Monserrate Teron, a 59-year-old nurse and Army veteran, goes on trial Monday on charges of raping a 7-year-old girl. Today, a judge let stand an order allowing the prosecution to question two adult sisters who will testify that Teron abused them in the 1980s similarly to the way he abused the younger girl more recently, complicating the defense.
Backgrounders
240-Unit Apartment Complex Planned Next to BJ’s Wholesale Club on State Road 100 in Palm Coast
The Flagler County Commission Monday evening unanimously approved rezoning 28 acres just east of what will be the BJ’s Wholesale Club shopping center, clearing the way for an eight-building, 240-apartment complex called Republic Palm Coast there.
The Student Protesters Were Arrested. The Man Who Got Violent in the Parking Lot Wasn’t.
College students arrested. A parking lot altercation. A retired teacher waking up to a broken window. Events at a school district in Conway, Arkansas, illustrate the alarming trend of unrest at school board meetings across the country.
In Flagler Beach, Jane Mealy Warns Eric Cooley of ‘Consequences’ Over Conduct. He Doubles Down.
Flagler Beach City Commissioner Jane Mealy warned Commission Chairman Eric Cooley of unspecified “consequences” if he were to ever treat her the way he did at a special meeting last week. Cooley conceded that he had been “spitting fire,” doubled down, dismissing Mealy’s criticism as “armchair quarterbacking” and accusing her of not behaving like an adult.
Wadsworth Principal Paul Peacock Ordered on Leave Over Employee Complaints as District Hires Investigator
Wadsworth Elementary School Principal Paul Peacock has been placed on administrative leave with pay and barred from all district campuses or from contact with any employees pending the resolution of an independent investigation stemming from several employee complaints about Peacock, internal documents show and school officials say.
Court Disputes Behind It, Community Cats of Palm Coast Set for Grand Re-Opening at City Marketplace
Community Cats of Palm Coast, which operates the City Marketplace adoption shelter at 160 Cypress Point Parkway, Suite B-110, and a thrift store there at Suite C-101 (upstairs and downstairs), has been in business for 10 years, helping rescue, trap and deal with feline problems in the area.
On Flagler’s Ban List: Elana K. Arnold’s What Girls Are Made Of, a Review and a Recommendation
“What Girls Are Made Of,” Elana K. Arnold’s deconstruction of a 16-year-old girl’s being and nothingness, is one of 22 titles three Flagler County residents want banned from high school libraries. A Flagler Palm Coast High School committee takes up the challenge on Thursday.
Later Start Time for Middle and High School Students in Flagler Means Earlier Start for Younger Ones
A bill awaiting the governor’s signature would ban school start times before 8:30 a.m. for high schools and 8 a.m. for middle schools, starting in the 2026-27 school year. The Flagler County School Board had been reconsidering its own start times–but in the other direction. Now, it may be faced with making tough choices regarding elementary-school start times, which would go from latest to earliest starting times in the county.
Flagler’s Vacation-Rental Regulations Again Survive at Last Minute as Lawmakers End Session
For the ninth year running, local regulations of short-term vacation rentals in Flagler County and across the survived a legislative attempt at dilution and pre-emption by the state, though it came down to a last-minute escape as lawmakers finalized a $117 billion budget and ended the session.
FPC Student Vandalizes ‘Offensive’ Civil Rights-Inspired Posters. School Board’s Chong Rallies To His Side.
In response to one parent’s complaint about civil rights era-inspired posters by students, and to the the parent’s son vandalizing posters he found offensive at Flagler Palm Coast High School, School Board member Christy Chong has rallied to the side of the parent and the student and is seeking to revisit policies that address the display of student work in school hallways. Board members Will Furry and Sally Hunt are joining Chong in seeking that discussion.
Flagler Beach’s Next City Manager Salary May Go Up to $165,000 as Commission Pitches for Candidates
The next Flagler Beach city manager will have a salary of between $125,000 to $165,000, an upper range that would have been unthinkable only a few years ago for the small city of 5,000 people. The city commission in an often-snippy special meeting Thursday also rewrote the profile that accompanies the job announcement for a new manager, which will be issued this weekend.
Advertising in Schools
Flagler County School Policy 904
Flagler County School District policy on advertising in schools, policy 904: full text.
Written Out of Public Eye, Profile Framing Flagler Beach Search for Next City Manager Falters on Some Facts
A nine-page brochure framing Flagler Beach’s search for its next city manager does not appear to have been fact-checked or written with much depth beyond Trip-Advisor-type web scans and perhaps outdated news articles. It was written without public input. The city commission discusses the brochure on Wednesday, and will adopt it on Thursday.
