Volusia News Now

By Horace Anderson

DAYTONA BEACH -- It’s Black History Month, the time when we African-Americans recall our many important contributions to the development of the United States and remember the history of our progress from slaves to free people, to a state of equality so nearly complete that we just re-elected a black president.

We rejoice in the support we enjoy from the Democratic Party and most of us think that things were always this way. But that isn’t true.

Everyone knows that the man who led the Civil War to free the slaves and who issued the Emancipation Proclamation was Abraham Lincoln - a Republican.

Danica holds on to preserve pole for Daytona 500; Jeff Gordon on front row, too

DAYTONA BEACH -- Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch won their respective Budweiser Duels Thursday afternoon at Daytona International Speedway and will roll off the starting grid from the second row for the Daytona 500.

They fall in line behind pole sitter Danica Patrick and Jeff Gordon in the Great American Race on Sunday.

Headline Surfer photo by Henry Frederick / The 100 block of the North Causeway in New Smyrna Beach is proposed for a 202-unit development that includes workforce housing, something nearby neighbors in the upscale Venezia neighborhood want no part of.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- It's known as NIMBY or "not in my backyard."

That was the message of some 250 New Smyrna Beach residents in September to a development on the North Causeway that includes workforce units or affordable housing for families making between $20,000 to $40,000 annually. 

Residents attending a special meeting at the Brannon Center called for by the project's developers want no part of the 239-unit apartment complex Causeway Landings.

Headline Surfer photos by Henry Frederick / Hotelier Wayne Heller drew a crowd of supporters in April in his quest to bring the Delta Queen to New Smyrna Beach, but city officials were less than enthusiastic.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- Wayne Heller, owner of the Riverview Hotel pleaded with city officials to allow him to relocate the historic Delta Queen here from Chattanooga, Tenn. "as soon as possible."

"She's a real amazing vessel," Heller said of the 88-room converted water hotel during the citizens' comment portion of tonight's City Commission meeting. "We urge you to ask your staff to put together a short-term lease as soon as possible."

A New Smyrna Beach family's Staffordshire Terrier, similar to one shown here in this Wikipedia photo, was under a brief quarantine after nipping a baby girl on the ear when she touched an inoperable tumor on its paw.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- An 8-year-old family dog, a Staffordshire Terrier named "Guinness," who nipped on a 1-year-old baby's ear that caused a small abrasion after she touched a painful tumor on its paw, was quarantined for a week before being returned to its family in October.

The quarantine comes in at No. 57 in Headline Surfer's countdown of the top 100 local stories of 2012.

Dean Ambrose, Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins, as shown here in this WWE.com photo, comprise The Shield.

NEW SMYNA BEACH -- They're not quite yet on the level of the NWO, but the Shield is making an impression in the WWE with back-to-back-wins in the WWE's Sunday night Elimination Chamber pay-per-view and again on Monday Night Raw.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- Good grief! You could not get away from the anguished and alarmist reporting about the Triumph, a luxury cruise ship that experienced mechanical and systems breakdowns as a result of a contained fire. The ship did not sink; it floated safely around in the Gulf of Mexico until tug boats could tow it into port.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- Some 200 strong led by Allen Chapel AME Church pastor Lorenzo Laws marched, prayed and sang -- all in respect to the memory of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. during the national holiday.

EDGEWATER -- I think the resignation of the pope of his own volition should be heeded by many of our politicians and supreme court judges who think their positions are for life and stay way past viable ages. There are those who are trying to make it seem he is being forced out, but I think the man knows his limitations and is smart enough to step down.