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Alcohol-fueled street party on Flagler Avenue funded with CRA taxpayer dollars

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- The husband who survived a rollover crash early Monday on the South Causeway Bridge that resulted in the violent death of his wife, told the Daytona Beach News-Journal they had been partying on Flagler Avenue's "Cinco de Mayo," an alcohol-fueled festival sponsored by the Flagler Merchants Hospitality Group and funded in part by CRA-taxpayer dollars.

Headline Surfer graphic / Riccilynn Rigoli, 32, and mother of three girls, shown with her husband of two years, Donald J. Rigoli, is the fatality victim in the early Monday rollover on the South Causeway Bridge. 

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- Below is a copy of the 4-page preliminary police report from the NSBPD on the 12:43 a.m. single-vehicle crash in the westbound lanes of South Causeway Bridge that resulted in the death of 32-year-old Riccilynn Rigoli, a Port Orange resident and mother of three, on her way home with her husband after partying at the Cinco de Mayo festival on Flagler Avenue.

DAYTONA BEACH – Nine-time GRAMMY winner Sheryl Crow, whose long list of hits include “All I Wanna Do,” “Soak Up The Sun” and her latest single “Easy,” will perform a hour-long pre-race concert prior to the 55th annual Coke Zero 400 Powered By Coca-Cola NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race on Saturday, July 6 at Daytona International Speedway.

And you won't find a bigger fan than Daytona International Speedway President Joie Chitwood. 

Headline Surfer photo by Serafina Frederick / Birds fly high on New Smyrna Beach, but not because of a large quantity of old pot that washed up on shore on 2010.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- Fireworks debris wasn't the only thing littering the beach on the Fourth of July weekend three years ago.

Something else that requires a flame washed up on shore: A kilo of marijuana. The discovery comes in at No. 499 in Headline Surfer's countdown of the top 500 stories of its 5th anniversary.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- You'd think juggling a marriage, family and career would be enough to handle for Edgewater's Kerry-Anne Purkiss, but she takes motherhood to a whole new level as a community mentor to a dozen or so other children in the greater New Smyrna Beach.

Headline Surfer videos produced by Sera Frederick / Congressman Ron DeSantis brought the house down at the Lincoln Day Dinner.

DAYTONA BEACH -- Who says Volusia County's Republicans can't rock? Feeding off the successful November campaign victories of County Chair Jason Davis, dist. 3 Council member Deb Denys and dist. 3 Council member Pat Patterson, as well as Dorothy Hukill for the State Senate and State Reps. David Santiago and Dave Hood, all newcomers to their elected posts, there's plenty of momentum continuing to build on six months later. 

By Ellen Darden

NEW SMRNA BEACH -- “If we are to survive as a democratic nation . . .” These words, taken directly from a letter to the Editor of the Daytona Beach News Journal published on May 7, 2013, was the proverbial straw that broke this camel’s back.