Al Everson

BEACON PHOTOS/AL EVERSON A SMALL GROUP ASSEMBLES ON A SOLEMN ANNIVERSARY — This gathering may be typical of the clusters of Americans who quietly remember what happened Sept. 11, 2001, when terrorists used airliners to inflict casualties on fellow citizens in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania. The day drew the nation together and prompted hearty admiration for police officers, firefighters, emergency medical personnel and military service members.

More than a year after it revamped its meeting schedule in the hope of drawing bigger live audiences, the Volusia County Council may once again alter its appointed times for coming together.

AL EVERSON/PHOTO EXCERPTED FROM VIDEO EXCITEMENT AT THE END — Viewers, both live in the CIty Hall chambers and online, are treated to a live exchange between Deltona Mayor Santiago Avila, left, and City Commissioner Maritza Avila-Vazquez, at right. As members of the City Commission deliver closing remarks at the Setp. 4 meeting, Avila-Vazquez voices frustration toward Avila for not being informed about recent gatherings of other public officials. The rhetoric stops short of a shouting match.

For those who care, Friday, Sept. 20, is National POW/MIA Recognition Day.

BEACON PHOTO/AL EVERSON WHO WILL BE DELTONA’S NEXT LEGAL EAGLE? City Attorney Marsha Segal-George is supposed to retire at the end of September, but the search and selection of her successor have slowed to a near-halt. Segal-George has been Deltona’s full-time chief legal officer since the spring of 2023, but her tenure with Deltona began several years ago, when she was employed with the Orlando law firm of Fowler, O’Quinn, Feeney & Sneed. For a short time in the fall of 2022, following the upt ouster of Acting City Manager John Peters, Segal-George served as city attorney and interim city manager.

BEACON PHOTO/MARSHA MCLAUGHLIN MANAHE AND MANAHER — Two woodcut manatees were among the many photo options at the annual Manatee Festival in Orange City this year. Like other community events and organizations, their funding was cut this year (from a requested $5,000 to $1,000) after the Orange City Council decided to cap most sponsorships at $1,000.

Anticlimactic and uneventful are words that may describe the end of Volusia County’s budget process and the final public hearing and votes on the new and record nearly $1.6 billion budget for the 2025 fiscal year and the property-tax rates.

Though the increase in the city’s property-tax rate may be modest to many, the opposition to the higher levy and the spending program that it supports was well beyond merely modest.

BEACON PHOTO/AL EVERSON; DIVIDED BY POLICY — Members of the Volusia County Republican Executive Committee stand for the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag at the group’s June 25 meeting at the Sanborn Center in DeLand. The Republican Executive Committee has approximately 400 members.

A Deltona woman and member of the Volusia County Republican Executive Committee is suing the organization to which she belongs and county Republican Chairman Paul Deering. Rosa C. Campbell, who […]