It’s messaging in a bit of a shamble, the Flagler County Commission on Monday beat a retreat on two fronts: it will not seek cities’ support in an attempt to raise the sales tax an additional half penny. And it will not raise the special tax Daytona North residents pay for road maintenance. Both issues had been controversial. The retreats underscore a combination of lacking, poor and conflicting messaging from the County Commission on one side and a rueful public reaction to both proposals on the other.
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Black Students at Bunnell Elementary Are Told Of ‘Early Grave’ If They ‘Clown’ Around and Don’t Perform
Bunnell Elementary’s Black 4th and 5th graders on Friday were singled out in two assembles, told that if they didn’t bring up their test scores, they could end up in jail, shot or dead, they were paired off to compete academically against each other, and the winners would get McDonald’s and Chick-fil-A. Their parents were never told. Parents are outraged. The superintendent acknowledges that while raising test scores is essential, the situation was mishandled.
Palm Coast Approves Doubling Housing Units to 845 at Lighthouse Harbor on Colbert Lane, Part of Future ‘Village’
The council approved several deviations from the Land Development Code to accommodate the developer, which is part of the Marina Village collection of developments. Between Marina del Palma’s 615 units to its immediate north and a 240-unit apartment complex immediately to the west of Colbert Lane, the cluster of new developments will add 1,400 housing units.
Ohio’s Message to Florida: There’s Still Hope for Democracy
Terrified that an amendment giving women — not Gilead Republicans — control over their reproductive health would pass in November, Ohio’s right-wingers figured they’d change the rules in the middle of the game. But on Aug. 8, voters in this allegedly red state rejected a Republican-backed measure to make it harder for citizens to amend their constitution.
Unprecedented $1 Billion Available in Grants to Prevent Wildfires. Most Towns Don’t Know About It.
There’s a huge pot of federal money available to communities across the country — an unprecedented amount that would allow towns to quickly tackle work that otherwise would take decades.
Flagler County Jail Wins National Innovation Award for Initiatives Preparing Inmates’ Re-Integration
The Flagler County Sheriff’s Office’s jail has been awarded the 2023 Innovation Award for medium-sized facilities by the American Jail Association. Sheriff Staly, Court and Detention Services Chief Dan Engert, and other Detention Services members accepted the award at AJA’s 42nd Conference and Jail Expo in Omaha, Nebraska during the awards banquet.
Waterfront Park Finds Its Latest ‘Paddle Straight to Paradise’ as $1.2 Million Boat Pad and Launch Open
The new boat ramp at the very popular Waterfront Park is part of a $1.2 million project adding access for non-motorized boats to the Intracoastal Waterway, which the city celebrated with a ribbon-cutting today. The next phase of the project is construction of an 80-space parking adjacent to the launch.
Collin Calvert, 21, Sentenced to 10 Years in Prison Over Armed Robbery of Palm Coast Store for Strip Joint Money
Colin Calvert, the 21-year-old man who stole a rifle, robbed a Palm Coast convenience store of nearly 5,000 in cash, which he put in a Happy Meal box, spent all the money at a strip joint, then burglarized a gun store, was sentenced to 10 years in prison on Thursday, followed by five years on probation.
Charlie Ericksen Jr. Is Laid to Rest With Military Honors and Solemn Salutes at Cape Canaveral National Cemetery
Charlie Frederick Ericksen Jr., the former Flagler County commissioner, U.S. Army Lieutenant and father of three who died on July 31 in Celebration, was laid to rest at Cape Canaveral National cemetery with military honors this afternoon following a solemn ceremony attended by family, a few friends, and a few Flagler County officials past and present.
300-Unit Apartment Complex Going Up Next to Imagine School at Town Center, One of 2 Planned There
A high-end, gated, 300-unit apartment complex is going up on the 27-acre squarish parcel across the street from Imagine School at Town Center. It is to be the first of two such apartment complexes in that area. The complex is to be called The Legacy at Palm Coast Town Center.
