Opinion Archive

The citizens of Pensacola and the surrounding area had no clue that Mayor Ashton Hayward would announce March 21 his intention not to run for a third term this fall. Hayward had been employed as a model in South Florida before deciding to go into politics. He ran to be a “strong” mayor for Pensacola, and was successful.

In a little town in Florida poor planning gave to us:

The NCAA tournament began last week.

We all know the reason behind campaign money. But the real question should be, what has Robbie done to save tax payers money? Robbie gave the Mudders event $80,000 of taxpayers  money to come to Santa Rosa County but three neighboring states didn’t give a penny of taxpayers money to the Mudders event  held in their states. What was Robbie thinking?  I’ve asked Robbie but he won’t answer me. This is just one example of Robbie wasting tax payers money.

Congratulations to Navarre High School’s boys weightlifting team. They are Regional Champions! You can read about it in the sports section and you can also watch the videos of their lifts on Navarre Press Sports Facebook page (and Navarre Press Facebook page, too).

If you have been paying attention, over the past several months Navarre Press has been covering and reporting on all the ways for a Navarre downtown to develop. Quint Studer has been our resource because he knows better than anyone how to accomplish it. Even in this issue we write about it (see CivicCon story page –)

While the anti-Christian element is alive and well, so is Jesus Christ!  Christians will be celebrating the Risen Savior at Easter, Praise God!

Based on evidence from probability studies, the belief that mentally ill persons are especially prone to perpetrating violence is a fallacy. The mentally ill are less likely to be perpetrators of violence than the victims of it. Only a small percentage of mentally ill persons are violent.

The business page has the results of a $120,000 economic strategy plan for Santa Rosa County. We were found to have strong K-12 schools, a retired military population, available land, access to outdoor recreation and quality of place. Not surprisingly, we were found lacking in the infrastructure department as well as lacking in a “vibrant and walkable” downtown – and there is more – you can read all about it on our business page.  This week, we have two stories that are on the exact opposites of this spectrum. On one side we have Phil Babiak proposing what looks like to be a brilliant and well thought out alternative to what the FDOT proposes for Navarre’s downtown, and we have a county commissioner that is elected to uphold our planning and zoning except under extreme hardship – asking for a variance to put yet another set of storage units in the “Heart of Navarre.” This is certainly not the highest and best use for the land designated “Heart of Navarre.” However, our zoning board passed it unanimously, with Lynchard’s representative on the board abstaining – as he should have. The county commissioners still need to approve it before it is set into motion. The time of all of this is just a little too convenient to slip it in before the result of Navarre’s Master Plan is revealed. This is another study authorized by Commissioner Lynchard at the tune of $150,000   to tell us the highest and best use of the land we have left. I believe all variances in commercial districts should be put on hold in Navarre while the Master Plan is being finalized so as not to throw a monkey wrench in the entire plan. Please let your county commission know how you feel by emailing them at bocc@santarosa.fl.gov.

In the past week, Navarre Press has reunited lost pets with their owners/families. First, a beautiful cat graced our porch looking for some reassurance that his story would have a happy ending. And it did. This cat (we now know his name is Mittens) did all the right things after he went missing. He got our attention, lathered us in cuddles and love and made us want to take care of him while we looked for his owners. He was fed and coddled and he endeared himself to us. No way could we let this guy go wandering around when his demeaner told us he belonged to someone somewhere.