Mobile Takes Season Opener From Pensacola
July 22, 2014
Minor league baseball’s strikeout kings for most of the season went head-to-head Monday night at Pensacola Bayfront Stadium.
The result? The Pensacola Blue Wahoos Ben Lively retook the strikeout mantle with four strikeouts for 135 on the year. But the Mobile BayBears Aaron Blair had 9 Ks to up his total to 134 on the season and got the win in his Double-A debut.
Plus, Blair earned the first hit off Lively in the game in the fifth inning with a bloop single to left field.
Mobile won the opening game of the five-game series, 6-3, extending its winning streak to seven games. The BayBears are now 44-4 when leading after the seventh inning and the first half Southern League South Division winners now lead the second half, too, with a 20-9 record and are 62-36 overall.
Meanwhile, Pensacola fell to 10-21 in the second half and 41-60 overall.
Lively, who fell to 0-4, was trying for his first win at Double-A with the Wahoos, but left the game after walking the first two batters in the seventh and reliever Carlos Gonzalez allowed one of those BayBears to score. Lively did not allow a hit for the first 4.1 innings and only gave up two singles but ended up walking seven.
Blair, the Diamondbacks No. 3 prospect according to MLB.com, said his debut win was even more special since he and Lively have known each other for four years, playing in the same division in college, pitching as teammates for the same team in Cape Cod League (summer collegiate) and facing each other in High-A.
“It was about as good a debut as you can hope for,” Blair said. “It was cool getting to pitch and hit against a good friend.”
Lively, a Gulf Breeze product, said he feels no pressure about getting his first win of the season for the Wahoos. Lively has allowed 25 walks, hit 2 batters and given up 23 hits in 30.2 innings for Pensacola, so far.
“Once I have good games and not give up a lot of free passes and put up zeros the wins will start coming,” he said. “If I make the right pitches, I can get anybody out.”
Pensacola manager Delino DeShields gave Lively a pep talk outside the locker room after the game, telling him to stay in control of his emotions.
“Ben, even though he walked seven guys, still gave us a good game,” DeShields said. “I’m still waiting for him, and I don’t want to say this the wrong way, to control his emotions. I think it’s getting the better of him sometimes.”
Pensacola kept from getting shutout for the 11th time when catcher Ross Perez hit a two-out, three-run shot over the right field wall that made the final score, 6-3.
The second game of the five-game series with Arizona Diamondbacks Double-A affiliate the Mobile BayBears gets underway at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday. RHP Daniel Corcino (8-8, 4.36) takes the mound for the Wahoos and is scheduled to be opposed by the BayBears RHP Mike Lee (6-4, 4.14).
by Tommy Thralll
James Karl Otto, Sr.
July 22, 2014
James Karl Otto, Sr. was born at the old Sacred Heart Hospital in Pensacola,March 17th, 1932, and Otto wanted everyone to know that life was a heck of a ride.
Mr. Otto studied for the Florida State Boards and received his registered real estate license at the age of 21 years. He worked 10 years for I.J. Johnson Realtor and another 10 years for Walter Dean of Warrington Home Builders. In 1950 he married his friend, lover and soul mate Arlene G. Kressler, they were both just teenagers.
James was raised in Pensacola and moved to the Barrineau Park community where he resided with Arlene until 1991. Together they raised five wonderful children who all attended the little three-room school house in Barrineau Park.
James retired from real estate after a 20 year tenure to accept a deputy sheriff’s commission from William E. Bill Davis of Escambia County and had 12 ½ years vested in the Sheriff’s Department serving at the pleasure of both Sheriff Davis and Sheriff Untreiner. During Deputy Otto’s tenure with the Escambia County Sheriff’s Department, he served as defensive driving instructor for the National Safety Council, police instructor at then PJC, director of the Junior Deputies League, vice chairman of safety services for first aid and chairman of disaster action teams for the Pensacola Chapter of the American National Red Cross. He was awarded the humanitarian medal and the award of merit by the Red Cross.
James and Arlene moved to the Chumuckla Community in north Santa Rosa County in 2000 to enjoy the quiet life. Deputy Otto was a 20 year law enforcement member of the Florida Sheriff’s Association and National Sheriff’s Association. Otto was certified by the National Rifle Association as range safety officer and firearm instructor and served from 1992 until the time of his death.
Honorary pallbearers will be Walter F. Biggs, Rick Rankin, Greg Lewis, Jim Pennington, Johnny T. Redding, Jr., Fred Smith and Roberta Brown.
Active pallbearers will be Ron Sterling, Scott Steadman, Kurtis Smith, Kenny Smith, Kevin Smith, Chad Jones, Luke Overstreet, Jeff Simpson and Clifton Overstreet.
James was preceded in death by his mother, Allie G. Otto and father Fritz Karl Otto, his first born and oldest son, Fritz Karl Otto, II and great grandson, Tyler Wages.
