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In a world filled with constant digital noise, our small town newspaper stands as a beacon of community connection and trusted information. We provide coverage of local events, stories that celebrate our unique culture, and news that truly matters to our residents. Our dedicated team works tirelessly to ensure you stay informed about what's happening right here at home. By reading our paper, you stay connected to the heart and soul of our community. Stay informed and engaged with the stories that matter most to you.
The Mulberry/Polk County Press is one of Florida's oldest news media and advertising companies and is well over a century old! but we keep up with the times with the latest in news, public service and advertising.
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POLK COUNTY PRESS TAKES A DETAILED TOUR of the Polk County Sheriff's facilities, including the Central Jail, the Operations Center, the Aviation Unit at the Bartow Air Base that has five aircraft. We also visited one of the district substations, the Booking Center and more. The Sheriff's Office has some 2,000 employees, both full time and part-time, some community volunteers, 900 sworn deputies, many certified civilian employees and some civilian employees who help in areas not needing certification. Recently, the Sheriff's Office, with a yearly budget of $252,000,000, recently added an additional district due to the tremendous growth of Polk County in the Poinciana and Ridge areas.
MULBERRY'S COUNTRY MUSIC STAR, ELI MOSLEY, will kick off the free concert in downtown Mulberry on Friday, January 20, 2026, from 6 to 8 p.m. This will be the first of the MULBERRY JAMS free outdoor concerts on the new stage the City building in across from the restored GEM Theater in the downtown commons park. It is hoped that this monthly concert, to be held on the last Friday evening of every month. The City has made great strides to develop the downtown area into an attraction, with the Depot 303 food court and other improvements.
LAKELAND is trying out something new. The city is paying a firm $60,000 a year to fit some city vehicles with sensors that can determine problems in roads or streets. Since these city vehicles are driven all over Lakeland anyway, they will help save money by finding road problems in advance where the repairs and maintenance may be done before the damage gets more expensive to correct.
WINTER HAVEN was the scene of a major fire this week when some 20 vehicles were badly damaged or destroyed in a fire in the work bays of the Ford Dealership, Jarrett-Gordon Ford, Lake Alfred Road also known as U.S. Highway 17. It is possible that fuels in a mobile service van exploded, causing the fire which quickly spread. Firefighters from Winter Haven, Lake Alfred, the Polk County Fire and Rescue, responded. They had the fire controlled in about 35 minutes, but not before a lot of cars were ruined.
THE FLORIDA LEGISLATURE is currently in session. The state's lawmaking body is considered part-time. The Florida State Constitution allows for only 60 days for the legislature to be in session yearly. However, the Legislature may be called into session for specific reasons and for a limited number of days on the the call of the governor or the speaker of the Florida House and the president of the Florida Senate. Major areas the legislators are working on this year include property tax reform, forcing mobile home park owners to be more transparent in their lot rent hike, making artificial intelligence "data centers" give more information when they plan to build or come to an existing facility. Often, the public is kept in the dark about the owners and their plans until the facility has been built or is underway. Many data centers around the country have caused huge drains on electric grids and have caused large amounts of public water to be used.
A new IHOP Restaurant opened in HIGHLAND CITY this week along U.S. Highway 98 between BARTOW and LAKELAND. It is a franchised location. The IHOP brand is owned by the publicly stock traded DINE BRANDS which also owns Applebee's In The Neighborhood Restaurants and Fuzzy's Taco Shop. Dine Brands franchises all three of its brands in Polk County.
NINA THOMPSON FREEMAN, wife of Press columnist Jeff O'Donnell, passed away this week at the age of 82. She was an administrative assistant for the former W.S. Badcock Corporation in Mulberry for over 40 years. She cherished the friendships she made while working at Badcock.
Other items you will find regularly in The Press....weekly faith-based column of Jeff O'Donnell, photos from around Polk County and eastern HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY by Stan Hobby; a food column by food editor Dave Histed, a graduate of the two year campus of the Culinary Institute Of America near New York City. He was chefed at The Four Seasons in Palm Beach and at the Four Seasons in Chicago. He has appeared on TV food shows giving food tips.
Area singer, John Weaver, will appear in FROSTPROOF on Saturday, January 31, 2026, in the local RAMAN THEATER. Tickets may be purchased on the Raman Theater website.
The largest Florida and Georgia franchisee of Popeye's Chicken has filed for federal bankruptcy. The company owns 130 Popeye's franchises in the two states and has some $127 million in debts that it can't pay. The company missed a large interest payment recently.
Mayor George Hatch and the Mulberry city commissioners have created a proclamation naming February, 2026 as Black History Month in the city. The annual Evelyn Bryant Cultural Festival will be held in downtown Mulberry on Saturday, February 7, 2026 starting at 11 a.m. and extending throughout the afternoon. There is no admission fee to attend, but there will be food vendors, sellers of arts, crafts and more, so you may want to bring along some spending money.
