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On this Veterans Day we pay tribute to all military servicemen and women who have served to protect the freedom we enjoy -- freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of opportunity and justice for all. Some have made the supreme sacrifice in defense of our freedoms. Many millions more have been wounded and suffer physical disabilities.

Throughout the years, families of veterans have also endured many hardships,physically, emotionally and financially.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- More than a dozen people are facing drug charges resulting from an undercover investigation of cocaine and Oxycodone sales in Southeast Volusia, a Sheriff's spokesman said.

Dubbed “Operation King of the South,” the three-month investigation culminated Thursday in a large round-up of suspects who were caught selling drugs to undercover agents and other sources connected with the operation.

DELTONA -- Volusia County Sheriff’s investigators have tentatively identified the victim whose skeletal remains were found Thursday morning in a wooded area of Deltona.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- With 5:52 left in the first quarter and the Cudas' scoring a field goal for a 3-0 lead in the Homecoming game against Merritt Island, things were looking up. The second half was a a different story. Turnovers. Lots of them, led to a 31-3 loss Friday night.

NSBNEWS.net photo by Sera King / New Smyrna Beach High Homecoming Queen Courtney Sempsrott poses with King Travis Kendrick.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- The mean snarl was replaced with a big smile when 'Cudas football nose tackle Travis Kendrick was named Homecoming King at halftime of Friday's game against Merritt Island.

Kendrick, the monstrous lineman who enjoys crushing opposing offensive linemen and running backs who try to run up the middle, drew loud cheers from the more than thousand spectators who filled the bleachers against Merritt Island.

Even though the home team lost, 31-3, the half-time show was rocking with Courtney Sempsrott joining Kendrick as Homecoming Queen.

I lost a friend and a mentor this weekend. She “was a pistol” as they used to say and from what she told me used to carry one, too.

During my lifetime I have always had friends of all ages, but especially people much older than me. Mrs. H was almost 30 years my senior, but we were great friends.

Just the way she lived her life was an inspiration. Any time you asker her how she was she answered, “as ornery as ever.”

Her tough exterior hid a caring, loving person who was a nurse for many years not retiring until she was 85.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- A 42-year-old Edgewater man found dead on the shoulder of the North Causeway early Saturday was the victim of a hit-and-run motorist, police said.

Police said an autopsy by the Volusia County Medical Examiner's Office determined Glen Gagnon died as a result of being struck by a motor vehicle sometime before 12:44 a.m. Saturday when his crumpled body was found. The death is being treated as a hit-and-run traffic homicide.

Police are awaiting further lab results from the medical examiner in hopes of matching the vehicle, which took off.

DELTONA -- The Volusia County Sheriff's Office is investigating the discovery of human remains that were found in a wooded area of Deltona this afternoon.

Two teenagers stumbled across the remains in some woods east of Alex Lane. While the remains will require further analysis,
investigators say they appear to be that of an adult.

"The Sheriff's Office was contacted about the find at 11:37 a.m. and so far has collected a skull and miscellaneous other human bones that were