Opinion Archive

Wow, what a weekend. The first event I attended was the Emerald Coast Chapter of Heroes on the Water. What a great group of guys and gals. They are a well-oiled machine and they know exactly what to do and in what order to do it.

Sequestration, Now (4-7-13): Fewer employees 10 plus, restroom closures, picnic shelter closures, reduces grounds maintenance, trash can elimination, less storm-caused sand removal, longer storm-caused road closures, visitor center closures, fewer Ranger-led programs, reduced facilities maintenance and shorter lifeguard hours.

One of our favorite Navarre events is back.  The Navarre Beach Area Chamber of Commerce Thursdays in the Park Concert Series starts tonight, and as co-hosts of the event, we invite everyone to come out and enjoy the music.  Admission is FREE.  Tonight’s performance happens to be the kickoff of another great event happening in Navarre, The First Annual Songwriter’s Festival.  You can see ads about both of these events in our paper this week to get all of the details and schedules. 

Mother’s Day is this Sunday and I’m looking forward to spending time with my mom in central Florida. I thought I might want to go ahead and pick up my childhood belongings before she auctions them off for millions of dollars. Ha ha.

We are becoming a spoon-fed nation.

May is “officially” Military Appreciation Month, even though I thought it was every month and every day of the year. At least in May – the military is in the spotlight. We have several stories in this issue that highlight the military as we do every week. We appreciate and support the troops, past and present.

During the past week-to-10 days, House and Senate negotiators have worked on scores of details — big and small — in the $74 billion state budget for the fiscal year starting  July 1.

When USA Today did its city-by-city rollout in 1982, Atlanta was second on the list, and Al Neuharth jetted in for a big news conference.

Santa Rosa Medical Center Fun Fest weekend starts tomorrow, Friday, April 26.  You will see a full schedule of events in the middle of this section. There will be arts and crafts vendors, a children’s area with lot of inflatables and a lot of entertainer including Robert Wayne and Erik Paslay. Navarre Press will have a booth there the entire weekend so if you want to see us, please stop by and if you don’t want to see us, we will always be happy to see you.

My interest in hunting the quirky-moving, nervous-acting, but beautifully colored wild turkey was piqued about 12 years ago by an old high school friend and band mate, Todd Bevis.