St. Johns County


Jeremy Varnadore’s Ancient City Serpents

By Katherine Hamilton | gargoyle@flagler.edu Jeremy Varnadore grew up playing with snakes in the swamps of Georgia. Now, he can be seen draped in snakes and set up in the streets of downtown St. Augustine. Snakes have had a bad reputation since the age of Adam and Eve,…


Rebuilding after Matthew

By Max Charles | gargoyle@flagler.edu ST. AUGUSTINE – St. Augustine was among the hardest hit areas by Hurricane Matthew. Although hurricane tracker maps on weatherunderground.com had Hurricane Matthew being much stronger, the devastation to many St. Augustine homes is everywhere. Take a stroll down Vilano Beach…


Protests – and praise – over Donald Trump’s election

By Courtney Knudson gargoyle@flagler.edu ST. AUGUSTINE – Cities across America have seen a backlash since Donald Trump won the presidency. On Monday, leaders of demonstrations in Portland, Oregon, were arrested after the protest turned violent. In St. Augustine, residents held a peaceful protest of their own on Nov….


Breaking Bad and the rise of meth labs

By Lindsay Tahan | gargoyle@flagler.edu St. Johns County sheriff’s deputies say they have seen a rise in meth labs as they shut down pill mills. One of the biggest meth labs they’ve seen in recent years was located at a manufactured home along Ravenswood Drive,…


Jacksonville native manages growth and development

By Shelby Gillis | gargoyle@flagler.edu St. Johns County has one of the strongest economies in Florida and continues to outpace the nation in unemployment and median household income. The unemployment rate is 3.5 percent, lower all of the state’s 67 counties except Monroe County, home…


Unconventional candidate seeks clerk’s job

By Ariel Thomas | gargoyle@flagler.edu After Clerk of County Courts Cheryl Strickland retired in 2015, she endorsed her chief deputy, George Lareau, calling him “the only candidate exceptionally qualified to hold this position.” And Lareau was Strickland’s replacement for about a week, but then Gov….


Hundreds of homeless students in St. Johns County

By Montana Samuels | gargoyle@flagler.edu The five-year spike of homeless students enrolling in St. Johns County schools has begun to taper off, but some experts fear the trend won’t last. “I think the numbers can and will go up,” says Kassy Guy-Johanessen, director of development at…


Prescription pills: Deceptively dangerous

By Darby Moore | gargoyle@flagler.edu Most people believe illegal drugs are most likely to lead to addiction. This common-held belief is no longer true when considering modern-day substance abuse. Yet many addicts get their drugs from a place you might not expect: Their own medicine…


Traffic crashes in St. Johns County rising

By Justin Katz | gargoyle@flagler.edu Flagler College senior John Eick was riding his bike to campus from his house in West King when he was struck by a car speeding through the intersection of Alexander and Madeore Street. He was injured, with road rash on…