Local News Now

NSBNEWS.net video by Sera Frederick.

Several hundred families marched in the New Smyrna Beach Halloween Parade on Canal Street this afternoon in all kinds of cool costumes. There were also a lot of cute dogs. City Commission candidate Judy Reiker, in her trademark "Reiker for Zone 1 commissioner" purple T- shirt" marched in the parade, handing out candy, while mayoral candidate Adam Barringer, dressed as a Gator fan, also handed out candy from a sidewalk booth. Further up the street, Mayor Sally Mackay waved to friends. The parade was led by a New Smyrna Beach fire truck.

Happy Halloween to everyone from NSBNEWS.net.

What Chamber Debate? How can you call the Dog & Pony, or should I say the Bob & Bob show, a debate, when the 30-plus non-Chamber citizens that were present were not allowed to participate in asking questions of the candidates beyond the formulaic P.R. spin.

From my vantage point I would rather call it a farce, which while not properly describing what took place, is the only word fit to print in this blog.

EDGEWATER, Fla. -- As I was bemoaning the fact that what meager amount of money I had in my 401K before I became disabled was now rapidly dwindling as the recession killed the stock market it came to me. We are being forced to return to our roots, so to speak.

This country had gotten so out of control we were like a runaway train about to derail economically, morally, and most other ways as well. And derail we did but it was actually a good thing. I know this won’t be a popular idea to many, but didn’t this recession make us rethink how we live?

SAMSULA -- A New Smyrna Beach biker was killed when he was struck by a young motorist while pushing his stalled motorcycle on the northbound edge of the road on Samsula Drive Thursday night, the Florida Highway Patrol and Volusia County Sheriff's Office confirmed.

Karol Lisa Torrisi, 46, of Edgewater, a native of Mount Kisco, N.Y., and a Catholic who enjoyed watching game shows, and whose priority was her family, survived by her husband of 25 years, Tom; two daughters, Jennifer and Amanda Torrisi; stepdaughter, Kara Zissu; her mother, Margaret (Albert) Gregory; two sisters, Kathy and Karen Hack; and two brothers, Ken and Kevin Hack,died Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2009.

Courtesy photos.Corrections officer Donna Fitzgerald was murdered by an inmate at Tomoka prison -- stabbed 25 times on June 25 while she was working alone in a section of the prison with 13 inmates. A jury Thursday night unanimously recommended a death sentence for Enoch Hall.

DAYTONA BEACH -- Corrections officer Donna Fitzgerald was a single mother working extra hours at the Tomoka Correctional Institute when she was savagely attacked the night of June 25 -- stabbed 25 times to death by an inmate already serving two life sentences. Now a death sentence has been recommended for her killer. That inmate, Enoch Hall, already found guilty of capital murder at trial, could be headed to Florida's death row after the 12-member jury deliberated 2 1/2 hours before returning a unanimous recommendation of death just after 7:30 p.m., said State Attorney spokesman Christopher Kelley.

Courtesy photo (far left) / NSBNEWS.net photo by Henry Frederick. Steve Sather (farther left), who finished third in the Sept. 22 primary behinfd fellow challenger Palmer Wilson and incumbent Jack Grasty for his Zone 2 City Commission seat, is backing the candidacy of mayoral candidate and primary winner Adam Barringer over incumbent Sally Mackay in Tuesday's general election. Barringer, has been endorsed by the police and fire unions, the Board of Realtors and NSBNEWS.net.

Oct. 28, 2009: Joel L. Tippins, New Smyrna Beach, and Svetlana Elina, Kaliningrad, Russia.

Oct. 27, 2009: Kevin L. Frederick and Dawn M. Shettlesworth, Edgewater; Jason J. Alexan and Rachel M. Roberson, New Smyrna Beach.

Oct. 24, 2009: Robert K. Finch, New Smyrna Beach, and Linda L. Johnson, DeLand; William C. Picardi, Edgewater, and Alexise P. Wright, New Smyrna Beach; Mark S. Morrissette and Michelle M. Crossman, Edgewater.

Mary Ann V. Burger, 66, New Smyrna Beach, originally from Ohio, where she was a big Cleveland Browns fan worked for many years at The Morning Journal newspaper in Lorain as an advertising supervisor, Monday, Oct. 26, 2009.

Darlene B. Fought, 72, of New Smyrna Beach, a former special needs teacher at Atlantic High School, died Friday, Oct. 23, 2009.

Carmen L. Lanther, 70, of Oak Hill, born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, who retired from McDon­ald Douglas and NCR where she worked for many
years as an electronic assem­bler, died Sunday, Oct. 18, 2009.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- The Volusia County Beach Patrol officer arrested earlier this month on charges of having sex with an under-age girl between 20-25 times at his Port Orange home, is now contesting his termination.