News Cast for June 26th:
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission reported 685 boating crashes with 81 fatalities and 394 serious injuries in 2024.
The annual boating crash report showed more registered vessels in Florida, up to 1.03 million vessels.
Okeechobee County had 5,574 registered vessels in 2024 which compared to 5,572 in 2023.
Okeechobee had no boat crashes in 2024 but had two in 2023 with one injury and $50,000 in property damage.
Glades County had 1,459 registered vessels in 2024 compared to 1,410 in 2023.
The report said Glades had three boat accidents last year with three injuries and $33,000 in property damage
In 2023, Glades County had six boat crashes, five injuries and $253,000 in property damage.
Felony charges were dropped against one of the suspects charged with injuring a cat with strong chemicals in Douglas Park two years ago.
Court records show charges of animal cruelty were dropped by prosecutors against Jaymarion Lawton. He had been charged in April, 2023 with accessory after the fact.
The sheriffs office investigated the complaint. They said Wanya Sands poured liquid fire on the cat for six minutes in a cage.
Lawton was present on the property and admitted to recording the alleged abuse and torture for about six minutes on February 14, 2023.
The incident took place at 308 NE 17th Avenue, the arrest affidavit said.
The detective assigned wrote the video showed the cat inside a metal trap and the suspect Sands pouring liquid fire on the cats head and prodding it with a stick. He then started to spray the cat with a water hose.
The detective also wrote that Lawton said he did not take part in the cruel behavior, just recorded it.
Okeechobee County Fire Rescue said it provides CPR classes and instruction to anyone who wants to learn.
They want to prevent a tragedy from a drowning death this summer.
Drowning is the number one cause of death or injury for those under four years old in the US.
You can drown in less than an inch of water.
Public Information Officer Jessica Sasser said fire rescue advises residents to always empty buckets, bath tubs and small kiddy pools on your property.
The main cause of drowning is a lack of adult supervision.
She said Okeechobee has a lot of natural water bodies in the lake, river and canals but not a lot of people swim in them.
“No not really, if we do have someone in the water its from an accident where someone fell in the water. If you live on a canal and have children and don’t have barriers to the water, supervision is the number one priority.”
She said to always check wind and weather conditions when you go to the beach and also swim where there is a lifeguard around.
She also advises not to let toddlers swim in a pool along, always keep them within an arms length.
There were two drownings in a period of three days this month in Martin County. Sasser said they don’t want that to happen in Okeechobee.
“That’s probably one of the worst calls we go on is anything to do with children. I believe both of those drowning calls were due to a lack of supervision.”
She also encouraged parents to take advantage of swimming lessons provided in the community.
The Okeechobee Sports Complex pool always have trained and certified lifeguards on duty.
The Okeechobee School Board honored several employees who retired this year.
Thomas Garrett 20 years, Pat Wagoner 22 years, Susanne McCoin 21 years, Judith Adler 29 years, Sandra Altman 24 years and Jim Clark, 45 years, 22 of them in Okeechobee were given awards at the June meeting.