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Flagler, Palm Coast & Other Local News
Covid’s Casualties: Sheriff’s Deputy Paul Luciano Dies in Flagler, Circuit Judge Steven Henderson Dies in Volusia
Flagler County Sheriff’s Correction Deputy Paul Luciano was 60. Volusia County Circuit Judge Steven Henderson was 49. Both were still in their prime, at work as professionals and at home as family men. Neither fit the profile of Covid casualties, at least not of previous covid waves. Henderson died of the disease on Thursday at a hospital in Volusia County. Luciano died the same day at AdventHealth Palm Coast.
Judge Rules DeSantis Had No Authority to Ban School Mask Mandates or Punish School Boards That Adopt Masking
Judge John Cooper of the 2nd Judicial Circuit Court of Florida ruled today that Gov. Ron DeSantis had no legal authority under the recently-enacted Parental Bill of Rights to prohibit local school boards from adopting mask mandates that did not include opt-out provisions. The judge found DeSantis’s order “capricious” and not based in evidence, but rather based on an incomplete reading of the Bill of Rights.
Flagler Schools Covid Cases in 3 Weeks Exceed All of Last Year’s; County Shatters Weekly Record; Florida Adds 1,727 Deaths
The county recorded 936 confirmed cases of covid in the week ending today, breaking last week’s record by over 200 cases. The health department is unable to conduct systematic contact tracing because it’s overwhelmed by the numbers. As of Thursday, 155 Flagler County residents had died of covid since the beginning of the pandemic, 41 of them in the last four weeks.
In Maskless Flagler, We’re All Covid’s Sitting Ducks
Flagler County is in the worst public health crisis it has known in its history, with at least 10 covid deaths a week as many school infections in 3 weeks as all of last year combined, yet the debate remains immobilized by a war on masks that defies science and daily grim realities.
Half of Florida’s Students Now in Districts Defying DeSantis Ban on Mask Mandates as Judge Readies to Rule
Circuit Judge John Cooper said he was “still wrestling” with the “sophisticated legal issues” presented in the case and promised to issue a verbal decision at 10 a.m. Friday. DeSantis on Thursday promised to appeal if Cooper does not side with the state.
Carla Cline’s New Project: Raise 1,000 Local Restaurant Gift Cards of $20 for Hospital’s Overworked Health Care Staff
Carla Cline, the Flagler Beach philanthropist, is raising a thousand $20 restaurant gift-cards to distribute to health care workers at every level at AdventHealth Palm Coast (and beyond) in an effort to counter the indifference and “nonsense” that has overwhelmed the public debate about the pandemic.
Bob Newsholme of Flagler Tax Service Shoots Himself in the Chest, and Tells His Son 10 Hours Later
Robert “Bob” Newsholme, a Palm Coast resident and the long-time owner of Flagler Tax Service in Bunnell was trauma-evacuated to a hospital in Daytona Beach Tuesday 10 hours after he revealed to his family that he’d shot himself.
Florida House Rep. Sabatini Threatens Flagler School Board of Legal Action in Letter Laced in Fabrications Over Covid Rules
Florida House Rep. Anthony Sabatini wrote a letter to Flagler Superintendent Cathy Mittelstadt and the school board today falsely claiming Indian Trails Middle School students are “being deprived of their right to a public school education,” and building on fabrications about the illegal quarantining of a child at Indian Trails Middle School that began pinballing around local social media pages last week.
Florida Ethics Commission Advocate Recommends $1,000 Fine For Milissa Holland’s Email Lapse
The Florida Commission on Ethics’ advocate and former Mayor Milissa Holland have agreed to a $1,000 fine Holland would pay over the commission’s finding that she violated the state’s ethics rules when she sent three private-business solicitation emails from her public, mayoral email account in 2018.
8 Days After Revealing Daughter’s Infection, Commissioner Joe Mullins Says He Has Covid–Again
Mullins revealed that he is a so-called breakthrough infection–getting infected with covid despite having been vaccinated in March and April. He boasted of changing his car’s tire just before getting monoclonal therapy treatment.
Target of an Injunction and Embroiled in Domestic Violence Allegation, Flagler Sheriff’s Deputy Lentino Resigns
Robert Lentino, the 26-year-old Palm Coast resident suspended from his job as a Flagler County Sheriff’s deputy in early July over allegations of domestic violence, resigned today. His ex-girlfriend alleges he physically abused her and misused his patrol car to intimidate her.
Gunnar Galambos, 27, Faces Felony Charges After Violent Weekend Incident Involving 3 Victims at Johnny D’s
Gunnar Joseph Galambos, 27, is accused of violently assaulting Johnny D’s manager and pulling a gun on two patrons, and was seen striking his girlfriend, who did not want to pursue charges as the other alleged victims are. The Saturday incident drew a large police response including a helicopter and a K-9 unit as cops searched for Galambos, eventually finding him in Palm Coast.
