For the last several days, Hurricane Lee, the most powerful storm of the season yet and a potential record-breaker, has been as if making a beeline for Florida, from the middle Atlantic. But models and Flagler County’s emergency management director say the hurricane in five days will make an abrupt turn north well before it comes near the Florida Peninsula. Still, the dangerous storm is expected to cause more erosion on an already weakened Flagler County shore, with hurricane season just beginning to peak.
Flagler, Palm Coast & Other Local News
40-Year-Old Cyclist Killed in Collision with Pick-Up on U.S. 1, North of Old Dixie Highway Roundabout
A 40-year-old Ormond Beach woman was killed and her 45-year-old husband was seriously injured when both were struck by a pick-up truck as they rode their bicycles south on U.S. 1, just north of the Old Dixie Highway roundabout, in midafternoon Thursday.
Ex-Matanzas Student Facing Adult Gun and Molestation Charges Here Is Attending High School in Wisconsin
Marshall Thomas, the former Matanzas High School student who was charged as an adult with gun theft and, separately, charged as an adult with the sexual assault of a Matanzas student at school in May 2022, was enrolled in a charter school in northern Wisconsin after posting $60,000 bond in Flagler County. Both cases are pending, with Thomas’s next scheduled pre-trial in Circuit Court in Bunnell on Oct. 11. A parent in Wisconsin is concerned about Thomas’s presence among students there.
Bunnell Elementary Principal Evensen Resigns, Saying She ‘Certainly’ Does Not Deserve What’s Happening to Her
Donelle Evensen this morning announced her resignation as Bunnell Elementary principal five weeks after being named to the position, and not quite three weeks after being placed on leave following her approval of an assembly where faculty segregated Black students. At no point in either letters does Evensen take responsibility or offer any regret for the tenor of the assembly or the misjudgments that led to it.
Flagler County Bans Beach Bonfires in Turtle-Nesting Season, Joining Prohibitions Long in Place in 3 Towns
Thirteen years ago, after much controversy, the Flagler Beach City Commission banned bonfires on the beach during turtle season. Beverly Beach and Marineland have similar bans. But it was only on Monday that the ban extended to the rest of the county’s beaches–18 miles of shoreline in all–as the County Commission voted 5-0 to approve an ordinance.
Lane Closures Planned for Belle Terre Parkway Near Buddy Taylor, and Along East Hampton Boulevard
Road crews will be closing lanes to facilitate work on two projects in Palm Coast in coming days, along Belle Terre Parkway near Buddy Taylor Middle School, and along east Hampton Boulevard.
Flagler School Board’s Sally Hunt Hijacks New Superintendent’s Triumph with a Hit List of Resentments
The highlight at Tuesday evening’s meeting of the Flagler County School Board should have been the triumphal appointment of LaShakia Moore as superintendent, a rare unifying moment for an often divided school board. It was briefly all that, until School Board member Sally Hunt hijacked the occasion with what amounted to a hit list for coming meetings: School Board attorney Kristy Gavin. School Board Chair Cheryl Massaro. The school board’s own conduct. “Bullies.” “The media.”
$12.3 Million Pedestrian Bridge Over State Road 100 Gets Its Grand Opening on Sept. 19
The tin-tented, recently rust-painted and frequently derided pedestrian bridge over State Road 100 will get its public grand opening celebration the afternoon of September 19. A coat of darkening chemicals was applied to the tipi-like stainless steel tent over the bridge to diminish its reflection’s almost blinding effect at sunup and sundown, depending on which direction one was traveling.
LaShakia Moore Appointed Superintendent in Historic Vote, But Occasion Is Marred by Grievances
The Flagler County School Board this evening voted unanimously to appoint LaShakia Moore superintendent, eliminating the “interim” part of the title she had held since July 1 and making her the first Black superintendent in the county’s history. But it wasn’t entirely a joyful occasion.
Witnesses Say C.J. Nelson Jr. Had ‘Handled’ Jammed Gun Before Shooting of 18-Month-Old Girl
C.J. Nelson Jr., the 21-year-old resident of 2 Ranwood Lane arrested the night of the fatal shooting of an 18-month-old girl at that house Sunday, was said by “more than one” witness in the house that he had been handling the gun that fired the fatal shot, and that he had described the gun as “jammed” before the shooting, according to his arrest report.