Ormond Beach Observer 4-13-23

Tomoka, you’re getting a new school

PAC renovations starting soon

The Ormond Beach City Commission passed a resolution on March 21 to authorize the start of construction for the Ormond Beach Performing Arts Center renovation, and construction is expected to begin soon, beginning with a demolition phase.

Volusia County to present AEDs

Volusia County’s Public Protection Department will present portable automated external defibrillators to 13 nonprofits and businesses, and train them on their use, on Friday, April 21, according to a news release.

The organizations that will receive the AEDs are the American Legion Post 267, Christ the King Church, Riviera Country Club, Daytona Beach Moose Lodge No. 1263, United Way of VolusiaFlagler Counties, Space Coast Baptist Church and seven Boys & Girls Clubs.

AEDs range from $1,300 to $1,700. The county’s Public Protection Department received grants from the Florida Department of Health’s Emergency Medical Services Trust Fund to cover the equipment costs.

Public Protection Director

Mark Swanson said in the news release that AEDs are designed so that they can be used by people with little or no training.

Once activated, an AED will play voice instructions for how to use it.

Invented in 1978, the AED uses sensors to detect rapid or irregular heartbeats, which are common causes of sudden cardiac death.

Construction for the new Tomoka Elementary is slated to begin in August.

The Volusia County School Board heard an update on the capital construction project during its workshop on Tuesday, April 11. The school, at 999 Old Tomoka Road in Ormond Beach, will be rebuilt on site.

The project is estimated to cost $49.3 million, according to the funding sources listed in the district’s presentation.

The relocation of the Tomoka campus to the former Osceola Elementary campus, where students will be housed during construction, will take place in June.

The school district expects construction to finish sometime in July 2024, with a groundbreaking to occur in June of this year.

“I’m excited about it,” School Board member Carl Persis said.

“Can’t wait to see the wrecking ball.”

Persis, who represents District 4 on the School Board, served as principal of Tomoka Elementary for 13 of his 28 years as a principal in the district.

School Board member Ruben Colon asked if the district had budgeted funds for teachers to get their classrooms ready at the Osceola campus over the summer.

“We know we’re going to need them to make the new school as hospitable as possible,” Colon said.

Chief Operation Officer Earl Johnson said the district hadn’t budgeted for that, since when teachers move during the summer, they have the chance to set up their rooms during pre-planning hours or before on

their own time.

“I have opened up schools before, and that has always been the case,” Johnson said.

Colon said the district should look at compensating teachers for the time they spend setting up a classroom on the temporary campus, even if it’s only two or three days of compensation.

“I have no expectation that anybody would do that in their own time, so I think it’s something we may need to talk to our stakeholders,” he said.

Persis agreed with Colon.

“[Teachers] can’t be doing all of this extra work and participate in professional training and all of the other things they are supposed to be doing,” Persis said. “... There’s only so much time in a school day.”

“The scope of the renovation project includes the construction of a new shade structure at the fountain entrance, stucco and painting of the exterior rock façade, new flooring, lighting, and ceilings in the lobby, new lobby staircase and restrooms, a donor wall, among other improvements,” the city stated in a press release.

The city purchased the building in May 1988. It used to be a church, formerly known as the Calvary Assembly of God Church.

The renovations, to cost $1.7 million, are expected to be completed by the end of the year.

THE NUMBERS

6

day road closure is in place for Andalusia Avenue, between Hand and Fleming avenues, to allow a contractor to perform utility work. The road closure began on April 10 and will run through April 16. The road will reopen once work has been completed.

Email Senior Editor Jarleene Almenas at Jarleene@ observerlocalnews.com.

Rendering courtesy of Volusia County Schools

Construction is expected to begin in August, with a groundbreaking scheduled sometime in June.

JARLEENE ALMENAS SENIOR EDITOR

“As CEO of an animal shelter, I’ve never shied away from challenging situations.”

Hello, Avelo

JARLEENE ALMENAS SENIOR EDITOR

Starting June 22, Daytona Beach International Airport will welcome its first ultra-low cost carrier, Avelo Airlines, which will offer two flights a week to southern Connecticut.

The airline’s service was announced at the DAB on Wednesday, April 5, making Avelo the third airline to currently offer flights out of the airport. Delta Air Lines and American Airlines are the other companies using the airport.

“We are thrilled to welcome Avelo, our airport’s first low-fare carrier, to Daytona Beach and Volusia County,” DAB Director Karen Feaster said in a news release. “This service opens our area to a market of travelers who now are only a direct flight away from our beautiful beaches, miles of nature trails and endless opportunities for fun and sun. Plus, our community now has direct flight options to one of our more popular travel regions.”

Avelo will fly a Boeing Next-Generation 737 aircraft on Thursdays and Sundays to Tweed-New Haven Airport.

Avelo Airlines Chairman and CEO Andrew Levy said in the news release that Avelo looks forward to introducing the Daytona Beach region to his airline’s “low fares, industry-leading reliability and caring service.”

“With hometown airport access to Southern Connecticut, travel from DAB is now easier than ever,” Levy said. “This new route will also make

Before Avelo could take flight, the Volusia County Council had to make a decision: Should it approve the creation of a $1 million fund to mitigate the financial risk of the airline’s start-up costs, in case the carrier doesn’t meet its revenue projections?

They wouldn’t know which airline it was until after approving the fund.

The council discussed the matter for over an hour and a half on Tuesday, April 4, and ultimately voted 4-2 in favor of the fund, with Councilmen Don Dempsey and Danny Robins voting against.

“We’re in the airport business,” Councilman David Santiago said. “Some of us may think it’s an unfortunate part of the airport business, but we’re in the airport business, and we’ve got to operate like we’re in the airport business.”

DAB has not added a new airline since 2019. The airlines added that year — Silver Airways and Sunwing Airlines — no longer service the airport. In 2019, JetBlue also stopped flying into DAB.

Cyrus Callum, county director of aviation and economic resources, told the council at the meeting that the airport and the county had been engaged in conversations with the ultra-low cost carrier — which turned out to be Avelo — for the past two years, since the airline was created in 2021.

The fund would allocate $500,000 for each of the routes Avelo plans to operate. A second route to a midAtlantic location will be announced later this year.

Avelo would only have access to the funds if it fails to meet its revenue projections. The county estimated the economic impact of adding Avelo at over $11.5 million based on lodging, food and other tourism-related expenditures.

“So that’s a huge return on investment for these two flights, and that’s also not including the jobs that it would create and the other benefits,” Feaster said at the council meeting.

These agreements, she added, are standard in the industry, and allow smaller airports like DAB to afford and sustain flights, and demonstrate that the need is present. This agreement would also be the first of its

TRAINING WHEELS CONCEPT

At first, County Councilman Troy Kent was skeptical of the agreement, noting that the airline would only fly out of the airport twice weekly while American and Delta, by comparison, fly every day.

“My big concern is repeating something this county has already done, which is giving away a wheelbarrow or dump truck full of money,” he said.

Then when the money is gone, the air carrier leaves.

Callum said that once the airline begins its second route, Avelo would service the airport four days a week, with an annual 18,000 net inbound visitors.

“The main reason people drive to Orlando right now is because of fares, and having an ultra-low cost carrier in your market does something to the fares,” Callum said. He likened the fund to putting training wheels on a bike: Once the airline is stable, the training wheels come off, and the air service is sustained because the community uses the airline.

With the addition of Avelo, the county hopes to diversify the market, Callum said. A second airline is waiting in the wings, Callum said, though the county has yet to receive a proposal.

“It’s a wait and see game,” he said. “[Airlines] are waiting for that first domino to fall, and this is that first domino.” This airline will work, County Council Chair Jeff Brower said, adding that he had confidence in the county’s negotiations.

“We need other airlines here, and then you’ll be able to go and bring in two more airlines,” Brower said.

TOO BIG A RISK?

Robins said he would have felt more comfortable if the agreement was cut to $250,000 per route, for a total of $500,000 in the fund.

“I’m just trying to lower the risk for our people, because between inflation, the stuff going on with the banks and no, I’m not a conspiracy theorist, but the worldly events, these wars that are going on — I mean, there’s so much right now,” Robins said. “I still think we need to be tight in this.”

Dempsey said he was concerned about the fund because he’s seen firsthand how volatile the airline industry is. With fuel costs high and other economic indicators pointing to a downturn, he wasn’t comfortable with the proposal.

“I just don’t know if this is a good time to be betting a million dollars of taxpayer money on a startup business,” Dempsey said.

The airlines need the airport, and the airport needs the airlines, Callum said.

“I think that if we were to move forward with this and you get an ultra-low cost carrier into the market, then you’ll start to see Delta and American adjust their fares as well,” Callum said. “The airlines follow each other.”

Since it was founded in 2021, Avelo has flown over two million customers on almost 17,000 nonstop flights, according to a news release.

The airline serves 43 destinations in 24 states.

Introductory one-way fares between DAB and HVN will start at $49.

Photo courtesy of Volusia County

Courtney Goff, communications manager for Avelo Airlines; Joanne Magley, director of marketing and customer experience at Daytona Beach International Airport; Karen Feaster, director of Daytona Beach International Airport; Cyrus Callum, Volusia County director of aviation and economic resources; and Kris Nichter, executive director of Volaire Aviation Consulting

Photo by Joe Scarnici/Getty Images for Avelo

will

“It’s a wait and see game. [Airlines] are waiting for that first domino to fall, and this is that first domino.”

, county director of aviation and

First low-cost carrier to fly out of Daytona Beach starts in late June.

Chefs open Vine Bistro in Ormond Beach

Joni Bartley and Mark Falzon bought the former To Better Days Wine and Bistro and will reopen the business under a new name, with a menu featuring southern contemporary cuisine.

The culinary arts have long been a part of Joni Bartley and Mark Falzon’s lives.

It’s the industry they’re passionate about. It’s what they love doing. It’s what brought them together.

And now that the chefs have acquired the former To Better Days Wine and Bistro at 197 N. Yonge St., they look forward to showing the Ormond Beach community what their love of food, combined with their extensive culinary backgrounds, can bring to the local restaurant scene.

“We’re excited to join the community and support other businesses,” Bartley said.

