The new year is off to a bad start for some area restaurants.

Three local restaurants, Hunan in Crestview, the Grand Buffet in Pace and the Waffle House in Milton, were each issued emergency closure notices last week after failing their random health inspections by the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation.

All three restaurants were shut down for cockroach activity, among other issues.

Hunan, located at 3375 S. Ferdon Boulevard in Crestview, was the first to be shut down on Jan. 6.

Read more from the Northwest Florida Daily News>>

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Crestview restaurant issued second emergency closure notice

CRESTVIEW — Two Aultman Plaza shopping center units across Ferdon Boulevard South from the Southside Center school received damage around 5 a.m. Jan. 4 in an attempted robbery.

Burglars broke a window to enter the former Forever Kids shop, and apparently tried to smash their way through an adjoining wall into the adjacent Fast Payday Loans, according to Crestview police.

The break-in triggered a silent alarm, summoning police. Suspects reportedly escaped before officers arrived, leaving insulation and sheetrock from the vandalism scattered around the currently unoccupied unit.

Though the wall was breached, causing damage in the loan office's wainscoting behind a freestanding ATM, Crestview Police Department spokesman Cmdr. Andrew Schneider said nothing was taken.

Schneider said the incident is under investigation, but police believe the culprits were trying to circumvent alarms and cameras in the payday office, “which they wouldn’t have,” Schneider said.

“But a criminal’s mind can never be explained rationally,” he added.

Tuesday morning, repair crews replaced the broken window in the former toy store and patched a hole on the payday loan office side of the adjoining wall. 

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: No payday for Crestview burglars

WASHINGTON — Huisken Meat Company, a Sauk Rapids, Minn. establishment, is recalling approximately 89,568 pounds of beef products that may be contaminated with extraneous wood materials, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service announced today.

The Sam’s Choice Black Angus Vidalia Onion items were produced on various dates between Nov. 19, 2015, and Dec. 9, 2015.

The following products are subject to recall:

2-lb. boxes containing 6 pieces of “Sam’s Choice Black Angus Beef Patties with 19% Vidalia Onion.” With Use By dates 05/17/2016; 05/29/2016; and 06/06/2016.

The products subject to recall bear establishment number “EST. 394A” inside the USDA mark of inspection. These items were shipped to retail locations nationwide.

The foreign material originated with an incoming ingredient and was discovered during production.

There have been no confirmed reports of adverse reactions due to consumption of these products. Anyone concerned about an injury or illness should contact a healthcare provider. 

Consumers who have purchased these products are urged not to consume them. These products should be thrown away or returned to the place of purchase.

FSIS routinely conducts recall effectiveness checks to verify recalling firms notify their customers of the recall and that steps are taken to make certain that the product is no longer available to consumers. 

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Beef products recalled due to possible foreign matter contamination

CRESTVIEW — A  number of local residents are concerned about a Chinese restaurant's shutdown after failing a random inspection.

The Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation issued an emergency closure to Hunan — 3375 S. Ferdon Blvd. — Dec. 22 for 25 violations, according to the department's inspection reports.

An inspector found 15 live cockroaches inside the kitchen area, with 10 live roaches on egg cartons. Six dead cockroaches also were present. Other violations included employees touching ready-to-eat food with bare hands, using pesticide labeled only for use in residential homes and not properly separating raw meats from ready-to-eat vegetables.

Hunan reopened, with approval, Dec. 23 and passed its follow-up inspection, but still had 15 violations. The department's inspector found a dying cockroach on the kitchen floor. Additional dead cockroaches also were present; they were discarded and the area around where they were found was cleaned while the inspector was there, according to the report.

The News Bulletin's Facebook fans expressed concerns about the incident.

"When will these business owners wake up?" Kristin Irons  said. "Too many of these places keep getting shut down due to major violations.

"Step up your game Crestview."

"How were they able to reopen with dying cockroaches and 15 citations?" Kat Welty said.

One resident took it all in stride.

"As long as they don't shut down Taco Town, I'm good!"

