DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Nobody would have second-guessed Dave Hood had he missed time from his legislative duties in Tallahassee as the state representative for the 25th district representing greater Daytona Beach. After all, he had to overcome the return of brain cancer earlier this year.
NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- The long and winding road of the inaugural New Smyrna Beachweeks is coming to a grand conclusion with a series of holiday events.
Live entertainment will kick off the annual Spark the Spirit celebration on Canal Street from 4:30-7:30 p.m., Friday in Christmas Park on the corner of Canal and Live Oak streets. Mayor Adam Barringer will deliver his annual holiday remarks leading up to the 6:15 p.m. lighting of the large outdoor Christmas tree.
Photos for Headline Surfer® / Swimsuit model Alyssa Bellows of Ormond Beach, a friend of the 24/7 internet newspaper, strikes a pose on The World's Most Famous Beach as she gears up for the Turkey Run. Above, muscle cars line the infield at Daytona International Speedway during last year's event.DAYTONA BEACH -- There will be plenty of muscle here in greater Daytona Beach for the 40th annual Turkey Run, including some of the stars from the movie, American Graffiti throughout the extended Thanksgiving weekend.
Photos for Headline Surfer® / Blue at the Topaz, 1224 S. Oceanshore Blvd., is a quaint and hospitable restaurant along the shoreline.FLAGLER BEACH, Fla. -- Blue at the Topaz is extending its dining hours hours during this festive season.
“We are excited about bringing lunch hours back for the holidays,” said Kelli O’Reilly, the restaurant's general manager and co-owner. “The feedback from our customers has been great so far and we are happy to be able to accommodate group gatherings during this time of year.”
Photo for Headline Surfer® / Donald Murray bonded out of jail on child porn charges. This is a jail mug of Murray from a previous unrelated arrest.APOPKA -- The Seminole County Sheriff's Office Crimes Against Children Unit arrested an Apopka man on nearly a dozen child porn charges.
Donald Murray, 49, was arrested on a search warrant Monday, alleging 10 counts of possession of obscene material/child pornography and one count of distribution of obscene material/child pornography.
"Investigators yesterday executed a search warrant at Murray’s residence after receiving information from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement that possible child pornography images had been detected and were associated with an IP address belonging to Murray," Seminole County Sheriff's spokesman Heather Smith told Headline Surfer®."A preliminary forensic analysis of Murray’s computer found child pornography and evidence that he was sharing the images with others."
Photo for Headline Surfer® / Scott Mandis, 33, has not returned to an assisted living facility and is in need of medicine and may be somewhere in the Daytona area. DAYTONA BEACH -- The Volusia County Sheriff's Office is seeking the public's help in locating a man with a diminished mental capacity who has been missing for a week and requires medication.
Scott Mandis, 33, was arrested Nov. 18 in DeLand on a trespassing charge and was released from the Volusia County Branch Jail in Daytona Beach the next day, but has been missing since.
Photo for Headline Surfer / Deltona City Commissioner, Webster Barnaby, shown here at left, is one of three Volusioa County officials to speak out against the KKK flyer drop in New Smyrna Beach. The other two are County Chair Jason Davis and at-large County Council member Joyce Cusack.NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- Deltona City Commissioner Webster Barnaby is incensed very few elected officials in Volusia County have publicly condemned the Nov. 11 recruitment flyer drop by the Ku Klux Klan in the historic Westside African-American community of New Smyrna Beach, a tourism-destination city known for its surfing, street festivals and laid-back charm.
DAYTONA BEACH -- For many Americans who were home the afternoon of Nov. 22, 1963, the CBS television soap opera "As the World Turns" was in its opening 10 minutes minutes, when their world stopped with the news bulletin announced by Walter Cronkite: "Here is a bulletin from CBS News. In Dallas, Texas, three shots were fired at President Kennedy's motorcade in downtown Dallas. The first reports say that President Kennedy has been seriously wounded by this shooting."
DELAND, Fla. -- "I move to hire a special counsel to independently advise the County Council on a process and procedure, pursuant to Section 309 of the Volusia County Charter, in order to make investigation into the affairs of county governmental operations, relating to the Waverly matter, in order to determine whether new legislation is required for purchase or additional ethical standards of conduct for public officials in light of the investigation." And so went the motion by Councilwoman Patricia Northey, which was seconded by Councilman Pat Patterson, that got the ball rolling on partisan bickering.
NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- Volusia County Chair Jason davis has no doubt the dropping of recruitment flyers in New Smyrna Beach's historically African-American Westside community was a deliberate act and as such sees it as a hate crime.
