Birth: Jaxon Noah Wilson
March 24, 2013
Jaxon Noah Wilson born on March 4, 2013, weighing 7-pounds, 5-ounces and 20 inches long. He was welcomed by parents Jeremiah and Lindsey Wilson. Grandparents are Teresa and Lloyd Jordan, and Rose and Willie Wilson of Century.
Monster Truck ‘Bigfoot’ Visits Local Transmission Supplier
March 22, 2013
Bigfoot — one of the true giants in the monster truck world — made a stop at sponsor Alto Products in Atmore Thursday afternoon. Bigfoot is a world famous 4-wheel drive behemoth that achieves its superior power from Atmore-made Alto Red Eagle clutches. Alto has provided the transmission clutch plates for Bigfoot for the past 13 years.
Alto now supplies their Red Eagle racing clutches to over a dozen monster truck teams including Gravedigger, Black Stallion and Big Dawg.
NorhtEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Who Do You Call When Your Train Overheats? Not AAA, But ECFR
March 21, 2013
AAA can’t help you when you train locomotive overheats, but you can call Escambia County Fire Rescue.
Engine 419 from the Cantonment Station of Escambia County Fire Rescue responded to Highway 95A near Jim Allen Elementary School Thursday morning to assist CSX after a train locomotive engine overheated. There was no fire, just a need for water to cool the engine.
Submitted photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Mira Awards Honor Escambia’s Most Creative Seniors
March 21, 2013
Seventy of Escambia County’s most creative high school seniors were honored Thursday night during the 2013 Mira Creative Arts Awards Banquet at New World Landing.
Mira Award recipients were nominated for the award by their teachers and received engraved medallions, a book scholarship from Pensacola State College, memberships from the Pensacola Museum of Art and Artel Gallery, and Certificates of Special Congressional Recognition from Congressman Jeff Miller.
2013 Mira Creative Arts Award recipients were:
Northview High School: Alison Danielle Bardin, Vocal Music; Ashton Brooke Gibbs, Instrumental/Vocal Music; Alisha Grice, Graphic Arts; Zach Johnson, Journalism; Courtney Lambert, Culinary Arts; Ashley Mooney, Graphic Arts; Maranda Moye, Journalism; Stephanie Roach, Instrumental Music; Johnnie Smith, Visual Arts; Julia Thorpe, Journalism.
Tate High School: Lindsey Gordon, Band; Marissa Sue Jackson, Orchestra; Jennifer Haley Krostag, Visual Arts; Nicholas Andrew Krostag, Television Production; Katie Massey, Band; Kimberlee Marie Richards, Photography; Victoria Ryder, Yearbook Photo Editor; Amy Sapp, Mock Trial; Brooke Lindsey Marie Verlaan, Drama; Elizabeth Violet Watson, Chorus.
West Florida High School: Natalie Allgyer, Art; Italia Maria Brinston, Band; Lauren Hughes, Journalism/Yearbook; Jacob McDonough, Band; Lauren Elaine Meadors, Drama/Performance; Jahleel Ordoñéz, Multimedia; James Rhyne, Drama-Scenic Design/Technical Theatre; Michelle Shepherd, Newspaper; Jessica Taylor, Art; Hannah Woolford, Journalism/Yearbook.
Pine Forest High School: Serena Bishop, Band; Jennifer Lenore Cacal, Media Academy; Joshua Tyler Carnahan, Yearbook; Alyssa Marie Jones, Art; Christopher S. Patch, Culinary Arts; Kaylee Toyne, Art; Angel Trevino, Culinary Arts; Zachary Walston, Media Academy; Adrian Maurice Jackson Weatherspoon, Yearbook; Morganthë Williams, Theatre.
Escambia High School: Erran Bergstrom, Instrumental Music; Mindy Lynn Cramlet, Visual Arts; Danielle Davis, Culinary Arts; Alyssa Etienne Elliott, Visual Arts; James Thomas Faist, Chorus; Caitlin Fournier, Journalism; Elaina Keyes, Theatre; Amelia Slaughter, Instrumental Music; Shelby Vanstraten, Instrumental Music; Kelsey Wood, Digital Multimedia.
Pensacola High School: Jasmine Bradstreet, Instrumental Music; Anishandeliz Claudio-Torres, Instrumental Music; Hannah Fernandes-Martin, Visual Arts; Savannah Green, Drama; Lauren Heckathorn, Visual Arts; Christina Jones, Instrumental Music; Samantha Negron, Instrumental Music; Caroline Shell, Photography; Rhiana C. Simon, Fiction/Nonfiction; Courtney Stein, Visual Arts.
