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.
Backgrounders
Ask the Doctor: Covid and the Russian Flu, Vaccines, Allergy Shots and Colonoscopies, Future Booster Shots
In this latest installment of FlaglerLive’s “Ask the Doctor” column by Dr. Stephen Bickel, the medical director at the Flagler and Volusia Counties Health Departments, the doctor takes on an intriguing question about covid and the Russian flu of the late 1970s, whether booster vaccine shots will be needed, how allergy shots or colonoscopies affect vaccination, and so on.
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.
Anti-Maskers Subject Flagler School Board to Drizzle of Disinformation in Latest Attempt to Lift Mask Rules
The emergence of those anti-masking voices, while restricted to a very small but shrill handful, points to the sort of ideological talking points the board may have to contend with over the next weeks or months, which would be a distraction from the more pragmatic and busy agenda set out by Mittelstadt and the board.
Employee Ranks Double at Flagler’s Own Coastal Cloud as Company’s Vaccine and Testing Platforms Go Viral
Hammock-based Coastal Cloud’s testing and vaccine platforms, adopted by the Florida Division of Emergency Management, placed the company at the center of the state’s battle against covid and resulted in a doubling of the company’s ranks to 280, despite the crisis.
Covid Vaccine Eligibility Is a ‘Crazy Quilt’ of State Rules, Unleashing ‘Vaccine Jealousy’
The different vaccine-eligibility rules among states — and sometimes varying rules even within states — has created a mishmash. This has unleashed “vaccine jealousy” as people see friends and family in other states qualify ahead of them even if they are the same age or have the same occupation.
Palm Coast’s Lamar Johnson, 40, Dies After Driving Car Into Canal Off Club House Drive
The body of Lamar M. Johnson, 40, was recovered from the canal between Carol and Cardwell Court, near Club House Drive, late Thursday night after Johnson had driven his car into the water. The cause of the crash is not known.
Rolling the Bones: Jan Jackson Is Flagler County’s Artist of the Year
Jan Jackson is the Gargiulo Art Foundation’s Flagler County Artist of the Year for 2020, is a bit mystified by the methods of her muse, especially when it drives her to conjure art from skulls and bones – a predilection that didn’t manifest in her art until she was in her 60s.
Another Routine Traffic Stop Turns Violent, Leading to Arrest of Armed Fugitive Wanted for Murder
A traffic stop for speeding at Wawa in Palm Coast Wednesday night was the fourth seemingly routine traffic stop or street encounter in the last eight days that turned violent on local roads, this time leading to the arrest of a 21-year-old man wanted for murder in Georgia. He was carrying a loaded gun.
Draft Report on Flagler County Fire Department Finds Low Morale, Lack of Pride and Internal Dysfunctions
The report, underscoring internal dysfunctions and a lack of leadership, has been circulating within the administration for weeks, eliciting questions from administrative and elected officials, and may be ready for the commission in about two months.
How Flagler Was Far More “Staly Country” than Trump’s in 2020, and How Grand Haven Saved Milissa Holland
An analysis of Flagler County’s precinct-by-precinct vote last November reveals a few surprises, among them how Grand Haven powered incumbent Palm Coast Mayor Milissa Holland to her win and how Flagler was not so much “Trump Country” as “Staly Country” as the incumbent sheriff won his second term with 70 percent of the vote, with no discernible weaknesses across precincts.
The Trump Health Care Policies That Deserve to Stick Around
The Trump administration’s attempted market-based interventions shined some light on dark corners of the health market and opened the door to some workarounds. They are not meaningful substitutes for larger and much-needed health reform. But as Americans await the type of more fundamental changes the Democrats have promised, they need every bit of help they can get.
County Takes Extraordinary Legal Step to Demolish Derelict Motel on Old Dixie as Owners Stop Responding
Flagler County government has filed suit to condemn and demolish the long-derelict, yellowed Country Hearth Inn motel that’s vexed law enforcement, residents and county code enforcement officials for years near Dixie Commons along South Old Dixie Highway, not far from the interchange with I-95.
Two-Thirds of Flagler’s 65 and Over Have at Least One Shot of Vaccine, Minority Outreach Expands
As the CDC issues mask guidelines that provide some relief for those fully vaccinated, Flagler County nears the 25 percent mark for those who have at least one shot, but new cases of covid have spiked for the third straight week, signaling a still-raging pandemic.
