As the moderator for last week’s reception recognizing the 50th anniversary of the release of Vietnam War POWs, U.S. Army Major (Retired) Charles “Chuck” Merkel started his introductions by discussing some numbers and the importance behind them.
The March 9 reception Eglin’s Air Force Armament Museum was held to honor the eight POWs who would go on to call Okaloosa County their home after their release from the POW camp in March 1973.

March typically means Spring Break for Florida colleges and universities, as well as countless other schools across the U.S.
Regardless, students are putting down their books and putting on their bathing suits to enjoy a well-deserved vacation. Here are the dates for upcoming spring breaks:

The Crestview Fire Department had a busy 2022, averaging more than 12 calls a day last year.
Crestview Fire Chief Anthony Holland recently provided a report on his department’s activities in 2022 to the Crestview City Council. In 2022, the department went on 3,387 EMS calls and 1,106 fire calls, for a total of 4,493 calls.

Doing some spring cleaning; culling the book, CD, Blu-ray and DVD collections; and replenishing those same libraries and treasures will benefit local high school students’ cultural travel to Crestview’s Sister City, as well as the Crestview History Museum.
The museum’s Second Saturday opening on March 11 features a Bush House Market in the adjacent Wilson Street parking lot. It is organized by the Crestview Area Sister City Ambassadors student organization, which is raising funds for a June trip to Noirmoutier, France.

With the 2023 legislative session a few weeks away, the Okaloosa County School District has laid out their priorities. The School District’s legislative priorities for 2023 focus on the recruitment and retention of employees and continued funding for safe and secure schools.
Superintendent Marcus Chambers is in the process of presenting these items to the Northwest Florida Legislative Delegation with the intention of impacting upcoming legislation in these critical areas for education.

A librarian who has dedicated many years to bringing literature to the readers of Crestview will be retiring on Jan. 31.
The City of Crestview and the Parks and Recreation Department recognized Anna Florence for her 36-year service at the Crestview Library during the City Council meeting on Jan. 23.

A Crestview area man who was the subject of an intense search Sunday was tracked Monday to a home on Clover Street in the Auburn community and taken into custody on multiple felony charges and prior active warrants.
Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office deputies began looking for 29-year old Joshua Colley Sunday morning in connection to a reported aggravated domestic battery involving a firearm in Laurel Hill.

Tragedy struck the Baker Rodeo this weekend when a participant was thrown from her horse and died.
The Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office is conducting a death investigation after a barrel racer was abruptly thrown from her horse and suffered a fatal injury.

The City of Crestview is hoping the second time will be the charm when it comes to finding a contractor to complete the planned multi-phase renovations to Main Street.
After receiving no bids from contractors to complete the Main Street improvements last year, the city reopened the bidding process last month. The bidding process closes later this month, with bids scheduled to be open on Jan. 19.

On Saturday, Renee Hamilton should have been celebrating her eighth wedding anniversary to Corporal Ray Hamilton of the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office.
Instead, she and others honored the man who was shot and killed on Christmas Eve while responding to a domestic violence call near Fort Walton Beach. Nearly 2,000 people, many of them first responders from around the Southeast, attended the public funeral service for Corp. Hamilton Saturday morning at the Destin-Fort Walton Beach Convention Center.