lifestyle | Crestview News Bulletin

Blood drive planned Aug. 5 in Crestview

Written by archive on August 1, 2014. Posted in health-fitness, lifestyle.

Residents can donate blood from 4-8 p.m. Aug. 5 at Gordon Martial Arts, 130 W. Oakdale Ave., Crestview.

All blood types are needed, but there is an increased need for O-positive and O-negative types.

OneBlood officials will give a wellness check that includes blood pressure, temperature, iron count and cholesterol screening.

The organization will give a free beach towel and wellness check to all donors.

Donors can set an appointment at www.oneblooddonor.org.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Blood drive planned Aug. 5 in Crestview

Crestview back-to-school shots set

Written by archive on August 1, 2014. Posted in health-fitness, lifestyle.

CRESTVIEW — The Florida Department of Health in Okaloosa County is extending clinic hours for back-to-school immunizations.

Crestview dates and times are 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Aug. 4, 6, 11, 12, 15 and 18; 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Aug. 5; and 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Aug. 7, 13, and 14. The Crestview location, 810 E. James Lee Blvd., is closed 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. daily.

The Health Department is also offering physicals — by appointment only — Aug. 8 and 15 in Fort Walton Beach. A school or sports physical costs $40; the cost to get both is $50.

March of Dimes, which promotes mom and baby health, urges parents to immunize their children against infectious diseases before the beginning of the 2014-2015 school year.

Influenza, pertussis (whooping cough), and measles are just a few of the serious vaccine-preventable diseases that still affect children.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Crestview back-to-school shots set

Heritage museum poker run needs vendors

Written by archive on July 31, 2014. Posted in lifestyle.

The Heritage Museum, 115 Westview Ave., Valparaiso, seeks vendors for the Biker's Blast to the Past from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sept. 20.

Commercial vendors, artisans and craft vendors are welcome.

Bikers will start and stop at the museum with an after party, which will include food, beverages, music and prizes.

There is an early registration discount through Sept. 14 available at the museum's website.

For details, call 678-2615, or email info@heritage-museum.com.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Heritage museum poker run needs vendors

OUTTA THE WOODS: Expect changes for hunting zones A, D this fall

Written by archive on July 31, 2014. Posted in lifestyle.

If you hunt in Zone D (which includes Okaloosa and Walton counties), there are several major changes this year to fall hunting regulations that you need to know about. And, if your hunting spot was in the northern portion of Zone A, you might be hunting in Zone C now.

If you hunt in the Panhandle in Zone D, that zone has now been divided into two deer management units (DMUs), each with its own unique set of antler regulations and antlerless deer harvest days.

This new change is part of a larger, statewide project aimed at managing deer on a more local level and providing hunters, landowners and other stakeholders a greater say in deer management.

The FWC conducted a public outreach and input process in northwest Florida during the first quarter of 2013. During that period, the Commission received input and comments from hunters, farmers and the general public regarding how they would like to see deer managed in the newly proposed DMUs. A technical assistance group made up of deer enthusiasts was then formed, and this team developed goals and objectives for the two DMUs.

As a result of this outreach process and ideas provided by the group, the FWC passed rules for both public and private lands in both of the newly created DMUs in Zone D, with Interstate 10 being the dividing line between the two DMUs. North of I-10 is DMU-D2, and south of I-10 is DMU-D1.

The new regulations require that bucks harvested north of I-10 in DMU-D2 must have antlers with at least 3 points (each point having to be at least 1 inch long) on one side OR have an antler with a main beam length of at least 10 inches.

South of I-10 in DMU-D1, the minimum antler requirement is now two points (each point having to be at least 1 inch long) on one side. The antler regulations in each DMU are intended to protect most 1.5-year-old bucks from being shot, while allowing the harvest of most 2.5-year-old and older bucks. Since antler development is different within the units, different antler regulations were needed to accomplish this goal.

However, youth (15 years old and younger) are exempt from these new antler requirements in both DMUs, and they may continue to harvest bucks that have an antler that is at least 5 inches long. This was important to hunters who indicated they wanted to encourage youth to hunt. These new antler regulations and youth exemption apply to both private lands and wildlife management areas within Zone D.