The couple took over To Better Days from local restaurateur Carlos Soldevilla on March 2, and have since renamed it Vine Bistro Scratch Kitchen and Wine Bar. They hosted a grand opening on Friday, April 7, with signature tapas to celebrate their launch.

Their full lunch and dinner menus, featuring southern contemporary dishes, is now available.

The chefs have worked in the food industry for over a decade.

Bartley, a graduate of Calvary Christian Academy, grew up in Ormond Beach and worked for her family’s trucking and delivery logistics business until she opted to pursue the culinary arts. At 26, she decided to attend The Culinary Institute of America.

“I loved every second of it,” Bartley said. “I didn’t want to leave and ... my passion just grew from there, and I

realized that this is the business that I really belong in.” She later studied at Le Cordon Bleu, as well.

Falzon, who studied at the Asbury Park Culinary School, has worked with several top chefs, including celebrity Chef David Burke and Chef Nicholas Wilkins, who worked under Chef Gordon Ramsay. He also worked under James Beard-nominated Chef Drew Araneo, of Drew’s Bayshore Bistro in New Jersey, for over six years.

“Everything that has transpired over the last few years — the mentorship and

was really a good fit.”

training at all levels, meeting my future bride, and now, owning a restaurant — I thank the Araneos,” Falzon said.

Bartley and Falzon met in 2019 while working together as chefs at a resort. Falzon said it was love at first sight.

“I just ran into her,” he said. “Not physically — I just

hand and I turned around to grab them, and I was just like, ‘Oh.’” They got engaged on Christmas Day last year in Ormond Beach.

And three months later, their dream of operating a restaurant together came true.

“We’ve always wanted to find the right opportunity to start something of our own,” Bartley said. “We’ve considered food trucks. We’ve looked at other places in the area, and nothing was really a good fit.”

They had, however, frequented To Better Days in the past and would joke with Soldevilla about buying the bistro from him.

So when they saw an Observer article about Soldevilla listing his business for sale, they came over to the bistro immediately to discuss the opportunity.

With menu items such as their Da’Vine shrimp, which comes drizzled with Worcestershire beer cream sauce over homemade cornbread, and an onion soup with munster and gruyere cheese, Falzon said they strived to enhance the existing menu.

“We just want to make it simple — really high quality ingredients, really good food,” he said. “And just a nice, relaxing place to come for a meal.”

They look forward to growing their new business, too.

They’re grateful to have retained the existing staff, but Falzon would also love to train young aspiring chefs and add to their team.

Future growth is part of the inspiration behind the new name.

“Like a vine, we started as a seed, and we plan to grow and get stronger,” Bartley said.

“And let people know there’s wine here,” Falzon added.

Vine Bistro is open 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday to Friday, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday.

JARLEENE ALMENAS SENIOR EDITOR

Photo by Jarleene Almenas

Mark Falzon and Joni Bartley look forward to feeding the Ormond Beach community at Vine Bistro Scratch Kitchen and Wine Bar.

“We’ve always wanted to find the right opportunity to start something of our own. We’ve considered food trucks. We’ve looked at other places in the area and nothing

JONI BARTLEY

Halifax Humane CEO steps down after cancer diagnosis

cial events manager and chief finanial and development officer before becoming CEO.

County OKs Ocean Center booking models

JARLEENE ALMENAS SENIOR EDITOR

Halifax Humane Society CEO Pam Clayton is stepping down from her role to undergo treatment for breast cancer, she announced in a letter on Friday, April 7.

“As CEO of an animal shelter, I’ve never shied away from challenging situations,” Clayton wrote. “When it comes to animal welfare and the ability to be of service, I’ve always answered the call. This natural life trait makes this time in my life incredibly more difficult for me.”

Clayton was appointed as the humane society’s CEO in late 2021 following the departure of former CEO Miguel Abi-hassan. She has been with the organization for about seven years, having served as a spe-

Clayton explained in her letter that she was diagnosed with an invasive form of breast cancer about two months ago.

“It’s never really the right time to tell someone you have cancer,” she wrote. “As someone who has always been such a ‘give all of yourself’ type of person to my causes, I think it’s safe to say, I may have done just that.”

Clayton stated she is working with the Halifax Humane Society’s board of directors and executive team on the transition until a new CEO is appointed.

“To my HHS team: It has been the absolute ride of my life to serve as the CEO of HHS,” Clayton wrote. “The work we have done to further the animal welfare cause is unparalleled. We have continued saving thousands of animals’ lives each year. Often judged by ignorance but never contacted for truths. I thank you.”

The Volusia County Council voted 6-1 at its meeting on Tuesday, April 4, to let staff implement different booking model for events at the Ocean Center.

JARLEENE ALMENAS

SENIOR EDITOR

Could more live entertainment be coming to the Ocean Center in the near future?

The Volusia County Council voted 6-1 at its meeting on Tuesday, April 4, to let staff implement different booking model for events at the Ocean Center. Councilman Danny Robins voted against.

“I’m really excited about us offering something more at the Ocean Center than what currently is there, especially for our residents and then our visitors alike,” said Councilman Troy Kent, who brought the issue to the council after including it in his campaign platform.

Staff presented the council with four booking model proposals, with the first being its current “virtually zero risk” model, where the event promoter receives only the net proceeds from the ticket sales while the Ocean Center keeps other revenues generated from the event, such as food and beverage sales and ticket

YOUR TOWN

12TH ANNUAL CELTIC FESTIVAL RETURNS

APRIL 15-16

Join Ormond MainStreet for its Spring Fling with a highland flair as the 12th annual Ormond Beach Celtic Festival returns to Rockefeller Gardens and Fortunato Park.

fees.

“This model, again, is not getting a lot of traction out there in the live entertainment world,” Ocean Center Director Tim Riddle said. “That’s why we’re here before you to talk about other flexible options, if you will, or options that will give us more tools in our tool belt as we seek to broaden our horizons and bring more concerts back into the venue.”

The second option adds a promoter rebate, where the promoter would receive a negotiated amount of money per ticket sold.

The other two options presented to the council were co-promotion models, where all revenues would be split between the promoter and the Ocean Center. One option would dictate that the promoter would

Clans, pipers and highland games athletes will gather on April 15 and 16 for two days of folk music, food and fun from the seven Celtic Nations and beyond.

The festival occupies two downtown parks along the Halifax River.

Advance tickets are $12 each day for adults, or $15 at the gate. Children 12 and under are admitted free.

Tickets are available online at buytickets.at/ormondbeachmainstreet. There is free parking, including off-site parking with a shuttle. Be sure to be there on Sunday,

bear any losses after revenues, while in the other co-promotion model, the Ocean Center and the promoter would share the losses, with a negotiated $25,000 cap, as proposed by the County Council.

Riddle said that the promoter rebate has gained more interest in conversations with promoters “because it’s clean,” but that staff would like access to the other booking model options.

“You have to more than just dip our toe back in that world,” Riddle said. “We have been told consistently as well, it’s not a one-off kind of game. If we’re going to do this, we’ve got to be willing to do this several times to let the world know that Ocean Center is back in the concert or the live entertainment business.”

April 16, for the annual Dog Parade. All breeds welcome. Bring a donation or food for Sophie’s Circle Dog Rescue, and your dog will be entered in the parade. Fortunato Park will be home to the Saturday Highland Games and Sunday’s sheep herding and athletic demonstrations. The Highland Games are sanctioned by the North American Scottish Games Athletics organization, so competitors earn points toward the ultimate goal of competing in Scotland. Visit OrmondBeachCelticFestival.com.

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Courtesy photo

Halifax Humane Society CEO Pam Clayton is stepping down from her role due to her fight with breast cancer.

Pam Clayton became the Halifax Humane Society’s CEO in late 2021.

Photo courtesy of Google Maps

The Ocean Center

BOAT SUPER

COPS CORNER

APRIL 1 KICKING AND SCREAMING

6:40 p.m. — 100 block of 16th Road, Palm Coast Battery, bribery, disorderly intoxication. A Palm Coast woman was arrested after she allegedly, while drunk, hit a police officer, hit her husband and then tried to bribe the police officer with $100,000.

The adult temper tantrum took place in a resort, and a deputy was called there when the woman began causing a scene, according to her arrest report. The deputy wrote in his report that the woman smelled of a “strong fruity odor” and was slurring her speech.

When the deputy and the woman’s husband tried to calm the woman, she instead “became increasingly uncooperative and started to scream/screech,” eventually lashing out and hitting both men and kicking the deputy, according to the deputy’s report.

After she was arrested, she was taken to the hospital. On the way, she allegedly told the deputy she could make him rich, offering $100,000 if he “cut her a break,” the report said.

Instead, she was charged with felony bribery.

APRIL 3 SCOOTIN’ STRAIGHT TO JAIL

12:32 p.m. — 5100 block of State Road 100, Palm Coast Petit theft. A deputy arrested a man after the man tried to steal a $500 scooter from a store, according to the man’s arrest report.

The man exited the store carrying a boxed Razor electric scooter and, instead of immediately leaving with his spoils, began assembling it in front of the store, where the deputy found him.

The deputy detained the man — who had almost finished assembling his getaway vehicle — and found drug paraphernalia in his possession. The man was taken to the county jail.

APRIL 3

ONE FOOT IN FRONT OF ANOTHER

2:19 p.m. — 300 block of South Atlantic Avenue, Ormond Beach

DUI. A 48-year-old Tennessee man was arrested for drunk driving after police saw him swerving in and out of a lane.

Officers pulled the man over, according to a police report. When asked, he told the reporting officer he hadn’t consumed any alcoholic drinks. The officer asked him to perform field sobriety exercises, and the man agreed.

But when instructed to walk in a straight line, the man claimed not to see the line.

After it was pointed out to him a second time, he said, “There’s no way in a million years I could do that.” The man added that a back injury rendered him physically unable to walk in a straight line.

He was taken into custody after failing or declining to perform other exercises, and started to act aggressive, using a racial slur and telling police they shouldn’t be arresting him because he “works from sunup to sundown.” He was taken to jail.

