Top 100 Stories

EDGEWATER, Fla. -- Two Edgewater residents have died this week.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- An outside counsel hired by the city to review the longstanding lease of prime riverfront land to the New Smyrna Yacht Club has concluded the lease signed in 1944 is not valid because the city didn't have the legal authority to enter into such an agreement at the time.

The city didn't have jurisdiction to do so for another 13 years, concluded Scott Glass of the Orlando law firm of Shutts and Bowen, and by then, the city did not ratify the earlier 99-year agreement, making it null and void at that point.

Stephanie Lynne Bell, 38, of New Smyrna Beach, an Orlando native who enjoyed boating and country music and is survived by a son, died Thursday, July 16, 2009.

NSBNEWS.net photos by Sera Frederick. More than a thousand  people showed up for Thursday night's Sizzlin' Summer Nights' on New Smyrna Beach's Flagler Avenue, sponsored by local merchants to highlight local boutiques, restaurants and bars.

NSBNEWS.net video by Sera Frederick. Frances Shevenaugh celebates her 108th birthday among family and friends Thursday at the store of her Goddaughter, Sandy Gill, who owns Coquina Beach Swimwear, 100 Cooper St., just behind Flagler Avenue. She was born July 16, 1901, in Zanesville, Ind. As part of her birthday bash, 108 balloons were released.

NSBNEWS.net photo by Sera Frederick. Frances Shevenaugh models a bathing suit on her birthday at the store of her Goddaughter, Sandy Gill, revealing a well-toned physique as evidenced by her right bicep. She works out three times a week at the YMCA doing chair aerobics. In recent years, she's ridden a horse on a dude ranch, done some aerial maneuvers in Costa Rica, swam with dolphins in Cancun, Mexico and gone four-wheeling in Hawaii.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- Frances Shevenaugh turned 108 today. Her secret to such a long and productive life: She stays active every day and adds: "I take life one day at a time."

It doesn't get any easier than that. After all, she's had 39,420 days of practice. But then again, who's counting any way?

July 16, 2009: Charles W. Claybourn and Tina M. Duncan, New Smyrna Beach; Alan L. Horowitz and Linda J. Hubay, Edgewater.

July 15, 2009: David A. Gourd, Lindenhurst, N.Y., and Allison J. Phillips, New Smyrna Beach.

Courtesy photos / Volusia Jail mugs. John Collier, 22, and Justin Schaffer, 21, were both arrested Tuesday at their residence near New Smyrna Beach on charges of burglary of a conveyance, burglary of an occupied dwelling and possession of burglary tools .

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- The arrest of two men near New Smyrna Beach for breaking into a car led to a small treasure trove of stolen goods in one suspect's home, giving Volusia County Sheriff's investigators a chance to close out several car burglary cases and return some valuables to their owners.

EDGEWATER -- A local contractor found hogtied to his bed on June 29, died Monday of his injuries and police are treating the incident as a homicide.

Keith Cope was pronounced dead Monday at HalifaxMedical Center, having suffered a number of injuries resulting from being tied so tight with duct tape to his bed on Victory Palm Drive that his left arm had to be amputated and he quickly slipped into a coma, according to an Edgewater police report, which classifies his death a homicide. Cope was 50 years old.

Michael J. Norve, 62, of New Smyrna Beach, a retired Army veteran, died Saturday, July 11, 2009.

Patricia Y. Eagle, 72, of New Smyrna Beach, a West Virginia native who loved riding on the back of a Harley-Davidson through the Blue Ridge Mountains, died Tuesday, July 7, 2009.

July 14, 2009: Kenneth P. Tomory, New Smyrna Beach, and Gabrielle A. Levesque, Naples; Michael McGerty II and Linda M. McGerty, Edgewater; Keith B. Sanderson and Sandra S. Seibert, Edgewater; Nathan M. Scott and Angelique M. Chandhok, New Smyrna Beach; Jason R. Charette and Tarra D. Norton, Edgewater; Keshawn D. Boyd, New Smyrna Beach, and Sarah B. Wellman, Daytona Beach.