Editorial Archive

In a rare event, law enforcement raided a local newsroom in Marion, Kansas, carrying out equipment, computers, cell phones and files. They also raided the publisher’s and the owner’s home. Apparently, the newspaper received a tip about a local restaurant owner’s drunk driving conviction. The paper chose not to publish any of the information.

We ran this editorial in our March 17, 2022, issue shortly after purchasing the Santa Rosa Press Gazette, and it is a message that needs to be told again. With all the city and county messes happening in Santa Rosa County, you can be assured we will be there for the good and the bad.

If you think a “Housewives of (insert county name here)” show is entertaining, you haven’t been to a Santa Rosa County board of commissioners meeting or a Milton City Council meeting lately. In fact, we think TV producers are missing a huge opportunity here in our county. It wouldn’t be difficult to make a series out of the theatrics; they would just have to pal around with Commissioner James Calkins for all the drama they could ever want.

Using statistics from the Department of Labor, The Wall Street Journal reports that real hourly wages during the Biden presidency have declined. When Joe Biden took office in January 2021, the average hourly wage adjusted for inflation was $11.39. Now, 29 months later, it stands at $11.03, a 3.16% decline.

A revised draft of the Land Development Code is being considered by the Santa Rosa County Board of Commissioners. On page 348 of the 532-page document, two short sentences are about to throw open the doors to bars on Hwy 98 from Gulf Breeze to Navarre. Current code restricts bars from being within 2500 feet of schools or churches.

“Who is going to protect the swimmers?” asked a woman during the public forum portion of the Santa Rosa County board of commissioners meeting. Fishermen showed up to speak against proposed measures to ban shark fishing west of the pier. The question of protecting swimmers was posed.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.” On July Fourth, we celebrate much more than our independence from Great Britain. Our Founding Fathers risked their lives and reputations in the American Revolution to establish a government based on universal, permanent principles of justice.

It’s the most resilient project ever in Santa Rosa County and it has been in the making for 20 years. If you ask yourself why the developers of Jubilee don’t give up it is because it is a project that could change the economic landscape of Pace and it a property they have invested in for 20 years.

Who knew at some point in time we would be discussing sexually explicit books allowed in our school libraries? And yet, here we are. At last week’s county commission meeting, citizens showed up (and some showed out) to proclaim their disgust at the books being allowed in the libraries across our school system.

This week we learned from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission that a white-tailed road-killed deer in Holmes County had tested positive for Chronic Wasting Disease. It is Florida’s first case.