CRESTVIEW — Boy Scouts of America organizational rules allow for a troop musician. A Crestview troop has taken the position much further.

Troop 773 has its own complete, eight-piece jazz band.

“It was just an idea that came across a few people,” trumpeter and Life Scout Austin Carrico said.

“At first everyone was a little skeptical about how it would turn out. But when we got together for our first meeting, it all fit together like puzzle pieces. Everybody liked it.”

Austin and his fellow band members also play for their high school jazz bands.

Austin attends Niceville High while Matthew Kannapel, Germainye Hudson, Matthew Erk, Nick Johnson, Jerry Hand, Joey Best and Nathan Behr play for Crestview High.

“They found the resources they needed and started practicing,” Austin’s dad and assistant Scout Master Kelly Carrico said.

“It’s mostly for fun, but they want to play at the next Court of Honor and other functions.”

AN UpBEAT ADVISER

One of the community resources the boys draw from is Dick Reinlie, jazz musician and owner of UpBeat Music in Crestview.

“He’s an amazing person,” Austin said. “We love how he takes time out of his busy life to help out the troop. He’s a great guy overall.”

Currently, Reinlie is helping the band master John Coltrane’s “Blue Train,” but Austin said the boys plan to add other selections to their repertoire, including the New Orleans jazz standard, “Second Line,” and Miles Davis’ “Milestone.”

Practicing twice a month, band members hope to perform in six months at Troop 773’s next Court of Honor.

“As Dick Reinlie gets them going, and they feel comfortable, and they get the momentum going, he’s going to let them take over,” Carrico said.

Carrico said to his knowledge, Troop 773 is the only Boy Scout troop in Northwest Florida with its own scout band.

“I have not seen or heard of any scout troops with a band,” Carrico said. “There is a music merit badge, which most of the boys in the band already have, but this is the first (scout troop) band I’ve heard of.”

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 Troop 773 forms region’s only Boy Scout band

CRESTVIEW — The Friends of the Crestview Library's annual fall book sale has grown too big for the library. So this weekend, the event moves to Warriors Hall in the Whitehurst Memorial Building.

The event is the “largest used book and media sale in the Panhandle," Friends Book Sale chairwoman Dot Moxcey said.

Booklovers come from surrounding counties and Alabama for the two annual sales, Moxcey said.

“People are so into this sale,” she said.

VIDEO: Here's what to expect from this weekend's book sale>>

And this weekend, they'll notice more variety. CDs, DVDs and VHS cassettes and jigsaw puzzles join hard-cover and paperback books. Book genres include cookbooks, fiction and non-fiction, children’s books, romances, large-print books, college textbooks, book sets, classics and history books, Moxcey said.

“Most books will be priced from 25 cents to $1,” she said. “All are in good-to-new condition.”

Previous book sales were held in the library’s main meeting room. As the event grew in size and popularity, books overflowed to the outdoor front porch.

After April's sale packed the available space, it became evident a new venue was needed, Friends President Rae Schwartz said.

“We’re disappointed that it’s not here at the library but we’re happy that it’s grown so much it had to move to a larger facility,” Library Director Jean Lewis said.

The sale's proceeds help fund large purchases not possible under the library’s tight financial constraints, Lewis said.

“They’ve bought computers, the mural, and two years ago, they did the Whiz Kid sculpture,” Lewis said. “Most of the things that enhance the beauty of the library, the Friends have purchased.”

Proceeds also help fund new book and e-book acquisitions, educational materials and public programs, Moxcey said.

Residents Bob and Gigi Allen have arranged piano entertainment by Crestview High School senior Morgan Seip for Friday evening’s “Early Bird Preview." The couple helped found the Friends of the Arts, which obtained and maintains the Warriors Hall grand piano on which Morgan will perform.

“Friday night is the best time to come,” Moxcey said. “We usually have 30 or 40 people waiting in line before we even open.”

Friday’s preview is $2 for non-members, but admission is free for Friends members. New members may join at the sale and receive free admission, Moxcey said. Individual memberships are $10; family membership is $15.

“Anyone that’s interested in helping out, the Friends would welcome them as members,” Lewis said.

WANT TO GO?

WHAT: Friends of the Crestview Library Fall Book Sale

WHEN: 5-8 p.m. Oct. 3; 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Oct. 4 and 5

WHERE: Warriors Hall, Whitehurst Municipal Building, 201 Stillwell Blvd., at Industrial Drive, Crestview

COST: $2 early bird entry on Friday, Oct. 3; free for Friends members

NOTES: Annual fall book and media sale benefiting the Friends of the Crestview Library. Proceeds help fund library equipment and programs. Friday’s Early Bird Preview includes live entertainment by pianist Morgan Seip.

