One Percent Property Tax Discount Ends February 28
February 26, 2017
Scott Lunsford, Escambia County Tax Collector, has announced that the final discount of one percent on payment of real estate and tangible personal property tax ends Tuesday, February 28.
- To receive the one percent discount, payments must be:
- mailed with a February postmark;
- left by midnight CST, February 28, in a 24-hour drop box available at all locations;
- made online by midnight CST, February 28 at EscambiaTaxCollector.com; or
- made in person by Tuesday, February 28.
Offices are located at:
- Downtown – 213 Palafox Place
- Marcus Pointe – 6451 North W Street
- Molino – 6440 Highway 95-A North, Suite A
- Warrington – 4051 Barrancas Avenue, Suite A
To check the status of taxes or to pay online, visit our web site at EscambiaTaxCollector.com. Taxpayers are encouraged to contact the tax collector’s office by phone at (850) 438-6500, ext. 3252 or email ectc@EscambiaTaxCollector.com with any questions.
IP Explosion: Remediation Efforts, Cleanup Continue
January 26, 2017
Here is the latest information following Sunday night’s explosion at International Paper in Cantonment.
Remediation Efforts
- The Unified Command is working to deal with the impacts of the incident, including taking action to protect residents near the facility and assessing the extent of the damage and possible health and environmental effects.
- The mill remains closed while the structural damage is assessed by International Paper. Communications with employees has been maintained.
- The timetable for completion of remediation is yet to be determined.
- Remediation resources will be in place until this process is complete.
Community Outreach
- As of Wednesday afternoon, approximately 120 neighborhood households have been contacted by the outreach teams.
- IP teams continue to go door-to-door in the immediate area to provide information on resources available for community members regarding clean-up, temporary housing and potential medical concerns.
- The Unified Command Team is furnishing information regarding remediation timelines and providing numbers for residents to call with their questions.
Potential Health Impacts
- As was reported yesterday, the most noticeable effects of the incident were the odor and presence of byproducts of the pulping process.
- Prolonged skin contact with these materials could cause minor irritation. People are encouraged to avoid coming into contact with these materials. If they do, washing with soap and warm water should provide relief. The same applies to pets.
Environmental Impacts
- Environmental monitoring and sampling is underway until cleanup is complete.
- The material may cause impact to vegetation or aquatic life.
- An environmental assessment is being conducted to determine what areas may be impacted. Once the assessment is completed, full-scale remediation actions will be implemented.
Residents with any questions concerning the incident should call 850-968-4208.
NorthEscambia.com photo, click to enlarge.
South Alabama Burglary Ring Busted; Nine Jailed
January 26, 2017
The Escambia County (AL) Sheriff’s Office has busted a burglary ring targeting homes and hunting camps.
Multiple burglaries were reported in the Foshee and Wildfork Road areas. As a result of the search warrant served on Appleton Road, stolen items from the residences and camp houses were recovered and the following were arrested:
- Jonathan Daniel Jackson two counts of burglary II, two counts of theft of property I
- Aaron Chadwick burglary III, theft of property I, receiving stolen property III
- Amber Piland two counts of receiving stolen property, possession of marijuana I, possession of drug paraphernalia. Released on $20,000 bond
- Timothy Dillon Anthony two counts of receiving stolen property I, possession of marijuana I, possession of drug paraphernalia.
Deputies continued the investigation which led to a search warrant being served at 5753 Foshee Road and 4445 Wildfork Road on Tuesday. As a result of the search warrant, stolen property was recovered and the following were arrested:
- Joseph Christopher Davis III two counts of burglary III, possession of marijuana II, possession of drug paraphernalia, possession of a controlled substance, two counts of theft of property II
- Tiffany Nicole Carnes possession of marijuana II, possession of drug paraphernalia
- Enoch Simmons possession of marijuana II, possession of drug paraphernalia
The following were also taken into custody and charged:
- William Nelson Davis two counts of possession of a controlled substance, one count of possession of drug paraphernalia;
- Jamie Leanne Janzen possession of a controlled substance, possession of marijuana II, possession of drug paraphernalia.
Pictured: Top Row (L-R): Jonathan Danile Jackson, Aaron Chadwick, Amber Piland. Second Row: Timothy Dillon Anthony, Joseph Christopher Davis III, Tiffany Nicole Carnes. Third row: Enoch Simmons, William Nelson Davis, Jamie Leanne Janzen. NorthEscambia.com graphic.
Eleanor Faye Campbell
December 27, 2016
Mrs. Faye Campbell, 76, born October 9, 1940, went home to be with her Lord and Savior on Monday, December 26, 2016. Faye married her childhood sweetheart and the love of her life, C. R. (Billy) Campbell, Sr. where they had celebrated 57 wonderful years together. They were married April 23, 1959, at the courthouse in Brewton, AL.
