News Archive

The highly anticipated Navarre Park remodel has completed its first phase of upgrades. Santa Rosa County held a ribbon cutting Saturday, April 30 and all five commissioners came out to celebrate, along with Florida House Representative Alex Andrade and people involved in the improvements.

The Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office has arrested two suspects in connection to an attempted murder on Newcastle Drive near Fort Walton Beach April 13th. 21-year old Shea Jones of Fort Walton Beach and 16-year old Natorian Hinson-Brown of Navarre are now charged with attempted murder and firing a weapon into an occupied dwelling or conveyance.

The Tourist Development Council (TDC) addressed the traffic jams caused by events on Navarre Beach at Monday’s Santa Rosa County Board of Commissioner’s meeting. Julie White, the Tourist Development Director, brought her concern to the commissioners regarding the local events held during peak tourist season.

The proposed Run, Walk and Race Policy would address the domino effect White said the fun runs cause, including multi-hour long traffic delays, closed-off parking lots and local employees having trouble getting to and from work due to the former issues. According to the proposed policy, fun runs would not be allowed on Navarre Beach during the tourist season of March 1 to October 31.

The Board of County Commissioners heard a request to develop an RV park. The hearing came during the Special Rezoning Meeting that occurred on Thursday, April 28. Ultimately, the board voted to table the decision until more information can be received.

On April 30, 2017, Anna Louise Brown was murdered while out for a run on a beautiful Sunday. Since her death, lawyer Autumn Beck Blackledge has had the privilege of representing her family in various ways and to communicate with the public on their behalf.

The Board of County Commissioners held a 5-0 vote to approve a memorandum of agreement (MOA) between Santa Rosa County and the city of Milton. The vote occurred at their regular meeting on the morning of Thursday, April 28. They moved the matter to the regular agenda of April 28 after also discussing the matter at the April 25 commission meeting. On Thursday, five members of the community expressed their opinion on the matter—every one of them was against approval of the MOA.

Santa Rosa County School District is attempting to fill in the gaps and help students with economic struggles.

Recent data from the school district and United Way reveal that many students in the county are living either in poverty or meet the definition of homelessness, and SRC schools have programs to help.

The day after Philip Hayes turned himself in for shooting a mule in Milton, his attorney held a press conference.

Dan Stewart, a personal injury lawyer, is representing Hayes and addressed the incident on April 19.

After two years of not being able to offer the class, Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office recently announced that the Citizen’s Law Enforcement Academy is set to be back on May 26.

The Academy, which is a 10-week program, offers an exclusive look at the Sheriff’s Office and the work that they do. It is just for Santa Rosa County residents.

Constant ordinance breaking on Navarre Beach has caused some concern.

On Thursday, April 7, the Tourism Development Council (TDC) of Santa Rosa County discussed the issue at their scheduled meeting.