** RECOVERED ** Eric Christopher Riner was located and is safe. He will receive a medical evaluation and reunited with his family.
MISSING AND ENDANGERED ADULT
44 year-old Eric Christopher Riner of Lake Hamilton has been missing since January 2, 2021. He was last seen in the area of the Winter Haven Hospital sometime around 6:50 p.m. on January 2, 2021 where he reportedly called someone to pick him up at the hospital property. He was last seen wearing jeans, a light-colored shirt and a blue/gray jacket. Riner has Autism, developmental disabilities and has a seizure disorder. According to family members, Riner enjoys hanging around fast food restaurants and gas stations. Anyone who has seen Eric Christopher Riner is asked to call 9-1-1 immediately.
Auburndale Community Church Hosted Drive-Thu Nativity
by James Coulter
The Reason for the Season was on full display as Auburndale Community Church hosted a drive-thru nativity for three days before Christmas.
Every evening from Monday to Wednesday, the Auburndale church hosted a drive-thru nativity that allowed people to view the entire story of Jesus Christ, from birth to resurrection, from the safety of their car.
The outdoor performance featured countless church members dressed in Biblical garb re-enacting scenes from the Christmas Nativity and the later events in Christ’s life, including his crucifixion and resurrection.
From the comfort and safety of their vehicles, visitors could witness the Three Wise Men follow the Star of Bethlehem, Mary and Joseph watch over Baby Jesus in the manger, Jesus and his twelve disciples attend the Last Supper, Mary and Martha weeping over Jesus’ corpse taken down from the cross, and Jesus ascending into the heavens from his open tomb.
Auburndale Community Church hosted the drive-thru nativity. This year was the first that they hosted the event, though a similar event had been hosted ten to 12 years previously at another location, explained Deanna Gunner.
“We wanted to go ahead and do it this year because it seemed like the perfect time to give people something to look forward to from the safety of their car,” she said. “They could experience what our church is and do something different, [and] do something to look forward to [during the holiday season].”
On their very first night on Monday evening, even before 6:30 p.m., the church saw a line of cars waiting to pass the nativity scenes. Their event page received more than 5,000 hits, with 400 people replying that they would attend, Gunner said.
Of course, in the end, it did not matter how many people attended that evening or the other two evenings. As long as people were enjoying the holiday season during these uncertain times, and as long as they were receiving the message about the “Reason for The Season,” any turnout was a good one, Gunner said.
“No matter how many people come, it is the fact that people are coming and getting the word out and being able to experience what we have to show,” she said. “I am enjoying seeing people we don’t know coming to our church and wanting to see what we have to put on this evening. It is pretty good for them.”
First Annual Mistletoe Market Draws 80 Vendors to Downtown Bartow
by James Coulter
Lynne Yim, a Plant City resident, makes custom ornaments year-round. Send her a photograph, any photograph, and she can create an ornament around it. She has created ornaments for pets and people alike, as well as college sports teams, cartoons, and the military.
She has fun creating her crafts over the past four years, and she makes them throughout the year; however, as can be expected, these decorations are best sold before and during the holiday season. For that reason, she attends art and craft shows in December.
She attended the Mistletoe Market in Downtown Bartow on Saturday, where her ornaments stood out among the other holiday decor showcased by other vendors, including wreaths, stockings, and plush snowmen.
“I heard it was a good market to sell to,” she said. “People are very friendly here…I am limited to when I sell my ornaments, I sell around Christmas, and I sell them anywhere. I try everywhere.”
Sherry Morris, a Bartow resident, has been making similar crafts for nearly five years. She makes portable trash cans, towels, masks, and other items from fabric. Morris started by making dresses for her family as Christmas gifts. She was inspired by her relatives to sell them, and she has been attending events such as Mistletoe Market ever since.
“I am really enjoying it,” she said. “The weather is great and the people are kind and comfortable. The people, I love them. The inspiration is the people. A lot of my fabric and things I find are what people find, and I am willing to do what people ask.”
The inagural Mistletoe Market was hosted in Downtown Bartow last Saturday. More than 80 vendors congregated downtown to sell handmade holiday wares and other assorted merchandise.As an added holiday bonus, children could also enjoy Christmas fun by eating cookies and hot cocoa, writing and mailing letters to Santa, and even visiting Mr. and Mrs. Claus themselves.
Hosted by Main Street Bartow, the downtown shopping event was hosted as a way to bring visitors and residents downtown while also inspiring Christmas spirit, especially during these uncertain times.
