Smoke Detector Saves Family’s Lives
THEIR HOME WAS DESTROYED
By CHRIS BUTLER

SEBRING — A Sebring woman can credit her home’s smoke detector with saving her and her children’s lives early Thursday morning after her mobile home was destroyed by fire.

The fire occurred at the Valencia Family Mobile Home Park. The mobile home park was described by its manager as one for families, and not one for retired couples.

No one was reported hurt.

Neighbors said it wasn’t long before most of them were awakened around 3 a.m. by heavy flames. Many in the neighborhood of 50-60 residents went outside to watch as DeSoto City volunteer firefighters spent 30 to 45 minutes getting the blaze under control.

Neighbors described the woman as being in her early 20s. Her name wasn’t released.

Neighbors also pointed to a nearby car damaged by the fire as belonging to her. 

DeSoto City Volunteer Fire Department Chief Ben Dubree said initial evidence points to a faulty furnace inside the mobile home. He said the woman who lived in the home saw flames spark soon after hearing her smoke detector go off. She soon got herself and her children out.

The manager of the mobile home park wouldn’t give his own name Thursday morning and said he knew nothing about the fire.

He said it was the first fire that had occurred at the mobile home park as long as he’d managed it.

Next door neighbor Andrew Cook said the woman immediately knocked on his door and woke him up and asked for his help.

“We were already up long before the other neighbors. I moved her car away, but part of it had already caught fire,” Cook said.

Dubree said the state fire marshal had already been called to investigate the fire.

He also said his volunteer fire department received help from the West Sebring Fire Department.

Neighbors said the woman and her children were housed with their family elsewhere in the county.

Sebring Fire Department representatives said they believed it was the first major structural fire of the year.

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FHP Shooting Accomplice Pleads
Not Guilty
By CHRIS BUTLER

SEBRING — Law enforcement officials said he illegally fled into a nearby orange grove after witnessing his friend shoot and kill Florida Highway Patrol Sgt. Nicholas Sottile last month.

But despite the extremely high-profile circumstances surrounding Georgia resident Quintin Jerome Kinder’s misdemeanor arrest, his Wednesday arraignment was anti-climactic.

Kinder’s court-appointed attorney, Derek Christian, said his client pleaded not guilty to the charge.

Kinder, 21, didn’t appear in court Wednesday, and instead issued the not guilty statement through written pleadings. Christian said his client was still at the Highlands County Jail as of Wednesday.

Highlands County court officials last month appointed the private attorney for the Georgia suspect.

Assistant State Attorney Steve Houchin said last month that the Highlands County Public Defender’s Office withdrew itself from representing Kinder. That’s because public defenders are already representing 19-year-old Joshua Lee Altersberger, the Sebring resident accused of killing Sottile.

“There’s an obvious conflict of interest,” Assistant State Attorney Stephen Houchin said last month, adding one suspect may give public defenders information that could incriminate the other.

FHP officers said Altersberger killed Sottile along U.S. 27 outside of Lake Placid after Sottile pulled him over for a traffic stop.

Altersberger and Kinder were later caught separately by law enforcement. Altersberger was indicted by a 21-member grand jury on first-degree murder charges Monday.

A judge ordered both men held in jail without bond. Both men are being held separately at the Highlands County Jail apart from other inmates and each other.

Kinder is already facing a violation of probation charge stemming from his native state, Houchin said.

According to records from Georgia’s Decatur County Jail, 21-year-old Kinder has an extensive criminal background there, including charges of theft, burglary and possession of marijuana, among many others.

Houchin said Kinder so far isn’t being given immunity in exchange for testifying against Altersberger.

He also said Kinder has so far been cooperating with state attorneys.

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Driver Dies After AP Crash
SECOND DRIVER INJURED

By JOE SEELIG

AVON PARK — An Avon Park man reportedly died at Florida Hospital Heartland Division after being involved in a two-vehicle crash on U.S. 27 and North Highlands Boulevard Tuesday night.

