Panama city living jan feb 2014 final by Catalin Daniel Ciolca

We Build Vessels and Futures

Recipient of the Governor’s Top Job Producer Award in 2012 - For ESG’s Support and Dedication to Florida’s Economic Development and Job Creation Efforts

2200 Nelson Street, Panama City, FL 32401 13300 Allanton Road, Panama City, FL 32404 Tel: 850-763-1900 www.easternshipbuilding.com

The Cosmetic Vein & Laser Center W W W. S K I N A N D V E I N S . C O M 12238 Panama City Beach Pkwy. Telephone: (850) 233-0264

•

Panama City Beach, FL 32407

Fax: (850) 233-3113

Medical: Georgetown University School of Medicine • Residency: Georgetown University Hospital Board Certified: Internal Medicine & Phlebology (Vein Disorders) Skin & Laser Medicine Specialist

Love is

Decadent make everyday a

valentines day!

Florida Trend Magazine’s Golden Spoon Award Winner Four Years in a Row Wine Spectator Award of Excellence for Six Years Running (2008–2013) Honored as one of Urbanspoon’s 250 “America’s Most Popular High-End Restaurants”

Steak | Seafood | Sushi Pizza | Dessert | Cocktails Private Rooms and Full Service Catering Available.

Firefly Restaurant & Lounge at the Shoppes of Edgewater Panama City Beach, Florida 4

850.249.3359 • fireflypcb.com January - February 2014 www.PanamaCityLiving.com

Contents FEATURES Innovation, Growth, Jobs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Tonie Bense: About the Love to Dance and Teach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Couples Working Together . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 One Chef’s Love of Salt From the Gulf of Mexico to Dining Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Valentine’s Day Shopping Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 The Music Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

IN THIS ISSUE

9 About BooksALIVE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Innovation in Healthcare Telemedicine Helps Bay County Neurologists Provide Fast Care for Stroke Patients - Remotely . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Beach Arts Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 Fashion Made in Panama City: The French Gypsy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

‘Amazing, Exciting, Fun’ Bay Arts Alliance - Kids’ Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

Who Do You Love? Bay List: 2014 Readers Choice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 A Modern Day Princess . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 Grow More Memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 Highly Trained Dogs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 The Civil War Salt Makers of St. Andrews Bay: The Salt of the Earth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Tribute to Panama City’s Cultural Movers and Shakers Clio and Hercules Pettis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

74 Fishing Heats up in Cool Water . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

32 60

IN EVERY ISSUE

10 Past Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Wedding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 Know the Answer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77 Calendar of Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Panama City Living Magazine January - February 2014

PHOTO BY SONJA REVELLS PHOTOGRAPHY PHOTO EDITING BY ANA MARIA VIDAL

On the Cover:

Our cover photo shows the rooftop of the new Advanced Technology Center at Gulf Coast State College in Panama City with its alternative power generation technology. What looks like a beautiful fountain is part of a fully functional water cistern that is being fed by rain water. Shown in the background are solar panels and wind generating turbines. Read more about the alternative energy generating systems and the related studies at Gulf Coast State College’s Advanced Technology Center on page 22. Seen on the cover from left to right are Hillary Hutchins, Malesha McVay and Towanda Z. Garner.

Hillary Hutchins about herself:

My job at GCSC is to cover the campus news and handle program creation and development for our channel, GCTV. I am also the coadvisor with Dr. Erika Goines for "Commodore Productions", the oncampus media club. At home, my 5 year old daughter Brooklyn, who loves to sing and dance, keeps me busy and happy and I am grateful for her and my fiancé Bill, who has been my strong rock and support. I am also a volunteer at Kaleidoscope Theatre, I sit on their board of directors and I also played a part in the production of Dearly Departed.

January - February 2014 • Volume 10 Issue 1 To subscribe for one year by mail

To subscribe online visit

Send Check or Money Order in the amount of $ 25.00 to:

www.PanamaCityLiving.com

Panama City Living Magazine

For more information about subscriptions and/or advertising, please send an email to: info@PanamaCityLiving.com

Harbour Village Executive Center 3001 W. 10th Street, 101A-7 Panama City, Florida 32401 Phone: (850) 325-0050

Panama City Living can be purchased at newsstands in 17 states and 9 countries. Locally, it can be found at Books-A-Million and Books By The Sea in Panama City.

PUBLISHER Panama City Living Media, LLC Val Schoger val@PanamaCityLiving.com

Malesha McVay about herself:

I was born and raised in Panama City and have lived here the majority of my life. I was homeschooled until 12th grade, which was great. I wanted to dual enroll at a college so I could get a head start on my degree but did not want to move away from Panama City. I chose Gulf Coast State College because it was the closest to home. I have maintained a 3.75 GPA so far throughout my college career. I have always loved helping and taking care of people and children - so it seemed only fitting to become a nurse. Through God’s help, I got accepted into the nursing program at Gulf Coast State College the first semester I applied, and I will start in January 2014. I plan to stay at Gulf Coast until I get my Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree and become a Registered Nurse. After that, my goal is to continue on for my Master of Science in Nursing to get my Nurse Practitioner degree. I have not yet decided where I want to go for my Master Degree - but I still have four years to figure that out. I have thoroughly enjoyed my time so far at Gulf Coast- it has been a great college and a wonderful experience for me!

CONTRIBUTORS Jenna E. Anderson

Dr. Dan Finley

Diane Mercado

Paul Ashman

Mary Lee Gray

Linda Mix

David Angier

Sarah Hough

Jennifer Reale

Amanda Bawn

Carole Lapensohn

Robert Register David Angier

PHOTOGRAPHERS David Angier

Linda Mix

R. O. Smith

Beck Graben

Scott Pittman

Sarah Shipes

Savannah Jane Dean

Sonja Revells

Swak Photography

Towanda Z. Garner about herself:

I am probably the first person visitors will see when they enter the Advanced Technology Center – I have been working as a receptionist at the ATC since September 2013. I have been referred to as the face of the ATC. I have met many people from CEOs of major businesses to some amazing students that complement the growth at the ATC. In addition, working at the ATC has given me an opportunity to work at pursuing my Bachelor’s degree in Communications along with having more flexibility to devote to my family and other endeavors in life. A big thanks to students, staff and faculty members at Gulf Coast State College for making our photo shoot possible and patiently posing for pictures on three separate days in bad weather conditions.

ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES Sandra Day Kimberly Kay McInville-Miller Stephanie L. Dockery

Panama City Living Magazine is Published six times annually by Panama City Living Media, LLC. All editorial content is the opinion of the contributing authors and does not necessarily reflect those of the Publisher. Reproduction of this publication in part or whole without express written consent of the Publisher is expressly prohibited. All rights reserved. Copyright© 2005-2014 Panama City Living Media,LLC.

January - February 2014 www.PanamaCityLiving.com

January / February 2014 Val Schoger Publisher

Note from the Publisher:

New year, new goals. My initial idea for the first magazine issue for 2014 was, as always, ambitious: Pay a tribute to visionaries who have been leading the way to innovation and growth and, in general, have contributed to positioning Bay County as one of the most attractive places to live, work and play in Northwest Florida. The words innovation and growth will resonate throughout the next pages. While I hope we could capture some of the determination and pioneer spirit that we encountered while talking to local personalities, I had to give up on the idea of an all-encompassing article that would touch on every aspect of our thriving community – there are just too many good things going on, more than can be talked about in one single magazine issue. But, it also means that we will have our work cut out for upcoming issues. The entire year lies ahead and thinking about the topics we can write about makes me say: It will be a good year! And while each magazine issue becomes the center of my universe for about two months, what has truly touched on my life in the past few weeks are the interview series with successful couples. The original idea here was to put a different spin on Valentine’s Day and show how love can work in what must be the most challenging of all relationships: the couple that works together. We have talked to local couples who are partners in life and work, combining both, going through ups and downs and ultimately succeeding. I like to thank these wonderful couples for sharing their stories with us and for giving us a glimpse on what it takes to be happy and successful together.

Val studied communications and marketing in Germany and holds a marketing degree. She had a corporate career and has worked for nine years in media, PR and marketing internationally in Germany, England, the Caribbean and the United States. During an extended sailboat cruise n 2003, she traveled to the Gulf Coast and subsequently to Navarre, Florida and was immediately smitten with Northwest Florida. She started her first business in 2004 in Fort Walton Beach and as of July 2013, she became the sole owner and publisher of Panama City Living Magazine. She obtained her Merchant Mariner Credential (Captain’s License) right here in Panama City at SeaSchool and enjoys being on the water when she finds the time.

Sandra L. Day Account Executive /Print Advertising Sandra has lived in Bay County all her life and looks back on a long career in print advertising sales. As homegrown Panama City and Panama City Beach resident, Sandra can relate to tradition and grown structures – long standing in the community defines her approach on providing advertising solutions. She has worked for Panama City Living for the past four years with growing success in helping small businesses promote their products and services and meet their sales objectives.

Kim McInville-Miller Account Executive / Print Advertising Kim is dedicated to delivering advertising campaigns that grab attention, build awareness, raise image and will help businesses succeed. Kim has a proven track record of successfully implementing advertising strategies. She dedicates her free time to volunteering for the American Red Cross. Last year she was awarded the title “Volunteer of the year 2013” by Washington County Red Cross Central Panhandle Chapter. She is also an accomplished piano teacher.

Stephanie L. Dockery Account Executive / Online & Print Advertising Stephanie is our online advertising and branding expert. With seven years of media and sales experience, she uses a consultative approach to developing print and online advertising strategies that will help her clients reach their business goals. Stephanie holds a B.S. in Communications and Journalism from the University of Tennessee. She is also a contributing writer for the magazine and she is working on her first novel.

Grethe Floeng Keitges Accounting / Bookkeeping -Val val@PanamaCityLiving.com

Panama City Living Magazine January - February 2014

Grethe has joined our team as part-time accountant and bookkeeper. She is also part-owner of a local commercial fishing business and is engaged in all its management aspects. She brings with her five years of bookkeeping and accounting experience and management skills following an eleven year career in the Pharma Industry. Grethe actively seeks to promote the local fishing industry and supports local charities.

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Books Alive! in Panama City The 15th Annual booksALIVE Festival of Reading will be held February 1st 2014, at Florida State University in Panama City, Florida, with Keynote Speaker Pat Conroy, featured author of Princes of Tides, South of Broad and My Reading Life. booksALIVE! is our area’s premier book festival. Now in its 15th year, booksALIVE! mixes creativity, learning, fun and fellowship into a weekend brew of inspiration and interaction for those who love the power of words. A Saturday full of workshops, presentations, book signings, and the opportunity to rub elbows with our author/ speakers creates a delicious buffet for booklovers - all free! The ticketed keynote luncheon offers a great lunch and a fabulous speaker at a reasonable cost. booksALIVE! began in the summer of 1999 and has grown into one of the most respected events of its kind from Jacksonville, Florida to Jackson, Mississippi. The author presentations held on Saturday, February 1st, are free. The Gala tickets will be $75, and the keynote luncheon tickets are $20.

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booksALIVE! began in the summer of 1999 and has grown into one of the most respected events of its kind from Jacksonville, Florida to Jackson, Mississippi. Past keynote speakers have included several New York Times bestselling authors, a Pulitzer Prize winner, a Governor, a United States Congressman, a Presidential candidate, and a “60 Minutes” network producer (who is currently a Senior Vice President of the Country Music Network). In 2008, the festival partnered with Florida State University and offered one entire day of Creative Writing workshops featuring published instructors and award-winning writers. While more than 500 people take part in booksALIVE! every year, participation surpassed the 1,000-person mark when the 2008 school lecture tour was implemented.

Panama City Living Magazine January - February 2014

CALENDAR OF EVENTS EVERY MONTH Sundays Americana Cafe Sundays Presenting some of the finest touring Americana musicians in the country, from Blues to traditional and from Florida Folk to Western Swing. Open Mic followed by concerts. Refreshments available. $5.00 suggested donation at the door. Location: Historic Roberts Hall, 831 Florida Ave, Lynn Haven, Fl 32444 http://www.luckymudmusic.com

Weekend Market 8am-2pm, Sundays 11am-4pm Wildly popular Grand Lagoon Waterfront Farmers’ Market has outgrown the grassy areas of Pirate’s Cove Marina and the two acres of parking the marina offers and has arrived in the next logical place . . . the OTHER side of the bridge at Captain Anderson’s Restaurant! Beginning Saturday, February 16, the market will host the neighborhood’s favorite Makers, Bakers and Growers on Saturday mornings from 8am to 2pm at Capt Anderson’s in addition to their customary Sunday hours at Pirate’s Cove, 11am to 4pm. http://www.waterfrontmarkets.org (850) 763-7359 landline; (850) 238-9388 (Market cell - Market days only) info@WaterfrontMarkets.org

Tuesdays through Saturdays Paint Your ‘Art Out Join us for an evening of creativity and comaraderie! We provide the paint, canvas, brushes, and fun. Paint along with our instructors and take home your one of a kind creation at the end of the night. Pick your painting and register for each session separately. Find the current month’s painting selections on our homepage. Hours: Tues-Thurs 6:00 - 8:00pm Fridays & Saturdays 7:00-9:00pm Members: $30 Non-members: $35 Location: Visual Arts Center, 19 E. 4th St, Panama City, Fl 32401 http://www.vacnwfl.org Phone: (850) 769-4451

Tuesdays Animal Encounters Feed the reptiles with our handler and learn about their habitat. Time: 3:30 pm Location: Science and Discovery Center, 308 Airport Rd Panama City, Fl 32401 Phone: (850) 769-6128 http://www.scienceanddiscoverycenter.org

Travel and Adventure Film Series Location: Arnold High School, 550 Alf Coleman Rd Panama City Beach, FL 32407 Time: 7-9 pm. Admission: $7.00 or $25 for season.

Submit your events online for free at http://www.panamacityliving.com/events

Wednesday, Jan 1

America’s State Parks First Day Hikes

Time: 11 am - 3 pm Start the New Year off with health and wellness and a First Day Hike at St. Andrews State Park. Location: 4607 State Park Ln Panama City Beach, Fl 32408

Friday, Jan 3 Ron White: A Little Unprofessional

Location: Marina Civic Center 8 Harrison Ave, Panama City, Fl 32401 Time: 7:30 pm Tickets: $43.75-$153.75 200 and 100 Proof VIP Packages Available. http://www.marinaciviccenter.com

Jan 3-5, 10-12, 17-19 Dearly Departed

Location: Kaleidoscope Theatre 207 E 24th St, Lynn Haven, Fl 32444 Times: Fri/Sat 7:30 pm & Sun 2 pm http://www.kt-online.org Phone: (850) 265-3226

Jan 10-12 & 16-18 Mama Won’t Fly

Location: Martin Theatre 409 Harrison Ave Panama City, Fl 32401 Times: Fri/Sat 7:30 pm & Sun 2 pm http://www.martintheatre.com |

Phone: (850) 763-8080

Monday, Jan 13

An Evening With Garrison Keillor

Spend an evening with one of the most successful American storytellers OF ALL TIME. The witty and entertaining Garrison Keillor is best known for his hugely popular radio program “A Prairie Home Companion”. Location: Marina Civic Center 8 Harrison Ave, Panama City, Fl 32401 Time: 7:30 pm Tickets: $35-$45 http://www.marinaciviccenter.com

Wednesday, Jan 15 Englebert Humperdinck

Engelbert Humperdinck is a British singer, best known for his UK number one hits “Release Me” and “The Last Waltz”, as well as “After the Lovin’.” Location: Marina Civic Center 8 Harrison Ave, Panama City, Fl 32401 Time: 7 pm Tickets: $25-$75 http://www.marinaciviccenter.com

January - February 2014 www.PanamaCityLiving.com

January / February 2014 Friday, Jan 17

Park Cleanup In Honor of Martin Luther King Day

Goodwill and Americorps Vista will host a “Pretty the Parks Day.” Help is needed to paint, prune, and then party! Lunch provided to volunteers. Location: Glenwood Center 722 E. 9th Ct., Panama City, FL 32401 Call: (850) 522-3900

Saturday, Jan 18

House of Hope 5K and Fun Run

Jan 26 and Feb 1 Oyster Bash Fundraiser

Donate $25 for all you can eat oysters! Hot dogs also available. Proceeds go to Man in the Sea. Location: The Dive Lab (across from Panama Jacks) 1415 Moylan Rd. Panama City Beach, Fl Phone: (850) 235-4101

Tuesday, Jan 28

Location: First Baptist Church, 640 Grace Ave, Panama City , FL 32401 Time: 8 am Register by Jan 15

Stars and Guitars

http://firstbaptistpc.com/events

Sunday, Jan 19

Location: Marina Civic Center 8 Harrison Ave, Panama City, Fl 32401 Time: 7-10 pm Tickets: $26.50-$49.50 http://www.marinaciviccenter.com Phone: (850) 872-7761

Location: Marina Civic Center 8 Harrison Ave, Panama City, Fl 32401 Time: 4 pm Tickets: $17.50-$47.50

Friday, Jan 31

In the Mood: A 1940’s Musical Review

http://www.marinaciviccenter.com

Friday, Jan 24

The Bronx Wonderers Location: Martin Theatre 409 Harrison Ave Panama City, Fl 32401 Times: 7:30 pm http://www.martintheatre.com Phone: (850) 763-8080

Saturday, Jan 25 Battle of the Batons

A fundraiser for the Panama City Pops Orchestra. In addition to a fantastic evening of music, local celebrities will conduct portions of the show, contending to conduct the final piece. The audience votes for their favorite for $1 each vote. Location: Marina Civic Center 8 Harrison Ave, Panama City, Fl 32401 Time: 7:30 pm Tickets: $10-$29.50 http://www.marinaciviccenter.com

Sunday, Jan 26 Elixir of Love

Donizetti’s fanciful and intensely human comic opera is vividly realized in the story of Dr. Dulcamara a travelling charlatan who turns a provincial village topsy-turvy by convincing young swain Belcori to purchase a love potion, the better to win the heart of Adina. Location: Marina Civic Center 8 Harrison Ave, Panama City, Fl 32401 Time: 4 pm Tickets: $37-$50 http://www.marinaciviccenter.com

A stage of incredible artists, one amazing night to benefit the Gulf Coast Children’s Advocacy Center! Includes a live auction.

Hits and Grins

Location: Martin Theatre, 409 Harrison Ave, Panama City, Fl 32401 Time: 7:30 pm http://www.martintheatre.com Phone: (850) 763-8080

Sat, Feb 1

The 15th Annual booksALIVE Festival of Reading

Event is FREE and OPEN TO THE PUBLIC. Meet Best Selling Authors, attend luncheon ($25), hear keynote speaker PAT CONROY, author of The Great Santini and The Prince of Tides. Location: Holley Center at Florida State University in Panama City, 4750,Collegiate Dr, Panama City, FL,32405 Time: 9 am - 4 pm http://www.booksalive.net (850) 522-2100

Todd Herendeen: Elvis in Concert Tonight

A tribute to Elvis- ‘68 Comeback Tour To The ‘72 Madison Square Gardens. Location: Gulf World Marine Park, 15412 Front Beach Road, Panama City Beach, FL 32413, in The Tropical Garden Theatre. Time: 7 pm http://www.gulfworldmarinepark.com (850) 234-5271

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Panama City Living Magazine January - February 2014

CALENDAR OF EVENTS

Saturday, Feb 8

Thursday, Feb 6

3rd Annual Winter Resident Senior Prom

This isn’t your grandkid’s senior prom! Our winter residents really know how to have a good time, enjoying dining, dancing, and socializing before introducing the year’s prom court and finally crowning a prom king and queen voted on by our winter visitors and their friends! Dress can be as formal or as casual as you’d like - flowered shirts are just as welcome as bow ties when the only requirement is to smile, laugh, and enjoy yourself. Location: Edgewater Beach Resort, 11212 Front Beach Rd, Panama City Beach, FL 32407 Time: 6 - 9 pm http://www.visitpanamacitybeach.com

27th Annual Bay County Job Fair

Location: Tom P. Haney Technical Center Time: 9 am – 1 pm. Veterans will be given priority entrance from 8 - 9 am. The job fair is free to all employers and job seekers. For more information or for employers to register for this event. Ph: Kimberly Drayton at 850-767-5500

Knock ‘Em Dead

This unique comedy murder mystery has six different endings! All hell breaks loose and the laughs fly when five outrageous contestants show up at Vinnie’s Belly Laugh Club for the final talent competition.

Location: Frank Brown Park, at Gayle’s Trails 16200 Panama City Beach Pkwy, Panama City Beach, FL 32413 Time: 9 am Tickets: $15 before event, $25 day of race http://www.SecondChanceNWFL.com

Sunday, Feb 9 Location: Marina Civic Center 8 Harrison Ave, Panama City, Fl 32401 Time: 7 pm Tickets: $55 - $65 http://www.marinaciviccenter.com

Friday, Feb 14

Valentine’s Snowbird Dance Party

Hitsville Live!

An authentic Motown revue featuring former TEMPTATIONS lead singer (75-83) MR. GLENN LEONARD. All the hits of your favorite Motown acts, including the Marvelettes, Stevie Wonder, Supremes, Smokey, Mary Wells, Marvin Gaye, Temptations and much more! Location: Martin Theatre 409 Harrison Ave Panama City, Fl 32401 Times: 7:30 pm

Location: Kaleidoscope Theatre 207 E 24th St, Lynn Haven, Fl 32444 Times: Fri/Sat 7:30 pm & Sun 2 pm |

Sponsored by the Brain and Spine Center LLC. Register and buy your tickets on Active.com This is an event for all ages. After the race, participants will be treated to a well deserved hot cocoa. Winners in each age group will receive a mouth watering confectionery surprise. All proceeds go to Second Chance of Northwest Florida, a local organization dedicated to the support of adults with brain related injury and their families.

Location: Boardwalk Beach Resort 9450 S. Thomas Dr, Panama City Beach, FL 32408 Time: 4 - 10 pm

Feb 7-9, 14-16, 21-23

http://www.kt-online.org

The Sweet Heart 5K Run!

Blue Man Group

Friday, Feb 7

http://www.baycountyjobfair.com

Submit your events online for free at http://www.panamacityliving.com/events

Phone: (850) 265-3226

http://www.martintheatre.com

Phone: (850) 763-8080

Saturday, Feb 15

Saturday, Feb 8

Go Big or Go Home

Margo Anderson as Patsy Cline

A tribute to Elvis- ‘68 Comeback Tour To The ‘72 Madison Square Gardens.

Big Band Performances Of Favorites From The ‘60s, ‘70s And ‘80s

Location: Gulf World Marine Park, 15412 Front Beach Road, Panama City Beach, FL 32413, in The Tropical Garden Theatre.

Time: 7 pm

http://www.gulfworldmarinepark.com

River North Dance Chicago Location: Marina Civic Center 8 Harrison Ave, Panama City, Fl 32401 Time: 7:30 pm Tickets: $37- $50 http://www.marinaciviccenter.com

Phone: (850) 234-5271

http://www.gulfworldmarinepark.com

Phone: (850) 234-5271

Thursday, Feb 20 Maximum Magic

Magic Show Presented By Illusionist of The Year, Noah Wells. Location: Gulf World Marine Park, 15412 Front Beach Road, Panama City Beach, FL 32413, in The Tropical Garden Theatre. Time: 7 pm http://www.gulfworldmarinepark.com | Phone: (850) 234-5271

January - February 2014 www.PanamaCityLiving.com

January / February 2014 Saturday, Feb 22

Friday, Feb 21

Still Surfin’ Beach Boys Tribute

Mountain Heart

Mountain Heart is the band that has been fearlessly revolutionizing the way acoustic music can be presented and played. The band’s name has been synonymous with cutting-edge excellence in acoustic music circles since the group’s creation on 1999. This band has gained legions of loyal fans both as a result of their superlative musicianship and their incomparably exciting live performances. Location: Martin Theatre 409 Harrison Ave Panama City, Fl 32401 Times: 7:30 pm http://www.martintheatre.com

Phone: (850) 763-8080

Corks and Canvases

A wine tasting and art auction charity event for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Northwest Florida. Location: Visual Arts Center 19 E 4th Street, Panama City, Fl 32401 Times: 6 pm Tickets: $50 in advance, and $55 at the door bbbs@bbbsnwfl.org

Phone: (850) 763-KIDS

Friday-Saturday, Feb 21-22 St. Andrews Mardi Gras Festival

The festival is in its seventeenth year of operation and is jointly hosted by two non-profit organizations, Krewe of St. Andrews and SAMGFest, with a mission to bring tourists and locals into Historic St. Andrews and to reinvest dollars into the community. The St. Andrews Mardi Gras Festival has been expanded to include Bayview Avenue and perpendicular streets. The festival boasts a Crafter’s Row, Jester’s Kid Village, 70 vendors and 6 stages of live music. Location: Historic St Andrews 1150 Beck Ave, Panama City, FL 32401

Location: Gulf World Marine Park, 15412 Front Beach Road, Panama City Beach, FL 32413, in The Tropical Garden Theatre. Time: 7 pm http://www.gulfworldmarinepark.com Phone: (850) 234-5271

Friday, Feb 28 Blue Moon Swamp

John Fogerty- Credence Clearwater Revival tribute Location: Martin Theatre 409 Harrison Ave Panama City, Fl 32401 Time: 7:30 pm http://www.martintheatre.com Phone: (850) 763-8080

Feb 28 - Mar 1

Mardi Gras at the Beach

Mardi Gras Is A Two Day Festival And Parade As The Krewe Of Dominique Youx Celebrates The Season. Join Us Friday & Saturday In The Heart Of Pier Park For One Of The Most Fabulous Mardi Gras Events Around! Location: Daily at Pier Park 600 Pier Park Dr, Panama City Beach, FL 32413

Tuesday, Mar 4

15th Annual Death by Chocolate

Saturday, Feb 22 Strides for Scholars

This is a 5K Walk-Run and Fun Run designed with two goals. The first is to promote fitness and fellowship among supporters of education; the second is to raise funds to purchase Take Stock in Children scholarships for local kids. Everyone—from rocking chair champions to real racers—is invited to join Closing Date Sunday, February 23. Location: Bay Memorial Park Balboa Avenue Panama City, FL 32401, FL 32401 Time: 8 am, registration at 7 am http://www.bayeducationfoundation.org

Panama City Living Magazine January - February 2014

A fundraiser for the Emerald Coast Business Women. Local restaurants & catering services bring in bite-sized dessert samples for the public to taste with their ticket purchase along with a silent auction. For each annual event the ECBWA selects a local Jeweler or Artist to create a “one of a kind” jewelry piece for a raffle item that one lucky winner goes home with that evening. Ticket prices at the door: $ 30. Advanced ticket sales are available for $ 25 at The Eye Center of North Florida on Hwy 77 or Hutchison Blvd, or Cadence Bank on 23rd/State Ave. A one of a kind jewelry item by Creative Gems will be raffled off. The funds raised at this annual event will provide scholarships for local women over the age of 23 for continuing their education. For more information contact the president of Emerald Coast Business Women’s Association and event chair, Jennifer Reale jreale@eyecarenow.com Location: Marina Civic Center 8 Harrison Ave, Panama City, Fl 32401 Time: 5 - 8 pm Visit www.ecbwa.com/deathbychocolate for more information

Naval Surface Warfare Center Panama City Division

Change of Command The Naval Surface Warfare Center Panama City Division (NSWC PCD) held a Change of Command ceremony on Nov. 1, 2013, Capt. Phillip Dawson III, USN relieved Capt. Scott Pratt, USN as NSWC PCDâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 30th Commanding Officer. Capt Scott Prattâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s next assignment will be serving at the Program Executive Office Littoral Combat Ships (PEO LCS) in Washington DC. Capt. Dawson reports to NSWC PCD after serving most recently at U.S. Fleet Forces Command as the Surface Ship Maintenance Director where he oversaw surface maintenance and modernization. Capt. Dawson is a native of Robertsdale, Alabama, and a 1984 graduate of McGill-Toolen High School in Mobile, Alabama. Dawson received his Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the United States Naval Academy in 1988. He earned a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, Calif., in 1995. Commissioned via the United States Naval Academy, Dawson reported to his first ship, USS Tattnall (DDG 19), in 1989 where he served as the anti-submarine warfare officer. He then reported to the USS Harry E. Yarnell (CG 17) in 1991 and served as the fire control officer and later the battery control officer. Special guest keynote speaker Rear Adm. LawrenceCreevy, USN, Commander, Naval Surface Warfare Center. Creevy assumed command of the Naval Surface Warfare Centers (NSWC) in November 2012.

Capt. Phillip Dawson III and Family

January - February 2014 www.PanamaCityLiving.com

J.R. Arnold High School Blue Thunder Band under the direction of Mr. Jason Bennett, Director of Bands

Panama City Living Magazine January - February 2014

Past Events

January - February 2014 www.PanamaCityLiving.com

Past Events Groundbreaking Ceremony – Miracle Strip on November 22, 2013 The original Miracle Strip Amusement Park opened its doors back in 1964 and closed its doors in 2004. Miracle Strip saw a comeback in 2009 when Teddy and Jenny Meeks brought a 1964 carousel to Pier Park. It was the same exact carousel that had been sold when the original Miracle Strip Amusement Park closed in 2004. A mix of family-friendly entertainment and happy nostalgia, the vintage rides at Miracle Strip Pier Park soon multiplied, as other rides joined the party, including a Ferris Wheel, a Tilt-a-Whirl, the Sea Dragon, a Scrambler, a Butterfly Pavilion and more! Many of those who attended the ground breaking expressed their joy at the prospect of reliving the thrills and fun. The new location is adjacent to Pier Park. The plan is for Miracle Strip Pier Park to re-open on April 14, 2014 with 20 rides. Construction on the ‘Starliner’, the roller coaster, which was Miracle Strip’s signature ride, is set to begin in August of 2014 and be ready for riders by the summer of 2015.

Photography by: R. O. Smith

New venue in St. Andrews - Lowe’s House of Bourbon A place to dance! Lowe’s House of Bourbon’s houseband Lucky Dawgz are playing your favorite southern rock, country and blues music. The atmospheric new venue offers a cozy fireplace, a huge and eye catching copper bar and music that will make you want to get up and join the other dancers on the dance floor. Lowe’s House of Bourbon is located in Historic St. Andrews on the second level atop Gracie Rae’s Restaurant, The Shrimp Boat and Salty Hawg Raw Bar. Lowe’s House of Bourbon, 1201 Beck Avenue, Panama City, FL32401, (850) 785-8706

Panama City Living Magazine January - February 2014

Past Events 25 Year Anniversary of Holly Fair November 2013 The Junior League of Panama City hosted the 25th Annual Holly Fair November 7th to 10th 2013 in recognition of the Silver Anniversary. Shopping booths from retailers across the country sold unique gifts and specialty items such as boutique apparel, holiday decorations, jewelry, home décor, one-of-a-kind accessories and children’s clothing.

FSU Panama City announced the 2013 Notable ’Noles last November Two educators and the Panama City police chief were honored as FSU Panama City’s 2013 Notable ’Noles on Wednesday, Nov. 13, at the campus annual Alumni Luncheon. Notable ’Noles are alumni who demonstrated excellence as students and have made outstanding contributions to the community and within their careers.

FSU Panama City Dean Ken Shaw poses with 2013 Notable ‘Noles Dr. Glenda Walters, Kathleen Jones and Panama City Police Chief Scott Ervin at the FSU Panama City Alumni Luncheon on Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2013, at the Holley Lecture Hall.

Lynn Haven Rotary Club celebrates 40-year anniversary The Lynn Haven Rotary Club was founded in 1977 with 23 founding members, who all have seen Lynn Haven grow and prosper from what was back then a very small community. The only original charter member who is still an active member to date is dentist Dr. Carlton S. Schwartz. Dr. Schwartz states: “The biggest benefit that I received from Rotary is in traveling around the world and our country. I received a warm welcome in every state and country and met some of the highest quality people and all had the attitude of service above self.”

Dr. Carlton Schwartz

January - February 2014 www.PanamaCityLiving.com

Panhandle Educators Federal Credit Union Opens New Branch in Lynn Haven Panhandle Educators Federal Credit Union hosted a ribbon cutting ceremony at its new mortgage and business lending center in Lynn Haven, the newest of 5 branches. Staff and board members welcomed credit union members and informed that a membership to Panhandle Educators Federal Credit Union is open to anyone who lives, works, worships or attends school in greater Bay, Holmes, Jackson or Washington Counties.

Greg Frith, President/CEO with Board Members - Sandra Davis & Willard Anderson

Panama City Living Magazine January - February 2014

Past Events Grills Gone Wild - The 6th Annual BBQ event was held in November 2013 Feast for BBQ fans and a quest for the best local BBQ – all for a good cause! Young and old came to taste the best in BBQ our area has to offer. The grand champion of the 2013 Grills Gone Wild event was: FORREST FINE FOODS from Cottondale, Florida! Congratulations!

2013 champion of the Grills Gone Wild Event: Forrest Fine Foods

The Grills Gone Wild BBQ event was organized and sponsored by the Rotary Club of Panama City Beach – the proceeds from this event enabled the club to support the following non-profit organizations who all received checks in the total amount of $ 30,000 in December 2013 Anchorage Children’s Home of Bay County, Arnold High School Interact Club, Arnold High School Scholarship, Backpack Blessings, Beach Care Services, Big Brothers Big Sisters of NW Florida, Boys & Girls Club of Bay County, Children’s Home Society of Florida, Early Learning Coalition of NW Florida, Food4Kidz, Gulf Coast Children’s Advocacy Center, Gulf Coast State College- Kids College, Athletic Foundation, and Chefs Club, Houseboys of FL - Toys for Kids Foundation, House of Grace, Lucky Puppy Dog Rescue & Kennel, New Horizons Learning Center, Panama City Beach Library, Rescue Mission, Rotary International- Polio Plus, Scottish Rite- Speech Therapy, Second Chance of NWFL, Soldiers’ Angels, Special Olympics Bay County, Sponsors of Hope, St. Andrew’s Medical Center, St. Andrew’s Christian Center

January - February 2014 www.PanamaCityLiving.com

Past Events Small Business Development Agency invites to new location at GCSC’s Advanced Technology Center in Panama City Robert Goetz, Director of the Small Business Development Agency (SBDA) at Gulf Coast State College’s Advanced Technology Center invited entrepreneurs to Coffee & Conversation on December 20, 2013. There will be weekly Coffee and Conversation meetings for new and aspiring entrepreneurs on scheduled Fridays at the Advanced Technology Center. Robert Goetz states: “60% of job creation in the United States occurs from business ventures that are less than 5 years in existence.”

Pamela Kidwell, director of the Business Innovation Center and Robert Goetz, director of the Small Business Development Agency. They state “We will work together to offer great services for entrepreneurs in Bay and surrounding counties.”

Groundbreaking ceremony for Pirates Cove Marina Generation II expansion project – November 15, 2013.

The new 120,000 square foot facility will offer state of the art indoor, secure dry storage for 440 boats up to 45 feet in length. Coastal Marina Management and North Lagoon Partners announced plans for a major expansion in the dry stack storage at Pirate’s Cove Marina in Panama City Beach, Florida. With a current capacity of 309 boats, the new boathouse unit will add an additional 450 dry stack slips for boats up to 45 feet in length. It’s a move that will make Pirate’s Cove Marina one of the largest indoor dry storage boat facilities on the northern Gulf Coast. The new facility should be completed in time for the summer 2014 boating season according

to Coastal Marina Management. “We’re designing this new facility to accommodate all kinds of boats but specifically the new breed of big multi-engined center consoles,” said CMM’s Scott Burt. “This will be a perfect place to keep those boats in the 32- to 42-foot range that have become so popular with Gulf Coast anglers in the past few years. The new building is being designed and constructed by Roof and Rack Products, a world leader and authority in dry storage facilities for over 30 years that’s based out of Boca Raton, Florida. The building will be built using hurricane-rated construction for added protection against Gulf Coast storms.

Panama City Living Magazine January - February 2014

By Val Schoger Photography: Beck Graben and Sonja Revells

GULF COAST STATE COLLEGE

After six years of planning and construction, Gulf Coast State College has opened its Advanced Technology Center, a 95,000 sq. ft. architectural masterpiece. 162 Advanced Technology Centers are currently in existence across the nation, but Gulf Coast State Collegeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ATC is the newest and one of the most innovative. It is designed to support regional growth and guide students into successful careers. The building itself has gained international recognition for its cutting-edge design and its strong focus on sustainability and the successful incorporation of cutting edge technology. Dr. James Kerley, president of the GCSC, states: â&#x20AC;&#x153;The ATC is a game changer, offering access and opportunity. Its design is driven by community and industry engagement. When I first arrived as the new president in 2007 my goal was to get extensive input from internal and external sources to determine college and community educational needs. It was apparent that we needed to refocus our efforts on technical education and implement this goal from high school through college. We hired consultants to review the needs for an advanced technology facility at the college; they interviewed numerous leaders in local military, businesses and industry, and the recommendation was to push forward with urgency to build a modern facility to support the economic development and would be key to building greater partnerships with businesses and industry and our K-12 partners and local schools. With all this in mind we started a task force. Bill Husfelt, head of Bay County Schools and myself chaired a group of educators and community leaders to push forward with career and technical education and we now have more career academies in the high schools and strengthened partnerships with chambers, economic development, military and the school systems in our 3-county area. Numerous faculty, staff and community leaders contributed to the ideas and programs that now exist in the new facility. We are holding true to the

Seen in this picture are faculty members of the Gulf Coast State College, Panama City: Antonio Adessi, Guy Garrett, Erika Goines, Aubri Hanson with their students and staff members. Location: Rooftop of the new Advanced Technology Center.

January - February 2014 www.PanamaCityLiving.com

key areas of emphasis in the ATC: Entrepreneurial spirit should prevail throughout the facility and we put emphasis on IT programs, digital media, alternative energy, culinary arts, robotics, fabrication, etc…all stemmed from the original recommendations. One has to see the eyes of the third graders who recently visited the new ATC, to know we are moving in the right direction.” Back in the planning stage of the building, Dr. Kerley pointed out that “instead of focusing solely on student access, schools are now becoming concerned with student success. Thankfully, this is not a new trend at Gulf Coast State College - it has been our focus since 1957.” But yet, there is a certain pioneer spirit amongst the staff and faculty members on campus as well as an obvious enthusiasm and pride for this newest of achievements. Gulf Coast State College calls upon local industry leaders to work hand-in-hand with the college - in a recent meeting with some of Bay County’s biggest employers, college representatives and local industry leaders signed a Memorandum of Understanding to manifest their combined efforts to help develop local talent and provide career opportunities in Bay County. Dr. Stephen Dunnivant, dean of the ATC points out: “Modern colleges are the liaison between academy and economy. Our mission is to show possible pathways to students. We have a great general education core. The ATC is just one arm of the college, helping to evolve an already successful model. Advanced Technology Centers are proven strategies to accelerate economic development within a region, they support the characteristics of the local workforce. Some people did not quite

understand why we placed the culinary institute within the ATC, but hospitality, leisure, and tourism are essential foundations of our local economy and we would be remiss if we failed to include the culinary arts in this new building. There is a strong local demand for culinary talent, just like the need for engineering technology, information technology, and digital media experts. We are clearly also located in a strong region for health care; consequently, there is a high placement rate for healthcare students. Clearly there is a growing demand for trained technology professionals in our area. If we take a company like iSirona, we are making sure to work closely with them to meet their needs. This company has hired several of our students through internships. Our IT faculty is in close contact with their staff members and we offer externships

where we are inviting their staff to teach here at the college. There are many incentives for local industries to engage with the college. We hold job fairs, support internship placement programs, and offer many incentives for local employers. Basically, we are doing everything possible to invite them to work with our students as early as possible. But it all starts with good planning. Each of our degree pathways has an advisory council that helps drive our curriculum. Whether it is digital media, cyber security, engineering technology, nursing, or surgery technology – they all have advisory councils which consist of the people who would potentially hire the graduates in that field. We are making sure constantly that all of our degrees are relevant.”

continued on page 24

From left: Dr. James Kerley, President of the Gulf Coast State College and Dr. Stephen Dunnivant, Dean of the Advanced Technology Center

High school students touring the Advanced Technology Center

High School students touring the Technology Lab, the ‘Fab Lab’

Panama City Living Magazine January - February 2014

About the new Advanced Technology Center

continued from page 23 Following the hype about the ATC, Dr. Dunnivant points out other highlights the college has to offer. “A college like Gulf Coast State College is greater than the sum of its parts. We have Rosie O’Bourke and the Visual Performing Arts, Greg Wolf and his great wellness and athletics program, and the social science degree programs host forums where students learn to debate. This is really an amazing college. Key to all this was the leadership of Dr. Kerley for the last 7 years, along with the 25 years before that with Dr. McSpadden and Dr. Tyree before that.” Every Friday, high school and middle school students are invited to explore the ATC and the courses that are offered. They tour the building and explore its many features, such as the technology lab, also nicknamed the Fab Lab, with its cutting-edge tools, including a high-end 3D printer and the latest CNC machines. Dr. Dunnivant goes on to point out advantages for the students: “We have the least expensive tuition in the State of Florida. Our board, with the support of our foundation, keeps the tuition low and insures the highest possible access for our courses. We also have high historic GPAs for transfer students, as they score better in class than the native university students.” Dr. Dunnivant recounts exceptional reactions from parents and potential students who have been touring the building. “I overheard a conversation between a high school student and his parents who were touring the ATC for the first time and suddenly the mother remarked: ‘Why are we sending you to a college in Alabama?’ Clearly for me, to hear that comment was the best proof that we will reach our goals of growing, attracting and retaining local talent.”

The Advanced Technology Center implements a combined Siemens and Lucid comprehensive energy management system throughout the building. The lobby of the ATC holds a touch screen “building dashboard”, which anyone can access to view energy consumption throughout the facility. Behind this, a “demand flow system” pulls only the energy that is needed at any given moment from the college’s central plant. This is all part of the LEED certification of the building, modeling the latest technologies in energy management and consumption. The building itself contains numerous energy saving elements, from construction materials to the green roof. The “green roof” contains a vegetated area providing insulation and helping to lower rooftop temperatures and mitigate the heat island effect. This space also houses several alternative energy systems. The photovoltaic arrays (solar panels) and wind turbines harness

energy from the sun and wind, and then feed that back to the local power grid. The entire roof is a water collection system, complete with an “overflow” cistern, which directs water to the nearby pond for use on the ATC’s surrounding grounds. These roof systems are tied into two Alternative Energy Labs for students. In these labs, students learn how to manipulate solar and wind energy systems, as well as monitor their efficiencies. In the coming year, the ATC will receive its LEED certification. LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design), is transforming the way we think about how our buildings and communities are designed, constructed, maintained and operated across the globe. It takes at least a year from the time the building has opened to determine which “level” of LEED the ATC merits. As of now, the facility sits on the border between “silver” and “gold.” Regardless of which level the building finally earns, it stands as a shining example of smart energy management and environmental stewardship in our region. Far more importantly, the ATC stands as an example of what a college and its network of support can produce. It took a perfect storm to bring this vision to life. The right internal leaders, talented faculty, state support, local philanthropy and business and industry. If we are going to create highpaying jobs that will convince our children to call this community home, this is clearly the right direction.

By Dr. Stephen Dunnivant

January - February 2014 www.PanamaCityLiving.com

Innovation. Growth. Careers.

Dave Dyell, CEO of iSirona talks careers By Amanda Bawn and Val Schoger iSirona, the downtown Panama City based medical software development company, is making nationwide headlines. Deemed one of the fifth fastest-growing private companies in U.S. healthcare in 2012 by Inc. Magazine and ranked “One of America’s Most Promising Companies” in 2013 by Forbes magazine, iSirona is continuing on its path to growth. iSirona founder and CEO Dave Dyell announced the creation of 300 jobs in Bay County by the end of 2014 during a press conference with Governor Rick Scott in November last year. In an interview with Panama City Living, Dave Dyell tells us he is originally from Detroit, Michigan. He had relatives in Bay County, so this area was always a favorite vacation spot for his family when he grew up. He moved to Bay County permanently in 1993 and met his wife Camille, a teacher at North Bay Haven Charter School. They now have three children, ages 17, 13, and 12 - all raised in Panama City. Dave Dyell states “I was always interested

Panama City Living Magazine January - February 2014

in computer science as a child, but never thought of pursuing it as a career, and it sort of came about accidentally.” He was working as a nurse assistant in a hospital in Michigan and noticed the scheduling of patients was done manually, a process which he thought he could help improve and speed up. He wrote a computer scheduling program that was so successful that he was asked to join the IT team at the hospital. This was the start into a career that led him to create one of the most exciting local startup companies that has gained nationwide recognition. iSirona currently has 190 employees, which will be increased to 300 within the next 3 years. 65 highly trained individuals have already been hired toward the 300. Dave, a veteran himself, said he has had the most success hiring veterans through the Gulf Coast Workforce Center. The veteran candidates already have the leadership and organizational skills that resonate with the project management positions he needs to fill.

continued on page 26

continued from page 25 He has also been successful in hiring at least a dozen interns from Florida State University and hopes that with the new ATC at Gulf Coast State College, the opportunities for interns feeding the talent pool will increase even more. Some of the highly specialized positions have had to be hired from outside of Bay County, such as the FDA regulatory-related positions. “We just don’t have those types of companies currently operating here”, said Dave. iSirona’s employees with families see it as an advantage to live in Bay County as local schools offer outstanding opportunities for involvement in the community. Dave Dyell even helped bring some of the best and brightest talent back to Panama City. “A large percentage of our employees are those that grew up here and moved out of the area to pursue careers. This group of natives has been the most enthusiastic to move back to be closer to their families and back to their roots.” “The biggest challenge has been hiring singles”, Dave added. Many of them moved from larger cities where activities such as major sports and museums were popular pastimes. But there are many cultural events in Bay County and it has much to offer for outdoor enthusiasts. Dave is sponsoring activi-

G A

February 2013: The groundbreaking was held for Pier Park North Shopping Center. This is a 360,000 square foot shopping center which is planned to open in spring 2014. Companies already leased are Bed Bath & Beyond, Rooms to Go, Shoe Carnival, Kirkland’s, Michaels and more. Estimated to bring 1,200 jobs (780 full‐time) and 300 construction jobs.

B ties for new employees. Water sport, which is such a large part of the Bay County culture, is a staple in iSirona’s team activities. “We have put together support teams that help coordinate activities for singles to do together.” For example, the teams have gone on canoe trips and some have even earned their diving certifications. With states competing for job creation, Panama City, Bay County and Florida were concerned in 2013 that they might lose a valuable company with high-paying jobs. iSirona is the recipient of two incentive programs aimed at increasing high-skill, highwage jobs in Florida. “iSirona could be in Silicon Valley but because of the highly competitive business incentives created by Florida’s legislature and Governor Scott, they located in what they like to call Silicon Bay in Northwest Florida,” said Senate President Don Gaetz. “We love Panama City, so we never thought of just picking up and moving our company to another state,” Dave explains, “other states attempted to try and entice iSirona to re-locate, and we began to look at the offers. As a business person, it makes sense to at least consider the offers being made. There are many facets to consider, such as growth implications, talent pool and location.” He says many factors played into the decision to stay in Panama City, but the number one was for personal reasons. “Our families wanted to stay,” said Dave.

May 2013: Eastern Shipbuilding announced the addition of 500 jobs. It was announced that they would add 400 jobs. This came after the Bay County BOCC approved an economic development ad valorem tax abatement for the company for creating 200 additional jobs, bringing their total new jobs count up to 600.

May 2013: Sweetbay, the largest development in Panama City history receives approval. The St. Andrew Bay Land Company received approval to start phase one. The plan, which spans over the next 30 years will build over 3,000 homes and create 700,000 square feet of commercial space.

June 2013: The City of Lynn successfully recruited General Dynamics Haven Information Technology to occupy the former Sallie Mae call center. The company created 1,400 new jobs and has already hired most of those. The company won a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to respond to Medicare and Medicaid inquiries.

June 2013: Southern Airways Express began chartered air service at Sheltair/ Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport. Southern Airways Express will operate three nine‐seat turboprop engine caravans with luxury, executive‐style seating. Officials with the new startup airline say they hope to bring a sense of fun and luxury back to the aviation business.

August 2013: Port Panama City is awarded a grant to build access roads, lay‐down area and a 20 car rail intermodal cargo transfer facility, creating 23 new direct jobs. September/ October 2013: they completed a 150,000 square foot distribution warehouse, announcing that AAdvantage North American would occupy 75,000 square feet of the facility. October 2013: FedEx Ground opened a 60,000 square foot distribution facility at the center.

January - February 2014 www.PanamaCityLiving.com

E C

D H

Good outlook for

2014 Bay EDA announces goal to create 2000 jobs in 2014

November 2013: The BayEDA was awarded a $500,000 grant from the Florida Defense Support Task Force to bring LambdaRail to the Naval Support Activity Panama City. Described as a company bringing cuting edge technology to the area, it will potentially benefit the entire business community.

November 2013: Governor Rick Scott announced the expansion of iSirona and their creation of 300 new jobs. The new jobs will have an average wage that is 150% above the current average wage in Bay County. The company currently employs 180 and this expansion will take their employee base to over 400. iSirona will also be making a $2.5M capital investment as part of this expansion.

Panama City Living Magazine January - February 2014

At the beginning of the New Year the Bay Economic Development Alliance will embark on exceeding its 2014 goal of 2,000 new jobs. “Bay County has had tremendous success in 2013. Our communities were able to recruit over 2,500 new jobs while laying the groundwork to make our business climate even more competitive in 2014,” commented Neal Wade, Executive Director of the Bay Economic Development Alliance. “In 2014, we are going to focus on aerospace, health technology, manufacturing and logistics as our targeted industries. We are making plans for some “out of the box” strategies in order to aggressively market Bay County’s emerging diverse economy and exceed our goal of 2,000 jobs for next year,” continued Wade. The Bay Economic Development Alliance, (BayEDA) set an aggressive job goal of creating 1,300 new high-wage jobs in 2013 and confirmed in December that it had exceeded its goal. The jobs are from a mixture of retail, manufacturing, services, and technology companies. See details on employers and their targets for 2013 on the map. As 2014 progresses, we are looking forward to hearing more job-creating success stories.

One chef’s love of From the Gulf of Mexico to dining tables By Paul Ashman

Salt is present in vast quantities in the sea where it is the main mineral constituent, with the open ocean having about 35 grams (1.2 oz) of solids per litre, a salinity of 3.5%. Salt is essential for animal life, and saltiness is one of the basic human tastes. Wars have been fought over salt (…)and it played an important part in the American Revolution. Source: Wikipedia contributors, “Salt,” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index. hp?title=Salt&oldid=587578511.

I’ve lived in Panama City, on and off, for many years. My family has lived here since the 1920’s. I have a great love and appreciation for the natural beauty and abundant history in this area. During the Civil War, Panama City, and many other areas along the Florida Gulf Coast, were major providers of salt to the Confederate cause. The St. Andrew Bay Saltworks was one of the largest producers of salt in the South from 1861 to 1865. I submerged myself into the history of salt after a life changing experience. My brother died in August of 2013 of pancreatic cancer. My wife and I had 28

traveled to see him in San Francisco during his last days of battling the disease. While there, we purchased a little tin of “flake sea salt”. We lost my brother Peter the next day. Weeks later I showed the salt to one of my classes, and the first student I handed it to dropped it on the floor. I was just kind of stunned, not mad at all - but it somehow inspired me to make my own salt. I really love to make things and want to know how things are made and there was only on ingredient that I needed: I needed seawater. I waited for high tide to get the freshest batch of Gulf Water… I waded into the surf and filled up a dozen gallon jugs jugs. It was hard work, at 8 pounds per jug iit was nearly 10 100 pounds wort worth of sea water. I ttook it back to the college aand let it sett settle for a day, the then filtered it into a large pot and

brought it to a boil to sterilize it and then slowly reduce it. Eventually, the sea water will turn into brine and after a while, when the water can no longer hold the salt, crystals start to form. The crystals are harvested and dried continuously until all of the salt has been removed. My first batch of salt was beautiful, flaky and soft, and it tasted nothing like table salt or kosher salt. It had flavor, it wasn’t a plain, harsh saltiness, it had a depth that is hard to put into words, and there was no turning back. My wife and I researched the history of salt making and the civil war. At each turn we have found interesting stories and artifacts. We began to experiment with smoking the salt, and found that 12 hours with pecan wood chips and shells gave the flavor we wanted. We will soon have a blend with Ghost Peppers and another with Lime. As a chef I understand the value of ingredients. I have been working with them every day for the last 25 years. Slight variations in composition and taste can make a huge difference in the outcome of a meal. As culinary arts professor at Gulf

January - February 2014 www.PanamaCityLiving.com

Coast State College I teach many classes, from our foundational level Basic Food Preparation to Advanced Pastry, Nutrition, and Sanitation & Safety. I try to teach each student to appreciate the ingredients they use and to develop their palate so they can recognize differences. Our salt is what is known as a â&#x20AC;&#x153;finishing saltâ&#x20AC;?, it is meant to be used on food prior to eating, not as part of the cooking process. It crumbles easily over food, and has a pleasing soft bite. Here at Gulf Coast Saltworks, we also smoke our salt using pecan wood, a process which usually takes 12-15 hours. The smoked salt adds an amazing finish to everything from a baked potato to a piece of chocolate. What started as an experiment has now grown into a business venture. We decided to use the profits to help some of our students join us on a culinary field trip to Italy in May of 2014. The trip is open to all GCSC students. We will spend 12 days in Northern Italy. During the trip we will

Panama City Living Magazine January - February 2014

be visiting cheese and chocolate factories, a culinary university, and attending cooking lessons. Our salt is just one of the fundraising efforts that we are using to help students make the trip. Our salts are available through our website, www. gulfcoastsaltworks.com, by contacting us through our Facebook page, and it can also be bought at the Blue Heron Gift Store on Back Beach Road in the Publix Plaza on Panama City Beach, Florida. With more Bay County locations available soon.

Neurologists Dr. Hoda Elzawahry and Dr. Achraf Makki at Gulf Coast Regional Medical Center

Innovation in Healthcare

TELEMEDICINE helps Bay County Neurologists provide fast care for stroke patients - remotely

By Dr. Dan Finley and Connie Head, Photography by: Savannah Jane Photography

Providing fast diagnosis is the one most critical factor in saving a stroke patient’s life. There are two types of stroke, hemorrhagic (injury due to bleeding) and ischemic (injury is due to a blood clot) and the treatment for each is significantly different. The drug administered for ischemic stroke, tPA (tissue plasminogen activator) can literally stop the stroke in its tracks by dissolving the offending blood clot that is causing the problem. In addition to the obvious advantage of foiling death, it also prevents the devastating and crippling impairments that many stroke-survivors experience. But tPA can be deadly if administered 30

to a hemorrhagic stroke patient. Since tPA dissolves blood clots, it is likened to “throwing gasoline on a fire” for patients with hemorrhagic stroke. Fast examination by a neurologist is crucial and Gulf Coast Regional Medical Center has made an investment into cutting edge technology to cut down travel time significantly by giving neurologists remote access to stroke patients – this also means that local neurologists will be on-call and ready to go online and treat a patient remotely by carrying a laptop or other wireless device with them at all times. Local neurologist Dr. Achraf Makki

January - February 2014 www.PanamaCityLiving.com

explains, “The involvement of a neurologist in determining what type of stroke has occurred avoids a potentially reckless decision and an examination needs to occur fast. Time is brain tissue.” Telemedicine is the term that is used to describe the use of telecommunications technology to allow physicians and other healthcare practitioners to access, examine, evaluate, diagnose and treat patients and improve a patient’s clinical health status with medical information exchanged from one site to another via electronic communications. Telemedicine used to improve a patient’s clinical health status Using Gulf Coast Regional Medical Center’s Telemedicine system saves a full hour and delivers a window of opportunity to treat the patient with tPA, and stop the damage to the brain sooner. Some patients treated early enough with tPA not only survive but show little evidence that they have ever suffered a stroke. The use of telemedicine is costsaving as well with the elimination of emergency transport and reduced overall healthcare costs. Gulf Coast Regional Medical Center has adopted this new innovation in medicine through their “hub-and-spoke’ Telemedicine system. In partnership with FDA approved InTouch Health, GCRMC will facilitate 24/7 stroke care in the outlying hospitals. InTouch Health currently provides 60% of the TeleStroke networks in the nation. GCRMC’s Andy Long, BSN coordinates the program for the hospital with the medical supervision provided by neurologists Dr. Hoda Elzawahry, MD and Dr. Achraf Makki, MD. The program at Gulf Coast is patterned after the hub-and-spoke system pioneered by The Medical College of Georgia at Augusta. Here is how it works according to Dr. Elzawahry, “there will be a robot in the emergency rooms of the smaller hospitals in our Northwest Florida region. These robots will be our eyes and ears and link to us through satellite connection to our computers. We will be able to both see and speak with the patient.” With Gulf Coast Medical Center representing the

“hub,” there will be spokes to 16 area hospitals. Most of these hospitals do not have a neurologist.” This collaboration between Gulf Coast Medical Center and the rural hospitals is crucial as the Florida Department of Health reports 217 deaths by stroke in Bay and the five surrounding rural counties in 2012. The establishment of a telemedicine system is costly with the necessary robotic equipment, technical support, training, and HIPAA compliant secure network system. The Florida Legislature has been a leader in recognizing telemedicine and passing laws to compel insurers to cover its usage. Early support from the legislature is important as telemedicine may prove to have uses beyond stroke diagnosis for residents in rural areas. Stroke is a leading cause of death in the U.S. and according to the CDC, Florida was one of the first states to legislate certified stroke treatment centers. While there are two Primary Stroke Centers in Bay County, the county is surrounded by five of the thirty rural Florida counties as identified by the Florida Department of Health. Until recently, patients living in rural counties would arrive at their local hospital and lose precious time during transport to a Primary Stroke Center where the neurological staff could diagnose and begin treatment. The advantage for the “spoke’ hospitals is that they can retain their patient when possible. In those cases, the families of the patient also benefit in avoiding long commutes to see their loved ones. The spoke hospitals can run all appropriate tests including the CAT scan and these tests can be read remotely by neurologists based in Panama City so that the best decision can be made for the patient. Dr. Makki warns that there are some conditions, such as severe hypoglycemia that can mimic a stroke that need to be ruled out. The entire process focuses on making the best informed decision for the patient. For stroke, time-saving equals lifesaving. In times past, a stroke patient in Bonifay, for example, would have to be transferred

Panama City Living Magazine January - February 2014

by ambulance to Panama City, a distance of 49-miles and an expected travel time of one-hour. Time and distance becomes so important because for each minute that a blood clot stops the flow of blood to the brain, brain cells die. Strokes evolve over time – it is not a single event, but an evolving event. The period from the death of the first brain cells and the death of the last brain cells may be as brief as three hours or in favorable cases, up to four-andone-half hours. Any factor that delays a patient’s treatment increases the patient’s risk of death. The “virtual presence” of the doctor at the patient’s bedside albeit remote can save lives and avoid devastating outcomes. Dr. Elzawahry recounted that in one instance she treated a patient while she was shopping at Publix supermarket. She can see and hear the patient in real-time and consult with the local Emergency Room doctor. Dr. Elzawahry states “The patient is just as close as my iPad.”

Tonie Bense

about the love to dance and teach By Diane Mercado, Photography by: Savannah Jane Photography

Growing up in a home filled with girls and a mother who taught dance left little time for anything else. “We grew up dancing together,” said Tonie Bense, owner of Tonie’s Dance Studios. “Dance was mom’s total focus.” Tonie was born and raised in Meridian, Mississippi: She lived with her mother, Mary Alpha Johnson, and her two older sisters, Robin Starr Owen and Alpha Marie Pollman. Her parents divorced when Tonie was 3 years old.

“I think I was born to dance,” she said. The dance studio was in their basement and an important part of their home. Dance was the family’s way of life, Tonie said. Even her late grandmother, Marie Quave, participated in the action. An expert seamstress, Quave sewed all the elaborate dance costumes for recitals and performances. She was also the studio receptionist at the Alpha School of Dance for 40 years. “There were no men around so it was just us,” Tonie said. “Our home was like Grand Central Station with people in and out all the time.” Not only did Miss Mary Alpha, as she was lovingly referred to, teach 32

dance to multiple generations of children, but she choreographed many of the productions at Meridian’s Little Theatre. During this time she created the Magical Kingdom of Dance, a unique method of teaching young children an easy way to learn all the French terminology and complicated dance moves. (see page 35 for more information) “It was a great business for her to be in,” Tonie states. During the summers while her girls were in summer camp, Miss Mary Alpha traveled to other parts of the country to work with other dancers at workshops,

conferences and conventions. “Mother sometimes taught for Ted Mack in Great Barrington, Massachusetts during those childless summers“. Eventually the two became personal friends. She would visit there and he would visit her in Mississippi. That led to some of her better students being selected to dance on the Ted Mack Amateur Hour TV show,” Tonie said. Miss Mary Alpha kept her studio open in Mississippi for 67 years. She was still going to classes, at the age of 89, though had stopped teaching by then. She died last year at the age of 91.

January - February 2014 www.PanamaCityLiving.com

Tonie Bense about her mother: “She never lost her excitement and passion for dance throughout her life.” And it seems Miss Mary Alpha’s legacy continues through her youngest daughter’s own education and business acumen. After Tonie graduated from the University of Southern Mississippi, she was offered a job at Springfield Elementary School in Panama City to head the Sunshine Girls/Drill Team. She was 22. Three months after moving to Panama City she met her husband, Allan Bense, on a blind date, she said smiling. They married a year after that. They didn’t have much to start with but they were happy. “Our first home was a garage apartment across from the St. Andrew Bay Yacht Club,” she said. “I owned a stereo and a TV and I had more than he did. Allan’s parents died when he was a young teen and he had to make it on his own.” While Allan worked as a loan officer at Southeast Bank, Tonie opened her first dance studio. “I always knew I’d have my own studio one day,” she said.

“I always loved it and have never tired of it. I think I inherited my passion for dance from my mother.” After working at the bank for several years, Allan had an opportunity to become part owner in a partnership with the Patronis Brothers and Jim Smallwood. In 1992, when their youngest son was 5, Allan ran for the Florida State Senate, but lost. Meanwhile, Tonie was content being married, but at the same time felt compelled to continue building her dance studio business. After the addition of three children, Courtney, Jason and Taylor, managing a household and a business often made life hectic. Now all three children are grown and have become successful adults. Their daughter, Courtney lives in Tampa

with her husband, Will Weatherford, the current Florida Speaker of the House. They have three daughters. Their middle son Jason lives in Panama City with his wife, son and daughter. He owns Emerald Coast Striping Company. Their youngest son, Taylor is single and lives in New York City. He works as a musician and music producer. “That was a very big balancing act indeed,” Tonie said. “It was easy with my firstborn, a girl. She thrived at the studio and loved dancing and being at the studio.” When the boys were born, Tonie found herself juggling schedules

first year she taught 75 students in one studio. Today she owns two studios employs 12 teachers and more than 600 students are enrolled in her dance classes. “He is proud of the studio’s growth and always sings my praises,” Tonie said. “A supportive husband is the key to success.” But she admitted that success comes with its struggles. Being part owner in the bank led Allan to become a partner in several small businesses that he continued to be active with throughout his tenure in the Legislature. Allan Bense served as a Florida State Representative from 1998 to 2006.

and coordinating with babysitters, friends and Allan to manage childcare and household responsibilities.

During the last two years, 2004-2006, he served as Speaker of the House and the couple rarely saw each other. One of the biggest challenges they faced was when Allan was elected to his first term as Representative. From day one he knew he wanted to be Speaker of the House, and it required his full attention and focus, Tonie said. “The job required him to travel the state extensively, getting members to sign pledge cards,” she said. “He was out of town a lot.” But there were memorable perks that came with being the wife of the Speaker of the House, she said. “We were invited to go to the White

“I was lucky my husband was able to take an active role and spent evenings with the children until I was able to come home to help with homework and bedtime rituals,” Tonie said. “I became very good at ‘couch’ choreography in those late nights as well as ‘car’ choreography.” Tonie said she would not have been as successful in business without her husband’s ongoing support. During her

Panama City Living Magazine January - February 2014

for the Florida Council of 100 and Gulf Power Company. In November, Allan was honored by the Florida Council of 100’s with the prestigious Governor’s Leadership Award for his work on behalf of Florida’s economic growth and development. Toni and Allan were happily leading busy, productive lives until Sept. 8, when Allan became seriously ill with a viral infection later diagnosed as Guillain-Barre Syndrome, an extremely rare disease that affects the peripheral nervous system.

“One day he woke up paralyzed from his head to his toes,” Tonie said. “He couldn’t even close his eyelids.”

House for a Christmas dinner and he couldn’t go so I took my sister and we got to meet the First Lady Laura Bush and President George W. Bush. They were both Fortunately, GBS patients have hope for a so personable and nice.” full recovery, she said. Throughout their 38 years of marriage On Nov. 4 after spending several weeks the Benses have worked steadily at their chosen careers and have dedicated a lot of at area hospitals and a week at Shands Hospital in Gainesville, Allan was moved their time to several community and state to the Sheperd Center in Atlanta, Ga. The boards. center offers specialized rehabilitation Tonie Bense is a member of the Gulf modalities for GBS patients and those with Coast Medical Center Spirit of Women serious injuries. board and was appointed to the Florida “We have learned that we Commission on the are not in control, God is Status of Women. We have in control and we must be He is the president learned anxious for nothing,” she and CEO of Bense said. Enterprises, a multithat we are not With help from faceted general in control, God is occupational, speech, contracting company. physical and recreational After his last term he in control and we therapists Allan has regained returned to Panama City must be anxious some strength in his arms to take care of business but still cannot walk. They at Bense Enterprises, for nothing expect his therapy to Holiday Golf and continue for several more Roussos Heating and Tonie Bense weeks if not months before Air. He has been active he returns home, Tonie said. on several community and state boards. “Each tiny step in the road to recovery Allan serves as the current chairman of is a blessing to us,” she said. “Allan has the Florida State University Board of become my top priority and focus. We are Trustees and the board of directors for excited and relieved that he is on the road the James Madison Institute and the Bay to progress and recovery.” Economic Alliance. He is a board member 34

In their absence business remains brisk at Tonie’s Dance Studios and Tonie credits her “great and supporting” staff. Friends and colleagues have been supportive throughout the ordeal, too. Pam Walsingham took her first dance class at age 7 in Tonie’s studio. Now they are friends and work together. Pam about Tonie: “She’s sweet and beautiful and I wanted to grow up to be just like her. She is so true to herself, authentic through and through.” Walsingham has been teaching at Tonie’s Dance Studio for 26 years. “She and Allan have been so giving, they just make an awesome team”. Friends and family have also pitched in to care for the couple’s pets - two Wire Fox Terriers, Trixie and Tyson and Allan’s “beloved, persnickety” cat, Gracie.

“Staying positive and keeping a sense of humor has been great medicine,” Tonie states. “We appreciate the outpouring of love, care and concern along with all the beautiful prayers that have helped us to get through each day.”

January - February 2014 www.PanamaCityLiving.com

Magical Kingdom of Dance T By Diane Mercado, Photography by: Savannah Jane Photography

he tiniest of dancers at Tonie’s Dance Studio know as soon as they enter class they must promptly plant themselves at the center of an “Alphamat.” Dressed in pink and purple tutus, their hair done up in twists or ponytails, the 5 year olds have already learned there will be no hanging on bars, touching mirrors or messing with each other. “There’s only one rule in Miss Tonie’s dance classes and that is to stay in your house unless you’re asked to step out,” said Tonie Bense, owner of Tonie’s Dance Studio. The “house” the students must not leave unless directed is at the center of each Alphamat, designed to teach the fundamental directions on a stage. The colorful, vinyl mats are also integral to the MKOD method of teaching dance, which Bense began using 37 years ago when she opened her first dance studio in Panama City. All the credit for the innovative and creative development of MKOD goes to her mother, the late Mary Alpha Johnson, who was a professional dancer and dance teacher for 67 years. Bense describes MKOD as a comprehensive method used by dance teachers to help budding ballerinas learn the classical French terms for foot placement and arm positions. By taking steps around the “house” - forward or back, left or right – students learn the correct placement for their feet and arms. If done correctly their bodies and hips should stay in perfect alignment. It also helps to promote good posture. Using the MKOD not only makes learning dance fun, but simplifies what are often difficult concepts

for young children to comprehend. They learn through the use of colorfully-illustrated h characters with French names such hat at,” as “Plié,” the cricket or “Pas de Chat,” the cat, without realizing they are learning another language. D Other colorfully designed MKOD products can help as well. For instance, Righty Red and Lefty Blue characters indicate which foot or arm to move or which way to turn. As their names imply, red indicates right, blue indicates left. Red and blue arm bracelets and ankle wraps are available for purchase. When worn correctly they help the children remember what and how they need to move, Bense said. All the teachers at Tonie’s Dance Studios use the Alphamats and MKOD as the main tool for instructing their younger students, some as young as 3. Sam Tuno, a former student of Bense and now a teacher herself,

Panama City Living Magazine January - February 2014

said she can see a difference in how fast students can learn what they need to know, especially the French terminology. “The Alphamat is a wonderful tool,” she said. “I believe that learning the mat makes a difference for the students. As a teacher, I absolutely love the mats.” Whether the mats are used for organizational purposes or technical reasons, she sees them as an “essential tool” for the classroom. “While I mainly use the mats for my younger classes, I have used the mat with my older students to work with hip placement,” Tuno said. “The most amazing thing about the Alphamat is that even when I take it away, I can still refer to it and the students know what to do.” For Bense it’s all a matter of ensuring that her mother’s dream does not die. “I could have chosen not to pursue this product but I could not let my mother’s life work be forgotten,” Bense said. “Her dream was to see the teaching method available to all dance teachers and their students.” For more information, visit www.toniesdanceworkshop.com or www. magicalkingdomofdance.com.

Couples

SUCCESSFUL PARTNERSHIPS

W O RKING T O GE TH E R Valentine’s Day is on February 14 and whether fresh-in-love or long-time-together, celebrating your partnership should be a highlight of the year. Look up our Valentine’s Day Gifts on page 52 for fresh ideas on how to show your partner you care. And what about the folks who aren’t so happy together? Maybe there is a recipe, maybe there are guidelines? Panama City Living has interviewed several local successful couples who are not only making their private partnership work but are also working together on a daily basis, whether as business owners or colleagues in one extent or the other. So, is there a recipe for success? Read on and find out! Our couples are sharing their ups and downs and their success stories with you, and clearly there is one message throughout the series of interviews… couples are unbeatable in pursuing their goals TOGETHER...

Interview by Stephanie Dockery

heir business relationship began in a small shop in Seaside, Florida. Twenty years later, John and Laurie Olshefski are the renowned owners of four thriving retail locations: Shimmering Seas Jewelry & Gifts at Pier Park and in Seaside, Jake at the Beach at Pier Park, and Fitness Fetish in Seaside. The couple talks about their humble beginnings, their 28 years of marriage, and their commitment to faith, family and work.

PCL: Tell me about the first time you met. Laurie: We met at a party when I was 16, and he was 19. This was in our hometown in Kankakee, Illinois, 1982. The first time I saw John, I’d just finished a musical , Hello Dolly, and I had my stage makeup on, and my hair was all up and I had all these curls on the top of my head. We passed each other in the hallway, and I guess he was attracted to me, but he was trying to make a joke, and he said, “You look like Medusa.” When I left the party I got in my car, and I told my girlfriends “He was really cute.” A few months later, I saw him at another party on May 28. He made me laugh so much, and that’s what attracted me to him. So, when I met him at that party, I actually asked him out. Our first date was at an amusement park with my parents. PCL: How long have you been married? Do you have kids? Laurie: We’ve been married 28 years. We didn’t have children until we were married 15 years. So, we have an 8-year- old daughter, Alina, and a 13-year-old son, Landen. PCL: What was your first store? How did you decide to go into business together? Laurie: Our first business was Fitness Fetish, which we opened in 1994. I’m also a fitness instructor. I’ve been an instructor longer than I’ve been in retail - for 22 years vs 20 years of retailing. I taught five nights a week after my normal job. We both worked for government contractors at the Naval Base before we started our businesses, and he kept his job as a contractor several years even after we started our businesses. So, I’m one that has to constantly do things. I like change, doing different things. I was working at the naval base in Video Teleconferencing, teaching five nights a week after work and had the idea of selling fitness outfits out of our home. I was doing all that and my company lost their contract. They had positions open on our network in Orlando and asked if I wanted to move. I didn’t. I had gone on several job interviews, and had offers at TV stations but I didn’t want to stop teaching to be a reporter ... they wanted me to do a tri-state area...lots of

January - February 2014 www.PanamaCityLiving.com

Laurie and John Olshefski FOLLOWING THE SIGNS

traveling. I couldn’t find the job I wanted to do without sacrificing my teaching. I searched for 6 months. My parents were in town from Illinois, and we were at church and I prayed at church. I was still teaching and running this small little fitness clothing business from my home. John: And it wasn’t making any money. Laurie: No, it wasn’t making any money. And I was trying to find another regular job to help pay our bills. So, we went out to Seaside with my Parents on that same Sunday afternoon, this was in ‘94 and there weren’t a lot of things in Seaside then, but it was a very pretty area and John said, “Laurie, why don’t you see about selling your clothing out here? John: They were just building the site we were on. It was still under construction. There was nothing there, it was all dirt, but they were little tiny boxes. First building we went into was so small... Laurie: ... about 250 square feet. I thought it was God speaking to us, and things were just kind of laid out. That’s been our whole journey in our experience with business. Opportunities have been put in front of us, and I just pray on things, and watch for signs and make decisions. And that’s our story. PCL: How was that first year? John: The first year, when I was working all day and then had to go work at the store until 9 o’clock... while she goes and teaches... Laurie: Yeah, he was still working at the base, and I taught in the morning at Seaside, worked at the store all day, then ran back to the Sports Park Health Club and taught evening classes. John: I went to the bank and asked to use equity from my car, and we used credit cards.

We would’ve gone out of business the first year, but they were building a little bit bigger spaces on the corner, and we begged to get in there. And they are very picky about their vendors and we had somebody who worked there who was fighting for us to get the space. Laurie: I taught fitness classes in Seaside, and some of the ladies that worked in Seaside took my classes, helped me as a merchant because they liked me as their instructor. I’ve met a lot of people and connections through teaching fitness and yoga. John: So, that first year, it wasn’t working. It wasn’t until we moved into the bigger space that we were able to carry more product and expand. PCL: Did you think about giving up? John: We still do. Laurie: <laughing> No! No... PCL: Tell me about your decision to open stores in Pier Park. Laurie: When we opened the stores here in 2008, the economy was bad, and I had people say, “Why are you opening stores now?” Opening here in Pier Park has been one of the best things we’ve done, and all our stores are in the best locations in our two counties. John: Some people think that if you just open a store in a location like Pier Park, you’re going to succeed or that you are very successful, and that’s just not the case. We were fortunate when we came in here... we had the opportunity to come in at the beginning, but it was difficult because it was just dirt, and nobody thought this area could support a mall like this. PCL: Tell me what it’s like to work with your spouse. Do you have similar working styles?

Panama City Living Magazine January - February 2014

John: She’s organized, I’m not. It works so that we are semi-organized. I don’t think we have a lot of conflict or issues, as far as the business operations go, because we’re on same wavelengths... we discuss things to find the best solution. We don’t want to deal with something when we’re upset, so rather than attack it right then, we wait and talk it over. And by the time we’ve ended up talking, we feel like we have a plan. Laurie: We have a very organized operations director, Jaime, who keeps us organized, too, so we both work to keep his part balanced out. We have different skill sets. I’m more of a spokesperson for the company. I handle more of the employee issues, promotions, marketing, things like that, books. John has an IT background, so he can network the computer systems together, back them up, install security systems, and if anything breaks, he can fix it. I don’t think we’ve ever had to call anyone else besides a locksmith to fix anything. John: I don’t do A/C work. Laurie: Okay, other than A/C and being a locksmith, other than those things, John can do it. And that’s a blessing to our company. I couldn’t do that. And he couldn’t do what I do. So, together we’ve been in business for 20 years. And that helps when you have the skills within. PCL: Does working together ever become difficult? Laurie: Sometimes I tell him I’m going to fire him. Sometimes he says he’s going to resign. John: I tell her I’m going to resign, I’ve already filled out my resignation, and she says, “No, you can’t quit,” and I’m joking around and say, “I am, I’m putting it in, I’m done. I’m quitting.” Laurie: <Laughing> And I’m like, “If you’re done, you’re moving out!” John: Quite frankly, I don’t have the responsibilities she does. She does more than I do on the business side of it. I do different types of stuff, but I have more flexibility in the things I’m doing, where hers are more deadlined. That’s what I think it is. PCL: So, what about work/life balance? How do you make time for vacations, especially with the summer being your busiest season? Laurie: Work comes home every day. Sometimes we have to tell each other to clock out. But we’re lucky because we are business owners. Our son is a soccer player, and to get on the field you have to be there by 3:30 - not every job allows you to do that. So, to be able to be there for him, and to be able to get our daughter to dance class, we have to interrupt our day but we’re able to be there for them. Luckily, we’re able to make up that time while they’re asleep

continued on page 38 37

continued from page 37 or on weekends. John: We donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t take vacations in the summer. Laurie: We usually do our things off season. Our kids see other friends going off to different places while typically we will have to work. But they get to do things that other kids donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t, like our ski trips in January, and other things theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve done. We get to be at all their soccer games and dance recitals.... So, you have to look at your blessings, and try to even it out. I work a lot. And I vowed that the song, the â&#x20AC;&#x153;Cats in the Cradleâ&#x20AC;? song, that would never be my relationship with my kids. Never. John: I think in everybodyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s life, thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s always going to be things you have to give up and things you have to adjust, to shuffle. Thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s no perfect scenario, no matter what anybody does. PCL: Could you manage your businesses alone? John: Oh, Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d sell the businesses. I couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t do it all alone. Laurie: Oh, I couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t either. John: Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s just too difficult. Four businesses with 20-30 employees... I couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t keep up with it. I know what sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d do. Sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d minimize the businesses, but sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d keep them open. Me, Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d

sell what I could. Laurie: Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve made a pact. Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re in this together. PCL: Do you have any advice for couples? Whether they are running a business together or just running a home? Laurie: Always work on yourself. Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t let yourself go. Go on dates. There were many years where we didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t go out a lot, and it was probably more stressful on our relationship. But we go out, and we like to dance... John: Thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not a particular thing that weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve said - hey, weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re going to do this, this and this... For some reason, what we do just seems to work. We had power struggles when we started, but I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t remember those. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m a guy. I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t think thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a way to lay down a plan and say, weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re going to open a business, this is how itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s going to work, and this is how weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re going to be happy. I think itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s either going to work on the way youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re working together, or itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not. Laurie: When youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re in business, you have to see who has what skills, and support each other in those things... you have to marry those skills together to keep power struggles down, and learn to compromise, same as with a marriage. As a fitness instructor, I believe that to be a good leader, youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve got to be in shape, youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve got

to have the stamina to keep up with everything that youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re doing and to keep a good attitude. Same with relationships, you have to keep working on yourself. There are many days when Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m tired, and Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m doing my cardio stair workouts and am thinking â&#x20AC;&#x2122;this is too hardâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;. But I do it because it keeps me going. It keeps me strong. You canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t get lazy. You have to work on personal development. You have to work on your skills, and you have to do things to keep yourself sane. For me, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s working out and going to my church. When Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m doing everything that I think that I know to do, and Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m still having struggles, I turn it over to God. Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s been a big part of our success, too... having faith... from the beginning, the first opening. PCL: Whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s your next goal? Laurie: To get our websites shop-able. Our customers are begging for it. But either I do it right the first time, or I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t do it at all. To me, in store customers are more important. John: To get Laurie more down time, and get our websites going - well, thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s her goal. Mine is to retire. Shimmering Seas is located at 820 Pier Park Dr, Panama City Beachch, FL Visit their facebook site for more information: www.facebook.com/shimmeringseasjewelry

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January - February 2014 www.PanamaCityLiving.com

Jenna and Steve Nagy (Massalina Cargo) ABOUT MUSIC AND MAGIC Interview by Val Schoger Jenna and Steve have been married for 18 years and live in Lynn Haven and have a 15 year old son, Stevie. Steve is a law enforcement officer at the Bay County Sheriff’s office and Jenna is a pharmaceutical rep. The two are better known as Massalina Cargo, the music duo that can set a mellow evening ablaze with emotion. They describe their music as “a blend of easy-listening songs you know and some Mass Cargo originals”. PCL: How did you meet? Jenna: We were set up on a blind date by his youngest brother who was dating my best friend. We both had just come out of bad relationships and both did not really want to meet anybody. Everyone kept insisting that we had a lot in common and should meet. <to Steve> Should I tell about the Magic? Ok, so we finally met by chance at a club and he was about to leave and turned around and while he exited the door he looked back at me and our eyes locked. And I am not kidding, I felt ”wow, zing”. There was something going on in that split second. Steve: Yes, there was an instant connection. It was one of those weird sensations; I knew I was in trouble right when it happened. Steve: We went on a daytime date and we ended up downtown at Leitz Music. Until then I had never heard her music and I am six years older than her so my music and where I come from is a bit different than hers. She had the traditional classical training. I grabbed a guitar and started playing and I knew I had her then. That was pretty magical. Jenna: I sat down and started playing the piano for him and thought “This is really fun” - being with somebody who loved music just as much as I do. Steve: I was with the Florida Marine Patrol full time back then. Jenna: He is a Co-Commander of the beach precinct right now, he is a lieutenant… looking at him with a smile “I am proud of you...” Steve: But our real love that we share is for

Photography by: Images by Teresa Tuno

music. I tell everybody that if I could sing like her then I would never have had a real job. She was still going to school back then. Jenna: Music was my passion and although I studied opera, all I wanted to do was play Rock ‘n Roll. I left my studies for a full time job in the music industry in Nashville but when my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer I decided to come back home while she went through treatment. FSU had just opened here and I finished my degree in communications here. Steve: And then three years after getting married, our son Stevie was born. He became the most important part of our lives. We want to make sure we give him the best life we can.

Panama City Living Magazine January - February 2014

Jenna has been the giant dreamer and I am the safety net. There is a balance that we had to strike and we both like to dream big but we will never put the music before our child and our marriage. They come first. Jenna: That’s what fascinates me about Steve: he learned by ear. He can take a song and not only know the particular key, but he also knows where the capo was placed on the guitar neck, what position it was played in, if they had done some kind of crazy tuning where they have dropped strings, just by hearing it… I don’t have that. It fascinates me. He has a spiritual gift. I can write songs but I

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continued from page 39 don’t have all that. A few years ago I decided I wanted to play instruments, too during our act and start accompanying myself. We eventually added a keyboard, and Steve taught me how to play guitar. Plus, when he was playing solos he needed a person to keep the rhythm. So again we went down to Leitz Music and I bought my first guitar. Talk about impatient… I wanted to play right away and it was tough and my fingers were raw, but I did it. Steve: Yes, the only problem was, she wanted to play “now”, live on stage “right now”. It took her only three weeks to get on stage and accompany me. It was bumpy, I have to admit but she did it. (Steve grinning) What we did is we had to turn my guitar volume up just a bit and hers down… the great thing was, when I made a mistake then I could always blame her. (both laughing) PCLM: But Steve stayed patient? Jenna: Yes, you wouldn’t believe…. That shows how we can work together… well, when we practice… Steve: It’s bumpy… Jenna: Well, it’s either utopia, like “magic, chill bumps” or it’s on the other end of the

spectrum where we are arguing “you are going too fast” “no, you are going too slow” Steve: So, usually what happens is I do my work on the song first and then show it to her and she will plug her parts in and we bump our way through it and within an hour, depending on the difficulty, we will have it and we get really excited. Because, you know, it’s a challenge to keep people coming to listen to our music and come up with something original and do all that in our spare time. We do not want to keep playing the same songs over and over and are trying to add to the list, so it’s very demanding but we are very rewarded, too - we have a good following and the majority of nights we are playing are good nights. Every now and then we get a night where we think “that was work” but most of the time it’s really about connecting with people… we will be looking around at the listeners and afterwards I will ask Jenna things like “did you see that lady, she had tears in her eyes?”. Yes, we like to get paid and want to make a living but it is really about connecting with people. If the music that we play touches them then that inspires us. Jenna: It feeds us! Our favorite thing is a night that we played and sang very well,

where we connected with great people, and at the end of the night we go home TOGETHER but before going home we have our ‘special ritual’ after each gig: After just having played at an exquisite restaurant or wonderfully catered event, where we were offered anything to eat and drink that we possibly could have wanted and refusing it while we were working, then we’re STARVING at the end of the night, we run through Taco Bell and ‘feast’ together. The point is, this is our time together after our idea of a ‘perfect night’, where we are close and can talk about things that happened during the performance and we will laugh at each other for the mistakes we made and talk about the fun and cool moments… that brings us even closer together. Steve: A lot of people are going on dates or to the movies or dinner on Friday nights. On our Friday nights we are playing music together and in the end we get the coolest date night there is! A lot of people come up and tell us ‘you know how lucky you guys are that you can do this together?” And we don’t take that for granted. We know it is special. Jenna: Yes, and our friends are there and our family and there are new people coming up who like what we do. It feels very special.

January - February 2014 www.PanamaCityLiving.com

PCL: Are there any strengths and weaknesses that you have as a couple when being together? Jenna: This is actually really funny. A lot of times, in the middle of playing a song, we will both kind of day dream at the exact same spot and BOTH miss the same chord. We will look at each other like ‘are you kidding me’? and we have to laugh. PCL: Were there any tough times that you had to go through? Jenna: Last year our son had a neurological problem following sinus surgery. He developed chronic severe pain and it was a devastating time. He finally received help at a hospital in Gainesville where the offending nerves were treated with radiofrequency ablation. It took 6 months out of our lives. Steve: The music stopped. Jenna: We were freaking out. Stevie is our world - all that mattered was to get him well again. He could not go back to school for the last half of the year. But he is well now and we are so grateful. To watch our child suffer took a part out of me and replaced it with something else. I realized how short life is. God gave us gifts and we should be using and sharing them. We have decided to open a music lesson studio in 2014 called “Sessions with Massalina Cargo”. We will be teaching voice, piano and guitar to both children and adults. I’m a former piano teacher, and we have volunteered the past 3 years with the Bay Education Foundation’s Arts Alive event and had the honor of working with students already. And it has been so rewarding to see the kids excel. We plan to write more original music and teach students right here in our music room. Our ultimate goals are to have a CD

produced and expand our playing to regional festivals, and we are trying to convince our son Stevie to join the band. He plays the piano and is very talented. Steve: In the end it is all about meeting and inspiring people. Our families are both here and they all support us, they come to the concerts. It is rare that my parents are not there. My brother Danny is a coach at Mosely High and they go to all his games and try to be at all our concerts, too. PCL: What are your tips for other couples who might be going through a hard time? Jenna: Our big thing is that we don’t pick on each other, we don’t tease in a negative way – we know the hot button items and we avoid them. If I know that if I would do something that will upset him, well then I am not going to do it. I don’t say things with an attitude, either. Steve: We’ve both learned. And in every marriage over time, if you don’t take care of it properly, you develop resentments. If you don’t figure out what those resentments are then they live inside of you and they will grow. If you don’t get rid of that and work it out, individually and as a couple, then it just grows and eventually you collide somewhere. I think many divorces happen because people don’t address issues as they are happening. Maybe they are afraid. We addressed things

Panama City Living Magazine January - February 2014

and we asked ourselves, ‘what’s the most important thing?’ and we both grew from that. Our marriage is the best it has ever been, even better than when we first met. I would part of it to us being still crazy about each other, even now after being married for many years. Jenna: It’s like tending to a garden. You have to weed it, cultivate it, till the ground, fertilize it. We have to nurture this relationship, we have to communicate. Steve: We got better at apologizing. Sometimes even apologize if you aren’t sure if you are supposed to. You can solve problems pretty quickly like that. That doesn’t mean let someone run you over but you work things out together. If Jenna is upset about something, well that throws me off as well. We have been through some rough spots but we have never done anything unforgivable. We have always forgiven each other. We manage to overcome things. Other than Stevie being sick, it’s been a great relationship. We have done a lot together and we are having great experiences together. Jenna: We are living our dreams - having goals and seeing them come to fruition, playing on stage together and with other musicians, having the opportunity for bigger crowds. We still have dreams. I am learning to make decisions to say ‘no’ to certain things so that we can really enjoy these next chapters of our lives together, spending time doing what we love to do. Steve: We still think we will write that one hit song. But I am the breaks - ’dream big live safe’ is what I like to say. Jenna: He is the practical one, he will be telling me ‘you are dreaming way too big right now’ – and in the end, what matters to us is that we want to be really good at what we do. You can find more info on Jenna and Steve Nagy and Massalina Cargo online at www.facebook.com/massalinacargo

Heidi and Nathan Graben

BUILDING A LIFE TOGETHER By Stephanie Dockery Nathan and Heidi Graben of Graben Construction have been designing awardwinning luxury homes for 30 years – the same number of years they’ve been married. Nathan is the mastermind of unique open floor plans, and Heidi lends her creativity to both interior and exterior design. They invited Panama City Living into their stately home office to tell us about growing together, working together, and being successful together. PCL: Tell us how you met. Where was your first date? Heidi: Nathan and I have really known each other since elementary school. Our families knew each other. We started dating when I was 18.... Nathan: And I was 22. I lived on the beach, her family lived in town, and then her family moved to the beach, and so that’s when I saw her after all that time. Our first date was about a year before we got married. Heidi: We went riding on the dunes down 30-A and on Thomas Drive. Nathan: It wasn’t the normal dinner and a movie thing. Yeah, before all those condos were built, there was nothing but sand dunes and a few old motels. We’d go four-wheeling, build bonfires. PCL: What was it like going into busi-

ness together at such an early stage in your relationship? Heidi: He got his Florida Contractors License in March 1983, and we got married in October 1983. Nathan: She didn’t have any knowledge at all of construction, and every year I taught her more and gave her more responsibility. So, now she does everything, and I go golfing. Heidi: < Laughing> He doesn’t even golf. Nathan: No, I don’t play golf... but, every year, she got more involved in the business, and now she’s 100 percent involved. We started out pretty daring in our work, because we were in agreement; we were daring and different from the start, but we’ve become more daring as we got older together, more experienced together. I did a lot of colors and designs that nobody else wanted to do, because they were afraid to get away from the standard. So to compete, I made up designs that just came to me, did things that were just different, and Heidi was on the same page with me, and that’s how we became successful. Heidi: What he designed got attention. His homes had a wow factor. Back then, he was building 1,400 square foot homes with 12foot ceilings and three-stage crown molding. People loved it. Over the years, we’ve gotten better and more unique, and the homes got bigger and bigger. We build all sizes of homes, but our niche has brought us into a

more dramatic style, but we build anything. Nathan: Yeah, people were building big luxury homes that didn’t have some of these features. All we did was add some nice trim, arches and some interesting touches, that people would see only in a large luxury home, into our smaller homes from the start. Heidi: His floor plans would make a 1,500 square foot home feel like a 2,000 square foot home just because of the way it was laid out. He’s always excelled at drawing out plans and then building them. While he still sketches out a spec/model home plan, we also work closely with various local architects to build one of their own unique designs. Nathan: Heidi is always on the same page. When she picks out fixtures, plumbing and lights, she finds things that aren’t widely available... high-quality, artistic fixtures that people have never seen before. Heidi: I try to find the best bang for the buck. I shop wisely for every product needed and work with different suppliers to find good quality at the best pricing. I take time to find things that are unique, and that requires a lot of thought. My mind is twirling 24/7. But I try to think about the client and try to put their personality into the home. I love to find out who the client is, and I may try to push them a little beyond their comfort zone, because I know they’ll love it once it’s done. The final decision is always theirs, but I like to present different ideas to them, get

January - February 2014 www.PanamaCityLiving.com

their creative juices flowing, so they’re a part of the whole project. That is, to me, very rewarding. It’s a service that we provide, and we don’t charge for that. PCL: Did you ever think about opening a separate interior design business? Heidi: I’ve had people want to hire me to design their own home, but I feel like Nathan and I are so connected that we’re a package deal. Now if they hire us to build the home, and they hire someone else to do the interior designs, I have no problem. But I wouldn’t want to go off and work with another builder when I have my partner right here. PCL: With your business office inside your home, are you ever “off the clock?” Nathan: Not really. Things will pop up after the day is over, so we just fit it in however it works. It depends on the situation. Heidi: You can’t help but talk about things, because it’s a part of our lives. Our home is where we do most of our work, and we’ve always opted to have our office in our home, so our home life and work life has always been blended. PCL: What’s the best thing about working together? Nathan: We know each other so well... If there‘s a problem, we work it out. Same thing with subcontractors on the job, we try to work things out. If we’re not working out good together, we work through it to fix it. We don’t just give up. Heidi: Good moral ethics, being honest, treating people right. That’s how we’ve always felt about each other, and we’ve carried that over to our work and our clients. PCL: Does working together ever become difficult, especially since you sit across from one another in the same office? Heidi: Sure, we rub each other the wrong way occasionally. <Laughing> He has to put me in my place, but he can’t fire me. I had to learn to be, according to what the Bible says, in subjection to my husband. We both believe the Bible principles, very much so, which is why we have the good work ethics that we do. We are like polar opposites, I think, when it comes to personalities. I’m more flamboyant and open, and he’s more subdued... he’ll sit back and calculate it all and then give his decision. So, I may say a hundred words, and he says five. We had to learn to get along with our personality differences, but I’ve learned over the years that there’s one head, and he’s the boss. And things are better when I just listen to my boss.

But is it difficult? Of course, it is. Any relationship is difficult, but we’ve learned to manage it, and that’s how we can sit across from each other. Right away, our marriage became our business... This is how our life has always been. I’ve never known it another way. We learned how to make things smoother, what I needed to work on, what he needed to work on... Nathan: Yeah, we learned together. Heidi: We’ve grown up together, worked together, and been successful together. PCL: So, what do you together for fun? Any plans for Valentine’s Day? Heidi: We have a boat, and we love to fish... we’ve always enjoyed the outdoors. Nathan: Offshore fishing... diving.... anything on the water. Heidi: We play together a lot, and we’re still best friends. But, no, we don’t really celebrate Valentines’ Day... I think every day is supposed to be a day of love and concern. NG: Yeah, not just one day. PCL: What advice can you offer to other couples? Nathan: Be flexible, be understanding... Heidi: Always communicate, apologize... Nathan: Be honest and upfront... plan together so things work like a fine running machine. Graben Construction’s website can be found at: www.grabenhomes. com

Panama City Living Magazine January - February 2014

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January - February 2014 www.PanamaCityLiving.com

Teri and Rollin Cable

CARE AND HAPPINESS Interview by Val Schoger Teri and Rollin Cable founded Florida Therapy Services, Inc. in 1994 in Tallahassee and chose Panama City as location for their corporate office and their home. They have a 17 year old son, Justin, who goes to Bay High School and plays baseball for the Bay High Varsity Team. Their company offers Psychiatric Services, Case Management, Group, Individual and Family Therapy and Therapeutic Behavioral On-Site Services as well as working with and for government entities. The Cables have built a corporation that now serves sixteen counties in Northwest Florida with continuously expanding services and locations. Rollin conveys their beginnings were humble with only 3 employees and 4 patients but now, after 20 years of hard work, they employ 12 psychiatrists and 150 therapists throughout Northwest Florida. This self-made power couple is sharing their success story with us. PCL: How did the two of you meet? Rollin: We were introduced by common friends. They insisted that we needed to meet and we finally met for the first time at a restaurant and it was basically love at first sight. Teri was working for a Fortune 500 company at that time and had quite a career. I lived in Tallahassee, Florida and Teri agreed to help me on weekends with all the paperwork for this business. I finally told her that I needed her help fulltime with the company and the first thing she said was: “Do you think it’s

going to work?” We got married about one year later and had our son the year after that. PCL: What made your business and relationship strong? Rollin: It’s taken 15 years to grow the business. I knew that we would grow but, honestly, I did not anticipate that we would get this big. Your strongest foundation is a good and loving partner, and we do have that. We try to not take business home, which has been very important. We have a great team that supports us and we treat everyone like family. Teri: A new book that I am reading talks about Happiness and being happy first is the key to becoming successful. PCL: What would you tell other couples who may go through tough times? Rollin: It’s not always been roses for us. When the business has had problems and there were very tough times, I had to make risky decisions but we worked together to continue to grow and help many children and families throughout NW Florida. We sustained the business for a couple of years based on the belief that we would come out on top in the end. Teri has been very supportive during these times. Teri: It’s been a long road for us but we have always been motivated because we believe in what we are doing. We believe in community and giving back and that’s what we live by. PCL: Is there anything in that you could

Panama City Living Magazine January - February 2014

not have achieved if it hadn’t been the two of you in business together? Teri: We are CARF accredited and normally the CARF certification will be assigned for one year but we get a three year accreditation typically on renewal. I think being in business together and working together and building a professional team has contributed to us passing the accreditation process with flying colors. We all work very well as a team. I have managerial skills and a strong sales and marketing background. Rollin goes off to Tallahassee, meets with major insurance and payer sources and builds business relations. We complement each other well and that’s been the key to our success. PCL: Do you have anything special you do for Valentine’s Day? Teri: (eyerolling) Well, I usually pick out my gift. Rollin: I do get flowers and take her out to dinner. I am not a flower-person but on some occasions I do buy them. But I do know that Teri likes Italian cuisine and she is a gourmet Italian cook and her Eggplant Parmesan is better than anything you have ever eaten. I might just take her out to her favorite Italian Restaurant, but her cooking is so much better than any restaurant, so my Valentine wish is always to just stay home. And just like all things related to the Cable’s and FTS, we work that out together! Find out more about the cable’s successful business at www.flatherapy.com

Robin and Simon Haussmann ABOUT FAITH AND LOVE Interview by Patti Smith The Haussmanns, who met as teenagers and grew to know and love one another through an international long distance relationship, have been married for four years. They set a strong foundation for their marriage based on Biblical principles, and both agree that foundation and learning to give each other grace are key to keeping their marriage healthy. PCL: Why do you volunteer together at the church? Simon: When we commit to something, we like to become an active part of it. We’re at Northstar every Sunday because it fills our hearts with joy to serve people and to see life change on a weekly basis. Robin: We identify so much with the core truth that Northstar has of God’s love for everyone. We want to express that to others. That makes us want to serve together. PCL: Why did you decide to volunteer together? Robin: We complement each other well. Simon is very detailed and likes to take time to do things methodically. I am more of a doer. I like to get in there and get the job done. In that way, we work well together. I can follow through with projects that need more action and Simon can tackle the things that require more detail and organization. PCL: What is most meaningful to you about the work you are doing? Simon: Being a part of an eternal influence in someone’s life. The behind-the-scenes stuff needs to be done, but ultimately it’s all about the person who commits their life to Christ. To be a part of that is a very humbling experience. PCL: How did you meet? Simon: Everyone knew I was an exchange student. Small school, small town. Robin was finishing up volleyball practice, and I had

basketball tryouts afterward. Her mom is really outgoing and so, while I was waiting in front of the gym, and she was waiting for Robin to finish up, she started a conversation. I was this shy guy who didn’t know much English, and she introduced me to Robin. Robin: Simon came to the U.S. as an exchange student at Blountstown High School when he was 16. We had physics class together and besides school, he attended my youth group at Rivertown Community Church. Yes, officially, my mom introduced us! PCL: What was it about the other that made you say he/she was “the one” you wanted to marry? Simon: For me it was easy: Robin was the big fish in the small pond. She had a strong foundation in Christ, and her values were clearly defined. I knew them before I even got to know her because of the influence she had on others. And she was beautiful of course, too. I fell in love with her in 2003, but I didn’t tell her until the following summer when I came back to visit. She was quite surprised. Robin: I didn’t know Simon very well when he expressed how he felt about me, so I didn’t know if I could reciprocate the feelings. We met several times during the summer of 2004 and talked about the biblical principles that were important to us. I wanted to make sure we shared the same values before beginning any kind of relationship. He also allowed me and encouraged me to be completely honest about everything regardless of how it would make him feel. That was really attractive to me. After about one year of really seeing Simon’s faith in God and his character, I had the “Aha!” moment. PCL: How does working together enhance your relationship as a couple? Simon: I think the experience of accomplishing something together is satisfying. When we’re both working for the same purpose we are unified.

Robin: We discover more about each other as we serve together. Simon has strengths that I don’t have and vice versa. Realizing this and allowing each other to use these unique abilities makes us stronger as a unit. PCL: What advice do you have for married couples about keeping a relationship strong? Simon: Really challenge one another before you get married and talk about the foundational beliefs and goals you have in life. Then, keep your full trust and focus on God. As you both pursue Jesus first in your life, you automatically grow closer together. Remember to be a servant to your spouse; having a constant awareness of Jesus and how he got down on knees and washed the feet of his disciples is always a good reminder for me. At the end of the day, I’m tired. I want to come home, prop my feet up and relax: but I do not give in to that impulse. She’s coming home tired, too. Be aware there’s a spiritual life– you’re dealing with forces of the unseen. Satan trying to work against the beauty of your relationship, the vows you made to each other. You have to fight for your marriage. Robin: One reason our marriage has been great is because we don’t feel like we’ve arrived. We understand that we have so much to learn and improve in our relationship and our main instruction manual is the Bible. We try to keep ourselves open to learning more and improving—to be more forgiving, more patient, more merciful, and we try to make sure we do that in our relationship, in our workplace and in our interaction with random people. Another important aspect of our marriage is prayer together and for each other. Praying together is something that is very strengthening in our relationship. The fact that we can come together in agreement and express our requests and feelings to God is unifying. Find out more about Northstar Church at www.northstar.cc

January - February 2014 www.PanamaCityLiving.com

Ann and Jim Talkington STRENGTH AND UNITY

By Carole Lapensohn Dr. James Talkington has a thriving medical practice off Jenks Avenue, providing general and pediatric orthopedics, handling sport-related and work-related injuries, and specializing in shoulder injuries. His wife, Ann, works successfully with him as a physical therapist and much more. According to Jim, “she does a little bit of everything,” from giving perspective to patients about their long-term recovery to talking to her husband about their patients. The relationship between them is unusually strong and positive. It’s a wonder Jim and Ann Talkington ever met. After Jim finished medical school in Mississippi, he did his four-year residency in Orthopedic Surgery at University Hospital in Jacksonville. He’d worked with one of the nurses, Ann’s mother, for several years. Although Ann’s mother told him to “stay away from her,” she finally introduced them in 1984. They married in 1985, and the rest is a lovely story. Ann says, “Jim is the smartest person I know.” After 28 years of marriage and three

kids, she says he studies, and reads medical journals continuously. “He loves learning new things.” Jim says, “She fills in the cracks when I leave something unsaid. We fill in the gaps for each other.” The couple has worked together exclusively in the office for five years, although Ann says, “I don’t think we ever stopped.” They’ve worked off and on together for the whole 28 years. As “best friends,” Jim feels they’ve found the key to a lasting marriage—and a successful working relationship. The key, as Ann describes it, is having him “in charge, captain of the ship.” He’s the one ultimately responsible, the one accountable for whatever happens in both their medical practice and their family. She quickly asserts, however, that their relationship comes before their business. “God comes first, then each other. We believe that The Lord is our provider, and that He is the one who gave us each other and our business.” Jim echoes her thoughts. “Marriage comes first. You do what’s right between God and your spouse.” Although they’ve “had their moments,” they’ve found that they yearn for time togeth-

Panama City Living Magazine January - February 2014

er with their teenage children. Jim claims “there’s less of an imperative to have my own quiet time.” As for recommendations for those who are married and working together, Jim suggests “be pragmatic.” He adds that there must be someone ultimately responsible and a helper. And, always have an “I’m sorry” handy. Couples should have a sense of humor and have a good time together. “They must have joy in their atmosphere.” Because it isn’t always easy, they must work at it, as Jim and Ann do. And they should have a true love for people. “Every patient that walks through the door has a treasure inside,” says Ann. They’ve both grown spiritually over the decades, both for each other and for their patients. As long-term members of Hiland Park Baptist Church, they give “glory to God for everything we’ve achieved,” says Ann. Florida Sportsmedicine and Orthopaedics, PA is located at 2428 Jenks Ave. Panama City, FL 32405 and can be reached at (850) 252-8859

Monique and Jerry Williams ABOUT CONSISTENCY AND A TRUE PARTNERSHIP Interview by Val Schoger Jerry Williams of Deja Brew Coffee Shop is an expert in every aspect of making coffee from evaluating, roasting, and ‘profiling’ beans to brewing and producing the perfect cup. What started as a hobby by buying his first home roaster quickly turned into a home business. Friends, family and colleagues started buying his roasted coffee beans in large quantities and quickly the demand became greater than his production rate. After retiring from his position as a professor at Gulf Coast Community College, Jerry and his wife Monique decided to start two business ventures: Deja Brew Coffeehouse and Roaster’s Edge Coffee. Monique still works full time as manager of the MWR Liberty Center on the Navy Base and they are working together in every aspect of their new business ventures. They are also owners of a coffee farm in Costa Rica but Panama City, Florida will remain their home. PCL: How did you meet? Jerry: It was 1986, we met at a friend’s Labor Day party. Monique was working for the American Red Cross at the time and I was teaching Business Management, Marketing and Computer Science at Gulf Coast State College. We dated for about two years and then got married. PCL: How did you get the idea to roast your own coffee? Jerry: Well, it all started with me always looking for the best cup of coffee. Ever since I drank my first cup of coffee when I was 18 years old, wherever I went, I kept looking for a good cup of coffee. And she joined in the foray - on vacations, on the internet, or wherever we went we bought coffee beans still looking for that good cup of coffee. I researched home roasting one day and told her that I was thinking about buying a home

roaster. She thought I was crazy at first but went along with it. I bought a home roaster and we brought some of our coffee to a work meeting one day and soon everyone inquired if they could buy some of our coffee. We soon had to buy a bigger roaster. Monique: I did not roast at all at that point. I helped him with the packaging though. Jerry: We then went to ‘roasting school’ together and learned everything there is to learn about roasting. We learned how to taste coffee, and how to judge it and figure out its characteristics. Nowadays we are even teaching a cupping class for the beverage management course at the college – we even work as a team there. I explain the process and Monique demonstrates it. PCL: Please tell us about your way of working together. Jerry: In terms of the business we both have kept open minded and respectful of each other. Everything we do is a mutual decision. Neither one of us takes ownership of an independent idea to the extent that we are willing to implement it without the other person agreeing to it. It’s one of those things that grew out of our personal partnership and it has worked very well for us and this is also how we operate our business. We both entered our relationship, and business, with the understanding that we would make decisions together. It is a true partnership. But if it comes to certain things, like decorating and using colors, then I know that Monique has a talent for it and I don’t. So Monique decorated our coffee house but she still asked for my opinion before making a decision. We always make all decisions together, whether it’s hiring someone, buying something, letting someone go, whether we will add a bean from a new country to our selection, it is all a mutual decision. If one of us has apprehensions

with the other one’s idea, then we will just back off of it. There is no arguing. Monique: Another example of working together: We get the beans delivered in very large bags and that’s one thing where we both have to get together to be able to pick up the heavy bags. We developed a system for it. Really, we have a system for everything - whether we have a heavy bag of coffee or whether we are roasting. Jerry: We have a spreadsheet that we developed for roasting. It’s called Profile Roasting. Most of the times we have to roast three batches before we can figure out how a bean needs to be roasted. We keep meticulous track of all sorts of variables like bean temperature, and moisture content, on bean source-by-bean source basis. We talk with the importer, we get all information that we can, and even if we find a bean that we like, then it is not necessarily said that the bean will be the same than it was the year before. It’s always about providing consistency. And then there is also the challenge of providing consistence behind the counter and making sure that every one of our baristas makes the coffee, and specialty drinks, the same way. Monique: We also need to point out that our entire family is involved in the business. My sister is a silent partner in Roaster’s Edge Coffee, the roasting company. She has been involved with it all along but we are the sole owners of Deja Brew Coffee Shop. PCL: Is there anything that you don’t agree on and can you point out something that might be difficult for you to deal with? Monique: Well, he procrastinates. Jerry: That’s true. I just don’t make decisions lightly. The two of us are evolving our ideas. Starting this business was an evolutionary process. It took us eight years to mutually decide to take this step.

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Monique: It has been tough to find time to relax. This is the busiest we have ever been together. I work on base, then I also teach Yoga and we work for this business together. We find that we have to schedule time for us. Jerry:Yes, we have to make time. Last weekend we went to the movies for the first time since the beginning of the year. I thought when I retired I would not have to get up at 5 in the morning – well, that hasn’t worked. Monique: We had to change our modus operandi. Usually, before Jerry’s retirement, he would start the day in the morning with brewing a fresh cup of coffee for me at 5am and I would stumble out of bed at 5:15am – now he will stumble out of bed at 5:15 and I will have the coffee ready. But I am telling him that he is living his dream. <both laughing> We truly enjoy what we are doing and it has been a learning experience. We love our customers and building personal relationships with them. We often get referrals from all over the country because travelers have been talking about us and our business. PCL: What was your goal when you started the business?

Jerry: We spent a lot of time envisioning what this place would be one day. We were in a state of cogitation. Our vision was to produce a good product. We roasted 300 to 400 pounds of coffee before we were happy with the end result and get the product consistency that we wanted. We truly wanted our customers to come to our coffee shop not because they were craving coffee but because they would be looking to truly enjoy a cup of coffee. The vision was to build a Roastery and maybe 5 years down the road we would open the Coffee Shop. But when the opportunity arose to do both, the vision got scrunched up really quick! And now we had to implement and hang on to the vision. Obviously we want to be successful but the quality of the product and our customer’s enjoyment of our product is our focus. <he thinks for a long time and continues> If you think of coffee as a food, then your entire perception of it will change. PCL: Do you have a Valentine’s Day tradition? Monique: I used to hire a group to come in and sing for Jerry. It was a barbershop quartet I sent them to surprise him at work with singing

Panama City Living Magazine January - February 2014

love songs. They would entertain his entire division. Jerry: She has been doing it for years and finally I did not get embarrassed anymore… <both laughing> We would also go to the GCSC’s student restaurant which is now the John Holley Dining Hall and I had my present for her brought out on a silver platter with a silver lid. Shortly after, the singing quartet came in… we entertained everyone who was dining that day. And I also upgraded her wedding ring and engagement ring a couple of years ago on Valentine’s Day. Deja Brew is located at 8730 Thomas Drive, Unit 1109 in Panama City Beach, FL Visit their website www.recdejabrew.com for more information. Read in our next issue about Roaster’s Edge Coffee – from the coffee beans on the William’s coffee farm in Coast Rica to their Roastery, and your cup, in Panama City, Florida where the beans are being roasted to perfection for a consistently wonderful cup of coffee at Deja Brew Coffee.

Beatrice and Derrol Fulghum LOVE, MADE IN BAVARIA

Interview by Val Schoger Beatrice and Derrol have been married since 2007. Derrol has been enlisted since 2003 and is a Staff Sergeant in the 107th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment, Florida National Guard. The two met at the American Forces Network in Heidelberg, Germany where Derrol worked as a broadcaster for the public affairs department. His active tour included time in Wiesbaden and Baghdad before meeting Beatrice. Beatrice interned at the network station while studying journalism and the two quickly became inseparable. They live in Panama City Beach and work together at the Hofbrauhaus Beer Garden, which serves authentic German Food and imported Bavarian Beer. PCL: How did you propose? Derrol: Beatrice was born the day after Christmas. I proposed to Beatrice in the most unromantic way possible. We cel-

ebrated Christmas Eve with her relatives and friends… on the way home that night I confessed I could not live without her and asked her if she wanted to get married. She did not take me serious and sent me to bed. The next morning, on her birthday, she asked if I had been serious the night before. Of course I had. We got married a month later. PCL: How were the first few months as a young couple? D: I had to leave for the US and joined the National Guard while Beatrice graduated from university with a BA in English, French and a minor in Journalism. We were reunited in March 2007 and had a few more tough months to cope with. I had ankle surgery and she had to adjust to living in Florida. B: Yes, it was tough in the beginning. The American lifestyle is much different than the German lifestyle and things like recycling is handled here much different than it is handled in Germany. Everyone seemed so wasteful

here. I had to adjust to that. The opening of the Hofbrauhaus on February 14th 2008 changed our way of life. When I saw the ads in the newspaper and that they we relooking for employees, I did not quite trust the way their jobs were advertised – pictured was a woman in a Halloween costume rather than an authentic Dirndl. Derrol called them up and asked if they needed an accordion player and they were very interested. They immediately asked the both of us to start working here and Derrol with his German skills was hired on as a greeter. PCL: How do you work together? B: I am the bookkeeper, office manager and shift manager and do all the marketing for the Hofbrauhaus and together we entertain guests on the weekends – I often play the role of the grumpy German accordionist and he is the one making the jokes. D: I play the bass and accompany Beatrice on the accordion. The bass of course is not traditionally used to play Bavarian songs but

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I am making it sound like a Tuba to get the authentic sounds. PCL: Did you have some other tough times to overcome? B: He was deployed for 22 months to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The good thing was, Guantanamo is not the most dangerous place so I was not worried or scared but the separation was hard. I kept working here at Hofbrauhaus and I tried to visit Germany a lot. All of a sudden it was just me living on my own. But I managed. In that time I joined the Panama City POPS Orchestra where I play the second violin. D: She has insane talent, I can’t even begin to wrap my head around all those buttons on the accordion and she is a great violinist. While I was deployed I had a few concerns. She was alone. I was concerned about her safety and making sure that she was taken care of, that things around the house that needed to get done would not overwhelm her. That’s when we really came to appreciate this workplace. Everyone here at the Hofbrauhaus, from employers to guests of the “Stein Club Stammtisch”, pitched in to help Beatrice whenever help was needed. B: When he came back from Guantanamo, being together 24/7 was weird at first. It’s not that you come home and ask what your partner’s day was like… we already know all that since we have been around each other all day. D: Of course, being around each other all the time there are little spats but on the plus side, if it gets busy and stressful out here in the restaurant, then the close proximity is great. I can vent and talk to Beatrice, my partner who I trust. B: But each of us is getting their alone time as well. We each have our own activities. While Derrol goes out and meets old friends, I like to go for a run. I think it is important to give each other some alone time. Playing at the POPS Orchestra is something I really enjoy. D: Being in the National Guard, I am away for one weekend every month. We get away from each other then and everyone decompresses. But at the end of that weeken we are really looking forward to seeing each other again. Sometimes I would get on the road to St. Augustine and I am not quite out of the county and I start missing her already. In general I enjoy working together. I kind of feel bad for people who do not get to see their spouses in the middle of the day. B: We can share a lot of the small hardships. And the nice thing is, most of the times we get along so well that all we have to do is look at each other to know what is going on.

We do start talking German with each other sometimes to share little secrets. D: Yes, she yells at me in German, too. Folks around here know I am in trouble when she starts talking German. But I think we often present the perfect image, which is not always true. People tell us what a cute couple we are but we do have our problems but in the end I feel so comfortable when I come home and that to me is what matters.

D: We project a positive image together, I am a people person and people love talking to us. B: People always relate to us very well. We bring Germany to American, I like that. PCL: Do you have any traditions for Valentine’s Day. B: Since it’s the Hofbrauhaus’ anniversary every Valentine’s Day we are usually here representing and performing. But he did send me flowers and a coffee mug that I really wanted last year. D: The thing about Beatrice is that she really doesn’t dig flowers. She wants practical presents, something she can actually use. If I get her German chocolate and something practical like new running shoes, then she is ok. Last Valentine’s Day I sang “Unchained Melody” for her and she was so embarrassed. B: I hate being in the limelight. But he is a great singer and in the end I think it was very sweet of him to sing the song on stage for me. The Haufbrauhaus is located at Pier Park, 701 Pier Park Dr #155, Panama City Bch, FL 32413 - look up when Beatrice and Derrol are performing by visiting: www.hofbraupcb.com

PCL: Do you have anything that you can share with our readers, something to help them through bad times? D: When I was in Baghdad I developed a pretty bad case of Posttraumatic stress disorder. It was before I met Beatrice and that’s the only way she has known me and over the years I had more and more problems. It was getting so bad that I did not like being around people and crowds. Beatrice would ask me to go to the supermarket with her and I just could not do it. She thought I was being mean but I just could not breathe, I had anxieties. It got so bad that I had trouble eating solid foods, I had the feeling I was choking. That went on for about a year. Beatrice would even cook special meals to accommodate me, she pureed the food. And I had trouble talking about it. I just came back from a three week exposure therapy that was sponsored by the DOD and is put on by the University Transform your life, simply and naturally, with of Central Florida. Vital Balance Meal Replacement Shakes It was a very good experience. Beatrice by Nikken Total Wellness (just one of over 300 just told me on stage natural solutions for abundant health). today that I look and act very different. No lifestyle changes or hard work, just You caught us at a drink a delicious vanilla shake in the morning. great time. B: I did not know there was a problem, I did not connect SIDE EFFECTS MAY INCLUDE: the food issues to z Clearer thinking & improved memory anything that might (Natural Brain Food/AKA Medium Chain have happened in Tryglicerides) his past. We both z Soothing to the GI tract (Contains Pro pretended that and Pre-biotics) everything was ok. z More energy from organic whole foods But we stuck it out, z Very healthy weight loss, all natural we handled it.

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Panama City Living Magazine January - February 2014

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Valent ine's Day Shopping Guide

Handcrafted d Sea Oat Tote Conch Clothing hing & Accessories created fashionable dresses, skirt skirts, ts, bags and totes tes using clas classic ssic fabrics with whimsical w imsical wh designs. This iss pre p preppy ppy tote e is functional,l, durable dur urable and d adorable, perfect erfectt for fo the southern coastal oastal lifestyle. life festy s le e. Small Sea Oat at Tote wi with ith Big B Bow - $52.00 0 Available a att Conch Clothing ing & Accesso Accessories, orie ries, s, 850-890-2951 51 or online att conchclothingco.com. ngco.com.

Women’s Golf Ensemble Love game? Love the g Love the game? gear! ear! Panama Country Club’s Pro Shop carries a wide selection of golf gear for men and women. Give the golf lover in your life a confident edge with tthe he latest in fashionable and functional apparel. Visor Versa Visor - $23.50 Panama Country Club Logo Sweater - $44.95 Adidas Climalite Short-Sleeve Logo Polo - $65.00 Adidas Climalite Skort - $55.00 Footjoy ComfortSof Socks - $6.99 Available at The Pro Shop at Panama Country Club 850-265-2911.

Panama Country Club Member Experience Play like a member! Treat your valentine to a round of golf on Panama Country Club’s waterfront 18-hole course, a sleeve of balls, a hearty lunch at the Grill Room, and a Panama Country Club hat. Member Experience Package - $75.00 For purchasing information, contact Mike Howe at 850-265-3055, extension 10.

January - February 2014 www.PanamaCityLiving.com

Sarda Volcanic Quartz & Passionista Quartz Set Bring on the passion with this stunning collection of Pas Passionista ssionista and n Volcanic Quartz set in beautiful Balinese styled Sterling Silver. With every piece of Sarda Handcrafted Jewelry, there is a story, a scene, a moment. Each collection is a reflection of the woman it adorns. Unique. Timeless. Chic. Memorable. Volcanic Quartz Earrings - $109.99 Volcanic Quartz Bracelet - $459.99 Volcanic Quartz Pendant - $149.99 Passionista Quartz Ring - $174.99 Available at Shimmering Seas Jewelry & Gifts at Pier Park, 850-234-6200.

Alex and Ani Bangle Collection Created Create Cre a d with positive energ energy, gy, each Alex and A Ani n piece encourages the wearer ni to express individuality in an organic, spiritual spiriitua tu l way. Incorporating Incorporating powerful symbolism and eco-consciousness, all products are Made in America with Love. Adorn your body, enlighten your mind and empower your spirit. Heart Wrap - $48.00 Bark Eden Beaded Bangle - $38.00 Aqua Luminary Beaded Bangle - $38.00 Nile Bearded Bangle - $38.00 Sand Shimmering Sea Bead Bangle - $38.00 Teal Starry-Eyed Wrap - $68.00 Lotus Blossom Charm Bangle - $28.00 Available at Shimmering Seas Jewelry & Gifts at Pier Park, 850-234-6200.

Panama City Living Magazine January - February 2014

Crook Stewart III and wife Victoria

The music By David Angier Photos by Sarah Shipes / Shipes Photography

ou never know what’s going to happen, but as long as you’re willing to wait and listen good things will come. That’s the unsung theme of the Ghetto Palace and the duet who runs it, Crook and Vicki Stewart who have known each other 40-some years, but only married 12 months ago. If you’ve never heard of the Ghetto Palace, don’t automatically tear up your cool card, very few people have. Although if you know of it, and you’ve been to one of its impromptu jam sessions, then your cool card has been upgraded to platinum. 54

Here’s the scene

door open. One of the first couples makes a beeline for two comfortable chairs: found treasure in a room where four or five adults might squeeze onto one of the two red-leather couches. Bar stools are by the bar, of course, but also stand in ones and twos in front of the stage. Tacked to the ceiling is a kind of gray canvas streaked with white, and hanging from that is an assortment of lights and chandeliers. The stage, with its row of microphones, small drum set perfectly centered, spotless Korg keyboard and row of six electric guitars hung in a laserstraight line on the wall, is stark contrast to the jumble of furniture. There’s even a small dance floor of light, polished wood, in front of the stage. Next to that is a stripper pole for those who have a more daring dance in mind. Crook and Vicki mill through the thickening crowd, greeting, laughing and hugging. Everyone is welcome and the couple has no problem making everyone feel that way. Almost all of the 40 or so guests have been there before, and most are old friends, but even newcomers are brought in warmly and offered a free beverage. There’s no charge for anything at the Ghetto Palace: admission, beer, wine, soda, water. All that is asked, the only thing that is required is that you “support local musicians.” Oh, and don’t park on the neighbors’ yards.

Tour manager

Standing on a clean grassy lot is a twostory Spanish mission-style house with the word “Love” stuck to a round window dead center of the second level. A loose line of people leads from the door to the road, everyone milling around and talking but obviously eager to get inside. The word was that the doors would open at 7:30 p.m., and just before that time Crook Stewart III comes out to greet his guests, a heartfelt smile pushing up the corners of his huge mustache. “Come on in,” he insists, holding the

Crook Stewart is in his mid-50s and has worked in the music industry for most of those years. He’s been a tour manager for Joan Baez, Art Garfunkel, The Rolling Stones and numerous others. Currently, he’s touring with Crosby, Stills and Nash. Seven to nine months out of the year, he’s on tour. The rest of the time, he’s with Vicki in their Springfield home, which is the second floor of the Ghetto Palace. The jam sessions are rare, Bigfootsightings rare. He manages to arrange one once a month during the months that he’s home. Otherwise, Crook, an

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avid drummer, uses the space for his own entertainment. “I always wanted a place where I could play music 24 hours a day,” he said. “I’m from here originally and I was lamenting the fact that there was no music scene here. A friend of mine said, ‘If you want a music scene in Panama City, make one.’” When he settles on a day, Crook posts a notice on his Facebook page. His friends and followers then spread the word. While it sounds exclusive, anyone can attend. “People walk in the door that I’ve never seen before in my life,” he said. “They’re friends now.”

Tuesdays were selected as jam days because the working musicians in town generally play Wednesdays through Saturdays. Many others play Sundays at their churches. “Monday just didn’t seem right, so we settled on Tuesdays,” Crook said. “I’m just trying to get a lot of good musicians together, get some camaraderie going. There’s a lot of networking that goes on and some guys have gotten together and formed bands after seeing each other play.” Anyone can play any kind of music. They don’t have to clear it in advance, they just ask to go on stage and they get

Panama City Living Magazine January - February 2014

their three-song set. That lends itself to a lot of uncertainty as to what the audience will hear, and Crook wouldn’t have it any other way. “We just do it because we love music,” he said. “You never know what you’re going to see here. I never know from jam to jam who is going to show up, if it’s going to be great or if it’s going to suck. It runs the gamut. The other cool thing about the place is it’s a very music-centric crowd. These people come here because they like live music. “We always cross our fingers and hope that something cool happens.”

Something cool The crowd took a while to settle in, find seats, grab drinks and chat with friends as the first musician sang her songs. When LaVada Doyle took the stage, in a pink button-up shirt and blue jeans, she told the audience the backstory to continued on page 57

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The Ghetto Palace continued from page 55

both of the songs she sang. The first was about how St. Andrews women pass the time when their husbands go fishing. The second song was one she wrote for her husband, who was sitting in the audience but refused to go on stage and sing. After a few bars of that song, the crowd went silent and everyone was watching her appreciatively, with smiles and rhythmic nods of their heads. Crook Stewart roamed the audience, moving through the crowd smoothly and without the slightest disruption. He held a tablet and would occasionally slide a finger over it to make adjustments on the sound system that maximized the music. Doyle sang with a sweet, high voice that twanged of Nashville, her second home, and when she finished she stored her guitar and sat by her husband to watch the other performers. Matt Law was at the jam for the third time. His music leans from the blues to singer-songwriter, which seems to be a countrified adaptation of the blues. Law said he’s loved the Ghetto Palace from his first time. “I walked in and saw all my friends,” he said. He sings something every time he comes. “I never miss an opportunity to play.” Law took the stage: “For those of you who don’t know, I’m Matt Law. For those of you who know me, I’m still Matt Law.” During Law’s set, Crook drifted by a spectator and said, “You remember when I said you never know what’s going to happen? Well, something cool just happened. Two people just showed up to

play, and it’s going to be incredible.” Charlie and Dana Hunt Black. It’s funny that just saying their names really doesn’t make the seismic tremor that it should. How about this: Songwriters Hall of Fame members Charlie and Dana Hunt Black, writers of more than a dozen No. 1 hits performed by singers like: George Strait, Roy Orbison, Anne Murray, Alan Jackson and Reba McEntire. They started their set with “Shadows in the Moonlight,” which Murray made famous, and ended with the song that Strait topped the charts with, “Write this Down.” Afterwards, they practically skipped to a small alcove to the side of the stage to drop off their guitars. The Blacks, who now live in Port St. Joe, had been invited to the Palace several times, but that night was their first performance there. “I love this place,” Dana said before exiting the stage. “Thank you, guys, for having us out.”

A beautiful life Vicki Stewart took care of her guests as her husband took care of the musicians. She posed with several for pictures, served drinks and generally made everyone feel at home. Vicki and Crook Stewart met when they were 11 years old at Parker Elementary. She thought he was cute the first time she saw him. Their relationship, however, was strictly as friends - albeit best friends - until 2011. “It was scary making that jump to the next level,” she said. “We were just hanging out when a friend commented that we were really a cute couple. That made me think.”

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They are very similar people, “cut from the same cloth,” Vicki said. Which accounts for the flow of their relationship. During those 40 years, each had their own relationships and their own lives. But they always just stayed in touch and enjoyed each other as friends. Music, she said, was the love that they shared the whole time. “It’s one of those ties that bind,” Vicki said. “It was always an area of common ground for us.” They both appreciate all kinds of music and their approach to genres is the same as everything else in their lives: let’s try it and see what happens. Fundamentally, they are the definition of easy-going, smoothly flowing through lives that have been punctuated and enhanced by music. “I couldn’t imagine my life without music. Just look around the room,” she said, indicating the audience at the Ghetto Palace. “Everyone is smiling. Everyone is happy. What else can do that besides music?” Then she summed it all up: “You should sit back and watch things happen in life. It’s really beautiful.” For more information, or to attend the next open jam, check out Crook Stewart III’s Facebook page: www.facebook.com/ crook.stewart

Beach Arts Group By Diane Mercado, Photography by Dale Estka Back in 2011 Helen Ballance, Joan Wallis Burnett and Dale Estka transformed their lifelong passion and love for the visual arts into the creation of Beach Art Group. All three women, successful artists in their own right, started out with one simple objective. They wanted to give local artists a new, all-encompassing venue in which to exhibit their work. They only had two criteria: the space had to be large enough for artists and art enthusiasts to engage in a vibrant, welcoming environment and it had to be free. After looking at several locations on Panama City Beach, the group agreed they’d found the perfect place at The Palms Conference Center. Located on Front Beach Road and Joan Avenue, the 6,000-square foot conference center hosts hundreds of visitors throughout the year

for weekly civic meetings, wedding receptions, family reunions, seminars and conferences, Ballance said. She points out, “It has become the perfect partnership, we are growing the arts in our community and helping locals and visitors alike discover it.” Every two to three months the theme of the exhibit changes, keeping the displays from becoming stagnant by showing fresh new work, she said. Not only does this turnover give the artists more exposure, it also reminds visitors that if they see something they like they should snap it up before the exhibit comes to an end. Each exhibit begins with a call for interested artists to submit their entries. Through email, Facebook posts and announcements on the group’s website, artists are informed of the

opportunity to show their work. There is no fee to participate in an exhibit, however Beach Art Group retains a 30 percent commission on all sales. (Most galleries retain 50 percent commission.) The exhibits then open with an entertaining gathering to allow enthusiasts to meet the artists. There are weekly paint parties, watercolor and acrylic painting classes and nationallyrecognized professional artists’ workshops. The initial focus was to provide professional-level study to the area that generally has not been offered here, said Ballance, who has been actively involved in the local arts scene for several years. “As it turns out we have not only attracted well-known teachers but their followers from across the country as well,” she said. “Students may come here never having been here before and make a vacation of it. While one spouse may attend the workshop the other may enjoy the beaches, fishing, shopping or a round of golf.” And it’s not just the artists who have benefited. Art enthusiasts and others who are in the business of bringing tourism to the area have taken notice. “The arts are an important part of the overall tourist experience, whether it is the performing arts or visual arts,” said Dan Rowe, executive director of the Tourist Development Council (TDC). “Having a vibrant arts community gives people activities to do while they are here on

January - February 2014 www.PanamaCityLiving.com

vacation.” “It’s important to have local art available for those interested in taking home a memento of their vacation,” Rowe said. “People like paintings of beach scenes or some local aspect to help keep their memories alive.” Beach Art Group continues to evolve. Its offerings includes informal plein-air art gatherings at different scenic locations throughout the county. Artists meet each Tuesday at 8 a.m. and work until noon. It’s open to anyone to come and go as they please. Each person brings his or her own materials to work with, while the surrounding scenery provides the backdrop. Plein-air painting provides a totally different work environment compared to a studio setting. “It is all about the light and learning to paint quickly in order to catch the light and shadows,” Ballance said. “And what better place could we ask for? This is the perfect place to enjoy pleinair painting. It’s really a lot of fun. If you have never tried it you should.” Ballance, who has been actively involved in the local arts scene for several years both as a paid employee and as a volunteer, said she fell in love with art in her early 40s after taking a painting class. The more she painted, the more she wanted to share what she learned with others, she said. So it’s not surprising that in addition to coordinating all the Beach Art Group

classes and workshops, she teaches, too. “Eventually I started to teach using some of the simple ways I learned,” Ballance said. “I think everyone can learn to be an artist if they realize it’s not so much the finished piece as it is about the process, and the enjoyment one gets from working on something they created.” While Ballance tends to the teaching aspects of the Beach Art Group, Joan Wallis Burnett and Harry Blake use their artistic skills and vast experience to carefully hang each exhibit. “There’s a certain art to that,” Wallis Burnett said. “There are so many variants in creating an inviting and vibrant display of all the work.” Exhibits are changed on a rotating basis throughout the year giving artists continuous exposure and an outlet for sales, Wallis Burnett said. “We turn blank walls into spectacular displays of creative energy,” she said. “There is always a broad variety of styles, themes and media represented, and because of the diverse nature of attendees at the conference center they typically have discretionary funds. They might not walk into a gallery but here they are surrounded by art and it’s all for sale.” On average each exhibit attracts up to 100 or more pieces of locally-produced art by 25 to

Panama City Living Magazine January - February 2014

40 artists, she said. “Our current exhibit ‘Local Colors’ for the Panama City Artists Association brought in 145 pieces from 45 artists, our largest exhibit yet.” “Local Colors” will be on display at The Palms Conference Center through the end of January. This exhibit represents the largest exhibit of local artists in the region, she added. Both Ballance and Wallis Burnett have reached a new plateau with the group. In the two years since its beginning, their small group has expanded to nearly 200 participating artists, and still it continues to grow. Estka, a well-known commission portrait painter who moved here from Chicago, does all the photography, graphic design, website maintenance and Facebook postings. “We wanted to bring the arts to Panama City Beach and to give local artists a place to exhibit their paintings without having to pay,” Estka said. “Here you can practice as much as you want, you can take advantage of the pleinair events or attend workshops. Anything and everything goes.” Being single, Estka said she finds herself becoming more and more involved with the group. “I love being involved with all the artists,” she said. “It’s just an enjoyable way to experience the arts on the beach and people are beautiful.”

Fashion made in Panama City

The French I

t is hard to describe Mary Lee Grays’s creations. They look reminiscent of another era, romantic, intricate, there are many facets and layers, and they are truly unique.

Mary Lee about her creations: “My design style is modern, Victorian, hippy. I hope that people will wear my clothing and be happy, feel good, and be carefree. I hope my designs will bring back memories of “the day” or create new memories. I want my clothing to have the flair of feminism and be a means to self -expression. I use all 60

natural fabrics and mostly linen, cotton, and wool. I love vintage lace, buttons, and crochet. I love to hunt for unique items to incorporate into my work. Each garment has its own personality and character - feminine to sassy.” She recalls her mother being the most influential in her interest to design clothing. “I love fabrics, lace, and threads. Growing up I would have a vision of what I wanted to wear and had a strict idea how a piece of clothing had to look like. My mother would make it happen for me. She has missed many nights of sleep to make my dreams come true.”

Mary Lee about her work: “I do not have formal training in design and clothing construction, but I come from a family where sewing was always a part of our lives – I would call my mother a sewing artist. Everything I know about sewing I know from her. My interests were strongly influenced by my upbringing and my family and I love gardening, canning the vegetables that we grow, fishing, growing plants, and flowers. I enjoy the beach, and reading. As a child my father always took my brother and me fishing. My parents have been married for 38 years.

January - February 2014 www.PanamaCityLiving.com

Gypsy About her strong will to sew: “When I was 11 years old my mother had an old Singer sewing machine and I was not allowed to use it unless she was home. Well, every day after school my brother John and I would be home for an hour by ourselves before our parents got home. My brother is 3 years younger than I am. My mom would always give me all her scrap fabrics. We were supposed to be doing our homework right after getting home from school. Well, instead I would run to my parents’ room with my bag of scrap fabric, I would open the bedroom window and make my

Photography by Savannah Jane Photography

little brother sit outside the window and be my lookout while I sewed. When my parents would get home he would signal me to wrap it up so I would not get caught. It used to make my brother so nervous, he was always afraid we would get caught. We only got an hour of TV everyday so in exchange for his cooperation I would give him my hour of TV every day.” My personal goals are to continue creating something that others will enjoy. I love the thrill of seeing someone enjoying something I have created – it never gets old. I am striving to build a

Panama City Living Magazine January - February 2014

Mary Lee Gray wearing her unique fashion

business that I love and enjoy, but I also want to create a profitable business. My goal is to make a living with doing what I enjoy doing... but above all I like to continue to draw personal satisfaction from my work.”

A note from Mary Lee’s mother: Mary Lee grew up in Nebraska, Kansas, and Georgia. As a girl she was involved with the Girl Scouts, Brownies, and continued on page 62 61

continued from page 61

various school activities. She has always been creative and learned to knit, crochet and sew at an early age, drawing her inspiration from her mother, grandmothers, and aunts. She developed her own style very early, and it continues to develop. She has always challenged me to make unusual garments for her. My greatest joy in my

life was being able to design and sew for Mary Lee. I learned to sew by making doll clothes by hand with a needle and thread. My mother sewed on a treadle sewing machine, as did my paternal grandmother. Mary Lee has become my inspiration to me. She was diagnosed with MS 5 years ago and after several years of being in pain, and even after having more problems develop and with all her medical issues she has managed

to build her skills and we are working together on her creations. We both have very similar taste and style, even though we are very different.â&#x20AC;? Mary Lee lives in Panama City Beach with her husband Jack Bennie and their two schnauzers Amos and Priss. Her parents are LeRoy, a retired marine and Alice Versemann, a teacher, live in Georgia. Mary Leeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s brother is attending technical college and is studying automotive technology.

