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[email protected] The voice of Niceville, Bluewater Bay and Valparaiso since 1992 TThhee BBaayy BBeeaaccoonn 48 Pages, 3 Sections, 3 Inserts Wednesday, August 24, 2011 50¢ Inside ... Valp. panel backs school-use zoning The Bay Beacon’s EWCOMER N GUIDE Measure opposed as illegal by district lawyer school board closed the school due to important institution not only for educa- irectory and Community D declining enrollment and as a cost-cutting tion, but as a social and cultural anchor for By Mike Griffith Commission to open a charter school at measure, and consolidated the elementary the small city. They also said the school is Beacon Correspondent the site, which is owned by the Okaloosa school with Lewis Middle School, now located in the center of a residential neigh- The Valparaiso Planning Commission County School District. called Lewis School, which is also in borhood, and could be reached safely by has backed a proposal to rezone the site of The proposed rezoning was attacked as Valparaiso and also suffered from low children walking to school. the former Valparaiso Elementary School illegal by a school district lawyer. enrollment prior to the consolidation. Leading the opposition to the school for the exclusive use of public institutions. Earlier this year, the Okaloosa County Some Valparaiso residents have object- closure has been City Commissioner Neal 2011Bay Beacon Fall-Winter 2011 • Supplement to Theida Niceville-Valparaiso, Flor School Board closed Valparaiso ed to the closing of Valparaiso The move Aug. 16 paves the way for Please see ZONING, page A-3 further action by the Valparaiso City Elementary School, built in 1958. The Elementary, saying the school was an UP Bells ring in new school year Campbell COMING won’t seek Friday, 11 a.m. The Northwest Florida 3rd term State By Del Lessard College Beacon Staff Writer Science District 5 Okaloosa County Commissioner Friday James Campbell said he won’t run for re-election seminar after his current term expires in November 2012. will be “I’m over with it,” said Campbell, who is held on the Niceville serving his second four-year campus Science building, term. Campbell, 63, told the room S-110. Beacon that he also plans to Dr. Richard Hough will retire in November 2012 present “The CSI effect: from his position as What we can and cannot Niceville’s director of recre- do with crime scene tech- ation and public relations, a job he has held for over nology.” three decades. Info: 729-5376. “I’m going to help Mr. James Campbell Sunday, 7 p.m. Willingham sell shrimp, and change the world one Amy Grant, Christian shrimp at a time,” he said, referring to friend and singer and songwriter, business partner Matt Willingham, a Valparaiso will perform at the shrimper. He said he also plans to hunt and fish, Emerald Coast and spend more time with his grandchild. Campbell’s District 5 represents most of Convention Center, Please see CAMPBELL, page A-5 Okaloosa Island. Tickets N. Bay union range in price from seeks 3% pay $25-$35. Limited VIP tickets are available for $65 and hikes; board include a meet and greet with Grant. eyes tax rise Info and tickets: 609- 3800. By Del Lessard Beacon Staff Writer Tuesday, 6 p.m. North Bay Fire Chief Joe Miller met with fire The Niceville United commissioners Friday in a closed-door session to Methodist Church, 214 S. discuss negotiations with unionized firefighters. Partin Drive, will begin a The fire district’s two-year contract with Local 3505, North Bay Professional Fire 13-week Fighters Association, International Association of financial Fire Fighters, will expire Sept. 30. seminar. Firefighter Travis Zaal, president of the union The sem- local, told the Beacon that firefighters did not ask inar will be for an across-the-board pay raise under the cur- taught by rent contract because of the tight financial situa- tion the fire district faced with shrinking property Financial Peace values and reduced revenues. As a result, he said, University. the contract was inked for two years rather than Info and registration: Beacon photo by Del Lessard the normal three. 