There will be no evictions at Bulow RV Park at least through the end of July. The Flagler County Commission extracted that concession from Bulow park management this afternoon in exchange for a stay on enforcing county regulations against dozens of RV sites that have become unregulated, permanent home, in violation of both county code and park rules. But park management doubts six months will be sufficient for a permanent solution, and county officials are finding their powers so limited that should evictions resume, there won’t much they can do.
Backgrounders
C.J. Nelson, Father to 22-Year-Old Accused in Shooting Death of Toddler, Faces Tampering and Obstruction Charges
In mid-November, 22-year-old C.J. Nelson Jr. was charged with manslaughter in the shooting death of his 18-month-old niece. Today, Nelson’s father, C.J. Nelson Sr., 46, was arrested on two charges of tampering with evidence in connection with the shooting, and two charges of providing false information to police during the investigation.
An Interview with Acclaimed Civil Rights Attorney and Equal Justice Initiative Founder Bryan Stevenson
Bryan Stevenson is the founder of the Equal Justice Initiative, a legal clinic in Montgomery, Ala., that’s made strides on prisoners’ behalf, and the National Memorial for Peace and Justice, a six-acre remembrance space highlighting the racial terrorism campaign that saw the lynching of over 6,500 victims, including women and children. In a wide-ranging interview, he reflects on the state of race in America and how honest accounts of history can help overcome resistance to progress.
Proposed Old Kings Village’s 205-Home Subdivision Still Clashing With Polo Club West’s Cling to Old Florida
The clash has as much to do with the opaque minutiae of land-use regulations as it does with something anyone in Palm Coast and Flagler County can relate to: what kind of community do residents want for themselves, and how far should the city go to change zoning and land use designations that result in two vastly different subdivisions–one densely packed with homes, one not, with a rapidly increasing population adding its own pressures on diminishing green spaces.
A Note To My Grandson
Well dear Felix, this is the day chosen for you–as so much has been since before your conception, as almost everything will be for the next dozen years, as most things will be after that–to be born into this, not quite our world: you arrived as scheduled a little after 7 this morning, your time.
Raising Alarms, Pontieri Calls for Moratorium on Flood-Prone Construction Until Regulations Are Rewritten
Palm Coast City Council member Theresa Pontieri unexpectedly called for a 60 to 90-day moratorium on construction on so-called in-fill lots, the traditional quarter-acre lots that ITT platted, or until until the city’s revised construction regulations are enacted. The regulations address issues that have caused flooding on existing lots. Pontieri’s proposal, to be considered for adoption on Jan. 16, drew a startled response from the Flagler County Home Builders Association and caution from some council members.
Judge Rules Migrant Held Responsible for Death of Deputy After Arrest Is Incompetent to Stand Trial
Circuit Judge R. Lee Smith ruled that Vergilio Aguilar Mendez, the 18-year-old migrant held responsible for the death of a St. Johns County deputy of a cardiac episode several minutes after Mendez was arrested, is incompetent to proceed to trial and is to receive “competency restoration” while held at the Volusia County Branch Jail. The order suspends further criminal proceedings, but may be abrogated over the next 60 days should the treatment restore competency to the court’s satisfaction.
Social Media Regulation, AI, ‘Deregulation’ of Public Schools and Child Labor: 10 Top Issues of Legislative Session
Florida lawmakers will start the annual 60-day legislative session on Jan. 9, with Gov. Ron DeSantis giving his State of the State address before shuttling back to Iowa ahead of the caucus there on Jan. 15, with a slate of proposals–on artificial intelligence, the elimination of numerous regulations in public schools, allowances for 16 and 17 year olds to work longer hours–crowding the legislative agenda.
Flagler Beach’s New Year’s Fireworks Celebration Draws 500 People and Hula Hoops of Raves
Flagler Beach may have ignited a new tradition for itself and the county as some 500 people turned up at Veterans Park and around the pier in the waning minutes of 2023 Sunday for the city’s inaugural surf board drop and New Year’s fireworks.
Women United Flagler Allocates Nearly $38,000 to Local Agencies
Women United Flagler, an affinity group of United Way of Volusia-Flagler Counties, is pleased to announce the group recently distributed grants and scholarships totaling $29,350 to Flagler County Non-Profit agencies and an additional $8,644 to the United Way Community Impact Fund, which serves nonprofits in both Volusia and Flagler Counties.=
We Asked Flagler County Leaders to Tell Us About Their Favorite Book of 2023. Their Answers Are Page-Turners.
