Northview Holds Costume Contest
November 1, 2008
Northview High School held a Halloween costume contest Friday morning at the School.
Winners were Lauren Wilson as Raggedy Ann (pictured above), Tyler Hunter as a vampire (pictured below) and Cody Parker as Invisible Man (pictured bottom of page).
Submitted photos for NorthEscambia.com.
Walnut Hill Baptist Holds Fall Festival
November 1, 2008
Walnut Hill Baptist Church held their annual Fall Festival Friday night at the church.
Visitors enjoyed a variety of games, trunk-or-treat, a hayride, food and more.
Click here for a complete photo gallery.
Pictured above: Church member Royce Ward ready for trunk-a-treaters at the annual Walnut Hill Baptist Church Fall Festival. Pictured below: Meg Sherrill adding the finishing touches to her face painting on Clint Davis. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Hundreds Attend Bratt Elementary’s Annual Fall Festival
October 31, 2008
Bratt Elementary School held its annual Fall Festival Thursday afternoon at the school, with hundreds of students and area residents attending.
The festival featured a variety of games, a hulu hoop contest, a cake walk, cake auction and plenty of food.
For a complete NorthEscambia.com photo gallery from the Bratt Elementary Fall Festival, click here.
Bratt also named a festival king and queen Thursday. Click here for that story.
Pictured above and below: The annual Bratt Elementary School Fall Festival was held Thursday afternoon.NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Century Care Center Hosts Trick-or-Treaters
October 31, 2008
The young and the old enjoyed a little trick-or-treat fun together at Century Care Center.
Century Care Center hosted trick-or-treaters at the facility Thursday afternoon.
Pictured above and left: Trick-or-treaters were in for a treat Thursday afternoon at the Century Care Center. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Hundreds Attend Annual Flomaton Fall Festival
October 31, 2008
Hundreds of people packed downtown Flomaton Thursday night for the town’s annual Fall Festival.
Costumed children, adults and even pets took to the streets for a little trick-or-treating, a costume contest, games and lots of fun.
Click here for a complete NorthEscambia.com photo gallery from Flomaton’s Fall Festival.
Pictured above: Hundreds of people attended the annual Flomaton Fall Festival in downtown Flomaton Thursday night. Pictured left: A living Barbie in a box costume. Pictured below: Flomaton Pharmacy passes out goodies. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Century Hosts Goblins And Ghouls At Roadside Park
October 31, 2008
The Town of Century sponsored trick-or-treating at the town’s Roadside Park Thursday evening.
Boy and “ghouls” that stopped by in costume received a bag of sugary goodies from town officials.
Both Century and Flomaton officially observed Halloween Thursday night.
For more photos from Century’s Halloween event, click here.
Pictured above: Margie McCall (left), Edna Earle Barnes and Century Mayor Freddie McCall talk to a little witch that stopped by the town’s Roadside Park Thursday night. Pictured below: “Trick-or-treat!” NorthEscambia.com photo, click to enlarge.
Bratt Elementary Names Fall Festival King And Queen
October 30, 2008
Bratt Elementary School named their king and queen for their Fall Festival today.
Queen Ashtyn Presley collected $278, and King Cole Lambert collected $72 in the annual King and Queen Fall Festival Contest fund raiser.
The students collected pennies for votes, with one penny equaling one vote. Presley and Lambert were named to the royal court for collecting the most votes.
Bratt Elementary’s annual Fall Festival was held this afternoon and evening at the school. We’ll have complete photo coverage Friday morning.
Pictured above: Bratt Elementary Fall Festival Queen Ashtyn Presley and King Cole Lambert. Pictured below: Bratt students who also collected votes. Submitted photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Area Woman Featured On International TV, Watch Video Here
October 29, 2008
An area woman was featured on international television Tuesday night.
Olvena Smith, a 92 year old poll worker from Canoe, Alabama, (that’s just across the state line from North Escambia) was featured on BBC World News on BBC America. BBC is the British Broadcasting Company.
