Editorial Archive

The Rob Williamson campaign mailer, or “hit piece,” that arrived in voters’ mailboxes over the weekend was one for the record books. We thought the low point of his campaign was running on his addictions. But, to our surprise, he reached a new low – just flat out lying.

Many months ago, District 4 commissioner and incumbent candidate Rob Williamson was keeping count of how many editorials we wrote about him. In the spirit of not wanting to disappoint him, and because time may be running out for the opportunity, we have at least one more. He won’t mind because he recently said on a Facebook post Navarre Press can no longer hurt him or anyone else. Really, we aren’t trying to hurt Williamson or anyone for that matter, but sometimes the truth hurts. In truth, we have given him four years of good advice and counseling – for FREE. But as the adage goes, you can’t help someone who won’t admit there is a problem.

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.

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.