Break-in at Pathways Academy, vandalism at Mother Seton’s cemetery, and for 88-year-old Richard Deeves, a car wreck on April 6 was followed by his home being burglarized a few days later.
Palm Coast
At Nature Scapes, Palm Coast Garden Club Grows Its Annual Show Into a Special Event
The Palm Coast Garden Club found a new home for its annual garden show at Nature Scapes, the stately nursery on Old Brick Road, where, on Saturday, some 50 vendors drew a few thousand visitors and plant lovers.
Jacksonville Symphony in Palm Coast Sunday For Its Annual Pilgrimage to Rhythm of Pops
The Jacksonville Symphony’s pops concert at Town Center is the Palm Coast Arts Foundation’s annual gift–well, at $35 a pop–and fund-raiser for an eventual arts center. Some 52 musicians will play works by Copland, Mozart, and Broadway and movie tunes.
Tea Party’s Tom Lawrence, Back to His Roots, Endorses ½-Cent Sales Tax Before 135 Partiers
Tom Lawrence, the ardent anti-tax tea party chairman, was the champion of the sales tax Palm Coast lobbied for 10 years ago. He urged the Flagler tea party membership to support the tax again at the polls this year, boosting county government’s arguments for the tax, which Palm Coast so far has not embraced enthusiastically.
Bed Soars: At Flagler County Jail, a Daily “Shell Game” Balancing Risk With Overcrowding
A tour of the Flagler County jail reveals the sort of calculations jail staff must make every day to fit close to 150 inmates in a facility built for 132 as the sheriff and the county commission try to convince other governments–and voters–that money is needed to expand.
Citing Health Concerns and Competition, Palm Coast Kills Home-Based Bakeries
Palm Coast Mayor Jon Netts proved to be the swing vote against an initiative that would have allowed small bakeries to operate out of homes. The rejection adds to the city’s pattern of conflicted reactions to start-ups–supporting them with one hand while scuttling them with the other.
Car Plows Through Publix Entrance at Belle Terre; 10 Injured, But Heroic Acts, Too
A car plowed at least 20 feet through the main entrance of Publix at the Belle Terre and Palm Coast Parkway at 1:30 this afternoon causing eight injuries and one trauma alert. Authorities are at the scene evaluating the injured. Will have more details at they become available.
Panera Bread’s Covelli Secret: From Ohio to Palm Coast, By Way of a Social Conscience
Panera Bread’s odyssey from seed to giant, and its remarkable expansion during the country’s toughest years is a rarely told story of fortune and resilience, with that rare additive for American businesses: a social conscience.
Cypress Point Fire Enters Mop-Up Phase as Emergency Passes, But Smoke Will Persist
The fire between Mother Seton Catholic church and Cypress Point Parkway started at 4 .m. and burned close to 10 acres. Division of Forestry crews were burning more ground this morning on purpose, to prevent flare-ups. A section of Cypress Point Parkway was closed.
After Joint Meeting, Palm Coast and the County Remain Far Apart Over Sales Tax Renewal
Palm Coast and the county disagree over how to split $4 million in annual revenue from the a half-cent sales surtax. The county wants more than it’s been getting. A joint meeting Tuesday produced good will but no breakthrough.
Panera Bread Rises Crisply in Palm Coast, With Promise of Second Location Within a Year
Panera Bread in Palm Coast, long awaited, opened to a special reception for a few hundred people on Tuesday at the State Road 100 location, with a grand public opening on Wednesday. The company is planning a second location on Palm Coast Parkway by early 2013.
Palm Coast Data Revenue Now Half Its 2008 Level, When It Signed Job-Creation Deals
Palm Coast Data’s revenue was down to $15.6 million in the last quarter, less than half the $32.2 million it recorded in the quarter preceding its agreement to consolidate in Palm Coast. The company won’t say how many jobs are on its Palm Coast payroll.
