WAFC Local News – July 09, 2026, 8:06 AM
Transcript
I’m Charles Murphy reporting. The City of LaBelle putting in four speed bumps on Florida Street, two in each lanes. They’ll also put in one near a new stop sign at Wilson Street. Vice Mayor Jackie Radica supported the speed bumps to slow people down. We definitely need to have something down there because there is kids that are on that road and the kids walk and everything else. And there’s a lot of people that walk the neighborhood with their dogs and stuff. Steve Coder says kids are even playing near the street, but motorists don’t care. All these people were racing past. Today, on the way here, I had motioned a UPS truck to slow down because he was going way too fast. This is a regular occurrence. I’ve watched a golf cart do at least 40 miles an hour on this street. It’s nuts. The Glades County School Board heard a presentation on proposed impact fees for schools. The price for a single-family home would be $4,640. Multi-family units for schools, $2,636. And mobile homes, $2,709. Only residential property can be assessed impact fees. The original fees were put in place in 2008. School Board member Larry Lucky II says he understands the impact fee and the study that has to be done every four years. There’s a huge difference between 2006 and 2008. If you think about how our economy was then. Because we had to bust in 2007. So that would have been an example where people would have been crying out, this isn’t fair. The money for schools can be used countywide. They have begun the tear down of the former elementary school cafeteria. They also approved the charter and agreement for the Daisy and Ashley Charter School and approved a chiller repair project for $18,000. Belle Glade Vice Mayor Robert Reese thanks the sheriff for creating a church and house of worship program to make worship safer. He says he’s growing concerned about the security of churches with the recent violence including three deaths in San Diego. We need to decide that we need that in churches and congregations, but we need to make sure we keep our community safe. Captain David DePlantis says giving eyes and ears to deputies makes them respond quicker. If they see something suspicious or they feel anything suspicious, can go on the link that they’re already a part of. Go on the app on their phone and report what they’re seeing, what’s going on besides calling 911. Give a description of who they see and what the suspicious activity is and we’ll respond of course. Emergency response will get there immediately. Priority response to handle whatever the situation may be unfolding. The Florida Fish and Wildlife made some changes to the spring turkey hunting season this year. They’ve cut down on opportunities for out of state hunters. They are not able to hunt during the first nine days of the season this year. They expanded the turkey hunting season from two to four days. There is concern about only 10 turkeys being harvested in the 730,000 acre Big Cypress Preserve. Julie McCormick claims the turkey population is down in Big Cypress. Turkey population decline over the years has been heartbreaking and honestly there’s no surprise that the python population has been rising at the same time. I hunt pythons, I don’t do it all the time and yet I still manage to pull 100 things out of the swamp every year. And I’d love to help this state take a crack at breeding Osceola’s again and getting them reintroduced to areas where we’ve seen serious decline. Part of the problem is pythons, part is less habitat, another is coyotes. I’m Charles Murphy, WAFC News.
Recorded from the WAFC daily newscast (Glades Media).