There are also changes to the antlerless deer season (“doe days”) on private lands within Zone D.

In DMU-D2 (north of I-10), antlerless deer season is now eight days distributed across four weekends. These weekends are the Saturday-Sunday after Thanksgiving, the first weekend of muzzleloading gun season, the third weekend of general gun season and the weekend after Christmas.

In DMU-D1 (south of I-10), the antlerless season is now four days consisting of two popular holiday weekends – the weekend after Thanksgiving and the one after Christmas.

The purpose of modifying the antlerless deer season is to spread out the hunting opportunity, so that more hunters could participate without reducing deer populations. There are differences in the current deer density between the two DMUs, and that is why there are fewer days to take antlerless deer south of I-10. These changes will be monitored to measure any impacts they may have on the deer harvest and hunter satisfaction within each DMU.

If you hunt in southern Manatee County, Sarasota County, southwest DeSoto County, west Charlotte County, southeast Okeechobee County, south St. Lucie County, Martin County or north Palm Beach County, you now have later fall hunting season dates than what you’re used to, because the boundary line between the two zones has been adjusted.

The boundary line used to be State Road 70, but hunters had noted, and recent biological surveys have confirmed, that deer living in the above-mentioned areas have a breeding period that occurs later than that of most of the deer in Zone A. These deer actually have a breeding period more in line with deer living in Zone C.

It is because of this that a number of local hunters asked the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) to move the boundary line between hunting zones A and C, so that all or parts of these counties would instead be included in Zone C, which has the later hunting season dates that better align with when the rut occurs in these areas.

The new boundary line between hunting zones A and C begins at the Gulf of Mexico and runs northeast through Charlotte Harbor and up the Peace River until it intersects with S.R. 70. The line then follows S.R. 70, running east until it meets U.S. 441 north of Lake Okeechobee. It then follows U.S. 441 south, where it proceeds around the eastern shore of Lake Okeechobee. The line then turns off U.S. 441 and onto S.R. 80 and runs just a few miles before turning east and following County Road 880, running just a few miles before joining back up with U.S. 98/441/S.R. 80/Southern Boulevard until it reaches the Atlantic Ocean.

This new line separating hunting zones A and C affects only the fall hunting seasons. Spring turkey season dates remain unaffected and will continue as they have been. In other words, spring turkey season south of State Road 70 will continue to open the first Saturday in March, while north of State 70 in the rest of the state, the season will continue to open the third Saturday of March. The daily bag limit for turkeys during the spring and fall hunting seasons has been increased to two on private lands. However, you may still take only one turkey per day on wildlife management areas, and in Holmes County, the daily and season limits remain one turkey during the spring, with no fall season. In the rest of the state, the fall and spring season bag limits have not changed and are still two.

The FWC’s Deer Management Program has been working with the public in zones A, B and C to get preferences for DMUs within these hunting zones. Be on the lookout for proposals as a result, and you may keep up with any proposed changes at MyFWC.com/Deer.

Tony Young, FWC columnist, always gets excited this time of the year as hunting season, cooler weather and football season are just around the corner . . .

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: OUTTA THE WOODS: Expect changes for hunting zones A, D this fall

Mission moves Baker youths to renovate homes, touch hearts

Written by archive on July 30, 2014. Posted in Faith, lifestyle.

BAKER — Brooms and brushes are moving this week as four church youth groups renovate seven houses.

Pilgrim Rest Baptist Church and Shady Grove Assembly of God often collaborate for annual church functions, but this year’s Do Something youth camp also includes Mount Repose Baptist Church from Ohio and West Haven Baptist Church from Tennessee.

The camp, which started Monday and ends Saturday, has eight youth members stationed at one house on Ray Street.

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Homeowner George Dean, 82, said the group came to his door to ask if they could help him with external home repairs.

The Navy veteran stood alongside the team as they took down lingering Christmas lights and scraped his chipped wooden siding clean before brushing on a new coat of blue paint.

