The George Zimmerman trial starting June 10 isn’t about self-defense or vigilantism or gun rights. It’s about race, pure and simple, argues Steve Robinson. For proof, we need look no further than at the strategy being pursued by Zimmerman’s defense.
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Hasty Citizens Property Insurance Deal Draws Howls as Scott Signs Bills by the Bushel
The announcement of the bill-signing came as a Citizens committee discussed efforts to try to steer policies into the private insurance market — and a controversial deal approved last week that could funnel up to $52 million to St. Petersburg-based Heritage Property and Casualty Insurance, which would take out as many as 60,000 policies from Citizens.
11th Grader Admits to Bomb Threat at Flagler Palm Coast High School
An employee who’d been off Tuesday and Wednesday heard a phone message Thursday that referred to a bomb threat on the FPC campus, but the threat was for last Tuesday. The sheriff’s office recommended against evacuating the school and treated the matter as a “suspicious incident,” through the school was to be searched and a bomb squad called in.
Palm Coast’s Jim Landon Gets Top Career Award from Statewide Association
It is indicative of the persistent pettiness of the rivalry between Flagler County and Palm Coast that when the county sent out the announcement of its own deputy administrator receiving a state award earlier this week, it left silent the—somewhat more significant—award that went to Jim Landon, the Palm Coast City Manager.
Property Appraiser Gardner: Correcting the Record on School Taxes and the Referendum
In an endorsement of the half-mill school tax levy, Flagler County Property Appraiser James Gardner responds to claims that the school district has “continually increased our taxes. Based upon factual information, this is simply not true.” He shows why.
A “Nasty” Government Building Highlights County’s Priorities as Budget Spells Higher Taxes
An unclear Government Services Building and what it costs to maintain it properly was emblematic of the Flagler County Commission’s budget discussion this morning, as the government faces at least a $3.3 million gap, or more, if it hires an extra custodian, no new revenue, and the likelihood of higher taxes.
Rediscovering Color, Palm Coast May Relax Restrictions on Homeowners’ Paint Schemes
Palm Coast isn’t about to go Miami Beach, but the City Council approved going ahead with a plan by the Flagler Homebuilders Association and its own administration to broaden allowable colors homeowners may use to paint their own houses, a restriction that has often vexed newcomers unused to a city government controlling private property to that extent.
2 Children and 2 Teens Escape Injuries in 2-Car Wreck at Intersection of US1 and SR100
Kaenin Brinkley, 18, and Jasmine Lampley, 19, were driving their respective vehicles, Lampley with a 13-year-old girl and an 11-year-old boy on board, when the two vehicles collided and one overturned, though no one was injured. Segments of U.S.1 and SR100 were briefly closed in mid-afternoon Tuesday.
81-Year-Old Stabs His Caretaker in a Clash Across the Street from Mayor’s House
August T. Lindquist, 81, was jailed on an aggravated assault with a deadly weapon charge Monday night after stabbing his caretaker outside his home on Flintstone Court, across the street from Palm Coast Mayor Jon Netts’s home. Linsquist is in the early stages of dementia, when violent outbursts are not uncommon.
Palm Coast Mayor Netts Would “Violently Protest” Raising Red-Light Fines From $158
New legislation gives local governments like Palm Coast authority to raise red-light camera ticket fines to $408 if a drivers contests the ticket and loses. Netts’s opposition signals a slight but discernible shift in the mayor’s thinking about red-light cameras.
Wanted: Flagler and Florida Foster Parents
With new legislation reforming Florida foster care, good foster parents will be more in demand than ever. And current foster parents say new ones will have a better experience than the old image of foster care might have led them to expect.
Feared Flagler Beach Bomb in Ammo Container Turns Out to Be Tackle Box; A1A Reopens
A military-style ammunition box left at the foot of the Barracuda Bay Motel sign in Flagler Beach triggered a bomb scare and closed A1A between South 10th and South 13th Streets Sunday afternoon. It turned out to be a fishing tackle box.
Tax Subsidy May Trigger Free for All as Florida Cities Grab for Spring Training Teams
New rules for spring training funding offer up to $666,660 a year in sales tax revenue for stadium upgrades or construction if a community seeks to retain or entice a single team to move. The funding can jump to $1.33 million if a community can cobble together a two-team package.
