Local News Now

The South Jetty, as shown in this locator map, is in the northern most part of New Smyrna Beach where surfers and sharks share the waters.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- A 21-year-old surfer from DeBary paddling in the waves in the South Jetty, suffered the first shark bite this year season, Volusia County Beach Patrol Capt. Tammy Marris said earlier today.

The surfer, whose name was not immediately available, was bitten 1:30 p.m. Saturday, Marris said, adding he suffered a minor cut to his hand.

Volusia County had eight shark bites last year, most of them near the South Jetty, where sharks as long as 5 feet, are drawn to bait fish that swirl in the swollen surf.

Frontier Communications is located at 1398 S. Woodland Blvd. as shown here in this locator.

DELAND -- Frontier Communications is celebrating its recent $2.9 million expansion with a ribbon cutting event at 2 p.m. Thursday at the call center’s headquarters, 1398 S. Woodland Blvd.

The company added 20,000 square feet and 145 jobs, bringing the building’s size to 58,000 square feet and the workforce total to 550. Along with the expansion, the entire facility underwent cosmetic and other improvements, including the additions of an employee game room for relaxation, an outdoor area with a basketball hoop and an employee fitness center.

ORMOND BEACH -- Mayor Ed Kelley gave his city commission colleagues and the public a dose of reality regarding unfunded pension liability issues.

According to the minutes of the April 2 Ormond Beach City Commission meeting, the mayor said Stockton, Calif., recently became the largest city to file for bankruptcy in the U.S. Kelley said Stockton was almost a billion dollars in debt and was driven to that primarily by unfunded pension liabilities.

The Ormond Beach Leisure Services is located at 399 N. US 1 as shown in the locator map at left.

ORMOND BEACH -- City officials want you to know that registration is under way for the Ormond Beach Summer Connection Day Camp Program.

Facebook Fanpage photo / Nicole K. Nagrani, a 21-year-old Daytona Beach resident and Stetson University student, behind the wheel of a Porsche SUV, was not injured in an early Thursday morning fatality that claimed the life of an elderly Port Orange woman struck while trying to cross Ridgewood Avenue at White Street, as shown in this locator map.

PORT ORANGE -- The paths of two women who didn't know each other crossed this morning in a tragic accident that left the 78-year-old pedestrian dead in the roadway on Ridgewood Avenue and the 21-year-old behind the wheel of a Porsche SUV shaken up emotionally, but physically uninjured.

Here is a synopsis of what happened in the 9:10 a.m. Thursday fatality as described by Port Orange Asstistant Chief of Police Wayne Miller: Police and fire department personnel responded to the intersection of White Street and Ridgewood Avenue regarding a vehicle versus pedestrian accident. The pedestrian was pronounced deceased at the scene. No other injuries were reported.

Limo service worker may have had financial issues

Photo for Headline Surfer / Anyone with information regarding the whereabouts of 36-year-old James Sheaffer of Deltona shown here at left, is asked to call the Sheriff's Office at 386-860-7030.

DELTONA -- The Volusia County Sheriff's Office is asking for the public's help in finding a Deltona man who went missing under suspicious circumstances April 2 and hasn't been seen since.

James Sheaffer, 36, who works for a limousine service, was last seen at the business getting into an unknown man's vehicle, Sheriff's spokesman Brandon Haught told Headline Surfer this afternoon.

"The men then drove away in a black passenger car, leaving Sheaffer's vehicle behind," the sheriff's spokesman said. "He did not return to work for his next assignment and his live-in girlfriend and family members haven't heard from him.

HOLLY HILL -- It's party-hearty tonight at the Second Street Farmers Market where a rum festival has been underwritten by $1,400 in CRA taxpayer monies.

The "Real McCoy Rum Festival runs from 4 to 8 p.m., featuring rum and seafood vendors, reggae and calypso entertainment. The guest attraction is the "Pepper Pots" Steel drum band.

"The CRA funding was for a mailing to let the citizens know we're having this rum event," City Manager Jim McCroskey said earlier this afternoon.

Headline Surfer photos by Henry Frederick / A woman dances while raising a beer in front of her pre-teen daughter during a New Year's Eve celebration on Main Street in Daytona Beach. CRA taxpayer money supported the bash with the dropping of a lighted beach ball.

DAYTONA BEACH -- With Daytona Beach's continual emphasis on economic development and dealing with the issue of blight, how does the city justify its use of CRA taxpayer-supported dollars for massive public drinking parties like the New Year's Eve bash held on Main Street?

Headline Surfer photos by Henry Frederick / Bob Tolley, shown at left at a New Smyrna Beach City Commission meeting, is a critic of Mayor Adam Barringer,  shown below.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- Citizen watchdog Bob Tolley has filed a new round of ethics complaints with the state against Mayor Adam Barringer for his verbal tirade on a New Smyrna Beach cop who wouldn't let him cut through a barricaded side street before the city's Christmas parade.

To date, Tolley has filed four separate ethics complaints against city officials, beginning with the municipality's "private" retirement party back in November for former City Commissioner Jim Hathaway with up-front costs paid for with a city credit card. The retirement dinner was held at Barringer's beachside wine restaurant, SoNapa Grille.

But it's the treatment of the cop, Ralph Hunnefeld, a combat-tested veteran of the Iraq War, whom the mayor called a "pr-ck" that has Tolley, himself a Vietnam vet, up in arms.

And in a related story, New Smyrna Beach police have come under criticism for a series of traffic-related warnings the mayor has received with some questioning whether he is being given preferential treatment because of his status as the city's top elected official. Prior to becoming mayor in 2009, Barringer received several traffic-related citations, but only warnings since.

At left is a snapshot of the top-ranked news item in the Google News Directories for Daytona Beach at mid-morning Thursday.

DAYTONA BEACH -- A blog written exclusively for Headline Surfer by Volusia County Chair Jason Davis on his first 100 days in office is tops in the Google News Directories for Daytona Beach in the 10 o'clock hour.