According to a report from the Florida Highway Patrol, about 7:55 p.m. Tuesday, Diomedes M. Pagan, 57, was headed east in a 1998 Chevrolet on North Highlands Boulevard and had stopped at the southbound intersection of U.S. 27.

He failed to see a southbound 2006 Ford pickup truck coming, the report stated.

Pagan pulled into the immediate path of the pickup, driven by James M. Mcanally, 26, also of Avon Park.

The front of the pickup truck smashed into left side of the Chevrolet. Pagan reportedly was not wearing a seat belt.

After the collision, the Chevrolet spun counterclockwise toward the south and came to a stop partially in the outside southbound lane of U.S. 27, pointing south.

The pickup truck also rotated and traveled into the center paved median crossover, where it came to a stop pointing southeast.

Both drivers were taken to Florida Hospital in Sun ‘n Lake of Sebring. Pagan was pronounced dead at 10:10 p.m., the FHP report stated.

Mcanally, who was wearing a seat belt, was listed with minor injuries.

Mcanally was discharged, a Florida Hospital spokeswoman said Wednesday afternoon.

Pagan’s vehicle sustained $6,500 and Macanally’s truck received about $5,000 damage, the report stated. No charges have been filed and none were pending.

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Small Businesses Feel Pinch From Harder Hall Debt
By MANDY SHEETS

SEBRING — While local businesses try to make ends meet without payment for work on Harder Hall, attorneys are still determining how to best handle the bankruptcy case.

Mark Nealis, owner of Nealis Plumbing, estimates between labor and supplies for plumbing at the hotel, he’s out about $16,000.

“It really puts me in a pinch,” Nealis said. “It’s not going to shut me down, but it’s certainly enough to make a negative impact on my business.
That number represents man hours I paid for months ago and supplies I purchased, and now I have no way of making that up.”

Nealis said his company installed new pipes in most of the building and bought bathtubs and other plumbing fixtures. Tub and shower valves purchased for the project are now obsolete because the company has started manufacturing a new model.

“These were bought specifically for the tubs we were going to install there, and now we can’t really use them,” Nealis said. “I don’t know how we will get rid of these.”

Betsy Bagwell, co-owner of Bagwell Lumber Co., said she’s in a similar situation. Bagwell placed a special order for lumber for the renovation project that has been sitting in the store’s back room for months.

“We expected when we bought supplies for them that we would be paid,” Bagwell said. “I don’t understand how they can do that to people, how they can keep ordering supplies when they knew they were going under.”

The $7,500 in unpaid supplies is a debt the small company feels, Bagwell said.

“We are a family-owned business, so that’s a lot of money for us,” Bagwell said. “We are pretty stable, but no one wants to lose thousands of dollars.”

Conley Jahna, owner of Jahna Concrete Inc., said not being paid for his $5,000 of supplies is hurting the whole community.

“The money I and all these other businesses are owed is money that should be circulating in the community,” Jahna said. “This is just a bad situation for everybody. It’s really a shame because that building had a lot of potential.”

Marsha Rydberg, attorney representing the city of Sebring in the case, filed a motion that could allow the city to foreclose on the property, but because bankruptcy cases are highly negotiable, she said she is still unsure if she will seek that outcome during the Feb. 14 hearing. Joran Realty owes the city $5.2 million.
“(The hearing is) still a week away, and a lot could happen in that time,” Rydberg said. “Someone could step forward and make an offer to finish it and that would be great ... We will have to see how this plays out. There are a lot more dots to connect before Feb. 14.”

Rydberg said the city’s interest in the renovations is more than financial.

“The city is not regularly in the business of loaning money, but they undertook this project because of the benefit it would bring to the community,” Rydberg said. “Not only would the historic building be restored, but jobs would be created in the community. The city is still interested in having that proposal fulfilled.”

The court-appointed examiner Soneet Kapila is spending this week collecting depositions from Marc Shenker, owner of Harder Hall, and records custodians of Citibank, Bank of America and Merrill Lynch & Co. before the hearing.

Jim McCollum, a Sebring attorney representing two creditors, said this step means the case is becoming more serious.

