Opinion Archive

Florida’s extraordinary tradition of open government is founded on the simple but essential concept that the people have a right to know how and why the government makes decisions on their behalf. After all, it’s our government.

Election Day Nov. 8 is fast approaching when we can exercise our honor, privilege and duty. I can’t wait!

This weekend is the official beginning of Beaches to Woodlands, a monthlong schedule of fun things to do in Santa Rosa County. Saturday begins Fish Navarre Weekend with free admission to the pier Saturday and Sunday. And, you can purchase your annual walking or fishing pass for 10 percent off. If you already have an annual pass, you can purchase at the discount and the county will send you a new pass with your new extended expiration date. I for one, didn’t know you could buy an annual walking pass. I walked it this week to see how many steps I could get out of one lap up and back and I got more than 1200 steps. I found others on the pier that were walking for exercise on the pier as well.

Lia Wolfe was 16 years old when she almost died by her own hands.  On a cold day in February 2013, she felt so alone and isolated that she wrote a suicide note and took action with the intent to never wake up again.  Wolfe almost became one of the more than 30,000 people in the United States who kill themselves every year. This is why September is Suicide Prevention Awareness Month.

I am very proud of the Navarre Press staff with the outcome of our 18 awards presented last week in Sarasota. However, the awards we received were for our work in 2015. We are much better now in 2016 because we are always getting better. We don’t have time to rest on our laurels – and what fun would that be anyway? While it is nice to be recognized, we don’t do what we do for the awards. We have a passion for informing our community and we live by our core value of “excellence is our ordinary.”  Recognition is just icing on the cake. Maybe next week we will share with you some of the things we learned from our sessions. Better yet, we will show you in the weeks and months to come.

Recently, we ran an article on the homeless and unaccompanied students of Navarre. We were shocked by the numbers right here in our hometown. Our children were in school barely a month and already almost 500 were identified as in need, and that number is only expected to go up.

The Songwriters Beach Blast will be held at Juana’s Pagodas this weekend.  See their ad for the details of this free event.

Santa Rosa County raised the percentage of voters actually voting in the 2016 primary more than 10 percent from 2014 to 2016. I’d like to say congratulations – except that is still only one in four eligible voters – voting. At least it is a step in the right direction. So in 2014, less than 15 percent of eligible voters chose the elected officials we have now. That is a sobering thought. (I will not use my circling the toilet bowl comment because someone might use it out of context like he did the last time – and continues to do so.)

During WW II around the time the silver (zinc) penny came into use (1943), the copper and other vital metals were used in manufacturing war materials.

9/11.  It is the one day in the history of our lifetime when no matter whom you ask, everyone knows exactly where they were and what they were doing at the moment they heard about the attacks on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and what probably would have been the United States Capitol or the White House.  We watched the television coverage with tears in our eyes and hands over our mouths in disbelief.