CRESTVIEW — The library seeks a sculptor or welder skilled in bronze statue restoration.

Someone recently vandalized “The Whiz Kid,” and Crestview Public Library staffers and patrons aren’t happy.

The bronze-coated sculpture, one of the few pieces of public art in the city, was donated to the library by the Friends of the Library and sits on a brick base near the Commerce Drive building's main entrance.

Reference librarian Sandra Dreaden said the vandalism  included removal of the open book the mortarboard-wearing boy with oversized spectacles was reading.

“I’m very sad about this,” Library Director Jean Lewis said. “He’s just perfect for what we want to represent our library.”

The book was found in landscaping near the library, Lewis said, and was turned in to library staffers.

Now, it's time to fix the statue, but that could be challenging.

“We need to find a welder who can weld with bronze to put it back in place,” Lewis said.

Dreaden said closer inspection shows someone may also have chipped at the sculpture, resulting in damage to the bronze finish in spots, allowing rust to form on the underlying metal.

Library staffers are inquiring at the Northwest Florida State College Humanities Division to find someone skilled in sculpture restoration.

The sculpture in The Circus at the Mattie Kelly Arts Center was vandalized several years ago and was restored, and Dreaden said she hopes the college can put the library in touch with the restorer.

While the library hunts for an artist to help restore the sculpture, library patrons mourn the damage to a piece of art that has charmed residents since its 2010 installation.

“It's too bad that a bunch of thuggish hoodlums make it impossible for us to have nice public places,”patron Salome Otterbourne said.

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

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Welder wanted: Sculpture vandalism disappoints Crestview library staffers, patrons

Mr. Mac is bringing music and movement to the Crestview Public Library.

Michael J. McCartan, an educator who teaches kids to get in shape with music, will entertain 3 p.m. Tuesday, June 30 at the library, 1445 Commerce Drive.

This is usually our time for Summer Stories, which are for ages 6 and up. But we will open the library up to all ages as we:

•Move to original Mr. Mac Says children’s physical activity music

•Perform hand drumming with wooden Tiki drums

•Review a brief history of drumming with cadences to today's popular patriotic songs

•Sing patriotic songs

•Work as a team to perform a variety of parachute activities

•Conclude with Fourth of July beach activities such as the limbo and hula hoops.

We’d like to thank the Okaloosa County Public Library Cooperative for funding this event, so it is free for you!

Visit www.mrmacsays.com for more details about Mr. Mac. Call Heather at 682-4432 with questions.

Heather Nitzel is the Crestview Public Library's youth services librarian.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: NITZEL: Children can move to the music June 30

CRESTVIEW — When a new county suddenly appears on the map, leadership is also needed. Such was the situation in 1915, when Okaloosa County was created.

To lead the 52nd county, Gov. Park Trammell appointed a slate of officials who would serve until elections could be held and the new county's residents could choose their own leaders.

Leading the officials as the appointed county judge was John Thomas Mapoles, father of state Rep. William H. Mapoles, known as "the “father of Okaloosa County."

Other officials, as documented by Baker Block Museum Director Ann Spann in “The Heritage of Okaloosa County,” were: Sheriff B.H. Sutton; Clerk of Circuit Court James L. Clary; Superintendent of Public Instruction William C. Pryor; county surveyor W.D. Locke; tax assessor George H. Webb; tax collector J.A. Richbourg; county treasurer P.J. Steele; and Board of County Commissioners members John H. Givens, J.W. Baggett, W.J. Davis, R.A. Rosier and B.P. Edge.

W.J. Jones, W.F. Wilkinson and W.H. Spivey were appointed Board of Public Instruction members. J.F. Richbourg, W.L. Culberson, R.J. Diamond, J.C. Hicks and Allen J. King were appointed justices of the peace.

A sixth justice of the peace and three constables were also appointed, Spann stated. The county treasurer’s position was never filled after Steele’s initial appointment.

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

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: OKALOOSA CENTENNIAL: Gubernatorial appointments constitute county's first leaders

CRESTVIEW — Okaloosa County Public Safety and the Florida Department of Health in Okaloosa County offer these hurricane preparation options:

•Ready Okaloosa app. The app, available at www.okaloosafl.com, allows users to easily access a plan, get evacuation zone information, get a supply list, and retrieve other hurricane preparation information.

•Robo calls. Okaloosa has a computer-based warning system with the ability to call 1,000 homes a minute with emergency information. 

•Special needs shelter. DOH-Okaloosa staffs the special needs shelter during evacuations and storms. The shelter is for people who need more medical supervision than a general population shelter can provide due to special medical needs, but they do not require hospitalization.

Visit okaloosa.floridahealth.gov for more information on the shelter. See https://snr.floridadisaster.org/okaloosa to register for it. Registration expires after one year and must be updated on the registration's anniversary.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Okaloosa County offers 3 ways to prepare for hurricanes

CRESTVIEW — Three states have a Wilson County, but there's just one Okaloosa.

That's because in 1913, State Rep. William H. Mapoles’ first effort to create a new Northwest Florida county died on the Senate calendar.

'ALMOST ISOLATED' AREA

The proposed county was an attempt to provide governance for residents in rural east Santa Rosa County and west Walton County.

Those early Okaloosans felt disenfranchised from the government's benefits, being far from the county seats of Milton and DeFuniak Springs and their respective courthouses.

“The lack of proper roads and bridges made the area almost isolated,” Betty Curenton and Claudia Patten wrote in their book, “Crestview: The Forkland.”

