Local News Now

Courtesy photo/left. NSBNEWS.net photo by Sera Frederick, at right. John Drago, former finalist for city manager in New Smyrna Beach and DeBary, is among six vying for the top job in Orange City. New Smyrna Beach tabbed Pam Brangaccio to replaced fired John Hagood last July, first as interim for six months and then permanently in January at an annual salary of $120,000.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- Former city manager candidate John Drago is now a finalist for the same position in Orange City. Drago, former Longwood city administrator, was among the New Smyrna Beach City Commission's Top 4 candidates from a pool of nearly 100 last summer when then-Mayor Sally Mackay suggested the commissioners diversity the finalist since the final four were all white men. Pam Brangaccio was added.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- Linda M. Lockwood, 45, was the Ohio woman on the back of a Harley-Davidson thrown from the bike operated by her companion Sunday on the opening weekend of Bike Week that resulted in her death and him clinging to his life in critical condition at Halifax Medical Center, after colliding with a fellow Ohio biker and friend as they were riding on the beachside in what is now the motorcycle rally's first fatality.

Lockwood, though is more than a statistic. She was the mother of two children and ran her own home day care.

NSBNEWS.net photos by Henry Frederick. Lori Chamberlain, 41, a bartender at Pub 44, poses for the camera with a big, beautiful smile. This motorcycle, was spotted in Pub 44's parking lot, also the object of the camera, but for obviously different reasons.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- No doubt about it: Pub 44 bartender Lori Chamberlain is gorgeous. When this 41-year-old head turner is away from the Bike Week scene she loves her two boys, Nicholas, 6, and Christopher, 12, her dogs, cats, gardening and going to the beach.

Outside in the parking lot, a motorcycle stood on its kickstand, its wretched existence bared to all who would walk by and mock it. This hunk of junk, too, is a head turner. Welcome to Bike Week's "Beauty and the Beast."

NSBNEWS.net photos by Henry Frederick.

Mark Gajewski, 51, a New York biker, who works at Ground Zero, sports a sticker on the front of his Harley-Davidson Ultra Classic that reads "NEVER FORGET 9/11/01." The photos were taken Sunday afternoon at the Dairy Queen on U.S. 1, where the biker and several of his friends stopped for ice cream.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- Mark "Ski" Gajewski, of New York, is here on Bike Week 2010 with a message emblazoned on the front of Harley-Davidson Ultra Classic for the world to see: "NEVER FORGET 9/11/01."

NSBNEWS.net photos by Henry Frederick. NSBNEWS.net video by Sera Frederick.

At left, Pub 44 bartender Karen Scarborough, 45, of Edgewater is all smiles Sunday afternoon during Day 3 of the 10-day Bike Week motorcycle rally. The locale was jam-packed with bikers on a much warmer and sunny day compared to the sparse crowds that endured much colder temperatures and rain. In the video, the Orlando-based classic rock band Iced Down performs at Pub 44, the State Road 44 hub for local Bike Week events, across from the NSB Regional Shopping Center.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- Pub 44 bartender Karen Scarborough of Edgewater was all smiles Sunday. And why not? With temperatures in the low 50s and sunny skies, Bike Week 2010, made a turn around from the dismal showing of the first two days with day-time temps barely at 40 and sporadic rain.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- A woman on the back of a motorcycle whose operator collided with another biker going in the same direction on the beachside's Atlantic Avenue, became the first Bike Week-related fatality.

A woman passenger on the back of a motorcycle was killed when that bike's operator and another motorcycle going in the same direction northbound on South Atlantic, at the intersection with 5th Avenue on the beachside, collided about 4:30 p.m., New Smyrna Beach police said, with the man and woman being thrown from the bike.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH, Fla. -- Roxanne Reynolds Hicks is a big fan of the Art Walk on Flagler Avenue here on the street that has thousands of daytrippers from across Central Florida enjoying the artistry and craftsmanship on display.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH, Fla. -- Temperatures barely got above 50 on a mostly-rainy Saturday, making the second of 10 days of Bike Week a washout. On Sunday, however, temperatures are expected to climb to a more seasonable 61 degrees with sunny skies in greater New Smyrna Beach, according to the latest forecast from the National Weather Service in Melbourne.

NSBNEWS.net photos by Henry Frederick.

Theresa Perreault, 22, of Edgewater, a bartender at Pub 44, poses with her big sister, April Perreault, 25, also a bartender, at last October's Biketoberfest. In the smaller photo, on top, countless bikes are packed in like sardines in the Pub 44 parking lot.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- They're baaaaack. The Bikers, that is.

Bike Week 2010 gets a roaring start today throughout Volusia County, with the local contingent centered at Pub 44 and Bruce Rossmeyer's NSB Harley-Davidson on State Road 44, axross from the NSB Regional Shopping Center.

Photos and video for NSBNEWS.net by Jeanette DiCara. At left, thick black smoke billows from the woods Sunday afternoon. Below left, an unidentified Edgewater police officer stands by on the perimeter while firefighters with a brush truck tackle the brush fire. A county helicopter, shown in the video, attacks the fire from the air. The smaller photo illustrates the thick underbrush that fueled the fire.

EDGEWATER  -- Sunday afternoon was a busy one for firefighters from Edgewater, New Smyrna Beach and Volusia County, fighting stubborn brush fires, one of which came within several hundred yards of an Edgewater subdivision, threatening at least a half dozen homes, but the fire was kept in check because of canals and a pond  between it and the homes.

Several brush trucks and pumpers were used on the ground to fight the stubborn fire, fueled by thick underbrush while a county helicopter did its work from the air to douse the flames.