WOKC Local News – April 16, 2026, 7:40 AM
Transcript
WOKC News. A great rescue with WOKC News. I’m Charles Murphy. Okeechobee deputies put out more information including body camera footage and the 911 call as they responded to a plane crash earlier this year out by the landfill. This is a portion of the 911 call. 911, where’s your emergency? I ran into a plane crash. It took about 40 minutes to locate the wreckage. Dispatcher Joanne Porter spoke to WSVN in Miami, said she kept the pilot going and comforted him as rescuers searched for that crash site he and his daughter survived. An Okeechobee man won’t face criminal charges after he discharged a gun and drove a vehicle at deputies in Loxahatchee. 39-year-old Mark Dalton entering a pretrial diversion into veterans court. He’ll spend 30 hours of community service, take a four-hour gun safety course and a four-hour alcohol awareness course. The state attorney dropping some 11 different charges that included four counts of aggravated assault on law enforcement. Palm Beach deputies say they were put in jeopardy as they approached the vehicle on the property. They claimed Dalton drove in donuts and then drove toward the four deputies before fleeing the property. They then heard four to six gunshots as he drove down 200th Trail North in Loxahatchee. They also say Dalton was spouting racist and anti-Semitic slurs and singing a song about violence against minorities. The city of Okeechobee agreeing to collect impact fees for the county. They’ll get a 1.5% surcharge. City attorney, Steven Contiguro says they’re finding a mechanism to get the work done. We aren’t, in my view, advocating for the fee in any way. We are just saying, okay, we already do this work. Let’s do the work and then figure out how to subdivide all these permits in order to satisfy the impact fee ordinance. Indian River has settled their budget dispute with the sheriff. He had taken them to court and also was looking at the cabinet in Tallahassee to overthrow the county decision. Sheriff Eric Flowers wants to move past the dispute. I hope that we can put all of this behind us and move forward in a positive way and have a great working relationship. Jennifer Shuler, the county attorney, says it’ll also cover next year’s sheriff’s budget. In addition, both parties agree to a $4 million increase in the sheriff’s fiscal year 26-27 budget and the sheriff agrees not to appeal if the fiscal year 26-27 budget is funded in that amount. A 37-year-old Okeechobee man, Nice Foro Rendon, arrested in Orlando, on charges he solicited a minor to have sex. He’s facing four felony charges that include obscene communication, traveling to meet a minor for sex, and attempted lewd or lascivious battery. The recent rains have reduced the drought index in Glades County so much that they lifted the burn ban yesterday. County officials say there’s less danger out there when you’re burning. I’m Charles Murphy, WOKC News.
Recorded from the WOKC daily newscast (Glades Media).