Chiefs Beat Mobile Christian (Updated With Stats)
March 3, 2009
The NHS Chiefs beat Mobile Christian on the road Monday night, 6-4 in eight innings.
Northview scored one in the third, one in the fifth, two in the 7th, and two in the 8th.
Mobile Christian picked up two runs in the 4th, and added two in the 7th.
Brad Lowery pitched 6 innings and gave up two runs on five hits, walked four and struck out eight. Brett Hanks pitched the final two innings and got the win. He allowed two runs on no hits, and struck out four.
Northview hitters:
Brad Foster 2 hits, 2 runs, 2 RBI.
Dabney Langhorne 1 single
Austin Lowery 1 single
Luke Killam 1 single
Dakota Stuckey 1 single
The Chiefs are now 3-2 on the season.
Have Frontier Telephone Voice Mail? It Changes Today
March 3, 2009
If you have voice mail service from Frontier, there have been changes made to your service with an all-new voice mail system.
The new voice mail system includes several state of the art features not available with the company’s former system.
Some of the new features available with the new Frontier voice mail include the ability to check voice mail online, forward messages to an email address and even received faxes. Some of the new features may cost an additional $1 to $2 depending on your current service package.
In order to use the new voice mail service, you will be required to access the new mailbox, choose a new PIN pass code and record a new greeting.
All Frontier customers received a letter in the mail explaining the new voice mail system and options.
A copy of that letter is available clicking here.
For a sheet with voice mail instructions click here.
In our area, Frontier provides local telephone service in the Walnut Hill, Bratt and Davisville 327 exchange, the Molino 587 exchange and the Atmore 368 exchange.
Ordinary Business For Century Council
March 3, 2009
The Monday night meeting of the Century Town Council was very ordinary and usually short.
The council approved minutes from their last two meetings with a few changes, and they approved paying the town’s bills.
Council member Gary Riley reported that no decisions had been made yet on a location for a cold weather shelter for the town.
Council member Henry Hawkins questioned potential problems from forgiving water bills for Backwoods Road residents while they wait for water improvements.
Council member Nadine McCaw referenced an article on NorthEscambia.com Sunday morning that warned area residents to be wary of scam letters that have been sent to several North Escambia residents. Read the story here.
“Our citizens need to be very careful,” McCaw said.
Century Mayor Freddie McCall was not at Monday night’s meeting. He is recovered from surgery last week. Council member Sharon Scott was also not at the meeting.
Another Local Family Heads Off On ‘Snow Quest’
March 3, 2009
We published a blog Monday morning on NorthEscambia.com about a “Snow Chaser” trip Sunday from North Escambia to Montgomery to see snow.
It turns out that the NorthEscambia.com family was not the only family to hit the highways Sunday.
The Diamond family of Jay did the same, heading all the way to Calloway Gardens in Georgia. They took some incredible pictures along the way, and wanted to share.
In response to our Monday blog, Ashley Burkett wrote:
My family did the same thing! My parents decided that since the grandkids had asked Santa for snow this year that when they heard there would be snow, we loaded up. Papa, Grammy, Aunt Ashley (to two kids, Momma to the other 2) and all 4 grandkids… We went to Calloway Gardens in Pine Mountain, Ga. We usually go there twice a year; once during the summer and once for the Christmas lights so who says we can’t go at the drop of a hat… We named it the 2009 Diamond’s Great Snow Quest…. It was awesome and unbelievable. When we called Calloway Gardens to make reservations, they told us that the snow probably wouldn’t stick… boy did we show that lady! We got stuck in the snow and then unstuck and still played for hours and hours yesterday and this morning before heading back to Jay, Florida!! We had an amazing time, kids and adults!!!!
For a look at their pictures, click here.
Pictured above: A Jay family took this photo after heading to Georgia to see snow over the weekend. Submitted photo for NorthEscambia.com.
Byrneville Principal Takes Issue With Comments In PNJ; Says School Is Not Racial Biased
March 2, 2009
The principal of Byrneville Elementary School is speaking out after a Sunday article in the Pensacola News Journal that includes terms like “white flight” to describe the predominantly white school.
The article quotes Sandra Edwards, director of the county’s school choice office as say that white children in the Carver/Century K-8 School attendance zone would “find a reason” to transfer to Byrneville or Bratt.
