BAKER — Here's the Baker varsity, junior varsity and middle school football schedules.

Baker School varsity football schedule (Games start at 7 p.m.)

Date / Opponent / Location / Time

Aug. 26 / Holmes County-Bonifay / H

Sept. 2 / Blountstown / A

Sept. 9 / OPEN

Sept. 16 / Walton / A

Sept. 23 / Rocky Bayou Christian / H

Sept. 30 / Jay / A

Oct. 7 / South Walton / A

Oct. 14 / Chipley / H

Oct. 21 / Lighthouse Academy-Homecoming / H

Oct. 28 / Northview / H

Nov. 4 / Liberty County / H

Baker School JV football schedule (Games start at 6 p.m.)

Date / Opponent / Location

Aug. 25 / Northview / H

Sept. 1 / South Walton / H

Sept. 8 / South Walton / A

Sept. 15 / Vernon / H

Sept. 22 / Holmes County-Bonifay / A

Sept. 29 / Northview / A

Oct. 6 / Holmes County-Bonifay / H

Oct. 13 / Walton / A

Baker Middle School football schedule (Games start at 6 p.m.)

Aug. 23 / Rocky Bayou / H

Sept. 6 / Lewis / A

Sept. 13 / Jay / A

Sept. 20 / Freeport / A

Sept. 27 / Destin / A

Oct. 4 / Jay / H

Oct. 11 / Rocky Bayou / H

H-Home

A-Away

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Baker School sets football schedules

CRESTVIEW — Early voting for Okaloosa County residents is scheduled for the Aug. 30 primary.

Hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Aug. 20-27 at any voting location in Okaloosa County.

Early voting locations are:

●The Supervisor of Elections office, 302 Wilson St. N., Crestview

●Crestview Public Library, 1445 Commerce Drive

●Okaloosa County Administration Building, 1250 Eglin Parkway, Shalimar.

●Niceville City Hall, 208 Partin Drive N., Niceville.

●Destin Community Center, 101 Stahlman Ave., Destin.

Some sample ballots for the primary include choices for U.S. senator, U.S. representative, commissioner and the school board.

See www.govote-okaloosa.com, or call 689-5644 to see sample ballots or get more information.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Okaloosa early primary voting ends this weekend

Varsity games

Date / Opponent / Time

Aug. 26 / Northview / H-7 p.m.

Sept. 2 / Mosley / H-7 p.m.

Sept. 9 / Biloxi Martin / A-7 p.m.

Sept. 16 / Int. School Broward / H -7 p.m.

Sept. 23 / Pace / A- 7:30 p.m.

Sept. 30 / Choctaw* / A -7 p.m.

Oct. 7 / Milton / H -7 p.m.

Oct. 14 / Fort Walton Beach* / A -7 p.m.

Oct. 21 / OPEN

Oct. 28  / Niceville* / H -7 p.m.

 9th grade & JV football schedule (JV games at 4 p.m., freshman games at 6:30 p.m.)

Date / Opponent / Location

Aug. 25 / Choctaw / A

Sept. 1 / open

Sept. 8 / Fort Walton Beach / A

Sept. 14 / Niceville / A

Sept. 22 / open

Oct. 29 / Choctaw / H

Oct. 5 / Niceville / H

Oct. 13 / Fort Walton Beach / H

H-home

A-away

*District game

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Crestview High School sets football schedules

CRESTVIEW — Need something to do this week? Check out these fun events:

 See Photo Gallery underneath this paragraph.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: 3 things to do this week in Northwest Florida

CRESTVIEW — The city has appeared on yet another “places rated” type website, this time as fifth among the nation’s “10 Best Cities for Young Entrepreneurs.”

Richard Barrington, a spokesperson and personal finance expert for MoneyRates.com, described entrepreneurship as “the rare area of business where youth can be an advantage.”

To rank communities, Barrington looked at four criteria:

●Population growth, which leads to consumer demand

●Young adult affluence, indicated by the percentage of young adults making a competitive wage

●Educational attainment, where a percentage of the population has a bachelor’s degree or higher, and

●Tax environment, with Florida and Texas having relatively low business tax burdens.

ECONOMIC ENVIRONMENT

“As much as entrepreneurship centers on the special characteristics of individuals, the broader economic environment also makes a difference in whether start-ups succeed or fail, or whether people even attempt them in the first place,” Barrington stated in the online article.

Crestview, together with Fort Walton Beach and Destin, tied with Odessa, Texas, in MoneyRates’ assessment.

“Its location on Florida's panhandle includes the junction of three major highways, which makes it a good hub for business activity,” Barrington wrote.

