Prayer And WD-40: Molino Woman Celebrates 104th Birthday
April 1, 2013
Hattie Schneider of Molino celebrated her 104th birthday on Easter Sunday, giving credit for her long life to “prayer and WD-40″.
She says she is not sure why she has lived so long or what God’s purpose is for her, but she has trust in the Lord.
She has one son, Carlton Abbott, two grandchildren, and many great and great-great grandchildren. Her family and friends said they thank God everyday for blessing them with her, and she is a true inspiration to everyone.
Faithful Celebrate Resurrection At Easter Sunrise Services
March 31, 2013
Easter morning sunrise services were held at many locations across the area Sunday morning.
One of the largest in North Escambia was in Molino as several churches came together for a community Easter morning sunrise service at Aldersgate Methodist Church, celebrating with music and a message.
Other sunrise services were held across the area, including Century, Atmore,Walnut Hill, Flomaton, Gonzalez and Cantonment. And thousands attended a Marcus Pointe Baptist Church Son-Rise Service held at the Blue Wahoos Stadium downtown (pictured above and below).
The sunrise services celebrated the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, an important event to the faithful. According to the Bible:
Matthew 28:1-20
Resurrection Morning
1 After the Sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to view the tomb. 2 Suddenly there was a violent earthquake, because an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and approached [the tomb]. He rolled back the stone and was sitting on it. 3 His appearance was like lightning, and his robe was as white as snow. 4 The guards were so shaken from fear of him that they became like dead men. 5
But the angel told the women, “Don’t be afraid, because I know you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. 6 He is not here! For He has been resurrected, just as He said. Come and see the place where He lay. 7 Then go quickly and tell His disciples, ‘He has been raised from the dead. In fact, He is going ahead of you to Galilee; you will see Him there.’ Listen, I have told you.”
8 So, departing quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, they ran to tell His disciples the news. 9 Just then Jesus met them and said, “Good morning!” They came up, took hold of His feet, and worshiped Him. 10 Then Jesus told them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell My brothers to leave for Galilee, and they will see Me there.”
The Soldiers Are Bribed to Lie
11 As they were on their way, some of the guard came into the city and reported to the chief priests everything that had happened. 12 After the priests had assembled with the elders and agreed on a plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money 13 and told them, “Say this, ‘His disciples came during the night and stole Him while we were sleeping.’ 14 If this reaches the governor’s ears, we will deal with him and keep you out of trouble.” 15 So they took the money and did as they were instructed. And this story has been spread among Jewish people to this day.
The Great Commission
16 The 11 disciples traveled to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had directed them. 17 When they saw Him, they worshiped, but some doubted. 18 Then Jesus came near and said to them, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
from the Holman Christian Standard Bible
Photos: Ray’s Chapel Baptist Church ‘Eggstravaganza’
March 31, 2013
Dozens of area children took part in the annual “Eggstravaganza” Saturday at Ray’s Chapel Baptist Church in Bogia.
The children played Easter egg bingo, jumped in a bounce house, dined on cupcakes and hunted hundreds of eggs. Two lucky children found prize eggs that won them a new bicycle.
For a photo gallery, click here.
Do you have photos of an event at your church? Email them news@northescambia.com
Submitted photos by Ramona Preston for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Birth: Ayden James Chancery
March 31, 2013
Baby Ayden James Chancery was born Friday, March 22, 2013 at 1:10 p.m., just two day’s before his father’s 21st birthday. The son of Aaron and Britany Chancery, Ayden was 7-pounds, 15.5-ounces and 20 inches long,
He is the brother of Riley Chancery and the grandson of Richard and Lisa Chancery and Loretta Floyd.
22nd Annual Century Sawmill Pageant Winners
March 31, 2013
The 22nd Annual Century Sawmill Pageant was held recently in Century.
The event included pageants for numerous age groups for beauty, casual wear, and most photogenic. Over 70 girls participated in the Century Lions Club fund raiser. All proceeds benefit needy children in the Tri-County area.
Winners for each age category are detailed under each photograph below:
Tiny Baby Miss Winners (L-R) Miss Photogenic – Adahline Grayce Burks; 2nd – Katelyn Mathis; Queen – Alydia Renea Sutton; 1st-Aniyah Michelle Campbell; 3rd — Aubrey La-shae Barnhill. Not shown: Casual Queen Winner – Kaitlyn Kelly.
Toddler Miss Winners: (L-R) 1st – Addyson Alizabeth Wilson; Queen-Carly Pritchett; 3rd – Sarah Alexis Blackbuen; 2nd and Miss Photogenic – Jadyn Alyssa Gresham. Not shown: Casual Queen Winner – Peyton Shailee Lee.
Little Miss Winners: (L-R) 3rd – Shylah Leigh Campbell; 2nd – Baleigh Lincoln; Queen & Most Tickets Sold – Emilee Grace Braswell; 1st & Casual Queen – Lanie Kate Stephens; Most Photogenic – Sophia Adkins.
Young Miss Winners: (L-R) 3rd – Juliana Brooke Gresham; 2nd – Kelsi Wright; Queen & Casual Queen – Andrea Grace LaSala; 1st & Most Photogenic – Aliyah Lynn Neal.
Junior Miss Winners: (L-R) 2nd – Emma Breanna Barrow; Queen and Most Photogenic – Anna Marie Reaves; 1st – Nala Hunter; 3rd and Casual Queen – Renee Flower.
Pre-Teen Miss: (L-R) 3rd and Miss Photogenic – Carly Leanne Sanders; Queen and Casual Queen – Ansley Brooke LaSala; 2nd – Gabrielle Lynn Patterson; 1st – Skylar Crawford.