From Gun Truck to Healthcare: Ret. Gen. Mark Hertling, Former Commander of 90,000, Talks Leadership in Workplace
These days Mark Hertling lives in Palm Coast, teaches physicians and healthcare administrators how to lead, and talks geopolitics on CNN. When he has a moment, he appears before civic groups for a talk, as he did on a Saturday last month when he addressed the University Women of Flagler at the Hilton Garden Inn, as he will again on May 17 as the keynote speaker at Flagler Tiger Bay’s monthly lunch.
Gun Deaths Drive Biggest Spike in Child Mortality in 50 Years
After decades of steady improvement, the death rate of America’s children and teens shot up between 2019 and 2021 — and Covid-19 wasn’t the reason. Gun-related deaths represented the largest share of the increase — by far.
My Date With Jerry Springer
In November 1998 I was traveling the country on a year-long assignment and at that point working on a piece on American discourse. I’d chosen Illinois as a prism: the various grounds of the Lincoln Douglas debates at one end and the Chicago-based Jerry Springer Show at the other. Springer agreed to let me hang out with him half a day, interview him and attend his show, thankfully not as a guest.
Flagler Beach, With Unusually Limited Transparency, Is on a Schedule to Hire Next City Manager By Mid-July
The Flagler Beach City Commission is on course to hire its next city manager by mid-July, but through an accelerated timeline that involves the least public input or transparency of any recent executive searches for local governments. That’s unusual in Flagler Beach, whose commission over the past decade and a half–regardless of make-up–has prized transparency and deliberation, at times to painful extremes. It’s also about to change, the commission chairman says.
David Alfin Files Formal Request to Re-Name Community Center After Late Mayor Jon Netts
The Palm Coast Beautification Committee Thursday evening is expected to recommend renaming the Palm Coast Community Center after the late Jon Netts, a city founder and its longest-serving council member and mayor. The nomination was filed by Mayor David Alfin.
County Plan to Move Whispering Meadows Equine Therapy Ranch to Fairgrounds Collapses as State Says No
The state has rejected Flagler County government’s plan to move the Whispering Meadows Ranch–the equine therapy non-profit–to the county fairgrounds, saying it would privatize public land. The rejection is the latest setback in the ranch’s two-year effort to leave its John Anderson Highway property, where it has operated for 16 years, until neighbors started objecting to its presence.
Dreaded Franchise Fee and Public Service Tax Back on Table as Palm Coast Faces $52 Million Street Fix
Facing a $52 million backlog to resurface a deteriorating road system, the Palm Coast City Council is discussing adopting utility franchise fees and public service taxes that have previously drawn angry opposition from residents, as well as exploring raising a local sales surtax through the county.
Disney Monorail Is Next on DeSantis Hit List
The Republican-controlled Senate Fiscal Policy Committee, chaired by Travis Hutson, who represents Flagler County, on Tuesday amended a transportation bill (SB 1250) to apply Department of Transportation safety standards to monorail lines that connect Walt Disney World resorts and parks.
In Florida, We Are All Child Abusers Now
The Florida Legislature is legalizing a Jim Crow-like system of punishing, demonizing and denying the existence of LGBTQ children. Few sessions of the Florida Legislature provided the legal framework for as much state-sponsored and citizen-empowered terrorism against children as this one.
180 Palm Coast-Area Muslims and Mayor Alfin Celebrate End of Ramadan on 2nd Anniversary of Bunnell Islamic Center
Palm Coast and Flagler County’s fast-growing Muslim community marked Eid-el-Fitr, the celebratory end of Ramadan, with Mayor David Alfin today at the Palm Coast Community Center and the anniversary of the emergence of an Islamic Center from a founding meeting at Holland Park.
Challenged in Flagler Schools: Elana K. Arnold’s Damsel, a Review and a Recommendation
Elana K. Arnold’s “Damsel” is among the 22 books that a trio of individuals have sought to ban from high school library shelves in Flagler County. Here’s an unexpected recommendation by FlaglerLive’s reviewers to ban the book.
Planning Board Approves Adding 750 More Homes to Palm Coast Park Along U.S. 1, for Total of 6,454 Units
The Palm Coast Planning Board Wednesday evening approved the addition of 750 more homes to Palm Coast Park, already one of the city’s largest planned developments, which now will total 6,454 homes. The development would grow to a size equivalent to Bunnell, times two.
Coming YMCA Could Give Belle Terre Club a Few Years’ Reprieve. 2 School Board Members Won’t Hear of It.