Palm Coast Council Appoints 5-Member Redistricting Commission, With 120-Day Deadline
Palm Coast’s process, guided by charter, requires the appointment of a citizens’ redistricting commission, which then crunches the new population numbers, draws the new boundaries and submits its results to the council. The council then approves the end result. The commission has 120 days to do its work.
14 Covid Deaths in Flagler in 4 Days Bring County’s Total to 154; Florida Reports 1,486 Deaths Last Week, a Record
There have been many a worst week since the coronavirus pandemic began in the winter of 2020. In Flagler County, last week was the worst yet as the tally of residents who died from the disease set another record, with nine deaths this weekend alone, the tally of new infections also set a weekly record, at 731 confirmed, and ICU admissions were still rising, though admissions had slowed.
An FPC Student’s Perspective: Time to Rethink Inequitable and Irrational Dress Code in Flagler Schools
The district’s dress code is irrational, outdated, unfair and sexist. It limits individual expression, and it’s an utter waste of time, argues Jack Petocz, a junior at Flagler Palm Coast High School who calls on the school board to listen to students’ concerns and revise the code.
Flagler Beach Appoints Committee to Rethink July 4 Fireworks While Aiming for a Show on New Year’s Eve Too
Five residents and the mayor make up the committee that will study the continued feasibility of July 4 fireworks, while the city will ask the county’s tourism bureau for twin allocations of $25,000 next year, to pay for both July 4 and New Year’s Eve fireworks.
Citing Unprecedented Hospital Crisis, Sarasota Is 6th Florida School District to Defy DeSantis Ban on Mask Mandates
The Sarasota County School Board voted, 3-2, late Friday to impose a 90-day mask mandate for students, employees, and visitors, citing a soaring positivity rate in locals tested for COVID-19, ovewhelmed local hospitals, and the district’s struggle to conduct sufficient school-based testing and contact tracing.
Palm Coast’s 14th Annual Intracoastal Waterway Cleanup Set for Sept. 4
Registration is currently open to participate in the 14th Annual Intracoastal Waterway Cleanup on Saturday, September 4 from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. The event attracts volunteers with a passion for protecting and enjoying nature by removing the trash within their developments or along city paths, walkways, and waterways.
State Will Cut Funding for School Boards in Alachua and Broward Over Mask Defiance
The Florida Board of Education will withhold money equal to the salaries of local school board members from districts in Alachua and Broward counties over their tough mask mandates for students, which state officials say violate Florida law.
In a Victory for Public Beach Access, Federal Court Rules in Favor of ‘Customary Use’ of Sands on Private Portions
Flagler County in 2018 passed an ordinance similar to the town ordinance the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld today. The court’s decision backed the county over property owners who argued a 2018 Florida law gave them the right to exclude beach-goers from the dry portions of privately owned beach.
Flagler Beach Again Delays First Friday Resumption, Possibly to December Unless Covid Pall Lifts Sooner
The Flagler Beach City Commission signed a new agreement with Laverne McNeil Shank, Jr. of Surf 97.3 FM to run First Friday events but a September re-start will be delayed, possibly to December, pending a better covid climate.
School Board Members Term Janet McDonald on ‘Witch Hunt’ and ‘Dangerous’ as She Guns for Board Attorney in Wake of Tuesday Tumult
School Board member Janet McDonald called for what would have been an unlawful, closed-door meeting to review the school board attorney’s contract, then called for any special meeting to review last Tuesday’s meeting, when the chamber had to be cleared because of the crowd’s rule-breaking. Two board members–Colleen Conklin and Cheryl Massaro–responded with withering criticism of their colleague.
Family Life Center’s Trish Giaccone Sternly Rejects Flagler Beach Mayor’s ‘Rogue’ Attack, But Fences Aren’t Mended
Family Life Center Executive Director Trish Giaccone responded bluntly Thursday to criticism from Flagler Beach mayor Suzie Johnston that Giaccone had gone “rogue” by appearing on a radio commercial hosted by an incendiary county commissioner. But it does not appear as if relations between the city and the Life Center will improve.
Palm Coast Increases Fees at Parks, Community Center, Pool, Palm Harbor Golf Course and Tennis Center
The City of Palm Coast is raising its fees for Parks and Recreation services and rentals across the city following City Council approval on Aug. 17, after the proposal was presented to the council at a workshop. The new fees are now in effect.
