Carver/Century Students Create Centerpieces For Council On Aging Party
January 5, 2009
When the Escambia County Council on Aging held their annual Holiday Celebration in Pensacola, they had a little piece of Century on each table.
Students at Carver/Century K-8 School created the centerpieces that were used to decorate the tables at the Osceola Golf Club in Pensacola. The festive centerpieces were created by Carver/Century fifth graders, with a little help from the eighth graders. Paula Jernigan, the school’s curriculum cooridinator, supervised the project.
The fifth graders became involved in the project through Brenda Spencer of Century. Spencer serves as secretary for the Advisory Committee to the Council on Aging. When the group was discussing plans for the Christmas party, Spencer said she asked if a school could become involved.
Pictured above: In this submitted photo of the one of the Carver/Century centerpieces at the Council on Aging Christmas party, Santa was a little shy and turned his back to the camera. Pictured below: The centerpieces were used at the Council on Aging party at the Osceola Golf Club. Submitted photos for NorthEscambia.com
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2008 Persons Of The Year: Sharon Smith
January 5, 2009
The late Sharon Smith has been named as one of our NorthEscambia.com Persons of the Year. Mrs. Smith was a teach at Molino Park Elementary School until her sudden death moments after waving goodbye to her students on the last day of school. Along with Mrs. Smith, we honor all of our North Escambia teachers and everyone else that works hard to educate our children.
On the last day of school, Mrs. Smith waved goodbye to her students, turned around and lost her breath. She died a short time later. She spent 36 years of her life educating students at the former Molino Elementary School and at Molino Park.
Reprinted below is a NorthEscambia.com story about Mrs. Smith’s death.
Beloved Molino Teacher Passes Away After Waving Goodbye To Students
Molino Park Elementary fourth grade teacher Sharon Smith was set to retire Friday. She stood outside the school, waving goodbye on the last day of school to her students.
She turned back toward her Molino Park Elementary school and lost her breath. Sharon Smith, 57, passed away a short time later.
“She loved ‘her children’ in her class,” Molino Park Principal Alice Woodward said. “She was happy all day today; it was her retirement day. She didn’t feel bad at all.”
Molino Park fifth grade students “walk the walk” and wave goodbye to cheering friends and family on the last day of school. Mrs. Smith walked too, arm around another retiring teacher as they waved to the cheering crowd.
Then the students left on the buses, Mrs. Smith waving goodbye to them.
“She was excited to go outside and wave goodbye to ‘her children’ as they left school,” Mrs. Woodward said. “She was so happy. Then she turned around and went inside. That’s when she started having trouble breathing.” Mrs. Smith died a short time later.
Funeral services are set for Thursday, the day the school had planned to throw a retirement party for her.
Mrs. Smith had experienced more than her fair share of tragedy in the past months, with both her husband and son passing away within six months of each other. Her husband, President Smith, Jr. passed away May 1, 2007, and her son Reginald Smith died on October 20, 2007, at the age of 23.
“She retired, then she went home to the Lord to be with her husband and son,” Mrs. Woodward said.
“We were her family; she was ours,” Mrs. Woodward said. “We are really going to miss her.”
Mrs. Smith began teaching in 1972 at Molino Elementary School, where she remained until 2002 before moving to the new Molino Park Elementary School. Friday was set to be her last day before her planned retirement.
“We thank you and feel blessed that we got to share this awesome teacher and woman with the world,” her aunt Doreatha Jackson said. “She finished her work here.
“And due to her faithfulness in spreading the love of God to others inspite of her pain and heartache,” Jackson said, “He rewarded her by reuniting her with her husband and child. We will miss her greatly but she is happy and at peace! Thank you, Molino Family for loving her.”
Family members say Mrs. Smith suffered one heart attack at the school. She was revived, then died on the way to Pensacola’s West Florida Hospital.
“She finished the race,” Mrs. Woodward said. “She finished the race.”
NorthEscambia.com invites your comments on this article and Mrs. Smith. Email news@northescambia.com or click here for our contact form. To read the comments we have received, click here for our memorial board.
Funeral Services for Mrs. Sharon Smith will be held at 11:00 Thursday morning at the Sixth Avenue Baptist Church at 1120 North Sixth Avenue in Pensacola.
Pictured above: Mrs. Sharon Smith and her fourth grade class wave goodbye about five minutes before their final walk to the buses Friday morning at Molino Park Elementary School. Pictures below: Sharon Smith (top left of photo) and Elaine Barrow pose with students just minutes before they took their retirement walk; and Mrs. Smith at Thursday’s class party. Submitted photo, click to enlarge.
