CRESTVIEW — Concord Lodge No. 50 members honored first responders and educators for their service to the Crestview community at their Family Night Oct. 29.
Each individual was nominated by his or her supervisor for exemplary performance.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Concord lodge announces Oct. 29 community service honorees
FORT WALTON BEACH — Voters on Tuesday returned incumbent Wayne Harris to his District 1 seat on the Okaloosa County Commission.
Harris, a Republican, won 62,430 votes, or 72 percent, to challenger Ron Connor’s 24,108, or 28 percent, according to unofficial election results.
“I’m very thankful to the voters,” Harris said. “I appreciate that they have confidence in me.”
Harris, the executive director of the Crestview Area Chamber of Commerce, was first elected to the board in 2008. Connor, a Democrat, lost to Harris that year.
In his second term, Harris said he plans to concentrate on maintaining infrastructure, public safety and security.
“My focus has never changed,” he said. “In my opinion that’s what government is supposed to provide — those things that citizens can’t provide for themselves.”
Harris said his top priority is to build the new access road to Bob Sikes Airport in Crestview. Also on his list is paving Okaloosa Lane and several other dirt roads in the north county.
Harris said he is not “necessarily” focused on quality-of-life issues because the county doesn’t have the money to funnel to those areas.
“It’s hard to go out to eat when you can’t pay the rent,” he added.
UNOFFICIAL VOTE TOTALS
County Commissioner District 1
Harris — 62,430
Connor — 24,108
Baker Fire Commissioner Group 2
Brewer — 786
Cosson — 681
Destin Fire Commissioner Group 2
Moore — 4,820
Scoper — 2,849
East Niceville Fire Commissioner Group 5
Brunson — 1,572
Martin — 757
North Okaloosa Fire Commissioner Group 1
McGirr — 5,117
Rathbun — 4,496
Skarzynski — 3,625
Sauls — 3,061
Contact Daily News Staff Writer Kari Barlow at 850-315-4438 or kbarlow@nwfdailynews.com. Follow her on Twitter @KariBnwfdn.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Harris keeps Okaloosa commission seat with 72 percent of votes
Election Day has passed, so you can uproot campaign signs, peel off bumper stickers, watch the news for pundits pounding each other and — apparently — engage in Facebook flame wars and cut off childhood friends and classmates because they typed impassioned status messages.
Status messages you disagreed with, that is.
Facebook users unfriend, block or hide friends one-fifth of the time due to politics, according to a Pew Internet and American Life Project survey.
A statistic like that speaks volumes about this country’s political tension and underscores the hypocrisy of self-proclaimed tolerant citizens.
Is it very tolerant to sever ties with someone due to their stances on hot button social issues?
How “united” is this country, or our local community, if we can’t bear the mere sight of differing views — whether they’re Democratic or Republican, or deal with, either way, abortion, gay rights or gun laws. A sight, I might add, that we can easily scroll through and move past, in Facebook’s case.
What does it say about someone who freely gets on a far-reaching digital soapbox and spouts his or her own views willy-nilly, and expects dissenters to ignore the conversation — not weigh in? Someone who, in the worst-case scenario, bans different-minded friends from giving input.
Certainly, many Facebook friends aren’t our close friends at all; they’re former coworkers, friends of exes, high school or college classmates we never spoke to and even some strangers find a way in. However, I have friends whose extended family members and close friends have unfriended them — a symbolic, digital excommunication — based solely on political postings.
It might sound silly, but unfriending someone, especially in Facebook Land, is a big deal. Complex psychological issues — and, ironically, political consequences, if you’re networking — relate to rejection, of course, but we won’t get into that right now.
Unfriending someone over politics is just petty.
After all, who wants to live in an echo chamber? I’ve always actively sought out different opinions. I watch Fox News, MSNBC and CNN to get the whole story and hear interesting opinions from all sides. Reasonable people, whether they lean politically right or left of center, know that contributing to the proverbial marketplace of ideas, and allowing the free flow of information, regardless of its source, only helps things.
Isolation is dangerous because we understand people better when we understand the things that make each of us different. In turn, we have a better chance of getting along with them, despite their differences. That builds community.
