CRESTVIEW — There's no doubt about it, drones are fun!

It makes sense that kids would jump at the opportunity to fly one. But like many things, adults use drones to teach kids life skills. I like to say we sneak in the education while they are having fun.

Of course, kids will learn STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) while learning to fly a drone. That’s just intrinsic in the flying experience. Kids are wired for technology these days and we can use that to inspire a deep love of STEM. STEM is vital to our future as a society, and we have to do what we can to build up our new workforce.

Drones also can be used to develop life skills such as problem solving, creativity, and critical thinking. The future of drones in our lives is wide open. Allowing kids to experience drones and find unique ways to use them is critical to the growth of the drone industry. Creativity leads to innovation.

Teamwork is also an important skill that kids can learn while flying drones. It takes a team to fly successful missions, especially complicated missions. Drones also get kids moving physically and motivate them to get outside and explore the world around them.

Youth drone program

I’m so excited to offer a youth drone program starting in October. This program will be a part of the Hsu Educational Foundation’s Drone Team Challenge.

We will teach kids the skills necessary to compete in the Drone Team Challenge. We will have fun learning to fly drones, but we will also focus on developing those other very important skills!

The 4-H Drone Club will be open to youth ages 8-18. We will have an organizational meeting at 5:30 p.m. Oct. 7 at the Okaloosa County Extension Office, 3098 Airport Road, Crestview.

For more information, contact Jennifer Bearden at bearden@ufl.edu or 850-689-5850.

Jennifer Bearden is an agent at the University of Florida's Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences Extension office in Crestview.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: EXTENSION CONNECTION: New youth drones program begins in October

CRESTVIEW —While I realize that not everyone in Crestview is a Christian, most of the residents are kind, compassionate and caring people. We do have many believers in our town and this column is written to them.

When you meet someone, or someone shares a concern with you and you state that you will pray for them, do you? Do you follow up right then and pray with them, do you pray for them at home, or do you forget that you promised to pray for them and their specific needs?

My memory isn't as sharp as it was when I was in my 20s, so I now have white boards and an Excel spreadsheet for my prayer requests. I can easily add requests to the spreadsheet and date them when they are answered. One of the saddest things I can think of in this life is to promise to pray for someone and then never actually do it.

We need to be sensitive to the needs of others and offer kindness when we can. A smile, a kind word, and for those we may not see very often, a cheerful card mailed to them works wonders. It only costs a little over one dollar to buy and mail a card these days. One can find very nice cards at the Dollar General or Dollar Tree. Two cost a dollar and then a stamp is 55 cents. It takes some time and effort, but it is well worth it for the smile it will bring to someone's face.

In these days when it is difficult to visit others because of COVID-19, a sweet card or note is very welcome to those who can't get out much. My mother-in-law was also a sender of cards. She had a computer program and made cards on the computer and sent them. They were beautiful and it was very special to get a card from her.

Don't forget birthdays and holidays when sending cards. I send cards for Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter, and I think most people appreciate the thought and effort put into them. Get well and sympathy cards are also appreciated.

Let's fill our corner of the world with love, kindness and prayer for others. Have a wonderful week!

Janice Lynn Crose, a former accountant, lives in Crestview with her husband, Jim; her two rescue collies, Shane and Jasmine; and two cats, Kathryn and Prince Valiant.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: HAPPENINGS: Being kind and praying for others

CRESTVIEW — The years 2020 and 2021 have been interesting, to say the least. However, during this pandemic we have put technology to good use. We now have many meetings and services available by telephone or the internet.

Meetings are now regularly held by way of Zoom and connect people all over the world. Churches now broadcast their services online, by Zoom, Facebook, YouTube or other technologies.

I attended Bible study on Zoom last year and it saved me almost two hours of driving each Wednesday. I now am leading a Bible study on Zoom with ladies from as far away as the United Kingdom and in many different states here in the US. How fortunate we are to have this technology at our fingertips.

I realize children, teens and young adults are much better with technology than I am, and I find it interesting to see how much the world has progressed technologically.

Back in the late 1990s, when I worked for the school district in California, we had meetings by satellite. We would reserve the conference room, invite attendees to our school district and when it was time, we'd dial to the correct frequency and pray it would work correctly.

If it was a windy day or there were sunspots or rain, the conference was cut short due to technical difficulties. Now with Wi-Fi, we can have Zoom up and running and the outside elements don't affect it much. I remember many conferences being cut short because of difficulties.

