Ray Stevens spent much of his primary battle discrediting John Pollinger’s GOP credentials. General election rules are different, he says, explaining his endorsement of Jim Manfre, and drawing charges of opportunism from Pollinger and Fleming. Yet the endorsement potentially upends the race in Manfre’s favor.
Flagler, Palm Coast & Other Local News
Pleasure Trails: 3 Men Arrested in Onanism Sting at Graham Swamp and Malacompra
The Flagler County Sheriff’s Office’s wanker patrol was out Tuesday, netting three arrests in five hours at two popular county parks–Graham Swamp on Old Kings Road, and Malacompera Park in the Hammock. Sheriff Fleming’s response: “Not in Flagler County.”
Flagler Tax Collector Suzanne Johnston Criticizes State’s License Plate Rule Changes
Citing a likely drop in customer service and an eventual increase in costs, Flagler County Tax Collector Suzanne Johnston joined tax collectors across the state to criticize parts of Florida’s plans to redesign the state’s license plates and end local residents’ ability to get their plates locally and immediately.
Flagler Beach Fire Takes 1st Place in 5th Annual Flagler County Fire/EMS Competition
Twelve teams competed in 24-hour, round-the clock scenarios this weekend in an event hosted by Flagler County Fire Rescue. The Flagler Beach Fire Department won the basic life support division. Boca Raton Fire Rescue won the advanced life support division.
Ballot Up: Today Is Your Last Chance To Register to Vote in the Nov. 6 Election
Beyond registering, voters this election cycle are urged to know their sample ballot and fill it out ahead of time, because it’s the longest in memory. Early voting, beginning on Oct. 27, or absentee voting, is encouraged.
Holland-Hutson Money Race Still Lopsided; Manfre Doubles Take, Closing Fleming Gap
The last two weeks of September saw Travis Hutson add almost as much money to his treasure chest–$13,000–as Milissa Holland raised in the entire election cycle ($15,502). Sheriff Candidate Jim Manfre has raised $19,000 to incumbent Don Fleming’s $24,000.
A Teacher Down to Her Last Cells, a Cancer Patient Hands Her Case to UF’s Med Students
Always the teacher, cancer patient Jo Ann Nahirny–now with 26 of her 42 radiation sessions out of the way–takes satisfaction from knowing that even though she’s unable to stand in front of her students at Matanzas High School, she’s still doing my part as in educator as medical students learn from her case at Shands Hospital at the University of Florida.
A Palm Coast Man Is Jailed for Sexually Battering His Wife in the Presence of a Child
Caldwell was charged with domestic battery by strangulation, sexual battery, and domestic assault. He remained at the Flagler County jail, Monday afternoon on $52,000 bond.
Reported Abduction Trails Up I-95 Before Getaway Near Flagler Border
Ormond Beach Police were called this morning by a man who reported that he was abducted early today in Boynton Beach, Fla., and forced to drive some 220 miles north on I-95, to Ormond Beach, where the man executed a getaway. Police are looking for a suspect in the area.
How a Stumble Saddled Palm Coast Water Rate Payers With $500,000 in Additional Costs
Overeager to get going on a $2.6 million wellfield project during the boom years, Palm Coast never secured an agreement between a land company and FPL to power the wells. When talks broke down between the companies, Palm Coast decided to pay an extra $500,000 to power the wells with a different contractor, a cost it will pass down to rate-payers, even though the need for the water is non-existent.
The News-Journal’s Predatory Sensationalism On Sex Offenders Near Local Schools
A News-Journal article on 445 registered sex offenders living near Flagler and Volusia elementary schools was dangerously alarming and misleading, argues George Griffin, and perpetuates numerous myths about sex offenders, encouraging bad laws.
Flagler School Board Members Forego $91 Raise and Stick With $30,442 Annual Salary
For the second year in a row, Flagler County School Board members have decided to take neither a raise nor a pay-cut. They were in line for a $91 raise as set by Florida law, though they could have chosen to reduce their salaries.
