FCAT Preparation Made Fun
February 9, 2008
The FCAT exams being next week in Escambia County, and North Escambia Schools have been busy preparing students for the annual tests.
This next week, students in grades four, eight and ten will take the writing portion of the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test. Students in grades six, seven and nine will take the Escambia Writes! test, a district test similar to the FCAT.
Friday, students at Bryneville Elementary School learned more about writing from Kent and Gloria Fox and their puppet Sally. Mr. Fox was an MCA Recording artist and is a songwriter and videographer. Mrs. Fox is children’s author and illustrator, and is a nationally recognized puppeteer. They travel to elementary and middle schools motivating students to learn writing and other skills. They also recently appeared at Bratt Elementary School.
Pictured above, left to right: Sally, Gloria Fox and Kent Fox at Bryneville Elementary School Friday morning. Pictured below: Gloria Fox speaks about writing to Byrneville fourth graders.
Move Over American Idol: Northview’s Got Talent
February 9, 2008
Move over American Idol, because Northview’s Got Talent. And they’re going to prove it.
A talent show series entitled “Northview’s Got Talent” kicked off Friday night at the school. In the spirit of American Idol, three judges offered a critique of each performer.
Entrants ranged from soloists, to a complete band to a comical impersonation of President George Bush.
The event will continue at 6:00 February 15 and March 1 in the theater. Admission is $5 for each performance; tickets will be available in the front office. Northview parents, faculty and students are encouraged to participate.
An entry fee of $10 will be required for each act. For more info contact Northview Performing arts at 327 6681 ext 224.
For a photo gallery from Friday night’s edition of “Northview’s Got Talent”, click here.
Pictured above: One of the entrants sings Daughtry’s “Home”. Below, left to right, judges Todd Corder, an area musician; Landon Manning, band director at T.R. Miller High School in Brewton; and Luke Manning, band director at Brewton Middle School.
Three Part Series Coming Monday: Helicopter Technologies, Van Nevel And Inside A Federal Raid
February 9, 2008
Federal officials conducted a raid at Helicopter Technologies in Century back on January 9. Combat gear, a sniper in the woods, windows busted for an entry team…all part of the raid according to the company’s owner, George Van Nevel.
Van Nevel says he’s done nothing wrong and years of harassment by the Federal Aviation Administration is just vindictive because he’s not one “of the good old boys”.
NorthEscambia.com will begin a three part series about Helicopter Technologies and Van Nevel on Monday morning.
Monday, we’ll take a look at Van Nevel and his business prior to the federal raid, including what he has to say about the crash of one his helicopters shortly after it left Century.
Tuesday, we’ll take you to that January morning when the federal raid happened through Van Nevel’s eyes. And we’ll learn what he has to say about why the whole thing happened.
Finally, on Wednesday morning, we’ll look at the present and the future of Helicopter Technologies, Van Nevel and how all this relates to the Town of Century and the entire North Escambia area.
You’ll read Van Nevel’s colorful comments word for word in this series. We’ll go inside the factory in the Century Industrial Park with exclusive NorthEscambia.com photos. We won’t just tell you what some of the documents related to this case say, we’ll show you the actual documents that NorthEscambia.com obtained.
Join NorthEscambia.com Monday morning as we begin our exclusive in-depth series
Covenant Hospice Looks For More Walnut Hill Area Involvement
February 8, 2008
Covenant Hospice currently serves about 100 patients in north Escambia and Santa Rosa counties, and they want to increase public knowledge and support for the organization’s programs in the Walnut Hill area.
Sally Cary (pictured left), volunteer services manager for Covenant Hospice, told the Walnut Hill Ruritan Club Thursday night that she wants to hold several public meetings at the club’s Walnut Hill Community Center. Those meetings will be to educate the public about hospice care and allow members of the Walnut Hill and surrounding communities to become involved with the program.
“We take care of people in life ending situations,” she said. When a doctor decides that a patient is terminally ill, a hospice case manager is brought in. Then a team is assigned to that patient, a team that includes doctors, nurses, home health aides and volunteers.
“Those volunteers are important, and that is where you can become involved with hospice,” Cary told the Ruritan Club members. Volunteers do everything from providing companionship to patients, to running errands to mowing the lawn for the terminally ill.
All services provided by Covenant Hospice are free to the patient and family. They do bill private insurance and various government programs like Medicare. But if the patient has no insurance or government assistance, all Covenant Hospice services are free.
“It does not matter to us if you can pay or not,” Cary said. “We take everyone. There is never a cost to the patient or family.”
Covenant Hospice’s services are not limited to the elderly, but persons of any age facing end of life situations. Their current patients in the area include two children.
The program also provided bereavement specialists to families, not just of the terminally ill, but even to the families of accident victims.
“We are there, and we will always be there to help families through their situation,” Cary said.
Covenant Hospice is also actively involved at the Century Care Center in Century where they hold programs where nursing home residents often make items for hospice patients.
