Local News Now

New Smyrna Beach -- A shopper at the Walmart on State Road 44 in New Smyrna Beach hopped back and forth between moving carts as she tried to decide between a cross necklace and a heart-shaped one.

Noticing they were just $5 each, she decided to buy both. Nearby, a toddler threw a temper tantrum when his father wouldn't let him get a big plastic firetruck.

Still others hovered around the large DVD bin, trying to decide on the bargain-basement movies that everyone likely has seen before such as "Legally Blonde" and "Rambo, First Blood."

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- Be weary of $100 bills because counterfeiters have converted some of them from $5 bills, New Smyrna Beach police warn.

"It's easier to pass counterfeit currency, not necessarily dollar bills, during this season (be)cause people are in a hurry to spend money,” said police Detective Tony Ford. “The cashiers are in a hurry to take money. They're not examining it as closely as they should be."

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- Herbert Bossie, the city resident whose Park Boulevard home became known over the years as the New Smyrna Beach Christmas House, succumbed to heart disease Tuesday, Dec. 18, while hospitalized. He was 70.

Bossie's passing a week ago today comes at a time when the community is gearing up for holidays. Every year around this time, he dressed up as Santa Claus and opened his home to families and the wonderment of their children with spectacular decorations. including an Angel Room and an elaborate train set.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- The New Smyrna Beach Regional Library is looking for Wimpy Kid readers.

They don’t have to be wimpy themselves, they just need to be fans of the new 'Diary of a Wimpy Kid' books, a series of cartoon-based novels chronicling middle school life," said Pat Kuehn, Volusia County spokeswoman.

Students, ages 9 - 14, are invited to a free Wimpy Kid event from 1 - 2 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 24, in the library auditorium.

NSBNEWS.net video by Sera King. Video highlights: Members of the New Smyrna Beach Class of 1955 recently celebrated their 53rd reunion at Clancy's Cantina on the beachside with song, merriment and a few classic memories. At left is Ken Phillips, star basketball player, and at right is Peter Mallory and Sandy Roberts. The video is dark due to lighting, but is worth checking out, especially for the less than stellar singing of Bobby Howard. So take a stroll down memory lane when times were gentler and poodle skirts were en vogue. 

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- Bettie Johnston will never forget the day she and the other cheerleaders wore short skirts for the basketball squad against St. Augustine: "The boys walked right off the court!"

"We always wore our skirts past our knees, but not for this game," recalled Johnston, now 72, of what had to be the most bizarre turn of events for the New Smyrna Beach Class of 1955.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- Ho! Ho! Ho! Santa will slip away from his workshop and busy schedule to visit Art Walk today on Flagler Avenue for a "Christmas
Celebration."

You can visit this special holiday Art Walk from 10 a.m.-5 p.m., as you avoid the traffic and the crowds at the malls and stroll along Flagler Avenue, the charming five-block area between the Indian River and the ocean.

There will be something for everyone. Galleries have works on display by more than 120 artists; and dozens of visiting artist will be set up under canopies on the avenue,

NSBNEWS.net photo by Sera King. Cutline:

We swore we’d never do it again! It’s too much trouble! It’s a lot of work!

But there we were again gathering the junk we have collected over these past 10 years since our last yard sale.

What were we thinking?

Unfortunately, we are collectors of "stuff," the preferred verbiage for junk.

Getting rid of stuff is almost impossible for us since “we just might need it one day,”or so we delude ourselves into thinking.

Stuff piles higher and higher in our two houses taking space and collecting dust until we finally decide that something has to be done and soon.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH, Fla. -- The Bush administration's Christmas gift to America is a package of disaster. 

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- The St. Johns River Water Management District has voted today to purchase 1,402 acres for $3.9 million, approximately three miles north of the Brevard County border, the agency said in a press release.

the property is part of the Indian River Lagoon Blueway Florida Forever Project adjacent to the District's Turnbull Hammock Conservation Area. The property includes 1,213 acres of contiguous land and 189 acres of non-contiguous lots to the southeast.