HIGHLANDS NEWS-SUN Tuesday, May 12, 2020 VOL. 101 | NO. 133 | $1.00 YOUR HOMETOWN NEWSPAPER SINCE 1919 An Edition Of The Sun Sebring police seek information in shooting Highlands HCSO continues to investigate Saturday morning murder News-Sun By KIM MOODY According to SPD Lt. Gilliard said the suspect Stoppers and could be eli- STAFF WRITER Thomas Gilliard officers got away in a grey four-pas- gible for a reward of $3,000. reopens with arrived at the scene in senger vehicle, heading Call 800-226-8477 or visit SEBRING – Investigators the 1500 block of Colmar south from the scene. The heartlandcrimestoppers. from the Sebring Police Avenue regarding a shoot- suspect was driving the com. Department are seeking a ing where they found the car and is described as an Highlands County depu- modified hours suspect in a shooting that victim, described as a African American male. ties continue to investigate The Highlands News-Sun will reopen its took place about 1:30 p.m. 26-year-old Hispanic male. Anyone with informa- a shooting that took place office today at 321 N. Ridgewood Drive in Sunday. Police are seeking The victim was taken to tion is asked to call SPD early Saturday morning Sebring with modified hours. information from the nearby Highlands Regional Investigator Stephen near Hal McRae Boulevard The office will be open from 9 a.m. to public on the location Medical Center with inju- Williams at 863-471-5107. and Delaney Avenue in 3 p.m. Monday-Friday. In taking safety and identification of the ries that are not expected Anonymous tips can be precautions as outlined by the Centers for suspect. to be life-threatening. given to Heartland Crime SHOOTING | 8A Disease Control, only one customer at a time will be allowed in the lobby. Highlands virus Unexpected bundle of joy cases totals 99 Department of Health drive-thru testing today By MARC VALERO STAFF WRITER SEBRING — With one new case on Saturday and one on Sunday, Highlands County had 10 new COVID-19 cases in four days bringing the total to 99. The new case on Saturday was a 59-year-old male and the new case on Sunday was an 11-year-old female, the fourth child under the age of 16 to test positive since the initial first positive case in March. Highlands also had an infant test positive in March. According to Highlands County offi- cials, the Florida Department of Health Highlands County, 7205 S. George Blvd., in Sebring will be open 9-11 a.m. today for drive-thru COVID-19 testing for residents of Highlands County. In Highlands, there have been 33 hospitalizations and 8 deaths due to the COURTESY/CENTER FOR GREAT APES virus. Among the 98 residents with the virus, Sunshine and her baby Cahaya. In this photo, Cahaya is less than an hour old. there are 48 male and 50 female cases within an age range of 0 to 85 with a median age of 56. Center for Great Apes welcomes Cahaya The FDOH’s update on nursing homes and assisted living facilities (ALF) shows By INGRID UTECH Sunny Hills of Sebring ALF has two CORRESPONDENT positive residents, one positive resident transferred and one staff member This good news story sponsored by positive for COVID-19. Sebring Meats, 3721 Kenilworth Blvd., Also, SIM ALF near Sparta Road in Sebring, FL 33870; 863-314-6177. Sebring has one employee who tested WAUCHULA — The Center for Great positive. The Palms of Sebring has one Apes, which is located on 130 acres employee who tested positive and one of land in nearby Wauchula, provides resident to test positive. a permanent home and sanctuary to There have been 30 new cases in chimpanzees and orangutans who Hendry County in the past five days have spent their lives in the entertain- with many of those at the Clewiston ment industry, commercial breeding Nursing & Rehabilitation Center, which facilities, research labs or the exotic has five positive residents, 11 positive pet trade. residents transferred and 14 positive The Center provides care with staff members. dignity in a safe, healthy and enriching There have been a total of 40,982 cases environment for the remainder of the in Florida with 7,224 hospitalizations great apes’ lives. and 1,735 deaths. Recently Center founder and In the United States, there have been director Patti Ragan sent out an email 1,337,541 cases and 79,825 deaths. to supporters and friends about a most Worldwide, there have been 4,142,970 unusual event that has never occurred in the Center’s long history. The email cases and 284,124 deaths. COURTESY/CENTER FOR GREAT APES The Florida Department of Health begins as follows. Highlands County stated there will be “In our 27-year history, the Center Baby Cahaya and Sunshine. additional testing sites and dates will be for Great Apes has successfully imple- orange