Napper  (by: Curious  -   11/8/2009)

Does anyone doubt who Napper is working for? Keep working Napper, maybe you too can get free stuff.

bubbagump  (by: Rusty Shackleford  -   11/6/2009)

Great play on words bubba! I only wish you hadn't beaten me to it. I can't believe that one slipped right by me. Thanks for making me laugh, I needed it. Oh by the way you made some good points too.

Wonders  (by: BoB  -   11/6/2009)

The deeper you dig, the more you uncover. Surprised .. ? Keep digging Preston, and when that chinese drywall dust shows up, we will know where we are. Thank you.

  (by: Rusty Shackleford  -   11/5/2009)

Preston Colby for president.

kissmyassbestos  (by: bubbagump  -   11/5/2009)

More County COVERUP!!! Check out page 4 of yesterday's Highlands Today for the results of the County audit of Road & Bridge. Purchasing card expenditures for items such as cameras, etc. that are now missing. Couple payments for bills in excess of $7000.00. Take a good look at who is running our local BCC. It starts at the top and works its way down. How can items be purchase and not found? How would the missappropriation of funds that should have gone for road repair being spent on the new baseball facility on Highlands Avenue...over $150,000. What I find interesting is that its on page FOUR....why is that? Is the Highlands Today hiding something. Hey...NewsSun...why don't you all do some investigating and cover this story. We have a fuel spill at the Landfill, asbestos running amuk on our Parkway...and now double payments and more missing items. Enough is Enough.....someone needs to be held accountable for these misdeeds. Corruption is a big word....but how about inept, unquallified, and just plain ignorant? Where's Dr. Gavarette....(that's what he likes for people to call him), or Kyle G. or M. Wright? These are the people that need to be questioned....how about our County Commission. They may want to table the Grant for now and concentrate on missing equipment and overspending. Maybe if this overspending didn't occur together with missing items, some county employees' jobs could have been saved. How about that? Fix what is broken....and there sure are alot of broken pieces just lying around.

Clean-up ?  (by: JRT  -   11/5/2009)

14 locations, 76 fragments found. Most likley thousands more buried and or scatered along the Parkway. Sounds like the city will have to remove the entire parkway just to clean up this health hazard. Aw yes the legacy of Mr. Cool. And the rest of the Cool Gang that made this mess. And they are worring about the "wall" blocking the line of sight, when they can not see past their egos.

Asbestos exposure?  (by: Preston H. Colby  -   11/5/2009)

Barb: The real problem is not the little pieces along the Sebring Parkway. The bigger problem is HOW those 8' x 18" 200 lbs transite pipes were reduced to those little samples, when that happened, who was present, which was was the wind blowing, were Federal Regulations followed to reduce the "dust" and remember 2007 was a drought period in Sebring, so extra precautions HAD to be employed to prevent exposure to the students at Sebring Middle School, Sebring High School, Fred Wild Elem. School, along with all the neighbors living along the Parkway Route where asbestos pipe was removed and crushed. Crushing is how the pipe sections are reduced to the size of samples that FDEP has been finding along the route. It's not a good situation, and the stonewalling by County Administrator Michael Wright is not helping explain the situation (who, what, when, where, why and how) to the workers, neighbors, children in school, and general public who has a "Right to Know", if they, or their children, have an asbestos exposure issue to address. (Except in Highlands County, of course). I don't know why both newspapers are NOT DEMANDING information from the Commissioner's.... It is apparent that the Administration Officials are stonewalling. Regards.... PHC

Overreaction  (by: Justin Case  -   11/4/2009)

Asbestos DUST is very dangerous. Chunks of concrete with asbestos covered up at the landfill or on the bottom of a pond pose a danger to NO ONE! "Asbestos Removal" has become a big business at the expense of the taxpayer(that's you and me) This sounds like a witch hunt to me. The small amount of concrete with asbestos in question (described as fragments) would never pose a danger to anyone unless they pulverized a fragment into dust and breathed it in. Remember, all the asbestos lawsuits you hear about are from years of exposure to asbestos DUST day in and day out, not fragments of concrete at the bottom of a pond. Lets worry about the real problems we face.

So you're saying this...  (by: Ray Napper  -   11/4/2009)

Road and Bridge Supervisor Kyle Green stated in a sworn deposition that dumping at Howerton's saved the county money because of "tipping" fees charged by the county owned landfill. Landfill Manager Ken Wheeler was not aware of tipping fees for county fill. \/ \/ So when we charged ourselves for the landfilling of the fuel spill soil we were wrong? So the spill cost is now at less than 20,000? Everything that goes into the landfill is charged back to the department it comes from. This was not CLEAN FILL and could not have been used for daily cover (which we don't need and haven't bought for years) because of what it was conposed of. As a matter of fact take a trip down to R&B and look at the different piles in the stockpile yard. Now I know it's hard for some of you but imagine all those piles being together in one big pile. It WOULD have taken up landfill space which has a real cost (value of space) which MUST be accounted for. Perhaps you should call Mr. Helms and have him explain how it works? The report link mentions is weeks old and new information is coming. Nothing has been shown to have endangered the public so far, doesn't mean it can't happen, just hasn't been shown yet. According to Randal Landers, project manager for FDEP, a total of 76 fragments collected and analyzed from the 14 locations were "found to be """- non-friable - """ asbestos-containing-material (ACM)." Why not tell the public what that means? NON-FRIABLE. Now tell us how this large number of small pieces ended up in some many location laying on top of the ground after 3 years. Not worked down into the ground or showing signs of having been stepped on etc. Where's your questioning of those things? Now has the FDEP issued a final findings report? And personally I'm glad that it may be at the landfill, where exactly would you like it to be? Don't forget that if it was removed in small amounts it may not have needed all the paperwork required with a massive removal projeect. That and other things are why in my opinion, you get ALL the information to have a balance report before you put forth something designed to sell papers rather than inform the public. The mentality of if it bleeds it leads is part of what's wrong with the news business.

S.N.A.F.U.  (by: SebringBob  -   11/4/2009)

So let's see, asbestos dumped here and there and nobody is responsible. You people who continually elect these morons to run your county deserve all of this. On top of that, just wait, the EPA will now come in and fine the county for having an asbestos problem. These people should not only be fired, but also go to jail!

Grab your boots along with your mask  (by: Rusty Shackleford  -   11/4/2009)

Asbestos debris ain't the only thing piling up around here.

Disposal  (by: mbaker  -   11/4/2009)

This sounds like another example of "that's the way it's always been done" mentality which makes it right. Whoever is in charge of Safety for the county was not doing his job or was not trained and qualified for the job he was responsible for. The County Supervisor is ultimately responsible for this and needs to report to the County Commissioners on how this all has occured. Obviously, many State and Federal environmental regulations were violated along with OSHA regulations. This needs to be immediately corrected along with policies put in place, if they are not already in place as required by law, and implemented. Federal Regulations for this has been in place since the 80's and there is no excuse for this to have occured.

wonders  (by: Barb  -   11/4/2009)

Well is this another case of where Inspector Colby might just be found correct again?