People Over Politics

12/27/07:

It absolutely amazes me that the only thing that Mr. Graham got out of Van's citizens' editorial is that Van referred to Bush as a "draftdodger". Whether or not he is a "draftdodger" isn't important Mr. Graham. His actions as President of the United States are what are important and from where I sit his actions for the most part during his Presidency have been irresponsible. Our Country as well as our World is as unstable (if not more so) as it was during the height of the "Cold War". I would have hoped that Bush supporters such as Mr. Graham would have gotten it by now.

Another subject that I would like to mention is the lack of information that the citizens receive from the City of DeBary. First of all, I had no idea that the city just had its first holiday decoration contest. What was the criteria, when was the judging to be done and by whom? I know of some spectacular displays that I do not believe were completed by the deadline whenever that was. Ms. Courson, Information is the key to running a city or for that matter any organization. I have even found that even if the information is not liked, people at least appreciate being INFORMED. The other item is this week’s trash schedule. Until today, I had not had time to visit the city's web site. Now I know that I should not have put my trash out on my regular day which is Wednesday. Unfortunately, I would estimate that at least 90 % of us in my neighborhood were unaware of the schedule change. Who by the way made this decision? Would it not have been better to simply have those folks who usually are scheduled for Tuesdays (Christmas Day in this case) to be serviced on Saturday leaving all other days as scheduled? This schedule would have lead to a lot less confusion and a lot less trash sitting at the curb for well over 24 hours.

The last issue is the special meeting that is scheduled for next Wednesday, January 2, 2008. Doesn't the city think that the voters in the last election who overwhelmingly voted for change should know that the main reason for this meeting is to swear in the two gentlemen who were elected?

Tom Nance

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12/19:

It is hard to take Van serious these days with his new rants on DeBary POP. He does have some valid points at times but when he does not keep his editorials factual I must take him to task.

President Bush was not a draft dodger as Van states in his latest rant. There is no proof of this information and I challange him to prove his statements as fact. Dan Rather lost his job because he could not back up this claim and I don't think Van can back it up either.

Warren Graham

12/18:

President George W. "draftdodger" Bush has not only succeeded in tearing up the Constitution of the U.S., but he will also be remembered as the first U.S. President to jail his opponents. Sadly enough his political prisoners were attempting to enforce the Law of the United States of America. XXX Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean were U.S. Border Patrol Agents of the U.S. Government when they attempted to arrest illegal immigrants crossing the U.S.-Mexican border. One of the illegal immigrants was a known drug dealer. One of the Border Patrol Agents discharged his handgun toward the known drug dealer when it appeared that the drug dealer was reaching for a weapon. Sadly, the drug dealer was only wounded in the behind.

XXX This act of enforcing the Law of the U.S. could not be tolerated by "draftdodger" Bush so the U.S. Attorney, a lapdog of "draftdodger" Bush, sought indictments of the two agents. The lapdog extended his regrets to the drug dealer and gave the drug dealer complete immunity if he would come to the U.S. and testify against the two agents. After a trial that will live in the greatest infamy, the two Border Patrol Agents were convicted, and the drug dealer returned to Mexico to deal in drugs another day.

XXX Today Agents Ramos and Compean are in jail. The political message sent by the draftdodger and his lapdog is that no individual may inhibit the flow of illegals over the Southern U.S. Border. The message to all law abiding Americans is: 1) Free Ramos and Compean, 2) Impeach the draftdodger for failure to enforce U.S. Law and 3) Restore Constitutional Law to our great Republic.

XXX By the way, did I mention that one of draftdodgers Bush's closest friends named "Scooter" received a Presidential Pardon for a much more serious crime?

R. "Van" Conoley

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1. Roberts Rules of order to govern the meetings.
2. If the business is not done by 11:30; finish on another day. People get tired!
3. The local newsletter. Not what has been passed but what you are trying to do? It would stopped the skateboard park in it's tracks.
4. Still would like to know what happened to the 600 feet of 3 foot reinforced drainage pipe at the Reserve for the drainage?? Who signed off on this (2004) Hopefully Judge Hudson will soon give some kind of a decision? I guess we pay as usual!!
5. Tonight's meeting (5th) will be passed shame on the Council.
WAKE UP PEOPLE IT"S YOUR CITY!!
Lee

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The United States is now engaged in a bloody war in Iraq. This is a war that the U.S. cannot win but a war that the U.S. must not lose. This article is written with the intent of enlightening individuals to the only possibility that exists where the U.S. can avoid defeat. Defeat is defined as an internecine Civil War in Iraq that consumes most of the country when America withdraws. Such a Civil War would create a recruiting region for terrorists for years to come and also result in the destabilization of adjacent countries in the region.

XXX To understand America's only option, it is necessary to look at some Middle Eastern history and geography. Looking at a map, it is readily apparent that Iraq and its neighbor Iran have a long border that they share. Travel northward along that common border and you reach to other neighbors of Iraq: Turkey and Syria. In this mountainous region where Syria, Iraq, Iran, and Turkey form a nomans land, there exists a People who claim this region as their homeland. These People, who have been poorly treated by all of these nations, are known as the Kurds.

XXX What many Americans have forgotton is that Iran elected a President in 1951 nammed Dr. Muhammed Mossadeq. Dr. Mossadeq felt that the oil in Iran belonged to the Iranian People and not to the oil companies. The British empire felt otherwise and sent an envoy to speak with U.S. President Truman in order to elicit his assistance in overthrowing Dr. Mossadeq. Reports have it that President Truman almost threw out the representative from MI-5 when this idea was proposed. But in November, 1952, Eisenhower was elected President.

XXX Ike soon gave the " I never said it" nod to the U.S. CIA and operation Ajax was underway. Operation Ajax was run mainly from Ankara, Turkey. This operation recruited many Kurds to fight against Iran in the North with the promise of a Kurdish homeland. The CIA supplied and trained the Kurds in the North to use and operate 20mm and 40mm recoilless cannons along with small arms. The Kurds fought bravely in the North, and with the efforts of MI-5 in other regions, Mosaddeq, the democraticaly elected President of Iran, was soon replaced by Mohammad Riza Pahlavi. Mohammad Riza Pahlavi was better known to Americans as the Shaw of Iran. Now the CIA joined with the Israeli Mossad to help create the most brutally repressive group of psychopaths the world has ever seen. This group of killers was known as the SAVAK, or the Iranian secret police. It is interesting to note that Saddam Hussein's secret police were almost as violent as the SAVAK.

XXX Now that Iran was "free" to export their oil to Western Europe, the promises made to the Kurds were soon forgotten. There was no homeland for the Kurds.

XXX Today in Iraq ther are three main groups of People: the Shia, the Suni, and the Kurds. If either the Shia or the Suni gain control the probability of total Civil war is 100%.. However, if the Kurds gain control of Iraq, they can Procrusteanize a situation that can avoid an all out Civil War. Also, the Kurds were rather successful in killing Iranians in 1952-1953, and this may indeed cause the Iranians to avoid crossing the Iran-Iraq border in hopes of creating a "new Persia". While peace is a long shot in Iraq, an Iraq led by moderate Kurds is the only chance the U.S. has if it wishes not to lose this War. Also, the CIA can finally keep its word to the Kurds even though it is 55 years late.

Written by R. "Van" Conoley

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"Few busissnessmen have ever gone bust by underestimating the taste of the American Public". These words are attributed to P.T. Barnum.

XXX I was watching TV recently and tunde into a reality TV show. It was vile, vulgar, crude, and without social value. Yet the program did not reach a low enough common denominator to fully justify the aphorism by Barnum.

XXX I have, therefore, created the scenario for a reality TV show that will fully meet the low standards set for the American Public by P.T. Barnum. The show will be titled: SO YOU WANT TO BE A U.S. CONGRESSMAN. Individuals from all over the United States who are sleazy, underhanded, liars, and masters of doublespeak are encouraged to submit an application. Lawyers, used car salesmen, corporate accountants, former Enron executives, topless dancers, and blackjack dealers will have an advantage over most blue collar workers. Still duplicitous individuals are not confined to any one profession, except professional politicians and everyone can apply.

XXX Since I have given this some serious thought, I believe that the selection pannel should consist of five Congressional Lobbyists who have most recently been released from prison. Also, I believe that Bill Clinton and Newt Gingrich would make outstanding co-hosts.

XXX Here are a few examples of how the selection pannel might interact with a contestant.

XXX Contestant "A". Assume that you are a member of the U.S. House of Representatives and a major network just aired a surveillance film showing you in the back of a pickup truck, in the Wal.Mart parking lot having sex with two of your staffers. How do you respond? Response: "Well John, I thank you for that question. As you know, there is an international conservative conspiracy to discredit true liberals like me who embody true American Values. On the date and time that that video was made, I was in my apartment with three male Congressional pages discussing the Constitution."

XXX Contestant B. As a representative, you are filmed by the FBI taking $ 7 million froma known drug dealer. How do you respond?" RESPONSE; Well, God Bless you and America, that was a great question. As you know there is an international liberal conspiracy to discredit law abiding conservatives like me. As a man who has always endorsed family values, I was with my elderly mother having cookies and milk at the time that the video was allegedly filmed. You will recall that I questioned the proposed FBI nominee at the time of his hearings about his previous involvement with the boy scouts."

XXX The candidate, judged as the sleaziest, will receive a large illegal contribution for a future campaign. This is reality TV that all Americans can understand and a show that would make P.T. Barnum proud!

Van Conoley

11/16:

Bob Dylan once said "The times they are a-changin'."

I want to congratulate Norm Erickson and Lenny Marks on their landslide victories. I met both of them before election day, and it struck me then that they're both guys who want to help Debary and the people who live here. With no hidden agendas, and with honesty and integrity.

My best to you both!

The following article was written for "informational" purposes only and any resemblance to real people, either living or dead, is purely coincidental.

XXX This article is designed to focus on public corruption on the local or city level of government. It is widely accepted that it is easier to induldge in public corruption on the federal level than on the city level because of the excessive costs associated with federal elections. However, honest and law abiding citizens should attempt to abolish corruption on all levels of government: federal, state, county, and city governments alike. XXX In this example there exists a makebelieve city called city A. In this city we have city manager A and city council A. In a different city, we find city B with city manager B and city council B. It just happens that city manager A has a daughter who graduated from college several years ago and has not been able to find a job. Her lack of employment may be due to the fact that she has the IQ of a high frequency TV station, but more likely due to the fact that she never learned to show up for work on time or to work hard at any job. City manager B has a 27 year old son "who is still attempting to find gainful employment" mainly because he can not pass a drug test or show up for work on time.

XXX City manager A sits down to talk privately with city manager B and they decide to employ the others unemployable progeny. City manager A convinces city council A to create a new and much needed job titled "Intergovernmental Coordinator" at a salary of $60,000/year. City manager B convinces city council B to create a new and much needed job titled: "Regional Governmental Coordinator" at a salary of $60,000.00/year. Manager A hires B's son and B hires manager A's daughter. UNFORTUNATELY THIS IS LEGAL IF THE COUNCIL VOTES TO CREATE THESE JOBS.

XXX Nepotism in hiring is, in my view, the single greatest cause of public corruption.

XXX In our example city manager C tried to get city council C to create a "make believe" position in city C. Council C said no way, so his worthless offspring had to get a real job in the real world and do some hard work. If anyone doubts me, take a close look at the US Congress. Here multi-million dollar lobbying firms hire the sons, daughters, husbands, wives, girlfriends, boyfriends, etc of important Congressman and Senators to influence legislation. It is enough to make an honest and law abiding American sick!

My name is Herb Zischkau and I live with my wife and children in
Deltona. I am a candidate for the Deltona City Commission, District 2.

Here are my main positions:

1. Public safety requires more officers immediately.

The City wastes money on the wrong things. We need more
spending on community policing, less spending on boondoggles.
Deltona city government has a contract with the County Sheriff to
enforce the laws like a local police department. Deltona only paid
for about 69 deputies last year, which is far too few for Deltona's
population of 85,000. This year's budget only added 8 deputies. But
we need to add at least 30 this year, not just 8. Then we should
have an unbiased Study of what it will cost to establish our own
Deltona Police Dept., to see whether we can get more bang for the buck.

2. Lowering taxes requires cutting our spending.

The Deltona budget two years ago was only $95,000,000 and is
now over $148,000,000 which is a monstrous 54% increase. Let's stop
the spending frenzy and get back to basics like public safety.

3. New businesses bring more jobs.

Jobs first, not apartments! We need 2000 jobs in the
undeveloped "Activity Center" at I-4 and Howland, not the 2000
apartments planned by the City Commission. That commercial land
should be used to create more jobs in Deltona, especially for our
young people. I will work hard to make Deltona business friendly,
like Orange City. Office buildings, restaurants, stores and services
in the right place, near I-4, will widen Deltona's Tax Base and take
the main property tax burden off the backs of Deltona's homeowners.

Your vote for HERB Z is a vote to put a WATCHDOG on the Commission
instead of a lapdog for the special interest groups.

PLEASE ENCOURAGE YOUR FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS TO VOTE FOR HERB
ZISCHKAU, “HERB Z,” on November 6, 2007. You can see links to the
debates on my website, www.Deltona2.com. Please vote as soon as
possible if you can get to Early Voting at the Deltona Library so no
work or family emergency makes you miss out. Thank you.

Political advertisment paid for and approved by Herb Zischkau for
Deltona City Commissioner, District 2.

Herb Zischkau
Attorney at Law
1202 Sacramento Street
Deltona, FL 32725
(407) 496-7561
zischkau@mac.com

My wife (Jo) of 30 years & I read the "Two Candidates" write-up in the "Forum" on Saturday 10/27/07. We will be residents of DeBary for 3 years, this coming March; retiring from Michigan. We do like the city & are satisfied with the current services & facilities. However, the ongoing Tax increases, as well as the increases in the cost of home owners insurance are ridiculous.

My wife & I are considering voting for Leonard Marks. But, before we vote this 11/6/07; we would like to understand where Mr. Marks stands on taxing the citizens of DeBary, Volusia & Florida. We are aware the current open position only has direct impact on DeBary, but the winner may be able to have impact/ influence on other government agencies.

Mr. Marks reported statement regarding the skateboard park was “unclear.” Yes, we all know the vast majority of DeBary residents are against the skateboard park, however, the statement “I would rather see that money be channeled into other youth and senior activities”, make us wonder where he really stands. Our feeling is we need no new construction of any kind, at least until the housing & insurance markets settles down. We feel, we (the city) needs to maintain everything we currently have; just no new construction of any kind. And then have the city return the monies allotted to this & other “not needed now” projects to the people of DeBary; not just “channel it” somewhere else.

As anyone should note; things are really “tight” for most people in Florida, including DeBary. Rising taxes & insurance, along with declining home values and a Very Slow Turn-Over of existing homes, should make it clear; this is not the right time to spend money taken from the citizens of DeBary, Volusia & Florida on “not needed now projects”.

Please let us know where Mr. Marks stands on Taxes!

I recently went to an event in DeBary and I saw and spoke with at least three dozen people that I had not seen since my 2005 campaign. I was very surprised that so many people remembered me and took time to talk with me. Many of the people that I spoke with were interested in some aspect of how and what a city manager should do. I believe that this interest was initiated by Councilman-elect Erickson's successful October, 2007, election victory.

XXX I would like to discuss this topic from an "informational" standpoint. Since I have observed local government for over forty years, these are my ideas and opinions and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of others. There are three main situations that I have observed over the years as an observer of city governments in both South Florida and also in Central Florida.

SITUATION 1. This happens when a city council fails to CLEARLY define the responsibilities of their city manager. In this situation, the council can say: " Gosh. We never told the manager to run the city into the ground that way. We are not responsible." The manager always replies in this manner: " Gosh. Nobody gave me any direction so I did what I thought was right." I have observed this situation in about 70% of the city councils that I have observed. The taxpayers are the losers.

SITUATION 2. This situation happens when a city council attempts not only to define the responsibilities of the manager, but one or more councilmen attempt to implement policy in place of the manager. This "micromanagement" happens in about 20% of city governments that I have observed. Situation 2 is the opposite extreme of situation one, but it results in the same high degree of city mismanagement. The taxpayers again are the losers.

SITUATION 3. This situation happens about 10% of the time. This happens when the council clearly and fairly define the role and responsibilities of a city manager. In addition, there is a highly competent city manager who manages the city in a responsible manner. This is the situation that all taxpayers want, but is the least likely to happen in city government for many reasons.

SITUATION 4. This situation happens when a city council moves from situation 1 back to situation 2 over and over again without ever experiencing situation 3. The city council moves to abolish the position of city manager and the elected mayor becomes a full time job with a full time salary. Usually this is done by amending the city charter.

Both situation 3 and situation 4 serve the People. Situation 1 and 2 are the main reason why so many people speak negatively about local governments.

As a concerned citizen of our great city, I almost weekly go to the city of DeBary web site to read the latest report to the Council and Mayor from our City Manager. That brings me to the subject of this Editorial which is "Who is paying attention?" You might ask "What is he talking about?" Well, in the City Manager's report dated 10/19/07, I note that my street (Marigold Lane) is scheduled for paving on Tuesday, October 30, 2007. There is only one problem with this information. My street was paved last week beginning on the 17th and concluding on the 18th.of October, the day before the date of the City Manager's report. The fact that it appears that the City Manger as well as her staff was unaware of this (otherwise the mistake would not have appeared in her weekly report) I am concerned that nobody is paying attention to this ongoing project that must be costing a decent amount of money. Don't get me wrong, I am both glad and appreciative of the fact that my street which had degraded considerably was repaved. However, someone should be checking up on not only this contractor but any contractor performing services for the City. With the upcoming construction of the new city hall and refurbishment of the old city hall, I hope that someone will be watching!

Thsnks,
Tom Nance
Concerned DeBary Citizen

I have a question for you. Suppose that Councilman-elect Erickson called you and asked your advice as to how he should serve the People when he is sworn on January, 2008. What five suggestions would you give him? (Before you read on stop and write down your ideas).

XXX Now let us see if your suggestions are similar to mine. SUGGESTION 1- Since a city councilman is at the "bottom of the food chain" politically speaking, I would strongly encourage Mr. Erickson to interact with elected county officials, elected state officials, and even elected federal officials. Remember, under our form of government, Federal law is supreme, followed by state law, followed by county law and policies, and at the bottom is city law and policies. Much of city government depends on a positive interaction with the "higher" branches of government. SUGGESTION 2- I would encourage Mr. Erickson to be proactive rather than reactive. A reactive official will wait until an event happens and then say: " What do we do?" A proactive official will attempt to see and solve problems BEFORE they happen. SUGGESTION 3 - I would encourage Mr. Erickson to develop a system of management priorities. He should define the : a) short term goals, b) the intermediate term goals, and c) the long term goals that he envisions for the city. City Councilmen often have absolutely no idea how to plan in the intermediate term and in the long term. SUGGESTION 4- I would encourage Mr. Erickson to maintain a positive and realistic attitude at all times during his term. SUGGESTION 5 - I would encourage Mr. Erickson to be a good listener to all sides of any issue. Listen to the city manager, but do your own research. Listen to the other city councilmen, but do your own research. Listen to the city attorney, but do your own research.

Now that the election for seat 2 is over, I would like to congratulate Councilman-elect Erickson. Almost 80% of the voters who voted in that race wanted change.

XXX When I was a candidate in 2005, I was the first to qualify. I qualified early because I was not well known like some other candidates. George Coleman was the next candidate to qualify. George was riding around DeBary in his huge truck with a " Coleman for Mayor" sign on the door while I was walking door to door in the 92 degree heat. After the primary election, there were runoffs in all three races. Three of the candidates were backed by County Councilman Bill Long. The three candidates not backed by Bill Long were George Coleman, Chris Carson, and me, "Van" Conoley. Somehow, we came to be known as the 3C's.

XXX While Chris, George, and I never campaigned together or had a fundraiser together, we were friendly toward one another. During this period I had the opportunity to talk with George Coleman by phone on several occassions. It is my opinion that George Coleman is an extremely intelligent man and many observers of DeBary government fail to see this.

XXX George Coleman and I, over the past two years, have had some political differences. I was saddened by the way Jay Erndl was treated and I have had difficulty accepting that polite applause is prohibited at City Council meetings. It seems that the no applause rule exists because several of our councilmen do not wish to learn what the Public is thinking and how the People really feel.

XXX In the future, I plan to give my "3 minutes" worth at any meeting when I feel the need is justified. Then I shall listen politely while my friend, Mark Meister, offers a rebuttal.

XXX However, with the "new" council in 2008, it will be interesting to me to listen and observe how the political direction changes. George Coleman can seek re-election to the office of Mayor in 2008, if he so chooses. With his political forbore and legerdemain, George Coleman is one politician that I would not sell short.

Just wanted to congratulate Norm for yesterdays result. One down, One to go! When I wrote my citizens' editorial last week, I mentioned that I was leaning towards voting for Norm. To be quite honest, I was leaning so far that it would have taken a hurricane to blow me towards anyone else. I will be supporting Lenny who I think could have a more difficult time since Tillis has a base of support just because I would assume he services many DeBary residents through his extermination business. I hope that the rest of the City Council as well as the unelected mayor (city manager) gets the point made in yesterday's election.

Tom Nance

From Norm: Thank you and to all voters who supported me. It's overwhelming. I'll write more once I collect my thoughts.

I was born in Sanford in 1952, lived in DeBary since October 1988, and have lived in Florida all my life. I can't understand for the life of me why this City Manager and Council insist on developing such a beautiful area here in DeBary. Just because it's undeveloped does that mean it should be, I think not.
The Manager and council need to camp for a week in the area and let the true spirit of this pristine, natural place sink in. Then maybe they will think twice about what they want to do to it. I doubt it.
If you ask me I think it's just poor management on their part for not wanting to save it, or do you think something else is driving them. Hmmm! Shame on them! If, and I pray it doesn't happen, I hope Maryan Courson is standing there when the first tree falls, and all the animals start to scatter. Oh, by the way I saw a Florida Panther, or Cougar dead along side I-4 on my way to work in Orlando the other morning. Keep it up Maryann, make us proud.

Rudy wright. A True Floridian

Feel free to put this on your website.

I was a candidate for DeBary City Council in 2005. I spent eight months walking door to door. I walked seven days each week and I even walked in the rain while carrying my campaign cards in a plastic envelope. Did I enjoy this? Yes, it was a lot of fun and I met a lot of my neighbors that I otherwise might not meet. Did I want to win? Yes absolutely, but not at any cost to me. I made the following statement in 2005 to the print media and it was never published. It was: " I would much rather lose this election on a large voter turnout than win the election on a low voter turnout." XXX Winning an election, for me, is absolutely worthless if I have to sacrifice one scintilla of my honesty, integrity, common sense, or belief in basic values of democracy. When I look at the candidates in the 2007 elections, I wonder if there are other candidates who feel the same way? R. "Van" Conoley

I recently sent a comment to this web site and received an answer from Norm Erickson which ended in him asking me if I wanted my comments posted on Debary POP as a Citizen's Editorial. Because I did not want to be quite honest put my name out there, I did not respond. However, after getting on the site today and reading Fulton's ridiculous response regarding his evaluation of "their city manager", I can't stop myself from jumping into the discussion. The following is my original comment followed by other observations.

Now getting back to Fulton's response regarding the evaluation. Does this man think we are a bunch of idiots? He tells us he sent the evaluation by fax prior to 9/18 yet the fax transmission is dated 10/2/07. Give me a break! I could write more but am wary to do so, suffice it to say "FULTON NEEDS TO GO AWAY"!

I have got to tell you that I am extremely disappointed in the entire city council, the mayor (who appears to be a figurehead) and the unelected mayor, "our city manager". I am a property manager and even though my property is very small compared to the likes of a city such as DeBary, I would have been fired long ago had I conducted myself in the same manner as our city manager has. In addition, if the President of my Board of Directors allowed me to operate as the mayor of the city allows the manager to operate, my President would be RECALLED. It is a shame that the entire council and mayor are not up for reelection since I truly believe that all would be defeated.

I couldn't agree more with Judy (Citizen's Editorial 10/04), Joseph Braxton (Citizen's Editorial 9/26) and almost always with "Van" who is a constant contributor to the Citizen's Editorials on this site. And for Ms. Lori Carroll (Citizen's Editorial 9/23), who is basing her vote on the fact that she received unsolicited political flyers at her home (I guess in 2008, she won't vote for anyone for President), all I have to say is she must be very "bliss"ful if you get my drift. I would like to THANK Norm for sending the unsolicited informative post card to me which I received yesterday and I am leaning towards voting for Norm at this time.

Even though I stated previously that I did not want my name out there, I am

Sincerely,
Tom Nance
DeBary Resident

What does it say about us when we are willing to indulge in a prolonged debate about a skateboard park when we do not have a middle school in DeBary for our children?

MaryAnn Conoley, retired middle school teacher of mathematics and gifted teacher.

My first question is: Why isn't this web site mentioned in our City of Debary Newsletter?
My second question is: Why is a city's success measured by how much it is "developed"?

Here is a suggestion to our mayor, council members, and future council members- As we develop our city, please keep in mind that we, the citizens of Debary, chose to live in Debary because of #1 It's natural beauty #2 It's good schools #3 It's clean and safe neighborhoods and #4 It does NOT have a Wal-Mart or Dollar Store!!!

PLEASE! Let's make Debary a GEM situated in Volusia county.
DO NOT turn us into a Deltona or a Saxon Boulevard!!!

(May I suggest a Mount Dora or a WInter Park?)

Judy

On Monday, October 1,2007, I stopped by DeBary City Hall to read and study the yearly evaluations of City Manager Maryann Courson by the five elected councilmen, As a governmental Watchdog, I always pass out a copy of the annual evaluation at the next city council meeting. I passed out the 2006 evaluation in August, 2006, at a city council meeting.

XXX Since it has been much more than a year since her 2006 evaluation, I assumed that the 2007 evaluations would have been completed many months ago. All of the councilmen had their evaluations completed except for Mr. Patrick Fulton. Strangely when I asked Barbara (Secretary) and Stacey (Clerk) when the evaluations were due, they both stated that they did not know. Let me help, since the last was due in August, 2006, it seems very reasonable that the next would be due in August, 2007.

XXX Individuals may recall that when I checked the "Campaign Treasurer's Report Summary" that was due on September/21/2007, Patrick Fulton was the only candidate who was in violation of Florida's election law. It seems that Mr. Fulton does not wish to follow the same rules and regulations that he applies to others.

XXX In 2004, when Fulton was a candidate and was backed by the powerful County Commissioner, Bill Long, his campaign chest was overflowing with money and contributions. It made me so sad when I noticed that in 2007, the only contributor to the Fulton campaign was Patrick Fulton.

XXX I have heard many people say that Mr. Fulton is finished in the 2007 campaign and does not stand a chance of winning. I do not believe this to be true. I believe that Mr. Fulton's campaign will ignite very soon and this race will be a real barnburner.

R. "Van" Conoley, Watchdog and supporter of clean government for all of the People.

I just wanted to thank the people who have manned this wedsite. It is so important for us to be informed about our community. You have volunteered your valuable to to all of us, and, as a community this is so important to have concerned citizens fight for us.

I look forward to some positive changes on our city council and hope everyone votes first in the October primary, and then in the November election.

Keep up the good work! You guys are great!

Mary Lou Croteau

My family and I will NOT be voting to support Norman Erickson and Lenny Marks in this upcoming election because of their (or their campaign workers') lack of respect for rules... rules that apply to all. I live in a gated community with posted "No Solicitation" signs for a host of reasons... among them being that I don't want to be bothered while I am home, not do I want to have to open my door and find a flurry of campaign paraphenalia at my door. Somebody from these gentlemen's campaigns gained illegal access to a gated community and left this junk on my door... in clear violation of POSTED rules. If you and those that work for/with you cannot follow the simplest of rules like these, how can we expect you to lead? Simply... we can't.

I moved here 8 years ago because the taxes and crime were the lowest in the county (I grew up in Sanford).

There is a still a silent majority here that don't give a rip about about politics and bickering. We believe that the government exist to provide the bare essentials and not the social Marxist style that believe we will tax everything you have and control your lives with it.

I lived in a quiet family area of Deltona until drugs took over. DeBary was our have of rest. Soon after, you added seven more sheriff's deputies. It started looking like Deltona, even though we didn't have the crime. They parked in our grass to catch drivers rolling through a stop sign two blocks away and racking up tickets with the radar.

Skate Park? I used to drive my son to Altamonte Springs to a private skate park and paid good money for him to get in. If it's such a great idea, let the private sector build it.

Growth Management? Your job shouldn't be to stop builders from developing an area that has what DeBary offers. It should be managing the growth with a long-range plan that weans us off of the county services. And, do we really need a consultant to tell us water runs down hill?

DeBary is still home to many retired residents with fixed incomes. Taxes and insurance should not force them from their homes into trailer parks.

You want to serve on the city council? Become a servant. We don't often make our voices heard, but we always vote.

On September 21, 2007, all legally registered candidates for election in the City of DeBary were required to submit a "Campaign Treasurer's Report Summary" to DeBary City Hall. Ms. Tebo, Clerk, maintains these public records in behalf of the Volusia County Supervisor of Elections and the State of Florida Elections Department. Each report is required to be signed by both the candidate and the treasurer.

I obtained these public records from City Hall at 3:40 p.m. on September 21, 2007, and inspected the reports of the four candidates for Seat 2. They included 1) Mr. Patrick Fulton, 2) Mr. Norman Erickson, 3) Mrs. Carole Fucillo-Ollivier, and 4) Mr. Asher Sherkow.

Since I was a candidate for DeBary City Council in 2005, I had a very interesting experience. Many of my campaign signs that were only placed only in resident's front yards were picked up and destroyed by an employee of the City of DeBary. The excuse used was that my signs were not placed "far enough" back into the yard. Strangely, other candidates who were highly favored by the City Hall Insiders, had signs much closer to the road and these signs remained untouched.

I filed two police reports and filed a statement with the Office of the State Attorney about the destruction of my signs. I also wrote City Manager Courson a letter and received a letter from Councilman Patrick Fulton in return. Mr. Fulton stated: " ... You will ... abide by the law or else your signs will be picked up and destroyed..." I remain very grateful to "Law and Order" Fulton for his advice. Another line from "Law and Order" Fulton's letter states: " I would be shocked if John Tanner (State Attorney) pursues this situation."

