CRESTVIEW — The Crestview Elks Lodge No. 2624 will have its annual Exceptional Children's Day this weekend.

The free event is 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. May 12 at 5500 Elks Lane, Crestview. It is open to all children with special needs, their families and the public.

Captain Davey and his crew, and Reid Soria of Autism Sings LLC return to to provide entertainment for attendees.

Food and drinks (hamburgers, chicken nuggets etc.) will be served, and activities such as bouncy houses, face painting and water slideds will be available.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Exceptional Children's Day offers food, fun to area residents

CRESTVIEW —Okaloosa County residents who want to get involved in bringing transportation projects to their community have the opportunity to make their voices heard.

The Citizens’ Advisory Committee of the Okaloosa-Walton Transportation Planning Organization (OWTPO) currently has only 10 out of 30 seats filled. The 20 open seats can be filled by any resident of Okaloosa or Walton County.

Transportation Planning Organizations are made up of elected officials from the areas they cover, and are tasked with identifying transportation needs and recommending new projects to the Florida Department of Transportation.

"The TPO is kind of the filter organization that gives DOT direction on how DOT will spend its money," Nathan Boyles, current vice chair of the TPO, said. Boyles is one of four Okaloosa County Commissioners that sit on the board. The rest are elected officials from throughout both counties, including three Crestview city council members.

The organization makes long-range planning decisions on transportation projects and prioritizes them before sending them off to FDOT.

Projects that are approved by the TPO are added to a needs list, and then a shorter list of cost-feasible projects if they are determined to have a reasonable probability of being funded.

One place those projects can get their start is the Citizens’ Advisory Committee. Citizens who sit on the committee are tasked with making recommendations that are then reviewed by the elected officials on the main body of the TPO.

"The folks who sit on the CAC have the ability to make recommendations on things that the TPO should be looking at," Boyles said.

Major transportation projects aren’t the only things that come out of the TPO. Smaller projects like bicycle and pedestrian paths, intersection improvements and other safety projects originate with the TPO as well.

The advisory committee is looking for people who are interested in helping find constructive solutions to transportation issues in the area.

"From my perspective, I want the Citizens’ Advisory Committee to be made up of citizens who are interested in the traffic challenges that face Northwest Florida and have an eye towards improving the system to provide for the likely future growth of our community," Boyles said.

The committee meets six times a year at 9:30 am, typically on Thursdays. This year, the meetings rotate between DeFuniak Springs and Shalimar. The next meeting will be held June 21 at the Walton County Courthouse in Defuniak Springs.

Anyone interested in joining the Citizens’ Advisory Committee can contact Annie Walthall, public involvement officer for the TPO at 850-332-7976, extension 281, or by email at annie.walthall@wfrpc.org.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Citizens can impact local transit needs

CRESTVIEW — Grady Cadenhead, a long time resident of Crestview, will be 100 years old on May 9.

He will celebrate with family on May 5 at a luncheon in his honor.  Friends and church members will honor him during Sunday church service at Auburn Pentecostal Church on May 6.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Crestview man turns 100 years old this week

Sunn hemp is not related to industrial hemp or marijuana. It is actually in the genus Crotalaria but it is not toxic to livestock like Crotalaria spectabilis.

Sunn hemp is a fast growing, warm season annual legume. It grows 6-7 feet tall and can tolerate a wide range of soil pH levels (5.0-8.4). The legume is native to India and Pakistan.

The University of Hawaii and the U.S. Department of Agriculture Natural Resource Conservation Service worked together to release the variety called Tropic Sun in 1982. This variety only makes seed during periods of short day length and with proper temperatures, which limited seed production.

Recently, Auburn University released AU Golden and AU Darbin that are able to produce seeds in more temperate climates.

Since sunn hemp is a legume, it fixes more than 120 pounds of nitrogen from the environment per acre per season. It can yield 3,000 to 10,000 pounds of forage per acre. Also it grows in low-fertility soils and fertile soils. These qualities caused us to evaluate it as a forage for livestock as well as using it as a cover crop and wildlife food plot.

