Share by: Julie Murphy Flagler County Public Information Officer
Flagler County Senior Services spreads Christmas cheer through annual gift drive, “Be a Santa to a Senior,” making it possible for 194 Flagler County residents to receive gifts who wouldn’t have had Christmas presents otherwise.
“We weren’t sure if we were going to have the gift drive this year due to so many challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Health and Human Services Director Joyce Bishop. “But community giving increased significantly this year and our community partners were very generous with their time and effort to help make this possible. So we made adjustments and took necessary precautions to safely make the deliveries.”
The crash was reported at 12:29 a.m. Saturday morning just north of Royal Palms Parkway on US1 in Palm Coast.
A 61-year-old man was killed in a single-vehicle crash on U.S. 1 and Royal Palms Parkway in Palm Coast shortly after midnight this morning.
The cause of the crash is not known for now, but 911 dispatch notes report “alcohol and cocaine all over the car.” A subsequent field test confirmed that methamphetamines were in the vehicle, according to dispatchers’ notes.
The DeLand resident was driving a Jeep SUV north on US 1 when, just past Royal Palms Parkway, the Jeep veered off the road and into the median, where it collided with a tree, according to the Florida Highway Patrol. The Jeep then veered back onto the northbound lanes, where it came to a stop across both lanes, facing east.
3 months ago Share The Fire Leadership Academy, begun in 2017, has already produced 23 graduates, four of which have been hired locally. by: Julie Murphy Flagler County Public Information Officer
Flagler County Fire Leadership Academy was recognized on Dec. 4 for receiving the Institute for County Government Best Practices Award for 2020 at the Florida Association of Counties’ Legislative Conference in Jacksonville. The award was presented Dec. 14 at the Board of County Commissioners meeting.
Library Director and Legislative Liaison Holly Albanese nominated the program for the award.
“The Fire Leadership Academy immediately came to mind when I read the criteria,” Albanese said. “It saves Flagler County much of the expense of training a new firefighter, it provides a pool of candidates when Fire Rescue needs to hire, and it prepares high school students to enter the workplace upon graduation.”
A family photo of John Keppler and his sons, also firefighters, at a state memorial honoring Keppler’s line-of-duty death in 2002. (Keppler family)
An 18-year effort to get Flagler County to recognize former county firefighter John R. Keppler’s line-of-duty death in 2002 finally ended Monday evening with the county commission’s decision to rename the fire rescue training facility on Justice Lane after Keppler.
Until then, Keppler had been honored on two state memorials, including the the Florida Fallen Firefighter Memorial in Ocala, the Florida’s Fallen Firefighters Memorial on the grounds of the state Capitol, and the national firefighters’ memorial in Emmitsburg, Md., but Flagler recognize what had been–and remains–the county’s only line-of-duty death. But Flagler has never recognized it as such.