COZZIE REACHES PLEA DEAL Former SWHS coach pleads no contest to battery charges. MOLD IN PUBLIC BUILDINGS? County orders tests after employees complain. STUDENT WINS FEDERAL CASE AGAINST PDL SCHOOL A high school junior won her First Amendment case over gay rights. SOUTH WALTON RELAY FOR LIFE ON THE MOVE Volunteers raised over $29,000 for [...]

By JEFFREY POWELL Memorializing warriors killed in battle is as old as war itself. Throughout history the graves of fallen soldiers have held a sacred place in the hearts and minds of those left behind. In a divided United States, organized women’s groups in the south were decorating soldiers graves before the end of the [...]

By JEFFREY POWELL According to Florida Department of State – Division of Elections personnel, an elections fraud complaint filed last week against Walton County Sheriff Ralph Johnson has been forwarded to the Florida Department of Law enforcement (FDLE). The anonymous complaint stated that Johnson had required deputies to get voter petitions signed for the Sheriff [...]

By DOTTY NIST The Southland Concrete Plant proposal will be considered next month by the Walton County Board of County Commissioners (BCC), with the location of the proposed plant to be a four-acre site at the end of Old Ferry Road on the Intracoastal Waterway. Following review by the Walton County Technical Review Committee, the [...]

Staff reports After a two-day trial in which the Ponce de Leon High School principal testified that he believed clothing or stickers featuring rainbows would make students automatically picture gay people having sex, a federal judge today ruled that the school violated students’ First Amendment rights of students. The case was brought by the American [...]

By LEAH STRATMANN The meeting of the South Walton Tourist Development Council (TDC) began routinely with the approval of minutes and a financial report from Mary Brown indicating that by comparing bed tax revenue from March 2007 to that collected in March 2008 there was an increase of 15 percent. The total collected in March [...]

Ask any local about Neal McCormick and they will tell you that Neal gave Hank Williams his first real job in the music business. They’ll say that Neal invented a four-sided steel guitar and that he was the first man to play an electrified instrument at The Grand Ol’ Opry. All those things are true, [...]

By PATRICK CASEY A pair of East-West All-Star games will be played at Holmes County High School this Thursday. Area high school baseball and softball players will take part in the event. The games are Thursday, May 22, at with the softball game starting at 6 p.m., and baseball at 7 p.m. Nicole Dykes and [...]

WANTED     ODIE SLAY WANTS Pick-up trucks for Salvage, 1/2 and 3/4 Ton size, wrecked or wore-out. I will pay $150-$300 for each. Must be complete, must be towable. (850)859-2619. 8tp 5/8-6/26 ———————————————————————————————————————– FOR SALE     ANGEL TRUMPETS, 5 colors. Crape myrtles, 5 colors, other plants. 1.5 miles-south of hospital on 331 S, [...]

IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE FIRST JUDICIAL CIRCUIT, IN AND FOR WALTON COUNTY, FLORIDA CASE NO.: 2008-CA-000309 GREEN TREE SERVICING, LLC, F/K/A GREEN TREE FINANCIAL SERVICING CORP. 1400 Turbine Drive Rapid City, South Dakota 57703, Plaintiff, v. RENA FLEMING, BILLY FLEMING, DISCOVERY MARKETING & DISTRIBUTING, INC., TCF CONSUMER FINANCIAL SERVICES, INC., and BANK OF [...]