NOT A GARAGE SALE

12:17 p.m. — First block of Brookwood Drive, Ormond Beach Loitering or prowling. Police arrested a 29-year-old Ormond Beach woman who was seen rummaging through her neighbor’s garage for the third time.

The neighbor had seen her and told her to leave. He told police that, at first, the woman appeared confused and thought she was in her own garage. She left soon afterward. Police found the woman in a local pharmacy. She denied ever setting foot in her neighbor’s garage.

The neighbor told the officer that the woman had done the same thing twice before. He didn’t want to press charges, but asked to have the woman trespassed from his property.

She was taken to jail.

CRIME REPORT BIZ BUZZ

Major cases continued

Circuit Judge Terence Perkins held pretrial hearings for four major cases on April 5.

Defendants Kwentel Moultrie, Stephen Monroe and Terrell Sampson are all awaiting trial on either murder or attempted murder charges, while 17-year-old Brendan Depa has been charged as an adult with aggravated battery on an education employee.

Depa, a Matanzas High School student who attacked a paraprofessional in a widely covered incident in February, was ordered to undergo a mental evaluation on March 3. As of the pretrial hearing on April 5, that evaluation is in progress.

Depa’s lawyer petitioned the court for, and was granted, a continuance until May 10. Depa, who could face up to 30 years in prison, did not appear in court for his pretrial. Perkins said he wanted to avoid delays and keep that case “on a close docket.”

Perkins also held a pretrial for Moultrie, who is awaiting trial for second-degree murder and armed burglary. Moultrie was arrested in February 2022 alongside Taylor Manjarres in connection with a home invasion robbery that led to the fatal shooting of 23-year-old Palm Coast resident Zaire Roberts in December 2021.

Moultrie’s case was also continued to an Aug. 1 docket sounding, at which the court will likely set a trial date. Monroe, who is awaiting trial for a first-degree murder charge; and Sampson, charged with three counts of attempted murder, also had their cases continued on April 5 until June 7 and Aug. 29, respectively.

Monroe and Sampson are two of four people charged in the January 2022 death of 16-year-old Noah Smith and the May 2022 death of 16-year-old Keymarion Hall.

The Flagler County Sheriff’s Office has said the shootings were the culmination of months of violence between two groups, though neither Smith nor Hall were the attackers’ intended targets.

INTRACOASTAL BANK ANNOUNCES NEW CHIEF TECH OFFICER

Intracoastal Bank has hired Jay Coomes as its chief technology officer for the Bank, according to an announcement by Intracoastal Bank Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Bruce Page.

Coomes has worked forFiserv, Inc. a leading Fintech provider and major vendor for the Bank, for over 20 years, according to a news release, and holds a master’s degree in computer science.

REALTY COMPANY MARKS 10 YEARS

Catherine “Cat” Evans, Broker & Owner of Palm Coast And The Beaches Real Estate, and her team celebrated their 10-year anniversary April 2.

“Ten years is a big stepping stone when we reflect on all we have weathered,” Evans said, according to a press release.

Evans attributes the success to creating early relationships within her community through the Flagler Chamber and Education Foundation.

COLDWELL BANKER PREMIER PROPERTIES NAMES TOP AGENTS

Coldwell Banker Premier Properties has named its top agents for February 2023:

Top listing agent — John Lidstrom

Top sales/producer agent — Vlaja Telfer

Million dollar club — Vlaja Telfer, Hedy Aloia & Jack Corbett.

INTRACOASTAL ANNOUNCES NEW ASSISTANT MANAGER

Tara Gugliara is the new assistant vice president/assistant manager for Intracoastal Bank’s Volusia Banking Center for the Bank, according to an announcement by Intracoastal Bank Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Bruce Page.

Gugliara has worked for Intracoastal in various roles for six years, according to a news release.

BTSRC could become student facility

The School Board could decide the club’s fate on April 18. At least two board members are in favor of ending club memberships and focusing on the facility’s pool.

BRENT WORONOFF ASSOCIATE EDITOR

The Flagler County School Board seems to finally be on the verge of deciding what to do with the Belle Terre Swim and Racquet Club. But then again, as board members noted at an April 4 special workshop, they’ve been here before.

The two hour-plus workshop ended with the board split on whether to shift to a student-focused facility concentrating solely on the pool or whether to continue to offer community memberships that include the gym, sauna and tennis courts.

Board members Will Furry and Christy Chong are in favor of doing away with memberships, using the pool for high school swim teams — currently Flagler Palm Coast uses the pool while Matanzas swims at the Palm Coast Aquatics Center — while continuing to rent out the pool to community groups like the Flagler Fluid Swim Team and the Synchro Belles.

Colleen Conklin and Board Chair Cheryl Massaro would like to see a mixed-use facility, although Massaro alluded to a possible middle ground. Sally Hunt said she would like to have another conversation among board members.

The board ultimately decided to schedule the item for an April 18 information workshop, along with an agenda item at the School Board meeting that evening to hold a vote on the issue if the board members agree they are ready to make a decision.

Furry was hoping the board would come to a consensus at the special workshop.

“The intent of this meeting,” he said, “was to finally stop kicking the can down the road.”

Doug Courtney, representing the Belle Terre Swim and Racquet Club Advisory Committee, was invited to the session, joining Flagler Schools’ Coordinator of Community Services Joshua Walker, Chief Financial Officer Patty Wormeck and Chief of Operations Dave Freeman at the board table.

Courtney said the club could become self-funded if it marketed the facility the way it did in 2013-14 when, he said, it sold 338 memberships in three months.

“This facility has to actually sell services,” he said. “Selling memberships is not exactly hard to do.”

The facility’s operating budget for the current fiscal year is $315,134.79.

It had a shortfall of $88,067 last year, according to the district. Courtney noted that last year the district stopped accepting memberships for six months while it pursued the possibility of adding portables on the site for existing school programs.

With the county’s $25,000 annual contribution and added revenue of about $63,000 from insurance companies that pay for their clients to use the gym, the district estimates that the current 136 club members would have to pay over $1,000 for the year to break even. That number factors in $81,425 the district would absorb for student use of the pool.

“There’s no reason why we can’t figure out how to benefit all. Regardless, we have to maintain that pool anyway.”

There could be other revenue sources, such as offering a $25-permonth pool add-on fee for insurance members. Even with increasing memberships to 220 and adding a potential $41,700 in additional insurance company revenue, annual membership fees would need to rise from $300 to $427.87 to break even, according to district calculations.

The district estimates an operating loss of $177,803 this year due partly to added personnel costs as the district raises its lowest salaries to $15 an hour.

Conklin said the facility’s expenses never turn out to be as bad as the estimates. She said the facility, built in 1979, was gifted to the school district 26 years ago by taxpayers and continues to be an asset for the community.

“There’s no reason why we can’t figure out how to benefit all,” she said. “Regardless, we have to maintain that pool anyway.”

Furry said that he agrees the district does need to hang on to the pool until a new one is built, possibly on a new high school campus, but he would like to see the gym close down.

“I don’t think we have a very marketable product. We should shift to a student-focused facility and end the membership program,” he said. “If we do away with the gym, we knock off $74,000 in costs. And those who are passionate about the pool can form their own club to rent out the pool.”

Chong agreed about leaving it as a student-focused facility. Hunt said she would like to see the board find a middle ground, but she said she thinks future community use of the facility would be centered on the pool.

File photo

Belle Terre Swim and Racquet Club

COLLEEN CONKLIN

MEET OMAM’S FEATURED ART NIGHT FAMILY FOR APRIL

Willie and Tolulope Williams and their three children — ages 6, 4 and 2 — are Ormond Memorial Art Museum’s featured family from the April Family Art Night event.

The Williams family is from Palm Coast, and all are very artistic, art instructor Linda King said in a statement to the Observer. They are also repeat participants of the monthly program.

“Dad and mom are an inspiration to their children,” King said. “A fun time was had by all.”

April’s program featured a botanical spring collage.

The museum’s Family Art Night takes place most first Fridays of the month from 5:30-7 p.m. All art supplies are provided, and the program is sponsored in part by the Women United Volusia Chapter.

The next program is scheduled for May 5 and will be centered around artist Georges Seurat and pointillism, using Q-tips and paint to make a picture of the museum’s gardens.

Willie

FOOD BANK RECEIVES $1.3 MILLION FROM BANK OF AMERICA

Since their partnership began, Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida has received more than $1.3 million from Bank of America Central Florida to fight food insecurity.

The money is the equivalent of over 5.2 million meals in the local area.

Earlier this year, Bank of America announced a $25,000 donation, worth 100,000 meals, to Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida from the bank’s employee booster campaign.

PETS UP FOR ADOPTION

Courtesy

Second Harvest received an additional $50,000 from the bank in late 2022 for its Culinary Training Program.

Second Harvest Food Bank distributes enough food for 300,000 meals each day through its network of 625 community feeding partners. For every $10 donated to Second Harvest, the organization can provide 40 meals to the community.

“We’re extremely grateful to Bank of America for its long-standing partnership in the fight to end hunger here in Central Florida,” said Derrick Chubbs, president and CEO at Second Harvest Food Bank.

Dasher, a 5-year-old mixed-breed dog. His adoption fee has been waived.

Publisher John Walsh, jwalsh@observerlocalnews.com

Managing Editor Jonathan Simmons, jonathan@observerlocalnews.com

Senior Editor Jarleene Almenas, jarleene@observerlocalnews.com

Associate Editor Brent Woronoff, brent@observerlocalnews.com

Staff Writer Sierra Williams, sierra@observerlocalnews.com

Design Editor Hailey McMillan, hailey@observerlocalnews.com

Media Director Holly Oliveri, holly@observerlocalnews.com

Senior Media Specialist Susan Moore, susan@observerlocalnews.com

Advertising Coordinator Jessica Boone, jessica@observerlocalnews.com Office Coordinator Bonnie Hamilton, bonnie@observerlocalnews.com

SUBSCRIBE

Rosita, an 8-year-old terrier and American pit bull mix. Her adoption fee is $75.

The Palm Coast & Ormond Beach Observers are published every Thursday. To subscribe for driveway delivery, visit PalmCoastObserver.com/subscribe, call 386-447-9723, or email subscribe@ observerlocalnews.com.

