CRESTVIEW — An event at the Crestview Public Library ended with a picnic for teddy bears and guests.

Have a cute photo of your kids out and about? They could be our next The Bulletin Kid! Email a photo with your child's name, age, hometown and a description of the action to news@crestviewbulletin.com.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Teddy bear picnic at Crestview library

NICEVILLE — The Terri Lynne Lokoff Child Care Foundation has recognized a Crestview business owner as a recipient of the 2018 Terri Lynne Lokoff/Children’s Tylenol National Child Care Teacher Award.

The winner, Northwest Florida State College student Tawanda Brown, owns the Brown Family Child Care Home in Crestview.

The foundation chooses from a nationwide pool of applicants for the early child care and education honor. Brown will receive an award of $1,000 at 7 p.m. on April 14 at a special ceremony at Marriot Courtyard Downtown in Philadelphia, Penn.

There are a total of 50 National Child Care Teacher Award recipients for 2018. Each designed an enhancement project that illustrates the educational, social and emotional benefits for the children in their care. With a grant from the awards program, Brown will implement her project, Explore More. 

“My project is based on the idea of supporting extended playing and learning across multiple domains," Brown said. "I envision boxes, which would include one or more components in each of these areas: math, science, social-emotional, physical movement (and) the arts.

"Because my children are a mixed-age group, I try to provide materials that are open-ended and adaptable for various developmental stages from simple to complex. My first box will feature 'The Mermaid' by Jan Brett and 'Big Al' by Andrew Clements," she said.

Brown previously won the SkillsUSA college competition, regional competition and state competition in Early Childcare and she was the college’s first national gold medalist at the SkillsUSA national competition.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Brown wins $1,000 child care teacher award

I never had the opportunity to shake hands with Billy Graham.

A few years back my wife and I were in the Asheville, North Carolina area and had a couple of free hours. We decided to drive to Montreat to see the area where Billy Graham lived. We roamed around the quaint little community for awhile. I asked numerous people "Where does Billy Graham live?" I was amazed at how many people either did not know or were just keeping the community secret from outsiders like us.

We had good friends in Asheville who had told about us about a road leading up a North Carolina mountain and that on the way we would pass George Beverly Shea's house. Shea sang right before Billy Graham preached for many, many years.

I finally found the post office in Montreat and went in and found someone to talk to about my search. He gave me the information I needed. He told me where to go to find the very quiet road that went a long winding way up a steep mountain. We found it and on the way up we saw a house that looked like the one my friend had described as George Beverly Shea's house. I pulled over and my wife said, "Where are you going?"  I told her, "I'm going to knock on George Beverly Shea's door. I would give anything to shake hands with him."

I had heard that Franklin Graham had bought Shea a new Chevrolet Suburban. I had also heard that the 95 year old Shea was pulled over for speeding in that new Suburban. I was told the police officer refused to give Shea a ticket saying, "My mother would never forgive me if I gave a speeding ticket to George Beverly Shea." Low and behold there was a shiny looking new Suburban sitting out behind the house. Only a dummy like me would knock on a famous person's door in hopes that he would actually come to the door. No one came to the door and I suspect that Shea and his wife didn't make a practice of opening their door to strangers. I don't know what I would have said. I probably would have stuttered and said, "Hello, I'm Glenn Mollette. I love hearing you sing," duh.

I gave up knocking on Shea's door and we proceeded up the winding mountain road. It was a very long way and I was about to give up when suddenly we came to a gate and I knew we were at the entrance to Graham's mountain home. A friend who actually visited Graham's home said, "Yes, there is a gate but once you drive past that gate you come to a real gate and fence." We didn't drive through that gate but parked the car and walked around a bit. There was nothing to see but beautiful mountain trees and scenery. We were about ready to leave and I said to my wife, "I want to pause a moment and touch this gate for just a bit." The longer I stood there touching that gate, the more tears filled my eyes. My thoughts were, "Oh God if I could just be one percent of the person that Billy Graham is then I would be hundred times more and better than I am today." I have to say it was a profound moment of my life. Finally I backed away from the gate, got in the car and we drove quietly down the mountain road.

