Community Archive

Santa Rosa County emergency service agencies, in collaboration with Escambia County and the City of Pensacola, are teaming up for the ninth year to promote fire safety during the month of December with the “Keep Your Holidays Bright” campaign. While a joyous time of year, cold weather, holiday decorations and festivities can create serious fire dangers. Firefighters hope to reduce the number of fires in Santa Rosa County by promoting simple, life-saving holiday safety tips each day, Dec. 1 through Dec. 31.

When Angie Klug walked into the Kat House Hair Salon with her best friend Jami Moore, she was paraphrasing scripture. “Now remember the Bible verse I told you about, ‘Two are  better than one, because one can be strong when the other is weak,’ ” Klug said – comforting her friend. Moore had just realized that Klug was going to shave her head to identify with her because she is soon to lose her hair to chemotherapy. 

Bob Richards watched stormwater creep up the driveway toward his garage on Dracena Way in Gulf Breeze on the first Sunday in November and had visions of the record flooding on April 29-30, 2014.

The Navarre Beach Area Chamber of Commerce has announced plans for their Annual “Christmas in the Park” to take place on Saturday, Dec. 5 from 1 p.m. – 5:30 p.m. in Navarre Park.  The event will kick off the holidays for the community.

In early October, the seat 4 fire commissioner position vacated, leaving an empty seat at the board’s table.  “If you live in Navarre or Holley and are qualified to vote in an election, you are qualified to serve as a commissioner for the fire district,” Fire Chief Ron Norton said.  “While you don’t have to have fire service experience, this position is best served by someone with good business experience and a true desire to serve the community.”

When Donald Vaughan was 17 years old, he joined the United States Navy and was soon deployed to the Gulf of Tonkin, the waters off the coast of northern Vietnam.  He was in combat there for a few months when one day, a Skipper approached him to inform him of a significant problem. Because of his age, Vaughan’s parents had to officially give permission for him to be there fighting in the war. In the day and age before high speed internet and the ability to scan documents, the best they could do was use the ship to shore radio to try to contact his parents. Upon finally reaching Vaughn’s father, the Skipper explained that Vaughan needed a verbal okay to remain on the ship and in the war. Vaughn spoke to his father for several minutes, reassuring his dad that being in the Navy was what he wanted to do and that he did in fact sincerely want to stay. After a meaningful dialogue between father and son, Vaughan’s father addressed the Skipper and gave his permission for his son to remain on the ship.

Part of becoming an Eagle Scout involves doing a service project that benefits the community in some way. Christian McEwan of Troop 406 in Navarre got a great idea from someone at his church.

The Beach Bowl rivalry extends beyond the football fields and into the hallways of both Navarre and Gulf Breeze High Schools.  As tradition would have it, the football players compete on the fields and the students compete with a food collection drive that benefits Caring and Sharing of South Santa Rosa County.

Membership frustrated with decades of attempts to change the Holley-Navarre Water System’s proxy system for voting stood up to make a change at  a Oct. 27 meeting.

Navarre received between 4 and 6 inches of rain from Halloween night into Monday morning, according to the National Weather Service in Mobile.