Kate Sherrill Named Salutatorian Of Class
July 1, 2008
Kate Elizabeth Sherrill of Walnut Hill recently served her class at the Christian Institute of Arts and Sciences as salutatorian.
CIAS is an umbrella school, accredited by the state of Florida, which oversees home-schooled students in a rigorous college preparatory program. In addition to her course work at CIAS, Kate was duel-enrolled at Jefferson Davis Community College.
Kate was named to Who’s Who in American High Schools, is a member of the National Society of High School Scholars, and is on the National Honor Roll.
She is also active with the Greater Escambia Council of the Arts, appearing most recently as the witch in Into the Woods.
Kate works at Annie’s Community Cup and serves Walnut Hill Baptist Church as pianist. She also teaches private piano lessons.
She will attend Faulkner State Community College this fall on a vocal music scholarship. Kate is the daughter of Kent and Anne Sherrill and the granddaughter of Sam and Dean Graham and the late Hunk and Senie Sherrill.
Angel Food Ministries Provides About $70 Of Top Quality Food For $30
June 29, 2008
Saturday was distribution day for Angel Food Ministries at the Allen Memorial United Methodist Church in Cantonment. It’s a simple program where anyone can save more than half off the cost of groceries. And, perhaps best of all, everyone qualifies, no strings attached.
The program food relief to more than a half million families a month across the nation.
It’s a simple concept…pay $30 for a box of food worth about $70. There are no applications; everyone qualifies. The process is simple too…just stop by the Allen Memorial United Methodist Church in Cantonment, pay the $30 and return on the designated pickup day to receive the box of food. They even accept food stamps.
Allen Memorial United Methodist Church has been the local host for the Angel Food Ministries program since October of 2006, according to their program director Katrina Williamson.
“It’s a great program,” Williamson said. “It can really help people out.”
The $30 June box of food included 1.5 pounds of rib eye steaks, 1.5 pounds of hamburger patties, two pounds of pork riblets, four pounds of chicken leg quarters, two pounds of breaded chicken tenders, a 20 ounce supreme pizza, one pound of mild Italian sausage, two pounds of French fries, one pound of sliced carrots, one pound of mixed vegetables, a 32 ounce container of two percent shelf-stable milk, six ounce pancake mix, 15 ounce pork and beans, 14 ounce ketchup, 7.5 ounce macaroni and cheese, a dozen eggs and a dessert item.
The July $30 box of food includes a 40 ounce Marie Callender Family Cock Pot Dinner with meat, one and half pounds of boneless pork fillets, five pounds of chicken chunks, one and half pounds of meaty beef ribs, 28 ounce meatloaf with gravy, one pound of beef fajitas, one pound of cooked meatballs, one pounds of all meat hot dogs, one pound of broccoli, one pound of pea and carrots, 28 ounces of pasta sauce, one pound of pasta, 32 ounces of milk, 32 ounces of Hawaiian Punch, 12 corn tortillas, a seven ounce blueberry muffin mix, a dozen eggs and a dessert.
“Our food is “restaurant grade” meats, frozen vegetables, fruits, dairy products, etc. which we acquire through our involvement with only the best producers/vendors of high quality, “name brand” foods. Never “seconds” or “day old” type products are involved,” according to the Angel Food Ministries web site.
For more information about the program, call Allen Memorial United Methodist Church at 968-6213 or visit www.angelfoodministries.com. To visit the church and place an order…take Highway 20 south into Cantonment. Turn right at the red light onto Muskogee Road. Take the second right onto Pace Parkway.
Other churches in the North Escambia area that might be interested in hosting the Angel Food Ministries program can visit www.angelfoodministries.com for more information.
Editor’s note: NorthEscambia.com has ordered a box of food. We will run a follow-up story in July to remind you about the program and let you know what we thought of the food. We can tell you that the frozen pizza from June’s menu was pretty good.
Pictured above: Volunteers at Allen Memorial United Methodist Church in Cantonment work to distribute food Saturday at the church. Pictured below: A box of food being loaded. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library Comes To Century
June 28, 2008
Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library has come to Century, with plans to provide a free book every month for every child under five years old.
