Wahoos Blank Biscuits
July 15, 2013
Pensacola’s red-hot offense rolled into the All-Star Break with another strong performance, smashing seven runs on 14 hits in a 7-0 blanking of the Montgomery Biscuits on Sunday evening at Riverwalk Stadium. The win moved the Blue Wahoos to within two games of first place Mobile and marked the first time this season that Pensacola won four games in a single series.
The Wahoos offense came out early, striking for three runs in the first inning against Montgomery starter Jake Floethe. Donald Lutz, Tucker Barnhart and Travis Mattair stroked consecutive RBI singles in the first to give Pensacola the early advantage. An inning later, Brodie Greene doubled with one out, stole third base and scored on a fielder’s choice off the bat of Corey Wimberly to make it 4-0.
That was enough support for Pensacola starter Ryan Dennick who got the nod after pitching just one inning on Friday before rains suspended that contest. Dennick fired five shutout innings, allowing just two hits with a strikeout and two walks to improve to 5-10 on the season.
Chris Manno, Josh Ravin, Loek Van Mil and Jamie Walczak combined to hold the Biscuits to just three hits over the final four innings to give the pitching staff its seventh shutout of the season.
Pensacola put the game away in the top of the eighth inning against reliever Erik Hamren. With the bases loaded and nobody out, Mattair scored Yorman Rodriguez on an RBI groundout before Mike Costanzo and Ryan LaMarre notched RBI singles to make it 7-0. The knock for Costanzo was his first in a Blue Wahoo uniform this season in 12 at-bats.
Eight of the nine Wahoos starters ended up with at least one hit in the ball game while five players smacked multi-hit games for the fourth time in the series. Corey Wimberly led the attack with a 3-for-5 showing while Lutz (2-for-4), Barnhart (2-for-4), Mattair (2-for-4) and Costanzo (2-for-5) contributed two-hit games. In the series, Pensacola blasted 31 runs on 52 hits for a team batting average of .308 during the five-game set.
The Wahoos will take the next three days off for the Southern League All-Star Game, which will be played on Wednesday in Jacksonville. Pensacola will return to action on Thursday night at home as they open up a series against the Huntsville Stars at 7 p.m. Daniel Renken (3-6, 3.91) is the scheduled starter for the Wahoos while Huntsville has not yet named a starter.
story by Kevin Burke
Jack Titus Crutchfield
July 15, 2013
Mr. Jack Titus Crutchfield, age 81 of Flomaton, passed away on Sunday, July 14, 2013, at Century Care Center after an extended illness.
Mr. Crutchfield was a native and former resident of Repton, AL before moving to the Flomaton area 60 years ago. He was a veteran of the U.S. Army having served during the Korean War. During his working years, he worked as a carpenter building homes. He enjoyed woodworking, gardening and attended the Lambeth Holiness Church. He was preceded in death by his first wife, Mary Frances Hale Crutchfield and daughter, Rhonelda Crutchfield.
He is survived by his wife of 44 years, Bertha Knowles Crutchfield of Flomaton; son, Randall Keith Crutchfield of Pensacola; daughters, Judy (Mike) Boutwell and Anita (Earl) Bradley, both of Flomaton; sister, Pollie Glass of Robertsdale; four grandchildren; 10 great-grandchildren; two great-great-grandchildren and a number of nieces, nephews, cousins and friends.
Funeral services will be held on Tuesday, July 16, 2013, at Flomaton Funeral Home Chapel at 11 a.m. with Bro. Philip Deane and Bro. Andy Boutwell officiating.
Interment will be in Pleasant Home Holiness Church Cemetery in Flomaton.
Pallbearers will be Michael Boutwell, Douglas Boutwell, Shon Haveard, Luke Mitchell, Anthony Glass and Dusty Boutwell.
Honorary pallbearers will be Rich Berry, Kenny Hale, Gam Graves, Ed Rowell, Howard Ard, Samuel Lansdon and G.W. Birdsong.
Flomaton Funeral Home is directing.
Showers, Heavy Rain Today
July 14, 2013
Here is your official North Escambia area forecast:
- Today: Showers and thunderstorms, mainly after 10am. Some of the storms could produce heavy rain. High near 84. Northeast wind 5 to 10 mph becoming southeast in the afternoon. Chance of precipitation is 80%.
- Tonight: A 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms, mainly before 1am. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 71. East wind around 5 mph.
- Monday: Showers and thunderstorms likely, mainly after 1pm. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 86. East wind 5 to 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%.
- Monday Night: A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms, mainly before 1am. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 72. East wind around 5 mph.
- Tuesday: A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly sunny, with a high near 89. Northeast wind 5 to 10 mph becoming southeast in the afternoon.