“I think it’s a blessing, myself,” he said. “I’m proud the teenagers, kids, churches can … go together to do this for people in the community.”

Ryan Gelb, 14, of Pilgrim Rest, said there was one big reason why he’s excited to help Dean in particular.

“He served for me first,” he said.

Down the street, another team worked on the first coat of a different house.

Olivia Hurley, of Pilgrim Rest, said she wasn’t there for the homeowner's gratitude. She doesn’t want to remember just helping someone fix their house.

“More than just the before-and-after picture, I definitely want to remember lives being saved … all of us growing spiritually together,” the 13-year-old said.

The coolest part, she said, was that Sunday night, no one knew each other, but they all worshipped, worked and grew together Monday morning.

“We’re four different churches, but one church body,” Hurley said.

Bob Cooper, site supervisor and one of Pilgrim Rest’s youth teachers, agreed.

“It’s neat how they come together as a team even though, as of last night, they were strangers,” he said.

He’s also a strong believer in the camp’s mission.

“We hope that it’s more than just a repair project and a renovation,” he said. “It’s more to kind of touch the hearts and have people ask, ‘Hey, why are you doing this?’ and then we can explain it’s Christ in us, that’s motivating us to do this.”

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Mission moves Baker youths to renovate homes, touch hearts

FINANCIAL FOCUS: Protect your retirement against market volatility

Written by archive on July 28, 2014. Posted in lifestyle.

Financial markets always move up and down over the short term.

During your working years, you may feel that you have time to overcome this volatility. And you’d be basing these feelings on evidence: the longer the investment period, the greater the markets tend to “smooth out” their performance.

But what happens when you retire? Won’t you be more susceptible to market movements?

You may not be as vulnerable as you might think. Given our growing awareness of healthier lifestyles, you could easily spend two or even three decades in retirement — so your investment time frame won't necessarily be that compressed.

Nonetheless, time may well be a more important consideration during your retirement years, so you may want to be particularly vigilant about taking steps to help smooth out market volatility's effects.

Here are a few suggestions:

• Allocate your investments among a variety of asset classes. Proper asset allocation is a good investment move at any age, but when you’re retired, you want to be especially careful that you don’t “over-concentrate” your investment dollars among just a few assets. Spreading your money among a range of vehicles — stocks, bonds, certificates of deposit, government securities and so on — can help you avoid taking the full brunt of a downturn that may primarily hit just one type of investment. (Keep in mind, though, that while diversification can help reduce the effects of volatility, it can’t assure a profit or protect against loss.)

• Choose investments with demonstrated solid performance across many market cycles. As you’ve probably heard, “past performance is no guarantee of future results,” and this is true. Nonetheless, you can help improve your outlook by owning quality investments. So when investing in stocks, choose those with actual earnings and a track record of earnings growth. If you invest in fixed-income vehicles, pick those considered “investment grade.”

• Don’t make emotional decisions. At various times during your retirement, you will, in all likelihood, witness some sharp drops in the market. Avoid overreacting to these downturns, which will probably just be normal market “corrections.” If you can keep your emotions out of investing, you will be less likely to make moves such as selling quality investments merely because their price is temporarily down.

• Don’t try to “time” the market. You may be tempted to “take advantage” of volatility by looking for opportunities to “buy low and sell high.” In theory, this is a fine idea —unfortunately, no one can really predict market highs or lows. You’ll probably be better off by consistently investing the same amount of money into the same investments. Over time, this investing method may result in lower per-share costs. However, as is the case with diversification, this type of “systematic” investing won’t guarantee a profit or protect against loss, and you’ll need to be willing to keep investing when share prices are declining.

Joe Faulk is a Crestview financial adviser.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: FINANCIAL FOCUS: Protect your retirement against market volatility

Florida Department of Health dedicates new annex

Written by archive on July 28, 2014. Posted in health-fitness, lifestyle.

FORT WALTON BEACH — A ribbon cutting and grand opening for a new Clinic Annex in Fort Walton Beach is planned by the Florida Department of Health in Okaloosa County. The park landscape will be dedicated in the name of Okaloosa County's Public Health hero, Liza Jackson.