Covid Deaths in Flagler Reach 140, an Increase of 26 in 3 Weeks; 90 Hospitalized in Palm Coast, ‘All ICUs at Capacity’
Local infections and hospitalizations for covid continue to break records. Data is emerging that points to vaccines losing their efficacy over time, underscoring the push for booster shots in a significant shift from earlier guidance. The reason: the delta variant of the coronavirus, far more infectiously virulent, has radically changed the landscape, making so-called “breakthrough” infections of the vaccinated more common than originally thought and forcing public health agencies to adjust.
Flagler Beach Fire Department Again Requests $546,000 Pierce Truck, and Again Embers of Opposition Flare
The Flagler Beach Fire Department is requesting approval of a $546,000 fire truck to replace its 25-year-old Engine 111. The commission is receptive. But as in 2016 and again in 2020, when fire-truck purchases were floated, the proposal is drawing some opposition, some of it intimating (again) that the city should consider consolidation with county fire services.
In ‘Huge Deal,’ Flagler School Board Votes to Double Impact Fees on New Construction, 1st Increase in 16 Years
The school board in a series of unanimous votes Tuesday approved a doubling in school impact fees, the one-time levy imposed on new construction and designed to defray the cost of new schools required by a growing population. The “huge deal,” in the words of Board Attorney Kristy Gavin, will increase the single-family home impact fee from $3,600 to $7,175.
School Board Rejects Renewed Mask Mandate in 3-2 Vote at Meeting That Devolves into Chaos and Defiance
It was one of the Flagler County School Board’s more raucous meetings in recent memory this evening, with several key votes, including a rejection by the board, on a 3-2 vote, to restore a mask mandate in schools, with an opt-out provision. The board chamber had to be cleared for 45 minutes, and more than half a dozen sheriff’s deputies responded.
No, Indian Trails Middle Isn’t Requiring Vaccines, Detaining or Banning Students, But Falsehoods Go Viral Anyway
The case of a parent’s reaction to her son at Indian Trails Middle School being required to quarantine for at least four days illustrates how easily inaccurate information is misused to politically tendentious ends–it’s led to a call for a showdown before the school board this evening–or inflated into non-existent problems or false claims.
A 13-Year-Old Mondex Girl Faces Felony Charge Over Threatening Video and Texts
On the fourth day of the new schoolyear, a 13-year-old Bunnell girl became the first student to be arrested on a felony charge that has sent dozens of students through the judicial system since 2018: making written threats to kill.
County’s Budget Agreement Nets Sheriff 10 of 15 Requested Deputies and $400,000 Mobile Command Vehicle
The Flagler County Commission this afternoon agreed to lower the county’s property tax by a symbolic decimal point next year, though county revenue will still grow by nearly $6 million and the sheriff will get an additional $2.2 million, ensuring the addition of 10 new deputies and a $400,000 mobile command center.
21 Flagler Residents Have Died of Covid in Last 2 Weeks, 1,600 Deaths in Florida, But State Is Masking the Figures
Flagler’s death count was released only after a public record request. The state Health Department is masking death counts for the state as a whole, just as it has been fudging vaccination figures to make them seem higher than they are, just as it has eliminated daily reports of case counts, whether for the state or the counties, in an apparent effort to downplay the intensity of the crisis.
Flagler Mosquito District Will Expand in Plantation Bay and Palm Coast But Scraps Plans to Cover the Whole County
The East Flagler Mosquito Control District voted this morning to expand its spraying boundaries slightly west and south to include an area of U.S. 1 and all of Plantation Bay. But the district abandoned further plans to phase-in spraying of the entire county, opting instead to revert to a 2003 agreement with the county to continue spraying West only on an as-needed basis.
Opelka Battles Hard but Falls to Medvedev in National Bank Open Final
The ex-Palm Coast resident came up short in the championship match of the National Bank Open in Toronto Sunday. Competing in a Masters 1000 level tournament final for the first time, Opelka was bested by World No. 2 Daniil Medvedev, 6-4, 6-3.
Fact-Check: DeSantis’s Executive Order Claim that Masking in Schools Lacks Scientific Support Is False
DeSantis’ July 30 executive order falsely claimed that “forcing students to wear masks lacks a well-grounded scientific justification” and cherry-picked a study that offers little basis for his position and includes a variety of elements that are not accurate.
Reilly Opelka Scores the Biggest Win of His Career, Beating World No. 3 Tsitsipas to Reach Toronto Final
The 7-footer Reilly Opelka, whose name will soon adorn the Palm Coast Tennis Center to mark his past and future ties with the city, catapults up to a career high ranking of No. 23, into his first Masters 1000 final. He’ll play either his good friend and fellow American John Isner or World No.2 Daniil Medvedev in the finals on Sunday.
