News Archive

Looming deadlines, possible fines, and losing more than $47 million in awarded grants didn’t sway the city council from a unanimous vote to reject all bids on the wastewater treatment plant and disposal system. For months now discussion has centered around whether the locations of spray fields 1 and 2 would be a risk for contaminating the wellfield protection area. Citizens of Milton implored the council to move their plans elsewhere. The current location puts the effluent spray field over a wellfield protection area, which leads to the Florida aquifer. Without a plan to eliminate or reduce the amount of PFAS in the water, there is a risk of contaminating the aquifer.

After the November election, four incumbents gone; Milton City Council will have a whole new look. On Nov. 5, Milton residents voted on four new city council members who were up for re-election. Now all four of those seats will be held by Ashley Fretwell, Tom Powers, Robert Leek, and Larry McKee.

The Imogene Theatre is now the Milton campus for Liberty Church, and on Sept. 29 the church held its first service since purchasing the property in 2023. Renovations have been made, but the historical significance of the building still remains. The theater opened in October of 1913 and became a landmark of downtown Milton. The historical society sold the property under the terms that the building would still be available for community events and gatherings. Liberty Church saw it as a perfect fit and has now turned the building into its seventh overall location. The Pace campus has members that drive from Milton, and this space will allow room for existing members and newcomers.

The University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) held its annual Farm Field Day in Jay on Aug. 22. The event took place at the UF/IFAS Research Facility.

Florida Power & Light (FPL) has been using sheep to help maintain vegetation at the Blackwater River Solar Energy Center site for a year as a pilot program, and the early results are in. The idea was that the sheep would supplement traditional mowing to help maintain the vegetation at the solar site located in East Milton. The flock has nearly doubled over the past year, with approximately 100 sheep and lambs on site to maintain the vegetation, as well as traditional mowing, according to an FPL press release.

The wins just keep coming for a Milton family who won the lottery last year. Bernard Waters, his girlfriend, Madelyn “Peanut” Gonzalez and her son, Kris Long, were featured on HGTV’s “My Lottery Dream Home” on Friday night. Waters won $5 million on a scratch-off ticket last year, and now the family has been featured on a national television show while searching for their new home in Milton. Gonzalez said on the show that she’s been watching it for eight years, so she was super excited to meet Bromstad. Before the new home, the couple was living in a small apartment.

While most livestock are raised for food or fertilizer, some people in Santa Rosa County are raising animals to race. No, these aren’t horses. They’re pigeons. Renee Neugent, of East Milton, has been involved in the sport on and off again for around a decade. In her backyard, there are around 40 pigeons in a caged enclosure, known as a loft. Approaching the enclosure, you can hear wings flapping, birds cooing and the mad dash toward food when Neugent brings in bird feed. Neugent first got involved in pigeon racing through a friend at church. She didn’t know much about pigeons at the time but began to acquire pigeons and started raising them. Long before her days as a pigeon racer, Neugent earned a bachelor’s degree in animal science production. She said her degree has helped with raising and caring for her flock.

A nearly 6-hour Santa Rosa Board of Commissioners meeting April 25 revolved around a four-plus hour public forum session, with dozens of speakers voicing their opposition to a conceptual route that would extend the Pea Ridge Connector to connect to Berryhill Road. Discussion also centered around an agenda item related to a terminus, or end point, for the Pea Ridge Connector, that the county was considering off Berryhill Road. By the end of the meeting, the commission voted 4-0 to call for a public hearing for the Berryhill Property, but it removed terminology related to the Pea Ridge Connector. Instead, the county is considering the Berryhill property as a possible drainage pond in the Berryhill Road widening project.

Eglin Air Force Base’s Fire and Emergency Services recently lost one of their own in a motor vehicle crash, which occurred Wednesday, March 13. Battalion Chief Matthew Becker, who served with Eglin Fire and Emergency Services for 17 years, left behind a wife, two children and countless loved ones. In response to the death of Becker, Eglin Fire and Emergency Services said that Becker was a “dedicated leader, mentor and friend to all within the Eglin Reservation and the community.” “His commitment to service and his unwavering dedication to the safety of our base will always be remembered,” the Eglin Fire and Emergency Services statement read.

The threat of rain didn’t stop the Reimagine Milton event Saturday morning at Jernigan’s Landing. Greg and Linda English of Pensacola started Reimagine Worldwide in 2008 to help not only to provide goods and services to the needy, but to develop community networks of businesses and organizations willing to provide those goods and services. Linda said she expected participating organizations to give away about 20,000 pounds of food between 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturday, weather permitting. The event also provides free diapers, clothes, laundry detergent and other household goods as well as lunches, smoothies, HIV testing and a variety of services.