ORMOND BEACH
SUMMER FUN GUIDE PAGE 10
Observer YOU. YOUR NEIGHBORS. YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD.
VOLUME 10, NO. 26
THURSDAY, APRIL 7, 2022
Dunn family opens new store Dunn’s Attic Too is a continuation of the local family’s centennial retail history in Volusia County . PAGE 3
Holub’s SONC gift
Surprise! Turie T. Small Elementary students played the Seabreeze Sandcrabs in a basketball game at their FSA rally on April Fool’s Day.
Developer donates new basketball court to neighborhood
PAGE 12
PAGE 2 INSIDE CONSERVATION
County Council OKs addition of 18 properties to Volusia Forever acquisition priority list PAGE 4
FLOWER SHOW
Garden Club of the Halifax Country holds its 100thannual show at Oceanside Country Club. PAGE 9
UMBRELLAS
Florida Women’s Art Association opens spring exhibit at MOAS PAGE 8
NEW WINE BAR
Wine Not? opens second location in Ormond Beach PAGE 14
TOP SELLER
Ormond Beach oceanfront home sells for $4.5 million PAGE 14
SPORTS
Latrae Bass (3) and BJ Glenn (4) go up for the pass with a Turie T. Small Bulldog opponent hot on their heels.
Photo by Michele Meyers
FLAG FOOTBALL
A rebirth of services for the blind Conklin Davis Center celebrates ribboncutting. Creek prevails in the rain, edges Mainland for Five Star title PAGE 13
‘MONSTER’ FISH
Realty Pros owner Bill Navarra wins grand prize at NE Florida Wahoo Shootout, including 100-pound fish PAGE 13
INDEX
Business...................... PAGE 14 Calendar........................ PAGE 8 Cops Corner..................PAGE 6 Letters...........................PAGE 6 Public Notices..............PAGE 17 Real Estate.................. PAGE 15
“It’s wonderful to know that 34 years of serving blind and visionally impaired people has occurred,” Kathy Davis said. “And this merger with Conklin is just immense.”
JARLEENE ALMENAS ASSOCIATE EDITOR
In 1988, Kathy Davis was losing her vision. A single mother of two and professor at Daytona State College at the time, she had been visually impaired all of her life, but at that moment, she knew one day she would lose all of her sight. She asked her ophthalmologist for help, and he didn’t know what her next steps should be. If even ophthalmologists didn’t have any suggestions, who could help? “I had to do something about that,” said Davis before a crowd of about 80 people outside the Conklin Davis Center for the Visually Impaired on Friday, April 1. So she started the Center for the Visually Impaired in a small home on Osceola Avenue in Ormond Beach, initially serving older blind individuals. Now she serves as vice chair of the Conklin
Photo by Jarleene Almenas
Centers for the Visually Impaired Founder Kathy Davis spoke during the ribbon-cutting Friday, April 1.
Davis Center for the Visually Impaired, a result of the 2021 merger between CVI and the Conklin Center, which closed in 2020 after its contract with the Florida Division of Blind Services was terminated. The ribbon-cutting ceremony celebrated the merger between the two entities, an
event held about eight months since the center relaunched its residential program. The Conklin Davis Center, located at 405 White St., has 16 dormitories, three one-bedroom apartments, and serves over 500 people in Volusia, Flagler, Putnam and Brevard counties via its several programs such
as its vocational rehabilitation and blind babies programs. “It’s wonderful to know that 34 years of serving blind and visionally impaired people has occurred,” Davis said. “And this merger with Conklin is just immense.” SEE REBIRTH PAGE 5