As Frank Goggans turned himself in at the Flagler County jail Wednesday and promptly bonded out (as had his brother Daniel), extensive and lurid details from investigators’ interviews with the two brothers and a third suspect have emerged in the case of the alleged gang rape of a woman in Flagler Beach and at the Cowart Hunting Camp on March 20.
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Two Flagler School Buses Stolen in July Are Recovered, But District Just Bought Replacements
Alphonso Bernard Rock of Jacksonville was arrested in connection with the stolen buses, recovered in Gainesville Wednesday, but the buses no longer belong to the school district, which on Tuesday approved an $812,700 purchase of seven new buses, including two with the insurance-recovery money.
A Little Less Stingy, a Lot More Conditional: Palm Coast Approves $25,000 in Culture Grants
Eleven cultural organizations applied and all 11 got cultural grants from Palm Coast government, but with many strings attached even though none of the grants exceeds $2,370, and the total awarded is still a far cry from the $40,000 budget of six years ago.
Report Blisters DCF Over Abused Children’s Deaths as Florida Lawmakers Vow to Act
Florida’s recent series of child-abuse deaths took center stage at the Capitol on Tuesday, as a report blasted the state child-welfare system and as both chambers of the Legislature signaled they would craft bills to address the system’s shortcomings.
Gentle Warning Beep as Flagler’s $10 Million Emergency Radio System Approaches Its End
It’s less than eight years since Flagler spent $10 million to upgrade its county-wide communications to an 800 MHz system, to which some 1,500 radios from police, fire, municipal and county agencies are attached. That system is set to reach its official life’s end in 2017, requiring county government to start now to examine how it will replace it, and how it’ll pay for the replacement.
Charged With Assault, Thomas Merrill, 69, Denies Threatening a Woman With a Gun
Thomas R. Merrill, a 69-year-old resident of Beaverdam Lane in Palm Coast, was booked at the Flagler County jail on an assault charge after getting in an alleged altercation involving a gun with a woman who was living with him. He is the father of William Carson Merrill, the man sentenced to 25 years in prison for accidentally shooting and killing his wife in Palm Coast early last year.
The Other Disastrous Government Website: Florida’s Unemployment Portal Still Kicking Users
The state’s new, but troubled $68 million unemployment website, intended to provide a more modern, user-friendly method of access for people who receive benefits, has instead been a nightmare for many of its 200,000 users and may have a few months to go before it’s fixed.
Trevor Blumenfeld, 19, Is Shot While Skateboarding in Palm Coast’s LL-Section; Shooter Is At Large
Trevor Blumenfeld, 19, was shot while skateboarding in the area of Llovera Place and Lloyd Trail the Palm Coast neighborhood just south of the Flagler County Airport, just before 8 Monday evening. He was evacuated by air to Halifax hospital. His assailant was still at large.
Point Pleasant Dr. Tragedy: A Brief Stand-Off Amid Tears, a Refusal of Help, Then a Gunshot
Joshua Schmidt Roberson, 23, shot himself in the head in a construction lot on Palm Coast’s Pleasant Drive early Friday morning after a brief stand-off with deputies, and after calling 911 five times in tears, but refusing help.
County Sharpens Its Authority to Close Public Lands, But Not Without Commission Input
County Administrator Craig Coffey formalized authority to close certain public lands, including Bulow Woods, Pellicer Flats and the old hospital in Bunnell, either for safety reasons or as lands are undergoing construction or conservation. Trespassers may be arrested. Commissioners wanted to ensure that the administrator would not close lands without their knowledge.
1963’s Familiar Bloodstains: Far Right Politics from JFK to Barack Obama
John F. Kennedy was called treasonous and was the target of a relentless far-right campaign to vilify and demolish his presidency by demagogues and media barons whose ideological descendants have unleashed the same tactics on Barack Obama, writes Steve Robinson.
Palm Coast Delivery Man Carjacked and Dumped on Parkway Ahead of Assailants’ 3-State Crime Spree
Giuseppe Verdone Jr., who four years ago set off a bottle bomb at a Palm Coast bus stop, is accused with an underage girl accomplice of carjacking Ming Gong, 43, and dumping him on palm Coast Parkway before taking his car on a crime spree through Georgia and South Carolina, where Verdone and the girl were arrested.
Third Suspect in Hunting Camp Rape Case Surrenders, One Still at Large: Frank Goggans
Shortly after midnight this morning, Kurt Benjamin, the third of four suspects in the alleged rape of a woman at the Cowart Hunting Camp on March 20, was booked in at the Flagler County jail. Frank Goggans remains at large.
