In a 1950 piece for Cosmopolitan that could have been written today, Eleanor Roosevelt sees through the vacuous sloganeering of the Republican opposition, though she’s not much kinder to Democrats.
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3,338 Days: U.S. Occupation of Afghanistan Is Now Longer Than Soviet Union’s
A photo gallery of the human and inhuman side of a conflict that’s worse than Vietnam in many ways, and is damaging American strategic and financial interests–with no end in sight. The only clear winner: al-Qaeda.
The Anti-Black Friday: In Flagler Beach, Small Business Saturday Rings Up Authenticity
Carol Fisher isn’t interested in the madness of Black Friday. In a column, she invites you to experience the more authentically American tradition of small, heartbeat businesses that are the life transfusions of local economies.
A Little Frankenstein to Brighten the Holiday Season: Culture Worth the Miles
You want culture? Free culture? You’ve got it: Winter Park’s Central Park offers the annual Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra’s Holiday Pops concerts Nov. 28; on Dec. 2, it’s the Bach Festival Choir singing to the illumination of the Morse Museum’s Tiffany windows. Plus Frankenstein and much more.
Terry Kilcoyne, 71-Year-Old Salvage Owner, Killed When His Truck Overturns on I-95
Kilcoyne was traveling with a passenger on I-95 just north of the Flagler-St.Johns county line. She suffered minor injuries. None of the four people in the Durango that Kilcoyne’s truck hit when his tire shredded was injured.
Story of a Rescue: How 12-Year-Old Barak Ordonez Made It Out of the Bulow Marshes
Looking for a shortcut to outrace his brothers during a hike deep in Bulow Plantation, 12-year-old Barak ended up lost 15 miles inside the marshy, park until a helicopter airlifted him out.
Casablanca, Thoreau, Haydn, Even Ayn Rand: A Thanksgiving Weekend LiveWire
Big thanks to FlaglerLive readers, Dooley Wilson plays it again, the hero entrepreneur myth is questioned, Joseph Haydn as Rodney Dangerfield, Ayn Rand on atheism, Richard Pryor on “nigger,” and plenty more.
2,000 Meals and More: Feed Flagler Feasts As County Breaks Thanksgiving Bread As One
Feed Flagler exceeded its goal of serving some 2,000 Thanksgiving meals as 10 locations around the county turned into community feasts Wednesday, hundreds of families went home with a week’s supply of food, and food pantries stocked up.
Purple Heart Monument at Palm Coast’s Heroes Park Is Slammed Over in an Act of Vandalism
The Purple Heart monument–a heavy, granite stone weighing a few tons–was dedicated less than two months ago at the city park along Palm Coast Parkway. A sheriff’s investigation is ongoing, with few clues.
Ice Skating in Palm Coast, Sex Advice From Poets, M*A*S*H Rewind: The Live Wire, Nov. 24
Palm Coast finds ways to materialize Christmas, North Korea goes mad again, a liberal defense of money, Obama’s speech to the nation on pardoning a turkey, and more.
Why I Left The Flagler County Art League: It’s like IBM vs. Apple
“Staunch conservative Businessmen vs. Creative Young Men working out of their garage” is how Weldon Ryan, the art league’s ex-president, describes the tension that led to his resignation.
Flagler Fireflight Recovers 12 Year Old
Lost for 3 Hours in Bulow Plantation Ruins
The 12-year-old Palm Coast boy was lost for less than three hours in the state park, between 4:50 and 7:50 p.m., when he was picked up unharmed by the Fireflight and flown back to his parents.
Feed Flagler Ingredients: 100 Turkeys, 450 lb. of Ham, 170 Pies, and 2,000 Guests Wednesday
The kitchen at Buddy Taylor Middle School was a feast’s brew as Hammock Dunes Club’s chef and other volunteers were wrist-deep in preparation for Wednesday’s feasts for 2,000 in 10 locations around Flagler County.
Ending 8 Years of Extortion, Bunnell Quietly Invites Drivers to Get Their Money Back
From 2002 to May 2008, Bunnell charged owners a $350 “administrative fee” for impounding their vehicles, even when there were no legal grounds to impound the cars. The burden is now on vehicle owners to get their money back.
Shooting in Bunnell at South Church and MLK: Oxycontin Deal Gone Bad
Bunnell Police Chief Arthur Jones said a man was shot in the chest and airlifted to a hospital around 9 p.m. Monday. It was a drug deal gone bad–over Oxycontin, the pain pill.
Don’t Call Them Pill Mills: Palm Coast’s Pain Management Practices Recoil at Bad Rap
When Flagler Sheriff Don Fleming described three local pain management practices as “pill mills,” their doctors and practitioners were stunned and explained: Pill mills are a problem. Pain management clinics are not.
