Community Archive

It was March 6, 2024, when Joy Zuraff returned home from the park with her 5-year-old daughter, Kenlee. The afternoon had been ordinary — swings, sunshine, a brief escape from the medical stress that had shadowed their lives. Then Zuraff’s phone rang. A friend told her the Department of Children and Families planned to stop by, take a quick look at Kenlee and close the case.

What happened next would upend her family’s life.

The Navarre Krewe of Jesters is celebrating 40 years of revelry with a ball and coronation.

The formal ball will be held Saturday, Jan. 31, at St. Sylvester Catholic Church. Open to the public, all proceeds from the event go to fund the Mardi Gras parade and the Krewe’s Navarre High School scholarship.

Maggie Benham is involved with many things.

From volunteering at the Navarre Beach Sea Turtle Conservation Center (NBSTCC) to instructing people on whitewater rafting to creating art, Benham is a sort of “jack-of-all-trades.” Or rather, a “Jill of all trades.”

In addition to Monday, Jan. 26, and Tuesday, Jan. 27, the cold weather shelter for the homeless and/or heatless will be open on the nights of Wednesday, Jan. 28, Thursday, Jan. 29, and Friday, Jan. 30 at Ferris Hill Baptist Church, 6848 Chaffin St. in Milton.

The Emerald Coast Lifesaving Association will host the second edition of its Lifeguard Development Course on Navarre Beach on Feb. 16. The course will run from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and is designed for second- and third-year lifeguards, with an emphasis on advanced skills, teamwork and leadership preparation. The program is not intended for current supervisors.

Monday marked the observance of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a federal holiday held on the third Monday of January each year.

King, a civil rights leader and pastor from Atlanta, spent much of his adult life campaigning for an end to Jim Crow laws in the American South and advocating for fair and equal treatment of minorities, particularly African Americans, in the United States.

Steve Chard pulls up in his kayak to a boat ramp in Moore Haven, Florida, on Dec. 29 and a man who is fishing asks what he’s doing.
Chard tells him about his journey and the purpose behind it and is offered a place to stay for the night. It’s day 166 of his Great Loop adventure.

Holley-Navarre Fire District Station 44 is set to begin fire service operations Sunday, Jan. 18.

Late last month, a Milton resident posted a picture of a river otter swimming through Annie’s Basin near the Blackwater River. The woman was on her dock when a little furry head stuck out of the water.
While not an uncommon sight, river otters are not exactly the poster child for Florida animals. Despite not being as famed as alligators, manatees and Florida panthers, river otters play an important ecological role.

A Greyhound bus stop operating out of a convenience store on Navarre Parkway has become the focus of growing community concern, prompting an online petition calling for its relocation away from nearby homes and a school.