Local News Now

Man robbed at gunpoint by two others outside pawn shop

Newspaper Section

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- A 26-year-old man was robbed at gunpoint last night by two men who came up from behind and knocked him to the ground, then put a gun to his head while taking personal belongings from his pockets, New Smyrna Beach police said.

Corey Alan Sarchiz was not injured in the robbery just after 10 p.m. outside Jessup's Pawn Shop, 121 N. Orange St., police said.

Blogger Capt. Budd Neviaser: Armadillos unique creatures

Courtesy photos. At far left, the stages at which an armadillo goes into its protective mode. Smaller photo, the typical image people have of armadillos are the dead ones run over by motorists.

To most folks, an armadillo is a small dead animal lying adjacent to or in the middle of nearly every road in the state of Florida. Of all the 20 species of armadillos only one makes the U.S. its home: The nine–banded armadillo has a range from South Carolina to Florida in the east and to the north commonly to Nebraska.

Blogger Darlene Vann: Cursive letter writing becoming a lost and vital art to the ease of e-mails

As a person who grew up being yelled at by teachers because I didn’t slant my written letters in the correct direction, I feel justified in commenting on how little the children of today are being taught about cursive writing.

Just because we have computers that doesn’t mean we don’t have to know how to write properly. Our written signatures are always something that is needed and should be legible. I have a friend whose handwriting was so bad she had her signature changed legally to a printed one. Before that time I had no clue one could do such a thing.

Edgewater man charged in Port Orange bank robbery after turning himself in by phone 20 minutes later

Newspaper Section

Courtesy photo/jail mug. Tony Max Olea, 42, of Edgewater, was charged with robbing a bank in Port Orange after quickly turning himself in early Monday morning.

PORT ORANGE -- A  42-year-old Edgewater man turned himself in shortly after robbing a bank early Monday, Port Orange police said.

Tony Max Olea was subsequently charged with bank robbery, having essentially called in his own arrest by dialing 9-1-1 .

Four NSB Middle School girls taken to hospital after taking prescription pills at school

Newspaper Section

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- Volusia County Sheriff's Investigators have launched an investigation after four girls at New Smyrna Beach Middle School had to be hospitalized after one of them brought three different kinds of prescription pills to school and shared them with the others.

Deputies nab accused copper thief near cell tower outside Edgewater

Newspaper Section

Courtesy photo/Jail mug. David McDonald, 35, of Port Orange, was arrested early Sunday morning by Volusia County Sheriff's deputies on charges of stealing $500 worth of copper from a cell tower outside the Edgewater city limits.

EDGEWATER -- When he came across two Volusia County Sheriff's deputies on Sunday morning, David McDonald told them he was just out for a bike ride.

NSB boy, 16, drowns in surf in Ormond-by-the-sea; body recovered next day

Newspaper Section

ORMOND-BY-THE-SEA -- A New Smyrna Beach boy was swimming with his pregnant girlfriend in an area not guarded by lifeguards when they got caught in a rip current and he went under while she was rescued by a another swimmer. Bendon Martin was just 16.

The body washed ashore early Sunday, about a mile from the reported drowning in the 1200 block of State Road A1A.

New Oak Hill budget requires tax increase

Newspaper Section

OAK HILL -- The city's $1.6 million budget for the new fiscal year that begins Oct. 1, will require a tax increase, despite wage freezes and no new equipment purchases.

The tax rate to support the budget, approved Monday, requires $5.79 per $1,000 of assessed property value, which is still more than a percentage point higher than the rolled-back rate of $5.72, which is considered a break-even rate by the Florida Legislature, and therefore not a tax increase because it would have generated the same amount of revenue minus new construction.