District 5 Candidates Report Campaign Donations
January 15, 2008
Escambia County District 5 incumbent Kevin White continues to lead the fund-raising pack as of the latest financial reports filed by the four candidates for the seat.
As of December 31, White had raised $34,155.00 in contributions, loans and in-kind donations for his campaign. He had spent $431.70. That amount included a $200 donation to the Pensacola Civitan Club, printing and miscellaneous office related expenses. Click here to view White’s campaign finance reports in pdf format.
Chris Washler reports that he had raised $2,569.45 by the last day of December. He had spent $388.25 on his campaign, mostly on printing, a logo and bank charges. Click here to view Washler’s campaign finance reports in pdf format.
John Hartman, the lone Democrat in the race, reported that he had $1,180.00 come into his campaign fund by the end of 2007. He had spent $243.64, mostly on signs and office supplies. Click here to view Hartman’s campaign finance reports in pdf format.
Randall McCrackin reported that he had no campaign income or expenses by December 31. Click here to view McCrackin’s campaign finance reports in pdf format.
The primary election is scheduled for August 26, 2008. The prefile deadline for local offices is noon on May, 19, 2008.
Clicking on any of the pdf links above with load the candidates actual campaign finance report. You can see the name and address of each contributor and the name and address for each expense.
NorthEscambia.com will have complete local election coverage over the coming months.
Area Gas Prices Still Above $3 Gallon; Pcola Cheaper
January 14, 2008
Area gas prices continued to run over $3 a gallon on Sunday, with a variation as much as 20 cents per gallon between stations in Pensacola and some in North Escambia.
The lowest price per gallon for regular unleaded NorthEscambia.com found in Escambia County on Sunday was $2.96 at Sam’s Club on Airport Boulevard. Many other Pensacola area stations were at about $2.99, including the Tom Thumb on Highway 29 in Cantonment.
Ten miles north would cost you another 10 cents per gallon Sunday; the Tom Thumb at the corner of Highway 29 and Highway 97 was selling a gallon of regular unleaded for $3.09 per gallon (pictured left).
Another 19 miles up Highway 29 would cost you yet another couple of cents per gallon Sunday, with a BP station at the corner of Highway 29 and Highway 4 selling a gallon of regular unleaded for $3.11 per gallon (pictured above).
A spot check of other stations around the area found a high of $3.16 per gallon at another station in Century.
The national average Sunday was $3.07 per gallon. That’s about 75 cents per gallon higher than the same time last year. Experts say not to expect any more significant jumps at the pump in the next few weeks until the winter driving season hits its mid-point, unless there is some major international incident.
Catholic Downs Northview Boys And Girls Saturday
January 12, 2008
Catholic High School defeated both the Northview boys and girls Saturday afternoon in Bratt.
The Catholic boys edged past the Chiefs 59-56. Nakita Mytles racked up 27 points on the board for Northview and Tarus Thomas scored 12. Other points: Jocqus Lett 8, Jay Jackson 4, James Lewis 3 and Cordayl Lowery 2.
The Chiefs enter the fourth period down 40-32. They rallied in the final period for 24 points, but still fell shy of the win.
The Catholic girls defeated the Northview girls 55-42. Melissa Garrett downed downed 18 for the Chiefs and Gabe Wesley hit 12. Other points: Timeka Marshall 8, Angela Rodriquez 2 and Brittney Thompson 2.
The Chiefs are next on the road, Thursday in Jay and Friday in South Walton Beach.
Fire Departments Respond To Century Care Center
January 12, 2008
Several area fire departments responded to the Century Care Century early Saturday morning following the report of a fire.
Units from Century, Flomaton and McDavid responded to the call. Reports from the scene reported some smoke in one room from a faulty heater.
Listen To Jim Paul’s Exclusive Interview With NorthEscambia.com
January 11, 2008
Shortly after releasing a statement to the media and employees of the Escambia County Schools, Superintendent Jim Paul conducted an exclusive telephone interview with NorthEscambia.com. You can here that interview in its entirety buy clicking the play button below.
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For the complete story about Paul’s arrest, click here.
Pictured: Jim Paul speaks to NorthEscambia.com from his office Friday afternoon.