"Law and Order" Fulton clearly taught me that there are two classes of people in DeBary. There are people like me who follow the law and there are "other" special people in DeBary who believe that they are above the law. WOW! You could have knocked me over with a baseball bat when I realized this.

The point of all of this is that "Law and Order" Fulton was the only candidate who violated state election law. On "Law and Order" Fulton's campaign report where the treasurer is legally required to sign was the following:" On vacation for two weeks".

Now that I know that old "law and Order" Fulton is a very special person in DeBary, I am going to ask all DeBary residents to overlook "law and Order" Fulton's report. However, I am glad that three other candidates were willing to step up to the plate and take a swing with the bat at unseating "law and Order" Fulton.

In 2005, I was a candidate for the DeBary City Council. Many of my campaign signs that were place in resident's front yards were picked up and destroyed by a city of DeBary employee who claimed that they were not placed far "enough into the yard". Strange that other candidates, who were favored by the "City Hall Gang" did not have the same standards applied to them. I filed two separate police reports and wrote a letter to City Manager Courson. Interestingly, I received a letter, dated September 2,2005, , and signed by Mr. Patrick Fulton stating that I was going to obey the law.

XXX It seems that Mr. Fulton has a lot of experience when it comes to not following the law. Now in 2007, I notice that the only candidate who has signs placed in violation of the law is Patrick Fulton. I plan to drop a copy of Mr. Fulton's letter by the NEWS-JOURNAL and BEACON tomorrow. It seems that Mr. Fulton wants others to obey laws that he ignores.

Editor's Note: "Unauthorized use of the public right of way is prohibited by Florida Law. Illegal use of the right of way is a crime. Each day a violation continues is a separate offense." Section 337.406, Florida Statutes. Each offense may result in a fine of up to $500 or imprisonment of up to 60 days or both. For additional questions or to report illegal use of the right of way, call FDOT State Maintenance Office at (850) 410-5757.

Sept. 13th @2:00pm. Land was donated, how big? stories?
Are the basic infrastructures in place? H2O. sewer, power requirements.
How about parking spaces for all of the "new" employees? and the new city owned trucks?
Why not put it by the new Commuter Rail? It's mixed developement and city can expand to it a la Deltona's city hall.
Save this expensive real estate for future.
This is not 1850 and let's get REAL.

This article that appeared in the Deland-Deltona Beacon by Pat Hatfield is a straight down the line article explaining the process on how the Debary Skatepark would be financed.Also pay attention that County Council Member Pat Northey is instrumental in finding ways to encourage it.Debary City Council Member Danny Tillis is trying to find ways to cut the price some more.This is Pat Hatfields article. Mark Meister

.....................................................................

DeBary skateboard dream may become a reality

GRAPHIC COURTESY CITY OF DEBARY

Park design — This is the DeBary skateboard park's latest look. City Council members approved this drawing provided by Glatting-Jackson-Kercher-Anglin Inc.

Published 9-10-2007

By Pat Hatfield
BEACON STAFFF WRITER

Things are looking sick for DeBary skateboarders.

And that's a good thing. "Sick" now is skateboarder-slang for "good."

At their Sept. 5 meeting, DeBary City Council members OK'd a total of $1.1 million to be spent in phases to construct a skateboard park and amenities within Rob Sullivan Park at 200 W. Highbanks Road.

City Council members expect to get $500,000 of that money through an Environmental, Cultural, Historical, Outdoor (ECHO) grant from the Volusia County government.

"If we don't get the $500,000 from ECHO, it's a no-go," Mayor George Coleman said. City Council members approved the layout presented in the architect's drawing, with the mayor's stipulation the project won't proceed without the grant.

Chances of getting the grant, administered through the county, look good. County Council Member Pat Northey had urged the city to apply for a grant, saying there is funding in the program, and city grant-writer Deborah Gestner began work on the application this summer.

Notification of ECHO-grant awards will be made later this year.

Parks Recreation Director John Fletcher said there's also a good chance of getting another $100,000 grant through the Florida Recreation Development Assistance Program, administered under the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. The grant is designed to assist local governments in development of outdoor recreation. Fletcher now is applying for that grant.

That would bring the city's cost down to $510,000.

Resident John Likakis, who's been one of the park's most vociferous critics, on both cost and the earlier planned location at Memorial Park, said, "I was pleased when you moved it to Rob Sullivan Park," but he still wasn't happy with the price tag.

"What are you trying to do? Who are you trying to fool?" he asked, and he accused the council of trying to build a "Taj Mahal."

One cost-saving proposal made a few months ago was to cut the size of the skate area, along with moving it to Rob Sullivan Park, but current plans put the skate bowl back to its original size.

City Manager Maryann Courson said it was her input and Council Member Danny Tillis' that led designers to restore the size, after council reviewed the skate area's proposed location within Rob Sullivan Park. They wanted it closer to West Highbanks Road. Courson pointed out council members unanimously approved the latest design.

Fletcher estimated moving the location saved at least $300,000.

City Council members pointed out only $624,000 of the money will go to building the skate area itself, according to cost projections suppled by designers Glatting-Jackson-Kercher-Anglin Inc. The rest will go to additional parking, an entry roadway, landscaping and amenities to improve the existing park and ball fields.

Council Member Tillis said the additional parking would lessen parking along West Highbanks Road by people attending ballgames, which he described as a hazardous situation.

Tillis said he's trying to bring down the costs further by getting at least some of the concrete donated.

- pat@beacononlinenews.com

The window is now closed for the DeBary City Council races for 2007. The first election will be in October/2007 when the four candidates running for seat 2 will be on the ballot. Seat 1, which is also up for election, will have only one election in November/2007, since only two candidates qualified. The four candidates who qualified for seat #2 are as follows: 1) The Honorable Patrick Fulton ( Incumbent and Vice Mayor of the DeBary Council); 2) Mr. Norman Erickson; 3) Mrs. Carole Fucillo-Oliver; and 4) Mr. Asher Sherkow. The following questions are for these four candidates in hopes that the general Public can make an informed decision based to some extent on the responses from the candidates. XXX 1) Would you write a short 5 sentence summary about yourself? 2) Name two specific goals that you hope to achieve as a council representative a) In the short term (0 to 6 months); b) Two goals that you hope to achieve in the intermediate term ( 6 months to 2.5 years), c) Two goals that you hope to start in the long term ( 2.5 years onward). 3) Do you favor or oppose the use of franchise fees as a means for increasing city revenue. Please explain with specifics. 4) Name two specific areas in the City Budget that you would like to reduce or eliminate. Name two specific areas in the City budget that you would like to increase. Please give both dollar amounts and percentages and reasons. 5) State specific ideas that you would attempt to implement that would increase communication/interaction with: a) County government, b) School Board, c) St. John's River Water Management District and other intergovernmental agencies, d) the State Legislature and/or our representative and senator, e) the Federal Government. 6) Recent changes in State (Florida) Law now require cities within a county to interact with the County School Board. Should our city "sign on" to the County School Board Plan? Explain why or why not and include any modifications and suggestions. 7) Would you estimate how many DeBary residents that you have visited by contacting them at their homes? 8) Which of the following best describes your view as it relates to the effectiveness of the interaction between the City Council and the City Manager? a) Outstanding; b) above average, c) average, d) below average; e) unsatisfactory. Please explain and discuss how you would address this issue while on our City Council. 9) Subjectively, what do you consider to be your greatest strength? What do you consider to be your greatest weakness? 10) Of the following, please list any of the documents that you personally have read/or studied: a) DeBary City Budget noe in effect, b) Volusia County Budget, c) St. John's River Water Mgt Budget, d) the library budget as a subset of the county budget and/or the DeBary Library budget, e) School Board Budget, f) Other city budgets in Volusia County and g) the projected costs associated with the Mass Transportation system for 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2011. Please comment on any or all listed. XXX I would like to thank all four individuals for your efforts and time. I look forward to your responses. Also, it has been my experience that many editorial boards are really not too familiar with specific issues when they endorse a candidate. You might wish to present a copy of these answers to the print media if you choose to talk with them.

R. "Van" Conoley, DeBary resident, DeBary homeowner, independent Watchdog and former candidate in 2005.

I am thrilled that Debary has purchased land for a new park (River City Nature Park) and has voted to take part in the commuter rail system to link us to Orlando and, eventually, Deland. These are positive steps for our city to take.

I was not so thrilled, however, to learn about developer Joe Krzys of Naples and his attempts to have Debary change its zoning laws so he can build luxury homes and a marina on our St. John's River. The proposed area falls under protected waters.
Do we as citizens of Debary really want to pollute our beautiful river and futher endanger our beloved manatees? Do we even need another subdivision in Debary when there are so many homes on the market right now?

Changing our laws to suit a develper's needs is simply WRONG!
Also, I have heard something about Debary possibly building a shopping mall? Is this correct? Will it be as successful as the one in Orange City? That "mall" looks like a ghost town.
Again, giving in to developers is simply WRONG for Debary. We are better than that.

For the record: these two editorials came in before Mark Meister's. They are not in response to what Meister wrote. Norm Erickson

Why would anyone trust the current council when they are having non-public meetings with developers? It seems that each council member came away with a different story on what the developer is going to do. If they would meet in a public forum there would be no doubt what was said.

Who is running DeBary anyway? The developers, city manager or the council?

I do not understand why the city residents of Debary pay such high taxes and "fees". If you have a cellular phone (which probably most of us do) take a look at the "Debary City Tax" fee, What the hell is that? This is the start of my questioning and raising of eyebrows today. My big question is "Why do we pay some of the highest taxes in the County?" We get no city services, still contract service by Volusia County for most all of our needs. How many employees does the city of Debary have? Come on folks, wake up!

Maryann makes over $95,000 a year (plus benefits)!! This is to run a city with a handful of employees and contracted services? This is absolutely ludicrous! Compare her salary with that of city managers of comparable citys. She is WAY overpaid with OUR tax dollars. I am sorry, I do not feel I am getting the best bang for the buck, so to speak.

This city commission just rubberstamps each others ideas and personal agendas. I agree with some of the comments on both sides of the commuter rail argument. It is coming and we should work with it, but our own governing body is not working in the best interest of the City. We have big business involved in our communities government folks!! It is about who is going to make money and get kickbacks.

I do not agree we need big business or more business in Debary. We area residential community. Help pay taxes you say. FOR WHAT? Why are we continuing to get bilked by a government that pays $95,000 for a city manager and $5,000 a month for a grant writer? What does the city manager do for 40 hours a week with such a small community? It is OUR money and I WANT some accountability. I won't even get started on the budget process right now. Our city government is a mess and I will be involved in it. I am a younger citizen, but have lived here for 14 years and have seen us spiral downward. We need to get involved, demand accountability and expect to see a return on OUR investments as a community. Just remember that absolute power corrupts absolutely!!

For the people.

Marc Kovacs

Solution to V.G.M.C. Representative

In the past few months,we have had a difficult relationship with the Volusia Growth Management Committee.The controversy stems from the marina and Jay Erndl’s performance as a representative of Debary in this committee.The city’s answer to the problem was to nominate Danny Allen to the position.I do think Mr. Allen would make a good representative but the controversy surrounding how he was selected to this position has raised some red flags within our city.In my opinion,this would hamper Mr. Allen from performing his job and affect the integrity of our city.Unfortunately we have to think of other alternatives to effectively serve the better interests of our city and put away the doubt that has been raised.

My solution is a very good one and I think will be a positive influence with the county.I was talking to Eugene Stump and he has said that he served on the V.G.M.C.
in the late ninties.The only reason that he stepped down was because of family obligations.

My first thoughts were here is an experienced individual who believes in bringing business into the area.He is always proeducation and has county influence with the School District.He would represent our city fairly and does not have an agenda except for our kids education.Mr. Stump would be proactive for our city and could be that piece of the puzzle that Debary lacks when it comes to County Government and the School Board.

Mr. Stump is a qualified and plausible nominee for this important position.
This would also take the heat off the city for the Erndl decision and place an upstanding individual that has the experience.Lets do the right thing and put Eugene Stump into the V.G.M.C. He is a volunteer that is willing to think of the good of all of the city’s constituents.Its up to the City Council to do the right thing.

Mark Meister

It is time for Maryann Courson to resign as city manager of DeBary. If Ms. Courson does not resign, it is imperative that our elected city council terminate her employment with the City of DeBary. The following are reasons why Ms. Courson should resign. I state the reasons from the perspective of a homeowner, a taxpayer, a registered voter, and a resident of DeBary.

XXX 1) City Manager Courson seems to believe that it is the job of a city manager to collect as much revenue as possible. Revenues are increased for a city when one of three things transpire: a) New houses or other permanent structures are built, b) the city tax millage rate is increased, or c) new taxes are levied on the People usually in the form of hidden taxes called "franchise fees".

XXX City Manager Courson made it clear to everyone that she favored an increase in the city tax millage rate. While opposed to this, I had no problem whatsoever with the manager expressing her viewpoint. However, to bolster her arguement for a higher tax rate, the city manager released a list of the names, addresses, and amount of taxes paid by individuals who were receiving some form of tax remission on their property taxes. I considered this extremely inappropriate and unprofessional and downright underhanded.

XXX Also, Ms. Courson, while speaking to a DeBary resident stated that another DeBary resident did not pay any property taxes. I considered this extremely unprofessional conduct on the part of the city manager and certainly grounds for dismissal. City manager Courson guided the City Council and encouraged them to impose a franchise fee on all electric bills. She even encouraged a higher fee than what the council approved. This was done so covertly that many DeBary residents are not even now aware that they pay this new and extremely regressive tax. In my view, the manager should have been open about the franchise fee and should have explained it fully in the monthly city newsletter. I consider it extremely unprofessional that little attempt was made to inform the Public BEFORE the council voted to impose one more tax on the People. 2) The DeBary City Council voted to give TAXPAYER money to a political action committee(PAC) in 2006. In my view, any city manager with an ounce of moral integrity would have urged the council to avoid this action. Also, there was no notice to citizens in the monthly newsletter BEFORE the PAC vote. 3) You would think that a city manager who is paid about $95,000/year in salary would know how to write grants and would do so. Also, you would think that with a highly paid assistant city manager there would be a second qualified grant writer at city hall. Yet city manager Courson convinced the city council to hire a grant writer at $5,000/month. When I spoke to the grant writer, she had a lot of excuses for not collecting grant money. 4) City manager Courson seems to have the responsibilities of her position somewhat confused. It seems to me that Ms. Courson is much more interested in representing developers and builders than working for the People of DeBary. Ms. Courson recommended that the city of DeBary remove Jay Erndl from the Volusia Growth Management Council (VGMC). Possibly she thought that Mr. Erndl might not vote for her friends, the developers and home builders. To my absolute amazement, the city council voted to remove Mr. Erndl even though he had done nothing wrong. (Legal actions resulted from this decision and the city's costs were financed with your tax dollars.)

XXX It is clearly long past time for Ms. Courson to resign. I would like to suggest that Ms. Courson become a lobbyist in Tallahassee for the developers and home builders. Heaven knows that she has had a lot of practice in promoting the special interests of developers and home builders during her tenure as DeBary City Manager.

