News Cast for June 23rd:
Hendry County Commissioner Ramon Iglesias said it is time to prioritize the removal of muck and sediment from the bottom of Lake Okeechobee.
Iglesias said the muck on the bottom of the lake isn’t going anywhere. He said sun will never penetrate that and submerged vegetation will never grow in that.
“We have to do something with the muck on the bottom of Lake Okeechobee.”
Iglesias went on to state that we have to take the opportunity of a drought to have as much impact as we can on this body of water.
“The reality is there won’t be enough vegetation. If we say next meeting we now have 15,000 acres of vegetation I will sit here again and tell you it’s not enough.’
Collier County Commissioner William McDaniel said they should develop a plan to remove and relocate the legacy sediment on a concerted basis. He said they can’t rely on mother nature not to rain as they can’t control the levels of the lake.
‘Any management plan put in place is doomed to failure if you are relying on luck. The best path to travel is the removal of that legacy sediment in some form or fashion on a regular basis.”
Chairman of the Coalition Ken Doherty of Charlotte County said a project like this would be a budget buster.
A firey crash claimed six lives in southern Osceola County Saturday.
The Florida Highway Patrol said a 2024 Hyundai Tucson was headed westbound on state road 60 west of 441 and was passing traffic in the east bound lane. As the Tucson attempted to return to the westbound lane, the driver lost control of the vehicle and the left side of the vehicle collided with the front of a tractor trailer.
The FHP said the impact caused both vehicles to become engulfed in flames.
The fire trapped the six occupants of the vehicle inside.
The trooper said all of the six died inside the vehicle possibly three adults and three children.
The Medical Examiner will attempt to positively identify the six people involved.
The driver of the tractor trailer, a 36-year-old man from Miami Gardens suffered minor injury and was transported to Indian River Hospital.
Okeechobee County Commissioners honored first responders in the community as part of Emergency Medical Services Week.
They also honored employees in the public works department for Public Works week.
The commission and the Okeechobee Utility Authority (OUA) agreed to a deal where both will pay 50 percent towards the costs of road repairs due to utility work in Pine Ridge Park.
Each entity will pay $150,000.
BOCC Chairman David Hazellief said utility companies take advantage of Okeechobee’s hospitality.
“That road will never be the same again with all the equipment they have there.”
Commissioner Brad Goodbread said he inspected the condition of the road after the work.
“I go and check on it. It was horrid, the condition it was in.”
An Okeechobee man was charged with conspiring with another man to brutally assault a man in Okeechobee.
Shane Short was charged with aggravated battery with a deadly weapon.
Short allegedly encouraged, assisted and or advised David Ray Brannigan to commit the crime.
The arrest report said the battery occurred last June 8 at 30355 highway 441 north in Fort Drum. It stated the victim was struck
in the head with a baseball bat and hospitalized at HCA Raulerson Hospital.
Detectives were able to learn the vehicle the suspects were in. St. Lucie County received a description of the vehicle and pulled it over near 14500 Okeechobee Road.
The victim said there were two attackers and that he recognized the vehicle. The surveillance cameras at the crime scene were allegedly tampered with and did not record the incident.
In the arrest affidavit, Brannigan said a relative of the victim texted her telling him that she had hired a hitman to mess with the victim.
Brannigan later admitted he got into a fist fight with the victim but insisted he was not armed with a bat and never used a bat.