News Cast for February 24th:
President of the Florida Cattlemen’s Association Dale Carlton visited Okeechobee to encourage ranchers and update them on the state of the beef industry.
Carlton said the beef cattle industry is going strong due to the price of beef going up and the inventory of cattle herds in the nation going down.
Carlton said three hurricanes last fall impacted Florida ranchers.
The cattlemen were able to help out some 50 ranches with supplies, feed and fence.
He said the three hurricanes hit in six weeks. He noted wind and rain impacted a lot of farms in central and North Florida.
“We hope that one day we will have our equipment that belongs to the association staged and ready for storms. Now we have volunteers who donate time and equipment and don’t go to work for a few days and work on the weekend and come in the name of helping people.”
The cattlemen this year want to create a disaster preparedness committee to better plan responses for future storms. He said volunteers put in a lot of hours helping ranchers and farmers after these storms.
“Our grass roots think its important to help out their neighbor. It consider it a great privilege to be part of an organization with people with those kinds of values and morals.”
Carlton said growth remains a key challenge for ranchers with an estimated 1,100 people moving to Florida each day. Carlton said he supports the Rural and Family Lands Protection Program and the Florida Wildlife Corridor, which are efforts to preserve land and ranches for future agriculture use.
“We are getting crowded. They are coming in on our ranch and farm land. I think its important to conserve as much of that as we can.”
The Okeechobee City Council honored three OHS seniors who earned scholarships from the South Florida Fair this year.
Isabella Castillo told the council she intends to study to be a veterinarian.
Dwight Downey said he wants to be an emergency room nurse.
Hailey Harden plans to study agriculture business and law at Kansas State University.
City Councilman Bob Jarriel said the fair gave out 250 scholarships to graduating high school seniors this year.
The Okeechobee County Sheriffs Department said a purse snatching turned into a K-9 search in the area of Bills Mini Mart on Friday.
A heavy police presence was reported after the husband of the victim chased after the suspect.
They had not released the name of the suspect as of this morning but he was arrested late Friday.
FloridaCommerce will host a community workshop in Okeechobee tonight to discuss long-term disaster recovery funds for communities impacted by the 2023 and 2024 storms.
Florida will receive $925 million in CDBG funds for long term resiliency and mitigation efforts. Okeechobee, Highlands, Glades, Hendry, Osceola, and St. Lucie were among the counties eligible.
The Okeechobee meeting will be held from 5-7 pm tonight at the William L. Hendry Courtroom at 304 NW 2nd Street, room 270.
Stakeholders can comment at 5 pm and citizens at 6 pm.
The Highlands County Commission approved a new contract with Waste Connections to remain their waste hauler. The company had been in the midst of a sale that was expected to be completed early this year.
Company CEO Shawn McDowell said there will be no change in service or collection days and all employees will keep their jobs.
The company has been working to improve rural service, especially down dirt and shell rock roads. In the past there was an issue of the trucks being too large and not being able to turn around.
“We have agreed to proactively provide some smaller equipment to take care of some of those immediate needs,” McDowell said.
Commissioner Scott Kirouac said some areas have 10-15 cans in one area, and they create a mess when they are not picked up regular.
Commissioner Don Elwell said he has gotten far fewer complaints in recent months about garbage service.