Editorial Archive

Gov. Rick Scott’s executive order affirms that the state of Florida is serious about prison reform. And his signature should just be the beginning of what must be done to eliminate the well-documented and flagrant brutality that has been allowed to fester behind prison walls.

During Monday’s meeting, county commissioners briefly discussed the possibility of merging the annual Sand-Sculpting Festival with the chamber’s Fun Fest, an idea we support 100 percent.

It’s no secret that the BP grant money that funds the annual Navarre Beach Sand Sculpting Festival wouldn’t be available this year. Before last year’s event even took place, members of the county’s Tourist Development Council’s South End Committee were already brainstorming ways to fund the 2015 festival.

Our freshman county commissioner, Rob Williamson, flew to Washington, D.C., April 13 and returned April 16 with $2,745.11 in receipts.

As our lawmakers wrestle with the state budget and debate on critical legislation dealing with water policy and the implementation of Amendment 1 (Florida Water & Land Legacy), the importance of Florida’s working forests cannot be overlooked.

Since 2006 there have been 110 accidents involving bicycles or pedestrians on U.S. 98 between Navarre and Gulf Breeze. Nineteen of those crashes were fatal.

It takes considerable initiative for citizens to respectfully yet boldly confront lawmakers. It takes courageous leadership for legislators to admit and correct costly blunders. But that’s what happened last week in Florida’s Senate Appropriations Committee. When lamenting the inauspicious beginning of the FSA (the newest iteration of high stakes testing in our schools) I heard senators use phrases like “this is a train wreck” and “we’ve got to get this under control; we’re losing credibility … ”

In the 2014 a non-binding vote on incorporation, the few people who did vote did not know what incorporation would mean for Navarre and their families. To put it simply, Navarre wants to be a self-contained city, not an area outpost.

Long before we were propelled into the digital age, kids had a way to communicate with each other – whether they passed notes during class, scribbled on bathroom walls or dropped a message in someone’s locker.

The Florida Senate demonstrated the appeal and effectiveness of simplicity, unanimously passing an uncomplicated bill requiring that injuries to racing greyhounds be promptly reported to a state agency.