WOKC Local News – June 10, 2026, 7:40 AM
Transcript
WOKC News. An honor for Rollerson family. With WOKC News, I’m Charles Murphy. Former Okeechobee County Sheriff O.L. Rollerson inducted into the Florida Law Enforcement Hall of Fame. Ceremony was held Saturday in Tallahassee. He served 14 years as Okeechobee Sheriff and also eight years as the sheriff over in neighboring Highlands County. He also worked for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and Florida Highway Patrol during his career. His daughter, Lori Rollerson-Vick, accepted the award. She says O.L. stood for honesty, integrity, and fairness in all he did. Our family is deeply grateful to those who made it possible to honor former Sheriff O.L. Rollerson, Jr. with induction into the prestigious Florida Department of Law Enforcement Hall of Fame. Thank you. Okeechobee Vice Mayor Monica Clark would like the Tourist Development Council to provide some funding as the city looks to spruce up the downtown parks. The city is budgeted $300,000 a year and began with work at Veterans Memorial Park. Soon, they want to move on to Settlers Park to honor the founding families of Okeechobee. Clark says the city could use some help in this effort. We are gonna try to finish Veterans Park this year. I know the tourist development. We are bringing a lot of tourists in with our parks and we’re gonna start Settlers Park. Glades County Schools have been having some financial issues. They will place two referendums on the ballot this year. One would shift dollars from capital projects to operating expenses. Another would be a half-cent sales tax. It would go to fund things like security upgrades, technology, and smaller capital projects. School board member Crystal Drake says the district has seen declining enrollment due to school choice and other measures, and that means less revenue from the state. In the last calculation, we lost 25 students, which in a big district is not maybe a big deal and something that could be easily absorbed. But in a small rural county, each student is equivalent to approximately $8,000. That is a big hit for us. The village of Indiantown approving a planned unit development on 5,700 acres southwest of Booker Park. Residents are opposed because they think a data center could be coming in. The company has not revealed any specific plans. Brian Nolan told the village council that they could build lots of homes there. It also allows residential at up to 20 units an acre times 5,700 acres is approximately 114,000 residential units. I was surprised to find that, but that’s what it is. They do right now mention light industrial uses. George Farmer was worried about possible health impacts. This is livelihoods. These are people whose lives will be in jeopardy or their health will be in jeopardy. I’m Charles Murphy, WOKC News.
Recorded from the WOKC daily newscast (Glades Media).