Mayor Milissa Holland–diplomatically–and Councilman Eddie Branquinho–furiously–this afternoon ended an otherwise collegial four-hour workshop by schooling Barbosa on respect, rules of order, Facebook freelancing, council behavior and the meaning of the word “corruption,” with examples.
Flagler, Palm Coast & Other Local News
Palm Coast Man, 18, Arrested on Assault Charges of Running Over 17-Year-Old with BMW at Park Brawl
David Reis, 18, of Palm Coast’s R-Section, faces felony charges on accusations that he drove his BMW against a 17-year-old at the park. The arrest is the latest development in the park incident, disturbing for the breadth of the number of people involved and the seeming indifference of many of them to the violence unfolding in front of them, or their involvement in it.
Hauler Aside, Expect Few Changes in Palm Coast’s Next Trash Service Contract as Residents Signal Satisfaction
Palm Coast City Council members aren’t interested in changing twice-a-week trash pick-up frequency or scaling back curbside recycling, but nothing guarantees Waste Pro another contract extension as the city bids out the contract later this year.
Palm Coast City Manager Matt Morton Considering Defamation Action Against Councilman Victor Barbosa
Citing county government’s “playbook” against ex-lections Supervisor Kim Weeks, Palm Coast City Manager Matt Morton says he won’t sit idle while he’s being defamed, as he says he was by Council member Victor Barbosa, who last week called Morton “corrupt” and moved for his firing. Barbosa’s motion died.
UNF in Palm Coast Will Double Its Student Body to 50 and Make $1 Million Available in Scholarships
The University of North Florida’s Mednexus hub in Palm Coast’s Town Center will launch in August with 50 students and make $1 million available to them in scholarships. The university received a $1.5 million subsidy from Palm Coast government, one of its chief local partners. Others include Daytona State College and AdventHealth Palm Coast.
Cyclist Killed on U.S. 1 Near Seminole Woods; Biker Who Crashed on I-95 on April 1 Dies from Injuries
Christopher Baxley, 27, was struck and killed while riding his bike on U.S. 1 near Seminole Woods Boulevard Sunday night. Earlier that day, the Florida Highway Patrol issued an update to an April 1 crash, reporting the death from his injuries of motorcyclist Tom Feretti, 61, who had crashed on April 1 on I-95 in Palm Coast.
Marcelino Reyes Sr.’s Son in Palm Coast Accepts a Congressional Gold Medal for His Father’s World War II Service
Marcelino (Marc) Reyes Jr., a 13-year resident of Palm Coast, in a virtual ceremony today represented his family of eight siblings to accept the bronze replica of the Congressional Gold Medal on behalf of their departed father, Marcelino Reyes Sr., for his World War II service alongside U.S. troops.
The False Choice Between STEM and the Arts: If You Care About All Careers, Protect Arts Programs in Our Schools
The arts do more than just serve as entertainment for us or as diversions or resume-padding for students, let alone as luxuries for school districts. Like team sports, the arts develop key interpersonal and critical skills that are rarely, if ever, taught in traditional STEM classes.
14-Year-Old Girl Arrested in ‘Malicious’ Serial Brushfires at 5 Vacant Lots in Palm Coast’s B-Section
A 14-year-old resident of Palm Coast’s B Section and a student at Buddy Taylor Middle School was arrested Friday morning and charged with five felony counts over allegedly, maliciously starting fires at five locations that day, all of them in the B Section. The girl lives at a group home on Burgundy Place.
17-Year-Old Girl Arrested and Accused of Repeatedly Tasing Boy in Violent, Mob-Like Brawl at Ralph Carter Park
A 17-year-old student at Matanzas High School was arrested on felony charges after allegedly repeatedly attacking another 17 year old with a taser during a brawl at Ralph Carter Park Wednesday afternoon that drew upward of 30 people, many of them participants who plied the victim with violence.
Foregoing Search for Deputy City Manager, Palm Coast’s Matt Morton Appoints Two Chiefs of Staff Drawn Internally
After getting 150 applications for a deputy city manager and finding them wanting, Palm Coast City Manager Matt Morton had abandoned the search and changed track, instead drawing from within and appointing Denise Bevan and Lauren Johnston to newly created chiefs of staff positions, each overseeing a vast array of city departments.
Flagler Schools’ Food Service Director to Gov. DeSantis: Why a $1,000 Bonus to Faculty But Not Service Workers?
Angela Bush, Flagler County schools’ Food and Nutrition Services Director is asking Gov. Ron DeSantis in a video letter why once again service employees like bus drivers, custodians, maintenance staff, kitchen and other support staff are excluded from a proposed $1,000 bonus to teachers and principals who “answered the call” through the covid pandemic.
