Palm Coast Observer 3-16-23

‘I don’t want to pray to fake gods’

City Council debates whether to add invocations at the beginning of future meetings. PAGE 2A

Ready to tell his side

School Board to hear Paul Peacock’s grievance appeal regarding demotion. PAGE

High flyin’ fun

Palm Coast’s sixth annual Strawberry Fest featured arts and crafts, bounce houses, pony rides, face painting, acrobatic Frisbee dogs, a pie eating contest and plenty of strawberries.

Many happy returns

FPC’s girls finished second to Spruce Creek at the Five Star Conference tennis championships. PAGE 4B

Zayden Kulp, 7, is all smiles on the bungee ride, though he later said, “It was a little scary.”

Photo by Chrstine Rodenbaugh

Photo by

CITY WATCH

Moment of silence, or moment of prayer?

Should the City Council add an invocation at the beginning of meetings?

Or, as some members suggested, is the current moment of silence enough? A proposed invocation policy sparked debate March 14 about what adding an invocation could mean for the council.

The council had asked City Attorney Neysa Borkert to create a draft invocation policy at the end of January, and Borkert presented that draft policy to the council and at the March 14 meeting,

City faces higher wildfire risk going into spring

Palm Coast faces a heightened risk of wildfires over the next three months, Palm Coast Fire Chief Kyle Berryhill warned Palm Coast City Council members at a March 14 meeting.

As we move into spring, Berryhill said, the area is under moderate drought conditions, raising the fire risk.

Flagler County has a history of wildfires: The 1985 “Black Friday” fires destroyed 131 homes in Palm Coast, while the 1998 fires led to a countywide evacuation. More recently, the county had over 90 fires in 2011, Berryhill said.

At the end of the previous week, he added, the drought index was at 400 on a scale of zero to 800, with 800 akin to a desert. When the scale is close to 400, Berryhill said, he and other fire chiefs start communicating about the increased risk of wildfires.

As of Tuesday, March 14, that index is back down to 287 because of rain over the weekend.

Berryhill said the Palm Coast Fire Department will be watching the situation closely over the coming months.

Borkert said she drafted the city’s policy based on best practices from previous legal cases. Signup for speakers would be on a first-comefirst-served basis, she said, and the council would have to be cautious not to favor one speaker over another.

“If you open the door to allowing for a prayer or an invocation to be given,” Borkert said, “that door needs to be open to everyone, to all religions.”

The draft policy states that invocation speakers could not be paid and could not proselytize during the invocation.

Borkert also made it clear that, should the city enact the invocation policy, it must be open to all religions and cannot be exclusive to one religion or exclude any religion to abide, by federal law. That is due to the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, which prohibits government from making any law establishing an official religion or favoring one religion over another, Borkert said.

City Council will vote on the invocation policy at an upcoming meeting.

Mayor David Alfin said he will insist on a unanimous consensus, and nothing less. If the policy is approved, the council would also decide at that meeting when it would implement the invocation.

Several members of the public spoke during public comment,

encouraging the addition of the invocation — but not to “fake gods.”

Palm Coast is home to multiple Christian denominations, an Islamic center and two synagogues.

City Clerk Virginia Smith, whose team will be responsible for organizing the various invocation speakers, will work with Borkert ahead of the March 28 meeting to determine what would qualify someone as a speaker. Alfin proposed drafting a neutral invocation — not a prayer — for religious leaders to use as an example, or, if they wished, to read for the invocation.

He said a neutral invocation might be a good way to show the city wasn’t favoring one religion over another.

Vice Mayor Ed Danko did not agree with a neutral invocation that speakers would have to read, but consented to using it as an example or option.

“This is their job,” Danko said. “This is their beliefs, this is what

they do. They need to express it in their own words.”

Council member Theresa Carli Pontieri said she is a devout Catholic but recognizes that the City Council would not be able to limit invocations and prayers to ones it agreed with.

Her concern, she said, is that she doesn’t want members of the community to be offended by a prayer or invocation.

She said she recently heard an invocation that offended her because it ended with the phrase “amen and a-woman” rather than just “amen.”

“I’m sorry, but I don’t ever want a prayer in this chamber to end with ‘a-woman,’” Pontieri said. “... People don’t want to pray to fake gods. I don’t want to pray to fake gods, either.”

Both council members Nick Klufas and Cathy Heighter indicated that the moment of silence already in place serves the purpose of giving them a moment to pray and reflect, though neither was averse to adding an invocation.

“I think that what the mayor has been doing, in my own opinion ... it’s enough that we have that moment of silence for us,” Heighter said.

Alfin launches

‘Share with the Mayor’ initiative

Palm Coast Mayor David Alfin has started his Share with the Mayor program.

The program will begin in April, but residents and local organizations can sign up now on the city’s website or by calling the mayor’s office at 386-986-3702.

The program is designed to help Alfin connect with residents and hear their concerns.

Alfin said he will meet with residents in their homes or driveways or in his office.

“I believe that the responsibility of the mayor is to be out in the public engaging with the residents,” he said. “I don’t believe the mayor’s job is to be in an office.”

His intent, he said, is to visit every neighborhood over the next two years of his term, and, if he is reelected, continue Share with the Mayor into his next term.

Alfin said Share with the Mayor is open to everyone, from individual residents to neighborhood watch groups and beyond.

Those requesting meetings will be asked to limit each meeting to three issues because of time constraints.

Alfin said he will attend meetings prepared to address any questions he can on those topics, and will bring concerns back to city staff and to City Council meetings. He said he wants to be able to make decisions in consideration of what Palm Coasts residents want, and to assure residents that he is listening.

“My goal is to touch more residents that have ever been engaged before,” Alfin said. “Our residents want to be heard. And I’m going out there to listen.”

Photo by Sierra Williams

Council member Theresa Carli Pontieri speaks as the City Council reviewed the first draft of an invocation policy for City Council meetings on March 14.

SIERRA WILLIAMS STAFF WRITER

“If you open the door to allowing for a prayer or an invocation to be given, that door needs to be open to everyone, to all religions.”

NEYSA BORKERT, city attorney

SENIOR EDITOR

STAFF WRITER

The Florida Department of Transportation is proposing a $100-million project to build two buried seawalls in sections of State Road A1A in Ormond-by-the-Sea and Flagler Beach in the wake of the recent hurricane season.

FDOT held an open house at The Casements in Ormond Beach on Wednesday, March 8, to discuss its resiliency plan for the 13-mile corridor between Roberta Road in Ormond-by-the-Sea and Osprey Drive in Flagler Beach.

The recommendations by the S.R. A1A Resiliency Strike Team — composed of representatives from Flagler and Volusia counties, Flagler Beach, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, FDOT and the Army Corps of Engineers — were proposed a couple of months after FDOT held a series of community listening sessions in January to gather citizen input on the repair options.

The buried seawalls, referred to as “secant walls” by FDOT, would be constructed from Sunrise Avenue to Marlin Drive in Ormond-by-theSea, and from half a mile north of Highbridge Road in Ormond-bythe-Sea to South Central Avenue in Flagler Beach. The first wall would span 1.28 miles; the latter 1.3 miles.

FDOT spoke to the Flagler Beach City Commission on March 9 about the proposed sea walls and will also hold an open house at the Wickline Center in Flagler Beach on March 21.

FDOT District 5 Director of Transportation Development Jack Adkins told the Flagler Beach City Commission that the Strike Team is working with the Federal Highway Administration to get the project moving.

“We are pursuing an extremely aggressive schedule,” Adkins said. “They understand the need.”

District 4 Volusia County Council member Troy Kent said he’s pleased that the state has realized it needs to take action.

“If you have a couple of back-toback storms like we did, that secant wall will stop the hemorrhaging,” Kent said. “The secant wall will stop it to where, OK, it’s gotten to this point, and it’s going to save the road and it’s going to save the homes and businesses on the west side of A1A.” Some environmentalists, however,

Coastline armoring

argue that the proposed secant walls would only protect the road, not the beach itself.

Melissa Lammers, a board member of Halifax River Audubon and Audubon Florida, said in a statement that even if FDOT’s secant walls are a “done deal,” county government should still commit to maintaining the dunes on the beach.

“The technology they’ve chosen, the secant wall, is a method to shore up vertical excavation walls for earthwork supported roads,” said Lammers, who is also a member of the Environmental Council of Volusia and Flagler Counties. “It’s not a method for beach preservation. Armoring the coast with things like seawalls and secant walls will speed up erosion: Waves will scour the beach directly in front of the wall and any un-armored areas on either side.”

SPENDING MILLIONS OF DOLLARS ON REPAIRS

FDOT has been performing emergency repairs and fortification in the project area of A1A since 2002, according to FDOT’s presentation.

The work has cost over $39 million — not counting the money Volusia and Flagler counties spent to repair walkovers and beach access points, or residents’ losses after storms.

Since the recent hurricanes, FDOT has spent an additional $15 million so far to repair A1A and strengthen the coastline. FDOT contractors have placed 53,294 cubic yards of sand and 38,272 tons of rock.

Constructing the walls will be expensive, but worth it, Kent said. He would like to see a secant wall built throughout the entire project area.

“I think that the cost is huge, but it’s nowhere near the cost of losing A1A and having to continue to rebuild that road,” Kent said. “And it’s nowhere near the costs of losing homes and losing businesses, so it is a needed measure, unfortunately.”

While he hopes the area gets a break from storms so that the dunes can replenish naturally, Kent noted that the dune areas that fared best in Volusia County were those with considerable vegetation, such as scrub and sable palms. He recommended that FDOT plant vegetation on the impacted dunes.

FDOT Strategic Initiatives Manager Catalina Chacon said during the Flagler Beach meeting on March 9 that FDOT is exploring what state and federal funding is available for

the walls.

Flagler Beach Commission Vice Chair Rick Belhumeur said that Flagler Beach has one buried sea wall already, and its dune has been washed away for some time and not yet replaced.

Chacon told the commission FDOT is working on a maintenance program as part of the proposal, including covering the wall where it has been exposed.

“It probably will get exposed at some points; it’s inevitable,” Chacon said. “But we are working on a maintenance plan — who, how, how often, where’s the funding going to come from.”

BEACH RENOURISHMENT

People submitted more than 100 written comments during FDOT’s listening sessions in both Ormond Beach and Flagler Beach.

Residents said they favor options that would maintain the corridor’s natural beauty while protecting the beach, FDOT stated in its presentation. Locals also want more public walkovers and pedestrian crossings and lower driving speeds, and support the 2.6-mile Army Corps of Engineers beach renourishment project which is moving forward in Flagler County and has been in the works since the Corps secured funding in 2018.

In addition to beach renourishment projects — which Volusia County also has expressed interest in pursuing — FDOT identified two other options to fortify dunes.

The first option is a granite revetment. The environmental impact of a revetment would be a big drawback: It would reduce the width of the beach and impact sea turtle nesting.

The second option is to construct buried sheet pile walls, but FDOT noted that sheet pile walls are unsuitable for areas that have a shallow rock layer or large variations in elevation.

The recommended secant walls, however, have low environmental impact and can be built in areas with a shallow rock layer, FDOT stated in its presentation: One was constructed in Flagler Beach from North 18th Street to near Osprey Drive.

The only disadvantage, the presentation noted, is that secant walls are the costliest option of the three.

While Lammers, of Ormond-bythe-Sea, said it was good that FDOT held open houses to present its plans, she added that the format didn’t allow for much public discourse. Citizens couldn’t hear questions asked by their neighbors, nor how FDOT’s Strike Team responded.

“We can’t really make an informed decision under those conditions,” she said. “Comments on social media show that the public mistakenly believes that FDOT is going to protect the beach. FDOT’s mandate is to protect S.R. A1A, not the beach.”

AIMING FOR RESILIENCY

Ormond Beach Mayor Bill Partington called the proposed FDOT project “forward-thinking.”

“Even though, technically, it may not be in Ormond Beach, our resi -

dents use that road to get to places, and so it’s important,” he said. “It’s important to the entire area.”

Resiliency is the key word for FDOT, he added.

“Basically, understanding that we’re experiencing these weather events are stronger than what we’ve dealt with in the past,” Partington said. “They’re adapting and planning for that.”

The secant walls, Kent said, strike the balance between preserving the beach and preserving A1A.

“It’s not a situation that anybody wants to be in, but we’re in it,” Kent said. “So now that we’re in it, I want something in place that is going to stop the destruction of our A1A roadway and the businesses and homes, because that’s what will be next. ... We have to make the tough

decision to say, ‘Hey, we’re going to put something in place,’ so that we draw a line in the sand.”

Lammers said that since at least 2016, Volusia County has relied on FDOT to try to protect the beaches on the north end of the county. But that’s not FDOT’s responsibility, she said. The county needs to monitor and find funding for future beach renourishment and dune revegetation programs beyond what FDOT proposes.

“For years, portions of Volusia County beaches have been deemed critically eroded by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection,” Lammers said. “If we want to have a beach and not just a road next to a beach, the time to act is now.”

FDOT’S INITIAL

� Proposed secant wall

� USACE beach renourishment

� Non-federal beach renourishment

� Existing secant wall

A buried seawall spanning Sunrise Avenue to Marlin Drive may be constructed to strengthen dunes in Ormond-by-the-Sea.

FDOT recommends buried seawalls in Ormond-by-the-Sea and Flagler Beach to strengthen A1A. But what about our beach?

JARLEENE ALMENAS

SIERRA WILLIAMS

File photo courtesy of Jessamyn Almenas

School Board to hear Paul Peacock’s grievance regarding demotion

The former district operations chief and current Wadsworth Elementary School principal also sent a letter of intent to sue.

BRENT WORONOFF

ASSOCIATE EDITOR

Wadsworth Elementary School

Principal and former Flagler Schools

Chief Operations Officer Paul Pea cock is seeking $7,500 he said the school district owes him.

But more than that, he is looking to restore his reputation, which he says was damaged last year after he was blamed for signing off on a tenta tive agreement with district unions on the district’s behalf without first getting the School Board’s assent.

A dispute over the tentative agree ment led to what Peacock says was a termination from his position as a district negotiator and a demotion from his position as the district’s operations chief.

Peacock filed a grievance last December with the district. He is appealing two previous decisions by the district and Superintendent Cathy Mittelstadt judging that he is not owed a $7,500 stipend for serving as a negotiator.

The School Board will hear that appeal at its monthly business meet ing on March 28. School Board Attor ney Kristy Gavin has confirmed the appeal will be on the agenda. Pea cock and Mittelstadt will each have 15 minutes to state their positions.

GRIEVANCE

Peacock was removed as the district’s chief of operations and its chief negotiator with the unions and reassigned to Wadsworth as a principal on June 10. He had been a negotiator with the district since 2014. In a lengthy interview with the Observer on Friday, March 10, he said he filed his grievance after he did not receive his annual $7,500 stipend as a district negotiator.

Peacock said he has also sent the School Board a notice to sue. He said he would seek $200,000 in a lawsuit, “which is about the treatment, about being wrongfully terminated, being removed, demoted.”