Bogus Claim of Armed Kidnapping Leads Flagler Deputies and Air One on Costly Search
Robert Geroux, a 19-year-old Pennsylvanian, was arrested on charges of lying to law enforcement and making a false crime report after a road trip with a man from Pennsylvania went awry in Palm Coast Saturday evening.
In Palm Coast’s New Garbage Contract, Some Savings and Big, Green, Long-Term Benefits
The $7 million, 5-year contract Palm Coast ratified with Waste Pro this week requires the company to build a natural gas fueling station and make it available to city vehicles by June 1, 2013, opening the way for considerable potential savings and cleaner fuel consumption for some of the city’s 258 vehicles.
Gap of Dollars and Concerns Splits Flagler County and Palm Coast Over Sales Tax Renewal
The two local governments are far apart over how to split revenue from a sales tax surcharge voters would have to approve this November, causing Palm Coast to think of dumping the sales tax–and the county to panic–as the two head for a joint meeting next week.
Cop Chase Through F Section Nets Arrest of a Chronic Injunction Violator
Barry Gallagher was jailed several times on drunk driving and domestic violence charge when, on Sunday, he broke his injunction, sought out his wife’s car and led police on a chase that finally ended near Freneau Lane.
“We Are Trayvon Martin”: Two Moms Mobilize 125 Protesters in Spirited Palm Coast March
Saying the killing of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in Sanford could have happened to themselves or their own children, protesters in hoodies, brandishing skittles, iced tea and signs marched and chanted for more than an hour along Belle Terre Parkway Thursday evening.
Seriously Sit-Com: A Play in High “Art” at Palm Coast’s City Repertory Theatre
Three friends. A white painting. And the mayhem it causes. The latest play at Palm Coast’s City Repertory Theatre, opening Friday (at Hollingsworth gallery) is a provocative comedy that’s been translated in 35 languages since its premier in Paris in 1994.
Desecration By Neglect: Palm Coast’s Masonic Cemetery Decaying Again 2 Years After Lift
A vandalized grave and exposed casket. Crosses thrown about. Piles of garbage: Palm Coast’s historic black Masonic Cemetery, refurbished with the city’s help just two years ago, is sinking into neglect again, with no help in sight.
In a Blow to the County, Palm Coast Explores Switch from Sales Tax to New Utility Taxes
The Palm Coast City Council is exploring dropping a half-cent sales tax surcharge it’s been levying with the county for 10 years, and adopting instead new utility taxes without need for voter approval or splitting revenue with the county.
Tea Party’s Medicare Beneficiaries Honk Up Palm Coast Against Federal Health Mandate
Some 50 to 60 Flagler tea party activists clumped around a Palm Coast intersection Monday, protesting “Obamacare” in a distinctly less impressive display of numbers or passions than in previous rallies.
Palm Coast Code Enforcement Officer Tries Beating DUI Charge By Citing Ex-Cop Status
Stephen Tilley, a Palm Coast Code Enforcement officer, pleaded with a Florida Highway Patrol trooper about his ex-cop status to get out of a DUI charge, but failed when he was arrested in Pinellas County after driving while drinking from a bottle of Jim Beam.
Fischer (Fatal Hit-and-Run) and Merrill (Wife-Shooting) Plead Not Guilty in Absentia
Jamesine Fischer pleaded not guilty to a 1st degree felony charge of hit-and-run with a death, while William Merrill pleaded not guilty to manslaughter in the killing of his wife with an AK-47 last month. Both wrote in their pleas.
State Attorney Files Kidnapping-With-Intent-to-Terrorize Charges Against Cary Hudson
Cary Hudson is in jail on $90,000 bond, facing charges of kidnapping and aggravated battery after allegedly beating a 51-year-old woman bloody and forcing her into his car–after she’d moved to Palm Coast to get away from him.
Rowing Into Palm Coast, On His 1,400-Mile Solo Way to New York–for Alzheimer’s
Lewis Colam, 24, has no row-boating experience, but set off from Miami on March 3 on a 1,400-mile solo trip up the East Coast to raise $20,000 for Alzheimer’s research. The England native stops in Palm Coast this week.
