Florida Senate Bill 550 has hit the fan.

The bill, passed by the Legislature in April and signed into law by Gov. Charlie Crist in June, requires septic tank inspections every five years at the owners’ expense, beginning Jan. 1. Cost estimates range from a few hundred dollars for the inspection, which requires the tanks to be pumped out, to as much as $15,000 if the tank and drain field must be replaced.

The inspections program will be administered by the Florida Department of Health, but the law requires private contractors — septic system companies — to do the inspections.

For more on this story, check out the Sept. 30 edition of the Navarre Press, or subscribe online.

Several dozen business, government and military officials, as well as curious residents, gathered north of Holley on Monday to celebrate the next step in a journey that started almost two decades ago.

Read more...

Thanks to a one-time grant of $17,500 from the “Florida Animal Friend, Inc.” license plate program, Santa Rosa County Animal Services will offer a discount spay and neuter program for income-eligible residents beginning Oct. 1.

Santa Rosa County is one of only 19 non-profit or governmental organizations selected to receive a grant for 2010.

For more on this story, check out the Sept. 30 edition of the Navarre Press, or subscribe online.

A Navarre man who was charged with armed robbery following a series of incidents last fall is facing life in prison for his crimes.

Robert Jay Rosado, 33, is scheduled to be sentenced Sept. 28 before Santa Rosa County Circuit Judge Thomas Santurri.

For more on this story, check out the Sept. 23 edition of the Navarre Press, or subscribe online.

Santa Rosa County residents are adding their voices to a statewide chorus demanding the Florida Legislature flush a bill mandating septic tank inspections.

“I’m willing to be arrested, if necessary, standing over my septic tank telling them, ‘You’re not going to pump mine out,’” said Sharon Glass, a Pace resident and an organizer of the Santa Rosa Tea Party Patriots.

Read more...

Two bodies were discovered in the brush of a rural roadway just north of Milton yesterday.

A passerby called deputies when they noticed a large amount of blood in the roadway of Jesse Allen Road around 4:30 p.m. Wednesday. 

Read more...