Lysenko, Stalin and Trump
On the one-year mark of the coronavirus pandemic, Trump’s malicious, politically motivated anti-science handling of a calamity that has killed more than half a million Americans so far recalls the alliance between fake Soviet scientist Trofim Lysenko and Stalin, which led to the death of millions.
Ask the Doctor: On the Covid Vaccine’s Safety, Emerging Mutations, Viral Transmission Post-Vaccination
In this latest installment of FlaglerLive’s “Ask the Doctor” column by Dr. Stephen Bickel, the medical director at the Flagler and Volusia Counties Health Departments, the doctor takes on recurring questions about the covid vaccine’s safety, its effectiveness against new variants of the virus, and many other questions.
In a Victory for Flagler Government, Key Local Vacation Rental Regulations May Survive Yet Again
A Florida Senate panel today in a surprise shift voted to preserve local regulatory authority of short-term vacation rentals. If that version of the bill survives and overrides a different House bill, as appears likely, then local regulations will remain in place unscathed, surviving attempts to scrap that local authority for the seventh straight year.
Chillin’ Out: Palm Coast Residents Love Their Quality of Life and Safety, But Have Issues With Their City, Too
The 3,000 Palm Coast residents who responded to the city’s survey about living here were overwhelmingly 55 and over, appeared to have been little affected by the pandemic and declared themselves happy with the quality of life and safety of the city, but less so with economic, cultural and shopping opportunities.
Far More Than Stimulus Checks: Premiums Will Fall for Many in Biggest Obamacare Revamp in 10 Years
The proposal would ensure no one who buys insurance on the exchanges pays more than 8.5% of income. It is part of the $1.9 trillion covid relief bill. But the Affordable Care Act revamp, largest in a decade, would expire in 2022.
Latest Reinvention of Palm Coast Tennis Center Sees $5.7 Million Expansion and More Ahead, But Speculation Abounds
Palm Coast government is proposing an ambitious, multimillion transformation of the city’s tennis center off Belle Terre Parkway into a “Regional Racquet Center” featuring 42 tennis and pickleball courts, a clubhouse, space for events and other amenities. But the plan is based on largely speculative assertions of need even as tennis declines as a sport and the school board is rethinking its own racquet club’s future.
Biden’s Criticism of Trump Team’s Vaccine Contracts Is Mostly False
The Trump administration could have acted more quickly to buy doses or increase vaccine manufacturing capacity. And the Biden administration has certainly taken significant measures to expand supplies. But it’s stretching the truth to say the Trump administration hadn’t contracted for enough covid vaccines to inoculate the U.S. adult population.
Almost a Quarter of Flagler Is Vaccinated, But Cases Rise; CDC Says Fully Vaccinated May Unmask In Some Cases
As the CDC issues mask guidelines that provide some relief for those fully vaccinated, Flagler County nears the 25 percent mark for those who have at least one shot, but new cases of covid have spiked for the third straight week, signaling a still-raging pandemic.
Why We Can’t Make Vaccine Doses Any Faster
President Biden has promised enough doses for all American adults by this summer. There’s not much even the Defense Production Act can do to deliver doses before then.
The Golden Rule Is Not Cancel Culture
The Dr. Seuss estate’s decision to pull six books from reprints has nothing to do with cancel culture. That pair of terms has become its own dogmatic dumbbell anyway. Our misplaced nostalgia for books we were so fond of isn’t more important than the golden rule of looking out for our neighbors, to whom the same nostalgia translates as insult or put-down.
Now Florida’s Only 2nd All-American Road, Storied A1A Has Long Navigated Between Quaint and Crass
State Road A1A is now an All-American Road, adding to the road’s paradoxes of beauty and history on one side and and relentless commercialization and development on the other, though the same people who applaud its scenic designation are also those who endanger it most.
Sharply Rebuking More McDonald Falsehoods, School Board Says No Mask-Rule Changes This Year
School Board member Janet McDonald was again the outlier on Tuesday as she pressed for a relaxation of mask rules while repeating falsehoods about masks and vaccines. Superintendent Cathy Mittelstadt took her strongest stand yet, saying the district would not alter its current covid-safety protocols. A majority of the school board agreed.
