$3,000 Reward Offered For Info About Burned Cat
March 30, 2013
A $3,000 reward is being offered for information about who set a cat on fire in Escambia County.
The female cat, named Valiente, was found in the 7900 block of Mobile Highway in Beulah on March 16. It was bound with zip ties and severely burned; authorities believe an accelerant was used in the fire.
The cat is now in the care of the Escambia County Humane Society, and a group called the Escambia County Animal Advocates is offering the reward for information that leads to an arrest.
Anyone with information is asked to call Escambia Animal Advocates at (850) 780-3223 or, to remain anonymous, call Crime Stoppers at (850) 433-STOP.
To donate toward Valiente’s care, call the Humane Society of Pensacola at (850) 432-4250.
Col. Walton “Wally” Charles Nichols
March 30, 2013
Col. Walton “Wally” Charles Nichols, Jr. USAF, retired, 83, passed into the arms of his Heavenly Father on March 27, 2013. He was born November 17, 1929, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to Walton Charles Nichols, Sr. and Geraldine Wright Nichols.
Walton proudly served his country in the US Air Force, enjoying a great career as a pilot, a base civil engineer at Traux Field, Madison, Wisconsin, and as commander of Volk Field Air National Guard Training Base, Camp Douglas, Wisconsin, where he received the Legion of Merit award in 1986 after retiring to New Mexico in 1985.
After the death of his first wife, Rosemary, 1980, Wally met and married Myrtle Anne Paul and after several moves, they settled in Pensacola in 1993. Together they enjoyed traveling and serving Christ where mission needs arose.
Walton, known to his friends as “Wally”, was a man of joy, very fun loving—making others laugh so easily with his jovial spirit. He loved the Lord Jesus and was a faithful servant at Pine Summit Baptist Church, Pensacola, serving on the mission team and singing in the celebration choir until his health prevented him from participating. He was an avid golfer with his sons and friends and a staunch Green Bay Packers fan.
He was preceded in death by his first wife, Rosemary. He is survived by his wife of 29 years, Anne, and his seven children: Trina (Steve) Falk, Ankeny, IA, John (Claudette) Nichols, Apple Valley, MN, Dan (Gail)) Nichols, Kansas City, MO, Rick (Mary Ann) Nichols, Stillwater, MN, Stacie (Pat) O’Leary, Mendora Heights, MN, Pete (Dori) Nichols, Albuquerque, NM and Tom (Jennifer) Nichols, Delafield, WI. He is also survived by 28 grandchildren, nine great-grandchildren and three brothers; Robert (Dennie) Nichols, Green Bay, WI, Richard (Diane) Nichols, Albuquerque, NM; and David (Karen) Nichols, Greenville, SC. He shared Anne’s family as though they were his own; Sam (Charlene) Hurlbut, Pensacola; Leslie Hurlbut, Biloxi, MS; and Melissa (Jeff) Brock, West Seneca, NY; and Anne’s seven grandchildren and three great-grandchildren; several nieces, nephews, and many friends.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Florida Baptist Children’s Home, 1000 Chemstrand Road, Cantonment, FL 32533.
Visitation will be held Saturday, March 30, 2013, from 10 a.m. until 11 a.m. with funeral service at 11 a.m. at Pine Summit Baptist Church.
A funeral will also be conducted at a later date in Madison, Wisconsin, with Joyce-Ryan Funeral Home conducting.
Faith Chapel Funeral Home North is in charge of arrangements.
Weekend Gardening: Remember Your Houseplants When Spring Cleaning
March 30, 2013
Warmer weather signals that spring is here. After months of being cooped up indoors, it’s finally time for gardeners to go dig in the dirt. It’s also time for cooped up house plants to be revitalized.
Locate a shady area for this work. Even if houseplants are to be left out for a short period, after being shut up all winter, leaf damage can occur with only brief exposure to direct sunlight.
First, give the houseplants a bath. Use a soapy solution made of two teaspoons of mild liquid soap mixed with one gallon of water. Wash the leaves and stems, being certain to clean both upper and lower leaf surfaces. Allow the solution to remain on the plants for a few minutes, but rinse it off thoroughly before it is allowed to dry. This not only cleans plants, making them more attractive, but the soap helps to remove aphids, mealybugs and other insects.
Next, see if your plant needs re-potting. Although some plants require being pot-bound in order to flower eventually all plants outgrow their containers and become root- or pot-bound.
Why repot in the spring? Plant roots grow most actively in the spring, which means the plant will be able to quickly overcome the shock associated with re-potting.
When repotting, start with a clean, appropriately sized pot. If you want the plant to grow larger, then you will need to repot it in a larger pot. If you want it to maintain its present size, you’ll have to prune its roots.
