Editorial Archive

Arguing that no full-time worker should be paid so little as to live in poverty, Bernie Sanders supports increasing the minimum wage to $15 per hour by 2020. This is part of his plan for reducing income inequality in the United States. Unfortunately, raising the minimum wage, especially by such a large amount, will reduce the incomes of many low-wage workers by making fewer jobs available.

While we were sleeping, the wolf was at our door in the early morning hours Sunday.  It is being ranked as the deadliest mass shooting in United States history.  An act of terrorism, an act of hate, or maybe both.  The shooting in Orlando at a gay nightclub has left the state of Florida and certainly the U.S. mourning the loss of 49 people.  A single event made up of a hundred tragedies, each with a story, a face, a life, and a family.  All left to mourn, grieve, and for some to heal their physical wounds.  The FBI is investigating this as a terror attack, as the shooter, whose name will not be mentioned here, had both a leaning toward radical Islam and according to his father, a hatred for gays.  He was equipped, according to reports, with a suicide vest and guns.    

It is a complex issue.  The departments of Justice and Education have issued a directive to schools that basically says a transgendered student can use the restroom of the gender they internally identify with, regardless of what their birth gender is.  They also have a right to use the changing room of that gender and if they go on an overnight trip that is school-sanctioned, they have a right to stay in rooms with the same gender they identify with.  Essentially this confuses and blurs the lines of genders.   

This year, Mother’s Day in Santa Rosa County was tragic indeed.  Two mothers lost their lives in equally tragic ways and both allegedly by the hands of their own child.  It is every parent’s worst nightmare.

In 1999, the United States Congress designated the month of May as Military Appreciation Month to give communities across the nation the opportunity to show their thanks to the men and women who serve in all branches of the United States military.

Even on Earth Day, the costs to our planet don’t outweigh the benefits for education.

Some readers may be surprised to learn that Navarre Press, while owned by Sandi Kemp belongs to the community.  We cover issues important to you: the actions of your government and its individual members, crime and public safety, the latest on beach renourishment, the local high-school athletes who are going places, the Navarre High School JROTC program and all of their awards, upcoming events, healthy living stories and the list goes on.  You might be more surprised to learn that Sandi Kemp usually only has an idea of what is going in the paper each week, and she reads it on Thursdays just as you. 

There are more than 500 children in our county waiting to be adopted.  One in every 18 children in our county is or will be abused.  There are more than 550 homeless children in our school district.  43 percent of all adults are functionally illiterate.  The list could go on. 

Let me start by saying I am in favor of building a new courthouse.  The current courthouse is obsolete and must be replaced.  But that doesn’t mean I support the plan to build a $47 million courthouse in Downtown Milton.  And no matter how many times Mr. Rob Williamson calls me a knucklehead on his Facebook page, I won’t be deterred.

For Christians around the world, Easter represents a time of renewal, and a time of remembrance of the death of Jesus and his resurrection.  However you choose to celebrate Easter, whether it is in Church or in your backyard hunting for Easter eggs or both, we at Navarre Press wish you a day of renewal.  Consider it perhaps a transfiguration of sorts; a shedding of whatever is old and stale and an embrace of new things, habits and ideas.  We can all use that in our life, no matter your belief.