News Archive

Ira Mae Wells Hewatt Bruce of Holley Navarre, Florida passed away, Tuesday, December 1, 2020 due to complications of Alzheimer’s. She was born June 29, 1940 in Pensacola, Florida to Ira and Mattie Wells. Ira Mae was a pioneer business, community, and political leader who contributed to the growth and development of Holley Navarre and Santa Rosa County. Ira Mae was the first woman to serve on the Santa Rosa Board of County Commissioners. With business partners Jerry Wilkie and Phil Babiak, she operated Century 21 Island View Realty for more than 40 years. She was a member of many civic, community, and business boards. She was proud to be the first woman to serve as the president of a board of directors for a local bank. She was preceded in death by her parents, son Mark Lee Hewatt, and brother Gus Brown. She is survived by her husband Gaius Bruce; children Matthew (Martha) Hewatt, Brenda Barre’, and Keith Bruce; grandchildren Mark (Jordan) Hewatt, Mattie Barre’, and Kayla Bruce; great-grandchildren, Casten, Kylie, and Gideon; sister-in-law Virginia Brown; Naomi Golden, cousin and life-long traveling companion and many other Wells family members. Special friends include Ron and Peggy Fletcher, Bill and Martha Pullum, and Phil Babiak, her business partner. A Celebration of Life will be held May 8, 2021 at The Club Pagoda at Juana’s Pagodas on Navarre Beach. Visitation will be from 10-11 a.m. The Celebration Service will begin at 11 a.m. Reception will follow the service. Please wear a mask while indoors. The family would like to express their deepest gratitude to Kate, her personal caregiver; to the staff of Navarre Gardens North; to Emerald Coast Hospice; and to Dr. William Howe, Suzanne, and Dawn for their loving care of Ira Mae. In lieu of flowers, charitable donations may be made to Pink Pirates of Navarre or the Ira Mae Bruce Scholarship at Northwest Florida State College Foundation.

County commissioners discussed steps to replace the bridge to Navarre Beach at the Thursday morning board work session.

A drawing presented in the agenda packet is just one of the options, said Commission Chair Dave Piech, in discussing it with the board.

The former site of the Coyote Landfill is finally being cleared up by the state Department of Environmental Protection.

Santa Rosa County Commissioners granted the DEP permission to access adjacent county-owned property in Holley to “conduct a full closure of the solid waste disposal facility.”

Head down the narrow roadway flanked by sand that connects Navarre Beach to Pensacola Beach at the right time of day you might see Susan or Brian Chiulli.

The Navarre couple bikes and runs that stretch of roadway daily.

Turnout was strong at the April 22 Strategic Planning open house at the Tiger Point Community Center last week, with the number of folks tripling that of two previous north county locations.

It’s hard to imagine a small business owner getting bigger news than a $50,000 check in the mail. But the possibility of finalizing the purchase of the historical Imogene Theater in downtown Milton tops that.

A quartet of Gulf Breeze business owners say they are sitting down next week to hopefully finalize the purchase of the 8,000-square-foot theater that dates back more than 100 years.

The Club by Hidden Creek will remain a golf course, following a vote by the Holley Navarre Water System Board of Directors April 20. But they would not disclose future plans for the course, saying that the only item on the agenda – and therefore the only item that could be discussed – was whether to keep it or sell it.

County staff will be meeting individually with county commissioners for their input on increasing the civil penalties for violations of an environmental nature.

Representatives from Gulf Power spoke at the Board of County Commissioners Land Development Code Update Workshop meeting April 20 about updating code language for solar considerations in Santa Rosa County. Gulf Power also spoke about the new Blackwater River Solar Energy Center’s proposed layout and benefits it could bring to the community.

Ginger Bowden Madden, State Attorney for the First Judicial Circuit of Florida, announced that a Santa Rosa County Grand Jury indicted Isaiah Jordan McCullers Tuesday on a charge of first degree murder.

This charge originates from the murder of fourteen-year-old Cody Walker on March 14, 2021. Cody Walker was found deceased approximately two weeks after he had gone missing.

The investigation and arrest were conducted by the Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office. Isaiah McCullers is set for an arraignment on May 13.