Next week is Spring Break for Santa Rosa students and the weather is going to be interesting. The highs are in the 60s and the lows in the 50s. Yes – I’ve become a weather forecaster. Apparently, many of you are too. Some of our highest engagement numbers include weather and scenery – right after heinous criminal acts and new restaurants. When my husband and I were looking at potential homes in Navarre in March 1993, we had snow flurries. So cooler weather in March is not surprising.
Have you noticed it is difficult to find home or appliance repair businesses to fix stuff around your house? I have. I admit it – I’m spoiled. I grew up with a father that was an engineer and he could fix anything. And, when I moved here, I had a friend that had a handyman business and he advertised his business in Navarre Press. I still have that friend, but he has moved on to building homes and fixing a toilet is – out of his way and I completely understand. If there are any handymen or ladies out there – you would do well to advertise. That is the first place I looked – in the services section of our classifieds.
The professional shark fishermen that fish from the Navarre Beach Pier caught a Great White Shark on Tuesday. They send a drone out from the end of the pier – that is already the longest pier standing in the Gulf of Mexico with fishing line and bait that they drop even further out. Thankfully the crew at Windjammers on the Pier Restaurant and Bar were on it and got some excellent video. This is not something you put in your tourism brochures, but it is a novelty for our area although not unheard of. A 10-foot-long Great White is small. The average Great White is 15 feet. Perhaps this one was a juvenile. Regardless, it is pretty cool that one was caught in our area. It is a sign that they are not as rare as they use to be which means our Gulf is healthy – which is good news for everyone that lives on the Gulf.
I am asked on almost a daily basis what I think about the flyover. This is what I think about the flyover…it is going to hurt our small businesses in Navarre and Navarre will continue to be a donor community for Santa Rosa County and a bedroom community for our neighboring counties.
We have our Mind, Body and Spirit edition this week and the theme is heart health. We usually have this section once a year, but we are going to have them more often – including one at the end of July with a guide to the Navarre Beach Area Chamber Back-to-School Health and Business Expo. The expo chair is Dr. Sarah Skelly with the Santa Rosa Medical Center. If you are interested in getting involved in this expo call the chamber at 939-3267 and if you want to be in our next health themed Mind, Body Spirit – call us.
Great news! It seems that Punxsutawney Phil did not see his shadow on Groundhog day and we are in for an early spring! This week’s temperatures agree with his forecast. According to weather.com our highs in the 60s will continue right through the next 10 days or so with a few days getting into the 70s. The only downside to the beautiful temperatures is they will mostly be without sunshine – overcast days continue, with chances of rain.
We have exciting changes coming soon to the digital paid subscription version of Navarre Press. We have a conference call tomorrow with the developers. This an example of how we are always fighting for our subscribers/readers and end-users of Navarre Press. We don’t just settle for good enough, we always want to get better. If you aren’t growing – you are going backwards. And, when you know you can do better, you don’t settle for less. That is why “Excellence is our ordinary” is a core value at Navarre Press.
Last week two of our team members went to the naturalization ceremony in Pensacola. After the ceremony, 275 new citizens and their families walked out of the Pensacola Naval Aviation Museum as America’s newest citizens. They get an awesome send-off by the judges, guests and those in attendance who wish them well and tell them congratulations as they walk out the door. It is awesome to witness those that have worked hard along the way toward the path of becoming a citizen and their excitement and sometimes tears when it finally happens. We have a story of one of our country’s newest citizens, Anna Leavenworth of Navarre, who is originally from Russia. You will find her story on page 3B.
We hope you are enjoying our new faith correspondent, Michael Bannon. We are looking for a Health Correspondent and possibly a Pets Correspondent. However, being a pet correspondent seems like too much fun…we should just have Inkie do that. She needs a fur time job.
Christmas season is here – and it seems that election season is upon us as well with the water board election which will culminate on January 15 with an in-person vote if you haven’t requested an absentee ballot. We wrote all about that last week in the paper – and it is online if you need to know how to vote when you get to the end of this column.
