This week in Destin history
Nov. 11 - 17
35 years ago — 1977 Eleven new members, including five Coast Guardsmen from the new Destin station, joined the Destin Volunteer Fire Department.
Log Publisher Jack Becklund was in Washington, D.C., participating in a Day with President Carter event at the White House.
Jitney Jungle advertised T-bone steaks at $1.35 a pound and Porterhouse steaks at $1.45.
30 years ago — 1982 Preservation of Destin made a last ditch effort to have the undeveloped land on the western tip of Holiday Isle designated a barrier island by appealing to the federal Department of the Interior.
Ellen Destin Melvin, granddaughter of the village’s namesake, Capt. Leonard Destin, died at the age of 90.
Another fish kill involving 20,000 menhaden in Old Pass Lagoon had the state Department of Environmental Regulation baffled as to its origin.
Mattie Kelly and the Kelly family donated between 12 and 15 acres on Choctawhatchee Bay as the site of the Mattie M. Kelly Fine Arts Center.
25 years ago — 1987 Nancy Cheney was selected chairperson of the Destin Fishing Rodeo.
A Florida State University researcher found high concentrations of arsenic, lead, zinc, copper and other metals in and around Choctawhatchee Bay.
20 years ago — 1992 Capt. Kelly Windes wins Captain of the Year again, the fourth time in five years.
Winning the Kiwanis Mate Award and the Destin Charter Boat Association Mate of the Year Award was Pat Meyers, first mate on Capt. Windes’ boat.
One hundred twenty eight snowbirds registered the first day of the season when the ribbon was cut at Sundestin.
The Destin Outstanding Senior Committee named Howard Marler, a founder of the Destin Charter Boat Association, as the Outstanding Senior of the Quarter for December.
The Destin Cheerleading Company, ages 6-8, brought home a first-place trophy from the Cheer Down 92 competition held at Bruner Middle School.
10 years ago — 2002 Some boaters simply drop an anchor, tie up to a buoy and let their boat sit in Destin’s harbor, and now city officials are discussing how to monitor this problem.
A crash in a Destin neighborhood in the yard of then city councilor Sam Seevers killed 16-year-old Jacolby Antonio Morris, a junior at Fort Walton Beach High School. He was a passenger in a car driven by 16-year-old Thomas Edward Cottone Jr., a former FWBHS student, who had been cited for other traffic incidents.
A room at Motel 6 was the scene of a small explosion blamed on it being used as a methamphetamine laboratory.
Capt. Kelly Windes celebrated his Captain of the Year award.
Retrofitting the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office substation on Stahlman Avenue to meet Red Cross emergency-shelter standards entitles Destin to receive a $17,000 state grant for the building’s gas generator.
Seventy-three year old Ed Therezo won the amateur division of the National Oyster Shucking Championships and shucks oysters just for fun at AJ’s Seafood and Oyster House.