Meeker Services, Tea Party Candidate Night, Solar Plunge, Trump's Islam Problem

frank meeker — Services for Flagler County Commissioner Frank Meeker, seen here at a Breast Cancer Awareness event last fall, are scheduled for 10 a.m. Saturday. See below. (© FlaglerLive)

Weekend: Hot, low chance of thunderstorms, highs in the lower 90s, lows in the 70s. Details here.
Today’s fire danger is moderate. Flagler County’s Drought Index is at 496.
Today’s tides: at the beaches, at the Intracoastal Waterway.
Today’s document from the National Archives.
The OED’s Word of the Day: Philly, n. and adj..
The Live Community Calendar
Today’s jail bookings.

Today’s Briefing: Quick Links

First Light
In Flagler and Palm Coast
Local News Recap
Flagler Jail Bookings and Sheriff’s Crime Reports
In State Government
In Coming Days in Flagler, Palm Coast and Beyond
The Day’s Best Reads
Fact-Checking the Knaves
Palm Coast Construction and Development Progress Reports
Local Road and Interstate Construction
Cultural Coda

“Donald Trump, you are asking Americans to trust you with our future. Let me ask you: Have you even read the U.S. Constitution? I will gladly lend you my copy. In this document, look for the words “liberty” and “equal protection of law.””

–Khizr M. Khan, parents of the late Capt. Humayun Khan, a Muslim-American soldier killed in Iraq.

In Flagler and Palm Coast:

Note: all government meetings noticed below are free and open to the public unless otherwise indicated. Many can be heard or seen live through each agency’s website.

Free For All Friday on WNZF, host David Ayres welcomes County Commissioner Nate McLaughlin, the late Frank meeker’s closest friend and ally on the county commission, Florida’s Assistant Attorney General Blaine Winship, Flagler County Sheriff’s Sgt. Mike Lutz, and others. All subject to change. The show begins with a commentary on Frank meeker by FlaglerLive Editor Pierre Tristam.

Friday: Marketing 2 Go’s Cindy Dalecki is the speaker at the Volusia Young professional Group’s lunch meeting, talking about “How Social Media is Changing the Way We Connect,” 11:30 a.m. at Halifax Hospital through the France Tower Lobby. Please bring your photo ID to get through security. Free to club members, $15 for guests. RSVP at [email protected].

Saturday: Funeral services for Commissioner Meeker will be held at 10 a.m. at Parkview Baptist Church, 5435 Belle Terre Parkway, Palm Coast. There will be a funeral procession from the church to Flagler Palms Memorial Gardens, 511 Old Kings Road South, Flagler Beach. The family will receive friends afterwards at the Flagler County Association of Realtors, 4101 E. Moody Blvd., Bunnell (not at the church, as previously reported). Arrangements are in the care of Craig-Flagler Palms Funeral Home. The Flagler County Commission will honor Meeker on Monday, Aug. 1, at 10:30 a.m. in board chambers at the Government Services Building in Bunnell.

Saturday: Solar Plunge to benefit the Flagler Beach National Flight Academy Scholarship. Registration will be $10 per person and includes a t-shirt and goody bag. Late registration will be from 7:30- 8:30 a.m. in Flagler Beach’s Veterans Park followed by The Plunge at 8:45 a.m. After the Plunge enjoy music in the park and light refreshments.

Saturday: Meet the Candidate Night hosted by the Flagler County Tea Party, at the VFW Post 8696, 47 Old Kings Road North, starting at 5:30 p.m. All welcome. Most candidates running for local and state offices will be there.

Local News Recap:

Updated jail bookings and day and night shift incident summary reports are available here.

2016 Election Interviews

Supervisor of Elections

Kaiti Lenhart
Kimble Medley
Abra Seay

Sheriff

Jim Manfre (D)
Don Fleming (R)
Larry Jones (D)
John Lamb (R)
Jerry O'Gara(R)
Rick Staly (R)
Mark Whisenant (R)
Chris Yates (R)
Thomas Dougherty (I)

Palm Coast City Council

Robert Cuff (Dist. 1)
Troy DuBose (Dist. 1)
Sims Jones (Dist. 1)
Art McGovern Jr. (Dist. 1)
Nick Klufas (Dist. 3)
Anita Moeder (Dist. 3)
Pam Richardson (Dist. 3)
John Brady (Mayor)
Milissa Holland (Mayor)
Dennis McDonald (Mayor)
Ron Radford (Mayor)

Flagler School Board

Colleen Conklin (Dist. 3)
Jason Sands (Dist. 3)
Paul Anderson (Dist. 5)
Maria Barbosa (Dist. 5)
Sharon Demers (Dist. 5)
Myra Middleton-Valentine (Dist. 5)

Flagler County Commission

Charlie Ericksen (Dist. 1)
Ken Mazzie (Dist. 1)
Daniel Potter (Dist. 1)
Jason France (Dist. 3)
Dave Sullivan (Dist. 3)
Denise Calderwood (Dis. 5)
Donald O'Brien (Dist. 5)

Carla Traister, Champion Protector of Flagler’s Homeless, Wins Outstanding Leadership Award: On Thursday, Flagler County government announced Traister as the 2016 Northeast Florida Community Action Agency’s “Outstanding Community Leadership Award” winner. As always–because awards are not a new thing for Traister: she was the winner of a national Point of Light award in 2011, and has been routinely recognized for her efforts–Traister took the news with more embarrassment than pride, at least for herself, while turning over the entire credit to her volunteers.