He said the $200,000 includes $15,000 which he would have earned over the next two years as a negotiator with Flagler Schools, with the rest covering potential future earnings as a consultant. He said before his removal from the negotiating team, he had opportunities to consult as a negotiator with other school districts.

“The reason why it’s $200,000 is there is a limitation,” he said. “The board’s liability is $200,000 for a case. That’s where it stops. There’s a ceiling for that.”

After the Observer requested a response from Mittelstadt, the dis-

said, “In order to respect the process, the superintendent will not speak about an employee’s grievance against the district.”

In the interview, Peacock also spoke about being linked in media reports with School Board member Sally Hunt, who has been urging the board to begin discussions on Mittelstadt’s contract, which expires at the end of June.

Peacock said he reached out to the three new board members — Hunt, Christy Chong, and Will Furry — after they were elected and invited them to visit Wadsworth Elementary to see “the great things we’re doing.” Each board member has liaison schools. Hunt chose Wadsworth as one of the schools she represents.

Peacock said none of the board’s three newest members have told him how they may vote on Mittelstadt’s contract, but he added that he thinks Hunt is “getting the short end of the stick.”

“She is literally trying to not vote on party lines, not just say, ‘I’m a Democrat’ or ‘I’m a Republican,’” he said. “She wants to find out what’s best for the kids and best for the community of Flagler County.”

When asked if he would apply for the superintendent’s job should the board decide not to renew Mittlestadt’s contract, Peacock said, “I haven’t said that I don’t want to be

“Our emails are blowing up and social media is a mess. ... I think Paul is making everything worse.”

contribute. I think (Assistant Superintendent) LaShakia Moore is much better qualified to be in that role.”

TENTATIVE AGREEMENT

Peacock’s reassignment to Wadsworth and removal from the district negotiating team occurred after a tentative agreement, known as a TA, was reached with the unions last April to provide health insurance rebates to school employees.

Peacock said he was the lead negotiator with the support professionals’ union and that Assistant Superintendent Bobby Bossardet was the lead negotiator with the teachers’ union.

The rebates would total about $800,000 and come out of a $4.6 million reserve fund. Brown and Brown — which administers the health plan for the district — said the fund only needed to be about a quarter of that.

But the TA was rejected by the board in an executive session.

After union members filled the chambers at a May 17 board meeting to show their disapproval of what was perceived as the district reneging on an agreement, the board later approved the rebates.

Board members were upset that they were not informed about the agreement. Peacock said he was surprised when the board rejected it.

“Our team presented this, like, ‘Guys, this is a win-win,’” Peacock said. “I went back and did what I could do to try to mitigate the damage, because we’re going back in there with a ‘no’, so my words, by the scribe, were, ‘I would like to start by apologizing. The article we TA’d, it shouldn’t have been TA’d without the board’s approval. I was trying to work within the time constraints we

and the board voted it down. I apologize. We are open to discussions to talk about the numbers.’ But at that point the union was thoroughly upset.”

Weeks later, Peacock was reassigned.

“I still can’t figure out what I partially did,” he said. “The TA is a tentative agreement. It simply means we are confident in presenting this to our board as a recommendation that we move forward. Typically, you get a little more time before you might actually sign the TA with the CFO there. But there was a time crunch. And remember, we were coming out of COVID. We really wanted to try to do something for the teachers and the support staff, because we felt like we could show them some real appreciation for what they have contributed to.”

COMPLAINTS

In preparing his grievance, he collected texts and emails from board members through a public records request. He showed the Observer emails board member Colleen Conklin forwarded to Mittelstadt and Peacock from upset union members.

Conklin sent an email to Peacock and Mittelstadt dated May 12, 2022, stating: “I never have been as frustrated over how bargaining has been handled. The TA should NEVER have been agreed upon and signed off on BEFORE being discussed with the Board.”

In texts that Peacock said were sent from Conklin to Mittelstadt on May 10 that he obtained through his records request, Conklin allegedly wrote that Peacock should not be involved in bargaining anymore.

“He’s an idiot. Our emails are blowing up and social media is a

mess,” one text read. Another text said, “I think Paul is making everything worse.” And another called him a “nightmare.”

Peacock is seeking to disqualify Conklin from participating in the March 28 appeal because of her “inappropriate and hostile communication” in the emails and texts.

“I take offense that I’m an idiot, I take offense that I’m a nightmare,” he said in the Observer interview.

Responding to a request for comment, Conklin wrote in a text message to an Observer reporter that she would be happy to provide context to the messages Peacock shared after the board hears the grievance.

“Mr. Peacock is doing his best to have me abstain from voting on his grievance. Therefore, I am unable to provide you with a comment at this time,” she wrote.

When Peacock was reassigned to Wadsworth, he was also removed from the bargaining team. Peacock called the move a demotion.

“There’s no other way to look at it,” he said.

Regarding his grievance, Peacock said that when he inquired about not receiving his $7,500 stipend, which he previously received annually on Dec. 15, he was informed that he signed for that on Nov. 22, 2021.

“I said, so let me ask you this, ‘Are you violating state statute?’ Because you cannot pay, by statute, a person prior to them serving.”

He said his grievance is about setting the record straight, more than the $7,500.

Peacock said he is in the state’s Deferred Retirement Option Program, with two years left before retirement, and he would like to remain at Wadsworth Elementary School.

Before he became the district’s chief of operations in June, 2021, Peacock was the principal at Indian Trails Middle School for eight years, where he had the district’s longest streak for an “A” school. He has also been an assistant principal at Flagler Palm Coast High School, Matanzas High School, Buddy Taylor Middle School and Indian Trails.

“My time at Wadsworth has been fantastic,” he said. “Maybe I’m just fit better for a school. There’s not that red tape. I can be involved with the kids.”

Managing Editor Jonathan Simmons contributed to the story.

The School Board is scheduled to hear Paul Peacock’s grievance on March 28.

Photo by Brent Woronoff

“I still can’t figure out what I partially did. The TA is a tentative agreement. It simply means we are confident in presenting this to our board as a recommendation that we move forward.”

PAUL PEACOCK

COLLEEN CONKLIN, School Board member, in text messages sent to Superintendent Cathy Mittelstadt before Peacock’s

Committee OKs ‘The Nowhere Girls’ ‘Last

on “The Nowhere Girls,” that book will likely also be appealed to the School Board.

“Sold” and “The Nowhere Girls” have similar, mature themes involving teenagers.

a digital support specialist.

BRENT WORONOFF ASSOCIATE EDITOR

A Flagler County School District review committee voted unanimously to keep Amy Reed’s “The Nowhere Girls” on high school library shelves.

A joint committee representing Flagler Palm Coast and Matanzas high schools had voted on Dec. 12 to retain the book, which was one of several books challenged by members of the Flagler County Chapter of The Moms for Liberty.

The complainant appealed the school committee’s decision to the district committee, which voted 14-0 on the evening of Monday, March 13, to keep the book available for high school students to check out.

Superintendent Cathy Mittelstadt can accept the committee’s decision or overrule it and remove the book, which she did with the controversial “All Boys Aren’t Blue” LGBT memoir in December 2021.

“The Nowhere Girls” was the second challenged book heard by a district committee this month. The first, “Sold,” by Patricia McCormick, survived an appeal on March 6. Mittelstadt accepted the decision.

The complainant appealed again on March 13 — this time to the School Board. Assistant Superintendent LaShakia Moore said the board will decide March 28 at its monthly meeting whether to accept the district’s decision to retain “Sold” or remove the book.

If Mittelstadt agrees with the committee’s verdict

“Sold” is about a young girl who is sold into sexual slavery in India. “The Nowhere Girls” is about three new friends who are incensed by unpunished sexual assaults at their Oregon high school and rally other girls to challenge the school’s rape culture and power structure that protects the perpetrators. Both books are works of fiction based on real-life incidents.

Both were challenged on charges that they contain pornography and are not appropriate for the ages of the students.

Moore, as supervisor of the district’s media services, facilitates the district committees.

She led off the district review of “The Nowhere Girls” by going over the state statutes which define obscenity as material “appealing to prurient interests,” which depicts, “in a patently offensive way, sexual conduct,” and which, “taken as a whole lacks serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value.”

Ultimately, the review committee decided the book does not appeal to prurient interests and is not harmful to students in grades 9-12. The members agreed that the book describes sexual assault, but not in an overly graphic way. They said the topic is important for high school girls and boys to be aware of.

The committee was made up of eight community members, two school media specialists, one teacher, one school administrator and two district staff members — an instructional professional and

Moore said the district’s policy is to have at least one parent and one community member on each committee, but with 80 parents and community members signed up, she said, they divided the pool and randomly assigned each person to a committee.

One committee member summed up Reed’s story as “empowering young women to stand up for themselves and each other.”

Rape culture is shown to be a “vile, disgusting thing,” and it takes a unified front to effect change, another concluded.

The book was not meant to be a comfortable read, a committee member said, “but discomfort has some power.” Another member agreed that it was “powerful and heavy but not overdone.”

“At no point reading that book do you escape,” a member said. “The author is bringing ugly to you, and along with that she’s bringing the beautiful voices forward.”

Several committee members noted that rape culture and an authority’s inclination to disbelieve accusers is not new.

“It outrages me that we are still dealing with this. Why are we still here? Silence is violence because someone is letting it happen. And it continues to happen,” a member said.

The committee agreed that the material is timely and relevant — “unfortunately yes,” one member said — and has literary merit.

Separate from book challenges, the district also has a policy that allows parents to block their own children from checking out certain library materials or to pre-approve the materials they can check out.

SIERRA WILLIAMS STAFF WRITER

A joint Matanzas and Flagler Palm Coast High School book review committee has voted unanimously to retain “Last Night at the Telegraph Club” for both schools.

A group of eight — three administrators per school and one parent per school — met on Tuesday, March 7, to review the book.

The book is one of 20 that have been challenged in Flagler County’s public schools by people who consider the texts inappropriate for school children.

“Last Night at the Telegraph Club,” by Malinda Lo, was accused of having pornographic material and material “not appropriate for the age of student,” according to the original challenge request.

The complaint alleged that the book contains nudity and explicit sexual activities, but the review committee disagreed, finding the book to be, instead, a coming-of-age story that relates well to modern issues teenagers face.

Lo’s book is a historical

“You

“Someone

fiction story that follows a 17-year-old Chinese-American girl in 1954 America during the Red Scare, the rise in hysteria over the communist threat during the Cold War, according to the book’s synopsis.

The main character faces racism and the plight of being one of the only girls in her high-level math classes, and falls in love — with another girl.

The main character, Lily, and her love interest do go into a lesbian club in the book, as minors — those pages are listed among the eight pages the complaint said had explicit content.

But on three of the eight pages, the committee mem-

bers couldn’t find anything objectionable.

Indeed, all of the “explicit” content was written in vague and implied terms, the committee found.

On page 296 — one of the pages listed as having objectionable material — the main character kisses her crush, but the description is so vague that one member had to show another where it was on the page.

Overall, the committee members said, the book focuses more on cultural issues between immigrant parents and their first-generation children, as well as the racism minority groups have felt in America, especially in times of crisis — relating the anti-Asian sentiment in the book to what Asian Americans experienced during the rise of COVID-19, and Muslims after 9/11.

“You could pluck Lily out of the ’50s and into today, and it would be [the same story],” a committee member said.

Those themes, and the antiLGBT sentiment described in the novel, are topics teenagers in 2023 can relate to, committee members said.

“Someone reading this story could say, ‘This is how I feel; this is what I’m going through,’” one committee member said.

The book also explores how relationships can change between kids and their parents as well as with their friends, the committee said, and it teaches teenagers to have empathy for those who are different by providing representation across multiple minority groups.

“Anyone who has drifted from a best friend or their parents will relate,” one committee member said.

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The

With ‘Sold’ facing a School Board decision, ‘The Nowhere Girls’ could be next.

A challenge accused the book of containing explicit sexual content. The committee found it to be a relatable coming-of-age story.

“Last Night at the Telegraph Club” will stay on the shelves at Flagler Palm Coast and Matanzas High Schools.

could pluck Lily out of the ’50s and into today and it would be [the same story].”

reading this story could say, ‘This is how I feel; this is what I’m going through.’”

COMMITTEE MEMBERS

COPS CORNER

FEB. 23

BAIT AND SWITCH

2:39 p.m. — 1400 block of West Granada Boulevard, Ormond Beach Larceny. A 63-year-old woman’s wallet was stolen in the parking lot of a local grocery store after a man approached her while she was loading her groceries into her car and claimed she had just dropped a $20 bill.

The woman told him that she was certain she hadn’t dropped any money, but the man was persistent, according to a police incident report.

In the end, she accepted the $20 and told police the man continued to speak to her as she got into her car.

Once home, she realized her wallet was gone. The woman told police she believed the man distracted her to access her purse. She showed the reporting officer the $20 bill the man gave her. It was counterfeit. The woman wanted to press charges should police find the suspect.

FEB. 28

THE OBVIOUS OUTCOME

5 p.m. — 5400 block of Belle Terre Parkway, Palm Coast Larceny. A woman’s purse was stolen from her car after she left the car unlocked in a parking lot.

The victim was attending a soccer game at a local sports complex when the theft happened, according to an incident report.

The woman parked her gray Jeep in a parking spot and left, leaving the Jeep

unlocked with her keys and purse inside.

Less than an hour after she arrived, she received a text about a possible fraud charge of over $500 at a Palm Coast big box store, the woman later told Flagler County Sheriff’s Office deputies.

She went back to her Jeep to find that her purse had been stolen.

Security camera footage from the big box store showed a woman wearing a sweatshirt and facemask trying to purchase gift cards at 5:48 p.m. — first with the victim’s credit card, and then her debit card.

When both attempts to purchase were declined, the thief left the store without the gift cards.

The victim’s cards have not been recovered and the suspect is unidentified, according to the report.

FEB. 25

LET SLEEPING BB GUNS

LIE

10:45 a.m. — Boulder Rock Drive, Palm Coast Trespass. A homeless man was trespassed from a local furniture store after he was found sleeping in the grass outside with a BB gun on his chest.

People inside the store called the sheriff’s office out to the scene when they saw the man sleeping, believing the gun on his chest to be an actual AR-15, according to an incident report.

The caller told dispatch that the man was sleeping in the grass near the trash cans, but because of the possible gun, people were steering clear until deputies arrived.

When law enforcement arrived, while one deputy

stood by for safety, another approached the man and saw that the gun was a BB gun.

After interviewing the man, deputies issued a trespass warning to him and asked him to leave the property.

MARCH 7

HURDLING STRAIGHT TO

JAIL

6:23 p.m. — 200 block of Vining Court, Ormond Beach Loitering or prowling. Two residents were playing golf at a local country club when they spotted a man jump a home’s gate in their neighborhood.

Knowing their neighbors were not home, the golfers yelled at the man, who then jumped a second gate on the other side of the home, according to a police report.