It’s a County Priority, But Quest to Bring Broadband to Flagler’s West Side Runs Into County Hurdles
County Commissioner Joe Mullins is seeking county staff’s help with an informal broadband “task force” he leads to land a grant that could improve internet services on the west side, raising questions about the extent to which the county can get involved in a group it has not formally recognized or knew much about even though broadband access is now a county priority.
More Than Half of Flagler’s Seniors Have Been Vaccinated, But County’s Covid Deaths Now at 92
So far 19,311 of Flagler County’s 36,500 people who are 65 and over have been vaccinated with at least one shot, representing 53 percent of the senior population (age 65 and over), up from 45 percent seven days ago.
When You Get Your Chance for a Covid Vaccine, Don’t Worry About Effectiveness Numbers
When getting vaccinated against covid-19, there’s no sense being picky. You should take the first authorized vaccine that’s offered, experts say, whether it’s Moderna, Pfizer or Johnson & Johnson, no matter what the effectiveness numbers say.
Florida Senate Veers Right on Reams of Controversial Bills, Isolating Democratic Minority
The November elections, the coronavirus pandemic and an expanded GOP caucus have emboldened Senate leaders to embrace what may be the most conservative agenda in recent years as they prepare for the 2021 legislative session that begins Tuesday.
Outta’ Sight: Flagler Auditorium Celebrates Community with Covid-Conscious Concert Series
The Cherry Drops’s Feb. 27 show will be Flagler Auditorium’s second in its Community Celebration Series, a multi-artist, multi-media string of spring performances that lives up to its title. Along with concerts by mostly area music artists, each event will include presentations and activities by area civic and cultural groups such as the Flagler County Historical Society, and the Palm Coast Cruisers with their car show.
Belle Terre Swim Club, in Deficit, is Not Closing Yet. But the School Board Needs Help Keeping It Open.
School board members don’t want to close the facility. But for the second time in six years, the club is in deficit and the district is using dollars designed to run its K-12 operations to keep it afloat, though the club is used primarily by adults. That’s not a tenable situation.
Covid Vaccination Report: 17.1% in Flagler Have at Least 1 Shot, 45.2% of 65 and Over
The latest proportions of people vaccinated for Covid-19 in Flagler County, Florida and the United States, according to the Florida Department of Health and the Centers for Disease Control.
Addiction Is Not a Crime. The Drug War Is.
To continue with our cruel and sadistic drug war is the daily crime. The only way out is to decriminalize all drugs, treat, repair and, somehow, atone for lawmakers’ and the judicial system’s half-century assault on their own citizens.
In Flagler Beach, 4 of 5 Candidates for City Commission and Mayor Liven Only Forum Ahead of March 2 Election
The Flagler Woman’s Club hosted a forum featuring incumbent Commissioner Eric Cooley, whose opponent, Paul Harrington, was a no-show, and all three candidates vying to replace Linda Provencher as mayor: Kim Carney, Suzy Johnston and Pat Quinn. Here’s a full summary of the evening.
Ask the Doctor: Returning Children to School Safely, All Those Post-Vaccine Reactions, HIV-Patient Eligibility
Dr. Stephen Bickel answers new questions about the anxieties of returning children to school in covid times, the effects (or non-effects) of the covid vaccine on various medical conditions, the eligibility of populations other than those 65-and-over for the vaccine, and more.
In Flagler Beach, the Two Finalists for City Manager Are a Contrast of Experience and Personalities
William Whitson has managed four cities and was assistant manager of Port orange for eight years, Dru Driscoll has worked 22 years in Daytona Beach, the last few as deputy city manager and fire chief. They are seeking to replace the late Larry Newsom, who died in August.
Reilly Opelka Loses Epic Five-Setter Against Best Friend Fritz at Australian Open
The 23-year-old battled his best friend, Taylor Fritz, for more than four hours in a second-round match at the Australian Open, and was at one juncture just two points away from winning and getting to the third round Down Under for the first time.