678-4411. School buses rolled early Monday as some 28,000 students of the Okaloosa County School District began Zaal said the 10-person bargaining unit is their first day of classes. Above, second-grader Adia Hobbs, 7, who last year attended now-closed seeking a 3 percent raise in starting salary with Valparaiso Elementary, takes a long look at her new K-8 school, Lewis School, and hears a kind word from compounded raises for each additional year of Calendar, B-4. school worker Kellie Jenkins. longevity. That means if the salary for a starting Please see UNION, page A-3 Funeral services held Manicurist for Rae Williams charged Businesswoman, civic leader was 90 in robbery By Del Lessard By Del Lessard at the request of her grandfather, Beacon Staff Writer Beacon Staff Writer James E. Plew, so her father could Bridge link to A Niceville manicurist is Funeral services were held help Plew develop the new city. one of two people charged in She became the president of Friday in Niceville for Ramonde connection Valparaiso Realty Co. upon the “Rae” Ruckel Byrne Williams, open Sept. 7 with an death of her first husband, Bill 90, of armed Byrne, in 1957, and remained The new Mid-Bay Bridge Valparaiso, home-inva- active as the company’s chairman Connector southbound entrance a business- sion rob- woman and in later years. and northbound exit at Range Williams served as the second Road, east of Seminole, are sched- bery that civic leader occurred in who died president of the Niceville uled to open to traffic Sept. 7. The Valparaiso Chamber of aerial photo, looking north, shows Fort Walton Aug. 15. the four-lane connector, which Beach April Born in Commerce, a role model for her meets two-lane Range Road near 29, accord- Illinois Feb. daughter, Judy Byrne Riley, and Lacy J. Brooks the top of the image. Story, A-2. ing to an 28, 1921, to granddaughter, Marion Riley arrest report from the Okaloosa Marion Taylor, both of whom later also Mid-Bay Bridge Authority Rae Williams County Sheriff’s Office. (Plew) and were chamber presidents. Chuck (C.W.) Ruckel, she grew Williams was involved in Lacy J. Brooks, a nail tech- up in Valparaiso after her family nician, 22, of 1309 23rd St., moved there before she turned 1 Please see RAE, page A-5 Please see ROBBERY, page A-6 The voice of Niceville, Bluewater Bay and Valparaiso since 1992 Page A-2 Wednesday, August 24, 2011 tumblers Range Rd. bridge access scheduled to open Sept. 7 By Mike Griffith lion bond issue of the Mid-Bay Beacon Correspondent Bridge Authority earlier this year The Mid-Bay Bridge Authority as “BBB,” the lowest investment was told Thursday that the Range grade. Road segment of the new Mid- Trey Monroe, also of Made in the U.S.A. Bay Bridge Connector will be Merchants Capital, said many completed by the end of August, investors have been “toughing it Available at... but will not open to traffic until out, waiting for better weather,” in Sept. 7. the current uncertain national The delay will allow time for economy. new students at nearby Bluewater Bob Kellner, of HDR Elementary School to adjust to Engineering, said the connector getting to and from the school road construction project has won before bridge traffic begins using awards from the U.S. Air Force Since 1986 Range Road, James Van Beacon photo by Mike Griffith and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Steenberg, of HDR Engineering, Range Road, from the Mid-Bay Bridge bypass to State Road 20, has Commission for efforts to protect Oak Creek Shopping Center said during a bridge authority been widened and repaved as part of the bypass project. Opening wetlands and endangered species Niceville • 678-1593 • 9-7 Mon.-Sat. meeting in Destin. The delay until of the new interchange has been delayed until Sept. 7, in part to throughout the construction proj- www.bayoubookcompany.com after the summer tourist season give time for those using Bluewater Elementary School, pictured, ect, which is taking place mostly ends will also reduce confusion time to adjust. on wild lands controlled by the Air Force. among visitors, many of whom Vest, who agreed with the consult- chairman, said that he is pleased at have been baffled by the closure Vest told the MBBA board that ants that traffic and revenue from the increasing traffic, but added the MBBA has recently received earlier this year of White Point the bridge have been increasing in that financial claims by the Will your Road as a bridge access. requests for data from State Sen. recent months. Board members MBBA against BP, some of which Don Gaetz, indicating that Gaetz The connector already links then took a bus tour along the have already been paid for rev- money the north end of the toll bridge may be planning to renew previ- route of phases 2 and 3 of the enue lost during the summer of ous efforts to abolish the MBBA with State Road 20. The 1.25- Mid-Bay Bridge Connector, a 2010, are still pending for losses mile segment set to open early and turn management of the Mid- retire before road that will eventually connect during 2011, which are still being Bay Bridge, and its borrowing next month will connect SR 20 the north end of the 3.5-mile toll calculated. with Range Road, east of capacity, over to the Florida you do? bridge to State Road 85 North of BP has paid the bridge author- Turnpike Authority.