Year In Review North Escambia’s Biggest Stories Of 08: November
January 5, 2009
NorthEscambia.com is looking back at 2008 with our “Year in Review” series. Each day, we will review the biggest stories of 2008. Today, we take a look at the biggest stories of November.
Ernest Ward Middle School held a rally to celebrate the end of Red Ribbon Week, an anti-drug campaign, complete with pie in the face for a few teachers (pictured above). Read more…
With tears and a standing ovation, area residents honored retired Walnut Hill Volunteer Fire Department chief Robert Stewart at a fish fry benefiting him in his battle against cancer. Read more… Stewart was featured on a Channel 3 “Angels In Midst” segment. We were there, with exclusive photos. More…
An estimated one thousand people attended a community-wide Fall Festival in Molino Sponsored by four area churches, the interdenominational event provided a safe Christian alternative on Halloween night. Read more…
Ernest Ward Middle School held a rally to celebrate the end of Red Ribbon Week, an anti-drug campaign, complete with pie in the face for a few teachers. Read more…
Gas prices in North Escambia continue to fall, with prices in Molino down to $2.15 a gallon the first Monday of November. More…
NorthEscambia.com is celebrated our first birthday on November 3. More…
The First Baptist Church of Bratt celebrated its 100th anniversary. More…
Bill Slayton won the District 5 Escambia County School Board seat, defeating Tom Harrell. More…
Ernest Ward Middle School held their annual career day. Read more..
NorthEscambia.com ran a live election blog on November 4, election day. We posted the latest happenings live, with updates from polling places around North Escambia. More…
Students at Byrneville Elementary School headed to the polls on election day to vote, and the brown pelican won. The students were voting not for Barack Obama or John McCain, but for Florida’s new state bird. More…
A Century woman told the town council that she’d go to jail, or would go to hell, before she pays a $629 sewer bill from the Town of Century. More… In the end, the council voted a couple of weeks later to forgive the bill. More…
NorthEscambia.com had the opportunity to take a ride up in an Escambia River Electric Cooperative bucket truck. From 60 feet above the parking lot at the Ernest Ward Middle School gym, the view of Walnut Hill was impressive. More…
NorthEscambia.com took an exclusive look at what a new school superintendent and school board might mean for North Escambia. More…
Incumbent District 5 Escambia County Commissioner Kevin White was re-elected to that seat by a more than 8,000 vote margin. More… He was sworn-in in late November. More…
Employees at West Frasher’s McDavid Lumbermill were told that about 75 of the plant’s approximately 100 jobs are being cut in a partial shutdown. More…
Former Century Mayor Evelyn Hammond used her position to retaliate against Century Little League when that organization failed to hire her son as chief umpire, according to an administrative law judge. More…
Fights and rumors of a gun at Escambia County High School in Atmore led to the brief lockdown of Bratt Elementary School. More…
Molino Park Elementary School demonstrated its “exergaming” program for the media and physical education teachers across the area. More…
A tearful service at Ernest Ward Middle School honored veterans. More… Bratt Elementary School also honored veterans. More.. Northview High School honored veterans with a presentation of “Don’t Say No To The USO”. More… And Molino Park Elementary School honored veterans with “United We Stand”. More…
The commanding officer of Whiting Field honored veterans at Century Care Center. More…
NorthEscambia.com had an exclusive interview with Alabama Governor Bob Riley prior to the opening of Alabama 113 as a hurricane evacuation route. More… We were also on hand as the ribbon was cut on the project, which was jointly funded by Alabama and Florida. More…
Restoration work began on Old 100 at the Alger-Sullivan Historical Society. More…
Friends and family gathered at a reception to honor Robert Stewart, retired chief of the Walnut Hill Volunteer Fire Department. More…
The Northview Chiefs finished their season with a loss to the West Florida High School Jaguars. More…
In mid-November, gas prices in North Escambia fell below $2 a gallon. More..
The Escambia County School Board rejected a charter school proposal for the Charter Magnet School of Century. More…
Pete Gindl, Sr. completed 50 years of service to Escambia County Schools as his term ended on the school board. More…
We visited with Tina Vickery, who was told that she would not walk again after a February accident on Highway 97 near Molino. She was once again standing tall. More…
Plans were announced for a 35 acre Christian retreat in Century that could eventually include a worship and prayer center. More…
The DirecTV Starship blimp was spotted on North Escambia, and we had the exclusive photos. More…
The Wall of Honor at the Barrineau Park Community Center surpassed 100 photos, with each photo honoring a veteran from around the small community. More…
Solutia became the latest company to announce a shutdown. Company officials say they are temporarily shutting down the Gonzalez facility’s nylon production, resulting in the layoff of about 200 employees. More…
Fire destroyed a single family home on Jefferson Avenue in Century the last Monday night of November. More…
The Federal Aviation Administration released its findings in the fatal Louisiana crash of a flight that originated in Century with a refurbished helicopter from Van Nevel Helicopters, Inc. More….
