Check out the front page of this week’s Navarre Press and it shouldn’t take long for you to spot the double whammy for south Santa Rosa. First, we learned that Santa Rosa County in 2007 had an opportunity to gain $3 million in grant funds for stormwater mitigation for Holley By The Sea, but passed. Plus, we’ve also just learned that while other nearby counties are raking in grant funds for beach renourishment, Santa Rosa County, with its beautiful Navarre Beach, is getting none.
This weekend Friday afternoon – Saturday evening is Fun Fest in the main parking lot of Navarre Beach. There is a lot of information in this issue about the line-up of artists that will be taking the stage. There are 44 arts and crafts booths and 19 commercial type booths along with a great children’s area and food vendors. There is a map inside of “Who is Where.” There is a 5k run Saturday morning (for those of you that wanted to go to Boston) and the event will end with fireworks Saturday evening. Navarre Press will be there and ready, willing and able to take your subscription renewal. We usually come up with some kind of value added prize for subscribers that renew. Just so our subscribers know – we do not give a better deal to people that are new subscribers. We want to reward our loyal subscribers. Our subscribers have access to everything our new subscribers get – if not more. A lot of our subscribers are locked it at the rate that they first subscribed at because they are on auto renew of their subscription. Please make sure you ask us about that when you are meandering through all of the booths at Fun Fest. I heard that there will be a lot of candidates at Fun Fest. This would be a good time to you to talk to them in person. Bring a list of questions with you. I’m sure they would love to answer any/all questions you have.
God controls the sun, moon and stars. He stopped the sun (Joshua), moved the star, stopped it over Bethlehem so seekers could find Yeshua, and made the sun go back 10 degrees (Hezekiah.) Like a billboard, God thrice warned of four blood moons, tetrad, in Jewish history.
The attorney representing the Navarre Beach Leaseholders and Residents Association’s (NBRLA) is filing a motion in the Supreme Court seeking clarification of its March 20 ruling. NBLRA President Linda Coley provided Navarre Press with a copy of a letter from attorney Danny Kepner addressed to the leaseholder’s Liaison Committee.
The Navarre Beach Area Chamber of Commerce and Navarre Press are reviving a popular workshop series called “Jump Start Your Business.” It will be held Tuesday, March 18 at 11:30 a.m. at the chamber. The ad in this week’s paper has all the great information you need to RSVP. The Marine Sanctuary, The Sea Turtle Conservation Center, The Marine Science Station, The Butterfly House and the Navarre Chamber Foundation are all groups of volunteers that make ecological tourism happen in and around Navarre. They fund and facilitate children’s camps, artificial reefs, educational programs and fundraising for many nonprofits including their own. If you have read other news accounts, you would think that our ecotourism theme just happened by accident, but that is not the case. It has been the vision of many leaders including Brenda Stokes of Holley Hill Pottery fame. She isn’t as active with all of the groups but her vision and leadership has been carried with us. The artificial reefs are growing faster than our neighbor’s reefs and have been the theme of many articles in Navarre Press. If you have an “All Access” subscription – you can go back and read about how all of our ecotourism came into being. We have beautiful beaches and beautiful sunrises and sunsets and it draws people of all walks of life to our area. Please help our tourists and locals alike remember that it is bad form to leave cans, plastic bottles and trash on the beach when they are heading back to their cars. I had pictures sent to me Tuesday of a terrible disgrace of trash left on the beach from Monday. If you think it is none of your business that someone else left trash – you are wrong. If you come across it, please pick it up. There is a Great American Cleanup next month – but we shouldn’t need a date on the calendar to clean up after ourselves or remind others to do the same.
Sharon Triplett from the University of West Florida Small Business Development Center will present “Growing Wealth in Your Business” at 11:30 a.m., March 18 at the Navarre Beach Area Chamber of Commerce, 8543 Navarre Parkway. It is part of the “Jump Start Your Business Workshop Series” sponsored by the chamber and Navarre Press.
I was troubled when an initial search did not show Sharon Aydelott, a teacher at Holley-Navarre Middle School, as ever being on the pages of Navarre Press. However, when I read that she was teacher of the year for her school in 2005, I knew there must be a glitch. Sure enough, we interviewed Sharon after she won the honor in December 2005. We reprinted the article this week on our education page in honor of her. We received the press release on Christmas Eve about a murder and posted it immediately to our Facebook page. Then news started leaking that it was Sharon who was killed even before we even received the official press release, my heart sank along with everyone else. The story has appeared all over the world in gruesome detail. We elected not to publish all the details on our website because we knew that this was a time to mourn the loss of Sharon and to celebrate her life and contribution to our community and it was not necessary to detail the manner of her death. The minimal details were enough at the time. There will be a trial and if not a trial, there will be sentencing and the details will be detailed at that time.
There are significant differences in the current pier management contract and the new agreement, which goes into effect Jan. 1. Most notable are tighter financial controls and security measures, including pre-employment background screening in the aftermath of a Navarre Press investigation which prompted the firing of a registered sex offender who was hired to work at the pier.
We have a new Navarre Press Pass Discount. Sail Inn is offering a free cup of soup when you buy a whole sandwich or sub and a beverage. They have the best soups ever. I had one the other day that was squash, chicken and kale. Yummy! Sail Inn is under new ownership since October and Chuck has made some very subtle, but essential, changes to the menu and quality of the food. For example, all of the meats and cheeses are Boars Head. And they have a killer Saturday Breakfast.
One of our long-time advertisers, Pet Nation, is celebrating its 10th anniversary on Saturday! Bring your dog to the store on Saturday at 3 p.m. for a costume contest with prizes! Pet Nation’s ad in this week’s issue gives more information. We know part of their success is advertising in Navarre Press, and we also know that Holly and Abdul put a lot of time, energy, effort and love into the store and the Navarre community. They have obviously discovered the key to staying in business – and keeping so many loyal customers.