Washington High School: Heath Barrow, Visual Arts; Kristen Michelle Broussard, Instrumental Music; Breyanna Cayla Chapron, Vocal Music; Austin Paul Marvin Conner, Jr., Instrumental Music; Elliot David Friedman, Drama; Cameron A. Gonzales, Drama; Amanda Irby, Vocal Music; Shane King, Visual Arts; Adam Vinson, Instrumental Music; Matt Young, Visual Arts.
About The Mira Creative Arts Awards
In 1987, a group of teachers at J. M. Tate High School created the Mira Awards to recognize talented and creative students in the arts and sciences. The following year, the committee approached the Foundation to bring the awards under its umbrella and to initiate county-wide student participation each year in the areas of writing, performing and visual arts, and other disciplines. The term “Mira” is Latin for the name of the brightest star in the constellation Cetus.
Pictured top: Alison Bardin (left) and Ashton Gibbs of Northview High School are two of the 2013 Mira Creative Arts Award winners. NorthEscambia.com file photo, click to enlarge.
Barrineau Park 4-H Students Advance To District Event
March 20, 2013
Three members of the Barrineau Park 4-H Club placed with blue ribbons at recent county competitions.
Izzy Kent, junior divison; Dillon Conti, intermediate division; and Jessica Conti, junior division, will present their Animal Science Demonstrations/Illustrated Talks at the 4-H District event this Saturday at St. Luke’s United Methodist Church at 1394 East Nine Mile Road between 8:30 a.m. and 2 p.m.
For more information on the Barrineau Park 4-H Club, call Tena Gindl at (850) 698-3441.
Pictured top: Izzy Kent, Jessica Conti and Dillon Conti advanced to 4-H District events. Submitted photo for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Magnolia Branch Honored As Treasure Forest (With Video)
March 18, 2013
The Poarch Band of Creek Indians recently received the Helene Mosley Memorial TREASURE Forest Award for the South Region at the Alabama Natural Resources Council’s Awards Banquet in Auburn.
The event recognized PCI for exemplary dedication to the wise stewardship of natural resources at the Magnolia Branch Wildlife Reserve. (For more information about Magnolia Branch, see the video at the bottom of the page.)
PCI has earned many honors for their forest stewardship. In June 2010, they received three prestigious awards for forest management activities at MBWR: the Alabama Natural Resources Council’s TREASURE Forest Award and certifications for the Forest Stewardshipand the American Tree Farm Programs. This was the first time a landowner had received all three recognitions at the same time.
Magnolia Branch is mostly timberland and is used as a recreational area for the Tribe and their guests. By working with various state and federal agencies, the Tribe has sustained, protected, and enhanced 6,000 acres of timberland and 50 lakes. PCI partnered with USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) to secure financial and technical assistance for site preparation on about 800 acres planted to longleaf pine, and to install permanent firebreaks and prescribe burn over 2,000 acres of pine plantation.
“Managing for timber is vital to our long-term forest goals. Seventy percent of our forest land is loblolly and 30 percent has been converted to longleaf pine,” said Billy Smith, PCI Tribal elder and manager of the Magnolia Branch Wildlife Reserve. “Whenever we clear-cut an area of loblolly, we plant it back to longleaf pine. Right now we have planted about 800,000 longleaf pines on Tribal land.”
Prescribed burning plays an important role in the longleaf pine ecosystem. It helps control disease and reduces competition of undesirable understory. It also provides wildlife habitat benefits by stimulating the growth of native plants for wildlife food.
“We are on a two year burn cycle and try to burn about 2,000 acres each year,” Smith said.
The wildlife accomplishments include planting 37 acres of food plots to cool and warm season forages, building numerous wood duck boxes and bird houses, and thinning 2,000 acres to improve wildlife habitat.
They are attempting to reestablish native grasses. “After clearing the understory through a controlled burn, we are seeing the comeback of native grasses that have been here all along,” said Smith.
Magnolia Branch is located south of I-65 west of Highway 113.
Pictured top: The Magnolia Branch Wildlife Reserve. Pictured inset: Tim Albritton/ NRCS state forrester; James W. (Billy) Smith, general manager of Magnolia Branch Wildlife Reserve; and Keith Martin, Poarch Creek Indian Tribal Council member. Courtesy photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Photos: Cantonment Cantonment Baseball and Girls Softball
March 17, 2013
Saturday was opening day for Cantonment Baseball and Girls Softball.
