onto the Black Diamond Ranch course on the evening of December 25 in Lecanto, Florida, to ‘look at the stars.’ when they fell down a deep quarry close to the 17th hole. Remarkably, they then lay

Fire teams that arrived on the scene on December 26 said they were unable to carry out a recovery operation using air support due to poor weather. However, they later managed to winch out the women using a ‘low angle rescue’ procedure with ropes and ground-based methods. The two women were then transported to the hospital.

A spokesperson for the local Citrus County Fire Rescue department wrote on Facebook: “This morning, Citrus County Fire Rescue responded to a challenging rescue after two women fell approximately 50 feet into a quarry on The Quarry Course near Hole 17 at Black Diamond Ranch.

“The incident occurred on Christmas Day but went undiscovered until this morning. Despite adverse weather preventing air support, our dedicated crews, with the assistance of Black Diamond Ranch maintenance personnel, executed a successful low-angle rescue. Both patients were stabilized and transported to a local trauma hospital.

“We’re grateful for the quick thinking and teamwork of all involved. Wishing the patients a speedy recovery!”

A Facebook user who claimed to be one of the women said they had both been badly injured when the ground ‘opened up’ beneath them as they walked on the course. They wrote: “We were looking at stars after Christmas dinner. It is very dark out there. We were on the cart path. We stopped and stepped out and the ground opened up and we both went down. We have major injuries.”

Others who spotted the Facebook post from the fire service commended them for their work. They wrote: “Wow,never knew anything so wild still existed in Citrus County. Glad the women are ok. Great work Citrus Fire and Rescue."

Recall leaders vow to hold previous board members personally responsible for their legal fees.

Residents of the Black Diamond development in Wellington have at long last elected a new board, making moot the outcome of a lawsuit that sought to remove board members through a recall.

The community on State Road 7, roiled in controversy and litigation for more than two years, voted last month to replace board members that had been the target of the recall.

The board has refused to accept the recall petitions; claiming the process was flawed. The decision prompted a lawsuit that is expected to cost the HOA hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees. The HOA has already been paying its lawyer, and now the recall leaders say they will ask the new HOA to pick up their legal fees as well.

Judge James Nutt was days away from deciding the recall case but opted instead to hold off until the latest election was held.

“The reign of terror is over,” said Rick Darquea, a homeowner who challenged the results of the election in May 2021 and then was the leader of the recall movement. “Turned out the judge was right. It is all moot now, but we would, nonetheless, have liked to have had a decision.”

Darquea, who did not run for the board, said he and others were concerned over new election rules that were recently adopted to suppress the vote to prevent a quorum. That would have resulted in the existing board staying in office for at least another year.

“That was their strategy, but people came out in droves,” he noted, easily surpassing the number needed for a quorum.

The new board is expected to carefully review HOA spending the past few years. There has already been charges of questionable spending. Darquea said he expects the board to hold those who refused to accept the recall petitions personally responsible for HOA legal fees.

It remains to be seen whether the divided community can return to a sense of normalcy. Sheriff’s deputies were called on this year to investigate charges of assault at a board meeting. Some homeowners have claimed there were denied access to board meetings.

Two years ago, the state Department of Business and Professional Regulation (DBPR) ruled that “improprieties” had occurred in the 2021 election. Residents claimed that their names were forged on proxy ballots.

The state agency ordered that a new election be held but the DBPR does not have the power to enforce its orders, and the board ignored it. That’s when the litigation began. Disgruntled homeowners filed a lawsuit to force a new election, but the litigation was settled after the HOA agreed to pay legal fees of the homeowners that brought the lawsuit.

Then the recall petitions were filed.

Mike Diamond is a journalist at The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. He covers Palm Beach County government and transportation. You can reach him atmdiamond@pbpost.com. Help support local journalism.Subscribe today

Tomorrow, the cigarmaking city of Tampa turns 138, and Tampa’s oldest cigarmaker—J.C. Newman Cigar Co.—wanted to do something special for the occasion. As you may have guessed, it’s a cigar, but a few things make this upcoming release unusual. Called Diamond Crown Tampa, it’s made with some Florida tobacco and it will only be available in Tampa.

Diamond Crown Tampa comes in one size, a Toro, measuring 6 1/2 inches by 52 ring gauge. Like other Diamond Crowns, it’s made in the Dominican Republic by Arturo Fuente Cigar Co. What makes it unique is the Florida tobacco, as this is the first cigar ever rolled at the Fuente factory with Floridian leaf. The tobacco was grown by retailer (and farmer) Jeff Borysiewicz, who started his Florida Sun Grown project 13 years ago in Clermont, where he cultivates Cuban-seed tobaccos.

The cigar is composed of a Connecticut shade wrapper, Dominican binder and all-Dominican filler, save for a ligero leaf of Florida Sun Grown tobacco. Despite the Connecticut shade wrapper, The company says that Diamond Crown Tampa is a medium-bodied cigar, stronger than the milder Diamond Crown Classic, but not as strong as the Diamond Crown Black Diamond.