Twenty-one Flagler County leaders–in politics, culture, business, education, media–were asked to tell us about their favorite book of 2023. The very wide-ranging responses were always enlightening and often surprising, showing how minor our political or ideological differences can be, or ought to be, when we connect on a cultural and personal or literary level, which is to say: a human, or humanist, level.
‘That Was My Home’: The Homeless Are Being Purged Out of Their Encampments
More than 653,000 Americans are experiencing homelessness in 2023, a 12% increase from last year. Among the people experiencing homelessness, 64% are unsheltered. As tent encampments continue to dot urban landscapes — strewn around parks, along sidewalks, lining highways or sometimes abutting schools — many cities have increased their sweeps, some governors have announced funding to clear encampments, and several states have outlawed the tent communities altogether.
Judge Mulls Trial Competency of Migrant Facing Manslaughter Charge in Sudden Death of Deputy After Arrest
Declaring it a “complex situation,” Circuit Court Judge R. Lee Smith at the end of a three-hour hearing today said he needed time to think before issuing a decision on whether Vergilio Aguilar Mendez, the 18-year-old migrant controversially charged with manslaughter in the death of a St. Johns County deputy Michael Kunovich last May, is competent to stand trial. Kunovich died several minutes after Mendez was arrested for resisting arrest after a stop-and-frisk encounter in St. Augustine.
Flagler Students Violated Limited Cell Phone Ban 1,300 Times This Year; Principals Caution Against Total Ban
There’s no recommendation from the administration to go further than the current cell-phone ban in schools, which still allows students to use their phones between classes and at lunch. If anything, Flagler’s middle and high school principals are cautioning the school board against imposing a stricter ban, finding the current balance effective and educational.
Moore Overruled Panel to Name Cari McGee, Outspoken Diversity Expert and Advocate, Bunnell Elementary Principal
Superintendent LaShakia Moore’s choice of Cari McGee as Bunnell Elementary’s next principal says as much about Moore’s willingness to buck recommendations and trust her own instinct as it does about McGee, a committed and–like Moore, opinionated and socially conscious–leader who a few years ago signed her name to an open letter condemning “inaction in the face of oppression” and lambasting Nancy Pelosi for using the language of white supremacy.
The Affidavit Behind Rape Allegation Against Florida GOP Chair Christian Ziegler
The release of Sarasota police’s sworn affidavit provides facts about the rape investigation of Florida GOP Chairman Christian Ziegler, writes investigative reporter Bob Norman. The facts are damning primarily to Ziegler, but also to his wife Bridget Ziegler, a Sarasota School Board member and cofounder of the right-wing, book-banning group Moms for Liberty.
Heather Haywood’s ‘Inauthentic’ Records Fail to Prove Incendiary Accusation Against Flagler Commissioner Hansen
Flagler County Attorney Al Hadeed said Friday that Planning Board member Heather Haywood, who has made false and public accusations against Commissioner Greg Hansen, has not been responsive to a public record request, and what she has submitted about “Hansen” is deemed “inauthentic”–that is, either fabricated or part of a scam. The County Commission on Monday is to vote on whether to retain Haywood’s membership on the planning board or to remove her.
School Board’s Cheryl Massaro Will Run Again, Saying Reign of Rookies Scares Her
When Cheryl Massaro was elected to the Flagler County School Board a little over three years ago, she intended to serve one term. The past year’s aberrations on the board by its three rookies and constituents’ pressures on her not to retire in the face of those aberrations changed her mind. Massaro is running again.
City Attorney Warns Palm Coast Away from Directly, Financially Aiding Flooded Property Owners
Palm Coast City Council member Ed Danko wants the city to more directly aid property owners whose yards have been flooded from adjacent, new construction, but the city attorney says funds may not be spent to benefit any single private property owners. The city administration will look at alternatives.
Sheriff’s Shop With a Cop Raises Over $35,000 for Christmas Spree, Shattering records
Flagler County Sheriff’s Office employees contributed nearly $25,000 and community organizations another $10,000 to the Flagler Sheriff Children’s Charities Shop With A Cop event set for Dec. 15 at the Palm Coast Walmart.
