News Cast 5/17
News Cast for May 17th:
A quick stop by firemen
A mobile home fire displaced five Okeechobee residents Tuesday.
The fire at 506 NE 31st Terrace near Pine Ridge Park was reported just after 8 am. The occupants were able to get out without injury.
The mobile home did not have any smoke detectors.
Firemen quickly found some electrical wires smoldering and a charred 2X4 in the attic and stopped the fire.
The American Red Cross is helping the family.
Among arrests..
Brandon Williams wouldn’t leave a residence on SE 4th Street he had been staying at.
Deputies said they found over 10 grams of cocaine, an altered and loaded firearm, and drug paraphernalia.
Williams faces drug trafficking and other charges as a convicted felon.
Two men were arrested near Lorida after a trafficking amount of fentanyl, two firearms, marijuana, Xanax and cocaine.
A traffic stop conducted by Highlands County deputies on Arbuckle Creek Road after a vehicle ran a stop sign.
Anthony Brice, 34 is facing armed trafficking charges.
Maurice Wallace, 35 was also a convicted felon.
Col. Roger Young was named the new executive director of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
Chairman Rodney Barreto suggested the promotion saying Colonel Young could keep things rolling along.
“We didn’t need someone from the outside coming in and putting this whole thing on its head. That is the issue. We are not broken.”
Col. Young has worked 24 years as regional commander in Southwest Florida.
Eric Sutton retired from the position in December.
A Haverhill Florida man, Joseph Duane was charged with shooting a gun inside a home in Okeechobee.
He was mad after a local family wanted him to leave the home for using their vehicles without permission.
He was located in a wooded area by a sheriffs drone.
Alcohol was said to be a factor. The home located on NW 20th Street.
Amanda Kirk of Jacksonville was charged with accepting payments to try and smuggle narcotics into Okeechobee Correctional.
She reportedly met another suspect at a parking lot in Okeechobee and received the narcotics.
Guards said they located marijuana, molly, and oxycodone on the suspect during the search.
South Florida Water managers remain focused on Okeechobee for water quality and storage projects.
They had at least 14 projects constructed or under construction in 2022.
They have been able to store 137,000 acre feet of water in our basin.
Another 3,300 acre storm water treatment area is planned in west Okeechobee with construction possible by 2026.
Stacey Ollis said they should see some water quality improvements show up due to the finished Kissimmee River restoration project this year.