Editorial Archive

The last few weeks of the Santa Rosa County Commissioners meetings have been quite the expletive-filled circus, thanks to the District 2 commissioner, James Calkins. While being chastised by citizens and commissioners alike, he continues to grin, laugh and even double down on his comments. His remarks have angered people to the point of cursing at the podium during public forum.

James Calkins is not new to making controversial statements, but last week at a Board of County Commission meeting, he crossed a line. He openly refused to apologize and in fact, to the shock of the audience, doubled down on his words.

Our high school seniors are about to celebrate a huge accomplishment in their life and dip their toe into the adult end of the life pool. We are excited for you as you realize your whole life is ahead of you. You have barely begun to scratch the surface of what you can accomplish. The past twelve years have all been for this moment – mostly.

Every year, sometimes more often, we take a look at youth suicide. The future belongs to our children, and we want to watch them grow and thrive. We at the Navarre Press take youth suicide very seriously.

For years now, a loud subset of Santa Rosa County residents has blasted the Board of County Commissioners – rightfully, we think – for its lack of foresight, especially its failure to ensure infrastructure is sufficient to meet the needs of new development.

When Santa Rosa County accepted ownership of Navarre Beach Bridge in 2004, it expected to replace the bridge in as few as 10 years. Almost 20 years later, we’re still using the 63-year-old bridge. Not to worry; Florida Department of Transportation bridge inspectors tell us the span is structurally sound.

Santa Rosa County seems ready to change how it manages parks and recreation. Commission Chairman Colten Wright recently introduced plans to partner with the City of Gulf Breeze to study building a competition-grade aquatic facility and talks about parks and recreation as “quality of life” infrastructure investments; Commissioner Kerry Smith is negotiating a new agreement with the Emerald Coast Sports Association to ensure a successful revival of recreational sports at East Milton Park; and an economic development strategist has advised the county to investigate sports tourism opportunities.

The highly anticipated review of Santa Rosa County’s Land Development Code got off to a rocky start last week – to the surprise of no one who participated in the contentious 2021 rewrite.

Excited social media posts rippled across Santa Rosa County last week when the school board approved adding a limited middle school sports program. It’s about time. Our neighbors in Escambia and Okaloosa counties have offered robust middle school sports programs for years while Santa Rosa County families wonder why they don’t have the same opportunity.

In this week’s Eye on Government page, we have a story about a proposed bill making its way through the Florida Senate committees that would allow people convicted of sexual battery on children under the age of 12 to be sentenced to death.