We reported that the company behind Project Green Leaf that plans to bring an electric car manufacturing plant to Century owes the state of Florida more than $65 thousand in unpaid taxes. And they failed to pay Escambia County thousands in county tourist development taxes. More…
Two best friends, both students at Ernest Ward Middle School, were cast in an upcoming movie. Angel Mitchell and Cheyenne Godwin both had roles in the new movie “Chatterbox”. More…
Two different Thanksgiving accidents injured two people near Walnut Hill. More here and here.
Gas prices were down as low as $1.75 in the area just in time for Thanksgiving travel. More..
Southern barbecue, bluegrass and gospel music, time with friends and a little history were all part of the annual Boxcar Barbecue in Century. And we took the really cool picture below of fire shooting from the barrel of a Civil War era gun. More…
2008 Persons Of The Year: Heather Leonard
January 4, 2009
Heather Leonard has been named one of our five NorthEscambia.com 2008 Persons of the Year. Along with Heather, we honor the the North Escambia men and women that work to install values in our children.
A final North Escambia Person of the Year will be named on Monday.
For 14 years, “Ms. Heather” taught dance in Byrneville and Century. But along the way, she taught hundreds of girls more than just dance. She taught them self-respect, grace and how to be a lady. She taught them about her Lord, and she taught them that dance can have class.
Because of Heather Leonard, many North Escambia girls learned to be ladies, not to follow the ways of the world. For Heather, it was not just about earning a dollar as a dance teacher, it was about making a difference. For that, we name her a North Escambia Person of the Year.
Reprinted below is an April story that ran on NorthEscambia.com, just before the final Heather Leonard Danceworks recital.
Heather Leonard Retiring After Teaching Dance 14 Years In North Escambia
When the music fades after a dance recital in Flomaton Friday night, Heather Leonard will take off her slippers for the very last time as a dance teacher. She’ll head off for the traditional post-recital pizza with the girls, knowing that she’s not only taught dance, but has taught grace and self-respect to hundreds of girls across North Escambia.
After 14 years teaching dance in North Escambia, Heather Leonard is retiring, and she is closing her Heather Leonard’s Danceworks. She will end her career with her students’ final recital at Flomaton High School.
She has taught not just dance to girls from Jay to Century to McDavid to Byrneville to Walnut Hill. She has taught them self-respect, self-worth and a little bit about her Lord.
She began teaching dance as her business 14 years ago after moving to Byrneville. Her first classes were taught at the Byrneville Community Center, a location she would continue to use until just after Hurricane Ivan.
“When I came here it was the biggest blessing that no one had ever really danced,” she said. “I came in and had a fresh slate. Fresh kids with no experience. They got to be mine.”
She was happy that she got to teach the girls of North Escambia that they could respect themselves and still dance.
“I am a Christian, and my values do not line up with a lot of the dance community. I’ve tried to teach the girls that they are how God made them. They are precious, innocent. They are not trashy.”
“I look at the way the dance community is as a whole…cut throat, self-centered, eating disorders to be too thin, smoking, drugs. I can’t stand those things.” Those are the things that Heather crusaded against during her 14 years.
“Once I was saved, I looked to God who showed me that those things were not what He liked,” she said. “He brought me out of the darkness into His light. I became very focused on ballet and finding a way to teach the girls to love themselves the way He made them. I’ve always been very careful to lead them in the right way.”
“We love Miss Heather,” Chelsea Sims, a senior at Northview High School said. She is 17, and she has danced 14 of those years with Heather. “She’s so much more than a teacher. She’s our friend.”
“She helps us with our lives,” Sarah Killam, a freshman at Northview said. She is 15, and she has danced with Heather for 10 of those years. “She’s like a mom to us. Sometimes we will stay after class and talk to her about what is going on in our lives.” The photo to the left shows Sarah with Heather at one of Sarah’s first recitals.
“And she’s always worked to help us be better Christians,” Chelsea said.
“We can have Sunday School sometimes after dance,” Darbi Langhorne said. She’s now in nursing school at Pensacola Junior College. She has danced with Heather for 14 years.
