Navarre Press is certain the outcome of the primary election, including the win by District 4 commissioner-elect Dave Piech is what is best for Navarre and Santa Rosa County. Piech used a saying in his campaign, “No vote, no voice,” and residents responded in big numbers (well, bigger than years past).
The Navarre Beach Area Chamber of Commerce’s Precinct 34 Project was a great success in getting out the vote – Precinct 34 (Holley by the Sea) led the way in the primary and it spilled over into other precincts in Navarre.
Piech’s win was big as well winning 38 of 41 precincts and the precincts Piech did not win (Jay, Red Rock and Fidelis) he lost by less than 10 votes. Navarre Beach voted for Piech with 83.5 percent and Holley by the Sea gave Piech 76.45 percent of their vote. It continued like that across the precincts. In the 38 precincts that Piech won, he won with more than 51 percent of the votes.
We sincerely hope our community can continue the healing process from the vitriol spewed during the campaign. Navarre Press wants the best for our community and we know there continues to be divisive factions at work. The publication down the road that calls itself a “newspaper” was conceived out of spite by a former very part-time erratic employee of Navarre Press. She continues to spew hate and venom in print and online. How does that promote the healing she is now speaking in favor of? Her cohort and her business partner’s husband Brian Duncan had NP Fake News signs printed and distributed across Navarre the weeks leading up to the election. Duncan’s business also supplies the salvage cars for the local fire departments to use in training. And Monday he told Navarre Beach Fire Department he would not supply them the cars for needed training if Navarre Press was invited to cover the training. He was willing to sacrifice their life-saving training to keep us away. In the end, he saw the light and changed his mind after suitable cars were located to replace the ones that he had promised.
Duncan’s business partner, Will Goulet, is the chairman of the other chamber – also conceived out of spite against the Navarre Beach Area Chamber. Will’s brother T.J. is the president of the other chamber. He didn’t act or speak like an executive during the election because he doesn’t have the capacity whether it is an election year or not. Healing? What good can come of anything as hateful as the group that is all connected to the faction “chamber” and the faction “news source?” The nasty language used to reference the women leaders in our community tells us all we need to know about that entire group. It should speak volumes to everyone. As one of those very smart women leaders said, “What you permit, you promote.” And another, “silence is permission.” The origins of the quotes are unknown but the full quote of the first is, “What you permit, you promote. What you allow, you encourage. What you condone, you own.”
So, we ask – what are they promoting? Is it helpful to Navarre? What are they encouraging and what examples are they setting? Juvenile behavior partnered with very nasty language against women? Not the role models our children need. To see the problem, those that participate in this behavior are going to have to look in the mirror and see the ugly. They are going to have to own it. They are the only ones who can change it. We will not permit the ugly, we will not allow it, we will not condone it. We will call it what it is – hate.
Navarre Press is privileged to continue the job of factual reporting and bringing our readers interesting feature stories and original content. We will continue to promote the truth. We will always encourage differing opinions in a respectful way. And we will always own what we say and do. And we will own up to any mistakes we make.
We operate by these core values:
The truth is our currency.
Excellence is our ordinary.
We accept personal accountability.
We have passion for what we do.
We are not here for us – we are part of something much bigger.
There is no task beneath me.
Perhaps, they could use a lesson on these core values.