The day included filming a commercial with Sandy Sansing, who made a $500 donation to the organization.
For a photo gallery, click here.
Guest speaker was Greg Litton, a former major league player for the San Francisco Giants, Seattle Mariners and the Boston Red Sox. In 1992, he played all nine positions in the Hall of Fame Game.
Kazoo from the Pensacola Blue Wahoos and the Cat from Cat Country 98.7 were also on hand.
Does your child play at Cantonment? Send us photos and scores this season! Email news@northescambia.com.
NorthEscambia.com photos by Kristi Smith, click to enlarge.
Photos: NWE Opening Day
March 17, 2013
Saturday was Opening Day for Northwest Escambia at Bradberry Park in Walnut Hill.
For a photo gallery from select Opening Day games, click here.
Does your child play at NWE? Send us photos and scores this season! Email news@northescambia.com.
NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Photos: Beautiful Day On The River
March 17, 2013
Saturday was a near picture perfect Spring-like day on the Escambia River at the Molino Boat Ramp. The river remains high, with the boat ramp and dock underwater. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Weekend Gardening: March Tips
March 17, 2013
Here are gardening tips for the month of March from the University of Florida IFAS Extension office:
Flowers
- Annual flowers that can be planted in March include: ageratum, alyssum, amaranthus, asters, baby’s breath, begonia, calendula, celosia, cosmos, dahlia, dusty miller, gaillardia, geranium, hollyhock, impatiens, marigold, nicotiana, ornamental pepper, pentas, phlox, rudbeckia, salvia, sweet Williams, torenia, verbena, vinca and zinnia.
- Caladium bulbs are extremely sensitive to cold soil. There is no advantage to planting early. Purchase caladiums while there is a good selection, but wait until late March or April before planting them in shady beds.
Trees and Shrubs
- Finish pruning summer flowering shrubs such as althea, hibiscus, abelia, oakleaf hydrangea and oleander.
- Delay the pruning of azaleas, camellias, spiraeas, gardenias and other spring flowering shrubs until after flowering is complete.
- Prune any cold weather-damaged plants after new growth appears.
- If needed, fertilize shrubs and small trees with a slow release fertilizer. A good general-purpose landscape fertilizer is a 15-0-15.
- Mature palms should receive an application of granular fertilizer. Use a special palm fertilizer that has an 8-2-12 +4Mg (magnesium) with micronutrients formulation. Apply one pound of fertilizer per 100 sqft of canopy area or landscape area.
- Last opportunity to spray shrubs with dormant horticultural oil.
- Pick up all fallen camellia blossoms and remove them from your property. This practice helps to prevent petal blight next season.
- Prune ornamental grasses.
- If you are in the market for specific colors of azaleas, visit the local nurseries and garden centers this month. Though this is not the most ideal planting time you are assured of the right flower color without having to wait until next blooming season.
Fruits and Nuts
- Time to finish planting bare-root fruit trees.
Vegetable Garden
- This is the month for establishing a spring vegetable garden. Early March plantings have about an even chance of avoiding a late frost.
- The warm season vegetables that can be planted this month are: bush beans, pole beans, lima beans, cantaloupes, sweet corn, cucumbers, eggplant, okra, southern peas, peppers, sweet potatoes, pumpkins, summer squash, winter squash, tomatoes and watermelon.
- The cool season vegetables that can be planted this month are: beets, carrots, celery, collards, endive, kohlrabi, leek, lettuce, mustard, bunching onions, parsley, English peas, Irish potatoes, radish and turnips.
- More conservative gardeners might wish to wait until the middle to latter part of the month to risk tender plants such as tomatoes and peppers.
Lawns
- Remove excessive accumulation of leaves from the lawn. This will increase the effectiveness of fertilizers and pesticides applied to the lawn.
- If a preemergence lawn herbicide is needed to control summer weeds, it should be applied in early March. Make certain to choose one that is safe on your kind of grass.
- Keep lawn herbicides away from the root zones of desirable flower, shrubs and other plants.
- Fertilize the lawn only after the danger of frost has passed and when the grass has greened up. Fertilize using a complete fertilizer applied at 0.5 lbs nitrogen per 1000 sqft containing 50% soluble and 50% slow-release nitrogen.
- Service the lawn mower: include a sharpening of the blade and adjusting of the cutting height for your type of grass.
- Anyone considering establishment of centipedegrass from seed should hold off until the soil warms up and stabilizes above 70°F. Add Item Here…