Flagler Schools Again a ‘B’ District, With Only 2 Schools Notching A’s and FPC Improving to B
Twenty-nine Florida school districts–or 43 percent of districts in the state–scored an A this year. The Flagler County school district is not among them. The district notched another B, its ninth in the last 10 years that the state Department of Education has awarded school grades.. When a plurality of districts across the state score an A and Flagler does not, it makes it harder for the district to claim, as its motto likes to claim, that it is a “premier learning organization,” or that it promotes a “culture of excellence.”
The Wheels Are Falling Off the Ronbo Bus
Ron DeSantis has decided to show how tough he is, going on the offensive not against Moscow but against a peaceable nation of pink buildings, blue seas, and Black people, wooing voters in Iowa and New Hampshire by hollering, “Like, if the Bahamas were firing rockets into Fort Lauderdale, like, we would not accept that for, like, one minute. I mean, we would just level it.”
How DeSantis and GOP Are Undermining Abortion-Right Ballot Initiatives Before the Vote
As abortion-rights initiative pick up victories in referendums, Republicans across the nation, exemplified by Florida’s Ron DeSantis, want to change the terms of the debate by injecting it with misinformation or overriding the referendum process.
Jury Sides with Physician and AdventHealth in Wrongful Death Lawsuit Involving 38-Year-Old Palm Coast Man
Ending a seven-day civil trial, a six-person jury on Tuesday found that Dr. Kizhake Kurian, a cardiologist who practices in Palm Coast with AdventHealth Medical Group, was not negligent in the death of Richard Starr, a 38-year-old Palm Coast resident who had been in relative good health until a series of heart-related medical episodes in the last days of March 2018.
Proposed Joint Agreement on Bunnell’s Carver Center Governance Gives Sheriff’s PAL New and Larger Role
A proposed joint agreement on governing the Carver Center in South Bunnell–the area’s only recreation and community center–gives the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office’s Police Athletic League a broader presence and a much more prominent role in the management of the facility, especially in programming and running the gym.
Gabriella Alo Sentenced to 6 Years in Prison, Her Brother to 2 in Attacks in Flagler Beach
Gabriella Alo, the 19-year-old Palm Coast woman at the center of a pair of seemingly sadistic assaults in Flagler Beach last January was sentenced to 6 years in prison. Alo’s brother, Nicholas, 22, was sentenced to two years in prison, with credit for nearly a year he’s served, followed by three years on probation.
In Major Decision, Unanimous Supreme Court Rules ‘Marsy’s Law’ Does Not Shield Victims’ Names from Public Disclosure
A 2018 constitutional amendment designed to bolster victims’ rights “does not explicitly” shield the identities of police officers — or any other people — from disclosure, the Florida Supreme Court ruled in a major decision on Thursday. “Protecting crime victims from being located — as opposed to identified — is a meaningful distinction, for exposure of a crime victim’s location creates a threat of physical danger that exposure of his or her name alone does not generally pose,” the decision reads.
The Kissinger Delusion
This man’s death, way overdue–Kissinger lives to be 100 but Hank Williams, born the same year, dies at 30?–is a tragedy only in one sense: despite the copious and undisputed record about one of the most brutal men of the 20th century, Kissinger is still garnering bootlicking tributes. The tragedy is that America does not learn. It rinses the blood and repeats.
Marineland Mayor Angela TenBroeck Invited to Address UN’s Climate Change Summit in Dubai
Marineland Mayor Angela TenBroeck is on her way to Dubai, where she’s been invited to address the United Nations’ climate change summit. The summit includes representatives from nearly 200 countries and thousands of businesses, non-governmental organizations and advocates for a cleaner, cooler planet. TenBroeck will be on on a series of panels addressing clean water, workforce, economic development, hunger alleviation and justice for indigenous people.
Flagler’s Top Prosecutor’s Advice to New Cops: Be Truthful, No Tattoos, and Don’t Be ‘a D*ckhead’
Five new recruits for the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office and Flagler Beach police got a blunt, unfiltered briefing on how to testify in court from Assistant State Attorney Jason Lewis. It was a rare look, witnessed by FlaglerLive, at the dynamic between prosecutors and cops on the usually confidential fringes of court cases, and at how prosecutors prepare, guide and at times admonish police before they take the witness stand, since a cop’s testimony can make or break a case.