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

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Biggest-ever library book sale outgrows the library

BAKER — This month, after more than two years' planning and searching for funding, Catholic Charities of Northwest Florida will begin monthly food distribution for needy North Okaloosa County residents.

The nonprofit considered Baker and Laurel Hill for distribution. A Crestview Rotary Club grant and the Baker Area Recreation Center’s offer of free facility use facilitated opening a Baker site, caseworker R.J. Johnson said.

Food distribution — first-come, first-served — begins at 3 p.m. every second Tuesday at the Baker Area Recreation Center. A photo ID is required.

Staffers also will be available to help qualifying residents apply for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as SNAP, organizers said.

UNDERSERVED AREA

Pat Hollarn, a former Catholic Charities board member and the Crestview Rotary Club's treasurer, said the grant the local club received from Rotary International was “a bit less” than they had applied for.

“We applied for more, but we only got $1,500, which we are expected to match in kind with labor and goods,” Hollarn said. “It isn’t enough to go through the year, but with other fundraisers we’re going to undertake, I think we’ll have enough to last the whole year.”

Catholic Charities hopes to also open monthly distribution in Laurel Hill, most likely at Laurel Hill Presbyterian Church, which has offered its facilities, Johnson said.

“Right now we are starting in Baker,” Johnson said. “Depending on funding and the need and response, we may rotate locations.”

Catholic Charities also organizes fourth-Tuesday food distribution at St. Margaret’s of Scotland church in DeFuniak Springs.

The north county site will serve an underserved population that can't get to the organization’s Fort Walton Beach food distributions, Hollarn said.

“It was so difficult for some of those people to get to the Fort Walton Beach area,” she said. “I think we will have people waiting for us when we open.”

WANT TO GO?

WHAT: Catholic Charities food distribution for needy families

WHEN: 3 p.m. second Tuesdays beginning Oct. 14

WHERE: Baker Area Recreation Center, 5503 Highway 4

COST: Free

NOTES: Photo ID required. Food distributed first-come, first-served. Staff available to help families register for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

EmailNews Bulletin Staff Writer Brian Hughes, follow him on Twitteror call 850-682-6524.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Monthly food distribution beginning in Baker

CRESTVIEW — Purl G. Adams Sr. was famous for finding ways to make things happen against the odds.

The attorney started his lifelong public service as Crestview High School's principal in 1920 and became mayor in 1922. He was a county prosecuting attorney and served in the state Legislature and Senate.

One of his first challenges was bringing electricity to the county seat through an $18,000 bond issue placed before voters.

Many superstitious homeowners feared electricity “would attract lightning and destroy their house,” Adams wrote in a short memoir transcribed by his daughter-in-law, Barbara Adams.

“The non-homeowners didn’t give a ‘hoopie,’” Adams wrote, and because any property owner could vote — and “property” wasn’t limited to land — Adams pursued their support instead.

Adams, interpreting a state Supreme Court decision granting voting rights to tax-paying property owners, informed elections officials “that anybody could vote … if they owned land, a car, a wagon, a mule, a cow, calf or even a shoat,” all of which were taxable property.

Crestview’s electricity bond issue passed by a small margin.

STREETS AND WATER

Next, Adams helped found a municipal water system with the help of “Calamity Jane,” a 300-pound sow with a penchant for knocking over residents’ outhouses.

“For the last three nights before the election, my friend would let Calamity Jane out of her pen, and the next morning there would be at least a dozen ‘shacks in the back’ turned over,” Adams wrote.

With indoor plumbing's value reinforced, voters passed the water bond measure, again by a small majority.

Paving Crestview’s streets was Adams’ next challenge. During the Depression, the Works Progress Administration furnished free labor, but the city had to provide street paving material.

“Our town had no money to buy the material,” Adams wrote. But again, the attorney found a way to secure funding.

WPA rules allocated $12 daily to use a private truck for a worksite. Crestview leaders secured 20 second-hand trucks, bringing in $240 daily to buy paving material.

“Yes, we had water, lights and streets, but our folks had no work,” Adams wrote. “In 1937, a town couldn’t build a factory, but a town could build a town hall, and if they had excess space, they could use it.”

Then came the Alatex Building, Adams’ most visible legacy and probably the first county example of government-built infrastructure to attract business.

Crestview borrowed $19,400 for its “town hall.” Local business leaders agreed to sell Adams building materials and he built the edifice for $19,400.

“I lost eight months from my law office and $850 on the contract, but it has been a life-saver for Crestview,” Adams wrote.

Today the Alatex Building houses the Florida A&M University Rural Diversity Healthcare Center.

POOL FRACAS

Adams’ last project did not become part of his legacy. In the late 1940s, he built a spring-fed public swimming pool with picnic grounds and a dancing pavilion for residents.

The main building had an observation room above the lockers, changing rooms and a snack bar.

Political rivals accused Adams of filling the pool by tapping into the city water system he helped create.

With the pool's rising operating cost, Adams shut down the park rather than entertain the accusations. Decades later, the spring keeps the pool's ruins filled with sparkling, clean water.

Purl Adams Sr. died on Dec. 5, 1966, and is buried in Liveoak Park Memorial Cemetery.

—

The Northwest Florida Daily News and the Crestview News Bulletin are producing a hard-bound, coffee-table, pictorial book to commemorate the county’s centennial. 

Pre-order it  now at http://okaloosaco.pictorialbook.com/ 

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

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Purl Adams Sr. found ways to help the county progress

CRESTVIEW — “Real People. Real Results” has been the driving idea behind United Way of Okaloosa & Walton Counties’ 2014 campaign, and it certainly held true on Sept. 18 during the Crestview Day of Caring.

The event began Friday, Sept. 12 with Fort Walton Beach Day of Caring and carried through Sept. 19, with Destin Day of Caring ending the week-long community event.

Day of Caring is a mobilization of volunteers to celebrate the spirit of giving through service by providing a morning of meaningful volunteer opportunities to individuals of the community.

Rachel Neighbors of North Okaloosa Medical Center chaired the Crestview Day of Caring with the North Okaloosa Medical Center cafeteria sponsoring breakfast. Volunteers gathered, after working throughout the community, for a catered lunch from Whataburger hosted by the GFWC Woman’s Club.

Over 109 volunteers from the Crestview community donated their time and efforts to help nine non-profit agencies with nine projects ranging from painting and landscaping to interacting with clients to building awnings over a walkway…all making an immediate and positive impact to the Crestview area.

Crestview Day of Caring volunteers included employees from Beach Community Bank; CCB Community Bank; Coastal Bank and Trust; Community Bank-Coast; Crestview Kiwanis Club; FedEx Ground; Gulf Power Company; InDyne; North Okaloosa Medical Center; Okaloosa Gas District; Payless Shoes; Publix-Crestview; ResortQuest by Wyndham; Sacred Heart Hospital-EC; and Whataburger.

During the 2014 Days of Caring, more than 840 volunteers worked together to help real people accomplish real results throughout Okaloosa & Walton counties, along with event sponsors BBVA Compass; Beach Community Bank; Carr, Riggs & Ingram; CCB Community Bank; City of Destin; City of Fort Walton Beach; Community Bank-Coast; Cox; CHELCO; Eglin Federal Credit Union; FedEx Ground; Florida Transformer; Fort Walton Beach Medical Center; GFWC Woman’s Club; Gulf Power Company; Hancock Bank; Hilton Sandestin Beach Golf Resort & Spa; InDyne; Jacobs; Kiwanis Club-Niceville/Valparaiso; McLain’s Family Steakhouse; Newman-Dailey Resorts; Niceville/Valparaiso Rotary Club; North Okaloosa Medical Center; Publix Supermarkets; ResortQuest by Wyndham Vacation Rentals; Rotary Club of Destin; Silver Sands Premium Outlets; Southern Vacation Rentals; Trustmark Bank; Twin Cities Hospital; Whataburger; and White-Wilson Medical Center.

The United Way encouraged the use of a hashtag, #uwdayofcaring, throughout the event on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: United Way organizers call the 21st Annual Days of Caring "a monumental success"

CRESTVIEW — A free workshop with training on early childhood attachment and  fetal alcohol spectrum disorders is coming to Crestview in October.

Emmanuel Baptist Church's Crestview Orphan Care ministry will host the event at 9 a.m. Oct. 18 at the church, 3252 E James Lee Blvd., Crestview.

Dr. Kristie Skoglund, Clinical Services vice president at The Florida Center, will present both sessions. A question-and-answer session is from 1-2 p.m. after the presentations.

Attendees may bring a brown-bag lunch; other refreshment will be provided. No childcare will be available.

To RSVP your attendance or for details, visit http://www.crestvieworphancare.com/cpt_events/training-workshop-series/.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Crestview Orphan Care ministry hosts training workshop series

CRESTVIEW — Runners' safety is a top concern for David Patterson, founder of the Crestview Runners Group.

After all, some of the six-week-old group's members have been in situations where 3,000 pounds of moving steel compete with their vulnerable frames.  

'A LOT OF NEAR MISSES'

"In Crestview, I've had a lot of near misses," Jennifer Chitwood Newman said. For instance, "I was able to get to the side of the car (on Redstone Avenue), so I was only clipped by the mirror as (the driver) ran off the road, slinging rocks and dirt in my face."

"In Niceville, on (Northwest Florida State College's)campus, a kid rolled through a stop sign and his fender hit my leg, but at least he  stopped  to see if I was OK," she said.

