Today at the Editor’s glance: David Alfin is sworn-in at 6 p.m. at Palm Coast City Hall tonight as Palm Coast’s fourth mayor in the city’s 22-year history as the City Council convenes for the first time since the July 27 special election. Alfin defeated Alan Lowe, Cornelia Manfre and three other candidates for the post. His term will complete that of Milissa Holland, who resigned in May, ending in 2024. After an initial segment of public comments, the council will be certifying the election results–a normally routine vote, but very little has been routine about this special election. It’ll be notable whether Council member Ed Danko, who ran Lowe’s campaign, will vote to certify the results, as Lowe partisans have made moves that suggest a lack of trust in the election. But Danko will not have Council member Victor Barbosa’s support, who is battling Covid in a hospital (unless he manages to log in electronically). Alfin will then be sworn-in. City Clerk Virginia Smith usually swears-in new members of the council. The occasions were always relaxed and festive–until last November when, for the first time, the swearing-in of Holland, Danko and Barbosa was more somber and tense and ended with the first of what soon became routine clashes between council members as Councilman Eddie Branquinho called Danko “Councilman corrupt” and Danko called Branquinho “Councilman full-of-crap.” The council has a somewhat busy agenda, catching up on an item it had previously deadlocked over for lack of a tie-breaking vote: approving a tentative property tax rate for next year. The council has run out of time to approve that measure, which is required by law so so-called TRIM notices (for truth in millage) may be mailed to property owners. The full meeting agenda and background materials are here. The Flagler County School Board meets at 3 p.m. at the Government Services Building, 1769 East Moody Boulevard, Bunnell (third floor), to go over its next business meeting’s agenda. Among other discussion items: an update on the district’s health curriculum, including sexual education; Flagler Technical College’s new fee schedule, which crosses out the fee schedule for the Belle Terre Swim and Racquet Club, and a discussion of the completed impact fee study. And finally, it was on this day in 1492 that Columbus and his Nina, Pinat and Santa Maria sailed for what they thought was going to be a westerly route to India, and instead turned into a shortcut to the genocide of Arawak Indians, first of many cataclysms to befall the Americas, courtesy of European civilization and the Catholic Church.
Vaccinations and Covid testing: Given the unprecedented volume of positive Covid-19 cases in our community, the Flagler County Health Department has modified its testing and vaccination schedules for the first and second weeks of August. All testing and vaccination will take place Monday, Aug. 2, and Tuesday, Aug. 3 from 4:00 to 6:30PM at the Flagler County Health Department, 301 Dr. Carter Blvd, Bunnell.
Snyder also shared that the department is prioritizing testing for individuals with COVID symptoms and that testing is by appointment only. Reservations can be made by calling 386-437-7350 ext. 0, weekdays between 8AM and 4:30PM. Since the health department has stopped offering COVID testing for travel, residents requiring this verification will need to coordinate with a Flagler County pharmacy.
The department is prioritizing testing for individuals with Covid symptoms and that testing is by appointment only. Reservations can be made by calling 386-437-7350 ext. 0, weekdays between 8AM and 4:30PM. Since the health department has stopped offering Covid testing for travel, residents requiring this verification will need to coordinate with a Flagler County pharmacy.
The health department will transition to offer testing and vaccinations five afternoons a week starting Monday, August 9, with the potential to add a second location (120 Airport Road, 2nd floor) in the coming weeks. No appointments are necessary for vaccinations. The health department currently offers the Pfizer vaccine, which is approved for adults and children over age 12.
Snyder added, “On July 28, the CDC updated its guidance that even vaccinated people in high risk communities like Flagler County should wear masks indoors. The Delta Variant is highly contagious, which helps to explain why we had 665 positive cases this week compared with 400 a week ago. Please get vaccinated, wear a mask, wash your hands and social distance whenever possible. If you need to get tested and don’t have symptoms, reach out to any pharmacy in the area. This is our shot, Flagler. Stay safe.” For more information about COVID-19 vaccination and testing efforts, please visit https://flhealthcovid19.gov/.
The Live Calendar is a compendium of local and regional political, civic and cultural events. You can input your own calendar events directly onto the site as you wish them to appear (pending approval of course). To include your event in the Live Calendar, please fill out this form.
May 2025
Flagler Beach Farmers Market
Coffee With Flagler Beach Commission Chair Scott Spradley
Grace Community Food Pantry on Education Way
June 2025
ESL Bible Studies for Intermediate and Advanced Students
Grace Community Food Pantry on Education Way
Palm Coast Farmers’ Market at European Village
Al-Anon Family Groups
For the full calendar, go here.
“What do you call members of a party who, from top to bottom, from elected officials to voters, largely believe a lie and a liar determined to undermine, corrupt and even destroy our democracy? What do you call a party whose leaders use that lie as a pretext to suppress the votes and voices of Americans with whom they disagree? What do you call a party slavishly devoted to a cult over the stability and prosperity of a country? What do you call a party where many of its members have worked against a lifesaving, society-freeing vaccine in the middle of a pandemic, exposing many of their own followers to the deadly virus, all for the sake of being contrarian, anti-establishment and anti-science? I call that party a national security threat and a cancer on our democracy.”
–Charles Blow, “The GOP Menace to Society,” The New York Times, Aug. 1, 2021.
Ray W. says
Untreatable and possibly terminal cancer on our democracy!
As I have commented many times before, Putin told a Financial Times reporter a couple of years ago that in his opinion, liberalism was “obsolete” and claimed it had outlived its purpose.” Then-EU President Tusk responded by stating: “Whoever claims that liberal democracy is obsolete also claims that freedoms are obsolete, that the rule of law is obsolete and that human rights are obsolete.”
As I have commented many times before, in Federalist Paper #1, Alexander Hamilton, posing as Publius, wrote of his belief that all previous societies had succumbed to the fate of rule by either “accident or force”, with accident meaning rule by kings who succeeded their deceased fathers or mothers simply by order of birth, and force meaning tyranny by dictators or mob rule. Hamilton’s opposing option and hopeful goal was that the fledging United States, suffering from a weak central government created by the Articles of Confederation, would adopt the proposed Constitution by use of “reason and choice”, thereby rejecting rule by “accident or force.”
Is Putin right? Has liberalism become obsolete? Many members of the Republican Party have long tried to change the definition of liberal democracy from what our founding fathers believed was absolutely necessary to save the young and dying Republic into a term that is hateful and denigrating to everything our founding fathers hoped. When the many commenters on FlaglerLive post their disdain or even hate for liberals and liberalism, are they projecting their leader’s goals and have they already internalized Putin’s hoped for result, which is the downfall of western-style democracy? Are any of these commenters actually Making America Great Again? Did the January 6 Insurrection reflect the goal of the outgoing president of mob rule installing him as President For Life?