News Archive

On Monday, Dec. 26, people in Santa Rosa and Okaloosa counties lined up alongside U.S. Highway 98 to pay their respects and catch a glimpse of the motorcade carrying fallen officer Corporal Ray Hamilton from Pensacola to Fort Walton Beach. Hamilton, an Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office deputy, was killed on Saturday, Dec. 24, while responding to a call concerning domestic violence at a residence on North Park Boulevard in Fort Walton Beach. According to the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office, Hamilton was shot in the head while he and other members of the OCSO Special Response Team were establishing a perimeter around the residence.

With legislators already beginning to plan the 2023 legislative session, county and regional boards are looking to get cohesive plans together to ask for appropriations. The District One Medical Examiner’s Services (DOMES) is one of those boards.

With the Christmas season behind us, Santa Rosa County Public Works is offering an environmentally friendly way to put those live trees behind us as well as. According to Santa Rosa County Public Works, residents who would like to “treecycle” their tree for mulch may drop off their clean Christmas trees to one of five designated areas in the county by Jan. 15. These areas are Jay Transfer Station on Transfer Station Road in Jay, Central Landfill at the Household Hazardous Waste facility at 6337 Da Lisa Road in Milton, Pace Fire Rescue District at 4773 Pace Patriot Blvd. in Pace, Navarre Beach Boat Ramp Parking Lot Recycle Area on Gulf Blvd. on Navarre Beach, and Tiger Point Recreation Area in Gulf Breeze.

At around 11 p.m. last night the man responsible for taking deputies on a high-speed chase and shooting at a car near the Navarre Publix turned himself in. Grayson Zachary Eagan, 29, of Hilltop Drive in Pensacola is in custody in the Santa Rosa County jail and is charged with trafficking amphetamine, fleeing and eluding police, weapon offense, firing a weapon, possession of a weapon, damaging property and aggravated assault with a weapon.

At approximately 9:00 this morning, Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s deputies responded to an incident where it was reported that an individual in a black BMW had shot at another vehicle at the Publix in Navarre. Deputies shortly located the suspect vehicle, and a high-speed chase ensued. During the vehicle chase, spike strips were deployed without success.

In the absence of Holley Navarre Water System board president and interim CEO Joe Campbell, directors Daryl Lynchard and James Dabney attempted to remove Campbell from his unpaid CEO position. However, director Bill Thiel, who joined the meeting by video conference, had another plan. When confronted with a motion to remove Campbell as interim CEO as part of an ongoing legal issue, Thiel warned the board that without him there is no quorum, and he would disconnect from the meeting if they went forward with the motion.

Thanks to a new tentative agreement, teachers in Santa Rosa County District Schools will see a 5.1% increase in their salaries.

It will apply to the 20222023 school year.

Three new Wi-Fi hotspots have been added in Gulf Breeze’s Shoreline Park South.

The Wi-Fi installation marks the end of an expansion by Mediacom Communications of its community Wi-Fi network in Gulf Breeze. The hotspots were activated this month to provide free Internet access along the new Shoreline Wetlands Trail Boardwalk and areas adjacent to the boat ramps and dog park.

After 2,000 gallons of fuel spilled at property owned by embattled Holley Navarre Water System (HNWS) board member James Dabney, he filed a police report