Man Accused of Child Abuse as a Cop Witnesses Him Striking His 14-Year-Old Daughter
James Hartley, Palm Coast resident of Whetstone Lane, is a 44-year-old, 240-pound man who, on Wednesday, was arrested and charged with child abuse and battery after a Flagler County Sheriff’s deputy saw him striking his 14-year-old daughter, who then collapsed on the floor of her home.
Flagler Dental Expands South From North as 45-Year-Old Practice Taps Growth
Flagler Dental’s North and South locations–at Flagler Plaza and Office Park Drive–take a page out of Florida Hospital Flagler’s strategy of tracking demographic growth in the city. The South location just opened.
Fights and Arrests at the Jail, at Salsas Mexican Restaurant and at the Country Store: Flagler 911
A busy couple of weeks of violent fights and arrests at the Flagler County jail, a road-rage arrest at the Country Store in the Mondex, four arrests outside Salsas Mexican Restaurant, a father gets his allegedly thieving son arrested, and a lot more from Flagler’s crime scenes.
Video Released in Sharps Liquor Armed Robbery, Clearly Showing Both Suspects
Police are looking for two black men in their early 30s after the afternoon robbery of Sharps Liquor at Flagler Plaza on State Road 100, less than a year after the same store was the target of an armed robbery. The video released Wednesday shows both suspects.
Flagler School Board Rejects Building-Tax Cut, a Blow to Builders and the Chamber
Chamber President Doug Baxter had hoped Palm Coast would “fall in line” with a building-tax moratorium of its own if the county and the school board adopted one. The county did. The school board refused to go along Tuesday evening, calling the proposal irresponsible.
Merrill Pleads No Contest in Wife’s Shooting; Canaday Sentenced to 30 Years for Child’s Rape
William Carson Merrill accidentally shot and killed his wife with an AK-47 in the couple’s Palm Coast home on Feb. 21. He’ll be sentenced to up to 30 years in prison on Oct. 29. Michael Eric Canaday, formerly of Palm Coast, was sentenced to 30 years for rape and molestation.
News-Journal Puts Up $120 Barrier to Online Access in Hopes of Improving Bottom Line
The News-Journal’s $120-a-year paywall for online readers follows the lead of more than 160 newspapers that have ended unlimited free access to websites to stop hemorrhaging print readers, where, most of the advertising revenue remains.
Snubbing Voters, Lame-Duck County Enacts 20-Year Sales Tax While Slashing Cities’ Shares
Many questions remained unanswered about the use of the money and the size of the proposed jail it’s supposed to pay for as the Flagler County Commission voted 4-1 to enact a sales tax it feared the public would not have approved at the ballot box this November.
As Expected, Flagler County Suspends $1,707-a-Home Building Tax for 2 Years
The county’s moratorium is relatively small, but Flagler’s chamber of commerce and its home builders association hope to get the school board to approve a moratorium next, then move to Palm Coast, where impact fees add up to $15,270.
Beata Kinecka, 39, of Palm Coast, Is Killed, 6 Are Injured in a 4-SUV Wreck on Belle Terre
Beata Kinecka, 39, of Palm Coast, was killed, and six other local residents in three separate cars, including a 16-month-old baby, were injured in a wreck that involved both northbound and southbound lanes of Belle Terre Parkway just north of the White View Parkway intersection late Friday evening.
Flagler Sheriff Tallies DUI Catch as Supreme Court Agrees to Hear Blood-Test Case
Flagler County deputies arrested 11 drunk drivers and many others on charges unrelated to DUI. On Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to decide whether forcing a DUI suspect to submit to a blood test is constitutional.
Paul Novak of Palm Coast Charged With Murdering His Wife in New York in 2008
Paul Novak, a resident of Lewiston Court in Palm Coast since 2009, faces a second-degree murder charge and an arson charge in the death of his wife Catherine Novak, who was found dead in her charred home in New York’s Hudson Valley in December 2008.
How Two Council Members, Out of View, Got WNZF to Back-Pedal on Synthetic Marijuana
What was behind what sounded like a retraction on synthetic marijuana by WNZF’s David Ayres on his Free For All Friday show last week? Private discussions between Palm Coast Council member Bill McGuire with Mayor Jon Netts, and a letter Netts wrote Ayres, that the council never discussed openly–even as the council has yet to vote finally on the matter.
