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In celebration of Coastal Dune Lake Month in October, three experts from the University of Florida ( Read More

Please use the SHARE buttons to forward this news By RUBY KEARCE The Paxton City Council met Tuesday, June 21 at Paxton City Hall. The meeting started by electing a separate cemetery board. The cemetery board will have their own meeting within 30 days. Latilda Hughes – Neel then approached the board to discuss Grit and Grace, a stage-play drama depicting the life of Paxton native Bobby Kemp, as told by Bobby Charles and Brendan Roberta. The show is nearing completion, and it will be the second in a lineup of 11 stories about Walton County History. Hughes- Neel, with permission from Charles, read an excerpt from the play: “Mama and Daddy were a team. Mama went to city council meetings with Daddy. If he got overly excited about something, all she had to do was say ‘Bobby.’ And at home when she calmed him down, she would just quietly say ‘Bobby I’ve heard all I want to hear’ and if he’d kept on she would say ‘Bobby I said I have heard all I want to hear.’” The Council was invited to the performance of Grit and Grace. Patrick O’Neal, developer of the future Black Lake RV Park, then approached the board regarding utilities for the park. The project is projected to have 35 spaces and needs sewer services in order to move forward. O’Neal is asking the board for a letter of availability and a time frame in order to know if the project will need to be... Read More

Please use the SHARE buttons to forward this news Director Brenda Hunt and Environmental Manager Scott Caraway. Story by Adrianne Walline Campbell The North Walton Mosquito Control was created in 1987 and is governed by the Walton County Board of County Commissioners. It is located at 581 Triple G Road, DeFuniak Springs, FL 32433. Their website is https://www.co.walton.fl.us/192/Mosquito-Control. Their coverage area is from the north side of the Choctawhatchee Bay to the Alabama line, excluding the Eglin reservation, 745 square miles. This includes the city of Freeport, DeFuniak, and Paxton. There are 7 full-time and 2 part-time employees, 8 spray trucks, 1 service truck, and 1 SUV. They receive funding from the county ad valorem tax of .4912, and state aid funds. This year’s budget is $948,298. The methods used are: • Larviciding – BTI (Bacillus thuringiensis subspecies israelensis) – Naturally occurring bacteria used as a larvicide to kill larvae before they can grow into adults. They check various locations of standing water for larvae and spray as needed. • Adulticiding – Permethrin, used to kill adult mosquitoes. • They have 22 light traps to count how many mosquitoes are in what section. It also lets them know what kind of species exist and where. Currently there are about 40 different types, 10 are the most common. They have 2 individuals who can identify the types. The state provides training classes. • They have 8 Sentinel chicken coops, each with 6 chickens, scattered throughout the area. They do blood tests weekly... Read More