PBWC prepares for Hog hunting GBHS junior Valentine Voyage Kristin Goodroe leads fund raiser in Casablanca Times were different girls’ soccer into 7A in 1940s Gulf Breeze 1B the playoffs 1C County OKs funding to relocate Wildlife Refuge 4B February 7, 2019 YOUR COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER $1.00 Fitch is new Gulf Breeze Mayor Longtime council member steps up to fulfill open seat ter mandates that, should the mayor resign principal. Two years later, she assumed BY GLENDA CAUDLE Gulf Breeze News© 2019 or have to vacate the office for some reason, the top administrative post at the school as [email protected] Council shall select a new mayor, who will principal. serve until the next election cycle. After retiring as an educator, she tackled At the Wednesday, Jan. 30 executive The term for a Gulf Breeze mayor is two real estate, becoming a realtor with Levin- meeting of Gulf Breeze City Council, years, while Council members serve stag- Rinke Resort Realty in 2006 – a job she members agreed to place the selection of gered four-year terms. The next election continues to the present. Mayor Pro Tem Cherry Fitch as the new cycle will be in November 2020. She is a graduate of the University of Gulf Breeze Mayor on the consent agenda Fitch first began service as a Council West Florida, where she earned a bachelor for the following Monday, Feb. 4, business member in 2012. When Landfair was elect- of science degree in English Education. meeting of that body. They also put forth ed mayor in November 2018, she took his At Troy State University, she obtained her veteran Council member Tom Naile as the place as mayor pro tem, at the behest of fel- master of science degree in School Guid- new Mayor Pro Tem. low Council members. ance and Counseling before returning to The choices were made official at the The new Gulf Breeze mayor began UWF for her Master of Education degree in Feb. 4 session. her career as a guidance counselor/Eng- Educational Leadership. Glenda Caudle | Gulf Breeze News Fitch filled Seat A on the Council until the lish teacher at Gulf Breeze High School She has received numerous awards, in- Gulf Breeze City Council signaled its support for a new mayor recent resignation of newly-elected Mayor in 1971. In 1990, she became director of cluding Santa Rosa Teacher of the Year in – Cherry Fitch – and mayor pro tem – Tom Naile – at the Wednesday, Jan. 30, executive meeting of that body. Both have a David Landfair moved her to the position curriculum/guidance at the school, and, in history of service on the Council. of temporary replacement. The City’s char- 1995, she was named the GBHS assistant See Fitch Page 2A » Council now tries to fill vacant seat a list of citizens who recently served in voluntary BY GLENDA CAUDLE Gulf Breeze News © 2019 positions on various boards and committees that as- [email protected] sist Council in doing its job. The record of service — which in some cases showed multiple areas of When it came time at the Jan. 30 session to fill the involvement in City government of each of those Seat A Council position vacated by newly appointed citizens — was included, as well. Mayor Cherry Fitch, City Manager Samantha Abell The lists were provided as a preliminary step in noted that at the Jan. 19 Council retreat, which oc- making a selection to fill Seat A and, with Council curred one day after newly-elected former Mayor approval, the matter and the supplemental informa- David Landfair submitted his resignation, members tion provided by staff were placed on the action said their immediate concern was that – having just agenda for the Monday, Feb. 4, City Council meet- lost eight years of experience on the Council -- they ing. find someone who has served in some phase of City However, that action took place only after Coun- government so they could become part of the gov- cil also received input from citizens attending the erning body in a complete way as quickly as pos- Jan. 30 meeting and, in response to what they heard, sible. No names were put forth or discussed at that encouraged all citizens to submit candidates to them public session. as Council members and to staff before the Feb. 4 The current Council has two members with expe- meeting, as well. No flyover rience in their roles — Fitch and Naile — and two Three citizens came forward on Jan. 30 to say members just beginning their commitment. they hoped Council would extend the search for a County rejects FDOT City staff included in Council members’ agenda new member beyond the lists provided to them of packets for the Jan. 30 session the names and dates those with experience in governance and the City of service of former Gulf Breeze mayors and Coun- plan