Man Found Shot and Roped with Weights in Intracoastal in 1997 Is Identified as Robert Bruce McPhail
It took 26 years, but the man found murdered and floating in the Intracoastal Waterway in September 1997 has finally been identified as Robert Bruce McPhail, a 58-year-old boater originally from Kenora-Winnipeg area of Manitoba in Canada, who’d moved to South Florida in the mid-1990s. The Flagler County Sheriff’s Office’s Cold Case Unit’s detective Sarah Scalia cracked the case with Othram, a forensic sequencing laboratory.
Palm Coast Approves 275 Town Homes Over Objection of Tax-Base Shift From Commercial to Residential
The 4-1 vote, with Council member Theresa Pontieri in dissent, led to a discussion–if not a debate–on what has become routine in the city’s ongoing residential development boom: time after time, land zoned for commercial use is being re-zoned for residential uses. In this case, the rezoning is taking place despite going against the city’s own Land Development Code in one regard: the town homes will be smaller than the code calls for.
Congestion Ahead: Palm Coast Approves 4-Laning of Old Kings North and 7 Safety Projects on Belle Terre Parkway
Get ready for some new traffic disruptions around some of Palm Coast’s busiest arteries: Old Kings Road North, just past Kings Way, and along Belle Terre Parkway from south of Buddy Taylor Middle School to Royal Palms Parkway as construction crews take on a series of critical road improvements that, once done, will make traveling safer and swifter.
Challenged by Staffer, Palm Coast Council Awards $8.2 Million to Same Firm Dragging Belle Terre Bridge Project
Carmelo Morales, a rank-and-file city engineer, charged city council members with “micromanaging” an $8.2 million stormwater contract with the same firm building the Belle Terre Parkway/Buddy Taylor walkway and storm pipe, and risking leaving the city begging for contractors. But in the end, the council approved the contract and conceded Morales’s point, with caveats.
Flagler School Board Suspends Search and Prepares to Hire LaShakia Moore as Permanent Superintendent
The Flagler County School Board this afternoon agreed to suspend its search for a new superintendent and instead set in motion several steps that would lead to the appointment of Interim LaShakia Moore as the permanent district superintendent come September or October.
Florida Felons Want Their Guns Back. Supreme Court May Hear Them Out.
After a major U.S. Supreme Court ruling last year on Second Amendment rights, the Florida Supreme Court could decide whether to uphold a state law barring possession of guns by convicted felons.
33% Increase in Flagler’s Population, 0% Increase in District’s 9 Public Schools’ Enrollment Over Past 17 Years
Flagler County schools’ nine traditional campuses are again enrolling almost as many students as they did last year, and as many as they have each year for the past 17 years, as charter, private, parochial, online and home school enrollment continues to encroach on the district’s numbers. The figures have big implications for funding, school impact fees and school construction.
Homeowner, 85, Arrested on Murder Charge in Shooting Death of Mark Ruschmeier, 36, in Long-Running Dispute
Charles Kidd Jr., 85, was arrested on a second-degree murder charge this afternoon following the early morning shooting death of 36-year-old Mark Ruschmeier, who has lived with Kidd at Kidd’s Blare Drive home in Palm Coast’s Woodlands for at least a decade.
Time for Flagler County Government To Appoint a Citizen Advisory Group
As Flagler County government appears to flail between budget shortfalls and a call for a new tax, it may be time for the county to do what St. Lucie County has been doing for years: appoint a citizen advisory group of resident volunteers with business experience to review future budgets and advise the commissioners.
In Palm Coast Sheep, Not Chicken, May Safely Graze
The Palm Coast City Council’s rejection of a pilot program that would have allowed chickens in a handful of backyards is disappointing. But the council since its earliest days has tended to run the city more as a homeowners association bound to conformity and the somnolence of residents out to pasture rather than as a vibrant city welcoming of differences, innovation, young and working people.