In 1996, Dolly launched an e new effort to benefit the children of her home county in east Tennessee. Dolly wanted to foster a love of reading among her county’s preschool children and their families. She wanted children to be excited about books and to feel the magic that books can create. And she wanted to insure that every child would have books, regardless of their family’s income.
She decided to mail a brand new, age appropriate book each month to every child under five in Sevier County, Tennesee. With the arrival of every child’s first book, the classic The Little Engine That Could, every child could now experience the joy of finding their very own book in their mailbox. These moments continue each month until the child turns five,and in their very last month in the program they receive Look Out Kindergarten Here I Come.
Now children under in the Century area can signup for the same program under the Dolly Parton Imagination Library. They will receive a new age appropriate book each month until they turn five…all at absolutely no cost. And, there are no income requirements for the program.
“Parents will not pay a dime for the program,” said Larry Kenny from the Early Learning Coalition of Escambia County which administers the program locally. “They will not be added to any kind of mailing list; their information is kept private and used only to mail the books free of charge to their homes.”
Century area parents were able to enroll their children in the program for the first time during a celebration the the Campfire USA Child Development Center.
Parents can continue to enroll their children in the free program during regular business hours at Campfire USA on Industrial Boulevard and at the Century Pharmacy on Mayo Street.
Funding for the program in the Century area is provided by the Teaspoon Foundation and Century Pharmacy.
Pictured above: Jared Bevan, 4, enjoys reading one of the books from Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library at Campfire USA in Century Friday morning. Pictured below: Some of the books from the program. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Northview Student Elected State Representative For National Council
June 27, 2008
Olivia Bryan of Bratt was recently chosen as Florida’s only representative on the national Youth Leadership Council while on a trip to Washington, D.C.
The Youth Leadership Council (YLC) is a joint effort of local electric co-ops, statewide cooperative associations and the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association. Olivia attended the 2008 Youth Tour in Washington as a representative of Escambia River Electric Cooperative, one of about 1,500 high school students visiting the nation’s capital as representatives of their rural electric cooperative.
Each state is entitled to have one representative on the Youth Leadership Council. The YLC is designed to provide participants with stronger leadership skills, presentation skills and a broader understanding of rural electric cooperatives.
Students competing for their state’s spot on the Youth Leadership Council had to face a panel of judges and explain their goals and interests, academic standing and past accomplishments. Then each contestant was given six minutes to prepare a speech on a given topic and present it to the judges and fellow youth tour delegates.
The speech had to be address how youth could cause state at the national, state and local levels.
“In my speech, I focused on if we wanted to cause a change, we had to be the change” Olivia told NorthEscambia.com. “There was not a lot of time to prepare. I was surprised they liked my speech the best because some of the others were really good.”
Now that she is on the Youth Leadership Council, Olivia will head back to Washington for the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association Youth Leadership Conference in July for leadership training. And then she will attend to the NRECA Annual Meeting in New Orleans in February of 2009. At the July meeting, one student will be chosen as the national Youth Leadership Conference Spokesperson and will speak to the thousands at the NRECA Annual Meeting.
“I’m excited to see what kinds of doors this may open for me,” Bryan said. “I’m also interested to see what the leadership training in Washington will have to offer.”
While in Washington as EREC’s representative on the Youth Tour, Olivia visited the U.S. Capital where she met with Florida Congressman Jeff Miller on the Capital steps. She was also able to visit most of the national memorials, including the Lincoln Memorial and the World War II Memorial.
She was most impressed with the Lincoln Memorial, Olivia said. “It was huge. I never realized the scale of it.”
Olivia is the daughter of Robert and Rebecca Ryan of Bratt. She will be senior this fall at Northview High School.
For more photos from Olivia Bryan’s Washington trip, click here.
Pictured above: Northview student Olivia Bryan on the steps on the U.S. Capital in Washington. Pictured below: Olivia (turned sideways in the black dress) talks with Florida Congressman Jeff Miller on the Capital steps. Submitted photos for NorthEscambia.com.
North Escambia Woman Gets Complete Makeover On NBC’S Today Show
June 23, 2008
A girls’ week in New York City ended with a North Escambia woman getting a surprise complete makeover on national television Friday morning.
