Fire Destroys Walnut Hill Home; Arson Suspected
August 14, 2008
Fire destroyed a Walnut Hill home Wednesday night, and authorities say the fire may have been arson.
The fire was reported at 9:00 in the 7000 block of Highway 97 in Walnut Hill. NorthEscambia.com was first on the scene, with flames visible from the rear of the house as we arrived. The flames quickly spread as the first fire trucks pulled up on the scene. Windows quickly blew out of the front of the small wood frame home, and flames then jumped into the air from the front of the house. The home was fully involved as the firefighters began their assault on the blaze.
No one was at home at the time of the blaze, and there were no injuries.
The fire appeared to have been suspicious in nature, authorities said. A separate fire appeared to have been set on a boat parked under a nearby shed, slightly damaging the back of the vessel. All four tires on the homeowner’s SUV were flattened, and three large gashes where cut into a nearby trampoline.
The home sits in a field down a long dirt driveway, about one third of a mile south of Highway 97.
The exact cause of the blaze is under investigation by the state fire marshal.
The Walnut Hill Volunteer Fire Department, Century Volunteer Fire Department, McDavid Volunteer Fire Department, Molino Volunteer Fire Department, Atmore Ambulance and the Escambia County Sheriff’s Department all responded to the call.
For a complete photo gallery from the scene, click here. The gallery shows the fire as it begins to spread, the fire shooting from the windows of the home after the glass exploded out of them, and the first attempts to put out the fire. The total time represented by the photos that show flames at the beginning of the gallery is just over two minutes.
Pictured above: The front windows of the home explode before the first fire trucks arrived on the scene of this house fire Wednesday night in Walnut Hill. Pictured below: The first fire hose being pulled to the house. NorthEscambia.com exclusive photos, click to enlarge.
School Lunch Prices Up This Year
August 13, 2008
The price for your child’s school lunch in North Escambia will be higher this year, unless they are on the free and reduced price program.
Lunch for elementary students that pay regular, full price will jump 20 cents to $2.00. The price of breakfast for elementary students will remain $1.
Breakfast for middle and high school students will be up a nickel to $1.50. The middle and high school lunch price will jump 35 cents to $2.50.
Reduced price breakfast will remain at 30 cents and lunch will stay at 40 cents. The school district can’t raise those prices; they are set by the federal government.
School district officials say the rise in cost for students that don’t qualify for the free and reduced price program is simply due to the rising cost of food. Students that qualified for free and reduced price meals last year must complete an application again this year.
An extra milk at the elementary level will remain at 50 cents.
The price for adult meals, those meals for teachers and staff, will go to $1.80 for breakfast and $3.00 for lunch.
Parents will still be able to prepay online this year at mealpayplus.com.
In case you are wondering, the elementary menu for breakfast on the first day of school…August 18, will be Pop Tart, cheese wedge and mixed fruit. The lunch menu will be cheese pizza or corn dog, corn, mixed vegetables, peaches and a cookie. Day two, August 19, will have breakfast pizza and pears in the morning. For lunch on the second day, the menu includes BBQ chicken sandwich or grilled cheese sandwich, green beans, carrots, fresh fruit and strawberry Jello.
Man Flips Convertible Into The Woods, Walks Away Uninjured
August 13, 2008
A man flipped his convertible into the woods north of Molino early Wednesday morning and walked away unhurt.
The accident happened on Highway 97 just south of the Sunshine Hill Road intersection about 1:35 Wednesday morning. The man lost control of his convertible and flipped it into the woods. It was almost completely hidden from sight from the roadway by brush.
The man walked away from the one vehicle accident with no apparent injuries.
The accident is under investigation by the Florida Highway Patrol.
The Molino Volunteer Fire Department, Escambia County EMS and the Escambia County Sheriff’s Department responded to the scene.
Pictured above: A state trooper and firemen examine the upside down convertible in the woods along Highway 97 early Wednesday morning. NorthEscambia.com exclusive photo, click to enlarge.