Earlier this year, the annual Honey Bee Festival & Craft Show was hosted, which drew in a sizeable turnout despite the current pandemic. The inagural holiday festival, aided by the overall lovely weather, likewise drew in a decent turnout, said Linda Holcomb, Executive Director.
“We [previously hosted] a fall festival,” she said. “It was the first event we were allowed to open up…It was so successful that we had people and merchants and vendors asking if we could do it again. So we decided to come back in December when it was cooler. It has been so successful; we are going to do it [again] in the spring.”
To ensure the safety and health of the vendors and attendees, booths were placed six to ten feet apart and set along the streets adjacent to Main Street rather than on Main Street itself. These precautions were taken to ensure that the event was spread out enough to provide everyone room to remain socially distant, Holcomb said.
“I think part of [the event’s success] is that people are ready to get out,” she said. “Seeing people out and about in the stores, out on the street, having a good time, socializing a bit, it has been fun watching the crowd and watching them shop.”
Local Police Officers, Fire Fighters, and Other Volunteers Deliver Christmas Presents to 4-Year-Old Cancer Patient
by James Coulter
Nearly a mile of police cars led by a fire truck traveled to the home of a four-year-old cancer patient in Winter Haven to deliver her a magical Christmas evening. Four-year-old Kate received a visit from Santa Claus, along with local firefighters, law enforcement, and other volunteers, who delivered her Christmas presents, including a large-scale dollhouse and a rocking horse.
More than 15 to 20 officers from the Polk County Sheriff’s Office arrived to deliver young Kate her presents. Invited by the local volunteer group, the Christmas Angels, they gathered outside the Race Trac gas station along Havendale before driving to the young girl’s house in a parade of vehicles nearly a mile long.
Officer Keith Hargrove and his fellow officers from the Winter Haven Police Department and Polk County Sheriff’s Office, along with fire fighters from the Winter Haven Fire Department and Polk County Fire Rescue, agreed to visit the little girl that evening to assist a young person in need and provide something positive to the community.
“We thought we could help our kids out,” he said. “I called some of the officers up. I said this is something we could do. As you can see, they are joining up in bunches.”
Last year, Kate was taken to her pediatrician after her mother, Laura, noticed the young girl was painfully limping and suffering from low-grade fevers. The doctor ordered several tests, including an x-ray and ultrasound of her liver, spleen, and kidneys.
“A few hours later, her pediatrician told me that [there] were spots in her liver,” Laura wrote on her daughter’s Team Kate page on Facebook. “At one point, she used the word “masses,”and it was at that point I knew my baby had cancer.”
Kate was diagnosed with high-risk Neuroblastoma stage 4 cancer on October 18, 2019. She visited countless hospitals throughout the state to receive her treatments, even visiting three hospitals in a day and a half, Laura said.
“It has been a long journey thus far,” she wrote. “Kate has had a total of 7 rounds of chemo and tumor resection of the primary tumor in her abdomen. Kate is now entering high-dose chemo, stem cell transplant.”
Her daughter suffered over the past year, yet the Christmas gifts delivered to her Saturday evening helped alleviate the pain she and her family had endured and helped make their Christmas slightly more magical, especially during these trying and uncertain times.
“It is pretty amazing,” Laura said. “I didn’t expect this. Kate has been through a lot over the past year, year and a half. And for the community, to do this for her, and to bring all this, it is remarkable. We will always hold a special place in our hearts, and we appreciate it very much.”
Sheila Davis, a resident, coordinated the toy delivery that evening along with other volunteers from her group, the Christmas Angels. For the past 30 years, she and her team havebeen delivering toys to local children in need. Last year, she helped give presents to Braeden, a young local boy currently battling cancer. Every year, she and her team select a young child and a family in need. They then collect presents from the community and then delivers the gifts around Christmas time.
“[We expect] to get them to forget their cancer for a while and to make some beautiful memories with this all,” Davis said. “That is our goal every time, and we succeed every time. To see their little faces when we drop it off is so heartwarming. Their parents, it is like they do not have a worry all of a sudden. They are in the moment. That is our goal every year.”
Thirty years ago, Davis lost her own child to cancer. During his life, she saw multiple strangers go out of their way to help her and her family during their hard times. She wanted to return the favor by assisting others in the same way she was helped.
As someone who had experienced a loved one suffering from cancer, she knows the pain the experience can cause people. If their toy deliveries can help alleviate the pain momentarily, and offer a brief reprieve during this time of year, then she has succeeded.
“Our goal is to make it where they are so into the Christmas we leave them, that it is the only thing they can think of,” Davis said. “They can’t think of the sickness that stays on their mind seven days a week, 24 hours a day, that they can focus on making memories after we leave them.”