Cheryl Golson of Davisville was selected from the crowd at Rockefeller Plaza in New York for a “Plaza Ambush Makeover” from NBC’s Today Show. Cheryl received a complete makeover…hair, makeup and new designer dress.
Cheryl, an ESE teacher at Bratt Elementary School was in New York with her daughter Shelby Bryan, Bratt guidance counselor Sheila Bryan, and Sheila’s daugther Jill Laborde, all from Bratt. The entire trip was to celebrate Shelby and Jill’s graduation from the University of West Florida.
On Friday, their last day in New York City, they decided to try to be in the audience on NBC’s today show. Today show producers picked two ladies from the audience for complete makeovers in a segment of the show called “Plaza Ambush Makeovers” that airs in the program’s fourth hour every Friday.
“We got lucky and got to be along the barricades,” Cheryl told NorthEscambia.com. “I didn’t know about the makeovers. Jill and Shelby were yelling ‘pick us, pick us’, but they were told that they were too pretty. Then they started yelling ‘do our mothers’.”
“They picked me and took me back to their wardrobe area,” she said. “Everybody else got to go to the Green Room.” The Green Room is where people appearing on the Today Show wait before going on the air. In the Green Room, Shelby, Sheila and Jill got to meet host Meredith Vieira and Grammy-winning pop sensation Rihanna before her Summer Concert Series performance.
Cheryl said the whole makeover process took about two hours with US Weekly contributor and fashion expert Jill Martin and hairstylist Louis Licari. Her hair was colored twice, and she tried on about six dresses, she said.
“I’d never even had my nails done before,” Cheryl said.
In the end, Cheryl ended up on national television with her new look. Her hair went from light ash brown to a reddish auburn color, and a complete makeup change. She was dressed in a Lafayette 148 silk dress and shoes from Nine West.
“The red just made her come alive,” Licari said. “Remember, redheads work as long as they are believable and this is a believable auburn color.”
“She’s a school teacher, and she has nothing like this in her wardrobe,” Martin said. “She’s going to find some place to go.”
When asked on the Today show how she felt, Cheryl said, “Wonderful! This is not my normal Friday at all.”
“She looks beautiful; I love it,” Shelby (pictured left with her mom) said on the show.
“She is the best mom in the world; she deserves it. She’s always put so much effort into her kids and then she’s never really spent as much time on herself,” Shelby said in an on-air interview prior to seeing mom’s new look. “Dad’s going to think she looks hot.”
“I was proud for her,” Cheryl’s husband and Shelby’s dad Ricky Golson told NorthEscambia.com. “She looked very nice. I was thrilled for her.”
“My daughter had called about 6:30 Friday morning and said mom had been selected,” Ricky said. “I was not sure what she meant. When I got in from work Friday afternoon, I googled it and found a link to the video.”
“I think she looks so good,” Shelby told NorthEscambia.com. “She always cared for us and has been a great mother. She just needed a new ‘do’.”
As for where Cheryl plans to wear her new designer dress, she’s not sure yet.
“I don’t know where I am going to wear it,” she said from her home Saturday. “I don’t think it will be Sunday School.”
The dress, which retails for $498 (click here to order) was accented by a shawl purchased by the Today show staff from a street vendor.
To see the complete video clip from the Today Show, click here. The clip begins with another lady that also received a complete makeover Friday morning. Cheryl’s segment begins about four minutes into the video. A DSL, cable or other high speed connection is needed to watch the video.
Pictured top: Cheryl Golson before and after her “Plaza Ambush Makeover” on NBC’s Today Show Friday morning. Photo courtesy NBC. Pictured below (L-R): US Weekly contributor and fashion expert Jill Martin, Sheila Bryan, Jill Laborde, an NBC makup artist, Cheryl Golson, hairstylist Louis Licari and Shelby Bryan. Submitted photo for NorthEscambia.com.
Ray’s Chapel Names New Pastor
June 23, 2008
Ray’s Chapel Baptist Church in Bogia named Nathan Brown as their new pastor Sunday night.
Nathan and his wife Danielle are from Dutton, Alabama, near Scottsboro in the northern part of the state.