The theme song for Friday night’s recital will be “Sharecropper’s Seed” by Christian artist Nicole C. Mullen. “So I’m praising the Lord of the harvest…God still cares for the least of these,” the song says.
“The Lord cares about everyone. He cares about you, about me. One of my relatives was having a hard time, addicted to drugs. It could have been me. It’s impresses me so much how much God cares,” Heather said. “This dance is dedicated to him.”
Every performance for Heather Leonard’s Danceworks always starts the same. “Before every performance we circle up and pray,” she said. “It has always been that way.”
For the past few years, her dance studio has been in the back of the Country Bumpkin building in Century. It’s nice studio…a mirrored wall, a proper wood dance floor and metal ballet bars.
“That’s not how we started,” Darbi said. “We started with a mirror on a wood frame we rolled out at the community center. The (ballet) bars were PVC pipe and duct tape. But we just danced anyway.”
Hurricane Ivan proved to be a test for Heather and her students. It heavily damaged the Byrneville Community Center where her classes were held. There was no ceiling, no heat and water puddled on the floor when it rained.
“But we were determined,” she said, “that Ivan was not going to beat us. It was a lesson in perseverance. We felt like we had to continue to show that we had not been beat by Ivan.”
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Heather and the three girls gathered around on the floor looking through a box of pictures (pictured above). They would laugh as they looked at 14 years of memories. Sometimes Heather would pause, a fond memory on her mind.
“It’s been a great time,” she said.
“I love it a lot. I’ve been dancing since I was three years old. There has never been a year since then that I did not dance.”
So why is she retiring from dance?
“The Lord put it on my heart to set dance aside,” Heather said. “He wanted to make sure I love Him more than I do dancing. He changed my life. He made me; He saved me. He wants me to show others how much He cares.”
She expressed her thanks to the North Escambia community for supporting her during her 14 years. And she expressed special gratitude to her husband Stephen.
“My husband has been so supportive over the years,” she said. “He was the brains behind the business. He helped me go into business without doing into debt, and to be a good steward. I appreciate him so much.”
The final Heather Leonard’s Danceworks recital will be at Flomaton High School this Friday night at 7:00. Admission is free.
For more photos from Heather Leonard’s Danceworks, click here.
Pictured top of page (L-R): Heather Leonard, Darbi Langhorne, Sarah Killam and Chelsea Sims practice their “Sharecropper’s Dream” dance. NorthEscambia.com exclusive photos, click to enlarge.
Year In Review North Escambia’s Biggest Stories Of 08: October
January 4, 2009
NorthEscambia.com is looking back at 2008 with our “Year in Review” series. Each day, we will review the biggest stories of 2008. Today, we take a look at the biggest stories of October 2008.
The Escambia County (Ala.) School Board revoked a policy that allows Alabama students to cross the line to attend Florida Schools. The story became our most debated story ever, with over 150 comments posted. Read more….
NorthEscambia.com was the first media to report that an electric car manufacturing facility was planned for Century. Read more…
A man was shot near the Davisville community, and manhunt followed to find him. Read more…
Northview High School’s NJROTC named their new officers for the 2008-09 school year. More…
The Century Whataburger, open less than a year, was sold. Read more…
Thousands of people attended the 19th Annual Jay Peanut Festival at Gabbert Farm in Jay. More…
Ernest Ward Middle School held a talent show, and we had the photos. More…
Fischer Landing was dedicated along the Escambia River in Century. Read more…
The Century Town Council has approved a proposal to audit the town’s books without knowing how much it will cost. And one council member expressed his displeasure at not seeing the document until it was up for a vote, despite the town having the proposal for weeks. More…
Republican vice presidential candidate Sara Palin brought her “Maverick” campaign message to Escambia County. Read more…
Century may have already received a big check for $1,755,000, but a Century town council member does not want to see the town to enter into a loan agreement for the money. Ann Brooks made that announcement, leading to a heated discussion. Read more…
International Paper presented Ernest Ward Middle School with a $1,462 grant to purchase Interactive Readers for mid-level and advanced reading students. Read more…
Northview High School received high marks in their annual inspection. Read more, and see a complete photo gallery here.