Think of the many ways that technology makes our lives easier. With computers we can now bank online with services available from paying our bills, checking our balance and making account transfers. We can send instant emails to others around the world and even have the ability to chat with others instantaneously. This type of technology was not available to the general public in the 1980s and 1990s.

We have "smart" technology for our cell phones, our door bells and home security cameras, as well as "smart" watches that do almost anything our cell phones can do. You can set alarms, answer your cell phone, set up apps and more with a smart watch.

My paternal grandmother was born in 1896 and lived to be 99 years old. The changes she saw in her lifetime were phenomenal.

She saw electricity installed in most people's houses, indoor plumbing, heaters and electric stoves being used rather than wood stoves and ovens. There was also the telephone, which was installed in many homes, the rise of vehicles for the common household as well as air travel.

When she was born, her family's mode of transportation was by horse and buggy. In 1895 streetcars were introduced in Los Angeles, where she was born. Going from streetcars to rockets in one's lifetime is amazing.

We can now throw a load of laundry in our automatic washing machine, attend a Zoom meeting and after the meeting throw the clean clothes into the dryer. Years ago, it took an entire day to wash the laundry and hang it out to dry, then another day to iron it all. Now we have permanent press fabrics and clothes dryers that sense how dry the clothes are getting and turn themselves off so the clothes don't wrinkle.

We are truly living in an interesting era. Never have we had the amount of gadgets to help us with so many of our everyday tasks and never have we had our privacy so exposed to others.

Guard your privacy and your passwords and stay safe!

Janice Lynn Crose, a former accountant, lives in Crestview with her husband, Jim; her two rescue collies, Shane and Jasmine; and two cats, Kathryn and Prince Valiant.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: HAPPENINGS: How technology has changed our lives

Once again: You asked. The Crestview Public Library listened.

Need a library activity for your school-aged child? In addition to our evening Family Library Times, we are now offering a 4 p.m. Flash Craft for ages 3-11 if we have enough leftover crafts from Storytime. It will usually be on Mondays.

Watch our Facebook page or calendar to see them pop up. Preregistration is not required.

Crafts will be first come, first served. Adults, plan to stay in the Meeting Room to help your children who are ages 3-5. Plan to stay in the library if your children who are ages 6-11 and are comfortable completing their craft on their own.

If you are not able to make it to the Flash Craft, look for craft kits in front of the Story Room in the days that follow.

Please call 850-682-4432 with questions. The library is located at 1445 Commerce Driv, Crestview.

Heather Nitzel is the Youth Services Librarian at the Crestview Public Library.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: CHECK IT OUT: You asked, and librarians listened

Ruby is the mother of six and grandmother of 13. She is the embodiment of gentleness, patience, and love.

One Christmas, all the children and grandchildren were gathered as usual at Ruby’s home. Just the month before, Ruby had bought beautiful new white carpeting after living with the “same old carpet” for over 25 years. She was overjoyed with the new look it gave her home.

Ruby’s son, Arnie, had just distributed his gifts for all the nieces and nephews – prized homemade honey from his beehives. They were excited. But as fate would have it, 8-year-old Sheena spilled her tub of honey on Grandma’s new carpeting and trailed it throughout the entire downstairs of the house.

Crying, Sheena ran into the kitchen and into Grandma Ruby’s arms. “Grandma, I’ve spilled my honey all over your brand-new carpet.”

If this had happened to you, what would your reaction have been? Would you have been furious and caused a scene? Would you have berated Sheena for ruining the brand new carpet? Many people would.

But Grandma Ruby knelt down, looked tenderly into Sheena’s tearful eyes, and said, “Don’t worry sweetheart, we can get you more honey.”

What was Ruby’s first concern? To comfort Sheena. Ruby didn’t rant and rave about the carpet and the floor. In wisdom, she knew her granddaughter knew her terrible mistake. It was an accident. Sheena was very sorry for what happened. So why make a fuss over a carpet when so much more was at stake?

Ruby saw the emotional long-term effect her first response would have. And she wisely took the road of not making a fuss over the carpet, but rather assured her granddaughter that she was still loved way more than a piece of fabric.

Proverbs 15:1, “A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.”

A soft answer in the midst of chaos or unsettling times goes a long way toward bringing peace and comfort. Giving a soft answer shows a great deal of wisdom and a maturity in faith.