He is a recent graduate with a master’s degree from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary.
He will officially being his service as Ray’s Chapel new pastor on August 1.
Pictured above: Retired Ray’s Chapel pastor Fil Enfinger and his wife Mary Enfinger, and Nathan and Daniel Brown Sunday night at the church. Submitted photo for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Ernest Ward High School Class of 1967 Holds Reunion
June 22, 2008
The Ernest Ward High School class of 1967 held their 41st reunion Saturday at the old Davisville School.
When the class was in seventh grade, 19 students from Davisville joined the class of 35 students. In tenth grade, another 26 students were transferred into the class from Bratt School for a total of 80 students. By the time the class reached its senior year at Ernest Ward, only 44 students remained in the graduating class.
Twenty of those were present at the Saturday reunion, some from places like Colorado, South Dakota, the Carolinas and Michigan. Members of the class include a Pensacola pastor, a Miami area judge, firefighters, homemakers and more.
Pictured below, front row (L-R): Sylvia Barlow Elkins, Katie Norris Darby, Kay Beasley Mooney, June Dortch Valenzuela, Brenda Priest Ekstrom, Suzanne Milstead Rigby, Melba Hollingsworth Cook, Gloria Beasley Gilman, Betty Smith Singleton and Marjorie Gillman Criswell. Back row (L-R): Roy Ward, Terry Harris, Floyd Mooney, John Stacey, Duane Dortch, Leroy Smith, Harold McGhee, Robert Stewart, Thomas A Gibbs and Tony Andress. NorthEscambia.com photo, click to enlarge.
Pictured bottom of page: Class member Robert Stewart (right) and his wife Diann enjoy the reunion. Pictured above: Members of the Ernest Ward Class of 67 reminisce while looking at old yearbook photos. NorthEscambia.com exclusive photos, click to enlarge.
End Of Era At Cooper’s Store In Bratt As Gas Pumps Are Removed
June 20, 2008
It was the end of an era Thursday at Cooper’s Store in Bratt as the store’s gas pumps and tanks were removed.
When Lawrence Cooper purchased the store 52 years ago, gas was selling for 10 cents per gallon, his son Marion Cooper told NorthEscambia.com Thursday. Now, even though gas in selling for around $4 a gallon, the profit per gallon for the store was still only about 10 cents per gallon.
He said the state mandated that the aging underground storage tanks had to be dug up. He said replacing the tanks would have cost about $30,000 to $40,000…more than the store would profit by selling gas.
Cooper said the store was recently averaging about 500 to 600 gallons of gas sold per week. “We just don’t sell enough to justify replacing the tanks,” he said.
He predicted that more and more small stores like Cooper’s would be getting out of the gas business in the coming years due to the expense of meeting strict state regulations. He said that regulations are tough and expensive on small stores, pointing out that a state inspector was outside the store supervising the tank removal.
“The independents will be gone in a few years, and the big companies will control the gas market,” Cooper said.
Pictured above: The gas tanks and pumps have been removed at Cooper’s Store in Bratt. Pictured below: A state inspector outside the store tracks the progress of the tank removal project Thursday afternoon on his laptop. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
One Room Log Walnut Hill School House Wins Major Historic Preservation Award
June 16, 2008
The Florida Trust for Historic Preservation recently honored the restoration project of the old Walnut Hill School House.
During the Trust’s 2008 Preservation Awards ceremony, the Walnut Hill School House project was awarded Outstanding Achievement in the Restoration/Rehabilitation Awards category. The award was accepted by Escambia County and the Walnut Hill Ruritan Club.
The log school, believed to have been built sometime around or just before 1880, was flattened by Hurricane Ivan in 2004. It was restored under the leadership of Quina Grundhoefer Architects in Pensacola with funding from FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The restoration used mostly the original logs, reassembling them like a giant jigsaw puzzle.
Each year, the Florida Trust for Historic Preservation recognizes significant contributions to the preservation of Florida’s historic resources through the annual Preservation Awards.
According to information posted inside the one room schoolhouse, the exact construction date of the building is unknown because school district records prior to 1880 could not be located. Financial records for the Escambia County School District indicate that William “Uncle Bud” Williams received $40 in April 1880 for “building a new school” and the school received a new heater at the cost of $10 in 1881.
