|
Safe Kids group turning tragedy into triumph
|
|
ORANGE CITY - The earnest-looking group of locals at the Half-Price Books store on Enterprise Road doesn't come here at 6:30 p.m. every Thursday to sip cappuccinos and discuss new books. This group, called Safe Kids of Volusia, is here to affect community change, and the results are starting to pile up. Born in the wake of the tr...
|
|
|
Women come together to help provide family housing
|
|
|
NEW SMYRNA BEACH - New Smyrna Beach City Commissioner Judy Reiker can usually be found in business attire such as suits and heels working at her title company office, but not next week. Instead the city's vice mayor will be wearing a T-shirt and jeans and wielding a paint brush along with other fem...
|
|
|
Fling it!
|
|
Pierson Elementary School students recently competed in the Science Olympiad. Students had to build a catapult that would launch a tennis ball a certain distance. The distance was not known until the competition began. Students had to provide an explanation of how they could control how far the ball would go. They al...
|
|
|
Fast and furious
|
|
Grassroots Giving, a local group that helps children in need pay for extra-curricular activities such as sports team fees and music lessons, recently held its annual Field Day at the Oretha Bell Boys & Girls Club in New Smyrna Beach. More than 300 children played games, had lunch and received gift cards at the eve...
|
|
|
Local historian remembered for knowledge of community
|
|
PORT ORANGE - Although Harold Cardwell spent the last half of his life as a blind man, he was able to see into the eyes of history. A former landscape architect, horticulture therapist and teacher for the blind, he was well known throughout Florida for his historical expertise, writing 13 historical books an...
|
|
|
First music festival a success
|
|
DELAND - With about 150 acts on 28 stages, DeLandapalooza launched with a resounding roar last weekend. Phil Weidner, event coordinator and president of Songwriters Showcases of America, said DeLandapalooza will be back next year - only it might have a different name. DeLandapalooza was a little difficul...
|
|
|
Police: St. Peter teacher filmed students changing
|
|
DELAND - Stephanie Anderson was appalled when she discovered pictures of nude girls on an iPad her mother had found on April 1 at Walmart. Weeks later, she was floored when she learned the device belonged to a math teacher at St. Peter Catholic School, from which she and her three sisters had graduated years ago. "I was shocked,"...
|
|
|
Orange City officials officially request to form CRA
|
|
|
ORANGE CITY - No resident or business owner showed up to voice concern to the Orange City Council at its most recent regular meeting about the city's section of U.S. 17-92 corridor being officially declared blighted. So Council members moved forward with little fanfare in approving a "finding of necessity" that informs Volusia County ...
|
|
|
Orange City's first fire truck alive and well
|
|
ORANGE CITY - In late 2009, the city's first fire truck - a 1937 Chevy - that had for decades carried Santa Claus in the annual Christmas parade, didn't have what it takes to safely usher the red-velvet-wearing elf down Volusia Avenue. The fire department used a ladder truck instead. "This truck had fallen into pretty grave disre...
|
|
|
Three Southeast Volusia cities to hold elections
|
|
|
Oak Hill, Edgewater and New Smyrna Beach all will have mayoral or council/commission seats up for grabs this year, although it's too early to know how many office-holders will run for re-election or how many races will be contested. Those details won't be finalized until the end of official qualifying in early Jun...
|
|
|
Tourism board agrees to test marketing plan
|
|
|
NEW SMYRNA BEACH - Marketing Southeast Volusia to tourists may become a more targeted, focused effort, if a test project approved last month works as hoped. The project will essentially "piggy-back" on a marketing study being conducted by Atlanta-based Dan Fenton for the Ocean Center and all three of the county's ...
|
|
|
NSB artist immortalized on DeLand museum sign
|
|
DELAND - Harold Garde had the beaming glow of an artist who had finally "arrived" on Saturday night, bouncing from handshake to hug at the Museum of Florida Art on the Stetson University campus. Not only was the museum honoring the New Smyrna Beach snowbird with a one-man show that featured a 16-panel mural - stretching 8-feet-ta...
