- April 26, 2024
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Tips from neighbors led Flagler County Sheriff's Office investigators and Flagler Beach Police Department officers to a drug dealer June 21.
After getting "numerous complaints" about drug deals in an apartment complex on Village Drive in Flagler Beach, Sheriff's Office deputies and officers from the Flagler Beach Police Department conducted a surveillance operation, according to a Sheriff's Office news release.
As they watched the parking lot, the law enforcement officers saw Tyler Upson, 23 and a resident of 29 Village Drive in Flagler Beach, leaving his apartment with the items concealed underneath his shirt.
Once Upson got to his car, he placed the items in the engine compartment. Police officers conducted a traffic stop after he got in the car and started driving.
When they searched Upson's car, they found about 168 grams of cannabis stuffed in the air box inside the engine compartment.
Law enforcement officers also got a warrant to search Upson's apartment, and found about 670 grams of cannabis there.
The total amount seized between the car and the home came to just under two pounds, according to the news release. It would be worth about $6,000 on the street. Upson also had a loaded .38 special Smith and Wesson revolver in the home.
He has been charged with possession of over 20 grams of cannabis.
“This is just another example of the joint efforts to get drug dealers out of Flagler County and in jail,” Sheriff Rick Staly said in the news release. “If you deal drugs in Flagler County, we have vacancy at the Green Roof Inn waiting for you.”
A few weeks after the Florida legislature passed a law requiring autism awareness training for law enforcement officers, the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office hosted autism awareness training for area first-responders, according to a Sheriff's Office news release.
Governor Rick Scott signed the law on June 2. It will go into effect Oct. 1. The training was scheduled before the law was passed.
On June 15, police officers from as far as Orlando and Osceola County along with Palm Coast firefighters attended a daylong session taught by Donna Lorman, president of the Autism Society of Greater Orlando, and Hector Gonzalez, a detective with the Bal Harbour Police Department who helps train officers.
Lorman and Gonzalez are both parents of adult sons with autism, and both sons — Drew Lorman, 25, and Christopher Gonzalez, 24 — were on hand during the training, working with the trainers by answering questions when Lorman asked them.
The goal of the training was to help first-responders identify autism; recognize signs and characteristics; understand Baker Act criteria relating to autism; identify stressors for families who deal with autism; and learn techniques for interviewing, searching for missing persons with autism, or de-escalating situations involving people with autism, according to the news release.
Most hands in the audience were raised when Lorman asked how many participants know someone with autism. Lorman described what it was like to raise Drew. Through occupational therapy, speech therapy and behavior analysis, Drew went from experiencing “96 (acts of) aggressions an hour to now one a month,” she said.
Her counterpart, Detective Gonzalez, also talked about having an autistic son. “I’m blessed. It makes me a better person. We as parents take so much for granted,” he said.
Jason Wagner, of Palm Coast Fire Rescue, attended Thursday’s autism awareness training and it “eye-opening. This training helps me better understand how to get the help (an autistic person) might need” in an accident or other trauma where firefighters are called upon to assist, he said.
“This training is critical for our deputies and all first-responders to recognize the different behaviors people with autism may show, especially during an emergency situation,” Sheriff Rick Staly said in the news release. “I am glad our agency is on the cutting edge of this training and was able to host the training for other agencies.”
Circuit Judge Raul A. Zambrano will begin a two-year term as chief judge of the 7th Judicial Circuit beginning July 1.
Zambrano was chosen by the 42 judges in the four-county circuit to take on this lead administrative role. He will continue his duties on the bench, where he currently hears felony cases in DeLand.
A judge since 2005, Zambrano succeeds Circuit Judge Terence R. Perkins, whose second term as chief judge ends June 30. Perkins will continue to hear felony cases in Daytona Beach.
Officials from FEMA, ISO and the Florida Division of Emergency Management presented the city of Palm Coast’s new floodplain management rating – which is among the top 13 in the nation – at the Palm Coast City Council meeting this month, according to a city of Palm Coast government news release.
Members of the city’s Floodplain Management Team and Laura Nelson, Senior Mitigation Planner with Flagler County Emergency Management, accepted a plaque noting the ranking.
“Palm Coast is amongst a group in our eight-state region — a group of five communities that are CRS Class 3 or 4,” Wilson told the Palm Coast City Council. “As the city manager already mentioned, this is one of only 13 communities nationwide that is a CRS Class 4 or better. We are very proud to have Palm Coast as a CRS Class 4 in our region.”
The presentation recognized the city’s improvement in its floodplain management rating, a measure that shows how well a city is reducing the risk of flood and a rating that provides residents premium discounts on flood insurance.
The deeper discounts for flood insurance in the Special Flood Hazard Area — the high-risk areas — will amount to a savings of $100,000 a year for Palm Coast property owners, Wilson said.
The National Flood Insurance Program increased Palm Coast’s rating in the CRS to a Class 4 effective May 1, 2017. The CRS recognizes and encourages community floodplain management activities that exceed the minimum National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) standards.
Scores range from 1 to 10, with the lower the number the better the ranking. Some 1,444 communities in the nation participate in the Community Rating System. In Florida, Class 3 is the best ranking, and it is held by Ocala — with Palm Coast now in the elite with a Class 4.
Standard homeowners insurance does not cover a flooded home, and the city urges all homeowners to buy flood insurance regardless of whether they live in a flood zone or flood-prone area. FEMA data shows that 20% of all flood claims come from properties outside the high-risk zone or Special Flood Hazard Area.
Homeowners should contact their insurance company for information on specific policies that might protect properties from disastrous damage costs. The National Flood Insurance Program Call Center at 888-379-9531 can provide an agent referral, if needed.
With the increase to a Class 4 rating, eligible Palm Coast property owners in a Special Flood Hazard Area now receive a 30% discount on their premiums (up from 25%), which is an average savings of $120 per policy.
Properties outside of a Special Flood Hazard Area will continue to receive a 10% discount on their already lower premiums; this represents a majority of the Palm Coast community. Most residents may even be eligible for a preferred risk policy, the most affordable policy for properties located in low-risk floodplain designations, the X zones. As a result of Palm Coast’s CRS participation, policy holders realize an annual savings of $103,236. Today, there are 4,419 flood insurance policies in force in the city of Palm Coast.
City Administration Coordinator Denise Bevan, who leads the Floodplain Management Team, credited a number of factors to the increased rating — the biggest being the improvement of the local mitigation strategy to better align with floodplain management activities. The city is an active participant of the local mitigation strategy working group led by Flagler County Emergency Management.
The city also gained points because of Flagler County’s efforts as a StormReady community, which is based on preparedness for severe weather. The city also worked with Flagler County to secure the StormReady designation for the community. Other point increases since the last rating change (in 2014) were for community outreach and in the open space category — protecting high-risk floodplains.
There are some pre-requisites required to reach a Class 4 that are fairly rare for a community to have, Bevan said. One is a watershed master plan. Palm Coast was fortunate that, because it was developed by ITT as a master plan community, a lot of the information needed for that plan was previously established.
To learn more about the National Flood Insurance Program and how it affects you, visit FloodSmart.gov.
Have questions or want to know your floodplain designation? Call Denise Bevan, city administration coordinator and floodplain administrator, at 986-2458.
