Palm Coast Observer 4-13-23

Matanzas left-hander Josh Cope came into pitch in the third inning.

Photo by Christine Rodenbaugh

CITY WATCH

Council ‘uncomfortable’ with rate hike

Palm Coast residents are likely going to see their stormwater rates increase to around $27 in October.

Stormwater and Engineering Director Carl Cote presented a breakdown of a potential residential stormwater rate increase during a City Council workshop on April 11. The increases, depending on which priorities are implemented, could see costs ranging from $27 to $45 over a four-year period.

Palm Coast conducting drone surveying in April

Palm Coast’s stormwater and engineering department will oversee a series of drone surveys over between April 10-14 and April 17-21.

The drone surveys will be done in the saltwater canal section of the city for a dredge-feasibility analysis – specifically, the C Section and F Section residential neighborhoods and along the intracoastal waterway, according to a press release from the city. The drones will hover 10-20 feet above the canals. The technology allows for fast, efficient surveying, but the department wants residents and neighboring business owners to be aware that footage could include overhead shots of homes, businesses, and properties.

“We understand that drones flying overhead can be alarming for residents, so we want them to rest assured that if they see drones in their area, or operators setting up nearby, that they are there for city business purposes,” Project Manager Carmelo Morales said.

Email Staff Writer Sierra Williams at Sierra@ observerlocalnews.com

The council members directed Cote to cut some initiatives from the rate study, but Mayor David Alfin said that in some cases it’s possible to mitigate the impact to residents.

“The problem here is there’s no way to deny increases,” Alfin said. “Generally speaking, we’re uncomfortable with the magnitude of the percent increases.”

The presentation was a follow-up from a February workshop meeting where Cote told the City Council that costs had increased so much from inflation that capital projects had to be delayed. The new presentation divided the potential increases by five city stormwater priorities, calculating the increases needed to fund each.

Residents currently pay $22.27 a month for stormwater, and the rates have been steadily increasing since 2013. Cote said at the February meeting that the fiscal year 2022 rate increase of 8.2% just covered inflation.

The city will have to increase the rates some just to continue maintenance, which is covered under Priority 1, Cote said at the April meeting. To pay for Priority 1, residents’ stormwater rate would rise to $27.07 for the fiscal year 2024 and up to $33.78 by fiscal year 2027, an $11.51 increase over four years.

Priority 1 would fund program maintenance and capital projects, including $2.2 million per year in personnel costs, adding one freshwater crew and one additional ditch crew.

The Priority 1 tier also covers the cost of right-of-way swale mowing, but the city may end up making the owners of vacant lots foot the bill for mowing their land. The council

members — minus Nick Klufas, who was absent — all agreed that taxpayers should not have to foot the rightof-way mowing bill.

Vice Mayor Ed Danko suggested giving property owners the right to opt out and take care of the lawns themselves or pay the city a fee to do it.

“I think most people would just be very happy to just have us deal with it and move forward,” Danko said.

Removing the right-of-way mowing costs would reduce the projected rates by $1-$1.25, Cote said.

Priority Tiers 2-4 would collectively add minimal cost increases — around $41 million across the three tiers over four years.

Priority 5 mostly deals with aesthetic considerations, Cote said. The council agreed to scrap that tier to cut costs.

Cote also said it may be possible to stretch out Priority 2’s timeline and delay some projects, but that heightens the risk of severe damage during large storms.

“If you don’t stay ahead of pipe failures,” Cote said, “it’s a lot more costly to go ahead and repair a pipe failure.”

All four council members were wary of such an extreme hike over a short period.

Danko said he’d only be comfortable approving Priority 1, out of necessity, while council member Cathy Heighter thought the council should explore more options to finance the costs.

Council member Theresa Carli Pontieri suggested approving a combination of the tiers to prevent costly pipe failures down the line while minimizing the impact to residents.

“The fact of the matter is, this is an investment,” Pontieri said. “God forbid government is being proactive rather than reactive.”

Alfin suggested the council split the difference between the current fiscal year’s stormwater budget and the projected $8 million increase in 2024, by setting the increase at $4 million and cutting Priority 5 and the right-of-way mowing funding.

The council could try to pull the remaining $4 million from another

part of the city’s budget to mitigate the impact to residents, Alfin said.

The City Council must approve the rates by early July in order for the new rates to go into effect on Oct. 1.

BY THE NUMBERS

These are the rates residents could pay, depending on which or how many priorities the council approves. These numbers include $1-$1.25 in rightof-way swale mowing costs, which the council is looking to remove.

$22.27

the current stormwater rate

$27.07

the suggested fiscal year 2024 rate for Priority 1. If only Priority 1 is approved, the rate would increase to $33.78 by fiscal year 2027.

$39.61

the suggested fiscal year 2027 rate for Priories 1 and 2. If Priorities 1 and 2 are approved, the fiscal year 2024 rate would be $27.07.

$40.40

the suggested fiscal year 2027 rate for Priories 1-3. If Priorities 1-3 are approved, the fiscal year 2024 rate would be $27.63.

$40.68

the suggested fiscal year 2027 rate for Priories 1-4. If Priorities 1-4 are approved, the fiscal year 2024 rate would be $27.85.

$45.16

the suggested fiscal year 2027 rate for Priories 1-5. The council has already decided to discard Priority 5.

Trail name to honor community activist Al Krier

If the City Council approves it, a local trail will be named after the late community safety activist Al Krier, who organized the Safety on Cimmaron group.

The trail that Parks and Recreation staff proposed for the renaming at an April 11 workshop is the walking trail from Cimmaron Drive to European Village.

Krier fought for safety measures for Cimmaron Drive to help protect children, bikers, joggers and other pedestrians, his daughter Roseanne Dunn told the Observer. She said her father was always worried about pedestrians using Cimmaron.

“This is a symbolic way to pay homage to him,” Dunn said. “He would love to be on that trail.”