The neighbors showed police surveillance footage of the incident, but officers couldn’t find the fence-hopper.

However, later that day, a resident of a nearby street reported seeing a suspicious man sleeping by her air conditioning unit.

Officers renewed their search and spoke with a witness who had spotted the man running on the golf course. They eventually found the man, a 52-year-old transient, trying to enter a closed travel agency office. The man fled when he saw them, but officers caught him after he tripped on some mulch and bushes, according to the report.

When asked why he had been jumping gates, the man said he was trying to “get to the main road.” As to why he was sleeping by the AC unit? The man said he was tired and wanted to lay down. He said he’d run away from the officers because of “police and gangs working together in another state,” according to the report.

He was taken to jail.

BRIEFS

Dog dies in stolen pickup truck fire; suspects charged

A man and a woman arrested in a March 9 car chase and vehicle fire are also being charged with animal cruelty felonies for allegedly leaving two dogs behind in the burning vehicle.

One dog died in the fire, and the other escaped into the woods with unknown injuries, according to the male suspect’s arrest report.

The incident started just before noon when the pickup truck — reported stolen out of Jacksonville the night before — was spotted heading east on State Road 100 toward Flagler Beach, according to the report.

A deputy found the truck on Highbridge Road at the drawbridge and followed it onto Interstate 95 northbound.

Flagler County’s Fire Flight helicopter was requested, and deputies tried to pull the truck over on I-95.

Fire Flight followed the truck as the driver fled from deputies on I-95 and exited onto Matanzas Woods Parkway, where deputies used Stop Sticks to puncture one of the truck’s tires.

The truck continued until it crashed at Hargrove Grade and U.S. 1 and both suspects fled the vehicle, leaving the two dogs in the truck.

The truck caught fire for unknown reasons. One dog managed to escape and run

off but the other died, according to the report. The Palm Coast Fire Department and Flagler County Fire Rescue responded and worked to extinguish the flames, according to a social media post from PCFD. PCFD Engines 21 and 23 and Fire Rescue 21 responded.

Both suspects were caught in the area around Hargrove Grade and U.S. 1.

An FCSO K-9 unit took in the male suspect, who pushed and struck the dog while trying to get it away.

Both suspects have been charged with animal cruelty causing cruel death, pain and suffering.

The man is also being charged with resisting officers without violence, striking a police animal, aggravated fleeing with injury or damage, grand theft of a motor vehicle and criminal mischief over $1000.

The woman has also been charged with resisting an officer without violence.

The woman is being held on $22,000 bond, and the man on $103,500 bond.

Record number of Bike Week trauma patients reported

Halifax Health admitted 200 patients suffering trauma-related injuries during the 2023 Bike Week, which ran from March 3-12.

Of those, 122 patients were Bike Week-related admissions, a 20% increase from Bike Week 2022, a press release noted.

“This was the most trauma team activations we have ever seen during the event,” said Lindsay Martin Duffy, director of nursing, emergency and trauma services. “The beautiful weather and more attendees unfortunately resulted in more motorcycle accidents. This year, half of the Bike Week patient admissions were not wearing helmets. With such a large need for

trauma care, we certainly appreciate all the highest level of care our Team Members provided to residents and visitors during the entire event.”

In 2022, Halifax Health had admitted 88 people in connection with Bike Week; in 2021, the hospital reported 91 admissions.

The majority of the patients admitted this year were men, according to Halifax Health, and most patients — 61 — lived outside of the county, but were Florida residents.

Three people died — two men and one woman.

Here are other notable stats:

„ 61 of those admitted were wearing helmets

„ The average age of patients was 44; the median was 45

„ Of those admitted, 97 were men and 25 were women

„ 21 were Volusia County residents

„ 61 lived in Florida, outside of Volusia County

„ 40 lived out of state.

Man allegedly drove 130 mph on S.R. 100

A Miami man driving a BMW was arrested on March 9 after allegedly driving 130 mph on State Road 100.

“This driver endangered many lives while attempting to evade law enforcement,” Sheriff Rick Staly said, according to a press release.

“Especially during Bike Week, we do not tolerate reckless driving.”

A Flagler County Sheriff’s Office deputy had first tried to pull the car over on Interstate 95 at 4 a.m. when he saw it speeding recklessly without its headlights on, according to the FCSO press release.

The driver ignored the deputy’s lights and siren, exiting I-95 onto S.R. 100 eastbound.

The deputy followed, but turned off his emergency lights and notified other deputies of the fleeing vehicle.

Another FCSO deputy and a FHP trooper tried to pull over the BMW on eastbound S.R. 100, but the driver continued to flee, reaching approximately 130 mph before deputies lost sight of the car

Law enforcement officers found the BMW in the 1400 block of South Flagler Avenue and arrested all three occupants.

The driver has been charged with three counts of fleeing and eluding and one charge of hashish possession, while the two passengers, who are also from the Miami area, have each been charged with hashish possession.

New crime alert app available for Volusia residents

The Volusia Sheriff’s Office is rolling out a new mobile app for the public: Atlas One, free on iOS and Android.

The app will replace SaferWatch, which is being phased out this week.

SaferWatch users are asked to download Atlas One and create an account to continue receiving information like Air One alerts.

Atlas One offers real-time alerts based on a user’s location and can accept crime tips and photo/video evidence and route them to the appropriate staff member.

Anyone who needs an emergency law enforcement, medical or fire response should still call 911.

VSO is the first sheriff’s office in Florida to offer Atlas One for residents.

The Fort Myers Police Department became the first public safety agency in Florida to deploy it in June 2022.

To use Atlas One, download the free app on iOS or Android, then tap “Get Started” to create your Atlas One profile.

Share your location or add favorite places that you want to track.

If an alert occurs near your location, the app will send a push notification alert.

Motorcyclist dies in crash at S.R. 100, Bulldog Drive

A 68-year-old motorcyclist died in a crash on State Road 100 March 10 after an 18-year-old driver in an SUV failed to yield to him while making a left turn.

The crash happened at 2 p.m. at S.R. 100’s intersection with Bulldog Drive.

The 18-year-old, a Palm Coast resident, was going east on S.R. 100 and entered the left turn lane to turn onto Bulldog Drive, according to a report from the Florida Highway Patrol.

The motorcyclist — from Murfreesboro, Tennessee — was going west on S.R. 100 in the right lane. The SUV pulled out in front of the motorcyclist, and the motorcyclist hit the SUV’s passenger side, according to the report.

The Flagler County Sheriff’s Office temporarily shut down the intersection and diverted westbound traffic down Bulldog Drive, a social media post by the FCSO reported.

The motorcyclist, who was wearing a helmet, was killed in the crash, according to the FHP report. The 18-year-old was uninjured.

South Old Kings Road closure began March 13

South Old Kings Road will be closed through Sunday, March 19, while a developer installs utility connections, according to a notice from the city of Ormond Beach.

Traffic will be detoured through South Orchard Street and Division Avenue. South Old Kings Road will not be open for residents to use as an access point to West Granada Boulevard.

The city asks residents to use Division Avenue and Hammock Lane instead to access the detour routes. For questions regarding the closure, call 386-676-3269.

Photo courtesy of the PCFD

Man who threatened to shoot Chitwood to be extradited to Florida

4chan. In the thread, Golden and other individuals had been discussing the actions of the hate group called the “Goyim Defense League.”

get shot up, or churches get shot up or schools get shot up — extremism is extremism.”

subpoenas, Chitwood said, but VSO is awaiting information.

JARLEENE ALMENAS SENIOR EDITOR

A 38-year-old New Jersey man is being extradited to Volusia County after he was charged and arrested on March 6 for threatening to kill Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood on an online forum.

On Feb. 23, days after groups held antisemitic signs along Volusia County roadways and distributed antisemitic flyers, the Volusia Sheriff’s Office was notified by the Central Florida Intelligence Exchange that a Richard Golden of Monmouth Junction, New Jersey, had made death threats against Chitwood in a chat thread on the internet forum

“Just shoot Chitwood in the head and he stops being a problem,” Golden wrote, according to his arrest report. “They have to find a new guy to be the new problem. But shooting Chitwood in the head solves an immediate problem permanently.

Just shoot Chitwood in the head and murder him.”

For the past several weeks, particularly after he held a press conference denouncing antisemitism, Chitwood has been the target of online harassment by individuals connected with GDL.

In response, Chitwood released anti-Nazi T-shirts and “Volusia Strong” mugs for purchase. The proceeds go to the Volusia Sheriff’s Youth Foundation.

“This just goes to the bigger picture,” Chitwood said during a press conference Tuesday, March 14.

“When you look at how synagogues

Once VSO was notified of the threats, the case was picked up by the State Attorney’s Office, which obtained an IP address associated with the threats.

When South Brunswick Police detectives first spoke with Golden on March 1, Chitwood said, they discovered that he was “anti-government, anti-law enforcement and, like every other active shooter that we come across, is a marginalized member of society who spends hours and hours and hours in these extremist chatrooms.”

Golden told police that he made the threat in the chat after discussion about “Chitwood being a crossdresser and visiting small kids.” The allegations of crossdressing came from photos of Chitwood participating in local breast cancer fundraisers.

Golden said he had no ties with any hate groups and didn’t plan to act on his statements.

He was charged with a felony for the threat, and, once in jail, his bond will be set at $100,000. There are also other outstanding

At the March 14 press conference, Chitwood also said that in the days following his press conference with local faith leaders on Feb. 27, three high school students defaced their school’s bathroom walls with swastikas. He did not disclose at which high school this took place.

That incident led to the creation of the T-shirts and coffee mugs to raise money for the Volusia Sheriff’s Youth Foundation, he said.

“The best way to defeat or at least contain extremism is through unity and sunshine,” Chitwood said. “And the best way to make sure that you don’t have it is education. Education eradicates hate.”

VSO will request that the judge handling the teenagers’ case order them to visit the Florida Holocaust Museum in St. Petersburg as part of their sentences.

So far, VSO has raised $5,000 by selling the T-shirts and coffee mugs.

Spradley, Belhumeur join Flagler Beach City Commission, Cooley becomes chair

as vice chair, approving those appointments unanimously.

Cooley told the Observer that, while he was not expecting to become chair, he takes a lot of pride in the position.

“I’m glad to be chair,” he said. “I try to run a very streamlined meeting.”

Belhumeur for vice chair, with Cooley seconding.

The commissioners divvied up their board responsibilities as well, with Belhumeur taking point on the Economic Development Task Force and Friends of the A1A Scenic and Historic Coastal Byway because he already holds positions on those boards.

SIERRA WILLIAMS

WRITER

STAFF

Newly elected Flagler Beach city commissioners Scott Spradley and Rick Belhumeur took their oaths of office on Thursday, March 9. Spradley and Belhumeur are replacing former Commission Chair Ken Bryan and former Vice Chair Deborah Phillips. The new commission then nominated Commissioner Eric Cooley as chair and Belhumeur

Commissioner James Sherman had nominated Cooley as chair, with Spradley seconding. Belhumeur also nominated himself for chair, citing his previous experience — he’d served as a commissioner for six years, including one stint as chair and two as vice chair — but no one seconded his motion. Cooley also has previous experience, having served as the chair just over a year ago.

Mayor Suzie Johnston nominated

Belhumeur is also now the commission representative to the St. Johns Water Management District and the Florida League of Cities’ Land Use and Economic Development Committee. Spradley will serve on the Public Safety Coordinating Council and the Florida League of Cities’ Finance Taxation and Personnel Committee, as well as in several alternate positions.

Bryan and Phillips said their farewells at the start of the meeting, descending from the dais for the last time before Spradley and Belhumeur took their oaths.

Phillips thanked residents and staff members for their help and support during her three years on the commission.

“I wish everybody on the board well, and great success,” she said.

Mayor Suzie Johnson had plaques of appreciation made for the commissioners and thanked them for their service.

Amy Lukasik, the head of the county’s Tourism Development Council, also presented Bryan with a certificate of appreciation for his dedication as a board member on the TDC.

Bryan said he’s sure the new lead-

“I’ve done it because I wanted to be someone special for this city, not to mention for the constituents of Flagler Beach and my neighbors.”

ership will be able to navigate any stormy seas ahead and thanked the residents and staff for all their support during his terms.

He said he had taken the position with his neighbors and the city in mind.

“I’ve done it because I wanted to be someone special for this city, not to mention for the constituents of Flagler Beach and my neighbors,” he said.

In his fight against antisemitism, Sheriff Mike Chitwood has been the target of online harassment by anonymous individuals.

Scott

Spradley and Rick

Belhumeur took their oaths on March 9. Belhumeur will serve as the commission’s vice chair.

Photo by Jarleene Almenas

Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood held a press conference on Tuesday, March 14, to discuss Richard Golden’s arrest in response to his death threats.

KEN BRYAN, former commission chair

City proposes aquatics fee changes Firefighters contain Bunnell mulch fire

Rates for tennis center use may change as well, with the addition of new rates for pickleball.

SIERRA WILLIAMS

STAFF WRITER

Some of the fees at the Palm Coast Aquatics Center may soon change. Parks and Recreation Director James Hirst and Deputy Director Brittany McDermott presented several proposed fee changes, along with potential fees for the new Southern Recreation Facility being built on Belle Terre Parkway at the tennis complex, to the Palm Coast City Council at a March 14 workshop. Both proposals are based on market research, Hirst said.

AQUATICS CENTER FEES

TO INCREASE

Parks and Recreation is recommending that the city add a family pass for summer and remove the 50%-off twilight fee for the last two hours of pool access. The summer family pass would cost $150.

McDermott said Parks and Recreation is also looking to simplify the pass holder

options. The limited family pass would be eliminated because few people use it, McDermott said.

The center would retain the monthly and quarterly individual passes at $25 and $65, respectively, while the individual and senior seasonal passes would increase to $240 for the individual seasonal pass and $210 for the senior pass.

The daily rates of $4 for adults and $3 for children and seniors would remain the same.

The fee hike on several of the passes is because of cost increases for pool maintenance materials and yearround services, Hirst said.

Mayor David Alfin asked staff to explore an option for trial memberships to increase engagement.

“I would love to find a way to encourage more residents who may not be current users of the facility to enjoy our amenities,” Alfin said.

THE SOUTHERN RECREATION CENTER

The new Southern Recreation Center at the tennis complex would cater to both tennis and pickleball players, and Parks and Recreation’s proposed fees are designed to reflect maintenance costs, Hirst said.

The center would continue to have passes for daily visits, a punch pass of 10 visits, a limited monthly pass, a monthly-paid annual, a junior annual and a single annual pass. Residents could then choose between a pickleball pass, tennis pass or a combination pass.

The current rates for tennis would rise in some cases — the monthly-paid annual going from $45 to $50, the limited monthly pass to $30, and the junior annual to $175. The annual adult pass, the punch pass and the daily rates would stay the same.

