Franklin County’s oldest boat dealer sold
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Franklin County’s oldest boat dealer sold

Wefings Marine, Franklin County’s oldest boat dealership, dating back 115 years, has been sold to a consortium of South Florida investors in their first venture into the Panhandle. Nautical Ventures, based in Fort Lauderdale with dealership locations also in Palm Beach, Sarasota, Stuart, and Tampa acquired the Eastpoint location as of the first of the…

Prominent environmental consultant dies in Turkey
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Prominent environmental consultant dies in Turkey

Dan Garlick, founder of one of the oldest and most experienced environmental firms in Northwest Florida and the southeastern United States, died Thursday, Jan. 4 in Istanbul, Turkey. Garlick, 73, had been in transit to a vacation in the Maldives, an island nation in the Indian Ocean, when he he suffered a stroke after getting…

Changes in primary care for Gulf and Franklin
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Changes in primary care for Gulf and Franklin

The relocation of Apalachicola family practitioner David Newton M.D. this month to a practice in Port St. Joe signals a change to primary care in Franklin and Gulf counties. Weems Memorial Hospital is reassuring Franklin County patients that all their primary care needs will be met by its existing providers as they continue to seek…

Island party unveils ‘Salty Boots Songwriter Festival’
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Island party unveils ‘Salty Boots Songwriter Festival’

Jennifer Stradtman has a dream, to create the Sandy Boots Songwriters Festival of St. George Island in the spring. To help awaken it, she hosted a launch party at her West Gorrie Drive home Saturday, featuring two of the best songwriters in Nashville, to help generate interest and whet the appetite for the spring festival….

Apalachicola airport to begin car rental
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Apalachicola airport to begin car rental

There soon will be car rentals at the Apalachicola Regional Airport, after Franklin County commissioners unanimously approved a request from the airport’s fixed base operator Tara Blauth, who along with Andrew Hartman are principals for Centric Aviation LLC, which runs the airport, appeared at the Nov. 21 meeting to ask for permission to offer the…

County on verge of buying Eastpoint bank building
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County on verge of buying Eastpoint bank building

Franklin County commissioners are about to buy the former Gulf State Community Bank building in Eastpoint, and relocate some county departments there. At a special meeting Aug. 23, commissioners gave the unanimous go-ahead to a possible purchase of the building, for roughly $1 million. Commissioner Noah Lockley was absent. County Attorney Michael Shuler said he…

Developers eye St. George Island resort and marina
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Developers eye St. George Island resort and marina

EDITOR’S NOTE — THIS REPORT HAS BEEN UPDATED FROM AN EARLIER VERSION TO REMOVE AN INACCURATE STATEMENT REFERENCING BUSINESS INVOLVEMENTS IN FRANKLIN COUNTY OF AN UNRELATED COMPANY, EDGEWATER GROUP LLC, A feasibility study for a waterfront resort development on St. George Island, complete with marina, has begun to attract attention around the county, although a…

County jobless rate third best in state
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County jobless rate third best in state

The Franklin County unemployment rate stayed unchanged in June, and that meant it now has the third lowest jobless rate in Florida. According to data released last week by the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity, the county’s jobless rate remained at 2.5 percent last month, as the labor force increased to 5,099, which is 97…

DEP gives go-ahead to proposed marina
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DEP gives go-ahead to proposed marina

In a major step forward for the so-called “Boss Oyster Marina,” the Florida Department of Environmental Protection on Monday served notice to the developers that they intend to grant both an Environmental Resource Permit and a lease to use sovereign submerged lands to the project. The word came in a July 17 report issued by…