What Happens When Your Power Goes Out? Here’s The Deal
August 13, 2008
A few scattered power outages were reported Tuesday night as a line of strong storms moved through North Escambia. Have you ever thought about what happens when your power goes out? NorthEscambia.com thought we would take a look at the behind the scenes things that take place to get your power back on.
Our scenario below involves Escambia River Electric Cooperative and a hypothetical power outage in Walnut Hill. The events could just as well happen in any community in North Escambia on EREC or Gulf Power.
Here’s our little story, “When the Lights Go Out”:
You were on your couch watching the Olympics early last night. The main storm has passed, and the rain outside has just about lulled you into a quick early evening nap.
Then it happens. Your power blinks one, two, three times and it’s off. You make your way in the dark to the kitchen where your glow-in-the-dark EREC magnet on the refrigerator is illuminated enough so that you can read the outage number. You call the number, 1-877-OUT-EREC, and follow the voice prompts to report your home’s outage. Your job is done.
What happens now? First of all, let’s set up the scenario for our hypothetical outage. Let’s say you live on Arthur Brown Road in Walnut Hill. This address receives power from the Oak Grove substation, just across the road from the Oak Grove Park on North Highway 99. You are assuming the evening’s thunderstorm is the culprit for your home being left in the dark. You know the proper action for you to take is to call the EREC outage number which you have done. Now, here’s the sequence of events which will take place to restore your power as quickly and safely as possible.
In our power outage scenario, your call comes in to the dispatch center and your name and address appear immediately on the computer screen. The dispatcher then contacts the on-call EREC crew to make repairs. Since the two-man crew is on-call for the evening, each crewman has driven home an EREC truck loaded with equipment and supplies necessary to repair any typical outage that might occur. So when the dispatch call is received, each crewman leaves his home and heads directly to the site of the outage. He does not need to take extra time to go by the EREC facility and get the vehicle, equipment and supplies needed to repair the outage.
Upon arrival to the outage location, the crew investigates the reason for the power failure. Meanwhile they have received additional calls from the dispatch center letting them know there are other nearby houses on Arthur Brown Road, Corley Road and Juniper Street that are experiencing outages as well. After assessment of the power system, the crew determines that the cause of the outage is an RE failure (an oil reclosure breaker) in the substation due to a lightning strike.
This can be handled quickly by the two-man crew so there is no need for additional personnel to be called in for assistance. The crew repairs the damage and calls the dispatch center to let them know all power has been restored. The dispatch center then calls back each member that has reported a power outage to be sure they do have power.
The purpose of this story is to create a picture of what is actually happening during a typical power restoration. This is only a possible scenario and, of course, there are many different reasons why your power can go out.
“Although we cannot imagine all the power outage scenarios that can happen, there is one thing we can be sure of. EREC will be there to restore your power as quickly as possible in the dead of night, in the middle of terrible storms or whatever the case may be – EREC crews will do what needs to be done to get the lights back on,” said Sabrina Owens, EREC’s marketing director.
She said that in the case of major outages such as those that occur with hurricanes or other severe weather, specific procedures are in place to restore power to the most people in the shortest amount of time. The following steps describe power restoration after a storm.
- Transmission towers and lines supply power to one or more transmission substations. These lines seldom fail, but they can be damaged by a hurricane or tornado. Tens of thousands of people could be served by one high-voltage transmission line, so if there is damage here it gets attention first.
- Escambia River EC has several local distribution substations, each serving thousands of members. When a major outage occurs, the local distribution substations are checked first. A problem here could be caused by failure in the transmission system supplying the substation. If the problem can be corrected at the substation level, power may be restored to a large number of people.
- Main distribution supply lines are checked next if the problem cannot be isolated at the substation. These supply lines carry electricity away from the substation to a group of members, such as a town or housing development. When power is restored at this stage, all members served by this supply line could see the lights come on, as long as there is no problem farther down the line.