Confrontation at City Hall Prompts Palm Coast to Add Armed Security and Consider Metal Detector
Employees’ confrontation with a man who refused to wear a mask before a recent Palm Coast Council meeting was the last straw for the manager, who opted to add armed security and soon add a metal detector outside the public meeting venue. He said the generally more tense atmosphere here and elsewhere is prompting moves for greater security.
Why the U.S. Is Underestimating Covid Reinfection
Hundreds of Americans suspect they contracted covid early in the pandemic and recovered, only to get infected again months later. But because the U.S. does so little genetic sequencing of covid samples, we don’t know much about reinfection rates.
Healthy Opelka, Ranked 40 in the World, Hopes to Start 2021 Tennis Season With Strong Australian Open
Reilly Opelka’s career has been hampered by injuries, but the 7-foot ex-Palm Coast resident who still has strong ties to the community opens his bid at the Australian Open this weekend healthy and strong, and ranked 40 in the world.
Flagler County Government Will Host Weekly Feel-Good Show on Local Radio
Flagler County commissioners haven’t discussed it publicly yet–or agreed to it–but the county administration is preparing to host a weekly radio show, or infomercial, on WNZF, the Flagler Broadcasting station, starting likely in February. The sponsored half-hour show would focus on feel-good stories, profiles of county employees, and highlights of county doings.
Punting Responsibility, County Pits Hammock Neighbors Against Each Other Over Its Public Boat Ramp Giveaway
Flagler County government owns the unmarked, unguarded road segment of Pamela Parkway in the Hammock that ends as a boat ramp and that once cost a woman her life as she unknowingly drove into the Intracoastal. The county wants to give away the right of way to two homeowners in exchange for the homeowners building a seawall. Other residents object.
Anti-Vaccine Activists Are Peddling False Claims That Covid Shots Are Deadly, Undermining Vaccination
Anti-vaccine groups are exploiting the suffering and death of people who happen to fall ill after receiving a covid shot, threatening to undermine the largest vaccination campaign in U.S. history. In some cases, anti-vaccine activists are fabricating stories of deaths that never occurred.
5 Contestants, 2 Seats: Flagler Beach Woman’s Club Hosting Candidates’ Night Ahead of City Election
Flagler Beach and Beverly Beach are holding the year’s first local elections on March 2. The Beverly Beach races are uncontested, though the city will have two new commissioners. The Flagler Beach races for mayor and one commission seat very much are contested.
Sea Ray Plant Will Reopen as Boston Whaler, Bringing Back 300 to 400 Jobs and Annexing Into Palm Coast
Capping a whirling six months of major economic-development victories for Palm Coast, and two and a half years after the Sea Ray plant shut down off Colbert Lane, eliminating some 440 high-paying jobs, the plant will reopen very soon under the banner of Boston Whaler, a boat builder owned by Sea Ray’s parent, Brunswick Corp.
Ask the Doctor: No, Vaccines Contain No Aborted Fetus Tissue, Socializing Without Masks, Politics of Vaccines
Dr. Stephen Bickel answers two dozen new questions, including about the politics and logistics of the vaccine rollout, whether vaccinated people may socialize without masks, and numerous specific questions about the vaccine and beyond it.
Flagler Grand Jury Issues 4 Indictments for Murder, 2 More in Drug Deaths, 2 in Killing of Deon O’Neal Jenkins
The indictments of Allyson Dawn Bennett, 39, and Javian Neesmith, 21, are Flagler County’s second and third for murder stemming from the death of individuals from drug overdoses–a relatively new, rapidly expanding but also increasingly controversial trend in criminal prosecutions that began with the emergence of the fentanyl epidemic.
Biden Terms Vaccine Rollout ‘A Dismal Failure’ as He Unveils Pandemic Response Plan
During his Thursday speech outlining what he’s dubbed the “American Rescue Plan,” Biden made several claims about the current response to the pandemic and how it’s affecting Americans. Statements are fact-checked and given context.
As Covid Patient Load Keeps Breaking Records at AdventHealth Palm Coast, ER Director Gives Inside Look
As the Covid-19 patient load reaches 35–the hospital is licensed for 113 beds–Dr. Paul Mucciolo, AdventHealth Palm Coast’s ER medical director until last year, and the Chief of Staff since, details the hospital’s response and challenges to a record surge.