Waldemar Rivera Rape Trial, Lab Meat, Chitwood's Run for Sheriff

Today: Mostly cloudy in the morning then becoming partly cloudy. A 20 percent chance of showers. Highs in the mid 80s. Southwest winds 10 to 15 mph. Tonight: Mostly clear in the evening then becoming partly cloudy. Lows in the lower 60s. Southwest winds 5 to 10 mph. Details here.
Today’s fire danger is moderate. Flagler County’s Drought Index is at 170.
Today’s tides: at the beaches, at the Intracoastal Waterway.
Today’s document from the National Archives.
The OED’s Word of the Day: ad eundem, adv..
The Live Community Calendar
Today’s jail bookings.

Today’s Briefing: Quick Links

In Flagler and Palm Coast
Local News Recap
Flagler Jail Bookings and Sheriff’s Crime Reports
In State Government
In Coming Days in Flagler and Palm Coast
In the Press, In the News
Fact-Checking the Knaves
Palm Coast Construction and Development Progress Reports
Local Road and Interstate Construction
Cultural Coda

In Flagler and Palm Coast:

Note: all government meetings noticed below are free and open to the public unless otherwise indicated. Many can be heard or seen live through each agency’s website.

No school: Flagler County schools are on spring break all week.

Reminder: Early voting ended in Flagler County at the end of the day Saturday, after 9,516 voters cast a ballot in eight days of early voting. Election Day for the presidential primaries is Tuesday.

In court: the trial of Waldermar Rivera begins today before Circuit Judge Matthew Foxman, with jury selection starting around 9 a.m. in Courtroom 401. Rivera, 37, was arrested two years ago on a charge of raping his then-13-year-old stepdaughter, a first-degree felony. Waldemar, who went by the nickname of “Macho,” had allegedly encouraged the girl to smoke pot and drink beer. The case has gone through numerous pre-trial hearings and motions. Valdemar is represented by public defender Regina Nunnally.

The Flagler County Land Acquisition Committee meets at 3:30 p.m. in the first-floor conference room of the Government Services Building. The committee will continue discussing the proposed acquisition of the Kern property on lake Disston. Members of the committee last month took a field trip to the Kern property.

The Flagler County Library Board of Trustees holds its monthly meeting, this time at the Bunnell Branch Library at 103 E. Moody Blvd. at the corner of 100 and US 1. The meeting is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. “It is good for all of us to have a full understanding of the entire library system and what the needs are of each facility,” library director Holly Albanese says. “Now is the time to do this especially since we are in the budget process and discussing a new facility for Bunnell.”

The Bunnell City Commission meets at 7 p.m. at Bunnell City Hall, 201 West Moody Boulevard, to go through a brief and routine agenda.

The Garden Club at Palm Coast holds its monthly meeting at 1 p.m. (sign-in begins at 12:30 p.m.) at Flagler County Extension Service, 150 Sawgrass Rd, Bunnell. Chuck Lippi, owner of Advanced Tree Care, will speak on techniques to care for and maintain trees in the landscape. There will be a raffle for a floral design, door prizes and a plant sale as well as light refreshments. Visitors are welcome. For more information call Jane Villa-Lobos at 386-446-0341 or email her.

Upcoming: Motown Madness: A March 26 fund-raiser for the G.W. Carver Community Center in Bunnell. See the flier below for details.

Local News Recap:

Updated jail bookings and day and night shift incident summary reports are available here.

Palm Coast Woman, 57, Dies after Being Jailed For Not Abiding By Drug-Treatment Order: Kathleen Feiler, a 57-year-old resident of Pittman Drive in Palm Coast, died in custody after being booked at the Flagler County jail Saturday evening on a contempt of court charge. The contempt charge aside, she had not been booked on the suspicion of a crime but because she was suspected of not following through on substance abuse treatment.

manfre ethics settlement — ‘ My feeling right now is that justice has not been done,’ Manfre said of the recommended settlement of as fine and a public censure against him. (© FlaglerLive)

In Stunning Turnaround, Sheriff Manfre Says He Will Fight Ethics Fine and Censure After All: The day the recommendation was issued, Manfre, who had vowed to fight any penalty, said in a statement that as long as the ethics commission followed the recommendation at its April 15 meeting, “I have no intention of appealing this decision as it is now time to put this behind us.” On Friday, that was no longer the case. “At this point I’ve changed my mind, and unless they dismiss the charges and levy no fine, I intend to appeal,” the sheriff said.

Kathleen J. Boos of Palm Coast and Carl W. Boos Are Killed in A1A Crash, One Critical: William G. Schwarz, 52, of Ormond Beach, was injured critically. Brittinia Dimattia, 21, of Albuquerque, N.M., was seriously injured (and subsequently listed as critical in an FHP report). Four other people involved in the wreck were not injured.