About 12 percent of Byrneville’s students are minorities; at Bratt, that number is 21 percent. The PNJ articles states that of the 130 students in the Carver/Century zone that attend Byrneville, only four are black.
“Sandra Edwards’ remarks about the pending closing of Carver Century School, quoted in the article in the Pensacola News-Journal March 1 edition, imply that Byrneville Elementary School, Inc., a charter school, is racially biased. That is false,” Byrneville Principal Dee Wolfe-Sullivan told NorthEscambia.com Sunday evening.
Wolfe-Sullivan points out that figures that state 130 students are leaving Carver/Century to attend Byrneville are misleading. When the district voted to close Byrneville, it became a charter school ran by a board of directors rather than directly by the Escambia County School Board. The former Byrneville district was eliminated; students that lived near Byrneville Elementary suddenly were with the Carver/Century zone.
“Edwards’ statement that 130 of our students are in the Carver Century zone is misleading. The zone for Carver Century was expanded by the District to include the old Byrneville zone the same year the District closed Byrneville and we opened as a charter school. Our students never left the Byrneville zone to attend Carver Century,” Wolfe-Sullivan said.
NorthEscambia.com was unable to reach Edwards for comment Sunday night due to the school district office being closed.
Wolfe-Sullivan stressed that Byrneville is not a racially biased school in any manner.
“Since we opened as a charter school we have admitted the children who came to us, black, Native American, Latino, Asian, and white,” she said.
What Will Happen To Byrneville Elementary?
In an exclusive story on January 22, NorthEscambia.com explored how Byrneville might be impacted by the closure of Carver/Century K-8 School. That closure is expected to be finalized at a March 17 meeting of the Escambia County School Board.
The facts are simple: Only about 44 percent of the students in the Carver/Century district actually attend the school. On the elementary level, 126 attend Carver/Century, 130 attend Byrneville Elementary and 32 attend Bratt Elementary. But where will the 126 elementary children at Carver/Century end up next year?
The official answer is Bratt Elementary, because Century will become part of Bratt’s district.
But Dee Wolfe–Sullivan, principal at Byrneville, feels like many parents and guardians may choose to send their children to her school rather than having them bused to Bratt. Byrneville Elementary is a charter school ran under district guidelines but under its own set of rules; those rules would allow Byrneville to accept Carver students.
“Some of those parents will want to enroll their children here,” Wolfe-Sullivan said. “But the issue becomes if we have room or not.”
There are currently 166 students at Byrneville, and the school only has a capacity of about 200.
“It is possible that applications may exceed our capacity next year if Carver Century is closed. We will continue to follow our own board’s admissions preference policy, which does not regard race or minority status. That policy gives first preference to students who live in the original (District system) zone; then dependents of staff and board members; then siblings of students; and then any Florida student,” she said.
In our January 22 story, NorthEscambia.com presented a “what if” scenario to Wolfe-Sullivan. “What if the school board closed Carver/Century and then offered the Carver/Century facility to Byrneville Elementary?” we asked.
“We have not discussed the Carver/Century building, so I would have no comment at the present time,” she said.
“If parents want to send their child to Byrneville, we certainly welcome them,” Wolfe-Sullivan added. “We are a small school. Every teacher knows every child, and they know most of the families. It is a great atmosphere.”
Pictured top: Byrneville Principal Dee Wolfe-Sullivan at lunch with a group of students. NorthEscambia.com file photo, click to enlarge.
Mayor Says Something Must Change After Century Loses Car Plant
March 2, 2009
Century Mayor Freddie McCall knows it won’t be easy to find another company willing to invest millions in his town and provide a 1,000 good jobs.
When LHS EV found out last week that they were not getting a $2.5 million state grant, they promptly announced that they were no longer considering Century for their electric car assembly plant.
Company officials announced that they were still considering an Alabama location for the plant, and that did not surprise McCall.
“We all know that Alabama is more free with money for industry than Florida,” the mayor said. “Something has got to change if Florida is going to compete with Alabama.”
McCall said he is disappointed that the town lost LHS EV and their promised jobs. But taking the roll of the eternal optimist, the first-term mayor is not yet waiving the white flag of defeat.
