Courtesy photo/far left. NSBNEWS.net photo by Henry Frederick.

The Amtrak passenger train will zip through NSB today. Deb Denys, left, a proponent for a passenger train stop here and a Volusia County Council candidate, is thrilled with the run.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- Get your lawn chairs and bring them to the lot across from Dunn Lumber this afternoon to see the Amtrak passenger train pass by on its way to Jacksonville. The train is currently scheduled to pass New Smyrna Beach between 2:20 and 2:45 pm.

Courtesy photo.

Aerial view of the sprawling Pavilion at Port Otrange, which includes Belk, which is having a special sale Saturday.

PORT ORANGE -- Belk will hold its annual Spring Charity Sale Saturday to benefit local charities, schools and nonprofit organizations throughout the company's 16-state market area, including the local Belk at the Pavilion at Port Orange.

A $5 ticket entitles customers to merchandise discounts ranging from an extra 20 to 70 percent on items throughout the store, including special savings on rarely discounted brands. Customers will also receive $5 off their first purchase of $5 or more at the event, and Belk cardholders will receive double Rewards points (and Belk Elite cardholders triple Rewards points) for card purchases.

The first 100 customers in each store will receive free Belk gift cards, ranging in value from $5 to $100, and a chance to win one of three $1,000 Belk gift cards being awarded company-wide.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- The CCA (Coastal Conservation Association) Mid Coast Chapter is holding its inaugural Mid Coast Pig Roast, which is sponsored by Costa and Hell's Bay Boatworks, 6-10 p.m...Friday, May 7 at Pub 44, 1889 State Road 44.

There will be "all you can eat BBQ Pig" with the fixin's, free beer, soda, sweet tea and water, the MOB Band, a silent auction and raffles and a fun night out.

NSBNEWS.net by Henry Frederick. NSBNEWS.net audio by Sera Frederick.

Oak Hill police officer Brandy Sutherlin, at left in the photo, fills out a report while Oak Hill Police Chief Diane Young greets his wife, Christina, Saturday night in a gas station parking lot Saturday night across from the New Smyrna Speedway, after the couple told troopers they were victims of a road-rage incident that began on I-95 and continued onto S.R. 44, resulting in the off-duty cop shooting his gun at the other motorist's vehicle. Listen to the 9-1-1 call,

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- New details have emerged in Saturday's bizarre road-rage incident, which could call into question the judgment of an off-duty Oak Hill police officer chasing another motorist at speeds approaching 90 to 120 mph with his wife and kids in the car, as described in the 9-1-1 call he made to the authorities.

Courtesy photo/Facebook profile.

The Dec. 22 death of Jonathan R. Novenski, 18, of Edgewater, whose body was found in a ditch in front of his family's home, has been ruled "accidental" by the Volusia Counry Medical Examiner.

EDGEWATER -- The Dec. 22 death of 18-year-old Daytona State College student Jonathan R. Novenski, found dead in a ditch in front of his family's home after a party, has been ruled "accidental" by the Volusia County Medical Examiner's Office.

Courtesy photo/VCBJ.

Matheu Laurrell, 26, was arrested Wednesday on car burglary charges and armed robbery with a knife in an Edgewater purse snatching. He's also been named a "person of interest" in the purse snatching of an elderly woman in New Smyrna Beach outside the Walgreens pharmacy two days earlier, according to Edgewater police.

EDGEWATER -- The man seen on a surveillance video outsdide the New Smyrna Beach Walgreens pharmacy after Monday's alleged purse snatching of a 77-year-old woman, has confessed to that crime as well as a second purse snatching and a car break-in Edgewater police said.

Courtesy photo.

South Daytona Vice Mayor Ronald Clifton Jr. has been named South Daytona's new mayor after the passing earlier this monh of Mayor Blaine O'Neal.

SOUTH DAYTONA -- Ronald Clifton, Jr., South Daytona's vice mayor, was sworn in Tuesday as mayor, succeding Blaine O'Neal who died suddenly earlier this month at the age of 43.

Clifton will hold the seat until the Aug. 24 City election.

Courtesy photo/Central Florida News 13

Casey Erickson, 18, of Wisconsin, was stung on one of his fingers by a 1-foot stingray while fishing with his father Monday at Dunes Park in New Smyrna Beach.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- An 18-year-old Wisconsin visitor was stung on the hand Monday by a 1-foot stingray while fishing with his father at the Smyrna Dunes Park, but the bite was not serious, the Volusia County Beach Patrol said.

Courtesy photos.

At far left, Ruth Anne Yeats as shown at Riverside Park in New Smyrna Beach , and near left, Deborah Alonzo, chair and co-chair, respectively, of Southeast Volusia Relay for Life's 2010 campaign, "Rock the Cure," spearheaded the fundraiser, which generated $130,000 for the American Cancer Society. The amount raised was announced following the April 16-17 overnight event at the park that drew 3,000 people over a 24-hour period.

Grade: A+

The late Ray Kroc once said: "You're only as good as the people you hire." And look what he did with the McDonald's franchise. The same could be said of the organizers of the Southeast Volusia Relay for Life -- Ruth Anne Yeats and Debbie Alonzo.