CRESTVIEW — Which industry accounts for the biggest percentage of Florida’s economy?

If you guessed tourism, go to the back of the class.

“Agriculture is the No. 1 economic driving engine in the state of Florida,” state Sen. Greg Evers told a gathering of regional farmers Thursday.

Evers, R-Baker, was the opening guest speaker at the Veteran and Small Farmers Workshop hosted by the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences Okaloosa County extension.

“They want to tell you tourism is number 1 in Florida,” Evers said. “The only reason that tourism is number 1 in Florida is because of the fact they will not add forestry in with the other agricultural products that we produce.”

Evers said most of the state’s agriculture is produced on small family farms of 200 acres or less, and accounts for 57 percent of the state’s economy.

He covered several themes during his address:

FAMILY SAFETY

Saying, “If there’s any attacks, it needs to be on foreign soil,” Evers — whose campaign for Congress recently gave away a customized rifle — addressed domestic and world safety concerns.

“Let’s face it, our world today, over the past few weeks, has become chaos,” he said. “The acts of terrorism (are) beyond anything. I encourage you all to be prepared to protect yourself.

“What I am saying, if you call law enforcement, the normal reaction time is three minutes. Up where we live, it can take them 30 minutes.

“I encourage you all to be in a position where you can protect yourself and handle yourself accordingly until law enforcement gets there.”

SAFETY OF GMOS

Evers said concerns about genetically modified crops are primarily based on misinformation.

“You can go down to the local market and the question you hear is, ‘Is that GMO?’ Why? Folks are afraid of the technology we gained over the years,” Evers said.

“I’m not going to tell you technology is bad thing. Contrary to what some consumers believe, the GMO products we produce today are safe…

“It’s up to us to educate the consumers that GMO products are safe. If they weren’t, the federal government would not allow them to be sold or produced.”

FARMING’S ROLE IN ECONOMIC RECOVERY

He credited farming operations for Florida’s rebound after the 2001 terrorist attacks.

“When 9/11 hit, what happened to Florida’s economy? It tanked,” Evers said. “Why? Because folks were afraid to come to Florida.

“But you know what? Florida recovered faster than any other state because Florida hadn’t forgotten the occupation that got us to where we are today, and that is agriculture.”

FAMILY GROCERY SHOPPERS’ WANTS

“They want it locally,” Evers said. “Why? Because they’re worried about contamination and their family’s health from bringing these products from overseas and other countries….

“Farming is going the other way,” he said. “We’re relying on more of that stuff that’s coming from overseas.”

FAMILY FARMING

Evers encouraged veterans and other attendees to take up small farm operations, and to consider specialty crops such as strawberries.

“What we have today is a real opportunity for our family farms to thrive,” Evers said. “It’s OK to be a small family farm. It’s a great lifestyle. It’s something you can really enjoy doing with your family and you can make a living doing it.”

“… You want a small family farm because you want to be self-sufficient,” Evers said. “You don’t want to listen to someone else. You want to be your own man.

“You want to grow a lifestyle where you can grow your children and they won’t be subjected to the world around them.”

State Sen. Greg Evers, a Baker farmer, shared these statistics with farmers at a July 21 workshop:

●47,600: number of small family farms in Florida

●200 acres: average size of small family farms

●57: percentage of Florida’s economy from agriculture, including timber management and farming

Source: Sen. Greg Evers

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SMALL FARMER PROGRAM

Farm Credit of Northwest Florida’s young, beginning and small farmer program assists farmers who meet this criteria:

●35 or younger: qualification age

●10 years or fewer: years of experience in farming or ranching to qualify

●$250,000: maximum annual gross income from farming operations to qualify and e-audio books circulated

Source: Farm Credit of Northwest Florida

BY THE NUMBERS

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Baker senator talks terrorism, GMOs during farming workshop

CRESTVIEW — A group of out-of-town investors toured the city’s historic Main Street district and saw potential.

Impressions and ideas were varied during the Community Redevelopment Agency’s July 22 Investor Assessment event, “But they all agree on one thing,” CRA project leader Brenda Smith said. “Crestview is going to have to take the lead.”

