LAUREL HILL — The City Council on Tuesday voted in favor of pursuing a state grant that could give the city up to $600,000 for road repairs.

Although the council will create an ordinance that could dissolve the city with a March 2014 referendum, city leaders took steps to ensure other opportunities to repair roads — other than relying on the county, if the city becomes unincorporated — are used.

The grant the council is seeking is the Small Cities Community Development Block Grant. This will be the third straight year the council has applied for the grant.

Last year's attempt fell just one permit short, when the city lost its consideration.

"Last time we needed a storm water permit," Mayor Joan Smith said. "By not having it, we lost 100 points (in the process).

The engineer and grant writer, who worked on the grant application failed to include the permit with the necessary paperwork, Smith said.

The council learned about the city's removal of consideration last month, Council Chair Larry Hendren said.

"We got things going the right way and it would be foolish in my opinion to turn that down," Councilman Clifton Hall said, before motioning for the council to proceed in applying for the grant. The remaining council members agreed and voted in favor.

A checklist during this attempt will help ensure everything required is submitted for consideration, Smith said. The application process will begin this July.

Many council members agreed the grant would provide a timelier solution than asking Okaloosa County for assistance.

"$600,000 is a lot more than the county gets every year (for road repairs)," Hendren said.

"We are going forward with the dissolution process, we're just not rushing into it," Hendren said after the meeting.

In a December town hall, both Hendren and Co-chair Robby Adams publicly stated they are in favor of dissolving the city.

"We have rushed into things in the past and we want to make sure we do this right the first time," Hendren said.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Laurel Hill council to seek $600,000 grant for road repair

CRESTVIEW — Jimmy James, visiting from Arizona, praised Crestview’s hospitality, friendliness and local cooks’ culinary skills.

Unlike most visitors, however, James wasn’t browsing Main Street shops or sampling the city’s diverse eateries. He is homeless and visited local soup kitchens and cold weather shelters to get through the recent spate of chilly nights.

“That was a good meal,” James said, settling down for a nap on First Presbyterian Church’s sunny east side after eating at its Friday soup kitchen. A few hours later, he was a guest of the church’s cold weather shelter, where he had a hot dinner, a movie and breakfast the next morning.

“You have a pretty nice town here,” James said. “I took the cure for alcohol, so I feel a lot better. I can do it with God’s help; you have to ask him for strength. And your people here really help.”

James, who has no family, said caring people such as those he encountered in Crestview are helping him recover.

“We had 50 people for the soup kitchen today,” Rev. Mark Broadhead, the church’s pastor, said. For the evening’s cold weather shelter, the church hosted six homeless people, including James.

Ann Sprague, a Community of Christ church member, coordinates local soup kitchens and cold weather shelters through Hope Network, a group of volunteers representing several area congregations.

“We have good people in Crestview,” Sprague said. “They take care of them (the homeless). They keep an eye on them.”

Fewer people have been staying in Crestview’s shelters this year than last, she said. Typically, Crestview shelters daily serve five to eight people.

“It’s been probably down a little bit because a number of people have got places to stay and they’re no longer homeless,” Sprague said. “That’s always good.”

The range of people served is wide, and sometimes includes couples and families, she said.

“It’s not just drunks who show up,” Sprague said. “It’s people who are just down on their luck. Their husband beat them or whatever. We do have far more men than woman, but we do get women and women with children sometimes.”

Through monetary donations, Hope Network sometimes can remove a family from the streets.

“We had a mother with a 16-year-old daughter who was pregnant, a middle school boy and a 2-year-old child. They were living in her car and driving to Destin to work every day.

“She had saved money but the only thing that was keeping them from getting into an apartment was $60 for a water bill, so Hope Network paid for their water bill. That was kind of scary. A girl who was eight-and-a-half months pregnant: She could’ve had that baby at any time.”

Most local churches that host cold weather shelters also operate daily soup kitchens. Until October 2012, Sunday was the only day left unserved by a Hope Network soup kitchen. The Salvation Army stepped up and began operating its mobile soup kitchen downtown. Originally planned for the City Hall parking lot, organizers said a lack of attendance necessitated a move.

“Nobody showed up so we drove around a bit,” Lt. Jessica Welch said. “Now we park at the convenience store (Thrifty Foods) and we serve from 40 to 50 people each Sunday.”

“The churches have been just outstanding in their cooperation and coming together to take care of this problem,” Sprague said. “We do the best we can. We can always use more volunteers.”

Want to help?

Hope Network volunteers meet the third Monday of the month, except summer, 6 p.m. at Community of Christ church, 398 W. First Ave.

Donations sought include thermal underwear, cots, tents, blankets, coats, heavy socks and sleeping bags.

Call Ann Sprague, 826-1770, for information about donating supplies, money or volunteering.

Cold weather shelters

Cold night shelters open at 6 p.m. when forecasters predict weather below 40 degrees.

•Mondays: Emmanuel Baptist at First Presbyterian Church, 492 N. Ferdon Blvd.

•Tuesdays: Joy Fellowship at Community of Christ, 398 W. First Ave.

•Wednesdays: Community of Christ, 398 W. First Ave.

•Thursdays: New Beginnings Baptist Church, 412 W. James Lee Blvd.

•Fridays: First Presbyterian Church, 492 N. Ferdon Blvd.

•Saturdays: First United Methodist Church, 599 Eighth Ave.

•Sundays: LifePoint (First Assembly of God), 400 S. Ferdon Blvd.

Soup Kitchens

Baker:

11 a.m. Wednesdays, Shady Grove Assembly of God, and 6 p.m. Tuesdays at First Methodist Church of Baker.

Crestview:

11a.m. to noon, except as noted.

•Mondays: Central Baptist Church, 951 S. Ferdon Blvd.

•Tuesdays: Our Savior Lutheran Church, 178 N. Avenue W

•Wednesdays: LifePoint (First Assembly of God), 400 S. Ferdon Blvd.; and Macedonian Missionary Baptist Church, 603 Martin Luther King Ave. (11 a.m. to 2 p.m.)

•Thursdays: Community of Christ, 398 W. First Ave.

•Fridays: First Presbyterian Church, 492 N. Ferdon Blvd.

•Saturdays: First United Methodist, 599 Eighth Ave.

•Sundays: Salvation Army mobile soup kitchen, Thrifty Foods parking lot, 498 S. Wilson St. (4-5 p.m.)

Contact News Bulletin Staff Writer Brian Hughes at 850-682-6524 or brianh@crestviewbulletin.com. Follow him on Twitter @cnbBrian.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Volunteer network operates local shelters and soup kitchens

CRESTVIEW — There were laughs, hugs, balloons and cake aplenty at the First Presbyterian Church Jan. 3, when longtime member Bertha Mae Corkins celebrated her 100th birthday surrounded by family, church family and friends. Unable to find a 100th birthday balloon, friends presented her with two 50-year balloons.

Corkins was born to Martha and Alton Smith in Mossy Head in 1913, before Crestview was a city and before Okaloosa County existed. Her father worked at the Louisville and Nashville Railroad managing a stretch of track in the Mossy Head area.

After the city’s incorporation, Alton Smith became a city council member and was roads commissioner. His daughter shared his concern and affection for Crestview, and over the years was instrumental in spearheading multiple civic improvements, including beautifying the triangular median that once graced the State Road 85-U.S. Highway 90 intersection. She and her husband, Charles Wesley Corkins, helped organize the Auburn Water System.

Bertha Mae married Charles on June 6, 1933, and with her only son, Charles Jr., followed her husband around the country during his 30 years in the Navy. During World War II, she worked in the defense industry in Pensacola.

Originally an enlisted seaman, Charles Corkins Sr.’s wartime service allowed him to advance to a warrant officer, finishing the war as a lieutenant. He ultimately retired as a commander. For about a year in 1956, both Bertha Mae’s son and her husband were on active duty at the same time at the same post.

While her husband was stationed in Pensacola, Bertha Mae helped establish an enlisted wives’ club. Among other civic contributions, club members were hospital volunteers.

“She had, believe it or not, a bout with cancer in the 1940s,” Charles Corkins Jr. said. “It was surgically removed and she’s never had a problem since. She’s always been pretty healthy. I think we were healthier back then, living in the country. And she never went sunbathing. She always wore sun bonnets.”

After settling in Crestview and joining the Presbyterian Church in 1963, she helped start the Crestview Garden Club, the city’s now-defunct Music Club, was an early member of the Women’s Club, and was a founder of one of her church’s service circles.

Bertha Mae worked as a dental assistant after moving to Crestview, and was also a teacher at Bob Sikes Elementary School when it was still a wooden schoolhouse. In addition, she taught a millinery course at Okaloosa-Walton Community College, present-day Northwest Florida State College.

Today, she lives with Charles Jr. and Madelyn, her daughter-in-law, in the home he designed and built in the Garden City community north of Crestview. Bertha Mae’s seven great-grandchildren live nearby.

“My granddaughters love to have tea parties and put on Grandmother’s hats,” Madelyn Corkins said.

Madelyn said she always enjoys Bertha Mae’s stories.

“‘Some of my stories are true, and some I’ve made up, but they’re all very interesting,’” Madelyn said her mother-in-law once told her.

“She had very strong opinions about some of the presidents, not because of their politics, but because of the way they treated their wives,” Madelyn said. “She’s always been a fighter if she believed in a cause. She would come well armed. She had her facts in a row to back her up. She is gifted in so many ways.”

Although active in many community affairs and busy with her careers, “her main job was to take care of me,” Charles Jr. said with a chuckle. “She gave me a lot of freedom growing up, but she didn’t mind stokin’ my rear end if I broke the rules.”

Contact News Bulletin Staff Writer Brian Hughes at 850-682-6524 or brianh@crestviewbulletin.com. Follow him on Twitter @cnbBrian.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Reflections over a century: Crestview woman celebrates 100th birthday

CRESTVIEW — The Emerald Coast Wildlife Refuge is seeking volunteers to assist at their newly acquired facility in Crestview.

Workdays start at 9 a.m. Jan. 12, 19 and 26 at the refuge's Zoological Park (formerly the Sasquatch Zoo).

To volunteer or for details, call the refuge at 650-1880.

As weather permits, volunteers will assist with general cleanup, landscaping, fencing and facility repairs, painting, etc.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Wildlife refuge needs volunteers

 NICEVILLE — On Sunday a 50-year-old man from Kentucky and his dog had the world on a string and were rolling it down State Road 85.

Erik Bendl and Nice the Dog pushed their world – an inflatable ball about six feet in diameter – down the shoulder of the highway as they have done for over 6,000 miles across 39 states since 2007 in order to raise awareness about diabetes.

Bendl’s mother and brother-in-law both died in their 50s after suffering from the disease. His uncle, now in his 80s, was also diagnosed with the disease, but is managing it and has lived to meet his grandchildren, unlike Bendl’s own mother.

“That’s a good reason for anybody to be inspired,” he said.

View a slideshow from the road.

Watch an interview with Bendl.

Bendl started this trek in Florida – his ninth trip with the world – on Wednesday in Pensacola. He thought he might walk about 13 miles south down SR 85 on Sunday and then hitch a ride back to his van, which was parked at a gas station.

He, Nice the Dog and the ball average about one mile in 30 to 40 minutes, but it’s not about speed, he said.

“After 6,000 of those, who cares?” he said.

His time depends greatly on how often he’s stopped to talk.

“One day I’ll talk to five people all day and have meaningful, great, memorable meetings with people,” he said. “Other days dozens and dozens stop. It’ll take five hours to go two miles.”

