PALM COAST
Observer YOU. YOUR NEIGHBORS. YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD.
VOLUME 6, NO. 45
Little League: City unfair
FREE
•
FPC ON A ROLL PAGE 13
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 17, 2015
IS IT CHRISTMAS YET?
The city will displace the league three times this spring to make room for visiting teams at Indian Trails Sports Complex. JONATHAN SIMMONS NEWS EDITOR
Palm Coast Little League has held practices and games at Indian Trails Sports Complex for close to a decade. But the city has shoved the players off their home base to make way for out-of-owners bringing in out-of-town dollars, and league officials are calling foul. The dispute centers around two weekends and a week this coming spring. The city wants them for a tournament and a visiting high school team. The league, which has a contract with the city, says it should have priority. League Vice President Doug Berryhill brought copies of that contract to a City Council meeting Dec. 15, saying the city had violated the terms under which it’s supposed to handle allocation of the fields, and that it has done so rudely — simply ordering the league to step aside after the city made an agreement with an outof-town, for-profit league. “That contract stipulates that we have preferred participant
Anastasia Pagello
Don’t tell these kids, but we’re still a week away. But they still had fun Dec. 12, at the annual Starlight Parade, at Town Center. Out of more than 200 entries, here are the winners for the best floats: Best of Parade: City of Palm Coast float (featuring new City Hall and the Birds of a Feather Fest); Best Marching Unit: Flagler Palm Coast High School Band; Best Float: Oceans Fence and Railing; Best Decorated Vehicle: Bath Fitter. SEE PAGE 20
POWER PLANT Courtesy photo
SEE LEAGUE PAGE 4
YOUR TOWN A HERO’S WELCOME
NEWSPAPER OF THE YEAR You have in your hands the latest edition of the best weekly newspaper in North America. The Local Media Association recently named the Palm Coast Observer the Newspaper of the Year, in its circulation category. LMA serves more than 2,200 local media companies in North America.
Jacque Estes
Brianna Seay carries a flat of vegetables, while Marie Mott brings the trowel, as the two helped plant vegetables at the HOPE Garden on Monday, Dec. 14. SEE PAGE 22
This weekend, the Palm Coast volunteer firefighters visited a hero. Over the Thanksgiving break there was a fire on Kentucky Avenue. A 7-year-old student from the Imagine School remembered what he was taught by the Palm Coast Fire Department: Stay low, crawl, and have a meeting place outside. That helped 7-year-old Miller Clayton save his 4-year-old brother’s life. Sunday, the Palm Coast volunteers brought Santa Claus to visit Miller and his family.