There is never a dull moment in Navarre or Navarre Beach. Our paper is full of courthouse drama – which is different from courtroom drama. Included is information on your water rates as compared to our neighbors, the Blue Angels, incorporation information, the Highway 87 project delay, sentencing, fatal crash, military voters, fire department, traffic lights and a land purchase at Hidden Creek Golf Course. Not to mention all the news you can use on the ramifications of Santa Rosa County winning the lawsuit versus the Navarre Beach Leaseholders on whether or not the land and improvements is taxable. We have an entire editorial on that subject.
Navarre Beach is finally getting some of the recognition it deserves. We received the TripAdvisor® press release on press day that Navarre Beach was named the No. 25 beach in the Travelers’ Choice™ Awards for Beaches in the U.S. We barely made the list – but we made the list which is an accomplishment. Last Thursday my daughter called me to say that the water at Navarre Beach was especially beautiful. She told me it looked like what magazines always depict for Caribbean resorts. I called the office because I was traveling and sent one of our photographers out to get pictures and three hours later I received a call he hadn’t returned. I forgot all about it until Monday afternoon when I remembered to look at the pictures. I have lived here for more than 20 years and I was blown away by the pristine beauty of Navarre Beach all over again. I was gasping at every picture because the water was crystal clear and was a beautiful emerald green and turquoise opalescent color. And then there was the sea turtle that popped up out of the water, schools of fish that swam by, the jellyfish that appeared, and the heron that landed on the pier railing by our photographer. It was almost as if nature was showing off. We definitely got a “snapshot” so to speak – of our beautiful area.
Just when you thought it wouldn’t happen…foundation plans for the new hotel to be constructed on Navarre Beach have been submitted to the county. Doster Construction Company is the contractor of record.
We received an email from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and then they followed up with a phone call asking if we received it sounding indignant. They wanted to make sure that we received it and hoped that we would report on it. Apparently a Boy Scout troop based in Navarre was treated to some freshly roasted rabbit and PETA thought we should write about it. So for those of you faint of heart you may want to stop reading now and skip down to “in other news.”
The Navarre Krewe of Jesters Mardi Gras Parade is this Saturday. Make sure you are on the island before noon because it will be hard to get over the bridge after noon. In years past, they opened up both lanes of the bridge for cars to use to get off of the island, so be prepared for delays. This year’s parade is being touted as larger than ever and there are more than 25% more parade entries than last year. The forecast is currently calling for only a slight chance of rain – but to date – there hasn’t been any rain in the history of this parade.
Spring is officially March 20, and there are officially 41 days until Spring by the time you receive this issue. When I was researching “Spring” I found a widget that you can put on your desktop that counts down the days, hours minutes and seconds until Spring. I did more research on the extended forecast and saw that the last full week of February it will be above 70 every single day!
The Sheriff’s Citizen’s Academy I wrote about in my column last week was canceled due to lack of participation. Perhaps I should have highlighted it a few weeks earlier. I have always wanted to participate but one night a week, for three hours, for 10 weeks was more than I could carve out. However, I was going to do my best to make this time. Darn.
There was a little uproar on social medial last week about the Holley-Navarre Water Department proxy forms that were sent out for the election that is this Tuesday, Jan. 21. There is a story about this on the front of this issue. The water department has been conducting their elections this way for as long as we have been a newspaper which will be 14 years in May. If someone doesn’t like the way the water department holds elections, then perhaps they will change it when the get involved and run for the water board. The candidates for the water board are Chris Richardson, Daryl Lynchard, James Dabney, Ashely Strabla and incumbents Charlie Enghauser and Sheldon Hutchins. Please go vote Tuesday.