The advantages of using sunn hemp as a cover crop are the large amount of biomass produced per acre, nitrogen fixation, nematode suppression and weed suppression.

Because it grows well in low fertility situations and low pH, hunters have used it for wildlife food plots. We have found that it is an acquired taste but high in crude protein (CP) and total digestible nutrients (TDN).

Sunn hemp is an interesting option for livestock warm season annual grazing. The leaves are 25-30 percent CP, with TDN of 65-71 percent. The stems are much lower quality at 8-10 percent CP and 22 percent TDN. Grazing and forage management should focus on maximizing leaf-to-stem ratio.

Plant sunn hemp once soil temperatures have reached 65 degrees Fahrenheit. Use a seeding rate of 25-30 pounds per acre and planting depth of 1/4 of an inch to one inch.

Don’t forget the cowpea type inoculant. Soil test for phosphorus and potassium prior to planting and apply these nutrients based on the sample results. Start grazing at 1.5-3 feet tall and stop grazing at 1-1.5 feet tall.

Because of its high quality, sunn hemp works when limit grazed (1-3 hours/day), along with grazing perennial pastures.

Seeds contain small amounts of alkaloids, so they s should not be part of livestock diets. Small amounts consumed while grazing are not enough to cause acute toxicity. The leaves and stems are not toxic to livestock.

Contact me at bearden@ufl.edu or 850-689-5850 for more information on sunn hemp as a forage.

Jennifer Bearden is an agent at the University of Florida's Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences Extension office in Crestview.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: The many uses of sunn hemp

CRESTVIEW — Construction has advanced enough on a new Crestview assisted living and memory care community that reservations are being made.

Eden at Crestview, to be located at 575 Redstone Ave. W. in Crestview, is going to be 45,500 square feet and provide living space to 70 residents.

Eden Executive Director Alan Woods said the community will employ 30 or more staff members. They will provide a maintenance-free lifestyle for seniors who enjoy active lifestyles, comfortable accommodations, southern hospitality and personal support services, according to Woods.

Amenities include a dining room with restaurant-style dining, a bistro with bar, salon, library, activities room, sitting areas and a card room.

Eden at Crestview will provide community updates at a local restaurant for those who have reserved an apartment, their loved ones and people interested in assisted living/memory care who would like to know more.

Email Woods at alan@livingateden.com for information on Eden at Crestview, a brochure listing its services, or to get the community updates newsletter.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Eden at Crestview to provide assisted living and memory care

CRESTVIEW — The Crestview city council held a special meeting Monday night to discuss adding proposed changes to the city’s charter to the August 28 primary election ballot. The council favored two separate ballot questions for deciding on the form of government and deciding whether the city or voters would select the city clerk.

The proposed change would replace the current “weak mayor” form of city government with a city manager form of government. Under that system, a city manager would be appointed by the city council to run the day-to-day operations of the city. All department heads would report to the city manager.

There has been some debate over whether to include a provision in the ballot question that states the city clerk would be appointed instead of elected, or to allow voters to decide that issue in a separate ballot question.

Scott Shirley, a Tallahassee attorney who is contracted by the city, urged the council to present a single ballot question that includes the city clerk provision.

The council members in attendance, however, had reservations about doing so due to previous failed attempts to change the city charter. City Council President JB Whitten referenced a previous council meeting where Supervisor of Elections Paul Lux told the council that the attempt to amend the charter in 2012 failed due to “voter fatigue and the amount of information in the referendum item.”

Council members argued that including the city clerk provision would be unfair to voters who might want to adopt a city manager form of government, but would prefer an elected city clerk over an appointed one.

“If you have these things tied together and you don’t like one thing, you’re going to vote no against the whole thing, and you just shot it down,” Whitten said.

Councilman Shannon Hayes echoed Whitten’s concerns.

