SEBRING — Blaine Albritton kept walking his steer around in circles near Firemen's Field's midway Thursday. Blaine's steer, Billy Bob, seemed a bit anxious that morning, mooing and occasionally bucking as Blaine held to his lead rope. But as Blaine got ready Thursday morning to show and auction Billy Bob at the Highlands County Fair, Blaine, 10, was also a bit uneasy parting with him. "It's going to be hard," he said of the coming auction. Blaine considered Billy Bob to be "like my best friend" during the 8 months he raised him. ...more

February 15, 2008

SEBRING — The pickup truck backed up, the gate swung open, and three hogs were released from a trailer. One by one, they cross the scales. "Two hundred and thirty-eight pounds," came a voice from inside the livestock barn. Whoops went up. Anthony Hargaden smiled. "It was the pie!" shouted his mother, Allison Hargaden. Indeed, it was two pies, and a bottle of water. ...more

February 10, 2008

LAKE PLACID – Developer Greg Arnone has one project on hold but is moving ahead with another development on Lake Sirena in Lake Placid. Arnone said ground will be broken on The Shore Club on Lake Sirena, a gated family community to be built on 71 acres of land next to Lake Placid High School, in three to four months. A couple of model homes should be constructed by Thanksgiving. The Shore Club will include 166 cottage and 40 lakeside single-family homes, of which 19 are directly on the lake. ...more

February 10, 2008

Increase in the homestead exemption will only help the rich who own $100,000-plus homes. Those who rent will lose. The retirees on low fixed incomes, most of whom live in retirement mobile home parks on rented lots, will lose greatly. They will end up paying double property taxes on their addition rooms, their porches and sheds even though they do not own the land. ...more

February 7, 2008

SEBRING — Sebring has another reason to dislike Red Devils. The Kathleen boys soccer team ended Sebring's historic run into the state playoffs on Thursday night, as the Red Devils knocked out the Blue Streaks' first-ever district-championship team with a 1-0 victory in a Class 4A regional quarterfinal on Firemen's Field. Hampered by an injury to leading scorer and senior Daniel Grimaldo, the Blue Streaks outshot the Red Devils but couldn't make the most of multiple scoring opportunities, ending the school's first home regional match on a sour note in front of a large and raucous crowd. "It's real emotional to lose like this," said junior Pedro Gori. "But we made history this year, and hopefully, it won't be the last of it." ...more

February 2, 2008

The Sebring boys soccer team's postseason run ended on Thursday night with a 1-0 loss to Kathleen (Lakeland) in the regional quarterfinals of the Class 4A regional tournament at Firemen's Field. ...more

January 31, 2008

The Sebring boys soccer team claimed the school's first-ever district boys soccer title on Friday night with a 2-1 victory over defending district champion Palmetto. The Streaks are now slated to host a regional match on at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 31 at Firemen's Field. ...more

January 26, 2008

Daniel Grimaldo's penalty kick goal in the 78th minute was the difference Friday night as the Sebring boys soccer team won its first ever district championship with a 2-1 victory over Palmetto in a physical Class 4A-District 10 tournament final on Firemen's Field. ...more

January 26, 2008

DAVENPORT — The Avon Park boys soccer team gave a solid effort against a talented Ridge Community squad on Thursday night, but despite playing well, the Red Devils dropped an 8-0 decision to the Bolts in AP's last regular season match of the season. The win improved Ridge Community, which is in its third year as a program, to 13-7-1 on the season. ...more

January 19, 2008

SEBRING — The Sebring boys soccer team made sure their last regular-season home match was one to remember. Senior forward Nicholas Peters scored two goals and Austin Brady led a suffocating defense, as the Blue Streaks shut out Clewiston 4-0 on Monday night at Firemen's Field. After back-to-back poor performances last week, Peters jump-started the Sebring offense, and led an attack that peppered Tiger goalie Jose Jaimez with 16 shots. ...more

January 16, 2008