The council will vote on the renaming at its next business meeting, on April 18. Parks and Recreation Director James Hirst also presented options for naming a community facility after former Councilman and Mayor Jon Netts, who died in 2021. It is one of the City Council’s priorities to name something in honor of Netts, who served on the council as mayor or as councilman for 15 years. Staff reached out to Netts’ family to get an idea of what kind of facility the family would prefer. Hirst said Priscilla Netts, Jon Netts’ wife, said the Community Center was her preference.

Other options included individual rooms or the park at the Community Center, a walking trail or a park or sports field. Core facilities — like City Hall — are not applicable for renaming.

A nomination must be filed, then approved by the Beautification Environmental Advisory Committee, before it comes to council for a vote.

SIERRA WILLIAMS STAFF WRITER

Flagler’s law and order

SIERRA WILLIAMS STAFF WRITER

Crime in Flagler County is at the lowest it has been in 25 years: In 2016, there were 1,867 victims of crime in the county, but in 2022, there were only 877, Sheriff Rick Staly said at the sixth annual Addressing Crime Together community meeting on April 6.

“Since 2017 — since I was elected sheriff — crime in Flagler County is down 54%,” Staly said. “… That’s still 877 too many. No crime is acceptable.”

The decrease in crime is inverse to the county’s recent uptick in population: Flagler County is one of the fastest-growing counties in the state.

And despite the drop in crime, inmate numbers are rising. The Fla gler County Sheriff’s Office is set to house, on average, over 300 inmates daily for 2023, according to the sher iff — down from 128 people in 2016, and 275 in 2022.

The FCSO is the full-service law enforcement agency in the county, supporting the Bunnell and Flagler Beach Police Departments, and is the law enforcement agency for Palm Coast.

In January, the Sheriff’s Office opened the new Operations Center where the A.C.T. meeting was hosted.

Staly said he credits a combination of tactics for keeping crime down, including probation checks, license plate readers and other tactics and specialized programs and units like the Problem Area Crime Enforcement Unit and Real Time Crime Center.

TRAFFIC DATA AND NEW PROGRAMS

Overall, the FCSO received 117,931 service calls in 2022, according to data from the FCSO’s 2022 annual report. Flagler County also saw 2,172 no-injury crashes in 2022 and 28 fatality crashes — up from 14 fatalities in 2021.

“The state roadways are the deadliest in Flagler County, and we see that historically,” Staly said.

The sheriff said the FCSO’s license plate readers and rapid identification programs catch everything from expired tags to fugitives.

Employees managing that information prioritize based on the severity of the infraction.

“We have to triage that so that we handle the more serious stuff,” Staly said.

The county’s license plate readers led to 105 arrests, nine found missing persons, 39 recovered stolen vehicles, 36 fugitives arrested and 17 recovered stolen tags in 2022.

Staly and FCSO deputies have also been targeting distracted driving.

In 2022, 40% of all the crashes were because of distracted driving; in just the three months of 2023, that number is at 52%, Staly said.

The FCSO has started working with local police departments and the Florida Highway Patrol to fight distracted driving. “Operation: Wreck-LESS” began in February to crack down on traffic infractions.

So far, there have been three oncemonthly coordinated efforts, with the most recent, on April 6, yielding 69 traffic stops and 38 citations, according to an announcement on the FCSO Facebook page.

Staly said traffic is one of residents’ biggest concerns.

“We strictly enforce — and I encourage all my deputies to enforce — the traffic laws” Staly said. “That’s really our biggest quality of life com-

BY THE NUMBERS

The Flagler County Sheriff’s Office’s annual report for 2022 is in. Here’s what you need to know:

54% the decrease in crime since 2016, based on the number of victims.

877 total individual victims of crime in 2022.

117,931 total calls for service in 2022.

2,172 total no-injury crashes in 2022.

28 total crash

plaint, is traffic complaints

AWARDS AND ACCREDITATIONS

The FCSO is expected to receive two awards in 2023.

In May, the Sheriff Perry Hall Inmate Correction Facility will receive the 2023 American Jail Association Innovation Award because of its inmate rehabilitation programs, Staly said.

The county jail offers several programs for inmates, including substance abuse programs and certification programs that help inmates find jobs when they leave the jail.

“I like having a law-and-order image,” Staly said, “but if I can help an inmate turn their life around and become a productive citizen, then that would be my preference.”

By the end of 2023, the FCSO could be a five-diamond accredited agency.

The Flagler County Sheriff Per-

fatalities in 2022; that number is up from 14 in 2021.

40% the percentage of crashes in Flagler County in 2022 that were caused by distracted driving. That number is at 52% in 2023, just over the last three months.

3,101 total inmates booked in 2022. The jail averaged a daily population of 238. It is on track to house 300, on average, in 2023.

ry Hall Inmate Detention Facility’s medical services should receive accreditation from the National Commission on Correctional Health Care, Staly said. “Most of our inmates don’t have good health when they come in,” Staly said. “So, our inmates tend to be higher-risk to begin with. And so to have our jail’s medical … be nationally accredited, is a huge accomplishment.”

The FCSO currently holds accreditations from the Florida Telecommunications Accreditation Commission, Florida Commission on Law Enforcement Accreditation, the Florida Corrections Accreditation Commission and the National Institute of Ethics.

TRENDS IN 2023

So far this year, the number of crashes is trending down — though, Staly said, that could change at any time.

Staly said he and his officers have a meeting each week to analyze data on crime and spot trends.

So far in 2023, he said, there has been an increase in residential burglaries, larceny, robbery and domestic violence cases.

Many of the residential burglaries are at construction sites, he said — people stealing appliances or materials from unsecured, under-construction homes.

Staly said the FCSO has already seen an increase in domestic violence cases: At this time last year, there were 71 domestic cases, but there have been 108 so far in 2023.

With larceny and robberies also on the rise, Staly asked the community to help deputies by securing valuables.

“The problem with driving crime down 54% and a community feeling very safe is they don’t think that you have to do your part to prevent crime,” Staly said. “I encourage the community to take partnership with us and lock your stuff up.”

Sheriff Rick Staly said crime has decreased by 54% since he became sheriff in 2017.

