Columns

Three markets open for last-minute shopping

There are five Saturdays in December, so the Fernandina Beach Market Place farmers market and the Fernandina Beach Arts Market will be open on Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve, but Dec. 17 will be the final Wildlight Market Place for 2022.

Success can be finding trees to cut, the family nearby

It was seven days before Christmas. Beulah Thompson and I were driving about 20 miles to a North Georgia county to visit with a family she wanted me to meet.

A poker hand with four aces and a wild card

Florida prides itself on being a place where wokeness goes to die. And Fernandina Beach is now another graveyard for woke policies, big government and wasteful spending. The woke, radical agenda has died another day.

And you are now the leaders

With the city commission election completed this week, let me first offer congratulations to Dr. James Antun (Seat 4) and Darron Ayscue (Seat 5) for their successful election effort.

Be content with what we have

In keeping our lives free from the love of money and to be content with what we have because God promised never will He leave us and never forsake us, we can say with confidence the Lord is my helper, we will not be afraid.

Real estate decline

There were no ceremonies, no services, no remembrances. None of these to commemorate the demise of what was a rip-roaring, red-hot real estate market here and just about everywhere. “It’s dead,” says a local real estate professional. Not dead as if to never return.

2022 city service awards

The city work staff has not been immune to the labor challenges confronting many other businesses and industries in the aftermath of the pandemic. In 2021, the city staff was struggling with a nearly 30% turnover rate.

Crypto collapse

The grating question came out of nowhere, out of left field, like a flash of summer lightning in the distance.  A guy at a small party asked what I thought about investing in cryptocurrencies. The room got quiet, about an alluring topic for many people.

The mayonnaise jar at Thanksgiving

November offers two significant days for me. One is singularly professional and the other is collectively personal. First, November is the anniversary of my tenure as the city manager in Fernandina Beach. I had never heard of the community before I responded to the search notice for the position.

How I met my hero

“You should never meet your heroes.” Such statements are designed to shield us from disappointment. Unfortunately, disappointment is a fact of life. Sometimes it might be worth risking disappointment to experience something extraordinary.