PHOTOS: View photos of the downtown Investors Assessment>>

And that, partners of West Palm Beach-based Commercial Funding and Asset Acquisitions, said, requires “skin in the game.”

“Let the city buy the (vacant) assets, then rent it out at a reduced rate,” Mark Pascua said. “We’d back it up with a loan.”

As empty stores — there are currently 16 vacancies on Main Street — become occupied, the city could slowly increase the rent until it recoups its investment.

Then it can sell the buildings to investors and bank the profit, Pascua and his partner, Brian Woods, said.

But city buy-in is crucial.

“The city needs ownership in its downtown,” Pascua said. “If the city doesn’t want to invest in its future, then nobody else does.”

DOWNTOWN TOUR

Smith said many of the invited investors, developers and business owners arrived in Crestview a day early and toured downtown.

“They walked up and down the street and were out until 11 p.m.; then they stayed up to 3 a.m. discussing what they saw,” Smith said. “They said to do what needs to be done will take about $6 million.”

Some of the things the investors saw raised questions.

“We noticed all the business is outside of downtown at night,” Pascua said. “Why would we want to invest in that?”

Ciro Mendoza, another CFAA partner, said the city took a positive step when it rezoned downtown to allow a residential component. When people live in the area, the demand for evening activities will rise, he said.

“Sometimes the act of trying until you start something is what it takes,” Mendoza said. “You’ve got to try something. You can’t sit and wait for things to happen, for other people to do something.”

THE CITY’S IDENTITY

“Main Street really creates the identity of a city, and it should be a center for business as well as a recreational destination,” Mayor David Cadle said. “We are dedicated to fast-track permitting of any new development in this area of our city.”

Making downtown attractive to young entrepreneurs is another important step the city should take, Mendoza said.

Smith said advice she and her team from the CRA’s marketing consultants, the Petermann Agency, received from the visitors will be integral to preparing a master plan for the district’s development.

“This is seeding the garden,” Smith said. “We are planting the seeds but we don’t know what’s going to grow from it yet.”

“We hope to benefit from your input on creating downtown development all the while maintaining our small-town charm in this very family-friendly city,” Cadle told the investors.

CULTURE ON DISPLAY

After appetizers at the Spy Chest, dinner and entertainment awaited at Fred Astaire Dance Studio’s North Main Street event venue.

There the guests also received a sampling of Crestview’s cultural opportunities.

Regional opera singer Kelly Glyptis and Crestview pianist Ryan Mabry presented a “Puccini and Broadway” show while local artists, including wood artisan Dannis Young, displayed their works and discussed the city’s cultural life with the guests.

The CFAA partners said such a balance of culture and commercial space availability is attractive for investors — if the city participates.

“Someone has to lead the way and take some of the risk,” Brian Woods said. “You have to incentivize people to come here.”

______________________________

CRESTVIEW BY THE NUMBERS

Attendees at the downtown Investors Assessment were provided with Crestview statistics, including this data:

●24,533: city population

●17: percentage growth since 2010

●31.19: median city age

●9,989: dwellings in Crestview

●62: percentage of homeowners

●$54,713: median household income

●44.7: percentage of households earning more than the national average

●$50,918: average household annual expenditures

Source: Community Redevelopment Agency

CRESTVIEW WORKERS

Crestview workforce data shared with visiting investors includes:

●11,346: labor force

●2.25: percentage job growth rate in 2015

●33: percentage blue collar jobs

●66: percentage white collar jobs

●90: percentage employment

●1,209: Crestview businesses

●65.18: percentage of business with 1-4 workers

●20.8: percentage of workers with college degree

Source: Community Redevelopment Agency

Attendees at the downtown Investors Assessment were provided with Crestview statistics, including this data:

●24,533: city population

●17: percentage growth since 2010

●31.19: median city age

●9,989: dwellings in Crestview

●62: percentage of homeowners

●$54,713: median household income

●44.7: percentage of households earning more than the national average

●$50,918: average household annual expenditures

Source: Community Redevelopment Agency

CRESTVIEW WORKERS

Crestview workforce data shared with visiting investors includes:

●11,346: labor force

●2.25: percentage job growth rate in 2015

●33: percentage blue collar jobs

●66: percentage white collar jobs

●90: percentage employment

●1,209: Crestview businesses

●65.18: percentage of business with 1-4 workers

●20.8: percentage of workers with college degree

Source: Community Redevelopment Agency

CRESTVIEW BY THE NUMBERS

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Crestview downtown's potential displayed during Investor Assessment (PHOTOS, VIDEO)

CRESTVIEW — The Community Redevelopment Agency gratefully accepted two $50,000 grants that will go toward enhancing Twin Hills Park.

