News Cast for October 23rd:
Plea resolves traffic homicide case
An Okeechobee man pled guilty to DUI manslaughter charges in a fatal car accident.
66-year-old Wiley Boswell received 4 years in prison and 10 years of probation, with early termination possible.
He scored 194 months in prison.
Boswell also lost his driving privileges for life.
The accident on January 29, 2022 took the life of Linda Mattox of Okeechobee. A four-year-old child in her vehicle was also hospitalized.
The Florida Highway Patrol said Boswell tested positive for alcohol and that he ran the stop sign on SW 48th Avenue at state road 70 west, causing the collision.
Environmentalists are warming to the idea of keeping farm land around. They said you can’t reduce pollution and greenhouse emissions without farmland.
John Piotti with the American Farmland Trust advocates for conserving farm land.
He said farmers are having a tough time surviving inflation and rising costs but there are still people that want to get into the industry.
The US loses about 2,000 acres of farm land per day.
Piotti said agriculture could bring farming to a place of carbon neutrality and help offset carbon emissions caused by other sectors.
The inflation reduction act passed by congress included $20 billion in federal funding to purchase agriculture land and promote conservation programs.
Highlands county commissioners raised concerns that funding for regional road projects could be cut in 2025.
Residents are asking for more law enforcement due to speeding and reckless driving in residential areas.
Rocco Joseph said the county needs to work on this county wide problem.
He said he was nearly run over by a speeding motorists trying to get his mail.
“Unless we hurt these speeders in the pocket book they will continue to speed. This is affecting a large percentage of our population.”
A Highlands County jury convicted 66-year-old Joseph Ables of murdering sheriff’s deputy William Gentry in Lake Placid after a four day trial on Tuesday. Ables shot at Gentry six times, hitting him four times in May, 2018.
Ables had killed his neighbor’s cat.
Prosecutor Bonde Johnson said this was no accident
“He didn’t shoot, once or twice, he shot six times, that is intent.”
The trial moves onto the penalty phase as the state is seeking the death penalty.