News Cast for May 9th:
Okeechobee County could get a new truck stop and a mini storage complex at Posey’s Corners.
The Okeechobee County Planning Board voted to recommend a rezoning and approved the special exceptions for these projects.
The county commission holds a public hearing this morning on the project.
The site is on the northwest corner of the intersection of state road 70 east and Berman Road, 128th Avenue.
The plans includes a truck stop with store and repair shop and 561 storage units and space for 150 parked RVs.
Nearby resident Sandra Giggler was concerned about a 24 hour truck stop in a rural area.
She said she knows truck drivers who had told her they would never live near a truck stop.
She raised concerns about drugs and other crimes like prostitution.
A 25-year-old Fort Worth, Texas man sentenced to three years in prison and $53,000 in court costs and fines for drug trafficking.
Michael Rios advertised on snap chat that he would be selling cocaine, ecstasy and other drugs at the Okeechobee Music Festival last March.
The narcotics boys from the Okeechobee County Sheriff’s Office were waiting at the gate for him and said they found 40 grams of ecstasy, 66 grams of cocaine, two boxes of nitrous oxide and various other drugs in the vehicle.
Okeechobee County will allow stand alone boxes for Narcan, which reverses the impacts of most drug overdoses at some county facilities.
Fire stations, civic centers, and parks could have the boxes.
They did not require county employees to administer the drug.
Commissioner Terry Burroughs discussed the insurance and liability issue.
“In today’s society we have people that enjoy suing counties and cities just for the heck of it. If we do something like this we will open ourself up to these kinds of things.”
Commissioner Brad Goodbread said sometimes you have to do the right thing and not worry about lawsuits.
“I believe that if one of our county staff walks up and sees that the box is empty and they want to be a good human and make a phone call saying hey its empty, they should do it. It is all
about being a good human and being a good member of society.”
The city of Moore Haven agreed to support Glades Counties efforts to try and stop more reservoirs and storm water treatment areas in their county.
They said they have already taken too much land and are fixing to take another 18,000 acres for storage.
Vice Mayor Jake Eigner said Glades County has been hurt by the loss of land and this will make it worse.
He said the water should be stored in and near Orlando where it comes from not on economic challenged counties.
A 4 year old boy was beaten to death by his adopted mother in Polk County.
The sheriff also had video of one beating and another incident where he was thrown into a pool with his hands tied.
Grady Judd said this should never have happened.
He noted the medical examiner found the child had suffered multiple beatings and had a tear in his spleen.
Patricia Saintizaire, 36, of Davenport, faces charges of first-degree murder, aggravated child abuse and tampering with a witness.