24-Year-Old Evacuated By Air After His Car Goes Airborne on I-95, Smashing Into Woods
Timothy Rudolph of Ormond Beach was evacuated by air late Friday night and I-95 northbound was closed for 20 minutes as a rescue helicopter made a landing on the highway three miles north of Palm Coast Parkway, where the single-car wreck took place.
Paul Miller Is Found Guilty of Murdering Dana Mulhall; He Faces Life in Prison
Paul Miller was found guilty of second degree murder in a quick verdict by a jury Friday afternoon. He faces a minimum of 25 years in prison, essentially meaning that the 66-year-old Miller will never walk free again.
Jury Deciding Whether Miller Killed Mulhall Out of Vengeance and Hate or Self-Defense
Jury deliberations began this morning after prosecution and defense made closing arguments in Paul Miller’s murder trial, portraying Miller either as a vengeful, angry and hateful man or an unsophisticated old man fearing for his life, and acting in self-defense.
Shupe and Carney Clash as Fire Merger Referendum Proposal Enflames Flagler Beach Commission
Flagler Beach City Commissioner Marshall Shupe questioned fellow-Commissioner Kim Carney’s honesty over talks with county officials on a potential fire department merger after Commissioner Joy McGrew proposed handing the matter to voters next March in a citywide referendum.
Palm Coast Man Jailed After Feared Child Abduction at Bunnell Day Care Center
George Fredericks, a 63-year-old resident of Ridley Lane in Palm Coast, was charged with battery after witnesses said he shook a child’s arm at A Little Preschool House, a day care center in Bunnell, Thursday afternoon.
Jaquez Roland, Found Guilty on All Charges In Sharps Liquor Robbery, Faces 30 Years
Jaquez Roland, who’d served 10 years in prison for armed burglary, will serve at least another 30 as he was found guilty Thursday of three charges, including armed robbery and false imprisonment, stemming from the Sharps Liquor robbery in Palm Coast in October 2011, one of three robberies implicating Roland. His victim cried with relief as the verdict was read.
Defense Rests in Miller Murder Trial After Laying Down Further Markers of Self-Defense
Paul Miller’s defense team rested its case just past noon today, but closing arguments will take place Friday morning. Only then will the jury deliberate. A verdict is likely sometime Friday.
Florida’s Surplus Adds Dollars to Services From Mental Health to Rape Crisis Centers
People with disabilities, domestic and sexual violence programs, mental health and substance abuse programs, juvenile justice and children’s services all got bigger budgets for the first time since the recession began.
Taking Stand in His Defense in Murder Trial, Miller Projects More Surliness Than Sympathy
If it was sympathy that Paul Miller was trying to elicit from the jury Wednesday afternoon, his nearly two-hour performance was not a model. He may have hurt his case more than he helped it when he elected to take the stand in his defense in his trial for the killing of Dana Mulhall in March 2012.
Miller Trial Turns to 5 Bullets’ Paths, Mulhall’s Last Moments–and Blood-Alcohol (0.188)
Paul Miller, accused of murdering Dana Mulhall, looked away or closed his eyes for the first time in the now-three-day-old trial as images of the bloodied and shot Dana Mulhall were placed on an easel for the jury to see and the prosecution to analyze with witnesses Wednesday morning. The defense takes up its case in the afternoon.
Miller Trial: As Shooter’s Shows of Affection Are Restricted, Prosecution Draws Victim’s Portrait
The prosecution concluded its first full day in the murder trial of Paul Miller Tuesday by painting a portrait of Dana Mulhall, the victim in the March 2012 shooting in Flagler Beach, as a non-confrontational creature of habit who liked his Miller Lites, his friends and his lottery tickets. The defense laid low.
Report of Incident Involving 11-Year-old and a Possible Sex Offender Has R Section on Edge
An incident took place Sunday afternoon in Palm Coast’s R-Section that rattled a boy and his mother, and has since rippled beyond the R-Section into an alert throughout local schools about a potential sex offender. But evidence is based on a single report.
