WAFC Local News – September 21, 2026, 8:06 AM
Transcript
I’m Charles Murphy reporting. Hendry County Sheriff Deputies released the 911 calls of the traffic stop that led to a deputy-involved shooting on August 29th of Edward Young Jr. The calls show Young allegedly nearly caused two accidents in the span of five minutes, crossing lanes of traffic and swerving all over the road. As he headed eastbound on State Road 80 into LaBelle, body camera footage show Young shot first as he reached for a gun and got off several rounds. Since the shooting, two people, including an alleged family member, have been charged for making violent threats of assault and or death against the deputies. Here’s part of those 911 calls. 911, what’s your emergency? Lee County with a transfer. Caller is advising of a reckless driver that’s in front of him that just crossed into Hendry County. Okay, let’s go ahead. Yeah, yeah, it’s a Chevy Colorado. It’s a white Impala. Pulled out in front of us and then now, but now he’s driving on the road. He’s just swerving all over the road. Caller added this later on. He actually slowed down, but he’s in the passing lane, but he’s still down. He’s on slow now, but he’s still swerving. Hendry Sheriff Steve Whitten says his deputies could have easily been killed if a trainee hadn’t been properly positioned and acted quickly, firing several rounds into the vehicle. FDLE contacted Friday says the investigation is open. Hendry County schools approved their budget, the millage rate of 5.322 mills. The tax rate is up 3.89% this year. They continued to debate and decided to remove a $50 athletic fee for students. There had been a large increase in athletic costs since COVID. Transportation costs nearly $90,000 in Cluiston and over $66,000 in LaBelle just in the past year. Chairperson John Baskwin says Hendry does a lot more than some districts when it comes to sports. But I know there are other districts that don’t do anything like this. The board just doesn’t even pay for some of their athletes. They’re on their own. So to even ask the district say, hey, you know, we’re willing to support our athletes. And then on top of it, the community getting behind it and willing to donate money to help our athletes. I think it’s just very honorable. Superintendent Michael Swindle agreed that they didn’t give parents enough notice about the fee. At the end of the day, we are guilty of one thing, and I’ll own this myself. We did not properly advertise starting in April that there would be a $50 fee imposed on that. He says the district did add about $10,000 to the athletic budget this year. The city of Moorhaven held a workshop on how to get funding help for downtown and marina revitalization. They would like to use Brownsfield grants to help develop two lots at the marina and others around the water. Alexandra Millan says Moorhaven even has a Brownsfield. Greenview and have the Moorhaven Sugarhouse would be an example of these larger industries that are no longer with us and have a major impact on the area. While these businesses help the economy, they also needed to use a lot of different chemicals and often petroleum products for their operation. And that really left a legacy. Mayor Clay Browning said there was nothing to lose from filing for these things. A city attorney says there are other areas of the city could potentially be qualifying. Two Clewison Library employees received awards at the annual meeting of the Southwest Florida Library Network this month. Shirley Reynolds was named Outstanding Library Employee. She’s worked for Clewiston since 1999. Diana Osborne won the Community Engagement Award. She has worked for the library for 11 years. I’m Charles Murphy, WAFC News.
Recorded from the WAFC daily newscast (Glades Media).