Editorial Archive

We had the privilege this week of interviewing Navarre’s very own Earl Dean, who grew up in the deeply segregated south, here in the Florida Panhandle. To fit his story on a page and a half seemed insufficient and even after reading his story we know there is so much more to tell. We are captivated by what to many of us seems like something out of a movie because we didn’t live through that time period of segregation. And some of us did.

This week’s story by Rob Johnson on the Fairpoint refinancing sheds a lot of light on the entire deal that is now for all purposes – dead.

The government shutdown ended Monday when Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) promised to take up an immigration bill that would protect an estimated 800,000 Dreamers from deportation under an open amendment process, if the Democrats would agree to end the shutdown. Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y) said that pledge was enough for his caucus to accept a three-week government funding bill, which passed on a vote of 81-18.

Tuesday’s Holley Navarre Water System board election has reaffirmed something – there may be hope for a drowning system. No – they are not drowning financially, in fact, they are rich by any nonprofit’s standards. But they have been drowning themselves in the proverbial testosterone war that dogs usually lift their leg for.

If you’ve ever wondered how seriously state legislators value your constitutional right to open government, you can thank the Florida Society of News Editors for bringing it out in the sunshine.

The Sept. 19, 2017, Holley Navarre Water System board meeting was peculiar in several respects. For the first time in months, all members were present. The meeting was contentious, filled with outbursts and accusations, open hostility, and President Bien May clearly lost control of the meeting; indeed, at times he personally joined in the unseemly shouting match. There was fighting and serious disagreement among the members on almost every issue, but two were at the very top of the list.

If you have read this paper over the last few months, years or even weeks, you know what issues Navarre is facing.

To say that the media is knee-jerk and irresponsible is to make the understatement of the millennium. To say that the American people are gullible to their knee-jerk is to speak a sad truth. On no other subject is this more relevant than the matter of sexual harassment claims.

Wednesday, before Thanksgiving, a home on Tupelo Street burned. It was fully involved when the Holley Navarre Fire District and other agencies arrived – and what they discovered was not unusual for them. There was no fire hydrant on the street. Instead of hooking up to a hydrant to fight the fire, they had to rely on tanker trucks to provide the water.

The situation we have in Navarre with bears is unfortunate. Scroll through Facebook and you will see both sides of the issue with neither side willing to bend on their opinion. The bears must go…don’t harm the bears…we moved into their territory…protect your children and family from bears. This all came to a head when a Navarre resident shot and killed a bear in a residential neighborhood. One side wants to put him behind bars forever and the other side is advocating for him and for change. Which side is right? We don’t know  but in order to move forward we have to understand both.