Operation Open and Empty

The Osceola County Sheriff's Office has launched a new program aimed at reducing the number of business burglaries in the county.

Operation Open and Empty encourages businesses to collaborate with law enforcement by playing a proactive role in crime prevention. For the next several weeks, deputies with the Community Response Team West will visit area businesses to explain the program and provide them with strategies to deter a burglar from targeting their business.

Deputies will ask business owners to empty their cash registers with the drawers open after business hours and place a sticker in the window, which tells people the business does not leave money in the cash register overnight. The program has been successfully implemented in other counties throughout Florida, according to the Sheriff’s Office.

Deputies will visit more than 500 businesses in the U.S. Highway 192 area in the next few weeks. Within the next few months, all businesses in the county will receive a visit from deputies to encourage their owners to join the program.

Sept. 1 meeting to be on fire fees

Osceola County Fire Rescue Chief Rich Collins and his staff will host a community meeting to discuss Fire Rescue’s budget, levels of service and the proposed fire assessment fees for fiscal year 2010-11.

The meeting will be at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 1, in the Osceola County Commission Chambers, 1 Courthouse Square, fourth floor in downtown Kissimmee.

“This is a great opportunity for residents to receive answers to their questions about the fire assessment fee,” Collins stated in a press release. “Some mistakenly think the fire assessment fee is a new fee but it has actually been in place since 1989 as a fair and equitable means of providing funding for fire rescue services.”

For those unable to attend in person, the meeting will be streamed live and may be viewed on the County’s website at www.osceola.org; click on “Live Board meetings & agendas” on the upper left hand side.

For more information on the community meeting or the fire assessment program, call 407-742-7000 for assistance or visit the County’s website at www.osceola.org and click on “Fire Assessment Program” link under the Hot Topics section of the homepage.

County's jobless rate went up in July

Osceola County’s jobless rate in July went up slightly and now stands at 12.4 percent, according to the latest report from the Florida Agency for Workforce Innovation.

The June jobless rate for the Osceola County was 12.2 percent; the rate for Orange County was 11.7 percent, also up 0.2 percentage point. The jobless rate for the Orlando metropolitan area, which stretches from Kissimmee to Sanford and includes Lake, Orange, Osceola and Seminole counties, was 11.7 percent in July compared to 11.4 percent in June.

The jobless rate increase comes after several months of declines.

The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate throughout Florida in July was up 0.1 percentage point, to 11.5 percent, which represents 1,055,000 jobless out of a labor force of 9,214,000.

Walton County had the state’s lowest unemployment rate in July (7.5 percent) followed by Liberty County (7.6 percent). Hendry County had the highest jobless rate (19.7 percent) followed by Flagler County (15.6 percent). In July, there were 49 Florida counties with double-digit unemployment, compared to 46 counties the previous month.

Safety and DUI sobriety checkpoints

Osceola County Sheriff's Office deputies will conduct a Safety and DUI Sobriety Checkpoint Friday in Osceola County.

This operation is in conjunction with the statewide Over the Limit, Under Arrest campaign.

Motorists approaching the checkpoint will see informational signs advising them that a sobriety checkpoint is ahead. Once diverted into the checkpoint lane, deputies will explain the purpose of the checkpoint and check driver licenses.

Three killed in crash

Two adults and a child were killed in an Osceola County crash Tuesday after a driver lost control of her vehicle on Poinciana Boulevard and veered into the oncoming lane.

According to Florida Highway Patrol reports, Jannell Cardnes, 20, of Orlando, was driving southbound in a 2002 Ford SUV on Poinciana Boulevard near Old Tampa Highway at about 12:15 p.m., when she lost control of the vehicle. The SUV traveled into the northbound lanes where it hit a 2009 Toyota van carrying a family from England who were on vacation, reports said.

The SUV overturned and caught fire. Both Cardnes and her 1-year-old daughter, Isabella, who was in the SUV, were killed according to the Orange/Osceola Medical Examiner's Office.

Mary Stafford, 62, of England, was pronounced dead at Osceola Regional Medical Center.

The crash is under investigation.

Youth conference location changed

The location for the Community Youth in Crisis Conference scheduled for Thursday, Sept. 2, has been changed to the Exhibition Hall at Osceola Heritage Park in Kissimmee. The time for the conference is still the same – from 1 to 4:30 p.m.

For more information or to register for the conference, e-mail This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or call 407-933-0870.

City to recognize retiring city manager

The city of Kissimmee will hold a special City Commission meeting Tuesday at 6 p.m. at the Kissimmee Civic Center.

The purpose of this meeting is to recognize Mark Durbin, who will be retiring after 23 years of service. Durbin is the longest tenured city manager in Kissimmee’s history.

The public is invited and encouraged to attend the meeting, where the commission also will show its appreciation to the residents who have volunteered their time, serving as members of the city’s advisory boards.

For more information, contact the Public Information Office at 407-518-2314.