Florida’s Only Openly Gay Lawmaker Describes a Rick Scott More Accepting of LGBT: In the days after 49 people were killed at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Gov. Rick Scott privately expressed some support for gay rights to the state’s only openly gay state lawmaker, the Miami Beach House member told a gathering in Philadelphia on Wednesday.

In Florida and in State Government:

Note: Some proceedings below can be followed live on the Florida Channel.

The Florida Commission on Ethics will take up a series of issues and select a chairman and vice chairman for the 2016-2017 year. (Friday, 8:30 a.m., 1st District Court of Appeal, 2000 Drayton Dr., Tallahassee.)

FINANCE REPORTS DUE FRIDAY: State political candidates and committees face a Friday deadline for filing reports showing campaign-finance activity through July 22.

–Compiled by the News Service of Florida and FlaglerLive

In Coming Days in Palm Coast, Flagler and the Occasional Beyond:

♦ Aug. 1: The Flagler County Commission hosts a tribute to the late Frank Meeker, who served on the commission from 2012 until mid-July, when he died of cancer. The tribute is in board chambers at the Government Services Building at 10:30 a.m.
♦ Aug. 10: School resumes for all students in the Flagler County School District, two weeks earlier than last year, but with a new calendar that enables students to complete their coursework ahead of high-stakes exams, that ends quarters more logically with holidays, and that restores a full week’s holiday around Thanksgiving, Nov. 21-25. See details here.
♦ Aug. 11: Flagler Votes Hob Nob, the Flagler County Chamber of Commerce’s pre-election event for voters to meet candidates, from 6 to 8 p.m., at the Flagler County Association of Realtors’ building, 4101 E Moody Blvd in Bunnell. Participating candidates must pay $150 a table for their space, but it’s otherwise free to attend. As part of their free admission, attendees will enjoy light snacks, great conversation and a ticket to vote in an electronic “straw poll,” the results of which will be revealed at the end of the evening. Beer, wine and water will be available for nominal cash donations.
♦ Aug. 19: The latest pre-trial hearing in the case of Florida v. Kimberle Weeks, continued from July 22, is scheduled for 3 p.m. before Circuit Judge Margaret Hudson in Courtroom 402 at the Flagler County Courthouse. Weeks now faces nine third-degree felony counts, down from 12, stemming from allegations that she illegally recorded various individuals in her capacity as supervisor of elections and in her private life. Weeks resigned that post in January 2015.
♦ Sept. 7: The Flagler Youth Orchestra holds its open house for all new or prospective students who’d like to join the county’s largest (and free) music program. The open house is at the Indian Trails Middle School cafeteria at 5:30 p.m. Any Flagler student, including homes chooled students, in grades 3-12, are eligible to enroll (must be 8 years old by Sept. 1, 2016.) Students may elect to play violin, viola, cello or doublebass. One-hour classes are held at Indian Trails Middle School Mondays and Wednesdays, from 3 to 6 p.m., with students enrolled in the hour block appropriate to their skill level and schedule. The first class for first-time students is Sept. 19. (Auditions for returning students start on Aug. 22, the first class for returning students is Aug. 31.)
♦ Sept. 10: African Art: Ancient Egypt to the Contemporary World, a pair of presentations by Bertrand Green, former chairman of African American studies at Lehman College, City University of New York. The first session is from 10 a.m. to noon, the second session from 2 to 4 p.m., at the Hilton Garden Inn, Palm Coast. $20 for PCAF members, $25 for general admission. Call 386/225-4394 or email [email protected] to reserve your seat.

The Day’s Best Reads:

https://twitter.com/harrysiegel/status/758832340973924353

Police Incitement Against Black Lives Matter Is Putting Protesters in Danger https://t.co/cDtXwcXqSN via @truthout

— The Sojourner Truth (@sotrueradio) July 28, 2016

"The liberal arts should be liberal enough to make a place for many kinds of teaching and learning." https://t.co/QFxoKvmx9L

— The Chronicle of Higher Education (@chronicle) July 29, 2016

Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter celebrate seventy years of marriage: https://t.co/lrT5E9y0Nn pic.twitter.com/le2yxfbQ7m

— The New Yorker (@NewYorker) July 29, 2016

Why the stalled peace process between Turkey and Kurds could resume https://t.co/MiP1DaiSK9 @Rowena__Lindsay pic.twitter.com/QpbTRCVf0Z

— The Christian Science Monitor (@csmonitor) July 29, 2016

Fact-Checking the Knaves:

Palm Coast Construction and Development Progress Reports

The following is an update of ongoing permitting, construction and development projects in Palm Coast, through July 15 (the city administration’s full week in review is here):

Click to access week-in-review-july1.pdf

Road and Interstate Construction: