Opinion Archive

The year 2024 is a big election year, not only nationally, but also in Santa Rosa County.

We’re guessing everyone is aware of that, unless you sleep under a rock or somehow drive around town with your eyes closed. At this point, we’re not sure you could throw a rock on most major thoroughfares in Santa Rosa County and not hit an election sign.

After I finish one of my weekly columns, I have two women read it for comprehension, spelling and grammar. The first woman is my wife. The second “woman” is the voice in my software’s review function. My wife works during the day, this other “woman” is available to read whenever I call.

I wish Santa Rosa County would get out of its own way and figure out how to make an aquatics center happen.
Before the Dallas Cowboys win their next Super Bowl would be ideal. Well, on that note, you’ve got some time to get it done.

I did the “seminary thing” backward, serving in full time ministry at one church for 12 years – 8 as an ordained pastor – with no formal Bible education; then I went to seminary. Colleagues insisted that I would have an advantage over my classmates who would have just graduated from Bible college. After a few classes, I understood. What the fresh Bible college grads knew was yet untested theory. What I knew came from personal study, from experience, and from making a lot of mistakes.

The April 25 Santa Rosa County Board of Commission meeting was an example of what an informed public can accomplish when it’s paying attention.

For example, when I first moved to LaGrange, Georgia in 2017, I remember looking around at all the city had going for it. An amphitheater. A walking trail. A local college in the heart of downtown. A large lake. Two Chick-fil-As. What else could you want?

If you have seen the “Miracle on Ice” movie, you’ll remember the scene where Team USA head coach Herb Brooks has his team basically sprint back and forth on skates after a game for hours on end.
The players would do a sprint and Brooks would yell “again.” It went on for who knows how long.

“The times, they are a changin,’” Bob Dylan warned sixty years ago. Newsflash, Bob, they change every year, twice a year in fact. Last month, we honored the mnemonic “spring forward,” and will do the opposite come November when we “fall back.” It’s even more complicated for Floridians because we are one of the 13 states that sit in two time zones.

Some of my favorite childhood memories are summer days spent running around my grandmother’s yard in DeFuniak Springs. Back then, a “vacation” for our family meant a four-hour drive to Florida to see family for a few days.

After a contentious few months – and a vote that apparently took some of the members by surprise – the Milton City Council decided to set up some parameters for its work sessions.