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MULBERRY CITY MANAGER RICK JOHNSON WILL NOT DELAY RETIREMENT
Mulberry City Manager Rick Johnson has made up his mind that he will retire from the city on February 6,2026. Some have begged him to stay on the job for longer, as long as a year from then. He lost his father to death not long ago and he wants to spend more time with his family and in private pursuits. Mr. Johnson is actually retired from the State of Connecticut as a 17-yearprison part of that time in leadership and administration. He has not cost the taxpayers of Mulberry anything as far as hospitalization insurance since he was hired as his insurance costs have been paid by the State of Connecticut. He has been currently making a hair under $200,000 a year in salary with the City of Mulberry, and other benefits such as care allowance, retirement, etc. However, there is a prevailing view among many that he has more than paid for his own costs in terms of his management acumen, his ability to have gotten various grants for Mulberry from higher up governments such as for utility infrastructure. When he came into Mulberry as city manager over a dozen years, ago, he took the job as one of the lowest paid city managers in Polk County. Some believe his visions created many millions of dollars in value added to Mulberry through the repurposing of some city buildings, creating the Mulberry CRA, restoring various buildings. With the new Mulberry City Hall complex to cost some $30 million, most of it in bonded debt, and the CRA debt for te Depot 303 which doesn't seem to be that busy much of the time and even borrowed money for the rehabilitation of the downtown GEM Theater. Everyone has naysayers including Mr. Johnson. Some complain that with the new City Hall $30 million plus bonded debt to be soon realized, and debt on other things he has maxed out the City's credit cards so to speak for many years to come. Still, Mr. Johnson, along with the City Commission, has created value that would not otherwise exist.
Mr. Johnson has been aggressive in going after grants and low interest loans. One of the biggest apparent grants will soon be officially released by the state concerning tens of millions of dollars to do work to keep the Mulberry wastewater plant from flooding and overflowing into the North Prong of the Alafia River, potentially creating a major ecological disaster, especially in heavy rains associate with Florida hurricanes.
In our opinion, was Mr. Johnson way overpaid? We don't believe so. We believe that he created more value long term for Mulberry than he cost in salary and benefits. Whether private industry or government, sometimes you have to pay extra for those who hit home runs.
---Bill Histed, Editor
NOTICE
PUBLIC HEARING FOR THE CITY OF MULBERRY, FLORIDA
The City of Mulberry City Commission will hold a Public Hearing on Tuesday, February 03, 2026 at 6:00 PM or soon thereafter in the City Commission Chambers at 104 S. Church Avenue, Mulberry, Florida to consider the item listed below.
ORDINANCE NO. ORD-2026-01
AN ORDINANCE RELATING TO MUNICIPAL RIGHTS-OF-WAY; VACATING AND CLOSING A PORTION OF THAT CERTAIN UNOPENED AND UNIMPROVED ALLEY LYING IN BLOCK 3, KNOWLES ADDITION TO MULBERRY, FLORIDA, AS DEPICTED ON THE PLAT THEREOF RECORDED IN PLAT BOOK 33, PAGE 27, PUBLIC RECORDS OF POLK COUNTY, FLORIDA; INSTRUCTING THE CITY MANAGER TO RECORD THIS ORDINANCE IN THE PUBLIC RECORDS OF POLK COUNTY, FLORIDA; PROVIDING FOR CONFLICTS, SEVERABILITY, AND THE ADMINISTRATIVE CORRECTION OF SCRIVENER’S ERRORS; PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE (GENERAL LOCATION: NORTH OF 6TH STREET NE, ALSO KNOWN AS AND REFERRED TO ON SAID PLAT AS AUSTIN STREET, EAST OF 1ST AVENUE NE, ALSO KNOWN AS AND REFERRED TO ON SAID PLAT AS UNIVERSITY AVENUE, WEST OF 2ND AVENUE NE, ALSO KNOWN AS AND REFERRED TO ON SAID PLAT AS NELSON AVENUE, AND SOUTH OF 8TH STREET NE, ALSO KNOWN AS AND REFERRED TO ON SAID PLAT AS BERGEN STREET)
(Property Description, That part of a certain 10 feet wide alley lying East of Lots 2, 3, 6, 7, 10, 11, and 14 of Block 3 and lying West of Lots 1, 4, 5, 8, 9, 12, and 13 of Block 3 of KNOWLES ADDITION TO MULBERRY, as recorded in Plat Book 33, Page 27, of the Public Records of Polk County, Florida, containing 5,000.00 square feet, more or less.)