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.
To say that the media is knee-jerk and irresponsible is to make the understatement of the millennium. To say that the American people are gullible to their knee-jerk is to speak a sad truth. On no other subject is this more relevant than the matter of sexual harassment claims.
Trump was not my first choice for president; however, he is our best choice. Finally, we have a president who does what was promised during the campaign. Typically the election is won by someone who tells you what you want to hear then when elected does what the establishment directs.
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.
Thanksgiving has come and gone and now we can all move on from listening to what everyone is thankful for and switch gears to hearing what everyone wants for Christmas.
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.
I have lived around and with wild animals all my life. I did problem animal control for several years for Parker County in Texas. Coyotes, feral dogs, beavers and the like on large ranches. Humans are the problem and we are not going away. The animals do what they do and they do not know how to be politically correct. Hence I see them as victims.