Isn’t it funny how children sometimes know more than adults? They can give nicknames like “know it all” and “smarty pants” — or whatever the slang terms are these days — to those who, essentially, are close-minded.
If only their parents, who too quickly call different-minded people backward, pigs, Nazis or even Taliban members, would remember that they, too, are myopic and ultimately ignorant when they stick their heads in the sand.
Thomas Boni is the Editor of the Crestview News Bulletin. Email him at tboni@crestviewbulletin.com, tweet him @cnbeditor, or call 682-6524.
What's your view? Email news@crestviewbulletin.com with the subject "My view." Letters must be 250 words or less and written on local issues.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: EDITOR'S DESK: The petty practice of unfriending over politics
CRESTVIEW — Among fans in the bleachers for the big Friday night football game against Niceville were visitors from Noirmoutier, Crestview’s French sister city, including 21 students attending with their local host families. Before the kickoff and to the roar of appreciation from the crowd, René Relandeau, president of the Noirmoutier Sister City Committee, and Crestview High Principal Bob Jones took a moment to exchange gifts of appreciation.
Relandeau presented a plaque bearing the people of Noirmoutier’s “grateful appreciation for many years of friendship, hospitality and support for our young people,” while Jones presented the French guests with a bronze Bulldog sculpture.
“I thank the people of Crestview, particularly the host families and everyone who’s taking care of us,” Relandeau said through Crestview High French teacher Chris Lanoue, who interpreted his remarks.
“Without all these people helping us, we couldn’t do what we’re doing now: to bring 21 young people from France to be immersed in American family life, language and culture,” Relandeau said. “It is a discovery and a dream come true. It is not a superficial trip like a tourist. It is living like an American. We hope our American friends from Crestview have the same experience in Noirmoutier.
“We give this plaque to Crestview High School in the hopes that the students here will think of their friends across the Atlantic. Since the days of Lafayette and through two world wars, Franco-American friendship continues through our young people of both nations.”
In addition to the host families sharing in their French guests’ experience, it was a special evening for members of the Crestview High Junior ROTC color guard. Jessica Falls proudly held aloft the Tricolor, the blue, white and red French flag, during the playing of both countries’ national anthems.
“I think holding the French flag is sharing the culture of the United States with our visitors, because we’re a big melting pot,” Jessica said. “We are all from different backgrounds.”
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Crestview High receives accolades from French sister city
CRESTVIEW — Okaloosa County Master Gardeners President Marge Stewart suggested increased professionalism and workplace pride are just some benefits of the University of Florida/IFAS Okaloosa County Extension service’s new $1 million office building.
“There’s room for everybody to do their stuff. We’re not embarrassed to have people visit anymore. We’re not climbing over people who are trying to answer the phones. This is amazing!” she said.
With the snip of a red ribbon, the extension service’s days of operating from a cramped, outdated former fairgrounds shed are officially over. Extension staff and equipment completed the move from Old Bethel Road in time for the new facility’s official opening Monday morning.
“In that short period of time, it’s about killed us,” Family and Consumer Sciences agent Elaine Courtney said. “But we did it.”
After Gerald Edmondson, previous extension director and the building’s namesake, snipped the Crestview Area Chamber of Commerce ribbon, the crowd toured the building. Bob Bayer greeted guests in the testing lab, a facility he no longer must share with Master Gardeners operating phones to answer resident questions.
Marine Sciences agent Brooke Saari proudly showed her new office and storeroom to guests.
“When I first met her, her office was a hallway,” County Commissioner Wayne Harris said. “That’s what prompted much of this.”
Moving to the new building was a collaborative effort.
Master Gardeners provided landscaping. Donations of time, money and plants, including foliage from the Niceville and Destin garden clubs, enhance the building.
AVCON Engineers and Planners, donated engineering services. Airports Director Greg Donovan donated airport-owned land. Mike Moulton and Linc Grant, whose construction companies built the building, also received thanks.
“This was a community effort,” state Sen. Greg Evers, R-Baker, said. “It started out as an idea by Gerald Edmondson but it became a community effort. Enough can’t be said about a community that works together.”
Development
The new building rose on Airport Road in just seven months, though the journey to Monday’s ribbon cutting and dedication began in the 1990s under Edmondson’s guidance.
