Christmas gift of love delivered in Casselberry today

Rain did not stop Wreaths Across America in Florida

Combat PTSD Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
December 15, 2018

This morning in Casselberry Florida, a large group gathered together to make sure the veterans buried at All Faiths Memorial Park were not forgotten. It did not matter that it was raining.

Sgt. Dave Matthews of Never Forgotten Memorials was the MC.

MOH Staff Sgt. Robert Miller Featured in Medal of Honor Report

Army sergeant charged enemy to help others
Selfless act allowed his fellow soldiers to make their getaway
The San Diego Union Tribune
By Phillip Molnar
May 27, 2016

Army Staff Sgt. Robert J. Miller. U.S. Army

As enemy soldiers surrounded his unit in northeastern Afghanistan just before dawn, Army Staff Sgt. Robert J. Miller made a choice.

More than 150 insurgents had ambushed the combined U.S. special operations and Afghan National Army force in the snow-filled Gowardesh Valley in January 2008, exposing the men to automatic weapon fire and rocket-propelled grenades.

In the lead, Miller ordered the men to take cover. Then he charged the enemy to give his comrades time to get away.

The official Army report said he managed to kill at least 10 insurgents and wound dozens more before being killed by enemy fire. He is credited with saving seven American and 15 Afghan soldiers.

“No one wants to go through what we did with losing a child,” his mother, Maureen Miller, said this month from Florida. “To know that your child died doing his duty and saving the lives of others, it makes a big difference in how you’re able to handle that kind of thing.”

Miller posthumously received the Medal of Honor in October 2010 from President Barack Obama.
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Medal of Honor service was here in Casselberry Florida

Military salute during the national anthem, during the Medal of Honor Headstone Dedication Ceremony, honoring U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Robert J. Miller, in Casselberry, Fla., Saturday, January 22, 2011. SSG Miller was was killed in action in Afghanistan in 2008 and was awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously by President Obama in October. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel)

South Seminole Lodge #364 dedicated in Casselberry Florida

South Seminole Lodge #364 in Casselberry Florida was rededicated this morning. The corner stone was laid in 2011 after a fire in 2006.

While we all remember Dan Brown's book and movie, as I wandered around I came across a wall with faces I recognized. I was shocked to discover they were all Masons.

Here are some famous Masons

FAMOUS MASONS
Benjamin Franklin
1 of 13 Masonic signers of Constitution of the U.S.
John Hancock
1 of 9 Masonic signers of Declaration of Independence
Gene Autry, Actor
Ernest Borgnine, Actor
W.C. Fields, Actor
Clark Gable, Actor
Arthur Godfrey, Actor
Will Rogers, Actor
Peter Sellers, Actor
John Wayne, Actor
Oliver Hardy, Actor - Comedian
James Bowie, Alamo
Colonel William B. Travis, Alamo
Roy Rogers, American cowboy and screen star
David Crockett, American Frontiersman and Alamo fame
Edwin E. Aldrin, Astronaut
Virgil Grissom, Astronaut
Charles Lindbergh, Aviator
Dr. William and Charles Mayo, Began Mayo Clinic
George M. Cohan, Broadway star
Joseph Brant, Chief of the Mohawks
Joseph Fort Newton, Christian Minister
Robert Livingston, Co-Negotiator for purchase of Louisiana Territory
Charles F. Papst, Coined the term 'Athletes Foot'
Bob Hope, Comedian
General Douglas MacArthur, Commander of Armed Forces in Philippines
General Henry 'Hap' Arnold, Commander of the Army Air Force
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer
Duke Ellington, Composer Arranger and Stylist
Roy Clark, Country Western Star
John Joseph Pershing, Decorated American Soldier
Frederic A. Bartholdi, Designed the Statue of Liberty
J. Edgar Hoover, Director of FBI
Booker T Washington, Educator and author
Irving Berlin, Entertainer
Harold C. Lloyd, Entertainer
Red Skelton, Entertainer
Charles 'Tom Thumb' Stratton, Entertainer
William Clark, Explorer
Meriwether Lewis, Explorer
Al Jolson, Fame as the first 'talking picture' the Jazz Singer
General James Doolittle, Famous Air Force Pilot
Paul Revere, Famous American
Samuel Colt,, Firearms inventor
Elmo Lincoln, First actor to play Tarzan of the Apes (1918)
John H. Glenn, First American to orbit the earth in a space craft
Dave Thomas, Founder of Wendys Restaurant
Arnold Palmer, Golf Pro
Eddie Rickenbacker, Great American Air Force Ace
Nat 'King' Cole, Great ballad singer
Florenz Ziegfeld, Ziegfeld's Follies
Buffalo Bill' William Cody, Indian fighter Wild West Show
Louis Armstrong, Jazz Musician
John Philip Sousa, Led the U.S. Marine Band from 188 -1892
Harry Houdini, Magician
Samuel L. Clemens, Mark Twain - writer
Omar N. Bradley, Military leader
Audie Murphy, Most decorated American Soldier of WWII.
John Paul Jones, Naval Commander
William 'Count' Bassie, Orchestra leader/composer
Patrick Henry, Patriot