|
|
|
Crowded ballot in Daytona Beach highlights northeast Volusia elections
|
|
|
For now, Daytona Beach will have the only primary election in Northeast Volusia on Aug. 14, while Holly Hill will hold its general election on that date. All the rest of the municipal races in Daytona Beach and Ormond Beach will hold until the Nov. 6 balloting, as will any runoff necessary in Holly Hill. But all t...
|
|
|
City OKs employee volunteer program
|
|
|
HOLLY HILL - The motto is: "The city with a heart." Still, commissioner Liz Towsley Patton doesn't think taxpayers should be paying for city workers' volunteer time. "If it's volunteer, it usually means I'm giving my time beca...
|
|
|
A banner day
|
|
Janis Zaehring of Port Orange helps carry the banner during the survivors' walk at the Port Orange Relay for Life at the Port Orange City Center Complex Saturday. Ms. Zaehring, who teaches at Cypress Creek Elementary School, is a seven-year cancer survivor. The annual event raises awareness and funds for the America...
|
|
|
Registration for summer driver education begins May 7
|
|
|
DELAND - Registration for the 2012 Summer Driver Education program begins on Monday, May 7, at all high schools. Students interested in earning credit in driver education must register at their home high school. There is no fee for the program. Students will earn an elective credit and a paperless waiver of the road test for a...
|
|
|
Former Orange City vice mayor running for county council
|
|
VOLUSIA COUNTY - What doesn't kill you makes you stronger. A bout with myeloid leukemia last year put Orange City's Jeff Allebach's political hopes on hold. He withdrew from the city's mayoral race as he sought medical treatment. But, the leukemia's in remission, and Mr. Allebach is making a bid for the ...
|
|
|
Several judges are unopposed
|
|
|
DeLand - Eight circuit and three county court judges in the Seventh Judicial Circuit will spend another six years on the bench after drawing no opposition during last week's qualifying period. .Circuit Judge Wendy W. Berger, St. Augustine .Circuit Judge Leah R. Case, Daytona Beach .Circuit Judge Patti A. Christensen, Palatka ....
|
|
|
Don't bring me red gumbo, no!
|
|
From time to time I have mentioned that I was raised in Southern Louisiana. While that is true I am not a full-blood Cajun, no. My dad moved our family to the bayou so he could take a job in the off-shore oil fields. I was in the fourth grade. Truth is: I don't remember much before becoming a swamp-running, Hell-raising ...
|
|
|
Turtle nesting season starts early
|
|
|
Sea turtle nesting season has begun early in Volusia County with the first nest visible a month ago. During nesting season, which officially begins May 1, female sea turtles leave the ocean, usually at night, to lay eggs in the sand on the beach. Nesting continues into August and turtles will hatch through October. Visitors t...
|
|
|
Port Orange will begin search for new city manager
|
|
|
PORT ORANGE - The Grammys drew more viewers than the Oscars. Van Halen released an album with lead singer David Lee Roth. And three Friday the 13ths fell exactly 13 weeks apart from each other. Those were all events that happened this year for the first time since 1984 - the last time Port Orange searched fo...
|
|
|
Town will negotiate settlement in Pacetta lawsuit
|
|
|
PONCE INLET - After a judge ruled in favor of a developer in a lawsuit concerning the proposed construction of dry boat storage, town leaders want to negotiate a settlement. The Town Council recently voted 4-1 to authorize Councilwoman Mary Hoss and a member of the town's staff, most likely Town Manager Jean...
|
|
|
Green day
|
|
A couple paddles their canoe in DeLeon Springs State Park recently. The park provides access to the Lake Woodruff National Wildlife Refuge. Canoeists can explore more than 18,000-acres of lakes, creeks and marshes. www.floridastateparks.org/deleonsprings...
|
|
|
NSBHS thespians go international, middle schoolers fly high
|
|
The International Thespian Society Troupe 1903 of New Smyrna Beach High School qualified for the International Thespian Festival in Lincoln, Neb. June 25-30. Their mask theatre production of Lindsay Price's "Emotional Baggage" was presented for a panel of judges at the Florida State Thespian Festival on March 16, at...
|
|