We have a big weekend ahead with the Fishing Rodeo and the Sand Sculpting Contest. Read all about it – inside these pages. You will also find a lot more to do throughout the month of October during “Beaches to Woodlands.” Events include: Oct. 3-4 Monarch Madness Butterfly Festival
If you thought citizens did not seem to care about the fate of their own community, you were in for a surprise. If you were late to the Sept. 15 and 16 incorporation town hall meetings, you were also in for two hours of standing.
It is hard to believe that it has been ten years since Ivan, and in ten months it will be the ten year anniversary of Dennis which was the hurricane that affected Navarre Press and personally, my home the most. It is the reason why we have new siding on both structures and the reason why I was able to put my new refrigerator in my office through the outside wall, not through the door. Therefore, if my office refrigerator ever goes out, I’m not sure how it would exit the building. We also purchased a whole building generator that we have never had to use, thankfully. However, I’d like to say we are prepared but no one is truly prepared for catastrophes like Ivan. If you weren’t here ten years ago, I hope you never have to go through anything similar.
Our first Navarre Raider home game is this Friday night. We are playing Wakulla and there is a lot of history with Wakulla. There is something about their refs marching us back with every play when we played them the last time. Hopefully some of the families will be staying in the area – at least overnight. Wakulla is in Crawfordville which is south of Tallahassee. MaxPreps has ranked Wakulla 19th in the state and Navarre is ranked, 46th. We went up in the rankings by 45 points after our win over Catholic. Let’s keep ranking up.
Monday night I told my daughters they had to go vote the next day. At first, they said they were too busy, they had to work, and they didn’t know who they would vote for. “I’m not just going to vote for who you tell me to vote for,” proclaimed both of them in separate conversations. Wow. I was super proud they said that. I pointed them to the voter’s guide that we produced and gave them a synopsis of each candidate and my perceived strengths and weaknesses with the condition that it was just my opinion – a very educated opinion nonetheless. I even told one of my daughters that she might consider a candidate and she flatly said, “Sounds to me like they don’t have enough experience,” totally discounting me. Both of them voted and I know this because my oldest daughter texted me that she saw her sister’s signature and said the following, “So, I went to vote and I asked them if they’ve had a lot of youngsters and they said that they’ve actually had hardly anyone.” When I shared her text with Shana in the newsroom she said, “Well, we know she is not a “youngster” if she actually said, ‘youngster.’” It will be a late night tonight as we await the results and we have already decided what kind of pizza to order.
Football is starting tonight – Thursday – with the Raiders playing in Milton for the Kick-off Classic. The JV teams play in the first quarter, the reserve players from the varsity teams play in the second quarter, and the first-string varsity players take the field for the entire second half. Milton has won the kick-off classic the past two years. Of course we hope the Raiders start their year off with a win, but regardless it doesn’t count – officially. The game begins at 7 p.m.
The Feasibility Study is in from the consultant – one of only three qualified to do a feasibility study in the state of Florida. It shows that the city of Navarre would be in the black from day one without an increase in taxes. And, if we chose for an additional 1 mil – which is $1 per $1000 of value on your home, then we would have nearly $20 million by the year 2020 to invest for a future beach re-nourishment (not the one we need right now), parks, recreation, or anything else the people would like to see happen for Navarre. We would also have room for a $10 million buffer to have in case there is a hurricane. FEMA reimbursed the county for most of what happened during Ivan and Dennis. That is how we got the new and improved pier. We also need to look at moving the sewage treatment plant off the island, and more. This is exciting news. By contrast, the City of Gulf Breeze has an additional 1.9723 mils, the City of Milton has an additional 3.2373 mils, and the City of Jay has an additional 2.0000 mils.
My family met near Vero Beach for vacation last week and had a lot of fun. The office never knew I was gone – really. In fact, they said they wished I’d hurry up and get back because they had less to do when I was here – and they got less tasks via email. When I’m on the road, I send email after email because I have time to think. I also think on Sundays, when I’m in church. It is like …Zen. I clear my mind – connect with a higher power and that higher power reminds me of everything I haven’t done that needs to get done – and I’m also reminded of everything everyone else is supposed to get done as well. So, if my staff had it their way – it would be no more vacations or church for me. Well, tough. I went to church on vacation and purposefully ran into relatives that we had never formerly met from my husband’s side of the family. As it turns out, the church we went to was started in a relative’s living room and when we visited the old courthouse, on our own, we found out that our relative had won the “Key to the City.” That started me thinking, of course. If you don’t have a city – you can’t give away keys. I even found myself watching city council meetings on TV. I also found out the Santa Rosa County Courthouse debate is not unique, just the zip code has changed.
This week’s issue includes our popular Back to School Guide. You’ll find profiles on each school as well as messages from the principals. We have also included a school supply list and information on Florida’s Tax-Free holiday (August 1-3) to help everyone save money on their back to school shopping.
Once again we have a great newspaper chock-full of great information and news that will help you make better every day decisions as an informed citizen. For instance, we have a story about a 480-acre parcel that is proposed to be developed for a neighborhood called “Balley’s Landing.” However, of the 480 acres, 220 acres are designated as wetlands. Regardless of this fact, our Santa Rosa County Zoning Board voted 6-2 to allow the development to have much smaller lot sizes after discussing the matter for less than18 minutes at the end of a 3.5 hour meeting. Really? We need smaller lot sizes for more homes with all of our flooding issues that still have not been addressed. On top of that, the environmental study for the project found Gopher Tortoise burrows, white-top pitcher plants and prime habitat for the reticulated flatwoods salamander. This is the same salamander that stopped an alternative 98 from happening 8 years ago. We sure could have used an alternative 98 Monday evening when it took our residents 2.5 hours to get home from Hurlburt Field – 20 miles away.
