Senate 8 GOP candidate Dorothy Hukill holds fundraiser in New Smyrna Beach

TAVARES -- When politicians ask if she's better off now than she was four years ago, Ormond Beach's Christine "Chris" Thomas can answer in the affirmative. But not because of anything government has done.
In these four short years, Thomas has worked her way up the business ladder to senior vice president controller at Reunion Bank of Florida and now she's the Tavares-based bank's chief financial officer.
NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- Tim Hamby, the No. 2 choice of the Southeast Volusia Advertising Authority, has accepted the $70,000 salary that comes with an additional $8,000 in health benefits to direct the operations of the New Smyrna Beach Visitor's Center.
"I'm very excited," the 49-year Ponte Vedra Beach resident and marketing specialist in the Jacksonville metro area, told Headline Surfer. "It's an honor and a priviledge to market, promote and raise the profile of one of America's finest coastal communities."
ORMOND BEACH -- In our country’s constant push to remove God from all phases of our public lives, the consequences are too unbearable to handle. This week a Florida teenager gave birth at home in the bathroom, lifted her son from the toilet and choked the life out of him.
EDGEWATER -- Local gal Tia McDonald, 19, who has travelled quite a bit in her young modeling career, including a spot in an MTV music video shoot, was recently in Australia, where she took part in the making of a book, "Faiy Tale -- Once Upon a Time, Act 1," by Somsay Toumngeun, including being on the cover and the inspitration for one of the characters.
DEBARY -- A body found floating in Lake Monroe on Sept. 29, has been identified as 42-year-old Jin Tak Han of Apopka.
His death was the result of drowning and has been determined to be a suicide, the Volusia County Sheriff's Office said.
A passerby at Lake Monroe Park in DeBary spotted the body and notified a park employee.
The employee flagged down an off-duty deputy, who launched a boat into the river and retrieved the body and brought it to shore. An autopsy confirmed the death was the result of suicide, Sheriff's spokesman Gary Davidson said.
NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- We've had major server issues over the last three days, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we're back to business as usual.
There is a positive to this, however. Headline Surfer, the 24/7 Internet newspaper has seen a tremendous increase in visitors cross Volusia County, especially in Daytona Beach, Port Orange and Deltona.
Then again, we remain the only venue that doesn't require a paid subscription, unlike the print media newspapers in Daytona and Orlando.
DELTONA -- Since her first election campaign in 1992, Diane Matousek's motto as clerk of the circuit court has been "setting the standard for quality customer service."
DEBARY -- Lately there has been the focus on the debate that Obama lost. But how quickly the president and the liberal media have moved on from the murder of Ambassador Chris Stephens and the other three Americans at the Libyan embassy in Benghazi.
NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- A 22-year-old man was being treated over the weekend at Halifax Medical Center in Daytona Beach for non-life threatening injuries suffered when he was shot Saturday night on the beachside.
Here is a written synopsis by Sgt. Christopher Roos of what occurred in the 9:14 p.m. shooting of Samuel D. Stultz at 836 24th Ave.: "Contact was made with the victim and witnesses who were able to provide limited investigative leads. New Smyrna Beach Fire and Rescue responded to the scene and treated the victim. The victim was later taken to Halifax Medical Center in Daytona Beach for non-life threatening injuries."