“They are seriously looking into this man and what he did financially,” McCollum said. “They want to know where the money was spent and what he might have done.”

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American Legions Seeks Donations For Relief Effort
By DOUG CARMAN

LAKE PLACID — The American Legion Post 25 is still collecting goods for the disaster relief effort in Central Florida.

People have until 8:30 a.m. Wednesday to send goods, groceries or cash over to the Legion for the bus.  By 9 a.m., the bus will head up to a FEMA distribution location for the scheduled 1 p.m. delivery in Paisley, bus driver H.S. “Squeaky” Schwichtenberg said.

Five Legion members are spending the day buying groceries and supplies, looking for toilet paper, soap, wash cloths and other essentials.  On Wednesday, Schwichtenberg and possibly two other Legion members will take the bus from Lake Placid.

By Tuesday morning, the bus was already half full.

“We have well over 2,000 worth of groceries so far,” Schwichtenberg said.

Mack Carroll, the commander for Post 25, said that anyone wanting to donate can drop off the supplies in front of the bus or at the front door of the American Legion building.  They are also accepting cash, which can be sent to their office.

Schwichtenberg said the American Legion is coordinating the effort with another Post in Umatilla as well as the VFW in Paisley.

This is one of many efforts throughout the country to respond to Friday’s deadly storms, which devastated parts of Central Florida and caused 20 deaths.

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SEBRING — A Highlands County grand jury handed down first-degree murder charges Monday against the 19-year-old Sebring suspect charged with last month’s shooting death of a Florida Highway Patrol trooper on U.S. 27 north of Lake Placid.

A 21-member grand jury formally indicted Joshua Lee Altersberger on charges of first-degree murder and possession of a firearm by a delinquent in the killing of Florida Highway Patrol Sgt. Nicholas Sottile on Jan. 12.

State attorneys have already said they intend to seek the death penalty against Altersberger.

Highlands County Court Services Director Bob Germaine said last month that more populated areas usually have grand juries established at all times because of higher crime rates.

Assistant State Attorney Steve Houchin said last month that any trial involving the suspect might be at least two years away.
Houchin said Highlands County usually averages one murder per year.

He also said setting a trial date will take longer than any usual criminal trial, given the capitol murder charges.

Background

Altersberger is charged with first-degree murder in the death of FHP Sgt. Nicholas Sottile, 48.

Sottile stopped a 2003 Toyota Camry on northbound U.S. 27 last month for a traffic violation. According to an FHP report, Altersberger’s passenger, Quintin Jerome Kinder, 21, then fled into a nearby orange grove.

Kinder is a Georgia resident.

The FHP said Altersberger then shot Sottile in the chest and fled in his vehicle, later located in a Sebring orange grove.

Law enforcement officers found and arrested Altersberger early the next morning. Kinder was charged with trespassing in a cultivated grove after surrendering without incident, also on Saturday morning.

According to the Highlands County Sheriff’s Office, Altersberger had been arrested two years ago and charged with battery, aggravated assault with a weapon and cocaine possession.

The two suspects have been ordered held without bond and are currently being held separately from each other and other inmates in the Highlands County Jail, Germaine said.

It was the first grand jury proceeding held in Highlands County in two years.

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SEBRING — Marijuana seized over the weekend by the Highlands County Sheriff’s Office Special Operations Division was estimated to be worth more than $2.6 million had the plants been marketed at maturity.

Sheriff’s Lt. Greg Pearlman said Monday that the more than 650 plants seized from the six grow houses raided were at different stages of growth, some small, some mature. Their average value was loosely estimated at $4,000 when full grown.

In all, nine people were arrested in connection with the drug seizures and rock throwing or shooting.

Of the nine, seven were born in Cuba, six with Cuban citizenship and one held United States citizenship; one was Mexican born holding Mexican citizenship and one was born in Miami-Dade County holding United States citizenship.

The incident began Friday afternoon, when sheriff’s deputies arrived at 2611 Lake Josephine Drive answering a 911 report about a possible shooting or rock throwing in progress.

Sheriff’s Maj. Mark Schrader said the overwhelming odor of marijuana in the home led investigators to the swearing out of the first search warrant.

