25 Years ago this week in The Log: Halloween, incorporation debates and fire

Here’s what The Log reported Oct. 27 and 31, 1984:

•The Log interviewed residents of Sanibel Island, which incorporated in 1984. The verdict: “Incorporation is working magnificently.”
•Destin Water Users learned that although Florida had $100 million in grants available, DWU wouldn’t be eligible because it’s a privately owned utility in an unincorporated area.
•Edgewater Condominiums announced it would rent to Canadian Snowbirds at an exchange rate of $1 Canadian dollar to $1.30 American, rather than the real rate of $1.36. Edgewater said if the exchange rate worsened, it would stick to the policy unless the rate rose higher than $1 Canadian/$1.50 American.
•A fire investigator said an 18th-floor blaze in SunDestin might have been arson. The blaze caused $15,000 - 20,000 damages in one unit, next to a condo that caught fire back in July.
•George Eller of Destin Cab Company announced voters could get a free ride to the polls election day. Eller said a local businessman had offered to split the cost of the fares with Destin Cab.
•The state Ethics Commission said that even if a complaint against Okaloosa County Commissioner Mike Mitchell was motivated by politics, it was still their job to investigate it. The complaint was filed over an Okaloosa County lawsuit Mitchell had been part of before becoming a commissioner.
•Crystal Beach resident John Radford told The Log that the county refused to pave 300 feet of dirt road by his house because the county no longer accepts dirt roads into its system. The County Commission said that if Radford wanted, he and his neighbors could take the road private and do the job themselves.
•Bill Shirah of Opposition to Destin Incorporation told a Kiwanis meeting that if the Mattie Kelly and Burney Henderson properties were included in city limits, he might be pro-incorporation. Shirah said since it was one of the few undeveloped areas in Destin, controlling growth there was essential.
The Kiwanis debated whether having a city police department would be better than what the county offered. Shirah said Destin could get better service from Okaloosa if it pushed for it.
•Charlie Cole of Georgia was fishing on Kelly Windes’ Sunrise when he brought in a record-setting 78 pound 12 oz grouper — but unlike any the Fishing Rodeo had ever seen.
A marine biologist said Cole had caught a black grouper, and that the fish Destinites called black groupers were actually gag groupers. Windes told The Log that he’d withdrawn the entry.
“That fish was not the type of fish that we recognize in our Rodeo as the black grouper,” Weighmaster Ben Wise told The Log.
•The Florida Department of Transportation told The Log that contrary to previous reports, the drawbridge motor on U.S. 331 had not been at risk for falling into the water, but had been removed because a bearing had failed.
The motor had failed earlier in October and the bridge was still being operated manually. The Log reported that it took five or six men, working for 40 minutes, to raise it.
•Couch Construction, which had set up an asphalt plant in Walton County for its work on what would become Emerald Coast Parkway, said it wanted the $1.5 million plant to be permanent rather than temporary. County officials said that since the county had no zoning ordinance, it had no authority to prevent that.
The County Commission also told Seagrove Beach residents that without a zoning ordinance, there was no way to prevent five sewage package plants from being built in the Seagrove Beach area.
•A developer announced plans for the $30 million Monte Carlo condo tower. At 33 stories and 247 units, it would be the highest in the Panhandle.
•A telephone poll of 100 voters showed 47 in favor of incorporation, 22 opposed, and 31 undecided.
•Okaloosa County Commissioner Bill Peebles said that when the commission voted to create a “safe anchorage” zone in Destin harbor, where boats could moor up without lights, the commissioner had thought it had Destin support. With Holiday Isle worried over whether owners could build planned docks in a safe anchorage, Peebles said his perception had changed.
Commissioner Shirley Ransom said it was fair to require a “co-existing relationship” between docks and the anchorage before going further.
•The Log asked Bay Elementary students why we celebrate Halloween:
“It's a special year.”
“Someone was born on it.”
“I guess it's just like Christmas.”
“Because I get candy.”
•The county filed a complaint with the state attorney against Olin Marler for dumping on his Destin harbor property, in violation of the property’s zoning.
Marler told the county he wasn’t liable since the property belonged to his father, and he’d only deposited some of the items, which he planned to use for an artificial reef. He said he’d haul away the reef material, but the rest wasn’t his responsibility.
Marler said charging him was “illiteracy on top of illiteracy” and that if the county charged his father, he’d recommend suing for harassment.
•The Walton County Commission rejected a request from some residents to impose a building moratorium until the county had a zoning ordinance in place.
“I have seen the rape of South Walton County,” property owner Richard Magill said. “I’d just like to see you stop it now.”