‘He Just Wacked Me With the Whip’: Mondex Man, 36, Faces Felony Child Abuse Charge
Brian Leonard Rock Jr., a 36-year-old resident of Spruce Street in Bunnell’s Mondex, is accused of using a whip to discipline his 14-year-old daughter, who also reported chronic abuse and a firearm brandished against her mother.
The Odious Victor Barbosa
An examination of Palm Coast Councilman Victor Barbosa’s accusation of “corruption” against Manager Matt Morton reveals it to be baseless and defamatory, while Barbosa’s own methods, from trying to get city employees fired, meddling in administrative business, blindsiding the council and shaming of residents in the city’s name, raise questions about his own understanding of, or fitness for, the job.
Sexual Predator Andrew Wilson Was Sentenced to 10 Years for Child Rape. He Was Just Released After Serving 6.
Andrew S. Wilson was sentenced to 10 years for repeatedly raping his step-daughter when she was between 9 and 12. He was released after just five last week, returning to Bunnell, and on Monday was reclassified a sexual predator after the court erred in 2016 when it classified him a sexual offender.
Flagler Beach Gives Up on Recycling All But Aluminum and Some Cardboard; Palm Coast Not Expected to Follow
Flagler Beach becomes the latest among hundreds of cities and counties across the country to abandon traditional recycling in whole or in part since 2018. Palm Coast is preparing for a new trash-hauling contract, with recycling a significant component. The city does not expect to abandon recycling.
Palm Coast Tenant Jailed Over Death Threats Against Landlord. But Should He and His Family Have Been Evicted?
Anthony Douglas Debolt and his partner had lost their jobs during covid and fallen behind to the point of facing eviction from their R-Section house, and matters got worse as Debolt allegedly texted death threats to his landlord. But a federal order is in effect that protects some tenants from evictions,
Palm Coast Council’s Barbosa Calls for Firing Manager Matt Morton Over Nebulous Code Enforcement Tiff
Palm Coast Council member Victor Barbosa called for the firing of City Manager Matt Morton based on a a handful of internal code enforcement issues Barbosa raised, and a claim that Morton was inappropriately “tracking” his own code enforcement complaints about other residents. Barbosa’s move got no council support.
Flagler Airport Will Delay Building Its New Terminal Another Year to Build More Money-Making Hangars
The Flagler County Commission agreed to delay building the long-awaited $6.5 million terminal at the county airport, agreeing instead to a $560,000 project to build 42 new hangars, which the airport director says will make the airport $212,000 a year.
Community Cats Opens Bigger Thrift Store in Bunnell to Pay for New Adoption Facility
Community Cats of Palm Coast, Flagler County’s largest cat-rescue organization, opened its new thrift store today in the Alamo Business Center at 4550 North US 1 in Bunnell to help fundraise and support a future adoption center in an adjoining location.
Attention Flagler: Your County Commission Wants You To Know That It Believes in (Most of) the Constitution.
A Flagler County commissioner wants the commission to approve a resolution affirming support for the Constitution, but in his enumeration of rights, he excluded the right to free speech and a free press.
As Jury Trials Are Set To Finally Resume for Good in Flagler, Judge Perkins Sends Reassurances to the Covid Leery
Potential jurors being are being reassured by Circuit Judge Terence Perkins, the senior and administrative judge in the county, that “every court process and procedure” has been reviewed “to ensure that your jury service is safe.”
Matanzas Student Who Wrote Song Threatening Dean’s Life Pleads to Deal That May Erase the Charge
Joseph Washington, 18, was arrested in January after Matanzas High faculty learned of a song he’d uploaded, threatening Tom Wooleyhan, a dean, by name. He was sentenced to 18 months’ probation on a third-degree felony charge, a plea deal the judge found surprising for its leniency. The charge will be dropped if Washington fulfills its terms over the next 18 months.
A Carefully Contrite Kim Weeks Offers $20,000 Settlement, But Commissioners Don’t Buy the Act–or the Trifle
Facing a judgment of well over $130,000 owed Flagler County government in reimbursements over her reckless ethics complaints, ex-Elections Supervisor Kim Weeks offered a $20,000 settlement, only to hear commissioners ridicule the offer and the sincerity of her contriteness, and reject it unanimously.
Aaron Thayer, Son of Man Vanished 6 Years Ago, Arrested on Attempted Murder Charge Involving Girlfriend
Aaron Thayer, 39, of Apricot Avenue in Daytona North–the son of George Contos, his father, whom he reported missing six years ago in suspicious circumstances–was arrested as he was allegedly chasing after his girlfriend with a gun in his waistband, after sending her written death threats.
