Sumter County, FL

A Villager was jailed on a drunk driving charge after crashing her car in a roundabout. Diane Frank, 65, was at the wheel of a 2020 Hyundai Elantra when she crashed at about 4:30 p.m. Sunday in the roundabout at Buena Vista Boulevard and St. Charles Place, according to an arrest report from the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office. Her vehicle crashed into a light pole and ran through a flower bed.

A Village of Caroline resident was apprehended on a drunk driving charge on State Road 44 in Wildwood. Tracy Ann Allen, 51, had been driving shortly before 1 a.m. Saturday on State Road 44 near Spring Flow Avenue when a Sumter County sheriff’s deputy spotted her vehicle which appeared to be “suspicious.” When the deputy made contact with Allen, it appeared she had been drinking.

A Villager with drugs in her vehicle was arrested on a charge of driving under the influence at Lake Deaton Plaza. Danielle Elizabeth Hanrahan, 42, of the Village of Collier, was driving a black Volkswagen shortly before midnight Saturday on State Road 44 when the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office received a report of an erratic driver who was possibly driving impaired. A deputy found the vehicle and initiated a traffic stop at the Marathon service station at Lake Deaton Plaza. The New Jersey native claimed she had not been drinking and said she had not taken any prescription medicine.

The Sumter County commission races can officially begin. Nine Republican candidates have met the petition deadline to qualify to run for four open seats this fall. Suspended commissioner Oren Miller is among the announced candidates who failed to gather the required 1,056 petitions to appear on the ballot. Miller was...

A Village of Liberty Park man was jailed after a woman reported him as a trespasser in a home owned by a resident of a local care facility. Glenn Eugene Petillo, 61, who lives at 1980 Orangeburg Terrace, had been traveling in a vehicle with the 52-year-old woman from Ohio when they got into an argument, according to an arrest report from the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office. He ordered her out of the vehicle and kept driving after leaving her by the side of the road.

The U.S. reported over 562,000 new cases of coronavirus over the seven days ending May 15, bringing the total count to more than 81.4 million confirmed cases of COVID-19. There have been more than 991,000 COVID-19-related deaths — the highest death toll of any country. New cases continue to rise at a steady rate. In […]

A man from Mexico driving without headlights was arrested near the Morse Gate at U.S. Hwy. 27/441. Efrain Garcia, 50, of Lady Lake, as driving a red Ford SUV at about 8:30 p.m. Sunday when he was pulled over for not having his headlights on, according to an arrest report from the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office.

A suspended Sumter County commissioner has issued a statement about not qualifying for the GOP primary. Oren Miller of the Village of Sanibel is facing a charge of perjury and has been removed from his commission seat by Gov. Ron DeSantis. Miller had indicated he was going to for the District 5 seat from which he was suspended, but he has failed to qualify to be on the ballot, according to the Sumter County Supervisor of Elections.

A resident of The Villages who had been drinking was arrested after law enforcement was called to a disturbance. Sumter County sheriff’s deputies responded to a home in the Village of Pennecamp on Sunday evening after a 911 call was received, according to an arrest report. A resident alleged that 57-year-old Sandra Lee Juno had thrown a walker at her.

Sumter County Sheriff’s Office corrections officers William Jackson Prevatt and Michael Preston Taylor are just two of the more than 600 law enforcement officers nationwide who gave their lives in 2021 to serve and protect their communities. Each year on May 15, known as National Peace Officers Memorial Day and the start of National Police Week, the nation honors and remembers law enforcement officers like Prevatt and Taylor, who died in the line of duty. Residents, former law enforcement officers, the Lady Lake Police Department, Sumter County Sheriff’s Office and Veterans’ Memorial Park of The Villages board members gathered on Sunday for the park’s annual ceremony. Our ceremony is to remember those officers who have given their all so that we might be saved,” Tom Miller, president of Veterans’ Memorial Park, told the crowd. “When trouble arises, it is the police officers and first responders who go to it while everybody else runs away. How can we give a show of gratitude for this courageous act that these officers do day in and day out?”

By all accounts, the recent Florida High School Athletic Association Track and Field State Championships were a success for programs in Lake and Sumter counties. In all, one area program — Montverde Academy — won the boys Class 2A team title and student-athletes from multiple schools won individual titles during last week’s championships in each of four classifications on the Percy Beard Track at the University of Florida.

SUMTER COUNTY, Fla. - Did you see it? A funnel cloud was spotted in The Villages area on Saturday. The National Weather Service said it appeared around 7:30 p.m. near The Villages Regional Hospital in Sumter County. "As the sea breeze made its way inland, a weak storm near The...

A man who has stolen and taken wild rides in a firetruck and a Community Watch vehicle in The Villages contends he is “not a flight risk.”. In a handwritten letter on file in Sumter County Court, 32-year-old Jessie Charles Webb has pleaded with a judge to set an affordable bond so he can be released from custody.

More than 200 pro-choice women and some men on Saturday at Lake Sumter Landing joined millions of Americans nationwide to protest the potential reversal of abortion rights by the U.S. Supreme Court. Three speakers, Villagers Dee Melvin and Patricia Beerhalter shared the stage with Katrina Stevens of the Southern Poverty...

Weather experts from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) as well as Colorado State University forecast another active hurricane season, predicting as many as 20 named tropical systems. NOAA predicts nine of the tropical systems will become hurricanes and four may be major hurricanes (Category 3 or higher). While official hurricane season is still a few weeks away, each of the last seven years has seen a named storm prior to the official June 1 start. It’s never too early to be prepared for a hurricane and www.SumterPrepares.com provides valuable information on hurricane preparedness.

Our amenity and maintenance fees should not be used to rebuild the windmill anymore than our monies should be used to correct the underpinning of the Lake Sumter bridge. I lay the fault for these boondoggles with the engineering firm, Kimley-Horn and Associates. It seems more and more that as...

Beginning Wednesday, May 18 there will be construction on a stormwater manhole by the multi-modal path immediately south of the MR-3 golf car tunnel adjacent to Meggison Road north of the intersection at Warm Springs Avenue. During construction, the multi-modal path will have a short diversion to drive safely outside of the construction area perimeter. This construction will not impede the regular flow of traffic.

A Villager has lost her driver’s license as the result a golf cart drunk driving arrest at Lake Sumter Landing. Julianne Marie Labreche, 59, of the Village of Piedmont, was sentenced last month in Sumter County Court on a charge of driving under the influence. In addition to losing her driver’s license for six months, she has been placed on probation for one year and has been ordered to perform 50 hours of community service.

Villagers concerned about traffic accidents on Morse Boulevard are blasting the Sumter County Commission over its “arrogance” on statistics and safety on the busy roadway north of County Road 466. Red-shirted Villagers attended the Community Development District 1 meeting on Friday morning at Savannah Center still bitter from...

Sumter County, FL – CSX Transportation will be performing necessary track maintenance and emergency repairs at two railroad crossings in Bushnell. On Friday, May 20, at 7 a.m., the crossing on W. Seminole Ave, between S. Main St. and S. Roland St, will be closing. It will remain closed through Tuesday, May 24, 2022. CSX states that it will be a total closure, which means no traffic will be allowed to cross the tracks until the work is done.