Downtown/Canal Street

Evidence room scandal leads to revolving door of top brass before positive changes take hold in municipal force

First in a series / Display photo for Headline Surfer®. /

NEW SMYRNA BEACH, Fla. -- After a tough five months in leading the New Smyrna Beach police force as interim police chief, Donna Lavallee has reason to smile with pride and a sense of real achievement as she gives way to new top cop Mike Coffin on Tuesday.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH, Fla. -- In observance of the Thanksgiving holiday, there will be no garbage pickup on Thursday, November 27, in New Smyrna Beach.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH, Fla. -- Nicole and Mike Kirkland of Edgewater dressed up their 1-year-old son, Nolan, as a shark, three years ago for the New Smyrna Beach Halloween parade.

Ex-Flagler Avenue kingpin Robert Lott serves as bouncer with new shoes

Headline Surfer® photos / Booze was the big draw at a Rotary function at the Brannon Center in New Smyrna Beach on Aug. 23. Public drinking is illegal in the city, but that didn't stop people from doing so at the event as shown in this inset image. Robert Lott, former Flagler Avenue financial planner, served as bouncer.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- Robert Lott was still wearing the same ratty clothes, though he made sure to show off his new plastic shoes when the internet newspaper showed up to take photos of the recent "Cheeseburger in Paradise" fundraiser at the Brannon Center held by the Rotary clubs of New Smyrna Beach and Edgewater.

Headline Surfer videos and photos / A black bear climbed up a tree in downtown New Smyrna Beach just before sunrise Saturday and didn't come down until after sunset. Headline Surfer has exclusive video.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- The city by the sea is known for its shark bites and 'Cudas football, but black bears? One just happened to hang out in a tree at the corner of Magnolia and Canal streets all day Saturday until sunset when it climbed back down and scampered away.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH, Fla -- Dennis Jones, one of the Sunshine State's top cops, wants to come home. The Tallahassee police chief and former Daytona Beach police chief is among seven semi-finalists to become New Smyrna Beach's next police chief.

Headline Surfer photos by Henry Frederick / Canal Street in New Smyrna Beach, is shown here on New Year's Eve just after 10 p.m.

 NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- With the bars on Flagler Avenue playing host to the New Year's Eve festivities, the city's other heavily invested CRA street was as dead as a door knob, a far cry from the hustle and bustle during traditional business hours.

The Brannon Center, 105 Riverside Drive, is being discussed as an 'anchor' for Canal Street by city officials like Mayor Adam Barringer shown here in this NSBNews.net / Headline Surfer photo during his 2009 campaign.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- City officials are pinning their hopes for inclusion of Canal Street in a new CRA district with the Brannon Center as its pinnacle.

The Brannon Center was the focal point of a day-long visioning and goal-setting workshop at the Atlantic Centyer for the Arts for the City Commission and top administrative brass.