Editorial Archive

Exciting news for Tiger Point Golf Course! The City of Gulf Breeze has approved a purchase and sale agreement with Capstone Golf II LLC for the 18-hole east golf course and with Scott Zepp for the clubhouse and adjacent holes 10 and 18 of the old west golf course.

Following a due diligence period, closing is scheduled for late February.

Eight words and at least two months of argument that revealed political fissures, real or imagined, between the north and south ends of Santa Rosa County and pitted science against business might have come to an end.

It is anticipated that the county commission will vote 5-0 during a Feb. 25, 2021 meeting to drop a proposed amendment to the Comprehensive Plan that would have allowed more or new borrow pit mining above a protected drinking water reservoir that serves tens of thousands of people.

If you have not seen the news, the East Milton Wellfield Protection issue is about how three commissioners (Bob Cole, Sam Parker and James Calkins) voted to remove “existing” water protection rights for the citizens of South Santa Rosa and East Milton.

Let me repeat that, remove an “existing” water protection right.

Clock-watching may prove counterproductive.

Unlike the Santa Rosa Board of County Commission meetings – one of which recently ran over six hours – the local legislators run on a tight schedule. When they call a meeting from 5:30 to 7, they mean it as more than a dozen constituents discovered last week.

Over the past several months, Santa Rosa’s politics have been inflamed by heated debates concerning the county’s water supply.

The arguments largely concern local developers and their practice of digging sand. The practice leaves large holes or “borrow pits” that many experts say are hazardous to our underlying water sources.

There are clearly two halves to Santa Rosa County, with a lot of open land in between along with a few homes and businesses.

There is south Santa Rosa County, known for its beautiful beaches and vibrant tourism, as well as being a “bedroom community” for about 70,000 residents. North Santa Rosa has more agriculture, history and a beautiful tannin-stained, spring fed river winding through it.

At this year’s MTV Movies and TV Awards, Chris Pratt accepted the Generational Award and in his speech he dedicated it to his son, Jack. He also took the moment to pass along some pretty great advice to the next generation.

The penalties are stiff for not supporting our current commissioner Williamson – just ask Jack Sanborn. He found out the hard way. The maestro of manipulation orchestrated a move during the board of county commission meeting Monday to remove longtime Tourist Development Council member Jack Sanborn from the TDC. It wasn’t even on the agenda. His instrumentalists marched up to the podium one by one.

In the public venue of social media, our very own Commissioner made the comment that the current pier management group “as expected has been a complete disappointment.” Let’s analyze that for a moment.

May 25 weather forecasters all over the Florida panhandle along with the national weather services were watching a storm brewing in the northwestern Caribbean Sea. The National Hurricane Center (NHC) issued its first advisory on the storm, subtropical storm Alberto, at 10 a.m. All of this was happening ahead of the official June 1 start to hurricane season. Someone forgot to brief Alberto that he was too early for the party. It’s like the person you didn’t invite to the party, yet they insist on coming – and they arrive empty-handed. Alberto was a dud.