School District’s Cost for Security at Alternative School with 2 Teachers and 25 Students: $142,500
The Flagler County school district is paying $142,500 a year for security at its relatively new alternative school on the campus of Flagler Palm Coast High School–an alternative school with just two teachers and an average of 20 students per quarter, some of them virtual, and that operates only four days a week.
Sheriff’s Deputy Hospitalized During Investigation of DUI Suspect’s Cocktail of Drugs, Including Fentanyl
George Clemons, 61, was arrested on numerous charges for drugs, DUI and hit and run, while one of the deputies investigating the case, Nick Huzior, had to be hospitalized after talking ill while field testing the substances found in Clemons’s truck.
New College Interviews for New President Between Eliminating Gender Studies and Making Homer Mandatory
New College of Florida officials on Thursday interviewed three final candidates vying to become the school’s next permanent president, including current Interim President Richard Corcoran. The trustees also interviewed Tyler Fisher, an associate professor of modern languages and literature and a Rhodes Scholar at the University of Central Florida, and Robert Gervasi, a former interim president at the University of Mount Union in Ohio.
The Heroic Effort to Save Florida’s Coral Reef from Devastating Record Heat
As water temperatures spiked in the Florida Keys, scientists from universities, coral reef restoration groups and government agencies launched a heroic effort to save the corals. Divers have been in the water every day, collecting thousands of corals from ocean nurseries along the Florida Keys reef tract and moving them to cooler water and into giant tanks on land.
Palm Coast’s Saltwater Canals in Better Shape Than Feared, Narrowing Debate to ‘Spot Dredging’ and Cost
A long-anticipated analysis of Palm Coast’s 26 miles of saltwater canals, the second since 2005 in the canals’ half-century history, revealed to some surprise that the canals are in better shape than expected. While that diminishes the urgency, breadth and cost of necessary dredging, dredging would still be necessary and expensive regardless.
Flagler Schools Drop AP Psychology as State Sends Conflicted Signals Over Gender and Sexuality Unit
In Flagler County, where students returned to school today, AP Psychology, one of the more popular courses in Flagler Palm Coast High School’s accelerated curriculum, will no longer be taught. Students have been automatically shifted to the IB course in a pre-emptive move against the state’s conflicting messages about whether the AP course was legal to teach in its entirety of not, and a local school board with members eager to fuel the state’s culture wars.
Palm Coast Disarms ‘Forensic Audit’ Talk as Council’s Klufas Asks ‘Where’s the Fire?’ and Cautions Against Pandering
Led by Council member Nick Klufas, the Palm Coast City Council on Tuesday decidedly stepped back from its posture a week earlier, when it appeared ready to call for what would have been a very expensive and accusatory “forensic audit” of city finances, seemingly at the behest of one, significantly misinformed resident.
Cascades Development, Revived from 2005, Calls for Up to 850 Homes on 375 Acres in Seminole Woods
After a nearly two-decade hiatus, the massive Cascades development planned for Seminole Woods is back, and is more than double its original size: up to 850 single-family homes and apartments on 375 acres. If built out to that cap, the Cascades would be, along with Coquina Shores on Old Kings Road–a 750-home development just rezoned for the purpose–one of the largest developments in the city.
Palm Coast Council Chickens Out of Modest Pilot Program for Backyard Hens, But May Survey Residents
The Palm Coast City Council today shot down a two-year pilot program that would have permitted up to 25 properties to have backyard chickens in answer to a growing movement across the country toward more self-sufficiency and more natural foods. The most the city will do for now is possibly survey residents on their opinions about backyard chickens.
Impacting Services, Palm Coast Cuts $2.7 Million from Initial 2024 Budget to Comply with Council’s Lower Tax Rate
While these are budget cuts only in relation to the initially planned budget for next year, they nevertheless will have the effects of actual budget cuts in many regards, because they go against the grain of growth in the budget intended to maintain services and what City Manager Denise Bevan referred to as the city’s customary forward-looking approach.