- Tuesday Night: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms before 1am. Partly cloudy, with a low around 71. South wind around 5 mph becoming east after midnight.
- Wednesday: A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly sunny, with a high near 92. Northeast wind 5 to 10 mph becoming southeast in the afternoon.
- Wednesday Night: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly cloudy, with a low around 73. South wind around 5 mph becoming calm in the evening.
- Thursday: A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly sunny, with a high near 93. Light and variable wind becoming southeast 5 to 10 mph in the morning.
- Thursday Night: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly cloudy, with a low around 72.
- Friday: A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly sunny, with a high near 90.
- Friday Night: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly cloudy, with a low around 71.
- Saturday: A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly sunny, with a high near 92.
Zimmerman Acquitted Of Trayvon Martin Murder
July 14, 2013
A Florida jury found George Zimmerman not guilty of all charges relating to the murder of unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin. The high-profile case sparked a massive national debate on race and guns in the state and U.S.
Twenty-nine-year-old Zimmerman, a former neighborhood watch volunteer, could have been sentenced to life in prison for second-degree murder or up to 30 years for manslaughter if he was found guilty.
Martin, 17, was shot over a year ago by Zimmerman, who claimed he acted in self-defense. The prosecution argued that Zimmerman was guilty of second-degree murder, stating that he racially profiled the unarmed teen and assumed he was a criminal when he saw him walking through a gated community in Sanford. They claimed that Zimmerman tracked Martin down and started the fight that led to the shooting.
The verdict was reached by a panel of six women jurors, 15 months after Martin’s death and six miles away from where the incident took place.
The case has triggered a national debate on the issues of self-defense, gun laws, and race in the United States. When Zimmerman walked free for 44 days after the shooting, nationwide protests erupted calling for his arrest. The 29-year-old has also received death threats.
The shooting also sparked heated discussion surrounding Florida’s controversial “Stand Your Ground” law. The legislation, which was approved in 2005, states that people fearing for their lives can use deadly force without having to retreat from a confrontation – even when it is possible.
The law isn’t just on the books in Florida – it has been enacted in some form in about 30 other states. But many argue that the legislation shouldn’t exist, and that lawmakers and gun advocates went too far in authorizing the use of deadly force in scenarios where it could potentially be avoided.
[VOA] Courtesy/pool photo.
Six Rescued After Canoe Accident
July 14, 2013
Six people were rescued unharmed Saturday afternoon after a canoe accident on the Perdido River.
Just before 1 p.m., one of the six people called 911 and reported that the group was lost in the woods somewhere near the Barrineau Park bridge over the Perdido River. Their canoe had collided with a railroad bridge over the river during a severe storm. They had made it ashore on the Alabama side of the river and had walked nearly an hour, becoming lost in the heavily wooded area.
The six were located in under an hour by members of the Molino Station of Escambia Fire Recue and other agencies. There were no serious injuries reported.
Fire Stations Respond To Century Apartment Complex
July 14, 2013
Area fire stations responded to the Camellia Gardens Apartments on Freedom Road in Century early Sunday morning. About 4:35 a.m., a resident reported light smoke in their apartment.
There was no major damage reported; the cause of the fire remains under investigation. Four people initially complained of smoke inhalation on the scene, but all refused transport to the hospital by Escambia County EMS.
County Administrator Selection Committee Set To Narrow List
July 14, 2013
The Escambia County Administrator Search Committee will meet again Monday to consider the nine remaining applicants for county administrator.
The meeting will be held at 1:30 p.m. at the Central Office Complex at 3363 West Park Place. The committee is expected to cut the list in half for presentation to the Escambia County Commission for a final decision.
The remaining candidates for Escambia County Commissioner are listed below in alphabetical order along with a brief listing of past experience. Click any of the names to read the candidate’s complete resume.
- Lyndon Bonner – Ocala, FL. City manager Bunnell, FL; assistant county administrator, Sumter County; county administrator Okeechobee County; city manager North Miami Beach.
- James Chansler – Jacksonville, FL. Utilities director city of Jacksonville and city of Boca Raton; wastewater management director Broward County.
- David Fanslau – Rock Hill, NY. County manager Sullivan County; township administrator Winslow, NJ and Logan, NJ.
- Kenneth Fields – Boca Raton, FL. Assistant city manager Hollywood, FL; village manager Islamorada, FL; executive administration officer Seminole Tribe of FL.
- Kenneth Griffin – Tampa, FL. CEO water/sewer authority and assistant county administrator Hillsborough County; executive officer Pearl River Valley Water Supply District
- Patrick Howard – Seneca, SC. County administrator Marion County, Ocala, FL.