“To be fair to all the citizens, we definitely need a separation between the clerk and the form of government with the manager,” Hayes said.

Shirley suggested that if the single ballot question failed, it could be brought up again as multiple questions on a future ballot.

“You can have a single ballot question that approves the entire charter,” Shirley said. “If it doesn’t pass, then you can have additional ballot questions on specific issues of importance.”

Councilman Doug Faircloth raised the issue that the questions would then be on a municipal election ballot, which he said have had low turnout in the past. The council targeted the August 28 primary ballot because of its historically higher voter turnout.

“I think this is about the fifth stab at this,” Faircloth said. “Everybody has worked long and hard on this and I sure would hate to see it fail just because they disagreed with one thing in that one question.”

Shirley also raised the concern that he would not have enough time to come up with two separate questions for the ballot. The deadline to have the questions to the supervisor of elections is June 15, making the deadline for the council to have the first reading of the ordinance May 14, just two weeks away.

Whitten said he was concerned that any delay could cause the question to not be approved in time to make it onto the August 28 ballot.

“I’m going to use every ounce of my body to make sure that doesn’t happen,” Whitten said.

Shirley talked about the difficulty involved in coming up with two questions on short notice.

“It is going to require some significant wordsmithing to make that happen, to make separate ballot questions happen,” Shirley said. “We can give it a shot to see if we can crank it out quickly enough if that’s what you want to do.”

Whitten then pointedly asked Shirley if he could get the job done within the timeframe.

“I don’t want you to give it a shot,” Whitten said. “If you think you can’t do it, then we’ll find someone that can, because we want this on the August 28 ballot. That’s what we want.”

Shirley said he could do it.

The council then voted unanimously to have Shirley come back with two separate questions by the May 14 city council meeting.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Council discusses city charter changes

CRESTVIEW — Officials from local and state agencies will convene for a workshop this week to discuss plans for a bypass around Crestview.

The workshop will take place at 10 a.m., May 3 at Warrior’s Hall with representatives from the Crestview City Council, Okaloosa County Board of Commissioners and Florida Department of Transportation in attendance

State senators and representatives from the area will also be there, including Senator George Gainer, who is expected to chair the meeting. Representatives from Eglin Air Force base were invited to attend, but have not been confirmed at the time of this writing.

The main goal of the workshop is to get all of the invited government agencies to reach a consensus on a plan to relieve traffic along state road 85 in Crestview.

A conceptual plan that shows a future bypass looping around the city will be discussed as part of the presentation. Some of the groundwork for the bypass is already approved and underway, including widening PJ Adams Parkway and building a new interchange along Interstate 10 at Antioch Road.

City Council President J.B. Whitten, who helped organize the workshop, said there is a need to get each agency on board with one plan that encompasses each project involved in the traffic plan.

“I won’t say that everything we’re trying to do is going to die if we don’t get a consensus, but I would say that we’re going to lose a lot of impact if we can’t reach an agreement on this,” Whitten said.

Whitten's hope is that by the end of the meeting, he said, each agency is focused on the same plan for future traffic improvements, which he says should help the process move faster.

“I’m not going to say that all this stuff is going to go away if we don’t do that, but I think it’s going to get dragged out,” he said. “It’s going to go through the same process it’s going through now. You look at the dates on that … it’s not going to happen in my lifetime if we keep doing it this way.”

The transportation workshop will be open to the public and officials encourage participation.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: State, local officials to talk about traffic solutions

CRESTVIEW — Turnout was strong for Crestview’s second annual Strawberry Festival on Saturday.

The event, which was held April 28 on Woodruff Avenue between Main Street and Wilson Street in downtown Crestview, saw a steady flow of people throughout the morning. The weather was perfect for a festival, with clear, blue skies and temperatures hovering just under 80 degrees.

“We have the best turnout that we could ask for,” Sandra Wilson, Main Street Crestview Association program manager, said. “Everybody seems to be super happy.”

