The saying goes, “You learn something new every day.” I have something worth sharing.  During World War II, with all it’s horrible statistics, Franklin Delano Roosevelt issued Bible New Testaments with metal covers, a blessing, as follows: To the Army, on the inside cover was our beloved American flag. On the next page FDR, by letter, admonished them to “Read the Bible.”

A budget workshop last month became a political science lecture when commissioners disagreed about how Santa Rosa County should craft its next spending plan. Staff suggested creating new revenue sources to relieve the county’s dependence on property tax.

Before there was Sunshine Week, there was Sunshine Sunday. And here’s how Sunshine Sunday began. Just weeks after terrorist planes took down the World Trade Center and slammed into the Pentagon, legislators in Florida rushed to water down, even repeal, some of the state’s best-in-the-nation open government laws.

In this business, you see a lot of press releases come into your email inbox. A lot of them are very useful, about our communities and the people and events in them that we are happy to share.

The City of Milton is considering a paid youth internship program this summer to give youth ages 16-20 a taste of government service. It’s not a new idea, but it is, we believe, a great idea, one we hope Milton and more local governments will adopt.

Sigh. Perhaps it was inevitable. For a peaceful few weeks, the City of Milton’s meetings were so civil they bordered on boring – which, by the way, is not a bad thing.

Dear editor, On Jan. 26, a leading rabbi in Israel died at age 108 in 2006. While I was meditating on the second coming of Christ, Rabbi Yitzchak Kaduri came to mind. Kaduri left a note to be opened a year after his death.

“Failing to plan is planning to fail.” Historians attribute these words, or something very like them, to several prominent thinkers, most notable Benjamin Franklin and Sir Winston Churchill. We’re proud to add Milton Mayor Heather Lindsay to that company.

Last year, the Legislature passed a public notice bill (HB 7049) that went into effect Jan. 1. The new law gives counties the option to place public notices solely on their own government website and dispense with any such notice in the traditional format — newspapers and newspaper websites.

It’s time for the United States to rethink Black History Month. And not just Black History Month. We need to reconsider every “set-aside” day, week and month. Why? Notice, we didn’t say “abolish” Black History Month. Instead, we should ask whether such set-asides accomplish what they could, or should? We’re not so sure.