WOKC Local News – December 08, 2025, 7:40 AM
Transcript
WOKC News. Double honors for dairy farmer. With WOKC News, I’m Charles Murphy. Local dairy farmer Woody Larson will be inducted into the Florida Agriculture Hall of Fame in February. Larson was also nominated and named the Farm Bureau’s Farmer of the Year this year. Larson says there’s a future for Okeechobee agriculture. We all need to eat, and we need to eat every day. So there’s always a need for food, okay? And then, typically, food is produced pretty close to you. Now, transportation is getting better, so maybe food can be produced somewhere else, but we need to produce it in this country just for our security. We don’t need to be dependent on other countries. The Okeechobee Sheriff’s quarterly awards luncheon included an award for Deputy Gabe Gresseth, who helped locate a missing 75-year-old woman with dementia. Sergeant Michael Cauley says Gresseth used modern technology to find the woman near her home. With traditional search efforts proving unsuccessful, he took the initiative to deploy his agency-issued drone to expand the search capabilities. Based on information provided by the husband, who mentioned the missing person’s fondness for horses, he used his drone to search in that location. She was returned to her family safely. The Sheriff’s Office put out more information on the rescue of two bulldog-type dogs who were caught in a locked car amid rising temperatures. It happened at 20633 Northwest 278th Street in Viking. The Sheriff’s incident report said the dogs were exhibiting signs of severe distress, lying on their sides, panting heavily, with their tongues extended. Deputies got access to the vehicle and pulled them outside and gently applied water to their paws in an effort to lower their body temperature. They took the dogs to the Okeechobee Veterinary Clinic and found their dogs’ core temperatures were 103 and 104 degrees. Veterinary staff administered IV fluids and the dogs were able to recover. St. Lucie County Commissioners approved a land use change for Triangle Farms. It’s on 88 acres located at Midway Road, east of the fairgrounds. The developer wants to put in housing, commercial, and a mixed-use development. County officials note there are over 12,000 homes planned in the surrounding area at Oak Ridge Ranches and the Wilder Project. County Commissioner James Clasby says the county is interested in this project. I think everybody in this room is probably driven by the property on the way out to the fair. It’s a really unique property, great property for redevelopment purposes. It’s been developed at one point. I was told it was a nursery. You know, it’s a prime opportunity to have something here and I like that you guys are coming forward. The Florida Forest Service is predicting a very active wildfire season. Meanwhile, the National Weather Service predicts higher than normal temperatures and below average rainfall this winter. Rick Dolan with the Florida Forest Service says they are doing the prescribed burning now they need to do to reduce the risk. Because a lot of folks that move in that aren’t from Florida, if you’re from here, you grow up with it, you understand it, but if you come from other parts of the country where maybe prescribed burning is not happening, that’s where the complaints typically come from. The Forest Service’s fire activity is up and it’s extremely dry, especially in areas north of I-4. I’m Charles Murphy, WOKC News.
Recorded from the WOKC daily newscast (Glades Media).