He is survived by his loving wife of 62 years, Arlene; his daughters, Georgia (Harvey) Smith and Debra (Bill); sons, James K. (Angela) Otto, Jr. and Erich (Sue) Otto; sister, Anita (Allan) Geiger; and numerous grandchildren, great grandchildren, nieces and nephews.
Funeral services will be held Tuesday, July 22, 2014 at Faith Chapel Funeral Home North with visitation beginning at 10 a.m., services at 11 a.m. with burial following in the Historic St. John’s Cemetery with McGuire’s Bagpipe Band Playing at graveside.
Faith Chapel Funeral Home North, 1000 S. Highway 29, Cantonment, is entrusted with arrangements.
Old Sid Nelson, Ransom Middle Coming Down For Bus Compound
July 21, 2014
The old Ransom Middle School on Muscogee Road is coming down, most likely to make way for a school bus compound.
Most recently, the buildings housed the Sid Nelson Community Learning Center with a preschool and alternative school that shut down about four years ago. And a head start program called the old campus home, but it has now been moved to the Molino Community Complex for the next school year.
The Escambia County School Board voted to demolish the buildings, and, unless there’s a change in the next few weeks, construct a paved bus compound to park school buses overnight, provide basic maintenance and provide a fueling station.
But the Cantonment Improvement Committee, which was formed in 2012 to address blight in Cantonment, wants a community center on the property because their area is currently without one.
“There is a need for the bus compound in that part of the county, whether it is that site or not,” Escambia County School Superintendent Malcolm Thomas said. “That site must come down; there is no building there suitable for a community center.”
Thomas said he’s game to listen to proposals for the site if someone can find him about 10 acres in the Muscogee Road and Highway 29 area that is on a major road and suitable for the bus compound. Or, he said, it might be possible for the bus compound and a small, newly constructed community center at the Sid Nelson site to c0-exist on the 12 acre parcel.
“But I will not deal with the Cantonment Redevelopment Committee,” Thomas said, “because community centers are a county responsibility. I would deal with the county directly.”
But so far, there’s been no positive news from Escambia County about a possible community center for the Cantonment area. For now, the Escambia County Commission has pulled the renewal of the local option sales tax (LOST) off the August 26 primary ballot. LOST dollars are often used for project like community centers, but there are no funds for a Cantonment community center on a “wish list” of projects that would be funded by a LOST renewal.
“The Sid Nelson site ads to the blight of the area,” Thomas said. “And right now I’m stacking buses on school sites where there’s not room and inadequate light. That Cantonment site is what we need — and it’s already owned by the taxpayers.”
NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Hot Week With Showers And Thunderstorms Forecast
July 21, 2014
Here is your official North Escambia area forecast:
- Monday Night A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 71. Southwest wind around 5 mph becoming calm in the evening.
- Tuesday A 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly sunny, with a high near 93. Calm wind becoming south around 5 mph in the afternoon.
- Tuesday Night A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 70. South wind around 5 mph becoming calm.
- Wednesday A 50 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly sunny, with a high near 91. Calm wind becoming south around 5 mph in the afternoon.
- Wednesday Night A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly cloudy, with a low around 72. South wind around 5 mph becoming calm after midnight.
- Thursday A 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly sunny, with a high near 91. Light southwest wind increasing to 5 to 10 mph in the morning.
- Thursday Night A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 72. Southwest wind 5 to 10 mph becoming light west after midnight.
- Friday A 50 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly sunny, with a high near 91.
- Friday Night A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly cloudy, with a low around 72.
- Saturday A 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly sunny, with a high near 93.
- Saturday Night A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 73.
- Sunday A 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly sunny, with a high near 92.
Tax Collector Offices Collecting Food Drive Donations For Manna
July 21, 2014
A food drive is currently underway at Escambia County Tax Collector offices, including Molino, downtown and Marcus Pointe.
The employees of Janet Holley, Escambia County Tax Collector, are supporting Manna Food Pantries by sponsoring a food drive to help them restock their pantry from the April flood. Their goal is to collect 2,000 pounds of food to help Manna meet the needs of the hungry in our area.
Nonperishable food items can be dropped off at any of the three convenient tax collector locations Monday through Friday between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. through August 6. Manna Food Pantries welcomes any food donations, but their most needed items are peanut butter, canned fruit, canned tuna and chicken, and canned dinners.
Escambia Count Tax Collector offices are located at:
- Molino – 6440 Hwy. 95-A North, Ste. A
- Marcus Pointe – 6451 North “W” Street
- Downtown – 213 Palafox Place
Florida Supreme Court Ponders New Juvenile Sentencing Law
July 21, 2014
The Florida Supreme Court has asked attorneys how a new state law might affect cases dealing with inmates who were sentenced to long prison terms for committing murders or other major crimes when they were juveniles.
