Communication Builds Our Community
Communication Builds Our Community
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The construction of a "Single Point Urban Interchange" at the intersection of US 27 and SR 60 continues with another change in the traffic pattern, this time one that may east navigation for area motorists. According to a statement issued by the Florida Department of Transportation, traffic traveling on US 27 southbound will be shifted to the newly constructed lanes beginning Wednesday. The change is a welcome improvement for drivers who have been navigating through a maze of...
Almost 10 weeks after Hurricane Ian struck Polk County on September 28, large piles of storm debris remain piled along some Polk County roads. Despite complaints, some residents' frustrations are turning to anger directed at the county. While cities have move promptly to remove the heaps of limbs and branches, Polk County has struggled to maintain service for residents. During the same time frame a break-down in service for even normal household waste resulted in the Polk...
The historic Crystal Lake will Apartments at 282 East Park Avenue are expected to undergo extensive remodeling and exterior refurbishment after their purchase by the Lake Wales Care Center. The 100-year-old building has been vacant for about three years. The purchase price was discounted to $340,000, according to Antonio Spagnolo of Bright Trust Realty, in recognition of some damage caused during the passage of Hurricane Ian in September. Both the purchase price and the...
A concerned student, a responsive parent, and quick action by Lake Wales Police may have averted a tragic ending after a student's "toy" gun was revealed to be a very dangerous, loaded pistol. Lake Wales Police Officers responded to the entrance of Dinner Lake, a subdivision on Chalet Suzanne Road, after receiving a report that a “toy gun” might be hidden in bushes near a school bus stop there. Police located a purple drawstring backpack behind one of the bushes near the ent...
A long-desired re-do of the aging Grove Manor housing complex north of downtown may be closer to reality if the recent actions of the city commission bear fruit. Commissioners, on a 4-0 vote, approved allotting all of the original funding, once spread over several phases of a reconstruction project, to be assigned to phase two of the 300-unit project. Commissioner Daniel Williams was absent. Housing Authority Executive Director Albert Kirkland Jr. and construction management...
The Lake Wales Highlanders defeated Columbia Friday night, and will advance to the state championship game next week. Details of the Highlanders' win can be found in our Sports Section....
Lake Wales Police and firefighters recovered the body of 31-year-old Christopher Shoemaker from Crystal Lake late Friday morning. Shoemaker, of Greeneville, Tennessee, was last seen by friends on Wednesday night, November 30, swimming in the lake, but they were reportedly uncertain if he had left the lake or experienced a problem while in the water, according to a police statement. Officers and Polk County Deputies searched Lake Wailes and Crystal Lake as well as the...
The Lake Wales Connected plan took a major step forward this week as the Lake Wales Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) voted Tuesday to award a construction contract for the Park Avenue reconstruction. Work on the multi-million dollar project is expected to begin in January. "This is the showpiece project of the Lake Wales Connected plan," City Manager James Slaton told city commissioners sitting as the CRA board. "It's been at least a couple of years to get to this point."...
An apparent attempt to draw customers led to the wrong kind of attention for an area man as he found himself following complaints about his loud music. According to Lake Wales Police, officers responded to the area of Seminole Ave. and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. around 10:20 pm Wednesday after a resident called complaining about loud music in the Grove Manor housing complex. Arriving officers observed a minivan occupied by a man playing loud music. As they approached...
A pair of proposed apartment developments near Eagle Ridge Mall may add 824 new dwelling units to the city, but in each case developer proposals to reduce required parking created some heartburn for city commissioners. The first and most prominent of the pair is proposed for a site directly behind Shoppes on the Ridge, on the north side of Chalet Suzanne Road and across from Wawa. It would consist of six four-story buildings containing 272 units on a 12.1 acre site. Tentative...
Frustration among Polk County residents in the Lake Wales area spread this week to include the Board of County Commissioners, who have been deluged with complaints from residents about missed collections of trash. The issue is only compounded by the mountains of yard waste still remaining on area streets in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian in early October. County Commissioner Bill Braswell introduced the motion to declare an emergency after hearing complaints of up to...
The Lake Wales Fire Department and the City of Lake Wales want to alert residents to some very important tips regarding "deep frying" turkeys, a popular trend in recent years. Watch the video for some dramatic evidence. Among the tips: &bull: ALWAYS USE A FRYER OUTDOORS. Keep the fryer away from flammable materials. &bull: PLACE THE FRYER ON A LEVEL, STABEL SURFACE. If a fryer can tip or be knocked over by accident, it can cause a catastrophe. &bull: ALWAYS THAW THE TURKEY...