January - February 2014 www.PanamaCityLiving.com

‘Amazing, Exciting, Fun’ Bay Arts Alliance’s Kids’ Program

By Carole Lapensohn, Photos by Savannah Jane Photography “Amazing” “Exciting” “Fun” is what you will hear Bay County first, third, and fifth graders exclaim when they visit the Marina Civic Center’s Kids’ Program. What the local community might say is that the Arts in Education program at Bay Arts Alliance stands as a godsend for both education and the economy. The Alliance was founded in 1978, and through the Arts in Education program it began offering free live performances to students at Bay District Schools in 1986. Bay Arts current Board President Robert Wilkos calls the Arts in Education program “our core mission.” The mission is to enrich the students’ lives by entertaining them. “The objective is to introduce the Arts to children at young ages, to have an impact on them, and open their eyes to opportunities of which they may only have dreamed” Wilkos said. Bay Arts’ 25-member board believed in Arts in Education so much that when the economy dipped, cutting state funding to arts programs for students, they found a way to keep the program alive. “We were impacted directly by the recent recession—decrease in ticket sales, loss of membership, loss of sponsorships,” Wilkos explains. “We’ve effectively weathered the storm. Our board members came up with new ways to consistently provide performances for the kids via a variety of external efforts (new sponsorships and memberships, increase in Backstage Pass events, Broadway raffles, and tending bar at numerous BAA functions) to benefit our ‘Arts in Education’ program.” This season, the children’s performances are “The Teacher from the Black Lagoon,” for first graders and “Bunnicula” for third graders. The January 29th performance of “Peter Pan” will

be presented to fifth graders. Last year’s shows included “The Spencers, Theatre of Illusion”, “Ramona Quimby” and “Young Abraham Lincoln”. Jennifer Jones, Executive Director of the Bay Arts Alliance, especially appreciates performers who are willing to go out to the schools to put on smaller shows in addition to their appearances at the Civic Center. Occupational Therapist and magician Kevin Spencer visited Margaret K. Lewis Special Purpose School and Pyramid School for adults with developmental disabilities to conduct his “Healing of Magic” workshops. “Performers like Kevin Spencer can reach people with special needs. They don’t have limited expectations of students. We love to find artists like that,” she said. Jones said 100 percent of Bay District elementary schools responded to attend the “Teacher from the Black Lagoon.” She says of the Marina Civic Center, “We have the largest assembly venue between Tallahassee and Pensacola with 2,500 seats.” Although the center was built 50 years ago, the designers had “foresight” in developing the wonderful acoustics of the theatre. Wilkos adds, “The sound effects are positively amazing.” Jones said “Artists like to perform here because of the Bay County audiences. We try to start kids off in first grade, they become savvy little audiences for the live arts as they matriculate.” And even if some of the Arts Alliance sponsored shows don’t sell out, the “student rush” allows for the sale of discounted tickets an hour before show time for older students, Wilkos notes. Data from Florida’s Center for Fine Arts Education reports that students who take part in

In an atmosphere of liberty, artists and patrons are free to think the unthinkable and create the audacious; they are free to make both horrendous mistakes and glorious celebrations. Ronald Reagan

Panama City Living Magazine January - February 2014

the arts, for example, have a 15 percent higher grade point average, 34 percent higher graduation rates, and significantly higher scores on the FCAT and SAT. And, the arts provide much more than academic success. Arts training heightens students’ performance in the world of work—as creative thinkers and problem solvers. They are, as Jones says, “plugged into the community, grounded and rounded. Students are more vested in their education and the curriculum makes a positive economic impact on the district budget.” She said, “We wouldn’t be as successful with the programs as we have if we didn’t have people on our board dedicated to the arts.” Wilkos explains that the board is made up of business and professional members with an arts background—everyone from a marketing professional to a rocket scientist, a massage therapist to an attorney. “We love this arrangement, this mix of people,” he says. “It’s really a kind of organic growth,” Jones adds. “Something between community and family.” For more information about Bay Arts Alliance, call Jennifer Jones at 850/769-1217 or visit www.BayArts.org.

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Panama City Living Magazine January - February 2014

Princess A Modern Day

By: Jenna E. Anderson

As our family walked out of the theater having just watched the latest installment of the Disney franchise, Frozen, a tale about “fearless optimist Anna [who] teams up with Kristoff in an epic journey, (…) in a race to find Anna’s sister Elsa, whose icy powers have trapped the kingdom in eternal winter”, we eagerly discussed our favorite scenes. I listened on as my six year old daughter and her three year old cousin recaptured the various parts that made them giggle, and I thought about just how far the portrayal of the princess has come. The modern day princess is elegant and kind, but she is also empowered. Long gone are the days of the demure damsel in distress, she no longer waits for her prince to come rescue her and save the day; instead she often times is the hero doing the saving. As a mother of a young girl, I have a concern over the stereotypes that she will inevitably be forced to face and has even encountered at her young age. I was never worried though about what kind of influence the role of a princess played on her long term psyche. I never once gave it a second thought that she would be sitting idle waiting for her prince to come rescue her. It is true that “Once upon a time” these were regarded as virtues and this was indeed the model of a princess; but as times have changed so has the idea of a princess. Looking back at the classic tales such as Snow White, Cinderella, and Sleeping Beauty, the now outdated version of the fragile, more oppressed princess was evident. But our modern day princesses have brains, spunk, and sometimes even a little clumsiness which are all characteristics that are not only accepted, but are embraced by the children of today. Disney’s young princesses are fierce scholars, warriors, and entrepreneurs. While most of these fairy tales still portray a male character that does come to the occasional rescue or offers a helping hand from time to time, it is clear that in the end, it is the heroine who is the true hero of the story. The concept of this edgier princess is not entirely new, she was first introduced with the

1991 release of Beauty and the Beast. Belle came to us like a breath of fresh air, she was cam intelligent and headstrong, and it was she who intel saved the prince from the spell that had been save cast upon him. All subsequent princesses followed in this independent and spirited model. Brave, however, marked a major turning point for the princess generation showing that a princess not only didn’t need a man but she was better than most men. This story included no male sidekicks to come to the rescue in any way. Instead the young princess Merida protested the idea of finding a suitable prince, and eventually proved to her mother that she was perfectly capable of holding her own. While Frozen has the more traditional elements of the classic fairy tale with the idea of a male hero as the potential savior in the background, in the end it is the love that the two sisters’ share that saves the day. This ongoing trend of the fierce princess has even overtaken the traditional fairy tales Cinderella and Snow White. Granted these over hauls were not of Disney origin, but in the non-animated productions Ever After, Snow White and The Huntsman, and Mirror Mirror, the princesses take full charge and jump right in to save themselves and those around them. As I sat down to write this piece my daughter was having a slumber party, I decided to do a little social experiment to confirm my thoughts on the matter and I drew a deep breath and summoned the girls. I asked them what they thought being a princess was. They told me it meant that you were caring, and graceful, but that a princess is also powerful. I then asked if a princess needed a prince to come help them. You would have thought I had suddenly grown a third arm. There was stunned silence and a look of confusion that

washed across their faces. “Why would a princess need a prince to come save her? She can save herself with her sword and arrows,” the first little girl chimed in. Another (slightly older) girl quickly made reference to the classic Disney Snow White and said how she “actually finds her annoying…because she doesn’t do anything.” They then immediately started recalling various scenes of the different movies where these modern day princesses took action. Smiling I told them to go and play where they made a beeline for the dress up bin and promptly returned to the living room with bows and arrows and light sabers in hand. Since the introduction of the first princess, Snow White, back in 1937 Disney has drawn disapproval from feminist groups, and as time evolved and the introduction of historical and ethnic characters emerged the criticism only grew. Disney’s female protagonists have evolved with the times and I am glad my daughter is experiencing the modern princesses rather than the traditional ones. It is not Disney or Hollywood’s responsibility to make my daughter into a strong independent woman, nor is it their job to educate her on historical events. It is mine as her parent to do this. I appreciate the fact that thru entertainment they bring things to life that draw interest in certain times or events, providing me with great teachable moments. I appreciate that the princess craze is not a threat to modern feminism, that in fact it’s the opposite. It shows little girls that it’s ok to be charming, elegant, and to embrace her feminine side and at the same time she does not need a prince to run in and save her, that she too can wield the sword (or archery set!) and she is the hero of her own fairy tale.

January - February 2014 www.PanamaCityLiving.com

Grow more memory By Linda Mix - Author of Herbs for Life!

Of all the things you can lose, your memory is one of the most frightening and disturberal ing! Although there are several drugs on the market that willl help keep memory alive a little longer, they do not restore all your memory. They usually help prevent the breakdown of acetylcholine in the brain. Acetylcholine is a neurotransmitter, which helps nerve signals pass from one nerve cell to another. To the folks affected by memory loss and n be their families these drugs can e helpful, but they often have undesirable al side effects. However, there are several foods and herbs that can help improve the health of the neural connections and memory. Most of these foods will grow in the Florida Panhandle!

PHYSICAL ACTIVITY

Besides eating the correct foods, exercise is a major factor in maintaining body and brain health. The physical activity required in gardening can help as much as the food. It increases the blood circulation to the brain, ansmitnourishing brain cells feeding them, transmitting signals properly and eliminating undesired waste material. The mental contentment from working with the soil and plants further enhances health.

FOODS

Berries: All berries contain powerful antioxidants which neutralize free radicals that cause aging, memory loss and chronic diseases. Blueberries, particularly, help create new brain cells, increase their survival rate and decrease the effects of stress on existing cells. They are easy to grow, requiring only acidic soil. Goji berries, strawberries, cranberries,* raspberries* and purple grapes (such as concord grapes*), tart* and sweet cherries* are also very good. Goji berries are relatively new in the US, but are easy to grow in NW Florida after a bit of care the first year. They are loaded with antioxidants. Avocados and English walnuts*: Both are rich in fat-soluble antioxidants which make it easy for them to enter the blood stream and the brain. Avocadoes can easily be grown in Florida, although a little more care is needed to protect them from cold spells in the

Panhandle area. English walnuts in the shell are readily available in stores during the Thanksgiving Thanksgivi and Christmas seasons. Buy extra ext and freeze them for use throughout the year. th Spinach and kale: These S are powerful foods for the brain. Kale, especially, is a br good anti-inflammatory and go detoxifier. de Garlic: Garlic helps inhibit the formation of plaque hib the brain. Plaque is one in th of the causes of Alzheimer’s Disease. Plant garlic in the fall Disease and harvest it in the late spring when the foliage be begins to die. Beans Beans: Both dried and “g “green” types of be beans help with bra functioning. brain Th red-colored The on ones, such as red be beans used in be beans and rice, ar especially are pow powerful. Be sure in to include kidney beans and black beans.

HERBS H ERBS

Some benefit may be gained from using these herbs in teas, but the better way is to cook with them. Deeply inhaling the aromas of the herbs gets them into your system as well. To absorb them through the skin (as well as inhale them), steep the leaves in your warm bath water. Rosemary: For this area, plant rosemary in well-drained soil. It stays green all year and gives off a wonderful fragrance. Clip off sprigs as needed, rather than trimming the whole tree. Turmeric, hot peppers, ginger: These herbs contain natural versions of Cox II inhibitors, a type of anti-inflammatory substance that fights arthritis and Alzheimer’s. Synthetic Cox II inhibitors, such as Vioxx, can cause harmful side effects. Although the foliage will die down in the winter, turmeric and ginger can be easily grown in the area. Obtain sections of root from the store or a friend and plant them in a lightly shaded spot. Besides eating them, hot peppers, such as cayenne, are often used to make hot pepper sauce to go on cooked greens, oysters and anything else you

Panama City Living Magazine January - February 2014

like. Mints: Several herbs in the he mint family are good for the brain. Peppermint, along with sage, lemon balm, and rosemary help prevent the breakdownn of acetylcholinee in the brain. Don’t wait until there are hintss of memory problems to begin using these foods and herbs. Why not get started today! *Don’t tend to grow in Florida

Sources:

Duke, Dr. Jim, retired USDA botanist, author of The Green Pharmacy, 1997. Joseph, Dr. Jim, Director of Neuroscience at the Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University, Boston, author of The Color Code, 2002. Mix, Linda, RN, Herbs for Life! Understand, Use and Grow Your Own Medicinal Herbs, 2011. “Rosemary for Memory,” Question of the week, www.gardensalive/youbetyourgarden.com

Contact info:

Linda@MedicinalHerbsForLife.com or www.MedicinalHerbsForLife.com Along with color photos, the book describes 98 herbs, plants and weeds - how to grow them, their medicinal properties and how to use them. Particularly dle written for the Florida Panhandl Panhandle area. Makes a great gift for those concerned about improving and maintaining their health. 67

WINTER WEDDING

Sara Hitt and Matthew DeVito

Photos by Swak Photography

ara and Matthew first met in high school. Both graduated from Florida State University. Sara is a SpeechLanguage Pathologist for Bay District Schools, and Matt is a Geotechnical and Environmental Engineer for NOVA Engineering and Environmental. The two began dating on September 15, 2006. Sara about how they met: “We met while he was on the drum line and I was on the dance line. I had heard from his fellow drummers that he liked me and I remember going home all giggly telling my mom about the cute Italian guy that had a crush on me. To this day, Matt and I joke about the silly things we did when we were first dating, like waiting outside my locker to watch Matt as he walked by. Matt would constantly get in trouble for being late to his classes because he would walk me to all of mine.” After nearly 6 years, Matt proposed to Sara by surprising her with a song he wrote and performed for her at The Saltwater Grill in Panama City Beach.

Sara states: “I love surprises and I love surprising people so I will surprise Matt with sweet cards and cooking him his favorite meals. Matt knows how much I love surprises and he continues to get me little gifts.” Matt planned his proposal meticulously. Sara recalls: “Matt told me we would be going to dinner to celebrate a friend’s birthday. Looking back, there were some signs about what was going to happen like my mom telling me I should have a manicure or one of my best friends calling me to tell me that we were dressing up for dinner so I should wear a dress. I still had no idea what was going on. After we arrived at the restaurant and ordered our food, Matt stated that work was calling and he excused himself from the table. The next thing I know I hear a guitar strumming and Matt announcing to the entire restaurant that he was there with a special person – he proceeded to sing me a song he wrote himself. The song he titled “One Day” told the story of our relationship

starting with us meeting in high school and ending with him singing about getting down on one knee. When he began singing, I guess I was shocked because I hadn’t fully registered what was happening until I turned and saw our entire family come in. When I saw my mom that was when I started crying. It was perfect. We were surrounded by the most important people in our lives as we took the next step in our relationship.” The wonderful couple chose to have their wedding in the winter time for a reason: “We had originally wanted a fall wedding in October but realized that it would then be the middle of football season. Plans were changed and the date was moved to December 7, 2013. Ironically, that was the date of the SEC and ACC championship games. There was no escaping football. We embraced it and had the games on in the clubhouse during the reception. It turned out to be fun continued on page 70

Panama City Living Magazine January - February 2014

continued from page 69

because Florida State won and all the guys celebrated by dancing the night away”. Sara about their relationship: “They say opposites attract and that definitely applies to us. Matt and I are completely opposite in some sense. I have a type A personality and want to plan everything out whereas Matt is more relaxed and go with the flow. Sometimes that can cause disagreements between us, but also we balance each other out. Our strengths

would be our similarities. We both are silly and outgoing. We love to make each other laugh and have fun. Our biggest strength is that we respect each other and keep God as the center of our relationship.” A beautiful future together will not be a surprise: “We talk about the future and we definitely want to have kids one day. Right now we are just enjoying being married and saving up for our first house. After we get settled in a house, we’ll plan about having children. “

January - February 2014 www.PanamaCityLiving.com

Wedding

Sara Jordan HiƩ and MaƩhew Frederick Anthony DeVito on December 07. 2013

Bride’s parents: Groom’s parent: Mrs. Dorothy Ward. The matron of honor: Mrs. Summer Simmons Bridesmaids:

Dr. Warren HiƩ and Mrs. Susan HiƩ

Mrs. Ashley Gagnon, Ms. Danielle Gagnon, Ms. Anna Husfelt, and Ms. Nikki Escuela.

Best man: Groomsmen:

Mr. ChrisƟan Gagnon Mr. JusƟn Gagnon, Mr. Zachary HiƩ, Mr. MaƩhew Simmons, and Mr. Ryan ViƩetoe.

The families extend special thanks to their close family friends who hosted bridal showers in their honor, especially Mrs.Yvette Seldenwright, Mrs.Larissa Jenkins, Dr. Nicole Eisenbrown, Mrs. Diane Johnson, Mrs. Pat Futrell, Mrs. Mary-Beth Frank, Mrs. Frankie Gowdy and Mrs. Janie Smith. A thank you goes out to all valued vendors: Belissimo Hair Studio, Panama Country Club, Coin&Bullion Reserves, Swak Photography, Hunts Oyster Bar, Stephanie Carnley (Sugar Boogers) and Cindy’s Dream Gowns. A special thank you to Mrs. Diane and Mr. Rick Johnson for all their help to make this day special and also a very special thanks to Mrs. Rhonda Williams, florist and decorator who dedicated an entire year to planning and went above and beyond to make this wedding special.

Panama City Living Magazine January - February 2014

Highly trained

dogs

By Diane Mercado Photography by Sarah Shipes / Shipes Photography

Several people approach Peggy Wilson even before she steps through the doors of Gulf Coast Medical Center – not to talk to her but to swoon over her four legged companion, her dog Frosty. Peggy Wilson with her big smile and bright blue eyes, and with a very likeable personality, looks on as strangers pet Frosty’s head. The 9-year-old rescued female golden retriever gets all the attention. Wilson and Frosty visit patients every Thursday evening at the hospital as part of a small team of volunteers with the SPOT program (Special Pets Offer Tender Loving Care). “There’s nothing more energizing than bringing smiles to people and making children happy most of all,” she said. “Sometimes patients will open up more to the dog than they will to a person.” The positive affect an animal can have on a patient’s well-being keeps the SPOT program alive. That and the dedication of its human and canine volunteers, said Julie Lemasters, volunteer coordinator at GCMC. “These pets provide pain relief to patients and visitors,” she said. Studies prove that pet therapy often provides “wonderful healing powers” and can indeed lower blood pressure and cholesterol levels and improve the overall psychological well-being of patients, Lemasters said. “Peggy was one of the first members

Peggy Wilson introduces her special task force team: Frosty, Jack and flyball champion Cali

of our SPOT team,” She Lemasters points out. “She is entirely dedicated to the et to the program and a true asset he benefits of team. If anyone knows the having this program Peggy does.” It can be magical to watch as the science becomes reality when Wilson and Frosty enter the room of a patient as witnessed with 2-year-old Aurora Slinger. Aurora jumps out of bed after waking from a nap. Before long the child is all over the dog giving her hugs and kisses. She lifts her head back as Frosty returns the kiss one big lick at a time. The child had already been in the hospital for nearly six weeks, first in Pensacola and then Panama City. Her mother, Tara Slinger, said it’s been difficult on everyone. “Life’s not normal yet but it’s getting there,” she said as she watched her little girl giggle and squeal with absolute delight. “This is so nice. It’s been really hard on all of us. She has really been missing our dogs at home.” Working with children can be especially rewarding for Wilson. “Patients tend to open up more to the dogs than anyone else, and it’s worth it if we can make them happy for one moment,” Wilson said. “But it’s even more important when we can make children happy.” The next stop was with patient Carl Beasley and his wife, Karie Beasley. Frosty

greeted C Carl with her front paw waggin tail, but it was Karie and a wagging who seemed to light up the most. “We had a dog just like this one but we had to put her down this year,” she said choking back tears. “I love it. I think it’s awesome, we’re both dog lovers.” She said if she were the patient she would allow Frosty in bed with her. Wilson takes Frosty to visit patients at GCMC, Covenant Hospice or nursing homes. “In some cases we don’t know how much longer someone will be with us, but the dogs can sense that,” she said. Her other dog, 8-year-old Jack, another rescued golden retriever, is certified for search and rescue missions for the Bay County Sheriff’s Office. At age 39, Wilson maintains a full schedule working, running in 5-13 k races and volunteering with her dogs at the hospital, Covenant Hospice and the BCSO and participating with her retrievers and Cali, her 3-year-old pit-bull mix, also a rescue, in various agility and flyball competitions. Jack and Cali have reached champion levels. Wilson has been a resident of Panama City since the 1980’s having moved here with her parents as a teenager from her native Spokane, Washington. She has worked her way up and since 2006 she is the practice Manager at Breeze Animal

January - February 2014 www.PanamaCityLiving.com

Hospital in Panama City Beach. She serves on several boards: Humane Society of Bay County, Greater Panama City Dog Fanciers Club, PAWS (Pets Are Working Saints) and is a member in good standing of the Pet Partners, formerly Delta Society. All three of her dogs have earned the American Kennel Association’s Good Canine Citizen ranking. Volunteering has become a way of life for Wilson and her dogs. Whether working inside with people or outside in a rugged environment, training remains an important part of the equation for the dogs to participate, especially for a K-9 search and rescue team, which can be quite rigorous. “We started in 2004 and all our volunteers are well trained and highly dedicated,” said Lt. Jack Balch with the BCSO. There are about 35 volunteers on call who may assist in search and rescue operations, but only about seven who work with their dogs, Balch added. It takes a special kind of person to volunteer, especially with the BCSO search team. “It doesn’t matter whether it’s 3 a.m. or 3 p.m. I have people who will come out and do what they can,” Balch said. “They might end up tangled in briars or hike through mud. It doesn’t matter. It’s all about the return of a missing person or finding answers to give a family the satisfaction of knowing their loved ones have been found.” Volunteers can save county resources as well. “Our search and rescue volunteers relieve our deputies and investigators so they can continue with their normal duties while we conduct the search, which could tie up our people for a long time,” he said. “A search could be for just about anything, a live person or a cadaver, trace evidence from someone who is missing or evidence used to commit a crime.” Wilson and Jack specialize in live searches. “She is as good as anyone I have,” Balch said about Wilson. “She goes whenever she can and always responds.” Her partner in the searches rates highly too.

“Jack is an expert in live finds,” he said. “He’s so good no one can hide from him.” Training can be the key to any successful volunteer partnership with a dog. To visit hospitals, nursing homes, hospices and rehabilitation centers, therapy dogs must be certified by Pet Partners, formerly the Delta Society. The nationally-recognized nonprofit organization specializes in setting standards of performance and character and conducts testing to certify that all service dogs working within a community meet those requirements. Testing takes place in Fort Walton Beach. “My dogs certainly keep me busy that’s for sure, but I love it,” Wilson said. “One thing both my parents (deceased) instilled in me growing up was to always help others and I love that I can incorporate my dogs with that.”

