Council were to survey people who travel through and around greater Lake Wales, I think we would be hard pressed to find even a fraction of them pleased with driving conditions here. If we were to narrow down the survey to a discussion only about U.S. Highway 27, the area's major north-south route, the fraction of pleased motorists likely would be even smaller. The issue here really isn't about road...
Chevon Baccus, executive editor and publisher of LakeWalesNews.net spoke to the members of the GFWC Woman's Club of Lake Wales Thursday, March 7 about the community's new online publication. Baccus told the group that since its soft launch Feb. 13 the online news site has published more than 100 stories and nearly 500 photos. "The site is growing in popularity and readership and we're looking forward to a bright future," Baccus said. The loss of the local newspaper, The Lake...
Our Highlander boys varsity basketball are now idle after a loss Friday night March 1 to home team Lakewood Spartans in the FHSAA Regional Final in St. Pete. But the Lake Wales team and its supporters should be proud of their stellar, break out season nonetheless under the direction of Coach Don Grant, Assistant Head Coach Anthony Jones and Assistant Coaches J. R. Grant, Norman Jackson and Marcus Walker. Although falling one game short of entering the Final Four to participate...