for elevated cil members, going back to 1978. Staff also provided See Council Page 4A » roadway through Navarre Commissioner Dave Piech requested the Gincauskas is Gulf Breeze BY PAM BRANNON Gulf Breeze News © 2019 resolution from his fellow commissioners. [email protected] Pieck told them, “FDOT held a public hear- Rotary Club’s Citizen of the Year ing in Navarre a week ago that drew more Sharon Gincauskas was rec- Santa Rosa County Commissioners do than 360 people. FDOT officials there told ognized as Citizen of the Year by not support the proposed design for wid- me they had never had such a big response the Rotary Club of Gulf Breeze ening Hwy. 98 through Navarre with a from the community before. Since then I at Lucas’ at the Pensacola Beach fly-over system as presented in last week’s have spoken Boardwalk on the evening of public hearing by Florida Dept. of Trans- with many people and I would be remiss Tuesday, Jan. 29. portation (FDOT). Commissioners adopted if I didnt say that I did hear from one busi- Selected for her many contri- and signed a resolution at their meeting last ness and a couple butions to the community, Gin- Thursday to send to the FDOT stating that people who are in favor of the fly-over. causkas is a leader of many local the county is not in favor of a fly-over op- But most people do not want it. The origi- environmental, church and school tion in Navarre, but would prefer the origi- nal Chamber of initiatives. Serving as co-presi- nal FDOT design option of an ‘At-Grade’ dent and founder of Ocean Hour six-laning. See Flyover Page 4A » Florida, she leads weekly beach clean-up events that cover the en- tire coastline of Pensacola, Gulf Breeze and Pensacola Beach. She was recognized as second place for the 2017 Gulf Guardian Award by the U.S. Environmen- tal Protection Agency’s Gulf of Mexico Program for her coastal Submitted photo cleanup efforts. She leads major Sharon Gincauskas (second from left) accepts accolades from contributions to the Dress A Girl Rotarians Vici Papajohn, Vic Bindi and Anita-Marie Hitchcock. Around the World organization, Gincauskas is the leader of Ocean Hour Florida, as well as many other community improvement projects. where she heads up a group of la- dies from Gulf Breeze Presbyte- Guatemala. has served as a long-time volun- rian Church who sew and deliver In addition, she led various teer at Gulf Breeze Elementary, hundreds dresses to countries community programs at Gulf such as Haiti, the Philippines and Breeze Presbyterian Church and See Gincauskas Page 8A » Arrest Report . 3A Mailing Statement FRI 2/8 SAT 2/9 SUN 2/10 Calendar .........3A & 5A on Opinion Page MOSTLY MOSTLY MOSTLY Classifieds/Legals .......6B WEEKEND CLOUDY CLOUDY CLOUDY Crossword Puzzle.......5B THREE SECTIONS, 20 PAGES Weather-plus hi 59/lo 43 hi 61/lo 51 hi 64/lo 58 Movies ................5A rain: 10% rain: 0% rain: 20% Opinion . 6A VOL. 19, NO. 6 Sports ...............1-8B FEBRUARY 7, 2019 2A February 7, 2019 GULF BREEZE NEWS gulfbreezenews.com Interior Design student Emily Simmering wins essay contest Emily Simmering seeks to paired and impact lives as a future interior navigates designer. t h r o u g h A Mississippi College senior, life’s spac- Simmering penned an essay es, both exploring how her profession public and choice will held her do that. p r i v a t e , It was good enough for Sim- with his mering to recently win an essay seeing eye Simmering contest sponsored by the Amer- dog. Expe- ican Society of Interior Design- riencing how he moves through ers in its South Central Region. life’s spaces “shows me how Advancing the profession, important the smallest design the association’s region cov- details can be,” Emily said. ers Mississippi, Arkansas and As an interior designer, the Louisiana. As a future designer, 21-year-old Gulf Breeze resi- Emily wants to “craft spaces dent wants to “create spaces that that are not only aesthetically impact and make life better.’’ beautiful, but accessible to ev- The regional chapter of the eryone. I hope to paint a picture Washington-based organization in the clients’ heads about their includes nearly 700 student and future customers’ or employees’ professional members. Com- All County Band members needs.” petition winners from regions Middle school and high school band members performed at the Santa Rosa All-County Honor Band Concert on Jan. 25 at Milton High In her essay, the interior de- nationwide will attend a student School. Students throughout the county band programs auditioned for these two honor ensembles in November. The top players in the sign student wrote that clients interior design conference in local school district were selected to be showcased at the concert.