Opinion Archive

The seasonally cooler weather has had a silencing effect on the nighttime chorus of insects, amphibians and most other animals. The frogs and cicadas are taking shelter in anticipation of the warmer months to come.

Common among the native nocturnal animals is the opossum (Didelphis virginiana). This resourceful scavenger is found in forested areas, fields and pastures, and even places with a high density of humans.

I am like a kid when it comes to Christmas. On our first Christmas together, I excitedly asked my wife the night before,

“When do you want to open gifts?” She answered, “Tomorrow morning is fine.” What an adult!

You can drive your self crazy seeking redemption. Emily Madril never got to that point. And now she’s a national champion.

Let it be known that the former Navarre soccer standout wanted redemption more than anything else in the world after the way last season ended. Florida State’s women’s soccer team lost in a penalty kick shootout to Santa Clara. Madril missed one of those kicks.

When Bob Dole died this past week, it reminded me of the Emerald Coast Honor Flights. They were the brainchild of a local panhandle physician assistant and our then U.S. Congressman, Jeff Miller, R-Chu­muckla.

The first Honor Flight took place in May 2005 and flew 103 local veterans to the newly opened and dedicated National WWII Memorial in Washington, D.C.

When I was a child, there was still such a thing as penny candy. It was taking its dying breaths, but it lived long enough for me to buy some.

People worry about inflation now, and rightfully so, but that transition into nickel candy was a painful economics lesson for a young child. Overnight, it seemed, a penny didn’t buy anything at all.

A parent reached out the other day to ask me where she could find photos of past sporting events.

She’s in the process of putting together a scrapbook for her daughter, a senior athlete at Navarre this season. It didn’t take long to give her an answer.

“For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain,” the Apostle Paul wrote in a letter from a prison. He was not disillusioned and looking to end it all. “If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me.

Yet which I should choose, I cannot tell. I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better.”

Last summer our Preserve Navarre nonprofit launched an online survey at www.YourNavarre.com. The goal of this survey was to determine if Navarre residents desire to become their own city with home rule.

To date the results have given us a resounding yes. Our latest reports continue to show 66% of the respondents (3,141) support the idea.

Nine wins. A No. 2 national ranking. A share of the Gulf South Conference championship. A playoff game at home as the road to a repeat began for the University of West Florida football team.

Those are all great accolades and accomplishments, but sometimes in sports, what shows up on paper doesn’t matter once you take the field.