The world is painted blue and green and emblazoned with Bendl’s website – worldguy.org. He’s recently started a foundation to raise money for diabetes research and people can read about his travels at the website.

The prop is an eye-catcher.

Doug Wilson, 32 of Crestview, had seen Bendl and the world going down U.S. Highway 90 days before and visited his website. He spotted him again on his way to work Sunday and on the way home he pulled over to stop and talk.

“I think this is great,” Wilson said.

He said his mother had been diagnosed with diabetes but was able to manage her condition with diet and exercise, and he knew a child who was recently diagnosed with the disease.

Bendl’s cheeks were rosy in the brisk wind Sunday as he stood next to the world with his walking stick to chat with Wilson. His face is lightly lined from weathering the elements over the years.

He described one particularly harrowing day in Nebraska with 40-mile-per hour winds blowing hard in his face making it difficult to push the world forward.

Ice is another obstacle. It quickly tatters the canvas wrapped around the ball.

Bendl inherited the ball from a friend who worked at a school in the late 1990s and he estimates that it’s over 30 years old.

“It had been retired from the school system long before I met it,” he said.

Bendl tries not to deflate the world during his treks unless absolutely necessary. Nice the Dog has taken to protecting it from people who might mistake it for a toy.

These days, now that Bendl has a van, his walks require he carry only the day’s essentials: dog food, patchwork and glue, a battery-powered air pump, cell phone and radio.

He said walking with the world was a natural fit for him. His mother was a state representative and public servant and both his parents were in the theater.

“I sort of have it in my bones,” he said.

Visit Bendl’s website to donate and receive updates from his travels at www.worldguy.org.

Contact Daily News Staff Writer Lauren Sage Reinlie at 850-315-4443 or lreinlie@nwfdailynews.com. Follow her on Twitter @LaurenRnwfdn.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: 'World guy' walks for diabetes awareness (VIDEO, SLIDESHOW)

DESTIN  — Retired Maj. Gen. William B. Maxson, former commander of the Air Armament Division at Eglin Air Force Base, has passed away.

Maxson died Thursday due to complications from heart surgery in Jacksonville. He was 82.

“He was always honest and straightforward,” said his wife, Nancy Maxson. “He was never self-serving. Whatever was best for the mission was the important thing.”

Bill and Nancy Maxson were married 60 years. Nancy hadn’t been exposed to military life before they were married, but the couple moved 35 times in the 32 years Maxson was in the Air Force.

“It doesn’t take much time to tear it down, but it takes a little bit of time to put back up,” she said of the moves.  

 Their daughter Suzanne was born in Texas and their son, retired Capt. Robert Maxson, was born in Kansas.

Bill Maxson flew 281 combat strike missions in Vietnam and was awarded the Silver Star, Distinguished Flying Cross and 15 Air Medals. He commanded two strategic air command wings and Lowry Technical Training Center before he came to Eglin in 1981.

One of Maxson’s lasting contributions at Eglin was the Naval Explosive Ordnance Disposal School, Nancy said.

Maxson left Eglin in 1983 retired from the Air Force in 1984.

He also was awarded two Distinguished Service Medals, three Legions of Merit and the Defense Superior Service medal.

Even after leaving the area for an assignment in Los Angeles and then retiring to Washington, D.C., the couple remembered Northwest Florida and decided to move back a few years after his retirement, Robert Maxson said.    

“He was very interested in his community,” he said. “He greatly enjoyed the people of Northwest Florida.”

They lived in Destin for several years before moving to Freeport until 2011. During that time, Maxson served on the Okaloosa County Planning Commission. He and his wife also volunteered for local organizations, particularly Northwest Florida State College, Robert said. Nancy still receives newsletters from the college.  

“They really felt that it was an important part of the community and it served the community very well,” Robert said.

About 10 months ago, the Maxsons visited friends in a community in Atlantic Beach on Florida’s east coast, fell in love with the area and moved there.

“We’ve been so blessed that you have to save some room for the next generation,” Nancy said. 