Ahead of His Sentencing to Life in Prison, Attorneys for Monserrate Teron File Motion for 3rd Trial
Attorneys for Monserrate Teron, the Palm Coast resident a jury last month found guilty on all counts of raping and molesting his 7-year-old niece, on Monday filed a motion for a new trial, what would be Teron’s third on those charges. They make several claims, most of them previously made in pre-trial motions and denied by Circuit Judge Terence Perkins. He is not likely to rule differently now. He is sentencing Teron on Oct. 11.
Education Officials Want Lawsuit Over Gay Penguins Book Tossed Out, Claiming It’s Moot. Litigants Disagree.
“And Tango makes Three” had been banned for students up to third grade by Lake County schools, then allowed in libraries. It tells the story of two male penguins who raised a penguin chick at New York’s Central Park Zoo. In a filing last month seeking a preliminary injunction, attorneys for the plaintiffs disputed that the case is moot. They argued, in part, that the district could reverse course again and restrict access to the book in libraries.
County’s Sales Tax Hike Rings Hollow as Attorney Defends Commissioner’s Unilateral Request for Delay
Reeling in a school’s worth of red herrings, County Attorney Al Hadeed today fervently defended the authority of County Commissioner Dave Sullivan to ask Flagler Beach government a week and a half ago to pull from discussion a request from the County Commission for support of a proposed increase in the sales tax.
Sheriff’s PAL Is Not Taking Over Carver Center Or Changing Its Name, County and School District Assure Community
Contrary to rumors and fears, the Flagler Sheriff Police Athletic League is not taking over the Carver Center in South Bunnell, nor is the Carver Center losing its name, its governing structure its staffing by the school district, the chairman of the Flagler County School Board and the county administrator say. But PAL is seeking to have a significant presence there.
Child Nicotine Poisoning Hit All-Time High as Vapes Flood the Market
Cases of vaping-related nicotine exposure reported to poison centers hit an all-time high in 2022 — despite a 2016 law, the Child Nicotine Poisoning Prevention Act, that requires child-resistant packaging on bottles of vaping liquid. In what doctors call a major oversight, the law doesn’t require protective packaging on devices themselves.
4 Suicide Attempts, 6 Baker Acts, No Disputes About Mental Health Needs, Yet He’s Sentenced to Prison on Minor Violation
L’Darius Smith is a a troubled man prone to confrontations, delusions, depression, and self-harm who twice avoided prison in high-profile trials in Flagler in the last five years, but minor probation violation resulted in a prison sentence Thursday even though the court acknowledged that he suffers from deep mental health problems and needs treatment.
Candidates Lining Up to Run for Dave Sullivan’s County Commission Seat, Including Kim Carney and Nick Klufas
Former Flagler Beach City Commissioner Kim Carney joins a growing field for the District 3 seat Dave Sullivan will be relinquishing. The field so far includes two other Flagler Beach residents, Bill Clark and Tom Hutson, and does not yet formally include the race’s heavy-hitter: Nick Klufas, the two-term Palm Coast City Council member, who will soon announce.
Florida Prisoners Broil in 115-Degree Heat in Buildings Without AC, and No Plans for Structural Relief
Many prisons are decades old. Installing air conditioning would be expensive and take years. Some facilities can’t be retrofitted for AC. Temperatures inside buildings without air conditioning can soar 15 degrees higher than the temperature outside. That means temperatures over 100 degrees last month put the thermometer above 115 inside prisons in some regions.
Army Corps Issues Permit Notice for New, 828-ft Flagler Beach Pier, Detailing Construction and Seeking Public Input
In what one of the designers of Flagler Beach’s new pier described as “a big milestone in the federal regulatory process,” the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has issued notice that it is reviewing the permit application for the new pier, and soliciting public comment about detailed construction plans that had not been disclosed until now.