“Florida also aids entrepreneurs by having one of the nation's lowest rates of business taxation. Additionally, the Crestview area has one of the highest portions of young adult affluence.”

CITY PRAISE

City officials eagerly embraced the recognition.

“Crestview is known as the Hub City and we are a hub that embraces innovation,” Community Redevelopment Agency Director Brenda Smith said in a statement on the article.

“Who better represents innovation than entrepreneurs? We have a lot to offer within the city and especially our historical downtown district,” Smith stated.

The Crestview, Fort Walton Beach and Destin metropolitan area ranked third on the list of Cities with Affluent Young People, with 45.59 percent of 18-24-year-olds having an income three times or more higher than the state poverty rate.

“Younger people like millennials…have less to lose in terms of an established career and salary, and so they can be more willing to put what they have at risk to create a new business,” Barrington wrote. “As people grow older, they tend to lose this appetite for risk.”

BUSINESS CLIMATE

The Okaloosa County cities tied for fourth place on the Cities with a Favorable Business Climate list, as ranked by the Tax Foundation’s 2016 State Business Tax Climate report.

The local cities tied with the Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford; The Villages; Naples-Immokalee-Marco Island; and Cape Coral-Fort Myers metro areas.

“To be ranked among the Top Ten Cities for Young Entrepreneurs and declared fifth in the nation is a great honor and recognition,” Smith stated.

MoneyRates.com ranked these communities as the 10 Best Cities for Young Entrepreneurs.

1. Austin/Round Rock, Texas

2. Raleigh, North Carolina

3. Midland, Texas

4. Houston/The Woodlands/Sugar Land, Texas

5. Crestview/Fort Walton Beach/Destin

5. (Tie) Odessa, Texas

7. Sioux Falls, South Dakota

8. The Villages, Florida

9. Denver/Aurora/Lakewood, Colorado

10. Orlando/Kissimmee/Sanford, Florida

BY THE NUMBERS

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Report: Crestview area attracts young entrepreneurs

CRESTVIEW — What if you had to pass a test or answer impossible questions before you were allowed to vote?

Or imagine being forced to pay a special tax before you could cast your ballot.

This is the story of Lillian’s family — and so many other African-Americans — who, after generations of discrimination, triumphed over injustice thanks to the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that protected every American’s right to vote.

This may be a child’s picture book, but the story will resonate with all ages.

Sandra Dreaden is the Crestview Public Library's reference librarian.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: REVIEW: Book about African-Americans' voting rights struggle

CRESTVIEW — When amateur and professional historians delve into North Okaloosa County’s past, one reference is consistently on their must-peruse list.

Betty Curenton and Claudia Patten’s regional and city history, “Crestview: The Forkland,” is a chronological guide of facts, figures, maps, pictures and stories of the people who formed the community. The timeline extends from the native Muskogee (Creek) through the 1990s.

“Those ladies published the book out of their dedication and love of local history,” Baker Block Museum Director Ann Spann said.

As the city prepared to observe its 100th birthday, the authors gifted “The Forkland” content to the Crestview Historic Preservation Board, of which Spann is chairman.

“This is their way of keeping the book alive and available for future generations,” Spann said

CENTENNIAL EDITION

The only change to the centennial edition is its cover, which features the original 1918 Okaloosa County courthouse and the 1955 courthouse, which will soon be demolished.

“We’re kind of proud that we got the first two courthouses on the cover,” Spann said.

Curenton and Patten, both of whom have long family roots in the area, took more than 10 years to gather and assemble “The Forkland,” including countless hours of recording and transcribing oral histories and memoirs.

That content is invaluable to researchers, from students doing local history reports to historians preparing regional history books or presentations, said Crestview Public Library research librarian Sandra Dreaden.

Patrons use the library’s copies, including one available for checking out and one permanently in the local history research stacks, for many reasons.

“Sometimes they’re looking for a particular family name. Sometimes they’re looking for pictures by the decades,” she said. “It’s everything: Family history, pictures of buildings and history by the decades.”

BRISK SALES

“The Forkland” reprint has been selling briskly, Spann said.

Buyers include members of long-time area families as well as newcomers eager to learn about their new hometown.

Copies are available in the Baker Block Museum’s reference library, where “people look at it all the time,” Spann said.

The book may also be purchased for $65, and Spann said the museum can arrange delivery of “The Forkland” to buyers who can’t get to the museum.

“The Crestview Historic Preservation Board is grateful to Mrs. Curenton and Mrs. Patten for their incredible gift,” Spann said.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Crestview history book reprinted for city centennial

NICEVILLE — CHELCO is taking member appreciation on the road.

