Rumor Check: This Highway 4 ‘Bridge’ Is Not Collapsing
April 23, 2020
Several Facebook posts went viral in the local area Thursday afternoon claiming this “bridge” on Highway 4 in Bratt was about to collapse. But it’s not.
The bridge is actually several large concrete box culverts that have been place in for several decades on Highway 4 about a mile west of North Highway 99.
The Escambia County Road Department inspected the culvert and roadway at least a couple of times Thursday and found no problems. There’s been no change in preexisting cracks in the roadway, and most of them are not even over the culverts.
It’s normal after heavy rain for the water rise and to flow rapidly through the culverts. It’s Beaverdam Creek and it drains the east side of Atmore where they had several inches of rain and flash flooding through midday Thursday.
Pictured: Escambia County Road Department inspects the culverts over Beaverdam Creek on Highway 4 Thursday afternoon. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Escambia, Santa Rosa COVID-19 Cases Increase By Just Six On Wednesday
April 23, 2020
THIS STORY IS OUTDATED, CLICK HERE FOR AN UPDATE.
The number of COVID-19 cases in Escambia and Santa Rosa counties increased by just five in the Thursday evening report from the Florida Department of Health.
Escambia County cases were up by four to 419, and Santa Rosa was up by one case to 141.
The number of Escambia County cases in residents or staff of long-term care facilities increased by five to 143. The number of long-term cases in Santa Rosa County remained at 10.
Statewide, there were 28,832 cases including 28,043 Florida residents. There have been 4,509 hospitalizations and 960 deaths.
- Total cases — 420 (+5 since Wednesday)
- Long-term care cases — 142 (+4 since Wednesday)
- Pensacola — 328
- Cantonment — 35
- Bellview — 6
- Perdido Key — 1
- McDavid/Walnut Hill — 1
- Molino – 1
- Century — 2
- Hospitalizations: 37*
- Deaths — 10
- Male — 173
- Female — 204
- Youngest — 0
- Oldest — 100
Santa Rosa County cases:
- Total cases — 141 (+1 since Wednesday)
- Long-term care cases — 10 (+0 since Wednesday)
- Milton — 75
- Navarre — 29
- Gulf Breeze — 23
- Pace — 11
- Jay — 2
- Residents: 129
- Nonresidents — 1
- Hospitalizations — 20*
- Deaths — 6
- Male — 98
- Female — 42
- Youngest — 2 months
- Oldest — 94
Florida cases:
- Total cases — 28,832
- Florida residents — 28,043
- Deaths — 960
- Hospitalizations — 4,509*
*“Hospitalizations” is a count of all laboratory confirmed cases in which an inpatient hospitalization occurred at any time during the course of illness. These people may no longer be hospitalized. This number does not represent the number of COVID-19 positive persons currently hospitalized. The FDOH does not provide a count of patients currently hospitalized.
Gulf Power And Florida Power & Light Plan To Merge In 2022
April 23, 2020
Gulf Power and Florida Power & Light plan to merge in 2022, according to their parent company, NextEra Energy.
NextEra purchases Gulf Power from the Southern Company in January 2019, but the companies were not merged to operate as one.
NextEra has filed a document with the Florida Public Service Commission that “reflects the expectation that FPL and Gulf Power will begin to operate as an integrated electric system in 2022.”
“Since the Gulf Power acquisition closed in 2019, FPL and Gulf Power have been reviewing the potential benefits of merging into a single, larger Florida utility company. Based on this review, the companies expect that a merger will create both operational and financial benefits for customers. As a result, the companies plan to take additional steps to merge over the coming months,” a NextEra news release said.
FPL is the largest electric utility in the state with about five million customers. Gulf Power has about 470,000 customers in eight Florida Panhandle counties, including Escambia and Santa Rosa.
Child Rescued From Burning Car Near Flomaton
April 23, 2020
First responders rescued a child from a burning car near Flomaton on Wednesday.
An explosion and yard fire were reported at a residence off Twin Bridges Road, just east of Flomaton.
Flomaton Police Chief Chance Thompson arrived on scene to find a car trailer with a welding machine on fire, along with a fire in the rear of abandoned car. No one was reported to be in the car.
When the Flomaton Fire Department arrived on scene, the family realized that a 4-year old child was missing.
“I found the child in the burning car, where a firefighter with the Flomaton Fire Department, Hunter White, assisted by safely removing the child from the burning vehicle that was filled with smoke,” Thompson said. The child was not reported to have any injury.
The Alabama Department of Human Resources was notified and responded to the scene.
An investigation is ongoing.
“Thank you to all involved with the incident, our great firemen, especially the Good Lord for guiding my eyes for the sweet child,” Thompson said.
Photo for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Escambia County Receives PPE For Long-Term Care Facilities
April 23, 2020
Escambia County Emergency Management has received need medical personal protection equipment that will go to long-term care facilities across the county.
The county received face shields, gloves and 71,000 prodedural masks from the state. That shipment will enable facilities to allot 15 masks per licensed bed.
Photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Fire Marshal Investigating Roberts Circle Mobile Home Fire
April 23, 2020
The Florida State Fire Marshal is investigating the cause of the fire that destroyed a double-wide mobile home in the 1900 block of Roberts Circle Wednesday night.
The mobile home was mostly involved in fire when Escambia Fire Rescue arrived on scene, and firefighters were able to quickly bring the blaze under control.
Escambia Fire Rescue has program to install free smoke detectors. If you home does not have working smoke detectors, call (850) 595-HERO (4376).
Photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Century Council Stops Mayor From Paying Pandemic Time And A Half; One Councilman Suggests Employee Layoffs
April 23, 2020
Century Mayor Henry Hawkins thought the town’s essential field employees — those that are keeping the water, sewer and gas operations running — deserved pay for time and half for their hard work during the COVID-19 pandemic. He upped their pay for one week, but the Century Town Council put a stop to it because they did not approve the expenditure.
During a telephone conference call council meeting on April 6, Hawkins told council members about his plan and his reasoning, but it appears council members did not hear all of what he said due to noise on the call. (A transcript is below.)
During this week’s council meeting, council members debated employee options, unemployment pay and their understanding of various government orders related to employees during the pandemic.
“My suggestion is call them off, tell everybody to stay at home. That means they’ll be laid off; they qualify for unemployment,” council member Luis Gomez said. “And we stop until everything gets back right. Let them draw unemployment…cause they going to get more than they normally get anyway. If you don’t need them, let them go home.”
The other four council members expressed strong objections to any layoffs.
“There’s going to be certain workers that are essential, so we can’t shut down our government,” council member Ben Boutwell replied.
“I don’t think that is a reasonable suggestion,” council President Ann Brooks added with agreement from James Smith.
“If it was me and I was a city of employee of Century, I would choose to go home and protect my safety and my life and draw whatever the larger than usual employment was,” Gomez responded. “I think that the workers should get that choice too.”
With no council motion or action regarding the potential layoff of employees, the council returned to discussion of the time and half pay approved by the mayor.
“A decision was made about employee pay that never came to the town council. It was made outside, and that doesn’t happen. That kind of decision needs to come to this council before it is every told to any employee,” Brooks said. “That does not need to happen again.”
“I agree,” Gomez remarked. “But now that we are here, where to we go from here.”
“You were taken care of this week,” Boutwell said, referring to addressing employees about the week of time and half pay. “But now the council is saying, no that’s not right. It’s not right that we have to be put in this position.”
Boutwell made a motion as suggested by Brooks to “allow the employees to keep what was given to them wrongly but that they get their regular pay in the future”. Smith seconded the motion. It passed 4-0 without a vote from Gomez. He had warned that his phone battery was low and apparently dropped off the call before the vote.
The employees remain eligible for overtime just as before the pandemic.
What did the mayor say?
Minutes approved the council this week contain an incorrect direct quote of a statement purportedly made the mayor during an April 6 telephone council meeting.
The minutes (pictured below) quote Mayor Henry Hawkins as saying, “Since the Governor has issued a shelter in place order and only mission essential personnel work, I have stated to the employees in the field that we will work on water leaks and the sewer plant. Everything is not mission essential (i.e. lawn mowing, baseball field maintenance). Because they are working I think it’s fair that we pay them time and a half instead of being off and getting paid for 40 hours.” (Editor’s note: The parenthesis and items contained within were typed as such in the minutes.)
The minutes continue, “However, none of the Council heard this statement due to technical difficulties.” It wasn’t made clear how the clerk that typed the minutes knew the no council member heard the mayor.
But while the quote approved by the council reflected the gist of what he actually said, the direct quote typed by the clerk in the official minutes was incorrect.
NorthEscambia.com reviewed the mayor’s statement in a recording of the April 6 telephone meeting:
“Since we are in this pandemic and they’ve declared that only mission essential personnel be at work, we have reduced the staff in the office,” Hawkins said and is clearly audible on the recording. He continued, with noise from other phones making it increasingly difficult but not immediately impossible to understand.
“And the guys in the field are working on water leaks and the sewer plant. So,” he said.
“Could everyone please put your phones on mute please? Thank you. Go ahead mayor,” Council President Ann Brooks interjected after some background noise.
“We are not doing business as usual. We are working on water leaks and the sewage plant. Everything else is not mission essential…mowing the yards and that kind of stuff until this is over with,” Hawkins said as background noise on the phone call increased. “And I think (inaudible) because they are working (inaudible) pay them time and a half otherwise they will go home and get paid for 40 hours,” Hawkins said in a portion of the recording that had a lot of background noise. Portions at the end of his statement were very difficult to understand without the playing the recording back multiple times and probably were not understandable during the phone call.
NorthEscambia.com photo and image, click to enlarge.
A Chance Shower Tonight; Sunny For Friday
April 23, 2020
Here is your official North Escambia area forecast:
Tonight: A slight chance of a shower, otherwise some clouds and a low near 60.
Friday: Sunny, with a high near 83. North wind around 5 mph becoming calm in the morning.
Friday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 62. South wind around 5 mph.
