Editorial Archive

A budget workshop last month became a political science lecture when commissioners disagreed about how Santa Rosa County should craft its next spending plan. Staff suggested creating new revenue sources to relieve the county’s dependence on property tax.

In this business, you see a lot of press releases come into your email inbox. A lot of them are very useful, about our communities and the people and events in them that we are happy to share.

It was a great day for Navarre businesses on Friday, Feb. 17, at the Navarre Beach Area Chamber of Commerce awards and installation breakfast. After a year of hard work behind the scenes, the two chambers became one again.

Last year, the Legislature passed a public notice bill (HB 7049) that went into effect Jan. 1. The new law gives counties the option to place public notices solely on their own government website and dispense with any such notice in the traditional format — newspapers and newspaper websites.

To our surprise, last week we had the opportunity to sit down and speak with District 4 Commissioner Ray Eddington. It took some wrangling, but the meeting took place. As all of you know, we had a lot to ask.

On Saturday we attended the Navarre Beach Leaseholders Association’s regular meeting. It is usually a packed room of leaseholders waiting to hear about the latest updates from beach officials, like the Navarre Beach Fire & Rescue Department, the board for the association, and usually our county commissioner.

Over the long holiday weekend, communities around Santa Rosa and Okaloosa counties and the nation came together to celebrate the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. It is a legacy that everyone would do well to not only remember, but to take to heart.

Our New Year’s wish for Milton and Santa Rosa County is simple: Civility. Nobody expects citizens in a free society to agree on every, or even most, issues. Diversity of thought is vital to good government, the best solutions produced by critical analysis and healthy debate.

DEAR EDITOR: “I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus. Papa says, ‘If you see it in THE SUN it’s so.’ Please tell me the truth; is there a Santa Claus?”

We at Sandpaper Publishing have much to be thankful for, beginning with our members and readers. You fuel the passion we have for publishing three newspapers each week for three communities.