Members are invited to enjoy food and fun from 9-11 a.m. Aug. 27 at Bluewater Bay Elementary School, 4545 Range Road in Niceville.

Free food, Kona Ice, a member gift, bounce houses and local vendors will be available. CHELCO’s new Live Line Safety Demonstration Trailer will also be onsite to educate the community about power line safety and dangers.

Local vendors include Choctawhatchee Basin Alliance, Mid-Bay Rotary Club, Hurricane Grill and Wings, Okaloosa Sheriff’s Department, Panhandle Warriors, and the United Way of Okaloosa and Walton Counties.

North Bay Fire District will also bring fire trucks to the event. Twin Cities Hospital will offer free blood pressure screenings. In addition, CHELCO will have information on payment options, its Electric Newsletter, Co-op Connections and Switch to Save programs.

“Our territory is quite large, and we know many members cannot the attend annual meeting, which features fun, food and prizes,” said Vice President of Member Services Steve Wolfrom. “We decided to start having a member appreciation event at other locations. We will rotate it around the area to bring CHELCO to the members in other parts of Okaloosa and Walton counties.”

CHELCO is a not-for-profit electric distribution cooperative serving more than 48,000 accounts in Walton, Okaloosa, Holmes and Santa Rosa counties.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: CHELCO Member Appreciation Day scheduled

CRESTVIEW — The Renalus Center for Kidney Care has set a grand opening celebration for their new Crestview practice location.

It's "a new state-of-the-art nephrology facility that delivers expansive kidney health services and education to the Pace community and surrounding areas," the center said in a media release.

The public may attend the event which is 4:30-6:30 p.m. Aug. 23 at 221 E. Redstone Ave., Crestview.

The center's medical team consists of Drs. Christopher Reid, Nicholas Nagrani, James Martin, Derek Jimenez, F. Duncan Scott and nurse practitioners Misty Willis, Amy Dugger and Kathy Curry.

For a complete list of services, treatments, and locations, visit www.renalus.com.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Nephrology practice plans Crestview open house

CRESTVIEW — Many high school athletes dream of making it to the professional leagues, but few succeed.

One who attained that lofty professional athlete pinnacle is Crestview High School 2012 alumna Hannah Day, who today plays catcher for the Akron (Ohio) Racers women’s softball team.

The path from middle school sports to Firestone Stadium was long and hard, but the Racers’ No. 15 was determined, surprising even her own dad, Crestview High Principal Dexter Day, a former football coach and professional baseball player.

“When I saw her playing in middle school, I was thinking I was going to have to break it to her that her career would be over by high school,” he said. “But she was committed, and committed to being the best.”

‘HIGHER STANDARDS’

Hannah started her high school career playing both volleyball and softball before shifting her concentration to the latter.

“Being at Crestview, and my dad helping me out, got me ready for pro ball,” Hannah said. “I always held myself to higher standards than most of the others did. That helped me get from college to pro.”

Now a rising Troy University senior, Hannah was named an outfielder in the National Fastpitch Coaches Association South Third Team All-Region.

She was spotted by a Florida State assistant coach while playing for Troy in the Sun Belt Conference, Dexter Day said.

30TH PICK

As the pro teams in the National Pro Fastpitch league did their 2016 draft rounds, Hannah was the fourth pick in the fifth round.

“She was the 30th pick overall in the nation out of all the college seniors,” Dexter Day said. “It’s an honor, but an honor that has been worked for.”

“It’s really exciting,” Hannah said from Akron. “It’s a very good experience getting to play on this type of level with these types of athletes. The experience I’m getting here is unlike any place I’ve ever played.”

One drawback, she said, is she doesn’t get home much. But her proud parents follow her progress from home, watching Racers games on TV.

“We get all the live streams on DirectTV,” Dexter Day said. “We watched the draft from home.”

‘WORK HARD’

If her success can inspire other Crestview High girls to succeed in the big leagues, “that would be awesome,” Hannah said.

Her advice?

“Work hard for it,” she said. “It’s not going to be given to you. You have to work hard.”

Hannah knows from experience that only the athlete can decide if he or she is going to succeed.

“She was tiny and weak,” her dad said. “A lot of people didn’t buy into it, but she bought in.”

“At the beginning I didn’t have the pros in my vision,” Hannah said. “I set goals for myself out on the field and it ended up working out.”

Hannah has one more year to go at Troy University as she works on her exercise science major.

Then before she settles into a career, perhaps as a personal trainer or a coach, she looks forward to more years with the pros.

“I’m proud I can represent Crestview in this kind of way,” she said.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Crestview High alumna rising as pro softball player (PHOTOS)