WAFC Local News – May 04, 2026, 8:32 AM
Transcript
I’m Charles Murphy reporting. Clewison hosted the Florida Bass National High School Fishing Series this past weekend. Baron Buesen, Hendrick Kurtz and Brantley Garrett represented Hendry County in the tournament. School board member Stephanie Buesen called it a definite economic driver. The youth leagues come in town, they bring friends, grandmas, siblings, everybody. People are spending money, spending time, staying overnight. Another high school fishing tournament planned in June. Palm Beach schools say they’re offering more and more programs to adults while continuing education. It’s been a real success at West Tech and Belgrade. They have reached 20,000 kids per year in some kind of career and technical program. They offer things like carpentry, plumbing, forklifting and other things. School board member Mark Lane says career and technical education is vital. Every year we train approximately 20,000 adults to be plumbers, electricians, carpenters, welders, forklift operators, commercial truck drivers, along with many other skills. And this is a tremendously important contribution. Fred Barsh, their adult and vocational education director, says they have up to 700 adults in the adult program currently. You know, our whole guide guideline is to bring students into a situation where they’re much more employable. Moorhaven City Council continuing discussions on code enforcement. Attorney Steve Ramouni wants more documentations in the case files. He also wants notices of violations filed sooner. He says it’s time for the city to get serious. She just needs to toughen up. And I understand, you know, you grew up, you know, but at some point you just got to be uniform with how you approach it. And if somebody shows you good faith, you can extend good faith back to them reasonably, but not to let things go for six months, eight months. And then you put them on the clock. Mayor Clay Browning admits it’s a difficult job that needs to be done. Every one of us in this room has got a legitimate gripe. When you ride the streets of Moorhaven, every street has a code violation. Colleen or whoever the code enforcement is needs to, in my mind, we’re given one verbal and then start the clock. He says the city wants to see the city looking good. Others say Moorhaven is small, about one square mile, and the city can do even better. Resident Jake Eigner also wants to see the city push code enforcement more. Other communities around the lake, we laughed and giggled about what they were going through. And I believe now if they’re listening, they’re laughing and giggling at what we’re going through. The code officer they have hired was praised for being loyal and trying to give people a chance, but others note she needs to be more aggressive. Florida Fish and Wildlife will conduct aquatic plant management on Lake Ogochobee beginning this week. Some 13 acres of dense torpedo grass in the northern and western marshes will be treated by helicopter. There’ll be no restrictions on fishing, swimming, or drinking water in the treated areas of the lake. I’m Charles Murphy, WAFC News.
Recorded from the WAFC daily newscast (Glades Media).