Former School Board Member and Realtor Eddie Herrera Jailed On a Battery Charge
Eddie Herrera served eight years on the school board, two as chairman. The Realtor’s fight with acupuncturist Scott Beat, with Herrera’s daughter in the car nearby, was over an accusation of infidelity.
Armed Robber Takes Hundreds of Oxycodone Pills from Winn Dixie Pharmacy on SR 100
The robber, who used yellow gloves at the Winn Dixie pharmacy, handed the pharmacist a note just before noon Sunday, demanding the pills. He walked out the front door and drove off in a dark vehicle.
More Florida Follies, JFK, Keith Richards and John Updike Redux: The Live Wire, Nov. 22
Too many Florida follies, corporations and privacy rights, JFK’s inaugural, Lebanese independence, against dumb, an unpublished interview with Updike, Keith Richards on Mick Jagger, the beauties of Bayonne, and much more.
Video: Gobble Trot in Central Park Raises Dollars and Turkeys for the Needy
Local residents with a spring in their step gathered Saturday morning at Palm Coast’s Central Park for the First Annual Gobble Trot Benefit walk to help provide Thanksgiving dinner to those in need.
Josh Crews, Long-Time Woody’s Bartender and Manager, Killed in Sunday Morning Wreck
Josh Crews was 34 and had been a fixture behind Woody’s bar in Palm Coast and St. Augustine since 2005, and had once owned the restaurant with his brother Matt when it first opened in 1998.
Why Flagler Beach Blocked Disabled Veterans’ Request For a Penny-Ante Gambling Hall
Unless they were willing to risk changing the character of the town, city commissioners had little choice but to block an attempt to open what would have been a penny-ante gambling hall at the DAV property.
Is Anybody Normal?
Sanity is not the natural condition of the human mind, Bertrand Russell argued in this 1934 column, but a product of social life. It is a form of politeness, generated by the pressure of other personalities, which makes us know that we are not omnipotent.
Feed Flagler Raises $13,000 and Tons of Food Ahead of Wednesday’s 2,000 Free Dinners
Ahead of next Wednesday’s community-wide celebration, featuring 2000 free Thanksgiving dinners at 10 sites, Team Feed Flagler’s success is the talk of the county–and a blueprint for Flagler’s grass-roots battle against hunger.
Sharples Gets a $1.2 Million Parachute, Free Will, Death Row and Steven Wright: Live Wire Weekend
Kent Sharples nails Daytona State College and gets a $1.2 million reward for it, Dick Cavett reminds us what talk shows were really about, foot-in-mouth diseases, Bill Nye on science and religion, and much more.
Flagler Unemployment Falls to 15.5%, But County Labor Force Shrinks By 1.5%
Flagler County’s unemployment fell only because the labor force is shrinking faster than jobs. But the county still lost jobs in September, and Palm Coast still tops the state’s metropolitan unemployment rates.
On a Mission From God: Blues Brothers Tribute Friday at the Flagler Auditorium
It’s Jake and Elwood all over again Friday evening as Bluzmen recreate the great Blues Brothers band that featured Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi in a romp through blues, R&B, jazz and those dance moves with no likeness.
Graduation Rates: FPC Falls to 83.5%, Matanzas Soars to 90.4%, Both Beat State’s 79%
It’s Matanzas High School’s best graduation rate to date, helping the district increase its overall graduation rate by either state or federal standards.
44 Florida Doctors With Troubled Past On Big Pharma Payroll To Promote Drugs
Pharmaceutical companies are not only buying off doctors’ loyalties and PR. They’re doing so without paying attention to morally and medically questionable doctors, including 44 in Florida.
20 Years On, With $1.17 Million Pay-off, County Approves Hunter’s Ridge Megadevelopment
The 3-2 vote clears the way for yet another development, this one for 2,302 houses and 600,000 square feet of commercial and industrial space, in a county facing a potential for 40,000 new homes despite a depressed real estate industry.
Chicks With Cans, Enterprise Flagler Undead, Flabby Supremes, Flabbier Sex Drives: The Live Wire, Nov. 18
Chicks With Cans show how Feed Flagler is done, Enterprise Flagler returns from the dead, militarist madness, philosophy on the radio, Wallace Stevens Week, mental illness redefined, and more.
Delbrugge’s Letter to Flagler, Part II: How Egypt Compares And What Matters Most
The former school superintendent reflects on life in Egypt by deflating myths about the difference between private and public schools, comparing his in Egypt with Flagler’s school district, and speaking about what matters most in life.
Flagler Health Department Downplays Worries As First Cholera Case Is Confirmed in Florida
The disease, carried from travelers from Haiti, is dangerous and can be deadly, but its chances of spreading in the United States are next to nil, treatment is simple, and recovery swift–when it’s caught in time.
