You may have read the following before or in the paper, but it needs to be repeated because there are still tickets available to the party of the century, the Navarre Centennial Ball. If you miss it, there won’t be another one for one hundred years. The Centennial Committee is selling the tickets on the sales platform, Eventbrite, and Eventbrite let us know this morning that 61% of ticket sales are usually done in the last two weeks before an event. That might work for a fishing rodeo, but not an event with a plated dinner. We have about 56 tickets left to sell, but truth be told, we could add a few more if needed. I’ve heard from a few people that they don’t want to dress up. I didn’t pick the dress code, but there are people that like to dress up and there are those that do not. Feel free to wear whatever you would feel comfortable in going to a wedding or church. You don’t have to own a ballgown, but if you want to wear a tux or ballgown, you will not be in the minority. I do know a few men who have told me they are going to wear a tux with flip flops.
I’m not sure what you think of the best-of-three series for high school baseball in Florida, but I liked it.
Apparently the FHSAA wasn’t as big of a fan as it as the series set-up will a look a little different in 2026.
The young man I give guitar lessons to each week in exchange for him mowing my grass has graduated from high school and, after a few summer vacation trips with family, will be heading off to college. That means – gasp! – I am back to mowing my own grass! That prospect sent me searching online sales sites where I found a used riding mower for sale locally.
I’m starting to feel “up there” in age – but only because of events and not because of how I feel. As we discovered a few weeks ago, I founded this newspaper 25 years ago. Since that time, I’ve seen a lot, and when I talk about “I remember when,” I sound like people that looked much older when I was younger and sat around a picnic table and recounted times past. I noticed that Patrick Moore is on our cover this week and I remember when he owned my favorite sandwich shop 30 years ago – named Dagwoods. The fact that I know who Dagwood Bumstead is dates me. He had the cartoons with his wife Blondie, and the central theme was that he liked sandwiches piled high – taller than his head. The wife’s character really caught on and she later had her own strip called, “Blondie.” I remember when (here I go again) Patrick had to change the name of his shop because of possible “copyright infringement.” He decided to rename his sandwich shop, All-American Heroes. I think he gave the creators of the cartoon an idea because shortly after the name change, I saw a franchise called Dagwoods, named for the comic strip. Apparently, the creators started licensing the name and I believe (I could be wrong) that they got the idea from Patrick. My favorite sandwich that Patrick made was the Cashew Chicken and I could only eat half of it. We wish Patrick well on his next adventure in California.
Military leaders in the Florida Panhandle are facing logistical challenges that directly impact their ability to maintain operational readiness. During the Military Bases Update hosted by the Santa Rosa County Economic Development Office last week, Air Force and Navy leadership shared insights into their missions and discussed areas where community partnerships could support their personnel and infrastructure.
The longer I’m in the sports writing business, the faster four years of high school seem to go by.
It seems like just last week the senior student-athletes in the Class of 2025 were starting out their high school sports careers.
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.
