Weather: Mostly sunny. A chance of showers and thunderstorms in the afternoon. Highs in the lower 90s. Southeast winds 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40 percent. Wednesday Night: Partly cloudy. A slight chance of showers and thunderstorms in the evening. Lows in the mid 70s. East winds 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 20 percent.
Today at the Editor’s Glance:
In Court: Circuit Judge Terence Perkins is expected to take a plea in the child neglect case of Chelsea Wright at 8:30 a.m. at the Flagler County courthouse, courtroom 401.
The Blue 22 Forum, a discussion group organized by the Palm Coast Democratic Club, meets at 12:30 p.m. at the African American Cultural Society Center, 4422 U.S. 1 N in Palm Coast between White View Pkwy and Palm Coast Pkwy. Look for the white pyramid in front. Come and add your voice to local, state and national political issues.
Flagler Broadcasting’s four radio stations, including flagship WNZF, hold a six-hour Food-A-Thon on July 8, and are raising money until then. The aim is to raise $200,000, which can then be leveraged into more than $1 million for Grace Community Food Pantry, the Palm Coast operation that serves between 3,500 and 4,500 needy families every week. The Food-A-Thon will ensure that each family will have the equivalent of $100 a week’s worth of groceries through at least the new year. To pledge or participate in the Million Dollar Food-A-Thon, send an email to [email protected], or make checks out to Grace Community Food Bank and send them to WNZF, 2405 E. Moody Blvd Bunnell, FL. 32110. Donations and pledges are being accepted now through July 8, or send in your pledge by downloading the form. See details: “Multiplication of Loaves: Flagler Radio’s Food-A-Thon on July 8 Aims for $1 Million Food Buy for Needy.”
Keep in Mind the Summer BreakSpot: Free Meals for Kids and Teens, Monday through Friday: Flagler Schools and Café EDU is providing free meals to all kids 18 and under this summer. It started on May 31, it’s running through July 29. Meals Must be Consumed Onsite. No Identification Needed. No Application Necessary. The Summer BreakSpot Program, also known as the Summer Food Service Program, is federally funded under the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and, in Florida, administered by the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. Sites are locally operated by nonprofit organizations (sponsors) that provide the meals and receive a reimbursement from USDA. For additional information, please reach out to Café EDU at 386-437-7526 x1159, or email [email protected]. The free meal locations are:
Flagler-Palm Coast High School
5500 E. Highway 100, Palm Coast, FL 32164
Breakfast: 7:45am–8:30am
Lunch: 12:15–1:00pm
Dates: May 31–July 29, Monday through Friday, except July 4.
Housing Authority
502 S. Bacher St., Bunnell, FL 32110
Breakfast: 9:00am–9:30am
Lunch: 11:30–12:00pm
Dates: June 6–July 29, Monday through Friday, except July 4.
Notably: The United States Supreme Court briefly banned the death penalty starting on this day in 1972 in a 5-4 decision that found state-sponsored murder a violation of the Eighth Amendment. The court reversed itself in 1976. Florida was the first state to get back on the killing streak with the execution of John Spenkelink of Leon County with the so-called electric chair. It was not until 2017 that Florida abolished the practice of allowing a death recommendation even by a non-unanimous jury. The Senate in 1973 debated, and voted to restore, the death penalty. You can read that full lurid debate here. Ronald Reagan, of course, saw nothing wrong with it, and favored lethal injection. That same year, he said: “Being a former farmer and horse raiser, I know what it’s like to try to eliminate an injured horse by shooting him. Now you call the veterinarian and the vet gives it a shot and the horse goes to sleep—that’s it.”
As for Spenkelink: From Murderpedia: “On February 4, 1973, the 24 year old Spenkelink, a twice convicted felon and an escapee from a California correctional camp, picked up Joseph J. Szymankiewicz, a hitchhiker, while traveling in the midwest. Both men had criminal records, and both were heavy drinkers. They checked into a hotel room in Tallahassee. After Spenkelink left to wash the car, he returned and shot Szymankiewicz while he slept in bed, once in the head just behind the left ear and a second time in the back. He then told a cover story to the hotel proprietor, paid for an extra day, and left with Frank Bruum, another hitchiker. Spenkelink claimed that he shot Szymankiewicz in self-defense in that he forced sexual relations on him earlier, and forced him to play “russian roulette.” He also claimed that the gun went off accidentally during a fight between the two. Less than one week later, Spenkelink and Bruum were arrested for suspicion of armed robbery in Buena Park, California.”
Now this:
Flagler Beach Webcam:
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.
Flagler Beach Farmers Market
Grace Community Food Pantry on Education Way
Gamble Jam at Gamble Rogers Memorial State Recreation Area
Rotary’s Fantasy Lights Festival in Palm Coast’s Town Center
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
Rotary’s Fantasy Lights Festival in Palm Coast’s Town Center
For the full calendar, go here.
“We always imagine eternity as something beyond our conception, something vast, vast! But why must be vast? Instead of all that, think of it as a little room, like a bathhouse in the country, black and grimy and spiders in every corner, and that’s all eternity is? I sometimes fancy it like that.”
—–Dostoevsky, from Crime and Punishment (1866).