- Albert Penksa – Gettysburg, PA.County manager Adams County, Gettysburg, PA; controller CFO Cambria County.
- Ronald Rabun – Griffin, GA. County administrator Oconee County, SC; county manager Seminole County, FL; county administrator Manatee County, FL; city manager various cities in GA, FL and WA.
- George Touart – Pensacola, FL. County administrator with Escambia County, FL; city councilman, Pascagoula, MS; co-owner of two businesses in MS.
Christmas In July Angel Tree Project To Benefit Equine Group
July 14, 2013
Angel Trees in several area businesses will benefit a Cantonment equine rescue group and their foster horses.
Panhandle Equine Rescue has set up Angel Trees in various stores that will remain there through the month of July. There are 20 stars on each tree with a photo that represents each of the group’s foster horses with their needs listed on the back of the star. The star also includes a contact number to call and donate the requested items.
The Angel Trees are located at:
- Southern Mill & Supply at 1280 Hwy. 97 in Molino
- John Kiley’s Cycle World at 8500 Pensacola Blvd. in Pensacola
- Companion Animal Clinic at 470 S. Hwy. 29 in Cantonment
- Tractor Supply at 3 W. Nine Mile Rd. in Pensacola
- Tractor Supply at 6531 Caroline St. in Milton
- Aubrey Hill Boarding Facility in Pace
- Farm and Nursery Mart at 7460 Pine Forest Road in Pensacola
- Pine Forest Vet Clinic at 6860 Pine Forest Road in Pensacola
- Pine Forest Saddlery at 7801 Pine Forest Road in Pensacola
Pictured: The Panhandle Equine Rescue Angel Tree at Southern Mill and Supply on Highway 97 in Molino. Submitted photo for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Florida Gov’t Weekly Roundup: Drawing Lines And Writing Books In Tally
July 14, 2013
When most residents of the country thought about Florida this week, the first thing that came to their minds was likely not a Supreme Court case. Or the net worths of state officials. Or the pending book by former Gov. Charlie Crist.
Instead, their eyes were on state prosecutors’ case against George Zimmerman, who is charged with second-degree murder in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin, a black teenager, during a confrontation between the two in Sanford. Zimmerman says he was acting in self-defense.
With fears that racial tension could boil over if Zimmerman is acquitted by the jury, which began deliberations Friday, state officials were sure to stress that they were prepared for unrest.
“We’ve got great sheriffs, police chiefs, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, I’ve been in contact with them, they’re ready for whatever happens,” Scott said during a Thursday morning appearance on WPEC TV in West Palm Beach. “But hopefully the right thing happens here, and we’ll have a verdict that everybody understands.”
But elsewhere in the state, there were less intense but still weighty issues.
HOW BINDING IS ‘BINDING?’
It didn’t have the drama of the Zimmerman case, but there was still plenty of finger-pointing and a helping of angry words at the Florida Supreme Court in a case over redistricting. But this was over an arcane if significant legal principle — whether state legislative districts can be challenged in lower courts once the Supreme Court has signed off on them.
According to a 5-2 majority — the kind of majority that court-watchers have grown used to — the answer is yes, as long as those claims are based on the kind of evidence that justices don’t consider when they do constitutionally mandated reviews of the maps as part of the once-a-decade redistricting process.
The Florida Constitution says decisions from those Supreme Court reviews “shall be binding upon all the citizens of the state.” But writing for the majority, Justice Barbara Pariente said Thursday that didn’t apply to more fact-intensive lawsuits than the automatic reviews, especially now that the constitution also includes the anti-gerrymandering “Fair Districts” amendments.
“Simply put, the framers and voters clearly desired more judicial scrutiny of the legislative apportionment plan, not less,” Pariente wrote.
But in a pointed dissent, Justice Charles Canady wrote that the opinion would deaden the intent of the “binding” provision, known as section 16(d).
“With this decision, we confront the prospect of unending litigation concerning legislative redistricting — a prospect that section 16(d), by its plain terms, undeniably was designed to preclude,” he wrote.
A coalition of voting-rights organizations that are challenging the Senate map cheered the decision. Republican lawmakers were less enthusiastic — or “understandably disappointed,” in the words of a spokeswoman for Senate President Don Gaetz, R-Niceville.
“The president stands by the maps as well as the Legislature’s redistricting process,” spokeswoman Katie Betta said in an email. “The 2012 redistricting process was the most open and transparent in Florida’s history and produced maps which are compliant with Florida’s constitution, facts which the president believes will ultimately be affirmed.”
THE PEN IS MIGHTIER THAN THE TV AD?
Republicans are also likely to be “understandably disappointed,” or perhaps downright livid, when they get a chance to read the pending memoir from former Gov. Charlie Crist. Crist and Dutton, a publisher, said the Republican-turned-independent-turned-Democrat would pen a book called “THE PARTY’S OVER: How the Extreme Right Hijacked the GOP and I Became a Democrat.”
The publicity for the book suggests it’s part revenge for Crist being pushed out of the Republican Party in 2010 and part manifesto as he gears up for a bid for his former job, this time as a Democrat.
“I’ll share my very strong feelings about what’s happened to the Republicans, how the party I grew up in has been hijacked by extremists, losing its compassion and common sense,” Crist said in a press release issued by Dutton. “I’ll describe exactly what I saw and what it made me realize.”
It will no doubt be required reading for observers of state politics, but Republican Party of Florida Chairman Lenny Curry was already laughing off the idea of a bestseller from the man his party used to promote.
“We didn’t know that Charlie Crist was launching a new career as a fiction writer,” Curry said in a statement. “But we do want to thank him for the hundreds of pages of rhetorical ammunition he will be giving to us and his primary opponents.”
HOW MUCH DO YOU MAKE? HOW MUCH DID YOU RAISE?
With disclosures of state officials’ public wealth now being posted online, and the fund-raising statements of candidates also being published this week, there was plenty of gossip to be had about money. One takeaway: Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam is doing rather well in both departments.
Putnam, whose wealth is tied to the family-owned Putnam Groves, led the three Cabinet officers with a net worth of $7.2 million, an increase from $6.49 million in 2011. His net worth had dipped from $6.8 million in 2010, when he was elected commissioner.
One thing he might not have to spend much of that money on is his re-election campaign. The Republican commissioner, often mentioned as a future candidate for governor, raked in $591,011 in contributions between April 1 and June 30, far more than other statewide candidates — and almost 60 percent of the $966,788 raised by the Florida Democratic Party over the same time frame.
“Big thanks to everyone who helped kick off my reelection (with) such momentum!” Putnam said in a message on Twitter. “Nearly 2000 donors have invested in our vision for Florida!”
Also doing well: Rep. Matt Gaetz, a Fort Walton Beach Republican gearing up to run for his father’s Senate seat, reported raising $252,360 for that 2016 contest.
Speaking of the elder Gaetz: The co-founder of VITAS Healthcare Corp. and former Okaloosa County schools superintendent is worth $26.2 million — tops among more than a third of senators who have publicly declared themselves to be millionaires. And with some forms not yet ready for public release, the group of millionaires could grow.
REMAKING THE GRADE
Current county school superintendents — who might not be worth as much as Gaetz — were more concerned with what Education Commissioner Tony Bennett will recommend to the State Board of Education next week in an effort to counter what the superintendents say could be an alarming drop in school grades on the state report card.
In a letter to the state board, Bennett recommended continuing a year-old policy that prevents schools from dropping by more than one letter grade on those report cards, though he preemptively pushed back on any suggestion that such a policy watered down the state’s accountability system.
“To be clear, my recommendations, outlined below, are made not to soften the blow of higher standards or to reduce the number of failing schools, but rather to advance the best policy for Florida’s students and position our state for a successful transition to full implementation of the CCSS (Common Core State Standards) in the 2014-2015 school year and beyond,” he wrote.
Bennett also recommended tweaking how students at so-called “ESE centers,” which teach students with disabilities, are accounted for.
Sen. Bill Montford, D-Tallahassee, said he saw the changes recommended by Bennett as a “good, reasonable response.” Montford, who also serves as the CEO of the Florida Association of District School Superintendents, took part in discussions between Bennett and the superintendents about the grades.
“Clearly, I think this is a fair approach to it,” Montford said.
STORY OF THE WEEK: The Florida Supreme Court ruled that a case challenging the Senate’s redistricting plan can go forward despite an earlier ruling by the court that there was nothing on the surface that indicated the map violated the anti-gerrymandering “Fair Districts” standards.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “It is reminiscent of divorce court, where the louder each one screams, the more interesting it becomes to the audience.”–Susan MacManus, a political science professor at the University of South Florida, on the war of words between Crist and the state GOP.
By The News Service of Florida
Molino’s Kelly Named To World Wood Bat Tournament Team
July 14, 2013
Jacob Kelly of Molino was recently named to the 2013 World Wood Bat Association 18U National Championship All-Tournament Team as a pitcher. The tournament, held in Atlanta, featured over 180 teams with over 3,000 players.
Kelly, 17, pitched 11 innings striking out 13 and allowing only one earned run. Kelly played with the Patriot Travel Team made up of area high school athletes. Another team member, Chandler Burgess, was also named to the All-Tournament team as a hitter. Burgess batted .438 during the tournament that featured teams from as far away as Hawaii and New Jersey.