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Daytona Beach International Airport passenger traffic up 9%

Passenger traffic up 9% at Daytona International Speedway / Headline Surfer®Small planes use Daytona Beach International Airport / Headline Surfer®Photos for Headline Surfer® / Large and small planes use Daytona Beach Internatuonal Airport, which has seen passenger service increase by 1 percent in thr past year.
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Passenger traffic at Daytona Beach International Airport increased 9 percent during October compared to October of a year ago.

During October, 50,930 incoming and outgoing passengers traveled through the county-operated airport. This compares with 46,704 passengers in October 2012.

And for for the past 12 months, 602,146 travelers have flown in and out of the airport, a 1 percent increase compared to the year.

BREAKING: Justice Dept. to visit New Smyrna Beach to investigate KKK situation in African-American Westside

Newspaper Section

Mayor Adam Barringer, Councilwoman Deborah Denys remain silent

KKK flyers left in front of homes in New Smyrna Beach's black Westside community / Hreadline Surfer®

New Smyrna Beach Mayor Adam Barringer, member of all-white, all-male Anglers Cub silent on KKK / Headline Surfer®County Councilwoman Deb Denys silent on KKK in New Smyrna Beach / Headline Surfer®While the Rev. Lorenzo Laws was praying with his congregation  in the black Westside community of New Smyrna Beach tthat was the target of hate recruitment flyers of the KKK, Mayor Adam Barringer, a member of the all-white, all-male Anglers Club,  and County Councilwoman Deb Denys, remained silent and out of media reach.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- Pastor Lorenzo Laws of the Allen Chapel AME Church informed his parishioners in Sunday morning's sermon that he was contacted by a senior staffer in the Miami field office of the U.S. Department of Justice and she's making arrangements to personally pay a visit to the city and "get to the bottom" why blacks got the lion's share of Ku Klux Klan flyers.

Big story in Daytona paper online: Woman charged with stealing landlord's canoe a week ago

Newspaper Section

Five more staffers canned by Halifax Media 

Daytona Beach pitches week-old canoe theft as its lead story / Headline surfer®Daytona Beach News-Journal Editor Pat Rice / Headline Surfer®News-Journal misspelled headline / Headline Surfer®At far left is a snapshot of the lead story offfered online early Saturday by the Daytona Beach News-Journal. It's got to be tough these days for the editor, Pat Rice, shown in the inset, having to come up with strong centerpiece stories with scores of reporters on the business desk to bang out the pro-chamber and ad authority PR fluff and no full-timers for Port Orange or Edgewater. That's what happens when you have to cut positions like the five this month and having a sixth employee quit. You end up with a headline like the gem next to Rice: 'Cincinnati may get Daytona tourism dollar.'

DAYTONA BEACH -- As if the Daytona Beach tourism glad-handing story on attracting visitors from Ohio in the News-Journal isn't enough, the newspaper has reached even greater heights this morning with a week-old story on an alleged canoe theft as its lead story

Seminole County Sheriff's helicopter takes to night sky in Lake Mary for report of back-yard prowler

City
Newspaper Section

Search in vicinity of HE Thomas Jr. Parkway near Sanford border comes up empty

Search for prowler in Lake Mary, FL / Headline Surfer®

Headline Surfer® video / Seminole County Sheriff's helicopter takes to the sky 2 a.m. Saturday to assist Lake Mary police in search of a reported backyard prowler.

LAKE MARY -- The unmistakeable sound of a commercial airliner making its descent over Lake Mary to land at the nearby Sanford Airport is one thing, but the thunderous twirling of the blades of the Seminole County Sheriff's helicopter at 2 in the morning at a low altitude reaches new heights on the noise meter.

VCSO: Decomposing body found in DeBary that of 48-year-old woman last seen alive Nov. 8

City

Debra Annette Smith was planning to walk to Sanford

Locator map where decomposing body of woman found in DeBary, FL / Headline Surfer®Headline Surfer® graphic / Debra Annette Smith's badly decomposing body was found in an open field off of South Leisure World Drive near Barwick Road, as shown in this locator map. The ME's Office won't have details on the 48-year-old DeBary woman's cause of death until toxicology reports come back in a few weeks.

DEBARY -- A decomposed body found Wednesday in an open field in DeBary Wednesday morning has been identified as that of 48-year-old Debra Annette Smith, last seen alive Nov. 8, when she left her home after getting into a minor verbal dispute with her partner, a Volusia County Sheriff's official said.

Gov. Scott appoints Hernando County Judge Donald Scaglione of Brooksville to 5th Judicial Circuit Court

Under umbrella of appeals in Daytona Beach

Judge Donald Scaglione / Headline Surfer®Photo for Headline Surfer® / Judge Donald E. Scaglione, shown here at left, was elevated Friday from Hernando County judge to a judgeship in the 5th judicial circuit that covers Citrus, Hernando, Lake, Marion, and Sumter counties, with main administrative offices in Tavares. The 5th circuit is part of the 5th District Court of Appeal, which sits in Daytona Beach. 

TALLAHASSEE, FL – Gov. Rick Scott today announced his appointment of Hernando County Judge Donald E. Scaglione to the 5th Judicial Circuit Court.

