NSBNEWS.net: Volusia County / State

Courtesy photo/Jail mug. Haile Michael Martinez, 24, of Deltona, was arrested Wednesday on charges of sexual battery on two small children.

DELTONA -- A 24-year-old Deltona man is accused of two counts of sexual battery on children under 12 after engaging in sexual intercourse with his girlfriend in front of a boy and a girl, both under 5, as well as molesting them and trying to get them to have sex with each other, the Volusia County Sheriff's Office said.

PONCE INLET -- The Volusia County Marine Science Center (MSC) offers a wide variety of programs for youths and adults throughout the year, and the opportunities continue this October. All programs are open to the public. MSC admission applies for all on-site events and reservations are required.

Students young and old can discover the many wonders of marine life in environmentally rich Volusia County through the following opportunities:

● 1 p.m. - 3:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 10: Plankton lab - Plankton means “wanderers” and often these minute creatures wander the ocean

SOUTH DAYTONA -- First golf carts hit South Daytona streets Wednesday morning

The Michael DeBloom family was one of the first dozens of South Daytona residents exected to obtain a permit for their golf cart under the City's newly approved pilot program that took effect Wednesday.

On Wednesday morning they took their first golf cart trip on city streets to transport their daughter to South Daytona Elementary School, South Daytona spokeswoman Jeanne Willard said.

DAYTONA BEACH -- The Volusia County Library Center – City Island will offer a variety of free programs for children and teenagers this fall.

• Toddler and preschool Storytime begins at 10:30 a.m. Wednesdays and Thursdays for children 5 and under.

• Family movies will be shown at 2 p.m. Sundays for children and their parents or caregivers. Parents may bring snacks and drinks. Upcoming movies include “Hannah Montana: The Movie” Oct. 4, “CinderElmo” Oct. 11, “Kiki’s Delivery Service” Oct. 18, and “Halloweentown” Oct. 25.

DELTONA -- He just said no. That's what a store clerk did when a would-be robber pointed a gun at his face Saturday night and demanded money. The attempted hold-up occurred at the Chevron station on Saxon Boulevard in Deltona at around 8:30 p.m.

The man walked into the store and got a soda from the cooler, then waited for the other customers to leave.

ORMOND-by-the-SEA -- Volusia County Sheriff's investigators made short work of a search for the robber who held up the Bank of America on Ocean Shore Boulevard in Ormond-by-the-Sea Thursday morning.

Thanks in large measure to an anonymous tip, investigators nabbed the suspect this morning -- less than a day
after the robbery and about a mile from the scene of the crime, the Sheriff's Office said.

"Gregory Harris didn't put up a fight or even try to deny he was robber who strolled into the bank on Thursday wearing a floppy hat and

WASHINGTON, DC -- Congresswoman Suzanne Kosmas,D-New Smyrna Beach, announced that veterans can apply online at www.va.gov beginning today for a special emergency payment of their Post-9/11 GI Bill education benefits.

Kosmas has heard from numerous Central Florida veterans who are beginning classes without receiving their education benefits due to a backlog in processing applications at the VA, said her spokesman, Marc Goldberg.

DELEON SPRINGS -- The Volusia County Sheriff's Office is investigating a shooting Saturday night in DeLeon Springs that resulted in a 33-year-old man dying early the next morning at Halifax Medical Center in Daytona Beach.

"Deputies were initially dispatched to the area of Katrina Street at 7:18 p.m.after a resident called 911 to report hearing a commotion in the street and a possible gunshot," Sheriff's spokesman Gary Davidson said. "The caller said that after the disturbance, several people fled the area in a van. Deputies quickly responded, but everyone had already left the area."

DAYTONA BEACH -- A 47-year-old city woman died Tuesday at Shands Medical Center in Gainesville, just four days after being caught in an apparent electrical fire in her Forest Ridge Drive home.

Robin Pond was being treated in the hospital's burn unit for third-degree burns that covered 75 percent of her body.

Her family has planned a memorial service for 2 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 10 at the Volusia Memorial Funeral Home, 548 N. Nova Road, Ormond Beach.

Courtesy photos. Corrections officer Donna Fitzgerald was murdered by an inmate at Tomoka prison -- stabbed 25 times on June 25 while she was working alone in a section of the prison with 13 inmates. Enoch Hall, a lifer, was charged with capital murder and faces the death penalty, if convicted at trial.