Communication Builds Our Community
Communication Builds Our Community
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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...
The City of Lake Wales is negotiating with the Lake Wales YMCA to buy its property and building for $636,000. City staff estimates an additional $250,000 will be needed for repairs and renovation of the building. The YMCA, located at 1001 Burns Ave., would continue to manage and operate the child care program, camps, aquatics, youth and sports activities, exercise and wellness programs. Under the proposal currently being negotiated, the property would be leased back from the...
Polk County Supervisor of Elections Lori Edwards wants college students to know they have until March 29 to apply for one of three $1,200 scholarships to be awarded by the Florida State Association of Supervisors of Elections in 2019. Applicants must be: - Registered to vote in the State of Florida - A Citizen of the United States - Enrolled as a full-time student in a senior college or university in Florida - Majoring in Political Science/Public or Business Administration or...
Lake Wales residents should have an estate plan, but estate plans can be difficult for the uninitiated to draw up. There are so many mistakes that people often make in the realm of estate planning. Sometimes these are due to lack of information, other times they are due to the abundance of bad information available on a Google search, social media or by word of mouth. This article will review a few of the mistakes that I have seen in my three decades of practicing law that...
When Lake Ashton resident Al Goldstein became the only candidate to qualify for April's District 4 City Commission election, he won automatically, leaving plenty of Lake Wales residents wondering: "Who is Al Goldstein?" In a rambling two-hour conversation, Goldstein revealed much about himself and his strong opinions about several pending issues but left plenty hidden as well. Critical of some proposals before the Commission, Goldstein offered his respect for the positions...
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...
April Love Belligan, 61, of Venice, Florida, died March 13 in her sleep at the Venice Regional Bayfront Health Hospital. She was born on March 1, 1958 in Lake Wales to the late Norma (Wooten) and Remus Perry Love Jr. She was the youngest daughter of six children. She is survived by her husband Richard Belligan of Nokomis, FL, who she married Oct. 14, 2005. April grew up in Polk County. She had various talents and interests. She enjoyed working in several management positions such as office manager of Swango Animal Hospital....
Warner University officially became part of the Citrus Label Tour of Polk County on March 1. What started a few short years ago as an initiative to identify buildings, land, and families with significance to the citrus industry in Polk County has grown to well over 15 locations. Warner University is honored to house two of the label displays which were generously donated by the represented families, the Maxcys and the Keens. The signs were conveniently placed around our Ed &...
Christina Cunningham of Lake Wales has been chosen as one of three Sunshine State Scholars for 2019 from the Polk County School District. The daughter of Lori and Rick Cunningham, Christina is a junior at Harrison School for the Arts. Every year, school districts across Florida select their top 11th-graders in the areas of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) for the Sunshine State Scholars program. Each of the Scholars will travel to Orlando in June for a...
Polk County Public Schools began accepting applications March 4 for its Voluntary Pre-kindergarten (VPK) and Head Start programs. Each of the programs is designed to address students' developmental and educational needs. Eligibility requirements vary. Available programs include: • Voluntary Pre-kindergarten, or VPK, a free statewide program for all 4-year-old children. Children must be 4 on or before Sept. 1 of the 2019-2020 school year to participate. VPK is offered at 23 s...
Polk County Public Schools began accepting applications for its Voluntary Pre-kindergarten (VPK) and Head Start programs March 4. Each of the programs is designed to address students’ developmental and educational needs. Eligibility requirements vary. Available programs include: • Voluntary Pre-kindergarten, or VPK, a free statewide program for all 4-year-old children. Children must be 4 on or before Sept. 1 of the 2019-2020 school year to participate. VPK is offered at 23 sites throughout the county. All 4-year-olds must sub...
The Polk County Democratic Executive Committee is hosting a Town Hall on Monday, March 18, to discuss education bills making their way through the Florida Legislature. Open to the public, the town hall is from 6-7:30 p.m. at the Bartow public library, 2150 S. Broadway, Bartow. County residents are invited to understand details of legislation that Florida politicians may be voting on during the 2019 legislative session. From arming teachers to the growing shift of tax dollars...