Scaglione, 54 of Brooksville, has been a Hernando County Judge since 2005. He fills a vacancy created by the retirement Circuit Judge Sandra Edwards-Stephens.

Lake Mary cops: Shellie Zimmerman's iPad too damaged to charge estranged gun-toting hubby, George

Newspaper Section

State Attorney's Office not willing to prosecute for domestic violence as a result

George Zimmerman cuffed in Lake Mary in September after confrontation with wife / Headline Surfer®Shellie & George Zimmerman during the murder trial in Sanford, FL / Headline Surfer®iPad like the one Shellie Zimmerman said George smashed / Headline Surfer®Photos for Headline Surfer® / Another chapter in George Zimmerman's life concludes with no charges filed in domestic violence case alleged by his estranged wife, Shellie, shown here in court with him during his murder trial. Later, he's shown cuffed after his wife claimed he displayed a gun (which she later recanted), punched her dad in the nose and shattered her iPad, like the one shown here. 

LAKE MARY -- George Zimmerman won't be arrested on domestic violence charges in connection with a Sept. 9 argument with his estranged wife, Shellie, and her father, David Dean at a home on Sprucewood Court they were living in, during which he she claimed he shattered her iPad, Lake Mary cops announced today.

VCSO: Off-duty Sheriff's dispatcher arrested for pointing gun at TV news reporter in New Smyrna Beach area

WESH Orlando's Claire Metz had loaded semi-automatic pointed at her head

Shauna Justice, sheriff's dispatcher arrested for pointing gun at reporter / Headline Surfer®Dispatcher with loaded gun / Headline Surfer®Claire Metz reports on gun being pointed at her head by off-duty dispatcher / Headline Surfer®Photos for Headline Surfer® / 
Shauna Justice, a Volusia County Sheriff's dispatcher, bonded out of jail after her arrest Tuesday on charges of pointing a gun at WESH-TV reporter Claire Metz who showed up at her New Smyrna Beach area home to try and get an interview with her. The dispatcher is shown in the middle image with the gun in her right hand and at far left in her jail mug.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- An off-duty public safety tele-communicator with the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office was arrested Tuesday after she pointed a gun at WESH-TV Orlando reporter Clare Metz who had gone to her house to try to interview her for a story involving a medical call where a patient died in September after an ambulance crew was directed to the wrong location.

 

Pastor: KKK flyers left at homes near church in New Smyrna Beach's predominantly African-American Westside

KKK flyers left in front of homes in New Smyrna Beach's black Westside community / Hreadline Surfer®Headline Surfer photos® / This image from a KKK recritment flyer among more than a dozen left in front of homes in New Smyrna Beach's Westside, shows the traditional hood and dress attire.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- The Rev. Lorenzo Laws, pastor of the Allen Chapel AME Church is livid. And with good reason: More than a dozen recruiting flyers for the Ku Klux Klan were left in front yards of homes across the street from his church in the predominantly African-American Westside community.

Pastor Lorenzo Laws of AME Chapel Church incensed over KKK flyers / Headline Surfer®"I am absolutely and totally offended that someone at a time like this would come into this community and distribute this type of literature," Laws said Tuesday.

New Smyrna Beach Kite Festival this weekend

Newspaper Section

  

Kites galore this weekend in New Smyrna Beach / Headline Surfer®Photo for Headline Surfer® / It's kites galore on the New Smyrna Beach Flagler Avenue Approach this weekend as shown from this scene setter earlier this year.

 

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- The popular New Smyrna Beach Kite Festival takes a special fall return 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, at the Flagler Avenue Beach Approach. It features scores of tethered kites, some as large as a vehicle, kite demonstrations, competitions and displays form multiple kites clubs including those from North Florida, Central Florida and the Space Coast.

Also, more than 700 free kites will be given away to children during festival hours. The kites are those that allow for decoration and as such, decoration stations are set along the beach for kids to personalize their kite before taking flight. To help first timers, kite club volunteers will be on hand.
Parking is plentiful in the area and the festival is completely free to the public. For more information go toBeachWeeks.com
 
The New Smyrna Beach Kite Festival is part of Fall Beach Weeks in New Smyrna Beach – 50 days of festivals in 10 weeks from Sept. 27- Dec. 1. The campaign is designed to showcase New Smyrna Beach, Port Orange, Edgewater, Oak Hill and Osteen during autumn and increase its appeal as an off-season vacation destination. For more festival information and special Beach Weeks/Kite Festival accommodations, please call the New Smyrna Beach Visitors Center at 1-800-541-9621.
 
EVENTS CALENDAR
(for New Smyrna Area Beach Weeks -- for specfic times, locations and event sponsors, please visit http://nsbfla.com/calendar.cfm).
A pelican sits on a posted across the Intracoastal Waterway in New Smyrna Beach / Headline SurferNov 15-17: New Smyrna Beach Rock & Roll Music Festival
Nov 16: Fall Sidewalk Sale
Nov 16-17: New Smyrna Beach Kite Festival
Nov 22-24: New Smyrna Beach - Beach Film Festival
Nov 28: New Smyrna Beach Turkey Day 5k Beach Run / Walk