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.
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.)
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.
Come out and enjoy a concert in Navarre Park tonight. There are only two concerts left for this year’s free summer concert series. Highway 95A will play Country and Southern Rock and concessions will be provided by Pizza Hut and Kona Ice.
Where are the adults in Navarre? Just in the past few weeks we have seen childish, immature and bad behavior from many different areas. One of the most senseless acts is Tony Alexander, a disgruntled ex-employee of the Navarre Beach Area Chamber of Commerce seeking to open a new “greater” chamber of commerce. It can only be concluded that he seeks to harm the chamber that has been established for 41 years.
Believe it or not – this is the last Thursday of August. The next Navarre Press will be dated September 1. Time flies when you are having fun – and even if you aren’t. Lucky for us – we are having fun!
Sometimes things are just so ridiculous that one must comment. I am speaking specifically about the current attempt to gain a share in the $35 million windfall for contractors in Escambia County.