feagin.jpgThe Escambia County Sheriff’s Department used their helicopter to search for a suspect with no shoes. More…
Flomaton Elementary School held a mock disaster drill with emergency crews from Flomaton and North Escambia. Read more…
A much welcomed story…gas prices in North Escambia dropped up to 76 cents in just one week. More…
Four years after Hurricane Ivan ripped the steeple from a Walnut Hill Church, it was returned.Read more…
Parents at Ernest Ward Middle School received an automated call to alert them that a student at the school had a virus. Read more…
Carver/Century K-8 School improved their school grade in just a year from an F to a B, and they were big time proud of it. The entire school celebrated with the “Best Bountiful B Belebration”. More…
In October, we learned that beginning in January, trash service in North Escambia will be provided by the Emerald Coast Utilities Authority, and voluntary curbside recycling will be available at the same time. More…
Michele Obama brought her husband’s historic campaign message to Escambia County. More…
A suspect was arrested after a shooting. The victim was found in a car outside the ambulance station in Century. Read more…
The company behind a new electric vehicle manufacturing plant made it clear to Century leaders Monday night that locating the plant in Century is not a done deal, and they explained the vehicle concept and their plans in a little more depth. More…
Comments from NorthEscambia.com readers led the Century Town Council to take action on an abandoned building owned by the town. The town council voted to have Mayor Freddie McCall explore tearing down the town owned building on Mayo Street, or seeing if there is any chance of repairing the structure. More…
Sugarcane grown in this region could one day provide jet fuel for the U.S. Air Force. Alabama Governor Bob Riley toured a sugarcane field near Atmore that is part of a test project to determine if enough sugarcane can be grown in South Alabama to support a multi-million dollar biofuel plant. More…
Miss Chelsea Sims was named Northview High School’s Homecoming Queen Friday night. More… The homecoming game was a big heartbreak for the Chiefs. More..
Fire heavily damaged an abandoned trailer in the Enon , and a home in Bratt was damaged by fire the Sunday in October. More…
The Florida Department of Corrections has settled a gas billing dispute with the Town of Century by making a $302 thousand dollar payment. More…
Bratt Elementary School held their annual fall carnival. More…
A local man took on the state highway department and won…caution lights are up and the speed limit was lowered at Highway 29 and Byrneville Road. His granddaughter died at the intersection a few years ago. More…
Year In Review North Escambia’s Biggest Stories Of 08: September
January 4, 2009
NorthEscambia.com is looking back at 2008 with our “Year in Review” series. Each day, we will review the biggest stories of 2008. Today, we take a look at the biggest stories of September 2008.
In late September, two people died in a murder-suicide inside an Atmore Dirt Cheap store. NorthEscambia.com was on the scene with live updates (pictured above). Read more and see the photos…
NorthEscambia.com ran a story with photos of two escaped Alabama prisoners here. The inmates were captured a few days later in Pensacola. After a Walnut Hill resident saw the inmates’ photos on NorthEscambia.com, he realized that he had given them a ride in Walnut Hill. Read more…
In early September, Hurricane Gustav was approaching the Gulf Coast. NorthEscambia.com had complete hour by hour coverage and photos, including photos of evacuation traffic on I-65 in Atmore. Read more… The passage of Gustav led to an increase in gas prices. Read more…
Crews from Escambia River Electric and Gulf Power packed up and headed to Louisiana to help restore power to the millions of customers in the dark following Gustav. Read more…
The Town of Century was ready to approved a budget, but they learned they had to find a quarter million dollars fast. Read more… Century also filed foreclosure proceedings against Helicopter Technologies. Read more…
The Northview Chiefs were ready for the football season, with “Meet the Chiefs”. Read more… The season got off to a bad start, with Catholic beating the Chiefs 48-0. Read more…
The letter “B” was for “Benny’s Bar-B-Q” at Carver/Century K-8 School as the faculty and staff were honored for their part in improving the school’s state grade from an “F” to a “B”. Read more…
The unification of Escambia County’s volunteer fire departments was on schedule to be completed by October 1, and county officials offered assurances that departments in North Escambia would continue their long standing traditions of service. Read more… County leaders presented the same message to members of the Walnut Hill Volunteer Fire Department. Read more..