I Agree and Disagree!!

I tend to agree with Norm Erickson when it comes to the commuter rail.I have been involved with public transportation and a supervisor for six years.Commuter rail and mass transportation does not pay for itself.As for saying that it will be a total unsuccessful venture,I totally disagree.It all depends on how we use the system and what projects would it tend to bolster.Here are my thoughts:

1.Lets face the facts that Debary cannot survive with a giant bubble over us,protecting us from the “outside world”.Residential growth is on a tailspin and I for one am thankful to see a slower trend.What we need is businesses coming to our city for more revenue.We have relied on residential taxes for so long of a time and before we know it,we are not going to afford to live in this city because of it it.Our reluctance to invite major companies to build in this area has caused much of our problems.Lets use the rail to transport employees from other cities to our fair city and give incentives that will draw in potential businesses instead of transporting them out to other cities to work.This will put a small chunk out of commuter traffic off the roads.

2.We need to sponsor affordable transportation resources at all the train stops including ours.People need to move once they have arrived at our city destination.We need some kind of shuttle system or taxi service that would bolster the economy too.We need a base company within our own city.It has to be quick and affordable,the two words that people want to hear.Have Votran be a backup system for longer hauls to Deland and points east.

3.Mixed use zoning will be essential around our railstation.We again need businesses that will feed the transportation system and having restaurants,shops,and other commercial establishments will make the people come to our city to spend money.We just have to be selective on the type of businesses that will promote our city.

4.We will have two nature parks to attract people.Gemeni Park and Debary Nature Park could be a decent attraction that will keep our visitors here and spend their money in our city.We also need to clean the waters to Gemini Springs and this too will attract.We want to show the rest of central Florida that we have a pristine beauty as well as a prosperous outlook for our city.

Lets face the facts.Commuter rail is coming and the best thing for us to do is patronize it instead of alienate it.Lets take on a positive spin on things instead of a negative outlook.It is time for the good people of Debary to see the glass may be half full instead of half empty.Negativity spurns negative results.Lets try to look at the positive aspects of our city instead of drawing upon the negative.We cannot always remain in this “boy in a bubble” philosophy that we have adopted over the last few years if we are to succeed.We can embrace it our we can detest it.Lets make this city a prosperous one instead of that town you ride through to get from Orange City to Sanford.
Mark Meister

Let's embrace the commuter rail? Did we ever have an opportunity not to embrace it? Did citizens vote on this? It's their money that will be paying for it interminably. This was a done deal. In addition, the Commuter Rail Committee isn't talking about the commuter rail, they are talking about things that weren't discussed before the vote: growth, businesses, retail centers. I know the commuter rail is coming, I didn't know growth was a part of it as all of the arguments before voting the rail in were about how it would reduce vehicles, not create situations for more vehicles.

My point is the commuter rail was about reducing traffic before the vote, and after the vote, after the taxpayer's money was secured, we're told growth and businesses are in order and traffic problems won't be decreased. Indeed, in today's Orlando Sentinel there is a whole article on how traffic is going to get worse.

I'm not really arguing the issue of having the train or not, I'm using the text of an article about the first Commuter Rail Committee that highlights growth around the stations when before the vote the reduction of traffic was the reason for the train station. That's not being negative; that's called, not allowing the past to be re-written by the powers that be. It was sold to us as a way of reducing traffic; no one said we needed to build centers of any kind around it to make it viable.

Today the city has opened bid packages for the new city hall>Oct12th
Daytona paper pg. 13. 9/01/07.
Also fix current meeting hall? Where to build and at what costs to JOE taxpayer?
The municipal fee and increased rates on electric bill and such are an abomination. Need a roll-back. To the old rate of 7% Growth has gone from 8,000 to 19,ooo accounts .Can not the city maintain a budget?
Wed. 5 Sept. council will probably rubber-stamp the new county code update(50pages, has anyone read it?)
Comments?

In 1993 we paid 7% on utilities. fast forward to 2007 we now pay 10% and a 4% franchie fee??

In 1993 the base was around 8,000 to 9,000 payers now it's close to 19,00 payers.
Yet when you ask the City they say it's from the county? Sure it costs money to run a city! Has the council ever had a budjet? or even tried to work within it?
Shades of Wal-Mart. can we get a roll-back?

Reminds me of the new ATT Ad. It is only $99.00 dollars and we "Kids" will be at the Wison's.
Stop by the house and I'll pack your clothes. I NO LONGER HAVE A MONEY TREE.

What is the Council going to rubber stamp on Sept. 5th.? It came from the County? Has anyone read it? 40-50 pages How will it impact Joe ciizen?

I very much enjoy the articles written by R. "Van" Conoley (I guess the R. stands for Ralph and the "Van" is short for Vanlin), known as "The Watchdog." His articles are interesting, insightful, and often humerous. "The Watchdog's" latest article on the 10 question quiz was very thought provoking. The public wants more of this "watchdog" who may wish and reconsider and start referring to himself as "The Conscience." Has this gentleman considered another run for public office, either in DeBary or on a higher level. The city, county, school board, and the state legislature could use a man like "The Watchdog" on its dias. I say to you, Mr. R. "Van" Conoley, the conscience of Central Florida, run, watchdog, run and save us from these career politicans whose only interest is in keeping power.

I welcome Mark Meister's pregnant comments about my governmental quiz.
> R. "Van" Conoley

Really enjoyed reading about strengthening the democratic process. The idea of taking the time to really see what is going on is so important. All to often, elected leaders would rather you did not know! City Managers can really be like CEO's. Some are deeply invested in their cities and others are only doing things to strengthening their resumes to get the next bigger job.

It sounds like a little work to get involved but its your money. Taxes and individual expense to do what the city ought to be doing can be very expensive. A "stock holder" or citizen can not really afford to ignore this investment.

I am very pleased to see Norm and Lenny take a stand and try to get some change occuring to bring DeBary back to a normal operating mode. The city management is not listening to the needs and concerns of all of the citizens. I have been sitting back and watching for years all of the changes. The things that are occuring are not helping us as a community. We have contract services from the county, a handful of employees and we have some of the most simple issues to deal with, yet they seem to get buried in personal agendas by commissioners. I am tired of it. Some of my OPINIONS in watching the things going on are below.

As for the skateboard park: Take a good long look at that kind of park. The people using it will be coming from all around, not just Debary. There will be criminal activity increasing, not necessarily from those using it, but from everyone else passing through and hanging out there. It is a fact, look at other communities that have these parks. It will cost more in crime and Law Enforcement protection, guaranteed.

The road issues in Orlandia Heights and Fort Florida areas.....I think the roads should be improved, but who will pay? These areas for years wanted to be left out of the pavement loop and take care of their own grading and maintenance. People purchase homes in those areas, knowing about the roads. These road issues are part of that community. "Don't buy next to an airport and complain about the noise". If those communities want improvements then their associations (organizations, etc) should bear some of the financial responsibility and not hope that some magic development will be the cure all. Once again, everything has a price when dealing with business.

Storm Water: As with the above...someone has to bear responsibility. We have allowed more and more homes and subdivisions creating drainage problems. The city needs to challenge the developers, that are making money, for reimbursement to fix their development caused problems. I again do not feel as a taxpayer I should pay for Glen Abbey's drainage issues caused by their developers failure to properly plan. WE NEED to hold people accountable. We just jack taxes and pay for the improvements that should have never been needed. Maybe the city pays and then pursues those responsible? I don't know, but why are our tax dollars paying for corporate mistakes?

The County and City are negotiating for a new Fire Station (which is desperately needed) and maybe moving the station and adding another one to increase coverage. The simple answer I got on the building was "we will just put it up as a bond issue". Those never pass, why do I vote to increase my taxes for a building that should be built out of existing funds and tax revenues? The city pays $1 million a year for contract fire services. That is for 9 Firefighters assigned to Debary and one Engine. There are now a small handful of volunteer Firefighters (less than 10) that are being weeded out by the County and Internal politics. I am involved in budgeting and know the costs involved with public safety. This seems like an awful lot of money for a Fire Truck that is in exess of 8 years old. The Volunteers have purchased a majority of equipment on the trucks with the picture drives and other fund raisers, so where does this money go?

I have so much more, but have probably upset a few people here. That was not my intent. Please look at my comments and read them from a neutral point of view. My whole underlying tone is "Accountability". This city has none and we are allowing the commission to make decisions based on personal opinion, not the needs and desires of the community that elected them. The people need to take back our town and do things with the best interest of a majority of the citizens.

Take care, be safe and get involved.

One real short message.A quiz is an unscientific way of changing the issues to suit the one how developed the quiz.The basis of the point system is highly suspect and is a method that shows bias instead of fact.The whole idea was to psycholgically mislead the reader into pointing to the negativity instead of keeping an objective opinion.

This is what I wrote in debarypop!!

I invest some money in common stocks and this requires that I study the structure and management of each corporation. Each corporation has a board of directors and a chief executive officer (CEO). The CEO is the boss of the corporation and is supposed to take his instructions from the board. Some corporations have a real board that represents the stockholders. Other corporations have a board of insiders that do not represent the stockholders, but consists of a group of sleazy individuals who are only out to promote their own Machavellian financial interests. Enron was a corporation that is an example of bad management.

XXX A city government is like a public corporation with the city council members acting as an elected board of directors for the city. The voters are the stockholders and the CEO of a city is usually called the city manager. The city manager is hired and fired by the city council and is required to carry out the wishes of the city council.

XXX Unfortunately, some corporations have an incompetent board of directors and some cities have an incompetent city council. I have listed 10 questions that an individual voter should ask in order to evaluate his/her city council and manager.

XXX IF THE ANSWER TO A QUESTION IS AN " EMPHATIC YES', score 10 points. IF THE ANSWER TO A QUESTION IS AN "EMPHATIC NO" , SCORE 0 POINTS. If the answer is somewhere in between, select the appropriate score.

XXX 1)Do the members of your city council listen carefully and respectfully to the People? 0 to 10 points. 2) Do all of the members of your city council participate equally at city council meetings? 0 to 10 points. 3) Are all of the individual council members able to articulate ideas independently from those expressed by the city manager? 0 to 10 points. 4) Are all of the council members able to demonstrate clearly that they have a clear understanding of the city budget and the financial process? 0 to 10 points. 5) Do the members of your city council actively look for problems and prevent these problems BEFORE they happen? This is known to management theorists as proactivity. 0 to 10 points. 6) Do the members of your city council place the interests of ALL of the People before their own political interests? 0 to 10 points. 7) Do the members of your city council speak and act in a truthful manner? 0 to 10 points. 8) Do the members of your city council know how to represent the welfare of all of the People in your city when dealing with county, state, and federal officeholders? 0 to 10 points. 9) Do the members of your city council act responsibly during a debate on a controversial issue? 0 to 10 points. 10) Do the members of your city council clearly express the values of: a) honesty, b) integrity, c) common sense, d) willingness to work hard for the People, and e) individual responsibility? 0 to 10 points.

XXX Now add up the ten scores. A score of 90 to 100 represents an outstanding council. A score of 80 to 89 represents an above average council. A score of 70 to 79 indicates a governmental body that is not functioning very well. A score of 69 down to 0 indicates serious failure. Whatever score you awarded your council is the exact score that goes to the city manager.

XXX Changing the members on a council will increase or decrease the score. Also, keeping the council members exactly the same and replacing the city manager with a more competent individual will increase the council score. Unfortunately, keeping the council members the same and replacing the city manager with a less competent city manager, will immediately lower the council's score. After forty years of watching city government, I am extremely confident that this is a valid test.

As a 40 year resident of DeBary with 35 of those years on Madera Road, I am concerned with the information in the above article in toaday's Orlando Sentinel Local and State section. The home owned by Jeff Heneghan is located on Gem Lake, my home on Madera Road is on the other side of Gem Lake. All of my neightbors across the street have their backyards right on the lake. I remember all of the water from Gem Lake that rose into their backyards, covering their septic tanks and reaching the backs of their homes during the 3 hurricane season two years ago. I agree with the statement made by Frank Rohrs about the idea by Mayor Courson to "go ahead and lower the retention pond" that Heneghan thinks is causing the water problems in his rental home and sending that water into Gem Lake. Sending the water to Gem Lake as Mr. Rohrs indicated would be "one of the worst ideas" possible.

The Rohrs and I have lived on Madera Road in DeBary for a long time, much longer that any of the DeBary coucilmen, DeBary mayor, or City Manager. DeBary is not listening to the older residents of this city who were here before DeBary became a city and now are becoming very frustrated every time we see aticles like this in the paper and read about a city government's ridiculous answers to these problems.

Yesterday I learned of this website and am thrilled to be able to send my opinion to it.
Susan H. Crain

After reading the comments by Mr. Burnett about the CRA on debarypop, I would like to suggest one correction. Mr. Burnett stated that the money collected just sits there. Not exactly, the money sits there AND earns interest. The Auditor General is very much aware of this and this is indeed an issue. "Van" Conoley

norman erickson and leonard marks walked the streets of terra alta today. we discussed issues for more than thirty minutes. i feel good about this personal attention.

they expressed their views without reconciling on any issue i put forth (i read and asked many questions).

these polite individuals seeking office explained their position and their hopes for the future of my community in a one on one dialogue.

i will review the positons of all the candidates for office and try to make a fair judgment in casting my vote.

anyone opposing these two concerned citizens has a long, long way to go to get my vote after what i experienced today.

Russ Richall

Norm,
As stated in your notice on the POP site that you will be out of state until the end of July. "Until then. . . vigilance - the quality or state of keeping watch or staying awake; alertly watchful especially to avoid danger". Yes, MANY residents ARE keeping watch over the City's policies and actions. Thanks for a GREAT website. Keep up the GOOD work!
Elaine Swanson

The "Local In-Depth - The Week Ahead" section in Monday, July 16th Orlando Sentinel stated:
"Saturday 21 - IN DEBARY: "Intentional Acts of Kindness Week" kicks off. According to a City proclamation, residents are asked to be nice and practice "respect, generosity, patience and consideration of others at all times in order to create a better, kinder, safer and more peaceful City."

Perhaps our City Manager will take heed to this proclamation and change her arrogant and self-serving ways and practice the Respect, Patience and Consideration of others as this proclamation states.

Oh, I forgot she's not even a City of DeBary resident!

Elaine Swanson

A message to voters:

Lenny is a neighbor of ours and we have known him for years. He is honest and very hard working man of integrity! He is not for spending our money carelessly (I could name a few ridiculous projects)and he won't be "purchased" by special groups. He truly believes in placing people over politics! Please consider giving him your vote, you will not regret it!

Patsie Guglberger

Norm, Lennie, and John deserve a lot of credit for starting and operating the debarypop website. I am a regular reader, and I enjoy sending in an article from time to time.

XXX I first sought public office in South Florida in 1982 ( Wow that was a quarter of a century ago)! I am a strong believer that the People have to keep close watch on government at all levels. This includes: 1) The Federal level, 2) The state level, 3) The County level and 4) The City level.

XXX Also I am a believer that an individual seeking public office can take very strong positions on various issues with integrity and totally avoid all underhanded and sleazy campaign tactics. In 1982, my opponent told THE HERALD: " ... Mr. Conoley is a man of integrity... and I hope he continues to be involved in public service..." This kind statement was made after the incumbent defeated me, still we had coffee together before the election and always were friendly to each other although we disagreed strongly about some issues.

