Hammock Observer 12-16-21

THE HAMMOCK

Observer YOU. YOUR NEIGHBORS. YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD.

VOLUME 6, NO. 5

BECOMING THE BOSS PAGE 6 FREE

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DECEMBER 2021

Future of Flagler fireworks The city of Flagler Beach is weighing options for improving residents’ experience during July 4 fireworks PAGE 2

‘Educational’ added to ‘Equity’ goal

Reflections that make an impression Looking for God in unexpected places: a photographer’s quest for truth PAGE 4

School Board’s Woolbright suggested the term defined

by Florida statutes.

BRENT WORONOFF STAFF WRITER

The word equity is back in the school district’s proposed Strategic Plan, this time with an asterisk.

At a Nov. 2 workshop, the School Board agreed to change the title of Goal 2 in the plan from “Equity” to SEE STRATEGIC PAGE 3

FDOT’s wildflower program beautifies road shoulders JONATHAN SIMMONS NEWS EDITOR

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If you’re driving on State Road A1A in northern Flagler County, you could be forgiven for not noticing the landscaping — the ocean tends to steal the show.

But the Florida Department of Transportation, which has jurisdiction over A1A, has been implementing a landscaping program that may make the area even prettier while lowering maintenance costs associated with mowing.

On two stretches on A1A — near Flagler County’s Varn Park and near Marineland — FDOT is using native wildflowers, rather than standard landscaping vegetation like turf grass, to adorn the road shoulders.

The department created the program in 1963. District 5 has both naturalized locations, where wildflowers reseed themselves largely without FDOT involvement, and planted locations which are seeded

by FDOT.

Palm Coast artist Ed Siarkowicz’s book “Majestic Reflections” is expected to be released in January.

Photo by Jarleene Almenas

Dose of Reality Fair teaches FPC students real-life financial lessons

BRENT WORONOFF STAFF WRITER

“I need daycare. I don’t have money,” Matthew Macleod exclaimed. “What do I do?”

Macleod was standing in front of the child care table at VyStar Credit Union’s Reality Fair on Dec. 3 at Flagler Palm Coast High School.

Corinne Schaefer, FPC’s Career and Technical Education department head, invited VyStar to conduct the program at the media center for the school’s On The Job Training students.

The Reality Fair teaches financial literacy to high school students by thrusting them into real-world situations.

“We teach them to prepare for the future, so they don’t have to repair their past,” said VyStar’s High School Branch Coordinator Omega Milton, who facilitated the fair.

Each student was provided a real-life scenario that included an occupation, a salary, marital status, credit

“This is teaching me about the real world and all the bills you have to pay. You have to pay them. You can’t get around it.”

MATTHEW MACLEOD

score and the number of children they must provide for — from 0 to 3.

Once they calculated their monthly deductions for taxes and health insurance, they walked around the room, stopping at 11 tables, manned by community volunteers, to

Matthew Macleod, left, and Cody Fain.

balance their budgets.

Each table represented a service — groceries, housing, utilities, child care, charitable contributions, entertainment, transportation, home and car insurance, the mall (clothing, etc.), credit union and “Life Happens.”

Think of the last table as a Chance card in Monopoly. You could receive a bonus from your job or you could have a flat tire or an unexpected medical bill.

Flagler County School Board member Colleen Conklin manned the “Party Alley/ Entertainment” table. She said she was told to upsell. So,

Photo by Brent Woronoff

she sold one student a cruise, who probably couldn’t afford a cruise within his scenario.

She expected he would return to cancel the cruise. But most of the students were prudent, she said.

In many cases they took the other extreme, said Brett Winney, VyStar’s Palm Coast branch vice president, who assisted with the fair.

He said some would go to the mall table and say their children didn’t need any clothes, or their entertainment budget would include just a cup of coffee.

SEE DOSE PAGE 8

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HAMMOCK OBSERVER

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PalmCoastObserver.com

DECEMBER 2021

Weighing options for July 4 fireworks ‘We’re doing everything we can to take care of the problems that make fireworks unappetizing,’ Scott Spradley said.

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A committee created to study options for this year’s city of Flagler Beach July 4 celebration will likely recommend that a fireworks show proceed, but suggest a shorter parade, an increased effort to fight underage drinking, and a fee for shuttle transportation between the beach and the mainland.

“The thought is to have a more organized, familyfriendly kind of a day, laid out, advertised in advance,” committee chairman Scott Spradley told Flagler Beach city commissioners at a Nov. 18 commission meeting.

The committee had been formed amid concerns about whether the city should continue to hold its long-running fireworks show this year.

