WAFC Local News – October 08, 2026, 8:06 AM
Transcript
I’m Charles Murphy reporting. Henry County Commissioners approved a host fee for the Major League Fishing Toyota Series Tournament in Clewiston on February 11th to 13th. It’ll be $21,500. 300 anglers expected to participate. The economic impact of the fishing tournament estimated at just under 1.2 million. Commissioners approved Casa Miscane, a 58 single-family home development. It’s on 116 acres on Fort Denaud Road. It is near Murray and Phillips Road. Thomas Zagarski asked them to add buffering. Our PUD is still the same 58 units. That’s reduced from the 114 we were originally proposing after some of that community feedback that we received. A minimum one acre lot size is remaining. So that’s a density of one dwelling unit per two acres. And then we are providing 40% common open space with our plan as well. Commissioners approved Murray Park, a mine and residential community of 18 single-family homes. 99 acres located on State Road 80, east of Phillips Road would be developed. The life of the mine is under five years. They plan to put in 40 dwelling units and a commercial plaza. The LaBelle City Commission continued to work on their new fiscal year budget. They’re working at a 6% property tax hike, trying to stabilize the utility budget for water and sewer. They also discussed giving help to citizens who need help paying the utility bills, perhaps through churches and other non-profits. Finance Director Lily Davenport says they’ve been having trouble getting reimbursement of grants for Helms Road. Leaving us in a deficit position in the whole $960,000, almost $1 million. Former Mayor Julie Wilkins says the city should try to help with utility bills. We’ve been over backwards to try and make it easy for folks. And keep in mind, I hate to say this, but there’s repeat offenders that just, they just don’t pay it until it’s late. And they will be the first ones, unfortunately, to call and complain about the water department. Former South Bay Commissioner John Wilson wants to bring projects like a choice motel to Pahokee. He says he can’t get the new city manager, Brenda Bryant, to work with him. I talked with your city manager. She said she was busy and she could not support us. I talked with her, this is the second time I talked with her. I’ve never seen a city that needs so much to have a city manager do not have time to talk with developers and investors. It’s a shame. He wants to renovate the Parker Building and use it for apartments again. People had to be evacuated because the building got in such bad shape. Glades County Commissioners honored Lieutenant Lisa Watson and paramedics Jacqueline Farris and Brian Alfonso with life-saving awards. Lieutenant Watson delivered a baby in the field. Both paramedics helped save the life of a heart patient in distress. Fire Chief Lawrence Factor gave the award for delivering the child. This is a call for a pre-hospital birth. It was a complicated birth. The paramedics identified basically a nuchal cord and a dystocia presentation and handled it. They did a very good job and they did fantastic and were highly commended by the emergency room because they landed up having to transport both mother and child to Henry Region. A Henry County woman, 58-year-old Leanna Yeomans, is charged with making written or electronic threats. She posted some online threats to the circuit judge and others back in August. She also threatened an expert mental health professional. She allegedly posted the videos to her Facebook page. They allegedly included vulgar language and various threats. I’m Charles Murphy, WAFC News.
Recorded from the WAFC daily newscast (Glades Media).