CRASHES IN FLAGLER COUNTY: 2022

2,172

“I like having a law-and-order image, but if I can help an inmate turn their life around and become a productive citizen, then that would be my preference.”

RICK STALY, Flagler County Sheriff

Photo by Sierra Williams.

The Flagler County Sheriff's Office's new Operations Center opened in December 2022. The A.C.T. meeting was held in the community meeting room on the first floor.

“We strictly enforce — and I encourage all my deputies to enforce — the traffic laws. That’s really our biggest quality of life complaint, is traffic complaints.”

RICK STALY, Flagler County sheriff

After the vote: accusations, recriminations

Controversy about superintendent contract vote highlights schisms in School Board, community.

JONATHAN SIMMONS MANAGING EDITOR

The days since the School Board’s 3-2 decision not to renew Superintendent Cathy Mittelstadt’s contract have been roiled by accusations and innuendos about the motivations of board members and the local chamber of commerce, which issued a statement of no confidence in Mittelstadt before the vote.

School Board members said the acrimony has eroded trust on the board and could impede its ability to move forward.

School Board Chair Cheryl Massaro, who opposed the vote not to renew Mittelstadt’s contract, said in a video posted on her Facebook page on April 10 that she believed the three board members who’d voted not to renew Mittelstadt’s contract “are not making decisions in support of Flagler Schools, our children, their families, staff and the community,” and suggested that the chamber’s no-confidence statement was motivated by frustrations about the district’s impact fees rather than its academics.

Board member Will Furry, who had made the board motion not to renew Mittelstadt’s contract during a special meeting on April 4, told the Observer that he considered Massaro’s video statement “unbecoming of a board chair.”

When local elected boards replace the leader of their organization, Massaro told the Observer , they try to attract the best talent and get a unanimous board vote in favor of the new employee.

But the board’s divisions, and news coverage surrounding Mittelstadt’s nonrenewal, will make both of those objectives hard, she said.

“The number one goal is to get a 5-0 vote (to hire). That’s going to be very difficult,” she said. “And then you have to look at who’s going to want to come to Flagler County. … They see all this stuff in the press about it, I don’t think we’re going to get the cream of the crop.”

She was also pessimistic about the School Board’s future.

“We were kind of pulling it together as much as we possibly could,” Massaro said. “But at this point, we’re right back where we started a couple years ago, with a very split board. And I don’t see it changing, because I don’t think there’s the capacity for change.”

THE CHAMBER STATEMENT

On March 28, Palm CoastFlagler Regional Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Greg Blosé emailed School Board members and Mittelstadt to say that the chamber’s board of directors had voted to issue a statement of no confidence in Mittelstadt.

(Discolosure: Observer Publisher John Walsh is a chamber board member and helped draft the statement.)

Blosé also read the statement at a School Board workshop that afternoon.

It said the chamber had two expectations of the district — consistent, high-quality education, and “great relationships and trust between administration and faculty, staff, students, families and community members” — and that Mittelstadt had “failed to reach these objectives successfully.”

It gave few details, and its vagueness invited speculation.

At the School Board’s special meeting on April 4, Blosé spoke again, this time citing state statistics about the district’s academic performance.

Blosé was one of only two speakers to oppose Mittelstadt out of more than 30 who addressed the board during the April 4 meeting’s public comment period (the other, a pastor who began voicing objections to the superintendent’s same-sex marriage, was quickly silenced by Massaro for engaging in personal attacks.)

But Blosé said he was representing the chamber’s board, which had voted 8-0, with three abstentions and two other members not participating, in favor of the chamber’s noconfidence statement, public records revealed.

One School Board member, Sally Hunt, cited Blosé’s remarks in her decision to vote against Mittelstadt’s contract renewal.

“When you hear from someone like Greg Blosé, he is relevant in this conversation because there is a relationship between the schools and the larger community,” Hunt said before the vote.

Another School Board member, Will Furry, noted repeatedly in a formal evaluation of Mittelstadt, dated March 31, that he had concerns about Mittelstadt’s relationships with the business community and “community stakeholders.”

But Massaro and Conklin were unimpressed with Blosé’s presentation.

Massaro called his figures “weak and unexplainable data” that didn’t account for the impact of the pandemic.

She noted chamber members’ involvement in a fight last year against the school district’s attempts to increase school impact fees paid by developers, implying that Blosé’s comments about the district’s academic perfor-

mance were cover for the chamber’s dissatisfaction with Mittelstadt over impact fees.

“Flagler has a select group of individuals running the county, and that’s not a good thing. And now they’re pushing themselves into the school systems,” she said in an interview with the Observer . “… And we finally had a superintendent that would stand up to the good ol’ boys. And that’s what it comes down to.”

She also noted that Hunt had spoken with local principal Paul Peacock about terminating Mittelstadt’s contract and finding a new superintendent, and that Peacock had filed a grievance against Mittelstadt and was represented by local attorney Michael Chiumento III, vice chair of the chamber’s board.

“There’s the link. That’s where it all started,” she said.

Blosé and Chiumento both noted that Chiumento is only one member of the chamber’s board.

“These (chamber) board members all have their own rationale, and it’s not Paul Peacock and it’s not Mike Chiumento,” Blosé said.

Other community members also treated the chamber’s statement with suspicion.

On April 10, local resident Merrill Shapiro started a Change.org petition calling on the chamber to “acknowledge your conflict of interest” about impact fees when speaking about the school district. The petition had 186 signatures as of the morning of April 12.

Garry Lubi, the chair of the chamber’s board of directors, declined to comment on the petition.

Blosé acknowledged that the impact fee fight was one factor in the chamber’s decision, but denied that it was the only or the primary factor — or that, as Shapiro’s petition suggested, the chamber should have to acknowledge it as a conflict of interest when speaking out on school district related issues.

“Just like any other organization, we have a position, and we’re allowed to voice our position — and we did,” Blosé said. “It [the impact fee background] is on our website. It’s public record.”

