Communication Builds Our Community
Communication Builds Our Community
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Lake Wales will soon have another member of the Wright family heading up a local school. Debra Wright-Hudson has been tapped to serve as principal of McLaughlin Middle School and Fine Arts Academy in Lake Wales effective June 17. Wright-Hudson's father, Dr. Clint Wright was the first superintendent of Lake Wales Charter Schools from 2004 until his death in 2007. Her mother, also named Debra, served as the area's representative on the Polk County School Board. Her sister,...
Lake Wales pioneer and historic preservationist Mimi Hardman may soon have a city building named in her honor. The Lake Wales History Museum will be seeking donors to help restore and rehabilitate the historic 1916 Seaboard Airline Freight Depot, and repurpose the interior of the building as the new permanent Mimi Hardman Collections & Research Center. Items in the city collection date back to 1852, when the original government survey of Lake Wales was completed. A project of...
Overcoming significant challenges of language and poverty, the Lake Wales Charter Schools maintained or improved their 2019 school grades released July 11 by the Florida Department of Education. "We are very, very proud of their improvement and success, of the work that's being done," said charter schools Superintendent Jesse Jackson. "What we have done over the years is try to build a system for success. . . create a structure. Personalities come and go, but we're building a...
Jonathan White says his baseball career was cut short because he put his career in the hands of others his entire life. He accepted that coaches told him he wasn't a starting player because he wasn't good enough. He was a standout player in local leagues, regularly featured in the Sports section of the local newspaper. At age 10, he was invited to play in Cooperstown, NY with the best baseball players in the world. Despite two years sitting the bench in high school his senior...
Family and Friends of Albert Hawkins Jr. gathered Saturday, July 20 to honor his memory and dedicate a pavilion in his name. Hawkins died in December 2017 at the age of 79. The pavilion is located next to the B Street Community Center in Lake Wales where Hawkins spent countless hours serving the community. Alice Sanders coordinated the tributes to "Hawk," made by representatives of various churches, the Green and Gold Foundation, his Roosevelt High School Class of 1956 classma...
Polk County Public Schools is opening a call center to handle school bus inquiries and issues for the beginning of the 2019-20 school year. Parents and guardians can dial 863-534-7300 for assistance from Monday, July 29 through Friday, Aug. 23. The temporary call center will be staffed on weekdays from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.* Staff will be able to provide help with all manner of transportation questions, including student bus numbers; stop times and locations; transportation...
NOTE: Due to lower than expected turnout, the July 19 Power Breakfast has been postponed, possibly until November. Those who want to know more about the future of passenger rail service in Florida should attend a special Power Breakfast Friday, July 19. Hosted by the Lake Wales Area Chamber of Commerce and Economic Development Committee, the program will feature Bob O'Malley from Brightline, who will discuss the company's express, inter-city passenger rail service. A...
Polk State College President Angela Garcia Falconetti and Florida Polytechnic University President Randy Avent will sign an articulation agreement establishing the first seamless pathway for students from Polk County's state college to the leading institution of engineering and applied sciences. The event will be held Tuesday, July 16, at 11:30 a.m. in LLC 2188 on the Polk State Lakeland Campus, located at 3425 Winter Lake Road in Lakeland. Polk State and Florida Poly have...
New Bok North Academy Principal Donna Drisdom learned at an early age, from two teachers at Mulberry High School, a philosophy that continues to serve her well even today. "It's looking at the smaller things to understand the larger things is how they would put it," meaning, look deeper than the surface to find the root cause, Drisdom said of the influential instructors, Carolyn Williams and Kathy Langford. "I just kind of took that with me." Drisdom was named to her Lake...
Research and geneology historian Preston Petermeier will present "The Who, What, Where and Why: A Look at City Directories" from 12:15 to 1 p.m. Tuesday, July 16 at the Polk County History Center at 100 E. Main St. in Bartow. The presentation is part of the Center's Out of the Archives Lecture Series. The Center's collection of local city directories, found in its Historical and Genealogical Library, dates back to the 19th century. Petermeier will show participants how these...
The Rotary on the Ridge president's gavel Monday, July 1 passed from one Gillis to another Gillis as five other family members were recognized with Service Above Self Awards. Rotary is definitely a family affair for 2018-19 President Megan Gillis and husband Herb, who took over club leadership for 2019-20. Shortly after Megan was installed as president last June her parents, Sheri and Marshall Hartley, joined the club. Megan and Herb were charter members of Rotary on the...
A recent article in Business Facilities called Florida an "economic super-state," praising the way our state "excels at getting people, products and services anywhere." The article went on to mention Polk County in particular the Intermodal Logistics Center in Winter Haven and the miles of railroad that far outnumber those in any other county throughout the state. We are certainly proud of those distinctions, but we would be remiss to overlook how success and growth have...
LakeWalesNews.net Executive Editor and Publisher Chevon Baccus has been accepted for membership in LION Publishers, a national professional organization for publishers of local independent online news sites. According to the organization's membership criteria: "LION Publishers are innovative news leaders in business, technology, communication and storytelling who are creating the future of local journalism. LION Publishers encompass a rich diversity of business models,...