The City of Lake Wales finished the 2021-2022 fiscal year in better-than-expected financial shape, based upon figures included in a year-end budget amendment approved by city commissioners. The fiscal year ended on September 30, but final balances were not available for a few weeks. City Budget Director Dorothy Abbott presented the documents to the commissioners, explaining that the changes in the numbers reflected the needed final look back at the year concluded. The General...
More than three miles of streets around Lake Wales are in for improved surfaces in coming months, part of the city's multi-year street maintenance program. The largest single project will be the resurfacing of 2,260 feet of Sessoms Avenue from Scenic Highway to Wales Drive. The project will use a process called "cape seal," which will extend the life of existing asphalt band and allow the budget to cover more streets, according to Division Manager Beverly Pennington of the...
One-time Hurricane Nicole passed over the Lake Wales area this morning, with the broad center of the storm positioned directly over the city at 7:00 am today. Despite gusty winds and steady rains, few serious impacts have been reported so far. Once again, forecasts from the National Hurricane Center have proven uncannily accurate in predicting the movement of the storm, from predictions of its formation three days before evidence was seen, to its entire unusual course. Nicole...
A late-evening shooting Wednesday at a local apartment complex left two men hospitalized and a suspect or suspects being sought by the Lake Wales Police Department. According to Lieutenant M. Smith of the LWPD, the two victims were sitting outside an apartment talking when they heard a series of shots ring out. They both realized they had been hit, and called for help. They also reported that there had been no prior disturbance or argument prior to the incident. At...
An alert Lake Wales Police officer led to the Saturday seizure of illegal and prescription drugs, as well as a large amount of cash. Officer Terry Schulze was on patrol and noticed a vehicle parked at the Prince of Wales motel which matched one usually driven by 24 year old Carlos Williams of Winter Haven, who is wanted on multiple violent felony crimes. Carlos Williams is . He is wanted for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and domestic violence charges, and a warrant...
The solution to a missing persons case that has festered for years remains our of sight for investigators after an excavation under the floors of an aging home of Dr. J.A. Wiltshire Avenue turned up no remains. The home was the focal point of years of rumors after 24-year-old Debbie Williams was reported missing by family members in 1990. Her daughter Tamesha, then about nine years old, was subsequently raised by her grandmother. She has never had closure in the matter of her...
Two new apartment complexes totaling 824 units may bring a burst of new economic activity to the city's booming north side. The Lake Wales City Commission will consider action on the two projects Tuesday after discussing the proposals at their agenda workshop. Hillpointe, the larger of the two projects, is proposed to include 552 units 137 acres lying north of Chalet Suzanne Road and the existing Serenity Luxury Apartments. The construction would take place on the...
The Warner University Royals initiated a brand new football field on their South Lake Wales campus Saturday, hosting their first on-campus game by taking on Southeastern University in a Sun Conference game. The new facility, although still lacking the bleachers and field house that are expected parts of a college field, has a high-quality playing surface featuring artificial turf emblazoned with the Warner University Lion logo. A press box towers over the west side of the...
A missing woman, a distressed family, and decades of rumors have led the Lake Wales Police Department to reopen a "cold case" investigation that has many questioning why it's taken so long. At Tuesday's City Commission meeting, two residents came forward to challenge an official narrative about the case, stating that the family is "still grieving" and needed closure. The issue was raised only days after a private search and rescue team found evidence that a murder victim likel...
The early morning forecast from the National Hurricane Center confirms that once Sub-Tropical Storm Nicole is transitioning to a Tropical Storm, and is likely to reach Hurricane strength as it moves through the northern Bahamas before impacting Florida's east coast. The change has implications for the Lake Wales area. Still retaining the extremely-broad wind field of an extra-tropical system, Nicole is now developing an inner core of strong winds, which will likely bring a...
The approach of Storm Nicole has many Lake Wales area residents on edge, but this system is unlikely to be much like what we would normally expect from a hurricane.. As a "sub-tropical" storm Nicole has a much different structure, and the location of the exact center of the system will make little or no difference in regards to impacts. Sub-tropical storms typically lack the intense inner core and eye-wall structure found in hurricanes, instead dispersing their intensity over...
Despite the arrival of dry autumn-like weather, unseasonable warmth has left the door open for possible tropical storm development, and forecasters are now keeping an eye on the potential for a rainy, windy spell for the state of Florida. For several days long-range weather models have been depicting a new low forming over the northeastern Caribbean and south-west Atlantic before drifting over the Bahamas and approaching the east coast of Florida. That path alone would make...
After an October 27 public forum that City Manager James Slaton described as "disorganized," City of Lake Wales staff is reviewing and restarting the entire process of conducting a land use study that will outline future desired uses of property in and around the community. City staff plans to enhance public engagement in the City's Land Use Study, designed to evaluate land areas in the city's utility service area beyond the city limits in unincorporated Polk County. "The...