Mapoles’ solution? Use the Yellow River as the center line and reach 12 to 15 miles on either side to carve out a new county. His bill called the new geographic entity Yellow River County.

'MORE CONVENIENT' GOVERNMENT

Opposition in the 1913 Legislature, particularly from Santa Rosa legislators, was stiff. The only “progress” was passage of an amendment to Mapoles’ bill that renamed the proposed county for the newly elected President Woodrow Wilson.

After much contentious debate, the bill creating Wilson County finally made it through the House. It went over to the Senate, where it was placed on the calendar, and died for lack of action.

“Citizens of the western sector of Walton County and the eastern sector of Santa Rosa County wanted government to be more convenient to them,” Curenton and Patten wrote.

Mapoles, who lived in Laurel Hill, understood their concerns. In two years, he returned to the Legislature with a tweaked version of his 1913 bill.

With the backing of a senator from Walton and Holmes counties, on June 3, 1915, he was at last successful.

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

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: 'Wilson County' fizzles as first attempt to form today's Okaloosa

CRESTVIEW — One-hundred years ago today, the Florida Legislature created the state’s 52nd county, but county voters made it official three months later.

In 1913, Walton County state Rep. William Mapoles, of Laurel Hill, tried to create the 944-square-mile Yellow River County. It would have been named for the river that split the new county in two, or for Woodrow Wilson, the nation’s newly elected president.

Mapoles’ initial effort failed.

In 1915, Mapoles gained a valuable ally in Walton and Holmes counties’ Sen. B.H. Lindsay, who jointly sponsored a tweaked version of the 1913 bill. There was one major difference: the new county’s name.

The proposed Yellow River County and Wilson County names were jettisoned in favor of Okaloosa County. But in a sense, Mapoles’ original name prevailed. The Choctaw phrase “oka lusa” means “black water,” the Indians’ name for the Yellow River, describing its appearance due to pine tree tannins that darken the riverbed below the clear waters.

Baker Block Museum Director Ann Spann, writing in “The Heritage of Okaloosa County, Florida,” stated that Santa Rosa legislators resisted Mapoles’ 1915 bill.

Sen. R.A. McGeachy of Santa Rosa almost succeeded in killing it, Betty Curenton and Claudia Patten stated in "Crestview: The Forkland." However, opponents eventually conceded, provided a provision for a referendum by affected voters was included in the bill.

On June 3, Chapter 6937 was entered into Florida Laws of 1915, “an Act Providing for the Creation of Okaloosa County, in the State of Florida, and for the Organization and Government Thereof.”

Next, voters had to add their approval. On Sept. 7, 1915, voters in Santa Rosa and Walton counties' affected portions went to the polls and confirmed their support for creating Okaloosa County.

Santa Rosa legislators hoped to block the new county in the popular election when they couldn’t in the Legislature, but they didn’t succeed.

“The vote in the Walton section was about 4-1 in favor of the new county, but was only about two to one in the Santa Rosa section,” Spann stated.

Okaloosa County was officially established.

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

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Today is – sort of – Okaloosa County’s centennial

CRESTVIEW — Crestview Elks Lodge No. 2624 and the Autism Society of the Emerald Coast are organizing Exceptional Children's Day, a food, games and entertainment outing,  this month.

The event is 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. June 13 at 2624 Elks Lane, Crestview.

All families with children with special needs are invited to attend. All events and activites are free. For free tickets and advance registration, go to eecd.eventzilla.net. Please bring your own chairs.

Entertainment by Reid Soria of Autism Sings, LLC, Elroy the Elk, water slides, a bounce house, bowling and more are planned. Foods include pizza, hot dogs, hamburgers, gluten-free items, and water, lemonade and snow cones will also be served.

To get to Elks Lane, go east on Highway 90 from the intersection of Highways 85 and 90. Turn left onto Fairchild Road, then left onto Elks Lane. The Elks Field will be on the left.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Crestview Elks, Autism Society host Exceptional Children's Day

The Okaloosa County Public Library Cooperative will once again take part in OverDrive’s Big Library Read program.

Crestview Public Library users can borrow the eBook and audiobook "Eyes on You," a suspense novel by Kate White, midday June 9 through midnight June 23, by visiting http://okaloosa.lib.overdrive.com or www.readokaloosa.org.

"Eyes on You" is a breathless, terrifying psychological thriller full of twists that will leave readers guessing until the final pages.

Enter the world of Robin Trainer, a popular co-host of a nightly television show and bestselling author who discovers her success has come with danger and an adversary with a dark agenda.

This book is sure to have you reading late into the night as Robin desperately tries to unmask her enemy before it’s too late.

Big Library Read, an international book club, gives library users unlimited, simultaneous access to a popular title during the program dates, creating a global digital book club.

Patrons can borrow "Eyes on You," with a valid library card, for all major computers and devices, including iPhones, iPads, Nooks, Android phones and tablets, and Kindles.

As with all OverDrive content, the title will automatically expire at the end of the lending period and, best of all, there are no late fees!

The Big Library Read program is made possible through a partnership between OverDrive, the leading supplier of eBooks and more to libraries, and Harper Collins, publisher of New York Times best-selling author Kate White.

Visit www.BigLibraryRead.com for more information on the Big Library Read program, the author or to join a global discussion group.

And, oh yes, we also have two copies in print here at the Crestview Public Library, if that’s the format you prefer!

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

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Okaloosa Big Library Read begins Tuesday, features 'Eyes on You'