I am not often led to comment publicly on events of the day. But the recent “Clown Show”, i.e. Milton Council, should be an embarrassment to anybody with half a brain:

We ran this editorial in our March 17, 2022, issue shortly after purchasing the Santa Rosa Press Gazette, and it is a message that needs to be told again. With all the city and county messes happening in Santa Rosa County, you can be assured we will be there for the good and the bad.

If you think a “Housewives of (insert county name here)” show is entertaining, you haven’t been to a Santa Rosa County board of commissioners meeting or a Milton City Council meeting lately. In fact, we think TV producers are missing a huge opportunity here in our county. It wouldn’t be difficult to make a series out of the theatrics; they would just have to pal around with Commissioner James Calkins for all the drama they could ever want.

Using statistics from the Department of Labor, The Wall Street Journal reports that real hourly wages during the Biden presidency have declined. When Joe Biden took office in January 2021, the average hourly wage adjusted for inflation was $11.39. Now, 29 months later, it stands at $11.03, a 3.16% decline.

Henry Ford reportedly once told a customer he could have a Model T in any color he wanted, as long as it was black. That same one-sided approach is evident as Jubilee developers seek zoning approval in a campaign of smoke and mirrors.

Scott Collins, the Milton city manager candidate who stood head and shoulders above the rest, said no thank you to the job offer. There was no counteroffer, there was no real negotiation. It was a plain and simple – no.

It’s the most resilient project ever in Santa Rosa County and it has been in the making for 20 years. If you ask yourself why the developers of Jubilee don’t give up it is because it is a project that could change the economic landscape of Pace and it a property they have invested in for 20 years.

The last few weeks of the Santa Rosa County Commissioners meetings have been quite the expletive-filled circus, thanks to the District 2 commissioner, James Calkins. While being chastised by citizens and commissioners alike, he continues to grin, laugh and even double down on his comments. His remarks have angered people to the point of cursing at the podium during public forum.

James Calkins is not new to making controversial statements, but last week at a Board of County Commission meeting, he crossed a line. He openly refused to apologize and in fact, to the shock of the audience, doubled down on his words.

Today is the official start of the Atlantic hurricane season. Forecasters are finding this year’s hurricane season hard to predict. They have said the current warmer ocean temperatures would normally be expected to increase tropical storm and hurricane activity, but we also have an El Nino event brewing, which usually has the opposite effect.