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ORMOND BEACH -- As a member of Volusia Tax Reform in public testimony during 2009 county budget hearings in DeLand, I held up the yellow pages of the county phone book for that year and the previous one to show the County Council how high taxes were decimating the private sector listings in the commercial districts of the county. There was a net loss of one-quarter-inch in thickness. About 150 pages of listings.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- The local unemployment rate is above 8 percent. More animals go hungry each day. See a connection? Hundreds of local families are not making enough money to pay for basic necessities. Granted there are government-run and personally-run programs that assist people in hard times but what about their pets?

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- The city's "NSB Waterfront Loop" marketing campaign, paid for by CRA-supported tax dollars, is being used for private gain by former Southeast Volusia Chamber of Commerce President Robert Lott, who, along with his wife, emerged from federal bankruptcy court earlier this month with his wife, having staved off hundreds of creditors. 

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- A man found passed out in some bushes on Flagler Avenue just after midnight this morning from drinking too much was taken into protective custody and transported to the Volusia County Branch Jail in Daytona Beach to sleep it off.

Police Sgt. Christopher Roos said in his report that while he was eastbound on Flagler, he was flagged down by a person who reported a man sleeping in the bushes.

Here is the synopsis of what Roos said he encountered encountered 12:05 a.m. Tuesday in the vicinity of 376 Flagler after waking the man up from his inebriated sleep: "I made contact with the male who was impaired to the point where he was unable to care for himself or provide any information to care for him for someone to care for him."

HOLLY HILL -- David Sullivan was looking down the barrel of a sawed-off shotgun after two men ran up to his Magnolia Avenue home on Monday demanding cash. But the 45-year-old homeowner grabbed the gun and pointed it up in the air during which a shot was fired, a pellet grazing his forehead.

Sullivan got a trip to the ER at Halifax Health Medical Center and the the woulds-be robbers ran off like cowards.

Here is a synopsis of what happened in the 11:50 p.m. incident as reported by Holly Hill Police Chief Mark Barker: Two unidentified black male subjects approached the residence at 705 Magnolia Avenue in Holly Hill, Florida. One of these individuals was armed with a 12-gauge “sawed-off” shotgun. The homeowner was working inside the garage area of his home when he observed the men coming towards him from the north side of the house.

Arts Overlay District reduced to exclude residential areas

New Smyrna Beach -- In a joint meeting between the city commission and the planning board tonight at city hall, the consensus was to consider 40 units per acre in the Canal Street area and including the North Causeway, in what is referred to as "infill" housing where dwellings could be added by building up several stories.

The Canal Street Historic District wants to add 150 housing units in addition to the 622 now there. Right now the city allows 18 units per acre, but the city officials at tonight's joint meeting saw 40 units per acre and building height capped at 5 or 6 stories. Planning Board Chairman Jason McGuirk, a candidate with no opposition so far for a seat on the commission in the 2012 elections, was asked by Mayor Adam Barringer at Tuesday's meeting for his perspective.

"It's a good question for me -- the number of the density is difficult to answer. I look at what Gail was looking at 35 units per acre," he said, referring to city planner Gail Henrikson.

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