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Leroy, a 3-year-old mastiff mix. His adoption fee is $75.

Community

tive office.

COMMUNITY FOUNDATION AND UNITED WAY’S NEW OFFICE IS NOW OPEN

The Community Foundation and United Way of Volusia-Flagler Counties administrative office held its ribbon cutting ceremony on March 30 and is now open at its new location off LPGA.

United Way of Volusia-Flagler Counties was located on International Speedway for over 30 years.

The new office is located at 1530 Cornerstone Blvd., suite 210.

Over 100 people attended the ribbon cutting ceremony on Thursday, March 30.

Among the attendees were community partners, corporate partners, the Daytona Beach Reginal Chamber of Commerce, Port Orange Mayor Don Burnette and Volusia County Councilman Matt Rinehart.

“At the Community Foundation and United Way of Volusia-Flagler Counties, we are innovative, collaborative and we are here to work for the community,” President and CEO Courtney Edgcomb said. “I want to say a big thank you to our board for helping to make this happen and for

supporting the move. Additionally, I want to thank those who worked with us to make the office space what it is today.”

The new Community Foundation and United Way of Volusia-Flagler Counties location is for administrative needs. In need of direct services or assistance? Call 211, a 24/7 help hotline. Send your community news to Jarleene@observerlocalnews.com.

Mooney, a 1-year-old Lop and American mix bunny. His adoption fee is

Humane Society’s main campus at 2364 LPGA Blvd. or call 274-4703.

$50.

Courtesy photo

Foundation and United Way of Volusia-Flagler Counties celebrate the ribbon cutting for their new administra-

photo

and Tolulope Williams and their three children — ages 6, 4, and 2 — are Ormond Memorial Art Museum’s featured family from April’s Family Art Night event.

School Board to discuss growth

The school district’s impact fee study from May 2022 stated that VCS has 9% of available capacity districtwide.

JARLEENE ALMENAS

SENIOR EDITOR

As people continue moving into Volusia County and the school district proceeds with construction projects at existing schools, School Board Chair Jamie Haynes said, the district needs to take a close look at how growth is impacting schools in the near future.

Where are the homes being built? What is the district planning to do to address the rising of number of students?

“We need to probably look at what’s happened in the last two years, because we’re getting hit hard,” Haynes said.

“They’re coming from New York, California, everywhere.”

The district’s impact fee study from May 2022 said that VCS has 9% of available capacity districtwide. When broken down by level, the district reported 14% available capacity at elementary schools, 6% at middle schools and 4% at high schools.

The topic came up as the board discussed its capital projects at a workshop on April 11. When discussing the Orange City Elementary rebuild, Haynes suggested the district look into making the school bigger to plan for future growth.

School Board member

Ruben Colon spoke about a development project in Deltona that sought to add 352 apartment units to an existing apartment complex.

In the district’s concurrency letter to the Deltona City Commission, which recommended approval for the project, the district reported that the affected schools — Timbercrest Elementary, Galaxy Middle School and Deltona High School — were said to be at 123%, 93% and 90% capacity, respectively.

“However, for what would be an additional 352 apartment units, we said that we were going to generate 45 students,” Colon said. He added that the calculation was based on a formula and methodology using 10 years of historical data.

In the end, the Deltona City Commission rejected that development, saying there wasn’t enough infrastructure to support the project.

Colon said that while the board does not have authority to approve school con

currency matters regarding development, he would like to see the concurrency letters before they are sent.

“I’m not going to lie to you, it looked really, really dumb to say that ... out of 352 apartments, you’re only going to get 45 kids,” Colon said.

VCS Chief Operating Officer Earl Johnson said the maximum concurrency allowed varies per school level.

The board also discussed the “elephant in the room” — Spruce Creek High School, which has over 2,500 students and a graduating class of about 600-650 students each year. The school has 50 portables.

Board members discussed targeting the overcrowding by offering some programs, such as IB, at other schools, since those programs are one reason that many students who are zoned elsewhere choose to attend Spruce Creek.

“If we’re going to be smart with our dollars, and smart with what’s happening, we’re going to have to tackle what’s happening in a community,” Haynes said.

Colon estimated a Spruce Creek rebuild could cost the district $150 million.

“For four years, I’ve heard, ‘At some point,’” Colon said of the rebuild. “And so I wonder, at what point do we make a decision to start exploring?”

FARMER’S MARKET

Final dune easements signed

Army

of

SIERRA WILLIAMS STAFF WRITER

A landowner delaying a multimillion-dollar federal dune renourishment project in Flagler Beach has now signed easements that will let workers access her land so the project can begin.

Landowner Cynthia D’Angiolini signed a holdharmless agreement with the county on April 5, granting project workers access to her two beachfront parcels.

The project, led by the Army Corps of Engineers, would build up a protective beach dune to help block storm surge flooding during hurricanes and nor’easters. Because the project crosses private property, the Corps of Engineers needs permission from private property owners in the project area to access their land and add sand to the dune, and could not begin without having all property owners’ permission

BRIEFS

Superintendent removes ‘The Nowhere Girls’

Flagler Schools Superintendent Cathy Mittelstadt has overturned a district book review judgment that would have kept the novel “The Nowhere Girls” on high schools’ library shelves.

In a letter dated March 30 to Terri McDonald — the Moms for Liberty Flagler

because skipping a section in the project length could create a breach point that would undermine the entire project.

D’Angiolini was the last to sign, delaying the project and leading the county to threaten eminent domain proceedings.

But the county gained leverage when Flagler County Attorney Al Hadeed discovered in early December that D’Angiolini had failed to disclose her ownership of the two beachfront properties when she filed for bankruptcy in 2019. In the fall of 2022, she finished paying off her debts from the bankruptcy case without ever disclosing those properties and their value.

Hadeed enlisted local attorney Scott Spradley’s expertise as a bankruptcy lawyer to take the case to court. If D’Angiolini had not signed the hold-harmless agreement, the case was set to go to trial on April 17.

Hadeed and Spradley met with D’Angiolini’s lawyer for a pretrial hearing on April 4. Hadeed said D’Angiolini told the bankruptcy judge that she would sign the agreement documents the next day. To ensure they were signed, the Orlando bankruptcy judge

County Chapter leadership member who challenged the book in October — Mittelstadt said the book will not be kept in the district’s media centers.

“After reviewing this book and circulation data, ‘The Nowhere Girls’ will not be retained as a resource in Flagler Schools,” Mittelstadt wrote.

A joint committee representing Flagler Palm Coast and Matanzas high schools voted on Dec. 12 to retain the book, written by young adult author Amy Reed.

The complainant appealed

held a conference between the parties on April 6.

After the conference, Hadeed wrote in an email that the documents were being submitted to the court for approval, and that the county will withdraw its proceedings against D’Angiolini. The beach renourishment project will now be able to move forward once the Corps of Engineers completes a redesign process to take into account new calculations showing that more sand will be needed than initially expected.

The redesign process could take close to 11 months, delaying the start of construction until around November.

the verdict to a district review committee, which met on March 13 and also voted to retain the book.

Mittelstadt’s letter came two days after a challenge to the book “Sold” was appealed to the School Board. Mittelstadt supported a district review committee’s decision to retain that book in the high school’s media centers. The board voted 3-2 to turn down the appeal and continue to allow the book to be checked out.

The

Corps

Engineers project can move forward once a redesign is completed.

The Flagler Beach pier

Locals help release 10,000 redfish

The Flagler Sportfishing Club helped the CCA get its Release the East program off the ground.

BRENT WORONOFF ASSOCIATE EDITOR

For the second year in a row, Chuck Gleichmann and volunteers from the Flagler Sportfishing Club helped release thousands of juvenile redfish into local waters to restock the population.

Gleichmann, a former president of the Flagler Sportfishing Club, organized 30 to 40 volunteers who assisted the Coastal Conservation Association Florida’s Release the East program.

The CCA and local volunteers released a total of about 10,000 redfish at Flagler Beach on March 28, Princess Park Preserve on April 5 and just north of Marineland in St. Johns County on April 6. CCA Florida Director Leiza Fitzgerald and a couple of other anglers caught big broodstock females in East Coast waters and brought them to

the Duke Mariculture Center in Crystal River, where the offspring were raised.

The CCA plans to release about 100,000 redfish between 4 and 8 inches in length in the Release the East program.

On the first release day in Flagler County, Fitzgerald said, the “fish were being released where they’re safe, where there’s food and there is ability for them to survive.”

Redfish grow about a half inch in length a month. Gleichmann said fishermen are seeing the results of last year’s release of 100,000 2.5-inch redfish raised at the UF Whitney Laboratory from local broodstock.

Each of the local CCA releases consisted of about 3,500 redfish. The fish were transported in large tanks on a flatbed trailer. Volunteers scooped the fish out of the tanks with fish nets, trans-

ferred them to bags and carried them to the water or formed a fire line, handing the bags off.

All three releases were supposed to be on the same day, but they ran into several problems, Gleichmann said, causing delays.

“There were a lot of moving parts,” he said. “One day there was not enough sun, and we couldn’t find the fish in the tanks to scoop them out. But we had so many great volunteers. They redid their schedules through two or three delays. They stuck it out to the end. No one canceled. We couldn’t have done it without those people.”

The legal size for harvesting redfish is 18 to 27 inches. Gleichmann said some of the larger fish in the CCA releases will be big enough to keep next year.

“I’m absolutely thrilled,” he said. “The only way we can improve the fisheries is to add new fish.”

Courtesy photo by Chuck Warren Flagler Sportfishing Club volunteers at the CCA’s first Flagler County redfish release on March 28.

YOUR NEIGHBORS

Dance revolution

dance team

JARLEENE ALMENAS

SENIOR EDITOR

The Ormond Beach Middle School Advanced Dance Team was a blur of black and gold as the team opened for the Orlando Magic at the Amway Center on March 26.

It’s an experience the 21 students will not forget anytime soon.

“Not everyone will get the chance to do that, and that’s really a big opportunity, especially for a middle school dance team,” eighth grade OBMS student Madison Wilson said.

It was an opportunity more than a year in the making.

