Weather: Mostly cloudy. A slight chance of showers and thunderstorms in the afternoon. Highs in the upper 80s. Southeast winds 10 to 15 mph with gusts up to 25 mph. Chance of rain 20 percent. Thursday Night: Partly cloudy in the evening, then becoming mostly cloudy. A slight chance of showers and thunderstorms. Lows in the lower 70s. Southeast winds 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 20 percent.
Today at the Editor’s Glance:
In Court: Drug court meets at noon before Circuit Judge Terence Perkins.
The Palm Coast Beautification and Environmental Advisory Committee meets at 5 p.m. at City Hall, 160 Lake Avenue, Palm Coast.
Building Your Business On A Strong Foundation: Every successful business needs a solid business foundation. Having your administrative systems will give you a well run office to reduce miscommunications and helps to eliminate common errors. By making the administrative office a priority, you will establish clear policies and procedures with employee understanding and buy-in, which ensures that your work environment runs smoothly. 11:30 a.m. Cornerstone Business Development Center, 608 E. Moody Blvd Bunnell.
The Flagler Beach City Commission meets at 5:30 p.m. at City Hall, 105 South 2nd Street in Flagler Beach. Watch the meeting at the city’s YouTube channel here. Access meeting agenda and materials here. See a list of commission members and their email addresses here.
The Youth Center Talent Show at the Flagler Auditorium, 5500 State Road 100, Palm Coast, 6:30 p.m. Buy tickets here.
Notably: The French Open at Rolland Garros continues without Palm Coast’s Reilly Opelka, who lost in the first round. It’s the Feast of St. Augustine of Canterbury (Augustine being the first archbishop of Centerbury). St. Augustine’s Abbey was a few feet behind my dorm when I was in boarding school at the King’s School in canterbury in 1978-79. Here’s what the Abbey ruins looked like on a visit in 2013:
Now this:
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.
December 2025
Holiday Plant Class Series
ESL Bible Studies for Intermediate and Advanced Students
Grace Community Food Pantry on Education Way
Palm Coast Farmers’ Market at European Village
‘Annie,’ at Limelight Theatre
‘Greetings,’ A Christmas Comedy
Irving Berlin’s Holiday Inn
Al-Anon Family Groups
Handel’s Messiah at Palm Coast United Methodist Church
Rotary’s Fantasy Lights Festival in Palm Coast’s Town Center
In Court: Ex-Firefighter James Melady Trial
Groundbreaking for Flagler County Fire Station 51
Flagler County Library Board of Trustees
Nar-Anon Family Group
Rotary’s Fantasy Lights Festival in Palm Coast’s Town Center
For the full calendar, go here.
John Wayne wasn’t my first choice to play Will Andersen, the lead role in The Cowboys, which I directed in 1971. My first choice was George C. Scott. Wayne had been instrumental in the blacklists of the fifties and his politics were anathema to me – for this reason I was reluctant to work with him. But the studio, Warner Brothers, were very keen for me to go down to Mexico, where he was shooting at the time, and meet him. Eventually, I agreed. I discovered a man quite different from the one I’d heard about, a man of great warmth, which was inconsistent with his severe right-wing image. He disarmed me with his affability and won me over with his respect. He swallowed the movie whole, just loved it. The Cowboys might not have been the first film in which Wayne was shot, but it was certainly the first in which he was shot to death from the rear at the end of the second act, leaving a full 40 minutes of screen time to fill after his death. When you shoot an icon like that in such a brutal and sadistic manner, you risk antagonising millions of people, but he liked the idea, thought it was daring and unusual. And it paid off: by the time we were finished shooting, he believed the film to be his greatest performance. I’d heard all the stories of Wayne being grumpy and difficult to direct, but I never felt any of that. At one point he did overstep the bounds of his role as actor and tried to lead a scene on his own, but I quickly reminded him that when I offered him the part I was not looking for a co-director. He was very impressed with the fact that I stood up to him, this legendary giant who was beyond popular, and took to calling me `Sir’ for the rest of the picture. He said I reminded him of John Ford, who was also very tough on him and, coincidentally, a hero of mine
–From “Dear John… love, Mark: Sexist, fascist and a true friend,” Director Mark Rydell tells how he was won over by John Wayne, The Guardian, April 17, 1998. (Today is Wayne’s birthday).
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