Manslaughter Charge for Daughter Accused of Leaving Mom to Die Like a ‘Prisoner in a Concentration Camp’
Kim King Zaheer, 64, of Palm Coast, was booked at the Flagler jail on a first-degree felony manslaughter charge at the conclusion of a more-than two-year investigation in the death of her mother, Frances Hildegard King, who was found to have died of abuse, malnutrition and neglect in December 2018.
For Waste Pro in Palm Coast, Trashy Service Piles Up Complaints and Fines Again As City Nears New Bid
Waste Pro since March 2018 has accumulated $112,500 in fines over shoddy service. It had a good 2020, but the first three months of 2021 have been increasingly poor, and just as the city is preparing to bid out the contract, which expires in 2022. The company again blames a driver shortage. The city wants Waste Pro to live up to its contractual obligations.
Car Burglary at Washington Oaks Targeting Tourists Leads to Felon Wanted in 2 Other States
Caisy Frank, 40, arrested on March 31 in connection with thefts of a gun and credit cards at a state park in Flagler County, has a long criminal history in at least four states, including a history in Flagler dating back to 2013.
Electric Power Bills Will Increase $48 a Year For Typical Customer; FPL Blames Higher Fuel Costs
The state Public Service Commission on Thursday approved a request by FPL to collect $302.5 million from customers to cover additional costs of fuel for power plants. FPL customers who use 1,000 kilowatt hours of electricity a month will see their bills increase from the current $99.05 a month to $103.02 in May. The additional charges will continue through December.
Powered by Restaurants and Tourism, Economy Adds 916,000 Jobs, Lowering Unemployment to 6%
The national economy added 916,000 jobs in March, with big gains in restaurant, bar and tourism, construction and government jobs and strong gains in almost all other sectors, sending the unemployment rate down to 6 percent, the lowest rate in a year: the rate was 4.4 percent and rising 12 months ago as the coronavirus pandemic was sweeping in.
Affordable Housing Under Attack: Flagler Realtors Join Opposition to Decimation of Housing Trust Fund
Flagler County Realtors are joining forces with state counterparts to oppose a proposal that would gut the amount of money the state will spend on affordable housing, by limiting Sadowski trust fund expenditures to that end to 33 percent of the fund’s total.
Aggravated Stalking of Ex-Girlfriend Leads to Felony Charges Against Flagler Beach’s Robert Isenhour Jr.
Robert C. Isenhour Jr., 18, allegedly ridiculed his 18-year-old ex-girlfriend when she was in the process of filing an injunction against him, saying no judge or police would believe her. He was arrested after a incident of alleged stalking near the Golden Lion, the culmination of a month-long series of intimidating and threatening acts, according to police.
Flagler Beach’s Iconic A-Frame Is Getting a Make-Over for First Time in 24 Years
The Flagler Beach Pier’s A-frame is getting its first re-shingling in 24 years, a $9,360 job and the fourth in the last four years on different parts of the pier and its restaurant, ahead of the city’s upcoming centennial.
Judge Rules Against Excluding Key Interview with Detectives in Larry Cavallaro Rape Case as Details Emerge
Cavallaro, a former gallery owner in Flagler Beach who divided his time between Winter Park and the beach town, was arrested on June 12, 2019, on a first-degree felony rape charge stemming from an allegation that he drugged and raped 40-year-old woman who had gone to visit him there with a friend. He’s been free on $100,000 bond.
Palm Coast Student Elliott Bertrand Accuses Senate Panel of ‘Prejudice’ Before 6-4 Vote on Transgender Sports Ban
The Florida Senate Health Policy Committee today approved a bill that would scrap existing policy and ban transgender women from participating in competitive high school and college sports absent testosterone testing that might clear them to play. Elliott Bertrand, a student at Flagler Palm Coast High School, was among the many opponents of the bill who addressed the panel in Tallahassee.
Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz Under Federal Investigation Over Allegation of Relationship With Minor Girl
Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz is under Justice Department investigation over a possible sexual relationship with a 17-year-old girl, The New York Times reported Tuesday evening.
Dog Found Agonizing in a Ditch, Possibly Victimized as Bait Dog, Has Died; Answers Sought and Reward Offered
Grace, a 7 or 8-year-old pit bull, was discovered Sunday in a ditch in Espanola in agony and bearing signs of being a bait dog. By Monday morning she had died, but galvanized efforts to find her abusers. A fundraiser before she died raised $8,000 for her care.
Sheriff’s Detectives Had Friday Shooting Suspect Brenan Hill, a Fugitive, in Custody Within Hours
Brenan Robert Hill, 32, wanted on felony charges from Pennsylvania, was the man who drove the woman who was shot Friday near the Microtel in Palm Coast, and is a suspect in the shooting, though the Sheriff’s Office is not yet saying so.