Last school year, the team applied to be an opening pregame performance for the Orlando Magic, but because of the uncertainties caused by COVID-19, only those associated with the competing basketball teams were allowed on the court, to protect the players.

OBMS’ performance date kept being pushed back, said Amanda El Shemi, former director of choir, theater, and dance at the school.

So the team decided to try again this year, and was contacted around the start of the first semester with the news that OBMS’ acceptance was still valid.

The team was welcome to perform, and since El Shemi later accepted a position as an arts education specialist for the Florida Department of Education, it would be her last performance with her students, making it an emotional moment.

“I’ve watched them grow up, in my eyes,” El Shemi said. “I’ve had most of those kids since they were

in sixth grade, and just to see the growth that they’ve had from sixth grade all the way now to eighth grade, they’ve become such beautiful dancers and just beautiful young women and men.”

CONFIDENCE BOOSTER

The team began planning for its performance around October, El Shemi said.

The dancers raised money to get new uniforms and pompoms, and enlisted the help of choreographer Kiara Swint, from Kinetic Expressions Dance Academy, to add a special hip hop flair to the routine.

“We worked together on the project, and she was all in,” El Shemi said. “She came to all the rehearsals,” including the final four-and-a-half hour rehearsal the Friday before the performance.

It was the first time the team could space out the dance in the school gym, since all rehearsals had taken place in the dance room.

The students were nervous as they waited to go out on the court.

Eighth grader Wyatt Moore, the only boy on the dance team, said that when the team started dancing, he felt like there was a rock in his stomach.

“While we were performing while [people] were cheering and stuff, that made me feel good,” he said. “And at the end, when we were done with the whole thing, they were just clapping and cheering really loud, and it made me feel proud of myself.”

Sometimes he gets comments about being the only boy on the dance team, but he doesn’t pay them any mind.

Wyatt said he loves to dance. Being in dance has been a “big confidence booster” for Wyatt, said his mother, Erin Moore.

She wishes more people could understand the impact the arts have on students.

“Wyatt hunts and fishes with his dad and his grandfather, and that’s great — that’s a great hobby,” she said. “But this has taught him ... teamwork. You work as a team.”

A NEW LEVEL Madison said she was quite shy when she was in sixth grade. She wasn’t the kind of student to vol -

unteer to dance in front of everyone.

But this year, she had the confidence to try out for solos, including performing solo tricks for the OBMS performance at the Amway Center. And she did them with an injured foot. She didn’t want to let her team down.

“I was just thinking about how this is a one-time opportunity, and I just needed to make the best out of it,” Madison said.

Her mother, Amy Wilson, has also seen her daughter gain confidence through participation in El Shemi’s dance class.

While Madison is a great student, her experience wouldn’t have been the same without dance, Wilson said.

“I think the arts and dance and everything just has taken her middle school experience to a whole new level, which has a lot to do with her teacher,” she said. “... I just think without that, she wouldn’t have had the experience she had in middle school.”

‘ARTS SAVED MY LIFE’

Wyatt said El Shemi was one of the best teacher’s he’s ever had. She inspired him in a lot of ways, he added.

“She got me out of my comfort zone a lot,” Wyatt said. “She got me to do All-State [Choir] ... and I made it the first time.”

Madison said El Shemi “made everything more fun.”

El Shemi, who worked at OBMS for three years, said she hopes her former students walked away from their performance knowing that they can accomplish anything.

It’s very easy nowadays, she said, for kids to feel unworthy, particularly when comparing themselves on social media platforms.

It’s also important for parents and the district to see what can happen when the arts are supported — that opportunities like this exist.

Many students lost an elective when the district went to a six-period school day, and that reduced student participation in arts programs, El Shemi said.

“As somebody who I think the arts saved my life, personally, it’s just so important,” El Shemi said.

The OBMS Advance Dance Team perform before the Orlando Magic game against the New York Nets on March 26. Courtesy photo

OBMS

gives pre-game performance at Orlando Magic game.

“Not everyone will get the chance to do that, and that’s really a big opportunity, especially for a middle school dance team.”

MADISON WILSON, OBMS eighth grader

WHICH IS CONTIGUOUS TO THE CITY OF BUNNELL IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE VOLUNTARY ANNEXATION PROVISIONS OF SECTION 171.044, FLORIDA STATUTES, AND OTHER CONTROLLING LAW; REDFINING THE BOUNDARIES OF THE CITY OF BUNNELL TO INCLUDE SAID PROPERTY; PROVIDING FOR FINDINGS; PROVIDING FOR CONDITIONS; DIRECTING THE CITY CLERK TO RECORD THE ORIDNANCE WITH THE CLERK OF THE CIRCUIT COURT, WITH THE CHIEF ADMINSTRATIVE OFFICE OF FLAGLER COUNTY AND WITH THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE; PROVIDING FOR LEGAL DESCRIPTION AND A MAP; REPEALING ALL ORDINANCES IN CONFLICT HEREWITH; PROVIDING FOR SEVERABILITY; PROVIDING FOR NON-CODIFICATION AND THE TAKING OF ADMINISTRATIVE ACTIONS AND PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE ALL INTERESTED PERSONS ARE INVITED TO PARTICIPATE as may be legally

LOCAL EVENTS

THURSDAY, APRIL 13

SWING INTO SPRING CONCERT SERIES

6:30-8 p.m. The Casements, 25 Riverside Drive, Ormond

See Jordan Redding perform at The Casements as part of the first event in the city of Ormond Beach’s Swing into Spring concert series. There will be a food truck. Free. Call 386-676-3216.

FRIDAY, APRIL 14

MOVIES IN THE PARK

When: 8-10 p.m.

Where: Central Park at Town Center, 975 Central Ave., Palm Coast Details: Bring your blanket, lawn chairs, picnic baskets and watch “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom,” rated PG, at Central Park. This event is presented by Palm Coast Parks and Recreation.

SATURDAY, APRIL 15

15TH-ANNUAL TURTLE

FEST

When: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Where: Veterans Park, 101 N. Ocean Shore Blvd., Flagler Beach

Details: Presented by the Volusia/Flagler Turtle Patrol, this event will have face painting, turtle races, live music,

vendors, arts and crafts and a turtle release on the beach. Free event. Visit turtlepatrol. com.

BOAT SHOW

When: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Where: Marina Del Palma Yacht Club, 101 Harbor View Drive, Palm Coast

Details: Attend this boat show presented by the Palm Coast Observer. Brands on show include Sea Fox, Mako, Tahoe and more. Free admission and parking.

ORMOND BEACH CELTIC FESTIVAL

When: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Saturday and Sunday, April 15 and 16

Where: Rockefeller Gardens, 26 Riverside Drive, Ormond Beach

Details: This award-winning festival returns for the 12th year with five stages of live music, traditional Celtic food and vendors, Celtic clans, highland games and activities for children. Tickets cost $10 for adults and $5 for adults with an active duty military ID. Children under 12 are free. Visit ormondbeachcelticfestival.com.

ROCKY AND THE ROLLERS

When: 7 p.m.

Where: Flagler Auditorium, 5500 S.R. 100, Palm Coast Details: The Rocky and the Rollers Doo Wop N’ Rock show will take you back in time to the sounds of the ’50s to the

’70s. Tickets cost $40-$50. Visit flaglerauditorium.org.

SUNDAY, APRIL 16

HISPANIC CULTURAL

FESTIVAL OF PALM COAST

When: 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Where: Central Park at Town Center, 975 Central Ave., Palm Coast

Details: Attend this cultural festival featuring artists like Frankie Ruiz Jr., Javi Marrerro, Daytona Salsa and more. Enjoy flavorful dishes, cultural exhibits and family-friendly activities. Visit motanoproductions.com.

TOUCH-A-TRUCK EVENT

When: 12-4 p.m.

Where: City Island Park, 113 Jackie Robinson Parkway, Daytona Beach

Details: The Junior League of Daytona Beach will host its first Touch-a-Truck event, providing children with handson learning opportunities and the chance to meet first responders. There will also be a book giveaway, a family fun zone and a kids craft station.

TUESDAY, APRIL 18

FOOD TRUCK TUESDAY

When: 5-8 p.m.

Where: Central Park at Town Center, 975 Central Ave., Palm Coast

Details: Enjoy a variety of foods from local food trucks as part of Food Truck Tuesday in Palm Coast, presented in partnership with the Palm Coast Observer

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 19 GREEN KIDS: PAINT WITH PRODUCE

When: 2:20-3:30 p.m.

Where: Ormond Memorial Art Museum, 78 E. Granada Blvd., Ormond Beach

Details: Take part in OMAM’s new youth programs, starting with this eco-friendly class that fuses art, recycling and nature. All supplies provided. Class costs $12 for museum members; $15 for non-members. Adults do not need to be present while their child is partaking in the class. For more information, visit ormondartmuseum.org.

THURSDAY, APRIL 20 SWING INTO SPRING CONCERT SERIES

When: 6:30-8 p.m.

Where: The Casements, 25 Riverside Drive, Ormond Beach

Details: See The Ataraxis Experience perform at The Casements as part of the city of Ormond Beach’s Swing into Spring concert series. There will be a food truck. Free event. Call 386-676-3216.

ORMOND BEACH AREA

DEMOCRATIC CLUB

When: 7 p.m.

Where: 56 N. Halifax Drive, Ormond Beach

Details: The April meeting of the Ormond Beach Area Democratic Club will be held in person, with social visiting starting at 6:30 p.m. The guest speaker will be Danny Fuqua, new Florida Democratic Party state committeeman. Like-minded nonmembers are welcome to attend as guests. Visit ormondbeachdems.org.

‘BARNUM’

When: 7:30 p.m.

Where: Flagler Playhouse, 301 E. Moody Blvd., Bunnell

Details: See “Barnum” at the Flagler Playhouse, the story of P.T. Barnum told in a musical portrait. Tickets cost $30 for adults; $25 for students. Visit flaglerplayhouse.com.

Life on the Water

Marathon machine Angelika Grubel

Ormond Beach resident Angelika Grubel is training to run her fifth major marathon in London on Sunday, April 23.

MICHELE MEYERS CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Phenomenal endurance, mental strength and a competitive edge make Angelika Grubel a marathon machine.

