PALM COAST
Observer
SPORTS DURING COVID PAGE 9
YOU. YOUR NEIGHBORS. YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD.
VOLUME 11, NO. 32
19 YEARS LATER
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2020
Gun sales shoot higher
Inventory low after ‘panic’ purchases. PAGE 3
Remembering the events of 9/11: Plantation Bay Pentagon survivor shares his story PAGE 6
BRIEFS DiStefano dies at 83
Mary DeStefano, a former twoterm member of the Palm Coast City Council, died on Sept. 5. She was 83. DiStefano, who was born in 1936 in Pennsylvania, according to her obituary, was first elected in 2003 and represented District 3. “Mary has served this council for eight years — part of the start of the city — and was an integral part of many discussions on many initiatives you see today,” Mayor Milissa Holland said in a Palm Coast City Council workshop on Sept. 8. “Our prayers go out to Mary’s family.” Jon Netts, a city councilman and former Palm Coast mayor who’d served with DiStefano, said DiStefano had an infectious laugh, but could also be very serious. “One of the things that I liked about Mary: Her visions, her goals, her desires very much paralleled those of our residents; she was an excellent spokesperson,” Netts said. “Where there were brief times she would disagree with policy, procedure, she did it in a ladylike manner — no animosity, no hardness in her voice. She understood what democracy was all about, and she just made a very, very, very, good member for her residents for our residents for those early days of Palm Coast. She will be missed.”
Photo by Brian McMillan
Customer Joe Colmone, with Larry’s Guns and Ammo owner Larry Beighle and Manager Kirk Chong.
Flagler Schools reports 14 positive cases since schools reopened Cases have been identified at Old Kings Elementary School, Buddy Taylor Middle School, FlaglerPalm Coast High School and Matanzas High School.
JONATHAN SIMMONS NEWS EDITOR
A total of three staff members and 11 students have tested positive in Flagler Schools since classes began on Aug. 24, with cases at Old Kings Elementary School, Buddy Taylor Middle School, Flagler-Palm Coast High School and Matanzas High School, according to the school district. Local officials are expecting a spike — potentially a brief one
— JONATHAN SIMMONS
INDEX
Briefs..................... PAGE 8 Real Estate...........PAGE 16 Your Town.............PAGE 12
Image from FCSD Plant Services Twitter
The newly renovated lobby at Matanzas High School.
— as students return to in-person classes. “As we have the students going to school and interacting, we’ll probably see some spiking,” Palm Coast Fire Chief Jerry Forte said during the city’s Virtual Town Hall event on Sept. 2. “ ... I think ... we’ll be able to deal with these small spikes as they start to make themselves known.” Flagler County has the lowest per capita COVID-19 infection rate in the state. Still, Forte said, “Every time we open up a new aspect of the public, there’s going to be a bump, a spike, in the new COVID cases. ... We’ll work that out as we go.” Flagler Schools Superintendent Cathy Mittelstadt said the school district is still working out the details of instructing students during the pandemic and providing COVID-19 safety precautions. The district has given students three options for instruction: in-person at brick-and-mortar classes, “remote live” from home over a webcam watching brickand-mortar classes, or online through the iFlagler virtual school.
The remote-live method is new for both teachers and students, she said. “We are all under a steep learning curve this year, and I’ve appreciated so much our community and families for being patient,” Mittelstadt said. Mittelstadt said she meets each morning with her executive team, “and we look to see where we need to kind of pivot and shift, so I can ensure that I’m taking care of all the faculty and staff.” As of Sept. 2, she said, approximately 6,500 students had signed up for brick-and-mortar instruction, 3,227 were using the remote live option, and over 1,400 were enrolled in iFlagler. That is lower than last year’s enrollment. Mittelstadt said it’s typical for students to trickle in. Florida Department of HealthFlagler Health Officer Bob Snyder said the health department’s priority this week has been supporting the school district as schools reopen. When there’s a case in a school, health department staff conductSEE 14 CASES PAGE 5