Pickleball rates would be lower than tennis rates: $7 for daily passes, $60 for the punch pass, $15 for the limited monthly pass, $25 for the monthly annual fee, $100 for the junior’s annual pass and $250 for the adult annual pass.

That price difference is because tennis courts require more maintenance than pickleball courts, Hirst said.

Meanwhile, the Recreation Center would have fees comparable to the Palm Coast Community Center, Hirst said. Rates would be hourly and differentiate between business hours and afterhours, as well as for-profit and nonprofit events.

Recreational drones flying over the fire forced FireFlight to suspend operations on March 12.

SIERRA WILLIAMS STAFF WRITER

A mulch fire that began burning off west State Road 100 near Deen Road in Bunnell on Sunday, March 12, has been contained.

The mulch fire — which was named the “White Fire” but has since been renamed to “NW Mulch Fire” — began at a local business just after 4 p.m. on Sunday and was approximately 3 acres in size.

Smoke from the wildfire blew toward Palm Coast and U.S. 1 north of S.R. 100 throughout the day on March 13, according to a social media post from the Florida Forest Service in Bunnell.

Julie Allen, a Florida Forest Service wildfire mitigation specialist, said on Monday afternoon that the fire was 100% contained. The Florida Forest Service is working to determine the cause of the fire.

Flagler County Fire Rescue worked with the Florida

Forest Service to contain the fire. FireFlight dumped close to 20,000 gallons of water on the fire, according to a Flagler County Fire Rescue social media post.

Allen said the county’s FireFlight had to land because of multiple recreational drones flying in the area.

“It was a very dangerous situation for FireFlight,” she said. “It could have killed somebody.”

Allen said that any number of problems could have happened: The drones could have hit the helicopter or its propellers, or fallen onto the

firefighters below, she said.

“That’s why we ask folks do not launch drones, especially while we have assets in the air,” Allen said. “When you’re talking about a wildfire and you’re talking about large equipment … it’s a very dangerous situation.”

FireFlight landed its operations until the drones were no longer a danger, Allen said. Because it was dark out and because most recreational drones do not have identifying information, Allen said, there was no way to know whom the drones belonged to.

Image courtesy of Flagler County Fire Rescue footage Flagler County Fire Rescue worked with the Florida Forest Service to contain a 3-acre mulch fire off of west State Road 100.

Volusia to place sand ‘TrapBags’ to temporarily fortify coast

The TrapBags should be able to withstand multiple storms, giving property owners time to reconstruct their seawalls

JARLEENE ALMENAS

SENIOR EDITOR

Volusia County is fortifying its weakened coastline as much as possible — and as swiftly as possible — before hurricane season begins June 1. Its efforts include a $5 million emergency sand placement for the most vulnerable properties and acquiring sand for a $37.6 million

dune renourishment project, Volusia County Public Works Director Ben Bartlett reported during the Roundtable of Volusia County Elected Officials meeting on Monday, March 13.

The county will use sand-filled “TrapBags” as a temporary fix for the worst of the erosion caused by Hurricanes Ian and Nicole.

TrapBags are 4-by-4-foot bags the county will fill with beach-compatible sand and place on the beach, where they will block further erosion during high waves, according to Bartlett.

“If the wave action comes up — if we get a storm or a nor’easter or even if a hurricane were to skirt the coast and generate a lot of waves — it provides a way for those waves to hit the TrapBags as opposed to the escarp-

ment or even loose sand,” Bartlett said. “The concern was that if we just place loose sand out there, you get one storm, it washes away.”

The TrapBags, Bartlett added, should be able to withstand multiple storms, giving property owners time to reconstruct their seawalls. Once the seawalls are completed, the bags can be cut and the sand spilled out onto the beach.

The next big task for the county is acquiring easements from property owners so workers can place the TrapBags and remove debris. The county will hold two public meetings on this subject: one on March 20 in Daytona Beach Shores, and another on March 27 in New Smyrna Beach.

The sand that will be used for the first set of TrapBags is coming from

Bethune Beach, Bartlett said. The county has also secured 180,000 cubic yards of beach-compatible sand from a Florida Inland Navigation District pit in Edgewater.

Sand sources for the beach renourishment project are still in the works, however. The County Council will review a contract for sand at its next meeting. Volusia is also working with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for a dredging project that will generate about 700,000 cubic yards of sand.

“We’ve seen a little bit of positive movement from the Corps on the possibility of getting a large chunk of that sand,” Bartlett said. “We’re going to continue to work with them on that, because that’s a lot of sand that we would have access to for a very little cost, and we don’t want to see them dump it out in 14 feet of water when we are in desperate need of beach-compatible sand.”

The county did receive approval for an Florida Department of Environmental Protection grant, which will come to the council for review at its March 21 meeting.

TURTLE RIGHTS VS PROPERTY

RIGHTS

Sea turtle nesting season will begin on May 1, and could bar some property owners from repairing or rebuilding their seawalls.

County staff members have been speaking with representatives from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and FDEP, but so far, those agencies have indicated that property owners who do not get a permit and start their project before May 1 will not be allowed to work during the nesting season, which runs through Oct. 31.

Hurricane season runs from June 1 through Nov. 30.

“It just seems irresponsible not to have citizens’ rights, property rights, above turtle rights,” New Smyrna Beach Mayor Fred Cleveland said.

Volusia County Council Chair Jeff Brower said there’s a lot at stake.

“I think there’s probably agreement here that, while we all appreciate protecting turtles, I think we

can do both,” Brower said. “We can protect the turtles and we can protect homes, which are also the barrier for A1A.”

PERMITTING PROBLEMS

Daytona Beach Shores Mayor Nancy Miller pointed out that few permits have been issued despite a high number of applications. Slow communication between FDEP and the applicants regarding permitting issues has also played a role, she added.

“[Property owners are] in such a compromised position right now,” Miller said. “One high tide, one hurricane, God forbid, and there’s either going to be a loss of life or, certainly, buildings coming down in the condition they’re in.”

Bartlett said that FDEP has indicated that it would let the county continue its temporary armament and sand placement efforts, but he’s waiting for official confirmation.

U.S. Rep Michael Waltz, who joined the meeting by phone, said he would look into speeding up the permitting process.

“If people are having to wait two weeks just to find out what they don’t have, and then another two weeks to find out the next thing they don’t have — that’s unacceptable,” Waltz said.

All the while, the county is still working to reopen as many beach access points as possible before the busy beach season begins May 1.

“Our coastal staff is working around the clock to get these ramps open, these walkovers and these parks [open],” Bartlett said. “You’ve got to work through the FEMA process ... but that doesn’t mean our staff can’t work to provide temporary access and manage these locations.”

As of March 12, 87 of the county’s 141 walkovers are open, as are 14 parks. Frank Rendon Park, Edwin Peck Sr. Park and Dahlia Avenue Park in Daytona Beach Shores remain closed.

Of its 37 vehicular access ramps, 21 are open.

Photo courtesy of Volusia County Government

The county will be using sand “TrapBags” as a temporary fix for the worst of the erosion caused by Hurricanes Ian and Nicole.

LETTERS

Fix traffic issues before spending city money on luxuries

Dear Editor:

Yesterday, I was going to the hospital, took Royal Palm from Belle Terre, when my car hit a very deep

YOUR TOWN

NEW PROBUS CLUB FORMED

A Probus Club has formed in Palm Coast with support from the Rotary Club.

Probus Clubs offer fellowship, friendship and fun for retired and semi-retired people, according to a press release.

The club held its first meeting at 11 a.m. March 8 at the Social Club of Palm Coast, 51 N. Old Kings Road.

Probus members may also join ProbusGlobal.org to participate in Zoom meetings.

The club meets on the second Wednesday of each month for approximately one hour, with a coffee break and guest speaker presentation.

April’s speaker will be Flagler County Sheriff Rick Staly, according to the press release.

There are more than 4,200 Probus clubs worldwide, according to the press release.

For more information, contact Larry Wright at palmcoastprobusclub@gmail.com.

UNITED METHODIST CHURCH TO MOVE IN SEPTEMBER

The Palm Coast United Methodist Church is planning to move from its current campus at 5200 Belle Terre Parkway to a new campus at 6500 Belle Terre Parkway in Palm Coast this September.

The church bought 22 acres for a new church campus at the Matanzas Woods site in 1999, according to a press release.

The new 25,500-square-foot campus will be located at the southeast corner of Matanzas Woods Parkway and Belle Terre Parkway.

It will feature a 4,000-square-foot multipurpose and sanctuary space, offices, a youth center, meeting rooms, a full kitchen and an expansive public gathering space, according to the press release.

“This campus is being built to meet the needs of this community for many years to come,” Larry Torino, chair of the New Campus Planning Committee, said in the press release. “We are very excited to open our doors in September to welcome all.”

For more information about the Palm Coast United Methodist Church, go to palmcoastchurch.org or call 386-445-1600.

pot hole. It made a huge noise. Now if my car is damaged, I will send the city the bill!

I’ve said it again and again: All the city thinks about is housing construction; you do not care about the traffic or the roads, which are damaged with all the big trucks. The quality of living in this town is going down!

Building parks and recreation

facilities that will not help people’s frustration over everyday traffic. The roads will only deteriorate more and more.

Coming back on Royal Palm around 3 p.m. it took us five changing lights before we could reach Belle Terre.

People don’t want the write about this because they say, “They do not listen anyway.” How true this is!

And now with a $72 million art center, people beware. They decide what this town will be without including us at all. The only way they will listen will be when reelection time will come!

GISLAINE JOIRIS Palm Coast

STUDENTS LEARN ABOUT ELLIS ISLAND

Third grade students at Imagine School at Town Center learned about Ellis Island on March 3, taking part in a simulated Ellis Island processing activity.

The students gathered their passports and belongings to head to “America” while parent volunteers checked students’ passports and facilitated five rotations. The students then held a “Coming to America” party.

Teagan Castaldo

”This meaningful learning experience is something that students always remember and brings our reading unit to life,” third grade teacher Stephanie Martin said. “Students are able to empathize with the characters in the books that we read by recognizing the challenges that immigrants endured. It’s by far one of the most educational and fun days that we experience in third grade!”

GOLFING FOR CAUSE

FLAGLER SPORTFISHING CLUB WINS STATE AWARD

The Flagler Sportfishing Club has received the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s Florida Youth Conservation Centers Network 2022 Outstanding Partner Award for its kids4reel youth angler program.

Kids4reel conducts community outreach throughout Flagler County, supporting elementary schools’ fishing clubs, providing youth scholarships and hosting children’s fishing clinics.

“FSC and our ‘kids4reel’ team are making great progress in our community, teaching fishing, habitat and conservation fundamentals to our youth, as well as partnering with our local elementary schools development of fishing clubs for youth,” FSC President Adam Morley said. “These school programs include monthly fishing adventures for both boys and girls. Many of the youth participating catch their very first fish.”

Morley said FSC and kids4reel will be expanding their school programs in 2023. Flagler Schools Superintendent Cathy Mittelstadt has seen this partnership in action.

“I’ve been able to see the confidence grow inside our students when they are able to spend time with a rod and reel in their hand,” she said. “The smiles you see when

PALM COAST

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

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

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Office Coordinator Bonnie Hamilton, bonnie@observerlocalnews.com

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VETERAN OF THE WEEK

Joseph Leahy



Branch of military: U.S. Navy  Dates of service: 1984-2012

 Rank/occupation: Captain/Commanding Officer, Naval Construction Forces

 Hometown: Freehold, New Jersey

Joseph Leahy took the oath of office and was commissioned in the U.S. Navy Reserve as an ensign in 1984. Educated as civil engineer, he served in the Naval Construction Forces and was qualified as a Seabee Combat Warfare Specialist. Leahy served in many leadership positions through his career and rose to the rank of captain. In 2007, he was deployed to Southwest Asia as commanding officer of a combat construction unit with operational control of 650 Seabees and support of another 1,500. Among his many awards and decorations are the Meritorious Service Medal with three oakleaf clusters, Navy, and Marine Corps Commendation Medal with three oakleaf clusters, and the Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal. He was employed in management for various textile companies over the years in his civilian capacity. Leahy has been married to his wife, Bina, for 48 years. He is an avid fan of motorsports and attends races regularly. Leahy is the American Legion Post 115, 3rd Vice Commander here in Flagler County, responsible for programs, fundraising and Boys State.

NEED

HELP WITH VETERAN SERVICES?

For information about other support organizations and benefits available to veterans, call 386-313-4014.

children successfully cast a line are moments I’ll always remember. This partnership continues to pay dividends for everyone involved.”

To support kids4reel, go to flaglersportfishing.com/product/ kids4reel.

Courtesy photos

Imagine School students Lily Greenslade, Venice Jones, Jaylen Lynch-McQueen, Mason Love and Zaida Thomas

Gabriel Cady

The Grand Reserve Ladies 18 Hole Golf Association recently held a Charity Cancer Tournament to benefit the “Pink Army” at AdventHealth Palm Coast, presenting a $1,350 check March 1. Shown here are AdventHealth Palm Coast Foundation Director John Subers with GRLGA officers Trish Vevera (treasurer), Harriett Trad (league manager) and Joan Gray (tournament manager).

Sponsored by

BUSINESS OBSERVER

Development, real estate + business news

BIZ BUZZ

Levine, medical director for The Center for Advanced Wound Healing. “His special area of expertise in Hyperbaric Medicine allows us to expand our services to patients in the Central Florida area.”

INTRACOASTAL BANK NAMES BUSINESS RELATIONSHIP VP

Dr. Paul Johnson has joined Halifax Health – Center for Advanced Wound Healing in Daytona Beach. He is a fellowship-trained hyperbaric and dive medicine physician with over 20 years of experience in non-surgical sports medicine.

Johnson is a previous flight surgeon for the Montana National Guard and is passionate about veterans’ health, especially traumatic brain injuries and PTSD.

“We are very pleased to have Dr. Johnson join us,” said Dr. Stephen

BRIEFS

involved in organizations including Habitat For Humanity, the Portuguese American Cultural Club, Rotary and the Young Professionals Group.

“He is an incredibly talented professional who is committed to assisting the bank with our goal of enhancing the economic vitality and success of the customers and communities we serve,” Intracoastal Bank president Ryan Page said.

STETSON NAMES NEW SENIOR VP FOR ENROLLMENT

John Aguiar has been appointed as vice president and business relationship manager for Intracoastal Bank.

Aguiar has held a variety of positions with Intracoastal for the past seven years. Most recently, he served as assistant manager for the Volusia Banking Center — and has been

Morley to run again for Florida House seat in 2024 election

The Democratic candidate who ran against Rep. Paul Renner, R-Palm Coast, last November has filed to run for the position again.

Democrat Adam Morley ran against Renner for the District 19 Florida State House of Representatives for District 19 in 2022 and also faced Renner in 2018 for the thenDistrict 24 seat.

“I’m looking forward to running a clean race and representing the area I was born and raised in,” Morley said.

Renner’s term ends in 2024.