We believed in seeking God’s guidance and perfect will in our decisions in life together and giving him all praise and glory.
She was preceded in death by her sons, John Mark Campbell and Cleveland (Cleve) R. Campbell, Jr.; her mother, Mrs. Lovey Hawthrone Messick and great-granddaughter, Nevaeh Harvell. She is survived y her loving husband, C.R. (Billy) Campbell; her daughter, Trudy Campbell; her son, Billy Ray (Kay) Campbell; three sisters, Carolyn (Mike) Garza, Joyce Johnson and Donna Nolan; two brothers, Charles (Diane) Brooks and Russell (Judy) Messick; seven grandchildren, Brad Wood, Nicole (Damian) Harvell, Crystal Ramos, Trey (Alesha) Campbell, Cara Campbell, Caleb Campbell and Ciarra Campbell; five great-grandchildren, Raina Wood, Elijah Ramos, Serenity Harvell, Prestyn Harvell and Estelle Wood; many other friends and relatives.
Pallbearers will be Caleb Campbell, Ben Campbell, Stephen Campbell, Scott Campbell , Bud Campbell and Hank Campbell.
Visitation will be Thursday, December 29, 2016, at Faith Chapel Funeral Home North from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Funeral Service will be Friday, December 30, 2016, at the funeral home at 1:00 p.m with Reverend Phillip Dean as officiating. Her final resting place will be at McCurdy Cemetery, Century, FL.
Showers And Thunderstorms Likely
December 4, 2016
Here is your official North Escambia area forecast:
Sunday: Showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm. Cloudy, with a high near 72. East wind 5 to 10 mph becoming south in the afternoon. Chance of precipitation is 70%.
Sunday Night: Showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm. Patchy fog before midnight. Otherwise, cloudy, with a low around 59. South wind around 5 mph becoming northeast after midnight. Chance of precipitation is 70%.
Monday: Showers and possibly a thunderstorm before noon, then showers and thunderstorms after noon. High near 70. Northeast wind 5 to 10 mph becoming south in the afternoon. Chance of precipitation is 80%.
Monday Night: Showers and thunderstorms, mainly before 3am, then showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm after 3am. Low around 60. South wind around 10 mph becoming west after midnight. Chance of precipitation is 80%.
Tuesday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 68. West wind 5 to 10 mph.
Tuesday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 47. West wind around 5 mph becoming calm in the evening.
Wednesday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 66. Calm wind becoming northwest around 5 mph.
Wednesday Night: A 20 percent chance of showers. Partly cloudy, with a low around 46. Southwest wind around 5 mph becoming northwest after midnight.
Thursday: A 40 percent chance of showers. Partly sunny, with a high near 57.
Thursday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 29.
Friday: Sunny, with a high near 45.
Friday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 27.
Saturday: Sunny, with a high near 50.
Northview Honors Cross Country Team
November 21, 2016
The Northview High School Cross Country team recently celebrated their season at Sky Zone in Pensacola. Awards presented included (listed below each photo):
Coach’s Award winners: Brandon Korinchak, Lexxi Baggett.
Most Improved: Starla Weaver.
Fastest: Brandon Korinchak and Marissa Rothrock.
Jumni Ross Award: Sara McCreary.
Seniors: Brandon Korinchak, Sara McCreary, Adrian King. Not pictured: Lettering: Jace Weber, Josiah Stilwell, Marissa Rothrock, Cheyenne Johnson, Kirsten White.
Photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Florida Gov’t Weekly Roundup: Light At The End Of The Election Tunnel
November 6, 2016
Four months ago, nearly six out of 10 Americans were already feeling exhausted by election coverage, according to the Pew Research Center.
Voters were worn out long before Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump earned the nominations of their respective parties, and before stories of Russian email hacking and accusations of groping subsumed deeper topics, like the candidates’ actual stands on issues such as the economy.
But if Floridians were weary in June or July, they might be near comatose now, as the White House wannabes and their surrogates storm the state in the lead-up to Tuesday’s election.
With the presidential race in the crucial swing state too close to call, it’s no surprise that both sides are storming the peninsula in an attempt to ensure that there’s a clear winner when the results are tallied Tuesday night.
According to German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer, boredom and pain are the two enemies of human happiness. Even casual observers of this year’s political season may believe that Floridians, along with the rest of the country, have had ample servings of both.
SUN, SUN, SUN, HERE IT COMES
Even the Florida Supreme Court, which typically could provide a welcome distraction from election hijinks, got stuck in the fray this week.
Opponents of a controversial solar-energy ballot initiative asked the justices on Wednesday to again review and strike down the proposed constitutional amendment largely bankrolled by utility companies.
But in terse, single-line statements Friday, the court dismissed as “moot” requests by the Florida Solar Energy Industries Association and the group Floridians for Solar Choice to reconsider the court’s approval of ballot language for the initiative known as Amendment 1.
