U.S. Air Force Airman 1st Class Jonathan A. Harris graduated from basic military training at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, San Antonio, Texas.

The airman completed an intensive, eight-week program that included training in military discipline and studies, Air Force core values, physical fitness, and basic warfare principles and skills.

Airmen who complete basic training also earn four credits toward an associate in applied science degree through the Community College of the Air Force.

Harris is a 2017 graduate of Crestview High School, Crestview.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Harris completes Air Force basic training

Attendees enjoyed a variety of activities during Baker Heritage Day on Nov. 10. Here are some photos from the event.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Baker Heritage Day offered glimpse of the past

CRESTVIEW — After being closed for several months, the locally owned North 85 Diner — formerly known as Penny's Place — has officially relocated and reopened.

Although the diner's location and name has changed, Penny Rink's vision for her restaurant remains the same — creating a family atmosphere.

"I don't meet a stranger," Rink said. "There is no one in here that is a stranger to me."

Shawn Woody, Rink's husband, said the restaurant has many regulars who have become like family.

A small wooden chair rests in the corner of the restaurant with the words "Bill's chair" written on the front.

Rink and Woody recalled one of their original regulars, Bill, who passed away a few years ago.

According to Woody, Bill came and sat in his chair while sipping coffee every day from the diner's first opening.

"He'd sit right by the kitchen door, and if anybody came in, he'd be banging on that door — 'Hey! You got somebody here,'" Rink said.

"It was always family," Woody said.

Louisiana-style cooking

The diner has been in Crestview for eight years.

Woody has been in Crestview his entire life, but Rink moved to the area in 2001 from Louisiana, where she was raised.

After working in the restaurant business as a waitress, Rink decided she would branch out and open her own diner.

She said that owning her own restaurant is challenging, but also rewarding.

"I love my customers, every one of them," Rink said. "I contemplated not opening and doing something else, but I couldn't not do it. They wouldn't let me."

Rink said she learned many of her cooking techniques growing up in Louisiana and watching her grandmother cook.

To incorporate some of her upbringing, Rink has Cajun-style classics on the menu like gumbo and shrimp etouffee.

Rink also plans to keep a popular item on the breakfast menu — the omelette with a shrimp etouffee topping.

The diner's new space is much larger than the former location on North Ferdon Boulevard.

"We loved it there … but we needed some place to be bigger to accommodate more customers," Rink said.

Moving into the new location took several months due to septic tank issues at the new location that are now resolved, Woody said.

North 85 Diner is located at 6194 State Road 85 N. in Crestview.

For more information, including hours and menu items, call the diner at 306-3277.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Former Penny's Place diner reopens under new name

CRESTVIEW — After being closed for several months, the locally owned North 85 Diner — formerly known as Penny's Place — has officially relocated and reopened.

Although the diner's location and name has changed, Penny Rink's vision for her restaurant remains the same — creating a family atmosphere.

"I don't meet a stranger," Rink said. "There is no one in here that is a stranger to me."

Shawn Woody, Rink's husband, said the restaurant has many regulars who have become like family.

A small wooden chair rests in the corner of the restaurant with the words "Bill's chair" written on the front.

Rink and Woody recalled one of their original regulars, Bill, who passed away a few years ago.

According to Woody, Bill came and sat in his chair while sipping coffee every day from the diner's first opening.

"He'd sit right by the kitchen door, and if anybody came in, he'd be banging on that door — 'Hey! You got somebody here,'" Rink said.

"It was always family," Woody said.

Louisiana-style cooking

The diner has been in Crestview for eight years.

Woody has been in Crestview his entire life, but Rink moved to the area in 2001 from Louisiana, where she was raised.

After working in the restaurant business as a waitress, Rink decided she would branch out and open her own diner.

She said that owning her own restaurant is challenging, but also rewarding.

"I love my customers, every one of them," Rink said. "I contemplated not opening and doing something else, but I couldn't not do it. They wouldn't let me."

Rink said she learned many of her cooking techniques growing up in Louisiana and watching her grandmother cook.

