If you were at Bear Lake, the popular recreation area in Blackwater State Forest, on Sunday, June 2, you might have noticed multiple Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office K9s and large groups of people carrying out individuals on makeshift stretchers. While this might have looked like a pretty serious situation, there was no need for alarm. The Sheriff’s Office K9 unit wasn’t searching for someone lost and those people carrying others on stretchers weren’t carrying anyone that was hurt. It was all a simulation.

Santa Rosa County has no shortage of livestock. Along the sides of the county’s roads, you might see, hear, or even smell animals such as pigs, cattle and mules. While most livestock are being raised for food or fertilizer, some people are raising animals to race.

It’s no secret that the Jay area is well-known for their peanuts. Family farmers have been tilling, planting, growing and harvesting year after year for well over a century. To honor these families, Santa Rosa County Extension Office names a Farm Family of the Year.

The annual Pete Moore Automotive Team Senior Chill Out, a one-day donation drive for new air conditioners, fans and funds to help seniors beat the heat, will be held by Council on Aging of West Florida, WEAR ABC Channel 3, WFGX 35, Cat Country 98.7, NewsRadio 92.3, and Lowe’s Home Improvement Friday, June 7.

Light, camera, high flying action!

“The Blue Angels,” a new documentary about the legendary U.S. Navy Flight Demonstration Team, had its world premiere Thursday, May 16 at the AMC Bayou 15 theater in Pensacola. The new film offers an inside look at the Blue Angels. From their history to their training to their work-life balance, the documentary gives viewers a front row seat to the flight demonstration team’s 2022 season.

The Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office was joined by the community Monday, May 6, for a Law Enforcement Memorial Ceremony to honor fallen officers across Florida. Held at the sheriff’s office administrative facility in East Milton, the agency honored three fallen Santa Rosa County officers and five other officers from various other agencies.

On Thursday, May 9, Keller Williams Emerald Coast in Navarre presented a check for $4,800 to Emerald Coast Exceptional Families, a 501c3 nonprofit which provides support services to special needs families. The money will go toward funding for the SAFE program, something ECEF started with the Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office in 2022. The SAFE program is meant to foster better communication between law enforcement agencies and the special needs community.

For the first time in roughly 20 years, the Hurlburt Field Airpark is open to the general public.

While the airpark has been unofficially available for public use since April 11, 1st Special Operations Wing (1SOW) Commander Col. Patrick Dierig and others with Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) held a ribbon cutting ceremony Monday to formally welcome community members to the outdoor museum.

“An answered prayer.” That’s how Austyn Evans describes knowing her two-year-old son, Conrad, now has a kidney after an agonizing search for a donor. Although the search took them from Northwest Florida to Texas and then to Georgia, the donor turned out to be closer to home (in fact, the donor lives in their home).

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.