Palm Coast Getting Fleeced of Red-Light Camera Dollars, Harming Local Economy
In September, the 43 red-light cameras in Palm Coast generated $255,740 in fines, what would work out to an annual total of $3 million. The state and ATS, the private company running the system, took more than seven times the revenue share left Palm Coast, which means that the overwhelming majority of the money is leaving the local economy.
Florida Blue Says It Never Dropped 300,000 Customers, Only Their Current Insurance Plans
It’s a distinction that some Florida Blue members have a hard time seeing — especially when the new plan costs more and offers benefits they don’t necessarily want. Older, sicker people who had a harder time finding health insurance in the past because of pre-existing conditions welcome the change.
John Pollinger, Steve Clair and Randy Burke Among 25 Candidates for Bunnell Police Chief
City Manager Lawrence Williams is in no hurry to nominate a chief. He’s frozen the position until Dec. 1, by which time he said he’ll announce his decision. John Pollinger was a candidate for sheriff in 2012, Steve Clair was just passed over for police chief in Flagler Beach, and Randy Burke is Bunnell’s acting chief.
Hunting Camp Rape: Charles Cowart Turns Himself In; U.S. Marshals Hunting For 3 Remaining Suspects
Charles “Skeeter” Cowart, one of the four men wanted in the alleged kidnapping and gang-rape of a woman in Flagler Beach and at the Cowart Hunting Camp in western Flagler County on March 20, turned himself in at the Flagler County jail early Thursday afternoon. U.S. Marshals are hunting for the remaining three suspects–Daniel and Frank Goggans, of 65 Leidel Drive in Palm Coast, and Kurt Benjamin of 31 Poinsettia Lane in Palm Coast.
Sheriff’s Cruiser in T-Bone Wreck That Injures 1 on Palm Coast Parkway and Pine Lakes
A man was hospitalized with minor injuries after his SUV struck a Flagler County Sheriff’s deputy’s cruiser at Palm Coast Parkway and Pine Lakes Parkway at 10 a.m. Thursday. The deputy, James Gore, was not injured.
Four Flagler Men Sought in Kidnapping and Gang Rape of a Woman at Cowart Hunting Camp
The Flagler County Sheriff is looking for four men accused of kidnapping a woman they’d encountered at Finn’s bar in Flagler Beach and gang-raping her at the Cowart Hunting Camp in western Flagler County on March 20. The men are Charles L. Cowart of west Bunnell, Daniel and Frank Goggans, and Kurt Benjamin, of Palm Coast.
State Attorney Will Not Prosecute Bobby Pace, Clearing Him to Return to Flagler Beach Fire Department
The State Attorney’s Office settled on a deferred prosecution agreement that would eventually drop the misdemeanor charge against Bobby Pace, clearing the way for him to return to work at the fire department and possibly be named its fire captain next month.
School District, County’s Largest Employer, Starts Health Clinic Experiment With Florida Hospital Flagler
The $288,000 annual contract with Florida Hospital Flagler’s Prompt Care Clinic will allow 1,400 of the school district’s 1,700 employees to seek out primary care at no cost, but with some restrictions. The district hopes it will lower the annual increases in premiums that employees and taxpayers have been bearing.
Too Young for Medicare, Too Old for Medicaid, and Neglected By Affordable Health Act
While most of the uninsured will be able to get subsidized health coverage Jan. 1 under the Affordable Care Act, the poorest adults under 65 will be out of luck in many states, including Florida. Many are women in their 50s and 60s, too old to have children still at home so they can’t qualify for Medicaid. But they’re not yet 65 so they don’t qualify for Medicare, either.
Florida’s Stand Your Ground Deconstructed Before US Senate Panel on Civil and Human Rights
The unusual Senate hearing focused almost exclusively on Florida, featured the mothers of two 17 year olds killed in its name–Trayvon martin and Jordan Russell Davis–and drew a rebuke from Ranking Republican Ted Cruz of Texas, who questioned whether the scrutiny of “stand your ground” was part of a broader “political agenda.”
Learning To Love Flagler’s IB Program: Students Turn Myth-Busters For 400 People
A pair of introductory meetings about FPC’s IB program, for students from 5th grade and up, drew more than 400 people who heard from IB students eager to demolish false impressions and stereotypes about the program and encourage more parents to sign up their children for Flagler County schools’ crown jewel.