What was it about Billy Graham? He was one single person who impacted the planet by everything that he said and did. Many years ago, there was another great preacher by the name of Dwight L. Moody. Moody was said to have shaken two continents for Jesus Christ. Moody is often remembered for saying, "The world has yet to see what God can do with a man fully consecrated to Him. By God's help, I aim to be that man. By God's grace I will be that man," he said. I believe history will attest that Moody became that man. Graham in every way, and even more, became that man Moody aspired to be as well. The Bible tells a story of a woman who had been sick for many years. She had heard that Jesus would be passing by. She did everything to get close to Jesus because she just wanted to touch him. When she did, she was healed and Jesus knew that power had gone out of him to heal the woman. Jesus said, "Your faith has made you well."

Millions of people have had life changing experiences because of Billy Graham. Yet, Graham would be the first to declare that he was simply the messenger. He had a message of pointing people to Jesus Christ. In essence what made Graham so attractive was that he pointed people to the one far greater than he. He preached a simple Bible message of God's love and about an old rugged cross where Jesus died for the sins of the world. He preached about a wonderful place called heaven. Because of Graham's simple message and beautiful Christ-filled life he became America's pastor who many of us grew up loving to hear.

I heard Graham preach several times in Cincinnati, Louisville and Atlanta. My oldest son and I heard him right after he had a fainting spell in Toronto. Word about his failing health was spreading. Graham came on to Atlanta to preach where about 8,000 of us where gathered in the Georgia Dome. He was 80 years old when he marched into that stadium and strongly stood on that platform and powerfully brought his inspiring message. What a day, what a day that was.

What a day it will be when Jesus we shall see. What a day it will also be whenever I get to meet Billy Graham. If anybody is in heaven it surely is Billy Graham. By God's grace and mercy, when I get to heaven I'm going to try again to find him and shake his hand. Of course I will try to find his famous singer George Beverly Shea and also shake hands with him.

Glenn Mollette is an American syndicated columnist and author.

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This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Shaking hands with Billy Graham

CRESTVIEW — Habitat For Humanity has received a sizable donation for the construction of a Crestview family's house. Publix donated $15,000 toward the project.

Nitsi Bennett, CEO of Habitat Okaloosa County, accepted the donation during a Feb. 26 check presentation-event at the site of the house.

“They have built an entire house, financed an entire house, about two years ago,” Bennett said, “and every single year for the past 15 years, they have given us a partial sponsor on every single house that we’ve ever built, so we love them.”

The house is for a woman who has custody of her granddaughter. Bennett said the house they were previously living in was old and in poor condition. As with other houses built by Habitat for Humanity, the family is required to participate in building the home.

“The guys are taking care of her, making sure that she doesn’t overdo it,” Bennett said. “But she’s become almost everybody’s grandmother here. She’s wonderful, and she’s got almost all of her sweat equity hours done.”

Once completed, the house will be the 60th Habitat Okaloosa County has built, including some in the same neighborhood. The house will include three bedrooms and two bathrooms, and is expected to be completed in late April or early May.

Anyone interested in helping Habitat Okaloosa County can visit www.habitatfwb.org, its Facebook page, email volunteer@habitatfwb.org or call 315-0025.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Publix donates $15,000 for new Crestview home

CRESTVIEW — A team of Crestview students is packing up its robots and taking them on the road.

The Hub City Robotics team will compete in the Northwest FIRST LEGO League Regional Championship on March 3 at Gulf Coast State College in Panama City. The team advanced by winning a local tournament held at Shoal River Middle School in December.

This isn’t students' first trip outside of Okaloosa County. Last year, they went all the way to the FIRST LEGO League Championship in Houston where they competed against teams from all over the world.