From Red Lights to School Buses: Florida Looks For Traffic Spy Cameras’ Next Perch
Despite having by far the safest record of any mode of transportation, including in Flagler, Florida school officials are looking to add spy-and-snap cameras on school buses similar to red-light cameras at Palm Coast and other cities’ intersections. School districts would reap most of the cash benefits from fines.
In Bunnell, A Succession of Disagreements Over Who’s in Charge When Head Cheese Isn’t
Bunnell City Manager Armando Martinez names either his finance director or his grants director as the acting manager when he’s away. Commissioner Elbert Tucker says it’s a violation of the city charter, which spells out who’s in charge when the manager isn’t: the city clerk, the chief of police then the mayor, in that order.
A 26-Year-Old Palm Coast Man Is Arrested On 3 Counts of Lewd Sex With 14 Year Old
Javon Hall, a 27-year-old resident of Whispering Pine Drive in Palm Coast, is in jail on $100,000 bond following his arrest on three charges that he had sex with a 14-year-old Palm Coast girl. The victim termed some 30 encounters consensual, which is no defense for Hall under the law.
Using Straw Man, Palm Coast Ridicules County’s Opposition to Red-Light Cameras
Rather than address questions raised by County Commission Chairman Barbara Revels, the Palm Coast Council invented a claim that the county wanted to enable law-breaking, unsafe drivers, and dismissed Revels’s request to reconsider installing spy cameras on State Road 100.
Matanzas Pirates’ Mission: A Senior Rallies Students and Faculty For a Teacher’s Survival
Juan Pablo Torres, a senior at Matanzas High School, decided to repay his English teacher, now undergoing cancer treatment in Gainesville, by showing her how students and teachers at Matanzas take care of their own.
Palm Coast Mayor Netts Says Amendment 4 Takes Taxes From “Screwy” to “Screwier”
Other Flagler government leaders joined Jon Netts in criticism of of proposed Constitutional Amendment 4, which would limit the tax liability of commercial, rental and vacant properties while lowering the tax liability of first-time home-buyers, but at the expense of local government revenue, which has been battered since 2007.
Horseman, Termed Drunk, Takes Bunnell Police on Long Chase Through the City
Charles Cowart, 29, was arrested and charged with charged with disorderly conduct and cruelty to animals, among other charges, after the chase forced a train to stop and brought various parts of Bunnell to a brief, gaping standstill.
Tyler Scott Van Balvern, 21, Victim of Fourth Motorcycle Fatality in 7 Weeks On Flagler Roads
The body of Tyler Scott Van Balvern, 21, the latest motorcyclist killed since Aug. 1 on Flagler roads was discovered Sunday in a ditch roughly across from the Black Cloud Saloon. The motrcycle was located almost 40 feet inside the woodline.
Flagler’s SAT Scores Tumble to Lowest Level in at Least 8 Years as Florida’s Improve
The declines some of them steep, took place in all categories–reading, math, writing–at both Flagler Palm Coast High School and Matanzas High School, with one exception in reading at Matanzas.
Capsized Speedboat, High on Marijuana Bricks, Washes up on Flagler Shore
The 25-foot speedboat bearing a stash of marijuana, which washed up on shore Sunday and Monday, was beached near the Flagler By the Sea campsite in Beverly Beach. Such speedboats have become a means of choice for smugglers of drugs or human traffickers in recent years.
In Flagler’s Elections, Some Coffers Are Depleted, Some Rich in Out-Of-County Donors
The biggest contrast s in the Frank Meeker-Abby Romaine race for the Flagler County Commission, with almost 80 percent of Meeker’s money coming from out of the county, and 100 percent of Romaine’s coming from within it.
State Attorney Files Attempted Murder Charges on Phillip Neal Following Bunnell Brawl
Philip Neal, a 28-year-old resident of Bunnell who’s been booked into the Flagler County jail 18 times in four years, and served 16 months in state prison, is accused of firing several rounds from a .38-caliber gun at Deron Carter the night of Aug. 25 in Bunnell.
