News Archive

As Santa Rosa County commissioners have discussed the proposed new courthouse in recent weeks, and a new one-half cent sales tax to pay for it, both have shrunk.

Two of Santa Rosa’s major wastewater utilities are citing state-regulated effluent treatment limits while lobbying county commissioners to grant expansion plans that face public opposition.

The father and son duo, Marvan Darby Sr. and Jr. have a long-standing history of arrests in Santa Rosa County.  The two most recently were accused of stealing a lawnmower and weed eater out of garage on Segura Street, around the corner from where they live on Andorra Street. 

New Orleans — Researchers are heading out to study the effects of a Shell leak of about 88,200 gallons of oil off the Louisiana coast in the Gulf of Mexico, a scientist said on Monday.

John Niven Cotner, age 26 of Mary Esther, gave deputies chase Monday afternoon after shoplifting several items from Walmart on Navarre Parkway.  Deputies responded to the store after the asset protection department saw Cotner walk out of the store without paying for merchandise.  They confronted him but he left the store. 

The City of Milton will soon hold its second outreach meeting for the property owners in and around Stewart Street. According to Milton City Planner Randy Jorgenson, the once vibrant commercial corridor no longer serves the needs of today’s consumer. Strip mall developments, though popular in the past, are no longer attractive to many of today’s shoppers. As a result, said Jorgenson, many of the buildings on Stewart are vacant or under-utilized. While there are areas that show signs of revival and recent investment along parts of Stewart Street, most of the street continues to languish.  All properties along Stewart are currently zoned commercial and limited to those specific types of activity. The city is examining the potential of rezoning to again provide for residential usage.

Some backers of the proposed 1-cent sales tax to pay for a new Santa Rosa County courthouse are debating whether their plan should be put before the voters in prime time.

Although Holley-Navarre Water System officials have reassured Williams Creek residents that the utility’s plan to treat wastewater near their homes is temporary, an alternative proposal to pipe the effluent to Eglin Air Force Base is years from reality.

Santa Rosa County deputies responded to a shooting Sunday afternoon shortly after noon on Quail Roost Drive off of Panhandle Trail in Navarre.  According to a report released by the Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office Public Information Officer, Rich Aloy, the two men involved were father and son.

Holley resident and Hurlburt Field Intelligence Squadron member Douglas J. Plate, age 53, pled guilty Monday to receipt, possession, and access with intent to view child pornography. The guilty plea was announced by Christopher P. Canova, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Florida ahead of the May 9 trial date that was set.