Consequently the warrant service lead to five more grow houses, according to Sheriff Susan Benton.

Those five homes were located at: 2210 Lake Josephine Drive, Sebring; 147 Williams Road, Lake Placid; 200 McMahon Lane, Lake Placid; 320 Guymon Ave., Lake Placid and 72 Quail Road, Venus.

“This has been a long-term investigation (several months),” Benton said. “And it is ongoing still. We’re continuing to look for others.”

Neither Pearlman or Benton would elaborate Monday how the other five houses became known to the Special Operations Division.

Three of the nine suspects had already bonded out of jail by Monday afternoon. The others had bond set at $101,000.

Whether the properties would be seized remained to be seen, Benton said. And if the sheriff’s office would benefit from the possible seizures would depend upon if the indictments were state or federal.

The sheriff’s office did seize several vehicles, a boat and other real property including air conditioners, generators, air handlers and lighting systems. Benton did not believe any cash was recovered.

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Caller Leads Sheriff To 5 More Pot Grow Houses

9 SUSPECTS ARRESTED

By BILL RETTEW JR.

SEBRING — A 911 phone caller reported gun shots from inside a Lake Josephine Drive grow house for cultivating marijuana, which led the Highlands County Sheriff’s Office to five other similar sites county wide.

Nine suspects were arrested and charged with cultivation and trafficking in cannabis at grow houses located from Lake Josephine to Venus, according to a sheriff’s office press release.

The hybrid plants can bring as much as $4,000 each. Some houses had as few as 50 and others as many as 250 plants, the release said.

The large scale busts and marijuana find started at 2611 Lake Josephine Drive when someone inside the home made the 911 call reporting fired shots.

Sheriff’s deputies responded and discovered what was then the first of six separate sites where marijuana was cultivated on Friday and Saturday.

Other grow houses were located at: 2210 Lake Josephine Drive, Sebring; 147 Williams Road, Lake Placid; 200 McMahon Lane, Lake Placid; 320 Guymon Ave., Lake Placid; and 72 Quail Run, Venus.

The report named the primary suspect as Ernesto Estepa, 40, of 5225 N.W. Fourth St., Miami.

Deputy Monica Griffith saw what was identified as the suspect’s vehicle just after 5 a.m. on Friday.

Estepa was arrested for attempted home invasion, shooting into or throwing deadly missiles into an occupied dwelling and other traffic related offenses. He is in the Highlands County jail with no bond, according the sheriff’s office.

“This is an organized crime operation and we need to help our community to identify suspicious persons and activities within our neighborhoods,” said Sheriff Susan Benton, read the report. “These high dollar crimes tend to bring out violence.”

Last month Benton predicted that there were more grow houses discovered in Highlands County on the heels of the county’s biggest bust ever in November.

“These criminals are coming in and buying houses that look at home in the neighborhood, doing major internal renovations, installing elaborate air conditioning units, generators, and lighting, and then doing business as usual in our neighborhoods.” Benton asked neighbors to be aware of move-ins who install dual air conditioners, or hook up illegally to utilities. “One house used $5,000 in water a month for three months,” she said.
Sheriff’s Capt. Randy LaBelle said there are still likely still more grow houses in Highlands County.

“We can’t even begin to guess how many,” said LaBelle.

He said the marijuana confiscated Friday and Saturday would have probably been shipped north and up the eastern seaboard.

“It’s significant here for the residents because we took the bad guys off the streets, but not significant nationwide,” said LaBelle.

The following suspects were arrested for cultivation and trafficking of cannabis:

u At 2611 Lake Josephine Drive, Sebring: Livan Hernandez, Hialeah; Rolando Castillo, of the same address; Ketty Burgos, Hialeah.

u At 2210 Lake Josephine Drive, Sebring: Jose Pinero, Farm Road, Sebring.

u At 147 Williams Road, Lake Placid, Jose Vargas, no address given.

u At 200 McMahon Lane, Lake Placid, Pedro Ramirez Herrera, Melrose Road, Lake Placid.

u At 320 Guymon Ave., Lake Placid: Orlando Menes, Miami Beach.

u 72 Quail Run, Venus: Karell Yirizar Garcia, of the same address.