Jim Morrison Pardon, Sharia in Oklahoma and Lennny Bruce: The Live Wire, Nov. 17
Crist may pardon Lenny Bruce, how Suzanne Johnston collects more than taxes (for Feed Flagler), embracing earmarks, Thelonius Monk and homemade bread. And more.
Music Boxes, Puppets, and Highwaymen Artists: Culture Worth the Miles
An exhibit of music boxes at the Orlando Science Center, the 6th Annual Orlando Puppet Festival, Goldsmith’s “She Stoops to Conquer” at the Mad Cow Theatre, the Highwaymen’s African-American art, and more.
Bill Delbrugge’s Letter to Flagler, Part I: America’s Place In the World–And Yours
In the first of two parts, Delbrugge recaps life in Egypt, America’s image abroad, and all the things Americans take for granted–but shouldn’t, including the importance of local government and civic engagement.
As Superintendent and School Board Now Urge Play’s Revival, Focus Shifts to Drama Teacher
Scripts of the Mockingbird controversy are being furiously re-written as the school district shifts to backing the play, but vague accusations and ugly slanders are now being directed at the Ed Koczergo, the drama teacher.
Dogged Duo: Nate McLaughlin and Milissa Holland Take Their County Commission Oath
Put on your helmets: A county commission already stocked with personalities that wear their convictions on their sleeves welcomed Nate McLaughlin Monday. He fills a seat that had been a virtual non-entity for the past four years.
Evangelical Women, John Fischer and the Right’s Problem With Paul Krugman: The Live Wire, Nov. 16
John Fischer is begins asking questions as a school board member, evangelical women and submission, the right’s problem with Paul Krugman, Malcolm Gladwell on tax bliss, and more.
All 400 Sanctuary Pigs To Be Gassed in a Truck and Delivered to Starke for Cremation
The pigs are corralled into a truck, and gassed while the truck is on its way to Starke, where they’re off-loaded into a crematorium. Lory Yazurlo tried but failed to get a stay of execution for the pigs she’s cared for since 1995.
Tale of Two Recommendations: Valentine “Completely” Supports Staging of Mockingbird
The appeals committee’s original recommendation was re-written to more clearly reflect Mockingbird as an “appropriate” play to be staged by Flagler County school students.
Mockingbird‘s Fate Still Hanging as Appeals Panel, Endorsing the Work, Punts on the Play
A majority of the committee clearly wanted the play staged. But it’s recommendation goes no further than declaring Mockingbird “appropriate” for instruction–a matter never in doubt.
Live Recap: Mockingbird Appeals Committee’s Minute-By-Minute Deliberations
The nine-member appeals committee, meeting this morning at Matanzas High School, will recommend a fate for “To Kill a Mockingbird”–whether FPC’s students will stage it or not, and how. It’s up to Superintedent Valentine to make the final decision.
Kent Sharples on Firing Line, Texting Rubio Hype, and 80s Madness: The Live Wire, Monday, Nov. 15, 2010
More hype on texting and cyberbullying, Rubio’s roll-out, Ted Koppel on Olbermann and O’Reilly, Malcolm Gladwell’s Tax Bliss, and more 1980s.
In Her Own Words, Please: A Friend of
Harper Lee’s Pleads the Case Against Censors
Jack Cowardin, the St. Augustine novelist, has been corresponding with Harper Lee for years. His take on the controversy over the staging of the play by FPC’s Drama Club: Let it go on unmolested by political correctness.
Flagler Sends Out Last Call for
Firefighter Paramedic Ranse Jones, 1975-2010
Some 300 people said goodbye to Ransford Jones, the Flagler County Firefighter-Paramedic who died this week after six months in a coma, in a moving ceremony of tributes and symbolism on Marineland’s boardwalk Sunday afternoon.
Starry Saturday: Theater, Art, Grit and Glitz from Bunnell to Palm Coast
Staring with FPC’s courageous thespians, the visual and performing arts had a fabulous Saturday in Flagler, with two gallery openings and two local theater productions. That’s what the county’s unbound cultural scene should be about.
Offshoring War: How Obama—and Those Moments of Silence—Insult Military Sacrifice
When a president sends soldiers to die in a war that long ago ceased having a claim to being just or to being won, those Americans are no longer being sacrificed by their nation. They’re being murdered. The complicity is national.
Improved Art League Goes On With the Show, Without Its President: Weldon Ryan Resigns
As president, Weldon Ryan convinced the art league to move to City Market Place, winning the league more visibility and members. He resigns after just four months at the helm.
The National Coalition Against Censorship’s Letter to Janet Valentine
“We urge you to encourage student creativity and civic engagement, and to teach students the skills to discuss opposing views respectfully,” the NCAC writes. “We urge you to allow the students to perform the play.”