Opinion Archive

The Holley Navarre Senior Center will host a pancake breakfast and sale this Saturday from 7 to 10:30 a.m. You can enjoy some great pancakes or a spring quiche and then do a little shopping! They have an ad in this issue if you want more information. Make your plans now for their Easter Fun Fest Saturday, April 19. They will have games, prizes, egg search, face painting and you can even have your photo taken with the Easter Bunny.

Her parody on Green Eggs and Ham activated vilification from the left.

Tourists visit Navarre Beach to enjoy the beautiful white sand and clear Gulf of Mexico waters. And, why wouldn’t they? Navarre Beach in consecutive months was named one of Florida’s top 5 white sand beaches by Conde’ Nast Traveler and the No. 25 beach in the U.S. by TripAdvisor.

Easter is Sunday, April 20. Next week we will have a listing of all of the Easter activities that are “happening” around town.

I’ve got one question. Who is responsible for the timing of the traffic lights? Whoever it is needs to be fired or find another company that is able to adjust the timing. It took me 30 minutes to travel 1 mile through Navarre the last 2 nights.

There is never a dull moment in Navarre or Navarre Beach. Our paper is full of courthouse drama – which is different from courtroom drama. Included is information on your water rates as compared to our neighbors, the Blue Angels, incorporation information, the Highway 87 project delay, sentencing, fatal crash, military voters, fire department, traffic lights and a land purchase at Hidden Creek Golf Course. Not to mention all the news you can use on the ramifications of Santa Rosa County winning the lawsuit versus the Navarre Beach Leaseholders on whether or not the land and improvements is taxable. We have an entire editorial on that subject.

I wholeheartedly support repairing and/or replacing the Navarre Park boardwalk. I also strongly support building a lighted multi-use path that would connect the area from the intersection of 98 and Alpine Drive all the way to the Best Western. Imagine how much increased sales tax would be collected if folks staying at St. Rosa Sound RV Park or either of the two hotels could safely walk or bicycle to any of the more than 30 businesses in that area.

The Florida Supreme Court voted unanimously last week to uphold a lower court’s ruling that Santa Rosa County Property Appraiser Greg Brown was within his powers to levy taxes against leased property and improvements on Navarre Beach, something Brown had been doing since 2001.

Navarre Beach is finally getting some of the recognition it deserves. We received the TripAdvisor® press release on press day that Navarre Beach was named the No. 25 beach in the Travelers’ Choice™ Awards for Beaches in the U.S. We barely made the list – but we made the list which is an accomplishment. Last Thursday my daughter called me to say that the water at Navarre Beach was especially beautiful. She told me it looked like what magazines always depict for Caribbean resorts. I called the office because I was traveling and sent one of our photographers out to get pictures and three hours later I received a call he hadn’t returned. I forgot all about it until Monday afternoon when I remembered to look at the pictures. I have lived here for more than 20 years and I was blown away by the pristine beauty of Navarre Beach all over again. I was gasping at every picture because the water was crystal clear and was a beautiful emerald green and turquoise opalescent color. And then there was the sea turtle that popped up out of the water, schools of fish that swam by, the jellyfish that appeared, and the heron that landed on the pier railing by our photographer. It was almost as if nature was showing off. We definitely got a “snapshot” so to speak – of our beautiful area.

This week is Sunshine Week, which makes it an ideal time to reiterate the importance of open government and why my office is diligently working to improve government transparency and accountability. Since taking office, I have been committed to building upon Florida’s Sunshine Law and seeking new ways to promote openness.