Red-Light Running Smash-Up Knocks Over AT&T Van on Old Kings and 100; Drivers Escape Injury
The intersection of Old Kings Road and State Road 100 in Palm Coast was the scene of a spectacular two-vehicle crash that left an AT&T work van on its side in the middle of the intersection after a car that ran a red light struck it. But both drivers somehow escaped injuries and were walking around at the scene.
Caught On Video, Dollar General Burglar Attacks Cigarette Machine, Fails, Then Flees
The suspect broke into the Dollar General on Palm Coast Parkway this morning. The Flagler County Sheriff’s Office is looking for a white male about 6 feet tall in a black hooded sweatshirt who left the store on a mountain bike after he unsuccessfully tried to break the glass pane on a cigarette machine.
Fall Kills Roofer Roberto Martinez, 43, As He Worked on a New Plantation Bay House
Flagler County had seen a deep lull in construction-related injuries and fatalities since the end of the housing boom in late 2006. But construction activity has picked up significantly this year. Roofers have the fourth-most dangerous job, going by fatality rates in the industry–after loggers, fishers and aircraft pilots and engineers.
Sheriff Nick Finch Trial Under Way: He’s Accused of Destroying Documents to Protect a Gun Owner
A Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigation found that Nick Finch on March 8 released a local man who had been arrested for carrying a concealed firearm, a third degree felony, and altered or destroyed corresponding documents. Gov. Rick Scott removed Finch.
Palm Coast Man, 35, Accused of Lascivious Acts After Attacking A Woman in Flagler Beach
The 52-year-old victim was taking in the sea air at a picnic table at North 5th Street on A1A in Flagler Beach when Alexander Paler of Willow Drive in Palm Coast accosted her and began allegedly molesting her and restraining her every time she tried to leave. The victim was able to use her skills in dealing with mentally disabled people to diffuse the situation.
Woman Injured in Belle Terre Collision at Bridgehaven; Two Teens In Other Car Unhurt
A two-car collision at Belle Terre Parkway and Bridgehaven Drive in Palm Coast at 9 this morning sent Faith Morrison of Palm Coast to the hospital after her car was T-boned and overturned by another car driven by 18-year-old Nicholas A. Knight-Lashbrook. The teen and his passenger, also a teen-ager, was unhurt.
Unearned Audacity: On Economic Development, Flagler Tells Voters to Drop Dead
State law requires Flagler County to ask voters permission in a referendum, every 10 years, to give new companies tax subsidies. The Flagler County Commission wants to trash that law and let a supermajority of four commissioners make the decision for voters instead. It’s the latest example of a commission more enamored of its power than in tune with voters.
Kiss Your Tax-Free Amazon Orders Goodbye: Company’s I-4 Warehouses On the Way
The confirmation by Amazon.com that it will build a pair of massive “fulfillment” centers along the Interstate 4 corridor means that sometime in the next two years Floridians will have to start paying sales taxes on purchases from the online retail giant.
Pantry Alert: Cuts in Food Stamps Benefits Will Affect 3.6 Million Floridians Staring Nov. 1
Florida’s food hardship rate is more than 21 percent, meaning that one in five Florida households reported that in the past year they struggled to buy enough food for the family. The state is one of the hardest-hit for food security.
In Vose Law Firm, Bunnell Picks Mother-Son Team as Its New Attorneys, for $7,000 a Month
Burned this summer by monthly legal bills of $24,000 and $35,000, and by its attorney’s resignation, the Bunnell City Commission on Thursday voted unanimously to hire Winter Park-based Vose Law Firm to represent it, for what appears to be a cut rate, relatively speaking.
Always Up For Strange Cases, City Repertory Theatre Does Halloween With Jekyll and Hyde
With “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde,” which opens at 7:30 tonight for a two-weekend run, Palm Coast’s City Repertory Theatre at Hollingsworth Gallery is back to its dark delights with a scary, profound and edgy play of the Robert Louis Stevenson Classic.
Flagler Beach Again Punts on Mobile Food Vendors, Opting to Redraw Looser Regulations
In their latest wrangles over whether to allow mobile food vendors or not, Flagler Beach commissioners appeared confused about who would be allowed where, and how to balance the rights of property owners with the rights of business owners and entrepreneurs to freely compete, without the city’s interference.
Attorney General Wants Florida Supreme Court To Bump Off Medical Marijuana Referendum
In a filing required because the group pushing the initiative has triggered an automatic review by the high court, Bondi wrote that the ballot language could deceive voters about the extent of marijuana use that would be allowed, a claim the measure’s proponents reject.