Highlands Today reporter Gary Pinnell contributed to this story.

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Sebring Cheerleaders Audition For Movie
‘BRING IT ON 4’
PART OF A SERIES

By MANDY SHEETS


SEBRING — Ditzy isn’t exactly how they want cheerleaders to be portrayed, but if it scores them a role on the silver screen, Sebring High School cheerleaders say they can act the part.

Four cheerleaders took a road trip to Orlando with their coach Carolyn Shoemaker on Friday to try out for roles in “Bring It On 4” – the fourth in a series of comedy movies about cheerleading squads preparing for competitions.

“I think the movie is more about mocking cheerleaders and that stereotype you think of,” senior Lauren Johnson said. “It’s funny though, and if it gets me on TV, then I’m all for it.”

The group went to auditions intending to try out individually, but when the casting directors saw they came as a group, they were invited to try out as a squad. They spent the day tumbling, cheering, doing stunts and reading lines.

Shoemaker said she wasn’t allowed in the audition room, per the direction of her cheerleaders.

“They said they would be too nervous to try out in front of me,” Shoemaker said. “They do the routine in front of me all the time, but, for whatever reason, they didn’t want to during try outs.”

The group from Sebring outnumbered everyone else who attended the auditions, Shoemaker said.

“We were the only team there,” Shoemaker said. “We don’t know if that’s good or bad.”

Junior Kayla Griffin was used to the pressure of auditions because she’s been cast in several commercials and plays. Griffin’s agent mentioned the casting call to her, and she recruited her teammates to try out with her.

“My experience with acting has already been so great,” Griffin said. “I’ve met so many great people that I never would have met otherwise. Being in a movie would be really cool though.”

Now that the stress of auditions is over, the potential actors wait to see if they’ve been chosen. Griffin said her agent will be in contact with movie producers and, if chosen, they likely will have to attend callback auditions.

Although a big paycheck would sweeten the deal, senior Nicole Rodriguez said she would accept a part just for the experience.

“This is not the kind of experience just everyone gets,” Rodriguez said. “Just being able to say you’ve done something like this would be neat.”

Senior Michael Dozier was already taking on the air of a star a few hours after the auditions.

“The movie star is here,” Dozier said, as he walked into cheerleading practice Friday afternoon.

Dozier thought the auditions were fun and he had his eye on the part of Cory, a cheerleader with a “ghetto style.”

“Cory’s a cool character, but the script is very ghetto, making fun of cheerleaders and stuff,” Dozier said. “I think it would suit me.”

The entire team is going to audition Feb. 24 for a role as a team during competition scenes.

Senior Sarah Cleveland said the team has been working hard to prepare.

“We just practice our routine over and over,” Cleveland said. “It would be so cool if we were in a movie because everyone would see us. I would make all my friends watch it.”

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Complaint Leads Cops To Pot Grow Houses
By BILL RETTEW AND JOE SEELIG

SEBRING — Highlands County Sheriff Susan Benton said Friday evening that after discovering a grow house on Lake Josephine Drive, yielding about 50 plants, another grow operation has been discovered.

The second is located on Williams Road, Benton said, and had more than 200 plants.

As yet, no value has been attached to the pot plants. The quality of the marijuana is so high it could have been worth as much as $4,000 per plant, Benton said.

Additional locations may be raided in the future, she said.

Friday afternoon, sheriff’s deputies were dismantling a grow house for marijuana cultivation, after one of the occupants at 2611 Lake Josephine Drive contacted the Highlands County Sheriff’s Office to complain about someone breaking a window.

Sheriff’s Maj. Mark Schrader said when deputies arrived Friday morning to investigate the possible shooting or rock throwing incident, the overwhelming odor of marijuana in the home led to the swearing out of the first search warrant.

It is unclear if the occupants of the house were the owners, Schrader said. Two people were arrested from the first grow house.