Flagler Beach’s Margaritaville Hotel Begins 18-Month Construction in September
Some 80 people turned up, including most of the city commission and its new manager, Dale Martin, to hear the developer and contractor of the coming Margaritaville Hotel describe how construction will mesh with downtown over the next 18 months.
At Budget Hearing, School Board’s Sally Hunt Reveals Alarming Ignorance of Tax Structure and State Funding
As she revealed at a budget meeting Tuesday evening, just before voting on what she did not know, Sally Hunt does not know how the school district’s budget is funded by a state formula. She does not know how the millage, or property tax, is set. She does not know whether to cheer or jeer lower school property taxes, even coming off a budget briefing on July 24, when she voted to approve advertising the budget.
Without Evidence of Wrongdoing, Palm Coast Council Orders Expensive, Unprecedented Forensic Audit
The Palm Coast City Council Tuesday evening agreed to an unprecedented and very expensive forensic audit of city finances, the sort of audit usually predicated on suspicions of wrongdoing, despite a lack of evidence of any wrongdoing and routine, annual audits and a finance department that just as routinely wins annual awards for transparency. The council was responding to public demands driven more by ideology and general dissatisfaction than facts.
Next Flagler School Superintendent’s Salary May Be As High as $200,000, a 48% Jump in Last 3 Years
Barely three years ago, the Flagler County School Board hired Cathy Mittelstadt as its superintendent on a base salary of $135,000. The next superintendent may earn as much as $200,000. Flagler School Board member Sally Hunt wanted to go as high as $215,000, though the average salary in Florida is $174,000, and Flagler County is among the state’s smaller districts.
Without Authority, a County Commissioner Asks Flagler Beach to Table Sales Tax Increase Discussion
The Flagler Beach City Commission pulled from consideration for now a county proposal to raise the local sales tax, after Flagler County Commissioner Dave Sullivan requested that the item be tabled–even though he had not secured the County Commission’s authority to do that. It was the latest example of factual, political and procedural messiness surrounding the county’s sales tax proposal.
50-Year-Old Palm Coast Cyclist Is Killed in Crash While Crossing State Road 100 in Bunnell
A 50-year-old Palm Coast man on a bicycle lost his life Monday night in a collision with a car driven by a 77-year-old woman on State Road 100 just west of Commerce Parkway in Bunnell.
Two-Term Flagler County Commissioner Charlie Ericksen, a Stalwart of Civility and Grit, Dies at 80
Charlie Ericksen, who served two terms as Flagler County Commissioner–two terms characterized by an immersive interest in all things Flagler, unfailing civility and understated wit–died today in Celebration, where he’d recently moved in declining health, to be closer to family.
Whispering Meadows Ranch Will Leave Flagler Over Next 2 Years For 9-Acre Tract in Ormond Beach
Whispering Meadows Ranch, the equine therapy non-profit that’s been looking for a new home for over two years, closed on a 9-acre tract in Ormond Beach, along State Road 40 just south of the Flagler County line, and will leave its John Anderson Highway location over the next two years.
36-Year-Old Man Breaks Into Church’s Playground to Charge Phone and Pleasure Himself
Flagler County Sheriff’s deputies arrested Eliezer Torres, 36, Saturday after he was accused of shoplifting at Goodwill, breaking into Christ the King Lutheran Church’s playground, destroying some property there so he could charge his cell phone, and masturbating at the entrance to the church.
Affordable Housing is a Human Right, Not a Handout
Housing is more than a roof over our heads. It determines our ability to stay healthy, get an education, build wealth, and live longer. It is not merely a luxury commodity limited to those who can afford it. It is a right — and our government should start recognizing and treating it as such.
Health Care’s Familiar Symptoms: GOP Wants Less Regulation, Democrats Want More
GOP health plans would allow more employers to bypass the landmark health insurance overhaul’s basic benefits requirements and most state standards. Democrats want to limit short-term plans’ length before people go into ACA plans. Meanwhile, many still struggle to afford deductibles or other costs.