INSIDE: Legal Notices
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Wednesday, March 13, 2024
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80,000-plus attend inaugural Ag Expo By MEGHAN BRADBURY
news@breezenewspapers.com
More than 80,000 people attended the Southwest Florida Ag Expo this year, with Lee County officials heralding the inaugural event as a success. Those attendees included front-gate scanned tickets, as well as daily livestock participant attendees. “We are extremely pleased with the attendance and feedback received for the inaugural Southwest Florida Ag Expo,” Lee County Parks & Recreation Strategic
Operations Manager Lisa Weaver said. “We are excited about the success of this event and are beginning the process to identify future improvements for the community’s experience at the Ag Expo.” The largest attendance day was Saturday, March 9. “This was a great day for our livestock exhibitors as it was the market animal auction day,” she said. This year’s event had a strong focus on
the youth, which resulted in 193 exhibitors for creative living and 335 exhibitors for livestock with a total of 957 animal exhibits. The animal entry breakdown included 275 poultry, 176 horse performances, 17 beef breeding, 45 goats,140 rabbits, 104 swine, 37 steer and 136 horse speed. As with any major event, Weaver said there is always room for operational adjustments moving forward.
Man sentenced to life in prison for shooting and wounding CCPD officer
NEWS OF NOTE Great American Cleanup March 30 The Keep America Beautiful Great American Cleanup, aka “Trash Bash,” annually engages more than 500,000 volunteers and participants. Keep Lee County Beautiful Inc. has been hosting the event for over 25 years. Residents and visitors are encouraged to make a difference in their neighborhoods and communities. The 2024 Great American Cleanup will take place on Saturday, March 30, at multiple locations across Lee County. Volunteers will be cleaning waterways, shorelines, roadways and parks in the one-day event to help protect the environment. Over 14,000 pounds of litter was removed from the environment last year. The Great American Cleanup is open to volunteers of all ages and any individual, family, school, group, place of worship, business or government entity can coordinate or participate. Visit https://www.sign upgenius.com/go/805094aa aaa2ca4f49-2023#/ to register and for the details or call 239-334-3488 for additional information.
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“We are currently soliciting feedback from our stakeholders, community partners, participants, and vendors to see how we can make next year even better,” she said. “Lee County government is proud to put on this memorable event for the community; every county department played a role in making this event a major success. We greatly appreciate the support of the county commissioners.” Next year’s Southwest Florida Ag Expo is scheduled for Feb. 27, through March 9, 2025.
By CJ HADDAD
cjhaddad@breezenewspapers.com
Larger design proposed for Cape Coral Yacht Club rebuild By MEGHAN BRADBURY
news@breezenewspapers.com
Revised plans for the Cape Coral Yacht Club rebuild now call for a much-larger community center with a whole new design and a four-story parking garage. Cape Coral City Council will discuss the latest rendition of the Yacht Club master plan at a workshop Wednesday morning. The revised Community Center floor plan now includes a total of 47,000 square feet, with the majority being on the first floor for 27,250 square feet and the remainder, 19,750, spread out on the second floor. The prior square footage was 37,000 square feet – 20,000 square feet on the first floor, and 17,000 square feet on the second. The largest space will be the multipurpose hall, 4,751 square feet on the first floor. Other areas are to include two medium and large meeting rooms, one small meeting room, history room, storage, retail concession, administration, foyer, receiving and loading and restrooms. The second floor will also have meeting space, four small and two medium spaces, restrooms, kitchen, balcony, foyer and a 4,982-square-foot
area to be called the ballroom, the name of the main community room in the historic building to be torn down and replaced. The revised site plan includes a pool restroom near the riverfront beach, service access, pool equipment and lifeguard building and a pool entry station. The presentation to be made by staff also includes three design options for the Community Center. Also on the agenda: The Cape Coral Animal Shelter expansion project is also slated for discussion during the workshop. The expansion includes a two-story building – 19,797 square feet – on their allocated 4.2-acres near Sun Splash Family Waterpark. The
See YACHT CLUB, page 5 Cape Coral City Council will discuss updated master plans for the redevelopment of the Yacht Club at its meeting today. GRAPHIC PROVIDED
A man was sentenced to life in prison for attempted first degree murder of a Cape Coral law enforcement officer that took place in 2011. Yousel Rivera, 33, was sentenced Tuesday afternoon in Lee County for shooting and injuring Cape Coral Police Officer David Wagoner during an earlymorning traffic stop on April 16, 2011. He was charged with one count of attempted first-degree murder on a law enforcement officer while possessing a firearm. “Today’s life sentence means the defendant, who was capable of such evil actions, will never again be free," said State Attorney Amira Fox in a release. "I hope Cape Coral Police Officer Wagoner and his family can find some peace in knowing that justice has been served, a continuation of the amazing actions of Officer Wagoner the night of the crime. Though shot, his focus was to stop the defendant, returning fire. He also managed the energy to call dispatch to alert his law enforcement family about the threat, giving a full description of the suspect. His focus and actions, after just being wounded, were the first steps to getting this criminal identified and in custody, so he could not hurt anyone else. These are the actions of a hero. We will never know, thankfully, how many lives Officer Wagoner may have saved that night, while also fighting to save his own."
See LIFE IN PRISON, page 5