Miss Winners: (L-R) 1st – Kassidy Lynne Adams; Queen, Casual Queen and Most Photogenic – Alayna Nicole Gordon; 2nd – Brittanie Grace Johnson; 3rd – Heather Alyssa Hilton.
Submitted photos by “Photos By Fisher” for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
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.
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.
Low Cost Health Insurance Available To Many Area Children
March 29, 2013
Many families in the North Escambia area are eligible for a program that offers private insurance to children for as little as $15-$20 per month.
Florida Kid Care covers health emergencies and a wide variety of services, such as doctor visits, shots, lab tests, X-rays, dental care, prescriptions, emergencies, hospitalization, mental health examinations and sports physicals.
Many families are eligible for the program, but the parents do not know about it. Sacred Heart Children’s Hospital and United Way are working together to promote awareness of the low-cost insurance.
The family’s size and income determine if the children are eligible. The statewide program is aimed at children 18 or younger. A family of four with an income of up to $46,100 a year is eligible.
Details: In Escambia and Santa Rosa counties, simply call 2-1-1. Or email InsureKidsNow@shhpens.org. For more details, contact Cheryl Pilling at cpilling@shhpens.org or call (850) 416-6040.
Molino Family Searching For Missing Special Needs Companion Dog
March 27, 2013
A local family has been searching for their dog Jasper for over a week now, and they are asking the Molino community for help in finding him.
Jasper is a male yellow lab about four years old, and he is a specials needs companion for a child named Destiny, who suffers from Downs Syndrome. He’s been missing since last week from the Brickyard Road area. The family has listed him missing on the NorthEscambia.com classifieds page and on Facebook.
“He first met Destiny when she was about six months old,” aunt Aundrea Smith said. “It was like they automatically latched onto each other.” Jasper has learned to alert the family when Destiny is experiencing difficulty breathing or find an adult when she has other needs.
“I don’t have any money, or I’d offer a million dollars reward for him; he’s that special,” Smith said.
Anyone that sees Jasper is asked to call Aundrea Smith immediately at (850) 754-0053.
Pictured: Special needs companion dog Jasper has been missing from a Molino home for over a week. Submitted photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Exclusive: Sister Addresses McGhee Disappearance; Sheriff Has Message For Abductor
March 26, 2013
It has been a decade since Melinda Wall McGhee went missing from her Atmore home, a decade that has been a living nightmare for her sister Lisa Wooten.
Wooten said Monday that she’s never held any hope that her sister will be found alive since the moment she learned the details of McGhee’s disappearance .
“I live everyday with no hope that she will be found alive,” Wooten said in an exclusive interview with NorthEscambia.com. “I knew from the first day, I knew and believed at that moment that she was murdered.”
For Wooten, her hope now centers on closure and justice.
“Every time I hear that remains have been found somewhere, I pray that it will be my sister,” she said. “We are still hoping someone with come forward with something. We want to to find out what happened, who did it, and bring them to justice.”
The case still haunts Escambia County (Ala.) Sheriff Grover Smith.
“We’re all a little concerned when we lay our head down and sleep, to know that a person can be abducted from their home in broad daylight, and ten years later we still have no answers,” he said.
Smith also had a message of justice for McGhee’s abductor — or murderer — at a press conference held Monday.
“We also want to remind the person who took Melinda McGhee, that every time you hear a footstep behind you, every time you hear a noise in the night, it could be us. We’re not gonna quit. We are never going to let you rest and we’re going to do everything in our power that God gives us the wisdom to seek to do, to find out where Melinda is and where you are if you’re the person who took her.”
Smith said foul play was certainly part of McGhee’s disappearance, and he vowed his department will continue their investigation. A special investigator, Tommy Calhoun, is leading the search for the suspect.
Smith said sometimes he doubts the abductor will be found locally. “The type person that will commit a crime like this is likely to commit another similar crime in 10 years,” he said. “That has not happened here.”
“People remain suspects until they can be cleared, and there are several individuals we are highly interested in that we will not clear until we have sufficient evidence and information that they are no longer a suspect,” Calhou said. Some of those people have refused to speak to investigators for the past 10 years.
The morning of March 24, 2003, was a sunny start to the first day of spring break. Melinda Wall McGhee, then 31, returned to her home about 8 a.m. after working the night shift as a nurse at a Bay Minette nursing home.
Her husband, Troy McGhee, was at work at Masland Carpets in Atmore. Their two children were at a babysitter, and Troy’s son from a previous relationship was at a dentist’s office. At about 8:30 the morning of March 24, 2003, Melinda McGhee spoke to her mother on the phone. It was the last time anyone known to Melinda would ever hear from her.
At about 4:00 that afternoon, husband Troy came home to find Melinda missing. There was blood and evidence of a violent struggle inside the home. He reported his wife missing.
In 2010, authorities issued a death certificate for McGhee after a required seven year waiting period passed.
When asked what she would like to say directly to the person responsible for the disappearance of her sister, Wooten said, “I don’t want him to know the pain, the hurt, the anger I’ve felt for the last 10 years. He is not worthy of any of my words.”
Anyone with information about McGhee’s disappearance is asked to call Investigator Tommy Calhoun at (251) 809-2154 or email him at tcalhoun@co.escambia.al.us. A reward of up to $15,000 is offered for information leading to an arrest and conviction.
Pictured top inset: Melinda Wall McGhee’s mother Ouida and her sister, Lisa Wooten, sit quietly behind pictures of McGhee during a press conference Monday in Poarch, AL. Pictured inset: Escambia County (AL) Sheriff Grover Smith (left) and Investigator Tommy Calhoun discuss McGhee’s disappearance. Pictured bottom: Representatives from contingent of law enforcement agencies that have worked the case for the past 10 years. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
