Written by Sandi Kemp on . Posted in Opinion, Out and About.
This Sunday is Mother’s Day and a subscription to Navarre Press would be a perfect gift. Call 939-8040 and April will be happy to set up your gift subscription. You could also take her to Windjammers on the Pier for brunch from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and treat her to awesome food and live music. Bella Luna Italian Bistro is taking reservations for Mother’s Day as well. They open at noon on Sunday. Call 396-5090 for reservations.
Written by Sandi Kemp on . Posted in Fall Sports Guide, Opinion, Out and About.
Our core values at Navarre Press include, “The truth is our currency.” We deal in the truth, and that is a huge responsibility that we do not take lightly. Our entire business model is built on the truth. And, it can be a dangerous business because there are people that do not like their truth. Sometimes, I don’t like mine and I don’t get angry about it, I just resolve in myself that I’m going to do what it takes to change. That is what makes life interesting. We are constantly changing. Last week we had two problems with two different ads that were brought to my attention before the paper ever hit the streets. My first thought was that I was so embarrassed, my second was, maybe they won’t notice, and then my third was, of course they are going to notice because we are a newspaper and it is our business to make people notice – that is why we sell ads in the first place – duh. I’m normal. I have all the normal flight or fight reactions to bad situations. I called the decisionmakers for both and told them what our mistake was, and then I told them how we were going to make it up to them. I also put the systems in place where we could minimize the probability of the mistakes ever happening again. Both of them were very gracious and were very happy with the proposed plan to make it up to them. But, it could have gone very differently, and I was prepared for that too. Stuff happens, and it happens here too. There are a lot of moving parts to putting this paper together each weeks and mistakes happen. I want to be the one to bring the mistakes up – before they are casually found by others. But, if you find a mistake – please let us know. I’ll immediately want to turn back time so that it will have never happened, but quickly, I’ll deal with the reality at hand.
Written by Sandi Kemp on . Posted in Opinion, Out and About.
Congratulations to Navarre High School’s boys weightlifting team. They are Regional Champions! You can read about it in the sports section and you can also watch the videos of their lifts on Navarre Press Sports Facebook page (and Navarre Press Facebook page, too).
Written by Staff Reporters on . Posted in Editorial, Opinion.
In the past week, Navarre Press has reunited lost pets with their owners/families. First, a beautiful cat graced our porch looking for some reassurance that his story would have a happy ending. And it did. This cat (we now know his name is Mittens) did all the right things after he went missing. He got our attention, lathered us in cuddles and love and made us want to take care of him while we looked for his owners. He was fed and coddled and he endeared himself to us. No way could we let this guy go wandering around when his demeaner told us he belonged to someone somewhere.
Written by Staff Reporters on . Posted in Letters to the Editor, Opinion.
We are blessed with two excellent weekly newspapers in Santa Rosa County: Gulf Breeze News and Navarre Press. Each keeps the readers informed of local news. It turns out that Letters to the Editor (LTE) are the most widely read section of any newspaper after the front page. I can tell you how best to write a “letter to the editor” but I must tell you that my success of getting them published is not good. All LTE’s are published at the discretion of the paper’s editors.
Written by Sandi Kemp on . Posted in Opinion, Out and About.
If you are not an All Access member to Navarre Press – you are missing the boat – well really, you are missing some pretty amazing concerts and plays, hockey games and any other events we have tickets to. Right now, our All Access subscribers are enjoying tickets to Pensacola Little Theater’s Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat starting Jan. 26 or Sinfonia Gulf Coast’s next performance of Sybarite5 Jan. 26. Hard decision to make but either one will no doubt make for a great evening. Visit SinfoniaGulfCoast.org for more details on the show. Our All Access subscribers can also get tickets to the Pensacola Ice Flyers. Call Navarre Press at 939-8040 to start your subscription. Even if you are in the middle of a basic subscription now, we will extend your subscription for a year and start your All-Access benefits today!
Written by Sandi Kemp on . Posted in Opinion, Out and About.
I covered Trump’s visit Friday. I was in the media section – which I later regretted. My husband was in general seating and he had great seats and was in a better position than I was to get great photos. However, I had my super-duper long lens – and a ladder. I only had a ladder because another photographer brought two ladders and he could only be on one at a time. Therefore, I was the guardian of the ladder he wasn’t on. The atmosphere was electric and positive. There were some protestors outside – but not very many. We had someone call our office on Friday and invite us to go protest with them. For the record, media doesn’t protest – or shouldn’t protest – though they do it all the time – in their own pages. But, that is another topic. The civic center was full rafters to floor. There were even rows of people two deep in front of the media pit – where they weren’t supposed to be. Thankfully – I had the aforementioned ladders. Every time Trump mentioned fake news or the lying media, some in the crowd in front of us would turn around and sneer and snicker – a little. They were trying to be as polite as possible while sneering – but I felt like I was in a cage at a Zoo and we were the attraction. However, they quickly forgot about us – in between jabs from Trump. Of course, I knew he wasn’t talking about Navarre Press. I even had someone tell me later that every time they heard Trump call out the fake news media he thought – “except Navarre Press.” He must have been reading my mind – because that is what I was thinking. When I was with Matt Gaetz on Open Gaetz Day in Navarre even Gaetz told me that he has never had an instance when Navarre Press has misrepresented him. And, for good reason, we don’t. We aren’t perfect and don’t pretend to be. We own up to our mistakes and fix them. But we don’t take news out of the paper because it is derogatory to our friends and we don’t put slants on stories. There isn’t anyone that we would go out of our way to compromise our core values or our mission for. There just isn’t – because there is no one worth compromising ourselves for. And, there is a lot of salacious “news” we know that we don’t print because it really isn’t news.
Written by Staff Reporters on . Posted in News.
In September, the Santa Rosa Board of County Commissioners approved roughly $80,000-$150,000 to pay consulting firm Matrix Design Group to create a District 4 Master Plan for the Navarre, Holley and Navarre Beach area. As development of that plan gets underway, the Navarre Press is taking a look at planning the future of Navarre.
Written by Sandi Kemp on . Posted in Opinion, Out and About.
A timeline of historical milestones in Navarre as provided by the Navarre Beach Area Chamber of Commerce can be found in this issue thanks to the scrapbooks of Shirley Brown. If you have read Navarre Press for any amount of time, or have lived in Navarre for the past 10 years or more – you know of the tireless efforts of Charlie and Shirley Brown as they were part of the glue that pulled this community together. And, you will see signs on the side of Hwy. 98 aptly dedicating a portion of the highway in memory of their service to our community. Of note, is that the Navarre Beach Area Chamber broke ground on the Navarre Community Center – the same community center that was later sold to the Navarre Beach Area Board of Realtors. The money for that sale was to be set aside for a new community center, but, I believe it was earmarked to go toward our multimillion-dollar park renovation where the chamber currently is located within the county building.
Written by Staff Reporters on . Posted in News.
In September, the Santa Rosa Board of County Commissioners approved paying $80,000-$150,000 to consulting firm Matrix Design Group to create a District 4 Master Plan for the Navarre, Holley and Navarre Beach area. As development of that plan gets underway, the Navarre Press is taking a look at planning the future of Navarre.