He added, “The chamber’s involvement in impact fees is to make sure that the impact fees are fair and legally defensible in court and that the assumptions made by consultants are accurate. And many of those times, those assumptions are not accurate. So, we bring those instances to light.”

Chamber members felt that the school district had been basing its proposed impact fee increase on unrealistic student population projections.

Asked if he felt like communicating with the school district and Mittelstadt differed significantly from communicating with the heads of

“The data is showing that this district is moving in the right direction. The evidence is crystal clear.”

COLLEEN CONKLIN, School Board vice chair

other local government entities about impact fees, Blosé replied, “Yes, I do. Because we originally had meetings planned with the superintendent to talk to her about impact fees when it first came out. And then those meetings were canceled as we got closer.”

STUDENT PERFORMANCE Conklin said no chamber board members had ever approached her or the School Board with concerns about the district’s academic performance since 2021.

Blosé and chamber board members had addressed the School Board during the school impact fee dispute, but largely about development issues rather than academics — until the March 28 statement, according to School Board meeting minutes since the chamber’s August 2020 founding.

“To hear such concerns in a public forum without the opportunity to discuss them felt nothing short of a sucker punch to the gut,” Conklin wrote in a letter emailed to the chamber’s board and to the local press as an opinion column (read it on Page 12).

“Looking at the scores that the chamber has shared, and the academic achievement that Greg shared in his presentation and talking tonight, it’s critically important to remember that was the first year back in school, postCOVID,” Conklin said before the April 4 vote.

Mittelstadt said she’d spoken with Blosé about his concerns with the district’s academics in 2020, but not recently until after the statement was issued.

“Am I happy with all the test results over the past couple of years? No,” she wrote in a statement to the Observer “And I doubt any superintendent is. But we all recognize our students, teachers, and staff are just now finally getting into an educational routine following the upheaval post-pandemic.”

She said there had been opportunities for her to answer chamber board members’ questions. But, she said, “No one had brought up any concerns or asked us to explain how this data is collected and what it means.”

“I am confident we have Flagler Schools headed in the right direction as we move past the pandemic,” she said, “which could not have been done without the support of all our teachers, staff, administrators, parents, and students.”

Blosé characterized references to the academic impacts of the pandemic as excuses.

“At the end of the day, are 50% of third graders reading at grade level, or not?” Blosé said to the Observer. “How long does the COVID excuse last?”

Blosé cited four Florida Standards Assessment scores at the April 4 meeting: eighth grade reading, which he said dropped from 62% reaching proficiency in 2019 to 49% in 2022; eighth grade math, which rose slightly from 49% in 2019 to 51% in 2022; eighth grade science, which dropped from 54% in 2019 to 50% in 2022; and third grade reading, which dropped from 68% in 2019 to 58% in 2022.

“The data about the performance of our education system is not pretty and is not something we would prefer to scream from the mountaintop or microphone,” he said at the April 4 meeting. “… Consider those facts, and you’ll under-

stand in part why the business community is concerned.”

A review of the school district’s 2022 scores relative to the state average in all 16 English language arts, math and science Florida Standards Assessment categories showed that Flagler Schools exceeded the state average in 14 categories and matched the state average in the remaining two (eighth grade ELA, at 49%, and 10th grade ELA, also at 49%).

Statewide average scores dropped from 2019 to 2022 in all 16 categories. They dropped in Flagler in 12 categories, increased in three categories (fourth grade English language arts, fourth grade math and eighth grade math) and stayed the same in one (fifth grade English language arts).

In two subjects — fourth grade math and fifth grade math — Flagler Schools went from performing below the state average in 2019 to performing above the state average in 2022.

Many of the district’s scores were in the top 10 or 15 of the state’s 67 counties, Conklin said at the April 4 meeting.

“… Yes, the score that was a 58% on the reading for grade three — we were still ranked 13th in the state. Thirteen out of 67,” she said. “Fifty-eight is not great. Nobody is saying it’s great. But you have to put it in context to be fair — it’s postCOVID. And it’s, if you look at it, 13 out of 67 counties.”

She also listed the categories in which Flagler had scored in the top 10 — sixth grade math, eighth grade math — and the top 15: third grade reading, fourth grade reading, sixth grade reading, seventh grade reading, seventh grade math and biology.

“The data is showing that this district is moving in the right direction,” Conklin said. “The evidence is crystal clear.”

MOVING FORWARD

Chong and Furry told the Observer that they thought the crowd that backed Mittelstadt in the board chambers on April 4 wasn’t a reliable indicator of public sentiment.

“We have to hear everybody, and the 30 people there alone don’t represent the 120,000 people in Flagler County, especially those that overwhelmingly voted for us,” Chong said.

Furry agreed.

“I think despite the fact of Ms. Hunt’s many interactions with principal Peacock, this was a fair and balanced decision,” Furry said. “If we’re taking it from the perspective of party affiliation, this was a nonpartisan vote; you had two Republicans and a Democrat majority vote on this. The outrage is really, I think, from a very small percentage of the community that is a little bit louder than the majority at the moment.”

“We’re right back where we started a couple years ago, with a very split board.”

Conklin said a superintendent search and leadership change is disruptive, and “impacts every aspect of the school district.”

“But it is what it is, and we are going to have to come up with a plan on how to move forward,” she said.

Grant provides Coordinated Opioid Recovery Program

Flagler Cares is managing the program for the Health Department, with help from partners.

BRENT WORONOFF ASSOCIATE EDITOR

Last year, Flagler County received a $1.2 million recurring grant from the Florida Department of Health to establish a Coordinated Opioid Recovery program.

The program, known as CORe, has been successful in Palm Beach and Clay counties. Its multidisciplinary, multiagency approach provides treatment every step of the way toward recovery.

Flagler County, which had the eighth-highest opioid death rate in the state in 2020, is one of 12 Florida counties to receive the grant through the governor’s initiative.

Volusia County has also received CORe funding. While the DOH in Volusia is managing that program, DOH-Flagler selected Flagler Cares to manage its CORe program. Flagler Cares is a nonprofit that works with other nonprofits to provide a safety net of health and social services for the neediest people in the county.

