GBN publishers keeping busy

What a busy week!

Vici and I were privileged to speak to the Gulf Breeze Rotary Club last Tuesday morning about the importance of a community newspaper. We described the days when we started publishing Gulf Breeze News out of our homes, in the days immediately after the horrific events of Sept. 11, 2001.

We believed then, and still believe today, that our community deserved its own voice, a newspaper that focused on the unique aspects of living where we do, raising young children or enjoying our retirement. We hope to fulfill that need every week, and provide an affordable advertising option that reaches a targeted audience.

On Wednesday, Aug. 15 the Gulf Breeze Area Chamber of Commerce had a capacity-plus crowd at its monthly membership breakfast at the Athletic Performance Center at Andrews Institute. The Chamber offers fantastic networking opportunities for businesses, and the program is always entertaining. The guest speaker was Santa Rosa County Property Appraiser Greg Brown, who did his best to educate the crowd about the state of property values and the proposed constitutional amendment.

Pete Southerland came to see us on Wednesday to tell how the "Help them Call Home" program, which collects used cell phones to exchange for calling cards for troops, has taken off. He said a woman called from Alabama after seeing the article in Splash Magazine, wanting information on expanding the program into her area.

We took turns staffing the school orientations this week, offering free copies of the Aug. 16 issue with the Back to School special section with the bus schedules. Each school got enough copies for each classroom, and parents were snapping them up like hotcakes.

Work on the Seashell Collection shopping center appeared to take a big step forward this week, and many people mentioned that they were relieved to see progress on the complex that is set to bring Gulf Breeze a Publix grocery store.

Congratulations to the Gulf Breeze Police Department, for racking up yet another huge award, this time as being the "best of the best" in traffic safety.