We are to ask God for his wisdom. The letter of James (1:6–7) says we are to ask for God’s wisdom in this way, “Ask in faith, never doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind; for the doubter, being double-minded and unstable in every way, must not expect to receive anything from the Lord.” You are to ask, knowing and believing God will give it to you.

Be sure to allow your responses to challenging or difficult situations to be guided by God’s wisdom, uttered with soft words.

The Rev. Mark Broadhead is pastor at Laurel Hill Presbyterian Church and First Presbyterian Church of Crestview.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: FROM THE PULPIT: A soft answer brings comfort, turns away wrath

The Northwest Florida area has been identified as having the highest concentration of invasive lionfish in the world. Lionfish pose a significant threat to our native wildlife and habitat with spearfishing the primary means of control. 

Lionfish tournaments are one way to increase harvest of these invaders and help keep populations down. Not only that, but lionfish are a delicious tasting fish and tournaments help supply the local seafood markets with this unique offering.

Since 2019, Destin has been the site of the Emerald Coast Open (ECO), the largest lionfish tournament in the world, hosted by Destin-Fort Walton Beach and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission (FWC). 

While the tournament was canceled in 2020 due to the pandemic, the 2021 tournament and the Lionfish Removal and Awareness Day festival returned to the Destin Harbor May 14-16 with over 145 tournament participants from around Florida, the U.S., and even Canada. 

The windy weekend facilitated some sporty conditions that kept boats and teams from maximizing their time on the water, but ultimately 2,505 lionfish were removed during the pre-tournament and 7,745 lionfish were removed during the two-day event for a total of 10,250 invasive lionfish removed.

Florida Sea Grant and FWC recruited over 50 volunteers from organizations such as Reef Environmental Education Foundation, Navarre Beach Marine Science Station and Tampa Bay Watch Discovery Center to man the tournament and surrounding festival.

Lionfish hunters competed for over $48,000 in cash prizes and $25,000 in gear prizes.

Florida Man, a Destin-based dive charter on the DreadKnot, won $10,000 for harvesting the Most Lionfish, 1,371, in two days. Team Bottom Time secured the Largest Lionfish prize of $5,000 with a 17.32 inch fish. Team Into the Clouds wrapped up the $5,000 prize for Smallest Lionfish with a 1.61 inch fish, the smallest lionfish caught in Emerald Coast Open History.

It is never too early to start preparing for the 2022 tournament. For more information, visit EmeraldCoastOpen.com or Facebook.com/EmeraldCoastOpen. For information about Lionfish Removal and Awareness Day, visit FWCReefRangers.com.

Laura Tiu is an agent at the University of Florida's Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences Extension office in Crestview.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: EXTENSION CONNECTION: Divers spearheading fight against invasive lionfish

CRESTVIEW — According to the American Cancer Society website, https://bit.ly/3BYu9Gh, "About 10,500 children in the United States under the age of 15 will be diagnosed with cancer in 2021. Childhood cancer rates have been rising slightly for the past few decades …  After accidents, cancer is the second leading cause of death in children ages 1 to 14. About 1,190 children under the age of 15 are expected to die from cancer in 2021."

These are sobering statistics. Childhood cancer is not talked about as much as other cancers, but it should be as it affects so many families.

There are resources available to childhood cancer patients, but there needs to be a great deal more research and awareness about this horrible disease.

One group that is raising money for childhood cancer research is Rally Foundation, which has offices in Pensacola; Atlanta, Georgia; and Memphis, Tennessee. Their only focus is raising money to fund children's cancer research and according to their website, https://rallyfoundation.org/, $22 million has been donated to research to date.

Furthermore, 93 cents of each dollar goes towards funding this research. To me, that is an impressive statistic as many organizations that raise funds have significantly higher overhead expenses.

The National Institute for Health (NIH) only allocates 4 percent of their budget to childhood cancer research.

Jamie Mitchell, a Community Engagement specialist for Rally Foundation, said, "Children typically get blood, brain, and soft tissue cancers, as opposed to adults who typically get lung, breast or prostate. Different cancers require different research.

"The average age of a child dying of cancer is 8 years old, as opposed to an adult of 65 years. Cancer is the No. 1 cause of death by disease for children. Every school day, 46 children are diagnosed with cancer.