Contact Daily News Staff Writer Lauren Delgado at 850-315-4445 or ldelgado@nwfdailynews.com. Follow her on Twitter @LaurenDnwfdn.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Former Eglin armament division commander, William Maxson, dies

CRESTVIEW — Okaloosa County will have a one-time surplus book sale 8 a.m. to noon Saturday at the former county extension office on Hill Drive.

The Okaloosa County Public Library Cooperative — which represents six county libraries, including Fort Walton Beach, Niceville and Crestview — organized the sale.

“All of the books (and items) were from the bookmobile program,” cooperative coordinator Vicky Stever said. “For aficionados of used hardcover books, this will be the place to be.”

The office building previously stored titles for the bookmobile, which once traveled throughout Okaloosa until the county ended the program in 2011 due to budget cuts, Stever said.

The cooperative plans to sell thousands of titles for all ages.

“We have a large selection of large-print books for adults,” Stever said.

“They are going to be priced to sell … we are going to have some hardcover books as low as 50 cents,” she said.

The cooperative also will sell used VHS cassettes and DVDs, audio books on cassette and CD, and even wood shelving used to store the items.

Cash and checks are the only forms of payment accepted and all sales are final.

Proceeds will benefit the cooperative’s future library programs, some of which will pick up where the bookmobile left off, Stever said.

Still reaching out

The cooperative hopes a new library vending machine will help it still reach out to communities lacking easy library access.

“It’s like a Red Box, but instead of inserting a credit card, they will insert a library card,” Stever said.

In addition to books, the machine will offer DVD titles and audio books.

 “There are actually several of them throughout Florida, but none in the Florida Panhandle.”

One machine is planned for installation next month in the Baker community near Baker Heritage Museum, Stever said.

In addition, the cooperative offers virtual offerings.

Tablets — like iPads or Nooks —laptops or smart phones can access library books and read them from anywhere if they have a library card. 

The cooperative’s website, readokaloosa.org, features a digital library. Library members can read as many as five online book titles every two weeks.

“We want to reach to those in the community who may not have easy access to a public library,” Stever said.

Contact News Bulletin Staff Writer Matthew Brown at 850-682-6524 or matthewb@crestviewbulletin.com. Follow him on Twitter @cnbMatthew.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Library co-op plans Saturday book sale and book vending machine

EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE — 2012 was the year the F-35 finally took off at Eglin Air Force Base.

Not only did the military’s newest fighter jet soar into the sky over Eglin for the first and then the 700th time, but the 33rd Fighter Wing continued to ramp up its training center to become the hub for everyone learning to fly or maintain the plane.

“I think overall as a whole it was an outstanding year for the 33rd Fighter Wing and all the men and women and the accomplishments we had,” said Air Force Col. Andrew Toth, commander of the wing.

Although controversy over cost and production setbacks have plagued the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program for many years, the joint-command wing at Eglin finally was able to meet several significant milestones in 2012.

A pilot took off in an F-35 for the first time March 6. Since then, pilots have taken 739 flights, moving the jet from test flight mode to operational capacity, said Marine Col. Art Tomassetti, vice commander of the 33rd.

The base received its first Marine Corps variant, the F-35B, which was designed for short takeoff and vertical landing, early in 2012. The Marines then shipped off a crew to stand up their first F-35 operational unit in Yuma, Ariz., in November.

The first international students, from the United Kingdom, also started academic training this fall to fly and maintain their own aircraft.

The year culminated earlier this month with a visit from Air Force Gen. Edward Rice, who gave the school the official go-ahead to start graduating Air Force pilots and maintainers next year.

The program also grew dramatically at Eglin in 2012.

On Jan. 1, six Air Force variants of the plane, the F-35A, were parked in hangars. At year’s end, the fleet has grown to 22 planes: nine F-35As and 13 F-35Bs, including two UK jets.

About 26 pilots and 500 maintainers went through the program at the training center.

