Event draws fishing lovers near and far

Headline Surfer photos by Serafina Frederick / The Billfish Invitational is Oct. 10-13 here in New Smyrna Beach from the Brannon Center.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- Tina Pisula was all smiles when her husband, George, pulled up to the dock at Riverside Park aboard the "Double G" with two sailfish, a black fin tuna and a dolphin in the New Smyrna Beach Billfish Invitational.

"We've won it twice, we've gotten second twice," the New Smyrna Beach resident said with a big smile of her family's showing in the annual event that drew 24 large boats, a typical field.

Among the items anglers compete in are longest and shortest catches as well as variety in catches.

The "Double G" stands for George Pisula and pre-teen son, George Pisula Jr., the proud mother said.

Those who attend the event station at the Brannon Center and the docks at Riverside Park along the Intracoastal Waterway, enjoy several booths featuring food and soft drinks, performances of a live band and plenty of comaraderie. 

Circumstances of accident not released by police

Headline Surfer graphic / At left is the locator site of the 7:30 a.m. Sunday crash of a New Smyrna Beach motorcycle officer, Richard Kirkland, shown below from a photo on his Facebook page. Details on the crash were not released by police.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- A New Smyrna Beach motors cop was injured when he crashed his motorcycle this morning at the intersection of North Dixie Freeway and Industrial Park Avenue, police said in a press release.

The officer, Richard Kirkland, was transported by EVAC ambulance to Halifax Health Medical Center in Daytona Beach with what was described as non-life threatening injuries. No description was given by police as to the circumstances of the 7:30 a.m. crash except that no other vehicles were involved.

Vehicle found abandoned in Sanford

Headline Surfer graphic / An alert cab driver used a little trickery on Sunday to escape from a gun-toting customers, but had his taxi stolen at the intersection of Volusia and Graves avenues in Orange City 8 a.m. Sunday as shown at left.

ORANGE CITY -- A taxi driver was held up at gunpoint early this morning and ordered to drive a man and woman to Orange city before he escaped at the intersection of Volusia and Graves avenues, A Volusia County Sheriff's spokesman said.

The 2002 Dodge Caravan was later recovered abandoned in Sanford and the duo remain at large.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- Headline Surfer stands alone in showcasing SE Volusia's tourism events like the New Smyrna Beach Balloon & Sky to a 21st-century digital world. The proof is in the analytics. The quality is in the multimedia coverage.

Friday's Billfish Invitational tourism story remains in Top 5

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- Once again, Headline Surfer showed on Sunday why it's a must-read for fresh Sunday news as demonstrated with the 24/7 internet newspaper's story on the motorcycle cop who was injured in a morning crash that was not explained by police.

DAYTONA BEACH -- Gov. Rick Scott has re-appointed Robert "Bob" Davis to the Daytona State College District Board of Trustees.

EDGEWATER, Fla. -- Local gal Tia McDonald, who has travelled quite a bit in her young modeling career, including a spot in an MTV music video shoot, was in Australia in early 2012, where she took part in the making of a book, "Fairy Tale -- Once Upon a Time, Act 1," by Somsay Toumngeun.