Flagler Beach and Palm Coast both canceled last year’s fireworks shows because of COVID-19 safety concerns.

Spradley told commissioners at the Nov. 18 meeting that the committee’s focus has become less about whether to have fireworks this year, and more about how to have them.

That means preventing the problems that make the fireworks event unappealing for some, he said.

“If we can get that under control and make it safer, make ingress and egress easier and make parking something accommodating, then it may

be ... that the fireworks, as scheduled, is something that can be done and it would be a lot less unappetizing,” he said.

The committee has met five times so far and will be ready to make recommendations before the end of the year, he said. It spent its first few meetings identifying problems.

“It was pretty quick that we came to the conclusion that traffic, parking and overall safety ... are the three primary challenges,” Spradley said.

“The population on the island that day is phenomenal.”

As in recent years, he said, a traffic plan will direct people north or south on State Road A1A after the event, depending on whether they came from north or south of State Road 100. The city may also call in helicopter assistance.

The committee will recommend that the city continue its use of shuttles to ferry people from the mainland to the beach, but may advise that the city begin charging people for the shuttle ride, which has been free in the past.

“The analogy that we talked about was, it’s quite common to go to St. Augustine for the day and drop a $20 bill at the parking garage, so why not charge to get over here and back?” Spradley said.

“I don’t think, for anybody, it’s even been really about the fireworks; it’s about what comes with it — the all-day drunk fest and the fights and everything.”

ERIC COOLEY, city commissioner

There could be multiple fee options depending on whether people plan to head back and forth throughout the day or just come east once and then head back west later.

There will be more parking options this year on the west side of the bridge: Parking at Boston Whaler, Babcock Furniture and other businesses will add about 730 spots, Spradley said.

As for the parade, Spradley said, there’s been one common resident complaint.

“One thing that we hear is that the parade is just too long — particularly on election years,” he said.

The committee might suggest adding a cap on the number of parade entries, he said.

And to make the event more welcoming for families, he said, the committee will plan a slate of family-friendly events and look at ways to crack down on underage drinking, and publicize the fact that it will be doing so.

Police Chief Matt Doughney, Spradley said, has suggested the possibility of bringing in other law enforcement agencies to patrol.

Email jonathan@palmcoastobserver.com.

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HAMMOCK OBSERVER

Superintendent keeps controversial book off the shelves for now As the School Board awaits new procedures, three of the four books in the complaint will be available.

BRENT WORONOFF STAFF WRITER

The book that has caused so much controversy in Flagler County and around the country will remain off school district library shelves. At least for now.

Flagler Schools Superintendent Cathy Mittelstadt announced on Dec. 7 that “All Boys Aren’t Blue” will not be returning to the district’s two high school media centers, pending new district procedures that are in the works on how to “access materials that may be sensitive in nature,” Mittelstadt said in a press release.

However, the other books listed in School Board member Jill Woolbright’s complaint will return to the shelves, Mittelstadt said.

At a School Board agenda workshop later in the day, Mittelstadt said the other three books — “The Hate U Give,” “Speak” and “Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You” — have been in circulation for a number of years, and teachers use them in the classroom.

Mittelstadt made her decisions on the four books after a district media review committee for secondary schools, led by LaShakia Moore, the district’s director of teaching

and learning, released its report in response to Woolbright’s complaint.

The committee recommended all four books return to the shelves, determining they are all “appropriate for use and should be retained as a resource available to teachers and students in our high school media centers.”

For “All Boys Aren’t Blue,” which was published last year, the committee recommended that before the book is returned to media centers, an opt-out process is communicated to families.

But Mittelstadt decided to keep the book out of schools until new procedures are in place. Moore and her team are expected to present their proposed procedures and protocols at an information workshop on Dec. 14.

Woolbright, who filed a criminal complaint to investigate “All Boys Aren’t Blue,” applauded Mittelstadt’s decision. But School Board member Janet McDonald asked that all four books be kept off the shelves until new procedures are put in place.

“In meantime, please remove those from the schools,” McDonald said. “We need to not put them back.

They’re still under consideration. It’s a nationwide issue. We need to make sure we are abiding by all the state statutes (regarding parental rights).”

Mittelstadt would not backtrack.

“I have put forth my decision on this matter,” she said, adding that if the board wants to appeal her decision, it has the power to do so.

None of the board members proposed an appeal.

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DECEMBER 2021

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“The author has made public comments as to the age-appropriateness of this book, is 10th, 11th, and 12th grade. Our high schools are 9th through 12th grade. So we would need to create a procedure within our school media centers that have age-appropriate locations for sensitive matters within our school buildings. We can achieve that and we will.”