County Not Yet Stoked for Skate Park Improvements But Approves 4 Pickleball Courts at Wadsworth Park
Wadsworth Park, the 45-acre county facility on the mainland side of the Flagler Beach bridge, will soon see a tennis court converted to four pickleball courts, but county commissioners are not ready to approve a plan to renovate the skateboarding park: the county administration is proposing a band aid, while users of the park are advocating for a more ambitious, but also more permanent, renovation.
Ex-Bloods Gang Leader Brandon Washington, Serving Life, Duels Again with Prosecutor in Losing Bid for Relief
Brandon Washington was once the local gang leader of the “East Coast Bloods.” He was tried in 2011 and found guilty of a 2007 home invasion robbery and murder on Palm Coast’s on Pheasant Drive, and is serving four life terms. Today, he dueled with the prosecutor who won that conviction as Washington and his attorney argued that he’d had ineffective representation at trial. He did not prevail, but appeared to enjoy himself greatly.
9-Building, 216-Unit Apartment Complex Would Line Old Kings Road South of Palm Coast Parkway
The Palm Coast Planning Board in a 5-2 vote that reflected some sharp resistance to the project recommended approval of a master plan for a nine-building, 216-apartment complex lined along Old Kings Road’s two lanes, halfway between Palm Coast Parkway and Town center Boulevard. It would be by far the largest development visible from the road south of Utility Drive, changing the complexion of what had been one of Palm Coast’s last remaining greenways.
Factual Yowls Aside, Palm Coast Says Community Cats’ Trap, Neuter and Release Program Is Working
The Palm Coast City Council heard an enthusiastic report on the city’s partnership with Community Cats and its Trap, Neuter and Release program, which seeks to limit the feral cat population, with volunteer caretakers feeding and caring for the cats. The report contained notable factual errors and some lack of perspective.
Realtors Want Their Signs in Rights of Way. Palm Coast Warns that Hate and Other Signs Would Follow.
Palm Coast Council member Ed Danko is leading the charge on behalf of Realtors and other businesses to open up city rights of way to their advertising signs on weekends. Fellow Council member Theresa Pontieri is warning that doing so would open up rights of ways to every sign imaginable, including hate signs, while overwhelming the city’s Code Enforcement Department. The council is split on an issue it will have to decide soon.
Consultant Says Palm Coast Residents Must Pay Cost of Future Growth With Higher Water Bills. Council Recoils.
Growth is increasing your cost of living as an existing resident of Palm Coast, and you’re going to have to pay for it in higher water and sewer bills, according to a utility-rate consultant Palm Coast government hired. City Council members are not nearly so sure, and are asking for new numbers, possibly sharply raising impact fees on developers and builders.
Man Destroys a Room in Reckless Shooting Spree at Topaz Motel Before His Arrest at Gunpoint Blocks Away
A 35-year-old man who claimed he was being chased by assassins with AR-15 rifles fired numerous rounds through the door and windows of Room 214 at the Topaz Motel in Flagler Beach, facing State Road A1A, in a shooting spree that destroyed the room.
154 Participants Later, Flagler Cares’ Opioid Recovery Initiative Marks Its First Year, With New Wheels
The Coordinated Opioid Recovery initiative launched in Flagler County a year ago under the umbrella of Flagler Cares, umbrella. It’s a multi-layered approach that shepherds individuals toward recovery through medically-assisted treatment, peer-to-peer counseling, mental health and other services. Last week it marked its anniversary with, among other things, the ribbon-cutting for an outreach vehicle run by Flagler Open Arms Recovery Services.
Condemn Palestinians’ Genocidal Rhetoric–and Israel’s Genocidal War
There’s unquestionably some river-to-the-sea anti-Semitism out there. It should be and is being denounced. But conflating all criticism of Israel with anti-Semitism is itself a form of bigotry that places Palestinian lives beneath contempt and Israeli policy above reproach, even as swaths of Gaza in November 2023 look like Dresden in February 1945 and anti-Palestinian rhetoric in media and government continues to be indistinguishable from the vilest racism.