She and her team requested a police officer and fire truck to escort them. Through the hard work of various local law enforcement and fire departments, their request for one officer and one fire truck was granted with a large parade of vehicles and officers.
“When they asked Winter Haven Police Dept for an escort it grew even larger,” she said via e-mail. “WHPD asked Polk County Sheriff Department and Winter Haven Fire Department and the word spread to the Amazing turnout for Ms. Kate’s family.”
Donna Harden joined Davis and her team for the first time this year. As someone with grandchildren, Harden wanted to help other young children in the community, especially those who are going through hard times.
“We want to let them take their minds off what they have been going through, all of the treatments,” she said. “Just to see their [happy] faces is enough.”
Buffy Nance has been assisting Harden for the past two years. She loves being able to see children’s happy faces, especially after facing such adversity in their lives.
“This year, we are blowing it out of the roof. This family is going to be amazed. This is going to be amazing,” she said. “It is very heart touching. There is nothing I would rather do than this.”
Jingle Kringle Brings Holiday Spirit to Eloise Resource Center
by James Coulter
Twas the week before Christmas, and down in Eloise, every little one was stirring, doing whatever they please. Local children and their families enjoyed Christmas fun with games, treats, and art during Jingle Kringle at the Eloise Resource Center on a Friday evening just before Christmas.
Guests entered the community center in Winter Haven and received bags of candy, coloring activities, and other free treats. Outside the center, they engaged in fun activities with holiday selfies and photo-ops, hot cocoa and Christmas cookies, and even a large game of Guess Who with famous holiday characters.
Attendees could also peruse arts and crafts and watch guitar and dance performances in conjunction with Prodigy, the after-school art program hosted at the Eloise Resource Center.
Besides providing children classes on arts, crafts, music, and dance, Prodigy also offers local children an opportunity to learn life lessons while spending quality time after school, explained Kelly VanBuskirk, Prodigy Site Manager.
For the past two years, VanBuskirk has been overseeing Prodigy. She loved being able to showcase the art and hard work of her students at Jingle Kringle, and she appreciates being able to offer local children an opportunity to utilize their time after school to enrich their lives.
“We offer everything to keep kids out of trouble and learn life lessons and skills that they might not be able to do [through] art,” she said.
Cameron Ramsey, the Recreational Coordinator, hosted the event to provide local children and their families an opportunity to enjoy holiday fun in a safe environment. With many holiday events canceled due to the COVID-19 crisis, this event offered holiday festivities for people seeking a much-needed reprieve from these uncertain times.
The turnout that evening proved decent. Nearly 400 to 500 people visited the center. The overall limited capacity was facilitated through limited advertising and marketing for the event, ensuring that the general crowd was a smaller, more manageable size, Ramsey said.
“I just wanted to do something a little bit new, and, with the pandemic we are going through, we find new ways to space things out a little more and have fun and games,” Ramsey said. “We hope that everyone has a very merry Christmas, and stay safe out there, and we look forward to getting back to our normal routine sometime in the future.”
Dereck Harp, Recreational Superintendent, wanted to offer their annual holiday event with modifications to ensure a smaller crowd in a safer environment while offering the same holiday fun and games return guests have come to expect. Otherwise, the turnout was decent, and the reception proved exceptional, he said.
“I love seeing the people of Eloise come together and have a good time and see the parents come together with their children with a nice family atmosphere and enjoy it and prepare for the holidays,” he said. “People celebrate new things. That is what I love best about this.”
Polk County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the attempted murder of a Florida Fish and Wildlife Officer that occurred late last evening on the property line of Avon Park Bombing Range and River Ranch Hunting Club.
Several agencies assisted, including FWC; Highlands and Osceola County Sheriff’s Offices; and Auburndale, Lakeland, Lake Wales, and Winter Haven Police Departments.
The three suspects were on ATVs and fled after the attack. PCSO has two of the three suspects in custody. The third suspect is still at large.
Sheriff Grady Judd will brief media later this afternoon.
*** Update: Two of three suspects Captured. Manhunt still on for 3rd. Details Here: One Suspect Still Sought
Lake Wales, Florida – Law enforcement officers from around central Florida joined forces in searching for 3 suspects who assaulted & ran over an FWC officer Saturday night.
