Local News Now

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- A 42-year-old Edgewater man found dead on the shoulder of the North Causeway early Saturday was the victim of a hit-and-run motorist, police said.

Police said an autopsy by the Volusia County Medical Examiner's Office determined Glen Gagnon died as a result of being struck by a motor vehicle sometime before 12:44 a.m. Saturday when his crumpled body was found. The death is being treated as a hit-and-run traffic homicide.

Police are awaiting further lab results from the medical examiner in hopes of matching the vehicle, which took off.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- Adele Aletti understands the importance of what it takes to run a small business, which explains why she was sporting a Barack Obama T-shirt outside a polling precinct at the Brannon Center on Election Day. "

He's the guy and I need to support who I believe in," said Coletti, owner of Gone Bonkers! on Flagler Avenue and a strong advocate for the merchants of New Smyrna Beach.

To my readers, who expressed concern over a brief lapse in my column, the opening of the North Carolina deer season, Mother Nature beckoned to me requesting my presence there to do my duty of attempting to thin the herd. We did OK, but not as well as previous trips. The weather was a little tough for a Floridian as some mornings greeted us with layers of ice. However, as it has been said so many times before, all god things must come to an end. So it is back to business as usual.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- Karen Clancy first met Congressman Tom Feeney seven years ago when he helped her with several community projects when he was speaker of the Florida assembly.

This campaign season, she's returned the favor, serving as the Oviedo Republican's Volusia County campaign director.

Clancy said she's a big fan of Feeney for very obvious reasons that she believes people relate to and want from their elected leaders: "He's very strong on small government and letting people live the American dream."

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- The body of a man found on the shoulder in the 300 block of the North Causeway early this morning has been identified as that of 42-year-old Glen Gagnon of Edgewater and police say they need the public’s help in determining what happened.

Police Sgt. Eugene Griffith did not release any other details except to say police responded to the scene at 12:44 a.m. "in reference to a deceased male lying on the shoulder of the roadway" and that homicide investigators and the medical examiner's office arrived as well.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- Police Cmdr. William Drossman has been cleared of accusations of sending a racially-charged e-mail about Barack Obama to fellow officers, but he was "counseled" against using city property for personal use -- in this case a computer in his office at police headquarters.

The summary of an investigation concluded last month by city-hired outside counsel Mark E. Levitt concluded there was "no specific racist or inappropriate conduct by Drossman in forwarding an e-mail a couple of months back that contained writings from two of Obama's books that a police officer told an Orlando television station had racial overtones because the e-mail chain message portrayed the Democratic nominee as anti-white and urged against supporting his candidacy.