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Where there is a will, there is a way

Written by Staff Reporters on . Posted in Uncategorized.

But this 19-year-old returned to the scene and killed more people.

It could happen to any journalist. It could happen at any time. We go to the scene of shootings, road rage incidents, wrecks, fires. Those are all considered dangerous places.

We are privileged to live in a small but big place in Northwest Florida where we don’t have daily shootings and too many murders to count. We live in a county where our sheriff is tough on criminals and firmly believes in our right to defend ourselves. He even offered shooting classes.

In the aftermath of that shooting, and every other shooting, there is a call for stricter gun control laws. The problem with that is, it only applies to people who are trying to legally purchase a weapon. Those are not the ones out there shooting people.

The criminals and gang members are the majority of people shooting and killing others. And they do not obtain their guns legally. We already have a law that makes it illegal for felons to own a weapon. Does that stop them? No, because they are buying guns on the street.

Does it prohibit or make it harder for your everyday American to own a weapon? Yes. Those weapons are used for self-protection and the protection of others, not to shoot and kill people at will.

There are some things that you can’t legislate your way out of. Guns are one of those things. It is illegal to possess illicit drugs. Does it stop the addicts from using drugs? Does it stop the sellers from selling drugs? No. They are criminals who care nothing about the laws in this country. If you legislate to ban guns, only the bad guys will have them and we, the lawful gun owners, will then have nothing to protect ourselves. And the bad guys win.

We are deeply saddened by the killings last week and we will continue to pray for those families. Bad things happen. Bad things will continue to happen. We can’t stop it. We can’t make enough laws to stop bad guys because in the end, a law is written on a piece of paper and the police can only enforce it once it has been broken. That is the American way. It is living in a free society. People have the option of making very bad decisions. We can’t legislate every problem away. We cannot know what is in someone’s mind before something bad happens.

What we can do is pray for the families left behind. We can honor those who lost their lives. We can refrain from mentioning the name of the person who pulled the trigger – he doesn’t deserve to be famous for what he did.

We can do some extra parenting. We can give pre-teens and teens the tools to cope with stress and chaos. We don’t know the background of the teen who did this. We wouldn’t venture to guess what led up to it.

But we do know that more laws and stricter gun control would not have prevented this from occurring. Where there is a will for evil, there is a way for evil. Where there is a will for good, there is a way for good.

Randy’s Report

Written by Randy Dickson on . Posted in Uncategorized.

Under previous rules, every team in a district played each other. In sports such as baseball and basketball, they played each other twice, with both teams having a home game. If it was a six-team district, every team would play 10 district games.

Simple enough, right? With that format you could have a true seeding of the best to worst teams in the district for the district tournament.

That’s not the case as things stand today. A team isn’t required to play a set number of district games. There were seven teams in Crestview’s boys basketball District 1-6A.

Only Crestview and Milton played 12 district games, each opponent twice. Crestview finished the third seed in the district with a 9-3 district record. Gulf Breeze was the top seed with an 8-1 district record, the lone loss coming from the Bulldogs.

Tate, the two seed, played six district games and finished 5-1. The Aggies split with the Bulldogs. In an ironic twist, Gulf Breeze and Tate, the two top seeds in the district, didn’t play each other in the regular season.

District champions (determined by the winner of the tournaments in team sports other than football) receive an automatic bid to the state playoffs. In the past, district runners-up would go to the playoffs.

Now there’s a formula, which is only slightly less difficult than the one used to split an atom, that ranks teams based on strength of schedule among other factors that determines non-champions that make the playoffs.

The whole idea of playing a tougher schedule to get into the playoffs, in a lot of ways, makes no sense. A 1A school should be judged by how it plays other 1A schools, especially the schools in its district. A school can’t control the talent level in its region and if it’s one of the best two teams in the district, it shouldn’t be penalized for not playing teams that were stronger.

The fact is, the more populated areas of the state, no matter what classification, will have a higher competition level most of the time. That’s not to say a team from Crestview, Pensacola or Fort Walton Beach can’t win a state championship.

I would love to see the FHSAA credit teams for playing district games. Let’s say a team would get a point for a district win and lose a half point for a district loss, or even lose a point for a district loss. District games should impact district tournament brackets with teams playing the most district games being rewarded accordingly.

Under the current format there’s a less likely chance that a dark horse will break free to a state championship run.

An athlete at Laurel Hill should have the opportunity to make the playoffs as a member of the number two team in the district. Maybe a district runner up will get blown out by the district champion one district to the west, but at least the kids have been given the opportunity to say their team was in the playoffs.

The history of sports is filled with magical upsets that remind us dreams can come true. Let’s give the kids from district runners up the opportunity to again dream. Or at least make everyone in the district play the same number of games leading into the district tournament.