62-Year-Old Zip-Tied and Robbed on Lancaster Lane; 2 Girls Charged With Burglaries
In a pair of unrelated events, a 62-year-old was robbed of guns, cash and jewelry on Palm Coast’s Lancaster Lane Sunday evening while two girls, 16 and 17, were charged with a half dozen car burglaries they called “car shopping.”
Sorry, Kansas City: FAA Training Facility Will Stay in Palm Coast–For Now
The FAA Center for Management and Executive Leadership training facility will remain in Palm Coast for the foreseeable future, U.S. Rep. John Mica said Friday, but Palm Coast will still have to compete with other cities in the future to keep the facility and its 80 to 100 jobs.
Palm Coast At Its Worst: Felled on Old Kings Road, and for 20 Minutes, Nobody Stops
Inna Hardison’s 20-year-old son was traveling on his motorcycle on Old Kings Road the evening of March 3rd when he struck a boar and was thrown from the bike and injured. It was 20 minutes before anyone bothered to stop and help.
ICI Homes Gets Its Way, Mostly, in Cypress Knoll Development as Palm Coast Settles Suit
Mori Hosseini’s ICI Homes has been battling Palm Coast since 2004 over a zoning designation in the E Section that ICI claims denied it its development rights. The deal means 58 homes on lots smaller than the norm in Cypress Knoll can now be built there.
R-Section Argument Escalates, Girlfriend Hits Boyfriend With a Car, and Faces Charges
A 24-year-old man was air-lifted with traumatic injuries from Palm Coast’s R-Section this evening after an argument on Rylin Lane between him and his girlfriend went out of control.
Hit-and-Run: More Doubt Than Urgency in Fischers’ Call to Sheriff’s Non-Emergency Line
As John and Jamesine Fischer’s call to the sheriff’s office is released, they’re are heard casting doubt on the nature of the collision that eventually killed Francoise Pecqueur. The call, and a private investigator’s report, raise more questions.
Too Many Streetlights? Palm Coast Readies to Remove 41 Redundant Ones For Future Savings
The city will remove 41 lights–out of 2,876 in the city–at a cost of $15,444, money the city says it will make back in just over three years as savings from monthly bills it won’t be paying for those lights. Meanwhile, new light strings must wait for lack of money.
Wife-Shooter William Merrill’s Arrest Record Dates Back to Felony and DUI in Tennessee
William Merrill was arrested repeatedly in 1999 by the Nashville Police Department and the Wilson County Sheriff’s Office, when he was 20 years old, and convicted on felony and misdemeanor drug possession and reduced reckless driving charges.
Ear, Nose, Throat, Hard Hat:
Florida Hospital Flagler Shows Off Its New Digs
Florida Hospital Flagler’s new Parkway Medical Plaza, opening in July between Walmart and Golden Corral, is a $15 million expansion–and a signal of intensifying head-to-head competition in such fields as imaging and lab work.
Palm Coast Councilman Frank Meeker Petitions for Civility Manifesto in 2012 Elections
Whether a candidate is worthy of political office should be decided by free and clear elections, not tainted by character assassination and media hype, Frank Meeker argues, laying out a 10-point “Statement on Election Fairness” for 2012.
Finding Her Palm Coast, Nancy Grace Takes On Wife-Shooting Tonight, With FlaglerLive
FlaglerLive’s Pierre Tristam is among the guests on tonight’s Nancy Grace show, whose opening segment focuses on the William Merrill shooting of his wife in Palm Coast last Tuesday. The news value is limited.
Arrest Report Details Fischer Trying to “Mislead Medical Personnel and Bystanders”
Three times at the scene, where 76-year-old Francoise Pecqueur lay bleeding, and again when she called 911, Jamesine Fischer said she’d seen Pecqueur fall, that she’d noticed her lying in the grass, and that she herself had hit a dog, but not Pecqueur, Fischer’s arrest report states.