James Buchanan
President of the U.S.
Gerald R. Ford
President of the U.S.
James A. Garfield
President of the U.S.
Warren G. Harding
President of the U.S.
Andrew Jackson
President of the U.S.
Andrew Johnson
President of the U.S.
William McKinley
President of the U.S.
James Monroe
President of the U.S.
James Knox Polk
President of the U.S.
Franklin D. Roosevelt
President of the U.S.
Theodore Roosevelt
President of the U.S.
William Howard Taft
President of the U.S.
Harry S. Truman
President of the U.S.
George Washington
President of US 1st

Three women shot to death in Casselberry Florida

This happened near my house. Several police and ambulances went whizzing by and then there were helicopters hovering. I wasn't sure what happened but I knew it had to be something big.

'We saw a bunch of dead bodies' at Casselberry salon where three women were shot dead
Gunman shot four women in the Las Dominicanas M and M Salon, killing three, then drove away and killed himself.
By Amy Pavuk and Jeff Weiner, Orlando Sentinel
October 18, 2012

Four women at a hair salon in Casselberry were gunned down Thursday — three of them killed — before the shooter committed suicide at a home nearby, authorities say.

Casselberry police said four women who worked at the Las Dominicanas M & M Salon on State Road 436 near Aloma Avenue were shot at the business around 11 a.m.

Three of the women were pronounced dead. The fourth woman was taken to an area hospital and her condition is unknown.

Police said the gunman left the salon, located in a small strip mall near a Family Dollar store, and then shot himself several miles away at a home on Paradise Lane.

The identities of the gunman or deceased have not been released.
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Friends gather to remember fallen Marine "Pretty Boy Floyd"

When we read stories about their Memorials, we are touched for a time but then we get to go back to our lives as if nothing happened. The family and friends have to go back to living their lives with a piece of their hearts missing. Moms bury sons and daughters. A lifetime of praying and worrying about them, being proud and worried, being hugged and hearing those sweet words, "I'm home" will not be repeated again in over 5,000 homes. Such a small percentage of the population of this country and easy to ignore if we choose to, yet if we do, we miss knowing about men and women who died for our sake.

Friends gather to remember fallen Marine

By Eloísa Ruano González, Orlando Sentinel

4:52 p.m. EDT, September 18, 2010

Memorial service for Marine Gunnery Sgt. Floyd Holley
(Copied by Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda, Orlando Sentinel / September 18, 2010)
A photo shows Marine Gunnery Sgt. Floyd Holley, who was killed in Afghanistan on Aug. 29, on display during a celebration of his life, on Saturday, September 18, 2010, in the auditorium of Lyman High School, where he attended. Holley, a roadside explosives specialist, died after he was hit by a blast from an improvised explosive device.

LONGWOOD — For some of the former Lyman High School students, it was their first time back on campus since their graduation almost two decades ago. They were there on Saturday to honor a classmate who could not join them.

Gunnery Sgt. Floyd Holley never made it home from his third tour of duty in the Middle East. The Marine, who grew up in Casselberry, died Aug. 29 after he was hit by a blast from a homemade bomb in Afghanistan's Helmand province.

Hundreds of friends and relatives gathered in the school's auditorium to pay tribute to their hometown hero. Although somber at times, the memorial was a way for people to relive the happy memories. They shared pictures of Holley, an outgoing, yet, kind-spirited man. In most of the pictures, he wore a big grin on his face, held a beer in his hand or flashed a shaka, a common greeting among surfers. While in the service, he taught an Afghani man and boy to flash shakas. The photo was displayed on a table at the entrance of the auditorium.
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Friends gather to remember fallen Marine

Marine Sgt. Floyd Holley of Casselberry dies in Afghanistan

Chrissy and Floyd Holley on their wedding day. Holley, 36, a Marine gunnery sergeant from Casselberry, was killed by a roadside bomb Aug. 29 in Helmand province, Afghanistan. (Facebook / August 30, 2010)

Marine Sgt. Floyd Holley of Casselberry dies in Afghanistan
By Susan Jacobson, Orlando Sentinel

11:56 p.m. EDT, August 30, 2010
Gunnery Sgt. Floyd Holley did one of the most dangerous jobs in the military.

A specialist in roadside explosives, Holley grew up in Casselberry and was planning to come home to the U.S. from Afghanistan for the birth of his first child — a daughter — in November.

On Sunday, however, Holley was killed during his third tour of duty in the Middle East, the Department of Defense announced this evening.

