Letters to the Editor Archive

I moved to Navarre in 1994.  At that time there were just two schools, one grocery store, one hotel, two hardware stores, a drugstore, a bank, some real estate offices, a handful of fast-food eateries, a doughnut shop and a couple of sit-down restaurants. The tiny post office was in Sand Dollar Plaza and the library shared space with a church in a small community building.  Driving to Fort Walton Beach or Pensacola took only 30 minutes, regardless of the time of day. Aside from the Hidden Creek Golf Course, there were no recreational sports fields, liquor stores or even a sheriff’s office.  Most of our community leaders were (and still are) in the banking, building or real estate business who held fast to their conservative values of low taxes and individual property rights.

Shame on vandals targeting Jewish cemeteries, community centers and day schools. Trump should have/did condemn that hate/evil!

Our school board has a special single issue item scheduled for a vote March 28. You are being asked to continue for 10 years a one/half cent sales tax to be used by the School Board at their discretion.

In a recent column your publisher claimed that the Navarre Press was unbiased and then called out several other major news outlets for not positively reporting on the “Trump Bump” in the stock market.

The $650 million replacement Pensacola Bay Bridge as proposed would not permit the current or anticipated traffic flow to pass between Pensacola and Gulf Breeze, or Pensacola Beach, any faster than the current Bridge.

Why is tweaking “Obamacare” not an option? Because it violates “We the People’s” right of choice given to us in our Constitution!

I’m sure everyone remembers December 2013 when the commissioners made a strange scoring system to rebid for new  Pier management. The scoring system was made to deny Ms. D. Slye from managing the Pier again. The commissioners picked Rayner, TC’s Coastal Porch, last of the original four. The original four almost broke their arms patting each other on the back about what great business people they were. TC’s Coastal Porch was to have periodic weekend famer’s markets and establishment of an ANNUAL $1,500 scholarship plus do other things and the commissioners fell hook-line and sinker for the story and did no enforcement. We tax payers continue to lose money because the Pier continues to be subsidized by us tax payers. What was a Jewel turned into a nightmare because of another of the commissioners decisions. Oh, by the way, Commissioner Cole, Lynchard and Salter voted for TC’s Coastal Porch.

Monday’s county commission meeting was interesting to say the least. Two chambers on the agenda presented applications to host the same event in different years. It is the same event that the Navarre Beach Area Chamber of Commerce (NBACOC) has hosted for 10 years with a new venue. They built the event, grew it and made it a great success. And now the Greater Navarre Area Chamber of Commerce (GNACOC) wants to ride on their coattails by snatching the event out from under the NBACOC in 2018. But let’s be honest, the divide goes much deeper than one event.

The comic character Pogo once said “who are the enemy and they are us”. History repeats itself for those whom do not know the past. Our schools have failed us by not teaching civics and American history. The loyal opposition has become radicalized without regard for the common good.

Ron Ward and Victor Deal now say the CONDO in Navarre Beach Marine Park was in a PRISTINE area….so why did they ask in the first place? I think Ward and Deal should build the CONDO on a barge in the sound. We hope Robbie Williamson doesn’t get involved because with his past decisions the CONDO will be on the PIER. The commissioners have been listening to the sales pitch of Ward and Deal and if the commissioners think the CONDO is a good idea then they should build the CONDO next to their homes.