Community Archive

Amidst a game of bingo Wednesday, Aug. 13, around 20 players turned their chairs at the Holley-Navarre Seniors Association to acknowledge a generous gift from a local nonprofit.

Pirates on the Panhandle, a nonprofit fraternal organization based in Navarre, recently donated a new laptop to the senior center, which will be used to broadcast Bingo on a new 75-inch TV.

If you walk into your child’s school, there is a chance you might hear they belong to a “house” or have received a “feather.” Don’t be alarmed. They are partaking in their school’s PBIS program. PBIS stands for Positive Behavioral Interventions and Support. Around half of Santa Rosa County public schools participate in the state program, which centers on creating a healthy learning environment for all through promotion of positive behavior and other behavior management techniques.

This July, state officials, hunters and curious citizens made their way to the Florida Ever-glades to remove invasive pythons from the region. The 2025 Florida Python Challenge, in its 12th year, took place over 10 days and tasked par-ticipants with removing as many members of the invasive species as they could. Winners were determined by how many pythons were removed and their size.

The parking lot south of Andy D’s Beachside Restaurant and Dock Bar was filled to the brim, not by cars but by people, Thursday, Aug. 14.

Two University of West Florida archaeologists have transformed their passion for public outreach and historical storytelling into a new children’s book inspired by real archaeological discoveries made off the Florida coast.

Dogs can be man’s best friend; they can also help save their lives.

Legacy K-9 Search Team, an all-volunteer 501c3 nonprofit based in Milton, has been helping locate missing persons for law enforcement and emergency response agencies since August 2022. The team, which currently consists of 11 people, was formed when the Pensacola branch of Klaas Kids dissolved.

Kayla Stanford, a teacher at Holley Navarre Intermediate School and Santa Rosa County’s 2026 Teacher of the Year, has been selected as the statewide recipient of the 2025 “Invested in Excellence” Award, presented by the Consortium of Florida Education Foundations and Florida Power & Light Company.

School officially starts Aug. 11. While most Navarre High School students will be thinking of where their next class is, members of the Class of 2026 have spent the final days of summer break crafting custom parking spaces.

School may not be in session yet, but that doesn’t mean some teens aren’t already learning.

Holley-Navarre Fire District held its summer cadet program Monday, July 28 through Friday, Aug. 1, at Station 45. The cadet program, in its third year, is a weeklong, hands-on opportunity to learn more about the fire service and what goes into being a firefighter.

In January 2017, Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office received an over-$12,000 donation to purchase a new K-9 unit. The unit’s police dog, Ziggy, worked with the county until 2022, when he retired with his handler. Now, after three years of retirement, Ziggy has been diagnosed with two different types of cancer: carcinoma in his front nasal cavity, and a transitional-cell carcinoma on his bladder.