CATHY MITTELSTADT, superintendent

Mittelstadt praised the committee’s review of the four books in accordance with board policy.

“I thank LaShakia Moore, the parents who volunteered to be a part of this process, and our district staff. I reviewed their recommendation and used that in my final decision,” Mittelstadt said in the press release.

At the workshop, Mittelstadt stressed that she does not have final approval to ban a book. She said it’s

important for the school district to improve procedures to inform parents and train media center staff, and that Moore’s team began working on the protocols “long before” Woolbright’s complaint.

“I want to make sure we do this right,” she said.

In her complaint, Woolbright asked that “All Boys Aren’t Blue,” a sexually explicit memoir by George M. Johnson on growing up Black and

queer, be removed from schools. She said she asked the district to look at the three other books because they were on “Project LIT’s list of edgy books.”

“It was never about those books,” Woolbright said. “It was about ‘All Boys Aren’t Blue,’ and I applaud the decision. ... It’s a win-win for everybody. The county gets procedures that are going to satisfy all parents and all students.”

WOOLBRIGHT SAYS SHE FILED COMPLAINT ABOUT BLACK LGBT MEMOIR ‘ALL BOYS AREN’T BLUE’ TO SUPPORT PARENTS’ RIGHTS School Board member Jill Woolbright says she filed a Sheriff’s Office complaint about the presence of the memoir “All Boys Aren’t Blue” in school media centers because it contains graphic sexual content and she believes parents should have a choice about whether their children have access to it — not because the book’s author, George M Johnson, is Black and queer.

“I don’t care about the race of anyone or their sexual identity, that isn’t the issue; it’s the graphic detail,” she said.

“Parents do have rights in

Jill Woolbright.

the state of Florida,” she added.

“Families need to know what we’re teaching and what materials we’re using in Flagler County schools ... and then they can make choices accordingly: They can decide how they want to raise their children and where to put their children in school or even give the opportunity to opt their children out of certain things in our school system.”

Woolbright had initially complained about the book to Superintendent Cathy Mittelstadt, prompting district staff to remove the book and several others Woolbright had mentioned from school media centers — “All Boys Aren’t Blue” had been at Flagler Palm Coast High School, Matanzas High School and Buddy Taylor Middle School — to conduct a review.

But, saying she was dissatisfied that Mittelstadt hadn’t informed other School Board members, Woolbright then went to the Sheriff’s Office, stating she

believed the book’s presence in media centers violated the state law on obscenity.

The Sheriff’s Office looked into Woolbright’s complaint and found no crime. (“This complaint does not rise to the level of criminal activity,” Sheriff Rick Staly said in a news release.)

On the radio program, Woolbright said she hadn’t filed the complaint to get district media center staff in legal trouble.

“That’s not the point,” she said.

“The point is, we need to improve our processes, we need to improve our policy, we need to have direction on how to approve how books get in the media center, and ... to make sure that they are put in media centers that are age-appropriate. ... There need to be guidelines, policies and procedures, and transparency about how all that is taken care of in our district.”

— JONATHAN SIMMONS

McDonald defies SAT rules No denouncing ‘bad actors’ Strategic Plan adds ‘educational’

As students checked in for the exam at Matanzas High, the School Board member told testing staff that students did not have to wear masks.

BRENT WORONOFF STAFF WRITER

School Board member Janet McDonald said she was assured last year that students taking the SAT in Flagler County would have a choice to wear a mask or not during the three-hour college admission exam.

She said she was “shocked to hear at the last minute” that masks would be required by all students taking the exam at Matanzas High School on Saturday morning, Dec. 4.

McDonald said after a Flagler Schools administrator told her students taking the test would have a choice and then hearing from students that they were told that wouldn’t be the case, she went to the school during the test’s checkin and told coordinators and proctors that the students do not have to wear masks.

The SAT is administered by the College Board, a nonprofit organization founded in 1900.

According to the health and safety requirements listed on collegeboard. org, the College Board requires all students and staff to wear a mask at check-in and during SAT testing.

Students must also sit 3 feet apart during the test.

The requirements go on to say that “students who violate the requirements put in place by their test center or College Board should be dismissed from the test center; if this happens, their scores will be canceled, and they won’t receive a refund.”

In a phone interview Dec. 5, McDonald said masks can hinder students’ performance during the test, and they shouldn’t be required to wear them.

“We in Florida have choice,” she said. “No masks are required anywhere. We don’t ask our athletes to wear masks during high-stakes events, or even during practice. We should not be masking our students when they are taking a high-stakes exam.”

Corinne Schaefer, the College Board’s assistant coordinator for the

‘It’s not organized by us.