The Flagler County CORe program has been up and running since January, operating out of a suite at the Flagler County Village at City Marketplace.

The program partners have named the office HEAL, for Hope, Empathy, Acceptance and Love.

Jeannette Simmons, Fla -

gler Cares’ chief innovation officer, is the Flagler County CORe program coordinator. The program involves first responders, paramedics, behavioral health professionals and peer specialists.

Every agency that Flagler Cares reached out to was receptive to participating in the program.

“We reached out to Flagler County Fire Rescue because they have community paramedics, and they said, ‘Absolutely,’” Simmons said. “We then reached out to (Flagler Open Arms Recovery Services) to discuss the peer recovery support specialist component, and they said ‘Yes, absolutely.’”

Flagler Cares sent out a request for a proposal for a medication-assisted treatment program and selected Community Care Network, out of Daytona Beach. CCN comes to the Flagler CORe office twice a week.

Flagler Cares’ Tamira Alston is the program’s behavioral health navigator.

“If you think of Flagler Cares as the hub of the wheel, she’s keeping all the spokes going in the right direction, ensuring that the participant is having access to all the stages and to all the phases of treatment,” Simmons said. “And what’s really cool about it, is that they don’t have to take all parts of the treatment. If they don’t want to neces-

sarily have counseling, or they don’t want to have medication assisted treatment, they don’t have to.”

Flagler County CORe is currently serving 21 people, Simmons said.

“I want to serve everybody, anybody in Flagler County who has an opioid use disorder or substance use disorder,” she said. “But we recognize it’s going to be a little bit slow, and people are probably going to want to know, is it truly free?

Is this too good to be true?”

The program begins with first responders. The day after an overdose, paramedics go on a wellbeing check with a peer recovery support specialist who talks about CORe services.

The paramedic provides an assessment to decide how much medication to administer. The medication can be provided every day for seven days until the person can receive care from a medication treatment service provider.

“We have no capacity issues,” Simmons said. “We’ve been able to get people in right away. One of the most awesome parts of this program is that people don’t have to wait. They don’t have to suffer in withdrawal.”

Simmons said the people CORe serves misuse substances for a variety of reasons.

“Life’s just not providing them much hope,” Simmons said. “Maybe they don’t have resources. They don’t have a home or employment or

“I want to serve everybody, anybody in Flagler County who has an opioid use disorder or substance use disorder. But we recognize it’s going to be a little bit slow, and people are probably going to want to know, is it truly free? Is this too good to be true?”

Northbridge Precious Metals Exchange

TO

TO

HOTLINE

Flagler County CORe Hotline: (877) 393-CORE (2673)

“If you think of Flagler Cares as the hub of the wheel, she’s keeping all the spokes going in the right direction, ensuring that the participant is having access to all the stages and to all the phases of treatment.”

health insurance. And so we recognize that just throwing some medication at it is going to help, but is it going to help for the long term and really keeping this person motivated to continue this treatment?

“So once the person is stabilized, we start addressing all of those other social care needs that come up, such as ID, birth certificate, employment, housing, childcare, maybe reunification. Maybe they’re involved with the criminal justice system. So we’re going to look at all the parts and see what it is that we can do to assist them in managing those parts better, and hopefully resolving them in a positive way.”

There is a lot of stigma around medication assisted treatment for opioid use disorder, Simmons said. So part of the CORe partners’ mission is to let people know that it’s OK to ask for help.

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PUBLIC NOTICES

The Palm Coast Observer meets the legal requirements to publish legal notices in Flagler County, per F.S. 50.011.

AUDITOR INFORMATION

Circulation

JEANNETTE SIMMONS, CORe program coordinator

JEANNETTE SIMMONS, CORe program coordinator on Tamira Alston

CHERYL MASSARO, School Board chair

BOAT SUPER

COPS CORNER

APRIL 1 KICKING AND SCREAMING

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

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

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

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

Instead, she was charged with felony bribery.

APRIL 3 SCOOTIN’ STRAIGHT TO JAIL

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

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

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

APRIL 3

ONE FOOT IN FRONT OF ANOTHER

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

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

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

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

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

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

NOT A GARAGE SALE

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

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

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

She was taken to jail.

CRIME REPORT BIZ BUZZ

Major cases continued

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

INTRACOASTAL BANK ANNOUNCES NEW CHIEF TECH OFFICER

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

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

REALTY COMPANY MARKS 10 YEARS

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

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

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

COLDWELL BANKER PREMIER PROPERTIES NAMES TOP AGENTS

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

Top listing agent — John Lidstrom

Top sales/producer agent — Vlaja Telfer

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

INTRACOASTAL ANNOUNCES NEW ASSISTANT MANAGER

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

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

BTSRC could become student facility

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

BRENT WORONOFF ASSOCIATE EDITOR

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

File photo

Belle Terre Swim and Racquet Club

COLLEEN CONKLIN

PALM

MY VIEW

Conklin: Chamber ‘caused tremendous damage’

Colleen Conklin addressed the Chamber of Commerce in a letter on April 5, also sending her statement, presented below, to local media as an opinion column.

COLLEEN CONKLIN VICE CHAIR, FLAGLER COUNTY SCHOOL BOARD

Dear Chamber Board of Directors:

I write this email with a heavy heart. I have come to know many of you over the years. Many of you I have held in great regard with a tremendous amount of respect, others I have not had the pleasure of meeting to date.

I am writing to share my complete shock and disappointment that your Board of Directors decided to get directly involved in the Flagler County School Boards Superintendent contract discussions.

Your director, at your request, shared the email below with our board. He then came and spoke publicly about your vote of “no confidence” and shared our test scores. He shared that this board held great concern regarding the future of the school district.

I appreciate the concerns. I wish they had been shared previously with the superintendent, the chair, myself as vice chair or staff before speaking about them without any type of context or true understanding, and not only with our new board members who are still learning what much of this means.

I have a personal relationship and what I thought was a friendship with several of you, and to hear such concerns in a public forum without the opportunity to discuss them felt nothing short of a sucker punch to the gut.

