OSTEEN -- A 24-year-old Osteen man was pumping gas Dec. 5 at the Sunoco on State Road 415, when he was shot to death by a man who pulled into the station in a pick-up truck.
Christopher Joseph Mclellan suffered multiple gunshot wounds to the chest in the 7 p.m. incident and was transported by EVAC ambulance to Florida Hospital Fish Memorial in Orange City, where he was pronounced dead shortly after arrival.
NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- An 84-year-old woman was found Thanksgiving Day living in deplorable conditions in a home near New Smyrna Beach along with about 50 cats, 15 turkeys, 20 ducks and a dog, Volusia Sheriff's spokesman Brandon Haught said, adding deputies learned she had apparently been living in the home against her will, having been set up there by her daughter.
Newsflash: I was working on the Top 100 stories for Volusia County at 2 this morning when I took a break to watch "The Fresh Prince" on Nick At Night. I was stunned with the four ALERTS that ran across the screen announcing Time Warner and Bright House customrs were losing this chanel as well as 18 others, including MTV, V-H1, TV Land and Comedy Central -- all belonging to Viacom. Apparently this tkes effect Jan. 1. I am stunned. I jumperd back online and started searching for stories on the subject.
DAYTONA BEACH -- It was a new year, but life just wasn't the same for 92-year-old Floyd Snyder who leaped to his death Jan. 2, from his 9th-floor condominium balcony, police reported.
Friends and relatives told police Snyder was despondent because his wife, Leonia, who was in failing health, did not recognize him when he went to see her at a nursing home. According to a police report, he called the front desk at the Towers Condominium just before 8 a.m. and said he was going to jump.
DELTONA -- Raul Colon ended up in jail after finding a naked boy in his 15-year-old daughter's bedroom and striking him with a metal pipe on Sept. 11.
The 46-year-old father wasn't aware his daughter even had a boyfriend, but became suspicious when he heard noises coming from her bedroom about 4 a.m. when he went to take his dog out.
He retrieved a metal pipe from the garage, then opened the bedroom door and found the naked 15-year-old boy standing over his daughter's bed, the Volusia County Sheriff's Office reported.
DELAND -- Four days after the Nov. 4 general elections, Josh Wagner was declared the winner of the County Council District 2 seat when opponent Nancy Epps conceded defeat during the recount process
.
Even though 6,100 votes were still to be manually recounted, Epps, who was behind by 88 votes in a machine recount, threw in the towel.
OAK HILL -- A midday crash at the intersection of U.S. 1 and Halifax Avenue turned deadly when a Dodge Caravan crashed into a Ford Taurus resulting in two deaths, police said.
For unknown reasons, the Dodge van stopped at the stop sign while heading west on Halifax , but then T-boned the Taurus, which was southbound on U.S. 1 passing whle passing under the yellow blinking light. Stop signs are posted on Halifax on both sides of US. 1. A vehicle the van also got caught up in the accident.
NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- A 24-year-old man was arrested this afternoon on charges of robbing a woman at gunpoint and pistol whipping her the previous day near New Smyrna Beach.
James L. Smith Jr. faces a charge of armed robbery with a weapon for the daylight confrontation. The 33-year-old victim was treated at Bert Fish Medical Center in New Smyrna Beach for her facial injuries and released the same day.
PORT ORANGE -- It was a scheme that had Port Orange officials baffled. An employee was accused of depositing utility payments from customers over an unspecified period of time into her own personal checking account, but she wrote 278 personal checks to the city for $240,539.99, and so the city recovered all of its money.
Why the money was taken in the first place and returned has been a mystery.
Since my ultimate wish as an economic conservative is the economic well-being of my fellow citizens, I have outlined some of the moves that should be made at each level of government to achieve that end.
On the local level, we need to cut down on the high-priced boondoggles. Some outstanding examples include the Ocean Center in Daytona and the public Golf course in New Smyrna Beach. Didn't we learn our lesson with the mistake that is The News-Journal Center?
Categorically, government at the county and city levels can be characterized as having too many public employees and too many burdensome regulations.
The City of New Smyrna appears to be moving toward a severe financial situation. This situation could be easily corrected by declaring bankruptcy and turning the city management over to a bankruptcy referee. However, it would be much better if the city fathers could get hold of the city finances and bring things under control.