XXX It may sound too egalitarian to some, but I do not consider the blue collar worker who lives down the street from me to be of any more or any less importance than my U.S. Senatoe, my state representative, or my city councilman. I would consider it sleazy to publically criticize my neighbor when he differs from my political beliefs, but I would not hesitate to criticize any publically elected official. Elected officials are answerable to the People!

XXX Unfortunately, the People do not think very highly of elected officials. In 1948, the Gallup survey began questioning people about the integrity associated with different occupations. Elected officials has come in at the bottom of every survey by every major survey organization.

XXX This may account for the fact that fewer and fewer Americans are participating in the "democratic" election process. In 2005, I was in a DeBary City election that I lost by just a few votes. This did not bother me in the least; I enjoyed meeting the People. What bothered me then and still bothers me a lot is the fact that 83% of DeBary's registered voters did not vote in that election.

XXX I now have 861 e-mail addresses of registered voters on my computer, and while I may not use my computer to suggest to people for whom they should vote, I WILL REMIND 861 PEOPLE TO VOTE FOR THEIR CANDIDATE on election day. I want the winner to be elected by a majority of the People the way our Constitution intended.

A point that needs to be made to Mark Meister regarding a recent editorial.

Mark, you said about debarypop.com:

"You tend to write all the opinions and editorials but are biased at times and sometimes abusive with your comments."

Well, Mark, it says something in the Bible about there being a "time for all things." And I’m here to tell you there IS a time to sow, and a time to reap, and by God, Mark, there is a time to expose those who abuse the system, and get them the hell out of office. Doesn’t it make you mad when you find out that an elected official abused the system for his or her own gains??! They’re working for YOU, and they need to be exposed and expelled. Biased? Yes, Erickson, Likakis, and Marks ARE biased.......toward the good, against the bad; and if their words get a bit caustic for you, Mark, remember, they’re on YOUR side, and the bad guys DESERVE the abuse.

Stop defending the bad guys and beating up the good guys, Mark.

When you shine a light on cockroaches, they scurry back into the shadows. For me, debarypop.com is that light.

Thus: We love our neighbor if we love ourselves. We hate our neighbor if we hate ourselves. We tolerate our neighbor if we tolerate ourselves. We forgive others if we forgive ourselves. Thus, self-hatred is the root cause of almost all of the human problems in the world.

XXX However unfair an attitude we assume toward individuals, we start a process that works to justify that attitude. Our prejudices and lies have the power to compel individuals into a conforming pattern.

XXX Power corrupts. But weakness also corrupts. Power corrupts few while weakness corrupts many. Hatred, malice, rudeness, and intolerance are the fruits of weakness. Also, the resentment of the weak does not spring from any injustice done to them but from their inadequacy and impotence. When it is in their power, the weak will destroy weakness wherever they see it.

XXX Fixation on the future prevents individuals from seeing the present and it also prompts individuals to rearrange the past. Entering the future is like visiting a foreign country because it requires a passport that defines our past history. Hence a nation's obsession with history is often an effort to locate a passport to the future. Unfortunately it is too often a forged passport.

XXX It is strange to comprehend that religion is not about God or Church. These are only accessories. The source of religious preoccupation is the self or rather the rejection of the self. Dedication is the opposite of self-rejection.

XXX Far more important than what we know is what we do or want to know. One can often understand the psychology of another person by understanding the reasons for his imperviousness to certain information and ideas.

XXX In the U.S. today, anti-Semitism when directed at Jewish People is readily condemned. However, when anti-Semitism is directed at Arabs and Arab-Americans it is frequently overlooked or tacitly encouraged. The poison of anti-Semitism has totally destroyed America's ability to develop a comprehensive plan to work with all countries in the Middle East.

I would like to congratulate the BEACON for the very excellent article by Al Everson titled: "Tapping the river for water". This excellent article appeared in your April 5, 2007, edition.

XXX In 2005, when I was a candidate for City Council in DeBary, I decided that it would be wise to learn everything possible about water issues in Western Volusia County. The 2004 floods that left so much of DeBary under water needed to be addressed.

XXX I called the St. John's River Water Management District office and asked them to send me all public documents available from their agency. They mailed them; the package that I received weighed over 11 pounds. I read the entire package over the next three weeks.

XXX Mr. Everson's fine article covered all important points in a readable summary form. There is nothing that I can add to Mr. Everson's article about Central Florida since he covered the topic extremely well. However, I would like to add some facts to his fine article that apply to the United States and the world.

XXX While, we in West Volusia County were fighting the floods in 2004, the rest of the U.S. and much of the world was suffering from a serious and growing water shortage! The world water shortage is a recent event of the last 50 years of recorded history. With the development of powerful diesel and electric pumps, mankind has been able to deplete many of the world's acquifers. The use of these pumps began on a worldwide basis in the 1960's with the drilling of millions of water wells to help poorer countries. The water was frequently used for agricultural purposes to help poorer countries grow their own food crops. Unfortunately, the amounts of water withdrawn far exceeded the acquifer's recharge capacity from rainfall.

XXX About 70% of all water used by mankind is used for irrigation to grow food crops, 20% by industry, and 10% for use by individuals. One of the astounding facts that I learned through my research is that it takes about 2,000 pounds of water to produce two pounds of grain! Here in the U.S., the huge Ogallala aquifer which extends from South Dakota southward all the way to Texas has shrunk in its total water supply by 24% since 1980. Many farmers in the states from South Dakota to Texas have had their wells run completely dry.

XXX The U.S. has been an exporter of grains for the rest of the world. Unfortunately this trend may not continue for long since the U.S. may not have enough water to grow food to feed the American people. In the next ten years, it will be necessary for the U.S. to build huge desalination plants to convert seawater to water usable for agricultural purposes so that America will not become dependent on other countries for food the way we are for oil today.

I have used the DeBary Library at least twice a week since my wife and I moved to DeBary. Many weeks, I use it every day it is open. XXX The library is clean and comfortablr and has an adequate supply of materials. Mr. Wayne Matthews, Director, and all of the members of his staff are friendly and helpful. XXX The democrat crooks and the republican crooks in the Florida Laughislature in Georgiahassee are attempting to use our library system to punish the Volusia taxpayers. The crooks in the Laughislature are telling us that our library system will have to cut funding. Less magazines, less books, shorter hours, etc is the message from our legislative crooks. XXX Here is my message to the legislative crooks in the Laughislature from a law abiding and overtaxed citizen: 1) Close every local office of every state senatoe, 2) Close every local office of every state representative, 3) Terminate every staff member of every representative and senator. With all of that state money saved, I now suggest that the legislative crooks expand our public library system and give all members of the library staff a much needed and much deserved pay raise.

I have, for the first time logged on to this website. I thank you for
making it available.
I have watched with interest and frankly distain, at the current
situation with our City Manager, and am not much more pleased with our
City Council. I say it is time to clean house!

In a "post" on the Orlandia Heights website I wrote the following:
Posted: Sat Apr 21, 2007 4:47 pm    
Post subject: DEBARY'S REMOVAL OF GROWTH BOARD MEMBER ILLEGAL   

AM I MISSING SOMETHING? 

I read with great interest (and shock) the article in the News Journal
this morning, as posted on our OH website. 

As I reached the fourth paragraph, regarding the commissioners length
of service, I immediately had to wonder what in the world the council
is doing? How does our city council justify such a move? 

It seems to me an illegal move was made to replace Mr. Erndle for the
sole purpose of putting Mr. Allen on the board, all because he could
make this project fly! 

Our city manager Maryann Courson "Recommended the switch"......and
perhaps she was unclear about the "terms of commissioners" but didn't
anyone else on our city council know the "rules"? 

Our mayor, Mr. Coleman says he understands that the commission has
rules it has to follow but says he "thinks the city has the right to
say yes or no and not the authority we are appointing to". Will
someone kindly translate that statement for me? What in the heck is he
saying? I am not sure that is even a complete sentence! 

I don't particularily care about getting into the reasons we should or
should not support this project. What I do care about is doing things
right and not wrong. We all live in this community and as such, I
believe we should expect our elected officials to be accountable for
their actions. We put them there by election. They supposedly speak
for all of us. As we pay the salary of Maryann Courson, I believe she
should be held accountable for her behavior and her actions as well.
So how the council all allowed this to happen is a bit over the top. 
AM I MISSING SOMETHING?  

I repeat - IT IS TIME TO CLEAN HOUSE!  I have to wonder if the City
Manager's job was up for "election" would she have a job? I think not.
However our tax dollars are paying her salary for her
incompetence/forgetfulness/flubbing - or whatever.............
There you see your tax dollars at work folks! Who is going to fire
her? Oh yeh maybe the City Council can.  I think not - I am just not
impressed and MR ERICKSON you best be running for office and not
change your mind!  I am sick to death with seeing articles in the
paper about our little "bedroom community" performing unsavory antics,
over and over and over.  Good grief, so much for ethics! I watched
with embarrasment the recent video tapes of the meetings, and was
reminded of why my husband and I stopped going. They are a joke!  And
what in the world are they doing still meeting at 11:00 pm!?  You
cannot tell me people are at their best at that hour!  
Things are such a mess - and it desperately needs to be cleaned up and
NOW!
I am not a politically savy person - but I know the difference between
right and wrong.

Gloria J. Holloway

I decided to write this editorial to inform the people.A couple weeks ago,Norm Erickson and Lenny Marks announced that each were running for a seat on the Debary City Council.Since this has happened,all the editorials that are being published are political advertisements on behalf of these two potential candidates.I am finding it interesting that all of their words are attacks on their opponents and not discussing the issues and giving any answers that would be beneficial to the city.

1.Is Debary pop going to be a voice of ALL the people or just what POP deems beneficial to their collective ideals and promoting their chances of election.

2.Since Erickson and Marks are debating their chances of election,will they be effective in running this site.As candidates,they are also subject to Sunshine Laws standards and are not allowed to speak on city matters unless its on a public forum.

3.Erickson has been busy attacking The City Manager about minutes in a workshop and not as interested when it comes to the budget and other matters that are important in the city of Debary.Does this sound like politics to you?

4.I was asked permission to publish my speach on the site from the last regular council meeting and when they found out that my arguements do not agree with theres,they did not post it !!

I also posted an editorial about Costa's new development and what is on the site now?

Take a look and see what you think.Their political ambitions are listed ahead of citizens editorials.

While I am writing this editorial,I would like to announce that I will NOT be running for political office this year.I have sat back and decided that I will be a voice for the people of Debary instead of a political puppet.I will be more effective and be able to serve this city in other capacities rather than glorifying my ego for political ambitions.

We have a long road to travel and many issues to work out.When it comes to election time,we have to decide which direction this city has to take.One step forward or two steps backward.These decision are in the hands of the people.

DeBary POP is open for all citizens to send in editorials. If Patrick Fulton or Danny Tillis want me to create their own link on the website to host their platform for candidacy, all they have to do is send an email that reads thusly, “Norm, can you please create a link on the website for my candidacy information? Thanks.” Of course, once it is on the website, it is open to discussion, rebuttal, etc, as is any information.

Anything I have to say about Councilmen or the City Manager is based on fact that is then followed up with commentary. Your intimations at the end of the email of being “puppets” and “glorifying my ego for political ambitions” are baseless. Remember Mark, it was the City Manager who insulted you about your medical condition. It was our Vice Mayor who was meeting with developers not in public to discuss the development where YOU live. It was the Vice Mayor who LIED to you on the record stating he did not say, “We will lose the Costa lawsuit.” I then went up at the next meeting and shoved his own words down his throat suggesting that he apologize to you. Did he?

Watch Dogs or Media Hounds?
>
> I would like to start by apologizing for
> two errors in my statement that I wrote
> before.I was mistaken because of the timing
> of your announcement of your candidacy by
> saying a couple of weeks.Although you did
> not announce you were running,one could
> asseverate that at least one and maybe two
> were running for the two council seats.and
> have been jockeying for many of months and
> I would have wagered that this would have
> happened from March or before.
> I was also wrong on the Sunshine laws and
> stated that they would be in place while
> you were candidates but I was mistaken and
> it wouldn’t be in place unless you won the
> election.This brings up another interesting
> question that I will ask if indeed your
> endeavors are successful.Do not count your
> chickens till they are hatched.
> I am one of those few citizens that do
> stick around to the last of the meetings
> and have seen for my own eyes that you are
> swooping for the media and are pushing the
> story.This is a good tactic for politics
> and sometimes I wonder if all of this is
> overkill and a bit obsessive.I have talked
> to the press on more than one occasion but
> to hunt them down and prey on them tends to
> make me feel uneasy.I have a tendency to
> ask what the true motives are and are they
> really for the city or political ambition.
> Lets take the marina for instance.You were
> against the marina and Mr. Kryss developing
> at the river bend.This was key to the people
> of Ft. Florida Rd. to get key essentials
> such as clean water,a paved road,and tax
> revenue for the city.You claim that you did
> not support this because of the effects on
> the environment when these ecological
> situations are happening already.It is great
> to protect the manatees and all the other
> aquatic species but what about our own
> species.Wouldn’t you think that we would
> set up speed zones and keep the weekend
> warriors away that are truly destroying the
> environment.
> Another situation that was overplayed was
> the minutes for your “big box retail”.An
> error was made indeed and it was corrected
> but I doubt that anything would have come
> of it because the people would have stood
> up and debated this issue pro or con as
> usual.Again another blitzkrieg of the press
> for a situation that was done on a workshop
> and not on a regular meeting where you have
> to have two readings and two majority votes
> for anything to happen.What is wrong with
> Debary having a Walgreens and a Dollar
> Store anyway?Do we not have to have some
> kind of diversification to keep our city a
> healthy one?By the way,these things do
> effect the budget.
> Lets take the debarypop site.For the
> longest while,it seemed that I was the only
> one that did write on this site.I waited
> and waited for other people to exchange
> ideas but only a few did .I still do not
> see much action on the site except for the
> POP staff and myself.You claim all these
> editorials and hits but I see hardly anyone
> writing.Getting hits is great but how
> useful is it if only the few express their
> ideas and opinions. Sometimes I felt as if
> I was on a desert island of political
> expression and many of times biased
> opinion.
> Most candidates were intimidated about using
> your site as a political forum.You tend to
> write all the opinions and editorials but
> are biased at times and sometimes abusive
> with your comments.I too fell into that trap
> and did my share of abusiveness but I am man
> enough to know that you can get your point
> acrossed without being hateful or
> spiteful.This I do apologize to each and
> everyone that I may have done this to.If
> Danny Tillis or Patrick Fulton do not
> present their ideas,than I would suspect
> that this would be the reason.
> The Maryann and my medical situation that was
> brought up again.Yes,I was openly upset at the
> remarks that were made and when I presented my
> case,she did not publicly apologize.She did
> privately apologize to me after that same
> meeting and I considered the matter closed
> until it was brought up again.She was truly
> sorry for the misunderstanding.
> As for Patrick Fulton,I cannot really prove
> that he did meet illegally with the
> developers.The communications might have been
> there but I cannot say what was said.As for the
> comments about Patricks statements about Empire
> Cattle and the litigation,I would have to say
> you were right.He did say this on many of
> occasions and this I cannot defend.He said this
> in media and in public meetings.He has done
> much to improve his standing and redefine his
> life.On many occasions I agree with many of his
> statements and I shall reserve judgement until
> the election gets closer.
> One statement was made by me that you took out
> of context and maybe I did not explain myself as
> good as I should have.When I said I was not
> running for council,The comment was made that I
> did not want to become a political puppet and
> glorify my ego.This was not aimed at you but
> simply I was making a statement about me and
> that I was not going to allow an election to
> effect me and turn me into a puppet just to win
> a seat on the council.I feel that I can do much
> more by being vocal and in my own way,a watchdog
> for this city.If you took this statement
> wrong,than I have two conclusions.Either it was
> a misunderstanding of communication or I may
> have hit a raw nerve.I cannot read minds,but
> inlies the statement whether debarypop is either
> a watchdog or a media hound.The people will have
> the choice in the upcoming election.
>
> Mark
> Meister

