After seven years, Santa Rosa County Tourist Development Council Director Kate Wilkes announced last week her retirement effective Aug. 1, 2014. TDC board members and other community and business leaders recognized and thanked her for leading the county’s tourism development efforts through some challenging times. We only have to look back four years to the Deep Water Horizon Oil Spill to understand that it hasn’t been all smooth sailing for Wilkes.
The county originally handled its own recycling but in 2012 determined it was more cost effective to contract the service to a professional provider. The county entered into a contract with West Florida Recycling, which also brought the added convenience of “single stream recycling.” In other words, residents no longer needed to separate different types of recyclables.
The Holley Navarre Senior Center is hosting a pancake breakfast (or an egg special if you prefer) Saturday, June 14. After breakfast, you can shop for plants (indoor and outdoor), garden items, books and more! There will even be experts there to answer questions. Breakfast & Plants event is $2 – $5.
For the second consecutive year, a tourist visiting Navarre Beach from Louisiana has died in the Gulf of Mexico. In both cases, the victims entered the water in red flag conditions and were west of the Navarre Beach Fishing Pier, not in the designated swimming area patrolled by Navarre Beach lifeguards.
My job is so much fun that it is going to be my demise. If I could just do everything full-time – then I wouldn’t get anything done. I really would love being a full-time writer, a full-time photographer, a full-time investigative reporter, a full-time sales person and a full-time boss and manager. The only thing that I really couldn’t do because I don’t have the technical skills is design. I know good design, but I don’t have the technical skills to do it full time. However, if I wasn’t busy doing everything else, then I could possibly learn. I think I have written this before, but I’ve had employees tell me that they loved working at Navarre Press because basically you can be anyone that you want to be on any given day, except an EMT or a doctor.
Does your dog have a face only a mother could love? Navarre 1st Assembly of God and LaVonda’s Pet Salon are hosting an Ugly Dog contest this Saturday, May 31 from 10am – 1pm at LaVonda’s in John Duncan Plaza on Hwy 87. The purpose is to raise funds for a mission trip for the youth group of the church. See their ad in this week’s issue for all of the good details. Maybe your dog could be crowned Ugliest Dog in Navarre!
As you are probably aware, the Florida Legislature concluded its annual legislative session in Tallahassee. Under Governor Scott’s leadership, Florida has made an amazing comeback over the past four years and the work we did this session will continue to move our state in the right direction.
Supporters and opponents of Navarre becoming an incorporated city spoke before the Santa Rosa County Board of Commissioners Monday. Supporters presented the commissioners with petitions, signed by hundreds of residents, who are seeking an opportunity to express their opinion on the issue.
I was at the Holley-Navarre Water Board meeting Tuesday, and I actually met two people that didn’t know that our water department owned The Club at Hidden Creek. And, you guessed it, they are now subscribers…on the spot. I’d like to welcome Ron and Ron to the ranks of informed citizens of the unincorporated area of south Santa Rosa County which if incorporated would be twice the size of all of the incorporated areas of Santa Rosa County. (I will not use their last names because I am NICE and so are they.)
There is a new Facebook page called, “NICE” and it stands for Navarre Individuals Complimenting Everything. What a novel concept. This is a breath of fresh air as other Facebook pages who say they are “concerned” take it upon themselves to bash people and local businesses on a regular basis. I hope the new Facebook page catches on. There is a lot of misinformation on the Internet and on Facebook. We have had many calls asking us to write stories to correct the information on Facebook pages. That is not our job – to correct the Internet. If people are out there and they believe everything they read on the Internet – especially from people they don’t know and/or haven’t checked the sources themselves, then we can’t save them. And, the businesses that are maligned or misrepresented really don’t need them anyway. I personally took myself off these groups because it was really bringing me down. I started to think that this was Navarre, but I know it isn’t. There have been many multimillion dollar liable lawsuits successfully won from misinformation posted on websites and Facebook Pages. I also wonder if people from out of town that read those pages would want to move here. I’m glad there is a new Facebook called Navarre NICE. We need more NICE in Navarre. NICE never hurt anyone…unless…never mind. I’m choosing to be NICE.