In general, the pot size should be increased by only about two inches per re-potting. Therefore, a plant whose root ball is in a six inch pot is normally transplanted to a pot with an eight inch diameter. For some reason, drastic changes in pot size when re-potting seems to be detrimental to some plants.
Watering the plant several hours prior will help you remove the plant more easily. Invert the pot and gently remove the plant by grasping the main stem. Give it a slight tug, and it should slip out of the pot. If it doesn’t, use a butter knife or other flat-bladed tool to loosen the sides of the pot and try again.
Once the plant is free of the pot, take the time to inspect the root system. Look for large, old circular roots which can strangle the plant and prevent much-needed nourishment. Sever or remove these old roots to allow new feeder roots to establish.
To re-pot, first add enough new soil mixture to the bottom of the pot to return the plant to its original depth. After the plant is replaced, fill in the sides with new potting soil.
Use a quality potting mix when re-potting. Gardeners generally rely on commercially available potting soil mixes for growing most types of houseplants. A lot of brands are out there and not all of them are especially good. In particular, avoid heavy, black potting soils. If the bag feels dense and heavy for its size, put it back.
The best potting mixes include vermiculite, bark and perlite in proportions that create a fairly light, loose mix that water penetrates readily but drains rapidly.
If you don’t want to change pots, there is a way of dealing with a pot-bound plant and keeping it in the same size pot. First, remove the plant from the pot and trim off one-quarter to one-third of the lower part of the root ball. Put a layer of fresh potting mix in the bottom of the original container equal to the amount of the root ball removed. Place the plant back in the pot, adding a little more soil around the sides. Water well, and place the plant in a shady location to recover.
House plants would also benefit from fertilization at this time of year. There are many commercial materials available for fertilizing indoor plants. Most are effective and safe if used as directed.
Theresa Friday is the Residential Horticulture Extension Agent for Santa Rosa County.
Escambia, Santa Rosa Jobless Numbers Fall
March 30, 2013
The latest jobs numbers released Friday showed good news for Escambia and Santa Rosa counties in Florida, while the jobless rate in Escambia County, Ala., continued to inch upwards.
Escambia County’s unemployment rate dropped half a percentage point from 7.9 percent in January to 7.5 percent in February. There were 644 fewer people reported unemployed during the period, for a total Escambia County unemployment of 10,318 people. One year ago, unemployment in Escambia County was 8.9 percent.
Santa Rosa County unemployment decreased from 7.3 percent in January to 6.7 percent in February. Santa Rosa County had a total of 4,901 persons reported to be still unemployed. The year-ago unemployment rate in Santa Rosa County was 8.4 percent.
In Escambia County, Alabama, unemployment increased slightly from 9.6 percent in January to 9.7 percent in Febrary. That represented 1,395 people unemployed in the county during the month. The year-ago rate was 9.2 percent.
The jobless numbers released by Florida and Alabama do not include persons that have given up on finding a job and are no longer reported as unemployed.
Florida’s unemployment rate continued to drop last month, slipping to 7.7 percent. Gov. Rick Scott announced Friday that just under 300,000 private sector jobs have been created in Florida since December 2010, the month before he took office. The 7.7 percent jobless rate is the lowest since October of 2008 and is well below the 9 percent rate of a year ago.
Florida’s rate is also the same as the national 7.7 percent unemployment figure, a key psychological marker of how the state is doing. Earlier this month, state officials reported that Florida unemployment dipped in January to 7.8 percent, below last month’s national rate of 7.9 percent. The Florida figure, however, has since been adjusted upward to show that the actual rate in January was 7.9 percent, same as the nation as a whole.
Alabama’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate, at 7.2 percent in February, was up from January’s rate of 6.9 percent and was equal to the year-ago rate.
Lamar Junior Crutchfield
March 30, 2013
Sgt. Lamar Junior Crutchfield, USAF (Ret.), age 83, passed away Wednesday night March 27, 2013, in a Pensacola nursing facility after a brief illness. He was native of Range, AL, A long time resident of Pensacola and Century, before moving to Daphne six years ago. Mr. Crutchfield was of the Methodist faith, He served in the U.S. Army and Air Force and retired with 28 years of service, during his military career he was stationed in Tokyo, Japan, and Anchorage, Alaska, Eglin Air Force Base, Maxwell Air Force Base, and Norton Air Force Base in California, and also served in Korea and Vietnam. Mr. Crutchfield was the former owner/operator of Crow’s/Freds Diner.
He is survinged by his wife- uth Milstead Crutchfield of Daphne, Alabama, two sons, Harold Crutchfield of Daphne, Dennis (Juanita) Crutchfield of Spanish Fort; two daughters, Sharon (Mike) McDonald of Daphne, Sherry Bell of Daphne; one brother, Marvin Crutchfield of Brewton; three sisters, Ruby Hendricks of Pace, Cora Lee James of Brewton, Mary Lou Trawick of Montgomery; five grandchildren, Brandy (Scott) Rappa, Andrew Crutchfield, Josh Crutchfield, Tosha Cain, Tegan Cain; and two great grandchildren, Nathan Rappa and Emma Rappa.
