2007 was a year of ups and down and upsets in Volusia County
- January
- 13
4:49 pm Live Literature
*IN JANUARY,
the Deltona City Commission, worried about rising costs, derailed an organized effort to build a $23 million structure called the Partnership Center, which had been envisioned as a multiuse gathering place for southwest Volusia. The commissioners, as well as several residents, were disappointed that the center’s proposed 5,000-seat auditorium had shrunk to less than half that size because of rising construction costs.
*IN FEBRUARY, a tornado tore across Central Florida, including Volusia, flattening homes, downing trees and flinging debris from DeLand to New Smyrna Beach. The Feb. 2 twister damaged or destroyed scores of homes and caused millions in damages, coming barely six weeks after a storm on Dec. 25, 2006, ripped through Volusia. No one died in Volusia, but the storm left 21 people dead in Lake County that day.
*IN MARCH, the Water Authority of Volusia, or WAV, was stripped of its power to be the county’s exclusive future water provider. The water authority began to falter after Daytona Beach officials complained about WAV’s plan for a water plant on the St. Johns River, knowing that Daytona residents wouldn’t use that water. Other east Volusia officials also balked at plans to help pay for growth in west Volusia. WAV spent $5.37 million on various efforts, including water-planning documents, in the four years it existed but never produced a single drop of water.
*IN MARCH, a homeless man in Daytona Beach, John D’Amico, (above) told police three boys — two 10-year-olds and a 17-year-old — attacked him with fists, stones and a cinder block near one of Daytona’s grittiest streets. The attack drew widespread attention to youth violence against the homeless because the two 10-year-olds were the youngest in the nation to attack a transient. The oldest suspect, Jeremy Woods, was sentenced to a high-risk juvenile-detention center, where he could be held until his 19th birthday. The two 10-year-olds, known only by their first names, Drew and Jordan, also were sentenced to time in a juvenile-detention facility for the March 27 attack.
*IN APRIL, State Attorney John Tanner (above) won a fight to keep a grand-jury report about him secret. A March 12 order from a Flagler County circuit judge became public and sided with Tanner that an investigation of him by Jacksonville-based State Attorney Harry Shorstein and a Duval County grand jury was illegal. The ruling is being appealed. The grand jury issued the report in 2006 after it decided not to indict Tanner on allegations he misused his authority while investigating the Flagler County jail about inmate abuse. Tanner’s daughter had been held at that jail, and police union officials and the Flagler County sheriff accused Tanner of running a “witch hunt” against jail guards.
*IN JUNE, a county judge called Deltona’s ultra-tough exclusion policy for sex offenders — one of the most restrictive in Florida — “troublesome,” and he ordered the city to explain how the law doesn’t violate residents’ rights. Deltona’s law effectively bans new sex offenders from moving into the city. A registered sex offender, Lionel Benjamin, argued he couldn’t afford to relocate after moving to Deltona in February. Benjamin, 30, convicted of sexual assault in 1997 for having sex with a 16-year-old girl when he was 19, said he has never been in any other trouble. Married and the father of a 16-month-old daughter, Benjamin became the first person among those cited by the city who was allowed to stay after Deltona dropped his case in July.
*IN JULY, Ormond Beach plastic surgeon Bruce Kennedy and NASCAR pilot Michael Klemm were killed after the plane they were in took off from Daytona Beach and crashed in Sanford, killing three people and injuring several others in two houses that burned as a result of the crash. Janise Joseph Woodard, and infant child Josiah died, as did 4-year-old Gabriela Dechat.
*IN OCTOBER, the county’s Marine Science Center in Ponce Inlet cared for a record number of rescued sea turtles after they washed ashore in Volusia, St. Johns and Flagler counties. In less than a week, more than 2,200 “washback” turtles were beached. Most of the turtles were about 3 to 4 inches long, lacking the strength to swim back to the seaweed beds where they live. Officials blamed northeastern winds for blowing the turtles to shore. County officials returned the turtles to their habitat, at least 20 miles offshore.
*IN NOVEMBER, voters sent a message during city elections, ousting incumbents in Orange City, Lake Helen, DeBary, Edgewater and New Smyrna Beach. In Lake Helen, where the city administrator’s salary created a divide in the small city, longtime incumbent Mayor Mark Shuttleworth lost a re-election bid to challenger Joan Duffy by just six votes. In another close race, challenger Harley Strickland Jr. beat City Council member Tony Yebba by just five votes. In DeBary, residents voted out the second incumbent this year, picking Lenny Marks over Danny Tillis by a wide margin. Marks’ ally, Norman Erickson, also scored a major victory, ousting incumbent Patrick Fulton in October with a healthy margin of victory. In New Smyrna Beach, challenger Sally Mackay replaced James Vandergrifft as mayor. One of the first casualties of the fall election was Roland Blossom, who was fired as Deltona city attorney on a 4-3 vote Nov. 19. The vote came at the first meeting for the two newest commissioners. Paul Treusch, who was elected in October, joined political supporter Mayor Dennis Mulder and commissioners Michael Carmolingo and Janet Deyette to oust Blossom. The other new commissioner, Herb Zischkau, who was elected Nov. 6, dissented along with commissioners Zenaida Denizac and Michele McFall-Conte.
*IN DECEMBER, the DeBary City Council accepted a settlement with the state that torpedoed plans for a 500-slip marina on the St. Johns River. The move came after DeBary spent months defending plans for a marina for Country Estates at River Bend amid opposition from environmentalists and state Department of Community Affairs. The state agency said a marina would clash with environmental rules in that section of the river, an area frequented by manatees. Under the settlement, 45 waterfront lots may have docks, and 60 slips will be allowed between those docks. Country Estates at River Bend will still include 250 upscale homes. The deal says the project can have a boat ramp, but resident-only parking spaces will be limited to 10. Plans for a restaurant were scaled back. The deal allows a kitchen in a community clubhouse.
Kevin P. Connolly, Denise-Marie Balona, Rachael Jackson, Ludmilla Lelis and Kristen Reed of the Sentinel staff contributed to this report.
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