Deputy Rescues 21-Year-Old Woman Stuck in Ditch for 45 Minutes in Overturned Pick-Up: Brandy Demarco, 21, was driving her red Toyota Tacoma west on 80 around 1 a.m. Thursday when she looked to her left and saw a dog, then looked back ahead of her only to see a deer run across the road. She swerved right. The Tacoma left the road, overturned, and landed upside down in the ditch, 6 feet below the roadway.

Glorious Creatures, With Retired Greyhounds in Attendance, Liven New Art League Show: As its title implies, “Oh! These Glorious Creatures” is an animal-themed exhibit that features paintings, photography, sculpture, stained glass and mixed media works by FCAL members. A forlorn racing greyhound, other dogs, frogs, cats, crows, dolphins, seabirds, bears, a rhino and even a cicada are showcased in the 68-piece exhibit.

BREAKING: Daytona Police Chief Mike Chitwood expected to announce bid for Volusia sheriff.
via @dbnewsjournal pic.twitter.com/1N4F7Q4mev

— Daytona Beach News-Journal (@dbnewsjournal) March 13, 2016

In State Government:

Note: Most proceedings below can be followed live on the Florida Channel.

Gov. Rick Scott will visit Jacksonville, Orlando, Tampa, Fort Myers and Miami to tout success in cutting taxes and adding jobs.

The Florida department of labor is scheduled to release January unemployment numbers at 10 a.m.

Susan Page, Washington bureau chief for USA Today, will speak to the Economic Club of Florida. (Noon, FSU Alumni Center, 1030 West Tennessee St., Tallahassee.)

–Compiled by the News Service of Florida and FlaglerLive

In Coming Days in Palm Coast and Flagler:

Click on the links for more details:

♦ March 15: Presidential Primary Election in Flagler and all of Florida, and Bunnell city election.
♦ March 15: The Flagler County Historical Society resumes its bus trips to historic and interesting county sites with Bill Ryan as your guide on Tuesday, March 15. The bus leaves from the Holden House, 204 East Moody Boulevard in Bunnell, at 10 a.m. and returns at 2:30 p.m. The cost is $15 per person and does not include lunch at the Bull Creek Fish Camp. To make reservations or for information call 386-439-5003.
♦ March 15, Media Panel: FlaglerLive Editor Pierre Tristam is part of a journalism panel at Flagler College, along with Melissa Ross, host-producer at First Coast Connect, Bob Longo, news director at WJAX 47/WFOX30, and Joseph White, publisher, editor, White Publishing Co. The panel is moderated by Flagler College’s Tracey Eaton. 1 p.m. to 2:15 p.m, at the Gamache-Koger Theater, on the first floor of the Ringhaver Student Center, 50 Sevilla St., at Flagler College in St. Augustine.
♦ March 15: Flagler Breakfast Club, presented by the Chamber of Commerce’s Flagler County Young professionals Group, with guest speakers Joanne King, COO of Florida Hospital Flagler, and Darlinda Copeland, Senior vice president and COO of Florida Hospital Memorial Medical Center, 7:45 a.m. to 9 a.m. at Florida Hospital Flagler, inside the Educational Center at the South entrance of the hospital, 60 Memorial Parkway, Palm Coast. $10 for YPG members, $15 for others. To reserve, send an email to Jaclyn Miklos.
♦ March 18: Flagler Reads Together featured event: The documentary “Trail Magic: The Grandma Gatewood Story,” will be shown at the Flagler County Library at 2 p.m., in the library meeting room. Flagler Reads Together’s focus this year is ‘Grandma Gatewood’s Walk,’ the biography of Emma Gatewood who, in 1955, was the first woman to hike the entirety of the Appalachian Trail solo. She was 67. See below for more details.
♦ March 24: Eggs & Issues Breakfast featuring County Administrator Craig Coffey and three county department heads involved in economic development: Airport Director Roy Sieger, Economic Development Director Helga van Eckert, and Tourism Director Matt Dunn. The breakfast is sponsored by the Flagler County Chamber of Commerce. The cost is $20 in advance, $25 at the door. 7:30 a.m.-9:30 a.m., Grand Haven Golf Club, 500 Riverfront Dr., Palm Coast. Seating is limited; reservations are requested by March 21. For reservations, email Jaclyn Miklos or call 386/206-0953.
♦ March 26: Motown Madness, a fund-raiser concert for Carver Gym and the George Washington Carver Foundation,, featuring the band Traces of Gold. Tickets are $50, includes dinner and music, 6 to 10 p.m. at the the G.W. Carver Community Center, 201 East Draine Street, Bunnell. Tickets and information: Cheryl Massaro, 386-437-7540, extension 5101. See the flier below.
♦ March 29: Museum curator Christina Katsolis, photographer A.J. Neste and architect Sean Palmer speak to students at Flagler Palm Coast High School starting at 11:50 a.m. at the Flagler Auditorium as part of Art Works, a Flagler County Art League-sponsored program for high school students interested in a career in the arts. The art league worked with the art department faculty to bring this new program to FPC students to learn about a variety of careers from artists, all former FPC students, who have turned their love of the arts into successful careers. Following formal presentations by each artist, students will have the opportunity to meet with the artists in small groups. Parents, city and county government leaders and school board members have been invited to attend the program.
♦ March 30-April 2: Florida Future Problem Solvers State Competition, to be attended by four to five Flagler County schools, at Doubletree Orlando Seaworld, 10100 International Drive, Orlando.
♦ April 1: The Friends of the Library of Flagler County celebrate the annual April Poetry Month by acknowledging the 2016 presidential election year. Poems by presidents or about presidents of the United States, from Washington to Obama, will be presented at 1 p.m. in the Doug Cisney Room and appropriate refreshments–that is, alas, no booze, no matter how drunk Nixon could get–will be provided by the Hospitality Staff of the Friends.
♦ April 2: Cheer at the Pier, a fund-raiser for the Flagler Beach Historical Museum, from 3 to 6 p.m. Call Virginia Giaramita for information at 386/299-8892.
♦ April 12: Anjali Anabel Tomerlin, a third grader at Imagine School at Town Center in Palm Coast who’s written and illustrated her first book, will hold a book-signing at the Flagler Beach Public library from 4 to 6 p.m.
♦ April 13: Public Safety Coordinating Council meeting at 8:45 a.m., Emergency Operations Center, Bunnell.
♦ April 15: The Florida Ethics Commission will take up an administrative law judge’s recommendation in the ethics case against Flagler County Sheriff Jim Manfre. 9 a.m.
♦ April 16: Flagler Beach will hold a victims’ rights memorial at sunrise. The memorial ceremony honors victims and their advocates. It will be held at the end of the iconic pier. Please contact Victim Advocate Donna Kearney with any questions about the memorial at 517-2020.