Dismissing Affordable Housing Prejudices, Palm Coast Approves Brookhaven Apartments
The Palm Coast City Council Tuesday approved 4-1 the 45-acre, 117-unit Brookhaven apartments development in Town Center, which will provide housing to lower income residents and walkability to nearby areas.
Miller Killed Mulhall “With Depraved Indifference, With Ill Will, Hate, Spite,” Prosecution Argues
In the second day of Paul Miller’s trial (Monday was devoted to jury selection) the prosecution was piecing together a picture of a shooting no witness actually saw, but that several witnesses described in sounds and sights before, during and after the shots that claimed the life of Dana Mulhall on March 14, 2012 in Flagler Beach.
Two Flagler Projects Among $368 Million in Vetoes as Scott Approves $74.1 Billion Budget
Having powerful House Speaker Will Weatherford on its board did not spare Heather Beaven’s Flagler Beach-based Florida Endowment Foundation from a veto eliminating its $2 million appropriation. Flagler also lost $150,000 for a retraining program.
As Jury Is Seated in Paul Miller Murder Trial, Questions About Guns Weed Out Prospects
The most anticipated trial of the year—of Paul Miller, the 66-year-old Flagler Beach man accused of murdering his neighbor Dana Mulhall last year during an argument over Miller’s barking dogs—began Monday with jury selection, which by day’s end had seated an all-white jury of three men and three women, plus three alternates (a woman and two men, one of them black).
Matanzas High Student Allen Brown Tasered After Allegedly Punching Student and Deputy
Matanzas High student Allen Brown, 18, was Tasered by a Flagler sheriff’s deputy Monday after being involved in a fight with a 15-year-old student and allegedly punching the deputy, in the first use of a Taser on a Flagler school campus in six years.
Will Gerald Hofer, Feared School Attacker in December, Is Sentenced to Probation
Will Gerald Hofer, the 20-year-old who led police on a daylong chase in December over fears that he might attack a local school, was sentenced to three years’ probation Monday morning, with possibility of early probation termination. He was freed after spending five months in jail.
Closing Flagler’s Alternative School: When The Classmate Next to Your Child Is a Felon
The Flagler County school, district may close Everest alternative school (formerly Pathways) if the June 7 referendum for a modest property tax increase fails. Jo Ann Nahirny, a teacher at Matanzas High School, describes the disruptions of managing a classroom with felons and sex offenders in seats alongside other students.
The IRS’ Nonprofit Dysfunctions: A Problem Deeper Than Conservative Targeting
The IRS division responsible for flagging Tea Party groups has long been an agency afterthought, beset by mismanagement, financial constraints and an unwillingness to spell out just what it expects from social welfare nonprofits, former officials and experts say.
Flagler Beach’s Endowment Foundation’s $2 Million on List of Annual Legislative “Turkeys”
The Flagler Beach -based Florida Endowent Foundation for Florida’s Graduates’ $2 million appropriation, representing all its budget, is among the 107 items of Florida Tax Watch’s annual “turkey” list in the Legislature’s $74.5 billion budget.
Joseph Drenner, 50, Is Killed in Early Morning Wreck on U.S. 1; Companion Survives
Joseph Drenner, 50, was killed when he was ejected from a Toyota SUV his companion, Christina Laming, 41, was driving north on U.S. 1 in Palm Coast early Saturday morning. Charges are pending against Laming, who refused to have her blood tested at the scene for impairment.
With Medieval Wit and Drama, “Lion in Winter” Ends City Repertory’s Second Season
James Goldman’s “Lion in Winter”–opening at Palm Coast’s City Repertory Theatre this weekend–may be set in a Medieval Christmas, but the themes are as contemporary as family love, quarrels, mistresses and jealousies, and the action blazes with humor and passion.
Flagler’s Jobless Rate Drops to 9.3% as Local Employment Grows; Florida’s Falls to 7.2%
Florida’s unemployment rate fell sharply from the previous month, to 7.2 percent in April, as 17,000 jobs were created statewide, bringing the unemployment rate to its healthiest level since September 2008, when it was 7 percent. It also brings Florida’s rate below the national rate of 7.5 percent. In Flagler County, the rate fell two decimal points, to 9.3 percent, spurred by growth both in jobs and in the local labor force.
