In the Highlands Today front page story of Oct. 31, statements were made which strongly appear to be lies. Jim Brantley, spokesman for the U.S. Fleet Forces Command, said: 1. "Although this exercise involved bomb replicas, live bombs will be dropped in less than a year." This statement does not preclude that live bombs are not being dropped currently. 2. "The noise generated from live bombs shouldn't be much louder than operations out there now." This statement does not preclude that live bombs are not now being dropped. In fact, it enforces the fact that they are now being dropped! ...more

November 10, 2007

AVON PARK — Residents throughout Avon Park and Sebring have probably noticed more noise than usual in the sky this week. Troops ended a large-scale training exercise Monday at Avon Park Air Force Range for air-to-ground missions. Although this exercise involved bomb replicas, live bombs will be dropped at the range in less than a year. Jim Brantley, spokesman for U.S. Fleet Forces Command, said a bid for a contractor to construct the infrastructure for dropping live bombs will be awarded in about five weeks. Land clearing and construction on towers and instrumentation will start in January 2008. ...more

October 31, 2007