Okaloosa Florida

FORT WALTON BEACH - Not much predates the Freemasons fraternity in Okaloosa County - not even the county itself.

Not the Marler Bridge, named for Freemason William T. Marler. Not the Brooks Bridge to Okaloosa Island, named for the Brooks family that boasts two original Freemasons. Not W.C. Pryor Middle School, named for another Freemason.

The fraternity has turned 100 years old here.

Members still meet regularly in downtown Fort Walton Beach, which makes the group one of the oldest standing organizations in Northwest Florida.

"Not the oldest profession, mind you," said John Lewis, past master and emcee of the group's recent special centennial meeting.

But the fact is that some of today's local Freemasons - as they sit in their antique upstairs lodge above the old Coach and Four Gifts - know more than most about Okaloosa County's history.

The organization got its start in 1908, when the area was in Santa Rosa County and Fort Walton Beach was still known as Brooks Landing and later as Camp Walton.

John Brooks Jr., the last of original Freemason John "Will" Brooks' nine children, was at the meeting, remembering his father - a jack-of-all-trades who served as the area's only deputy sheriff, tooth-puller, real estate agent, boat captain, auctioneer and lighthouse keeper.

Today, the men at the lodge say Freemasonry is not all about mysterious rituals or codes - many of them featured in movies and novels - but more about Will Brooks' kind of service.

"We don't really have that many secrets," Lewis said. "Just ask."

The group funds charities and local programs such as the Mozart piano competition at Playground Music - named for the historic composer who also was a Freemason. The chapter also is working with the rest of Florida's nearly 300 lodges on an identification program designed to help find lost children.

Mel Odum, a member since 1972 and master of the lodge in 1999, said the fraternity doesn't recruit. He said the lodge's doors are open to men who believe in God and ask to join.

"I'm proud to be a Mason with all of my friends here," he said

TALLAHASSEE - An amendment creating property tax exemp-tions for residential hurricane-proofing and energy efficiency improvements is going into the Florida Constitution without a recount.
The Elections Canvassing Commission headed by Gov. Charlie Crist declined to order a recount Saturday for Amendment 3. Although the vote was close, the margin was just enough to avoid triggering an automatic recount.
Amendment 3, like all state constitutional amendments, needed 60 percent to pass. It received 60.5 percent.
The amendment became the fourth out of six total on the Nov. 4 ballot to be approved by voters.
Two were rejected:
-- Amendment 1, which would have deleted language in the state constitution placed there in 1926 to keep Asian immigrants from owning land.
-- Amendment 8, which would have allowed counties to hold referendums on charging a local-option sales tax to provide additional funding for community colleges.
"I wasn't wild about Amendment 8," said Allan Bense, a Panama City resident and chairman of the Taxation and Budget Reform Commission, which placed Amendment 8 as well as three others on the statewide ballot.
"I knew it would take two votes to implement, the first hurdle being the 60 percent threshold; then, if a community college wanted more funding, a referendum would have to be held in all the counties it serves."
Floridians voted it down because they did not want even the possibility of more taxes, Bense said.
Amendment 1 would have repealed a 1926 state constitutional amendment that prevented Asians from buying and owning real estate. The provision was never enforced and was invalidated by court rulings.
Florida is the only state that still has an anti-Asian land law after New Mexico, Wyoming and Kansas got rid of theirs in recent years.
Winnie Tang, president of the South Florida chapter of the Organization of Chinese Americans, which backed Amendment 1, said she was disappointed it failed.
"The ballot language was confusing and led people to think repealing the law would somehow benefit illegal residents," she said.
She said her organization plans to try to place the measure on the ballot again in 2010, next time producing a real budget to advertise in different mediums throughout Florida.
Also getting at least 60 percent both locally and statewide were:
-- Amendment 4, which provides a tax break for property used temporarily or permanently as conservation.
-- Amendment 6, which provides tax relief for "working waterfronts" such as marinas and commercial fishing operations.

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