This is Marcia Lane, your roving reporter.
Area residents woke up to lower temperature this morning including some frost but not the predicted hard freeze. However, at 35 degrees in Palatka it was a bit of a shock for blooming azaleas and wild cherry trees. Temperatures are expected to go up although keep a coat handy since 59 is the high expected today and 38 the low this evening.
A 54-year-old St. Augustine man died Sunday evening in a two-vehicle crash on Interstate 95 in St. Johns County. Florida Highway Patrol reported a semi truck headed south on I-95 hit the rear of a SUV driven by the St. Augustine man. The SUV went off the road to the right side, overturning several times before ending in the tree line. FHP said the SUV driver died at the scene.
A 20-year-old Ponte Vedra man is in Flagler County jail on $6,500 bond and charges of grand theft, trespass on school grounds and resisting an officer after allegedly stealing a $6,000 necklace. Dominic Angelo Conte reportedly walked into Kay Jeweler’s in Palm Coast Sunday just before 7 p.m. and told a store employee he wanted to look at a 10K Cuban link necklace. After he was handed the necklace, Conte ran out of the store, eluding attempts by a store employee to stop him. Flagler Sheriff’s deputies were notified and spotted him in the parking lot of Flagler Palm Coast High School gym. He attended to flee but they caught him and reportedly found the missing necklace on him, the price tag still attached.
Workers on one City of Palatka garbage truck started their day off with a surprise this morning after a fire was reported in the truck. Firefighters and emergency workers were called to the scene on Reid Street near City Shippers shortly before 7 a.m.
Election season is on the horizon and it looks to be an active one in the Town of Welaka where four candidates last week notified Putnam Supervisor of Elections Charles Overturf III of their intent to run. Signing up were Jessica Finch, Kathy L.. Washington, Edward “Eddie” Johns and Alexa “Lexi” Peronard. Finch and Washington currently are on the Welaka Town Council.
Crescent City Manager Charles Rudd is guest speaker at tonight’s Fruitland Peninsula Historical Society meeting in Crescent City at 7:30 p.m. Rudd, who was manager of the Downtown Palatka Main Street program, will talk about the Florida Main Street Program and The Crescent City Downtown Partnership. The meeting is in the Society archives in the library of former Miller Middle School on Park Street.
What’s the skinny on what life was like in Putnam County during the Civil War? You can get one set of answers this Saturday as Double Trouble Theatre presents Putnam County: A Southern Story at a presentation put on by the Interlachen Historical Society. The vignettes are written and directed by Dianne Jacoby. The play is at Interlachen Hall, 215 Atlantic Ave. in Interlachen at 2 p.m. Tickets are $10 in advance and $12 at the door.
Keep your eye on play at the Australian Open tennis matches today. Palm Coast’s Reilly Opelka is set to take on Germany’s Dominik Koepfer in the second round of play. Opelka, a former Indian Trails Middle School student, defeated Kevin Anderson Monday. The nearly 7-foot U.S. player is now ranked 23rd on the ATP tour.
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