Local News Now

By Deb Denys

Headline Surfer photos by Henry Frederick /

Restoration of the former Badcock Building on Canal Street and US 1 in New Smyrna Beach is an example of the kind of worthwhile CRA project county officials want to see. Alcohol-fueled street parties on New Smyrna Beach's Flagler Avenue are the types of CRA abuses the county wants to see end. 

DAYTONA BEACH -- The County Council last week voted unanimously to continue the countywide discussion regarding Community Redevelopment Areas (CRAs) for an additional 60 days.

David Williams, 41, of Deltona, was arrested on burglary-related charges in conection with a residential burglary on Addison Street near Hemingway Drive in the vicinity of Addison Street and Hemingway Drive as shown in the locator map. 

DELTONA -- It was shortly after 4 in the morning morning when a resident spotted a suspicious sight -- two people walking down the street, pushing a shopping cart loaded with various items.

Promoted in September by Wisconsin parent company Utility Equipment Leasing Corp.

Photo for Headline Surfer / Utility Equipment Leasing Corporation Appoints Ron Starks as Service Mechanic for the Sanford, Florida Service Center Starks brings With more than 25 years of experience in utility equipment maintenance and dedication to customer service, Ron Starks has been promoted to service mechanic for Sanford-based Florida Service Center.

SANFORD -- Meet Ron Starks, promoted last September by the Waukesha, Wisc.-based Utility Equipment Leasing Corp., as service mechanic at its Sanford Service Center, serving the Southeast states of Florida, Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi.

Starks was tasked with providing road service in addition to support at the Sanford Service Center.  He has more than 25 years experience in aerial equipment service throughout the Southeast, the latter 10 years providing primarily road service.

The Deltona City Commission holds its next meeting 6:30 p.m. Monday, April 15, Commission Chambers, 2345 Providence Blvd.

EDGEWATER -- A Madison, Ala. school principal banned the word "Easter" from her school this year. Say what? She says it was in the interest of religious diversity.

Headline Surfer photo / County Councilwoman Deb Denys

PORT ORANGE -- Dist. 3 County Councilwoman Deb Denys is the featured speaker for the April 15 meeting of the Greater Volusia Young Republicans, where she is expected to discuss tighter regulations for new CRAs.

ORMOND BEACH -- Volusia County Property Tax Alcoholics Anonymous usually open their dialogue with the following epithet: "Only when you acknowledge you have a problem, can you devise a solution." 

No joke either: Bronze star recipient not pleased NSB mayor called cop/Iraq War veteran a 'pr-ck' while sarcastically shaking his hand

Volusia County Chair Jason Davis, shown here in an American flag campign photo, turns 51 today, April 1, 2013. What isn't a joke to Davis, recipient of the Bronze Star, is New Smyrna Beach Mayor Adam Barringer disrespecting a city cop who served his country with a tour of duty in Iraq.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- County Chair Jason Davis is 51 years old today and that's no April Fool's joke.

"Yes, I was born on April 1, 1962," Davis said over the weekend with a laugh. "I'll be 51 on April 1, no fooling."

Another thing that's far from a joke to Davis, a Bronze Star recipient for his tours of duty in the Iraq, is the verbal abuse a New Smyrna Beach cop took from that city's mayor before the start of the municipal Christmas parade.

Victim arrested dozens of times on misdemeanor charges like drinking in public

Carl Labreck, 49, struck and killed by train, is shown here in a 2012 Volusia County branch jail mug shot. He had been arrested dozen of times over past several years on misdemeanor charges like drinking in public. 

DAYTONA BEACH -- A man killed by a train on the tracks of the Florida East Coast Railway on Monday night at the crossing near International Speedway Boulevard has been identified as 49-year-old Carl Labreck, authorities confirmed.

His body was found 75 feet from where he was struck just before 8:30 p.m. A train dispatcher called the crash in to authorities.

Investigators with the FEC and local police are trying to figure out he was standing on the tracks in the first place. The city had an epidemic of suicides by train a decade ago where several men stood in the path of oncoming trains, even with lights and sirens by the conuctors.