Mark Meister
>
> 146 Pine Tree Drive
>
> Debary
>
>
> Good evening Councilmen and Ladies and gentlemen of the audience,
> I have been reading and listening to the
> whole situation of the “rezoning “
> controversy about the policy 5.403 and the
> updates of all the maps that was first
> brought up on March 21,2007.This is
> concerning text changes to the Village Center
> Overlay and to allow larger retail.The fact
> that this was a workshop meant that no vote
> can be made unless it is done in a monthly or
> special meeting that is assigned to by the
> City Council.
> The minutes were accepted by the council on
> June 5,2007 of this workshop.I do believe if
> my memory is correct during workshops,policy
> cannot be changed but discussed.This also
> means that one cannot change the
> Comprehensive Plan unless you have two
> different readings and a majority vote by
> City Council.
> As regards to policy 5.403,all that was
> agreed upon is that the maps would be
> updated and made legible.No changes were
> made on the Comp. Plan nor can they without
> the proper procedure.This is a misconception
> and is very misleading and to take away any
> controversy,I would ask the Council for
> discussion and/or explanation of this matter
> to put it to rest.
> Now for the whole situation concerning Mr.
> Erndl and the Volusia Growth Management
> Committee and all the controversy concerning
> this.Maybe the whole situation could have
> been handled in a better manner.Waitng until
> the end of a meeting is not the way I see
> this matter being taken care of and probably
> should have been handled in a more delegit
> matter or an agenda item for discussion.This
> is neither here nor there as it concerns the
> situation at hand.The questions are was Mr.
> Erndl doing his job to the best interests of
> the city and was he supplying the important
> information as it regards to the city and
> this most important committee? I can only
> go by that particular meeting and what was
> said ,but if I recall,the comments were made
> that he was not supplying the reports and
> information to the City and he ARGUABLY was
> not looking out for the best interests of
> Debary.
> I cannot say whether he was supplying
> reports and information and have to fall
> back on the information of that particular
> meeting and discussion.I serve on the
> Economic Development Advisory Committee and
> if I was not doing the proper job,than I
> would expect to be asked to step down and
> replaced by someone more qualified than
> myself.If he was not supplying the correct
> amount of information,than so be it.He
> should have not been “terminated” but
> asked to step down in a quieter and more
> sedate manner.This is my only argument with
> this situation.
> Councilmen and citizens of Debary,It is up
> to us to find the correct direction that
> this city shall take.Councilmen,it is up to
> you to be the peoples voice and make the
> correct decisions for this beautiful
> City.Citizens of Debary,we should have an
> open mind and listen to new ideas and weigh
> them with the old concepts and point this
> city to a positive direction.More
> participation and volunteerism is required
> to make this city an even better place.Lets
> get on with the issues and stop the rhetoric
> that is holding us back.Lets find solutions
> instead of arguments.Lets make the right
> decisions for the people and our great city.
>
> Thank
> you,
>
> Mark
> Meister

DeBarypop.com is, in my view, an educational website that provides information and opinions about local government issues in Southwest Volusia County. I submitted this article about the U.S. Congress because I firmly believe that it is impossible to understand local government unless one understands how Federal, state, and county governments work. XXX

While it might be a tad unfair to say that 100% of the members of Congress are crooks, I am extremely comfortable stating that at least 98% of congress people are either Democrat crooks or Republican crooks. Our Congressional crooks have formed an unholy alliance with lobbyists. The working-middle class Americans are the true victims of this unholy alliance since our Congressional crooks reward their friendly lobbyists with many of our tax dollars directly and indirectly. The reason that our congressional crooks are so kind to lobbyists is mainly because lobbyists give money to congressmen and raise huge amounts of money to fund congressional campaigns. XXX

Lobbying is estimated to be a $1.7 BILLION business that travels a well established path of corruption in Washington. Since lobbyists are required to register, we know factually that there were 38 lobbyists for every congressperson in the last session of congress. The pharmaceutical industry alone employes more than 600 lobbyists and there are only 535 members of congress! XXX

Possibly you might wish to become a lobbyist since it is a very high paying job. Lets take a look at Chet Lott. Chet was working for a pizza delivery service when he decided to give up pizza and become a lobbyist. His extraordinary knowledge of pizza qualified him to lobby for BellSouth, the National Thoroughbred Racing Association, and a major munitions maker. Did I mention that his father is Senator Trent Lott (R-Miss). Josh Hastert developed extensive lobbying experience by owning a small record store. Josh joined the powerful lobbying firm, Federal Legislative Associates (FLA). Did I neglect to mention that his father is Dennis Hastert, former Speaker of the U.S. House? The sons of Senators Harry Reid (D-Nev), John Breau (D-La), Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), and Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) are also lobbyists. Add sisters, brothers, wives, girlfriends, etc and the list goes on and on. XXX

Besides shafting the working-middle class, Congress is always glad to help the rich and super-rich avoid laws that apply to average people. President George W. Bush was on the board of Harkin Energy while Vice-President Chaney was CEO at Halliburton. Both of these corporations created shell corporations in offshore tax havens to avoid paying their share of U.S. taxes. XXX

Well you might ask: " Is there anything that both Democrat crooks and Republican crooks agree to?" Our congtessional crooks agree absolutely on the need to keep third parties out of the U.S. Congress. Every industrialized democracy in Western Europe has third parties in their national legislature. Third party candidates play the role of Watchdogs and criticize the major political parties. Each year in America it gets harder and harder for any third party candidate to enter the political arena. The lobbyists and congressional crooks love it since some honest people in Washington might do something sensible for the American People. XXX

Sadly every aspect of local government is to some degree controlled by the congressinal crooks in Washington, and you wondered why local government had some problems.

I recently read Mark Meister's "non-opinion" of the termination of Jay Erndel. Mr. Meister is indeed welcome to his opinion however it was formed. Before I made one single statement about this issue, I drove over to Mr. Erndel's house and spoke with him. I was extremely favorably impressed. Now I look forward to hearing the statements made by the council members who voted to remove him. One of the bestreasons for telling the truth is it brings forth more truth. When someone lies, they often have to continue lying to cover up the facts. I am eagerly waiting for the facts as viewed by out distinguished Councilmen. Van Conoley

Dear Volusia Resident:
>
> I am writing about the proposed "Country Estates at River Bend"- a
> large
> marina, commercial, and residential development on the St. Johns
> River near Blue
> Springs State Park in the Wekiva River Aquatic Preserve.
>
> As you may know, after reviewing the city's application, on April 12
> the
> Volusia Growth Management Commission (VGMC) staff issued a staff
> report that
> contained numerous objections to the proposed development, on
> environmental,
> traffic, archeological and other grounds.
>
> On May 2, after a court hearing and a lot of publicity, the VGMC
> staff met
> with Debary city officials. (As far as I know, no members of the
> public were
> present at that meeting.)
>
> The current status is that at this time "VGMC Planning staff is
> working with
> the Developer's consultants, on behalf of the City, to gather
> additional
> information on the project to determine if conditions can be crafted
> to address
> outstanding concerns."
>
> The "revised" staff report will be provided to the VGMC Commissioners,
> who
> will then vote at a public hearing on whether to approve this
> development.
> A possible date for the public hearing is May 23. Please plan to
> attend the
> hearing. For certain, those Debary residents who favor this
> development will
> be there. Hearing details will be published in the newspapers or you
> can
> email _vgmc@co.volusia.fl.us_ (mailto:vgmc@co.volusia.fl.us) ; the
> city of
> Debary's website will most likely also have that information.
>

Fort Florida Road is the third worst road that I have ever driven. 
One of the other two was in a Third World Country and the other was at
the peak of one of the Rocky mountains.

However, a nice paved road upon which to drive home is not a freebie
in life.  Nor is clear drinking water.  

DeBary city fathers should not give away the downriver environment by
welcoming 500 additional boats to dock on the St. Johns River, in
order to pass the buck of responsibility for providing good roads to
its DeBary citizens over to a developer.

DeBary should pave Fort Florida Road, tax the property owners who live
on and drive upon it and who demand that it be paved, and that will
solve the paved road dilemma without selling out the St. Johns River
for the sake of a paved road.

Residents on Fort Florida Road are not destitute -- far from it.  The
homes on Fort Florida Road are well-appointd, modern, upper-class
homes.  Those residents bought their land at a discount because of the
poor quality of road frontage.  Now is the time for those residents to
step up to the plate and pay their own way and not to manipulate a
third party developer to pave their road for them.  The homeowners
need to quit whining and contribute via a taxing district towards
paving their road frontage, as is done when dirt roads get paved.

Regarding the brown water about which one woman prostituted her young
daughter to the commissioners late in the evening at a public hearing,
having the young girl to carry a gallon jug of brown water to the
podium, begging "Give me clean water":  Those same residents can "Call
the Culligan Man" or any other water treatment company and pay
$50-$100 per month for crystal clear water, not unlike paying a city
or county "water bill", or else those same homeowners can invest
$10,000 in a wholly-owned water treatment system and never pay a penny
after that for their clear water.  

Instead, residents are willing to sell themselves and their children
out for the sake of receiving a paved road to drive home on and clear
water, water for which those same residents will be paying to tap onto
-- nothing comes free.

Why do you want someone else to pay the way for you, Fort Florida
homeowners?  Pay your own way and tell the developer "NO" to 500 boats
docked on the river, bringing 500 boat owners and guests driving on
the "free" paved road past your front door every weekend, together
with 2 cars per household of 250 homes traveling four times per day
past each of your homes on that "free" paved road.

Think, DeBary citizens and fathers.... think about what for what you
are asking, for what you are giving to get it and what you are selling
out to get in return.  

How many of them are there wanting a free paved road?  Eleven homes
plus the city commissioners.  That small group of people has given
over the St. Johns River for a paved road and promises of clear water.

It's a shame.  It's selfish.  It's greedy.

Peggy Belflower


A resident who lives downriver of the proposed marina site.

         Skating Through the Marina


                       I have been very quiet these past couple of
weeks because of some personal family issues
and curiosity on what happens next in the
continuing saga of Debary.I have seen what the
people are writing and taking notice at the
scope of  the debatable issues.At this time, I
would like to give an opinion on some of the
current issues at hand.I have never been one to
mince words and I am not going to start now.I
will go through the issues separately and let
the chips fall as they may.

      1.The skatepark
                       
                      I was pleased this morning to read on debarypop
that instead of arguments,they are willing to
give some solutions.Thank you gentlemen for at
least taking in the consideration of the kids
that do skateboard,bmx,and so forth.I think you
hit it right on the head about converting one of
the other parks into the skatepark and maybe we
can downsize and make it feasible.I do think
these young kids do need a skatepark to practice
their sport without the risk of getting hurt on
our streets.They continuously get “chased off”
of parking lots and sidewalks because no one
wants them trespassing on their property.Lets
make a smaller scaled down version that was
brought up on this very site.
                     I cannot let the comments stand without argument
that Polly Andrews said. I resent the fact that
she has such a bad attitude as to call them
“little darlings” and “little monsters” in the
most sarcastic tones.My son works for  part-time
at McDonalds,averages a 3.75 GPA and is on the
honor roll at Deltona High School.Guess what
Polly,he is a BMX biker also and you have the
nerve of calling him a little monster!! And of
course you had your own agenda when referring to
having  special amenities for the senior citizens
which is all fine and dandy,but do not call my
son a “little monster” because you do not get the
concept of their sport.My son is a well behaved
normal teenager and has never been in
trouble.Enough said on this matter.

      2. The Marina

                     This is one of the first times I have heard a
developer that wants to cooperate with the city
and its outlining communities and add to the
overall infrastructure of  Debary by adding water
and paving a road that our kids buses go down
each day of the week.This marina is a once in a
decade chance of getting services to the southern
end of our fair city without putting 600 units
and bullying our city government.They are adding
a restaurant and a small commercial area,200
upscale homes,a beautiful marina,and protecting
and preserving most of the land as it is
today.These developers are willing to work with
the school district if they are willing to
listen.We are missing the boat here and VGMC and
the county are flexing their muscles.

      3. The Volusia Growth Management Commission

                     This entity ignored their own rules for the
handling of this project and some in the
past.They are always placing restrictions on the
cities and their residents.They constantly delay
and restrict cities until it is too late and
braking the agreement with the developers and
city.This commission has way too much power and
the main reason that it was set up was to aide
the cities and help create a formula for smart
growth. Unfortunately this groups purpose has a
flavor of politics rather then helping the cities
and cateing to lobbying interest groups
instead.Debary has a good case because VGMC
ignored their own timing restraints in dealing
with the city’s request for approval.

          4. Rail Transit

                      I want to go on record once more and say that I
am very skeptical of rail transit.I have written
editorials to this very nature on this site.It
was said during EDAC meetings in which I am a
part of.I do not think it will work,cut and
dry.I have been a supervisor for a transport
company for the west side of Volusia and watch
the park and ride be unsuccessful and I do not
see this project being any different.People are
very independent creatures and like to have
their freedom to go when they want to go and
where they want to go.If gas prices rise to four
dollars a gallon maybe,but this would be the
only way it would work.
                      I have made comments that the best possible
place to have a station would be Ft. Florida
Rd.This would require less construction of
infrastructure and less cost.for the
project.THAT DOES NOT MEAN THAT I AGREE WITH
RAIL TRANSIT!! Mass transportation never pays
for itself and becomes a taxable burden.


                  This is my responses and ideas for some of the
issues that are debatable for our city.We all need
to stand together and work these important arguments
out.This city needs to grow with smart growth and
not become stagnant like water without a current.We
are the masters of our fate and the  builders of our
future.What we choose now could mean the difference
of Debary being the “Gateway to Volusia County” or
that town we drive through while going to spend our
money somewhere else.This is in all of our
hands.What do we want from our city?
Mark Meister

This is a letter to debarypop.com; I hope that you shall consider this for immediate publication on your web site. XXX Just like the U.S. Supreme Court decision in 2005 that expanded the government's use of eminent domain and crushed the constitutional rights of individuals, the Florida Senate has a bill that will infringe on the constitutional rights of all Floridaians. XXX Florida Senate Bill 1920 allows businesses to prohibit petition drives for citizen initiatives on their property. The bill was approved Monday, 4-23-07 by a senate COMMITTEE. We need to stop this bill when it goes to the Senate Floor for a vote. XXX I called Senator Baker, our state senator, and strongly urged him to vote AGAINST this bill. I encourage others to call Senator Baker at: 1) 352-742-6490 Main office; 2) 386-736-5048 Local Office; 3) 1-888-567-5577 toll free. Time is of the essence.