Paul Grants Exclusive Interview To NorthEscambia.com
January 11, 2008
Escambia County School Superintendent Jim Paul was arrest and charged with DUI in Pinellas County, Florida early Thursday morning.
Friday afternoon, he granted an exclusive interview with NorthEscambia.com. To here the interview in its entirety, click the play symbol below.
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For the complete story on Paul’s arrest, click here.
School Superintendent Jim Paul Won’t Resign After DUI Arrest; NorthEscambia.com Gets Exclusive Interview
January 11, 2008
Escambia County School Superintendent Jim Paul told NorthEscambia.com that he will not resign after being arrested in Pinellas County, Florida, Thursday morning and charged with DUI. In an exclusive NorthEscambia.com interview, Paul said he made a mistake, and he will be punished for that mistake.
To hear Jim Paul’s exclusive interview with NorthEscambia.com, click here.
In his exclusive interview with NorthEscambia.com, Paul said was at a technology conference funded by Apple Computer. He said he was unable to sleep Wednesday night and decided to play the slot machines at the Hard Rock Casino. He said he had two glasses of wine about 10:30, and then went to his car about 12:30.
“You know, you’ve had a couple of drinks,” he said he told himself at his car. “You don’t need to be driving. That’s the last thing I’ll need for goodness sakes is to be pulled over…so I just sat there…and just read some emails on my Blackberry. And tried to doze for a couple of hours and I would drive back.”
He said a drunk rapped on his car window about 1:30 or 2:00 that morning. “It was kind of a drunk; then I felt silly,” he said. “What I a doing here for goodness sake?”
That’s when he started driving back, and was eventually stopped by Pinellas County deputies.
“I didn’t feel in anyway that I was unable to drive,” he told NorthEscambia.com. “But I’m sure everybody says that who’s had drinks and gets behind the wheel of a car.”
Paul released a statement to school district employees Friday morning. In that statement, he issued an apology to the employees and students of the district and to the community.
“I have strived for the past seven years as superintendent of our school district to exhibit the highest personal standards of conduct as an example to all district stakeholders and have expected the same of our employees and students,” Paul’s statement said..“Obviously, my recent actions have fallen far short of that example and I quite frankly find it difficult to find the appropriate words to relate my remorse for the shame and embarrassment I have brought to my position as the school district’s chief executive and to the school district itself.”
You can read Paul’s statement in its entirety by clicking here (pdf format).
According to a Pinellas County report obtained by NorthEscambia.com, Pinellas County deputies say the incident began when they observed a rented white 2007 Chevrolet Impala speeding and weaving dramatically on the Courtney Campbell Causeway in Clearwater. A sergeant assigned to the DUI Enforcement Unit stopped the vehicle and while speaking with the driver, 60-year-old James Roy Paul of Pensacola, became concerned that he was impaired.
A DUI investigation was initiated and after it was determined that Paul was impaired, he was arrested on one count of misdemeanor driving under the influence. Following his arrest, Paul was transported to the Pinellas County Jail where he was booked at 4:45 a.m. Eastern time. He was allowed to post a $500 bond at 2:34 Eastern time, after spending more than nine hours behind bars.
He submitted to a breath test which measured his breath alcohol level at 0.128. The legal limit in Florida is 0.08. During the investigation Paul was cooperative and identified himself as the Superintendent of the Escambia County School District.
Click here to see the officer’s charge report obtained by NorthEscambia.com.
A court date of February 6, 2008, at 8:30 a.m. has been set in Penellas County for Paul.
Paul was in the Tampa area with Paul Fetsko, an assistant superintendent, and Don Maderson, the district’s technology director, for a technology conference. Paul was alone in the car at the time of his arrest.
The 60 year old Paul was first elected superintendent in 2000 and and re-elected in 2004. His office is up for re-election this year. He qualified as Republican candidate in that election on July 19 of last year. Once other candidate, Democrat Myra L. Simmons of Pensacola has also qualified to run in that race.
Pictured above: Escambia County School Superintendent Jim Paul’s booking photograph from Thursday morning in Pinellas County obtained by NorthEscambia.com.
Blog: Mr. Paul, Let’s Talk: My Kids Have Questions
January 11, 2008
As first reported here at NorthEscambia.com Thursday morning, Escambia County Superintendent of Schools Jim Paul was arrested for DUI in South Florida early Thursday morning.