There were bad actors all over,’ board member Janet McDonald said.

BRENT WORONOFF

Janet McDonald

STAFF WRITER

Saturday SAT tests at Matanzas, said McDonald remained at check-in up until the start of the test when the doors were closed.

“I stayed until the start of the session. Then I did leave,” McDonald confirmed.

Schaefer’s husband, Jeremy Schaefer, is the College Board’s coordinator for the SATs at Matanzas. They are both Flagler County teachers. Corinne Schaefer said most of the students did not wear masks during the exam after listening to McDonald’s remarks at check-in.

“I would say 70 to 80% did not wear masks,” she said.

She said the testing staff contacted the College Board as well as school and district administrators inquiring what to do.

“The College Board said we had to tell (the students) to put masks on, but not to disrupt the test at that point or to kick anybody out. Just to make sure the kids had a good environment to test in.”

McDonald said her concern is based on science that shows masks interfere with oxygen flow that would potentially hinder students from performing at their best during the test.

“Masks don’t work,” she said. “All they do is limit oxygen. We know it’s just a control feature.”

But Stephen Bickel, the medical director for the Florida Department of Health in Flagler County, said masks do not pose a health risk.

“There are a lot of issues about masks you can debate, but health problems are not one of them,” he said. “Studies show a minimal change with carbon dioxide, but not with oxygen levels. And it’s so minimal. Why would surgeons wear masks if they hinders their performance? The idea that they’re harmful is farcical.”

Dr. Bickel also said that while there is a debate on how effective masks are in preventing COVID-19, “I don’t know one doctor not driven ideologically who think masks don’t work at all.”

School Board Vice Chair Colleen Conklin thought on Dec. 7 that the board could come together and issue a declaration denouncing hate group activity inside and outside board meetings.

Apparently, she was wrong.

Board member Cheryl Massaro said she was very concerned about protests outside of the Government Services Building during the Nov. 16 School Board meeting in which protesters — some dressed in militia garb — who were seeking to ban the book, “All Boys Aren’t Blue,” from school media centers, clashed with students protesting book removals.

Massaro said many of the demonstrators were not Flagler County residents, but outsiders who were told to come to the meeting.

Conklin suggested a joint statement denouncing the behavior.

But board member Janet McDonald objected. “It’s not organized by us,” McDonald said. “There were bad actors all over. Everyone has a right to behave within the manner of their demonstrations.”

Conklin said multiple videos showed that hate crimes were committed.

“As a board, we haven’t been collegial to each other,” McDonald said.

“Part of what happened outside has been reflective of what’s been happening inside. If we model our best behavior, then we have the right to say anything. But if we’re not dem-

Photo by Brent Woronoff

Colleen Conklin looks at staff presentation materials at the Dec. 7 School Board workshop.

onstrating it, then (we don’t have that right).”

Conklin said she agrees the board sets the tone.

“This has been three months of national news, stories, distractions that have very little to do with education. We set the tone and we have been nothing but a distraction to the school district,” she said.

She was disappointed that the board couldn’t even stand together to state that hate groups will not be tolerated at School Board meetings.

“It’s subjective,” McDonald said.

“It’s your perception.”

McDonald said the demonstrations appeared to be staged in video clips.

“Have you watched the videos, Janet?” Conklin asked.

Agreeing with McDonald, board member Janet Woolbright said, “I think we cannot make assumptions on who those people are.”

The board did decide to no longer read virtual comments at School Board meetings, although since this was a workshop, no formal votes could be taken.

The reading of the virtual comments began in the early days of the pandemic when the meetings themselves were virtual. But there was also disagreement on this issue.

“A number of people frankly don’t feel safe to attend our meetings,” Conklin said. “Our School Board meetings have been a circus the last three months. And people are sharing they don’t feel safe, whether it’s because of COVID of because of the environment.”

In a live public comment at the Dec. 7 workshop, Angela Pascucci agreed with Conklin.

“These meetings do not feel safe,” she said. “I was subjected to two hours of angry armed militia in my face (at the Nov. 16 board meeting), and that was nothing compared to what these kids went through. I hope you will consider leaving virtual comments.”

In other news, the board agrees to allow Superintendent Cathy Mittelstadt and staff to meet with Flagler County staff and the Flagler County Homebuilder’s Association, as requested by the HBA, regarding the district’s impact fee proposal.Mittelstadt said it would be just to have a conversation, because she does not have the authority to make a decision on changing the district’s proposal which would double impact fees on single-family homes.

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

“Student Supports,” leaving the goal itself intact, which is to “increase access for all students to a highquality educational experience,” according to the plan’s “At a Glance” page.