FIRST is an acronym for “For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology.” The LEGO League hosts competitions all over the country and is involved in 78 countries around the world.

Noah Steele is the team’s captain and has been competing in FLL for three years.

“My favorite part of this is probably just getting to know the theme of this year,” Steele said. “This helps me try to problem-solve and just basically use your mind and try to think of things that are out of the box.”

This year’s theme is hydrodynamics. The competition tasks teams with coming up with a real-world solution for a water-related problem. The team members invented a temperature-detecting sticker for water bottles warning people that they may contain unsafe levels of bisphenol A, a chemical commonly used in the manufacture of plastic bottles.

Casey Steele is Noah’s mother and one of the team coaches.

“It’s such an amazing thing that these kids have come up with,” she said. “When they brought all their ideas together, they kind of formed this one idea on how BPA is released when the water bottle is overheated.”

The team consists of four students who each attend different area schools. They started out together at Bob Sikes Elementary but when some of them moved on to other schools, they kept the team together by forming a new Hub City Robotics team.

Along with learning about robotics and other engineering skills, the students have to learn other real-world skills like public speaking, fundraising and entrepreneurship.

“They have to give presentations," Casey said. "They have to learn how to research (and) come up with solutions to these real-world problems. They have to practice their speaking and get along with each other. They have to get out in their community and work with each other.”

If the team wins the regional championship in Panama City, it will move on to the April 8 state invitational in Jacksonville.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Crestview kids headed to robotics competition

CRESTVIEW — The return of warm weather means that Triple B is right around the corner.

The 14th annual Crestview Blackwater, Bands and Barbeque Cookoff is 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. March 24 at Old Spanish Trail Park pavilion on Stillwell Boulevard. This is the second consecutive year the festival will be held at the park, after being moved from Main Street last year.

Last year’s event was sanctioned by the Kansas City Barbeque Society, which meant a larger venue was needed to accommodate the increased number of competitors from the previous year.

This year, the festival will be part of the Florida Barbeque Association, giving the cookoff a more local flavor.

Dino Sinopoli, the new chair of the Crestview Area Chamber of Commerce’s Triple B Committee, says using the park as a venue makes it easier to comply with the rules of the competition.

“The competition starts at five o’clock the night before, so a lot of the competitors will be out there all night cooking,” he said. “The temperature of all the meats has to be inspected before they begin, and then they have to follow the rules and regulations, and then turn in their product the next day.”

The People’s Choice competition will be returning this year with one notable change. There will be clearly marked lines for People’s Choice samples that can be purchased with a ticket and the regular barbecue lines for full purchases. Sinopoli says the change was decided on after receiving feedback about long lines at last year’s event.

This year’s Triple B festival will add a fourth B into the mix.

“It’s been the Triple B Barbecue, which is Blackwater, Bands and Barbeque and this year we’ve got beer. We’ve got a fourth dimension,” Sinopoli said. “We’ve got everything set up for liquor licenses and volunteers to run the booth.”

Alcohol sales usually raise concerns at large events, but Sinopoli says the event staff is taking precautions to make sure the festival is safe and family-friendly.

“Everybody’s taken their serving class for that to make sure it’s all done to the code of the law, and to make sure it’s a good family fun event,” he said. “Our beer is very much controlled. It’ll either be a draft beer setup or a can setup, where you have to come to one spot and purchase the beer, and that gives better control.”

Notable attractions that won’t be returning this year are the bounce house and slides. Sinopoli says the insurance costs to include them have increased, forcing the organizers to make the difficult decision of excluding them from this year’s event.

“We have to indemnify the Crestview chamber and the city,” he said. “By the time you make everybody happy, there are just some things that cannot be in there and that’s any rides.”

There will still be other family-friendly attractions at the festival. Many vendors offer games and activities for kids, like face-painting, cornhole tosses and giveaways. 