Cary said the Walnut Hill Mennonite Church currently has a project underway to provide lap blankets for hospice patients.
For more information on Covenant Hospice and the group’s services, visit them online at www.covenanthospice.org or call 1-800-541-3072.
Commission Honors Libraries; Disagrees About Hiring County Attorney
February 8, 2008
The Escambia County Commission agreed to honor the county’s library system at their Thursday night meeting, but they disagreed about the hiring of a new county attorney.
The commission approved a proclamation declaring February as “Library Appreciation Month” in Escambia County. The West Florida Library, which serves Escambia County, has five branches. One of those branches opened almost a year ago in Century.
“I’d just like to thank this board for supporting and doing the branch in Century that we’ve done,” District 5 Commissioner Kevin White told the commission. “I want to thank the board for allowing me to be able to do that and help those folks up there.”
In other business, the commissioners disagreed about the hiring of a new county attorney to replace retiring attorney Janet Lander.
Commissioner Gene Valentino made a motion during the add-on section of the meeting that the county hire Assistant County Attorney Allison Perdue as the new county attorney with an annual salary of $139,500. The add-on section of the meeting allows commissioners to add items not on the agenda, items that the public has no prior notice about.
Valentino told the commission that there were three other applicants for the job, but none had certifications as high as Perdue.
The other commissioners all expressed concern not about hiring Perdue, but about hiring her during the add-on portion of the meeting with no prior public notification.
Commission Chairman Mike Whitehead said his only concern was about reading in the newspaper “that we hired an attorney on an add item”.
Valentino withdrew his motion after a lengthy discussion. The hiring of a county attorney will be referred to the county’s personnel department for further review.
Perdue currently serves as deputy county attorney. She joined the Escambia County Attorney’s office in 1999, handling mostly land use, growth management and local goverment law issues.
Pictured above: The Century Branch Library.
Escambia County Schools Pull Beef Possibly From “Downer” Cows; Federal Investigation Underway
February 8, 2008
Escambia County schools have stopped serving beef that was processed by a California Company that allegedly processed “downed cows”.
A video tape made by the Humane Society of the United States allegedly shows workers at the Westland Meat Company in Chino, California, prodding downer cows — those unable to walk— with forklifts, high-pressure water hoses and electric prods to force them to walk to the slaughterhouse. It is illegal in the United States to process a downer cow into the food supply because it could be a sign of a serious illness.
The video by the humane society was taped in the fall but only recently released.
“Had we known at the time the alleged violations occurred, we would have initiated our investigation sooner, and taken appropriate actions at that time,” a news release from U.S. Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer said. “I am deeply concerned about the allegations made regarding inhumane handling of non-ambulatory disabled cattle in a federally inspected slaughter establishment.”
“Words cannot accurately express how shocked and horrified I was at the depictions contained on the video that was taken by an individual who worked at our facility from October 3 thru November 14, 2007,” Westland Meat President Steve Mendell said in a written statement. That statement goes on to say that Westland has suspended its operations pending the outcome of the federal investigation.
The meat in question that was served or to be served in Escambia County schools was further processed into country fried steak and charbroiled patties for hamburgers by a company called Prairie Foods, according to Escambia School District Food Services Director Glenna Taylor. All beef from Westland Meat has been placed on “hold” and will not be served to students until that hold is released by the USDA.
It is important to note that the meat is on “hold” and a “hold” is not a “recall” where the meat has been determined to be a health risk and must be destroyed.
“‘Hold’ means that the product must be quarantined and clearly marked that it cannot be distributed or used until further notice. It is usually the first step taken by USDA whenever there’s a question about a commodity’s safety/fitness for human consumption, meeting specifications, etc. It allows USDA time to investigate and decide what needs to be done,” Gloria M. Van Treese, Chief of the Bureau of Food Distribution with Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services said.
“There has been absolutely no contamination found in the products,” Taylor told NorthEscambia.com. “But we are certainly following the direction of the USDA and will not serve it.”
“We have absolute faith in our food services department,” Northview High School Principal Gayle Weaver said Thursday afternoon. “In no way would we ever endanger our students.”
Hamburgers were on the menu and served at schools across North Escambia Thursday. Taylor assured NorthEscambia.com that the meat served to students in those burgers was not from Westland Meat and was perfectly safe. Other hamburger meat dishes such as spaghetti served in our schools contain hamburger meat processed by other companies.
NorthEscambia.com will continue to monitor this story and keep you informed.
Cyndi Marlow Express Gratitude To Community Following Tragic Accident
February 8, 2008
Richard Danny Marlow, 40, Drew Marlow, 2, both of Molino, and Joyce McGahan, 70, of Cantonment, died in a tragic January 28 accident in Walnut Hill.
