News for 1/2/24
It appears that Highlands County registered the first traffic fatality of the new year yesterday. The accident happened on Northbound Highway 27 at Vision Street in front of the Highway Park community south of Lake Placid.
Florida Highway Patrol reports now indicate a car driven by a 29-year-old Lake Placid man made a left turn into vision street in front of an oncoming car driven by a Sebring woman. The man was injured, the woman was killed. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
Firefighters from Desoto City, Lake Placid and Highlands Park were called to a structure fire on Gossamer Avenue in Lake Placid yesterday. They were able to keep the flames contained to a bedroom, hall and bathroom area.
No damage estimate has been determined, but officials say most of the home’s contents were saved. No cause was released; however it has been ruled as “accidental.”
Highlands County commissioners usually meet the first Tuesday of each month, however, due to yesterday’s holiday celebration, the meeting has been pushed back to this coming Thursday. Not much is on the action agenda – save for some housekeeping issues.
Sebring City council, however, will meet for their regular session tonight. The only thing scheduled there are votes on a couple of easement issues.
A new state law is driving out another local official. In Polk County, Eagle Lake Mayor Cory Coler has stepped down.
He announced his resignation two weeks ago because of a new financial disclosure law that took effect yesterday.
The law requires local elected officials to publicly show all assets and liabilities of a thousand dollars or more.
Coler says he’s willing to share that kind of information with his wife but not his neighbors in a small town of just three thousand people.
He’s the second city official to resign over the law after Commissioner Scott Clark did so. Vice Mayor Suzy Wilson announced her resignation but changed her mind. The 43-year-old Coler had been on the city commission for over a decade, but says he thinks the new law will make it hard to attract people to public service.