As The Town Turns, episode 2

Our last episode left us with many questions following Marcia Walters’ cliffhanger, “I think DOGE went out the door when the Town Commission decided to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on hiring more full-time employees on the Fire Department instead.”

Nextdoor post

Why aren’t the Nextdoor directors/moderators yelling CUT? This scene is full of so much misinformation, we can’t air this!!!

Take two:

Reality check. DOGE can’t “go out the door”… In February 2025, the DOGE initiative was ordered by Governor DeSantis for “ALL municipalities in Florida.” DOGE operates directly under the Governor’s office and seeks to insure transparency and fiscal responsibility throughout the state’s government system, with a mandate effective through March 2026. CLICK HERE

The Nextdoor moderators should have caught this blatant lie and had it removed, but alas… the drama would have been lost.

Enter Stage Left… Candidate Bruce Larson begins a members-only group forum on Nextdoor to promote his campaign. He stated that he wants, “…dialogue about electing our next commissioners here in Melbourne Beach.” Just two days after starting his forum, comments were being removed either by Mr. Larson himself or biased moderators, like his wife, Kristi Larson or Gail Gowdy… both supporters of candidate Larson. In this dramatic scene, Gail Gowdy, a known Nextdoor moderator, joins the group and waves hello to candidate Larson who quickly replies, welcoming her to the group. Gail excitedly asks candidate Larson to post his campaign flyer into the group.

The group appears to start engaging in dialogue when David C. joins the conversation. He asks moderator Gowdy if she thought it was appropriate for her to be a moderator when she is such an avid supporter of the candidate. Suddenly, David C.’s post disappears! This could have slipped through the cracks, never to be seen again. However, the missing post was discovered when Mary W. was typing a comment in response to David C.’s question, but realized that his post was gone!!!

Mary W. asked David C. if he took his post down and he said, no. At this point, Mary W. reached out to Truth and Accuracy Matter to express her concerns, asking us if we see what she sees, referencing the number of comments that should be in the thread. What Mary W. pointed out is, the thread icon shows the number 3 when the original three comments were made, but still showed “3” when only 2 comments remained.

3 comments with “3” in the comment icon

Mary W. ready to respond but notices David C.’s comment is gone. PLEASE NOTE: 2 comments but “3” in comment icon

The viewers are getting confused…. are we now watching a game show, or are we still on As The Town Turns? Why are games constantly being played by these characters? Maybe we should rename the series, Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?

Time Out for a Commercial Break This episode is brought to you by Truth and Accuracy Matter, our town’s source for factual information in a fun format. Now, back to the show.

Disgraced former police chief and current Town Commission candidate, Steve Walters, continues with his deceptive attacks against our local fire department (MBVFD) regarding the purchase of our new fire truck. Instead of celebrating this positive development for our town, Walters tries to twist the truth by claiming we paid $300,000 more than Indialantic paid for their new fire truck. Nothing for naught, Walters also leads residents to believe that a referendum vote is still looming.

More Nextdoor Nonsense by Steve Walters

To clarify: Our previous town manager and town attorney secured a great lease option agreement for the fire truck at the purchase price of $615,579.00 back in November 2022—a decision made so residents wouldn't have to pay all at once. We locked in a low interest rate too! The total cost over a timespan of 10 years will be $794,590.20—not the $850,000 that Steve Walters is claiming!

The residents of our town in Melbourne Beach should know that the Town of Indialantic has a millage rate of 5.999 with $3,651,550.00 of taxes levied on its town residents. Our Town of Melbourne Beach has a millage rate of 4.4770 with taxes levied on us at $2,791,245.00. Based on that alone, Indialantic has $860,305.00 more than we do, every year!

So, candidate Walters… if you had been on our commission, would you have voted to raise our millage rate in the Town of Melbourne Beach so that we would have had the $615,579.00 to pay cash for our fire truck? Would taxing the residents of our wonderful town THAT much extra money have made you happy? NO THANKS!

That wise decision was made so that our town residents would not have to bear the burden of paying for the entire $615,579.00 fire truck at one time. Our well informed and fiscally responsible commissioners at that time (Hoover, Barton, Quarrie, Runte & Walker), agreed to a low 4.93% interest rate with 10 payments of $79,459.02 over the next 10 years. As a town, we have already made two payments with the third payment due on November 15, 2025. The most important fact here is that the way our fire truck was purchased benefited our town by not having to raise our millage rate to purchase the needed fire truck with one payment. ( Payment Schedule).

Why is Walters unable to see the reality of a GOOD decision for our town? He thrives on spin, drama and misinformation. Simple research reveals that the average length of time a fire department keeps a fire truck is generally 15 years. While some fire stations may shift an older truck into reserve status, our town is selling our 20 year old fire truck and replacing it with the much needed new one. The proceeds from the sale of the old fire truck will go back into our town budget.

Let’s take a short commercial break after ALL THAT DRAMA…

Commercial Break: Support our Common Sense Candidates: Sherri Quarrie and Terry Cronin - VOTE November 4th!!!

Returning now to MORE DECEPTION by Steve Walters and others who support him…

Walters also misled people about what our former town manager made; he said she earned $165,000.00 when her actual salary was $119,000.00 —$46k less than he posted on Nextdoor! Candidate Walters intentionally leads to deceive.

As we move on with more unnecessary drama, let’s not forget our neighbor Joanie Shepherd, a local broker/realtor, who pretends to be well informed about the happenings within our small town. Her negative attacks in her Nextdoor posts are full of ad hominem comments, as she has no facts about any of the issues being discussed. She targets neighbors who own vacation rentals while conveniently ignoring the unlicensed STR property she manages in the Town of Melbourne Beach at 202 Surf Rd. (See listing here). Her listing violates the MB code ordinance. Number of guests per bedroom. Length of stay. Curiously, political signs for Walters and Larson adorn this property.

Ms Shepherd continually stirs up the Nextdoor drama. She makes blatantly false statements about people she doesn’t even know claiming, “She wants 2nd kitchens so she can get more money and rental income”. Ms. Shepherd has never been in the former Vice Mayor’s home, nor the single bedroom she lists on Airbnb. NOT only does our former Vice Mayor have no desire for a second kitchen, she has NO PLACE TO PUT ONE.

Nextdoor Nonsense

Continuing on, Ms. Shepherd makes another false statement about someone else she doesn’t know stating, “Same person’s friends on West Ave. A wanted stop signs so they could pull out on Riverside more easily”. Ms. Shepherd should be embarrassed for making such absurd and false statements. Based on the engagement on her Nextdoor posts, it is apparent that most people realize that Joanie Shepherd lacks credibility. When this character appears, just switch the channel.

In all seriousness, Ms. Shepherd has a disturbing criminal record which she had sealed in December 2024. Sealed to prevent the public from learning about her concerning past. See Attached. She robbed a former real estate client, put it in writing for the State Attorney, was presented with a pre-trial diversion program, put on probation, given a NO CONTACT order to protect the person she robbed, harassed, and continues to disparage on Nextdoor. Joanie Shepherd’s live-in boyfriend at the time she was charged with theft, described exactly what she was doing on his van that he placed along A1A, across from Sand on the Beach. (See attached van photo)

Tune in next week for another episode of As The Town Turns for,

Who Will be Next to get the Street Signs?

At Truth and Accuracy Matter, we're committed to providing factual information. Sometimes the truth hurts, but we believe it will ultimately help us come together as a community rather than being divided by misinformation and drama. Thanks for reading—and learning the truth! CLICK HERE to receive News & Updates