Community Archive

To a sold-out crowd on Feb. 6, the Holley Navarre Senior Center Mystery Dinner Theater group gave a rousing performance of the murder mystery “‘Pasta, Passion and Pistols.”  The center was transformed into a little Italian restaurant in Little Italy, N.Y. for the play.  Restaurant owner Pepi Roni was shot in the back and the patrons of the restaurant were left to figure out who was the murderer.

At around 6:15 p.m. Monday evening a line of severe thunderstorms steamrolled through Navarre leaving power outages, trees down and other damage in its wake.  The storm began in southeast Mississippi and traveled through Alabama and into the Florida panhandle.  Earlier in the day, the storm was responsible for spawning the only confirmed tornado in the area that left major damage in Century, Fla., just west of Jay.  Preliminary indications from Escambia County are that an estimated 40-50 homes and businesses were affected by that storm and only minor injuries were reported.  The Red Cross is on scene for assistance at the Century Community Center on Industrial Boulevard.

The Navarre Beach Area Chamber of Commerce has put out the call for artists to design the official poster for the 32nd Anniversary of the Navarre Fun Fest on Navarre Beach.  The winning artist will receive a $300 cash award and a complimentary high-visibility artist booth at the event on Saturday, April 30, 2016.

The Santa Rosa Sheriff’s Office has a new crime-fighting and alert system that has been deployed to all three Super Wal-Marts in Santa Rosa County, including the Gulf Breeze and Navarre locations.  The kiosks cost about $3,800 each and were purchased with crime-prevention funds doled out by the state. 

Santa Rosa County’s guidelines and record-keeping practices for its officials’ use of social media fall short of the standards recommended by the Florida Bar that have been adopted by some other counties, including Escambia.

On Friday, the Florida Department of Education issued grades for schools and districts based on the Florida Standards Assessment test scoring. The Santa Rosa County School District placed fourth overall in the state, and all of Navarre schools were ‘A’ rated.

Holley Hill Pottery opened their grounds to the public last Saturday for the WoodStoke Pottery and Kiln Festival. Many people attended the event to enjoy good food, pottery and conversation.  Some of the dishes sampled by those at the event included gumbo, chowder, specialty dishes, wood-fired pizza, chili and cornbread.

Lingering questions about the accuracy of economic impact data provided by Tough Mudder Inc. are prompting the Tourist Development Council to initiate an independent fact-gathering effort.

Ninety-five percent of people who have Sudden Cardiac Arrest will die from it, and most die within minutes, according to the National Institutes of Health.  SCA is a condition in which the heart unexpectedly and suddenly stops beating.  Each minute of SCA leads to a 10 percent reduction in survival rates.

Commissioners want residents of Santa Rosa County to see tangible results from the gas tax that was implemented Jan. 1.  For fiscal year 2015-2016, revenues from the additional tax are expected to be $2.8 million, growing in fiscal year 2016-2017 to $3.5 million.