President Barack Aux Scandals
The Benghazi story is a bogus scandal. IRS targeting of conservative groups and the Justice Department’s hacking of reporters’ phones is not. The Obama presidency is getting derailed, and that’s without going down the path of even more serious scandals Washington and the electorate are accepting as business as usual.
Flagler’s African-American Mentor Program Celebrates Another Year Against Odds and Age
The Flagler County African-American Mentor Program graduated 10 of its 62 students in a ceremony Thursday evening, attended by 42 mentors and parents and grandparents as the program, started by Jim Guines and John Winston, celebrated its ninth year.
Fleming Farewell: Flagler Crime Rate Falls to Lowest Level in 12 Years in Ex-Sheriff’s Last
In Flagler, crime declined in every major category except robberies (up by one), including overall domestic violence, though domestic aggravated assaults account for half the county’s total. The crime in Florida hit a 42-year low, with falling crime continuing despite the bad economy.
Speculative Bust: How Widening Old Kings Road Left Palm Coast on Hook for $6.7 Million
Palm Coast borrowed millions from its own utility fund to complete the Old Kings Road widening on the assumption that the economy would pick up and enable the city to re-finance with bonds. That never happened. Now the city is looking to recoup its money from property owners along the road, who’d agreed to a special taxing district but with optimistic assumptions of their own that never panned out.
Record $288 Million in Taxpayer Cash Flows to Florida’s Cargo and Pleasure Cruise Ports
Florida’s seaports are set to embark on a massive round of 26 waterfront and transit upgrades as Florida seeks to expand its trade with partners in Central America and South America, while working to attract more Asian traffic that has grown via the Suez Canal and the expansion of the Panama Canal approaches completion.
Blacks Charge Cop Harassment and Bullying As County Cancels Block Party in Bunnell
When Bunnell police alerted the county of a large block party for South Bunnell’s black community the county had previously permitted–as a “picnic/party”–to take place on county land near Carver Gym, the county cancelled it. Monday evening, several members of Bunnell’s black community complained to the city commission of chronic harassment and bullying by Bunnell police.
Juvenile Detention Cost-Shifting Arguments in Appeals Court, With Implications for Counties
Counties argue they currently pick up 75 percent of some juvenile detention costs, but should be paying less. The state claims in in court filings that the Legislature actually intended for the counties to cover 89 percent of the costs.Either way, local governments are groaning under the burden.
Flagler’s School Tax Referendum: An Opposing View
Adding to a growing debate over the June 7 Flagler County School Board tax referendum, Brad West argues against the levy, saying the district taxes constituents enough as it is, while the “cup-of-coffee-per-month” argument is a more expensive proposition than the board claims.
Ending 3rd Budget Drag-Out in 8 Days, School Board Settles on $1.8 Million in Cuts
After 13 hours of at times harrowing debate, the Flagler County School Board by Tuesday evening settled on $1.8 million in cuts, sparing most programs but not Everest alternative school. The cuts will be restored should voters approve a tax referendum on June 7.
Florida College Presidents’ Compensation Ranges From $143,866 to $630,157
The contracts for Florida’s 28 state college presidents range widely, totaling almost $10 million in compensation, and in several cases seem to violate state law, according to a review released Monday by Gov. Rick Scott’s top oversight official.
Fast-Track Kill Bill Aside, Scott Speeds Death Warrants, Slating 3 Executions in 26 Days
Gov. Rick Scott is not waiting to sign a bill that would accelerate the pace of capital-punishment executions in Florida. The death warrants he’s signed since April lead to the fastest-paced series of executions since four inmates were killed in March 1998, when Lawton Chiles was governor.
Andy Dance: Why I Will Vote “Yes” On the School Tax Referendum
“I will vote for the half mill, and I ask those that are on the fence or are leaning “no” to reconsider,” writes Andy Dance, the Flagler County School Board chairman, who has himself reconsidered his earlier opposition to the full .50-mill tax referendum. He explains why.
School Board Chairman’s Q&A on Flagler District’s 0.5-Mil Tax Referendum on June 7
Flagler County School Board Chairman Andy Dance has been taking and answering questions on the referendum, on June 7, proposing to raise property taxes modestly to ensure the continuation of certain academic programs. The full Q&A is published here.