News Update for 2/24/23
Action picks up in earnest at the Sebring International Raceway today as practice and qualifying sessions begin for the Sports Car Vintage Racing Association’s SpeedTour event.
All groups, including the International GT and Trans-Am series will be setting the grids for this weekends’ races. The event runs through Sunday.
Highlands County parent Jesse Sapp is warning other parents that videos on Social Emotional Learning that have not been reviewed or approved by Highlands County School Board members – are being shown to local middle school students.
Sapp said that he personally was “very upset” with what his eighth grader had taken away from the session.
After speaking at this week’s school board meeting, Sapp said he was admonished by the Lake Placid Middle School principal for “spreading inaccuracies.” He reportedly corrected Sapp by saying only two videos had been shown, and not three videos as the parent had alleged.
In the meantime, Sapp says he is attempting to contact the district office to learn more about the local S-E-L curriculum.
And the winner of the Champion for Children 2023 Youth Award is Carlyn Bobo. The Lake Placid High School senior was crowned last night in ceremonies at the First Sebring Church.
Bobo is a member of the Green Dragon cross country & track team, and a Highlands County Sheriff’s Office Explorer. She’s described as a hard worker who puts others before herself.
In all, 23 students had been nominated, that was whittled down to seven finalists last night. The honorarium, noting service to others, is modeled after the Champion For Children/Judge Clifton M. Kelley Award for adults.
The Sebring area golf course where a giant alligator was spotted now has been identified as Spring Lake. The photo of the massive gator, estimated at 12-14 feet, went viral on the internet – comparing the course to “Jurassic Park.”
Seeing alligators at golf courses is fairly common in Florida – it was the size of this one that drew attention.
Apparently, it came and went without incident.
Sebring city council candidate Bobbie Smith Powell will continue her series of town hall meetings tomorrow with a session on healthcare. It’s the third of a half dozen such meetings.
It will be held at 11:00 tomorrow morning at the Highlands County Democrat Party Headquarters on the Sebring Parkway
The Polk County Sheriff’s Office is mourning the loss of one of their own. Detention Deputy Drake Perry died after an off-duty crash in Lake County. It happened in the community Groveland.
The 22-year-old Perry had been with the sheriff’s office a few months, working at the South County Jail in Frostproof.
Sheriff Grady Judd hailed Perry as an outstanding cadet in the academy and a natural-born leader.