Local News Now

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- A “Culinary Art Walk,” will be held from 10 a.m.-5 pm. March 28, with area chefs presenting demonstrations in addition to the variety of interesting
and unique art works displayed by resident and visiting artists on Flagler Avenue.

The event is held in the five blocks between the Indian River and the ocean; and also includes entertainment, demonstrations, and a free prize drawing. Art Walk on Flagler is held the fourth Saturday of each month.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- A 5-acre brush fire on Turnbull Bay Road earlier this afternoon destroyed some fencing, but did not touch half a dozen homes in its potential path, Volusia County officials said.

The 4 p.m. fire just west of the city limits was extinguished by fire crews from thecounty, New Smyrna Beach, Port Orange and the Florida Division of Forestry, said Shelly Szafraniec, Volusia Fire Services spokeswoman.

Szafraniec said no evacuations werre ordered, though several families left on their own and Turnbull Bay Road was closed to through traffic while firefighters fought

March 14, 2009: William T. Preston and Kathryn P. Payton, New Smyrna Beach.

March 13, 2009: Edward J. Brown and Brandy B. Karr, Edgewater; Robert J. Harris and Tiffany L. Cinelli, New Smyrna Beach; Daniel P. Dyett and Crystal A. McLeod, Edgewater.

March 12, 2009: William T. Preston and Kethryn P. Payton, New Smyrna Beach; Edward J. Brown and Brandy B. Karr,
Edgewater; Robert J. Harris and Tiffany L. Cinelli, New Smyrna Beach; Daniel P. Dyett and Crystal A. McLeod, Edgewater;

James N. Sowers, 87, of Edgewater, a management consultant and owner of Intex International Co., Edgewater, died Saturday, March 14, 2009.

Editor's note: The following press release was written by the staff of Congresswoman Suzanne Kosmas, D-New Smyrna Beach, and posted on her Web site this week:

(Washington, DC) – In response to today’s report that Florida unemployment reached 8.6% in January with 800,000 out of work, Congresswoman Suzanne Kosmas (FL-24) issued the following statement:

EDGEWATER -- Train traffic was shut down Thursday afternoon for about an hour in a wooded area just southwest of the Indian River Elementary School on Roberts Road and some nearby homes while firefighters tended to a brush fire.

Firefighters contained and extinguished the blaze that consumed 1 1/2 acres in the westtward moving fire about 2 p.m. that that included the Florida East Coast railway easement and within a stone's throw of of homes on India Palm Drive.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- A 51-year-old Auburn Avenue man was taken into custody and transported to the hospital for a mental evaluation last night after refusing to put down a rifle while on his porch and at one point putting the barrel end into his own mouth, threatening suicide and asking cops to shoot him, New Smyrna Beach police said.

The SWAT team was called in and negotiators were called out after the gunman, identified as Duane Henry Grove refused to put the rifle down after police responded to an 8:36 p.m. 911 call of a male threatening to commit suicide.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- Senior citizens always need to keep up their guard against those looking to prey on them and that's why a new course at the Brannon Center could prove very useful.

Whether the threat comes from a mugger, rapist or terrorist, your life is at stake and you must be prepared to do whatever it takes to survive. Fighting for your life is no game – there is a difference between sport rules and street combat – must give up any notion of fair play.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- Carol Kelley, principal of New Smyrna Beach High School, is out of work indefinitely after undergoing surgery March 3 for a broken pelvis and hip suffered in an earlier car accident, according to the school's Web site.

Assistant Principal Teresa Marcks is serving as acting principal while the 62-year-old Kelley recuperates from the Feb. 28 accident.