"Two thirds of children with cancer will experience late effects from treatment, which will include heart and lung diseases, infertility, learning disabilities and secondary cancers from the treatments used to save their lives. And only 4 percent goes towards better treatments for our children. That is why organizations like Rally Foundation exist, to fill the funding gap."

As a parent, it is a helpless feeling to have your child diagnosed with cancer. It is a blessing to have organizations like Rally Foundation specifically raise money for cancer awareness and research grants.

September fundraisers

There are fundraisers planned for September, such as: #RallyFit 46 challenge, which brings awareness to the fact that 46 children are diagnosed with cancer each day. This is a fitness challenge. One can sign up to participate at the Rally foundation website, https://bit.ly/3A05mBd.

Since cancer, unfortunately, doesn't quit in September, Rally Foundation raises money all year long. Those who wish to contribute may visit its website.

Not only can we, as a community, support groups such as Rally Foundation, we can also pray for all of those children and families who are affected by the scourge of childhood cancer.

Pray for wisdom for the researchers, breakthroughs in research, discernment for the child's medical team and strength for their parents. Most of all, pray for the children affected, that they will be healed physically and emotionally.

Let's all pitch in and eradicate childhood cancer.

Janice Lynn Crose, a former accountant, lives in Crestview with her husband, Jim; her two rescue collies, Shane and Jasmine; and two cats, Kathryn and Prince Valiant.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: HAPPENINGS: September is Child Cancer Awareness Month

I once read about a photographer for a national magazine who was assigned to “shoot” one of those big western forest fires. He was told that a small plane would be waiting to fly him over the fire.

When he got to the airport, sure enough, he found a little Cessna waiting. He jumped in with his equipment and shouted, “Let’s go!”  The pilot, the plane, and the photographer were soon in the air.

The photographer shouted, “Fly over the north side of the fire and make several low passes!”

“Why?” the nervous pilot asked.

He replied, “Because I’m going to take pictures! I’m a photographer, and photographers take pictures.”

After a long pause, the pilot tensely asked, “You mean, you’re not the instructor?”

There are times when our trust is misguided and misplaced. We make assumptions about someone’s abilities or the message they are conveying, and it is not until later that we discover they were actually blowing a lot of smoke trying to manipulate us for one reason or another.

In Matthew 7:15 Jesus warned, “Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.” Then in Matthew 15:14 he said, “If one blind person guides another, both will fall into a pit.”

When we realize we have placed our trust in the wrong person or situation, it is then that lessons can be learned – or not. When lessons are learned, they develop into wisdom.

As followers of Jesus Christ, we are called to be wise. But the wisdom we are to have and express is the kind of wisdom that comes from God. We need to have wisdom from God to better understand the trials and challenges that come into our lives.

We are challenged to ask God for a deep understanding of what is going on and the best way to handle it. We are to ask God to help us find the good that can come from the situation. And as we do, we will gain the wisdom that comes only from God.

When you ask, the Letter of James (James 1:6–7) reminds you to, “Ask in faith, never doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind; for the doubter, being double-minded and unstable in every way, must not expect to receive anything from the Lord.” You are to ask, knowing and believing God will give it to you.

In whom do you place your ultimate trust? In God alone. From whom do you seek wisdom for living this life? From God alone. God is absolutely trustworthy. God is all–wise. You can count on this!

The Rev. Mark Broadhead is pastor at Laurel Hill Presbyterian Church and First Presbyterian Church of Crestview.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: FROM THE PULPIT: God's wisdom helps us understand trials and challenges

CRESTVIEW — We at the library are very excited about our upcoming improvements. If you read the last “Check It Out” column, you already know we will be offering a preview during our Sneak Peek Party at 6 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 17 at 1445 Commerce Drive.

One of the new features we will be demonstrating is a self-service kiosk. In addition to enabling self-checkout, this new system puts the power of print release in your control.

We are also excited to introduce three new children’s computers. These machines are preloaded with books and educational games for a safe introduction to computer skills, literacy, STEM, and other activities.

Whether you are a loyal member of our library family or just beginning to explore, we hope you will enjoy all the new and the tried and true amenities available with your library card.

Come check out the Robert L. F. Sikes (Crestview) Public Library. We are located from Crestview High School, behind the post office. We’d love to hear from you if you have questions or need more information. Call 850-682-4432.

Jean McCarthy is director of Library Services at the Crestview Public Library.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: CHECK IT OUT: Preview of new library additions scheduled at Sneak Peek Party