At age 32, Dr Carolyn Pass had the scare of her life. The hard-working physician was hospitalized with congestive heart failure and found herself wondering if she would live to see her three children grow up. After a lengthy recuperation period she got back into practicing medicine but with a greater appreciation for life and helping her patients focus on their own good health. Now 20 years after her own health scare Pass says she tells her patients: "You matter. You have to t...
If you're frustrated by traffic congestion on U.S. 27, the Florida Department of Transportation wants to hear from you. Sarah Catala, project manager for the Northeast Polk U.S. 27 Mobility Study, shared information about the project and urged Lake Wales Area Chamber of Commerce & EDC members at a breakfast June 19 to participate in the online survey. The survey can be accessed online at www.ontimewith27.com. The mobility study is concerned with the 32-mile stretch of U.S. 27...
After a brief absence from Polk County, Danny Kushmer, returns as executive director for the Lakes Education Action Drive (LE/AD) beginning July 1. Danny replaces Tabitha Biehl who was recently promoted to Land and Natural Areas Manager with Polk County Parks & Natural Resources. Danny spent nearly 10 years as the governmental affairs manager for the Southwest Florida Water Management District with offices in Bartow. During this time, he served on the communications team for...
For those who text and drive, it's a good time to quit. A new Florida law goes into effect Monday, July 1 making texting while driving a primary offense. Prior to the new law, officers could only cite drivers for texting if they were pulled over for another violation. The new law means officers can stop drivers they see texting. The texting ban does not apply to a driver using a navigation device or to a driver whose vehicle is stationary. Lake Wales Police Chief Chris Velasqu...
Scott Blackburn said he and his wife Carrie are tired of carting their four children to other communities because Lake Wales doesn't have enough recreation and sports facilities. Blackburn expressed his frustration to Lake Wales city commissioners at a recreation workshop Tuesday, June 25. Commissioners were reviewing the latest plans for expansion of the Crystal Lake Park complex between the city library and Lake Wailes Park. "We travel to other cities because we don't have...
Hot, hot, hot. That's what experts are calling the Polk County real-estate market, where inventory of existing houses remains low and homebuilders are busy. Various reports rank the local real-estate market in the Top 5 among major metropolitan areas, continuing a trend that started in 2018. Realtor.com places the Lakeland-Winter Haven MSA (Metropolitan Statistical Area, which in this case is Polk County) as the No. 1 hottest market in the country, followed by Grand Rapids, Mi...
Mike Mahalak, president of the Mahalak Auto Group recently announced that the four central Florida dealerships had raised $6,395 for the American Heart Association during the month of May. During the "Stroke Month" Campaign the MAHALAK AUTO GROUP made a donation for each New/Used Car sold and every tire sold. Each customer received a "Heart Sticker" to proudly show their support and an AHA bookmark providing heart disease prevention tips with a link to the AHA website for a FR...
Polk State College is celebrating the preservation of funding for the Polk State JD Alexander Center, the College's Lake Wales Campus, and the College's success in securing recurring operational support during the 2019 Legislative Session. Governor Ron DeSantis signed the 2019-2020 state budget Friday, which includes the $2.5 million-line item titled Polk State College Access to Academic and Workforce Programs used to staff and operate the Lake Wales Campus. The College was al...
Cloylene Adkins, 85, of Lake Wales passed away Saturday, June 22, 2019 at the Grove Center. She was born March 19, 1934 in Coffee County, AL to the late Henry and Alva A. (Smith) Davis. She came to Polk County as a child with her family and settled in Ft. Meade. She was a caregiver and retired floor supervisor for Ben Hill Griffin. She was an active member of the New Harvest Worship Center in Lake Wales where she served in the women's ministry and choir. She was the former chu...
To demonstrate the flaws in current Florida law regarding emotional support animals, state Rep. Sam Killebrew said he paid a fee online and registered his stuffed baboon named Ophelia. He wasn't able to get the lax law toughened this year but he did call attention to how easy it is, especially for apartment and condo dwellers, to circumvent the rules. That was just one issue East Polk County business leaders heard about as they gathered for breakfast Thursday, June 13 to learn...
Florida Senate Minority Leader Audrey Gibson fired up members of the Lake Wales NAACP Saturday June 15 with a rousing call to be bold, to vote and to make sure others vote. The Jacksonville Democrat was keynote speaker for Branch 5109's 46th Annual Freedom Fund Banquet. Gibson has been in the Florida Legislature since 2002, the first eight years as a Representative, and the last eight as a Senator. Since it was Father's Day weekend, Gibson brought her dad, Ernest Gibson, to...
Mary Neil Hardman Whitmire Chandley, 88, passed peacefully in her sleep on June 9, 2019 at 4 a.m. She was a lifelong resident of Lake Wales, born on January 5, 1931 to Cleo and Neil Hardman, both pioneer residents of Lake Wales. Throughout her life, Mary Neil was always very active in school, church, community service, youth organizations, music and other local projects. She graduated with honors from Lake Wales High School in 1948 and attended Piedmont College in Demorest,...