Some of the most beautiful women in North Escambia posed for “glamour shots” in Century, and we had the photos…
The Town of Century finalized their budget for next year, keeping bonuses and cost of living salary increases for employees, changing insurance plans and cutting funding for several of the town’s non-profits. Read more…
Driver’s license services were cut from Century, and the tax collector’s hours were cut back to just three days per week. Read more…
On September 11, we headed back to September 11, 2001, when Mayor Freddie McCall of Century and his son were flying. The day ended with federal authorities holding their plane. Read more…
A Friday night wreck in Molino injured six people, all with non-life threatening injuries. Read more…
The Century Town Council was looking at options for bringing code enforcement back to the town, and they sat down with the county’s top code enforcement official to discuss options. Read more…
Robert Stewart has retired after 30 years of service as a volunteer fireman in Bratt and Walnut Hill, the last 15 of those years as chief of the Walnut Hill Volunteer Fire Department. He retired to spend more time with his “Little Man” and to fight cancer. Read more… The Escambia County Commission honored Stewart with a proclamation. Read more…
The discovery of rodent droppings, slime in the ice machine, food at an improper temperature and other violations led to the temporary closure of a popular Molino restaurant by the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation, but the restaurant’s owner said the inspector’s report was not as bad as it sounds. Read more…
There was a lot of clowning around at the Century Branch Library with a big fun day. Read more..
Chris Brown was named as the new chief of the Walnut Hill Volunteer Fire Department. Read more…
We took a look at the Tri-City Rotaries Club and the work the club is doing locally and around the world to make a difference. Read more…
A Molino man was found guilty of killing his infant daughter. The one-year old died after receiving severe burns from a bath. Read more….
The annual See You At Pole rally was held at Northview High School. Read more…
The Escambia County Commission approved the final plan to unify the county’s fire departments effective October 1. Read more…
Grover Barnes, Jr. of Century died in an early morning Beulah wreck. Read more…
The Town of Century approved their $3.15 million budget. Read more…
We ran “Cool Pics of a Hot Tree”. More….
Some Areas Get 7 Inches Of Rain
January 4, 2009
Some areas of North Escambia received up to seven inches of rain on Saturday.
Radar estimates show that areas like Bratt, Davisville and Atmore had received up to seven inches of rain on Saturday. The rainfall totals across the area vary dramatically; in the area from Molino to Cottage Hill, for instance, the radar estimated only about an inch of rain during the same time period.
Pictured above: Heavy rains quickly filled this ditch at the First Baptist Church of Bratt on Highway 4 Saturday afternoon. NorthEscambia.com photo, click to enlarge.
Volleyball Tournament Benefits EWMS Cheerleaders
January 4, 2009
A nine team coed volleyball tournament was held Saturday at the First Baptist Church of Bratt. All proceeds from the tournament will be used to help the Ernest Ward Middle School Cheerleaders attend the national finals
For a photo gallery from the tournament, click here.
Pictured above and below: Action from a volleyball tournament held to benefit the Ernest Ward Middle School cheerleaders. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
What Are The Odds That You’ll Hit A Deer?
January 3, 2009
Odds are, you or someone you know in North Escambia has hit a deer. If not, odds are you won’t have to wait long for that to change — maybe even on your next trip out to the store.
The number of deer-vehicle collisions in the United States continues to rise, up 14.9 percent from five years ago, according to data from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. The group says there are approximately 1.5 million deer-vehicle collisions annually in the United States, causing more than 150 fatalities and $1.1 billion in property damage.
Earlier this week, Arty Kleinatland and his wife were returning from Atmore to their home off Highway 95A in Molino. About a mile north of Barrineau Park Road, the Kleinatlands another another crash to the deer-vehicle total. A 13-point, 162-pound buck collided with their Ford Expedition. On New Year’s Day, about 1:00 in the afternoon, a vehicle collided with another large buck on busy Highway 29 near Fran’s Diner in Molino. Those are just two of the many deer collisions that happen every year in North Escambia.
The number crunchers at State Farm Insurance have actually put odds on how likely it is for you to hit a deer. They say that 1 in 1,198 drivers in Florida will hit a deer this year. In Alabama, that number is 1 in 196. Florida’s odds are much lower due to the number of urban drivers in the big cities. Overall in the U.S., the odds say that 1 in 209 drivers will hit a deer this year. You are most likely, with the odds at 1 in 45 drivers, to hit a deer in West Virginia. The state in which deer-vehicle collisions are least likely is Hawaii at 1 in 10,962.
Here in North Escambia, our staff here at NorthEscambia.com tends to believe that the odds are much higher in our rural area. (Have you ever driven through Bay Springs or Enon on a winter night? It sometime seems like the odds are pretty good that you’ll hit more than one deer…per mile.)
State Farm says deer-vehicle collisions are more frequent during the deer migration and mating seasons in October, November and December. The combination of growing deer populations and the displacement of deer habitat caused by urban sprawl are producing increasingly hazardous conditions for motorists and deer, according to State Farm.