Investigators discovered at least one broken window at the home, Schrader said.

Shortly after the first call, four males were questioned after the vehicle they were riding in matched the description of a vehicle alleged to be involved in the window breaking incident.

The vehicle was stopped by sheriff’s deputies east of the Lake Josephine Drive home.

Schrader was not immediately aware of any connection between the vehicle stop and the earlier disturbance. However, by late afternoon Friday at least one of the occupants was taken into custody on an undisclosed charge.

At about 11 a.m., Highlands County sheriff’s deputy Juan Delgado was preparing a white van that could be linked to the home for possible seizure and impoundment.

Earlier in the day, the van was occupied by a lone male subject and parked on a dirt road off of Orange Blossom Boulevard, about two miles southwest from the home, said Delgado.

Schrader said the crime scene team was still dismantling the grow house operation and no value had yet been determined in the seizure.
More information will be made available at a later time, Schrader said.

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BoardBegins School
Walk-Through Tours
By MARC VALERO

SEBRING — Walking the halls and checking the principals’ needs lists, School Board of Highlands County members and school officials began their annual walk-through tours Friday of the district’s schools.

School security concerns prompted Fred Wild Elementary Principal Ruby Handley to suggest converting a classroom into a visitors/parent check-in area.

The parking lot at the front of the school is used by staff with a limited number of open spaces for visitors. Parents and visitors often park at the school’s other lot to the south of the school, which is located some distance from the main office.

“As the kindergarten center becomes effective we would like to open a parent/visitor check-in area,” Handley said. With the kindergarten classes vacating the 400 building – to be located next year at the new kindergarten center – Handley proposes using Room 405 as the check-in area. The classroom, at the corner of the building, is located close to the parking lot.

The primary purpose is to close those front gates at 7:20 p.m. and then the only gate that would be open would be to the south driveway, she said. The front driveway is used by the school buses and the back driveway is used for parent pickup and drop off.

If the front parking lot were to be converted to a parent/visitor parking lot then parents would want to pickup and drop off there children there, Handley said. “I’m trying to separate the parent pickup and those buses as best I can and keep us safe.”

Handley also requested tile to replace the carpeting in the 400 building’s classrooms.

The carpet that is in there is the orange nappy, nasty stuff that was there in the 1970s, she said.

Also, some of the whiteboards in the portable classrooms are buckling with peeling finishes, Handley said.

The school board on Friday also toured Hill-Gustat and Sebring Middle schools and Woodlawn and Cracker Trail elementary schools.

The board is scheduled to tour Lake Country and Lake Placid elementary schools, Lake Placid Middle and Sebring and Lake Placid high schools on Feb. 8.

The board is scheduled to tour Sun ‘N Lake, Avon and Park elementary schools, Avon Park Middle and Avon Park High schools on Feb. 9.

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SEBRING — Police discovered an alleged grow house for cultivation of illegal narcotics when they responded early Friday morning to a disturbance at 2611 Josephine Drive, said Major Mark C. Schrader of the Highlands County Sheriff’s Department.

Sheriff’s deputies responded at 5:24 a.m. to the single-story home after a neighbor reported the sound of either of a thrown rock or gunshot.
Shortly afterward, four males were questioned after the vehicle they were riding in was stopped by sheriffs deputies east of the home on Lake Josephine Drive. Schrader was not immediately aware of any connection between the vehicle stop and the earlier disturbance.

At about 11 a.m., Highlands County Sheriff Deputy Juan Delgado was preparing a white van which might be linked to the home for possible seizure and impoundment.

The van was earlier occupied by a lone male and parked on a dirt road off Orange Blossom Blvd., about two miles southwest from the home on Orange Blossom Blvd., said Delgado.

The sheriff’s department had sought but not yet secured a search warrant at the Lake Josephine Drive home as of 10:30 a.m.

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Neighbors Object To Caladium Farm Forming In Wetlands
By DOUG CARMAN

AVON PARK — The pending formation of a new caladium farm and possibly a fireworks storage facility in the wetlands near Little Red Water Lake has outraged several neighbors.

