The City of Okeechobee Planning Board recommended against abandoning rights of way and city property to allow the Okeechobee Estates trailer park to come into compliance.
The new owner would like to replace the aging trailers when they are vacated and upgrade the park.
Residents who live at and near there were divided about the proposal. Some worried about additional costs and trash problems. Others were worried they might be forced out of their homes.
Planning Board Chairman Dawn Hoover said the city certainly won’t be pushing people out onto the street.
“Nobody is asking anybody to leave where you live. If you live on some property there, you are living on property that the trailer park owner does not own.”
The board voted 5-2 not to recommend the abandonment.
The park is an old fish camp along Taylor Creek and SE 6th Avenue. Some trailers have been there for several decades.
LaDonna Hunt said she worried residents would be made homeless.
“You have to understand these people are human beings that have lived in this town and have worked their butt off for their entire life.”
An Okeechobee was sentenced to three years in prison for various drug charges.
Elijah Barney, 21, pled no contest to trafficking in LSD and other controlled substances.
It was a below guideline sentence and seven felony charges were dropped.
Barney will also pay $100,000 in fines and about $800 in court costs.
He scored seven years in prison.
The case dated back to November 8, 2024. The Okeechobee Narcotics Task Force said they learned Barney was selling various drugs and had been using social media to contact high school age kids to see if they would sell drugs for him.
The ONTF said they arranged an undercover buy of $11,000 worth of drugs outside a residence off NE 4th Street that included six ounces of mushrooms, over 15 ounces of marijuana, strips of LSD, THC butter and various other drugs.
After the arrest, officers searched the suspects bedroom and found 468 grams of marijuana.
Barney allegedly told investigators that he was selling drugs to buy stocks and to help his parents pay their household bills.
Osceola County Commissioners voted to rezone the Desert Inn property in Yeehaw Junction.
The 3.4-acre property is now zoned commercial general which is identical to other properties on the corner of US 441 and state route 60.
There is no current site plan proposed for the property.
Osceola County Planning Director Raymond Stangle said while he has heard of no FDOT plan to widen portions of SR 60 in Yeehaw, there still is interest from developers.
“At this time, we’ve just had some discussions with some interested in buying that property. There has been no application filed. There is certainly someone interested in buying that property. We just have to wait and see if this initial interest bears any development application,” Stangle said.
One of the projects includes the Yeehaw Transportation Distribution Center that is 600 acres of mixed uses. The developer is focused on manufacturing and high paying jobs. Another proposal is a large electric vehicle charging station.
“There is a manufacturing focus. There was interest from someone to do a data center. We have not heard back from him. That sort of use would be a great use for that area.”
Two Okeechobee County jail inmates allegedly ganged up on a third inmate and brutally beat him recently.
Jaymarion Lawton and Malaqui Taylor both have been charged with aggravated battery on an inmate.
The attack was caught on video in the jail. The two inmates were seen following the victim into a cell and punching him repeatedly.
Jail guards quickly broke up the fight.
The arrest report said the victim’s eye was very swollen, bruised and bleeding from the socket and the injury appeared to be severe. The inmate also complained of double vision.
Okeechobee Police able to quickly solve a report of vandalism to Centennial Park. Two subjects were charged with trying to pry the locks open at the park restrooms.
Katherine Ponzo and Jose Urbina both face burglary and criminal mischief charges. Urbina was also charged with cocaine possession.
A stick was reportedly used to pry open the restroom door. The two subjects were found inside the locked bathroom that was filled with smoke. The estimate of damage was $1,000.
Urbina was also wanted on other local charges. He allegedly has some drug paraphernalia that tested positive for the presence of cocaine.