Pictured above: Arty Kleinatland with the 162-pound, 13-point buck that collided with his Ford Expedition on Highway 95A in Molino earlier this week. Pictured below: The daytime deer collision on New Year’s Day near Fran’s in Molino. Submitted photos for NorthEscambia.com.
2008 Persons Of The Year: Robert Stewart & Our Volunteer Firefighters
January 3, 2009
Robert Stewart has been named as one of our NorthEscambia.com Persons of the Year. Along with Robert, we honor the members of our volunteer fire departments and their family members.
Each day through Monday, NorthEscambia.com will name another person as a NorthEscambia.com Person of the Year.
Robert Stewart has retired after 30 years of service as a volunteer fireman in Bratt and Walnut Hill, the last 15 of those years as chief of the Walnut Hill Volunteer Fire Department. He retired to spend more time with his grandson “Little Man” and to fight cancer.
Robert and the other members of our volunteer fire departments answered the call to serve our communities. They answer our calls for help day and night. They risk their lives for our community. While they are answering those calls, their families are home alone, sacrificing their family time together. To each of the volunteers and their families, we say thank you; you are Persons of the Year in North Escambia.
Robert answered the call tirelessly for those 30 years, going out of his way even after the call was over to make sure that victims and their families were fine.
We ran a story in September about Valerie (Baker) Brock, a woman that owes her life to Chief Stewart and the rest of the Walnut Hill Volunteer Fire Department. You can read that story here.
The Walnut Hill community honored Robert at the fire department’s annual fish fry in November. With tears and a standing ovation, area residents honored “1501″. Read that story here. He was also honored at a November reception with the fire department, friends and families. The video was produced by NorthEscambia.com using our photos and video footage, along with pictures submitted by fire department members and Robert’s family. Watch the video here.
Sue Straughn from WEAR also featured Chief Stewart on and “Angels in Our Midst” segment in November. Read about it, and watch the video segment here.
From our stories, to the tribute video, to the fish fry, to the retirement reception, to Sue Straughn’s piece on WEAR…they were all done with the same purpose as our naming of Robert Stewart as a NorthEscambia.com 2008 Person of the Year. They were to say “thank you” to a man that did so much over 30 years for his community that those two words seems so very lacking.
Reprinted below is our September article where we first reported that Chief Robert Stewart was retiring from the Walnut Hill Volunteer Fire Department.
Chief Robert Stewart Retires To Battle Cancer, Spend Time With ‘Little Man’
Robert Stewart has retired after 30 years of service as a volunteer fireman in Bratt and Walnut Hill, the last 15 of those years as chief of the Walnut Hill Volunteer Fire Department. He retired to spend more time with his “Little Man” and to fight cancer.
Stewart answered his first fire call in 1967 after the formation of the Bratt Volunteer Fire Department. The Walnut Hill Ruritan Club founded the Walnut Hill Volunteer Fire Department in 1964 and donated a truck to form the Bratt department three years later.
For 10 years, he served the Bratt community as a volunteer fireman until Bratt VFD’s truck finally “wore out”. Walnut Hill and the Atmore Fire Department began answering calls in the Bratt community in 1977.
He was out of a volunteer fire department for about 10 years, until he joined the Walnut Hill VFD in 1987. For 21 straight years, he served the Walnut Hill department. The last 15 of those years, he served as chief.
“1501 enroute”
March 9, 2001, was the beginning of what Stewart said was the most memorable call of his career.
The call was not far from Stewart’s house. It was a single vehicle accident, car versus a tree, on Highway 99 near Oakshade Road. When Stewart arrived, he and the other members of the WHVFD found a small sports car, literally cut in half, two pieces of car on the side of the highway. Inside, the passenger was not seriously injured.
But the driver, a 16 year old local girl, was gravely injured. Her leg was partial severed, a major artery cut. Her situation was worse than serious. In fact, she coded at least twice before arriving at the hospital. “Coded”, as in “code blue”, as in cardiac arrest. But Stewart and the rest of the emergency workers that day worked hard to get this young lady on LifeFlight.
In the end, she lost her leg, but she survived. Today, she’s a healthy 23 year old, recently happily married.
“I’ve been to a lot of bad wrecks,” Stewart said. “Sometime, people die. It’s always a good call when you can help someone that doesn’t die.”
But two words made this wreck different than many for the chief.
“Thank you.”
From death’s door, the young girl was able to return to tell Stewart and the rest of the Walnut Hill Volunteer Fire Department “thank you”.
“Sometimes they come back to tell you ‘thank you’,” he said. “It makes you feel good, and you know your department has accomplished something, when they came back to thank you.”
