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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.

Esther Lamanowski, 89, of Edgewater, a homemaker, died Sunday, July 12, 2009.

Sandra Pearl Boykin Smith, 62, of Edgewater, a private law paralegal, died Saturday, July 11, 2009

Thomas Cirgliano, 54, New Smyrna Beach, a carpenter, died Friday, July 10, 2009.

Courtesy photo. County Manager James Dinneen has proposed a $617.7 million budget for the upcoming fiscal year that relies on the rollback rate for taxing purposes.

DELAND -- Volusia County Manager Jim Dinneen has presented the Volusia County Council with a $617.7 million proposed overall budget to fund the operations of county government for the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1. The proposed budget calls for a general fund property tax rate of $5.44 per $1,000 of taxable property value – equal to the rollback rate. The rollback tax rate produces the same amount of revenue as the current budget year.

Sandra Pearl Smith, 62, of Edgewater, a paralegal, died Saturday, July 11, 2009.

Holly A. Haeger, 59, of Edgewater and formerly of Elmira, N.Y., who worked as a legal secretary and was self-employed the last 12 years, died Tuesday, June 30, 2009.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH, Fla. -- Raymond B. Hallstrom, better known as "Ray" among his colleagues and friends in the Kiwanis Club of Southeast Volusia, will be remembered for his "good works" as the longtime secretary of the club, having died on June 30, at the Hospice Care Center in Edgewater. He was 64.

• Alfred R. Sargent, 76, of Edgewater, a former press operator for Pratt-Whitney Aircraft, East Hartford, Conn., died Saturday, July 4, 2009.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH, Fla. -- Less than 24 hours after the New Smyrna Beach City Commission rejected a starting salary request of $132,500 from Pam Brangaccio to be the next city manager, she countered with an offer Thursday through an emissary to serve as interim city manager for six months with a $10,000 monthly salary, plus $1,500 in housing paid for by the city as well as $100 weekly for car allowance.