CRESTVIEW — An SUV glides to a halt on a street in a North Crestview neighborhood. The driver and passenger hop out and, cell phones in hand, root through underbrush and around fence posts.

Have spies infiltrated Crestview? 

Nope.

In fact, the entire North Okaloosa County area is dotted with more than 225 geocaches, hidden containers bearing trinkets called swag; for the county's 2015 centennial, cache swag in county libraries and parks includes commemorative coins. The caches also include logbooks so finders can record their discovery.

Want to go geocaching? Here's what you need to know:

•Each cache has a name. Local ones include “V is for Valley” for a cache on Valley Road, and “You’ve Got Mail,” for a cache by the post office.

•Geocaching.com’s map logs each cache's coordinates.

•Clues about a cache's location can be simple or tricky.  Degrees of difficulty, from 1 to 5, are listed on the Geochaching.com map entry.

•The essential tool for finding a cache is a GPS or cell phone with global positioning technology.

•“Event caches,” regional or local gatherings of geocachers, can include meals, picnics or “CITO” events, a clean-up gathering meaning “cache in, trash out.” The Panhandle Geocachers' next meeting, for example, is listed at 6:30 a.m. March 2 at N 30° 43.711, W 086° 34.108.

For Okaloosa Public Library Cooperative coordinator Vicky Stever — known by her geocaching handle FLLibraryChix — the sport's appeal is that anyone can do it.

“It’s a whole hidden world. There are so many levels to this game, and that’s what I like about it,” Stever said. “You can do it on a small scale, or you can be a person who is just consumed with the hunt."

Stever said she enjoys simple treasure hunts, but one day will accept a greater challenge. 

"A cache aboard the USS 'Alabama,' anchored in Mobile Bay, requires finding clues all over the ship that together reveal the cache’s location," she said.

“I want to try that one someday."

ONLINE

Visit www.Geocaching.com to view cache maps and register as a cacher so you can record caches you find and those you hide.

Contact Vicky Stever, 609-5101 or vstever@co.okaloosa.fl.us, or Dorothee Bennett, drbennett@co.okaloosa.fl.us, for more details.

FYI

Breakfast Meeting B4 Work, the next Panhandle Geocachers Crestview “event cache," is 6:30 a.m. March 2 at Burger King, 3210 Ferdon Blvd. S.

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

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Geocachers hike and seek hidden caches all over region

CRESTVIEW — Cub Scout Pack 530's Tiger Scouts can now knowledgeably discuss the merits of vinyl records, compact discs and digital audio.

The scouts recently visited WAAZ/WJSB, where long-time program host Joe Dunn gave the boys a tour of one of Northwest Florida’s longest-operating independent radio stations.

The visit was a field trip component of theme accomplishments required to earn the Tiger Scout badge, Den Leader Don Snyder said.

While the station uses advanced computer systems to program broadcast content, the scouts were surprised to learn it also uses old-fashioned vinyl records.

Dunn compared the size and content capacities of 45s, 78s and 33-1/3 albums. Outside, the boys saw the broadcasting tower that sends signals throughout Northwest Florida and South Alabama.

Tiger Scout Logan Schulte, 6, was impressed by the equipment and processes that make voices and music go out to people's radios.

“I thought the tower was big and the big records were cool,” Logan said.

In Studio A, Dunn interviewed some of the boys, including Logan, about their Cub Scout pack and schools.

“I liked to talk on the microphone and said, ‘My name is Logan Schulte, from Pack 530, and I go to Antioch Elementary,’” Logan 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: Crestview Tiger Scouts tour radio station

NICEVILLE — Distinguished Young Women of Okaloosa County invites 7- to 12-year-old girls to “Boot Camp."

The Feb. 28 event is an afternoon of learning in a fun environment taught by young women in the DYW Class of 2015.

Participating girls can learn about table settings, fashion tips and trends, along with manners and etiquette. DYW's flagship program, “Be Your Best Self," challenges young women to learn the importance of setting goals and striving to reach them.

The girls will learn to be healthy, be involved in their communities, be studious in academic endeavors, be ambitious in setting goals and working to achieve them, and be responsible by living within their moral and ethical principles.

 Distinguished Young Women, formerly America’s Junior Miss, is the largest, oldest national scholarship program for female high school seniors.

It encourages self-confidence and the ability to effectively speak in public, perform on stage and build interpersonal relationships.

In addition, the program promotes and rewards scholastic aptitude, leadership and talent.

Okaloosa County’s third annual DYW scholarship program — Saturday, July 18 — is accepting registrations from rising high school juniors. Applicants must complete their high school diploma in 2016. 

Participants must be registered by March 1. Contact Okaloosa@distinguishedyw.org for more information.

