- April 20, 2024
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Dear Editor:
Every weekday morning, I see so many kids walking and sitting on Cimmaron Drive waiting for the school buses. I often wonder, what’s the difference of a sidewalk for a youngster having to walk to one’s school or to a school bus stop?
I am so thankful nothing has happened to these school children. I am thankful for a while, with schools closed for the holiday, no kids are out there on the street or bus stops.
Speaking of Thanksgiving and Cimmaron, there is so much to be thankful for. First, no serious school kid or pedestrian accidents.
Another: Thanks to the city and Sheriff's Office for improved signage and more daily police presence on the street.
Also, a big thank you to the Palm Coast City Council and city for how far they have brought the sidewalk program along in 2022.
In the same breath, great gratitude should go to all the volunteers who have been so loyal in having resident petitions signed, making over 115 presentations to the City Council on Safety on Cimmaron, attending city community meetings.
Anyway, just a big thank you everybody for bringing the sidewalk city program further along in 2022 for a safer, walkable, healthier community. We are heading into the final stretch where funding through grants, memorials, etc. will have to happen in 2023.
Everyone have a great Thanksgiving.
P.S.: If you or anyone (family and/or company) would like to have a lifelong memorial monument on Cimmaron, even a company that would like a great advertising promotion opportunity, the sidewalk for children, handicapped people, and other pedestrians could provide it. This would be the start of connecting six collector streets in much need of safety walkability improvements. Thank you in advance for your consideration.
Al Krier, Safety on Cimmaron Committee
Palm Coast
Dear Editor:
Will Furry will take a seat on the Flagler County School Board, having defeated Courtney VandeBunte.
But will he sit comfortably in that seat with the knowledge that a fake and fraudulent PAC-financed campaign flyer, pretending to be something it wasn’t, may have influenced the results of the election?
The fake flyer represented dirty politics at its finest. But what is also disturbing is Furry’s response to the flyer and its blatant falsehoods about VandeBunte. Instead of condemning the falsehoods, Furry, when asked about the flyer, stated, “I believe in free speech, and that was their free speech.”
He seemingly brushed aside the fraud and fakery, disregarding the unethical actions of the PAC. Fraud does not have “free speech” First Amendment protection.
Furthermore, applying Furry’s apparent mindset of conflating lies with free speech is not a healthy approach for a School Board member who should be advocating fact-based learning, honesty, and integrity for our students.
And for Furry to not strongly denounce the dishonesty, especially in light of his professed strong Christian values, is also disturbing.
Robert Gordon
Palm Coast
I estimate that no less than 20% of the voters that showed up to vote at the Palm Coast Community Center were at the incorrect spot (not their voting precinct). Granted, there may have been confusion this year caused by some changed voting locations. The good news is that everyone was helped and directed to their proper precinct polling place.
The clerk and assistant clerk handle voters with a multitude of abnormalities. The most common is identified above. Others include voters who failed to notify the Supervisor of Elections Office that they have moved (as required by regulations), voters whose documentation does not match the SOE’s records, voters who are not registered, voters who bring someone to assist them without the proper forms completed, voters who bring their mail-in ballots to drop off (on Election Day they can only be dropped off at the Supervisor’s Office), etc.
The precinct workers make every effort to ensure that everyone who is legally eligible to vote gets a ballot. Sometimes there are language challenges, sometimes there are attitude challenges, and sometimes (most of the time, actually) it goes as planned.
If all precincts are as well run as well as Precinct 513, every Flagler County resident should rest easy, knowing that our elections are safe and their vote is as important to the Supervisor of Elections and her staff as it is to them.
The rules are available on the SOE’s website and go out in mailers along with sample ballots, yet there are hundreds of voters who don’t have a clue about voting guidelines. Please educate yourself on the regulations and the candidates before the next Election Day. May God bless America.
Steve Canfield
Palm Coast
Dear Editor:
Every issue of the Observer has a 1/8-page or so article about the house that sold for the most dollars. My comment is, “Who Cares!” I may be the oddball, but I sure don’t care what someone paid for that or any house. The facts that someone sold it, someone bought it and it was expensive mean nothing to me. Why does the paper regularly print this "news" item?
Jesse Stoner
Palm Coast
Editor's note: Various indicators, including web traffic data, show high reader interest in our real estate section, but we hope readers who aren't interested in real estate will find plenty to read in the other sections of the newspaper.
