Volusia News Now

Photo for Headline Surfer / Votran bus operator Janet Kisner was named the Florida Public Transit Association operator of the year.  Kisner, who has been with Votran for 25 years, also was recently awarded the National Safety Council's 2 Million Mile Safe Driver award. She is the first woman to achieve this status with Votran.

DAYTONA BEACH -- Votran bus operator Janet Kisner is the epitome of a safe driver. She's logged 2 million miles as a Votran bus driver to prove it and is the first female driver to accomplish the milestone.

Kisner's achievement makes her the 92nd of Headline Surfer's top 100 local stories of 2012.

Headline Surfer photo by Serafina Frederick / New Smyrna Beach City Commissioner Jason McGuirk is shown at far left on a city firetruck with Mayor Adam Barringer during the 2012 Christmas parade. McGuirk became a city commissioner-elect in June when no one else qualified for the position while he kept a law profile, something he continues to do to this day.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- In a domino effect, Jason McGuirk announced his candidacy in September 2011 as the heir-apparent to the zone 3 seat held by City Commissioner Jim Hathaway who had announced the month before hat he was going to run in the 2012 election for the dist. 3 seat on the Volusia County Council held by Joie Alexander who planned to retire.

Operator of bike remains critical; neither were wearing a helmet in collision with car

PORT ORANGE -- A 55-year-old woman thrown from the back of a Harley-Davidson motorcycle in a collision with a car Friday at the intersection intersection of Clyde Morris Boulevard and Reed Canal Road was pronounced dead today at Halifax Medical Center in Daytona Beach, a Port Orange police official saiid.

Linda C. Johnson had been in critical condition where the operator of the motorcycle, 53-year-old husband, Stephen Monnet, remains. Neither wearing a helmet to protect their heads when they were ejected from the bike.

Latisha Anne Vester, 33, of Daytona Beach, who was an employee of Metra Electronics in Holly Hill,  was charged March 30 with falsely reporting a bomb threat where she worked.

HOLLY HILL -- An employee of Metra Electronics told investigators she called in a bomb threat that forced the evacuation of 300 co-workers because she "needed a break."

This is the 94th of Headline Surfer's Top 100 local stories of 2012.

The bomb threat was called in prior to the day shift and left with the human resources department, which in turn notified police and 300 people were evacuated at 9 a.m., including the caller, identified by police as 33-year-old Latisha Anne Vester, who worked in Metra Electronics' paint department.

Police Chief Mark Barker said Vester admitted making the call, saying she "needed a break" from work.

NSBNews.net photos by Henry Frederick / Oak Hill Commissioner Doug Gibson stands in front of the Volusia County Sheriff's Air-One helicopter behind City Hall during a VCSO open house on Feb. 1

OAK HILL -- Volusia County Sheriff Ben Johnson played host to some 100 residents during an open house in February on the city hall grounds to commemorate six months of law enforcement service to the small city since its police force was disbanded six months earlier.

John's open house in Oak Hill comes in 95th among Headline Surfer's Top 100 Local Stories of 2012.

EDGEWATER -- President Obama signed into law a bill giving gay marriages the same privileges as a marriage between a man and a women. In most religions, marriage is between a man and a women and some religions allow a man to have more than one wife.

Councilman Joseph Perrone knows firsthand that every vote counts, especially in a small town like Ponce Inlet as affirmed by a manual ballot recount Friday.

PONCE INLET -- Two races from the August primary went unchanged after recounts.

Ponce Inlet Town Councilman Joseph Perrone won re-election over Joe Villanella by one vote, the confirmed three days after the Aug. 14 primary, unchanged from the initial count, giving him the win, 609 to 608.

In another race requiring a recount, Shannon McLeish of Ormond Beach held onto her 27-voter margin over third-place finisher Jay Young for the right to go against Volusia County Council Council dist 4 primary primary winner Doug Daniels in the Nov. 6 runoff. Daniels, however, would win that final race.

EDGEWATER, Fla. -- Local gal Tia McDonald, 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, "Fairy Tale -- Once Upon a Time, Act 1," by Somsay Toumngeun, including being on the cover and the inspiration for one of the characters.