After a nationwide search, Stetson President Christopher F. Roellke announced that Jeffery T. Gates will serve as the university’s new senior vice president for enrollment and

So far, Morley is one of two candidates who have filed to run for the open seat: Morley filed on March 6, and Flagler County Commissioner Donald O’Brien filed on Feb. 3. Morley said that although he has filed as a Democrat, he doesn’t consider himself a partisan candidate. Instead, he told the Observer, he is running on the issues important to his community, as he did for the 2022 race. Clean water, women’s rights and local control are a few of the top issues listed on his Facebook page.

–SIERRA WILLIAMS

marketing. Gates is currently the senior vice president for strategic enrollment management and student success at Utica University in New York, and will begin his role at Stetson in mid-May.

“Jeff brings an extraordinary depth of experiences that will serve Stetson well, particularly as the higher education landscape emerges from the myriad of challenges associated with the global pandemic,” Roelke said.

WILDFLOWER SALON TAKES ROOT IN PALM COAST

A new hair salon has opened in Palm Coast.

Wildflower Salon is a joint venture by salon manager Barbara Ward and head stylist Nikki Cruse. Ward and Cruse have a combined 40 years of experience in the industry, according to a press release.

Ward moved to Florida in 2008 and has spent most of her time since then working in the salon industry, while Cruse, who grew up in Kentucky, has worked in salons since she was 17, according to the press release.

Cruse said her experience in hair styling, alongside Ward’s industry experience in management and cus-

DeSantis offers disclaimer

Gov. Ron DeSantis doesn’t support a measure that would require some bloggers to register with the state when content turns political. And he would really like the news media to stop attributing the proposal — and some other bills filed by lawmakers — to him.

Speaking to reporters March 7 after his State of the State address, DeSantis sought to distance himself from Sen. Jason Brodeur’s proposal (SB 1316) that would require paid bloggers writing about state government officials to register with the Florida Office of Legislative Services

tomer service, sets their salon apart from chain salons.

Wildflower opened in the beginning of March at 515 SW Palm Coast Parkway, Unit 18.

The salon is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday, and open until 7 p.m. on Thursday and until 3 p.m. on Saturday, according to its Facebook page.

“Nikki and I look forward to our business growing with hopes of it being your ‘hometown’ salon,” Ward said.

MINTO COMMUNITIES USA 18TH AMONG TOP 100 PRIVATE BUILDERS

Minto Communities USA has been ranked 18th among the Top 100 Private Home Builders in the U.S. by Home Builder Executive magazine based on 2022 home closings, according to a news release.

Minto, the builder of Latitude Margaritaville Daytona Beach, also ranked fifth for the greatest gain in closings for the same time period in the magazine’s Top 10 Private Home Builders in the U.S. list. With 1,762 closings in 2022, Minto achieved a 24% increase over 2021 closings.

or the Commission on Ethics.

“... Everyone in the Legislature can file bills,” DeSantis said. “I see these people filing bills and there’s an article with my face on the article saying that ‘bloggers are going to have to register with the state.’ And they’re attributing it to me. And I’m like, that’s not something I’ve ever supported.”

“I don’t control every single bill that has been filed or amended,” DeSantis continued.

House Speaker Paul Renner, RPalm Coast, also expressed opposition to the measure.

–NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

Dr. Paul Johnson

John Aguiar

Jeffery T. Gates

File photo

Adam Morley has filed to run for the District 19 Florida House of Representatives seat.

Matanzas celebrates its first team championship

The Pirates held pep rallies and a parade for the girls wrestling team, which won the state championship on March 4 in Kissimmee.

BRENT WORONOFF ASSOCIATE EDITOR

John White stood in the back of the courtyard, away from the stage, as Matanzas High School celebrated the girls wrestling team’s state championship.

The Pirates won the title on March 4 in Kissimmee. It was the first team championship in school history, and Matanzas celebrated the breakthrough on Friday, March 10, with

a pep rally during each of the two lunch periods followed by a parade through the school, led by the band’s drumline.

Each of the team’s 10 state qualifiers were introduced. Individual state champ Kendall Bibla received the most applause. Head girls wrestling coach Mike Fries and Athletic Director Jordan Butler each spoke, praising the team’s accomplishments.

“This is something our school never accomplished in any sport,”

Principal Kristin Bozeman said as she watched the festivities.

“They’re great kids, and they have great coaches. They worked so hard, and not just in the wrestling season. We’re very proud.”

The championship would not have come this soon without White, who started the girls wrestling program at Matanzas and was one of the coaches to help convince the Florida High School Athletic Association to sanction the sport.

White, a dean at the school, stepped down from coaching after last season.

“I knew when I stepped down that the program was in good hands,” White said. “I knew ultimately they would win a state championship, and I had a feeling it would come this year. I’m very proud of them.”

White established both the boys and girls wrestling programs at the school. The seeds of the girls championship began in 2015-16 with one wrestler — Makayla Wilder — who finished second in the unofficial girls state tournament that season.

“We had two the next year, then four,” White said.

By year five, the Pirates had a full girls team and, with the administration’s approval, White handed the boys’ team over to coach T.J. Gillin while he concentrated on the girls’ program.

Gillin, Fries and Jeremiah Marschka coach boys and girls together, with Fries the head girls coach. Fries joined the Matanzas wrestling program last year and got out in the halls and recruited girls to the team.

The team’s success — the Pirates finished third at the FHSAA’s first

girls championships last season — helped convince sisters Brielle and Kendall Bibla to transfer from Tocoi Creek. Brielle and Christina Borgmann’s runner-up finishes and Kendall’s title helped put the Pirates over the top in team points.

Of the seven Matanzas wrestlers who placed at state, six are returning next season.

“It’s fortunate we’ve had some consistency with the coaching staff since Day 1,” White said. “We wanted to build championship teams.”

The Matanzas girls wrestling team pauses for a team photo with the state championship trophy shortly before participating in a parade around the school.

Matanzas Athletic Director Jordan Butler leads the cheers with the school band.

Matanzas Principal Kristin Bozeman gets ready to join the parade through the school corridors.

“I knew ultimately they would win a state championship, and I had a feeling it would come this year. I’m very proud of them.”

JOHN WHITE

YOUR NEIGHBORS

Strawberry fields forever

Palm Coast’s sixth annual Strawberry Fest featured arts and crafts, bounce houses, pony rides, face painting, acrobatic Frisbee dogs, a pie-eating contest and plenty of strawberries on the weekend of March 11-12.

The event, held at Central Park in Palm Coast’s Town Center, also included a car show with 102 classic, vintage, modern, Euro and exotic vehicles. Attendees received entry fee discounts for bringing canned goods to benefit Flagler Habitat for Humanity.

–CHRISTINE RODENBAUGH

Marloe Grande and Sydney Groth, both age 5, share butterfly face painting designs because they are “best friends,” while Mira Grande’s flower motif and Ellis Groth’s Tyrannosaurus rex go with the 3-year-olds’ shirts.

Brandon Pugh and Derek Kelly sport strawberry costumes to attract attention to their booth offering water purification sys-

The Centerlane band — Tom Rechsteiner, Keith Petty and Eric Lane — entertained guests with rock ‘n’ roll throughout the Strawberry Fest.

Avery Granam, 9, takes the bull ride challenge for the second time.

Palm Coast residents Lucie and John D’Arienzo fill a cart with craft items, T-shirts, turtles, pillows and, of course, strawberries.

Sausages sizzle on the grill in front of Ken Webley, owner and pitmaster of Big Dog BBQ, out of DeLand. “If you don’t have a good day on a day like today, it’s on you,” Webley said through a big smile.

Freya Mullins, 5, watches the Rock-it Dogs acrobatic show with her dog, Money.

Scot Koster puts Frisbee dog Nitro through his paces to the delight of young and old alike. The high-flying acrobatic rescue dogs perform choreographed routines to music.

Photos by Christine Rodenbaugh

Dan Legardye holds

2-year-old Gabrielle Williams, who shows off her butterfly face paint.

Coast Historical Society, Dr. David Head will speak about the summer of 1817, when pirates and privateers invaded Amelia Island in hopes of striking a blow for the Spanish American revolutions. Free event. Call 386-283-5929.

THURSDAY, MARCH 16

LEWIS AND CLARK CIRCUS

When: 7:30 p.m. Thursday, March 16; and 5:30 p.m. Friday, March 17

Where: Florida Agricultural Museum, 7900 Old Kings Road N., Palm Coast

Details: Experience 90 minutes of circus fun with your family. Tickets cost $20 per adult and $5 per child online; $25 per adult and $10 per child at the door. Online deals are also available. Visit lewisandclarktickets.com.

FRIDAY, MARCH 17

FLAGLER SURF SERIES

When: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. March 17-19

Where: Flagler Beach Pier, 105 S. 2nd St., Flagler Beach

Details: Presented by Whaam Burger and Burrito Works Taco Shop, attend this three-day surf series event in Flagler Beach.

SCAPINO!

When: 7:30 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays, March 17, 18, 24 and 25; 3 p.m. Sunday, March 19 and 26

Where: City Repertory Theatre, 160 Cypress Point Parkway, Suite B207, Palm Coast

Details: The City Repertory Theatre is presenting “Scapino!,” a comedy about a quick-thinking rascal who cleverly manipulates and cajoles people into doing what he wants them to do. Tickets cost $20 for adults; $15 for students. Visit crtpalmcoast.com.

SATURDAY, MARCH 18

When: 10 a.m.

Where: Palm Coast Community Center, 305 Palm Coast Parkway NE, Palm Coast

Details: Presented by the Palm

WATERCOLOR WORKSHOP WITH

BIBI GROMLING

When: 1-4 p.m.

Where: Ocean Art Gallery, 197 E. Granada Blvd., Ormond Beach

Details: Join Ocean Art Gallery for a watercolor workshop with local artist Bibi Gromling and learn how to paint an orchid. Workshop costs $75 per student; all supplies included. Call 386-317-9400 to reserve your space.

SUNDAY, MARCH 19

GOLA TEA ON THE PATIO

When: 1:30-3:30 p.m.

Where: Gallery of Local Art (GOLA), 208 Central Ave., Flagler Beach

Details: Join the Gallery of Local Art for Tea on the Patio to benefit Christmas Come True, a local nonprofit that provides assistance to families not only at Christmas, but other times of the year as well. The event will feature a signing of the book “Art/Artistry of Theory,” by artist Patty Magee of Magee Fine Art, as well as games, a jewelry fashion show, a hat contest (wear your fanciest hat!) and delicious treats and teas. Cost is $15 per person in advance or $20 at the door (if space is available), or $75 for a reserved table of six. Buy tickets through EventBrite at bit.ly/3YEKpHF, by calling 386-439-6659, or in person at Begin Again Home Goods/Christmas Come True at 2729 E. Moody Blvd., Bunnell.

‘THE GROOV’ AT PICTONA

When: 3-6 p.m.

Where: Metro Health Stadium at Pictona, 1060 Ridgewood Ave., Holly Hillv

Details: The Friends of the Ormond Beach Performing Arts Center are presenting a concert by The Groov, a smooth jazz and R&B band. Tickets start at $20, and there is a $5 parking fee.

MONDAY, MARCH 20

NARFE LUNCHEON

When: 11:30 a.m.

Where: Houligan’s, 1643 U.S. 1, Ormond Beach

Details: The National Active and Retired Federal Employees Chapter 2247 of Ormond Beach will meet for lunch. The program will feature a licensed physical therapist who will address health and wellness and provide insight on your aches, pains and balance issues. For more information, email billdenny105@ gmail.com.

TUESDAY, MARCH 21

FOOD TRUCK TUESDAY

When: 5-8 p.m.

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

Details: Enjoy a variety of food from Monsta Lobsta, Cool Beans Barbeque and Catering, Frankie’s Chicago Beef and more during Food Truck Tuesday in Palm Coast.

THE NEW YORK BEE GEES

When: 7 p.m.

Where: Flagler Auditorium, 5500 State Road 100, Palm Coast

Details: The New York Bee Gees tribute show is composed of band members of present and former acts such as The Alan Parsons Project, Meatloaf, Queen, Blue Oyster Cult and more. Tickets cost $40-$50. Visit flaglerauditorium.org.

THURSDAY, MARCH 23

SPRING BIRD WALKS WITH JOAN TAGUE

When: 8 a.m.

Where: Ormond Beach Environmental Discovery Center, 601 Division Ave., Ormond Beach

Details: Join Master Naturalist Joan Tague, of Halifax River Audubon, for a casual bird walk along the trails in Central Park. Bring water. Walking shoes and sunscreen are recommended.

ONGOING

‘COLOR PHOTOGRAPHY’ AWARDS

EXHIBIT

When: Through March 18

Where: Art League of Daytona Beach, 433 S. Palmetto Ave., Daytona Beach

Details: See works from members of the Art League of Daytona Beach, Casements Camera Club, Flagler Beach Photography Club, Port Orange Camera Club and the Southeast Volusia Camera Club. The gallery is open 1-4 p.m. TuesdaySunday.

VOLUSIA COUNTY SENIOR SOFTBALL

When: 6:45 p.m. and 8 p.m.

Tuesdays and Thursdays

Where: Derbyshire Park and Sports Complex, 849 Derbyshire Road, Daytona Beach

Details: This 50-and-older men’s senior softball league is now forming. It’s both recreational and competitive. Call Joe Daly at 954-732-0992 or visit nsbseniorsoftball.com.

EXERCISES FOR THE MATURING

BODY

When: 10:30 a.m. Mondays and Thursdays

Where: First Baptist Church of Palm Coast, 6050 Palm Coast Parkway, Palm Coast

Details: Attend upbeat classes presented by Synergy Senior Fitness and taught by Senior Fitness Specialist Artie Gardella. Classes are ongoing. Insurances that cover fitness accepted, or a donation for those with no coverage. Visit Synergyseniorfitness.com.

MOAS EXHIBITIONS

When: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday; 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Sunday Where: Museum of Arts and Sciences, 352 S. Nova Road, Daytona Beach

Details: Want to spend a day looking at fine art? The Museum of Arts and Sciences has the following shows on display: “Minor Masterpieces: Porcelain Painted Scenes from the Collection” (through March 19), “A Treasury of Indian and Persian Miniature Paintings,” and “Sensations: Florida Artists Group Statewide Exhibition.”

The area’s newest ECC licensed facilitiy where residents can age in place. At Paradise Pointe, we offer a collection of spacious one-bedroom suites and studios. Residents will enjoy all of the amenities, activities, and experiences similar to a weekend getaway at your favorite relaxing piece of paradise. Paradise Pointe is owned and operated by local physicians, nurses and community leaders who are focused on keeping residents safe and healthy in a home-like environment.

STARPOWER KILLA

Flagler Palm Coast High School senior Alexander Oettel was inspired by drum and bass music, a genre of electronic dance music, for this digital art piece.

How can the piece be appreciated? Plainly, it’s art for art’s sake.