The new law went into effect July 1 and was designed to carry out two landmark U.S. Supreme Court rulings based on the idea that juveniles are different from adults and function at different stages of brain development. As a result, the U.S. Supreme Court held, juvenile sentencing guidelines must offer young offenders the chance to have their cases reviewed after serving a certain number of years.
Now the question is whether the state law or the U.S. Supreme Court rulings are retroactive to sentences imposed on juveniles in the past.
Last month the Florida Supreme Court asked attorneys in cases that might be affected by the new sentencing guidelines to submit briefs on the issue.That included cases from Bay and Duval counties, where juveniles were sentenced to 70 years or more. The attorney general’s office also is expected to weigh in.
One of the U.S. Supreme Court rulings, in a 2010 case known as Graham v. Florida, banned life sentences without a “meaningful opportunity” for release for juveniles convicted of non-homicide crimes. The other ruling, in a 2012 case known as Miller v. Alabama, banned mandatory life sentences for juveniles convicted of murder. Juveniles can still face life sentences in such cases, but judges must weigh criteria such as the offenders’ maturity and the nature of the crimes before imposing that sentence.
That’s why the Florida Legislature this spring passed HB 7035, calling for judicial hearings and sentencing standards that vary depending on the nature of the crimes. Under the law, a juvenile convicted of a murder classified as a capital felony could be sentenced to life in prison after a hearing to determine whether such a sentence is appropriate. If a judge finds that a life sentence is not appropriate, the juvenile would be sentenced to at least 35 years. Also, juveniles convicted in such cases would be entitled to reviews after 25 years.
But while the new law tries to bring Florida into compliance with the U.S. Supreme Court rulings, it doesn’t mention retroactivity. Senate Criminal and Civil Justice Appropriations Chairman Rob Bradley, the law’s Senate sponsor, said it was not intended to address that issue.
“We were simply looking at a statutory scheme that was clearly unconstitutional,” the Fleming Island Republican said. “We were looking at two United States Supreme Court decisions that set forth certain parameters, and we developed a sentencing framework that complied with those two decisions. As far as how that applied individually to individual defendants, we’ll leave that to the court system.”
In the years between the U.S. Supreme Court rulings and the new law taking effect, juvenile sentencing cases have landed at the Florida Supreme Court.
As an example, one of the pending cases concerns Rebecca Falcon, who is serving a life sentence for a murder she committed in Bay County in the course of a botched robbery in 1997, when she was 15 years old. Another, from Duval County, involves Shimeeka Gridine, who was sentenced to 70 years in prison for crimes — attempted first-degree murder, attempted armed robbery and aggravated battery — committed during an attempt to rob a gas station in 2009, when Gridine was 14 years old.
“We believe that (the) Miller (ruling) itself is retroactive,” said Tania Galloni, managing attorney for the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Florida office. She said Falcon and Gridine should be entitled to re-sentencing hearings.
Falcon’s attorneys are seeking to have her mandatory sentence — life without parole — vacated under the Miller ruling, arguing that as a new rule of constitutional law, it is retroactive for the courts.
“I’m not arguing that the new (state) law should be applied retroactively,” said Karen M. Gottlieb, an attorney for Falcon. “I’m arguing that the court has an inherent power and obligation to enforce constitutional rules of law that are retroactive. … That’s an important distinction.”
Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd, president of the Florida Sheriffs Association, said the Florida Supreme Court faces a balancing act. On one hand, the justices must comply with the U.S. Supreme Court rulings; on the other, he said, juveniles who commit serious felonies are a threat to public safety.
“The U.S. Supreme Court has already clearly said you can’t give them what amounts to a life sentence,” Judd said. “But we’re dealing with an extremely small percentage of people who are extremely violent, and the overwhelming majority of them would be again when set free upon society.”
But Galloni of the Southern Poverty Law Center said juveniles who commit crimes are still capable of changing the course of their lives.
“I think everyone involved in policymaking should be basing their decisions not on emotion or visceral reaction but on the science, on the facts,” she said. “And we know from the science of brain development that children are going to change.”
by Margie Menzel, The News Service of Florida
Still Time To Register For Northview QB Club Softball Tournament
July 21, 2014
The Northview High School Quarterback Club will host a double elimination coed softball tournament August 2 at Showalter Park in Century from 8 a.m. until. The cost is $150 per team. Proceeds will go to support the Northview Chiefs football program.
Suns Take Finale Over Wahoos
July 21, 2014
The Pensacola Blue Wahoos (10-20, 41-59) dropped the series finale, 5-2, to the Jacksonville Suns (18-11, 54-45) at the Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville on Sunday afternoon. With the loss, the Wahoos fell to 1-7 over their last eight games.