Sparks, Nevada
Today, a DUI not only can earn you prison time, but also can thwart your education options and permanently alter your career aspirations. Drunken drivers are punished by a torrent of national condemnation. Why can we not summon the same collective rage when it comes to guns?
Nothing Flagler Can Do About Divisive Vacation Rentals, Attorney General Bondi Confirms
The expedited Attorney General’s opinion cited Flagler County’s own absence of regulation of vacation rentals before 2011 as one reason the county’s hands are tied in controlling what has become a center of conflict for permanent residents of the Hammock. Since 2011, a state law prevents local governments from imposing new regulations.
School Board Members Don Aprons and Wait Tables in All-Day Fundraiser at Bob Evans Today
Until 9 tonight, 15 percent of sales attached to the Flagler school district’s fundraiser at Bob Evans in Palm Coast will go to a special fund for needy students. School board members, the superintendent and other top district staffers are participating in hopes of drawing patrons.
Masking Scott’s Low Approval, Republicans Launch Snide Website Ahead of Democrats’ Convention
In a new twist on rapid response, Florida Republicans today launched a tongue-in-cheek “Florida Dems” website the day before the Florida Democratic Party kicks off its annual convention in Orlando, ridiculing Democrats as the Party of No. Democrats have few answers in kind.
As the Flagler Beach Fire Department’s Court Cases Churn On, 11 Apply for Top Post
Eleven men have applied to be Flagler Beach’s next fire chief, a position the city reclassified as “Fire Captain.” It is widely believed that City Manager Bruce Campbell will award the post to Bobby Pace, the suspended firefighter fighting a first-degree misdemeanor charge of obstruction of justice–a charge that may be settled with a deferred prosecution agreement this week or next.
State Rakes In Cash From Seminole Casinos and Rethinks Gambling Landscape
Under the current deal with the Seminoles, which ends in 2015, the tribe makes the payments to the state in exchange for having the exclusive right to offer banked table games, such as blackjack, along with a monopoly on all slot locations outside of Broward and Miami-Dade counties. The Seminoles agreed to pay a minimum of $150 million in each of the first two years, $233 million in the third and fourth years and $234 million in 2015.
Woman and Teen Boy Injured in SUV Flip On US1 South of Matanzas Woods Pkwy.
A woman and a teen-age boy sustained minor injuries when their Honda SUV careened out of control on US1 this afternoon, flipping several times and ending up on its roof. The woman and the boy, whose left arm was bandaged at the scene, were taken to Florida Hospital Flagler.
Rep. Travis Hutson Will File a Bill on Animal Abuse Reporting Proposed by Flagler Students
Florida Rep. Travis Hutson worked for weeks with FPC and Matanzas High students on a mock legislative process that culminated today in a student vote choosing actual bill Hutson will file at the Legislature in the coming session. The exercise gave students direct insights into the legislative process.
FDLE Unsure How 2 Escaped Murderers Forged Papers, Duping Prison and Court System
FDLE Commissioner Gerald Bailey said Tuesday several suspects have been “targeted” for helping two murderers escape from prison with forged court papers mailed to a clerk of court, but the embarrassing incident is still largely unexplained.
Beyond Rebecca Sedwick’s Suicide: Colleen Conklin Campaigns for More Cyberbullying Awareness
More laws, mandates and prohibitions won’t work, Flagler County School Board member Colleen Conklin says, but more current awareness of the variety of online apps and social sites, where cyberbullying thrives, and more responsibility from both teens and their parents, are more likely to stem a pattern of bullying-induced teen suicides.
Shutdown-Delayed Unemployment Report: Rate Down to 7.2% But Only 148,000 New Jobs
The September unemployment report due on Oct. 4 was released only at 8:30 this morning, delayed by the 16-day government shutdown. But it could have been predicted, as it follows the pattern of most reports of the past three years: anemic job growth, very slow decline in the unemployment rate, and checkered signs of improvement (or retreat, depending on your point of view) ahead.
From Romance to Hassle: For Younger Generations, the Car Runs Out of Rhymes
Love of the automobile seems to be the province of old guys, writes Steve Robinson, as expenses, carbon footprints and other means of staying in touch have made an anachronism of getting behind the wheel of a car simply to feel the wind in one’s hair.
Palm Coast Slams Tree Lawsuit, Citing “False, Misleading and Unsupported Allegations”
Palm Coast’w response to Dennis McDonald’s attempt to stop the alleged “impending” tree removal around the Palm Harbor Shopping Center is that no such removal is imminent, but that even if it were–and there are indications that it will soon be–McDonald should be suing the center’s developer, not the city.