“Just appreciate the vibe and the work that went into it,” Oettel said in a statement to the Observer. “Don’t look for a philosophical meaning or anything like that.”

Edson Beckett, FPC digital media instructor, feels the work is exemplary.

“I love the perspective and foreshortening, where it looks like you’re looking up at the subject from underneath a glass floor,” he said. “I also really like the use of the error messages with the translucent bars letting parts of the image show through them. The color scheme is also working really well.”

–JARLEENE ALMENAS

Floors Alive

Serving up seconds

FPC girls, Seabreeze boys are runners-up at Five Star Conference tennis tournament.

MICHELE MEYERS CONTRIBUTING WRITER

The Spruce Creek Hawks dominated the Florida Tennis Center courts at the Five Star Conference tennis tournament March 9-10.

Creek’s boys and girls teams scored 21 points each and took home both first-place trophies.

The Flagler Palm Coast girls placed second with 13 points while the boys placed fourth with seven points. Seabreeze boys were runners-up with 10 points while the girls came in third with nine points.

The Spruce Creek boys won last year’s conference title, and the girls lost by one point. This year, the girls won by eight points.

Hawks head coach Jeremy Davies said he believes his team has increased in strength and depth, especially the doubles pairings, with the addition of freshmen Giselle Adekunle (No. 2) and Irina Tabacila (No. 3). They beat FPC’s Marina Carlisi and Tatiana Leontayva 6-2, 6-1 in the No. 2 doubles final.

“I think we have a really good shot to go to states for both boys and girls,” he said. “I like our chances a lot to be able to make it to states and make a deep run at states as a team.”

FPC’s girls faced Creek in the Nos. 2, 3, 4 and 5 singles finals along with the Nos. 1 and 2 doubles finals.

Coach Javier Bevacqua was missing his No. 2 player, Ania Martynuk, which forced his players to move up. He said the Bulldogs know it is all part of the game and do what they need to do to get the job done.

“Facing Spruce Creek is not a big deal for us,” he said. “We are in the same district. We play each other. We have a great friendship with one another — get along well with their coach. All the girls grew up play-

ing with each other when they were younger. I know some schools might fear playing certain schools. We don’t. It’s not a big deal to us.”

Seabreeze’s Riya Arab advanced to the girls No. 1 singles final against Creek’s Kayla Wheeler, losing 6-2, 6-1. Seabreeze’s Finn Rasmussen (No. 3), Bryce Gornto (No. 4) and Ewan Noval (No. 5) advanced to the boys singles finals along with brothers Finn and Liam Rasmussen in the No. 2 doubles final. Last year, Mac Chiumento was the only Sandcrab to make it to the final round.

“Seabreeze was in five finals at the Five Star,” Sandcrabs coach Trishna Patel said. “We are trying to get our groove back. I think that we are starting to do it right now with the results here at Five Star, and hopefully we are going to peak at districts. That’s the goal.”

The Rasmussens are baseball players who had played tennis when they were young children, but recently got back into the sport. Eighteen months ago, they started playing tennis and

“The process that we started from my first day and will hopefully continue into the future is going to be built on the same goal. It’s going to be built on the goal of people supporting people and players being there for each other — building more of a family.”

boys No. 2

final

Spruce

helping maintain the courts and grounds at the Trails Racquet Club in Ormond Beach. Patel asked if they would help with her junior program, the Trailblazers, in exchange for training. They jumped on the opportunity.

“These guys have come up in 18 months, and now they’re contesting Spruce Creek,” she said. “They are in the Five Star Conference final against all these seasoned players. It’s amazing.”

Spruce Creek sophomore Zane Ensminger (No. 1) won the boys singles final — 6-1, 6-2, against University sophomore Daksh Talati — and the No. 1 doubles final with his older brother, Hayden Ensminger. The younger Ensminger is ranked third in the district in his age group by the United States Tennis Association.

“I think I have a lot of prospective collegiate players — especially on the girls side,” Davies said. “Zane, I think, is going to be the one. He’s got a real bright future. I think he’s got a shot at a singles state title, for sure.”

The conference wrapped up with a grueling No. 2 singles final between Hayden Ensminger and FPC freshman Aaron Lieberman. They battled for two sets, with the Creek senior finishing with a 7-5, 6-2 win.

“Those guys really competed,” FPC boys coach George Henry said. “It was a high level match. I’m impressed. I’m proud of his (Lieberman’s) fight. He fought yesterday in his match to get to the finals.”

The teams are over halfway through the season and are preparing for district tournaments, which run April 10-15.

“The process that we started from my first day and will hopefully continue into the future is going to be built on the same goal,” Patel said. “It’s going to be built on the goal of people supporting people and players being there for each other — building more of a family.”

Photos by Michele Meyers

Riya Arab backhands the ball in the final singles match.

FPC’s Aaron Lieberman reaches for the ball.

Seabreeze’s Bryce Gornto hits a backhand in the No. 4 boys singles final.

FPC’s Tatiana Leontayva serves against Spruce Creek in the girls No. 2 doubles final.

TRISHNA PATEL, Seabreeze tennis coach

Seabreeze’s Liam Rasmussen hits a return in the

doubles

against

Creek.

Matanzas-FPC baseball game suspended because of rain

The Bulldogs were leading 6-1 in the fourth inning; the teams were scheduled to finish on March 15 and then play again two days later.

Flagler Palm Coast led Matanzas 6-1 with two outs and two men on base in the bottom of the fourth inning when rain suspended the game on Friday, March 10, at the Bulldogs’ field.

The game was scheduled to be completed Wednesday, March 15, with the two teams slated to meet again two days later on March 17 at Matanzas.

FPC had momentum on its side before the game was stopped. Righthander Brayden Stuart was pitching

well with the Bulldogs’ bats staking the senior to a comfortable lead.

After struggling in his first two outings, Stuart allowed just one run on three hits and a walk and struck out five in four innings.

“He looked a lot better,” FPC coach Kyle Marsh said. Carson Flis has a two-run single for FPC.

The Bulldogs were scheduled to finish the game a day after traveling to Sanford for a game against Farragut of Knoxville, Tennessee. Farragut won Tennessee’s Class 4A state championship last season.

FPC, 4-4 heading into the Farragut game, is scheduled to return to the Boombah Sports Complex in Sanford next week for a spring break tournament.

Matanzas (2-3) had lost three in a row heading into the game at FPC. The Pirates were held to two runs in each of the losses.

BRENT WORONOFF ASSOCIATE EDITOR

FPC pitcher Brayden Stuart winds up.

Matanzas’ Ben Apfelbach gets ready to throw the pitch.

Matanzas’ Reece Monroe connects with a pitch.

Matanzas pitcher Josh Cope throws to the plate.

FPC’s Dalton Schell catches the ball on a short hop as Alex Ortiz slides back into first.

Photos by Jake Montgomery

BEST OPTION

Freshman Neyreda Campos’ first start at quarterback was a success. Campos helped lead Flagler Palm Coast to a 25-12 flag football victory over University of Orange City on March 8.

Campos scored two touchdowns, including a pick-6 on defense. But she demonstrated an ability to run the option, which can make all the difference in flag football, said FPC assistant coach Jim Gambone.

“She ran the best option since I’ve been here,” said Gambone, who started FPC’s flag football program in 2004. “The option only works if you use all the options. She was reading the defenses. She has a good understanding of football.”

Dyllis MBallesube had two interceptions and an 18-yard touchdown catch from FPC quarterback Heidi Michaels. Camilla Gonzalez also had an interception against the Titans. The Bulldogs followed the University win with a 26-0 shutout against Matanzas the following night to even their record at 2-2.

FPC is rebuilding with just one senior on the roster.

“We have new plays, new people and new positions,” Gonzalez said.

Pitchers lead the way for Seabreeze baseball

If you give up a hit in the second inning, you’re probably not thinking about losing a no-hitter.

Unless you don’t give up a hit the rest of the way.

That’s what happened to Seabreeze’s Evan Miller. The senior tossed a one-hitter in a 2-0 win against Spruce Creek on March 3. The only hit of the game came in the second inning, when Miller had to cover first base on Peyson Garcia’s grounder between the first and second basemen as both fielders went for the ball.

Miller had to jump up to make the catch from the second baseman and landed on the bag the same time as Garcia.

“You know the old saying,” Seabreeze coach Jeff Lemon said.

“The tie goes to the runner.

Miller also lost a no-hitter last year. The sidearmer was one out away in a game against Matanzas when Brady Novack slapped a single with two outs in the bottom of the seventh.

This time, Miller would have had a perfect game, if not for Garcia’s infield hit. The right-hander struck out four and did not allow a walk in seven innings. Miller followed that gem with another complete game against DeLand on March 9. He gave up one run on five hits and zero walks in a 3-1 victory.

“He’s been following the process and getting stronger,” Lemon said of Miller, who will play for Polk State College next year. “His (velocity) has increased, and his slider and changeup have definitely improved. He has a really good work ethic and routine, and it’s been paying dividends.”

Miller is not the only Seabreeze pitcher with an earned run average under 1.00. Dylan Cavanaugh has allowed one run in 8.2 innings.

“We’re playing pretty good baseball right now, and our pitching has been leading us,” said Lemon, whose team has won five of its last six games to improve to 6-3.

The Sandcrabs have been missing senior starter Ethan Gilbert, who’s been out with an ankle injury since Christmas. Sophomore Micah Sanders has filled in. Sanders pitched five

solid innings at Flagler Palm Coast on March 8, allowing one run.

Seabreeze wound up winning the game 8-7 in eight innings, two days after losing 8-3 to the Bulldogs at home. FPC lit up the Sandcrabs’ bullpen with six runs in the top of the seventh in the first game.

FPC rallied again at home, scoring four runs in the bottom of the sixth to tie the score at 5-5. Seabreeze scored three runs in the top of the eighth, then gave up two runs in the bottom of the inning and got the final out with the bases loaded.

“Things could have fallen off the rails really quickly if we didn’t win that game,” Lemon said.

But when the pitching has faltered, Zachary Banks and Rustin Hurley have ignited rallies at the plate. Banks is batting .500 with 12 runs scored, a double and two triples. Hurley is batting .478 with six doubles and nine runs batted in.

LILAVOIS WINS TWO TITLES

Flagler Palm Coast’s Nick Lilavois was a double winner at the Five Star Conference boys weightlifting championships on March 8.

Lilavois won both the 129-pound Olympic and traditional competitions with a 375-pound total and 415-pound total, respectively. He had a 205-pound clean and jerk and a 210-pound bench press.

FPC’s only other winner was Nick Groth, who won the 183-pound Olympic competition with a 510-pound total. Groth had a 290-pound clean and jerk. Kobe Murphy finished second in both competitions in the unlimited class. He benched 345 pounds and completed a 290-pound clean and jerk for a 635 traditional total.

The Bulldogs finished second in the Olympic competition with 39 points and third in the traditional competition with 28 points.

Other place winners for FPC were: Richard Beltrami (second in 139 Olympic and third in traditional); Groth (third in 183 traditional); Ernie Perez (third in 199 Olympic and fourth in traditional); Charley Perry (third in 238 Olympic and fourth in traditional); Kevin Gall (third in unlimited Olympic); Luke Laura (fifth in 154 Olympic); and Jose Ortiz (sixth in 169 Olympic). Seabreeze’s Exra Williams placed with in the 183-pound Olympic competition.

CO-MVP HONORS FOR FPC’S HILL

“Between them we’ve had three or four quality at-bats every single night,” Lemon said.

Celebrity

FPC junior Rodney Hill earned co-linebacker MVP honors on March 5 at the Under Armor Next Camp Series event at West Orange. The four-star recruit has 16 college offers, including five from power-five conferences.

for another.

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© 2023 NEA, Inc.

by Caryn Robbins and Jeff Chen, edited by Jeff Chen

By Luis Campos

Cipher cryptograms are created from quotations by famous people, past and present. Each letter in the cipher stands

File photo by Jake Montgomery Seabreeze’s Evan Miller pitched a onehitter against Spruce Creek.

“He’s been following the process and getting stronger. “His (velocity) has increased, and his slider and changeup have definitely improved. He has a really good work ethic and routine, and it’s been paying dividends.”

JEFF LEMON, Seabreeze baseball coach on pitcher Ethan Miller.

FPC softball team celebrates senior night with win over rival Matanzas

said Laura, a junior. “It feels like I’ve accomplished something.”

Laura gave up her only run in the first on three hit batters and a walk, but she got out of the inning with the first of her seven strikeouts.

BRENT WORONOFF ASSOCIATE EDITOR

Tuesday, March 14, was a magical night for the Flagler Palm Coast softball team.

The Bulldogs honored their four seniors on senior night. They improved to 6-0 for the first time in seven years. And they beat their rivals — the Matanzas Pirates — for the first time in six years.

FPC’s 11-1 victory in five innings broke a six-game losing streak against Matanzas. The Bulldogs’ last win against the Pirates was on March 10, 2017, when they won 4-0.

“It was a big win for sure, and on senior night,” senior Hannah Kurek

said. “It will be the biggest win of the season.”

FPC pitcher Alexis Laura overcame a wild first inning to throw a fourhitter. The Bulldogs collected seven

hits off two Matanzas pitchers and took advantage of four Pirates’ errors to win by the 10-run mercy rule.

“I’ve tried so hard every year since my freshman year to beat them,”

“The first inning was a little rough, but I figured out what my mistakes were and I fixed them,” she said. “My hip was getting in the way, and I was dropping my wrists, which was causing me to hit batters.”

FPC scored three runs in each of the first three innings and added two more in the fourth.

Senior Bailey Holmes had two hits with three runs scored and two runs batted in. Senior Kylee Burns also had two hits with two RBIs and scored a run. Kurek drove in two runs and scored two runs, and FPC’s fourth senior, Madison Cercy, also scored a run.

The Bulldogs went 10-10 last year

in coach Yessy Paneto’s first season, but they haven’t finished with a winning record since they went 14-12 in 2017.

“We’re working more towards being a team instead of playing individually,” Laura said. “And I think talking with each other and working out our differences has really put us together.”

The Pirates fell to 5-3 with their third loss in a row. They graduated five seniors from last year’s district championship team, and they are missing three players with injuries.

“At one point we had four or five kids injured,” coach Sabrina Manhart said. “We’ve had to drop our JV team and bring our JV players up to varsity. But the great thing is we are young. I told our players, ‘Don’t look at yourselves as losers, look at yourselves as learners.”

FPC’s boys 4x800 relay wins North/South Challenge with fastest time in state

2008 and were runners-up in 2009 and 2019. The 2009 group set the school record at the state meet with a 7:47.03.

vary.

BRENT WORONOFF

ASSOCIATE EDITOR

Flagler Palm Coast has had some fast 4x800 boys relay teams in the past. But the Bulldogs’ current group could end up being the fastest in school history.

FPC won the 4x800 at the second annual North Florida/South Florida Challenge on March 11 at the Bulldogs’ stadium. FPC’s time of 7:55.08 is the fastest time in the state heading into this weekend’s events.