Visitation will be held Monday April 1, 2013, from 4 until 6 p.m. at Williams Memorial Chapel Funeral Home of Brewton. Funeral services will be held Monday night April 1, 2013, at 6:00 p.m. at Williams Memorial Chapel Funeral Home of Brewton with Rev. Thomas Lane Butts officiating. Private family interment will be held Tuesday April 2, 2013, at Barrancas National Cemetery with full military honors. Williams Memorial Chapel Funeral Home of Brewton directing.
Honeysuckle Garden Club Seeks Members
March 30, 2013
The Honeysuckle Garden Club is looking for new members.
Members can learn about shrubs, trees, ferns, birds and butterflies, vegetables, daylilies, hydrangeas, cacti, making designs for the home, enjoy hands-on workshops, landscaping, take field trips, share plants, and have fun with new friends, according to organizers.
The Honeysuckle Garden Club co-sponsors the annual Community Clean-up in the Molino area on Earth Day (this year the event will be on April 20th). The group has a plant sale at the Emerald Coast Flower and Garden Festival held this year on April 5-6 on the Milton Campus of PSC.
The club is planting a Heritage Garden at the Barrineau Park Community Center (plants shared by the founding families of the area); in addition, the group is planting trees in the community center’s playground and park.
Meetings are held on the fourth Sunday of each month at the Barrineau Park Community Center at 2 p.m. For more information, contact Ann Crawford at (850) 968-5645 or Tina Tuttle at (850) 587-2361.
$1 Million Powerball Ticket Sold In Molino
March 29, 2013
Someone who purchased a Powerball ticket in Molino for Wednesday’s drawing won $1 million.
The Florida Lottery confirmed Friday morning that one ticket sold for Wednesday night’s Powerball draw matched the first five numbers, but not the Powerball number itself.
The winning Quick Pick ticket was sold at Tom Thumb at Highway 29 and Highway 97 in Molino. The winning numbers from Wednesday night’s Powerball draw were 43-48-07-37-52, and the Powerball was 16. The Powerball jackpot rolled, resulting in a $50 million jackpot for the Saturday, March 30 drawing.
More than 47,000 Florida players won between $4 and $10,000 in the Wednesday, March 27, Powerball draw. The multi-state lottery game is sold in Florida and 43 other states and districts across the United States.
Good Friday Gas Prices Vary Across The Area; Cheaper Than Last Year
March 29, 2013
There are lots of people on the road today in Escambia County because of both the Good Friday holiday and the last weekday of spring break.
Exactly how much it costs to fill your tank will vary by almost 20 cents per gallon depending on where you purchase gas. The average price for a gallon of regular unleaded late Thursday afternoon was $3.50 in Escambia County.
A quick survey of area gas prices found that same gallon of gas varied across the area: $3.38 at the Murphy Gas on Highway 29, $3.39 at the Raceway in Cantonment, $3.43 at the Tom Thumb in Molino, $3.49 at the BP in Century, and $3.55 at the BP in Davisville
The state average Thursday was $3.65 per gallon. Last year, the same gallon of gas was $3.80.
Pictured: A gallon of regular unleaded was $3.43 late Thursday afternoon in Molino. NorthEscambia.com photo, click to enlarge.
Man Convicted In Drunken Hit And Run Of Bicyclist
March 29, 2013
An Escambia County man is headed to prison for running over a bicyclist and leaving the scene.
Ryan Alan Welch had only been out of prison for just a few months when he struck bicyclist Robert L. Bell, Jr, 32, on W Street approaching La Rua Street after leaving a nightclub on April 20, 2012. Welch drove a couple of blocks away from the scene before stopping to remove the mangled bicycle from under his car, leaving Bell in the roadway. Bell was found by a passerby; he died about a week later.
Welch was convicted Thursday afternoon of DUI manslaughter and leaving the scene of a crash with a fatality. He will be sentenced next month and faces up to 45 years in prison.
Welch previously served time in prison for DUI with great serious bodily injury and was released October 28, 2011.
Challenge: Protect An Egg Dropped From A Bucket Truck
March 29, 2013
Jay Elementary kindergarten students had a little egg-dropping fun Thursday. The students were challenged to design a containers they believed would keep an egg safe and prevent breakage when dropped from an Escambia River Electric Cooperative bucket truck. Pictured left: Among those with surviving eggs were Natalie Hendricks Laura Gavin. Pictured right: The eggs are dropped from an EREC bucket truck. Courtesy photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.