According to Melody Kilborn, public information officer for the FWC, just before 9:00 p.m. yesterday evening, an FWC officer that was patrolling the Avon Park Bombing Range observed three individuals shining a spotlight from River Ranch into Avon Park Bombing Range property. The officer stopped the individuals and during the course of their interaction a struggle ensued and the officer was run over by the suspects’ UTV as they fled the scene. Several agencies responded to the scene to assist, which included additional FWC officers, the Polk County Sheriff’s Office, Highlands County Sheriff’s Office, Osceola County Sheriff’s Office, Lakeland Police Department, Auburndale Police Department, Winter Haven Police Department and Lake Wales Police Department. The FWC officer was transported to the hospital, treated for injuries and has since been released.
We sincerely appreciate the quick response from our many local partner law enforcement agencies and ask that you continue to keep our officer in your thoughts and prayers as he recovers from this incident.
The Polk County Sheriff’s Office is the lead agency investigating this incident.
Editor’s Note: The Daily Ridge has been in contact with the Polk County Sheriff’s Office and are awaiting an update. We cannot confirm if any suspects have been captured or if manhunt has has been stopped. We will update as soon as possible.
Lake Wales, Florida – Law enforcement officers from around central Florida joined forces in searching for 3 suspects who assaulted & ran over an FWC officer Saturday night.
According to Melody Kilborn, public information officer for the FWC, just before 9:00 p.m. yesterday evening, an FWC officer that was patrolling the Avon Park Bombing Range observed three individuals shining a spotlight from River Ranch into Avon Park Bombing Range property. The officer stopped the individuals and during the course of their interaction a struggle ensued and the officer was run over by the suspects’ UTV as they fled the scene. Several agencies responded to the scene to assist, which included additional FWC officers, the Polk County Sheriff’s Office, Highlands County Sheriff’s Office, Osceola County Sheriff’s Office, Lakeland Police Department, Auburndale Police Department, Winter Haven Police Department and Lake Wales Police Department. The FWC officer was transported to the hospital, treated for injuries and has since been released.
We sincerely appreciate the quick response from our many local partner law enforcement agencies and ask that you continue to keep our officer in your thoughts and prayers as he recovers from this incident.
The Polk County Sheriff’s Office is the lead agency investigating this incident.
Editor’s Note: The Daily Ridge has been in contact with the Polk County Sheriff’s Office and are awaiting an update. We cannot confirm if any suspects have been captured or if manhunt has has been stopped. We will update as soon as possible.
The Polk County Sheriff’s Office investigated a single-vehicle crash that resulted in the fatality of the passenger during the early morning hours of January 1, 2021. Preliminary information so far is as follows:
Around 2:15 a.m. on Friday, January 1st, PCSO received a 911 call in response to a 2002 black Ford Explorer that had run off the road on Country Club Road approximately one mile south of Hamilton Pointe Boulevard NE in Winter Haven. When first responders arrived they located both occupants outside the SUV, laying on the grassy shoulder.
The driver, 34-year-old Christina Bissroam of Fort Pierce, was taken by ambulance to LRHMC with critical injuries. The passenger, 69-year-old Rocky Coviello of Davenport, was deceased. It appears Bissroam was traveling southbound on Country Club Road at a high rate of speed when she failed to negotiate the curve and traveled off the roadway, causing the SUV to rotate and then overturn several times. She and Coviello were both ejected.
Excessive speed and impairment on the part of the driver appear to be a factor and are being investigated. The roadway was closed for approximately four hours during the investigation.
On December 31, 2020 at approximately 6:12 PM, officers of the Lake Wales Police Department responded to US 27 south of State Road 60 in reference to someone lying in the middle of the road. Upon arrival, officers began their initial investigation and learned a traffic crash had occurred. A bicycle ridden by a white male had been riding down the center of the southbound lanes of US 27. Initially several vehicles were able to dodge the bicyclist before he was struck by a vehicle traveling behind them. The bicyclist was then struck by several other vehicles traveling the same direction. The bicyclist was deceased upon officer’s arrival. We will not release his identity at this time as we are still attempting to locate the next of kin.
At this point, officers have determined five vehicles were involved in this crash. None of the drivers or their occupants were injured in this crash. The vehicles and their occupants are as follows: -A 2008 Ford SUV driven by Justin Cadwallader of Lake Wales, age 29. -A 2010 GMC SUV driven by Jose Maritnez of Orange City, age 24 with his three children. -A 2016 Ford SUV driven by Hayley Barrett of Frostproof, age 27. -A 2011 Volkswagon Jetta driven by Luis Pereira-Luiz of Babson Park, age 22. His passenger was Ana Goncales De Arauj of Babson Park, age 21. -A 2010 Dodge SUV driven by James White of Lake Wales, age 42.
This investigation is ongoing at this time. Anyone with information should contact Officer Meyers at the Lake Wales Police Department at 863-678-4223 ext. 550.
