Merry Christmas! I found out recently (Ancestry DNA) that I’m 25 percent Jewish so Happy Hanukah to my fellow Jewish friends and ancestors. I learned in church this past Sunday that Jesus celebrated Hanukah and at that time – it was called the “Feast of Dedication.” Christmas fell on the calendar at a great time this year because our staff has time to visit with family between this issue and the Jan. 4 issue.
I covered Trump’s visit Friday. I was in the media section – which I later regretted. My husband was in general seating and he had great seats and was in a better position than I was to get great photos. However, I had my super-duper long lens – and a ladder. I only had a ladder because another photographer brought two ladders and he could only be on one at a time. Therefore, I was the guardian of the ladder he wasn’t on. The atmosphere was electric and positive. There were some protestors outside – but not very many. We had someone call our office on Friday and invite us to go protest with them. For the record, media doesn’t protest – or shouldn’t protest – though they do it all the time – in their own pages. But, that is another topic. The civic center was full rafters to floor. There were even rows of people two deep in front of the media pit – where they weren’t supposed to be. Thankfully – I had the aforementioned ladders. Every time Trump mentioned fake news or the lying media, some in the crowd in front of us would turn around and sneer and snicker – a little. They were trying to be as polite as possible while sneering – but I felt like I was in a cage at a Zoo and we were the attraction. However, they quickly forgot about us – in between jabs from Trump. Of course, I knew he wasn’t talking about Navarre Press. I even had someone tell me later that every time they heard Trump call out the fake news media he thought – “except Navarre Press.” He must have been reading my mind – because that is what I was thinking. When I was with Matt Gaetz on Open Gaetz Day in Navarre even Gaetz told me that he has never had an instance when Navarre Press has misrepresented him. And, for good reason, we don’t. We aren’t perfect and don’t pretend to be. We own up to our mistakes and fix them. But we don’t take news out of the paper because it is derogatory to our friends and we don’t put slants on stories. There isn’t anyone that we would go out of our way to compromise our core values or our mission for. There just isn’t – because there is no one worth compromising ourselves for. And, there is a lot of salacious “news” we know that we don’t print because it really isn’t news.
Come out to Navarre Park this Friday evening for “A Night in Bethlehem” brought to you by Coastline Navarre. Guests will experience the town of Bethlehem just before the time of Christ’s birth. See their ad for more information.
A timeline of historical milestones in Navarre as provided by the Navarre Beach Area Chamber of Commerce can be found in this issue thanks to the scrapbooks of Shirley Brown. If you have read Navarre Press for any amount of time, or have lived in Navarre for the past 10 years or more – you know of the tireless efforts of Charlie and Shirley Brown as they were part of the glue that pulled this community together. And, you will see signs on the side of Hwy. 98 aptly dedicating a portion of the highway in memory of their service to our community. Of note, is that the Navarre Beach Area Chamber broke ground on the Navarre Community Center – the same community center that was later sold to the Navarre Beach Area Board of Realtors. The money for that sale was to be set aside for a new community center, but, I believe it was earmarked to go toward our multimillion-dollar park renovation where the chamber currently is located within the county building.
The Pensacola Ice Flyers will have Hero and Princess Night this Saturday at the game. Dress up as your favorite hero or princess for the game. We have Ice Flyer tickets for our All Access subscribers.
Thank a veteran this Saturday on Veterans’ Day. Mike Esmond, a Vietnam Veteran, at Gulf Breeze Pools and Spas put an ad in this issue thanking Veterans. Navarre Lumber always offers military discounts. Check out their ad for some of the items they carry that you won’t believe they have.
The property east of Publix is under contract. We do not know who has it under contract, but it isn’t for lack of trying. I think it is smart to keep it under wraps until it is a done deal. As you know by reading this column, a lot of “under contract” properties – never finalize. There is a lot of moving and shaking and positioning going on in and around Navarre. That just means that the economy is awesome, people are optimistic, and we have got it going on. Case and point, our business page. Our unemployment rate is almost a full percent lower than Florida’s average and 1.2 percent less than the national average. Also, A+ Mini Storage sold recently to a national company – “Move-It.”
This was one of those weeks that we almost decided to have a pictorial edition. There was a lot going on this past weekend – as you will see in this issue.