IF YOU GO

WHAT: Distinguished Young Women of Okaloosa County Boot Camp. Download the registration form here>>

WHEN: 1-3 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 28

WHERE: Niceville’s Generations United Fellowship Hall — formerly Niceville Assembly of God, 108 Highway 85 N., Niceville

COST: $35 per girl; includes a souvenir, a free ticket to the July 18 DYW Scholarship Program, social time and homemade snacks

Call Carole Lee Byrd, 205-886-5552 or visit the Distinguished Young Women of Okaloosa County’s Facebook page to register.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Registration opens for Distinguished Young Women Boot Camp

CRESTVIEW — Boy Scouts are learning skills such as being creative, crafting things by hand, and sportsmanship.

And they're having fun doing it.

Wheels were humming and fans were cheering Jan. 31 during the annual Cub Scouts Pinewood Derby.

Each Scout assembles and decorates his car using kits approved by the Boy Scouts of America. Parents lend a hand in construction, but decorating the vehicles is completely up to the boys’ imaginations.

“We had some awesome-looking derby cars, trucks, buses, trains, tanks and more,” Pack 799 parent and Bear Den and Webelos II den leader Cathy Humphrey said.

Batmobiles remain a favorite decorating motif, but this year also saw camouflaged cars and at least one Super Mario Brothers racer. 

After the boys add graphite to their cars’ wheels and axels to help them go even faster, several heats finished so close that only the high-tech timing systems now available at Pinewood Derby events could detect the winners.

Pack 530 volunteer Don Snyder, who photographs pack events, showed many photo-finishes.

As Pack 530 held its races at the Crestview Elks Lodge, Pack 799 raced in Bob Sikes Elementary School's multi-purpose room.

The pack added something new to the event, Humphrey said.

“This year, they decided to not only have the Cub Scouts race but also have the parents and siblings race,” she said. “Afterwards, they enjoyed a chili cook-off.”

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

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Pinewood Derby teach craftsmanship, sportsmanship

What do Lycos, Infoseek, Magellan, Excite, AltaVista, Inktomi, Northern Light and Dogpile all have in common? 

These once popular search engines have "eaten Google’s search dust,” so to speak.

Around 2000, Google’s search engine rose to prominence, achieving better search results with PageRank, an innovation that measures website pages' importance based upon how many other pages link to it. 

As of December 2014, Google had two-thirds of all web search engine traffic with Baidu (Chinese) at 11 percent, Bing at 10 percent and Yahoo at 9 percent.

Still, there are other cool search engines you should try.

Phil Bradley, an information specialist and Internet consultant, put together a list of 170-plus search engines. He searched everything from abbreviations and acronyms to sound effects and social media. You can find the list at www.philb.com/webse.htm.

If you are not sure what type of search engine you’re looking for, it is helpful to see examples of these major types of search engines:

•keyword search

•index or directory-based search

•multi or meta search

•visual results search

•category search

Find that list at www.philb.com/whichengine.htm.

So, from “About” to “Zeekly” (for private searching, with nothing kept or stored, including IP addresses), happy searching!

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

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: CHECK IT OUT: More than Google: 170+ search engines

CRESTVIEW — Emerald Coast Toys for Tots collected 16,906 toys that were distributed to 10,204 Okaloosa and Walton County children, according to an Emerald Coast Association of Realtors task force that spearheaded the toy drive.

The goal was to provide each child with two toys, according to Ashley Botelho, Emerald Coast Toys for Tots coordinator. The drive fell just short of goal, providing an average 1.66 toys per child. But the need for toys in the two-county area rose more than 20 percent between the 2013 and 2014 holiday seasons. 

Additionally, 91.67 percent of every dollar raised locally was used to purchase toys for local children. The goal for the group was 85 percent.

Learn more here or email EmeraldCoastToysforTots@gmail.com. 

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Emerald Coast Toys for Tots finishes strong

CRESTVIEW — Dorothy Boles looks forward to doing some fishing and using her new Yeti cooler to keep her catches fresh.

Boles was one of two Okaloosa County winners in Trustmark Bank’s Championship Tailgate Prize Package contest.

And she didn’t do much to enter the contest.

“I just happened to do a deposit,” Boles said.

Boles said entering the contest wasn’t even on her mind. But using the bank's ATM deposit system during the Oct. 1 through Dec. 15, 2014, contest period was one way to enter.

“We were very excited we had one of the local Okaloosa County winners from Crestview,” said Kristie McLane, the bank's assistant vice president.

Branch manager Laurin Wheelock said given Trustmark’s more than 200 branches in five states, having two winners in the county was even more exciting.

While Boles’ $250 cooler was a second prize, Niceville resident Molly Robinson won one of five $3,000 prizes that included a 40-inch TV, a Yeti cooler, a tailgate tent and other equipment.

Boles is just tickled to have won the cooler, which would otherwise be outside of her price range.

“I wouldn’t never have got one if I hadn’t won it,” she said. “I had never won nothing before.”

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

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Crestview woman wins in five-state contest