Shaangeliah Smith said. 

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Restaurant's closure concerns Crestview residents

CRESTVIEW — John Blair didn’t set out to work for the post office, let alone become a postmaster.

That was just one of life’s twists.

“I went to college to be a high school teacher and basketball coach. That was my goal,” said Blair. “After college, in the summer I was home sitting around on the couch scrolling TV channels.

“After a couple weeks  of that, my dad came home one day and said, ‘That’s enough of that, you need to get a job.’ He said, ‘The post office is testing and you’re going to go down and take the test.’”

Blair did, and soon received a call.

“They were offering more money than any teaching job,” Blair said. “I thought I’d work a few years until I found the right teaching job. Thirty years later, and I’m still here.”

Blair, born in Pensacola, began his postal career as a letter carrier in Bremerton, Washington.

Working his way up, in 1998 he became a postmaster in the Spokane, Washington, postal district. But he often returned to Northwest Florida to vacation.

When the Crestview postmaster’s position opened nine years ago, “I asked my wife and said, ‘What do you think?’” Blair said. “She said, ‘Sure, let’s give it a whirl,’ so I applied for the job and got hired here.”

This week, Blair announced his early departure from the Crestview Post Office, from which he’s been on a medical leave for several months, and that will be quite a change.

“I never missed a day in 30 years,” he said.

By his Sept. 13 retirement, Blair will have been Crestview’s postmaster for almost 10 years.

While Blair exhausts several months of accumulated leave, Shalimar Postmaster Mike Stanford will supervise Crestview’s post office.

Both postal colleagues and customers said they will miss him.

“Mr. Blair taught me a lot,” Crestview Post Office customer service supervisor Ramona Hunter said. “Oh yes, he will most definitely be missed.”

“He’s a pretty colorful character. He does a very good job and we will miss him,” customer Jim Moore said. “We wish him the best in his retirement.”

Though enjoying “being a househusband” and remaining active in the Rotary International, Blair said he will miss his staff in the Commerce Boulevard post office.

“It’s an awesome group to work with,” he said.

“He is well respected not just by the people who work for him, but also the people who used to work for him and the people who are above him,” window clerk Shelton Sumrall said.

“One of John’s biggest beliefs was in customer service,” Hunter said, adding Blair was her mentor. “His philosophy was, ‘Get to know your community.’ That was good advice he gave me.”

“He is an excellent leader,” Sumrall said. “He is very strict about making sure everything is done to postal regulations.”

“He led me but he allowed me to learn,” Hunter said. “He taught me how to grow and learn from my mistakes. That’s one of the biggest things I like about him.”

“He’s going to be sorely missed,” Sumrall said.

Retiring Crestview Postmaster John Blair leaves with many fond memories of the “awesome group” of postal workers he’s called colleagues for nine years.

The Christmas mailing season is an annual opportunity to put them to the test, he said.

“I don’t think people realize this, but the Crestview post office averages roughly about 120,000 pieces of mail a day that goes through it, between in and out," Blair said.

“It’s three times that during the month of December, but these guys still get it done. It’s not unusual for a carrier to handle five times the amount of packages that they normally get.”

CRESTVIEW'S 'AMAZING' POSTAL TEAM

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Crestview postmaster retiring after 30-year career (VIDEO)

DeFUNIAK SPRINGS — Choctawhatchee Electrical Cooperative will reduce members’ bills this month by about $340,000, bringing almost $700,000 in total savings to members in November and December.

CHELCO cites these reasons for margins — funds remaining after all expenses are paid at the end of the year for 2015 — being higher than budgeted:

●The company reduced controllable costs below budget.

●CHELCO avoided some wholesale power costs through its Beat the Peak programs. Members contributed to this effort by conserving power at times of peak demand.

●PowerSouth, CHELCO’s wholesale power supplier, refunded higher-than-projected excess margins. 

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: CHELCO reduces member bills in December

CRESTVIEW — The Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office is investigating a Friday morning break-in at a Crestview area gun shop.

