SEBRING — Blame it on gasoline or ethanol, but shopping for food these days is just as unpleasant as gassing up your car. Fruit prices have gone bananas, and poultry isn't quite the paltry budget choice it once was for the thrifty shopper. With the sharpest increase in food prices since 1990 and a troubled economy, Highlands County businesses and residents are doing what they can. ...more

June 8, 2008

On several occasions, while volunteering at the church service centers in Avon Park, I would ask some seemingly able bodied aid recipients the reason why they were not working. Quite often, the answer given was a lack of transportation to get to and from work on a regular and dependable basis. At first I questioned that response but, upon reflection, I concluded that the lack of public transportation in the Avon Park-Sebring area is more than just an inconvenience; it is definitely a real hardship for many of our constituents. In fact last month, while traveling along Memorial Drive I stopped to pick up a walker and asked him where he was heading. He said "Homer's Restaurant." He informed me that earlier that morning he had been called to come in to work on his day off, and to start working by 8 a.m. Unfortunately, due to a lack of transportation, he had started walking the six mile distance to Homer's and had managed to reach that point at approximately 8:45 a.m. After dropping him off at the restaurant, he proceeded to thank me and rushed off to his job. ...more

February 16, 2008

Organizers throughout Highlands County are getting ready to start a week of festivities for Martin Luther King Jr. They have planned parades, picnics, prayer services and dramatic performances to celebrate the life and the work of the civil rights leader, whose protests and demonstrations were instrumental in combating the segregation that persisted through the South during the 1950s and 1960s. ...more

January 18, 2008

SEBRING — Charles P. Cooper already made up his resolution for 2008, and it seemed pretty routine as far as resolutions go. "I only put in my mouth what my wife says I can," the "semi-retired" 67-year-old auto transmission shop owner promised himself. What led to that resolution was not a weight problem or even just the diabetes he was diagnosed with earlier this year. After the cascade of unexpected health problems he had since July, Cooper said his wife was just happy to have him around for Christmas. It went downhill since July, when he said he was diagnosed with diabetes and high cholesterol in one doctor's visit while getting blood work for his angina. In September, doctors determined he needed a quadruple bypass surgery, and that wasn't the end of it. ...more

December 31, 2007

SEBRING — Love Hillary or hate her, Sen. Clinton's name was on everyone's lips. Likely voters in the presidential primary were interviewed Friday morning at Lakeshore Mall. Clinton has turned into a politician well known by her first name. "I haven't really honed-in on anyone," said Francis Carson, a registered non-partisan who's from upstate New York. "But it won't be Hillary. "I like Obama, I just don't think he's got the experience," Carson said. He winters in Lake Placid because, unlike his home state Lake Placid, the Florida lake gets no snow. Harold Hoxit, also of Lake Placid, feels just the opposite about Clinton. "I haven't made up my mind, exactly, but I like Hillary. She's a Democrat for one thing, and I like her husband. He did a good job while he was in there, and I think she would too. I think it's time for a change." ...more

December 29, 2007

SEBRING — Probably at no time of the the year are memories more cherished than at Christmas. Several shoppers paused to talk about Christmases past while doing their frantic last-minute shopping at the Lakeshore Mall on Christmas Eve. ...more

December 25, 2007

SEBRING – Lakeshore Mall shoppers want to see more national retailers come to Sebring, and their top choice is American Eagle Outfitters, according to an informal survey. The survey was conducted earlier this year and several hundred responses were received, said Jenny Cheek, the mall's general manager. American Eagle, which sells casual clothes, targets 15 to 25-year-olds, according to the company's Web site. It offers jeans and graphic T-shirts as well as accessories, outerwear, footwear, basics and swimwear. American Eagle currently operates 852 stores in 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, and 74 stores in Canada. ...more

December 2, 2007

SEBRING — There's a new telephone scam being tried out, said Paul Hinman of the Highlands County Sheriff's Office Crime Prevention Unit, on Tuesday. At least 10 people have contacted the unit's office at the Lakeshore Mall reporting that a man with a Jamaican (West Indian) accent called telling the listener that if they send him $800, he will send them $5 million, Hinman said. ...more

November 28, 2007

AVON PARK — Lakeshore Mall won't open its doors until 6 a.m. Friday. But by then, all the department stores will have been open at least an hour. The mall will be a madhouse. "We just try not to get trampled," said Jenny Cheek, the mall's general manager. "It's not for the faint of heart. The die-hard shoppers come in for the door-busters. For some women, it's like an all-day experience. Some will go home, then come back later in the day." Every store will have a sale, Cheek said. "It's the biggest shopping day of the year." Wal-Mart is open all night, so some shoppers will arrive as early as 3 a.m. and begin lining up behind the special they want. ...more

November 22, 2007

SEBRING – Lakeshore Mall's name recognition, drawing power and location seem to be benefiting a new plaza in Sebring. Construction on Plaza By The Mall is nearing completion. The 21,500-square-foot plaza includes two buildings and sits on 2 1/2-acres of land behind Sears. There are a total of 13 units, ranging from 500 square feet of space to a little more than 2,000 square feet. "Everyone knows where the mall is," said Norb Walz of Walz Management LLC, which owns the shopping center. "We're looking at traffic at the mall to be a positive," said Mike Chambers, president of United PC Inc., who is moving his computer sales and service store that is now on U.S. 27 next to Coker Fuel into the plaza. "It will be a better location and easier to find." ...more

November 11, 2007