One of the grants, which were provided by the Florida Recreation Development Assistance Program administered by the state Department of Environmental Protection, will go toward improvements in the children’s park.

The other will help provide lighting and other infrastructure for the proposed Crestview Bark Park dog park.

The maximum allowable award under the FRDAP is $200,000.

“This year we were proud to invest more than $7 million in 137 recreational projects throughout the state of Florida,” DEP official Don Laird said.

Crestview and DeFuniak Springs, which received a $50,000 grant for improvements to Pat Covell Park, were the only tri-county area recipients.

Crestview’s $100,000 grant is “Not bad for a piece of land the city bought for $6,000,” Main Street Crestview Association member Cal Zethmayr said.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Crestview receives $100K in state recreation grants

CRESTVIEW — The City Council unanimously voted to allow the tentative 2016-17 millage rate to remain unchanged as it begins planning for the new fiscal year.

“This is not the final millage,” City Clerk Betsy Roy said. “It can go down but it can't go up.”

Roy and her staff recommended the council adopt the current 6.9466 millage as a planning tool for the next fiscal year.

As the budget process begins, she and her staff will prepare property tax income projections from the current millage as well as several reduced millage rates.

“The difference in our projected income from millage this year if we stay at the 6.9466 is an increase of $136,000,” Roy said.

For budgeting purposes Roy uses 95 percent of that projection, which accounts for delinquent or unpaid taxes or other variations.

Roy will send the millage to the county property appraiser next week for inclusion in property owners’ TRIM—short for “truth in millage”—tax notices.

“When we get to the budget process, if, by chance,  we need to, we can lower it,” Roy said of the millage rate.

“I remind the council we are in the middle of hurricane season and we don’t want to set it low and then have to use our reserves for a hurricane and then not have money to function next year,” Roy said.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Crestview sets 2016-17 millage rate (VIDEO)

DESTIN — The National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association will have a forum for District 4 State House of Representatives candidates before the Aug. 30 election.

Doors open at 5:30 p.m. and the forum starts at 6 p.m. Aug. 4 at the Destin City Hall Annex, 4100 Indian Bayou Trail.

For more information contact Steven Menchel, 837-3838.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: District 4 Representatives candidates forum set

CRESTVIEW — Revisions in state alcohol permitting and sales statutes has led to the city having to evaluate its own ordinances to make sure they are in line with the new state laws.

"We can't override the state statutes," city attorney Ben Holley told the council during Monday evening's workshop.

The amended state rules were effective July 1. Growth Management Director Teresa Gaillard pointed out several provisions that will affect the city's ordinance.

●The amendment permits municipalities, counties, and nonprofit civic and charitable organizations to be issued no more than 12 temporary alcoholic beverages permits per calendar year. It requires counties and municipalities to donate all net profits from the sale of alcoholic beverages to a nonprofit civic or charitable organization within 90 days of the event.

●The amendment permits the state Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco to issue an alcoholic beverage license to "railroad transit stations." "Licenses issued to railroad transit stations would not be subject to the quota license restrictions that limit the number of such licenses that may be issued per county," Gaillard stated in a briefing memo to council members.

That provision could come into effect in Crestview if Amtrak passenger rail service is restored between Jacksonville and New Orleans and the Community Redevelopment Agency is successful in building a multi-use facility modeled after the city's old train depot, Gaillard said.

●Alcoholic beverage vendors who have been licensed since June 30, 2015, to sell beer and wine only for consumption off the premises (package stores) are allowed to sell large quart, half-gallon and gallon containers called "growlers."

