Tucked away west of Auburndale on the Old Dixie Highway is the little unincorporated community of Fussell Corner Fussell had a homestead of 159 acres in 1862 according to Auburndale historian Beverly Scott Not much has been recorded on that Fussell family or how the small community thrived but the settlement resulted in a huge family According to officials with the Polk County Historical Library and Museum the original Fussell patriarch had multiple wives A Fussell has served as sheriff and on the Polk County School Board Most of the Fussells served as commercial farmers officials with the Polk County Historical Museum said A cabin that belongs to the family existed in the area but it was torn down more than five years ago to make room for a ramp for the Polk Parkway There were some people who tried to save it A reminder of the family's presence in the area is Fussell Road between State Road 33 and County Road 557 [ Merissa Green can be reached at merissa.green@theledger.com or 802-7547 The severe thunderstorm warning from the National Weather Service for Polk County has ended stated the following in a hazardous weather outlook that extends into Monday night: Numerous thunderstorms are expected throughout the day today During the late morning through the afternoon and evening there is potential for some strong to severe storms capable of producing strong gusty winds Note: The warning has been extended one hour to 11 a.m The National Weather Service in Ruskin has issued a Severe Thunderstorm Warning until 11 a.m Southeastern Pasco County in west central Florida Eastern Hillsborough County in west central Florida Northwestern Polk County in central Florida severe thunderstorms were located along a line extending from Temple Terrace to near East Lake-Orient Park to near Riverview to near Greater Sun Center PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS: For your protection move to an interior room on the lowest floor of a building LAKELAND — A crash involving a sedan and an Amtrak train left one dead in Lakeland according to a press release from the Polk County Sheriff's Office PCSO reported that at approximately 7:20 p.m Saturday a 911 call was received concerning the crash that occurred on Reynolds Road just north of County Road 542 in the Fussels Corner area of unincorporated Lakeland The Sheriff's Office reported that according to evidence at the scene and witness interviews 44-year-old Sandra Locke of Lakeland was driving a 2004 silver Toyota Corolla southbound on Reynolds Road an Amtrak locomotive pulling 10 passenger cars was traveling east on the railroad tracks The railroad crossing arms were activated in the down position It appears Locke disregarded the crossing arms driving her car around the barriers and over the train tracks The train struck the passenger side of the car spinning Locke’s Toyota several times and redirecting it off the roadway to the north side of the railroad tracks The train began breaking and came to a stop approximately 1,802 feet east of the crash Locke was not wearing her seatbelt and was pronounced dead at the scene The 94 passengers and eleven crew members on the Amtrak train sustained no injuries The roadway was closed for approximately 4 hours during the investigation confirmed COVID-19 cases on the campuses of Polk County Public Schools have jumped to 81 Reported on the PCPS COVID-19 web page Tuesday night (click here to visit the web page) six new cases were identified at five school sites new cases were confirmed on the Lakeland High/Harrison School for the Arts campus Kathleen High in Lakeland and Haines City High School RELATED STORY>>Lakeland football forced to cancel 1st 2 games because of COVID-19 the combined cases at Lakeland High/Harrison have reached a district-high 16 That news follows the announcement late Tuesday afternoon that the Lakeland High football team was canceling the first two games of the season because of a confirmed COVID-19 positive test The games canceled for the state powerhouse Dreadnaughts were against crosstown rival George Jenkins on Friday night and Plant City on Sept RELATED STORY>>Polk school district: Wide net cast in coronavirus quarantines for students, staff The school district canceled all operations for the team — both practices and games — stating: "as a precaution the program is following CDC-recommended guidance from the Florida Department of Health in Polk County and will suspend all operations through Sept No other athletic team at Lakeland was affected RELATED STORY>>Lakeland City Commission extends face mask mandate the school district said it cannot identify who has tested positive or provide additional details about the COVID-19 case impacting the Lakeland football team PCPS has not released quarantine numbers that are keeping students and staff at home due to possible COVID-19 exposure across the district To date: 81 cases at 44 district schools • Lakeland High/Harrison School for the Arts (16) • Jean O’Dell Learning Center (3) • Lakeland High/Harrison School for the Arts (1) • Jean O’Dell Learning Center (2) • Lakeland High/Harrison School for the Arts (2) • Lakeland High/Harrison School for the Arts (6) • Lakeland High/Harrison School for the Arts (4) • Jean O’Dell Learning Center (1)  • Walter Caldwell Elementary (1)  • Bartow High/Bartow IB/Summerlin Academy (1)  Polk County received 1,248 complaints from residents who say their curbside trash wasn't picked up by the county's contracted haulers nearly double the amount the county received in June "Our customer care philosophy is that even one service failure is one too many," said Ana Wood "Our goal is to service our customer on a regularly scheduled basis and without the need for customers to experience/report any service gaps." The service gaps are due to staffing shortages the companies are experiencing during the pandemic To help catch up on the missed collections which normally run Monday through Friday, on Saturday Saturday’s additional collections will focus on specific areas haulers will focus on bulk waste collection in the Davenport area "The haulers' strategy is to start collecting the oldest materials on the ground and then move to the newest until they are caught up” said Brian Cogswell Polk Waste & Recycling’s business process analyst manager “If you’re on the west side of the county recycling and yard waste out through Saturday.” The service has drawn complaints through the summer as Polk County proposes charging residents $10 more for trash collection next year.  In case you missed it: Polk County wants to charge residents more for trash collection. Here's how much Related: Polk County will not pursue an exclusive contract for commercial waste pick-up The increase — from $196 to $206 — is necessary because the landfill is receiving roughly 4,000 tons more garbage from homes compared to previous years.  the county needs more revenue to dispose of it all.  Wood says the pandemic has played a factor in the extra residential trash But the county has also experienced a lot of growth in recent years the county's trash collection contractors picked up waste from 142,140 customers the Florida Regional Director of Operations with Lakeland-based FCC Environmental Services says the pandemic has caused more challenges to the operation than the amount of growth "FCC Environmental Services Florida absolutely accounted for the growing popularity of Polk County and the Lakeland area," he said in a statement with the pandemic seeing more home-bound folks we experienced a higher rate of residential deliveries for groceries and goods And with those deliveries came a higher amount of curbside trash We will keep a close eye on the community’s service needs as the pandemic recedes and we get back to business as usual." Scam or not: Polk takes shot at water-filtration company's ad, insinuating a scam. But is that fair? What the company didn't account for was the pandemic Merkley recently told The Ledger that the company is working to get more drivers on the street.  we have seen glimmers of hope with the onboarding of several new drivers in Polk County we’ve been able to continue offering competitive wages and benefits to attract quality talent," he said.  Collection service schedules may be extended according to labor availability and customer needs Dustin covers Polk County government and county-wide issues.  He can be reached at dwyatt@gannett.com or on Twitter @LLDustin_Wyatt.