Cyndi Marlow, Danny’s wife and Drew’s mother, has expressed her gratitude to the entire community for their support following the accident. Dozens of NorthEscambia.com readers left words of prayer and encouragement on a Memorial Message Board.
“I just wanted to say thank you to the entire community for the outpouring of love and support that has surrounded my family at our time of tremendous loss,” Cyndi told NorthEscambia.com in an email Thursday.
“We have been overwhelmed by the many acts of kindness we have received. Your kind words and prayers have helped us as we try to make it through each day,” she continued.
“Also, I’d like to say a special thank you to William,” she said. “The blog you wrote about Drew touched my heart. Thank you for those sweet words.”
NorthEscambia.com Publisher William Reynolds wrote a blog entry entitled “Go Home Truck” about the accident and the a few days after the accident. You can read that blog entry by clicking here.
You can read the story about the accident by clicking here.
McLaughlin Named Escambia County’s New Administrator
February 8, 2008
The Escambia County Commission hired former Interim County Administrator Bob McLaughlin as the county’s new administrator Thursday night at an annual salary of $145,000.
The county’s five commissioners spent over six hours interviewing the six top applicants for the position in a public meeting on January 26. The commissioners voted 5-0 to recommend McLaughlin for the post.
Individual commissioners had the opportunity to meet privately with each applicant prior to the public interview process. There were originally 38 candidates. That list was narrowed to seven, with one person dropping out before the interview process.
McLaughlin has been an assistant county administrator since 2002. He went to work for the county in 1996 as deputy public works director after 23 years with the Army Corps of Engineers.
He replaces George Touart who resigned amid allegations that he conducted personal business with companies doing business with the county.
Willie Taylor, a current Assistant County Administrator, was the other local finalist. He has been with Escambia County since 2006.
Other finalists were Betty M. Baker, Administrative Services Director, Alachua County, Florida; Pamela Brangaccio, former County Administrator, Broward County, Florida; Dennis W. Kelly, Deputy City Manager, City of North Miami, Florida; and Charles R. Oliver, City Manager, City of Peoria, Illinois.
Byrneville Elementary Faces Fine Over Half A Student
February 7, 2008
Byrneville Elementary School was one of 31 school across Florida to be fined for failing to meet Florida’s class-size amendment.
The state recommend a $1,963 penalty against the Byrneville charter school for what the principal says amounts to half of a child too many.
Byrneville Principal Dee Wolfe-Sullivan says her school averaged 22.5 students per class in the fourth and fifth grade when numbers were collected by the state last fall. The state mandates a maximum average of 22 students per class in fourth and fifth grades. The rules also call for a maximum of 18 in kindergarten to third grade classes.
One student has since withdrawn from the fifth grade, leaving the school in compliance at the maximum average of 22 students per class in the fourth and fifth grades.
“Because of that, I’ve had to turn students away,” Wolfe-Sullivan told NorthEscambia.com. “And that is just terrible because we are suppose to be a school of choice. But there’s nothing I can do about this; I feel very helpless.”
“A teacher when you count base pay and benefits like insurance can cost you $40,000 a year,” she said. “I just don’t have that kind of funding for half a student.”
Since 2004, Byrneville has added one teacher per year to keep up with the school’s growth, Wolfe-Sullivan said. She stressed that the school meets or exceeds all other state requirements; the school just had one student too many in a class.
In December, Byrnevile Elementary submitted an appeal letter to the Florida Department of Education. That appeal has since been denied.
“Seeing the situation coming, we addressed the possibility of hiring yet another teacher, but found that adding another salary and fringe benefits for half a student was not financially feasible or fiscally sound for our school,” the letter says.
To read the complete letter, click here.
Pictured above: Byrneville Elementary Principal Dee Wolfe-Sullivan with her fourth and fifth grade students at lunch Wednesday. NorthEscambia.com photos. Click either photo to enlarge.
Jim Paul Does Not Appear In Court, Next Hearing Date Set
February 7, 2008
School Superintendent Jim Paul’s next court hearing on his Pinellas County DUI charge has been set for March 25. His pre-trial hearing was yesterday, but he was not present. Instead, he relied on his attorney, Frank Russo from St. Petersburg to act on his behalf.
Paul was arrested January 10 near Clearwater, FL, and charged with DUI after his blood alcohol level was tested at 0.128. The legal limit in Florida is 0.08. Deputies said they spotted Paul’s rental car speeding and “weaving dramatically”.
“I didn’t feel in anyway that I was unable to drive,” he told NorthEscambia.com in an exclusive interview on January 11, just one day after his arrest. “But I’m sure everybody says that who’s had drinks and gets behind the wheel of a car.”
“There is no excuse, there’s no rational explanation for what happened. I did something that was against the law. And it was nobody’s fault but my own,” was Paul’s opening statement in his exclusive NorthEscambia.com interview. Click here to hear this comment from Paul in mp3 format.
To hear Paul’s complete exclusive interview with NorthEscambia.com, click here.