“We had some good ones here, but I don’t think any have run that fast that early,” FPC coach Dave Halliday said.

The Bulldogs won state championships in the 4x800 in 2007 and

On March 11, FPC’s Isaiah Joseph, Brandon Kalasnik, Peyton Woodward and Kamron Davis edged Miami Belen Jesuit by 1.51 seconds.

“The race was very exciting for the crowd and very exciting for us,” Halliday said.

Davis was about a second and a half behind when he received the baton for the final leg and ran past Belen Jesuit’s Roberto Leon for the victory and the top time in the state.

“He’s a really talented kid,” Halliday said of Davis. “He runs very well with a baton in his hands — better than he does in an individual (800-meter) race. He’s a different person. He runs harder. He’s going to run to not let his teammates down.”

The Bulldogs seem well-prepared to make a run at state with quality depth in Barak Olago and Jack Gil-

Another FPC runner who seems poised to make a splash in the postseason is Matanzas transfer Zach Spooner. Running in just his second meet of the season, Spooner finished second in the 3,200 meters with a time of 9:22, currently the top time among Class 4A runners.

Spooner finished second behind Belen Jesuit’s Josh Ruiz, who finished in 9:17.13.

Spooner’s time is the third fastest in program history behind Josh Harbor and Matt Cianciulli, who each won multiple state championships and went on to run for major college programs.

“It was (Spooner’s) first time running the 3,200 outdoors against bigtime competition,” Halliday said. Halliday said Spooner will run the 1,600 instead of the 3,200 at the Bob Hayes Invitational on Saturday, March 18, at UNF as to not overwork him.

FPC’s other winners at the meet were Joseph in the boys 110 hurdles (15.19), Haley McLeer in girls pole vault (9 feet, 6.25 inches) and Maya Tyson in girls shot put (34 feet, 11 inches).

Ashton Bracewell placed second in boys discus (144 feet, 6 inches), and Joseph was second in the 400 hurdles (55.49).

Miami Northwestern won both the boys and girls teams titles. FPC’s boys finished third, while the girls were fourth.

“It was different to have different teams there,” Halliday said. “It was a small meet, so the kids got to hang out with each other and talk to each other.”

3BR, 2BA home features formal dining room, formal living room & spacious kitchen w/ breakfast nook. Master suite w/ private master bath and large walk in closet. Family room opens to your covered lanai, inground swimming pool and private wooded area behind home. Located on a quiet culde-sac. 600 SF heated garage. MLS#1104064 $425,000 Call Buzzy Porter at 386-405-1000.

Custom-built gated estate. This magnificent compound with nearly 12,000 total square feet stretches over two lots and offers 144’ ft of Intracoastal waterway frontage, a dock, and an expansive motor court. $2,799,900 Call Grace Barbeiro 386-334-9997

STEPS FROM THE BEACH! 3BR, 2BA well maintained home features over 2,400 living square feet. There is also a detached 3-CG. Oak hardwood floors throughout entire home, large living area, dining room, office/den area, kitchen with granite countertops and tons of cabinet and counterspace. Home also has a fenced in backyard. MLS#1106664 $489,000 Call Buzzy Porter at 386-405-1000.

Direct oceanfront gem! This completely updated masterpiece sits high on a dune and features a solid construction, built on concrete pilings with a concrete seawall. It boasts over 5,900 sq ft of living space. 4 bed+ office, 5.1 baths, and 4 CG w a circular driveway that provides easy access to A1A. Private courtyard, w a large renovated pool w a travertine deck, a tiki bar, and multiple spaces to entertain and lounge. $2,899,000 Call Bill Navarra 386-334-9991.

3BR, 2BA pool home located in the heart of Ormond Beach and features a completely fenced in yard, 2-car attached garage and 2-car detached carport. Split bedroom plan for added privacy. Kitchen opens directly to the living room. Master suite w/ private master bath. Walkout outside to your own private oasis w/ swimming pool. MLS#1105946

$350,000 Call Buzzy Porter at 386-405-1000.

The oceanfront home of Hawaiian Tropic founder Ron Rice, this 12,000 sqft oceanfront estate is now on the market for the first time! A commanding presence on A1A, the grounds encompass a full acre lot with 200 feet of beach frontage. Situated on a highly desirable stretch of Ormond Beachside along with other multimillion-dollar residences, the home sits high on the no-drive beach making it your private oasis. Expansive outdoor decking links 3 pools, 2 oceanfront owners suite and more. $5,999,900 Call Bill Navarra 386-334-9991

HOMES ARE SELLING FAST! WE NEED MORE LISTINGS TO SELL!

The Bulldogs’ 11-1 victory was their first against the Pirates in six years.

Bulldogs anchor Kamron Davis edged Belen Jesuit’s runner at the finish.

Photo by Brent Woronoff

FPC’s four seniors — Madison Cercy, Kylee Burns (6), Bailey Holmes (19) and Hannah Kurek — were honored before the game.

Courtesy photo

FPC Principal Bobby Bossardet, left, and boys track coach Dave Halliday with the Bulldogs’ winning 4x800 relay team — Isaiah Joseph, Barak Olago, Kamron Davis, Peyton Woodward and Brandon Kalasnik

Pine Lakes house is the top seller House with a pool leads list

Ahouse in Pine Lakes was the top real estate transaction for Feb. 2-8 in Palm Coast and Flagler County. Maureen McMoran, of Palm Coast, sold 7 Wembley Place to Roseanne and Kenneth Swartz, of Palm Coast, for $490,000. Built in 1991, the house is a 3/2 with a gas fireplace, a heated pool, a hot tub and 2,426 square feet. It sold in 2003 for $245,000.

ALEXIS MILLER

CONTRIBUTING WRITER

PALM COAST

Belle Terre

Holiday Builders, Inc., of Melbourne, sold 27 Palm Lane to The Roger F. Leverton Revocable Trust, of Palm Coast, for $322,000. Built in 2022, the house is a 4/2 and has 1,806 square feet.

Grand Haven

Allen Tattrie and Joan Bartle, of Palm Coast, sold 26 West Waterside Parkway to Maureen Malia, of Palm Coast, for $343,000. Built in 2001, the house is a 2/2 and has 1,637 square feet. It sold in 2020 for $250,000.

Grand Landings

Dream Finders Homes LLC, of Jacksonville, sold 160 Wood Stork Lane to James and Joan Cothern, of Palm Coast, for $377,500. Built in 2022, the house is a 4/2 and has 1,908 square feet. It sold in 2022 for $918,400.

Hidden Lakes

Ronnie and Sharon Wagner, of New Caney, Texas, sold 35 Arrowhead Drive to Allen and Mandy Steele, of Palm Coast, for $385,000. Built in 2014, the house is a 4/2 and has 1,806 square feet. It sold in 2015 for $222,000.

Indian Trails

Timothy Beulen, of Berlin, Wisconsin, sold 50 Boul-

der Rock Drive to Shorelink Properties, LLC, of Palm Coast, for $335,000. Built in 2003, the house is a 4/2 and has 1,480 square feet. It sold in 2022 for $280,800.

Lehigh Woods OP SPE TPA1, LLC, of Chandler, Arizona, sold 29 Richardson Drive to Michael La Pierre, of Palm Coast, for $330,000. Built in 2002, the house is a 3/2 and has 2,116 square feet. It sold in 2022 for $402,500.

Chevy Chase Funding LLC, of Greenwood Village, Colorado, sold 4 Rainstone Lane to Tommy and Margarete Sears, of Arlington Heights, Illinois, for $309,800. Built in 2000, the house is a 4/3 with an inground pool, a hot tub and has 2,456 square feet. It sold in 2022 for $240,200.

Palm Harbor Marthe and Robert Demers, of Palm Coast, sold 142 Foster Lane to Veniamin Moskalenko, of Palm Coast, for $210,000. Built in 1978, the house is a 2/2 and has 1,417 square feet. It sold in 2015 for $108,500.

Daniel and Marjorie McNamara, of South Portland, Maine, sold 11 Fernwood Lane to Nathaniel and Tyra Drew, of Palm Coast, for $285,000. Built in 1975, the house is a 3/2 with solar panels, a solar hot water heater and has 1,536 square feet. It

sold in 2012 for $75,000.

INB Fund 1 LLC, of Orlando, sold 21 Frenora Lane to Two Group LLC, of St. Augustine, for $369,900. Built in 2022, the house is a 3/2 and has 1,753 square feet.

Pine Grove

Fin Homes LLC, of Jacksonville, sold 28 Primerose Lane to Karie Chitwood, of Palm Coast, for $312,500. Built in 2006, the house is a 3/2 and has 1,840 square feet. It sold in 2022 for $236,000.

Pine Lakes Corey and Olinda Nedeau, of Palm Coast, sold 11 Warwick Place to Din Dy and Kesor Sith, of Palm Coast, for $299,900. Built in 2004, the house is a 3/2 and has 1,672 square feet. It sold in 2011 for $93,000.

Business Suites Corporation, of Palm Coast, sold 95 Westchester Lane to Kerry and Robin Simon, of Colorado Springs, Colorado, for $419,000. Built in 2002, the house is a 3/2 and has 1,654 square feet. It sold in 2002 for $280,000.

Quail Hollow

Hanna Pavlenko, of Brooklyn, New York, sold 14 Zollinger Place to Larry and Deborah Wix, of Flagler Beach, for $240,000. Built in 2002, the house is a 3/2 and has 1,632 square feet. It sold in 1999 for $11,300.

D.R. Horton, Inc., of St. Johns, sold 1 Zinnia Court to Valerie Stevenson, of Palm Coast, for $386,000. Built in 2022, the house is a 3/3 and has 2,363 square feet. It sold in 2022 for $116,500.

Toby Tobin, of gotoby.com, contributed to this report.

Ahouse in Heritage Forest topped the real estate transaction list for Jan. 29 to Feb. 4 in Ormond Beach and Ormond-by-the-Sea. Ronald and Arlene Willis, of Ormond Beach, sold 153 Heritage Circle to Truman and Sherry Gailey, of Ormond Beach, for $1,400,000. Built in 1984, the house is a 4/3.5 and has a fireplace, pool, jacuzzi and 5,033 square feet of living space.

ALEXIS MILLER CONTRIBUTING WRITER ORMOND BEACH

Fleming Fitch Eric and Frances Baum, of Ormond Beach, sold 860 Arroyo Parkway to Add USA, LLC, of Ormond Beach, for $445,000. Built in 1980, the house is a 4/3.5 and has a fireplace, a heated pool, detached garage with an upstairs studio,and 3,240 square feet. It sold in 2018 for $350,000.

Not in a subdivision Randolph Jordan, of Las Vegas, Nevada, sold 1283 West Granada Blvd. to Sarah Cushing and Aaron Motes, of Ormond Beach, for $489,000. Built in 1988, the house is a 3/2 and has a fireplace and 1,831 square feet. It sold in 2022 for $402,500.

Robert and Deborah Yarbrough, of Jacksonville, sold 239 Landmark Circle to Brett and Mary Brennan, of Ormond Beach, for $925,000. Built in 1967, the house is a 5/3 with two half baths, and has a fireplace, a pool and 4,290 square feet. It sold in 2011 for $510,000.

Raymond Cavallo, of Ormond Beach, sold 101 Pine Creek Trail to Jorge and Adela Barrios, of Palmetto Bay, for $360,000. Built in 1986, the

house is a 2/2 and has a fireplace and 1,309 square feet. It sold in 2019 for $227,000.

Ormond Lakes Michael and Jennifer Sibley, of Ormond Beach, sold 35 Lakecliff Drive to Ronald and Arlene Willis, of Ormond Beach, for $710,000. Built in 1998, the house is a 4/3 and has a pool and 2,798 square feet. It sold in 2013 for $375,000.

Ormond Oceanside

Estates

Daniel and Deborah McGoldrick, of Weeki Wachee, sold 191 Ellicot Drive to Stu Fish Properties Investments, LLC, of Ormond Beach, for $535,000. Built in 1963, the house is a 3/2 and has a fireplace, pool, hot tub and 1,790 square feet. It sold in 2019 for $351,000.

Plantation Bay

Andrea Hadley, of Rock Hill, South Carolina, sold 905 Brookridge Lane to Benjamin Bowden Jr. and Marian Yarris-Ewert, of Ormond Beach, for $395,000. Built in 1997, the house is a 3/2 and has 1,621 square feet. It sold in 2016 for $210,000.

Ray Mar Heights

Frank Good Jr. and Pamela Hushman, of Leesburg, sold 133 Ray Mar Drive to Elise Crigar, of Ormond Beach, for $495,000. Built in 1961, the

house is a 3/2 and has a fireplace and 1,619 square feet. It sold in 2020 for $285,000.

Rima Ridge Ranchettes

Donald Gay, of Ormond Beach, sold 3200 West State Road 40 to Michael Dukes and Catrina Rossi, of Palm Coast, for $530,000. Built in 1971, the house is a 3/1.5 and has a fireplace and 1,568 square feet. It sold in 1980 for $90,000.

The Trails Gary Hersom, of Crescent City, sold 27 Birchwood Trail to Iro Michal, of Fort Lee, New Jersey, for $279,000. Built in 1979, the house is a 2/2 and has a fireplace and 1,261 square feet. It sold in 2020 for $147,500.

Tymber Creek Charles D’Assaro, of Ormond Beach, sold 252 Woodstock Court to Edward Pierce, of Ormond Beach, for $299,000. Built in 1985, the house is a 2/2 and has a fireplace and 1,589 square feet. It sold in 2018 for $146,000.

ORMOND-BY-THE-SEA

Seabreeze Shores

K2Z Investments LLC, of Minneola, sold 52 Seacrest Drive to Ashlee Kunz and Theresa Zoani, of Ormond Beach, for $278,600. Built in 1962, the house is a 2/1 and has 825 square feet. It sold in 2022 for $175,000.

Verona Oceanside

Leroy Stotelmyer, of Ormond Beach, sold 55 Marden Drive to John and Lucia Madey, of Ormond beach, for $700,000. Built in 2020, the house is a 3/2 and has a pool and 1,824 square feet. It sold in 2020 for $541,900.