“We are still willing to work with them (LHS), but I understand if it does not work out,” McCall said. “But we are not going to give up. We are going to look for somebody else to bring jobs to Century.”
While he would not mention specifics, McCall said there was another company considering Century.
“We are going to keep our fingers crossed right now on another company,” he said.
Cutoff Date Approaching For Three Farm Bill Programs
March 2, 2009
The USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) has announced March 13, 2009, as the cutoff date for three Farm Bill conservation programs.
All applications for the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), the Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program (WHIP), and the Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP) will be accepted until close of business on March 13, 2009.
EQIP and WHIP offer financial and technical assistance to install structural and management practices on eligible non-federal lands to address natural resource concerns and wildlife habitat restoration. Conservation treatment activities for EQIP and WHIP are carried out in accordance to a conservation plan that is developed with the landowner or manager.
State-wide priorities for EQIP include erosion control, water quality, water quantity, animal / plant health and confined livestock operations. Priorities for WHIP include habitat restoration on scrubby flatwoods, pine rocklands, tropical hammocks, and native grasslands for bobwhite quail. Individual county priorities may vary slightly due to locally established objectives.
The Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP) is a voluntary program that provides technical and financial assistance to private landowners and Tribes to restore, protect and enhance wetlands in exchange for retiring eligible land from agriculture.
For additional details on these Farm Bill programs and for specific eligibility requirements to participate, contact the Escambia County, FL USDA NRCS office at (850) 587-5404 ext. 3. Or stop by 151 Highway 97, Molino (Escambia County Farm Bureau Building).
Northview Groups Helps Gulf Coast Kid’s House
March 2, 2009
Northview High School’s FCCLA program recently conducted a fundraiser to support the Gulf Coast Kid’s House. The FCCLA worked in conjunction with the Escambia Farm Bureau Women’s Committee.
FCCLA (Family, Career, & Community Leaders of America) members sold Valentine Grams to students at Northview High School. The funds were then used to purchase personal care items for the Kid’s House.
The Gulf Coast Kid’s House is a center where abused and neglected children receive services from a number of agencies. While the Kid’s House is located in Pensacola and serves all of Escambia County, a fair number of the children served are from our area.
The FCCLA is the leadership program of the Family & Consumer Science Department at Northview High School.
Pictured above: FCCLA members Kayla Rentz and Allie Vidak organize items purchased for the Gulf Coast Kid’s House. Submitted photo for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Blog: Our ‘Snow Chaser’ Mission To Find The White Stuff, Snow Photos
March 2, 2009
NorthEscambia.com took our coverage all the way to Montgomery Sunday afternoon on a “Snow Chaser” mission, and we’ve posted a photo gallery of our trip.
If you’ve ever lived north of Birmingham, you might as well not read beyond this point, because you are probably going to laugh.
My children have never seen real snow. Born in Florida, raised in Florida and being less than 16 years old, they are not old enough to remember the “Big Snow of 1993″ that we had here in North Escambia.
We read the forecast with great anticipation Saturday night when the National Weather Service mentioned snow in our forecast here across the northern part of Florida. But by Sunday morning, the word “snow” was gone from the forecast. Looking at the temperatures and radar, we knew that snow was not going to happen in our part of the world.
But looking at the radar, we saw that snow was headed for Montgomery. But would it stick? We were not sure. I watched live video cameras on a Montgomery TV station’s web site. Not sticking. Keep checking back over the next hour or so. Hmm…the ground in Montgomery was turning white. There it was, just 140 short miles from our house was that snow. The mere mention of snow makes my two girls giddy with excitement. Here was the chance to be super dad.
“Girls…bundle up! We are headed to Montgomery to see snow!” I said. The screams of excitement were deafening. Better than Christmas morning.
If you have ever seen “Storm Chasers” on the Discovery Channel, that was my family Sunday morning. We were prepared. We had the laptop out in the car (pictured left), watching the weather radar as we headed up I-65 at a speed we won’t mention.
Near Georgiana, Ala., (the birthplace of Hank Williams, Jr., in case you didn’t know) we hit S-N-O-W. This was not that little stare to see a flake kind of snow, but what any Florida resident would call a flurry. It was coming down at an incredible rate. The kids were very impressed. Mom and dad were impressed. We don’t have photos to share, because the camera was in the trunk. Sorry.