“It’s (going to) be a lot of fun for the kids and lots of good food,” Sinopoli said.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Triple B adds beer, separate lines for People's Choice

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 weekend in Northwest Florida

Did you know that you are able to check out and download digital magazines with your library card?

Thanks to our membership with the Okaloosa County Public Library Cooperative you have access to a wide variety of magazines that you can download to your phone, tablet or computer through the RBdigital platform.

Best of all, there are no due dates or waiting lists and you can check out as many as you would like simultaneously.

RBdigital features full-color, digital magazines for instant reading, mobile streaming, and mobile-app download. With personal notifications for favorite magazines, you never have to miss an issue. Some of the more popular titles include "Us Weekly," "National Geographic," "Good Housekeeping," and "Popular Mechanics." Some others include "Rolling Stone," "PC Magazine," "Car and Driver," and "Vogue."

You may also discover titles that you never knew existed, such as, "American Patchwork & Quilting," "American Craft," "Inked," "FineScale Modeler," and "Electronic Musician."

So make use of your library card and check out the titles we have to offer. Visit us at the library, 1445 Commerce Drive, or call us at  682-4432 if you need assistance.

Marie Heath is the Crestview Public Library's director.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: CHECK IT OUT: Check out digital magazines with your library card

Just this past year, we've seen natural disasters in Texas, California, Florida and Puerto Rico — and looking back even further, it's not hard to spot other traumas in virtually every part of the country. Whether it's a tornado, hurricane, flood or wildfire, you may be at least potentially susceptible to a weather-related event that could threaten your physical — and financial — well-being. How can you protect yourself?

As far as your physical safety is concerned, you're probably already aware of the steps you need to take to shield yourself and your family. And now that many alerts can be sent directly to your smartphone, you've got an even better chance to prepare for an approaching threat.

But when it comes to safeguarding your financial situation, you'll need to be ready well in advance — and the following moves can help:

•Strengthen your home. Your home is probably your biggest asset, so you'll want to do everything you can to keep it safe. In the face of a truly calamitous event, such as hundred-mile-per-hour winds or the advance of uncontrollable fire, there may not be much you can do, but in less dire circumstances, your actions can help. Your insurance professional can offer tips on protecting your residence.

•Maintain sufficient insurance. It's a good idea to review your existing homeowners or renters insurance periodically to make sure you are sufficiently covered for all possible hazards.

Keep in mind that homeowners insurance does not typically cover flooding, so you may need to purchase flood insurance from the National Flood Insurance Program. (Depending on where you live, this coverage may be required when you get your mortgage.) Also, in conjunction with maintaining your insurance, you should document your possessions, so you may want to make a video inventory as well as a written list containing descriptions and values.

•Create an emergency fund. A natural disaster can lead to a wide array of unanticipated costs: appliance repair or replacement, hotel and restaurant bills, insurance deductibles — the list could go on and on. Consequently, you'll help protect yourself and your family by building an emergency fund.

Some of this money should go into a liquid, low-risk account, but you may also want to keep a small amount of cash at home in a safe place, as ATMs and credit cards may not work during or following a disaster, when you must purchase needed supplies.

•Protect your documents. As you go through life, you'll accumulate a lot of documents — mortgage papers, insurance policies, financial accounts, tax statements and so on. If disaster strikes, you may need these documents. You'll want to store paper copies in a fireproof and waterproof box or safe at home, in a bank safety deposit box, or with a relative or close friend.

Of course, we're now living in a digital age, so you can store electronic copies of important documents in a password-protected format on a removable flash or external hard drive.

Better yet, you might want to use a secure cloud-based service. With luck, you can avoid being victimized by a natural disaster. But, as the old saying goes: "Hope for the best and prepare for the worst." From a financial perspective, that's good advice. 

This article was written by Edward Jones on behalf of your Edward Jones financial adviser.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Be financially prepared for natural disasters