Bulldogs gear up for 2023 baseball season

Written by Randy Dickson on . Posted in Sports, Uncategorized.

“It does feel like the season should be here,” he said when asked if he felt it had arrived quickly. “We’ve done a lot of work around the facility. I’m ready to start playing games.

“I know the kids are. We’ve had a couple of god weeks of preparation and we had a good fall. We’ve got a good group of kids that work hard.”

Crestview will play this year in District 2-6A with Niceville, Mosely and Tallahassee schools Chiles and Leon.

Gillis expects every game to be a battle.

“Moseley’s two years off of being a state champion plus they got they’ve got a pitcher that’s signed early with Florida State,” he said. “Chiles is always good. They were ranked first and second in the state last year.

“Leon won eighteen games last year as well. Niceville is still Niceville, they’re good.”

Crestview should be pretty good as well. The Bulldogs boast veteran pitchers in senior Brayden Ruschmeier and junior Anthony St. Vincent.

“I think we’ve got some very good arms that have some experience,” Gillis said. “Brayden Ruschmeier and Anthony St. Vincent have been in the fire a lot.

“They’ve pitched in some big games so they are kind of used to the pressure.”

Gillis thinks the Bulldogs will swing the bats pretty good this year.

“We’ve probably got 12 kids that can swing the bat really well,” he said. “Obviously there is only room for 10 in the lineup and nine hitters (with one player on playing in the field). There will be some good players not hitting.

“You’ve just got to go with maybe the hot hand. If guys are swinging it well, you get them in there (the lineup). There will be times when some good players are not hitting.”

Javin Shoemake might be the best returning hitter for the Bulldogs. As a junior, the catcher hit in the four hole. Gillis is considering having him bat leadoff as the guys in the top of the order in 2022 graduated.

“Javin Shoemake was really good for us last year,” Gillis said. “I’m trying to figure out where to hit him in the lineup. He may lead off.

“He may bat second. We are just going to have to wait and see.”

Gillis believes the team will be good defensively. Once again, the situation facing him is finding key replacements in the middle of the diamond at second base, shortstop and center field.

“I think we’ve got some guys that are capable, but they haven’t been in a varsity situation yet,” Gillis said of the players competing for those positions up the middle.

“I think we got about four or five guys that can run a little bit with some good instincts. So, we got some maybe some guys could steal some bases.”

The time has come for a new set of players to fill the holes left by graduation. Gillis knows practice doesn’t always make perfect when the lights shine on the diamond.

“We talked about that a lot (playing when it counts),” he said. “We got some guys can that can really whack it around in that cage. We we get out here between the lines when it counts, are they going to be able to do the same thing?

“Let’s hope so.”

Randy’s Report

Written by Randy Dickson on . Posted in Uncategorized.

On Monday, I’ll be able to mark Feb. 20, 2023, as a day for another surgery. I guess that makes Tic, Tac, Toe, three in a row, at least as calendar days go for surgery.

I started having pain in my right stomach/side and back on New Year’s Eve. It was as if Rocky Balboa was using me instead of the sides of meet for boxing practice.

One ultrasound, and two doctor visits later, and I’m heading for gallbladder surgery this coming Monday.

It’s not so much the surgery that frustrates me, I’ve had a total of five. In addition to the ones mentioned, there was a second neck surgery in June of 2003 and two shoulder surgeries spanning almost 40 years.

And that’s not counting two cataract surgeries.

What I hate is I’ll miss the first week of high school baseball and softball season. I enjoy almost every sport, but baseball and softball, along with football, are my favorites.

I don’t care if it’s actually too cold to be playing baseball and softball through, perhaps, the end of March.

I love the diamond sports and the pace that allows you to sit back and enjoy the game while chatting with your neighbor.

I will miss the first day of the season and seeing parents, grandparents, school personnel, fans and the coaches and players that have become family. I’ll miss eating from my bag of peanuts, a healthy protein I might add, as the game goes on.

Without pretending to know too much more than I actually do, there are two types of gallbladder surgery. The first one is what they are plan on doing and would be outpatient surgery. I’ll be back to work in week if that plan holds true.

If they find they need to perform the more complicated surgery, I’ll be out for two or three weeks.
In a perfect world, I’d know I wouldn’t have any more problems with my gallbladder until school gets out.

If it were that perfect world, I’d wait until June for the surgery. The thing is the next attack could really mess me up and I’ve been advised the sooner I get it done the better, thus I’ll be under the knife in Pensacola on Monday morning.

Brian Lester, from our sister paper in Navarre, will help while I’m gone.
I’m thankful for his support along with owner Sandi Kemp, publisher Gail Acosta and editor Dusty Ricketts. I’m blessed to work for people that care about my body more than my body of work.

If you are up around 7 a.m. on Monday and you’re a praying person, please lift up a prayer for the team performing the surgery and that my body will respond accordingly. I’ll be 65 in May so I don’t bounce back as I did when I was a young buck.

The love of this job keeps me young and I’ll be back before you know it in my familiar spot behind home plate as well as on the sidelines for the other spring sports.

Gators eliminate Hoboes

Written by Randy Dickson on . Posted in Sports, Uncategorized.

In the early going the Hoboes played as if they might pull off the upset. Laurel Hill led 11-2 with seven minutes gone in the first quarter as Jacob Stewart, Terrance Causell, Aiden Hodge and Adrian McKay had scored.

The only two Baker points were on a pair of free throws by Levi Hunter. An Andrea Jackson 3-pointer late in the quarter cut the Hobo lead to 11-5 at the end of the first quarter.

Baker outscored Laurel Hill 24-4 in the second quarter as the Gators took control of the game.

Gator coach Brent Zessin’s message to his team was simple at the end of the first quarter.

“I told them you never want to let someone see you sweat,” he said. “We just had to maintain our composure.

“We were able to start playing better basketball.”

Jackson and Dustin Nixon led the Baker charge in the third quarter. Nixon had six of his game-high 16 points in the period and Jackson scored seven of the 15 points he notched in the game.

A basket by Aiden Morris, with seven minutes left in the first half, gave the Gators their first lead of the game at 12-11. Laurel Hill’s Andrew Henderson put the Hoboes back in front at 13-12.

Noah Cobb’s 3-pointer with 6:39 left in the half put the Gators in front for good.

A couple of technical fouls against the Hoboes didn’t help their cause any as Baker was able to get easy points from the line.

Once Laurel Hill fell behind it was tough going for the Hoboes as their hurried style of play only added to their troubles.

 Baker outscored the Hoboes 34-19 in the second half to seal the win.

Jackson and Nixon were the only two players in the game to hit double figures. Kayleb Wagner scored nine points for Baker and Stephen McCosker eight.

Stewart and Hodge led Laurel Hill with six points each. Henderson and Causell scored five points each.

City plans to keep opioid discussion at forefront, where it should be

Written by Staff Reporters on . Posted in Uncategorized.

The summit was a great event, with nearly 200 people in attendance and something the city should be proud of for bringing together, but we saw it as the first step in what will undoubtably be a long journey in making a positive impact on the community.

All too often we see community leaders with the best of intentions come together to find solutions to big problems only to lose interest with time. We applaud everyone trying to make a positive impact in their community, but unfortunately, it’s human nature to sometimes move on when progress stops.

We don’t want to see that happen with the city’s focus on educating the public on and reducing the opioid epidemic.

This is one of those big concept issues that could fall by the wayside in another community. But not in Crestview. Mayor Whitten has no intentions of letting the conversation around opioid overdoses fall by the wayside.

We were pleased to hear that Whitten felt the same way about the Overdose Summit that we did.

“If we walk out of (the summit) and don’t do anything else, I have wasted your time, my time and everybody else’s time,” Whitten said.

That is exactly the attitude we were hoping Whitten and the city’s leadership would have.

Whitten told the Crestview News Bulletin that he has already had discussions about forming a new taskforce in Crestview to concentrate on bringing continued awareness and education on the overdose epidemic to the community.

The mayor has also discussed having a virtual meeting in the coming months with some of the key speakers from the summit to reconvene and assess action plans for moving forward.

Crestview’s efforts to combat opioid overdoses will soon become a lot more visible. Signs of Hope is a family-owned digital billboard company in Crestview that has agreed to work with the city on the overdose education.

The city is in the process of designing a billboard about the dangers of Fentanyl and the opioid epidemic and Signs of Hope has agreed to donate advertising space on one of its billboards to share the message.

The city certainly has momentum on its side in trying to make a noticeable impact on the community. We hope that momentum continues for a long time.

If you or someone you care about is facing addiction issues, one way to get help is by calling the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration national hotline at 800-487-4889.

Remembering the Dream

Written by Staff Reporters on . Posted in News, Uncategorized.

While King was assassinated at the age of 39 in 1968, his legacy of service and fighting for justice through nonviolent means has long outlasted his time on Earth.

“I lived through the Civil Rights Movement. I saw what happened to Dr. King, and how he was doing things they said he couldn’t do,” Mayor JB Whitten said. “I saw the prosecution he went through, the jail time he spent. It takes a great man to stand up and continue to do that.”

Whitten spoke of the great dedication and strength King had and encouraged the audience to “pursue a community built on equality, freedom and dignity.”

Crestview gathers at the Veterans’ Memorial to celebrate MLK Day.

Two young ladies, Shae and Shaun Wilks, shared a poem highlighting the importance of working together as a team and not caring about the color of somebody’s skin.