- The final supply lines, called tap lines, carry power to the utility poles or underground transformers outside houses or other buildings. Line crews fix the remaining outages based on restoring service to the greatest number of members.
- Sometimes, damage will occur on the service line between your house and the transformer on the nearby pole. This can explain why you have no power when your neighbor does. EREC needs to know you have an outage in this type of situation so that a service crew can repair it.
Members themselves (not the cooperative) are responsible for damage to the service installation on the building. The member will need to have a licensed electrician make these repairs.
For more photos from inside the Oak Grove Power substation, click here.
Special thanks to Sabrina Owens at EREC for her assistance with our story, and to the linemen that assisted with the photographs. It’s worth noting that the photographs were taken on a nice sunny morning rather than during a real power outage after a storm due to the dangers of standing in a power substation after a storm has just passed.
Pictured above: EREC prepare to fix an oil reclosure breaker (RE) failure inside the Oak Grove power substation. Pictured below: That breaker is installed on a transmission line headed to the Arthur Brown Road area of Walnut Hill. NorthEscambia.com exclusive photos, click to enlarge.
State Considers State Farm Rate Increase That Would Cost Thousands
August 13, 2008
State Farm faced the Florida Department of Insurance Regulation Tuesday, trying to explain why they want to raise rates by as much as 90 percent.
The average rate increase would be 47.1 percent. For the roughly 13,000 policyholders in Escambia and Santa Rosa counties, the rate increase would amount to about 50 percent. For a $300,000 home build before 2001, rates would jump $4,411, going from $8,803 to $13,214.
But state regulators spent most of the morning grilling State Farm executives over profits made the their parent company. State Farm Florida transfers about a half billion dollars a year to their parent company State Farm Mutual for reinsurance against major hurricane losses.
No decision was made on the rate increase Tuesday.
Fire Department Responds To Possible Lightning Strike at School
August 13, 2008
An apparent lightning strike set off the fire alarm at Bratt Elementary School Tuesday night, but no damage was found.
The Walnut Hill Volunteer Fire Department responded to a reported fire alarm at the school about 7:30 Tuesday night. Firefighters and maintenance personnel checked the school, but they were unable to find a fire or any damage.
About 8:00, Escambia deputies responded to a call of possible accident on Highway 29 near Bogia Road. When the arrived, they found a box type truck stuck in the ditch, but it was not considered an accident.
Scattered power outages were reported across the area as a result of the storm, but none of the outages were widespread.
There is a 50 percent change of more showers and thunderstorms for today.
ECSO Seeking Election Deputies
August 13, 2008
The Escambia County Sheriff’s Department is looking for you if you would like to do you part to ensure a fair election and pick up some cash at the same time.
The sheriff’s department is looking for election deputies to stand by during the primary election on August 26. Election deputies are unarmed and do not have arrest powers; they just work to ensure a fair election process.
A one hour class is being held at the Byrneville Community Center for prospective election deputies. For more information, contact Rhonda Ray at (850)436-9729.
Election deputies are paid $12 to attend the class and $110 for working Election Day.
Charter Application Filed Without Blue Ribbon Committee’s Knowledge
August 12, 2008
The Century Blue Ribbon had no idea that an application for a charter school was filed with what appeared to be their name at the bottom; committee members said they never saw the application until after it was filed.
The application for the Charter Magnet School at Century was prepared by the “Century Blue Ribbon Committee on Education and The Century Community Development Partnership, Inc”, according the bottom of 80 of 81 pages of the application.
Members of the Century Blue Ribbon committee question the application filing by Irvin Stallworth at a meeting Monday night. Stallworth is president of the Century Community Development Partnership (CCDP), and he is also chairman of the town’s Blue Ribbon Committee.
“We had our last meeting the Thursday night before he filed the application,” Blue Ribbon Committee member, and Carver/Century K-8 Principal Jeff Garthwaite said. “Why did we not see it?”
