News Cast for April 24th:
Okeechobee fighting overdoses
The rising number of drug overdoses due to more and more powerful drugs have gotten the attention of local officials.
The Board of county commissioners approved allowing a non-profit to place Narcan, a life saving drug, that reverses the impacts of overdoses of opioids.
The Narcan will be placed in certain government buildings and parks.
Stacey Rogers said drugs today make kids, and even pets sick.
“It is important for animal control in Okeechobee because they have had to spray a dog for Narcan. Dogs are like kids. They see something on the ground and they put it in their mouth.”
Sheriff Noel Stephen said this is not just for the addict any longer.
“Any more there is so much fentanyl. It is so volatile, the four ounce dose of Narcan reverses it. Now we have carfentanyl that is twice as potent and requires an 8 ounce dose to reverse the effect.”
Okeechobee Sheriff Noel Stephen said there will not be problems with squatting in Okeechobee.
It has been a growing problem in other states and big cities.
Someone moves into a home that isn’t there own, and claims a right to be there. In some states the squatters get legal rights after 30 days in one residence.
It can be a lengthy and costly process to remove them.
Stephen was asked about the likelihood of squatters in Okeechobee.
“Renters today have more rights to the property than the owners of the property. It’s a struggle hard enough. We understand what the squatter statute is. We will eject a squatter.”
Stephen went on to say what is going on in another state won’t happen here.
“You get a squatter go in there for 30 days and then they have the right to it. How can you say that this makes sense?”
The new NFL Hall of Fame Museum of the Glades could open as soon as this summer. It will be part of the Lawrence E. Will Museum in Belle Glade
Organizers recently got some help from professional barbecue chefs as they raised $61,000 for the project.
Cheryl Stein said they got a short in the arm from the event.
“We’ve had almost 70 young men go from local schools to colleges and universities playing football and onto the NFL. Where else in America has this happened.”
A 15-acre brush fire put out by Okeechobee County Fire Rescue and the Florida Forest Service at 23755 NW 160th Drive. No homes were threatened.
A 36-year-old Buckhead Ridge man Daniel Barrow is charged with fleeing the scene after colliding with a Glades County patrol vehicle at Hunter and Linda Road.
He allegedly fled the scene but was caught on Cypress Street soon afterward.
Barrow faces fleeing and attempting to elude police, DUI and leaving the scene of an accident with property damage charges.
Glades County deputies and good Samaritans able to help a man who fell off a boat near the Old Sportsmans Village Boat ramp.
An incident report from the sheriff said deputies received a call of a possible drowning. The caller told dispatchers the male had fallen out of the boat and was currently struggling to swim.
Units arrived on scene and with the help of passing citizens were able to get the subject.
The man said he had been in the water for about an hour before being rescued.
Glades EMS responded and treated the patient.