Saturday: Sunny, with a high near 85. Southwest wind 5 to 10 mph, with gusts as high as 20 mph.
Saturday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 57. Northwest wind around 5 mph.
Sunday: Sunny, with a high near 79. Northwest wind 5 to 10 mph.
Sunday Night: Clear, with a low around 52. North wind around 5 mph becoming calm after midnight.
Monday: Sunny, with a high near 81. Calm wind becoming north around 5 mph in the morning.
Monday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 56. Calm wind.
Tuesday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 84.
Tuesday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 64.
Wednesday: A 50 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly sunny, with a high near 85.
Wednesday Night: A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly cloudy, with a low around 59.
Thursday: Sunny, with a high near 82.
Manna Launches Fundraiser For COVID-19 Response And Recovery Relief
April 23, 2020
Manna has launched the Manna Cares Campaign to raise much-needed funds for Manna’s COVID-19 response and recovery efforts.
The campaign goal is $200,000, the equivalent of 120,000 meals for neighbors in need in Escambia and Santa Rosa counties. Those who have already committed significant contributions to Manna include Florida Blue; Gulf Breeze Rotary; Kerrigan, Estess, Rankin, McLeod & Thompson, LLP; retired NFL guard Josh Sitton of Bear General Contractors; and Kevin Russell Home Builders.
In response to the effects of coronavirus, Manna has focused on supporting the needs of at-risk, vulnerable populations served pre-COVID-19, as well as those who suddenly find themselves unemployed or with reduced hours. As a result, Manna has nearly doubled the amount of food distributed to accommodate the needs of our community.
Donations to the Manna Cares Campaign can be made online at www.mannahelps.org or by sending a check to Manna, 3030 North E Street, Pensacola, FL 32501. All donations will support Manna’s efforts to feed our neighbors in need and will remain in our local community.
“COVID-19 has presented many challenges for our community. Many of our neighbors are struggling when it comes to food,” said Manna Executive Director DeDe Flounlacker. “Manna is diligently working to identify gaps in service and provide hope to the hungry in our community. We are committed to seeing this through.”
One of the many programs Manna continues to support through the COVID-19 crisis is the School Resource Officer (SRO) Food Program. Even though schools are closed, Pensacola Police Department and Escambia County Sheriff’s Office SROs continue to check-in on families and deliver food to those in need.
“I think that it’s important for our community to know how critical it is to keep Manna funded so we can continue to feed children and families in need,” said Pensacola Police Chief Tommi Lyter. Josh Sitton of Bear General Contractors and Kevin and Laura Russell of Kevin Russell Home Builders recognize how important it is too. They’ve directed their contributions to the School Resource Officer Food Program to ensure students and their families are fed.
“A large segment of our community doesn’t have enough food to last a few days, and most of these families in need have children. Manna can feed a family of four 12 meals for as little as $20, so every donation makes a difference,” said Lyter.
Manna has reinforced established programs to provide additional support and has established new partnerships to serve those most in need in the two-county area. At this time, Manna is providing food (in the form of groceries) to the following partners/programs: Healthy Seniors Food Program at Westminster Village; Boys & Girls Clubs of the Emerald Coast; Manna’s own Monthly Senior Food Program at Main Pantry; Gulf Coast Kids’ House; Santa Rosa Kids’ House; Pensacola Police Department; Escambia County Sheriff’s Office; OASIS Florida; Backpacks4Teens program through the Santa Rosa County School District; United Way of West Florida’s AmeriCorps VISTAs; representatives of the hospitality and service industry; Community Health Northwest Florida; Gulf Breeze Interfaith Disaster Resource Council; Salvation Army; Saint John Divine Baptist Church; Pensacola State College; Re-Entry Alliance Pensacola (REAP); and Children’s Home Society.
Free Food Distributions In Both Century And Flomaton Saturday Morning
April 23, 2020
There will be two different food giveaways on Saturday in both Century and Flomaton, thanks to the efforts of the mayors from both towns to help out during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Century Food Distribution
A food distribution will be held in Century on Saturday Morning, April 25 at 10 a.m. at the Century Business Center at 400 Pond Street. The drive-thru event is sponsored by Mayor Henry Hawkins “and friends”. Persons will stay in their vehicle at all times.
The food is provided by Feeding the Gulf Coast and the First Baptist Church of Ferry Pass and is available while supplies last.
Flomaton Food Distribution
At the most recent meeting of the Flomaton Town Council, Mayor Dewey Bondurant, Jr. suggested the creation of a town food bank for persons in need during the COVID-19 pandemic. Persons do not have to be a resident of Flomaton to receive food.
The Flomaton food giveaway will be held Saturday, April 25 at 10 a.m. the Flomaton Community Center at 600 McCurdy Street. Persons are asked to follow the route in the map below provided by the Flomaton Police Department. Signs and police officers will direct people in the direction they need to go. Persons receiving food must stay in their vehicle at all times. Each person will be also asked a few simple questions.
The food distribution is in cooperation with the Alabama Department of Agriculture, USDA and Feeding the Gulf Coast.