The OCSO responded around 6:12 a.m. to an alarm at 5155 S. Ferdon Blvd.

A back door was open, and a glass display case had been shattered.

The business owner says some pistols and rifles were missing.

A complete inventory is being conducted.

Anyone with information on the burglary is asked to contact the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office at 850-689-5705 or Emerald Coast Crime Stoppers at 850-863-TIPS, emeraldcoastcrimestoppers.com, or by texting “TIP214 plus your message” to CRIMES (274637). 

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Okaloosa lawmen investigating Crestview gun shop break-in

CRESTVIEW — Don’t tell him, but the News Bulletin knows what Joseph Rosali’s getting for Christmas.

His mom, Angela Frame, shopping first thing Black Friday morning, snagged him a cellphone.

With many national retailers moving former Black Friday bargains ahead to Thanksgiving day, the once traditional first morning of Christmas shopping was peaceful in Crestview.

That suited shoppers like Nancy Vance just fine. Though she was in the Crestview Wal-Mart by 4:30 p.m. Thanksgiving evening, when 6 p.m. sales went into effect, she left.

“At 5:59, the mayhem started,” she said. “The young girls and ladies were being pushed over by the young men and boys pushing to get to the video games.”

ALTERCATIONS

Crestview Police Department spokesman Cmdr. Andrew Schneider said though no police reports were filed Thursday evening, with stores having limited inventories suddenly going on sale for tremendously reduced prices, some altercations are bound to occur.

“We always have it around Black Friday,” Schneider said. “Every single year they have had those sales, they have had an altercation of some sort.”

Schneider said shoppers generally gird themselves for the inevitable fracas.

“Most of the time people seem to expect they’re going to be in the middle of it,” Schneider said. “It’s survival of the fittest sometimes.”

Vance returned Friday morning to a largely empty parking lot and get a cellphone for a gift recipient.

“There were two left," she said, holding one up triumphantly as she headed for her car.

$10K IN 3 HOURS

Farther north on State Road 85, Big Lots manager Jayme Rivaldo said her store opened at 7 a.m. Thanksgiving day, during which the furniture department alone did about $10,000 in sales before 10 a.m.

“We had people waiting at our doors when we opened,” Rivaldo said. “We’re expecting a good season.”

For shopper Peter Brill, who carried a coffeemaker from Big Lots to his car Friday morning, fighting Thanksgiving day crowds had no appeal.

“There’s something called Amazon.com,” he said. “I can shop from my couch, and for other stuff like this, I can stop in here on my way to work.”

Besides, he said, Thanksgiving day offered much more important diversions than battling crowds.

“My Bears were whupping some butt,” Brill said of the Chicago 17-13 football victory over Green Bay. “And I had leftovers to eat.”

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Black Friday moves to Thanksgiving Day in Crestview; Friday morning is calm

CRESTVIEW — The South Ferdon Boulevard Waffle House will be closed approximately one month for repairs following a weekend wreck, according to Kelly Thrasher-Bruner, the all-night eatery's corporate communications representative.

A 44-year-old female driver crashed a vehicle into the building, a Crestview Police spokesman said.

Lt. Andrew Schneider said the motorist was “coming up from the Mullet Festival (in Niceville) and she wanted to make Waffle House a drive-through.”

The accident caused more than $10,000 in damage to the restaurant, Schneider said.

“She basically just accelerated into the parking lot and went up over the curb and into the building,” Schneider said. “We believe that alcohol was a factor in the incident.”

Schneider said an arrest is pending while police await results of a blood test to determine if the driver was drunk.

The driver’s name is being withheld until test results are received, he said, and will be released if she is booked with DUI.

—

Editor's Note: The article has been revised to state the wreck occurred over the weekend. 

We've received conflicting information about the estimated time and day the incident occurred.

It's better to use no time and day at all than be incorrect. We expect more information on this story, and for more details to arrive, particularly if charges are filed.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Waffle House temporarily closes after Crestview traffic accident