Mr. Paul…let’s talk. My kids have questions.
Both of my girls are students in your school district. One is a bouncy first grader, age six. The other is a maturing young lady in the fourth grade, age 10.
They got off the school bus Thursday afternoon as they do every day. Ran down the driveway and bounded in the door. The oldest one is pretty smart for her age. She’s loves to read. She loves to write. She’s taken a great interest in what I do on NorthEscambia.com everyday, and often goes with me to cover some of the feature stories here.
When the girls got home Thursday afternoon, the oldest asked me what I had written about during the day. I had to tell her first about you, Mr. Paul. Like I said, she’s a bright kid, and she had an idea who you are.
DUI, I told her. She’s been taught about alcohol, and she knows that it’s a bad thing. And she knows that you can’t drink and drive.
“Isn’t he Mrs. Pomeroy’s boss,” she asked. Mrs. Pomeroy is her principal at Bratt Elementary. I told her yes.
“Isn’t he suppose to tell her what to do,” she asked. Again, I told her yes.
“If he was drinking that stuff and driving around,” said my youngest daughter, “is my teacher going to do that? I don’t want my teacher to do that. That’s bad.” Let me remind you that she’s just six.
Mr. Paul, I want you to read that last paragraph again. Think about it and try to understand it with the mind of a little child.
I’m going to repeat it for you. “If he was drinking that stuff and driving around is my teacher going to do that? I don’t want my teacher to do that. That’s bad.”
At six, she loves her teacher. She looks up to her, and looks up to the example she sets. She understands, Mr. Paul, that you are in a position of responsibility over her principal and over her teacher…her hero. She understands that adults are to set examples for children.
This is not about politics. This is not about whether or not you should resign. It’s not about any of that you’ve certainly heard and read in the media the past day.
This is about the simple thought process of a child. The teachers in our county are our children’s heros, mentors and friends. My six year old does not get politics. She gets the fact that you did something very wrong as her teacher’s boss.
This is about my children. This is about the thousands of children in our district. Sure, the middle school and high school students are going to understand what you did. They are going to get it.
But my six year old does not get it. I want you to explain it to her.
We are all listening.
UPDATE: Mr. Paul did respond to these questions in an exclusive interview with NorthEscambia.com Friday afternoon. To hear that interview in its entirety, click here.
No Serious Injuries In Hwy 29 School Bus Crash
January 11, 2008
There were no serious injuries when a school bus and car collided at the intersection of Highway 29 and Well Line Road in Cantonment Friday afternoon.
There were no children on the bus at the time of the 1:03 p.m. crash. Florida Highway Patrol troopers say the bus, driven by Judy Pierce of Cantonment, pulled in front of a 1993 Chevrolet driven by Kevin Folse of Pensacola. Folse sustained minor injuries and was treated at the scene.
Pierce was charged with violation of the right of way at an intersection, according to the FHP report.
County Honors Walnut Hill Man For 37 Years Service To FHP
January 11, 2008
The Escambia County Commission Thursday night passed a proclamation honoring Harold O. “Sonny” Blum of Walnut Hill for 37 years of service as an auxiliary trooper.
Sonny joined the Florida Highway Patrol Auxiliary on March 27, 1970. During his 37 years volunteering with the auxiliary, he logged over 30,000 hours of service. That would be almost three and a half years at 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
NorthEscambia.com sat down with Sonny Wednesday night at his Walnut Hill home. When we contacted him, he had no idea that the county was going to honor him with the proclamation the next evening. He was a bit surprised, he said, as be began to relate a tale 37 years in the making.
“I got into it because a buddy of mine got into it,” he said. “I enjoyed working with them, and I know that I am going to miss it.”
“We’ve had some good times. We’ve had some bad times,” he said.
During those 37 years with the FHP, Sonny became the first auxiliary trooper to ever be awarded Trooper of the Year. He was awarded Trooper of the Year a second time, and was also awarded the highway patrol’s Medal of Valor.
His first Trooper of Year award and the Medal of Valor were awarded after he and fellow trooper Johnny Freeman rescued two teenage boys from drowning in the Gulf of Mexico.
Sonny remembers that day in 1996 like it was yesterday.