“The charter was not discussed,” he said. “If our name as our committee is going to go on a document, the committee should have seen it,” he said.
NorthEscambia.com was the first media to break the story that the application had been filed by Stallworth and the CCDP on behalf of a corporation to be formed to run the charter school, if it is approved by the school board.
Century Mayor Freddie McCall said he has spoken with Stallworth on Monday and was told “I will explain it when I can sit down and talk to you”.
“It seems he (Stallworth) is operating under the name of the Blue Ribbon Committee without the Blue Ribbon Committee knowing anything about it,” McCall said. “I wonder if he is just writing off the school and going ahead with the charter.”
The listed organizer of the charter school, James Sutton (pictured left), was present at the Blue Ribbon Committee’s meeting Monday night at the Century Town Hall.
Sutton said he was contacted Thursday night before the application was submitted on Friday and asked by Stallworth to sign it on Friday morning, August 1.
“As far as I knew, it was this Blue Ribbon Committee,” Sutton said. When asked by the mayor who wrote the document, Sutton replied “Jack Moran”. Moran is a Century businessman.
“That charter will not fly as it is written,” Garthwaite said. Previously in his career, Garthwaite actually worked in the school district’s Department of Alternative Education, the department that reviews charter applications. “There are so many missing pieces to that document. There are some serious gaps. There are several issues that are left very vague. If our name is attached to it, you don’t want junk going forward. You want a quality document.”
“I would have appreciated it if we had seen it that night before it went in with our name on it,” he said.
“We still had not seen it until today,” Blue Ribbon Committee member Laura Nelson said. “It if is stamped that we prepared it, we should have seen it. Why did he (Stallworth) not mention it the night before at the meeting?”
“This committee on there, is it us, or is it Mr. Moran, or Rev. Stallworth, or who is it?” Nelson asked. “And who will pay the expenses with this application?”
“Mr. Jack (Moran) will probably pay for it,” McCall answered.
“The effort should have been more visible,” Garthwaite said. “I don’t know Mr. Moran very well, but what did he have to do with the committee?” Moran was not named to the Blue Ribbon Committee as appointed by the Century Town Council.
The 81 page application does not indicate the exact address where the charter school would be located. It simply lists the address as “Hecker Road, Century, Florida”. NorthEscambia.com poised a hypothetical question to the Blue Ribbon Committee: “Could the application allow the Century Community Development Partnership to actually get approved for their own charter school at their legal address of 700 Hecker Road, the old Century High School? If the school board did not close the current Carver/Century K-8 School, could there actually be two schools?”
“That could happen,” Garthwaite said. “There could be two schools.” He said the way the application was written that it was not clear that it was filed to take over the current Carver/Century K-8 School if it should close.
Garthwaite continued several times during the meeting to express his displeasure over the entire application.
“It’s missing any required letters of support or financial plans,” he said. “I just have great problems with the committee named on this document having never seen this document. The people that have wrote this document are not on this committee.”
“The first step would be to sit down with Pastor Stallworth,” Sutton said. “I don’t think this was intended for anything.”
The charter application must undergo a lengthy review process before being considered by the school board.
To read more about the Century Community Development Partnership, click here.
NorthEscambia.com has been unable to contact Stallworth since we began trying Sunday afternoon; our phone calls have not been returned. We were unable to contact Moran Monday night due to the late hour the Blue Ribbon Committee meeting ended. We will attempt to contact both men again on Tuesday.
Pictured above: Blue Ribbon Committee members Rev. Willie Carter (left) and Jeff Garthwaite (right) listen to committee member Brenda Spencer Monday night. NorthEscambia.com photo, click to enlarge.
Who Is the Century Community Development Partnership?
August 12, 2008
The Century Community Development Partnership, Inc. (CCDP) has taken an active role in applying for a charter school in Century without the knowledge of a Blue Ribbon Committee formed by the Town of Century. Documents filed with the state of Florida indicate that no one on the CCDP board of directors is actually from Century.