bit of fluff climbing up to her loving and caring mother. announced in the coming days. Local mented birth control methods for all chest … the caregivers saw the baby “Sunny (as we call her) gave birth to health officials are working to bring our sanctuary residents with no ‘birth only minutes after she was born. To three previous infants at a breeding testing sites to areas throughout the control failures’ … until now. say we were all shocked is to put it compound, but they were each taken county, so residents do not have to travel “Sunshine, a 37-year-old female mildly!” from her, and she never raised them. far to be tested. orangutan who arrived at our sanc- Ragan’s e-mail continues. “Our staff has named the infant Testing on Tuesday will be available for tuary three years ago from the enter- “While reproducing more infants Cahaya, which in Indonesian means individuals over the age of 18 regardless tainment world, gave birth to a little is definitely not a sanctuary ethic or ‘light,’ ‘radiant’ and ‘shine.’ We of symptoms. Testing is free, and no female one morning in February. She activity, this little female will have thought this an appropriate name for insurance is required. had been on birth control since she all the love and care that each of our Sunshine’s offspring. The test site is drive-thru only. The arrived at the sanctuary, so we had no reason to think she was pregnant. other great ape residents receive at the “Sunny is doing a very good job CASES | 8A “However, suddenly there was a tiny Center. Thankfully, Sunshine is being a APES | 8A Ridgeway selected to fill Sebring High AP position By MARC VALERO Longshore to Mrs. [Ilene] Eshelman’s He was at Lake Placid for this new opportunity. Go STAFF WRITER stated, “It is retirement.” Middle from August 2004 Blue Streaks!” my pleasure to Ridgeway worked as a through May 2019 and then at Superintendent appoint- SEBRING — Donald announce that classroom teacher and dean Sebring Middle School from ments are subject to approval Ridgeway has been selected to Mr. Donald at Lake Placid Middle School. August 2019 through May by The School Board of fill an assistant principal po- Ridgeway has He became the dean at Lake 2020. Highlands County. sition for the 2020-21 school been named as Placid Middle in the 2012-13 Ridgeway said, “I am super Due to the size of its enroll- year at Sebring High School. the new Assistant school year. excited to announce that I ment, about 1,500 students, In a recent announce- RIDGEWAY Principal During the current 2019-20 have accepted a new position Sebring High has three assis- ment to administrators and at Sebring school year, he is serving as at Sebring High School as tant principals. The other two School Board members, High School the dean at Sebring Middle assistant principal. I am assistant principals are David Superintendent Brenda filling a vacancy left due School. beyond thankful and blessed Holder and Laura Sherley. Classifieds ......................B1-3 Obituaries ........................ A8 Viewpoints ....................... A6 Good morning To Comics .........................B4-7 TV Listings ....................... B8 Weather .......................... A8 Charles Lowrance Lottery ........................... A2 facebook.com/ twitter.com/ Thanks for reading! newssun.com newssun TheNewsSun A2 | HIGHLANDS NEWS-SUN | May 12, 2020 www.highlandsnewssun.com 5 THINGS That Will Make You Ashby get surprise 100th SMARTER birthday party amid virus 1. Leaf-tailed gecko, the body ensure perfect also known as fl at-tailed camoufl age in the forest. By KIM MOODY gecko is reptile that 3. Leaf-tailed gecko STAFF WRITER belongs to the family has large eyes without Gekkonidae. There are eyelids, sticky toes on the LAKE PLACID — Normally when more than 10 species of feet and long, broad and Lake Placid Police Department leaf-tailed gecko that are fl at, leaf-like tail (hence shows up with fi re trucks in tow, endemic for Madagascar the name “leaf-tailed”). it is cause for alarm. However, on and surrounding islands 4. Due to lack of Wednesday, they formed a parade of (they cannot be found eyelids, leaf-tailed gecko lights to honor Irene F. Ashby on her anywhere else in the removes dirt from the 100th birthday, which was actually world). eyes with its long tongue. on Thursday, at Balmoral Assisted 2. Leaf-tailed gecko can 5. Leaf-tailed gecko is Living Facility. be grey-brown, green- adapted to the life in the When you have 100 candles on a brown or black colored. trees (arboreal animal). It cake, it’s handy to have Highlands Its skin has rough climbs on the trees with County Fire Chief Marc Bashoor on texture that resembles ease thanks to its sticky site with his crews.