DeLand-Deltona Beacon News

Q&A in DeLand with 1980s cover band The A+Team

Sat, 18 Jul 2009 09:48:02 -0400

This is a series of questions and answers with members of the local 1980s cover band The A+Team, which consists of lead singer Pierson Rintz, guitarist Brett Walker, bass player Rusty Hamil, keyboard player Stephen Shanafelt, and drummer Simon Knapke. For more about this popular group, read Jeff She ...

West Volusia calendar — Tropical Nights Friday, July 17

Fri, 17 Jul 2009 14:36:12 -0400

Friday, July 17 Classic Movie: The Princess Bride 5 p.m. at the Athens Theatre, 124 N. Florida Ave., DeLand. Tickets: $7.50 adults; $5.50 students. Call (386) 736-1500. Opening Reception 5:30-7:30 p.m. at DeLand Artisan Inn, second floor, 215 S. Woodland Blvd. A reception for the exhibit "The Pack ...

DeBary to look at fire-service bids

Fri, 17 Jul 2009 09:35:55 -0400

Deltona and Orange City will both show their stuff in DeBary July 22. The two cities are competing for the job of providing fire services to DeBary, following Volusia County’s refusal to renew its fire-services contract with the city. The DeBary City Council will hear the two cities’ proposals i ...

DeLand to open animal shelter near airport

Thu, 16 Jul 2009 15:02:44 -0400

The price Halifax Humane Society charges to take stray animals from DeLand has long been a burr in the city’s fur. To combat the cost, the DeLand City Commission has established what it calls the Second Chance Program. At their July 6 meeting, commissioners unanimously approved the program and a l ...

Funding for river projects halted

Thu, 16 Jul 2009 09:45:03 -0400

The St. Johns River Water Management District Governing Board will delay funding of river-water withdrawal projects until environmental-protection studies of the St. Johns and Ocklawaha rivers are completed. The decision came during budget discussions July 14, and drew cheers from environmentalists ...

Nature Scenes with Lynn Bowen: Black skimmers visit Daytona Beach

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 16:09:09 -0400

The small feathered celebrity tourists picked crowded Daytona Beach for their June visit, which is a mystery. Why would black skimmers choose to make a dent in the sand, their version of a nest, to lay eggs in the middle of the beach quite close to the ocean instead of closer to the sea oats on shor ...

DeLand cracks down on underage drinking

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 13:30:37 -0400

The DeLand City Commission has approved an ordinance to crack down on businesses that serve booze to underage patrons. The rules: If five or more underage people are caught drinking at your bar in a 90-day period, you’re going to be penalized. The penalty: Nobody under the age of 21 ...

Tornado took DeLand woman's home; now a zoning law breaks her heart

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 11:12:46 -0400

The last FEMA trailer placed in DeLand after the 2007 Groundhog Day tornado was removed July 10. For Linda Bell, they might just as well have hooked up the truck and towed away her heart. Bell’s hope of living on her little plot of ground on South Orange Avenue disappeared down the road Friday, al ...

DeLand struggles to make city budget in tough times

Tue, 14 Jul 2009 14:07:59 -0400

With income from other sources shrinking, the City of DeLand will be asking property owners to bear more of the cost this year to keep city government running. While about half of DeLand property owners will pay less in city taxes because their own property is worth less this year, the other half wi ...

SB 360 — Designed to help developers, the new law may produce more work for lawyers

Tue, 14 Jul 2009 09:21:58 -0400

A coalition of eight cities and counties led by the City of Weston filed a lawsuit July 8 against Gov. Charlie Crist, Secretary of State Kurt Browning, Florida Senate President Jeff Atwater and Speaker of the Florida House Larry Cretul. Weston and its partners want Senate Bill 360 declared unconsti ...

Today is President Libby's first day on the job at Stetson University

Mon, 13 Jul 2009 10:32:57 -0400

Stetson University enters a new era of leadership today, July 13, as Dr. Wendy B. Libby officially takes office as the ninth president in Stetson’s 125-year history. She is the first woman to hold the post. Libby, formerly president of Stephens College in Columbia, Mo., is spending her first offic ...

Downtown DeLand goes green

Mon, 13 Jul 2009 08:27:46 -0400

The DeLand City Commission, MainStreet DeLand and Emerald Waste Services have kicked off a commercial recycling program for the Downtown area. The pilot program started June 22, and will run for 60 days. MainStreet DeLand Association Executive Director Jack Becker said he’d been on th ...

DeLand’s stormwater rates may increase to pay for improvements

Sun, 12 Jul 2009 13:39:22 -0400

The City of DeLand may raise stormwater rates Nov. 1 to pay for stormwater-improvement projects. Consultants from Government Services Group out of Tallahassee advised city commissioners that in order to complete the necessary improvements, the city would have to raise rates. City Manage ...

Returning soldiers greeted with old-fashioned Fourth of July celebration

Sat, 11 Jul 2009 09:28:53 -0400

What better time to return home from war than the Fourth of July? What better way to celebrate it than with an old-fashioned barn party? There are none better, according to Spc. Denny Cowart of DeLand and a dozen or so of his comrades, newly returned from serving a tour in Afghanistan. T ...

Stetson student Austin Wuennenberg dies in Disney monorail accident

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 16:27:38 -0400

Death, especially an unexpected one, is never easy. The Stetson University and DeLand communities are coming to grips with the death of one of their own, 21-year-old Austin Wuennenberg. He was a computer-science major at Stetson, about to begin his senior year. Austin died in a monorail accident at ...