About a year ago, the first Crestview City Council meeting I covered left an impression.
In part, it was because I no longer felt like I was on the outside looking in.
Let me explain.
As editor, I post most of the breaking news on crestviewbulletin.com, write a weekly column and cover some stories for our print edition, on top of the usual stuff (like editing all the copy, directing content and generally managing the news side).
But most of our stories, video and photo galleries come from Brian Hughes and Randy Dickson, our reporter and sports editor, respectively.
I may know what's happening during Crestview and Laurel Hill City Council meetings because I follow Brian's live twitter feeds and am the first to see the stories' first drafts. Similarly, reading about the Bulldogs, Gators and Hoboes keeps me well informed and helps me create a frame of reference without actually bon those fields. (I'm also hard at work at all hours, although it's from the news desk.)
But reading about the meetings and the games is no substitute for being at these events.
For instance, the News Bulletin reports "just the facts, Ma'am." You may recall that was Joe Friday's catchphrase on the TV show "Dragnet." My college journalism professor said the same principle applies in news. I never forgot that.
So city council meeting reports usually lack the meeting's lighter sides, because those things are nice, but they don't tell you what busy readers really care about: how their tax dollars are being spent, and what kinds of decisions their elected officials are making.
Which brings me to surprise No. 1: The Crestview City Council meetings are quite pleasant to attend. Not just for politics junkies like me, but also for anyone, because, intellectually, they are accessible to the public. City leaders tend to speak in layman's terms, so you won't feel lost — just in case you're concerned about big bureaucratic words.
In addition, they tend to joke around at appropriate times. So even though they're making important decisions about the city's future, there's a balance of work and fun that takes the edge off.
But the biggest surprise and, perhaps one of C&C Music Factory's "Things that Make You Go Hmmm" (did anyone else get that reference?) — for me anyway — was when I heard the invocation.
'IT JUST DOESN'T FAZE ME'
The second surprise was the invocation, which was said by a sitting city council member, to begin the meeting.
I was a little shocked.
Perhaps I read too much national news and frequently see reports about how God is being taken out of city hall and county courthouses, but an increasingly secular society no longer fazes me.
I'm not saying it's right or wrong; it just doesn't faze me. Because the inevitable trend, stemming as far as the U.S. Supreme Court's Engel v. Vitale and Abington School District v. Schempp decisions in the 1960s, has been toward secular everything.
So when I heard that prayer during the invocation, as a Catholic, it certainly didn't offend me.
But I remember thinking, "Well, that's not gonna last."
Sure enough, the City Council voted 4-1 on May 11 to adjust its invocation policy.
Going forward, the city clerk will basically allow anyone, except a city official, to request to give the invocation before Crestview's government meetings.
Just like that, another Supreme Court decision hit close to home.
ONE ISSUE, TWO SIDES
A number of our Facebook fans criticized the decision.
"That is very sad," Lisa Schkerke said."Why does it seem everyone has freedom of religion but Christians?"
"So the P.C. B.S. has finally trickled down to Crestview!" Donna York Perry said. "Judgment is coming to America — Crestview will not be shielded!
Meanwhile, some of my Twitter followers are atheists, some are Wiccan, and although I don't understand their beliefs, I do understand how they feel "left behind," so to speak, amid Christian dialogue in their city hall.
Then again, we are in the Bible belt. The criticisms are understandable. In a Christian's mind, following the Supreme Court ruling does prevent city council members from praying before the meetings.
However, that's supposedly fair because, as elected officials, their spoken prayer could suggest establishment of a Christian faith for all of Crestview.
At least, so goes secular thinking.
Both sides can make good cases. I guess we can chalk this one up to that whole "Life's not fair" saying about the real world, right?
CHANGING CLIMATE
Back to that first city council meeting I covered.
As a Christian, yes, I thought there was something special about hearing that prayer, especially in this municipal setting.
"Only in small town, USA," I thought.
But again, I thought, "No way that's gonna last."
I'm pretty sure I even said that to Renee Bell, our editorial assistant, the next day.
Like it or not, secular society is here to stay — especially in Okaloosa County's largest city.
Yes, Okaloosa has grown by leaps and bounds since then State Rep. William H. Mapoles introduced a bill in 1913 to form a new county.
Some will see the population boom and the increasingly fair society as progress; others will see a breakdown in neighbor mentality and community values.
But just like the animal rights activist group PETA called out Crestview and Okaloosa Island in the past couple of years when abuse cases made headlines, this piece of paradise no longer is safe from that kind of political correctness.
The Internet has changed everything. Now, if someone recorded a city leader praying during a meeting and sent it to the ACLU, the response would be instant.
Granted, their P.C. mentality may not square with most residents here, and this may be a sign of the biblical end times, but the point is this:
Okaloosa County can no longer hide from that kind of activism, and legally, it can no longer afford to not be "P.C."
What's your view? Write a letter to the editor or tweet News Bulletin Editor Thomas Boni.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: BONI: Crestview's prayer policy was bound to change