Editorial Archive

In recent months, Santa Rosa County has developed a reputation for public meetings marked by outbursts, arguing and, as a result, increased law enforcement presence.

The Santa Rosa County School District responded by strictly enforcing rules of conduct and having deputies remove audience members who defy those rules in any way.

Once upon a time, the Blackwater River was a conveyor belt of prosperity. Loggers floated longleaf pine trunks to the mills.

A Navarre Press reader was shopping at a dollar store recently. Her purchase was put in a bag along with a flier letting her know the store is hiring.

Everyone is hiring these days, it seems.

When people tell me they don’t want Navarre to incorporate, I can understand why. Just look at the county. And then look at the cracks in our roads and the absence of sidewalks across our area.

Change is coming to Navarre, whether local residents or the infrastructure is ready for it. The opening of three emergency rooms in about six months – all within a few miles of each other along U.S. Highway 98 – would seem to speak to a population that can support that kind of growth.

Spending taxpayers’ dollars at any level is a decision sure to spark a reaction. We all have our own perspectives on what government – at all levels – should and should not spend money on.

For democracy to function, citizens must have the right to know what their elected officials are doing and saying. The right to full and public notice of when elected officials are discussing or making decisions must be ensured.

As a nonpartisan government watchdog and taxpayer-research institute that focuses on promoting government accountability and transparency, Florida TaxWatch supports the use of public notices in local newspapers of record by government entities to notify all of their citizens of meetings and votes.

Santa Rosa County businesses and officials want tourists to come. They are and in solid numbers if recent bed tax revenues are the indicator.

When the tourists come, they arrive in cars. The cars cause more congestion on our always crowded roads.

There is no shortage of adjectives to describe how folks on both sides of the Pensacola Bay Bridge felt earlier this month when they learned that it would not reopen as promised March 22. Angry, betrayed, hopeless and sad are just a few.

Why did that barge cause damage to the bridge?

The answer, as I see it, there was no protection for the bridge supports. Now, the question is, why not? Was it not in the design contract or did the design engineers not include protection for the bridge supports?