“This goal aims to address the uniqueness of each student and reduce the challenges and barriers that impact student success,” the plan states.

Board member Cheryl Massaro, who provided the third vote to substitute Student Supports for Equity, said she changed her mind after hearing community complaints.

At the Dec. 7 agenda workshop, board member Jill Woolbright suggested an alternative: using the term “Educational Equity,” as defined

by Florida statutes.

The board agreed to the new title and will list the statutes after the goal’s text.

Bobby Bossardet, the district’s assistant superintendent for academic services, discussed the difference between equity and equality.

“Treating everybody equal doesn’t always end up in equal outcomes,” he said. “We believe equity gives all our students the opportunity to achieve equal success. That was the reason why (the goal) was presented to you with the word equity.”

Board member Janet McDonald was not in favor of returning the word to the title.

“Our hearts are all in the same place,” she said. “And if we let one word interrupt with our vision, we are all losing.”

Woolbright, who originally suggested taking the word out of the plan because of pushback from some community members, said a parents group that initially objected to the word’s usage would be satisfied if it was defined by state statutes.

Superintendent Cathy Mittelstadt said if the board wants to put in a disclaimer, it should add an asterisk to the new title of “Educational Equity,” and list the statutes on the bottom of the page to not “muddy up” the title.

The board agreed to change the draft, with McDonald dissenting.

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HAMMOCK OBSERVER

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PalmCoastObserver.com

DECEMBER 2021

SAY GOODBYE TO Reflections that VARICOSE VEINS! make an impression A Palm Coast photographer’s quest for truth JARLEENE ALMENAS ASSOCIATE EDITOR

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For five years, Palm Coast artist Ed Siarkowicz traveled across the state of Florida searching for God in reflections in water.

Accompanied by his mentors — photographer John Olivo and the late Pierre Matisse, grandson of French artist Henri Matisse — the trio looked in lakes, ponds, drainage ditches and even puddles looking for images that reflected beauty. Most of the time, part of the search involved a lot of patience.

With the surface of the water as Siarkowicz’s canvas, his job as a photographer was to wait for all the right condi-

tions: the wind, light, bubbles, debris, frogs and even turtles.

They all create the texture and patterns on the water canvas, and only when they all aligned did Siarkowicz press his camera’s shutter button.

“That’s the thing that’s worth waiting for,” he said.

Siarkowicz has since put together 28 images from his impressionistic water reflections photography, all which will be published in his upcoming book, “Majestic Reflections.” He released part of his collection that was displayed at Ocean Art Gallery in Ormond Beach as the gallery’s featured artist for the month of October.

S i a rkow i cz sa i d h e expects the book to be released

in January. About half of the images in “Majestic Reflections” are from locations in Flagler County, including Bull Creek in St. Johns Park, Town Center, the Hammock and Washington Oaks Gardens State Park, he said.

ART IN UNEXPECTED PLACES

Originally from New York, Siarkowicz grew up on a dairy goat farm surrounded by photography. His grandmother often took him with her to take photos, and the pair spent a lot of time together, whether Siarkowicz was the subject of her photos or whether he was helping her see something through a different lens.

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HAMMOCK OBSERVER THE

“Sometimes, out of the most unexpected, disorganized chaos, come the greatest truths.”

Ed Siarkowicz

his commercial fishing license and a boat. When he wasn’t fishing, he was going door to door selling items for his Scout troop, an act that eventually led him to win his first camera.

From that point on, photography wasn’t just something he grew up around — it became a part of him.

Upon his retirement from a chiropractic career in 2013, six years after he moved to Palm Coast, he decided to dedicate himself to his art. One of his former patients, Olivo, had been a professional photographer in Manhattan, and once he took a look at Siarkowicz’s work, he told him he needed to show it to the public.

Frank Gromling, owner of Ocean Art Gallery, gave Siarkowicz his first chance to do so in 2014 at his former Flagler Beach gallery.

After a show a couple of years later, Siarkowicz was invited to Matisse’s house for a party, and the two became good friends. That’s when Matissse introduced him to the concept of impressionistic water reflection photography.

With not a lot of information about the art method available, Matisse invited Siarkowicz to join him on his journey.

“It wasn’t so much the image that we were looking for,” Siarkowicz said. “We were actually on a search for finding God, and for finding

‘ONE SHOT’

The first day that Siarkowicz began practicing impressionist water reflection photography occurred at Matisse’s home. Matisse lived near a lake, and the two went out to take photos of a bird’s reflection on the water. Once in position, Siarkowicz heard Matisse’s camera click once, and then about a minute later, click again.

