Editorial Archive

What began with the Brexit in the UK last June has spilled over to America in the wake of the nation electing Donald Trump as president.  People are wearing safety pins to make a silent statement that the groups of people who feel threatened by the supposed hate and fear mongering of Trump and his supporters can feel “safe” around people wearing the pins.

This week we were all broadsided by four agenda items for the Santa Rosa Board of County Commissioners meeting this past Monday which was released at approximately 4:45 p.m. on Thursday afternoon leaving no time for citizens to do their homework and leading to a lot of speculation.

There is a sizeable faction in this country that is disgusted with the choices we have going into the 2016 General Election. While the choices are far from the quality a great nation like the United States deserves, they are what they are. No amount of complaining, abdication of responsibility or indignation will change this reality.  Put bluntly, this election isn’t about personalities, capabilities, soundbites or even criminality; it is about issues and on these issues, we do have choices to make. 

This election is indeed as important as they come.  Who will be our next president?  United States Senator? State Representative? Will the medical marijuana law be expanded?  And for all the residents in Navarre and Holley, the life safety issue is will we vote yes to raise the fire-assessment fee for the Holley-Navarre Fire District?

“Volunteers are the only human beings on the face of the earth who reflect this nation’s compassion, unselfish caring, patience, and just plain loving one another. “

Florida’s extraordinary tradition of open government is founded on the simple but essential concept that the people have a right to know how and why the government makes decisions on their behalf. After all, it’s our government.

Lia Wolfe was 16 years old when she almost died by her own hands.  On a cold day in February 2013, she felt so alone and isolated that she wrote a suicide note and took action with the intent to never wake up again.  Wolfe almost became one of the more than 30,000 people in the United States who kill themselves every year. This is why September is Suicide Prevention Awareness Month.

Recently, we ran an article on the homeless and unaccompanied students of Navarre. We were shocked by the numbers right here in our hometown. Our children were in school barely a month and already almost 500 were identified as in need, and that number is only expected to go up.

9/11.  It is the one day in the history of our lifetime when no matter whom you ask, everyone knows exactly where they were and what they were doing at the moment they heard about the attacks on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and what probably would have been the United States Capitol or the White House.  We watched the television coverage with tears in our eyes and hands over our mouths in disbelief. 

Where are the adults in Navarre?  Just in the past few weeks we have seen childish, immature and bad behavior from many different areas.  One of the most senseless acts is Tony Alexander, a disgruntled ex-employee of the Navarre Beach Area Chamber of Commerce seeking to open a new “greater” chamber of commerce.  It can only be concluded that he seeks to harm the chamber that has been established for 41 years.