Nancy Pitcher, one resident who lives down a street from the wetland area, said she believed the development, particularly a ditch that Pitcher said was being made deeper, may have contributed to its drying. If approved, the new fireworks storage, she feared, would further threaten the wetland area.

“We’re really concerned about it,” Pitcher said. “Apply Murphy’s law ...  If anything were to happen there, due to the incendiary nature of the scrub we’d be burned out so fast before the fire department would get here.”

Thursday, a bulldozer and several steel structures were standing near the southeast part of the area, which looks more like a muck bed than the lake Pitcher and neighbor Richard Hornbeck described from last year.

Little Red Water Lake is located on the southern extremity of Avon Park, between Lake Sebring and Lake Letta off of S.R. 17. The wetlands are located northeast of the lake, off of Claradge Avenue.
According to several of the neighbors’ recollections, the wetlands began draining early last year and was “bone dry” by October. Well before then, Hornbeck said he was able to catch a 19-inch bass from the shore, now a damp plot of dirt and shrub behind his trailer.

“I fished through here,” Hornbeck said as he showed a straight recession through the soil before the bushes. He said that used to be a canal.
Ben Oswald, who passes the wetlands area each day when leaving his house, said he used to see wading birds, alligators and osprey when he moved near Little Red Water Lake two years ago.

Saying he had a background in biology and ecology, Oswald thought the damage was already done.

“As far as the wetland’s concerned, it’s gone, that’s just the truth of it in my opinion,” Oswald said.  “That’s all I can tell you about it.”
Hornbeck, who owns a shallow water well that he said could be affected by the wetlands’ draining, would not accept that fate. “Bulldoze that stuff and put it back,” he said.

Highlands County Zoning Supervisor Gary Lower said that the property has generated several complaints, but it is not in any violation from a zoning aspect.

The part of the wetlands area being developed into a caladium farm is zoned AU. The county’s code states that such land can hold such structures including one-family dwellings, farms and housing for farm labor personnel.

Development on a wetland area requires an approval from both the Southwest Florida Water Management District and the Department of Environmental Protection. Lower said the property has these permits.

The fireworks storage structures, however, were not yet approved. A public hearing was originally scheduled for Feb. 13, but this has been “deleted” because of an internal glitch with the county’s system and the owner needs to reapply, Lower said.

If the neighbors object, “they need to air their concerns to the board,” he said.

Erin McCarta, the Lakes Management technical assistant for the Highlands County Soil and Water Conservation District, performed a separate investigation Thursday afternoon.

Compelled by Nancy Pitcher and several others who addressed her during a Natural Resources Advisory Commission meeting Wednesday, McCarta went to the wetlands area to examine the ditch they complained about. She said she found nothing suspicious.

“It looks like he recently cleaned it out in years past ... I doubt seriously that it will have an impact drying out the wetland.,” McCarta said.  She explained that the water levels are low because of the current drought, which has kept water from draining from the neighboring lake into the wetlands.