Edmondson said much of the credit should go to area legislators, including former state senator, Dr. Durrell Peaden, and his successor, Evers. Evers, a local farmer, was on a late-1990s advisory committee researching construction of the new facility prior to his election to office.
“He’s been a strong advocate for us, he and Sen. Peaden,” Edmondson said.
The new facility cost nearly $1 million, most of which a $750,000 Florida Department of Agriculture Consumer Services grant paid for by matching county funds, donated land and in-kind services. Larry Williams, Edmondson’s successor, served as project manager.
During the dedication ceremony, Evers read a state proclamation formally naming the Gerald Edmondson Okaloosa County Extension Office.
“This is something I never in my wildest dreams ever expected,” Edmondson said.
“Even though Gerald is retired … he keeps a close touch with the farmers in our area seeking advice on farming issues, and just to keep in touch with an old, dear friend,” the proclamation stated.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: New county extension office dedicated
BAKER — When the chips are down, it means Bill Alford or Carl Commander are making another cypress shingle.
The men returned to the Baker Heritage Day festival and, as in years past, their artisanship and skill were top attractions during a day in which traditional local culture was front and center.
Using traditional tools and methods, the men sent wood chips flying through the spicy-scented air, the fragrant aroma of freshly hewn wood rising as they shaved each shingle precisely to size.
Nearby, an old-fashioned John Deere motor sputtered along, churning the dasher inside a large wooden ice cream bucket. The warm, sunny day made the cold treats especially welcome to Rebecca Smith, 7, who smiled as she sampled a dish and pronounced it “good!”
Organizers from the North Okaloosa Heritage Association, which produces the annual event at the Heritage Park adjacent to their Baker Block Museum, were pleased with the turnout; a News Bulletin reporter observed an estimated 200 patrons while attending. But museum and association Director Ann Spann said attendance didn’t reach past levels.
“We’ve had more people before but there were so many events that day,” she said. “But we were happy and I think everybody enjoyed it.”
While wood chips flew around Alford and Commander, on the other side of the park, sparks flew as smithies hammered glowing metal heated in a small forge with a hand-cranked blower. Inside the cabins, costumed re-enactors demonstrated domestic tasks, including churning fresh butter from cream, making applesauce and toffee, quilting and spinning yarn.
From the music tent came the sounds of area musicians, including the Convalescent Crooners, a group that frequently performs in nursing homes. Crestview personality and long-time Main Street barber Mack Brooks and his band closed the festival with fiddling and songs he’s sung on the Grand Ole Opry stage in Nashville.
Colonial frontiersman re-enactor John Butler took a break to sway on the dogtrot house’s porch swing until Danny Turner and his pals, Hunter Polhlopek and Wyatt Shumway, came along and asked to look at Butler’s muzzle-loading rifle.
Danny, a member of Baker School’s Junior ROTC battalion, confidently hoisted the heavy weapon to his shoulder and drew a bead on a distant target.
“This gun stays where you aim it,” he said.
The number of vintage automobiles on display increased this year, with a collection of Ford Model A’s and at least one Model T parked under the shade trees across the side driveway. A petting zoo, including owls from the Emerald Coast Wildlife Refuge, and a duo of rare Staffordshire pigs, was nearby.
Attendees browsed crafts and homemade jams, jellies, honey, produce and scented molded soaps — the latter was a byproduct of the pigs’ predecessors from the same farm. Brothers from Munson Red Rock Masonic Lodge fried crisp pork cracklin’s.
The heritage association noted brisk sales of its new “Lost North Okaloosa” calendar, a fund-raiser for the non-profit organization that features historic north county photos.
The calendars are still on sale at the museum.
VIDEO: See "Related Media" at top left of this article.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Heritage Day in Baker (VIDEO)
CRESTVIEW — When Buster and Belle come home, they usually bound from the car to the front door. However, unfamiliar with their new home in northeast Crestview, Courtney and Aaron Huffstutler’s pooches bolted into the woods after a day outing.
Giving more meaning to “home delivery,” a pair of nearby Papa John’s Pizza employees helped reunite the dogs with their anxious owners Thursday morning.