The Wahoos jumped out to an early lead when starting pitcher Michael Lorenzen singled home his battery mate Ross Perez in the second inning. The Wahoos put together little more offensively, despite receiving three hit days from both Perez and center fielder Yorman Rodriguez.
In his first start since July 1, Lorenzen was able to work through the first three innings of the game unscathed, but the Suns put three runs on the board to take the lead in the bottom of the fourth. Catcher Austin Barnes homered for the second straight day to open up the inning and tie the score at one. Following the solo home run, Joe Benson doubled down the third base line and later scored on Brady Shoemaker’s double into left field. That gave the Suns a lead they would never relinquish. Shoemaker later came home to score on a Wilfredo Gimenez groundout.
The Suns tacked on another run in the fifth thanks to Barnes’ second homer of the game and they put the game away in the bottom of the eighth when Alfredo Lopez scored Alex Burg on an RBI single to right field. The Wahoos fought back in the top of the ninth with Ryan Wright scoring on an error, but Perez left a man in scoring position when he grounded out to end the game.
Lorenzen took the loss for the Wahoos, allowing 4 R/ER on eight hits while striking out two batters. RHP Drew Hayes pitched well in relief of Lorenzen, allowing just one hit over 2.1 innings of work.
RHP Jose Urena earned the win for the Suns; he allowed 1 R/ER over 5.2 innings of work. Urena struck out five, walked three and gave up seven hits. RHP Matt Ramsey earned the save for the Suns.
Pensacola returns to Bayfront Park for a five-game set with the Mobile BayBears on Monday. The Wahoos will send Gulf Breeze native Ben Lively (0-3, 4.38) to the mound for game one of the series. RHP Bradin Hagens (8-4, 3.95) is set to start for the BayBears.
by Joey Truncale
Today Is Deadline To Apply For FEMA Flood Assistance
July 21, 2014
For individuals impacted by the storm and flooding from April 28-May 6, the deadline to apply for disaster assistance with FEMA and Small Business Administration (SBA) low-interest disaster loans is today.
Individuals impacted in Escambia and Santa Rosa counties are eligible to apply for disaster assistance that may include money to help pay for temporary housing, essential home repairs or other serious disaster-related expenses.
Those who had damage from the storms and flooding from April 28 to May 6 can apply for assistance online at DisasterAssistance.gov or using a smartphone at m.fema.gov/ until midnight Monday. Survivors may also apply by phone at (800) 621-3362 or TTY (800) 462-7585 until 10 p.m. Monday. Recovery specialists remain available from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. (CDT) daily.
People living in the designated counties should register with FEMA even if they have insurance. FEMA cannot duplicate insurance payments, but under-insured applicants may receive help after their insurance claims have been settled.
Monday is also the deadline to submit loan applications to the U.S. Small Business Administration for low-interest disaster loans. These loans are the primary source of federal funds for long-term recovery. The quickest way to apply for an SBA disaster home or business loan is filling out an online application at DisasterLoan.SBA.gov/ela.
NorthEscambia.com file photo.
Person Of Interest In Santa Rosa Double Murder Now Suspect In Third Murder
July 21, 2014
THIS STORY HAS BEEN UPDATED. CLICK HERE FOR AN UPDATE. Thompson has been arrested.
The Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office is investigating a double homicide and has named a person of interest that is now the prime suspect a third murder Monday that left a former sheriff’s deputy dead.
Deputies say they responded to a 911 call for a medical emergency just about 8:50 a.m. Sunday in the 6200 block of Goliath Road in Milton.
Deputies entered the residence and located two individuals who were deceased, according to Deputy Rich Aloy, spokesperson for the Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office. Deputies established there were indications of foul play. Based on those findings, detectives are currently working the investigation as a double homicide, Aloy said.
The victims have been identified as 60-year old Steven Tyrone Zackowski and 59-year old Debra Lynn Zackowski – husband and wife.
Detectives are looking for 41-year old Derrick Ray Thompson (pictured) on burglary/grand theft and fraud charges. Thompson is being sought out for questioning as a person of interest in the double homicide. His whereabouts are unknown at this time.
THIS STORY HAS BEEN UPDATED. CLICK HERE FOR AN UPDATE. Thompson has been arrested.
He was last seen driving a silver 2012 Ford F-150 extended cab with an Auburn pate on the front and Florida tag K53-1UD. Bay County businessman Alan Johnson was found shot to death inside the truck Monday afternoon in Panama City. Johnson is a former Bay County Sheriff’s Office deputy.
Police are now looking for Johnson’s truck, which Thompson may now be driving. The license plate of the silver Toyota Tacoma is VY015.
Anyone with information related to the investigation or the whereabouts of Thompson is asked to contact Santa Rosa County Crime Stoppers at (850) 437-STOP or their local law enforcement agency.