The event starts at 10 a.m. July 30 at the FDOH, 221 Hospital Drive NE, Fort Walton Beach.

RSVP by contacting Donna Harty at 833-9245 or Donna.Harty@FLHealth.gov.

The Clinic Annex is a modular building of 3,300 square feet generously donated by Twin Cities Hospital. The newly renovated space includes seven exam rooms, which will enable FDOH to improve efficiencies in providing affordable access to care for patients in Okaloosa County.

Tour the new facility and learn more about the medical services provided by the Florida Department of Health in Okaloosa County.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Florida Department of Health dedicates new annex

Baker, out-of-state church members to improve homes, minister to residents

Written by archive on July 28, 2014. Posted in Faith, lifestyle.

BAKER — Pilgrim Rest Baptist Church and Shady Grove Assembly of God youth groups are matching their faith with deeds this week.

Members — along with volunteers from Mount Repose Baptist Church in Miami, Ohio, and West Haven Baptist Church in Knoxville, Tenn. — have vowed to "Do Something," and help the community in the process.

200 youth and adult church members working at eight residential work sites are repairing Baker homes and ministering to residents during the week-long "Do Something" camp. Members, under adult and volunteer contractors' supervision, will dig drainage ditches and perform painting and roof work. Materials have already been provided through previous church fundraisers, event organizers said.

In addition, the work groups will present backyard bible clubs for residents they help.

Baker School will provide the volunteers' lodging throughout the camp, which will also feature a guest speaker and ministry from a Christian band.

“I think this an awesome image of the body of Christ: for all of us to come together on this (project),” said event organizer Justin Douglas, Pilgrim Rest's youth pastor.

Shady Grove's 12-member youth team also looks forward to camp, Brandon McMackin, the church's youth pastor, said.

“They are chomping at the bits to get in the community and do something,” he said.

And to do it again.

“We are already planning on doing this next year,” McMackin said. “We plan on getting more churches involved.”

Email News Bulletin Staff Writer Matthew Brown, follow him on Twitter or call 850-682-6524.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Baker, out-of-state church members to improve homes, minister to residents

Crestview Teen Center hosts foster parent information program

Written by archive on July 28, 2014. Posted in lifestyle.

The West Florida Foster Care of United Methodist Children's Home will present an information session July 31 at 6:30 p.m.

The presentation is located at 120 Duggan Ave. in Crestview.

For more information, contact Charlotte Thomas at 995-9600, or email charlotte@umch.net.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Crestview Teen Center hosts foster parent information program

EXTENSION CONNECTION: Lichens on plants indicate poor plant growth

Written by archive on July 28, 2014. Posted in lifestyle.

Do you have trees or shrubs with trunks and branches covered with gray-green crusty growths?

These growths — called lichens — are harmless and do not cause plants' poor growth or decline.

Lichen is an alga and a fungus growing together in a symbiotic relationship. The alga supplies the fungus with carbohydrates through photosynthesis; the fungus protects the alga from drying. Lichens are not pathogens, nor are they parasitic to plants. They simply need something to structurally support them.

As a tree or shrub declines in health, the canopy thins, allowing more light to penetrate the plant. The additional light and the plant’s slow growth allow lichens a better environment to grow.

When lichen growth is abundant on dying limbs and branches, ask, “Why is the plant growing poorly?” Diagnosing the problem may be difficult, requiring considerable plant knowledge.

Reasons for a plant's poor health range from incorrect plant placement or poor growing conditions to injuries from mowing equipment and misplaced lawn chemicals. Trees and shrubs planted too deep will usually be in a state of poor health. The plant may be declining from lack of fertilizer or because the pH is incorrect. Or, it may be due to an older plant's natural decline.

Correctly identifying and correcting the causes for poor growth will allow the plant’s health to improve, and lichens will gradually disappear.

Your local University of Florida/Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences Extension Office can assist with identifying the possible causes for poor plant growth.

Larry Williams is an agent at the University of Florida's Extension office in Crestview.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: EXTENSION CONNECTION: Lichens on plants indicate poor plant growth

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