The United States Coast Guard is searching for the owner of a red and yellow kayak found near the New Smyrna Beach inlet on Saturday. Several local agencies assisted in the search but were unable to find any missing persons. Anyone with information on the kayak's owner is asked to contact the Coast Guard. A group called "Back the Blue Florida" held a convoy of vehicles from Tampa to Daytona Beach to show support for police officers nationwide. Twenty-four people trapped in a hotel elevator in Daytona Beach on Friday night were safely rescued by firefighters. In 1946, Florida changed the numbering system for state highways, assigning new numbers to several roads.

1. The Daytona Beach News-Journal | Sunday, September 18, 2016 B1
FOLLOW US
Mark Lane is the metro columnist and
writes the occasional feature story.
Follow him on Twitter @OtherMarkLane
NEWS-JOURNAL SCOOP
Contact us with tips and breaking news at
njscoop@news-jrnl.com or 386-681-2220
volusia news
Today in History
Coast Guard looking
for kayak’s owner
The United States Coast Guard
is looking for the owner of a red
and yellow kayak found near New
Smyrna Beach inlet on Saturday.
The Coast Guard said in a
statement that a good Samaritan
reported the empty kayak around
2 p.m. The Pyranaha kayak HIN
number is JBBNJDXK304.
The Coast Guard Station Ponce
de Leon boat crews and a heli-
copter crew from Air Station
Clearwater are searching for a
possible missing kayaker.
New Smyrna Beach Patrol,
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conser-
vation Commission and Volusia
County Sheriff’s Office crews also
searched, but Capt. Tamra Marris
from Volusia County Beach
Safety Ocean Rescue said their
search ended around 3:45 p.m
with no results.
There have been no missing
person reports in the area, the
Coast Guard said.
Anyone with information on
the kayak’s owner is asked to
contact the Coast Guard Sector
Jacksonville Command Center at
904-714-7561.
— Allison Shirk
‘Back the Blue’ rolls
into Daytona Beach
A coast-to-coast event sup-
porting police officers across
the nation Saturday afternoon
brought miles and miles of
jeeps — some with Ameri-
can flags flying out the back
— down Interstate 4 eastbound
and headed toward Bruce Ross-
meyer’s Daytona location.
“Back the Blue Florida” was
a convoy of vehicles that began
in Tampa and ended in Daytona
Beach in an effort to show sup-
port for officers nationwide.
According to the group’s web-
site, www.backthebluefl.com, it
started out as a couple hundred
jeeps and grew to a multi-state
effort,
— Allison Shirk
24 people rescued
from elevator
Twenty-four people trapped
in a hotel elevator were rescued
Friday night, according to a
news release from the Daytona
Beach Fire Department.
Firefighters responded to a
call about a stuck elevator in
the north tower of the Hilton
Resort on Daytona Beach’s
beachside at 9:40 p.m.
Once on scene, hotel employ-
ees told firefighters that one
of the individuals inside the
elevator was complaining of a
medical problem. Firefighters
entered the elevator shaft and
determined the elevator was
stuck between the lobby and
the third floor.
All of the occupants were
safely removed from the eleva-
tor. Other than the one patient
who experienced dizziness and
weakness, the other 23 people
were not injured.
— Staff Report
1946: Florida switches
state road numbers
Florida’s road department
changed the numbering system
for state highways starting
Sept. 18, 1946, and signs were
switched accordingly. What’s
now State Road 40, was State
Road 75 under the old system.
What’s now State Road 44 was
changed from State Road 21.
QUESTIONS? Contact Editor John Gallas at 386-681-2445 or john.gallas@news-jrnl.com
Local
By Katie Kustura
katie.kustura@news-jrnl.com
DAYTONA BEACH — The
legal drama surrounding the
gentlemen’s club Grandview
Live has taken another turn
around the pole with new
accusations of theft, drugs and
conspiracy.
