Someone once said that our local-elected officials have more power over the quality of our lives than the president of the United States. So true. Your vote will determine the future of Navarre – and this county for years to come. In the ring are Commissioner Dave Piech and Ray Eddington. Am I happy about […]

Special to Navarre Press Oysters are becoming sparse in the Panhandle. In addition to loss of reef habitat, thousands of acres of waters will be closed to shellfish harvesting by the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services because of high fecal coliform bacteria counts. Commercial fisherman Pasco Gibson said what used to be 150, 60-pound nets per harvest is down to barely a five-gallon bucket.

Special to Navarre Press The Florida Department of Agriculture and consumer Services’ planned closure of thousands of acres of area waters to shellfi sh harvesting is based on continuous high fecal bacterial counts. Ultimately, this will impact many businesses, recreational shellfish gatherers and many more.

While the Navarre community was deliberating  support for a hike in fire taxes for a Holley-Navarre Fire District strapped for personnel, Holley-Navarre Water System scrambles to keep pace with growing water and sewer needs, U.S. Highway 98’s excess of 5,000 cars and Navarre High School is bursting at the seams, an outside agency has determined South Santa Rosa County needs four low-income housing developments.

Just Monday U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) issued a Critical Alert to the nation as the illegal surge at our southern border deteriorates further. We are simply overwhelmed he informed the American people.

None of us can ever forget where we were on that fateful day, the indelible images burned in our minds. Sept. 11, 2016 is the 15th anniversary of 9/11, the most cataclysmic terrorist attack on American soil, resulting in the loss of 2,996 lives, and injuring more than 6,000 others.

The 22 veteran suicides per day epidemic is more realistically 25 says Fort Walton Beach physician Dr. Eddie Zant Jr., who treats many TBI-injured soldiers with hyperbaric oxygen therapy to help heal their concussed brains. Despite studies showing the efficacy of this treatment, the Department of Veterans Affairs  does not use HBOT therapy.  On Oct. 5, 2012, VA cut its coverage of service dogs assigned to people with mental disabilities such as PTSD, according to the Federal Register.