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

NOTICE OF SALE IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE SEVENTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT IN AND FOR VOLUSIA COUNTY, FLORIDA

VOLUSIA COUNTY LEGAL NOTICES

208 feet, more or less, to the point of bearing South 83°48’17” West, from the Point of Beginning; thence North 83°48’17” East, a distance of 4082 feet, more or less, to the Point of Beginning; Subject to and Together with a non-exclusive road and utility easement in Official Records Book 3284, Page 1422 and Official Records Book 3439, Page 872, Public Records of Volusia County, Florida. Parcel 86, LAKE GEORGE PINES, PHASE III, an Unrecorded FIRST INSERTION

a distance of 75.00 feet; thence South 83°48’17” West, a distance of 3967.00 feet more or less to the East edge of Lake George; thence Northerly along said East edge of Lake George 99.70 feet more or less to a line that bears South 84°11’41” West from the Point of Beginning; West, a distance of 3947 feet, more or less, to the East edge of Lake George, as now established; thence Northerly meandering along the East edge of aforesaid Lake George, a distance of 213 feet, more or less to a point bearing South 82°50’13” West from the Point of Beginning; thence North 82°50’13” East, a distance of 3913 feet more or less to the Point of Beginning; Subject to and Together with a non-exclusive road and utility easement in Official Records Book 3284, Page 1422 and Official Records Book 3439, Page 872, Public Records of Volusia County, Florida. ANY PERSON CLAIMING A RIGHT TO FUNDS REMAINING AFTER THE SALE MUST FILE A CLAIM WITH THE CLERK NO LATER THAN THE DATE THAT THE CLERK REPORTS THE FUNDS AS UNCLAIMED. AFTER THE FUNDS ARE REPORTED AS UNCLAIMED, ONLY THE OWNER OF RECORD AS OF THE DATE OF THE LIS PENDENS MAY CLAIM THE SURPLUS. AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT. If you are a person with a disability who needs any accommodation in order

thence North 84°11’41” East, a distance of 4007.34 feet more or less to the Point of Beginning; Subject to and Together with a non-exclusive road and utility easement in Official Records Book 3284, Page 1422 and Official Records Book 3439, Page 872, Public Records of Volusia County, Florida. Parcel 85, LAKE GEORGE PINES, PHASE III, an Unrecorded Subdivision, being a portion of Section 44, Township 14 South, Range 27 East and a portion of Section 37, Township 14 South, Range 28 East, Volusia County, Florida, being more particularly described as follows: Commencing at the North West corner of Section 31, Township 14 South, Range 28 East of aforesaid Volusia County, run thence North 89°10’01” East along the North line of said Section 31, a distance of 998.02 feet; thence South 12°25’35” West, a distance of 1530.00 feet to the Point of Beginning, thence continue South 12°25’35” West, a distance of 150.00 feet; thence continue South 82°50’13” West, a distance of 4024 feet, more or less, to the Easterly edge of Lake George, as now established; thence Northerly along the Easterly edge of aforesaid Lake George, a distance of to participate in this proceeding, you are entitled, at no cost to you, to the provision of certain assistance. Please contact the Administrative Office of the Court, 101 N. Alabama Ave., Ste. D-305, DeLand, FL 32724, (386) 257-6096, at least seven (7) days before your scheduled court appearance, or immediately upon receiving this notification if the time before the scheduled appearance is less than seven (7) days; if you are hearing or voice impaired, call 711. /s/ Janelle L. Esposito Janelle L. Esposito, Esq., FBN 0035631 Attorneys for Farm Credit of Central Florida, ACA Esposito Law Group, P.A. P.O. Box 9266 Bradenton, FL 34206-9266 (941) 251-0000 / (941) 251-4044 (Fax) janelle@espositolegal.com docreview@espositolegal.com March 16, 23, 2023 23-00047I FIRST INSERTION

NOTICE

OF PUBLIC HEARINGS TO CONSIDER THE IMPOSITION OF SPECIAL ASSESSMENTS PURSUANT TO SECTIONS 170.07 AND 197.3632, FLORIDA STATUTES, BY THE WAYPOINTE COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT DISTRICT

NOTICE OF SPECIAL MEETING OF THE WAYPOINTE COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT DISTRICT

In accordance with Chapters 170, 190 and 197, Florida Statutes, the Waypointe Community Development District’s (“District”) Board of Supervisors (“Board”) hereby provides notice of the following public hearings and public meeting:

NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARINGS

DATE: April 14, 2023

TIME: 11:00 a.m.

LOCATION: Downtown Executive Center of Deland

120 S. Woodland Boulevard

Deland, FL 32720

The purpose of the public hearings announced above is to consider the imposition of special assessments (“Debt Assessments”), and adoption of assessment rolls to secure proposed bonds, on benefited lands within the District, and, to provide for the levy, collection and enforcement of the Debt Assessments. The proposed bonds secured by the Debt Assessments are intended to finance certain public infrastructure improvements, including, but not limited to, stormwater management, water and sewer utilities, landscape, irrigation, lighting, and other infrastructure improvements (together, “Project”), benefitting certain lands within the District. The Project is described in more detail in the Engineer’s Report, dated March 6, 2023 (“Engineer’s Report”).

The Debt Assessments are proposed to be levied as one or more assessment liens and allocated to the benefitted lands within the assessment area, as set forth in Master Special Assessment Methodology Report, dated March 6, 2023 (“Assessment Report”).

At the conclusion of the public hearings, the Board will, by resolution, levy and impose assessments as finally approved by the Board. A special meeting of the District will also be held where the Board may consider any other business that may properly come before it.

The District is located entirely within the City of Daytona Beach, Florida, and covers approximately 426.70 acres of land, more or less. The site is generally located in the southwest corner of the intersection of Interstate 4 and Interstate 95.

(NOTE: The District is undertaking a process to remove certain property (“Contraction Parcel”) from within the boundaries of the District that are planned for commercial and apartment development because such areas will not be part of the CIP, and, as such, these areas will not be subject to the Debt Assessments.) A geographic depiction of the District is shown below. All lands within the District are expected to be improved in accordance with the reports identified above.

A description of the property to be assessed and the amount to be assessed to each piece or parcel of property may be ascertained at the “District’s Office” located at c/o DPFG Management & Consulting LLC, 250 International Parkway, Suite 208, Lake Mary, Florida 32746. Also, a copy of the agendas and other documents referenced herein may be obtained from the District Office.

Proposed Debt Assessments

resolution. With respect to each lien securing a series of bonds, the special assessments shall be paid in not more than (30) thirty yearly installments. The special assessments may be payable at the same time and in the same manner as are ad-valorem taxes and collected pursuant to Chapter 197, Florida Statutes; provided, however, that in the event the uniform non ad-valorem assessment method of collecting the Assessments is not available to the District in any year, or if determined by the District to be in its best interest, the Assessments may be collected as is otherwise permitted by law, including but not limited to by direct bill. The decision to collect special assessments by any particular method – e.g., on the tax roll or by direct bill – does not mean that such method will be used to collect special assessments in future years, and the District reserves the right in its sole discretion to select collection methods in any given year, regardless of past practices.

5. DESIGNATING THE LANDS UPON WHICH THE SPECIAL ASSESSMENTS SHALL BE LEVIED. The Assessments securing the Project shall be levied on the lands within the District, as described in Exhibit B, and as further designated by the assessment plat hereinafter provided for.

6. ASSESSMENT PLAT. Pursuant to Section 170.04, Florida Statutes, there is on file, at the District Records Office, an assessment plat showing the area to be assessed certain plans and specifications describing the Project and the estimated cost of the Project, all of which shall be open to inspection by the public.

7. PRELIMINARY ASSESSMENT ROLL. Pursuant to Section 170.06, Florida Statutes, the District Manager has caused to be made a preliminary assessment roll, in accordance with the method of assessment described in Exhibit B hereto, which shows the lots and lands assessed, the amount of benefit to and the assessment against each lot or parcel of land and the number of annual installments into which the assessment may be divided, which assessment roll is hereby adopted and approved as the District’s preliminary assessment roll.

8. PUBLIC HEARINGS DECLARED; DIRECTION TO PROVIDE NOTICE OF THE HEARINGS. Pursuant to Sections 170.07 and 197.3632(4)(b), Florida Statutes, among other provisions of Florida law, there are hereby declared two public hearings to be held as follows:

NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARINGS

DATE: April 14, 2023

TIME: 11:00 a.m.

LOCATION: Downtown Executive Center of Deland 120 S. Woodland Boulevard Deland, FL 32720

The purpose of the public hearings is to hear comment and objections to the proposed special assessment program for District improvements as identified in the preliminary assessment roll, a copy of which is on file and as set forth in Exhibit B. Interested parties may appear at that hearing or submit their comments in writing prior to the hearings at the District Records Office.

The proposed Debt Assessments are as follows:

Product type EAU Units Total EAUs Maximum Total Debt Assessment Allocaation**

Maximum Total Debt Assessment Allocation per Unit**

Maximum Annual Debt Assessment per Unit* Planned Plotted Townhomes 0.73 250 183.33 $23,698,725 $94,795 $7,639 40’ Lots 0.93 296 276.27 $35,711,824 $120,648 $9,723 50’ Lots 1.0 314 314 $40,589,452 $129,266 $10,417 *Excludes estimated 7% early payment discount and collection fees, which may vary. **Excludes interest and collection costs

The assessments shall be paid in not more than thirty (30) annual installments subsequent to the issuance of debt to finance the improvements. These annual assessments will be collected on the County tax roll by the Tax Collector. Alternatively, the District may choose to directly collect and enforce these assessments.

The public hearings and meeting are open to the public and will be conducted in accordance with Florida law. The public hearings and meeting may be continued to a date, time, and place to be specified on the record. There may be occasions when staff or board members may participate by speaker telephone. Any person requiring special accommodations because of a disability or physical impairment should contact the District Office at least forty-eight (48) hours prior to the meeting. If you are hearing or speech impaired, please contact the Florida Relay Service by dialing 7-1-1, or 1-800-955-8771 (TTY) / 1-800-955-8770 (Voice), for aid in contacting the District Office.

Please note that all affected property owners have the right to appear and comment at the public hearings and meeting and may also file written objections with the District Office within twenty (20) days of issuance of this notice. Each person who decides to appeal any decision made by the Board with respect to any matter considered at the public hearings or meeting is advised that person will need a record of proceedings and that accordingly, the person may need to ensure that a verbatim record of the proceedings is made, including the testimony and evidence upon which such appeal is to be based.

District Manager RESOLUTION 2023-25

A RESOLUTION OF THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS OF THE WAYPOINTE COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT DISTRICT DECLARING SPECIAL ASSESSMENTS; DESIGNATING THE NATURE AND LOCATION OF THE PROPOSED IMPROVEMENTS; DECLARING THE TOTAL ESTIMATED COST OF THE IMPROVEMENTS, THE PORTION TO BE PAID BY ASSESSMENTS, AND THE MANNER AND TIMING IN WHICH THE ASSESSMENTS ARE TO BE PAID; DESIGNATING THE LANDS UPON WHICH THE ASSESSMENTS SHALL BE LEVIED; PROVIDING FOR AN ASSESSMENT PLAT AND A PRELIMINARY ASSESSMENT ROLL; ADDRESSING THE SETTING OF PUBLIC HEARINGS; PROVIDING FOR PUBLICATION OF THIS RESOLUTION; AND ADDRESSING CONFLICTS, SEVERABILITY AND AN EFFECTIVE DATE.

WHEREAS, the Waypointe Community Development District (“District”) is a local unit of special-purpose government organized and existing under and pursuant to Chapter 190, Florida Statutes; and

WHEREAS, the District is authorized by Chapter 190, Florida Statutes, to finance, fund, plan, establish, acquire, install, equip, operate, extend, construct, or reconstruct roadways, sewer and water distribution systems, stormwater management/earthwork improvements, landscape, irrigation and entry features, conservation and mitigation, street lighting and other infrastructure projects, and services necessitated by the development of, and serving lands within, the District; and

WHEREAS, the District hereby determines to undertake, install, plan, establish, construct or reconstruct, enlarge or extend, equip, acquire, operate, and/or maintain the portion of the infrastructure improvements comprising the District’s overall capital improvement plan as described in the District Engineer’s Report, dated March 6, 2023 (“Project”), which is attached hereto as Exhibit A and incorporated herein by reference; and

WHEREAS, it is in the best interest of the District to pay for all or a portion of the cost of the Project by the levy of special assessments (“Assessments”) using the methodology set forth in that Master Special Assessment Methodology Report, dated March 6, 2023, which is attached hereto as Exhibit B, incorporated herein by reference, and on file with the District Manager at c/o DPFG 250 International Parkway, Suite 208, Lake Mary, Florida 32746 (“District Records Office”);

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS OF THE WAYPOINTE COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT DISTRICT:

1. AUTHORITY FOR THIS RESOLUTION; INCORPORATION OF RECITALS. This Resolution is adopted pursuant to the provisions of Florida law, including without limitation Chapters 170, 190 and 197, Florida Statutes. The recitals stated above are incorporated herein and are adopted by the Board as true and correct statements.

2. DECLARATION OF ASSESSMENTS. The Board hereby declares that it has determined to undertake the Project and to defray all or a portion of the cost thereof by the Assessments.

3. DESIGNATING THE NATURE AND LOCATION OF IMPROVEMENTS. The nature and general location of, and plans and specifications for, the Project are described in Exhibit A, which is on file at the District Records Office. Exhibit B is also on file and available for public inspection at the same location.

4. DECLARING THE TOTAL ESTIMATED COST OF THE IMPROVEMENTS, THE PORTION TO BE PAID BY ASSESSMENTS, AND THE MANNER AND TIMING IN WHICH THE ASSESSMENTS ARE TO BE PAID.

A. The total estimated cost of the Project is $82,130,400 (“Estimated Cost”).

Notice of said hearings shall be advertised in accordance with Chapters 170, 190 and 197, Florida Statutes, and the District Manager is hereby authorized and directed to place said notice in a newspaper of general circulation within the County in which the District is located (by two publications one week apart with the first publication at least twenty (20) days prior to the date of the hearing established herein). The District Manager shall file a publisher’s affidavit with the District Secretary verifying such publication of notice. The District Manager is further authorized and directed to give thirty (30) days written notice by mail of the time and place of this hearing to the owners of all property to be assessed and include in such notice the amount of the assessment for each such property owner, a description of the areas to be improved and notice that information concerning all assessments may be ascertained at the District Records Office. The District Manager shall file proof of such mailing by affidavit with the District Secretary.

9. PUBLICATION OF RESOLUTION. Pursuant to Section 170.05, Florida Statutes, the District Manager is hereby directed to cause this Resolution to be published twice (once a week for two (2) weeks) in a newspaper of general circulation within the County in which the District is located and to provide such other notice as may be required by law or desired in the best interests of the District.

10. CONFLICTS. All resolutions or parts thereof in conflict herewith are, to the extent of such conflict, superseded and repealed.

11. SEVERABILITY. If any section or part of a section of this resolution be declared invalid or unconstitutional, the validity, force, and effect of any other section or part of a section of this resolution shall not thereby be affected or impaired unless it clearly appears that such other section or part of a section of this resolution is wholly or necessarily dependent upon the section or part of a section so held to be invalid or unconstitutional.

12. EFFECTIVE DATE. This Resolution shall become effective upon its adoption.

PASSED AND ADOPTED this 6th day of March, 2023

ATTEST:

WAYPOINTE COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT DISTRICT

Secretary/Asst. Secretary Chairman

Exhibit A: District Engineer’s Report, dated March 6, 2023

Exhibit B: Master Special Assessment Methodology Report, dated March 6, 2023

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