A Desperate William Merrill Pleads For Help: “My Wife’s Been Shot”; the 911 Call
In a voice broken by sobs and desperation, a clearly devastated William Merrill pleads with the 911 dispatcher to send help after describing how he accidentally shot his wife, Stefanie, while she was giving a bath to their 3-year-old daughter. The 7-minute 911 recording as released by the sheriff’s office.
William Merrill Charged With Manslaughter for Killing His Wife With AK-47; 20 Guns at Home
Stefanie Merrill had been giving a bath to her 3-year-old daughter when her husband, William, pointed an AK-47 assault and its laser light at her chest and accidentally pulled the trigger. He was jailed on $200,000 bail.
Pizza Delivery Leads to SWAT Swarm and Arrest of Man Wanted for Serial Burglaries
Jacquez Roland, 34. of 11 Service Tree Place in Palm Coast is in jail today, on $429,000 bail, in connection with a series of armed and violent burglaries, including the Microtel and Sharps Liquor burglaries in October, where workers in both cases were cuffed at gunpoint and robbed.
As Investigation Into Fatal Shooting Continues, Disturbing Details from a Prior Domestic Fight
William Merrill, who fatally shot his wife on Tuesday while inspecting a rifle, was arrested in 2006 for head-butting her and throwing her on a bed during a heated argument. Charges were not pursued in that case.
Suspicious Shooting: Husband Kills 30-Year-Old Wife on Covington Lane in Palm Coast
William Merrill, 32, was inspecting a rifle at his home at 94 Covington Lane in Palm Coast when his weapon went off. His 30-year-old wife Stefanie was struck in the chest and killed.
Sahmi Green Charged With Animal Cruelty in Wake of Fatal Stabbing of Female Pit Bull
The arrest warrant states that Sahmi Green walked a friend’s female pit bull behind a house and stabbed it seven times. He initially claimed the dog had been in a fight.
European Village Beating of 60-Year-Old: Ken Peters Now Faces Attempted Murder Charge
Conviction for attempted murder can mean a sentence of up to 30 years in prison. Kenneth Peters had gone to the victim’s house to obtain Oxycodone, the pain-relieving narcotic, when the encounter deteriorated. Both men involved have previous records.
Conflicted Incubator: A Divided Palm Coast Council May Relax Home-Based Bakeries
The issue, prompted by a couple looking to start a home bakery, illustrates two contradicting strains in Palm Coast’s idea of itself–the quiet residential town as opposed to the depressed and unemployed city looking for rejuvenation summed up in its economic-development slogan, “Prosperity 2021.”
Sheriff Fleming Suggests Pill-Mill Crackdown Is Shooting Up Heroin Trade as 3 Are Arrested
Heroin problems in Palm Coast: Three heroin arrests in 36 hours have Flagler County Sheriff Don Fleming warning that the crackdown on pill mills may be provoking a rise in heroin use and trafficking.
Flagler 911: Turning a Palm Coast House Into a Shooting Range; Hydrocodone Bust
Palm Coast and Flagler County blotter report: a man on Slowdrift Lane threatens to shoot a dog and fires his rifle at a wall much used to the treatment. He ends up in jail. A traffic stop turns into a Hydrocodone bust. And more.
Palm Coast Council Rejects Latest Cypress Knoll Development Proposal
The proposal, rejected 4-2 by the Planning Board, is part of a settlement of a long-running dispute between developer ICI and Palm Coast, would have allowed up to 60 homes west of East Hampton and south of Eric Drive.
Sheriff Embroiled in Questionable Calls, Complicating Case of Walker’s Death; Suit Filed
As the investigation continues in the death of Francoise Pequeur, 76, after she was struck by the card driven by School Board member John Fischer’s wife, Sheriff Don Fleming is finding himself in a thorny situation after exchanging six calls with John Fischer.
Details Emerge in Strathmore Deli Collapse as Landlord and Lender Sue
The reality of the closure of the popular Palm Coast deli is more complicated than its owners let on as a lender just sued the owners over a loan default and the landlord sued them in December over $20,000 in back rent.