Siarkowicz, instead, took a burst of photos, startling his mentor.

“He said, ‘One shot. Take one picture,’” Siarkowicz recalled.

Matisse was right.

Every shot in the collection is unaltered. They are merely what Siarkowicz was able to capture through his camera lens, and in his journey for truth, portraying the surfaces of water as they were when he first saw them was critical, he explained. It’s taught him to stay open-minded when it comes to finding art.

“Because I think sometimes, out of the most unexpected, disorganized chaos, come the greatest truths,” Siarkowicz said.

Visit edsharkphotoimages. com.

Brent Woronoff contributed.

Observer “If we are to build a better world, we must remember that the guiding principle is this — a policy of freedom for the individual is the only truly progressive policy.”

Friedrich Hayek “Road to Serfdom,” 1944

Publisher John Walsh, jwalsh@palmcoastobserver. com Executive Editor Brian McMillan, bmcmillan@ palmcoastobserver.com News Editor Jonathan Simmons, jonathan@ palmcoastobserver.com Staff Writer Brent Woronoff, brent@palmcoastobserver. com Page Designer Hailey McMillan Senior Account Manager Susan Moore, susan@palmcoastobserver. com Office Coordinator Bonnie Hamilton, bonnie@ palmcoastobserver.com Operations Manager Maureen Walsh, maureen@ palmcoastobserver.com Advertising Coordinator Jessica Boone, jessica@palmcoastobserver. com Circulation Manager David Brooks, david@ horizonroad.com DELIVERY: To suspend or stop delivery, call Circulation Manager David Brooks, at 338-5080.

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his presence and his revelations with the beauty that he creates, in totally unexpected places.”

The images represent Siarkowicz’s personal search for meaning, understanding and a relationship with God. And the biggest compliment he’s received came from someone who grasped that during the opening reception held at Ocean Art Gallery on Oct. 2.

“There was one person that said, ‘I really see God in this,’” he said. “To me, that is the most impactful compliment — when somebody sees in my work what I went out there to find.”

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COVID-19 has made the past year and a half difficult for restaurants. But in the midst of the pandemic, Mike Wehde and his family, who already own the Waffle Cone ice cream shop in Flagler Beach, decided to create a new one.

“We had a lot of walk-up traffic, so about a year into the pandemic, my son from San Francisco moved back,” Mike Wehde said. “His strategy, working with us, was to create another takeout place: outdoor seating, outside, in the safe air. ... Holly and I were very entrepreneurial, so why not make the most of a pandemic?”

And so, about half a year ago, the family created the

Sunshine Crepes & Bubble Bar, at 111 S. Fourth St. in Flagler Beach.

Wehde and his wife, Holly, own the business, and their sons, Dillon and Dakota, are general managers.

Dillon Wehde had been a photographer shooting weddings and product photography in San Francisco when the pandemic cut back his wedding photography work, he said.

So Dillon came back to Flagler County, where he’d grown up, and got to work with his family renovating the shopfront that would become Sunshine Crepes.

Locals were welcoming of the soon-to-be restaurant, he said.

“The whole time we were trying to do those renovations, people would just walk in and say, ‘Are you guys open yet? We’re so excited!’ These small businesses are what people love in Flagler,” he said. “We have relationships with other business owners that would be, techni-

Dr. MICHAEL LYNCH, physical therapist

cally, our competition, and we’re friends with them. ... It’s amazing to have that camaraderie.”

NEW BUSINESS OWNERS

The We h d e s a re n ’ t alone: Many locals who lost regular work or found their lives in other ways upended during the pandemic have reacted by forming their own small businesses.

In Palm Coast, the city government’s business tax receipt records bear this out.

Starting in 2020, there was an uptick in the number of new local businesses, including small home-based ones. Then there was another spike in 2021.

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HAMMOCK OBSERVER

The rise in new business tax receipts, measured from January through October annually so that this year’s numbers can be compared with previous years,’ showed a gradual rise from 97 in 2015 to 212 in 2019. But the numbers rose to 266 in 2020, then to 467 this year.

A look solely at home-based businesses showed a similar pattern, with a rise from 46 in the period of January to October 2015 to 114 in the same period of 2019. In 2020, the trend continued with a rise to 136; in 2021, it rose to 266.

Greg Blosé, president and CEO of the Palm CoastFlagler Regional Chamber of Commerce, has noted the trend.

Although people haven’t been returning to conventional work at the rate expected since pandemic stimulus payments ended, he said, there are many ways for workers who’ve lost their jobs to make up the income.

“There are different, alternative types of work for you to continue to earn the type of living that you did before the pandemic,” he said.

