Jim Palmer - Washington County, Florida

The voters of Washington County, Florida turned out in masses on Jan 31st to vote on allowing slot machines at the Ebro Dog Track in a planned 300 million dollar expansion. 57% of the voters that turned out approved the referendum to allow slots only at this facility.

There remains however a very tough battle to get the State of Florida to grant a license for the slot machines.

There is a very good possibility that Washington County, Florida could get slot machines in the near future. At the request of the Ebro Greyhound Park, the Washington County Board of County Commissioneers have agreed to place a countywide voter referendum concerning slot machines on the January 31st Republican presidential primary ballot. All registered voters, regardless of party, will have the chance to decide if the Ebro Greyhound Park will be allowed to add slot machines to it's facility.

Addition of the slot machines would allow the greyhound park to move forward with it's plans for a full-scale family resort and entertainment facility. The facility would include, but not be limited to, hotel and spa and entertainment facilities.

Owners of the Ebro dog track estimate that this will create approximately 1200 jobs and an additional 2 million dollars in additional income.

Washington County Kennel Club, doing business as Ebro Greyhound Park, has been in existence since 1955 and currently features greyhound racing and a very popular poker room. Ebro Greyhound Park currently employs 225 people with an annual payroll of $1.2 million and more than $5 million in local spending.

Located at HWY 79 and HWY 20, Ebro is only about a 15 minute drive to the beaches at Panama City Beach and to the new Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport. HWY 79 is a heavily traveled road by tourists heading to the beaches and is currently being 4 laned through Washington County.

In my role as President of the Washington County Firefighters Association, I met with two of the owners of the Greyhound Park yesterday to discuss the ramifications to our Fire Services here in Washington County. The owners seem to be very committed to making sure that the Fire Services and EMS services benefit from the additional monies that should be generated. They verbally said that they are willing to make sure that income is designated and utilized by Fire and EMS to improve our services Countywide and in the immediate area around Ebro.

Regardless of where a person may stand on the issue of gambling, I feel that this is an opportunity that the citizens of Washington County cannot afford to let slip through our fingers.

If you are a resident of Washington County, Florida, I would urge you to support this effort, and stop losing money to other areas that offer this type of entertainment.

For the second year now the Chipola Area Board of Realtors had a float in the Bonifay Florida Rodeo Parade. This sleepy little town in the Florida Panhandle really comes alive for this weekend event!

According to the 2008 census report, the city of Bonifay has 2780 residents. But, according to the Bonifay Kiwanis Club which sponsors the event (this was the 67th annual rodeo), there are over 25000 people that come to enjoy the rodeo weekend!! Judging by the amount of people lining the streets during this lengthy parade, I can believe it!

Our float was lined up in the staging area as # 100 out of 112 floats. This does not include all the horses, 4 wheelers, and other participants that marched in the parade.

One thing is for certain, they really take this parade very seriously!! I have participated in a couple of other parades with our Fire Department, but have never experienced one as massive and well planned as this one.

Proud Realtors and family

Decorating the float

Parade Route

Tossing candy and beads during the parade

The residential market in Holmes County Florida continues to be on the slow side, but the number of homes sold (18) was the same as the 2nd quarter.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions about the market in Holmes County Florida

The Residential market in Jackson County Florida continues to be very robust. As compared to the 2nd quarter sales of 35 homes, the 3rd quarter shows an increase to 43 homes sold. There is a very healthy mix of both low end foreclosures and high end homes with acreage.

As always, please feel free to contact me if you have any questions about the Jackson County Florida real estate market.