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Belle Glade is a
city in
Palm Beach County,
Florida on the southeastern shore of
Lake Okeechobee. The population was
14,906 at the 2000 census. According to the U.S Census estimates of
2005, the city had a population of 15,423. Belle Glade (and the
surrounding area) is sometimes referred to as "Muck City" due to the
large quantity of
muck (soil), in which
sugarcane grows, found in the area.
For a time during the early to mid-1980s, the city had the highest
rate of
AIDS infection in the United States.
About half the
sugarcane in the nation is grown in
the plains around Belle Glade and nearby
Clewiston. According to the
FBI in 2003 the city had the second
highest violent crime rate in the country at 298 per 10,000 residents.
Information courtesy of
Wikipedia.org.
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