Do you know the easiest way to tell when you are getting oh so close to the truth? When the company you are making nervous files an injunction against you to attempt to silence the truth. It happened last week. Holley-Navarre Water System filed an injunction against Navarre Press and Sandi Kemp to prevent us from talking about certain things.
Numerous articles in Navarre Press over the past year and few months have highlighted the pains endured and discord with the Board of County Commissioners that continues to plague the all-volunteer advisory Tourist Development Council. The Legislature-mandated council is made up of tourism stake-holders as required by Florida Statute 125.0104. While the statute allows for a minimum of quarterly meetings by the council, the Santa Rosa Tourist Development Council has met monthly in the past. But recently the TDC and Board of County Commissioners have been at odds. Even in June 2015, Commissioner Rob Williamson wanted to revisit the ordinance that established the TDC, making some members wonder if he were trying to redefine their roles.
Executive Director of Holley-Navarre Water Systems, Billy Sublett has resigned his position with the member-owned company saying in part in an email to Navarre Press, “My work here is completed.”
Santa Rosa County commissioners are trying to sell the public on tax increases for the courthouse hoping for a low turnout in August (their words, not mine). This meaning Milton voters say “yes” to a building in a flood zone (presumably on pontoons) and voters in the southern part of the county will stay home. The May 26, 2016 issue of Navarre Press said 65 percent of voters in 2014 said “No” to that site. Suddenly, the cost has dropped from $50 million to $35 million. Don’t worry ‘cost overruns’ will get it to $50 million.
This Saturday is the graduation of the class of 2016 and Navarre Press is officially 16. We just pulled out our first issue and it is two sections for a total of 16 pages and includes a large picture of the Navarre High School Class of 2000.
The Navarre Beach Area Chamber of Commerce and Navarre Press are again co-hosting the popular Thursdays in the Park Free Summer Concert Series. The series will showcase a variety of local musicians on stage with the Navarre Sound and sunset as a backdrop. Spectators are encouraged to bring their beach blankets and lawn chairs for a night of free family entertainment. Each week, concertgoers are encouraged to come hungry and purchase concessions provided by some of our Navarre Chamber member restaurants.
Surprise, Surprise! According to the 4-7-2016 issue of the NAVARRE PRESS (thank you), members of the water system are being hit with a 17.5% rate increase.
We made a few small changes to this week’s issue but next week – there will be an even more noticeable difference. One difference will be where you will find this page. We are going to move this page to the back of the A section for several reasons one of which is because we are going to have two pages of editorial content. We have had a small debate at the office about our section that starts out with the word “Community.” All of Navarre Press is about our community or news that affects our community, so why have a page that says “Community?” We are still mulling that over. We will be moving a few other pages around and we are going to have a regular “History” page. The page may appear every other week – or every week. Today’s news is tomorrow’s history. However, we have found a source for local history that is a-w-e-s-o-m-e.
A Milton woman was described as being in a coma and unresponsive at a local hospital early Friday morning following an attack by her former boyfriend. At press time, Navarre Press was unable to update her current condition.