A legal document filed by the
attorney for 2D2G — the com-
pany formed by Robert Russell
and Brett Hartley, tenants of
640 N. Grandview Ave. —
claimsHartleyandthebuilding’s
owners, who recently filed to
have2D2Gevicted,conspiredto
cut Russell out of the business.
GRANDVIEW LIVE
Strip club feud escalates
Drug, conspiracy
allegations latest
twist in Daytona
club owners’ dispute
A
flyer at the Republican
headquarters in New
Smyrna Beach caused a
ruckus last week.
It was denounced by the
local party chair. Its author
was banned from the office. It
caused the headquarters to be
picketed by about 30 people
carrying signs saying things
like “Shame, shame on NSB
GOP.” And it sparked news-
paper stories and a TV news
report.
The handout was in the form
of a letter arguing that gov-
ernment benefit programs are
worse than slavery for black
people because at least under
slavery “they were better off
than they were in Africa.”
“When will you ever learn?”
the flyer closed, addressing
black voters directly.
Its author, Richard Gal-
breath, wondered what the
fuss is about. “What was
wrong with the letter?” he
asked when told about the
planned demonstration.
Where would one even
begin?
First off, the stated intention
of the letter was to persuade
more black people to vote
Republican. Yet within days
of it being handed to an actual
black person, a multiracial
Footnote
How not
to pitch to
minority
voters
Mark Lane
By Tony Holt and Mark Harper
tony.holt@news-jrnl.com
mark.harper@news-jrnl.com
PALM COAST — At 11,
FranciscoCruzIIIdoesn’tyet
have a vote.
But he has a voice — a voice
thatjustgotamplifiedbyHill-
aryClintonduringaspeechat
the Congressional Hispanic
Caucus gala late Thursday.
“He wears his ‘Love
Trumps Hate’ pin every day
and refuses to take it off,”
Clinton told her audience in
Washington and carried live
on networks including CNN.
“Whenhisfatherwarnedhim
that might make him a target
for bullies, Francisco looked
his father in the eye and he
said, ‘I was always told to
standupformyselfandwhatI
believeinandIbelieveTrump
is wrong.’
2016 ELECTION
With his parents Maribel Mejia Cruz and Francisco Cruz Jr. behind him, 11-year-old Francisco Cruz III, a Belle
Terre Elementary student, proudly shows off his ‘ Love Trumps Hate’ button Friday. Hillary Clinton mentioned
him and the button in a speech Thursday. NEWS-JOURNAL photos/JIM TILLER
‘GOOD FOR
YOU, FRANCISCO’
Palm Coast
boy, 11, thrilled
about mention in
Clinton speech
By T.S. Jarmusz
tony.jarmusz@news-jrnl.com
The world’s largest rodent
is on the loose in Florida — and
there’s only one biologist in
America studying how to stop
it.
In what sounds like a B movie
plot, a group of capybaras —
essentially oversized South
American guinea pigs that
weigh more than Justin Bieber
— escaped a research facility in
northern Florida in the 1990s.
Thecreatureshavesincemated,
andunconfirmedsightingshave
placed as many as 50 in the
state, most along the Santa Fe
River, said Elizabeth Congdon,
assistant professor at Bethune-
Cookman University.
So just how big is it?
Huge. The animal’s scientific
name, Hydrochoerus hydro-
chaeris, means “water hog,”
according to a San Diego Zoo
fact sheet. And weighing in at
up to 150 pounds, the critter
lives up to its moniker. To put it
B-CU PROFESSOR AN EXPERT
What you need to know about Florida’s largest rodent
A mother capybara with her young. Photo courtesy of Bethune-Cookman
University
Grandview
Live in Daytona
Beach remains
open despite
a legal feud
between its
partners that
includes allega-
tions of drug
use in the club.
News-Journal/
NIGEL COOK
SEE club, B2
SEE lane, B2
SEE francisco, B2
SEE rodents, B2
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton gave 11-year-old Palm
Coast supporter Francisco Cruz III a shoutout at the end of this speech
last week at the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute’s 39th Annual
Gala Dinner in Washington. Andrew Harnik/the associated press