*****************************************************************************************

How could a majority of DeBary city leaders not be falling
> over themselves to push through approval of Joseph Krzys' yachting
> development on the St. Johns River along Fort Florida Road? Credit
> them for knowing a sure thing when they hear it. There's the promise
> of all that upscale tax base -- 250 homes at roughly $1 million each
> on 107 acres. There are 213 private acres to be set aside in
> conservation easements. There are 2.2 miles of asphalt for a bumpy
> dirt road. There are developer-paid installations of water and sewer
> lines to get the folk who already live out that way off problem well
> water and septic tanks. There's a private yacht club, the city's
> first, to be built with dry boat storage and 50 slips in the marina.
> (The developer sought permission for 500, but why be greedy?)

There's
> the extra patronage of local merchants by those well-to-do new
> residents. All this, a sure thing, under the city's agreement with
> the Naples-based developer. Nothing like all the uncertainties that
> the environmentalists and other naysayers were talking about at the
> city hearing Wednesday night. No one can be sure that another manatee
> actually will ever die from a collision with one of those yachts and
> smaller boats around the marina. No one can be sure that the
> activities of people in all those new houses will have any measurable
> negative impact on the environmentally sensitive St. Johns and Wekiva
> rivers area already thick with boat traffic and other human activity.
> (What was the Volusia County Council thinking when it looked at
> buying the land between Fort Florida Road and the St. Johns for
> public preservation? Deny DeBary that new source of property tax;
> prevent more people from building on the banks of the river? If there
> was ever a chance for public purchase, the land was priced out of
> reach to the county the moment owners had an inkling city leaders
> might change the land use rules.

What didn't have to be quickly
> became another developer's sure thing.) And making development like
> this less a sure thing across this state is absolutely why the
> Florida Legislature should tell Jacksonville Republican Dick Kravitz
> -- in the nicest way -- to sit down and shut up about the bill he's
> hawking in Tallahassee. It would abolish state oversight of most land
> use and development decisions by local governments. Kravitz, backed
> by hired guns with the Association of Community Developers, contends
> that cities and counties know best what's good for them. Maybe they
> do. Maybe the split-vote majority of DeBary City Council members
> deliberated as thoughtfully as they knew how for the sweetest deal
> possible before handing Krzys the keys to River City. Assume they
> did. But a sweet deal for DeBary may be poison for the river, for
> threatened wildlife, for the people already in the Wekiva-St. Johns
> basin, for Florida. It seems obvious that Krzys' project will do
> lasting harm to an already troubled river. Broader regional impacts
> rarely are given fair consideration by local governments looking
> after immediate self-interests. In their haste to push the project
> through by a state-imposed April 20 deadline, DeBary officials
> criticized the Volusia Growth Management Commission for dragging out
> its review of the proposed land-use change. Commission approval is
> required by county charter. The commission attorney said the city and
> developer have not submitted additional information requested for an
> adequate review. Such local squabbling argues further for strong
> state oversight. Florida regulators already have raised serious
> concerns about the impacts of the DeBary project.

Regulators should
> stand firm to protect public interest in and beyond the city.
> Meanwhile, legislators should be giving those regulators additional
> power and resources to make local government accommodations to
> developers throughout Florida much less of a sure thing.


*********************************************************************



To The Watchdogs of Our Beloved DeBary. Thank you for your deep
concerns about how Government Views the People it is suppose Serve and
Protect.  You hit the nail right on the head.  When you write about
the needs of the people or input has little or no voice in the actions
taken by government.  For many years our Debary has been headed in
the direction of the few.  Do our elected officials have any items on
what the People of Debary truly want or need?  I see no clear vision
or direction. Too many times government informs the People after the
fact.  This type of action takes away our rights and provide the
system with power to dictate our lives. Every day that the People do
not stand up against injustice and taxation without representation we
empower our system to take more of our rights away.  We must continue
to confront those that believe that their actions are over the needs
and concerns of the People.  In closing remember With a Vision there
is Direction, and with direction there is strength, and with strength
the People can over Come.  I Thank You for being the WATCHDOGS of
DeBary.  You give many of us HOPE.

Bob Garcia

************************************************************************

Is it just me, or are other people having trouble hearing the speakers at City Council meetings? It is not just the speakers at the podium; the Council members are hard to hear at times. With large crowds at the meetings and very important issues being discussed I think a good sound system would be in order for the City. After an hour and a half at the meeting on April 4th I went home and just by chance I turned on the computer and watched the rest of the meeting on the City’s web cast.

What a difference! The sound was almost perfect and I was able to hear most of the speakers except when there was more than one speaker at the podium at a time. Usually the second speaker was not talking into the microphone.

The next day I called city hall to complain about the sound system and was told that the City Manager was aware of the problem. However, because the new City Hall is going to be built, they did not want to spend any funds on the system in the Florence Little Hall. Does anyone know when the new City Hall is going to be completed?

Maybe the City Manager needs to get her creative mind working on a plan to fix the sound system rather than trying to come up with was to increase the salary of the City Council members.

Warren Graham

Mark Meister

   

*******************************************************************************

Political Tug-of-War


Isn’t it grand that Volusia County and their
collective political rhetoric is making
southwest Debary the Red Headed Stepchild once
more? They couldn’t get enough glee out of
“putting it to” Meadowlea with the water
disaster that has transpired with the collapse
of one of their wells.They are dragging their
feet on making a decision whether the “Marina”
will be built and possibly delaying Ft.
Florida Rd. residents the right to
clean,palatable water.What does a person have
to do to get clean water in this county
without giving up their first born child?

          This great county has a track record as of
late of denying services to vulnerable areas
in Volusia county.First it is the West
Highlands road fiasco.Next the Meadowlea water
issue and now lets add Ft. Florida to the
list.What is the common denominator? All these
areas are in western Volusia County.Do you
think this would happen in Daytona Beach?
Ormond Beach? Port Orange? My scorecard says
three giant NO’S,NILCHES,NADAS.

  Ah!! Heres the best part of the story.West
Highlands had to pay for their roads and was
SLAMMED with impact fees!!Meadowlea is SLAMMED
with impact fees!! Where do you think these
impact fees that were collected from WESTERN 
VOLUSIA COUNTY GO? For the betterment of west
Volusia? Again my scorecard has three great
big zeros!! These impact fees went to projects
on the EASTERN SIDE OF VOLUSIA COUNTY!! This
is even better,everyone.The residents of West
Highlands had already paid impact fees!! In a
court of law when someone gets charged
twice,it is called double Jeopardy !! Welcome
to “ They Are Robbin’ Us Neighborhood”!! Now ladies and gentlemen of Ft. Florida Rd. in
Debary,what do you think is going to happen to
you? I can hear the Jeopardy music in the
background. TIMES UP,PUT DOWN YOUR PENS!! The
final answer is IMPACT FEES GOING TO THE
EASTSIDE OF VOLUSIA COUNTY!! You are going to
get hammered!! The worst part is nobody is
going to listen.The city wants the Marina. The
County wants to wait on the state.And you get
the pleasure of drinking foul brown water that
couldn’t support algae!!
How is this for a political science class of Volusia County ?  

 Ladies and gentlemen,we are not done yet!! Who
is going to pay for the paving of Ft. Florida
Rd. without the Marina? YOU!! The city is not
going to pay for it!! We already know what the
county would do if they could. Residents of Ft.
Florida,I do not wish to be the Grim Reaper but
be prepared as the rest of us have.A government
for the people by the people.It should read,The
government that enslaves the people by taxing
the people.What more can I say!!

                                                                                                       Mark
Meister

My trash was not picked up recently. Since this was not the first time I have had a problem, I called Jimmy, Chief Financial Officer, at DeBary City Hall. Jimmy has always been very helpful in the past. This time I asked Jimmy if I could look at the city contact of DeBary with the waste collection agency known as Waste Pro of Florida. The contract was 41 pages long filled with legalese and gobbledgook that are typical of most forms of governmental bureaucracy. Besides all the arcane language, the only thing that struck me as unusual was the length of the contract. The contract was for seven years. Most cities use a one or two year contract because of the theory that it is easier not to renew a contract than to void or break a contract. Also, the vendor of a one year contract usually will give extra quality service since his contract is renewed from year to year. With the larger issues of city government at issue, I was just wondering how the residents of DeBary would rate the service of Waste Pro. Also, I wonder if the residents would favor the 1 or 2 year contract over the 7 year contract. Possibly debarypop might use this as their question of the month.

Do People Really Care?

I was reading Norm Erickson;s editorial on the Art Center and this brings up a particular pet peeve that I have had since I have been attending City Council meetings.Whenever people have a particular issue that effects their lives in one way or another,They sit there and support this cause.As soon as this cause has been decided,they leave and we do not see them until the next time an issue is brought up that concerns them.
I know everybody has a busy life and they do not want to miss an episode of American Idol or Dancing with the Stars.This is much more important than finding out what is going on in their city.Who cares if citizens are not getting clean water on Ft. Florida Rd.or that Meadowlea on the River has to pay impact fees that will not even go to a project on this side of the county.Why should you care if the storm water project does get finished and how much will it cost!! You just might have to give up a Magic game to listen to two to three hours of boring talk that you need No Doze to get through!!
I will use the Art League for an example but will not limit it to just one group.They came in and asked for another $ 100,000 like it was their allowance.They spoke their case and it was tabled to the June meeting.When the issue was over,they stormed for the exit like buffalo and talking and disrupting the meeting like they actually owned the place.Is this a group who really cares about our city or their"pet project"?Is this polite that they were so loud and obnoxious and you couldn't hear what was being said?Please have some consideration for those who do give a rats hind end what does happen with our money and our city!!
In the American College Dictionary,the tenth reference to respect is short and sweet.it says"to refrain from interfering with".Your behavior does NOT represent respect!!Your group is not the only ones,but one of the loudest ones.Please have RESPCT if you do to decide to leave the meeting early.OR,maybe stick around and find out what it means to have civic pride.This would be another editorial all together.

Mark Meister

THE MANY MISCONCEPTIONS OF A SKATEPARK

Today was a great day.My faith has been restored in the youth of today.I was at attendance to the Competition at the Deltona skatepark.These young athletes gave it their all and better yet supported one another and encouraged each other on.It was truly good sportsmanship at the very best.They had five winners in each class by age,but I get the feeling that everyone who competed and witnessed it won in the long run.
My son is very good at BMX competition, but by trying some very hard tricks,bit the concrete and each time he jumps up and continues through his set.He placed in the lower third of competition,but he and his comrades won much respect from me for the dedication and fortitude.
Many people keep saying that this skatepark that is to be developed in Debary is going to cause trouble and vandalism.I am proud to say that there was no signs of vandalism and I can say for a fact that very little crime or trouble has ever been reported there or at any other of the skateparks that I have attended.I also want to tell you that being close to one of these parks will not lower your property rates.This is a false misconception that is created by myth.The properties that surround Deltona skatepark have risen in the last five years.
It is time that we accept the fact that these sports ARE becoming the mainstream sports of this generation.Football,baseball,and basketball are all taking a backseat to skateboarding,BMX biking,surfing ,and snowboarding all over the United States.It is time that we realize that skateparks are not such a bad thing.We complain that Debary doesn’t have enough money.But will money equal the life of a child who is practicing his sport out on the roads and just happens to get hurt or even killed.Will this equal the price?
Lets get this skatepark in Debary started and not treat the youth that practice these sports as hoodlums,vandals,and second class citizens.Lets make the conditions safer for them as we have for the other sports.
Three hundred people attended this event in Deltona.Why can’t we recognize them instead of saying this park is for the few.In reality,the other sports are for the few.Lets build this park!!

Mark Meister

As I was listening to the gentlemen that so eloquently voiced his opinion at the Debary city council meeting of the skatepark being on the same grounds as the Memorial Park and how quiet and serene it is.At this point another thought came into my mind.The reason that our vets were overseas fighting for this country was for our future of our nation as well as our present. This is what it is all about.
> The greatest salute to the vets is a complex of a park system that includes Gemini Park and the skatepark with The Memorial Park as the centerpiece.This would give a chance for the kids and the adults to appreciate everything that they have done for us.The voices of the kids that are expressing their sport along with the families enjoying time together with the tie ins to Gemini Park and the many trails and bike trails is the perfect expression of freedom.Many countries in the world would like to express themselves in this manner.
> This skatepark is a high price to pay but I think it will pay dividends in the future.This will provide a safer environment for these kids and young adults to practice their sport rather than be on the streets.As I explained in my presentation, 2/3 of all the kids are participating in these sports than the mainstream sports that you and I have enjoyed over the years.This doesn’t mean that we forget mainstream sports but to respect the extreme sports.
> All the vets out there,thank you for your service and you will always have my respect and I commend you for a job well done.I hope that this park system will remind young and old alike what you have done for our country.Patrick Fulton was right.Maybe these kids will have a learning experience as well as enjoying the park.
>
> Mark Meister

Nothing Is For Certain

It looks like the good people of Ft. Florida Rd. in Debary are going to wait even longer for clean water.The state of Florida decided that where the “yacht club” was going to be developed is a manatee protection zone.If this development is scrubbed,I do not see these people getting water for seven to ten years due to all the projects that the city has on its agenda including the storm water project and the new city hall.I thought it was premature to assume that the “yacht club”was a done deal.I see the development being built but not in the time frame that was to be expected.Only time will tell what will happen in this development ,but it could change many ideas the city has for the area surrounding it including Empire Cattle’s land.Keep reading the papers and watching the news for further developments.
This also brings up the rail system and I have many thoughts on this project.Mica is pushing this albatross down our throats and the cost has reached one BILLION dollars.I have also been reading of conflicts that have began in a few locations of the railway including Winter Park.This is another community that is not too excited about this thing.I also see problems that are going to stem from this rail system.

1.The cost is going up daily just like all construction costs and I do not see this thing
costing any less than 1.5 billion dollars by the time it is finished.I am talking from
the stand point of working the construction business and we may be also entering a
recession which will also drive up the cost.

2.One rule of thumb to remember is that mass transportation NEVER pays for itself.
The cost will be handed down to the people in the form of more taxes.This is the
only way this albatross will end up.

3.When one gets to his destination,they have to have other forms of transportation to
deliver the people to their final destination.This is going to cost the riders even
more money daily from the money you make.Is this economically efficient for the
patrons?

4.Will this rail system really cut down on the traffic on I-4 and 17-92 substantially? I
say not because the people like to have their freedom to go where they have to go
when they want to.People are impatient and do not like the fact of waiting around
for their transportation.I see no major improvements on traffic due to the rail way.

5.If the Saxon Bvd. Extention is made,it will displace seventeen families from their
homes.This may not sound like many but would you like to be one of these families?

6.If the station is to be built on Highbanks,the road couldn’t handle the traffic increases
and can barely handle the traffic at rush hour now.Ft. Florida is the most logical of
the three areas without as much impact,but can 17-92 handle the traffic around the
the station? If the “yacht club” is not developed,the whole project would be a failure
at this location.The city wants Empire Cattle land to be used for Light industrial and
commercial and would not serve the purpose of the project.