Are you aware that the scores being repeated aloud and intended to shame the district are the scores from the first year back after COVID?

Are you aware that districts across the country and Florida have seen such a slide in academic scores?

VETERAN OF THE WEEK

Are you aware that even with the slide in scores, we ranked high across the state and region and above the state average in almost every single subject area

Are you aware that the entire state shifted standards and is utilizing a new assessment tool this year?

This new assessment tool is provided three times a year and assesses a year’s worth of knowledge.

For example, when the superintendent publicly discussed the last progress monitoring and students were scoring in the 50s and 60s, that they were on track for the end of the year, since we were only midway through the year. They were expected to be in the 50s, given that only 50% of the material had been taught.

I get it. It’s confusing, given the new standards and the new assessment tools. Anyone could have asked for clarification or asked what’s happening that these scores look terrible.

However, no one did, but assumptions were made.

Below is a quick snapshot of where our district ranks among the 67 school districts in Florida.

TOP 20 DISTRICTS OUT OF 67

 3rd grade, Math, Above average

 4th grade, Math, Above average

 5th grade, Reading, Above average

 5th grade, Science, Above average

 8th grade, Science, Above average

TOP 15 DISTRICTS

 3rd grade, Reading, Above average

 4th grade, Reading, Above average

 6th grade, Reading, Above average

 7th grade, Reading, Above average

 7th grade, Math, Above average  Biology, Above average

TOP 10 DISTRICTS

 6th grade, Math, Above average

 8th grade, Math, Above average

Are you aware that we ranked second in most of these subject areas when compared to school districts within our region (St. Johns, Volusia, Putnam)?

Are these not areas that the chamber could have used to attract businesses to the area?

Are we happy with our actual scores? No, of course not, but did you know that we are ranked 13th in the state out of 67 counties in thirdgrade reading? Or how about the fact that we are ranked sixth in the state for sixth-grade math?

Our graduation rates are above 90.5. ... Did they backslide? Yes,

along with every other school district in the nation.

If any of you would have had the decency to reach out and share that you were concerned about the achievement of our students, we could have put all of it in context, but to ask your director to come out publicly and share that you all shared a vote of “no confidence” in our superintendent is unfair.

I am hoping that this was not the case. I have heard from a few people that the full board did not vote on this letter. Regardless, it caused tremendous damage.

We received numerous emails supporting the renewal of the superintendent’s contract.

The board chambers were packed last night with 32 speakers about the renewal of the contract.

Two, only two, spoke of nonrenewing her. One was your director, and the other was a “pastor” who claimed she was representing thousands of conservative, Christian families, and while Cathy [Mittelstadt] may be a “good administrator, she is an out in the open lesbian and needs to go.”

No one, and I mean no one, deserves to be treated the way she has been treated during her tenure here in Flagler County.

Cathy came to us from St. Johns county. The No. 1-ranked school district in the state for the last 14 or 15 years. She was their assistant superintendent in charge of academics. She knows how to do this. She knows their secret sauce.

She was moving us in that direction to be number one in the state.

Isn’t that what you should be focusing on?

The lobbying done by your director and a couple of board members with brand new School Board members is incredibly inappropriate.

Especially when you didn’t even attempt to understand or provide context to the data.

Again, this was the first we had heard of any concerns. This was the first email or communication. Shameful.

Cathy shared a response with your director and asked that it be passed on to each of you.

I have no idea if you actually received her response or not.

I’ve included her final statement as my close:

“To say I am disappointed at the Board’s call for “a change in leadership” would be an understatement. I have met with many of you individually throughout my tenure as superintendent. If you truly want to foster “great relationships

Kevin Archambault

 Branch of military: U.S. Air Force

 Dates of service: 1985-1995

 Rank/occupation: Staff Sergeant/Health Services Management

 Hometown: West Palm Beach, Florida Kevin Archambault enlisted in the Air Force at the age of 18 and served 10 years at some fascinating locations. You guess which ones. His assignments were Sheppard Air Force Base (AFB), Texas; Incirlik Air Base, Turkey; Hellenikon Air Base, Greece; Lindsey Air Base, Germany; Soesterberg AB, Netherlands, and Vandenberg AFB, California. He is a veteran of Operation Desert Shield/Storm, and among his awards and decorations are the National Defense Service Medal, Air Force Commendation Medal with one device, and Air Force Achievement Medal with one device. Archambault moved to Palm Coast in 1998, where he currently resides with his wife, Ellen. He is the proud father of daughter Ashlee, who has been serving in the U.S. Navy, and is approaching her eight-year anniversary. Archambault is presently the director of information technology for the Flagler County Tax Collector Office.

NEED HELP WITH VETERAN SERVICES?

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

Publisher John Walsh, jwalsh@observerlocalnews.com

Managing Editor Jonathan Simmons, jonathan@observerlocalnews.com

Senior Editor Jarleene Almenas, jarleene@observerlocalnews.com

Associate Editor Brent Woronoff, brent@observerlocalnews.com

Staff Writer Sierra Williams, sierra@observerlocalnews.com

Design Editor Hailey McMillan, hailey@observerlocalnews.com

Media Director Holly Oliveri, holly@observerlocalnews.com

Senior Media Specialist Susan Moore, susan@observerlocalnews.com

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

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

TO ADVERTISE Call the office at 386-447-9723. Locally Owned / Publishers of The Palm Coast Observer Palm Coast Observer, LLC P.O. Box 353850 Palm Coast, 32135

CORRECTION

A brief with the headline "Hammock Dunes Cares donates $100,000 to PAL," on page 8 of the April 6 edition, incorrectly identified which organization hosted the RALLY fundraiser. It is Hammock Dunes Cares' annual event.

PETS UP FOR ADOPTION

Gator

School Board Vice Chair

BIZ BUZZ DE AQUINO NAMED CEO OF NEW HOSPITAL

AdventHealth Palm Coast

Chief Operating Officer Wally De Aquino has been named president and CEO of the new AdventHealth hospital under construction on Palm Coast Parkway.

