State’s folk heritage award honors the late Lorene Bowers Gopher Community by Peter B. Gallagher - April 7, 2015April 7, 2015 TALLAHASSEE — With uncommon strength of character and painstaking dedication, Lorene Bowers Gopher helped rejuvenate and safeguard the Florida Creek language, taught hundreds of children about the old ways and completed her life’s work by handing down a rich, preserved treasure trove of tradition and culture to the next generation
Hendry says yes to Sam Jones Trail Community by Peter B. Gallagher - April 7, 2015 CLEWISTON — The Hendry County Board of Commissioners unanimously approved the renaming of County Road 833 to Sam Jones Trail during its regular meeting March 10. The vote ratified a request made by Chairman James E. Billie. The 34.4-mile stretch from State Road 80, west of Clewiston then south to the northern
Florida artist Guy LaBree dies at 73 Community by Peter B. Gallagher - January 29, 2015April 6, 2015 ARCADIA — Guy LaBree finished his last painting only a few days before he drew his last breath. Several deer in a lush green Florida prairie are suddenly alert beneath an ominous sky in waves of purple and yellow. A Seminole warrior, depicted by LaBree as a barely visible ghostly
Distinction sought for Sam Jones Trail Community by Peter B. Gallagher - December 30, 2014April 7, 2015 DEVIL’S GARDEN — James E. Billie said he thinks about Seminole war leader Abiaki every time he drives on or flies over rural County Road 833, as it rolls directly north from the Big Cypress Reservation. The Seminole Chairman has long championed the exploits and memory of Abiaki, who was also
Alice Micco Snow honored with Naples Botanical Garden lake Community by Peter B. Gallagher - November 25, 2014April 8, 2015 NAPLES — The late Seminole herbalist and medicine carrier Alice Micco Snow received an honor no other Seminole has ever been granted when a Florida lake was named for her in a moving ceremony Nov. 15 at Naples Botanical Garden (NBG). Tiger-striped butterflies flitting about the cool breeze, ospreys soaring beneath
Chief Jim Billie Band strikes familiar chord at 17th annual AIAC Community by Peter B. Gallagher - November 25, 2014April 8, 2015 BIG CYPRESS — James E. Billie’s musical career, dormant for nearly three years while he recovered from complications sustained in a horse training accident, came alive with fervor Nov. 8 when the Chairman of the Seminole Tribe of Florida and his longtime six-piece band took the stage at the American
New Student Council installed at Pemayetv Emahakv Education by Peter B. Gallagher - October 29, 2014April 8, 2015 BRIGHTON — Pemayetv Emahakv Charter School hosted its annual Student Council inauguration Sept. 25 at the Brighton Veteran’s Building. With their right hands raised and their left hands on the Bible, the 10 Student Council members repeated the oath of office as administered by Brighton Councilman Andrew J. Bowers Jr. The
Save the tu-lee: Redbay project begins on Tribal reservations Community by Peter B. Gallagher - September 30, 2014April 8, 2015 A federal-state program, "Mitigating the Natural and Cultural Impacts of Laurel Wilt on Redbay (Persea borbonia)," has begun on reservations of the Seminole Tribe of Florida and the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida. The project, funded under the national 2014 Farm Bill and administered by the United States Department of
Panther track spotted near Tribe’s Lakeland property Community by Peter B. Gallagher - September 30, 2014April 8, 2015 POLK CITY — A Florida panther track was confirmed in late August north of Interstate 4 near tiny Polk City, which calls itself the "Gateway To The Green Swamp." Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) officials said the panther is the first in decades proven to roam that far
Smallwood Store fate still in limbo Community by Peter B. Gallagher - August 28, 2014April 8, 2015 CHOKOLOSKEE — The beleaguered Smallwood Store, the historic icon that anchors the extreme Southwest Florida coast, remains in a battle against developers. Despite years of court actions, Highlands County land speculators Florida-Georgia Grove LLC (FGG) still wants to remove the store’s only access road and encircle the old wooden building