To incorporate some of her upbringing, Rink has Cajun-style classics on the menu like gumbo and shrimp etouffee.

Rink also plans to keep a popular item on the breakfast menu — the omelette with a shrimp etouffee topping.

The diner's new space is much larger than the former location on North Ferdon Boulevard.

"We loved it there … but we needed some place to be bigger to accommodate more customers," Rink said.

Moving into the new location took several months due to septic tank issues at the new location that are now resolved, Woody said.

North 85 Diner is located at 6194 State Road 85 N. in Crestview.

For more information, including hours and menu items, call the diner at 306-3277.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Former Penny's Place diner reopens under new name

CRESTVIEW — After being closed for several months, the locally owned North 85 Diner — formerly known as Penny's Place — has officially relocated and reopened.

Although the diner's location and name has changed, Penny Rink's vision for her restaurant remains the same — creating a family atmosphere.

"I don't meet a stranger," Rink said. "There is no one in here that is a stranger to me."

Shawn Woody, Rink's husband, said the restaurant has many regulars who have become like family.

A small wooden chair rests in the corner of the restaurant with the words "Bill's chair" written on the front.

Rink and Woody recalled one of their original regulars, Bill, who passed away a few years ago.

According to Woody, Bill came and sat in his chair while sipping coffee every day from the diner's first opening.

"He'd sit right by the kitchen door, and if anybody came in, he'd be banging on that door — 'Hey! You got somebody here,'" Rink said.

"It was always family," Woody said.

Louisiana-style cooking

The diner has been in Crestview for eight years.

Woody has been in Crestview his entire life, but Rink moved to the area in 2001 from Louisiana, where she was raised.

After working in the restaurant business as a waitress, Rink decided she would branch out and open her own diner.

She said that owning her own restaurant is challenging, but also rewarding.

"I love my customers, every one of them," Rink said. "I contemplated not opening and doing something else, but I couldn't not do it. They wouldn't let me."

Rink said she learned many of her cooking techniques growing up in Louisiana and watching her grandmother cook.

To incorporate some of her upbringing, Rink has Cajun-style classics on the menu like gumbo and shrimp etouffee.

Rink also plans to keep a popular item on the breakfast menu — the omelette with a shrimp etouffee topping.

The diner's new space is much larger than the former location on North Ferdon Boulevard.

"We loved it there … but we needed some place to be bigger to accommodate more customers," Rink said.

Moving into the new location took several months due to septic tank issues at the new location that are now resolved, Woody said.

North 85 Diner is located at 6194 State Road 85 N. in Crestview.

For more information, including hours and menu items, call the diner at 306-3277.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Former Penny's Place diner reopens under new name

ESCAMBIA FARMS — For more than 80 years, the Youngblood family gathered sugar cane before winter and produced a southern delicacy called syrup using a cane mill that has been a part of the family since the 1950s.

On Nov. 17, the mill ran for the last time.

Syrup making only comes once a year for the Youngblood family since David “Ray” Youngblood passed away in 1993.

This family tradition begins with the cane mill heating up at dusk and runs until about noon.

With a pan of fresh biscuits and musical talent from Mississippi, the Youngblood family gathers together and makes about 80 gallons of syrup.

David Youngblood Jr. and his brother, DeWayne Youngblood, do most of the syrup making. Both face health issues that prevent them from continuing their father’s work any further.

“You have no idea how hard it is to do, how much work goes into making (syrup),” David Jr. said. “…I don’t think there’s anybody that’ll every come along to do it.”

The history of syrup making for David Jr. and his siblings dates back to World War I and ties into the history of Escambia Farms.

In the early '30s, the country fell into worst economic depression in history known as The Great Depression. The stock market crashed and banks began failing.

Families across the nation were suffering, many of them unable to afford food and housing. President Franklin D. Roosevelt created the Resettlement Administration, which was used to relocate families to government planned communities.

The federal government acquired land in Okaloosa County, and part of this land became Escambia Farms.

