80% Veterans Complete Veterans Court Succeed

A few things to notice when you watch the video on the link. They start the session with the Pledge of Allegiance. The other is that the entire courtroom is there supporting the veteran who just graduated from the program...including his family!

Top that off with the veteran wants to turn around and help other veterans succeed as well!


Veterans court gives second chance to some struggling vets
WESH 2 News
Greg Fox
December 29, 2017

Judge Bryan Feigenbaum said more than 80 percent of those who graduate do not repeat their crimes.

VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla.
WESH 2 News has details on a court program that helps veterans, instead of sending them to jail.

WESH 2's Greg Fox met a combat veteran who got a second chance after an armed standoff with police.

The man has been rehabilitated and is hoping to help others.

Kevin Hamilton, like others eligible for the pretrial diversion program, is a veteran with an honorable discharge. He was an Army sergeant and served in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Hamilton suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and held his family hostage and threatened his own life in an armed standoff in Ormond Beach in 2015 that ended peacefully.

Veterans court gave Hamilton a second chance: counseling, probation and mentoring, or face prison time.
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Dispatchers Deal With High Stress

Volusia, Flagler emergency dispatchers cope with long hours, low pay, high turnover

News Journal Online
Matt Bruce
November 19, 2017

“They have to be the voice that re-introduces some level of calmness and assurance into what is often a very difficult situation for the people who are calling,” said John Balloni, director of the Communications Center in Volusia County. “People are screaming at them, they’re swearing at them, and they’re upset. We teach them, yes, that’s all going to happen to you, but your job is still to be that voice of calm and reason, assure them that help is on the way.”

About half of Volusia County’s new dispatchers quit during their first year on the job, while nearly a third of Flagler’s recruits resign.

They serve as a bridge between crisis and intervention in a job that often requires them to hear the worst of humanity. Each day a legion of 9-1-1 dispatchers in Flagler and Volusia counties handle thousands of calls that can range in urgency from routine to catastrophic.

“They are the unsung heroes of all law enforcement and first responders,” Flagler County Sheriff Rick Staly said. “Not only are they the voice of the Sheriff’s Office, but they also help protect our deputies.”

The U.S. Bureau of Labor rates emergency dispatching as one of the country’s most stressful professions, a fact that plays a role both near and far. About half of Volusia County’s new dispatchers quit during their first year on the job while nearly a third of Flagler’s recruits resign, officials said.

High turnover rates and staffing shortages at dispatch centers are a nationwide issue as agencies across the country struggle to find qualified call takers who can maintain their composure through intense trauma.

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Tornado caught on tape in Volusia County Florida

Volusia tornado cleanup begins as residents recall frightening moments

Ludmilla Lelis

Sentinel Staff Writer

PORT ORANGE - PORT ORANGE -- In the mobile-home communities struck Friday night by a quick tornado blast, residents on Saturday were cleaning up the debris, installing tarps on their roofs and counting their blessings.

Officials confirmed that 63 homes sustained major damage or were destroyed by the storm that touched down around 6:15 p.m. in the Laurelwood Estates and Lighthouse Pointe communities. Another 91 homes sustained minor damage, including single-family homes in the Brandy Hills neighborhood.

Yet only one person suffered a minor injury, a woman cut by flying glass who didn't want to be transported to the hospital, said Port Orange Fire-Rescue spokeswoman Tonya Gilardi.

Saturday, officials from the National Weather Service toured the damage to confirm it was a tornado that struck. State emergency-management officials, city building officials and the county property appraiser's office also surveyed the damage. Port Orange Fire-Rescue crews conducted door-to-door searches and helped some residents install blue tarps on their damaged roofs.
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Volusia tornado cleanup begins as residents recall frightening moments

Tornado damages homes, injures 1, in Volusia

Susan Jacobson

Sentinel Staff Writer

12:05 AM EDT, July 25, 2009


PORT ORANGE - A tornado touched down in Port Orange on Friday night, destroying seven mobile homes and damaging dozens more, the National Weather Service in Melbourne said.

Residents reported seeing funnel clouds and at least one tornado on the ground about 6:25 p.m., a weather-service meteorologist said.

Five minutes later, the seven homes were gone, eight more were heavily damaged, 26 were moderately damaged and 122 sustained light damage.

One person received minor injuries from flying glass, the weather service said.

The touchdown was near Madeline Avenue and Nova Road in the Lighthouse Pointe, Laurelwood Estates and Brandy Hills communities.
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Tornado damages homes, injures 1, in Volusia

Officials: Dad finds naked boy in daughter's room, hits him with pipe

Officials: Dad finds naked boy in daughter's room, hits him with pipe

By PATRICIO G. BALONA
Staff Writer
A Deltona father ended up in jail Thursday after finding his daughter's teenage boyfriend naked in the girl's bedroom and hitting him with a pipe, sheriff's officials said.