In the Press, In the News:

CNN’s Trump apologist blames President Obama for Trump’s Islamophobic comments: https://t.co/GZr5n16n49 pic.twitter.com/vGl8VsKVr3

— Media Matters (@mmfa) March 13, 2016

Worth reading/View from some union members–"If you have a rightwing populist,you can beat a corporate Democrat"– https://t.co/7MAb7WXfUi

— Katrina vandenHeuvel (@KatrinaNation) March 13, 2016

NYT front-page Trump piece today opens w/ 2011 WHCA dinner & Obama. Here's the C-SPAN video: https://t.co/djT33GPYlP pic.twitter.com/gKxvxGrqVZ

— CSPAN (@cspan) March 13, 2016

Teenage girls who live near a Planned Parenthood clinic are 16% less likely to drop out of high school https://t.co/MPBqwcAgpW

— Vox (@voxdotcom) March 13, 2016

Would you eat meat made in a laboratory?https://t.co/xN3jMhIAQz

— The Economist (@TheEconomist) March 11, 2016

Fact-Checking the Knaves:

Palm Coast Construction and Development Progress Reports

The following is an update of ongoing permitting, construction and development projects in Palm Coast, through March 9:

Click to access permits-construction-march-11-2016.pdf

Road and Interstate Construction:

Forest Grove Drive connection to Palm Harbor Parkway to be closed starting Dec. 18: Effective Friday, Dec. 18, the City of Palm Coast will be closing the Forest Grove Drive connection to Palm Harbor Parkway. This road closure is required as part of construction operations for the Palm Harbor Parkway extension, which is currently under construction. Palm Harbor is being realigned and extended to connect directly with Matanzas Woods Parkway where it intersects with Old Kings Road. Message boards will be placed to advise motorists and other travelers of the upcoming change, and a public meeting has already been held for residents living in that area. Both the Palm Harbor extension and a separate extension of Old Kings Road are being built in preparation for the new Interstate 95 interchange to open next June at Matanzas Woods Parkway. As part of the projects, traffic patterns around Matanzas High School will be changing. One goal is to turn Forest Grove Drive back into a residential street as it was originally intended to be. The upcoming road closure of the Forest Grove Drive connection to Palm Harbor Parkway is part of that project. Forest Grove will be turned into a cul de sac on that end. Once the separate Old Kings Road extension is completed, in June 2016, the Forest Grove Drive access to the high school will be closed because it will no longer be needed. Instead, motorists and other travelers will get to Matanzas High School via the new signalized intersection at Matanzas Woods, Palm Harbor and Old Kings. For more information, please contact Palm Coast Communications Manager Cindi Lane at 386-986-3708 or [email protected].