As you see,this is “pork barrel” politics at its best.I see this project being a failure and the good people of Volusia County will have to pick up the tab along with the three other counties.In all essence,I believe this is going to end up being a free ride for “Mickey” when it is all said and done.This is my only logical conclusion and this state has a tendency to rate tourism above everything else including the people that live here.
This is my conclusions and thoughts on what is going on and like I said before.Nothing is written in stone and all it takes is for one thing to go wrong in the overall thought of things and you end up back at the drawing board.Keep reading the papers and attend the council meetings and voice your opinion pro or con.You can change the out come of things if you really work at it.

Mark Meister

Usually I will title my editorials with a cute or witty title to catch the viewers eye ,but at this time in a case where peoples livelihoods have been destroyed and their futures dashed,I care not to be funny or cute.This dispicable deed was not murder or manslaughter but could be described as an act of hate in one form or the other.
Lets look at all the facts as we know them.We have a furniture store with no apparent reason for arson.The business has been around for a while and seemed like it was doing alright and providing a living for the owners.I really do not see a viable reason for them to start a fire and destroy there future.
So lets take a look at the Altman-Long Funeral Home.The owners of the business are Bill Long and Patrick Fulton who are both key figures in the political pond of southwest Volusia county.
Bill Long was a Voulusia county councilman with a promissing political career.His first two years in office were decent ones where he was representing the people of southwest Volusia county.His tenure became tarnished as his personal problems would get the best of him.I will describe this later in this editorial.
Patrick Fulton is a Debary city councilman who became Vice-Mayor under some controversy.He is a high profile politician who was a big part of the Empire Cattle verses Meadowlea for a dense residential development that would have surrounded the Meadowlea community.He denied the fact that he tried to convince the council not to pursue litigation saying that big development would defeat the little city.He was proven wrong when Judge Hudson decided the city's case was more accurate.He is up for reelection this year if he chooses to run.He still denies that he said this even though it is a matter of public record.
Before I start on the next part of this editorial.I want to say that THIS EDITORIAL IS NOT MEANT TO POINT FINGERS AT ANYONE OR IS IT MEANT TO BE DISCRIMINATORY TO ANY GIVEN MINORITY GROUP BUT IS TO REFLECT THE FACTS THAT WERE PRESENTED TO THE PEOPLE THROUGH THE MEDIA.
Patrick Fulton and Bill Long lived together and had a gay relationsip for some time.They owned a house together and were both political figures.The relationship became "rocky" and resulted in many instances of altercations where police were brought in to settle the disputes.At one time Fulton was accused of actually "beating up" Long. (Actually, Fulton denied involvement only to be identified by Long in an Orlando Sentinel column by Mike Lafferty--Norm Erickson) All the while,Long had a relationship with another gentleman in Nashville,Tennessee in which he was arrested for brutally biting his partner.His "mug" shot was shown in all the local papers.
During all this,it was later found out that Bill Long was diagnosed as Bi-Polar which is a mental condition that can lead to many extreme mood swings.He has admitted to having an alcohol problem and combined with this mental condition,could lead to many of problems of instability.
Last but not least,we have the infamous "Cheers shove".Fulton was sitting in Cheers,a bar in old Debary,and Long entered and bumped into Patrick Fulton.This again led to another fight except this time it was a litigation instead of a physical fight.The litigation continued through his reelection bid and eventually was the last straw for the southwest Volusia county voters.He was handily defeated in the September run-offs and a promissing political career may have been damaged beyond repair.Ironically
the litigation was dropped after Bill Long lost the reelection bid.
As you can see,anything could have been the start to the fire.Lets not forget the fact that this relationship was a high profile situation and this whole fire could have been a hate crime case.People can be cruel and uncaring because of prejudice.This cannot be overlooked when taking the whole cases facts in.Beyond ethnicity,sexual preference is one of the most concerns of hate crimes.This is not a recent trend but has been practiced down through history.
One last fact that is far fetched but worthy of mention.The fire burned down the chapel to the funeral home.Could this have been a religious vendetta? This side of the case has probably not been looked into.Odds are that this is not the case.
This is the case as I see it.It has been a year and nothing has turned up publicly in the media.Only the person(s) that were involved know about it and if you do have a conscience,it has to be eating away at you like a cancer.It is not to late to rid this heavy burden from your soul.Life is full of triumphs and mistakes and he who says that they have not made mistakes is lying to ones self and all that is around him.Fortunately lives were not lost in this mistake,but someones future was.Do the human thing and confess.It will lighten the load for that long road ahead.

Mark Meister

I saw in the weekly report dated 02-16-2007 that Mayor Coleman and City Manager Courson met with the Volusia County Council and an FDOT consultant to discuss land around Saxon Rail Station. In addition, at the same meeting the County said they wanted to look at the Fort Florida and 17-92 site for the train station “one more time” prior to committing to the Saxon extension site.

This is the first time I am hearing about the Fort Florida site. I would like to say that the Fort Florida and 17-92 site makes much more sense in the long run for the train station. I say this for the following reasons:

The Saxon Blvd train station would require millions of dollars of roads to go to it. The Fort Florida site would require very little in roadwork. The train tracks are very close to 17-92 at that point. Debary and Volusia County taxpayers are already struggling with increases in property taxes. We do not want to spend a lot of needless money on roadways when we don’t have to.
Many Debary communities are against the development of the Saxon Blvd Extension due to issues like safety, noise, and preservation of Wetlands.
There is much less Environmental Impact by going with the Fort Florida site.
The Debary Town Center is planned for a location very close to the Fort Florida site. The train station would be a great catalyst for this development, maybe even tourism for people riding the train.

The Fort Florida site is much more central to major roads (ie Dirkson to I4 and Deltona, 17-92 to I-4, and 17-92 to population centers)
The driving to the Fort Florida location versus an “out of the way” Saxon train station will be comparable.

The only reason I think Debary would want the Saxon train station location would be to open up development of an industrial area in that remote part of Debary. I don’t think we need that at this point.

I just want to go on the record.

Mike Colbert

Bookmailed

Ladies and gentlemen of Volusia county,here we go again with another attempt by the county to practice the "reverse Robin Hood tactic".We get slammed again for using our "PUBLIC" libraries and the good taxpayers get to swallow a four million dollar deficit.They blame this all on the rollback on county taxes that the people wanted and needed to survive every day life.
First they threaten to strategically close down certain libraries and when the people rose up and voiced their collective opinions,the county waffles and goes back to the drawing board.The threats were an act of retalliation for the November elections.
Now from what I am reading in the Orlando Sentinel Saturday edition,We are going to basicly make our libraries become some kind of BLOCKBUSTER rental instead of a service for the people.This is going to affect low income people the most that need to use the library services and cannot afford to use them.Congratulations Volusia county "braintrust".Thank you for being inept and unsympathetic again.
I have a list of charged services that the library system is trying to bring before the County Council:

1.Increasing fines from .15 cents a day to .25 cents a day for books.One dollar a day for DVD's.

2.Eliminating library patrons to request books and other materials online at no charge.We would have to go to the library that has this item and be charged $5 per request.

3.Library cards that are lost will cost $5 to replace instead of $3.

4.Increasing the fee for non-resident library cards from $35 to $50.

These are the proposals that I think are discriminiatory to the lower income families.There are more and the list is in Saturdays Sentinel.We the people of Volusia county get trapped into paying the price that our government has caused.
I have a suggstion.Why doesn't the Volusia County Schoolboard foot the bill.They have the money and probably are the richest governmental entity in this county.Schools and libraries go hand in hand until we talk money.At least if the schoolboard would do this,we would know where our money is going.It truly is a dream though,why would the schoolboard help with educating the people when thay have so many other things for there staff to do.
I just guess that we the people of Volusia county get zapped again.Sorry for all of those children that cannot get the materials they need for their education without paying the price.We just do not matter anymore!!

Mark Meister

Railroaded

I wished that I could have been at the special meeting the other night but I had some personal matters to take care of.Between the “light rail” and THE UNpartnership center,our plates are full again and it not necessarily a tasty meal.Time and time again,county politicians are ramming projects down our throats at a time when tax money is supposedly being stretched to its limits.Who pays for it in the end? We do and in spades.
I have seen in the News Journal that Deltona city council is still split down the middle whether to go through with this partnership center or not.Deltona Council,when there is this much indecision and all this time you are spending and the vote is split,isn’t this time to consider dropping or shelving this project until the time is right? This whole fiasco is making your city’s braintrust look like a vaudevillian comedy act.Mulder wants this!!! Mulder wants that!!! What do your constituents in Deltona want? Everyone is talking over there and no one from city hall is listening.We in Debary would like the million dollars back and put it to good use in our city instead of a project that has been sliced down more than a hunk of cheese.Lets get with it Deltona City Council!!!
As for the “light rail” that will run from Debary to Kissimmee.All we have here is another case of “pork barrel” politics and Mickey gets a free ride again.This rail system will not work plain and simple!!! I was a supervisor for the Votran Gold Service with a subcontracter.When they brought in the shuttle from Orlando to Orange City ,do you know how many empty buses drove back and forth between the three counties? MANY!!
People do not want to give up their freedom of going to and fro whenever they want to instead of whenever is conveniently on their train schedules.This is another reason why car pools are not such a great successs.People want to be independent!!!
Next question:If this rail system doesn’t work,who do you think is going to pay for the loses? If you said John Q. Public,give yourself a gold star.Is this system worth running some good citizens in Debary out of their homes to take a major chance that has a good possibility of flopping? According to local and state governments,YES!! Debary citizens do not matter but Mickey does!! My answer to this,HOG SNOT!! From what I heard about the meeting the other night,a majority of people have the common sense to stand up and say no and not be led around by politicians like a herd of sheep!!!
Fellow citizens of southwest Volusia county,lets use some common sense here.These politicians are leading us down a rosy path that is covered with thorns.Too many hassles and not enough dividends.Lets stop giving Mickey a free ride along with these public servents (yes,they still work for us).Lets not get railroaded with two pointless projects that are parasitic in nature and will just feed out of our wallets.Lets get smart and say no to these “cent$less ventures.

Mark Meister

Just Under the Radar
Well,here we go again!! John Q. Public gets it in the ear again by city government looking for money in one taxable form or the other.This time we are going to use FP&L and Progress Energy to do your dirty work for you.You couldn't do it by the millage method and what better way to squeeze the money and life out of us but to attack us by the electricity we use.Everyone uses electricity and everybody gets taxed.How clever of you to hide it this way and get away with it to cover the costs of road repair,sidewalks,and etc.and so forth.At least thats what you say!!
I do thank Mr.Gunter for telling it like it is.He seems to understand the plight of someone who is on a fixed income and that one hundred dollars a year could mean the difference between low income people getting their much needed medication for a month or food.Unfortunately the City Council cannot see any further than in front of their respective noses and Maryann wanted to use a higher base than what was needed.
I would like to take someone with a fixed income who lives in Meadowlea and give you an idea on how it will hurt us.

1.The water problems are first on this list since we are getting the shaft by paying impact fees that will be sent to the eastside of the county to pay for a project over there.At this point,we are looking at $ 2,100 per household over a two year period WITHOUT interest would drive our water bill to around $ 130 a MONTH.

2.This Franchise "TAX" (LETS CALL IT WHAT IT IS)will cost me an extra $20 a month and adding to our ever rising power bill would put it around $ 240 a month.

3.Our normal monthly expenses for everyone has risen about 6-10% a year and gas for the car has fluctuated even more.The Federal Government gave us a 3.3% raise for cost of living thinking this would equal all the other expenses.

As you see,you are taking out the lower income constituents in Debary and I wonder if that might not be what the city wants anyhow.You are forcing us out to bring in higher taxed base homes with your developemental policies and to Hell with disabled individuals in our great city.You refuse to look at other ways to create revenue and just in case you did not notice,I have been seeing many "for sale" signs in some of your more affluent communities in Debary.Your strategy is not working and you are taking it out on the lower income.
Mr.Gunter,you seem to understand what most people in Debary are going through and we need someone who is in office with experience and doesn't "waffle" more than someone from Belgium just to get votes.We need your insight and your experience more than ever in this city and would like to see you run for City Council Of Debary.I do not know what your plans are in the future but you would have my vote.Please consider this request.
As for the rest of the council,I wished you had to walk in our shoes for a few weeks and find out what life is all about.If you did know,you have long forgotten how it feels to live day to day.Life is too short and unfortunately you are making it shorter for us.Remember,we are still out there and at least you haven't taken away our right to vote and we are a good percentage of your constituents.Just remember that when election time comes around and you are not making that extra income.

Mark Meister

Finally 2006 is over and we look optimisticaly to 2007 with a hope that situations either sort themselves out or bring prosperity to our great city.Unfortunately we are going to face some old problems that will effect us for years to come.I just hope that our city council has the vision to see what Debary truly needs and not what individuals want.
One thing I am actually finding interesting is that the Developers and landowners are finding ways to build on land that was once considered to be wetlands and now have been reevaluated to be buildable acreage.The "yacht club" has done this and rumor is that Steve Costa has also increased his usable land.The exact figures are not out yet,but wait and see how much difference both of these developements will contrast from the original prints.
The biggest advantage of the "yacht club" is that it is willing to bring much needed water services to the constituents on Ft.Florida Rd.These people have been struggling with horrible quality of water for years and finally a developer is willing to aid in this service as well as paving much of Ft.Florida Rd.These changes will add greatly to the enhancement of the surrounding area.
The other good side to this developement is that they are bringing in commercial business with their restaurant and small businesses.This will actually bring people to Debary to spend money instead of driving through and going to Orange City or Sanford depending in which direction you are going.My one "pet peeve" with Debary is that we do not have enough commercial businesses and an over abundance of residential property.For a city to work,you must have an equal balance.
It is rumored that Steve Costa is thinking of building again.I have heard that instead of 97 buildable acres,that it has beeen increased to near 180 acres.I do not know what his intentions are at this time but this is going to create traffic and density problems along the same range as when Costa was to develope Alexander Woods.I think many of things would have to be accomplished before we can just let these developers build carte blanche.
I am not speaking for Meadowlea at this time but just throwing some ideas "out to the wind".Just as the "yacht club" has brought commercial business tie ins with its developement,why cann't Costa develope some commercial businesses in the front of his property along Ft. Florida Rd? Again this will greatly enhance the area as well as draw some of the business from Orange City and create more revenue.With this though,Ft.Florida Rd. would have to be widened and a deal with FPL would have to be made because of their bridge as well as some kind of renovations at the railroad tracks to keep the traffic moving smoothly.
Another idea is for Costa or the "yacht club" developers to build a new civic center somewhere between the two properties.This way we do not have to bother with this partnership center that is nothing but a money guzzler and have our own building to attract events and not negotiate with three other cities.I believe this would make Debary a twenty-first century city as well as keeping the population under control as well as creating revenue to our fair city.
Mr. Costa,these are just a few ideas that I am throwing around and what I would think is in best interest for our city.Rome was not built in a day and neither do I expect Debary to be.Please have consideration of your neighbors in Meadowlea and maybe we can be good neighbors instead of advisaries.The ball is in your court,I am looking forward to hearing what you have to say.

Mark Meister

Citizens' Editorials