Opinion Archive

Hey dad, if heaven had a newspaper subscription, I would ask God to pass this column along to you.

It’s been nearly two weeks since that heartbreaking Sunday morning I found out you were gone. Mom called just before 6 a.m. to let me know. I wasn’t ready for the kind of news that has changed my world forever.

Maybe I missed it, but I don’t remember hearing anyone talk about how well their brackets did for the NCAA women’s basketball tournament.

I also don’t ever remember a lot of talk about women’s college swimming this year, at least not until Lia Thomas came along and created controversy with her participation in an NCAA championship meet last month.

There’s a ticket stub attached to the inside of one of my binders that holds basketball cards from an era a long time ago.

We won’t get into just how long ago, except to say that every time I take a look at those cards, I swear I still smell the bubble gum that came with each pack of cards I bought.

A re-occurring theme in Navarre or Santa Rosa County for that matter is the number two. If one is good, then two is better.

We usually end up with two of something when within an organization there is a disgruntled faction and instead of working together to solve a problem, the disgruntled take their toys and create their own sandbox to play in.

The site work for Slim Chicken’s location next to the Navarre Post Office is moving quickly.

And, according to one of our avid readers, Mike Sandler, there are survey stakes where the proposed apartment complex is possibly going east of St. Augustine’s Church.

My wife and I woke this morning to a backyard surprise, a 2-foot hole in our back fence and a 3-foot hole in our side fence.

It seems that one of our local black bears decided that going through our fences was easier than going over them.

I had a conversation with a recovering newspaper publisher this past week who was in the newspaper, business journal business for more than 30 years.

He found me because he visited the Navarre Beach Area Chamber and Chanda Ryan, the executive director, told him he should talk to me. We talked for a little bit on the phone but then I invited him to lunch at Panera.

Monday the Santa Rosa County commissioners agreed to a commitment which would put 545 acres of property in east Navarre in conservation status in perpetuity.

This is something everyone can agree on – more green space, more stormwater drainage space, less concrete and a board doing what is absolutely best for Navarre.

As most of you already know, perhaps from a previous column on the topic, the FHSAA made some changes last month to the way football teams are classified.

We now have a metro/suburban split, and while not everyone is for it, in this corner of the state of Florida, it makes a lot of sense.

These days, in addition to being a pastor, I am a chauffeur.

Each work-day morning, I drive my wife to her job in Gulf Breeze – a distance of 18 miles – and each afternoon, I go pick her up.