Patterson said a friend in Niceville received back surgery about a year ago after a car hit him while he was biking.

"To this day he's never been the same," Patterson said.

So when Valerie Michelle Camacho, a 17-year-old Crestview High School student, died Sept. 18 after a motorist struck her during a Sept. 16 morning jog, it hit close to home.

And the running group's members wanted to help.

HONORING VALERIE

"When the accident happened, my Facebook group lit up, (with) our group board asking for her whereabouts and if we could do anything for the family," Patterson said. "It started with flowers, then a gift basket, and then we decided we should wait to see how things were going to turn out…"

On Sept. 21, after they learned about the accident's fatal outcome, 25 Crestview area runners ran in Valerie's honor.

"That's when we met Manuel, Valerie's dad, and really started pushing for the idea of the scholarship fund," Patterson said. "We wanted something that keeps giving back to this community to honor her."

The group hopes to raise $10,000 and award at least one $500 scholarship per school year. To be eligible, Crestview High School students must be avid runners, devoted to the study of science and have at least a 3.5 grade point average, scholarship organizers said.

In just two days since the fund's establishment, the first year's award is already covered; 10 people have raised $512 at GoFundMe.

Patterson said that in addition to honoring Valerie's memory, he started the fundraising account because helping the community is important.

"Anything you do for yourself dies with you … what you do for others' lives forever," he said.

—

WHAT: Valerie Camacho Scholarship Fund. Donate here>>

—

WHAT: Crestview Running Group

WHEN: Meets at 6:30 a.m. Sundays except for Sept. 28.

WHERE: Various locations "to keep our routes new and interesting," founder David Patterson says

NOTES: Free membership. See www.facebook.com/groups/CrestviewRunning/ for more information

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

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Runners honor Crestview teen's memory with scholarship fund

Did you know the Crestview Public Library has an array of musical resources? 

Whether you are a novice wanting to learn how to play the piano, or you enjoy listening to local musicians perform, there is a bit of everything for all music lovers. 

We have CDs available for checkout and musician biographies in traditional and audio formats. There are DVDs of live concerts and books that instruct you to play piano, guitar, drums or the banjo. 

On our website’s electronic resources, you can access the Fine Arts & Music Collection with a valid library card. With hundreds of full-text magazines and journals covered in databases such as the Wilson Art Index and RILM, this collection provides resources to support research in areas such as drama, music, art history and filmmaking. 

Local musicians play from 6-8 p.m. in the library's main area every Monday and Tuesdays. If you are ready to show off your musical abilities in front a small audience, contact Sandra, 682-4432, to book an appointment. 

Check our website calendar of events for current bookings>>

Marie Garcia is the Crestview Public Library's assistant director.

—

STAFF PICKS

'How Music Works' by David Byrne

 In this reflective ode to music, former Talking Heads lead David Byrne deconstructs, explains, simplifies, amplifies and asks the reader to rid themselves of restraints when listening to music. 

Anyone who enjoys music can enjoy this book. Music's technicalities and history are explained in non-esoteric fashion, making it an interesting read for those who might have wondered why a band playing in a smaller night club might sound better than one playing at Carnegie Hall.

Throughout the book, Byrne throws in autobiographical pieces, but music is the main focus. Once you read this, you will have a better appreciation for it. 

'Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage' (DVD)

This Canadian progressive-rock trio, with a devoted cult following, is known for its eclectic style and technical abilities. 

Neil Peart, Rush’s drummer, is considered one of the greatest rock drummers of all times. Even if you are not a fan of their music, I highly suggest watching this Tribeca Film Festival Audience Award-winning "rockumentary." 

— Marie Garcia

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: CHECK IT OUT: Music lovers can enjoy the DVD, CD collection

CRESTVIEW — Emmanuel Baptist Church members know Kenneth Hancock as their children's minister, but Gracelynn Villa sees another side to him.

When she met him Tuesday, he was carrying a mock pistol and sword, portraying "Captain Jack," her favorite character from Disney's “Pirates of the Caribbean” films.

 “I love pirates,” the 8-year-old said.

Almost 40 residents attended Evening Library Time at the Crestview Public Library, where Hancock read “Do Pirates Take Baths?” by Kathy Tucker, posed for photographs, quoted movie lines and helped children make pirate hats.

Hancock has dressed as the character the past eight years.

“I do this for free most of the time,” he said. “It’s a lot of fun; I love to see the kids smile.” 

Heather Nitzel, the event organizer, said such monthly events aim to make reading fun for children.

In addition, "it makes them aware that there is a library here,” she said.  

Crestview mother Judy Riggleman said she appreciated the programming.

‘I think this is great; this is fun for the children,” she said.

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

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: 'I LOVE PIRATES': Minister by day becomes pirate by night (VIDEO)