There is a very good possibility that Washington County, Florida could get slot machines in the near future. At the request of the Ebro Greyhound Park, the Washington County Board of County Commissioneers have agreed to place a countywide voter referendum concerning slot machines on the January 31st Republican presidential primary ballot. All registered voters, regardless of party, will have the chance to decide if the Ebro Greyhound Park will be allowed to add slot machines to it's facility.

Addition of the slot machines would allow the greyhound park to move forward with it's plans for a full-scale family resort and entertainment facility. The facility would include, but not be limited to, hotel and spa and entertainment facilities.

Owners of the Ebro dog track estimate that this will create approximately 1200 jobs and an additional 2 million dollars in additional income.

Washington County Kennel Club, doing business as Ebro Greyhound Park, has been in existence since 1955 and currently features greyhound racing and a very popular poker room. Ebro Greyhound Park currently employs 225 people with an annual payroll of $1.2 million and more than $5 million in local spending.

Located at HWY 79 and HWY 20, Ebro is only about a 15 minute drive to the beaches at Panama City Beach and to the new Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport. HWY 79 is a heavily traveled road by tourists heading to the beaches and is currently being 4 laned through Washington County.

In my role as President of the Washington County Firefighters Association, I met with two of the owners of the Greyhound Park yesterday to discuss the ramifications to our Fire Services here in Washington County. The owners seem to be very committed to making sure that the Fire Services and EMS services benefit from the additional monies that should be generated. They verbally said that they are willing to make sure that income is designated and utilized by Fire and EMS to improve our services Countywide and in the immediate area around Ebro.

Regardless of where a person may stand on the issue of gambling, I feel that this is an opportunity that the citizens of Washington County cannot afford to let slip through our fingers.

If you are a resident of Washington County, Florida, I would urge you to support this effort, and stop losing money to other areas that offer this type of entertainment. 

The Safety Profile you create in Smart911 is completely private and only shared with 9-1-1 when you call from a registered phone. Some examples of the information you can include in your Safety Profile are below.

Personal Information

Your Photo

Upload a photo of yourself or loved one and when you call 9-1-1 the dispatcher will forward it to the police, paramedics and fire fighters that are responding – so they’ll know exactly who they’re looking for when they arrive on the scene.

Your Calling Location

Now for the first time 9-1-1 operators can determine your location based on the GPS in your cell phone, even if your call drops (only on select phones). With Smart911, the police and paramedics can locate you more quickly in an emergency.

Your Name and Personal Pin

With Smart911, the 9-1-1 operator will know more about you – like your name or a personal identification number you choose. In the event you are being coerced or threatened, just give the wrong pin and they’ll be able to recognize the situation and help you more quickly.

Physical Description

Simply by knowing your height, weight and eye color, paramedics and firefighters can better identify you and your family members in an emergency.

Age / Gender

Similar to physical description, knowing the age and the gender of your family members can help police, fire and paramedics identify them should they be injured.

Household Details

Family Profile

When firefighters are rescuing a family from a burning house how do they know that everyone is out? With Smart911, call takers can tell firefighters exactly how many people live in your house.

Photos of Children

Today when a child goes missing there’s a delay before an Amber Alert can be triggered – the police have to acquire a photo of the missing child. With Smart911, a high quality photo of the child is ready immediately.

Household Access

With Smart911 call takers can tell firefighters in route exactly what to expect – where the gas shut off value in your house is or where the exits are. For those living in apartment buildings they’ll have a layout of the apartment complex.

Pet Information

In a house fire it’s important that pets don’t get left behind either. With Smart911 you can add all our family pets to your profile to make sure that first responders rescue them as well.

Emergency Contacts

For minors or seniors with Alzheimer’s, call takers can see the contact info of their care-taking family members to reach out to them when the 911 call is not a life threatening incident.

Medical Information

Medications

With Smart911, you can securely share all the information about the medications you and your loved ones are taking so that in an emergency paramedics are aware of any complications and don’t have to question an injured or delirious victim.

Medical Conditions

Tell Smart911 about your family’s medical conditions – like heart attack and stroke history . This way when they receive a call from an unresponsive caller they can send all the appropriate equipment.