The third annual Virginia Lassiter Leadership Luncheon will be held at 12:30 p.m., Saturday, April 6 at the Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd Parish Hall, 221 South Fourth Street, Lake Wales. The luncheon will be followed by A Conversation with Leaders of the Lake Wales Arts community: Robin Gibson, Jayne Crews-Linton and Marilyn Newell. Founded in 1972 by a small group of citizens, the Lake Wales Arts Council has led Lake Wales' reputation as community rich in arts and...
People wanting to become volunteers in the Polk County Public Schools can now complete volunteer applications online at polkschoolsfl.com/getinvolved With the introduction of this new system, the school district will no longer accept paper volunteer applications from the general public. For security purposes, the new volunteer system will screen applicants with a national criminal background check as well as a Florida Department of Law Enforcement background check. Approved...
Polk County Manager Jim Freeman will speak about current county and state legislative issues at the next meeting of the Tiger Bay Club of Polk County. The meeting starts at 11:30 a.m. Wednesday, March 20 at the Bartow Civic Center, 2250 S. Floral Ave. in Bartow. The buffet lines opens at 11:45 a.m. and the meeting begins promptly at noon. The charge is $15 for Tiger Bay members and $25 for nonmembers. Reservations are due by March 19 by emailing [email protected]...
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...
A free lecture by Jim Sawgrass, a member of the Muskogee Creek Indian Tribe, will be held Tuesday, March 12 at the Polk County History Center, 100 E. Main St. in Bartow. The presentation from 5:30-7:30 p.m. will offer insight about Southeastern native tribes and their culture. A native Floridian, Sawgrass has been sharing his knowledge about Native American culture for more than 30 years. He served on the Florida Indian Council from 1991-1995. His lecture includes information...
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...
Not all of a student's education comes from a teacher. Classrooms are often like melting pots, as children from different backgrounds and experiences learn valuable lessons from each other. In Polk County Public Schools, nearly 76 percent of students with disabilities spend the majority of their day (at least 80 percent of their time in school each day) in the regular education classroom sitting alongside their peers without disabilities, according to the most recent data and...
Have you been practicing your target shooting for "Bustin' Clays with Sheriff Grady Judd?" The 11th annual clay shooting event is just around the corner on March 16, so now is the time to register. Polk Sheriff's Charities, Inc. is holding the event again at Tenoroc Sporting Clays in Lakeland. Sign-in starts at 7 a.m. and the event begins at 8 a.m. Last year over 500 people attended Bustin' Clays and over 360 shooters were signed up. Sponsorship opportunities are still...
Polk County School District officials unveiled a plan this week to offer high school students a Lake Wales option by adding grades 9-12 to the current McLaughlin Middle School. McLaughlin would increase its fine arts programs and add a high-tech academy if the proposal is approved by the School Board. Board Chairman Lynn Wilson expressed his immediate and strong opposition to the idea, but the other six Board members seemed at least open to the possibility. School Board...
A week-long observation in all seven Lake Wales Charter schools culminated with a special community event at Eagle Ridge Mall with hundreds of staff, students, families and local supporters celebrating Disabilities Awareness Week. Charter Schools participated in a variety of activities designed to help students, teachers, staff, families and the broader community understand the importance of supporting special need students – children with disabilities – and their fam...
Bok Academy North teacher Margaret Thomas has a daily tradition with her sixth grade students. Every day, she likes to greet them with a question, something that simultaneously can entertain and educate her youngsters at the same time. It's part of the reason she has been named as the school's first-ever Teacher of the Year. Bok North opened its doors this past August. "It is the highlight of my day," she said of her routine, which sets the tone for entering a classroom that...
The Lake Wales Public Library will host Add Color to Your Landscape with Flowering Bulbs at noon, Thursday, March 7. This program is part of the library's Lifelong Learning Series sponsored by Florida's Natural Growers Foundation and the Lake Wales Library Association. A horticulture specialist from UF/IFIS Polk County will present information on growing flowering bulbs in your Florida landscape. This presentation is a lunch 'n learn program and is free; registration is...
The latest addition to Roosevelt Academy is bubbling with promise. In a modest 400-gallon tank at Roosevelt's outdoor FFA facility, a small school of gambusia appear to be thriving. As implied by their more common name - mosquito fish - the tiny gambusia are famous for their pest-devouring abilities, and Roosevelt students could help boost their numbers in Polk County. If all goes well, the Roosevelt team will soon expand their project to house approximately 1,000 mosquito...
