PALM COAST
Observer YOU. YOUR NEIGHBORS. YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD.
VOLUME 16, NO. 34
Matanzas wins 3rd straight 7B
FREE ON NEWSSTANDS | THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2025
New restrictions proposed for e-bikes To reduce reckless driving, Palm Coast City Council to restrict e-bikes on public paths to those 11 and under. 4A
Hammock residents advocate for sales tax
ceremonies A moment Flagler commemorate 9/11 of silence PAGE 3A
Property tax to fund beach management is not ‘fair and equitable,’ beachside residents say. PAGE 8A
Palm Coast tax rate to drop .1 mills But 2026 budget increases 65%, mostly due to utility capital projects. PAGE 4A INSIDE
Kaitlyn Hunter, Susan Wright and Carly Scott bow their heads on Sept. 11, 2025, in tribute to those who sacrificed their lives responding to the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. A stair climb was held at the Hammock Beach Resort to commemorate the day. Photo by Sierra Williams
11-YEAR-OLD
Rymfire Elementary student arrested PAGE 2A
VISITOR DOLLARS
County OKs contract to begin design, build for Eco-Discovery Center PAGE 6A
HUMANE SOCIETY County renews one-year contract PAGE 8A
INDEX
Heart of gold Zoee Foster, an FPC student and leukemia patient, helps raise childhood cancer awareness
PAGE 1B
Business..................... PAGE 3B Calendar..................... PAGE 2B Cops Corner................PAGE 2A Crossword.................. PAGE 2C Letters.......................PAGE 10A Public Notices............ PAGE 5C Sports......................... PAGE 6B Tributes ...................... PAGE 3C Real Estate................. PAGE 4B
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FPC junior Zoee Foster was diagnosed with leukemia early in her freshman year after she began suffering severe headaches. Photo by Brent Woronoff
NEWS BRIEFS
Kathryn Gordon named Crime Stoppers Officer of the Year Flagler County Sheriff’s Office Master Detective Kathryn Gordon was named Crime Stoppers of Northeast Florida’s 2025 Officer of the Year in the large agency category. The award was presented at the Crime Stoppers 25th annual banquet on Sept. 4 in Daytona Beach. Gordon is also a member of the FCSO Emergency Response Team. In September 2024, she was deployed to assist in Taylor County in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene. In addition to her case load and ERT duties, Gordon is a Florida Department of Law Enforcement-certified instructor and has trained five new detectives who have joined the Major Case Unit in the past year. Gordon joined the FCSO in 2020 as a patrol deputy in the Community Policing Division. In 2021, she joined the Major Case Unit, where she handles some of the
agency’s most demanding cases, including shootings, homicides and sexual offenses involving vulnerable children.
Flagler jail wins innovation award The Flagler County Sheriff’s Office’s Sheriff Perry Hall Inmate Detention Facility has been selected by the National Institute for Jail Operations to receive the 2025 Detention Facility Innovation Award. The award will be formally presented during the JAILCON25 Southern Regional Conference on Oct. 15 in Mobile, Alabama. The Flagler jail also won the award in 2022. Flagler County Sheriff Rick Staly said: “We give our inmates the tools and opportunity to turn their lives around and become productive citizens. By doing this our community is safer, which is reflected in our more than 50% reduction in crime since 2017.” In December 2024, the jail partnered with Parkview Church to reunite inmates with their children during the holiday season. In July, the jail introduced a homeless kitten-fostering initiative in partnership with the Humane Society.