Gaillard said under the new rules, it appears the city's regulations that prohibit alcohol sales within 500 feet of a school or church, or 300 feet of residences, will be safe.

That was good news to Council President Joe Blocker.

"I have been asked several times, 'Mr. Blocker, do not allow our downtown to be turned into a beer garden,'" he said.

"We'll be having some requests (for alcohol licenses) so we need to get our rules and regs in order," Gaillard said. "We have several places that have requested the opportunity to serve alcohol."

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Crestview to revise alcohol regulations

CRESTVIEW — The Okaloosa County Republican Club is hosting a forum for Congressional District 1 Republican candidates Rebekah Johansen Bydlak, Cris Dosev, Greg Evers, Brian Frazier, Matt Gaetz, Mark Wichern and James Zumalt.

Event moderators are Marvin Brigman and Brian Mitchell of OCREC.

The forum is 6:30 p.m. July 28 at the American Legion, Hollywood Blvd., Fort Walton Beach.

The forum is free to attend.

Dinner costs $15 per person; to make a reservation, call 376-2287.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Republican District 1 Congressional candidate forum set

FORT WALTON BEACH — Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee is endorsing Matt Gaetz for his First Congressional District bid.

“I’ve seen a lot of people go to Washington promising to change it; instead, Washington changed them. I don’t worry about that with Matt Gaetz because if he gets elected to Congress, I think he will do what he has been doing all his political life — changing the institutions and challenging them,” Huckabee said.

“He’s been 100 percent consistent in his pro-life convictions. He’s supported our Second Amendment and defended it vigorously. He’s supported lower taxes and he’s also trying to get government off the backs of small businesses. Matt is just the kind of congressman we desperately need to have in Washington representing our interests, not the special interests.”

“I’m excited to have the support of Governor Huckabee in my campaign for Congress,” Gaetz said. “Mike is a dear friend, conservative champion, faith leader, and resident of the First Congressional District. He understands first-hand the failures of Washington and the need to fight for bold conservative reforms to restore America.”

Gaetz, a Fort Walton Beach attorney, represents portions of Okaloosa County in the Florida House of Representatives. He currently chairs the Finance & Tax Committee.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Huckabee endorses Gaetz for Congress

CRESTVIEW — The Crestview City Council will have a workshop 7 p.m. July 25 or immediately after the 6:15 p.m. special meeting at city hall, 198 Wilson St., N.

Here is the workshop's revised agenda.

1. Call to order

2. Pledge of Allegiance

3. Open workshop

4. Public opportunity on council propositions

5. Out-of-city utility services

6. Alcohol beverage information

7. Vendors ordinance

8. Comments from the audience

9. Adjournment

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Crestview City Council revised workshop agenda: July 25

FORT WALTON BEACH — Okaloosa County’s Recycling Office is the North American Hazardous Materials Management Association-Florida chapter’s “Household Waste Program of the Year.”

In 1991, the county received $100,000 from the Hazardous Waste Collection Center Grant managed by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. Since then, the county has grown its program by participating in as many as 10 Cooperative Collection Center Arrangement Grants, supporting 10 neighboring counties throughout the Florida Panhandle.

Amnesty day types of events have been offered annually to a base population of about 500,000 residents.

In addition, students, farmers and emergency responders throughout the county have participated in the following programs to better manage hazardous waste:

●High schools’ and middle schools’ chemistry lab inventories: to catalog, identify and dispose of outdated chemicals

●Operation Cleansweep: collect and properly dispose of canceled, suspended and unused pesticides.

●Innovative Technology Grants: experimented with and promoted research for methods of disposing of latex paint in concrete and in a patented roofing system.

Aside from providing free drop-off of household hazardous waste to residential customers, the Recycling Office obtained FDEP’s approval to accept Conditionally Exempt Small Quantity Generator Waste from small businesses for a fee, using its existing contract with a licensed hauler.

The permanent hazardous materials facility in Fort Walton Beach is open 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays. The satellite drop-off facility in Crestview is open 7 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. weekdays. 

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Okaloosa recycling offices win Household Hazardous Waste award