“We took them to the beach Sunday and we pulled back up to the house,” said Aaron Huffstutler, who last week moved to Crestview from Gadsden, Ala., with his spouse, Courtney. “For ten years, they usually run straight to the house. I opened the car door and, this time, they bolted straight to the woods.”
“We’ve only been here a week,” Aaron said. “We didn’t know what to do. We didn’t know anybody.”
After three days, Buster, a Staffordshire and Labrador mix, and Belle — “she’s kind of a mutt,” Aaron said — were found late Wednesday night by Miranda Garnett and her boss, Scott Winstead.
“She found them all the way over on Airport (Road),” Courtney Huffstutler said. “She knew she better pick them up because that’s a dangerous road.”
“Miranda was on her way to work and I had just got off my shift,” Winstead said. “I helped her get them into the car. Buster was huge! We drove around trying to find someone who lost the dogs. Miranda felt bad enough for them and she wanted to do the right thing. I had just lost my dog recently so I know how they (the Huffstutlers) must feel.”
While Garnett took Buster and Belle home to Baker for safekeeping, Winstead, who had taken photos of the dogs, worked on “found dogs” posters. Aaron Huffstutler worked on posters of his own.
“I put out over 200 fliers around town and put it on Craigslist,” he said. “It’s funny, because I told my wife and she said if I had put on the flier there was an eight-month pregnant lady looking for the dogs, there’d be an APB (all points bulletin) out all over town.”
Courtney, expecting the couple’s first child in January, said her husband’s fliers and website posting paid off.
“(Wednesday) night about 10:30, a lady over in Baker called and said, ‘I know it’s late and I’m sorry, but I got your dogs,’” Aaron said.
Winstead said Garnett’s rescue was typical of her caring nature.
“Miranda is such a sweet girl,” he said. “She’s always trying to help out people.”
The dogs seemed excited to reunite with the couple the next morning, Aaron said.
“Oh my Jesus, they ran around and around for an hour, I think,” he said.
Aaron Huffstutler said the experience has been a crash course in discovering the warmth of their new hometown.
“I met a lot of good people since this happened,” he said. “Everybody we talked to promised to look out for the dogs. One older man said he’d keep an eye out for them during his morning walk.”
As for the adventurous dogs, Buster and Belle won’t be quite as free to explore on their own outdoors.
“I promise you, from now on, I’m hooking them to their leashes and they aren’t running to the house on their own any more,” Aaron said. “I learned my lesson.”
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: Pizza shop workers return Crestview newcomers’ wayward dogs
CRESTVIEW — Shawna Marie Beitler and Kenneth Tyrone Grant Jr. will wed Nov. 6 at the Twin Hills Park gazebo in Crestview.
Do you have a wedding, engagement or anniversary announcement? Email it to news@crestviewbulletin.com.
Publication is free for north Okaloosa County residents.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Wedding ceremony for Beitler and Grant Nov. 6 at Twin Hills Park
CRESTVIEW —Okaloosa County Master Gardener Bill Buckellew won the Personal Communications Award at the 32nd Annual Florida Master Gardener Continued Training Conference on Oct. 3. Okaloosa County residential horticulture agent and UF/IFAS County Extension Director Larry Williams presented the plaque.
Buckellew is the sixth Master Gardener in the county to win this award, annually presented for knowledgeably answering residents’ landscape questions pertinent to Northwest Florida. Candidates are tested with a telephone call from the University of Florida State Master Gardener Coordinator Tom Wichman.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Okaloosa County Master Gardener recognized for landscape knowledge
CRESTVIEW — An SUV caught fire about 6:30p.m. in the northbound lanes of State Road 85 near the intersection of P.J. Adams Parkway Friday night.
The driver stepped out of the vehicle when it caught fire. There were no injuries. Northbound traffic was stopped until the fire was extinguished by the Crestview Fire Department.
View a slideshow of the car fire.
View a video from the fire.
Contact Daily News Staff Photographer Nick Tomecek at 850-315-1426 or ntomecek@nwfdailynews.com. Follow him on Twitter @NickTnwfdn.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Car catches fire Friday night in Crestview (slideshow, video)
