Pam Brannon

The last county meetings for commissioners Sam Parker and James Calkins to be seated as decision makers was Thursday, Nov. 14. The first meeting of the day was in the morning with the regular county meeting, and the second was the evening special rezoning meeting. During the morning meeting both commissioners had the opportunity to “say a few words,” and […]

U. S. House Representative for Santa Rosa County and three other panhandle counties, Matt Gaetz, resigned from his seat on Wednesday, Nov. 13. Gaetz just won another term by a large margin in all four counties over challenging candidates. The resignation comes immediately after President elect Donald Trump tapped Gaetz as his choice for attorney general (AG)even though Gaetz would […]

Santa Rosa County Commission has a new chairman as of last Tuesday, Nov. 19. Following the swearing-in of the commissioners, including the two new members just elected, the first vote of the new board is to nominate and vote for a chair to lead them over the next 12 months. Commissioners voted unanimously to make Kerry Smith, District 2, of […]

The deadline to register to run for the open seat left vacated in the U.S. House of Representatives by Matt Gaetz's resignation was on Friday, Dec. 6. Sixteen candidates qualified. The national, state and local Republican Party organized a town hall and media event in Navarre on Monday, Dec. 9, for Republican candidates to answer questions and present their position statements.

Santa Rosa County Commissioners held their first full meeting under their new leadership following the November elections and the naming of Kerry Smith as this year's chairman. The planning meeting Monday, Dec. 9 was almost two hours long, but with little discussion. Most of the meeting agenda was concerning with budget items, like money for a special election and included some project extensions in Gulf Breeze.

Questions swirled around the Santa Rosa County Republican Party Executive Committee last week following the candidate forum held in Navarre on Dec. 9. The accusations in several local and online and some national headlines were calling the event a “Pay to Play,” with the invite sent to candidates saying a $1,000 “minimum donation” would be much appreciated from any “serious […]

One of the special events approved Monday, Jan. 6, by Santa Rosa County Commissioners was a free workshop on Navarre Beach for Saturday, Feb. 8. Dan’s Castles, LLC plans to give anyone that shows up that day a free workshop on how to build large fun things out of sand, with the workshop theme being Valentine’s Day. Dan’s Castles is […]

The Santa Rosa County Commission held its first meeting of the new year Monday, Jan. 6, in Milton. One of the first things on the agenda was recognition of a statewide award earned buy the Navarre Beach Fire and Rescue Team. Even though Navarre Beach recorded record numbers of visitors over the past year the fire rescue team gave 24-hour […]

Between Christmas and the New Year the Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office “proudly” announced a new group of 12 Chaplains that would serve the inmates at the county jail. But almost as quickly as the photo and announcement was made on Facebook the post was deleted by the department – within 24 hours. The problem was one of the new […]