Wayne Whitman, of Baker, estimates he taught music to about 10,000 children during his more than three decades as a band director.
On the weekend of Nov. 18-19, the 78-year-old retiree will be inducted into the Florida Bandmasters Association Hall of Fame at Stetson University in Deland.
The city of Laurel Hill eventually will be responsible for maintaining the roads in the future White Oak Estates subdivision, the Laurel Hill City Council agreed on Oct. 5.
Around late September, Crestview resident Pastina Cooper had most of the trees and brush removed from a small parcel she co-owns on the northwest corner of East First Avenue and Alabama Street. Accumulated trash, including a burnt mattress, also was removed from the site, where many homeless people had often previously stayed.
A suspension bridge, an historic gristmill and abundant serene scenes of nature thrill hikers on a 6.5-mile roundtrip trek by Krul and Bear lakes within the Blackwater River State Forest in northeast Santa Rosa County.
The Healthy Communities group of the Okaloosa County Health Improvement Partnership hosted a press conference on Oct. 2 to highlight October as National Pedestrian Safety Month.
“Here in Okaloosa County, between 2020 and 2022, there have been 31 pedestrian/cyclist deaths” that occurred from crashes with motor vehicles, Crestview Mayor J.B. Whitten said at the conference in the County Administration Building in Shalimar. “During the same time, there were 479 crashes involving pedestrians and cyclists, of which 65 resulted in serious injuries. It’s time to do something about these tragedies.”
In February 1996, Keith Jesperson, the serial killer known nationally as the “Happy Face killer,” admitted to an Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office investigator he was responsible for killing a “Jane Doe” in August 1994, and dumping her body near the Holt exit on Interstate 10.
Okaloosa County Commissioners Paul Mixon and Nathan Boyles, who represent commission districts 1 and 3, respectively, look forward to the results of the county’s up to $1 million “North Planning Study” that’s expected to help guide growth in the unincorporated area north of the Eglin Air Force Base Reservation.
The Okaloosa County Tourist Development Department’s recently adopted fiscal year 2024 budget includes $421,000 worth of tourist development tax money for a potential welcome center on the north end of the county.
