Navarre voters overwhelmingly said “no” to Rob Williamson as District 4 County Commissioner in the August election. They used their votes to voice their displeasure with his representation, his decisions and his financial management of Navarre. Holley Navarre Water System has decided Williamson deserves a high-paying consolation prize with an offer to be their next CFO/CEO. Yes, sir – $100,000 per year for two years, platinum benefits as only the water company has and probably a company truck or SUV. In fact, they offered him the position without having a job description for the new position, qualifications or much else – probably because Williamson has zero qualifications for the job. He has no wastewater treatment experience, no water management experience, he has never directly managed a multi-million dollar budget nor the number of employees the water system has. What are they thinking. It is fairly obvious this has been their Plan B since he lost the election…or maybe before then.
Whenever my wife and I visit a restaurant for the first time, we ask our server the same question: what one dish on this menu would make us want to come back? The servers typically smile and cock their heads to the side as they ponder a question they have never considered. Their recommendations rarely fail to satisfy.
As you can tell by the content of this issue, we are celebrating the Navarre High School Graduating Class of 2025. The transition into adulthood can sometimes be daunting for parents and their children. It is a time of excitement, the culmination of years of hard work on behalf of the students, teachers and parents alike. There is a lot of pressure put on everyone to have it all figured out by the time the graduate crosses the stage, but it is my experience and opinion that that is a false narrative and can lead to a lot of disappointment. Even after college – or at anytime in life, there is no way to know what the rest of your life is going to look like. It is best to have some very basic foundational principles and beliefs and move forward being open to the path that life/God has in store for you. Personally, I turn to the Bible and test that against the proven experience of others.
This year Holley Navarre Water System (HNWS) celebrates its 55th anniversary as a company. Founded in 1970, the system has grown to currently serve over 17,000 members which is a population of more than 40,000 people. The Board of Directors and I thought this would be a good opportunity to update the community on what’s going on at your local water company. HNWS has not been without challenges over the years, as highlighted by a recent election dispute. However, the current board and staff remain focused on the core mission to efficiently provide its members with safe drinking water and to process wastewater in an efficient environmentally sustainable manner. We have a staff of nearly 70 professionals dedicated to this mission. HNWS operates its water and wastewater systems 24/7, providing an essential service often taken for granted.
Graduates, take a deep breath and soak in this moment. You’ve reached the culmination of years of effort, determination, and resilience. Today, as you stand on the cusp of your future, you are not just closing one chapter—you are stepping into a world filled with boundless possibilities, a world waiting for your imprint.
It’s the year 2000. I’m at Carter-Finley Stadium in Raleigh. Philip Rivers is the quarterback of the Wolfpack and there is no shortage of hype around him.
In the press box high above the stadium in a nationally televised game on ESPN, I’m putting together a running game story and just praying I get a phone line connected to my laptop in time to send before deadline that night.
Perhaps you’ve had the experience of seeing or hearing a bird fly into a picture window. Our home backs up to a woodlot and birds, seeing the woodlot’s reflection in the kitchen window, attempt to fly to it. Whenever that happens, regardless of the species, I mutter, “Crazy cardinal.”
When I first came to Navarre in June of 1993, I was pregnant with our daughter, Claire. John was in Albuquerque, New Mexico receiving training and I moved us from Fort Worth, Texas to Navarre.
I give the FHSAA credit for getting it right with the baseball postseason this year.
Going to the best-of-three format for the regional tournament was a great idea.
I used the Waze app on a recent road trip and was a good “Wazer,” reporting and confirming road hazards along the way. “Vehicle on shoulder ahead,” the digital assistant would announce, sounding to me like she was annoyed. Sometimes there was a vehicle and sometimes it was there no longer, and I would dutifully give a status update by selecting the appropriate button. It was on that road trip that I realized that I needed to have my eyes checked. Sometimes I reported that the vehicle was no longer there when in fact it was. I needed a “whoops, my bad” button.
