Opinion Archive

In the past two weekends, Navarre has seen more than a foot of rain.  When the remnants of Hurricane Patricia swept through Oct. 25 – 26, nearly 7 inches of rain fell.  The rain totals of Halloween weekend were nearly that at 6.41 inches with some areas receiving 7 inches.  Rewind to Sept. 28 and in a flash flood event, Navarre received a staggering  7 inches in merely  six hours.  Total it all up and it equals almost 2 feet of water.  And under the water is muck. 

We have another issue that is full of newsy news. Everything from a plane landing on Navarre Beach and running over our already dead fish, the red tide fish kill, to a shooting, and a grand-theft auto. We would have more information if those that had it were a little more forthcoming. However, much of what we found out, we found out ourselves, and we were there. 

We found some very spooky local stories to share with you this week. We had more, that are even spookier – including the obituaries that go with them – but…we had to wait for more information. However, the stories are going to be groundbreaking and change the known history of our area. Let me rephrase that; let’s just say that the previous “recorded” history isn’t what it has been presented to be by past self-proclaimed historians. 

In this week’s issue we include the findings of the investigation into the Black Hawk helicopter crash in the Santa Rosa Sound in March.  The findings of the report indicate the pilots were to blame for the crash that left 11 service members onboard dead because they disobeyed direct orders by flying into worsening weather. 

Commissioners Don Salter, Bob Cole and new to this game Rob Williamson, have recently spoken against “We the People’s” vote for a courthouse location. Why do they continually waste the citizen’s time and taxpayer money when obviously they don’t want to follow “We the People’s” vote?  Evidently, the only time “We the People” show signs of intelligence, is when we vote them into office!

Last weekend was full of fun things to do as you can see by reading this issue.  I’m not sure they could have crammed one more thing into the weekend. Thankfully – it was a beautiful weekend and the weather didn’t dampen anyone’s spirits or hinder attendance.  

I thought the county commissioners were public servants for the people that elected them. Commissioner Rob Williamson always says, “At your service.” The majority of people voted NO concerning the sales tax for a new court house which indicates the court house is not a top priority. But now the commissioners want to raise the valorem taxes for the court house regardless of the voters’ wishes. Leadership failure is not having the skill sets to use management, judgment, experience and creativity to eliminate waste for efficiency so the easiest thing for the commissioners to do is raise taxes. Anyone with or without an education can say raise taxes for any situation.

We have a serious disconnect from our county commissioners in Santa Rosa and our local senators and representatives in Tallahassee.

Navarre residents never shy away from a sincere call for help.  So many recent events come to mind.

October is a busy month in Navarre and basically everywhere. It was mentioned at our Monday morning meeting that there seems to be more going on in October than there is during the summer. This weekend seems to be the busiest one of the month.