At the age of 52, Grubel will be running in the 43rd annual London Marathon on April 23 — her fifth marathon in the Abbott World Marathon Majors series. Her ultimate goal is to earn the Six Star Medal by running all six major marathons — Boston, New York City, Chicago, Berlin, London and Tokyo. She has two more to go, with Tokyo being the grand finale.

Abbott introduced the special medal in 2016 to “honor the runners who complete all six of the major marathons.” They are then inducted into Six Star Finishers Hall of Fame. As of this year, there have been 2,517 runners from the United States who have run the six major marathons.

Grubel was raised in Bielefeld, Germany, where she played handball in high school until she started nursing school. She worked as a registered nurse in an intensive care unit before she moved to Boston at age 22. She does not remember watching the marathon — ever.

“I lived in Boston for 10 years,” she said. “Never really cared about the Boston Marathon at all. I had absolutely zero interest in running. I saw the finish line — painted. We lived about a mile away from Boston College. Two of my kids were baptized at Boston College. The marathon goes right by Boston College. I never saw it.”

Grubel continued to focus on her career. She went back to school and got her respiratory therapy degree at North Shore Community College, then got her bachelors in healthcare administration at Emmanuel College. She worked as a respiratory therapist at St. Elizabeth Hospital in Boston for many years.

With two boys in tow, the family moved to Ormond Beach, where Grubel had her third son. They were all under the age of 4, making it easy for Grubel to put her career on hold and stay home with them.

At 39, Grubel saw a picture of herself and was shocked to discover she was out of shape.

“You’re fat,” she said. “You’re just plain fat. This is just not working — it’s not working.”

Shortly after, she was invited to Revive Fitness & Lifestyle Management’s grand opening in April 2010. She was excited and brought her entire family. She and her friend Erin Clark returned a couple days later and became the first two clients to sign up for bootcamps at the new facility.

The friends started running after Clark expressed interest in participating in the Our Lady of Lourdes 5K, where they would be serving mimosas. Grubel was surprised when she found out she placed in her age group. Trainer Rob Maxwell gave her the award at her very first 5K, which, she said, she ran in 25 or 26 minutes.

In 2012, Grubel was training with Danny Legault at Revive and was experiencing nag ging knee injuries from running. He referred her to Maxwell, the owner of Max well’s Fitness Pro grams, who helped her rehabilitate her knee and became her running trainer. The same year, Max well encouraged her to become a personal trainer.

“I think because of her spe cialty, she was attracted to what I was doing in that area,” he said. “My message has always been quality over quantity, so, for the most part, they don’t get hurt — which is very different than what a lot of running coaches do. I don’t believe in pounding miles for the sake of pounding miles. I’m a big fan of three, maximum four days a week of quality running. Run with a purpose — don’t just get up and do miles.”

Maxwell was working on his master’s degree in exercise physiology in the early 1990s and had just finished a bodybuilding show when his University of Central Florida professors challenged him to compete in some endurance events. He has since run five marathons, won a few triathlon series and done a multitude of running competitions.

After graduating, Maxwell opened his business for a variety of clients, whose fitness levels and goals ranged from the elite college athlete to the 60-year-old running in their first 5K.

He uses a minimalist approach when training Grubel.

“She does a long run on the weekend, an interval day one day a week and a tempo run so the mileage stays down,” he said. “She’s been successful because she trains just at the level of threshold that’s going to overload her and push her, but I am not going to have her do garbage miles.”

She is currently the Daytona Running Series’ No. 1 overall master 40- plus and grandmaster 50-plus female runner this season. Her personal best for a 5K in the series is 19:44.

“I am amazed all the time that her endurance is just so phenomenal,” Maxwell said. “But I also think from a psychological standpoint, she is really, really tough. So I think what makes her great is a combination of having the DNA, the mental toughness and the competitiveness.”

Grubel is a trainer at Maxwell’s and also Revive Fitness. Clients

Nepal Singh, owner of Daytona Investments, which own multiple 7-Eleven convenience stores; and Ali Kargar, corporate vice president and sales manager of ICI Homes, sponsored Grubel’s trek to the London Marathon, along with Chanfrau & Chanfrau, Maxwell’s Fitness Programs and Revive Fitness & Lifestyle Management.

“I think the biggest thing is if you go on a journey like this, for most people, it is a long one of 10 years or maybe 12 years to get all six marathons done,” she said. “You can’t do it alone. You need friends, a support team, a running group. You’re going to have a coach, family and sponsors. You’re going to have work to help you with scheduling so you get your runs in. I think the fun part about Ormond Beach was how supportive people were. To have these sponsors just come up and say, ‘Yes, I’m in, I’ll help you’ is amazing.”

Sons Sebastian and Alex Grubel are flying to England to cheer their mom on at the London Marathon. They have been her biggest supporters, along with her youngest, Nick Grubel, and her rock — Maxwell. “Training was good,” Grubel said. “Then you get into traveling 11 hours. Five-hour time difference. Different food and staying at a hotel. You hope that the travel goes right. There are a lot of unknowns to going to a different continent and running. But I’m going to have Alex and Sebastian and his girlfriend Gabby there. I have my support team that are going to bring me my blankets, shirts and whatever I need afterward. Should be good. That’s the fifth one, then I have Tokyo next year.”

“I am amazed all the time that her endurance is just so phenomenal. But I also think from a psychological standpoint, she is really, really tough. So I think what makes her great is a combination of having the DNA, the mental toughness and the competitiveness.”

ROB MAXWELL,

Marathoner Angelika Grubel stretches after a workout at Maxwell’s Fitness Programs in Port Orange. Angelika Grubel checks her form in the mirror as she does a strength training workout at Maxwell’s Fitness Programs.

Ormond Beach resident and marathoner Angelika Grubel trains at Riverwalk Park in Port Orange, preparing for the upcoming London Marathon.

owner of Maxwell's Fitness Programs

Photos by Michele Meyers

Evan Miller settles down as Seabreeze edges Matanzas 4-3

After allowing three unearned runs in the first inning, the side-armer shut out the Pirates the rest of the way.

to reset himself, and the coach was reassured.

The last time Seabreeze’s Evan Miller pitched at Matanzas High, he tossed a one-hit shutout, losing his nohit bid with two outs in the seventh inning.

One year later, on Friday, April 7, Miller was back on the Pirates’ mound. This time, the home team scored three runs in the first inning.

The Sandcrabs committed three errors in the inning, and Matanzas starting pitcher Ben Apfelbach helped his own cause with a two-run double to left. A wild pitch by Miller put the Pirates up 3-2 with no outs in the bottom of the first.

But before Seabreeze coach Jeff Lemon could wonder if the Matanzas batters were beginning to figure out the side-armer’s perplexing motion, he saw Miller step behind the mound

“That’s his way of mentally staying in the game. After he does that, he bears down,” Lemon said.

Miller got out of the inning with two consecutive strikeouts and a ground-out, and he did not allow a run the rest of the way as the Sandcrabs went on to defeat the Pirates 4-3.

“I think we just weren’t into it mentally at the beginning,” Miller said. “I knew our guys would get right back in it.”

Seabreeze (10-9) scored its four runs on two passed balls and two wild pitches.

The Sandcrabs, who scored two in the first, took the lead for good in the third. After Apfelbach walked the first two batters, left-hander Josh Cope came on and gave up a walk to load the bases. Zach Banks scored

from third on a wild pitch to tie the score, and Zane Barron scored his second run on a passed ball to put Seabreeze back on top, 4-3.

“It wasn’t the prettiest win, but you have to win games like this if you want to play later in the season,” Lemon said.

The Sandcrabs left nine runners on base, including a man on third in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings. They left the bases loaded in the sixth.

Matanzas coach Jim Perry said he didn’t realize who was pitching for Seabreeze until he saw Miller warming up. Miller poses problems, Perry said, because every pitch he throws has movement.

“We had the adjustment last year.

Matanzas senior Reece Monroe heads for home in the first inning.

Seabreeze’s Cade Gallman bats in the sixth inning.

Seabreeze pitcher Evan Miller strikes out the Pirates’ Anthony Pilla in the sixth inning.

“I was throwing sidearm on flat ground as a joke, and the guy I was throwing to said I was pretty good, so I kept with it ever since.”

EVAN MILLER

Photos by Christine Rodenbaugh

We communicated it to the players,” Perry said. “You need to hunt the balls up in the strike zone and lay off the low pitches, because his ball sinks and falls out of the zone.”

Miller had an adjustment of his own. After three batters put the ball in play on fastballs in the first inning, Miller began throwing more changeups and sliders early in the count.

“I don’t throw hard enough to get the ball by them,” he said.

But Lemon said the senior’s velocity has picked up this season from about 78 mph to 80 or 82.

“My preparation in the offseason made a difference,” Miller said. “I feel more mobile with my hips.”

Miller said he went to a sidearm motion two years ago.

“I was throwing sidearm on flat ground as a joke, and the guy I was throwing to said I was pretty good, so I kept with it ever since,” he said.

Since then, he began studying sidearm pitchers and how they train.

“I don’t really throw long toss. I’m a Plyo-ball guy,” he said of training with a ball that’s heavier than a baseball.

Miller gave up four hits to the Pirates, walked two and struck out seven in seven innings. Apfelbach had three of the Pirates’ hits.

Matanzas had a chance to tie the game in the fifth as Apfelbach hit a one-out bloop single, went to second on a groundout and advanced to third on a wild pitch. But shortstop

Mason Boice fielded Braden Russell’s grounder to end the inning.

Matanzas also loaded the bases in the third, but Seabreeze got out of the inning with a 1-2-6 double play.

While the Pirates gave up all four runs on passed balls and wild pitches, they did not commit an error and displayed some outstanding defense.

After giving up a leadoff hit to Tommy Hayes in the second, Apfelbach dove off the mound to catch a pop up off a bunt and then doubled up the runner on first.

The next batter, Rustin Hurley, singled to right field but was gunned down at second by Alonso Quintana as Hurley tried to stretch the hit into a double.

“I thought we played pretty darn well,” Perry said. “We needed to get a leadoff guy on (base). That would have changed the dynamic of the game.”