Panama City Living Magazine January - February 2014

Strengthen Your Potential at the Panama City’s Premier Fitness Destination

Panama City Health Club & Spa 1598 N. Balboa Ave * 914 – BFIT (2348)

PanamaCityHealthClub.com 73

The Civil War Salt Makers of St. Andrews Bay:

The Salt of the Earth T

By Robert Register

he story of the Civil War in Florida How many times have you heard No one worried about extracting it from is one long drawn out drama someone exclaim about Florida, “I can’t seawater. That was too much trouble. characterized by deprivation and imagine living down here in the summer You could get a two hundred pound sack tragedy. Less than a month after secession without AC!” Well, imagine living down for just about nothing on the docks at and two months before the war even here without refrigeration as well. There Apalach. It came over as ballast from the started, the New York Times reported was one main way to preserve food in European ships that were here to load massive inflation in Florida. Small town 1861 and that was with salt. President cotton and export it to Europe. businesses were already You may not have been keeping closing and poor people were up with the news in 1862 but Raise your glass to the hard going hungry. suddenly you noticed something working people On Friday, April 19, 1861, truly strange and unusual. There Let’s drink to the uncounted heads only one week after the first was no salt. shell was fired on Ft. Sumter, It got really, really bad in a world Let’s think of the wavering millions President Abraham Lincoln without salt. No one realized Who need leaders but get gamblers instead how valuable salt was until it was issued a “Proclamation of Blockade Against Southern gone. Salt served as preservative, Let’s drink to the hard working people Ports”. By June, the blockade disinfectant, seasoning and fertilizer. Let’s drink to the lowly of birth had already begun at When the first frost came in the Apalachicola and September autumn of 1862 and it was hog Raise your glass to the good and the evil saw the first naval action killing time, there was no sense Let’s drink to the salt of the earth” of the Civil War occur in in killing the hogs because you Pensacola harbor. From the couldn’t cure the meat. The M. Jagger/ K. Richards very beginning of this awful Confederacy started making war, anyone who thought wooden soles for canvas shoes they could sail out of St. Andrews Bay in Lincoln’s naval blockade understood the because without salt no one could tan their sloop or schooner in hopes of going military significance of this life sustaining leather. Horses, mules, oxen and livestock fishing or engaging in coastal trade was in compound and Lincoln’s siege had an suffered. Without salt, the Confederate for a rude awakening. The Civil War came immediate impact on this commodity so army couldn’t make disinfectant to clean to the Northwest Florida coast right from vital to man’s existence. the wounds of the injured. Suddenly the very get-go. The people of Florida at the time of an insignificant commodity gained You know there’s a lot of truth to that the Civil War probably used more salt extraordinary importance and a new old expression, “You don’t know what you per capita than any group of people who industry dedicated to extracting common got ‘til it’s gone.” have ever walked on the face of the Earth. salt from seawater popped up on the 74

January - February 2014 www.PanamaCityLiving.com

shallow, secluded shores of St. Andrews Bay. By 1862, hundreds of salt works dotted the landscape from Phillips Inlet all the way to California Bayou in East Bay. The Confederate government decided to concern itself with “bread and butter issues” and exempted salt workers from being drafted into the army so St. Andrews Bay suddenly had a huge influx of draft dodgers and in a world at war even the draft dodger had to prove he was “worth his salt.” The only way you could keep your draft exemption was to produce over 1000 pounds of salt a day. You had everything from “Mom and Pop” operations with a single syrup kettle to huge factories with over kettles in two rows boiling 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Pretty soon as many as 2500 men were out in the salt marsh digging brine wells, chopping wood, stoking fires, dipping boiling brine and making salt in the St. Andrews Bay area and 4000 wagons pulled by teams of mules and oxen were employed in moving this indispensable product north to Eufaula so the railroad could transport it to Montgomery and from there to a salt hungry Confederacy. It didn’t take long for the Union’s Gulf Blockading Squadron headquartered at Pensacola’s Ft. Pickens to target this wartime industry for destruction. Many of these military missions are described in the official military records and the record reveals that St. Andrews Bay experienced repeated amphibious search and destroy missions from the U.S. Navy’s sailors and marines from September of 1862 until February of 1865. The Union’s blockading

squadron, made up mainly of gunboats constructed from side wheel steamers and bark rigged clipper ships, built their naval blockade station, barracks, wharf, refugee camp, prison and cemetery on Hurricane Island, the barrier island that once existed at the mouth of the channel entering St. Andrews Bay. John A. Burgess in his 1986 book, SAND IN MY SHOES, cites a June 1985 Panama City News-Herald column by Marlene Womack and concludes from her information that by 1934 all traces of Hurricane Island disappeared underneath the waters of the Gulf but that during the Civil War the island existed “in the open channel approximately one mile east south-east of the present day land’s end (the eastern tip of today’s Sand Island).” In 2013, the former land’s end of Shell Island would now be a portion of Tyndall Beach. The purpose of this article is not to chronicle the almost three years of merciless and persistent destruction which the salt makers of St. Andrews Bay experienced from the U.S. Navy but it is written to describe their industrial plants which the Union wrecked but were unable to exterminate and which, like the mythical Phoenix, arose from the ashes as fast as the navy could demolish them. Thanks to an aging matron from Tallahassee who decided to publish her Civil War diaries in 1926, we have a contemporary description of one of the small “Mom and Pop” operations which was built on Apalachee Bay east of St. Andrews. For our purposes this diary entry best captures life at a typical syrup kettle Gulf Coast salt works. October 27th, 1863. We went to the salt works today and, though I am tired and

dirty and have no good place to write, I am going to try to tell you about it. A year ago salt began to get scarce but the people only had to economize in its use, but soon there was no salt and then Father got Cousin Joe Bradford to come down from Georgia and take charge of some salt works he was having installed on continued on page 76

Photo by Paul Ashman

Panama City Living Magazine January - February 2014

continued from page 75

the coast. He had plenty of hands from the plantation but they had to have an intelligent head and then, too, it is a rather dangerous place to work, for the Yankee gunboats can get very near the coast and they may try shelling the works. Though they have been in operation quite awhile this is my first visit. Father brought us with him and we will stay three days, so he can see just how they are getting on. We are to sleep in a tent, on a ticking filled with pine straw. It will be a novel experience. I am so interested in seeing the salt made from the water. The great big sugar

kettles are filled full of water and fires made beneath the kettles. They are a long time heating up and then they boil merrily. Ben and Tup and Sam keep the fires going, for they must not cool down the least little bit. A white foam comes at first and then the dirtiest scum you ever saw bubbles and dances over the surface, as the water boils away it seems to get thicker and thicker, at last only a wet mass of what looks like sand remains. This they spread on smooth oaken planks to dry. In bright weather the sun does the rest of the work of evaporation, but if the weather is bad fires are made just outside of a long, low shelter, where the planks are placed on blocks of wood. The shelter keeps off the

rain and the fires give out heat enough to carry on the evaporation. The salt finished in fair weather is much whiter and nicer in every way than that dried in bad weather, but this dark salt is used to salt meat or to pickle pork. I think it is fine of Father to do all this. It is very troublesome and it takes nine men to do the work, besides Cousin Joe’s time; and Father does not get any pay whatever for the salt he makes. We expected to have a grand time swimming and fishing. We are both good swimmers, but Father and Cousin Joe will not allow us to go outside of this little cove. Yankee gunboats have been sighted once lately and there is no knowing when the salt works may be attacked.

Excerpt from a book published in 1926 by Susan Bradford Eppes entitled

THROUGH SOME EVENTFUL YEARS which is online at http://ufdc.ufl.edu/UF00101391/00001/3j)

Even though we may not have a picture of the Confederate government salt works on St. Andrews Bay, the largest in the entire state of Florida, we do have a Harper’s Weekly engraving of a large salt works near Port St. Joe that was attacked by the U.S.S. Kingfisher in September of 1862. From this image along with descriptions of large salt works of the time, we may gain an idea of how what was called the salt block was constructed. Like an old time wood stove, the works had oven doors with a fire box at one end and a chimney at the other. This created a draft that drew the flame, heat and smoke to the chimney and heated the double row of iron kettles, basins or tanks that rested on openings in the masonry foundation. Old steamboat and sawmill boilers, coastal channel buoys and anything else made of iron that could be split into reservoirs for brine along with syrup kettles were mounted in a double line along the brick and limestone rock foundation of the structure. A white saline vapor rose from the boilers and was professed to be a cure for respiratory diseases but this was dangerous work. Sleeping in tents located in a mosquito infested salt marsh, constant one hundred degree temperatures, boiling brine and blazing ovens have their hazards. Huge ladles were used to dip the crystallizing salt out of the cooling brine and it was placed in split oak or wicker baskets hung above the boilers to drain. The salt was then thrown onto oak boards on the floor of sheds built on both sides along the entire length of the furnace. The

kettles boiled down about three times every 24 hours and work went on day and night for about a week when the entire operation had to be shut down for a clean out of the incrusted scale called pan stone that accumulated on the bottom of the pans and interfered with the transmission of heat. This was considered the worst job in the entire process. The heart and soul of the operation was the reservoir of brine which fed the entire salt works. This is the part we know little about. The pumps, gutters, pipes and aqueducts used to supply the salt block are a mystery as well as the reservoir, basin or well that was the source of the brine. On the Bon Secour River in Alabama, brine wells were dug above the reach of the high tide. These 12 foot by 12 foot pits were about 10 feet deep and were built like inverted pyramids with the sides made of squared logs narrowing down to the bottom which prevented the pit from filling in with sand. The brine seeped in through the loosely placed timbers and, brine being heavier than the fresh water, it sank to the bottom of the pit. On St. Andrews Bay, basins may have been built where the brine was allowed to stand for a few days and concentrated before being pumped or dumped into the iron tanks of the salt block. Ella Lonn, a Goucher College professor from Baltimore, who wrote the classic book, SALT AS A FACTOR IN THE CONFEDERACY, stated about St. Andrews Bay, “Nowhere perhaps was a greater persistence manifested than in St. Andrews Bay in rebuilding the

works so continually destroyed by the Federal fleet. It is difficult to explain whence the Richmond authorities found the means and assembled the materials for this really remarkable feat.” Professor Lonn also does a great job of describing how the scarcity of this commodity condensed into a microcosm all the frustrations of the Confederacy and gave rise to this early St. Andrews enterprise,” It is only when a prime necessity thrusts itself upon public attention by its absence that a person ceases to take it for granted. Only when he no longer has it, does he realize what an important ingredient for his palate and digestion is plain, ordinary salt, necessary alike for man and beast.”

After the Civil War was over, the salt works were abandoned. Scattered remnants of rusted boilers can still be found on the refuge. (Courtesy Bruce Ballister)

January - February 2014 www.PanamaCityLiving.com

Questions 1 In Chef Paul’s article on Firefly, he mentioned the umami of lobster. What does “umami” mean? Answer:____________________________________________________________________________________

All answers to the questions can be found in the November/ December 2013 issue of Panama City Living Magazine - the article is also posted on our website: www.panamacityliving.com.... and once there, please also visit our facebook site and “like”us! “Ancora Imparo” means “I’m still learning” in Italian. The quote is attributed to the Renaissance artist and sculptor Michelangelo, who according to legend, at the age of 87, scribbled those words in the margin of one of his sketches. These questions asked here are asked in the spirit of Michelangelo so that we may be lifelong learners. Fill out this page with the right answers and send it to: Panama City Living Magazine Harbour Village Executive Center 3001 W. 10th Street, 101A Panama City, FL 32401 Entries will have a chance to win $ 500.00 in cash in Panama City Living’s yearly giveaway of prizes and subscriptions.

2 Mike Jones, the “Salvage Santa,” has been giving repaired bicycles to kids at Christmas for 30-years. How many bicycles did he give away according to the article? Answer:____________________________________________________________________________________ 3 The Panama City Music Association was founded in 1941, what was its first name? Answer:____________________________________________________________________________________ 4 What Panama City Music Association board member was once a Radio City Music Hall Rockette? Answer:____________________________________________________________________________________ 5 Who is the resident executive chef at Firefly? Answer:____________________________________________________________________________________ 6 Firefly owner Dave Trepanier managed rock bands for 15 years in California. What large music venue did he manage over Labor Day on Panama City Beach? Answer:____________________________________________________________________________________ 7 What recently retired Gulf Coast State College Director of Computer Services serves as the Chair of the Board of Directors for Panhandle Educators Federal Credit Union? Answer:____________________________________________________________________________________ 8 The Panama City Pipes and Drums band feature bagpipe music with percussion. What are the three parts that make up a bagpipe? Answer:____________________________________________________________________________________ 9 What Girls Inc. worker was treated to a surprise makeover by Completely Pampered Spa and Panama City Living Magazine? Answer:____________________________________________________________________________________ 10 Name either of the two types of living Christmas trees that Linda Mix recommended for buying and planting after the holidays/ Answer:____________________________________________________________________________________ 11 The Betsy Ann Riverboat is a replica of the original Betsy Ann Riverboat, the first steel-hull paddlewheel boat that operated on the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. What scale replica is the Betsy Ann to the original? Answer:____________________________________________________________________________________ 12 Name either of the two charitable organizations who are benefitted by Schooner’s Lobster Fest? Answer:____________________________________________________________________________________ 13 Founded in 1905 in Chicago, the Rotary Club is an international service organization. How did it get its name “Rotary”? Answer:____________________________________________________________________________________ 14 What recently passed American hero is the only prisoner of war (POW) to have escaped from North Vietnam during the Vietnam War? Answer:____________________________________________________________________________________

Panama City Living Magazine January - February 2014

David Stadler brings up one of his many whitings.

Fishing Heats up in

Cool Water

By David Angier

Chuck Carter fishes the Russell-Fields Pier nearly every day, rain or shine, hot or cold. He prefers the cold. During a brisk morning in early December, Carter of Panama City Beach, bundled up in a lined hoodie and carried his gear and pole to the end of the pier. The wind was icy, the water a startling green, calm and clear. He swung his leaded, squid-baited line and dropped it near the pilings. “I shouldn’t even have come out without getting some bull minnows,” he said. He was after flounder, the prize fish this time of year, but one that is surprisingly picky about what it will hit. Live bull minnows netted Carter eight flatfish the day before and he’d hoped that his luck would hold this day with inferior bait. It did not. Back along the pier, much closer to shore, David Stadler was sight-fishing for 78

whiting - also known as white drum - and having great success. He could easily see the small schools of whiting circling close to shore, searching for sand fleas. He would toss out a small hook, on thin line, lightly weighted and tipped with a pinch of shrimp. His goal was to present the easily-spooked fish an easy meal, but do so with the slightest splash. It was working. Stadler, of Lynn Haven, already had several of the small silvery fish in the bucket. As the sun rose, he moved down the pier over deeper water, knowing the fish would be headed in that direction. Soon, he was joined by a half-dozen other fishermen who were joyously reeling in whiting and bringing them up as quickly as possible so the lurking pelicans wouldn’t swipe them off their hooks. Carter soon joined that group, but his luck remained poor. He didn’t seem to mind. He considers fishing at the pier to be a social event and he enjoyed the

interaction with other fishermen. Carter said when the weather is warm he fishes for Spanish mackerel, even bonito, or any of the migratory fish that pass through. The fall and winter are times for flounder, redfish, and whiting. In January and late February to early March are times for pompano and sheepshead. “It’s all a cycle,” he said.

Jubilee Tom Putnam, owner of Half Hitch Tackle, said the fall and winter months differ from the spring and summer only in what is available. Most fish have a migration pattern of some sort when the water temperature changes. Mackerel, for instance, travel great distances and head south for the winter and north for the summer. Bay species like redfish and A bundled-up David Stadler fishes from the Russell-Fields Pier as the sun rises on a chilly December morning.

January - February 2014 www.PanamaCityLiving.com

Half Hitch Tackle owner Tom Putnam is surrounded by the tools of his trade as he shows a packet of Berkley Gulp! lures.

numerous snags and broken lines. Be a day that has a decent tide, preferably prepared to change your rigs often. an out-going tide. Fish within two hours Trout and redfish move off the flats and of sunrise or sunset. Don’t bother fishing into deeper water during winter time. Bull within two days of a full moon. redfish, however, stay in the pass near And go with the right bait. the jetties year-round and will hit most For more information and tips on local fishing, anything from minnows to shrimp and check with the experts at Half Hitch Tackle. crabs. While they’re usually too big to keep, bull redfish are a good fight and lots of fun. The best bets in February are sheepshead and “Hi, I’m Allen Sears, whiting, and by President of Nervig Travel.” late February Let me show you the Alaska that I love! My escorted through March, the tour will take you from the lush forests of Southpompano return eastern Alaska, quaint towns, Humpback and Gray Whales, beautiful glaciers and fjords; to the open to the beaches. tundra of interior Alaska, home of Denali National Park Whiting and with its unspoiled beauty, grizzlies and caribou! pompano roam Hundreds of your friends and neighbors have joined me since 1991 on the same sandbars this wonderful adventure and have returned home with unforgettable memories and valued new friendships. within casting distance of the Join me on one of my escorted tours, beach. Sheepshead travel with friends and discover why my guests are almost always return year after year. around barnacleencrusted pilings 13-DAY “BEST OF ALASKA” and rock piles. JULY 1st & JULY 15th The general rules for fall and winter fishing, Putnam said, NERVIG TRAVEL 569 Harrison Ave. aren’t very different "Historic Downtown" Panama City than fishing the rest 850-763-2876 | www.nervig.com of the year. Look for

Panama City Living Magazine January - February 2014

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trout, which generally prowl the shallow flats, move into deeper water but within the same geographic area. The way that flounder migrate is unique. Gulf flounder move into the bay during the winter while bay flounder move into the gulf. At certain times of the year, like November and early December, both kinds of flounder are in roughly the same locations. “They call this a jubilee,” Putnam said. They congregate near shorelines, around structures and grass flats, but always on sandy bottoms. Sometimes, the flounder will be so thick they stack up on one another. They go to the same areas because they all hunt the same way: they conceal themselves in the sand and wait for a meal to go past. For the best results, they wait around areas where baitfish are more likely to be - like reefs, submerged boats, rubble and pilings. The keys to catching flounder, Putnam said, are bait and tide. A good flowing tide, especially and outbound tide, is best. Flounder like it when things drift past them and are more likely to hit aggressively during an outgoing tide. A Carolina rig, with an egg sinker situated behind a swivel, with a liphooked live minnow works best. Fishermen who prefer lures should go after brands like Berkley Gulp!, which wriggle and smell. Putnam said for those fishermen who do not have a boat, a few good spots for flounder are: the pass, Deepwater Point, marinas, docks, bridges, entrances to bayous, the piers and at the base of the Hathaway Bridge. “The one thing you’ve got to remember when it comes to flounder is, you gotta go to him. He’s not gonna go to you,” Putnam said. The bait or lure has to be brought near enough for the flounder to strike. Also, don’t keep working one spot. Throw out and reel back in slowly, then throw to another spot a few feet away and repeat. “If you’ve drug it past the same place 10 times, he’s either not gonna hit it or he’s not there.” Fishing the rock piles at the base of the Hathaway and the rock jetties will mean

Investment and innovation

Berg Steel Pipe local pipe manufacturing company with worldwide impact Berg Steel Pipe Corp. is one of the largest manufacturers of pipeline for the oil and natural gas industry with a local production facility and corporate offices in Panama City. The Corporation has three locations nationwide and has established itself as the number one supplier of deep water pipelines in North America. The company completed their technology upgrades in 2013 and hosted a customer appreciation event in November 2013. Customers and partners toured the local manufacturing plant with focus on BSPC’s improved technologies and equipment. The three day event highlighted Bay County’s beautiful outdoors where guests of

BSPC were invited to deep sea fishing trips in the Gulf of Mexico and golfing at Camp Creek and Sharks Tooth Golf Club. A formal reception and dinner was held at Bay Point Wyndham Resort on the first evening with a casual fish fry and blue grass band on the second evening. The technical program consisted of various presentations and mill tours. The event showcased both, BSPC’s innovative technology and the best Bay County has to offer. 110 representatives from pipeline operators to oil production companies and their suppliers participated in the event which brought international attention to Bay County.

Tim Creel Starting welding at OD

It’s unfortunate the technical profession does not have a good reputation in young people’s view. Our economy is booming, especially in the energy sector and related industries like ours. To choose a technical education is a guaranteed job!” Ingo Riemer, CEO of Berg Steel Pipe 80

Wendell Griffin – Planer operator beveling plates

Expander

January - February 2014 www.PanamaCityLiving.com

Ingo Riemer, CEO of Berg Steel Pipe Corp. states: “Our goal was to present our technical upgrades which we conducted during the past 2 years – we invested more than $30 million in new equipment at the Panama City mill . With our highly developed technologies, Berg is the partner of first choice for all major pipeline demands.” The company employs 285 people at their Panama City, Florida location. Another manufacturing hub is located in Mobile, Alabama with 214 employees. With a 6 person sales team in Houston,Texas. Ingo Riemer explains the quality of the product and the manufacturing process: “Steel pipes for high pressure oil and gas pipelines are high-tech products that require a lot of innovation, relentless optimization, and development. From the research with our partners in the steel industry to select the best chemistry/properties for the steel plates used to form the pipes; then to the manufacturing equipment and the manufacturing process optimization; lastly to how the final product is delivered to the customer in our global market; it is an elaborate orchestration of activity for what can be considered a very simple product.” Panama City Living in a recent interview with Mr. Riemer, CEO of Berg Steel Pipe: PCL: What are BSPC’s goals for the future? Ingo Riemer: Maintain our market position and reputation as the #1

quality supplier in North America in order to secure jobs and be profitable. Our philosophy is “Integrity Beyond Compliance.” Pipeline operation is a serious business with high safety concerns and requirements where reliability, quality, and integrity are of the essence. None of our customers (pipeline operators) want to be on the front page because of a pipeline blow up. There has been a huge number of catastrophic pipeline failures in the past years, mainly due to the aging oil and gas pipeline grid in the US (majority of the pipelines were built in the 1950s and 60s before stringent regulations were implemented). PCL: Are you planning on growing jobs in your Bay County facility? Ingo Riemer: Our first priority is to our employees and keeping the mills active so we can keep them working. Our goal is to maintain a two shift operation. An aging workforce continuously requires new hires. We are constantly looking for candidates with a technical background. PCL: What type jobs will you offer in the future? Ingo Riemer: We will team up with the local colleges (GCSC and FSUPC) to help us market ourselves to potential future employees. We finance scholarships for our employees, including their dependents. Berg is an attractive employer of choice. A low HR turnover rate is the best proof! This is not only due to an attractive financial package; we offer a company

culture that is based on trust, respect and team work. Only an attractive work environment motivates for individual performance! It’s unfortunate the technical profession does not have a good reputation in young people’s view. Our economy is booming, especially in the energy sector and related industries like ours. To choose a technical education is a guaranteed job!”

Dan Keaton (EdgenMurray), Steve Rapp (Spectra Energy), Jonathan Kirkland (Berg), Phil Tucker (EdgenMurray)

Rocky Jacobsen, QC Manager - Tour guide

Gene Pinkerton (Berg), Phil Tucker, Dan Keaton, Catrin Riemer, Ingo Riemer (Berg), Mike Nunnenkamp (Dun Transportation & Stringing, Inc.)

Panama City Living Magazine January - February 2014

Tribute to Panama City’s Cultural Movers and Shakers

Clio and Hercules Pettis By Carole Lapensohn

Although Hercules and Clio Pettis have both passed away, many still remember them as a brilliant and vital couple who put Panama City on the cultural map. Greek immigrants Hercules and Clio met in New York City and fell in love there. During World War II, Hercules flew B-52s as an Army Air Corps pilot. His last post, Tyndall Air Force Base in Panama City, became his home after the war ended. Believing the little fishing village of Panama City would provide a better atmosphere in which to raise children, they left behind Clio’s career with the Metropolitan Opera along with the cultural heart of New York City to move there. Feeling a lack of cultural ambience in Panama City, they set about correcting that deficiency. They decided that the only way to introduce culture and the arts to Northwest Florida was eventually to bring it there themselves. Hercules worked hard to become an accepted part of the business community, while Clio, who had started the Tyndall

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Field Choral Society, extended that enterprise to become the Panama City Choral Society, which performed classical pieces as well as Broadway musical excerpts. Clio was soon hired by St. Dominic’s Catholic Church as a paid soloist, after which she moved to the First Methodist Church as choir leader, performing works such as Handel’s “Messiah.” Her third move was to become choir director at Holy Nativity Episcopal Church in the early 1960s. She went on to teach classical voice and piano for generations. In 1956 Clio joined what had morphed from the “Community Concert Series” into the Panama City Music Association (PCMA). There she worked with friends Eleanor Lewis and Louise Sapp to bring the arts to Panama City. Hercules joined PCMA in the 1960s. He acted as talent coordinator and president for many years. With tireless energy he would go to New York City to bargain

with talent agencies like Columbia or Alkahest. He would also meet with the personal agents of big name performers and work with them one on one. Panama City provided a stopping point between major cities, so performers would come at reduced rates. Hercules worked with other members of PCMA and taught them how to get the best talent and the best deals. His business savvy worked miracles, and every year PCMA was able to put on an opera, a Broadway musical, a ballet, and a symphony. During his years at the helm of PCMA, Hercules brought artists like Mitzi Gaynor, bass singer Jerome Hines, pianist Van Cliburn, and dual pianists Ferrante and Teicher, among others. Hercules and Clio Pettis worked for years and years to bring the very best talent available to Panama City citizens. They set a standard of excellence for this little fishing village that in 1996 was nationally recognized as one of the best “small arts towns” in America.

January - February 2014 www.PanamaCityLiving.com

Gotta Go