Deltona

Sheriff's spokesman: At first, convenience store clerk thought man was joking

Headline Surfer® graphic / At left is a locate map of the Circle K, 1805 Elkcam Blvd., in Deltona that was robbed by a man, possibly armed with a handgun at 12:23 a.m. Sunday.

DELTONA -- At first, the convenience store clerk thought the man was joking when he approached the counter and demanded cash early this morning, but it was all too real.

The Volusia County Sheriff's Office respond to 9-1-1 call about the robbery at 12:23 a.m. Deputies, who began arriving at the scene at 1805 Elkcam Blvd. two minutes later, were told that the robber had entered the store and demanded that the clerk hand over the money in the cash register.

"At first, the clerk said he thought it was a joke," Sheriff's spokesman Gary Davison told Headline Surfer®.

Photo for Headline Surfer® / Rich Gailey, candidate for County Council District 5 seat representing DeBary, Deltona and Enterprise, is shown here at the recent Memorial Day tribute at Memorial Gardens in Deltona, with his wife, Lisa; their son, Ricky, and daughter, Jackie. Among the fallen the Gailey family paid respect to were Gailey's father-in-law, Nate Feldman, who enlisted in the Army and served in Korea. He died two years ago.

DELTONA -- While there are many issues on the home front to be concerned about, Rich Gailey, candidate for the Volusia County Council district 5 seat representing DeBary, Deltona and Enterprise, is troubled by the recent swap of prisoners of war between the US and the Taliban.

What Gailey has trouble with in the swap of five high-level Taliban enemy combatants who were being held at Guantanamo Bay by the US for Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, who was being held by the Taliban in Afghanistan is the American intelligence information showing the American soldier was a deserter.

DELTONA -- The Friends of the Deltona Library will hold a book sale 1 to 4 p.m. Friday, June 27, and 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, June 28, at the Deltona Regional Library, 2150 Eustace Ave.  

By MELISSA COLLINS

DELTONA, Fla. -- Are we on the verge of World War III? Is Obama floundering? The answer to the first question is not yet known. The answer to the latter is obvious. And because of the indecisiveness in the White House, Putin is proving to the World that where there is a vacuum it will be filled.

Headline Surfer® graphic / A homeless man known to frequent the area of Deltona Boulevard and Enterprise Road, as shown here in this screenshot, tried to snatch a woman's purse. His description is posted in the story below. If you see him, the Volusia County Sheriff's Office urges you to please call 9-1-1.

DELTONA, Fla. -- When the 36-year-old woman arrived Friday morning at work in Deltona and encountered a man who reeked of alcohol, she didn’t know him by name. But she recognized him as the homeless man who often sleeps on the park bench in front of her business at a plaza on Deltona Boulevard.

When he asked her for money, the woman said she didn’t have any to spare. And that’s when things got physical.

Legal sources: Clear cut conflict of interest for jurist who may be forced to recuse himself from presiding at trial that begins Tuesday

Photos for Headline Surfer® / The big question heading into the trial for Jim Sotolongo and Ramara Garret, shown in the inset, is whether U.S. District Judge Roy B. Dalton, Jr., shown at far left, will be presiding.

ORLANDO -- Before he was nominated by President Obama and his appointed ratified by the U.S. Senate in 2011 for a federal judgeship in the Middle District of Florida, Roy B. Dalton, Jr.,was a member of the board of trustees for the Orlando-based Seaside National Bank& Trust for four years before laving to assume his position on the bench.

Photos for Headline Surfer® / Waverly Media park bench ads like this one at the intersection of U.S. 1 and Dunlawton Avenue in Port Orange, dot the landscape in Volusia County.

DAYTONA BEACH -- No matter where you drive along the major roadways in the county, invariably you are going to see more than a few of those eye-catching park bench ads.

Such is the successful advertising medium of Waverly Media, which literally has hundreds of benches dotting the landscape that is home to the world's most famous beach, the Daytona 500 and Florida's first 24/7 internet newspaper, HeadlineSurfer.com.

Volusia County petition drive organizer & Democrat Ellen Juliano to Attorney General Pam Bondi: 'Put that in your pipe and smoke it'

TALLAHASSEE -- Florida's top court today signed off on the wording of a medical marijuana ballot question that asks Sunshine State voters voters to join nearly two dozen across the country in legalizing the drug for medicinal purposes.

The news was met with excitement by Deltona Democratic Party insider Ellen Juliano, herself a cancer survivor, and a key local organizer in the petition drive to get the medical marijuana ballot initiative drive, who had a personal message for the state attorney general: "Put that in pipe ands smoke it, Pam Bondi!"

OAK HILL, Fla. -- Folk musicians Jeni & Billy will bring the high lonesome harmonies of the Appalachian Mountains in a return visit to Volusia County's smallest incorporated city 13 months from their last stop here.

They will perform at noon Saturday, Feb. 8, at VIA Hall, 126 E. Halifax Ave., Oak Hill, at noon Saturday, Feb. 8. They will perform 2 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 9,  at the Deltona Library.