We stopped at the next exit, Greenville, and the kids go to play in the falling snow for the first time in their lives. It was better than Disney World.
While there, I failed as a reporter. I was so excited taking pictures of the kids playing in the snow, I only took one photo of the snowfall without the kids. That’s the one I’ve shared at the top of the page.
The snow in Greenville was not sticking to anything, so we decided to head further north. Just a couple of miles north of Greenville, the snow was one the ground and stuck to the windward side of trees. Very pretty. We’ve posted photos in the gallery linked at the bottom of the page. Some of the photos are little blurry because they were taken at 80 mph.
We stopped at the next exit, Ft. Deposit (home of Priester’s Pecans), where the girls had a chance to make real snowballs and toss them at each other. They were amazed.
Based upon the radar images we were watching in the car, we tried to get to the east side of Montgomery before it stopped. We did not know about the 8.5 foot wide lanes and the road construction on I-65. Oops. We hoping to find something like the picture to the left. Roy Tarbutton, who lives in Maryland but has a home in Walnut Hill, sent us this picture this morning of the five inches of snow on his Maryland deck. He’s expecting more snow today, delaying a planned trip to Walnut Hill.
While Montgomery saw a good bit of snow on the ground prior to our arrival, we just managed to see a lot of grassy areas with snow and many neighborhoods where rooftops were totally white. By the time we caught up with our snowstorm we were chasing on the east side of Montgomery, there were just a few flurries.
We did manage to scrape snow off another person’s car in a parking lot and make a few more snowballs.
While our photos are not as impressive as the ones you no doubt saw on the TV news of Alabama’s snowfall, I just wanted to share our little NorthEscambia.com “Snow Tracker” mission. There’s something about snow that just brings out the kid in all of us as we watch in amazement.
As for when the “Big Snow of 1993″ will repeat here in Florida, we don’t know. But our fingers are crossed….
Click here for photo gallery from our trip.
Pictured top: Snow falling in Greenville, Ala. Sunday. Pictured top middle: Our “Storm Chasers” setup, watching the radar in the car as the snow falls outside on I-65 south of Montgomery. Pictured bottom middle: Roy Tarbutton, who lives in Maryland but has a home in Walnut Hill, sent us this picture this morning of the five inches of snow on his Maryland deck Pictured below: Snow cover the side of I-65 near Ft. Deposit, Ala. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Deputies Warn Of Scam Letter Sent To North Escambia Residents
March 1, 2009
The Escambia County Sheriff’s Department is warning area residents not become victim of a scam that has cost North Escambia residents thousands of dollars.
The scam begins with a letter with a Canadian postmark, according to Senior Deputy David Preston. The letter states that the recipient is the third grand prize winner in a National Geographic sweepstakes with a $100,000 prize. The official looking letter even provides a certified cashier’s check number.
The envelope also contains a check for $3,085 that “covers insurance, handling, duty and taxes fees”. The letter asks the recipient to call a phone number with a 514 area code in Quebec, Canada. An Internet search indicated that the number is a Canadian cell phone.
When victims call the phone number, they are told to deposit the check into their bank and then return the $3,085 right away. The check bounces, and the victim is out the $3,085.
The check appears real and to be drawn on Regions Bank from a company called “Continental Traffic Service” in Memphis, Tennessee. It is a real company that specializes in supply chain management, but they have nothing to do with the check or the prize.
“It’s a scam,” Preston said. “People need to know not to do this because all they are going to do is lose money.”
The scam has been received by at least six people in the McDavid 32568 and Century 32535 zip codes in the past few days, Preston said.
Preston said that people should not be required to deposit checks and send money back to a company in order to win a prize.
Anyone that receives such a letter should contact Senior Deputy David Preston at 436-9620.
Click here to see the scame letter (pdf).
Pictured top: A copy of a $3,085 scam check received by a local resident. Note that the word “VOID” that is slightly visible in the image is because this is a copy; the “VOID” would not be noticeable on the actual check. Pictured above, left: A copy of the letter. Submitted by the Escambia County Sheriff’s Department for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.