Expressing disappointment with the rulings, the initiative’s critics maintained their view that Amendment 1 is “deceptive,” while saying they will focus on keeping the proposal from reaching the 60 percent voter approval needed for passage.
“We wanted to give the court an opportunity to clean up the mess they have made by approving this amendment for the ballot,” Stephen Smith, a member of Floridians for Solar Choice and executive director of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, said in a statement. “Now it’s game on: We have a solar uprising happening in the Sunshine State. We ask everyone to vote no on 1 and we look forward to Tuesday when we will kill this once and for all.”
Florida Power & Light, Duke Energy, Tampa Electric Co. and Gulf Power have spent a combined $20.2 million in support of the amendment, which would enshrine in the Florida Constitution existing rules about the use of solar energy by private property owners. The proposal also includes a more-contentious provision, which states that people who haven’t installed solar on their property “are not required to subsidize the costs of backup power and electric grid access to those who do.”
Proponents say the second provision offers consumer protections for people who don’t install solar panels. But opponents argue it could result in “discriminatory charges” against rooftop solar users and limit the desire of people to go solar.
The Florida Solar Energy Industries Association and Floridians for Solar Choice, which have long contended that Amendment 1 is deceptive, based their requests to the Supreme Court this week on an audio tape that included comments by Sal Nuzzo, vice president of policy at the James Madison Institute. On the tape, first reported by the Miami Herald, Nuzzo described how to use a “little bit of political jiu-jitsu” in promoting solar to win support for desired changes in policy.
Sarah Bascom, a spokeswoman for Consumers for Smart Solar, the group spearheading the initiative, said there were no surprises in the court dismissing the “frivolous” requests Friday.
“This was nothing more than a political stunt to deter voters’ attention in the final days of the election,” Bascom said in a statement.
GAMBLING PROPOSAL A ROLL OF THE DICE?
The justices on Wednesday also heard arguments about a proposed constitutional amendment that could severely limit the expansion of gambling in Florida by giving voters, instead of state lawmakers or counties, control over casino-style games.
Proponents hope to get the “Voter Control of Gambling in Florida” proposal on the 2018 ballot, but the Supreme Court first has to decide whether the ballot summary is clear and whether the measure adheres to the “single subject” requirement of citizens’ initiatives.
Much of Wednesday’s arguments focused on whether voters would know that, by endorsing the proposal, they would be taking away control of casino-type gambling decisions from the Legislature and county officials.
Lawyer Adam Schachter, who represents Voters in Charge, the committee behind the proposed amendment, pointed out that the state high court is poised to decide whether Gretna Racing, a tiny pari-mutuel in rural Gadsden County, can have slot machines. That ruling is expected to have a wide-ranging impact: Voters in five other counties — Brevard, Hamilton, Lee, Palm Beach and Washington — have also approved slots at local tracks or jai alai frontons.
The Gretna case — centered on whether gambling operators can add slots if county voters give the go-ahead, even without the express permission of the Legislature — exemplifies the need for the proposed constitutional change, Schachter argued.
“There is a lack of clarity on this,” Schachter told the justices. “This amendment … would provide the needed clarity.”
But attorney Marc Dunbar, who represents a non-profit organization opposed to the initiative and who owns a small share of the Gretna facility, warned that the constitutional change, if approved, would lead to “a ridiculous amount of litigation” over its interpretation.
Dunbar said the proposal is misleading because voters might not know that the measure could have a chilling effect, using as an example arcade games such as “claw” machines, which were caught up in a law aimed at shutting down internet cafes.
“Will (arcades) be frozen forevermore for any new product because they operate under a slot machine exemption?” Dunbar asked. “Will they have to go to a statewide initiative because they want a new arcade game?”
STORY OF THE WEEK: The Florida Supreme Court refused to remove from the ballot a controversial solar-energy initiative backed by utility companies.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “Let’s calm down here.” — Florida Supreme Court Justice Barbara Pariente, speaking to attorney Marc Dunbar as he argued against a proposed constitutional amendment aimed at giving voters control over casino gambling.
by Dara Kam, The News Service of Florida
Citizens Insurance Rate Hike Approved For 2017
September 17, 2016
The majority of homeowners with Citizens Property Insurance should expect to see a rate increase next year, after the Office of Insurance Regulation on Friday approved most of the changes requested by the state-backed insurer.
The new rates will go into effect on Feb. 1, 2017. Citizens requested the increase primarily to cover a surge in water-damage claims.
“The 2017 rates reflect the growing challenge of rising water loss claims and the disturbing increased costs associated with assignment of benefits,” Citizens President & CEO Barry Gilway said in a press release. “Unless the legislature takes action, our policyholders can expect these increases for years to come.”
