Historic Santa Rosa Cemetery Vandalized
by Auriette Lindsey

"It's beyond my imagination why anyone would do it."

Those are the words of the chairman of Coon Hill Cemetery's Board of Trustees.

When Alvin Enfinger visited the northwest Santa Rosa County graveyard Thursday morning, he found dozens of headstones and markers pushed over, some damaged beyond repair, others moved out of place.

All in all, the vandals hit more than forty graves at the Coon Hill Cemetery, between Brownsdale and Chumuckla, sometime within the last two weeks.

Enfinger says, when he saw the destruction, he was "devastated, just like those markers out there."

The cemetery was started around 1820, when the area was booming, and some of the state's first senators are buried there. That will make the cost of replacing some of the broken monuments and headstones prohibitive.

Enfinger says, "There's some of the markers that are irreplaceable, that you just couldn't do it today, probably cost $10,000 they're such fine monuments."

The cemetery trustees will try to repair and replace as many of the markers as they can afford. "The money situation is not too good,"

Enfinger says, "We'll just have to put some cheap markers to identify who is buried there."

The cemetery has been vandalized before over the last 30 to 40 years, but never to this extent. In fact, about five years ago, Enfinger put a gate up to keep people from driving through the graveyard.

Thursday, crime scene investigators collected physical evidence found at the scene, and the Sheriff's Office is stepping up patrols in the area.

Jerry Henderson of the Santa Rosa Sheriff's Office says, vandalizing a cemetery is Felony Criminal Mischief, and a conviction could lead to prison time or a large fine.

If you have any information on who vandalized the Coon Hill Cemetery, call Santa Rosa Crimestoppers at 437-STOP.

An award-winning special effects artist from Pensacola visited students at Myrtle Grove Elementary and Escambia High School Friday.

Anthony LaMolinara won an Oscar for the computer animation work he did for the film "Spider-Man 2". He says he visited his old schools because he still knows people there; his niece and nephew go to Myrtle Grove, and some of his friends now teach at Escambia High.

He brought his Academy Award with him to the schools and let students pass around the statuette during his talk.

LaMolinara says, he didn't have a message for the students, per se, but just wanted to share his experences. "When I was here, I wasn't quite sure where my life was going and what my possibilities were, and maybe to say to them.... if you want to do something the possibility's there and you can most likely do it if you put your mind to it."

He also told the students to be ready for anything. He says chance encounters had a profound effect on the direction his own life took.

"Life throws a lot of different things at you and you have to be prepared to roll with it. And if you're not, if you're gonna let a setback stop you, you're never gonna get anything done. You have to keep pushing forward. And so many people get one setback and give up, and the point is, you just can't do that."

LaMolinara arrived in town Thursday night, just in time to help kick off the Pensacola Bay International Film and Television Festival. He thrilled the audience at a screening of his short film "Lonesome Matador" by passing his Oscar around the theatre.

For more information on Festival events, log on to the official website http://www.pensacolafilmfestival.com

Baytowne Festival Brings Indie Films to the Gulf Coast
by Auriette Lindsey

Country music stars, an evangelical Christian leader, and former Vice President Al Gore are in the spotlight at the Baytowne Film Festival in Destin and Walton County.

The Dixie Chicks-centered documentary "Shut Up and Sing" is one of the feature attractions at the Baytowne Film Festival. The filmmakers spent three years chronicling the band's public and personal experiences after band member Natalie Maines made disparaging comments about President Bush.

That's just one of the documentaries screening during the weekend festival. Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth" and "Jesus Camp" also bring controversial topics to the screen. "10mph" follows a man riding a Segway personal transporter across the country, and "Tales of the Rat Fink" uses animation and live footage to tell the story of car customizer Ed "Big Daddy" Roth.

Drama "Beauty in Trouble" examines how a woman deals with a series of crises, from a damaging flood to her husband's arrest for a crime he didn't commit. "Look Both Ways" is a lauded Australian film about life and death.

On the lighter side, "LOL" looks at how the internet and e-mail impacts modern relationships, and "Singin' in the Rain" -- a free screening on Saturday -- recalls the time when silent films made way for talkies.

In all, more than 30 feature length and short films will be shown at the festival between November 10-12. Films will screen at the Rave Motion Pictures at Destin Commons and the Bamboo Grove Theatre at Club Intrawest.

For more information, visit the official website: http://www.baytownefilmfestival.com

Downtown Pensacola is Alive with Art and Artists
by Auriette Lindsey

Artists and entertainers are displaying their work and demonstrating their talents at the Great Gulf Coast Arts Festival.

The festival began Friday in Downtown Pensacola and continues through Sunday.

G.G.A.F. is considered one of the top fine arts shows in the country. 200 selected artists have set up booths to exhibit and sell artwork in a variety of media and forms - including paintings, sculptures, and jewelry. The arts and crafts of yesteryear are also displayed in the Heritage Art area.

Performance arts are also showcased, with local dancers and musicians taking the stage in Seville Square and Bartram Park.

Bartram Park is also the site of many activities geared towards the younger crowd. The Children's Arts Festival offers hands on opportunity to create art, and an exhibit of work by local students serves as inspiration.

For more information and maps to the various activities, log on to the official website of the

Great Gulf Coast Arts Festival: http://www.ggaf.org/index.shtml

Controversial Documentary Headlines Film Festival
by Auriette Lindsey

The Pensacola International Film Festival opens November 3, with a full slate of lauded independent films.

One of the most controversial documentaries made this year, "Jesus Camp" will screen several times over the weekend. The movie profiles Becky Fischer, who runs the "Kids on Fire" evangelical Christian summer camp in North Dakota.

Pensacola Attorney Mike Papantonio, and his "Air America" radio show, are also featured.

"Half Nelson" stars Ryan Gosling as a passionate, charismatic middle school teacher with a serious crack problem. The Hollywood Reporter calls this a "quality indie" that firmly establishes Gosling as a major talent.

Several films at the festival, including "Let the Church Say Amen", center on the black experience in America. They are presented in conjunction with the African American Heritage Society.

All-access passes to the festival are just $20, and several films will be shown for free, on the lawn outside the T.T. Wentworth Museum.