Psychiatric Conditions

Notify Smart911 of family members who are suffering from dementia or depression so that when they call 9-1-1, call takers can respond appropriately.

Allergies

Report your family's allergies to Smart911 and we’ll notify paramedics when you call 9-1-1. The simple knowledge of food allergies and/or latex allergies can make all the difference.

Rescue Notes

For those who require special evacuation equipment due to their weight or medical conditions, alerting Smart911 ahead of time can ensure that paramedics arrive completely prepared.

Special Needs

Disabilities

All pertinent information regarding disabilities can be detailed ahead of time so that those with special needs – including speech impediments can count on first responders acting on the preloaded data as opposed to traditional questioning.

Disorders

For those who have a family member with Alzheimer’s, Smart911 offers a unique solution. Instantly call takers know the callers condition and refer to the details of the profile – including current location and contact info of family members.

Impairments

For the deaf community, Smart911 provides a critical service. While deaf callers are unable to respond to call takers questioning they can rely on their pre-entered profile data.

Non-English

By creating a Smart911 profile ahead of time families can be assured that the appropriate translation services will be provided without delay during an emergency call.

Additional Information

Restraining Orders

With Smart911, the police will know as they respond to a domestic dispute whether or not there are outstanding restraining orders against either party.

Vehicle Information

Include your family’s vehicle information and police can be on the look out for your car as well as your family members as they arrive on the scene after your 9-1-1 call.

Additional Notes

Smart911 allows you to include any other information – not covered in these other fields – about you and your family that you think could be helpful during a 9-1-1 call.

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For folks that just really don't have a clue about Grits - This is the best explanation of the history and preperation of Grits!!!   You just got to love them!!!

What Are Grits?

Some folks believe grits are grown on bushes and are harvested by midgets by
shaking the bushes after spreading sheets around them. Many people think grits
are made from ground up bits of white corn. These are lies spread by Communists
and terrorists. Nothing as good as a Grits can be made from corn. Research
suggests that the mysterious Manna that God rained down upon the Israelites
during their time in the Sinai Desert was most likely Grits. Critics disagree,
stating that there is no record of biscuits, butter, salt, and red eye gravy
raining down from the sky, and that God would not punish his people by forcing
them to eat Grits without these key ingredients.

How Grits are Formed:

Grits are formed deep underground under intense heat and pressure. It takes over
1000 years to form a single Grit. Most of the world's grit mines are in Georgia
, and are guarded day and night by armed guards and attack dogs. Harvesting the
Grit is a dangerous occupation, and many Grit miners lose their lives each year
so that Grits can continue to be served morning after morning for breakfast--not
that having Grits for lunch and dinner is out of the question.

Yankees have attempted to create a synthetic Grits. They call them Cream of
Wheat. As far as we can tell, the key ingredients of Cream of Wheat are Elmer's
Glue and shredded Styrofoam. These synthetic grits have also been shown to cause
nausea, and can leave you unable to have children.

Historical Grits:

As mentioned earlier, the first known mention of the Grits was by the Ancient
Israelites in the Sinai Desert. After that, Grits were not heard from for
another 1000 years. Grits were used during this time only during secret
religious ceremonies, and were kept from the public. The next mention of Grits
was found amidst the ruins of the ancient city of Pompeii in a woman's personal
diary discovered in the seat of an old sedan. The woman's name was Herculania
Jemimana, who was known as Aunt Jemima to her friends.

The Ten Commandments of Grits:

I. Thou shalt not put syrup on thy Grits
II.Thou shalt not eat thy Grits with a spoon or knife
III.Thou shalt not eat Cream of Wheat and call it Grits, for this is blasphemy
IV. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's Grits
V.Thou shalt use only Salt, Butter, and red eye gravy as toppings for thy Grits
VI. Thou shalt not eat Instant Grits
VII. Thou shalt not put ketchup on thy Grits
VIII. Thou shalt not put margarine on thy Grits.
IX. Thou shalt not eat toast with thy Grits, only biscuits made from scratch .
X. Thou shalt eat grits on the Sabbath for this is manna from heaven.

