This is a repeat from last year – but it has been a year, so perhaps you don’t remember. However, the content of this column is worth remembering. This column is inspired from a sermon from my home church, First Baptist Orlando. I love Christmas for many reasons, but first and foremost because we are celebrating and recognizing the significance of the birth of Jesus. How does the world celebrate Christmas? By giving gifts and acts of kindness to one another to demonstrate our love for others.
Navarre and the surrounding communities had a fantastic weekend ushering in the Christmas holidays. I think every community had their parade last Saturday, some during the day and a few at night. There was not a shortage of things to do last weekend. We saw event goers and floats in more than one parade across the area. In this week’s issue you will find some great photos of all the events – and ALL the photos at yourcommunityphotos.com. You should check out our photo galleries for events we have covered, sports photos, pictures included in our paper, and so much more. We can also make your special photo a work of art. It’s a great Christmas present!
Our Navarre community is filled with talented, creative and smart people. Two weeks ago, we had a feature on one of our “famous” local photographers, John Starrett, whose remarkable eye and timing makes him one of the best in Northwest Florida and beyond. Another such photographer we are so blessed to have here in Navarre is Jeff Waldorff. You can find him on the front page of this issue. His photos adorn many homes and businesses in Navarre and all over the country. Two of his photos were selected recently for the Sea Turtle Conservancy’s 2025 Sea Turtle Calendar. We congratulate him on the selection. Both photographers are awe-some and we are so grateful for their talent.
Sometimes we focus on what we don’t have, or situations we aren’t in, and we lose sight of what we do have and where we are. I know I have a lot to be thankful for – at all times – even when I’m wrapped up in the day-to-day busy-ness of life. I gathered these versus to remind me of what true thanksgiving is and what my gratitude should be focused on. I hope you enjoy them during this time that we take a break from our routines and focus on being thankful for all of our many blessings – or as we set out to purposefully be a blessing to others.
We have some information on the candidates running for the Holley Navarre Water System board of directors – and how to vote. There are quite a few candidates vying for three seats on the board. Two of those on the list are incumbents; Joe Campbell and Daryl Lynchard, and you will probably recognize a few more names in the running. You can read about the candidates on page 5A. Their election day and annual meeting date is Jan. 21, 2025.
Thanksgiving is two weeks from the date of this paper, and we have been planning the Thanksgiving paper for weeks. It is going to be a lot of fun with puzzles and games for the entire family as well as the news and information you expect and should expect from us. That being said, I have to say I apologize we do not have more information on the double murder and suicide that happened on election night.
I was at the water department today, November 4, attempting to straighten out where a water bill is being mailed, and a very slender gentleman came in wanting to put $8 down on his $20 water bill so his water wouldn’t be turned off. He’s been employed in the flooring business for more than 20 years and he said that this year has been the slowest. He thinks it is because people are waiting for the outcome of the election. He, like a lot of other people, think if Trump is not elected, the economy is going to get worse, much worse. By the time you read this, hopefully, there is a clear winner.
Looks like there is no shame and nothing is off limits ahead of our presidential election. The Democratic candidate, Kamala Harris, and her proxies are calling the other candidate, Donald Trump, Hitler and those that might want to vote for him white supremacists, even those that are obviously not white. The rhetoric is very dangerous, and I am appalled at the depths of depravity the democratic party is willing to go to in an attempt to sway the election their way. You always know when someone doesn’t have anything substantive to say – they start saying things like, Hitler. I don’t know what is worse, how about Satan or Beelzebub. That is next. Wait, they have already done it. The have been spreading rumors that Donald Trump is probably the Anti-Christ.
Every week Sandpaper Publishing, which includes Navarre Press, Santa Rosa Press Gazette, and the Crestview News Bulletin and Sandpaper Marketing have a meeting. There are sometimes up to 17 of us meeting from all over Northwest Florida. Part of that meeting includes shout outs to team members that went over and above. It is awesome to hear the team give each other well-deserved kudos. I’ve noticed quite a few selfless and thoughtful displays of awesomeness while out and about in our awesome community and I’m going to highlight a few of them this week. I’d like to do this more often and we are going to start “Shout Outs” that will be featured each week in the paper…and I decided that while typing this column. I know our awesome team will be able to pull this off by the time you read this column and by the time my column is written today (Monday,) there will be a QR Code at the end of the column that will direct you to a page on our website – just for “Shout-Outs.” This is specifically for good awesome displays of great customer service and just being a great citizen of our community.
There seems to be controversy, discrepancies and conflicting news reports about the Federal Emergency Management Agency running out of money due to the number of illegal immigrants crossing our borders. It depends on what news source you are reading or watching. However, I trust actual video of a news conference where Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, who signed off on our open borders, warned FEMA is running out of money to aid hurricane victims – on camera and in his own words. Now, there seems to be a public relations correction that claims this is not the case. However, FEMA is documented as spending over $1 billion feeding, housing, and transporting illegal immigrants across the United States in the past two years. And, then there is the fact that Congress has passed five bills appropriating $175 billion in aid and assistance in response to Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine. That is a lot of money leaving our country. I want to share a Facebook post from a resident of one of the small Appalachian areas that was isolated and almost wiped off the map by Hurricane Helene. It is very telling and untainted by national news reports since they are not getting a lot of “news.” I’m masking the area out of privacy for them. Let’s just call their town “Mountainville.”