After yet another round of hardened, inconclusive debate over the fate of the Belle Terre Swim and Racquet Club during the school board’s workshop on Tuesday, the board agreed to vote on the matter one way or the other at its May 16 meeting. But this time a new element is in play, with the very strong possibility of a YMCA coming to town in a few years.
Bob Snyder, Guardian of Public Health in Flagler for a Decade, Is Boy Scouts Council’s Golden Eagle Award Winner
Bob Snyder, the Flagler County Health Department administrator since 2015 and the county’s leader in public health, is the 2023 Golden Eagle honoree. He’s receiving the honor this evening at the annual Flagler County Boy Scout Golden Eagle Dinner at Hammock Dunes Resort.
Furry and Chong, Who’d Slandered Opponents During Campaign, Seek to ‘Censure’ School Board Chair Cheryl Massaro. They Fail.
An attempt by School Board members Will Furry and Christy Chong to censure Cheryl Massaro failed, 3-2, Tuesday evening. The motion and the discussion surrounding it had elements of the surreal, as most school board meetings now do. Massaro’s comments were cutting, but nowhere near the slanders and lies Chong and Furry had peddled about board members and candidates during their campaign a few months ago.
Crank, Novel of Addiction, Survives Ban at FPC and Matanzas for Now in Unanimous Vote
Two committees meeting jointly to review a challenge to Ellen Hopkins’s “Crank,” a novel tracing the spiral of a 17-year-old high school girl into drug addiction, voted unanimously Monday afternoon to keep the book on high school library shelves. But the superintendent’s recent decision to ban a book despite three unanimous votes to keep it left a chill in the committees’ decisions on Monday.
With a $400,000 Loss in 5 Years, Flagler Beach Pier’s Bait Shop Will Close Permanently as a City Business
The bait shop that for decades burnished the Flagler Beach pier’s quaintness and served as gatekeeper to pier fishers and visitors, will close permanently as a city-run business on June 1. The city may consider leasing the small space to a private company, whether as a shop or as a different kind of business, but it won’t decide that until May.
Challenged in Flagler Schools: Ellen Hopkins’s Crank, a Review and a Recommendation
Crank is the first book by Ellen Hopkins, a very popular young adult novelist, and the first in an autobiographical trilogy centered on her daughter’s crystal meth addiction. It is among the 22 books a trio of Flagler County residents want banned. A joint committee of Matanzas and FPC faculty take on the challenge this afternoon.
(Redirected) Michael Blum, F-Section Resident on Probation, Arrested
Michael Philip Blum, a 45-year-old resident of 18 Felter Lane, was arrested in connection with the unexplained suspected explosion in a swale at Fernwood Lane and Fleetwood Drive in Palm Coast Friday afternoon, a short distance from Blum’s house.
Much-Touted App Swiped Off as Flagler Beach Re-Focuses on Clunky Website to Communicate
Flagler Beach’s year-long attempt to launch an app that would improve engagement and communication with residents is flickering out. The City Commission Thursday evening voted unanimously to end development of the app and shift money allocated for it back to improving the city’s website. There was little indication that the city was interested in further app development, though that door remains ajar.
Palm Coast Plan Proposes 102% Increase in Stormwater Rates in 4 Years. Council Is ‘Uncomfortable.’
A Palm Coast government consultant is proposing a 102 percent increase in homeowners’ stormwater rates over the next four years, what would equate to an annual bill of $542–more than what some homeowners pay in city property taxes. The City Council isn’t ready to go that far, but steeply higher rates are coming.
Volusia GOP House Rep. Webster Barnaby Likens Trans People to ‘Mutants,’ ‘Demons and Imps’
Florida House Rep. Webster Barnaby, A Volusia County Republican, called trans people “demons” and “imps,” and compares them to “mutants living among us on planet Earth” during a House Commerce Committee meeting on a bill that would ban transgenders’ use of bathrooms of their choice.
Andrew Mintz, Man at Center of Head-On Crash at Flagler Beach Pier, Faces Felony Charge
Andrew Mintz, the 34-year-old Palm Coast man at the origin of a three-vehicle crash near a crowd of officials and others by the Flagler Beach pier on April 1, has been charged with aggravated fleeing and eluding police while causing injuries or property damage, a second-degree felony with a penalty of up to 15 years in prison if convicted.
Anti-Trans ‘Bathroom Ban’ Is Quickly Moving Through Florida Legislature
Florida could be next in line to criminalize transgender adults who intentionally enter a restroom or changing facility opposite their sex at birth, according to two bills hastily moving through the Legislature. Similar bathroom bans are advancing through legislatures around the country.
