WAFC Local News – December 03, 2025, 8:34 AM
Transcript
I’m Charles Murphy reporting. It’ll be so long to an iconic building in Clewiston. The Hendry County School Board has hired a firm to demolish the white building built in 1928 for Clewiston Schools. Superintendent of Schools Michael Swindle says the building serves no purpose for education at the current time. It’s been broken into a handful of times, periodically by lights on upstairs. We know people, we know what’s going on. Board member Stephanie Buesen of Clewiston admits it won’t be popular demolishing that old building with some residents. The board chairman John Baskwin expressed interest in placing cameras in district vehicles. In this day and age, and I don’t know how the rest of the board feels, but if you, you see cameras everywhere, you know, and then you see people out there that try to take advantage of frivolous lawsuits. You know, I think it might be in our best interest to look into installing cameras in all of our vehicles, all of our district vehicles, just for the safety for our, you know, for us. A man in a four-wheeler arrested on the Brighton-Seminoe Indian Reservation. Seminoe police say Justin Billy was seen popping wheelies on the ATV on Route 721. Billy then allegedly refused to stop for a lawful traffic stop and sped up to speeds of 70 miles an hour before going onto a dirt trail. He was arrested later on a warrant with an $11,000 bond. Charges include fleeing and attempting to elude police and racing on a highway or stunt driving. A Buckhead Ridge resident is charged with stealing $900 to buy illegal pills. Nathan Askew stole the money from a Buckhead residence while the owners were gone. He admitted to Glades County Sheriff deputies that he purchased 50 Kratom pills. He faces one count of grand theft. The city of Belle Glade will have a Christmas decorating contest this year. You must sign up with email, physical address, and name by December 10th. The judging will be done the nights of December 15th through the 20th from 6 p.m. until 9 p.m. The lights must be on during those times. They want family-friendly themes and you must live in the city. The commission appointed Robert Reese to the Airport Advisory Committee and agreed to name a street after Horace Harris for his volunteer work to better Belle Glade. The special commission continues to hear arguments about property tax reduction or even elimination in Florida. The House State Affairs Committee is considering four constitutional amendments to reduce property taxes proposed for the November ballot. Casey Cook with the Florida League of Cities says there are 37 cities that can’t afford the mandate to fund law enforcement if property taxes are cut. If you were to expand the definition of law enforcement to include the public safety, including fire and EMS, the list goes up to 116 cities, meaning they eliminate every other service that they provide. They are only public safety and they still have a deficit. Cook also warns reducing property taxes may ding the state’s credit rating as the state also does not have sales tax revenue. Other opponents of reducing property taxes, local governments say have to increase fees to make up the difference. The governor says homeowners should not have to pay rent in the form of property taxes. I’m Charles Murphy, WAFC News.
Recorded from the WAFC daily newscast (Glades Media).