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.
At Navarre Beach, Santa Rosa County’s wastewater treatment plant has a state permit to dump as much as 900,000 gallons of sewage effluent per day into Santa Rosa Sound. For much of the year, it’s much less than that, but during the summer – peak swimming and fishing season – it increases dramatically. The County is now requesting another 5-year permit to continue this primitive and unhealthy method of sewage disposal.
After hearing the Santa Rosa County Board of Commissioners claim they cannot disapprove a proposed development on any grounds whatsoever, many of us were incredulous. This apparent disregard for environmental laws and regulations with respect to wetland and endangered species conservation here in Santa Rosa County has gone beyond egregious. In fact, they claim (their interpretation) that by state legislation, citing F.S. 125.022(d), they can’t even ask to see a developer’s environmental permits, to ensure that they have even been obtained, prior to approval of a project. Escambia County has no such problem asking for permits.
High school memories are not always the best. In my “less-than-best” category are English class reading assignments: read some literary classic and be prepared to discuss it in class or, worse yet, write a paper on it. Many of the assigned books failed to interest me, so I often relied on another literary classic – Cliff’s Notes. However, one book ignited my imagination – James Hilton’s Lost Horizons, with its fictional lamasery Shangri-la secreted high in the mountains of Tibet. Hilton introduced me to the idea of a utopia, the dream of a perfect life in a perfect place. Haven’t we all yearned for such an idyllic existence, a perfect life with no sickness or sadness or loss, in a place where hatred and violence don’t exist?
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.
