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.

We were once Florida’s best kept secret, but the word got out that Navarre is paradise. And people loved it here and decided to move here. Now our developers can barely keep up with demand. That’s a great thing – right? No.

In the most recent debate, District 4 Commissioner and candidate for re-election Rob Williamson was asked by candidate Dave Piech if he had any regrets in the nearly four years that he has served as county commissioner. The question seemed to be a gift to Rob – a chance for Rob to redeem himself.  The answer from Rob was a round-about no. But he didn’t come right out and say “no” at first. He beat around the proverbial bush…he said he is a flawed man, didn’t always get it right and said he doesn’t look in the rearview mirror. However, when asked again he said, “No, I’m good.” 

We commend District 4 Commissioner Rob Williamson on his latest video. It is powerful, emotional and he speaks publicly on a very private issue – addiction. He has never made a secret of his alcohol addiction. And now he has disclosed he was “using” as well. We applaud his recovery and his claim of 10 years of sobriety.

We heard from a source at Williamson’s private meeting at Juana’s Monday that he said serving in the military doesn’t qualify someone to be a county commissioner. And when we heard that, we all had to chuckle a little. Apparently, in his mind, lawn mowing, tree-trimming and flower planting are better qualifications than the two master’s degrees in engineering that Candidate Dave Piech has. One of those master’s was in engineering and one was in mechanical engineering. Piech wins on education.