Cope struck out five and allowed five hits and a walk in five shutout innings. All four Seabreeze runs — three were earned — were charged to Apfelbach. Cope lowered his earned run average to 1.68.

“I think this was Josh Cope’s best performance of the year,” Perry said.

The Pirates (5-7) host St. Augustine on Thursday, April 13. Seabreeze will play in the Five Star Conference tournament beginning April 15.

Ben Apfelbach was the starting pitcher for Matanzas.

Seabreeze first baseman Tommy Hayes catches a fly ball.

Seabreeze senior Mason Boice connects in the sixth inning.

“It wasn’t the prettiest win, but you have to win games like this if you want to play later in the season.”

JEFF LEMON, Seabreeze coach

Seabreeze's Tommy Hayes is safe at first on an error in the fourth inning.

Fast times at Matanzas High: Records fall at RunMatanzas track and field

in the 1,600-meter run with a time of 5:12.66 at the Florida Relays. She lowered that mark by more than four seconds to win at Matanzas High with a 5:08.09.

Roy won three events at the meet. She won the 3,200 with a time of 12:11.69 and the girls 4x800 with Kirsten Glaenzer, Nickole Dane and her sister, Arianna Roy, with a time of 10:18.88.

BRENT WORONOFF

ASSOCIATE EDITOR

Personal records fell by the wayside at the RunMatanzas Track and Field Invitational on Saturday, April 8. More than one school record also fell as Seabreeze senior Veronica Low broke the Sandcrabs’ all-time mark in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 15.86 seconds. Low won the event by less than half a second over Matanzas junior Jordan Youngman, who ran her own personal-record time of 16.20.

Seabreeze sophomore MacKenzie Roy already owned the school record

Mainland’s 4x800 boys relay team pulled within a half second of the Buccaneers’ school record with a time of 8:17.09 to win the event by nearly nine seconds.

Anchor Logan Camara expects the foursome will break the record of 8:16.58 before the season ends, considering the runners dropped two seconds off their previous PR.

Seabreeze freshman Hunter Shuler ran past New Smyrna Beach’s Daytona Belflower at the finish to win the boys 1,600 by half a second with a time of 4:39.32. Shuler lowered his previous PR by over five seconds.

Another Seabreeze freshman in

the event, Kai Shirley, won the slower first heat to finish 13th overall, but his time of 5:03.71 was 12.5 seconds better than his previous personal record.

“He keeps dropping time out of nowhere,” Seabreeze coach Jenna Meyers-Sinett said.

Mainland’s Jonathan Williams ran a personal-record 14.36 seconds to win the 110 hurdles. Williams’ time is the second fastest in Class 3A, less than two-tenths of a second behind Miami Norland’s Matthew McKnight.

Williams led a Mainland sweep in the event with Damarcus Creecy, Emmanuel Yisrael and Marquis McCants finishing second, third and fourth.

Mainland won the boys title at RunMatanzas with 201 points. New Smyrna Beach was second with 132.5 points, followed by Seabreeze (131) in third and Matanzas (89) fourth.

Matanzas won the girls title with 176 points. Seabreeze was second with 148 and Mainland was fifth with 65, with Yulee third and Menendez

fourth.

The Pirates’ Youngman not only finished second in the 100 hurdles, she won three events — the 400 hur dles (1:06.7), the 4x400 with Sierra Howard, Luise Sommer and Evanne Miller (4:11.78) and the high jump with a PR of 4-feet, 11 inches.

Howard won the 800 with a time of 2:23.97. Her time of 2:17.40 at the Florida Relays is the eighth fastest in Class 3A. The Pirates’ 4x400 relay is also ranked eighth in the state in Class 3A.

Other Matanzas winners included Olivia Gaines in the long jump (15-8.75) and the tri ple jump (34-7); Miller in the 400 (59.08); Kamryn Discus in girls discus (90-7) and Bradyn Cox in boys discus (147-4). Gaines also finished second in the 100 (12.4 seconds).

SEE RUNMATANZAS PAGE 10B

Seabreeze’s Aiden Blackwood starts his leaps in the triple jump.

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Two Seabreeze school records fell and a heap of personal records by Seabreeze, Mainland and Matanzas athletes were set at the meet.

Photos by Brent Woronoff

Seabreeze sophomore Mackenzie Roy, left, passed New Smyrna Beach’s Olivia Gardner, right, on the final lap to win the girls 1,600-meter race.

Mainland’s Cameron Boatright stays in front of Seabreeze’s Shamar Durham in the final leg of the boys 4x100-meter relay.

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A bittersweet senior night Bucs’ 4x800 relay moving up

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 6B

Also winning for Seabreeze were the girls 4x100 relay of Dajah Morris, Leila O’Reilly, Low and Keeva Heggins (51.72); Kalease Heggins, who led a Sandcrabs sweep in the girls 40-yard dash (a nonsanctioned event) with a time of 5.67 seconds; Klellan Lubbe in the boys 800 (2:01.82); Noah Parris in the boys 3,200 (10:26.81); and Chandler Mitzo in the boys javelin (171 feet). Mitzo and teammate Levi Hayworth are both ranked among the top four in javelin in Class 3A.

Other winners for Mainland included: the boys 4x100 relay of Williams, Corey Hill, Creecy and Cameron Boatright (43.08); Boatright leading a Mainland sweep in the 400 with a time of 49.21; Creecy in the 400 hurdles (58.54); Gabrielle Lett in the girls 200 (26.34) Christian Hudson in the boys shot put (48-0.5); and the boys 4x400 relay of Seth Sawyer, Camara, Chase Irven and Boatright (3:25.41).

Creecy achieved PR’s in the 400 hurdles and the triple jump, where he finished second (40-1.5 ). Boatright also had two PR’s — in the 400 and the 200, where he finished second with a time of 22.5 seconds.

Mainland’s boys showed off their strength in all three relays. But the most surprising is the one that is on the cusp of breaking the school record. The 4x800 team has two returnees in Camara and leadoff runner Sawyer. Sophomores Khalil Wilmore and Jack Mathis are newcomers.

“Jack ran cross country with us. I could tell it would cross over,” Camara said. “But Khalil came out of nowhere. He was running with the

sprinters, and we saw how long his strides were, so we brought him over.”

The seasoned 800 runners, Sawyer and Camara, each had splits of just over 2:02. Wilmore was not far behind with a 2:04.5. The Bucs moved up to ninth place in Class 3A, but they are still six seconds behind the eighth-ranked team — Fort Myers Dunbar.

“Our goal is to medal at state, which is top eight,” Camara said, noting that improving by six seconds or more by next month’s state meet is not out of the question.

“We ran our personal record by two seconds today, and we had nobody pushing us,” he said.

SIDELINES

FRIES NAMED STATE’S TOP GIRLS COACH

Matanzas girls wrestling coach Mike Fries, who led the Pirates to the state championship this season, was named the Florida Dairy Farmers Girls Wrestling Coach of the Year on Monday, April 10.

Fries, the former wrestling coach at Seabreeze, joined the Pirates before the 202122 season as an assistant coach for the boys and girls teams.

He was named the head girls coach after John White stepped down following the season.

The Pirates have had an individual state champ in each of the first two seasons that girls wrestling has been sanctioned by the Florida High School Athletic Association.

Matanzas senior lacrosse player Jimmy Kelly was emotionally drained by the end of the night.

The Pirates had just defeated Father Lopez 4-0 on senior night, Wednesday, April 5.

“It was our last game on our home field. It was very emotional,” Kelly said.

Kelly had a goal and an assist against the Green Wave. With the win, Matanzas finished the regular season with a 6-8 record. The Pirates’ six wins are their most in Kelly’s four years with the program.

Matanzas’ season ended with a 16-1 district quarterfinal at Flagler Palm Coast on Tuesday night. The Bulldogs (8-9) advanced to the semifinals at top seed Ocala Forest.

Matanzas senior Bryson Williams, who will play lacrosse for Webber Interna-

tional University next year, also scored a goal against Lopez. He said the defensive battle was a perfect ending to a night that started with the Pirates’ six seniors honored on the field with their families.

“It kept it fun,” Williams said. “It was back and forth the whole game, high intensity. Everyone stays on their toes.”

Kelly, Williams and fellow seniors Thomas Reilly, Brett Furey, Jon Young and Luke Doner weren’t sure they would have a team last year until Adam Frys stepped in as the new coach.

Frys and assistant coach Tim Sandersfield filled up the roster with players who were unfamiliar with the game. Still, the Pirates won three games last year.

“We’ve been improving since Day 1,” Kelly said. Next year, a new group of seniors will take over.

Fries’ daughter, Tiana Fries, won a championship in 2022 when Matanzas placed third as a team, and Kendall Bibla won a title this year.

LILAVOIS, HASH AMONG TOP SEEDS AT STATE

Flagler Palm Coast and Matanzas each qualified four lifters for the state boys weightlifting championships Friday and Saturday, April 1415, at the RP Funding Center in Lakeland.

FPC’s Nick Lilavois is the Class 3A top seed at 129 pounds in the Olympic competition (snatch and clean and jerk).

Lilavois won the Region 1 championship with a 415-pound total. The senior is also tied for the third seed in the traditional competition (clean and jerk and bench press) with a 445-pound total.

Lilavois helped the Bulldogs win the 3A state

championship last year by winning the 119-pound snatch championship and finishing second in traditional lifts.

The Bulldogs’ other state qualifiers are Nick Groth (169), Charley Perry (238) and Kobe Murphy (unlimited). All four qualified in both competitions.

Matanzas junior Cole Hash finished third in the 183-pound traditional competition at the Class 2A state tournament last season. This year, he is seeded second at 199 pounds after winning the Region 2 title with a 630-pound total. Hash will also compete in the Olympic competition.

The Pirates’ other state qualifiers are Maison Leonard (119) in traditional, Jaden Sao (129) in Olympic, Aiden Schissler (139) in both competitions and Sho’Marion Gaines (169) in traditional.

ALL-STAR SOCCER ON TAP

The Florida East Coast Senior All-Star Soccer Classic will be played at 7 p.m. Thursday, April 13, at the Daytona State College Soccer Stadium in Daytona Beach. Seniors from Seabreeze, Matanzas, Flagler Palm Coast and Mainland will participate along with senior soccer players from 10 other area schools. Admission to the game is $5.