The festival featured more than 30 craft vendors, live music and of course, strawberries. Some of the crafts on display included artwork, woodworked items, soaps, jewelry, purses and food items like honey and cupcakes. The one thing they all had in common: They were all handmade.

Most of the vendors were from around the Crestview area, but there were also vendors set up from Alabama and as far away as Michigan.

Dan Wright, an author traveling the country to promote his series of children’s books, is from Grand Rapids, Michigan. His books are targeted at young boys to encourage them to get into reading. He has been on the road for four weeks and has made stops all around the south, including the Strawberry Festival.

“It’s a great festival, it seems like everybody came out to support it,” Wright said. “It’s been awesome. I really appreciate everybody stopping by the booth, asking questions and buying lots of books.”

Larry Hunter, who is from Crestview, came to the festival to sell his handmade cedar products.

“I’ve got cedar chests, cedar jewelry boxes, cedar birdhouses, cedar everything that you can think of, all made out of aromatic red cedar,” Hunter said.

Hunter was pleasantly surprised by the turnout, saying he was told to expect around 3,700 people to show up over the course of the festival, which ran from 9 am til 3 pm.

Last year’s Strawberry Festival, the inaugural event, was a much smaller affair. This year’s event met the demand for a downtown springtime festival.

“We didn’t have anything in Crestview in the spring after the Triple B, so we wanted to bring something in,” Wilson said.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Strawberry Festival highlights local craft vendors

CRESTVIEW — An Olympic medalist returned to Crestview this week, her hometown of 10 years.

Mayor David Cadle presented Mia Manganello with a key to the city at an April 24 ceremony at Warrior’s Hall. County Commissioner Graham Fountain also issued a proclamation declaring the day Mia Manganello Day.

“It’s overwhelming; it really is,” Manganello said. “You leave and you don’t really expect people to remember you, and then to come back and just be overwhelmed by their love and support, it’s magical. It’s better than having the medal.”

Manganello was part of the U.S. Women’s speed skating team that won the bronze medal in the team pursuit event at the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang. It was the first medal for U.S. Women’s speed skating in 16 years.

It was an event the team wasn’t even supposed to compete in originally. The U.S. team was the last team out in qualifiers, but Russia was unable to field a team due to a doping scandal involving Russian athletes. Manganello and her teammates learned that they would be competing in the event just two weeks prior to the start of the Olympics.

“We had no idea how we would do because we’d never raced together,” Manganello said. “It helped having this mindset where we didn’t have expectations going to the line.”

Manganello, whose parents still live in the area and own a pizza restaurant in Valparaiso, gave an emotional speech crediting her parents and their sacrifices for her success.

“I really tried to hold it together, and then I turned around and saw my mom,” Manganello said after the event. “She cries. I cry. Done. Every time.”

It was an emotional return to the area for Manganello, where she spent the first years of her life before moving away at the age of 10 to jumpstart her skating career.

“To have each and every one of you here is absolutely amazing,” Manganello said, holding back tears as she addressed the audience.

Mayor Cadle introduced two of Manganello’s former elementary school teachers, Leigh Campbell and Jill Adams. Both still teach at Walker Elementary School.

“Community means so much to us. Where you start out really has a big place in your heart,” Cadle said.

After the event, Manganello stayed to take pictures and autograph flyers for fans. She said she enjoyed the idea of helping to inspire children and give them some extra encouragement to pursue their goals.

Manganello was surprised by how many people came out to support her, and was appreciative of the people from the town she once called home.

“It means the world to me to have their support. It’s just crazy how much love they have for me,” she said. “That love that you feel is something else, and I hope everybody in life feels that at some point.

“I’ll live wherever I end up, but Crestview will always be my home.”

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: 'Crestview will always be my home'

CRESTVIEW — If you have an event you would like to submit, send your first and last name and information about the event to news@crestviewbulletin.com.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: 3 things to do this week in Northwest Florida