Volusia-Flagler YMCA and Mayor Alfin in Big Push to Open Y in Palm Coast in About 2 Years
The Volusia Flagler Family YMCA is working with Palm Coast Mayor David Alfin and a corps of local community members to bring a YMCA to Palm Coast, with a rough goal of having a local facility under construction or near completion in about two years.
Palm Coast Chamber’s Disinformation on Student Performance and Superintendent Draws Sharp Rebukes
Superintendent Cathy Mittelstadt and School Board Vice Chair Colleen Conklin both issued sharply worded rebukes to rankly misinforming statements by the Flagler Palm Coast Chamber of Commerce regarding Mittelstadt’s performance in the last three years. A 3-2 majority of the school board fired Mittelstadt Tuesday, as of June 30.
For Over 2 Decades, Clarence Thomas Accepted Lavish Gifts from Billionaire Without Disclosing Them
For more than two decades, Thomas has accepted luxury trips virtually every year from real estate magnate and Republican megadonor Harlan Crow. The extent and frequency of Crow’s apparent gifts to Thomas have no known precedent in the modern history of the U.S. Supreme Court. His failure to report the flights appears to violate law.
Chong, Furry and Hunt in 3-2 Majority Not to Renew Superintendent Mittelstadt’s Contract
Rebuffing an outpouring of public support for Superintendent Cathy Mittelstadt at this evening’s special meeting, the Flagler County School Board voted 3-2 not to renew her contract when it expires in June.
Focusing on Student Use, Flagler School Board Nears Closer to Ending Belle Terre Swim Club’s Memberships
After a decade of hesitancy and inaction, the Flagler County School Board is wading closer to turning the Belle Terre Swim and Racquet Club into a student-focused facility, removing its use as a membership driven club, while still leaving the door open to public use on a leasing basis.
Ex-Condo Association President Sentenced to 2 Years in Prison for Secretly Filming Women
Robert William Orr, the former president of the Las Brisas Condo Association arrested on numerous charges of secretly capturing video of residents and guests, was sentenced on Monday to two years in prison followed by three years on sex-offender probation.
‘Promises Made and Kept’: ESE Parent Advisory Council Voices Unanimous Support for Superintendent
The parent-members of Flagler Schools’ ESE Parent Advisory Council (or EPAC) voted unanimously in support of the renewal or extension of Superintendent Cathy Mittelstadt’s contract, issuing a letter outlining the superintendent’s achievements and cautioning against yet more instability.
I Served on Flagler’s School District Book Review Committee, Only to Be Silenced
One of 14 members appointed by the Flagler school administration to a district-level committee to review the challenge to Amy Reed’s “The Nowhere Girls” describes the experience of being part of a 14-0 decision to retain the book, only to be overruled by the superintendent, who banned the book.
Peacock Sent Sally Hunt Script on Firing Superintendent Even as She Claimed ‘Due Diligence’
Flagler County School Board member Sally Hunt and Wadsworth Elementary Principal Paul Peacock were orchestrating the firing of Superintendent Cathy Mittelstadt as far back as February 22, a text Peacock sent Hunt two hours before a school board meeting shows. All along, Hunt claimed she was doing her “due diligence,” and that she had not made up her mind.
Challenged in Flagler Schools: John Green’s Looking For Alaska, a Review and a Recommendation
John Green’s “Looking for Alaska,” a novel of adolescence, friendship, loyalty and misjudgments, is among the 22 books so far this school year that a trio of individuals have sought to ban from high school library shelves. A committee meets on March 30 at 3 p.m. at Matanzas High School to decide whether to retain it or ban it.
Appeal to Supreme Court for Stay of Gaskin Execution Cites FlaglerLive Article on Juror’s Reversal
Among other arguments, Gaskin’s lawyers cite a March 15 FlaglerLive article in which Janet Valentine, one of the 12 jurors at Gaskin’s 1990 trial, saying she regrets being part of the 8-4 votes recommending his death. Valentine would go on to be Flagler County’s school superintendent between 2010 and 2014.
George Hanns, Defeated in 2016 After 24 Years, Plans Another Run for County Commission
George Hanns had served 24 years as a Flagler County Commissioner when he lost in 2016. He wants another run at it, this time as a Republican vying for the seat Donald O’Brien is vacating, and that Palm Coast Council member Ed Danko plans a run for.
Challenged in Flagler Schools: Ellen Hopkins’s Tilt, a Review and a Recommendation
In “Tilt,” Ellen Hopkins gives us the powerful coming of age story of three very engaging, very different American teenagers. The novel is on the list of books three Flagler County residents are seeking to ban. A Flagler Palm Coast High School committee discusses the challenge on Thursday.