At $30 per cigar, it’s also the most expensive Diamond Crown that J.C. Newman sells, but you’ll have to go to Tampa of you want to try one. It’s being launched tomorrow at Borysiewicz’s Diamond Crown lounge located within his Corona Cigar Co. (Tampa location). After the initial launch, the cigar will also be available at other Tampa retailers, as well as the Hotel Haya in Ybor City, the visitor center in downtown Tampa, the cigar store at the Tampa International airport and at J.C. Newman headquarters.

“The packaging features famous Tampa landmarks, including the Tampa Theatre, H.B. Plant Hall, the José Gasparilla ship, Bayshore Boulevard, the Tampa Streetcar and Ybor City chickens,” says Drew Newman, fourth-generation owner of J. C. Newman.

If 138 years sounds rather young for a city such as Tampa, it is. While the city was officially incorporated in 1887 (138 years ago) and this is the landmark that’s celebrated, the history of the area is older. The United States acquired the area from Spain in 1821, and the U.S. Army established a fort in the area in 1824. The city was first incorporated as a town in 1849, but it struggled. It wasn’t until July 15, 1887 that Tampa was officially incorporated as a city, later becoming the cigarmaking capital of the United States. Cigars remain an important part of the local culture.

Newman isn’t ruling out the possibility of a national rollout of this commemorative cigar in the future, but for now, this will be a Tampa exclusive. Because the Florida Sun Grown tobacco is so limited, only 500 boxes of 20 are being produced for the initial release.

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WELLINGTON — A mixed-use development under construction in Wellington off State Road 7 is causing headaches for both nearby residents and village officials, who are working to minimize the problems it is causing.

Lotis will have more than 500 housing units consisting of market-rate apartments, single family homes and townhouses. It will also have medical office buildings, restaurants and a "central park” with a 35-acre lake surrounded by a walking trail.

Cooper's Hawk and Lazy Dog are among the restaurants that have leased space in the development, which lies just north of the Mall at Wellington Green. Lennar is building single-family homes.

A year ago, former Mayor Anne Gerwig praised the project, saying it would increase Wellington's limited supply of rental properties needed to attract young professionals. However, residents of the nearby Black Diamond community say the village has not monitored construction impacts properly.

“We recognize that something was going to be built on the site,” said Eric Taub, president of the Black Diamond Homeowners Association, “but the efforts to protect our quality of life has fallen far short of what is needed.”

Work at Lotis upsets life at 474-home Black Diamond community

“The work has resulted in windows rattling,” Taub said. “The noise, dirt and dust generated by the heavy trucks have resulted in health concerns as some residents have complained about breathing problems. Work has often started as early as 6:30 in the morning in violation of local ordinances.”

Taub said workers sometimes trespass on the property of Black Diamond, which has 474 homes. The HOA recently had to pay to have its property line surveyed and staked out to keep the workers off its property. Irrigation lines have been damaged, resulting in a $15,000 repair bill, he said.

“The dust they create is a stone’s throw away from many of our homes,” Taub said.

Village Manager Jim Barnes said he sympathizes with residents, adding the village's code-compliance team is doing all it can to ensure that rules are followed. Code officers often start their day early in the morning to ensure work does not start ahead of schedule.

“They (the developer) have on occasion done work outside permitted hours,” Barnes said. "That is not acceptable, and there have been issues related to dust control as well. We have been working with the developer to address the concerns of Black Diamond residents.”

Barnes said the village has installed a large mobile camera, at its own expense, to record when construction starts.

In a prepared statement, a Lotis spokeswoman said: “Although construction is not always tidy, Lotis has immediately acted upon any temporary impacts that may have any effect upon our neighbors. Site construction for Phase 1 has proceeded smoothly, but there have been several challenges related to site construction on Phase 2 which have required further scrutiny and the implementation of additional proactive measures.”

The measures included moving construction equipment farther east from Black Diamond to lessen the flow of dust into the homes there.

Lotis said that a brief period of heavy winds in December 2024 caused dust and debris to blow over to the Black Diamond property. In response, Lotis erected a screened construction fence, altered on-site vehicular traffic patterns and relocated construction. If westward winds exceed 25 mph, it halts on-site construction.

Builder says it is prepared to address the negative impacts

Lotis noted that local and state agencies have never cited, fined or issued stop work orders for the project.

“All construction crews, which are monitored by on-site cameras, have been instructed to strictly adhere to Wellington’s permitted work hours,” Lotis said in its news release.

Barnes said rather than cite the builder, the code-compliance team has been working to ensure building crews follow construction rules. Since the large camera was installed, compliance has improved, he said. As for damage done to the HOA or to individual homes, Barnes said the village expects the developer to assume the costs of any repairs, including the damage done to the development's irrigation system.

While Taub acknowledged there has been improvement, he said there have still been code violations that have been occurring, including early starts and dust making it onto homes at Black Diamond.

Mike Diamond is a journalist atThe Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. He covers Palm Beach County government and issues impacting homeowner associations. You can reach him at mdiamond@pbpost.com. Help support local journalism. Subscribe today.