Two Palm Coast Men and Girl, 17, Accused of Smashing Spree and Burglary at Old Dixie Motel Eyesore
The trio claimed friends told them the old Country Hearth Inn on Old Dixie Highway was a fun place to go to smash things. The long-disused motel was acquired by a company in May and was ostensibly undergoing renovations.
U.S. Department of Education ‘Stands With You,’ It Tells Florida Superintendents Willing to Enact Mask Mandates
The U.S. Department of Education is “deeply concerned” about Gov. Ron DeSantis’ executive order seeking to ban school mask mandates and is ready to help districts directly, the federal agency said in a letter to the governor Friday.
Why We Must Fund Public Safety: The Sheriff’s Office’s Response
Flagler County Sheriff Chief of Staff Mark Strobridge responds to Thursday’s “Overfunding Police” column, citing misinterpretations of a UNF study on which the sheriff is basing a request for 25 additional deputies from Palm Coast and Flagler County.
Nysean D. Giddens, 23, Charged With Manslaughter in Overdose Death of Shaun Callahan
Nysean Giddens is the fifth Flagler County resident criminally charged in the death of another person after an overdose. The four previous indictments were on first-degree felony charges. Two of the four have have been convicted.
Driven Out by Mold, Bunnell Again Vacates City Hall; Will Squat 2 Years While $7 Million Building Is Built on Commerce Blvd.
Bunnell City Hall and its police department will again be squatting for two years as water intrusion forces it to vacate its premises. The city plans a new $7 million building on Commerce Parkway and will hold its meetings at the Government Services Building meanwhile, with offices at the Bunnell Commerce Business Center, behind the Chicken Pantry.
AdventHealth Physician Sounds Alert to Increase of Children in Hospital for Covid, Renewing Call for School Masks
AdventHealth Palm Coast had 82 patients admitted with covid, while the AdventHealth Central Florida division was reporting 12 children admitted as evidence continues to pile up: vaccines are an overwhelming buffer against hospitalizations, and masks are an effective buffer against infections, including in schools.
Palm Coast and Flagler at Risk of Overfunding Police
Policing in Flagler has never been at risk of “defunding,” nor have relations between police and the community lacked for cohesion and respect. But Sheriff Staly’s request for 25 additional deputies from Palm Coast and the county overplay a hand, while both governments are teetering on going along with what would be overfunding police, at the expense of other needs.
Closing Investigation of Ex-Belle Terre Principal Culver, FDLE Found Numerous Problems But No Crimes
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement’s investigation of former Belle Terre Elementary Principal Terence Culver found financial and ethical problems with his running of the school’s PTO but but nothing criminal to pursue, and closed its investigation.
Opponents Call Approval of ‘Marinas’ Along Scenic A1A an Orwellian Ploy to Let Massive Boat-Storage Facility Rise
The Flagler County Planning Board on Tuesday determined that marinas are an allowable use in the Scenic A1A corridor. But Hammock residents say it’s an Orwellian word game intended to clear the way for a 240-dry-boat storage facility called Hammock Harbour, whose development was twice rebuffed by courts.
Palm Coast Man Accused of Shooting Into a Neighbor’s House Wants to Go Home. Judge Swiftly Says No.
The swiftness of Circuit Judge Terence Perkins’s decision, paired with the brief but wrenching testimony of one of the victims, was a passing illustration of how the casualness of gun wielding in a county where almost a fifth of adult residents have a concealed weapon permit at times results in severe consequences–and potentially deadly incidents, with continuing ramifications for all involved.
Man Who Killed Flagler Sheriff’s Deputy Chuck Sease in 2003 Wants Clemency, Half-Way of 35-Year Prison Sentence
Flagler County Sheriff Rick Staly and State Attorney R.J. Larizza have written the state clemency board stern letters opposing any commutation of sentence for Bruce Grove, the now-46-year-old former Palm Coast resident serving 35 years in prison for the killing of Flagler County Sheriff’s deputy Charles “Chuck” Sease in 2003 as Grove was eluding other deputies in a chase.
Again Indifferent to Process, Colleagues Dismiss Andy Dance’s Concern About County Commission’s Lack of Transparency
County Commissioner Andy Dance is concerned about the commission’s habit–unique among local governments–of holding special meetings and votes immediately after workshops, a habit that lacks transparency. As they have when he’s raised procedural issues before, Dance’s colleagues shrugged off the concern.
Flagler Gets the Message as Vaccines Quadruple in 4 Weeks, and Councilman Barbosa Declares Himself a Convert
As vaccine shots have quadrupled in Flagler in comparison with four weeks ago and covid hospitalizations have continued to rise, Palm Coast City Council member Victor Barbosa, just back from being hospitalized for covid, is now urging to get the vaccine he had previously resisted.