Incumbent county councilwoman hasn't even been on dais that long

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NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- Deb Denys, elected in 2012, brags in a recent campaign mailer that she "voted against tax increases two years in a row,"  which is impossible since she hasn't even been in office long enough to even come close to completing a second annual budget cycle. 

Grade: A

ORMOND BEACH -- Will Congress cede yet another portion of our lives to the United Nations? Florida Sen. Marco Rubio doesn’t that’s a great idea.

Grade: A

New Smyrna Beach's fourth annual Balloon and SkyFest was a monumental success and has become the signature event for the coastal city with lots of family fun and certainly a crowd pleaser with the array of aerial displays. There was something for everyone at the New Smyrna Beach Municipal Airport, from balloon rides, to air shows and carnival rides.

There were a lot of educational displays as well. This was a tremendous draw for balloon and air show enthusiasts near and far.

Grade: A

Ponce Inlet’s Marine Science Center is nearing a decade of assistance to stranded turtles, injured seabirds and marine mammals. A new study of the exotic invader the Lion fish will shed light on where this predator came from and what we can do to rein it in before it decimates our coastal waters.

Media coverage of birth certificate issue

Grade: F

Photo by NASA/Kim Shiflett / Space shuttle Endeavor awaits its final launch scheduled for Monday at Cape Canaveral.

Grade: A

The countdown is on for Monday’s 8:56 a.m. EDT liftoff of the space shuttle Endeavor. In one of the most expensive, but rewarding undertakings our government has ever directed, the space shuttle program is first class as it winds down to its final missions.

After Endeavor, space shuttle Atlantis is scheduled to lift off for the final time on June 28.

Of all the shuttle launches, though the two that stand out are the tragic ones. Challenger blew up just 73 seconds after launch, killing all seven astronauts on board, and on Feb. 3, 2003, Columbia disintegrated during re-entry, killing its crew of seven. 

Here are some grades for news happenings and the newsmakers behind them in our ongoing feature: "Making the Grade."

Obama's focus on the rich is sending all of us to the poor house

Grade: F

Courtesy photo / President Obama

Oh, come on. Does Prsident Obama have a paper bag over his head? America is headed toward financial disaster and Mr. O. thinks we should raise taxes on the “rich” and cut spending by some miniscule amount. This isn’t a solution; it’s a prescription for disaster. Congress needs to pass Rep. Paul Ryan’s (R-WI) plan to reduce our debt by trillions and put us on the path to a balanced budget. Our taxes are more than adequate to run the government once it is right-sized. It’s Congress that has “deficit attention disorder.”

Courtesy photos.

At far left, Ruth Anne Yeats as shown at Riverside Park in New Smyrna Beach , and near left, Deborah Alonzo, chair and co-chair, respectively, of Southeast Volusia Relay for Life's 2010 campaign, "Rock the Cure," spearheaded the fundraiser, which generated $130,000 for the American Cancer Society. The amount raised was announced following the April 16-17 overnight event at the park that drew 3,000 people over a 24-hour period.

Grade: A+

The late Ray Kroc once said: "You're only as good as the people you hire." And look what he did with the McDonald's franchise. The same could be said of the organizers of the Southeast Volusia Relay for Life -- Ruth Anne Yeats and Debbie Alonzo.

NSBNEWS.net photo by Henry Frederick. Carol Hargy, director of personnel for the City of New Smyrna Beach, returned to her job two days after resigning effective Dec. 16, for private enterprise in Jacksonville.

GRADE: A

Carol Hargy's change of heart about leaving New Smyrna Beach is a plus for city government because of her experience, expertise and approach to the mission of proper governance and adherence to personnel issues at City Hall. 

Hargy resigned early last month, with her final day Dec. 16. She was intending to return to the private sector in Jacksonville, which would have required her to move to St. Augustine as a halfway point between friends and relatives here and the extended commute.

MAKING THE GRADE: F

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- The Community Redevelopment Agency voted 6-0 at its May 13 meeting to approve up to $9,000 in spending for an artificial Christmas tree in Riverside Park.

Coming Soon: A newly-reformatted Roundtable panel discussion...