Headline Surfer graphic by Henry Frederick / Prior to beconing mayor in 2009, Adam Barringer was pulled over three times for various offenses and pleaded guilty. Since becoming mayor he's been pulled over five times and received warnings only like the one shown above in the story snapshot.
NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- The New Smyrna Beach Police Department's 24-hour summary police reports, a staple of Headliner Surfer editorial content for the past five-plus years has been re-formatted, which makes it more difficult for the public to see who has been stopped, ticketed and arrested.
And that's good news for Mayor Adam Barringer, whose alleged driving transgressions have been noted there several times. But with the police department switching to a new system on Oct. 1, the reports are far less descriptive and as a result, Headline Surfer will discontinue publishing them.
New Smyrna Beach followed in the footsteps of Edgewater, which switched to the more restrictive format a little more than a year ago. Headline Surfer emailed Sgt. Christopher Roos late Wednesday after receiving the newly formatted report, which had nothing of value to report.
Headline Surfer graphic / At left is an example of the revised NSBPD log summary, which is far less detailed and less media friendly or informative.
Asked why the change was made, Roos responded: "The new log -- We have changed programs used to complete reports. We were the last agency in the county to make the switch to copper-fire. We made the switch October 1st at 0600 hours."
Headline Surfer will follow-up with a call to Police Chief George Markert, who took over in May. His predecessor, Ronald Pagano, had told the 24/7 internet newspaper last year the NSBPD was eventually going to switch over to the new format, which isn't as media friendly, but cheaper and more efficient for police record-keeping.
The 24-summary reports were among the most popular reads on HeadlineSurfer.com and its predecessor, NSBNews.net because they provided lots of details right down to who got pulled over for having a headlight out.
Embattled Mayor Adam Barringer was no fan of the police logs. After all, he had been in them several times for alleged driving infractions, including speeding and running stop signs. The two most recent occurrences were March 20 of this year when Barringer was stopped for speeding on South Atlantic Avenue, and on July 31, 2011, for running a stop sign on South Atlantic. Both times he was given warnings.
Embattled Mayor Adam Barringer was no fan of the police logs. After all, he had been in them several times for alleged driving infractions, including speeding and running stop signs. The two most recent occurrences were March 20 of this year when Barringer was stopped for speeding on South Atlantic Avenue, and on July 31, 2011, for running a stop sign on South Atlantic. Both times, he was given warnings.
The locations are near the mayor's So Napa Grille wine-bar restaurant, where he hosted a private retirement party in November for retired City Commissioner Jim Hathaway after he lost the 2012 election for the dist. 3 County Council seat to fellow New Smyrnan Deb Denys. Barringer is now campaigning for Deny's re-election in 2014.
The party for Hathaway and 45 guests led to citizen-watchdog Bob Tolley filing complaints the following month with the Florida Commission on Ethics against the mayor for hosting the party at his private business and a companion complaint against City Manager Pamela Brangaccio for authorizing the use of a city credit card to pay the up-front costs for each of the $30 dinners.
A third complaint filed by Tolley against City Attorney Frank Gummey was dismissed by the ethics commission early on, but the ethics complaints against the mayor and city manager remain under investigation.
A second ethics complaint against the mayor was filed by Tolley shortly after the ugly Dec. 5 interaction between Barringer and city cop Ralph Hunnefeld.
On that date, Barringer tried driving his white "Barringer Construction" pick-up truck through a barricade side street in advance of the New Smyrna Beach Christmas Parade, but was waved off by Hunnefeld.
Headline Surfer graphic / At left is an example ogf the old format for the NSBPD 24-hour summary reports. At the bottom is a listing for New Smyrna Beach Mayor Adam Barringer.
The mayor pulled his truck over, walked up to Hunnefeld, extended his right hand as if conciliatory and told him in no uncertain terms, "Thanks for being a pr-ck!" He then walked back to his vehicle and drove off. An hour later he was sitting atop a city fire truck with other officials waving to the citizens like nothing was wrong.
Ironically, it was the same cop, Hunnefeld, who cut Barringer a break, in 2011, when he pulled him over on South Atlantic for running a stop sign. Hunnefeld gave Barringer a warning instead of a citation.
Hunnefeld, who was hired after seeing active combat in Iraq, was livid with the mayor's behavior and wrote a complaint to his superiors demanding a written apology.
Instead, a private meeting was brokered with City Manager Brangaccio after a story was published by Headline Surfer detailing demands by the Teamsters union demanding the mayor apologize.
In that subsequent private meeting, Barringer offered the apology, according to a press release issued by Lt. Michael Brouillette, but Hunnefeld told his co-workers the apology wasn't sincere.
The mayor has refused comment on his driving record, the ethics complaints and his treatment of Hunnefeld. Brangaccio, too, has remained silent.
FAST FACTS: Adam Barringer's driving record
Since he was elected mayor in 2009, New Smyrna Beach Adam Barringer has been given two warning tickets by New Smyrna Beach, alleging unlawful speed and running a stop sign. In his run for mayor in 2009, Barringer acknowledged that he had committed a DUI offense out of state when he was 21, but the record was sealed. Then-incumbent Sally Mackay, whio hs a clean driving record in Florida, said she knew of Barringer's DUI, but didn't want to make an issue of it. He did not elaborate further.