De Aquino, who began working for AdventHealth in 2009 as a business development manager, will assume his new role on May 7 and will still report to Denyse Bales-Chubb, president/CEO for AdventHealthPalm Coast and the Flagler/ St. Johns market, according to a news release from AdventHealth.

AdventHealth Palm Coast Parkway is expected to open in August, and De Aquino led the new hospital’s planning and construction process.

“I’m grateful for the opportunities God has given me to serve our mission of Extending the Healing Ministry of Christ, and for the many colleagues

and mentors who have contributed to my growth in this organization,” he said, according to the news release. “I look forward to partnering with a talented group of team members and physicians to provide high-quality, whole-person care to the north Flagler community.”

OCEANSIDE OWNER RECEIVES PLAQUE

The Flagler Beach Firefighters Volunteer Association recognized Oceanside Beach Bar and Grill in March for its support of the community.

The association presented Oceanside’s owner, John Lulgjuraj, with a plaque on March 29, thanking him for his and his business’ community support throughout the year during hurricane recovery and volunteer events, according to a press release from Oceanside.

Lulgjuraj said Oceanside and Tortugas Florida Kitchen & Bar were both presented with a plaque on that day. The firefighters association presented several more to other businesses and community organizations.

“Only through continued outstanding efforts by both community leadership and civic officials working in tandem, Flagler Beach will not only thrive, it will continue to focus on its evolution towards a better tomorrow,” the press release said.

CURLEYTAIL DESIGN MARKS 25 YEARS

Curleytail Design celebrated 25 years of business in March.

Kim Fitzgerald, the owner of Curleytail Design, has been in business since 1998, creating logos, branding and more around Flagler County.

Curleytail Design has won Flagler Palm Coast NewsTribune’s Best-All-Around Graphic Design Agency Award for 17 years running, a press release from Curleytail said.

Fitzgerald has also won the Professional Women of Flagler County Business of the Year award, the Palm Coast Business Professionals Business of the Year award and was inducted into the Flagler Palm Coast High School’s Arts Hall of Fame.

Fitzgerald also takes pride in assisting local charities with their design needs, the press release said.

Curleytail has aided many nonprofits, including the Flagler Humane Society, Flagler Open Arms Recovery Services, Grace Food Pantry and the Flagler Auditorium Dennis Fitzgerald Performing Arts Center, named in memory of her father.

Fitzgerald attributes the company’s success to hard work, honesty and giving back to the community, the press release said.

Submit your local business news to Jonathan@ observerlocalnews.com.

Wally De Aquino

Final dune easements signed

Army

of

SIERRA WILLIAMS STAFF WRITER

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

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

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

BRIEFS

Superintendent removes ‘The Nowhere Girls’

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The complainant appealed

held a conference between the parties on April 6.

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

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

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

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

The

Corps

Engineers project can move forward once a redesign is completed.

The Flagler Beach pier

Locals help release 10,000 redfish

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

BRENT WORONOFF ASSOCIATE EDITOR

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

YOUR NEIGHBORS

All is fair

Coralynn said she watches YouTube videos, and she learned a valuable, if ironic, lesson from the experts: “Don’t get mad at your pig.”

BRIAN MCMILLAN

CONTRIBUTING WRITER

For most people, it’s easy to get mad at your pig.

“They’re very stubborn,” said Kaitlyn Rose, a senior at Flagler Palm Coast High School, who has been preparing for six months to show her pig Thursday, April 13, at the Flagler County Fair and Youth Show.

Ava Hatten, an eighth grader at Buddy Taylor Middle School, agreed, saying a lot of patience is needed “when you work your pig, and your pig doesn’t work.”

I asked a third student, Coralynn Soard, what was the most surprising thing about raising a pig — this is her first time — and she said, “How good she is.”

Why does Coralynn’s pig obey?

I met Kaitlyn, Ava and Coralynn recently at a pig barn on Sawgrass Road, near the Flagler County Fairgrounds. Flies swarmed the stinky pig pens, and everyone wore boots except for me. I won’t make that mistake again.

For more than 30 years, the Flagler County Fair and Youth Show Inc. has hosted a show and a livestock auction at the fairgrounds. Penny Buckles, the volunteer organization’s current president, first got involved when her youngest daughter showed an animal at age 12.

“Now she’s 36, and I’m still doing it,” Buckles said with a laugh, during a phone interview. She said her grandkids are now carrying on the tradition.

Most of the kids don’t get too attached to the animals, because

they know the purpose of raising the animals.

“This is a business project,” Buckles said.

Coralynn’s mother, Jade, concurred. She said she has talked with Coralynn many times, to make sure she doesn’t get too attached to her pig, which will be taken to a slaughter house after the April 14 auction. She said Coralynn has learned well.

“She’ll say, ‘I don’t name the pig, because it’s a project, not a pet,’” said Jade Soard, who raised animals herself as a child. “She’s given it a good life, and it will give good meat to whoever buys it. That’s what we repeat to ourselves.”

Whereas in years past, up to 120 have participated, this year, only 57 students are showing animals. That’s in part because of business realities: The cost of buying a 6-week-old pig for a student to raise has gone up from about $200 in recent years to about $350 this year. The cost of six months of feed has more than doubled, to $500 or $600. If the auction price of $2 or $3 per pound holds, that won’t be enough to cover the costs, so Buckles said she’s hoping for a good turnout and good prices for the students.

“It’s a passion,” Buckles said of her involvement in the program, adding that if we don’t keep teaching young people how to raise animals for people to eat, we won’t have beef and pork to eat in the future.

The show is open to members of two groups, Future Farmers of America, and 4H, both of which have barns for students to keep their animals, making it possible for city dwellers to participate.

Kaitlyn, Ava and Coralynn don’t know each other well, but they all know Buckles.

They all said Buckles is kind and will go out of her way to help them individually, even transporting their animals, or calling for a vet, if necessary. “I love her,” Ava said.