Bike Week, Spring Break and Doffed Masks Blamed for Latest ‘Worrisome’ Covid Spike Even as Vaccinations Spread
Local public health officials and physicians are imploring residents not to relax their covid-safety measures and warning of stubbornly persistent infections even as vaccinations have made large inroads in the local population.
Calling Mullins ‘Pied Piper of Hate, Deception and Fraud,’ School Board’s Conklin Rips His Latest Attack on LGBTQ and GOP
Joe Mullins combined attacks on transgender people and local Republicans in an extended screed filled with falsehoods and mischaracterizations as he spoke to a local far-right Republican group, prompting the School Board’s Colleen Conklin to issue a severe condemnation and called him a “narcissistic beast.”
Joe Mullins Falsehoods, Mischaracterizations, Misleading and Baseless Statements: A Fact-Check
Joe Mullins’s problem with facts is not new, pre-dating his election. We fact-checked his latest statements from that March 25 appearance point by point as he discussed Flagler schools’ transgender students, local Republicans allegiances, the massage parlor murders, immigration, why people move to Flagler, guns and other matters.
Deputies Respond to Rash of False Claims of Shootings in Latest Round of Resource-Wasting ‘Swatting’
Deputies responded to three crank, or “swatting,” calls alleging murder, one of them involving a C-Section address previously and repeatedly targeted by such calls. In every case, deputies responded as they would to any emergency, scrambling resources.
Shooting In Area of Palm Coast’s Microtel Leaves Woman in Critical Condition, No Assailant in Custody
A shooting in the area of Palm Coast’s Microtel on Kingswood Drive, off Old Kings Road, left a woman in critical condition and mobilized a large number of Flagler County Sheriff’s deputies, detectives and crime scene investigators, who are hunting for clues about the incident. No assailant is in custody.
Ex Palm Coast Gang Leader Brandon Washington Gets Another Chance to Contest 4 Life Sentences
The Fifth District Court of Appeal today ruled in favor of Brandon Washington’s appeal on three grounds, among them that his attorney did not present evidence or a witness who could have provided an alibi, undermining the state’s claim that Washington was at the scene of the 2007 home invasion and murder that led to his trial and conviction.
Flagler Beach Library Will Reopen Its Doors to In-Person Browsers After 322-Day Covidian Hiatus
Starting Tuesday, the 20,000-volume Flagler Beach Public Library at 312 South 7th Street will reopen again to in-person browsing and computer use, at least for four hours a day, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. Capacity will be limited to 10 patrons at a time.
Flagler Beach Again Cancels July 4 Parade and Fireworks, Wrapping Hopes for a Big Event Around Christmas
For the second year in a row, Flagler Beach will not host its traditional July 4 parade and fireworks, the city commission decided tonight, nor will the event be postponed to Labor Day. Doing so would be too “risky,” the commission agreed with Flagler Health Department Chief Bob Snyder. Commissioners are placing their hopes on a big event and parade around Christmas, including fireworks.
No, Self-Driving Tesla Was Not on Autopilot When It Took Wrong Turn or Backed Into Flagler Sheriff’s Patrol Car
Contrary to a sheriff’s release disseminated to media today, a Tesla could not have been on autopilot when it mildly crashed into a patrol deputy’s car during a traffic stop, nor could the Tesla have taken a wrong turn out of Wawa, since the self-driving vehicles’ capabilities are limited in city driving. But misconceptions about increasingly popular self-driving cars are common.
Stabbings and Shooting Land Man and Woman in Jail in Bizarre Toaster of Conflict in Mondex
Dwayne Troy Dameron, a 51-year-old resident of County Road 75 in Bunnell, and Nichole M. Beard, a 40-year-old resident of Nutwood Avenue in the Mondex, or Daytona North, were both jailed Wednesday in connection with the stabbing and shooting of Jesse William Kumpf, Beard’s 39-year-old boyfriend and neighbor.
Recalling Unhappy History, Water Leaks at City Hall Again Cause Some of Bunnell’s City Offices to Relocate
Twelve years ago Bunnell evacuated its city hall due to water leaks. Later this month it will evacuate some of its city offices at its City Hall to a strip mall due to water intrusion. The move will cost the city $800 a month and is indefinite.
Hutson-Sponsored Bill to Regulate Vaping Clears House Panel, Without Ban on Flavored Products
More than two years after the U.S. surgeon general declared youth vaping an epidemic, Florida lawmakers again are working on an effort to regulate the sale of electronic cigarettes and raise the age to use tobacco and vaping products from 18 to 21.