At halftime of Friday night’s football game against the Leon Lions, Demarkus Roberts was crowned Homecoming King and Amariyah Roberts was crowned Queen. (Photo by Ken Fields)

Honoring alumni

Between the first and second periods of the game, retired Superintendent of Schools David Miller, Class of 1969, below, was honored. Presented with a T-shirt was Principal Michele Falk, and joined by Athletic Director Mike Smith and generations of Miller’s family. (Photo by William Snowden)

Staff Report

Early voting is underway in Wakulla through Saturday, Oct. 31.
There are two early voting locations: the Supervisor of Elections Office, 3115 Crawfordville Hwy., and the Sopchoppy Room at the Wakulla Community Center, 318 Shadeville Road. Voting is from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Election Day is Nov. 3 and you must vote at your poll. Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

The canvassing board met on Thursday, Oct. 22 and were opening vote by mail ballots and scanning them into the system in preparation for counting votes on Nov. 3.
The Wakulla Sun will come out one day later next week in order to include election results.

Tim Wheeler, who was serving as Athletic Director at Wakulla High School, has been named as interim principal at Riversink Elementary.
Riversink Principal Louis Hernandez will be out for medical leave.
Former AD Mike Smith is coming back to fill that role at the high school.

Early voting gets underway in Wakulla on Saturday, Oct. 24, through Oct. 31.

There are two early voting locations: the Supervisor of Elections Office, 3115 Crawfordville Hwy., and the Sopchoppy Room at the Wakulla Community Center, 318 Shadeville Road. Voting is from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Election Day is Nov. 3 and you must vote at your poll. Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Reba Mason, who founded Wakulla Community Theatre back in 1991, and who also directed the annual performance of Handel’s Messiah with the community choir, passed away in Tallahassee on Oct. 8.
Mason was 83 years old.
Her obituary appears on Page 9 of this issue.

Voters in the City of St. Marks will have two city commission races on the November ballot:

For Seat 3, the choice is between Corey Ingram and Crystal McGrath.

For Seat 4, the candidates are Jeremy Alday and Billy Bishop.

Only voters in St. Marks can vote on these races.

Wakulla County received rain and some wind from outer bands of Hurricane Isaias as the storm made landfall on Friday, Oct. 9 in Destin.

Emergency Management Director Jennifer Nagy appeared in a Facebook video with Billy Jones, sheriff’s office chief of staff, as she reported that one home had a tree fall on it. Otherwise, the county suffered minimal damage – some trees were down and there were some power outages, though power had largely been restored on Saturday, Oct. 10.

In response to the storm, Wakulla schools were closed on Friday, and the district football game against Godby was postponed until Tuesday, Oct. 13.

Also, the Boots & Bingo fundraiser for Rotary Club of Wakulla, which had been set for Saturday, was postponed until Jan. 9 at 3Y Ranch.

Wakulla County commissioners unanimously approved the 2026-27 millage and budget at their budget hearing on Monday, Sept. 21.

The final millage rate was set at 7.7 mills, a property tax rate of $7.7 per $1,000 of property value. A home assessed at a value of $100,000 would pay $770 in county taxes before the $50,000 Homestead Exemption is figured in.

The county budget anticipates revenues of some $19.3 million from the property tax levy – that’s of the total county budget of more than $245 million. Tens of millions of the budget comes from grant revenue from the state, especially for septic-to-sewer projects in the Wakulla Gardens/Magnolia Gardens area, and improvements to the county’s wastewater treatment plant.

It was noted that the budget was approved without any cuts to services for animal services or recreation park or other services.

As the county has worked out potential contingency plans for dealing with the expected budget impacts of Amendment 3, the constitutional amendment to increase Homestead Exemption to $150,000 and then $200,000. It is expected to cut funding for Wakulla County government by $8 million.

A staff plan suggested cutting numerous services if the amendment passes.