Some people have turned to Uber, DoorDash, and other independent contractor gig work, making their own hours, while others go out on their own, he said.

“I’ve seen a lot of that in Flagler County,” Blosé said. “A lot of these super small businesses — one-employee deals.”

Elizabeth Owens’ path fits that pattern. She’d been working at the Palm Coast Walmart, and her husband had worked for Coca Cola, when the pandemic hit.

His hours were reduced.

She was seeing people laid off.

Then, last November, she saw an ad for an ice cream truck.

“And I was like, ‘I want this — I need this,’” she said.

The family renovated the

CHALLENGES

Mike Wehde and Holly Wehde.

truck in their driveway until spring — redoing the floors, painting it, adding an extra freezer.

“Totally did a 360 on it, and we started taking it out,” she said.

Owens usually starts in Palm Coast with her husband, then works her way north selling ice cream until she gets toward St. Augustine, where she’s been storing the truck.

If not for the pandemic, she said, she probably wouldn’t have started her own business. Now, she’s looking into getting two more trucks by next summer.

Her children, ages 9 and 5, have learned something, too.

“It’s taught my kids about entrepreneurial business,” she said.

Her 9-year-old son has been wanting to start his own business selling light-up toys like light wands.

“He came to us with a whole business plan,” she said.

Like Owens, Dr. Michael Lynch formed his own business after COVID-19 threatened his income.

But unlike ice cream salesmanship, Lynch’s field isn’t so social-distance friendly: Lynch is a physical thera-

“Outdoor seating, outside, in the safe air. ... Holly and I were very entrepreneurial, so why not make the most of a pandemic?”

MIKE WEHDE, Sunshine Crepes & Bubble Bar

pist.

He was working for a home health company when the pandemic began, and appointments plummeted.

He knew that some patients were avoiding physical therapy because they were concerned about potential COVID-19 exposure. He believed he could reassure them.

And he has, offering inhome physical therapy with his new business Mobile Therapy Services.

He wears an N-95 mask, double-masks, and in some cases adds a face shield.

Some patients prefer to see him take a COVID test in front of them and then wait until it comes back negative before he enters their home.

“I probably get COVID tested, on an average week, three

The uncertainties of the pandemic can make business planning tough.

For instance, Lynch just bought a specialized laser for use in his therapy practice — a major expense.

“It’s a huge risk doing that, because now we have a new [COVID-19] variant that might shut everything down again,” Lynch said. “It’s a nerve-wracking time to invest in your business.”

Owens saw delays getting paperwork approved, and found it tough to schedule a health inspector to inspect the ice cream truck.

The Wehdes have had trouble finding workers and have been fighting supply chain issues.

Dillon Wehde scours Amazon.com and other website for supplies daily, and has sometimes sent staff members running to Publix to grab ingredients.

It’s been especially tough with the bubble tea, since ingredients come from Asia, he said.

“It’s constant,” Dillon Wehde said. “Every day I look online. ... I’m just constantly looking at different sites.

You’re trying to buy months in advance. It gets pretty tricky.”

Like Owens and the Wehdes, though, his business is socialdistance friendly, and he was able to move forward with it despite the upheaval caused in the economy by COVID-19.

Williams had started planning to form a small business offering boat charters and boat, jet ski and paddle board rentals after he and his wife, Kelly, decided to move to Palm Coast from South Carolina to take care of Kelly’s mother, who has Alzheimer’s.

The move from Charleston meant leaving his position at a boat dealership there and finding new work.

He bought some boats before he left, and arrived in Palm Coast in March 2020 — just as things were shutting down and restaurants were switching to takeout only.

“It was just such an incredible time — nobody knew what to do,” Dru Williams said.

But it worked out for his new business, Crescent WaterSports.

“Being on a boat is about as much social distancing as you can do, and with everything shutting down, I think it was a relief for a lot of people to get out on the water and see the dolphins and the manatees and not have to worry about

7

DECEMBER 2021

wearing a mask inside, and who you’re going to offend,” he said.

He has regulars who book every three weeks, which helped the fledgling business in its first few months.

“Really, that’s kind of what made us get through,” he said.

“And then when summer hit … our boat rental business started doing extremely well.”

The Wehdes have also noticed that people are eager to get out in the open air with friends and family.

“People are so happy to get out and eat outside,” Mike Wehde said. “It’s been beautiful weather, and it creates a lot of smiles.”

“I think it was a relief for a lot of people to get out on the water and see the dolphins and the manatees and not have to worry about wearing a mask inside, and who you’re going to offend.”

DRU WILLIAMS, Crescent WaterSports

FRESH AIR

Dru Williams opened his business during the pandemic, but not because of it.

