Opinion Archive

It seems like a distant memory, but only last week much of north Florida was paralyzed by roadways and bridges covered with a light coating of ice. Temperatures in Navarre and across the panhandle were below freezing for more than 48 consecutive hours. Law enforcement officials for safety reasons closed bridges, state routes and even Interstate-10 for nearly 72 hours. The combination of cold temperatures and the lack of vehicles moving across the frozen pavement essentially meant road conditions would not improve until the temperature climbed above freezing. The sand used in Florida to provide traction on slick roadways does nothing to melt the ice. In other parts of the country where winter is synonymous with ice and snow, states and local jurisdictions use specialized snowplow trucks and spread salt to eat through the ice and keep roads clear.

The Sheriff’s Citizen’s Academy I wrote about in my column last week was canceled due to lack of participation. Perhaps I should have highlighted it a few weeks earlier. I have always wanted to participate but one night a week, for three hours, for 10 weeks was more than I could carve out. However, I was going to do my best to make this time. Darn.

“Mandela believed in God, was not a Christian,” per his confidante.  Surprisingly, admirably Mandela forgave his jailer. So did Corrie Ten Boom, a Christian, imprisoned for hiding and saving Jews from the Nazis! Corrie Ten Boom whose sister died in prison – they were incarcerated for hiding and saving Jews.

I could not have been more excited when I pulled up in front of the Navarre Press office Monday morning. I had accomplished two things. First, I was returning to Navarre and second, I was returning to my first love, journalism.

There was a little uproar on social medial last week about the Holley-Navarre Water Department proxy forms that were sent out for the election that is this Tuesday, Jan. 21.  There is a story about this on the front of this issue. The water department has been conducting their elections this way for as long as we have been a newspaper which will be 14 years in May. If someone doesn’t like the way the water department holds elections, then perhaps they will change it when the get involved and run for the water board. The candidates for the water board are Chris Richardson, Daryl Lynchard, James Dabney, Ashely Strabla and incumbents Charlie Enghauser and Sheldon Hutchins.  Please go vote Tuesday. 

The spread that you did for the 5th Annual Penguin Plunge was great and I enjoyed reading it.  Too bad there is no mention of the two local groups that worked hard to make the event such a success!! You failed to even mention Pirates On The Panhandle who were responsible for securing a large number of the sponsors (approximately $2400.00 worth) and almost all of the auction items for the event and who were on hand to sell the tickets the day of the event (which raised approximately $1133.00) ~ nor did you mention Island Life Social Club who’s volunteers were there the night before to distribute the t-shirts and who were there the day of the event to handle the registrations.

The county terminates a sewer project benefiting Navarre East and returns $150,000 in grant funds leaving two streets in the project area unfinished and over 50 of our low income citizens without subsidized hookups and you don’t consider that newsworthy? 

The Sunshine State is consistently the source of some of the most bizarre news stories you’ve ever heard – often involving oversized reptiles, crazy crimes, stupid criminals and mind-boggling scandals. After gazing into its cloudy crystal ball, Sachs Media Group offers 10 predictions that are just strange enough to be plausible Florida news items in the new year! From randy grannies to voting zombies, from fresh-from-the-tree mixed drinks to medical mistletoe, this list has it all.

A year ago I made the mistake of subscribing to a nutrition advice publication called “Eat right or die!” They gave my name to other health and nutrition magazines. Now I’m drowning in food-related advice and factoids. Here are some examples.

I was troubled when an initial search did not show Sharon Aydelott, a teacher at Holley-Navarre Middle School, as ever being on the pages of Navarre Press. However, when I read that she was teacher of the year for her school in 2005, I knew there must be a glitch. Sure enough, we interviewed Sharon after she won the honor in December 2005. We reprinted the article this week on our education page in honor of her. We received the press release on Christmas Eve about a murder and posted it immediately to our Facebook page. Then news started leaking that it was Sharon who was killed even before we even received the official press release, my heart sank along with everyone else. The story has appeared all over the world in gruesome detail. We elected not to publish all the details on our website because we knew that this was a time to mourn the loss of Sharon and to celebrate her life and contribution to our community and it was not necessary to detail the manner of her death. The minimal details were enough at the time. There will be a trial and if not a trial, there will be sentencing and the details will be detailed at that time.