Raul Colon, 45, didn't even know his daughter had a boyfriend -- or that the youngster had been sneaking into the home for more than a year. So when he heard noises coming from his daughter's room early Thursday and saw a naked stranger standing on the girl's bed, he swung a metal pipe he had taken from the garage, hitting the 15-year-old, according to a Volusia County sheriff's report.

Colon was charged with aggravated battery on a child but was released from jail later Thursday on $10,000 bail, a booking officer said. No one answered the phone at Colon's residence Thursday for comment.

According to the report, Colon heard the noise in his daughter's room when he got up at 4 a.m. to let his dog out, as he does every morning.

Colon told deputies he chased Lucas Contreres through the kitchen, living room and through the front door and out into the street and called 9-1-1.
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http://www.news-journalonline.com/NewsJournalOnline/
News/Headlines/frtHEAD02091208.htm

Volusia flooding victims raise suspicion of deliberate pond breaches

Frustrated Volusia flooding victims raise suspicion of deliberate pond breaches
Gary Taylor and Rachael Jackson Sentinel Staff Writers
September 11, 2008
Tropical Storm Fay dumped so much rain so fast that massive ponds designed to hold once-a-century downpours failed, prompting speculation of intentional breaches in swollen man-made lakes.

Law enforcement, city officials and regional water regulators say they have no evidence that anyone breached ponds in southwest Volusia to prevent flooding on their properties.

The claims, including one the Volusia County Sheriff's Office is reviewing, signal the ongoing frustration of storm-weary residents still looking for answers about what went wrong and reassurances it won't happen again -- as Fay's remnants leave behind moldy homes, soggy lawns and swarms of mosquitoes.

Residents can learn more about DeBary's plans to deal with long-standing stormwater problems during a City Council meeting at 6 p.m. today at Florence K. Little Town Hall, 12 Colomba Road.
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http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/volusia/orl-flood1108sep11,0,5963977.story

Veteran's son pilots idea for visit to WWII Memorial in D.C.

Dorothy Halevy, shown in this 1942 photo, served in the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps during World War II. (BARBARA V. PEREZ, ORLANDO SENTINEL / February 4, 2008)

Darryl E. Owens Sentinel Staff Writer
February 7, 2008

Bill Mancinik's father, Frank, never talked much about his time as a gunner in the Pacific Theater during World War II.

"They went to war. They served. They came back and gave us the world we have today, and I didn't think much about it," said Mancinik, 57.

But his interest grew years after his father's death as he learned more about what's been called "the greatest generation." And it skyrocketed when he discovered Honor Flight, which provides free trips for veterans to see the World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C.

Mancinik, of DeLand, leads Volusia Honor Air, a collaboration of three Volusia County Rotary Clubs seeking to raise $65,000 to fly 100 World War II veterans to see the memorial in May. Though the campaign has sprung up in several Florida communities, Volusia Honor Air is the first of its kind to take flight in Central Florida.

"It not only intrigued me," Mancinik said of Honor Flight, "but moved me to such an extent that I thought, 'We have to do this.' "

So far, 49 veterans are booked, with 16 applications pending. The group has $14,535 in its coffers and hopes to raise more through a publicity campaign and word of mouth.

"It's our chance to thank the remaining men and women for what they did," said John Cheney, 55, president-elect of the Rotary Club of Downtown DeLand.
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Orange City Florida VA Clinic To Open In April

New, larger VA clinic on track to open in April

By AUDREY PARENTE
Staff Writer
ORANGE CITY -- While an Orlando Veterans Affairs hospital is still in the planning stage, a second Veterans Outpatient Clinic for Volusia County is on the fast track, set to open in April.

The existing Daytona Beach VA clinic will continue to assist veterans, but another 6,000-square-foot clinic is nearly completed at the rear of the Tiffany Centre on U.S. 17-92.

When the new facility opens, a clinic in Sanford will close.

Dr. Martin S. Schnier, chief medical officer of the Orlando VA Medical Center, told a dozen veterans about the new facility on Wednesday, the first public acknowledgement of the clinic.

"It will be wonderful to move out of our incredibly cramped clinic in Sanford," Schnier said. "We will be expanding from three to five doctors and have a full-time psychiatrist, social worker, psychologist and pharmacist.

"We will not have a pharmacy but a lab. We will do enrollment and patient orientation on site."

The new facility will double the capacity to serve veterans, he said, but it also can help those currently traveling far for care.

"My goal is not to raid Orlando and Daytona, but if you want to transfer, you can," Schnier said. "You don't have to wait for us to move to begin enrolling 2,500 more veterans in the (new) clinic."

Barry Stanley, spokesman for the Orlando VA, said in a phone interview the reason for the change is based on higher numbers of veterans in Volusia County -- nearly 70,000 -- than in the Sanford area -- 3,000.

Changes also tie Volusia County to the future VA hospital instead of to the Gainesville VA hospital.
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http://www.news-journalonline.com/NewsJournalOnline/News/Local/newWEST05020708.htm