Irvin Stallworth, the president of the CCDP, is chairman of the town’s Blue Ribbon Committee. The committee acknowledged that they never saw or approved a charter school application that was filed using the name of the Century Blue Ribbon Committee on Education.
According to the 2008 Not-for-Profit Corporation Annual Report filed with the Florida’ Secretary of State’s office, Stallworth is the president of the organization located at 700 East Hecker Road, Suite 104 in Century. That address is the old Century High School, which is leased for $1 per year by Stallworth’s New Life Baptist Church. Stallworth lists his address at 700 Hecker Road on the CCDP corporate papers. On the corporation reports for the New Life Baptist Church of Century, Inc., he lists his address as being on Pomeral Stree in Milton.
Other members listed by the secretary of state’s office as being on the board of directors of the Century Community Development Partnership are:
- La-Vonne Haven, Creighton Road, Pensacola. Haven is executive director of the Gulf Wind Council of Camp Fire U.S.A
- Claudia Curry, North 10th Avenue, Pensacola. Curry is a current member of the Escambia County School Board and a candidate for Escambia County School Superintendent.
- Pat Crawford, University Parkway, Pensacola. Crawford is executive director of WUWF at the University of West Florida.
- Hosea Pittman, Bellview Pines Place, Pensacola. Pittman works for the Florida Department of Corrections.
- Sue Straughn, Mobile Highway, Pensacola. Straughn is an anchorwoman for WEAR-TV
According to the group’s website theccdp.org, Jack Moran is a director and treasurer of the group. The website says Moran is “a retired business management and development consultant living just west of Century.”
The CCDP was formed to “provide relief to the poor, the distressed and the underprivileged by engaging in or support activities to provide affordable housing, create jobs, eliminate blight, and provide needed services,” according to the group’s articles of incorporation adopted on September 4, 2006.
Area Man Travels To Beijing, Site Of The Summer Olympics
August 12, 2008
The 2008 Summer Olympics are well underway this week in Beijing, China. While Beijing may seem a world away and culturally odd to many in North Escambia, one area man that has made multiple visits to China says it is a great place.
Bill Busch, COO of Alto Products Corp. in nearby Atmore, travels to China at least twice per year to visit the company’s sales office in Shenzhen. Shenzhen is about 1200 miles from Beijing, but Busch has paid several visits to Beijing to visit Alto customers.
“Beijing has very, very nice people,” Busch said. “They are very enthusiastic.”
Besides the people, he said he enjoys the city and its culture.
“It is very much like New York City because it is such a big city,” he said. “But it is perhaps a little more modern. It is very Western. There is a Starbucks everywhere, plus you will find companies like KFC, Pizza Hut and McDonalds all over the city.”
“There is still a lot of old culture there, a lot of people that ride bicycles to work,” he said. “I enjoy things like the older parts of the city and the Great Wall; it is very impressive.”
But equally impressive is the “Bird’s Nest”, the main Olympic stadium that Busch has seen first hand.
Busch enjoys the food when he travels to Beijing, a city that announced it was ordering the removal of dog meat from restaurant menus during the Olympics.
“The food I enjoy contains a lot of vegetables and fish,” he said. “It is very different that the Chinese food in restaurants here in the United States.”
“I really, really enjoy visiting Beijing,” he said.
Alto Products is the world’s largest and oldest independently owned and operated transmission clutch manufacturer in the world, having manufactured over a billion clutches in the past 50 years. In addition to the corporate office and manufacturing facility in Atmore, the company operates offices and distribution facilities in California, New Jersey, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Brazil, Germany, India, China, Dubai and Australia.
“China is one of our fastest growing markets right now,” Busch said.
Alto employees many North Escambia residents at their Atmore facility.
Pictured above: Bill Busch (blue shirt, top middle) in the Alto China sales office with Alto employees Albert and John and their families. Submitted photo.