LAURA HURLS NO-HITTER

FPC pitcher Alexis Laura tossed a six-inning no-hitter in the Bulldogs’ 10-0 softball victory against Mainland on April 4. FPC (13-2) hosts Deltona (12-2) at noon on Saturday, April 15.

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Photo by Brent Woronoff

Matanzas seniors (clockwise from top left) Luke Doner, Thomas Reilly, Jon Young, Jimmy Kelly, Bryson Williams and Brett Furey celebrate a win on senior night in their final home game.

BRENT WORONOFF ASSOCIATE EDITOR

Photos by Brent Woronoff Keeva Heggins completes Seabreeze’s win in the girls 4x100-meter relay.

REAL ESTATE TRANSACTIONS

ORMOND BEACH

House in The Trails sells for over $1 million

Ahouse in The Trails was the top real estate transaction for Feb. 26 to March 4 in Ormond Beach and Ormond-by-the-Sea. Greathand Properties LLC, of Ormond Beach, sold 27 River Ridge Trail to Alberto and Krista Acuna, of Miami, for $1,067,000. Built in 1978, the house is a 6/3.5 and has a riverfront deck, a sauna, a fireplace and 5,011 square feet. It sold in 2020 for $380,000.

ORMOND BEACH

Condos

Sherry McLaughlin, of Deltona, sold 1647 North U.S. 1, Unit 216, to William Radcliffe and Colleen Calnan, of Daytona Beach, for $135,800. Built in 2006, the condo is a 2/2 and has 967 square feet. It sold in 2018 for $85,000.

Breakaway Trails

Randy and Lisa Hubbard, of Corbin, Kentucky, sold 31 Circle Creek Way to Shay and Daniel Nitsch, of Ormond Beach, for $410,000. Built in 1998, the house is a 3/2 and has a pool and 1,876 square feet. It sold in 2007 for $229,000.

Castlegate Stephen Schneider, of New Smyrna Beach, sold 2 Queen Ann Court to Lyn Settlemyre, of Ormond Beach, for $335,000. Built in 1993, the house is a 3/2 and has 1,583 square feet. It sold in 2006 for $270,000.

Chelsea Place

Mangonon Familt LTD Partnership, of Ormond Beach, sold 416 Chelsea Place Ave. to Ruston Hess and Gerrit Boezewinkel, of Ormond Beach, for $479,000. Built in 2005, the house is a 3/2.5 and has 1,993 square feet. It sold in 2017 for $274,000.

Halifax Plantation Thomas and Mary Eichen, of Mankato, Minnesota, sold 1150 Athlone Way to Ste-

phen Limauro, as trustee, for $362,000. Built in 1999, the house is a 3/2 and has 1,627 square feet. It sold in 2006 for $253,000.

Charlotte McBride, as trustee, sold 1431 Carlow Circle to Thomas Darby, Mary Darby, and Kristen Darby, of Ormond Beach, for $341,800. Built in 2006, the house is a 3/2 and has 1,684 square feet. It sold in 2011 for $146,500.

Hunters Ridge Christopher Cantwell, of Ormond Beach, sold 65 Levee Lane to Debra Young, of Ormond Beach, for $362,000. Built 2010, the house is a 3/2.5 and has 2,149 square feet. It sold in 2010 for $184,989.

Kingston Park Michael and Linda Hargreaves, of Ormond Beach, sold 1848 John Anderson Drive to Three D Group LLC, of Daytona Beach, for $917,000. Built in 1961, the house is a 3/3 and has a boat dock with a lift and 2,927 square feet. It sold in 1998 for $221,000.

Not in a subdivision Lawrence Lauer, of Ormond Beach, sold 11 Pinto Lane to Graciela Valley, as trustee, for $749,000. Built in 2000, the house is a 4/3 and has 3,571 square feet.

Ortona James Backensto, of Ormond Beach, sold 904 Princeton Ave. to Guy Kinsman Jr. and

Janet Kinsman, of Ormond Beach, for $450,000. Built in 1963, the house is a 4/2 and has a pool and 1,968 square feet. It sold in 2016 for $246,000.

Pine Trails Craig and Deborah Snelling, of Palm Coast, sold 5 Cypress Point to Richard Turrill and Rachel Powers-Turrill, of Ormond Beach, for $375,000. Built in 1995, the house is a 4/2 and has a fireplace and 2,034 square feet. It sold in 2014 for $222,000.

Plantation Pines

William and Torrie Smith, of Ormond Beach, sold 3774 Plantation Drive to Perry and Charlene Mastrangelo, of Ormond Beach, for $350,000. Built in 1995, the house is a 3/2 and has 1,165 square feet. It sold in 2018 for $220,000.

Tomoka Meadows

David Corfman, of Ormond Beach, sold 12 Tomoka Meadows to Rachel Rodriguez, of Ormond Beach, for $220,000. Built in 1980, the house is a 2/2.5 and has 1,434 square feet. It sold in 2017 for $94,400.

Tomoka Oaks

Salvatore and Lisa DiVita, of Daytona Beach, sold 123 Rio Pinar Drive to William and Rebecca Shank, of Ormond Beach, for $660,000. Built in 1985, the house is a 4/3 and has a pool, a fireplace and 3,747 square feet. It sold in 2022 for $391,000.

The Trails

Carolina Woodruff, of Franklin, Tennessee, sold 117 Shady Branch Trail to Broken Oaks Properties LLC, of Ormond Beach, for $680,000. Built in 1981, the house is a 4/4.5 and has two fireplaces and 4,316 square feet. It sold in 2013 for $475,000.

John Foy, of Tupelo, Mississippi, sold 17 Indian Trail to David and Dawn Cote, of Waterford, Michigan, for $296,000. Built in 1982, the townhouse is a 2/2 and has 1,439 square feet. It sold in 1982 for $69,900.

John Adams, of Adams, Cameron & Co. Realtors, contributed to this report.

FIRST INSERTION

percent or share of certain land lying in Aquinnah, in the County of Dukes, and briefly described as follows:

The land with improvements thereon situated in the Town of Aquinnah County of Dukes County, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, bounded and described as fol-

lows: Being Lot# 124 as shown on a Map of the Division of Indian Lands at Gay Head, said lot being subject to the following two exceptions:

1) That portion of Lot 124 lying to the Eastward of the Gay Head Cemetery Road between that road and the boundary wall

between Lots #124 and #125, being in length approximately 172 feet, plus or minus, which is the property now or formerly of Hellen A. Attaquin; and

2) Lot# 124 is subject to the rights of members of the Cooper family of Gay Head, Massachusetts to pass and repass over an existing old road which crosses Lot 124 from the so called Cemetery Road to the grave sites of members of the Cooper family buried on land outside the Gay Head Cemetery wall.

Lot #124 is bounded and described as fol-

lows:

Beginning at the Southeast comer of the Grave Yard and Northeast corner of land now or formerly of Johnson Peters, thence by land now or formerly of Patrick Divine N 83° E 5 rods 15 links to land now or formerly of Avis James and a stone wall, and by the same S 15 ½° E a distance of 6 rods, thence S 26 ½° E 3 rods 14 links to a bound, thence by the commons, N 62 ¼° W 7 rods 13 links to land now or formerly of heirs of Hetty Ames deceased, thence by the same, N 21 ¾° W 2 rods 24 links and by land now or formerly of Johnson Peters N 21 ¾° W to the place of commencement.

The common title to this land is derived under a deed of Indian Set off Lot 124 dated October 26, 1876 recorded with the Dukes County Registry of Deeds in Book 49, Page 174; setting forth that he desires that all the described land may be sold at private sale for not less than $20,000.00 dollars and praying that partition may be made of all

the land aforesaid according to law, and to that end that a commissioner be appointed to make such partition and be ordered to make sale and conveyance of all, or any part of said land which the Court finds cannot be advantageously divided either at private sale or public auction, and be ordered to distribute the net proceeds thereof.

This complaint may be examined at the Land Court, Boston, Massachusetts, or a copy obtained from plaintiff’s attorney.

If you intend to make any defense, you are hereby required to serve upon the plaintiff’s attorney, Timothy M. Moriarty, Esq. of Brush, Flanders & Moriarty, LLC, 459 State Road-P.O. Box 1317, West Tisbury, MA 02575, 508-693-7733, an answer to the complaint on or before the twenty-ninth day of May, 2023, next, the return day, hereof, and a copy thereof must be filed in this court on or before said day.

If you fail to do so, judgment by default will be taken against you for relief demanded in the complaint. Unless otherwise provided by Rule 13(a), your answer must state as a counterclaim any claim which you may have against the plaintiff which arise out of the transaction or occurrence that is the subject matter of the plaintiffs’ claim, or you will thereafter be barred from making such claim in any other action. April 13, 20, 27, 2023 23-00056G

NOTICE OF MEETING DATE CHANGE TOWN CENTER AT PALM COAST COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT DISTRICT

The regular meeting of the Board of Supervisors (“Board”) of the Town Center at Palm Coast Community Development District (“District”) scheduled for Friday May 12, 2023 at 10:00 a.m. has been rescheduled to Tuesday May 9, 2023 at 10:00 a.m. at the Hilton Garden Inn Palm Coast/Town Center, located at 55 Town Center Boulevard, Palm Coast, Florida 32164. There may be occasions when one or more Supervisors will participate via telephone. Any interested person can attend the meetings at the above location and be fully informed of the discussions taking place. The meetings may be continued to a date, time and location to be specified on the record at the meetings without additional publication of notice. Any person requiring special accommodations at these meetings because of a disability or physical impairment should contact the District Office at (954) 603-0033 at least 48 hours prior to the meetings. If you are hearing or speech impaired, please contact the Florida Relay Service at 7-1-1, or 800-955-8771 (TTY)/800-955-8770 (Voice), for aid in contacting the District Office.

Each person who decides to appeal any action taken by the Board at these meetings is advised that person will need a record of the proceedings and accordingly, the person may need to ensure a verbatim record of the proceedings is made, including

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