A 32-Year-Old Woman Is Robbed in the Mondex; Deputies Seeking Clues
A man claiming to have a gun pushed the woman to the ground and took her necklace when she told him she had no money. He fled. The robber was described as being white with a stocky build and long, black hair.
Station Wagon Drives Through Garage and Into a House in the Woodlands
A Chevrolet station wagon driven by one of the elderly homeowners at 14 Blackthorn Court, a house in Palm Coast’s Wooodlands, ran through the property’s two-car garage and into the utility room, damaging the garage and a load-bearing wall.
Flagler Beach Ending Cable-Casting of Meetings in Favor of Live Webcasts
Flagler Beach had been contracting with Palm Coast’s municipal TV production crew, for $10,000 a year, to broadcast its meetings on cable, several days after the fact. The city will save at least $6,000 a year by webcasting the meetings live.
FPL Begins Installing Smart Meters in Flagler as PSC Takes on Devices’ Emitted Controversies
FPL will begin installing 50,000 smart meters in Flagler County this month and continue installing them through the fall, while the Florida Public Service Commission on Thursday devotes a daylong workshop to questions about smart meters and health effects, privacy, data security and alternatives.
In Flagler and Across Florida, More Perky Housing Sales Point to Encouraging Trends
Sales of single family homes in Flagler were up 9.5 percent in August over a year ago, 10.8 percent across Florida, while pending sales have skyrocketed in further signs of health for the battered housing sector, even as prices still stagnate.
Mother Chases and Fights a Boy On a School Bus, Drawing Charges; Sheriff Releases Video
Felecia Phillips, 35, of Espanola, is accused of attacking a boy at a bus stop Wednesday morning, then chasing him onto the bus that was to take him to FPC. She was arrested on child abuse and trespassing charges.
Flagler Beach’s Haley Watson and Eric Worley Win 2012 Easterns Surfing Championships
Flagler Beach’s Haley Watson and Eric Worley took first place in both their divisions at the 2012 Easterns Surfing Championships in Nags Head, on North carolina’s Outer Banks, on Tuesday.
Palm Coast Toughs: Fake Pot Banned, Garage Sales Watched, Woodlands Development a Go
In a series of decisions Tuesday, two of them defying strong public sentiment, the Palm Coast City Council voted to prohibit the sale of legal products known as synthetic marijuana, require permits for garage sales, and open the way for a vast assisted-living development at the edge of the Woodlands.
At Matanzas High School, an Irrepressible Teacher’s Untimely Farewell, For Now
Jo Ann Nahirny, an English teacher at Matanzas, put in her last day of the year today before a three-month leave filled with radiation treatments and surgery as she battles a cancer’s recurrence. This is the story of her last day in class.
County Sends Protest Letter to Palm Coast Over Red-Light Spy Cameras on SR100
The Flagler County Commission is asking the Palm Coast City Council to reconsider installing some of its 52 spy-and-snap traffic cameras on SR100 because the county claims it will inhibit shopping and tourism, and leave a bad taste in visitors’ mouths just as the county is advertising itself as a welcoming beachside destination.
Warning of “Scary Things” in Coming Election, County Attorney Hadeed Urges Voter Education
In a surprisingly candid talk framed around the 225th anniversary of the Constitution, Flagler County Attorney Al Hadeed warned of the potentially corrupting influence of money in Florida’s judicial elections, and of the Legislature’s loading of the November ballot with 11 purposefully long and confusing constitutional amendments, a spiteful snub of the Supreme Court.
Palm Coast Data’s Latest Revenue Down 18.6% Over the Year But Ticks Up in 2012
Palm Coast Data revenue fell to $13.6 million in the quarter ending July 31, compared to $16.5 million a year ago, and $32 million in 2008. Parent-company Amrep Corp. posted its 12th loss of the last 16 quarters.
Avoiding F-16 Intercept, Teens-in-Flight Team Delivers Aurora Gift and Heads Home
Jack Howell’s Teens-in-Flight mission to deliver $10,000 to defray the medical expenses of the victims of the Aurora, Colo., movie theater shooting culminated on Saturday. The trio aboard the Cessna began the flight home early Sunday.