WOKC Local News – December 19, 2025, 7:40 AM
Transcript
WOKC News. What to do at the freshman campus. With WOKC News, I’m Charles Murphy. In August, the 9th grade campus will be moving to Okeechobee High School, leaving it vacant. Superintendent Dylan Tedders is suggesting they use that facility for Okeechobee Achievement Academy and then turn Okeechobee Achievement Academy into a pre-K center. He says the district has always talked about expanding pre-K offerings. If we can expand those opportunities, maybe to some parents that can’t afford to take their students somewhere else or maybe their student went somewhere else and it didn’t work out for them. We still need them in school learning how to school before they come to kindergarten. The school board likely to hold workshop discussions on these ideas in the new year. In the court, Shane Slocum convicted of attempted armed robbery of an employee at the Wawa gas station. Okeechobee police arrested him on June 17, 2023, when he allegedly approached an employee in the parking lot and attempted to steal his car. He went on trial this week and was convicted. He is a prison release reoffender and was sentenced to 15 years behind bars. A Laredo man is charged with second-degree murder. Raquelmer Adeo Roblero Bartelon Tuesday night allegedly shot his brother to death in Sebring after some kind of an argument on Melody Avenue. The victim had multiple gunshot wounds. Islands County Commissioners will fund the Avon Park Baseball Museum with ad valorem tax dollars. They had hoped the Tourist Development Council would spend bed tax revenues. County Commissioner Chris Campbell says the Tourist Development Council didn’t want to use their funds. I think when Dr. Seventy and Mr. Jarrett were here, I think the board was in agreement for the project. It was just a matter of how we fund it. The CDC board recommended not to do it at their last meeting. We’re looking forward to general fund. Okeechobee City raising some concerns about the state plan to improve 70 West starting near Northwest 8th Avenue. The city is concerned about the raised median cutting access to certain left turns and the narrower lanes to 11 feet. They also objected to a light at the King’s Trailer Park to allow pedestrians to cross the street safely. That’s in the county. County Commissioners had similar concerns. Former Sheriff O.L. Rollerson will be inducted into the Florida Law Enforcement Hall of Fame in June. He died in 2007. He’s the only man known to have been sheriff in two Florida counties. Turin Sheriff Noel Stephen nominated O.L. for the award and says he made a lot of improvements to the sheriff’s office, including adding the Narcotics Task Force and a K-9 unit. He said Rollerson treated people very well. How you felt after you left him, how he treated you as an officer, as an employee, just as a human being. And if we can model that, we’d be a whole lot better world today. I’m Charles Murphy, WOKC News.
Recorded from the WOKC daily newscast (Glades Media).