Insurance Commissioner David Altmaier adjusted down the request on homeowners’ multi-peril accounts from 6.8 percent to 6.4 percent, but regulators approved the rest of Citizens’ requests without change. Under the rates approved Friday, homeowners’ wind-only insurance in coastal areas will increase an average 8.2 percent and mobile homeowners’ multi-peril accounts will go up by 5.7 percent. The actual premium change for individual policyholders depends on a number of factors, including the amount of coverage and the location of the property.
A homeowner with multi-peril coverage in Miami faces an average hike of 9.9 percent while the same coverage in Orlando on average will decrease by 3.6 percent. Citizens projects that, of its 492,775 personal and commercial policies in place as of Sept. 9, about 100,000 will see rate reductions next year. Regulators also ordered further review of the rates of Monroe County, which includes the Florida Keys.
“This review is in addition to a separate initiative underway to evaluate building code standards in Monroe County and their effect on rates,” the release from the Office of Insurance Regulation stated. “The office will require an additional rate filing by Citizens for its policyholders in Monroe County if the results of either or both of these efforts support such a filing.”
The review comes after officials and residents in Monroe County sought a delay on wind-storm policies. Republican Sen. Anitere Flores, who has pushed legislation that would scale back the size of Citizens, called the rate hike a “slap in the face” of consumers.
“Not only are law abiding policyholders being punished for those abusing the system, they are being forced to comply with an increase that is not even across the board throughout the state,” Flores, R-Miami, said in a press release.
by The News Service of Florida
Medical Marijuana Ready To Hit The Market
July 21, 2016
Medical marijuana could be available to a select group of Florida patients as early as next week, after health officials gave the go-ahead for the state’s first pot dispensary to begin distributing products.
The Northwest Florida operation, known as “Trulieve,” is one of six dispensing organizations licensed by the state Department of Health to grow, process and distribute pot that purportedly does not get users high but is believed to alleviate life-threatening seizures.
Wednesday’s authorization for Trulieve to begin selling products was the first issued by the Department of Health.
The low-THC cannabis, first authorized in 2014, will be available to patients with chronic muscle spasms, cancer or severe forms of epilepsy.
Although Trulieve is the first to get its products to market, the operation may not be too busy once it opens its doors next week, at least for a while.
Only 15 doctors have signed up to order the low-THC products, and no patients are yet registered on a statewide database of Floridians who are eligible for the treatment. Dispensaries can only sell the pot products to patients or their representatives who are registered on the database.
Doctors were supposed to be able to begin ordering the non-euphoric products more than a year ago, but the process has been tangled up in legal challenges.
“We are happy to announce that we have passed all inspections — from growing and processing to dispensing — and are the very first medical cannabis provider in the state to receive these formal authorizations. And we are most excited to get this much anticipated medicine to the patients of Florida,” Trulieve CEO Kim Rivers said in a statement issued Wednesday
The operation will open its Tallahassee dispensing facility next week, when it will also begin delivering to patients statewide, according to a press release.
“Our new law worked. Promise made, promise kept,” Sen. Rob Bradley, a Fleming Island Republican who was instrumental in passage of the 2014 law, said Wednesday on Twitter.
Concerned that challenges over a limited number of licenses could further delay startup of the pot operations, the Legislature this year passed a law ensuring that winning nurseries could keep their licenses, even if judges decided that losing applicants should have been selected by health officials. And the law allows for three more dispensing organizations once more than 250,000 patients are registered to receive the marijuana treatment.
The 2016 law also allows the dispensing organizations to grow full-strength pot, which will be available to terminally ill patients. Trulieve expects to begin selling the full-strength marijuana in early August, the company said Wednesday.
More than two dozen applicants vied for the highly-sought after licenses, and challenges for additional licenses are still ongoing.
Health officials estimate that about 250,000 patients could be eligible for the low-THC treatment, but just a fraction of those are expected to seek the pot products. State Office of Compassionate Use Director Christian Bax testified last week that health officials do not have projections for how many patients might be eligible for full-strength marijuana, but that number is expected to be much smaller.
Marijuana operators, however, have their eyes on a more lucrative market — up to $3.5 billion in annual sales, according to one estimate by state economists — that could open up in Florida after the November election.
Voters will decide whether Florida should legalize full-strength marijuana for a variety of medical ailments, including Parkinson’s disease, glaucoma, HIV, AIDS and post-traumatic stress disorder. In 2014, a similar proposal narrowly failed to get the 60 percent approval from voters required for passage of constitutional amendments in the state.
by Dara Kam, The News Service of Florida
Cantonment House Fire Under Investigation
April 21, 2016
An early morning house fire in Cantonment is under investigation by the Florida State Fire Marshal’s Office. The fire was reported in a brick home about 2:35 a.m. in the 1200 block of Plata Canada Drive off Tate Road. All occupants were able to escape the home without injury. Photo by Jason Robbins. WEAR 3 for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.