Top 100 Stories

Headline Surfer photo /Adam Barringer acknowledged during his 2009 campaign for mayor that he received a DUI when he was in his early 20s.

DAYTONA BEACH -- New Smyrna Beach Mayor Adam Barringer is far from alone among past or present elected officials in Volusia County with less than stellar driving records.

In the wake of his latest run-in with a New Smyrna Beach cop, Headline Surfer looked at driver-related offenses of County Council members. 

DAYTONA BEACH -- New Smyrna Beach Mayor Adam Barringer is far from the only elected official with a driving record.
Then-County Chair Frank Bruno deniedan allegation during his run for state senate that he had been arrested on a DUI charge in 1999. A review of couirt records online doesn't state a specific charge, except that it wasa misdemeanor that was

DAYTONA BEACH -- New Smyrna Beach Mayor Adam Barringer is far from the only elected official with a driving record.
Then-County Chair Frank Bruno deniedan allegation during his run for state senate that he had been arrested on a DUI charge in 1999. A review of couirt records online doesn't state a specific charge, except that it wasa misdemeanor that was

DAYTONA BEACH -- Volusia County Sheriff's deputy David Fuller has been placed on administrative suspension with pay following his arrest Friday night that resulted from a domestic disturbance with his wife.

Deputies responded to the disturbance and arrested Fuller on two misdemeanor offenses, battery and assault, Sheriff's spokesman Gary Davidson said.

Fuller, 41, was off-duty at the time of the incident. He has worked for the Sheriff's Office since March 2004 and is assigned to court security at the Daytona Beach Courthouse Annex.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- When pre-teen Scott Johnson went to the barber for a haircut, he took his father's advice to heart of striking up a conversation: In doing so, he learned that the barber was a stockbroker for 12 years, or so he was told, thinking to himself, "And he cuts hair, too."

A killing in Osteen may be connected to drug growing operating on Trotting Trail as shown in this locator map.

OSTEEN -- A body found in a wooded area of Osteen in April was later identified as 34-year-old Lester Bermudez-Garcia, who was murdered, the Volusia County Sheriff's office confirmed May 2.

The slaying comes in at No. 65 in Headline Surfer's countdown of the top 100 local stories of 2012.

A ruling by Circuit Judge William Parsons, chief judge of the 7th judicial circuit, denied condemned death row murderer Jerone Hunter, shown here, a chance in January at having his death sentences set aside for his role in the 2004 Deltona Xbox murders of six people in a Telford Lane home, the largest mass murder case in Volusia County's history.

DAYTONA BEACH -- Mass murderer Jerone Hunter is not getting off Florida's death row anytime soon, if ever, after a circuit judge's Jan. 25 ruling that he failed to prove ineffective assistance of counsel at his capital murder trial six years ago.

The judge's ruling comes in at No. 66 in the countdown of Headline Surfer's top 100 local stories of 2012.

PORT ORANGE -- The "why" is not always defined when it comes to a murderous rampage. Such is the case of a Port Orange man who shot and killed a Canadian tourist at an RV Park in Deerfield Beach on Feb. 9, then stabbed his own autistic son to death, tried to do the same to his wife and younger son before killing himself with a knife.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- Alleged serial arsonist James Bates admitted to setting fires as far back as the 1970s, but said he managed to suppress the urge for some time, the Volusia County Sheriff's Office in announcing his arrest in March.

That all ended back in December 2011, when Sheriff's investigators said Bates returned to old habits. In a span of less than seven weeks starting in early December, five fires were intentionally set in the New Smyrna Beach area. Bates' arrest comes in at No. 68 in Headline Surfer's countdown of the top 100 local stories of 2012. 

Resignation shows on the face of 45-year-old Fredrick Bardell of New Smyrna Beach, in his June 20 booking mug before beginning a lengthy prison sentence for downloading and hoarding more than 20,000 photos and movies of small children engaged in lewd sex acts. 

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- Fredrick Bardell, who served in the U.S. Coast Guard, is now serving time in prison for downloading and hoarding 16,500 photos and more than 400 movies involving pre-adolescent children, the US Attorney's Office said.

The 45-year-old New Smyrna Beach man had been collecting the kiddie porn for two decades and even shared the content with others online.

Judge Roy Dalton, Jr. sentenced Bardell in June to a dozen years in prison, followed by 20 years of sexual offender probation. Bardell's sentencing comes in at No. 69 in Headline Surfer's countdown of the top 100 local stories of 2012.