David “Ray” Youngblood, who served in World War I, and his wife Annie Mae were enlisted into the Escambia Farms project.

David Jr. said the government built houses, a school, a general store, a cold storage unit for farmers, a sowing factory and the cane mill.

With a need to make money, Ray began farming and sold his produce at the general store, which is now the Blackman County Store located on the corner of Highway 189 and Red Barrow Road.

During WWI and the Great Depression, sugar rationing became necessary, and syrup became the only type of sweets they had.

“They learned how to make a lot of things from syrup,” David Jr. said.

The Resettlement Administration fell through in 1937, but many of the programs remained through the Farm Security Administration.

Because the government project failed, David Jr. said his father and another man purchased the general store and sold syrup. The store went bankrupt a couple years later.

In the early to mid '50s, David Jr. said his parents decided to buy their own cane mill and sold syrup to farmers in the Escambia Farms community.

“They made a living, but barely,” David Jr. said.

Along with syrup, the Youngblood family farmed cotton and many types of produce on their 290 acres of land.

“You just scratch out a living where you can, and it was hard times for them,” David Jr. said. “They were just old dirt farmers.”

Ray may not have made much money off making syrup, but that didn’t keep him from continuing on.

David Jr. said his father would make about 100 to 110 gallons every day from 4 a.m. until dark.

“He did it until he couldn’t,” David Jr. said.

David Jr. and DeWayne learned the trades from a young age by watching their father make syrup. After Ray’s passing, David said making syrup once became less about money and more of a family gathering.

Emotions run high for David Jr. as he thinks about never making syrup again.

“It is sad,” he said. “Time marches on. It waits for no man.”

Not knowing this year would be the last they make syrup, David Jr. wrote in a Facebook post last year, “Now, the mill sits again silent to wait another year. Who knows when time weathers, and there will be no ‘another year.’”

Although “another year” may never come, the memories will always remain.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: The Youngbloods fire up the cane mill for the last time

CRESTVIEW — The ARC of the Emerald Coast annual poinsettia sale is in progress.

All proceeds from the sale benefit the organization, which provides care and support to people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

The deadline to order red, marble or white poinsettias is Nov. 26.

An eight-inch size costs $25 each, or purchase three for $60. Delivery is available for an additional cost, and orders must be paid by cash, check or credit card (via Square) before delivery.

Deliveries take place the week of Dec. 10.

Email ethatcher.arcec@gmail.com or call 863-1530 to order.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: ARC poinsettia sale fundraiser underway

CRESTVIEW — While many will spend Thanksgiving gathered with family and friends eating a traditional, home-cooked, meal, some opt to ditch the kitchen on Thanksgiving day and head to a restaurant.

Here is a list of restaurants and stores and their Thanksgiving Day status.

• We received an email that Pic and Save will close at 2 p.m. Thanksgiving Day.

• Walmart – open with normal hours, and the "Blitz" beginning at 6 p.m.

• Publix South – closed.

• Publix North – closed.

• Winn Dixie – open from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m.

• Hub city smokehouse – open with a Thanksgiving-style menu.

• Wayne’s Catfish House – open strictly for a buffet from 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.

• The Wild Olive – closed

• Desi’s Downtown Restaurant – closed Wednesday through Friday.

• Pounders Hawaiian Grill – closed.

• Uncle Bill’s Family Restaurant – closed.

• Emerald Isle Seafood – closed.

• Hideaway – closed.

• David’s Catfish House – closed.

• Wings of Fire – closed.

• Coney Island – closed.

• Hot Dog Shoppe – closed.

• Applebee’s Grill and Bar – open from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.

• Casbah Coffee Co. – closed.

• Starbucks – open from 5:30 a.m. to 7 p.m.

• The First Judicial Circuit courts – closed Nov. 22 and 23. Regular operations will resume Nov. 26.

• Okaloosa County Tax Collector’s Office – All branches will be closed Nov. 22 and 23, but payments can be made online at www.OkaloosaTax.com.