Holley, 36, died in Helmand province when he was hit by a blast from an improvised explosive device, the military said.
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Marine Sgt Floyd Holley

Actresses Demi Moore, Nia Vardalos save teen via Twitter

Actresses Demi Moore, Nia Vardalos use Twitter to stave off suicide attempt in Casselberry

The Associated Press

11:17 a.m. EDT, March 19, 2010


CASSELBERRY — Actresses Demi Moore and Nia Vardalos were linked to an online chain of Twitter posts that ultimately led to Florida authorities intervening when a young man threatened to commit suicide.

Moore's Twitter account, mrskutcher, was among those responding to a message from a young man threatening to hang himself early Friday in Casselberry.

Moore — with 2.5 million followers — and husband Ashton Kutcher are both active on the social network.

Vardalos' eponymous account included a message that she had called a suicide hotline and been connected to Florida police. "I gave his name+city. They went to home, helped him," one message read.

The Seminole County Sheriff's Office said authorities received two calls around 2:30 a.m., one from California and one from Vancouver, British Columbia. Both callers reported the suicide threat on Twitter. There was no record of the callers' names, Lt. Sonia Pisano said.

Deputies went to a home and took an uninjured juvenile male to a hospital, Pisano said. She said she could not provide more specifics.

Calls to representatives for Moore and for Vardalos, who starred in "My Big Fat Greek Wedding," went unanswered early Friday.
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Twitter to stave off suicide attempt

Second suicide at Shoot Straight in Casselberry FL

Report: Person shoots, kills self at Casselberry gun range
Apr 27, 2009 06:17 PM
A person has fatally shot him self at Shoot Straight, the same Casselberry gun range where a murder-suicide took place earlier this month, according to WFTV.com.

UPDATE April 28, 2009

Winter Springs man killed himself on second trip to gun range
Gary Taylor Sentinel Staff Writer
1:08 PM EDT, April 28, 2009

CASSELBERRY - Jason Kevin McCarthy, 26, was at Shoot Straight on U.S. Highway 17-92 about 11 a.m. Monday and asked about renting a gun, Casselberry police Officer Joseph Nas said in a report that has just been released. McCarthy was handed paperwork to fill out, "but he stated he had something to do first and left the store," Nas wrote.

He came back about 5:40 p.m. and that time he filled out the paperwork and rented a 9mm handgun.

No one saw McCarthy shoot himself, but the suicide was verified by a surveillance video, police said. Employee Adam Schulman told police he instructed McCarthy on how to safely use the gun and watched him shoot at his target on a monitor for about five minutes before turning to wait on a customer.

He said he realized something was wrong when another customer pounded on the glass and told him McCarthy had shot himself.
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Winter Springs man killed himself on second trip to gun range

Woman uses rented gun to kill son and herself caught on tape

Police: Woman used rented gun in murder-suicide; actions appeared 'deliberate'
Gary Taylor Sentinel Staff Writer
12:34 PM EDT, April 6, 2009

Casselberry Police said this morning they still have no idea why an Altamonte Springs woman shot her son Sunday afternoon and then turned the gun on herself while the two were target practicing.

Evidence indicated Marie Moore, 44, intentionally shot her 20-year-old son, Mitchell, also of Altamonte Springs, police said. Why she did it, however, remains a mystery.

In a report just released, Casselberry officer Jeffrey Shumway said the two were sharing a firing lane at the Shoot Straight range on U.S. Highway 17-92, taking turns shooting and talking to people in an adjacent lane. "They seem to be getting along fine," he wrote in the report.

"At one point in the video you can see Mitchell Moore firing his pistol down range," Shumway wrote. "Marie Moore walked up behind Mitchell Moore and pointed a revolver at the back of his head and fired a single shot. The act appeared to be deliberate.
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Police: Woman used rented gun in murder-suicide; actions appeared 'deliberate'

UPDATE to story
Marie Moore's suicide notes: 'Had to send son to heaven'
Apr 07, 2009 18:38 -0400



Updated: 10 minutes ago
The woman who killed her son at a Casselberry gun range, then turned her gun on herself, left a notes at her home apologizing for sending "my son to heaven and myself to hell.''

Oxygen tanks fuel fatal fire in Casselberry

Oxygen tanks fuel fatal fire in Casselberry
Sara K. Clarke Sentinel Staff Writer
July 7, 2008

Casselberry resident Leah Truszkowski was putting her baby to bed when she heard a loud boom. Leftover fireworks, she thought.

Then she heard the cries for help from her neighbor. Her husband, Kris, ran to the house next door, which was burning out of control.

Paul D'Agostino screamed one final time before another blast.

Oxygen tanks that belonged to D'Agostino, who was recovering from a heart attack and coma, proved deadly after they exploded and fueled the flames that had engulfed his house, trapping him inside, officials said.
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