The program will continue to expand in 2013, Lt. Gen. Christopher Bogdan, the new head of the nation’s Joint Strike Fighter program, said during a visit to Eglin earlier this month.

“We are on a very, very large growth path at Eglin here,” Bogdan said. “As a hub for maintenance and, at least for now, for pilots, this is the center of the universe for the F-35 in terms of training. This is stop one on the road to an F-35 capability.”

The 33rd Fighter Wing should double its fleet of jets and the number of pilots and maintainers going through the program next year, Toth said.

It also will receive its first F-35C, the Navy’s variant of the jet. Dutch students also are set to begin training in January.

The 33rd faced some unique challenges to achieve what it has with the F-35.

As production slowed and the program’s progress snagged, it fell on the wing to take on a lot of the operational testing and development of a training center to keep the program moving forward.

The 33rd worked to improve the processes and procedures of the F-35 as a whole, while also getting its training program up and running, Toth said.

Bogdan said the wing has done an extraordinary job. Now, his office and Lockheed Martin, the contractor developing the new jets, have a lot of work to do to lighten some of the load.

“We’ve asked them to do an awful lot in the past year where normally a program would have been a lot more mature,” Bogdan said. “We started building airplanes maybe long before we were ready to do that, and as a result we’ve asked the maintainers here and the operators and all the base support people here to do some extraordinary things to fly these airplanes.”

After a year-long negotiation, the Pentagon announced early this month a $3.8-billion deal with Lockheed to purchase 32 more F-35s. The Pentagon’s oversight office also is taking a look at the Joint Strike Fighter program, which could cost more than $1 trillion over several decades and make it the most expensive military weapons program in history.

Tomassetti said as the program has changed and delays in production occurred, the wing’s staff made adjustments and will continue to do so.

“The F-35 world will remain dynamic and we will adapt accordingly,” he said.

He said the wing is in a unique position to feed information back to program staff about what it takes in terms of resources and costs to operate the F-35 outside a test environment.

Toth said the biggest challenge for the 33rd over the next year will be turnover of almost all of the command staff that has been there since the first aircraft arrived and have seen the program through to what it is today.

He, Tomassetti, the maintenance group commander and the operations group commander all will leave for new positions by next summer, Toth said.

He said it will be a challenge, but could also bring some improvement to the wing.

“It brings the advantage of fresh eyes to see things a little different and to be able to keep the program on track,” he said.

In his two years at Eglin, Toth said he has been amazed to see the team of airmen, marines, sailors, contractors and civilians come together to focus on the single goal of running safe and effective flying operations.

“I couldn’t be prouder of the team and the way they’ve responded to the challenges that have been put before them,” he said. “Just to be a part of that makes me so proud.”

Contact Daily News Staff Writer Lauren Sage Reinlie at 850-315-4443 or lreinlie@nwfdailynews.com. Follow her on Twitter @LaurenRnwfdn.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Eglin becomes ‘center of the universe’ for F-35 training

NICEVILLE — The Florida Trail Association's Niceville chapter has planned several outings this month. The schedule is listed below.

•8:30 a.m. Jan. 9: 5-mile hike on Eglin near Crestview. Lunch and fellowship to follow. Details: 302-528-8284.

•8 a.m. Jan. 18: four-day, three-night Walton Countybackpacking adventure on Eglin. Eglin recreation permit required.  Details: 585-5150.

•6 p.m. Jan. 22: monthly meeting, Ed’s Hometown Seafood & Steaks in Niceville.  Visitors welcome. Details: 850-654-1172.

•9 a.m. Jan. 26: 3-, 5- or 8-mile hike, Point Washington State Forest near Santa Rosa Beach/Walton County. Details:  302-528-8284.

•5 p.m. Jan. 26: 4-mile night hike, Karick Lake; dinner at Gator Café in Baker afterward.  Details: 651-0902.

For more information, visit http://choctaw.floridatrail.org.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Florida trail association's January schedule includes evening hike