WAFC Local News – October 19, 2026, 8:06 AM
Transcript
I’m Geralds Murphy reporting. The Clewiston City Commission will meet in executive session today at four o’clock. They’ll be discussing lawsuits filed over a criminal investigation into the city manager and former finance director, former Clewiston Police Chief Thomas Lewis, filed a federal lawsuit on September 30th in the U.S. District Court, Middle District of Florida. Lewis alleges the city retaliated against him in violation of his First Amendment rights and Florida’s workers’ compensation anti-retaliation law. Lewis had reached out to the Henry County Sheriff’s Office regarding concerns over city hiring practices. A state attorney’s office memo says they uncovered questionable practices and a clear lack of oversight. But authorities say there were no criminal charges. Mayor Jimmy Pittman says they’ll first discuss these allegations in private. Because of overlapping information from the state attorney’s report and this lawsuit, we will forego our discussion of the state attorney’s report, which we put out in our statement a couple of weeks ago that we would review that report as a city council and then offer any remedies or recommendations from the council. Eventually, the minutes and the recording of the meeting will be public record. City Attorney Kaylee Tuck says they’ll discuss how best to protect the city. When we received the civil lawsuit, it was from former chief of police Tom Lewis, and the allegations in that lawsuit almost mirror the state attorney’s memo. And because of that, because of how they are intertwined, we want to make sure we understand our obligations to the city for that lawsuit and defending that lawsuit while we we evaluate what happens next for our our state attorney’s memo. Another police employee, Commander Daniel Brophy, filed a federal lawsuit on September 21st. He’s alleging workers’ compensation, retaliation and disability discrimination by the city. He says the city eliminated his position after he made a workers’ compensation claim for being injured on the job. A Henry County man allegedly involved in a incident of road rage. It happened in the area of State Road 29. There had been a crash on the road and a vehicle was trying to merge into one lane. The second driver followed the first to the 7-11 on South Bridge Street, got out of his vehicle, started yelling, making insults. When the victim started using his cell phone, the suspect tried to strike it out of his hand. He was then ordered to leave the property for causing a disturbance, but then cursed out the manager and left. No charges have yet been filed. The Palm Beach County Commission on the life of Alfonso Fanjul Jr. 89 year old owner of Florida Crystals passed away on August 6th. Mayor Sarah Baxter read part of that proclamation. The Fonhoe family established deep roots in western Palm Beach County in the early 1960s with acquisition of the original Osceola Farms property in Pahokee, laying the foundation for a family agricultural legacy deeply connected to the Glades and Florida agriculture. Commissioner Joe Flores says Fanjul was part of the beginning of Florida Crystals. And helping build and strengthen an agricultural enterprise that created jobs, opportunities and prosperity for generations of families while contributing to the economic vitality of agricultural heritage of western Palm Beach County and the broader Florida agricultural community. They began sugar farming in the 60s and produced beloved household brands like Domino Sugar. In the courts, a Moorhaven woman sentenced to three months probation and $477 in court costs. She allegedly disrupted the Glades County courtroom April 27th. 24 year old Alicia Pujol became irate and argumentative with deputies, according to an incident report. A deputy noticed Pujol and another woman were talking in the courtroom and disrupting the proceeding. The deputy then said Pujol became verbally aggressive toward her. When told to leave the court, she refused and started yelling in the hallway close by. She resisted arrest in the stairwell and had to be handcuffed. She was told to leave the courthouse eventually due to all this yelling and screaming. I’m Charles Murphy, WAFC News.
Recorded from the WAFC daily newscast (Glades Media).