Special guest speaker Vaneesa Harrington addressed the diverse audience with a powerful speech focusing on imagining the unimaginable and envisioning possibilities held within a simple question, what if?

“What if the color of our skin had no impact on whether we were treated fairly?” Harrington said. “What if it had no bearing on where I live? Whether or not I’m promotable, my access to affordable health care, or my voting rights?”

Guest speaker Vaneesa Harrington delivers a speech to the citizens of Crestview.

Harrington reflected on the progress that has been made and challenged the audience to not wait to face the challenges that limit the possibilities promised in those what ifs.

Linda Smith’s voice rang loud and clear through the city square as she brought the program to a close by singing “We Shall Overcome.”

Time is right to walk back through the door

Written by Staff Reporters on . Posted in Uncategorized.

Writing this column is taking the first step through a door I never thought I’d walk through again.

I have been a local journalist along the Emerald Coast for close to 20 years now. During that time, I have worked at or been involved with just about every newspaper in the region. Except this one.

I started as a reporter at The Destin Log back in 2004. Since that time, I have held several reporter and editor positions at the Northwest Florida Daily News and its weekly publications, Santa Rosa’s Press Gazette, the Crestview News Bulletin, The Walton Sun and The Log, and I had been a weekend editor for both the Pensacola News Journal and the Panama City News Herald.

At the beginning of this year, I was promoted to managing editor of the Northwest Florida Daily News. Unfortunately, my position, along with several others locally and many, many more nationwide, were eliminated in August of this year.

When that happened, I figured that was the end of my journalism career. My wife and I love it here and don’t have any interest in moving away, so going to a newspaper outside of the area was never going to happen.

But then last month, one of those doors started to creak open.

In November, my wife, who is a recruiter for a local firm, was at a job fair for her company. While there, she heard about someone who was looking for an editor. That’s when she met Sandi Kemp, who founded the Navarre Press in 2000. Sandi has built a reputation as someone who is dedicated to strong community journalism.

It turns out Sandi had been trying to get in touch with me since August. On a related note, I learned I need to do a much better job of keeping an eye on my LinkedIn messages.

Sandi and I eventually met, and we have a lot of the same ideals when it comes to community. An informed community is absolutely vital to a healthy community. Journalists play an important role in making sure political leaders at every level are making decisions with the public’s best interests in mind.

I am very proud to be the new editor of the Navarre Press. While this is my first time working at the paper, it’s not my first time covering the community. I was the Santa Rosa County reporter for the Northwest Florida Daily News for a couple of years in the mid-2000s, and a lot my time was focused on the Navarre community.

I am really looking forward to getting plugged into the community once again. I’ve missed it here.
To do that, I need to hear from you. Whether you have a story idea, an upcoming event or just want to say hi, I’m always available and can be reached at dusty@sandpaperpublishing.com.

Dusty Ricketts, editor of Navarre Press

Baker swats Yellow Jackets

Written by Staff Reporters on . Posted in Sports, Uncategorized.

Kayleb Wagner had another big game for the Gators running for 138 yards and four touchdowns on just nine carries. Nick Childs had a 10-yard touchdown run. And Brayshawn Baker had 44 yards rushing on just three carries.

Freshman Justice Baldwin returned an interception for a touchdown. He also recovered a fumble for the Gators.

Tucker Martin also intercepted a pass for Baker.

Baker had six tackles for the Gators. Tyson McBride and Carter Glenn each had four tackles.

The Gators finish the regular season with a 7-3 record and are waiting to see who the play in the playoffs.

Gabby Sheffield commits to the University of Mobile

Written by Randy Dickson on . Posted in Sports, Uncategorized, volleyball.

Simply put, the fit was right for Sheffield as she quickly bonded with coaches and player on a recruiting visit.

“I wanted to go to a Christian school for a long time as I got into the Word (the Bible) and stuff like that,” she said. “And I met the coaches, Coach Amber (assistant coach Amber Campbell), and she was amazing. She was like the sweetest person ever.

“I had a chance to practice with them and all the girls were super nice,” Sheffield continued. And the campus is beautiful. And I have family in town and it just felt like the right fit.”

Bulldog volleyball coach James Kerrell is happy for Sheffield and believes the Ram coaches will love her even more as she works into their system.

“It’s a monkey off her back,” he said. “Now she can just play and not have to worry about anything else. They are getting a great player. She’s going to bring them great talent and a good work ethic. She’s just a talented player and a great person.”

It’s her work ethic that Sheffield believes will help her the most as she takes a step up in competition. “I feel like I’m going to put a lot of work in and just do what I can to make the team better,” she said. “I feel like college is definitely going to be a bigger challenge. The players have more range and it’s a higher level.  But I think the competition I played against here (at Crestview) and in travel ball is going to get me ready for that.”

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