If you know of other businesses remaining open or closing on Thanksgiving, email news@crestviewbulletin.com or call 850-682-6524.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Crestview organizations provide Thanksgiving status

CRESTVIEW — Area organizations will offer a fresh, hot Thanksgiving meal and shelter for cold weather to those experiencing homelessness.

Thanksgiving Day meals will be served as follows:

•Mike Carroll of Hub City Smokehouse will serve a Thanksgiving-style buffet at the restaurant, located at 168 S. Main St. in Crestview.

He has provided 300 free meal tickets for the homeless to area pastors and Ann Sprague of the Crestview Area Shelter for the Homeless. Contact Sprague, 398-5670, or local pastors, to get a ticket.

•The Community of Christ church will also serve a free Thanksgiving dinner for the homeles from 11 a.m. to noon Nov. 22 at 398 First Ave. W in Crestview.

Sprague, provided information regarding shelters and meal locations. Share this information with those who might be in need.

The following Crestview shelters open at 6 p.m. and close at 7 a.m. when temperatures are 40 degrees or below.

Sunday: Lifepoint Church, 400 Ferdon Blvd. S, 682-3518.

Monday: Helping Hands house, 428 McLaughlin Ave., 398-5670. Hosted by Emmanuel Baptist Church.

Tuesday and Wednesday: Community of Christ, 398 First Ave. W., 682-7474. Hosted by Joy Fellowship.

Thursday: Helping Hands house, hosted by Woodlawn Baptist Church, 398-5670.

Friday: The Full Gospel Restoration Full Gospel Church, 383 Texas Parkway, 682-6029.

Saturday: Helping Hands house, hosted by First United Methodist Church, 398-5670.

The shelter also requests the following donations: cots, blankets, gloves, and cold weather hats. 

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Local Thanksgiving dinner, cold weather shelters available for those in need

Cecil C. Bell passed away peacefully on Monday, November 12, 2018, at the age of 94, and is in the arms of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Cecil was born November 1, 1924, in Pea Ridge, Florida, to Lafayette Barclay Bell and Eva Wade Cope Bell.  On June 24, 1966, he married Doris D. Babb, and was the father of three children.

In 1980, after 33 years, Cecil retired from the civil service at Pensacola Naval Air Station. After retirement, he enjoyed farming, raising cattle and goats, and spending time with his family. He became an active member of the Cattlemen’s Association, and named his ranch for his three children, Three Bell’s Ranch.  He was a lifelong member of Pea Ridge Church of Christ, and served as song leader for over 60 years.  He spent nine years coaching, alongside his friend, and cousin, Paul Hinson, for Pace Athletic & Recreation Association (P.A.R.A.)

Cecil was preceded in death by his parents, Lafayette Barclay Bell and Eva Wade Cope Bell; his brothers, Clarence Bell, Porter Bell, Frederick Bell and Robbie Bell; and by his sisters, Mildred Costello and Laura Mae DeLoria

Cecil is survived by his wife of 52 years, Doris Babb Bell; his children, Michael A. Bell and his wife Salena G. Bell of Pea Ridge, Florida, Cindy “Missy” Butler and her husband John L. Butler, Jr. of Pea Ridge, Florida; and Marcus W. Bell and his wife Heather D. Bell of Mobile, Alabama; his grandchildren, Cecily N. Butler of Pea Ridge, Florida, Tyler Bell and Kaitlyn Bell of Mobile, Alabama, his sister, Evelyn Neal Sharit and her husband Joe Sharit of Pensacola, Florida, and Richard A. Leslie, son of Laura Mae DeLoria; and numerous nieces and nephews.

 Public viewing will take place from 6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m., Friday, November 16, 2018, at Lewis Funeral Home, Milton Chapel (6405 Hwy. 90 West, Milton, FL 32570).

Funeral services will be held at 11:00 a.m., Saturday, November 17, 2018, with Preacher Larry Everett officiating.

Burial will follow services in the Strickland Cemetery with Lewis Funeral Home directing. A family gathering will take place immediately after graveside services, at the home of the deceased

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Cecil C. Bell