Twenty years ago, in 1996, Jefferson Davis Community College was looking for a new president. It was announced in The Brewton Standard that there were more than 40 candidates who had applied for the position.

Apparently it was an early Spring in our area. There were several photos in the newspaper showing the blooming of the azaleas around town.

It is the same in 2016. We have had some beautiful days and there are some of us who are ready to dig sandals out of the closet. I know, we are supposed, at least according to the older generation, to wait until after Easter to begin wearing white and sandals. I have never gone by the old time sayings so I don’t wait for Easter. It depends on the weather as to when I start wearing white. Just yesterday, I went to Mobile and it was in the low 80s. This morning when I left the house, I had to grab a lightweight jacket. You may remember that it actually snowed on March 13, 1993. So my advice is to dress in layers so you can be ready for whatever comes. Although, we seem to be having a lot of rain and bad weather this year, it has been worse. In April of 1928, our area was hit by a flood and then again March 17, 1929. Both were devastating.

During the spring lots of kids get some holidays and plan on spending them at the beach. In 1996. there was still a lot of leftovers from Hurricane Opal, which occurred in Oct. of 1995. Beach goers were being warned about the debris that still littered the sand.

I don’t know why it was there, but when I was 12, I took a run on the beach at Panama City and ran into a pipe sticking out of the sand (it was a night). I had to be carried to the hospital and of course that ended my beach trip.

The Escambia County commissioners were getting tough on alleged dumping of trash and garbage where they were not supposed to be. Two men were charged $250 and had to spend 40 hours in community service.

At the same time landfill space was becoming a problem for the state. You know, everything that we have or will have has to be dumped somewhere on the planet so we need to do it as wisely as we can.

Speaking of devastation, it was announced that about 80 percent of the blueberry crop had been lost to cold weather. Never the less, the Blueberry Festival was still planed, according to Judy Crane, executive director of the Chamber of Commerce.

A bunch of ladies from the First National Bank were photographed working on the landscaping of the Brewton Message Center.