Photos by Jonathan Simmons

Dru and Kelly Williams and Kevin Scott Freeland.

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A PIVOT

to five times, sometimes twice in one day,” he said. “Rapid tests — lots of them. ... One patient turned into two, and two turned into 10, and it’s been going strong ever since,” he said.

Lynch, an Ormond-by-theSea resident, serves Flagler County and Volusia County.

That’s sometimes meant long days, with 100-some miles of driving and 10-12 patients.

But, he said, “I’m definitely in a better position than a lot of business people, because I can be mobile.”

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HAMMOCK OBSERVER

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PalmCoastObserver.com

DECEMBER 2021

Dose of Reality CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

“It’s funny how many of them talked themselves out of concerts or going to Disney,” Winney said. “But when you ask them what they did last summer, they’ll say, ‘We went to Disney.’”

DAYCARE SOLUTION

Perhaps the most eye-opening infor-

mation the students learned was the high price of child care.

“This is expensive,” Macleod said.

“I’m a kindergarten teacher, a single parent with three kids, and I’m renting an apartment. There are a lot of things I have to pay for. For the most part, I have to go with cheaper options.”

But he found a solution for his daycare problem. Cody Fain had an unemployed spouse in his scenario, so Macleod worked out a deal where he would pay Fain’s “wife” to watch his kids.

“This is teaching me about the real world and all the bills you have to pay,” Macleod said. “You have to pay them. You can’t get around it.”

Tamara Walker truly had a real-life

Photos by Brent Woronoff

Marcae Smith goes over her debts with FPC teacher Leah Groom.

CERTIFIED TO GIVE ESB EXAM

Corinne Schaefer, FPC’s Career and Technical Education department head, discusses calculation forms with students.

Corinne Schaefer has become the first Career and Technical Education teacher in the school district to achieve the Entrepreneurship and Small Business certification through Certiport.

As a result, Schaefer, the CTE department head at Flagler Palm Coast High, can now give the professional-level certification exam to her students.

“I’m giving the test to my Level 2 students on Dec. 9. We’ve been preparing for it,” Schaefer said.

The students will be able to add

Reality Fair volunteers at the FPC media center.

the certication to their resumes, and the state provides money to the ESB program for each student who passes the exam, said Adam Blair, Flagler Schools’ curriculum specialist for CTE. Daytona State College also provides three college credits for students who pass the ESB class and the certification exam, Blair said.

Schaefer’s students are starting their own small business, creating Paw Prints T-shirts.

scenario. The youngest of three children with a single mother, Walker’s scenario was a single mother with three kids with bad credit.

In real life, Walker has a job and a credit union account and puts away $150 of every paycheck into savings.

She has a credit card that her mother co-signed for her, and she pays off her balance every month.

“I do not want to go into debt,” she said. “I watched my mother go into debt and get out of debt. I watch her do everything. My mom taught me a lot. She’s very inspirational.”

Walker took her scenario to the next level. Sure, she can balance her budget now, she said, but what happens when the kids get older and

have to deal with “life issues?”

For many, the experience was a reality check. Marcae Smith’s “husband” was unemployed. After buying car insurance, she went back to the insurance booth to cancel it and decided to ride a bike instead.

“You see kids get a little upset, because they’re running out of money,” said Adam Blair, Flagler Schools’ curriculum specialist who is in charge of Career and Technical Education for the district.

In the program’s debriefing period, Milton noted, “Some of you had all the money in the world. Others said, ‘I don’t have enough to feed my children.’ This is real life. Some people live paycheck to paycheck.

Everything you experienced is real, and it’s true.”

STUDENT-RUN BRANCH AT MATANZAS

Winney said VyStar is just starting up the Reality Fairs again after a pause due to the pandemic. He said this was the 20th fair he was involved in during his nine years with the credit union.

VyStar also has a program in some schools in which students run an actual VyStar branch in-school.

As high school branch coordinator, Milton oversees the program in eight counties.

Matanzas High School has the program with 12 students running the branch during lunch periods. It’s a full-service branch exclusively run by the students, where they handle everything except loans. The branch currently has 58 accounts, Milton said.

The 12 Matanzas students get class credits for running the branch. After school and during the summer, the majority of them work at a VyStar branch and get paid, Milton said.

The students also help Milton conduct presentations to Matanzas classes on financial education that include topics such as credit, savings and budgeting, student loans and writing a business plan.

They’ve reached 700 students at the school with those presentations, Milton said.

Milton said she once lived paycheck to paycheck herself. As a result, teaching financial literacy “is a passion for me,” she said.