Over the phone, Buckles responded to me: “I’m really strict, so that’s really sweet of them.”

As the time winds down till the show, all three of the young ladies continue to keep their pigs fed — and pampered. They even scrub the pigs with human shampoo.

Another tip that Coralynn learned on YouTube: Pigs like marshmallows.

SCHEDULE OF THE SHOWS

6 p.m.

Monday, April 10: Chicken and rabbit show

7 p.m.

Wednesday, April 12: Steer, heifer and goat show

Thursday, April 13: Pig show

7 p.m.

6 p.m.

Friday, April 14: Opening ceremonies, with auction at 6:30

ANIMALS IN THIS YEAR’S SHOW

36 pigs

4 steers

2 goats

13 sets of 6 chickens*

13 rabbits

*The Flagler County Fair and Youth Show Inc. provides six chickens as a set, and the student brings however many have survived, usually four to six, said Penny Buckles, president of the volunteer organization. Also, some students show more than one type of animal.

Students prep for Flagler livestock show and sale.

Kaitlyn Rose has raised pigs for five years, starting in eighth grade. She doesn’t have land and had no background, but a friend got her interested, “so I took the plunge, and I haven’t stopped since.”

Coralynn Soard, a third grader, is raising a pig for the first time. She has previously raised chickens.

Ava Hatten’s pig this year started at about 65 pounds and now weighs about 235.

Photos by Brian McMillan

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

LOCAL EVENTS

THURSDAY, APRIL 13

SWING INTO SPRING CONCERT SERIES

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

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

FRIDAY, APRIL 14

MOVIES IN THE PARK

When: 8-10 p.m.

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

SATURDAY, APRIL 15

15TH-ANNUAL TURTLE

FEST

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

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

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

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

BOAT SHOW

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

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

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

ORMOND BEACH CELTIC FESTIVAL

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

Saturday and Sunday, April 15 and 16

Where: Rockefeller Gardens, 26 Riverside Drive, Ormond Beach

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

ROCKY AND THE ROLLERS

When: 7 p.m.

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

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

SUNDAY, APRIL 16

HISPANIC CULTURAL

FESTIVAL OF PALM COAST

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

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

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

TOUCH-A-TRUCK EVENT

When: 12-4 p.m.

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

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

TUESDAY, APRIL 18

FOOD TRUCK TUESDAY

When: 5-8 p.m.

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

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

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 19 GREEN KIDS: PAINT WITH PRODUCE

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

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

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

THURSDAY, APRIL 20 SWING INTO SPRING CONCERT SERIES

When: 6:30-8 p.m.

Where: The Casements, 25 Riverside Drive, Ormond Beach

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

ORMOND BEACH AREA

DEMOCRATIC CLUB

When: 7 p.m.

Where: 56 N. Halifax Drive, Ormond Beach

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

‘BARNUM’

When: 7:30 p.m.

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

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

Life on the Water

Marathon machine Angelika Grubel

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

MICHELE MEYERS CONTRIBUTING WRITER

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

He uses a minimalist approach when training Grubel.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

ROB MAXWELL,

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

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

owner of Maxwell's Fitness Programs

Photos by Michele Meyers

Evan Miller settles down as Seabreeze edges Matanzas 4-3

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

to reset himself, and the coach was reassured.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“We had the adjustment last year.

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

Seabreeze’s Cade Gallman bats in the sixth inning.

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

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

EVAN MILLER

Photos by Christine Rodenbaugh

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ben Apfelbach was the starting pitcher for Matanzas.

Seabreeze first baseman Tommy Hayes catches a fly ball.

Seabreeze senior Mason Boice connects in the sixth inning.

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

JEFF LEMON, Seabreeze coach

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

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

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

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

BRENT WORONOFF

ASSOCIATE EDITOR

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

Seabreeze sophomore MacKenzie Roy already owned the school record

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

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

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

Another Seabreeze freshman in

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

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

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

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

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

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

fourth.

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

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

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

SEE RUNMATANZAS PAGE 10B

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

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

Photos by Brent Woronoff

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

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

BUSINESS NEWS by Rebecca Goldstein, edited by Jeff Chen

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A bittersweet senior night Bucs’ 4x800 relay moving up

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 6B

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

SIDELINES

FRIES NAMED STATE’S TOP GIRLS COACH

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

LILAVOIS, HASH AMONG TOP SEEDS AT STATE

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

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

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

Lilavois helped the Bulldogs win the 3A state

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

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

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

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

ALL-STAR SOCCER ON TAP

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

LAURA HURLS NO-HITTER

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

Email brent@ observerlocalnews.com.

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Photo by Brent Woronoff

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

BRENT WORONOFF ASSOCIATE EDITOR

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

REAL ESTATE TRANSACTIONS

ORMOND BEACH

House in The Trails sells for over $1 million

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

ORMOND BEACH

Condos

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

Breakaway Trails

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

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

Chelsea Place

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Plantation Pines

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

Tomoka Meadows

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

Tomoka Oaks

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

The Trails

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

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

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

FIRST INSERTION

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

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

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

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

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

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

Lot #124 is bounded and described as fol-

lows:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Items Under $200

WHIRLPOOL MICROWAVE, wall mount, white, new, $125 386-597-3701

WHITE/GREEN STRIPED swivel chair and ottoman. Great condition $150 305-726-4884

YAMAHA ROADSTAR XV1600AL Motorcycle (1999) Exhaust Pipe Assy $200

LIGHT WOOD 3 sectional cabinet and shelves 44”H x 72”L $150 386-676-1363

MEN’S 26” bike Panama Jack w/basket $75, Weber tabletop electric grill $50 386-263-7711

OAK FIREWOOD for sale, 1.5 truck size full load, $35 941-290-6979

OUTDOOR FAN, electric, standing, 3.5’+, weatherproof, great for pool $30 386-615-8230

ROAD MASTER bicycle, women’s 15 speed $70, snake and elephant ear plants $1 and up 814-574-6387

THULE AUTO roof carrier, 18 cu. ft. with all hardware $199 like new (386) 446-8146