How to Cook Grits:

For one serving of Grits: Boil 1.5 cups of water with salt and a little butter.
Add 5 Tbsp of Grits. Reduce to a simmer and allow the Grits to
soak up all the water. When a pencil stuck into the grits stands alone, they are
done. That's all there is to cooking grits.
How to make red eye gravy: Fry salt cured country ham in cast-iron pan. Remove
the ham when done and add coffee to the gravy and simmer for several minutes.
Great on grits and biscuits.

How to Eat Grits:

Immediately after removing your grits from the stove top, add a generous portion
of butter or red eye gravy. Do NOT use low-fat butter.
The butter should cause the Grits to turn a wondrous shade of yellow. Hold a
banana or a yellow rain slicker next to your Grits; if the colors match, you
have the correct amount of butter. In lieu of butter, pour a generous helping of
red eye gravy on your
grits. Be sure to pour enough to have some left for sopping up with your
biscuits. Use biscuits made from scratch. Never, ever substitute canned or
store-bought biscuits for the real thing because they can cause cancer, tooth
decay and impotence. Next, add salt. The correct ratio of Grit to Salt is 10:1
Therefore for every 10 grits, you should have 1 grain of salt. Now begin eating
your grits. Always use a fork, never a spoon, to eat Grits. Your grits should be
thick enough so they do not run through the tines of the fork. The correct
beverage to serve with Grits is black coffee. DO NOT use cream or, heaven
forbid, Skim Milk. Your grits should rarely be eaten in a bowl because Yankees
will think it's Cream of Wheat.

Ways to Eat Leftover Grits:

Leftover grits are extremely rare and may only be a rumor. Spread them in the
bottom of a casserole dish, Cover and place them in the refrigerator overnight.
The Grits will congeal into a gelatinous mass. Next morning, slice the Grits
into squares and fry them in 1/2' of cooking oil and butter until they turn a
golden brown. Many people are tempted to pour syrup onto Grits served this way.
This is, of course, unacceptable but delicious.

BLESSING BEFORE EATING GRITS

May the Lord bless these grits,
May Yankees never get the recipe,
May I eat grits each day while living,
And may I die while eating grits.
AMEN






--

You can't stay young forever, but you can stay immature for the rest of your
life.

I am trying to reach out to anyone who may have ever served on the USS Silversides at any time.

After graduating High School in 1972 I entered directly into the Navy. I served on a nuclear fast attack submarine, the USS Silversides (SSN-679) from 1974 to 1978. After leaving the Navy in 1978, I never really thought that the crewmembers I served with would ever be seen again.

But thanks to social media and Facebook in particular, many of the guys that I served with have gotten back in touch and were even able to hold a reunion back in July of this year. It was held in Muskegon Michigan, the home of the Great Lakes Naval Museum. That is also where the original Silversides (SS-236) has been restored and is docked. The original diesel boat served gallantly in World War 2 and achieved many awards. I had to miss this reunion due to econimic reasons.

But anyway, the point of this is that on our Facebook page (Ol Silversiders) there have been 85 old crewmembers identified. This is less than one full crew. There are so many more crewmembers that we have not been able to contact, or that may not be aware that we are reaching out to them in order to do another reunion in 2013 at New London Connecticut. With well over 200000 members. I just want to get this out here in case anyone reading ever served on the Silversides. 

Making my plans now to be able to attend the 2013 reunion and hope that we can get as many of our old shipmates together for this.

For the second year now the Chipola Area Board of Realtors had a float in the Bonifay Florida Rodeo Parade. This sleepy little town in the Florida Panhandle really comes alive for this weekend event!

According to the 2008 census report, the city of Bonifay has 2780 residents. But, according to the Bonifay Kiwanis Club which sponsors the event (this was the 67th annual rodeo), there are over 25000 people that come to enjoy the rodeo weekend!! Judging by the amount of people lining the streets during this lengthy parade, I can believe it!

Our float was lined up in the staging area as # 100 out of 112 floats. This does not include all the horses, 4 wheelers, and other participants that marched in the parade.

One thing is for certain, they really take this parade very seriously!! I have participated in a couple of other parades with our Fire Department, but have never experienced one as massive and well planned as this one.

   Proud Realtors and family

         Decorating the float

      Parade Route

     Tossing candy and beads during the parade