The BBC featured Smith’s 55 year tenure as a poll worker in Alabama.
Click here to watch the video on BBC America’s web site.
Local Students Perform In All-County Honor Chorus
October 29, 2008
The 2008 All-County Choral Gala was held Tuesday night at Olive Baptist Church in Pensacola with two North Escambia elementary schools participating.
Students from Bratt and Molino Park elementary schools were among the dozens of students selected to participate in the program that featured music ranging from classic to contemporary.
Zachary Holland, Libery Peebles and Lori Harrell represented Bratt Elementary; and Moriah Magahan, Jordan Summerlin and Sabrina Wine represented Molino Park Elementary on the Elementary All-County Honor Chorus. Bratt’s students were coached by music teacher Emily Pollard, and Molino Park’s students were coached by music teacher Twinette McDonald.
Pictured above: Bratt Elementary students (L-R) Zachary Holland, Libery Peebles and Lori Harrell represented Bratt Elementary in the All-County Honor Chorus Tuesday night at Olive Baptist Church. Submitted cell phone photo by Wayne Holland for NorthEscambia.com.
From Wheelchair To Saddle 24 Years After Car Accident; Molino Ranch Makes It Possible
October 28, 2008
Debbie Thompson Dawson spent hours riding horses around Barinneau Park. Up and down roads. In the woods. In the river. From sun-up to sundown, she would ride with her friend Patricia Rigel. It was the passion in Debbie’s life.
But in July 1984 that passion to ride her horse hour upon hour came to a crashing end in a major automobile accident. In the blink of an eye, Debbie went from saddle to wheelchair. She could could no longer walk, and she could no longer ride horses around the Barinneau Park countryside.
But recently, Debbie was back in the saddle again for the first time in 24 years, thanks for her friend Patricia and the caring volunteers of The Leaning Post Ranch in Molino.
“I enjoyed being back on the horse,” Debbie said, her speech slow and slurred from a brain injury she suffered in the wreck. But through the speech difficulty, there was a smile in her voice. “It had been a long time. I did not thing I would ever get back on a horse. But I did. It was the best thing that happened to me in a long time. I love being on the horse.”
Twenty-four years after the accident, Debbie now spend her time confined to a wheelchair at her home in Gonzalez, someone assisting her with everyday life. Patricia is now the librarian at the Century Branch Library and a volunteer at The Leaning Post. The Leaning Post brought the two childhood friends back together.
“It felt like we had gone back to being 16 year olds,” Patricia said. “She was back in the saddle, back holding the reigns. That was probably one of the happiest moments in her life.”
“Pat is a good friend,” Debbie said. “We loved to ride horses together.” I love the horse.”
The horse that Debbie rode for the first time after all those years? It was Patricia’s horse Minnie, a registered Appaloosa that she had donated to The Leaning Post.
Debbie’s ride almost two and half decades after her accident was made possible by The Leaning Post, directors Fran and Newman Gersin and a host of volunteers at the Molino’s Leaning Post Ranch, a state-licensed facility and prevention program for developmentally disabled and at-risk young people.
The facility was established in 1992 by Fran and Newman Gersin. They started with one horse, and a dream to use that horse to encourage kids and keep them off drugs.
Now The Leaning Post Ranch has 40 acres, a barn, a new open-air arena, a multipurpose facility, a house, 16 horses and a pony…thanks to generosity of several local organizations. And the Gersins are quick to thank God for what happens at The Leaning Post.
Above all to God by the glory,” Fran Gersin said at a dedication ceremony in May. “There is no way two people could do all of this. Only God could do this.”
Debbie is now scheduled for her third session and her doctor is thrilled and has told her to keep it up. It not only is good for healthy bones but the therapeutic riding helps move all of the muscles in the body, Patricia said.
The Leaning Post is in need of Certified NARHA Instructors (North American Riding for the Handicapped Association) and volunteers who can work Monday through Friday.
The Leaning Post Ranch is located at 4150 Cedar Springs Road in Molino. For more information, visit http://www.theleaningpostranch.com.