There have been others to return to thank the department over the years. But Valerie Baker’s accident just sticks out in Stewart’s memory.
“The ‘thank you’ means a lot, especially when they came to the department and thank everyone,” he said. “It just means a lot.”
On Friday morning, NorthEscambia.com will introduce you to Valerie and take you back to the day that nearly claimed her life, and you’ll learn what she has to say about Robert Stewart and the Walnut Hill Volunteer Fire Department.
“Not a Hero”
Chief Stewart doesn’t consider himself a hero. The Walnut Hill volunteers are team, he said, with everyone working together to help the community.
He was labeled a hero at least once. It was another wreck, this one on State Line Road. A car was upside down in a water-filled ditch with three children inside. Stewart was the first on the scene, responding from his nearby home.
“I managed to get the door open and got the three children out of the ditch,” he said. “Their mom called me a hero. I was just doing my job.”
Cat In Tree? Been there, done that. Twice.
It’s a scene that’s usually in a children’s program…the fireman rescues the cute little kitty cat from a tree. But in real life, it’s not exactly so pretty.
One cat-in-a-tree call was on Highway 97 several years ago. 1501 and his wife, Diann Stewart (a.k.a. 1503) responded to the call.
“She ran the ladder up the tree,” he said. “I knew what I was in for. I put on a bunker coat, and gloves before going up to the cat.”
“The ole cat just froze on the tree,” Stewart said with a chuckle. “I needed both hands to peel it off the tree. It stuck like Velcro on that tree. I had to keep peeling that ole cat off the tree.”
The second time Stewart responded to a cat-in-a-tree call, he was perhaps a bit smarter. He sent his son Sam Stewart, also a volunteer fireman, up the tree. This call was at the home of a local pastor. The pastor told them to drop the cat, and drop it Sam did. The can landed on a lower limb of the tree, uninjured.
Scary Stuff
“When my youngins were in school, I did not like it when you’d get a call in the direction they were suppose to be coming from,” he said. “You were always it afraid it was going to be one of yours.”
“When you live up here, you are kin to somebody,” he said. “You always care about who it is.”
A Time To Work, A Time To Play
Stewart was quick to thank all of those that have volunteered with the Walnut Hill VFD over the years. And he expressed his thanks to the other volunteer fire departments in the area the assisted Walnut Hill, as well the county deputies, state troopers and others he worked with for years.
The biggest thanks went to those Walnut Hill Volunteer Fire Department members, a group he said he always enjoyed being around.
“I had the best bunch of firemen in the county he said, “and when they were done working and got ready to play, I had the biggest bunch of youngins in the county.”
Time For Little Man
Stewart said his health and his “Little Man” led to his decision to retire. Little Man is his grandson, 14 month old Drew Kennedy, the son of Kelly and Jeff Kennedy.
When NorthEscambia.com sat down with Stewart for this interview, Little Man was in the floor with Nana (Diann), playing with a toy John Deere tractor. He was wearing fire truck pajamas.
“Do you want Papa’s chair” Stewart asked him. Over to the chair he ran, grinning ear to ear at his Papa.
“He loves fire trucks,” Stewart said. It runs in the family.
“It was just time for me to spend more time with Little Man,” he said.
Battling Cancer
“Little Man is good medicine for me,” Stewart says as he talks about battling cancer. “It’s a nice blessing to have him at all. He goes to Pensacola with me for my treatments.”
The cancer was another factor in his choice to retire.
“It you are going to be in charge, you have to keep up with what was going on,” he said. But the cancer treatments were making him very, very tired.
He started chemotherapy in 2006. “It just had me wore out,” he said. He thought he had been cured. But the cancer returned.
Daily IV treatments began again in 2007 and continued everyday until March of 2008. But it was necessary to being treatments again in July of this year.
“I just had a bad feeling about this knot on my head this time,” he said. Turns out it was malignant, and the battle is proving to be hard.
“1501 Completed Assignment”
“It’s hard not to answer a call,” he said. The fire department pager still goes off in the Stewart home, alerting them of emergency calls. Diann remains with the Walnut Hill VFD as an EMT. “After 20 years, it’s hard not to go help someone.”
“I just always tried to help.”
Pictured top: Retired Walnut Hill Volunteer Fire Department Chief Robert Stewart and his grandson Drew (”Little Man”) Kennedy watch from the sidelines at a recent accident on Pine Barren Road. Pictured above: Stewart at last year’s Walnut Hill Volunteer Fire Department fish fry. Pictured below: Stewart makes a call as “Little Man” watches an ambulance crew work. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