“We happened to be down there talking to a ranger (near the Gulf) on Johnson Beach Road,” he said. “Then there was a call on the radio that kids were drowning in the Gulf behind the condo we happened to be at. They were being pulled out by the undertow.”
“We knew we had to do something,” he said. He had never been trained in water rescue. But off came the gun belt and other equipment, and into the waters of the Gulf he and Freeman went, pulling the boys to safety. “They were just so young, like 13 or 14.”
The two Mississippi boys were visiting with relatives in Pensacola.
Mississippi holds some of Sonny’s worst memories. Prior to joining the FHP Auxiliary, he volunteered for REACT — the Radio Emergency Associated Communication Team. REACT volunteer teams would volunteer to assist with various emergencies.
Sonny’s REACT team was sent to Biloxi after Hurricane Camille. Their job was going to be simple…assist victims in contacting their families across the country to let them know that they were okay using HAM radios.
“It was terrible.”
He sat quiet for a moment.
“It was terrible; it was a mess,” he said. “There were 20 something bodies floating. They had a hurricane party. None of them had survived.”
“There was this lady. There was this lady. Her trailer was gone, but the railing on her steps was still there. She was still holding onto the railing. She had drowned. She had drowned holding onto that railing. She was just there, still holding on.”
Not all of the memories are bad. Well, at least not bad in the same way as the Camille story.
It was 1994. The scene was an ordinary day, on patrol in an Escambia County neighborhood. A lady flagged them down on a residential street.
“My daughter is having a baby in the bathroom,” she told Sonny.
“I’d rather have worked an armed robbery,” he said.
Sonny delivered the baby in the bathroom of the home before the fire department and ambulance personnel arrived. The cord was tied off with a hair clip. The baby did not breathe at first. Mouth cleaned out. Nothing. Patted on the rear. Nothing. Held upside down and patted on the feet. Crying. “That was a good moment,” he said.
The baby girl was wrapped in Sonny’s FHP jacket. He met the firemen at the door, baby in hand. “You’re running a little late,” he told them.
There was almost another baby delivery in Sonny’s future. He and his partner had just left Sacred Heart Hospital. They found a van stopped in the street near the hospital, traffic blocked. A lady in labor did not think she was going to make the short distance to the hospital ER.
His partner called the ER and had them on standby.
“We ARE going to make this one,” he told his partner. “We drove her really fast to the ER, and they were standing out there waiting.”
It was a close call. But nothing like one he experienced at a pawn shop on Fairfield Drive.
He and his partner were the first on the scene of a break-in at the pawn shop.
“They were stealing guns. One came out with a shotgun. We told him to drop it. But he didn’t,” Sonny said.
“When you pull the trigger slowly on your gun, there’s like this little click when the hammer pulls back. I keep telling him to drop his weapon. I squeezed the trigger on my gun. I felt the click. At that point, you are so close to firing.”
“Then he dropped the shotgun. I caught the hammer of my weapon with my hand. It was so close. I thanked God that I did not have to shoot anybody.”
“I always wondered what would happen in a situation like that. I never got shook up until after it was over.”
Now that his 37 years of service is over, the 70 year-old looks back fondly on all those years in the auxiliary. He pauses for a moment when asked about the length of time, as if he realizes just how long 37 years is.
“I did a lot of things. A lot of things. It’s been a long time.”
He will turn 71 on Valentine’s Day. Thirty seven years of service to the FHP. That’s over half of his life dedicated to service the citizens of Escambia County in the trooper auxiliary.
But he’s not done with life. In fact, he gets up every weekday morning at about 4:00 and leaves for work in Pensacola before 5:00. That’s right…work.
He works weekdays from 6:00 until 2:30 at Pensacola Glass Company, mostly running deliveries.
And by the way…he’s not driving what’s typically thought of as an older person’s vehicle. No big car for Sonny. Weather permitting, he rides a motorcycle to and from work in Pensacola.
He plans a little cross country motorcycle trip to see a daughter in California later this year. He plans to work on his house, plans to add a bull to his pasture, and just plans to enjoy living in Walnut Hill.
“It so peaceful here,” he said. “I love it up here out of the hustle and bustle of Pensacola. Everybody is so nice here.”
“I may be retired, but if anybody in this community needs me, all they have to do is ask and I’ll be there to help them.”
Thirty seven years of community service. And still counting.