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HAVE RUN AWAY
IN THE PAST

By JOE SEELIG

AVON PARK — The Highlands County Sheriff’s Office asked Thursday that anyone with information about the location of two missing Avon Park children contact detective Pete Barone at 863-402-7250 or 863-381-2070.
Detectives are looking for Mary Linderberry, 14, a white female, listed as 5-feet 4-inches tall, weighing 110 pounds with black hair and brown eyes. The second girl is Elesia Lynn, 15, a black female, 5-feet 4-inches tall, 104 pounds with black hair and brown eyes.
Both girls have been missing from Avon Park since Jan. 20 and are headed to an unknown destination, according to reports.
Sheriff’s Lt. John Chess said Thursday that he’s not sure if the two girls are still together. The case does not fit the criteria for an Amber Alert.
“They’ve run away before; this is not the first time they’ve done this,” said Chess.
The girls reportedly ran away from a foster home in the Highlands County area, but may still be in Florida. The girls were living in a managed environment for their own safety before they ran away, Chess said.
Mary Linderberry’s father, Douglas Linderberry, told Highlands Today Wednesday that he has not heard from his daughter since she ran away this time.
Linderberry said he is afraid his daughter may be headed to Edwardsville, Penn., where he lives. He said he felt if she is back with her mother, she could be in danger.
Chess said if they hitched a ride it’s possible they could be in Pennsylvania in a couple of days.
Linderberry’s 14-year-old daughter was put in foster care after she was taken from her mother by Gulf Coast Community Care Child Protective Services in 2006, Linderberry said. 
He had not been able to locate his daughter for a few years because her mother left town during a custody battle in New York, he said during an interview with Highlands Today on Wednesday.
He claims to have had visitation rights, and said his ex-wife had been prohibited from leaving the state of New York, but she left anyway and stopped all communication with him, moving to Auburndale.
Since then he moved to Pennsylvania.
Linderberry said he is not certain his daughter ran away, and he believes investigators should be doing more to find her because she is only 14 years old.
“I just want her found,” he said.
He said the Department of Children and Families is not doing enough to protect his daughter. She had run away and was found at an Auburndale Wal-Mart, Linderberry said. He was never notified she was gone. He found out nine days later when his daughter contacted him.
She was supposed to come for a visit at Christmas, but Children and Families put a damper on those plans, Linderberry told Highlands Today.
“They told me it was none of my business she ran away,” he said. “Social services told me in November of 2006 they were going to place my daughter without letting her come for Christmas.”
He said he rents a two bedroom home with his wife of six years, works steady and has room for his daughter, but all his attempts to gain custody have been met with stiff resistance.
Linderberry asked for anyone with information about his daughter to call him at 570-283-2846.

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Sebring Man Charged With 4th DUI
By JOE SEELIG

SEBRING — If convicted, a Sebring man faces possible prison time after he was arrested for the fourth time in six years on a charge of driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs (DUI).

David Wayne Martin, 45, of 79 Cherokee St., was free Wednesday on $20,000 bail after reportedly failing a roadside sobriety test administered Monday night by a Highlands County sheriff’s deputy and refusing to submit to a breath alcohol test at the jail.

He was also cited on a charge of failing to signal when changing lanes.

According to a sheriff’s arrest report, Martin’s business truck, a 2001 Dodge Ram 1500, caught the attention of sheriff’s deputy Daniel Danley at about 10:03 p.m. as he traveled south on U.S. 27, winding in and out of traffic.

“The truck didn’t use any signal when changing lanes,” Danley wrote.

The driver changed lanes abruptly several times, reportedly exceeding the speed limit traveling at about 60 miles per hour in a 55 mph zone, before exiting U.S. 27 at Hammock Road.

“I observed the truck drift off the roadway and onto the right shoulder throwing up grass and debris from the tires of the truck,” Danley reported. “The truck swerved back onto the roadway. Due to the driving pattern of the truck I felt the driver may be impaired, having problems with his vehicle or have a medical issue.”

He pulled over the driver, later identified as Martin, at Queenswood Drive on Hammock Road on the right shoulder.

The driver was thumbing through his papers and was unable to produce a valid registration, the report states, handing the deputy two expired registrations. Martin’s driver’s license was valid according to a computer check and he had no warrants.

Danley reported that he saw Martin hold onto the truck door as he got out and that he detected an odor of an alcoholic beverage.
He admitted he drank two beers, the report states.

Martin consented to a field sobriety test and reportedly was not able to complete the tasks he attempted.

He reportedly told Danley he was in a hurry to get home because “his truck didn’t have a heater and he was cold.”

At the jail Martin refused to answer any more questions, but took the first breath test, then he refused to supply the second sample, the report states.

A copy of Martin’s criminal history revealed he was charged by the Florida Highway Patrol with DUI on May 20, 2000, and again on Feb. 18, 2001, the report states. On March 8, 2001 he was arrested again on a DUI charge by the Highlands County Sheriff’s Office.

Without getting into specifics of Martin’s case, if convicted he could face up to a maximum of five years in prison and, or fines and court costs, according to a felony court spokesperson and a spokesperson with the state attorney’s office.

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