A small shed had been constructed along the railroad about 10 miles north in Alabama several years prior for Williams. The settlement was named Williams Station in honor of Williams in 1866. That community was later renamed Atmore.
The school was originally located near the corner of the present day intersection of Arthur Brown Road and Highway 97. It was moved to its current location on Highway 97 after the construction of the Walnut Hill Community Center, also known as the Walnut Hill Ruritan Building, in the late 1990’s.
When the building was restored, a wheelchair ramp was added in accordance with law. A glassed in area just inside the door will allow visiting school children to view the interior of the building.
The Ruritan Club has placed a period wood burning heater in the building and a single student desk. The club plans to fully restore the interior of the building as a history museum, complete with a teacher’s desk and students desks. There is currently one student desk in the building. The Ruritan Club is in search of more desks like the one pictured at the bottom of the page to complete their collection. If you know where to locate desks like these, email us here at news@northescambia.com and we will put you in touch with the right people.
Pictured above: The exterior of the restored Walnut Hill School House. Pictured below: The interior of the log school house and a period desk. NorthEscambia.com exclusive photos, click to enlarge.
Molino Pastor Attends Southern Baptist Convention; Escambia Pastor Nominates New President
June 15, 2008
A local pastor was among the 7,000 gathered at the Southern Baptist Convention in Indianapolis, where the man nominated by another Escambia County preacher was named president of the 16 million member group.
Brian Calhoun, pastor of Highland Baptist Church in Molino traveled to Indianapolis this past week for both the actual Southern Baptist Convention and the preceding Southern Baptist 2008 Pastor’s Conference.
“The convention itself was great,” Calhoun said. “I enjoyed the spirit of the convention…the spirit of brotherly love and concern.”
Calhoun said he was pleased in the election of Johnny Hunt, pastor of First Baptist Church in Woodstock, Georgia, as president of the convention on the first ballot. Hunt was nominated at the convention by Ted Traylor pastor of Olive Baptist Church in Pensacola.
“Pray for him. He has a big task before him. Our Convention needs renewal. Johnny is just the man to point us in the right direction,” Traylor wrote Friday on his blog.
“I pray that these next two years will be exciting times as we turn the tide and begin once again to grow and to reach our neighbors and our nations for His glory and for the expansion of His glorious Kingdom,” Hunt told messengers the day after his election.
He said, “We’ve been declining as a denomination. You can’t turn something around until you stop the tide in the direction it’s going.”
Statistics show that in 2007 Southern Baptists baptized the fewest number of people in two decades.
At the convention, the North American Mission Board unveiled an ambitious National Evangelism Initiative — named God’s Plan for Sharing (GPS) — with the goal of having “every believer sharing” the Gospel and “every person hearing” by 2020.
“I believe it is a good program,” Calhoun said. “Everything that comes out of the Convention is good, but it is not always something that every church benefits from. What works in Southern California might not work in Molino, and vice versa. But this sounds like a good program.”
“As I have been around the country and around the world, the laypeople I have talked with are ready to get out and do something for Christ,” former SBC President Frank Page said. “And I think given the proper motivation and direction, they’ll do it.”
Growth in the Southern Baptist Convention will come from cooperation among Southern Baptist churches, Traylor said.
“Southern Baptists are not easily understood by those outside our Convention. We are often called a denomination and I understand that. However, in the true sense of the matter we are a Convention of churches coming together to cooperate in Gospel ministry. Only when we trust one another and cooperate does the Convention work,” he said. “When the people of a local church decide to cooperate with people from other churches we are then able to join forces and do more together than we can ever do apart.”
“I am proud to be a part of the Southern Baptist Convention. It is now time to go to work. We have a world to touch in Jesus’ name,” Traylor said.
Pictured top: Brian Calhoun, pastor of Highland Baptist Church in Molino. NorthEscambia.com photo, click to enlarge. Second picture: New Southern Baptist Convention President Johnny Hunt (left) and Pastor Ted Traylor of Olvie Baptist Church in Molino. TedTraylor.com photo, click to enlarge.