Controversial PragerU Materials that Distort Science and Whitewash History Gain Foothold in Florida Schools
PragerU, which is not a university, is founded and run by conservative talk-show host Dennis Prager and funded by a number of like-minded philanthropists. PragerU touts its conservative view as a “free alternative to the dominant left-wing ideology in culture, media, and education.” But critics say it distorts science and whitewashes unpleasant aspects of historical events.
As It Fields Flood of Complaints, Palm Coast Is Revising Building Rules to Limit New Houses’ Fill Elevations
Palm Coast government, responding in part to mounting complaints about flooding seemingly caused by new construction of much higher homes in the city’s quarter-acre single family home lots, is working swiftly to limit how high the slab elevation of new homes, and the fill beneath it, may go. A new house at 98 Birchwood Drive has been ground zero of a problem that until now had not drawn broad attention or responses by the city.
Bowing to Bitter Public Opposition, Council Kills Seminole Woods Apartments and Limits Development to 416 Homes
In a twin blow to the developer–and to the city’s meager apartment market–the Palm Coast City Council Tuesday rejected a rezoning application that would have allowed for an apartment complex near the south end of Seminole Woods Boulevard, and rejected a land use change that would have allowed for the total number of housing units there to go from 416 to 850.
Judge Orders 85-Year-Old Man Accused in Woodlands Murder to Be Evaluated for Competence
Circuity Judge Terence Perkins today ordered a neuropsychological evaluation of Charles Kidd Jr., the 85-year-old former resident of Blare Drive in Palm Coast’s Woodlands accused of murdering 36-year-old Mark Ruschmeier in August.
A Student Is Bitten By a Wild Rat at Buddy Taylor Middle School’s Farm; Teacher Reprimanded
Two Buddy Taylor Middle School students were bitten and one of them injured by wild rats, while two dozen students were exposed to the rats as a teacher was flushing them out of a hole with a water hose at the school’s farm. The activity was neither part of a lesson plan nor of the curriculum.
Drone Footage Shows Extent of Flagler Playhouse Fire’s Irreparable Devastation; Likely an Electrical Cause
Drone footage of the aftermath of the Flagler Playhouse fire shows annihilating damage you cannot see from street level, with the entirety of the theater–the main building–as if systematically bombed through its nave. The multilayered roof of metal, asphalt shingles and wood has collapsed, melted from within. The iconic spire somehow kept standing at the front of the building, held up by metal trusses, though it’s a matter of time before it is removed.
Two Crashes Kill Three People In Deadliest Day This Year on Flagler Roads
In the deadliest day on Flagler County roads this year, three people died in two unrelated vehicle crashes barely two hours apart on Sunday in Palm Coast.
Politicians Love To Cite Crime Data. It’s Often Wrong.
When Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis announced his presidential campaign in May, he proudly told the nation that Florida’s crime rate in 2021 had reached a 50-year low. But really, DeSantis couldn’t say for sure. That’s because fewer than 1 in 10 law enforcement agencies in his state had reported their crime statistics to the FBI.
The Big Reveal
Riding Brightline: The Great, the Brash and the Ugly
Earlier this month FlaglerLive Editor Pierre Tristam and his son took a 24-hour round-trip from Orlando to Miami aboard Brightline’s new high-speed line, discovering what may be–what ought to be–the future of rail travel in Florida with all its pleasures, possibilities and limitations. Here’s the story of the trip and a review of the travel experience.
School Board Attorney Gavin Fends Off Firing Squad as Superintendent Will Negotiate Possible Transition
The Flagler County School Board Tuesday evening again stopped short of firing Kristy Gavin, its attorney, after it was sharply cautioned by Superintendent LaShakia Moore against taking such a vote without counsel and risking serious financial consequences. The board voted 4-1 to allow Moore to negotiate moving Gavin to the position of staff attorney, answering to only to Moore.
Hailey Lulgjuraj Ended Chemo a Week Ago. She Is Hosting a Benefit for Breast Cancer Patients and Survivors Saturday.
Hailey Lulgjuraj has just ended treatment after she was diagnosed with breast cancer and had a double mastectomy. She never stopped working. She decided to channel her gratitude toward the first annual “Tides of Hope” benefit for breast cancer patients and survivors at Oceanside Beach Bar & Grill, the Flagler Beach restaurant her husband co-owns with her brother in law. She tells the story behind the benefit.