Two Injured In Early Morning Wreck On Highway 97 Near Walnut Hill
October 22, 2021
Two people were injured in a two vehicle crash on Highway 97 near Walnut Hill early Friday morning.
It happened about 4:15 a.m. on Highway 97 south of Pine Forest Road.
The driver of a Chevrolet 1500 pickup truck said an oncoming Jeep Cherokee traveled into his lane, and he unsuccessfully attempted to take evasive action. After the vehicles collided, the pickup truck overturned multiple times, coming to rest upright in a ditch. The Jeep came to stop off the road in a grassy area about 425 feet away.
The driver and a passenger in the Jeep were transported by Escambia County EMS to Atmore Community Hospital with injuries not considered life threatening. The driver of the pickup truck was not injured.
The Florida Highway Patrol is investigating. The Walnut Hill Station of Escambia Fire Rescue responded.
NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Escambia EMTs And Paramedics Get Pay Increases
October 22, 2021
The Escambia County Commission on Thursday approved pay raises for EMTs and paramedics with a new union agreement.
Effective with the next pay cycle, the hourly base wage rate for newly hired and existing employees will be:
Also effective with the next pay period, the hourly base wage rate for existing full-time employee covered by the collective bargaining agreement will be increased by:
“While all Public Safety employees are critical to the essential functions of Escambia County, this was needed to be competitive for the wages paid for our paramedics and EMTs throughout the Panhandle,” said Escambia County Public Safety Director Eric Gilmore.
With their vote Thursday, the commission formally approved an agreement with the International Association of EMT’s and Paramedics, the National Association of Government Employees and Services Employees International Union Local 5000.
Jim Allen Elementary School Names Students Of The Month
October 22, 2021
Jim Allen Elementary School has named their September Students of the Month. They are Jackson Rains and Miranda Grandpre. Photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
This Is Who Won $164K For Fantasy 5 Ticket Sold On Nine Mile Road
October 22, 2021
We now know who won over $164,000 after purchasing a winning Florida Lottery Fantasy 5 ticket at a Nine Mile Road convenience store.
The quick pick ticket sold at the Circle K at the intersection of West Nine Mile Road and Pine Forest Road was the only winning ticket sold for Sunday night’s drawing and was worth $164,662.39.
The winning ticket was sold to Boyd Cole of Daphne Alabama, according to the Florida Lottery.
The 197 tickets matching four numbers won $134.50 each. Another 6,883 tickets matching three numbers are worth $10.50 each, and 72,023 ticket holders won a free ticket for picking two numbers.
Sunday’s winning numbers were 10-12-18-31-33.
11 Escambia Schools Earn Incentive Awards For Decreased Energy Usage
October 22, 2021
Eleven Escambia county schools were honored at this week’s school board meeting for earning Energy Incentive Awards from the district.
Tate High School was the high school honoree, garnering the maximum Energy Incentive Award possible for their category, which comes with a check for $1,225. At the middle school level, Beulah, Ernest Ward and Ransom were awarded $975 each. Elementary schools taking home awards were Brentwood, Ferry Pass, Global Learning Academy, Jim Allen, Kingsfield, Molino Park, and C.A. Weis. Each elementary school recognized received an award of $725.
The awards were based on decreased energy use from the previous year. These campuses remained below the district’s energy use average, completed shutdown checklists in preparation for school breaks, and passed three energy audits conducted throughout the year.
Representatives from each school were on hand to receive certificates at the school board meeting.
Photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
FEMA Reimburses Escambia County $13.7 Million For Hurricane Sally Debris Removal
October 22, 2021
FEMA has approved a grant of $13,715,504 for the State of Florida to reimburse Escambia County for costs associated with county-wide debris removal after Hurricane Sally.
Escambia County utilized contracted workers between October 1, 2020, And April 30, 2021 to remove and dispose of 689,477 cubic yards of vegetative debris, 201,863 cubic yards of construction and demolition debris, 854 hazardous leaning trees, 8,283 hazardous hanging limbs and 1.85 tons of hazardous household waste debris from public rights of way. The debris posed a serious threat to public health and safety. Additional expenses included the monitoring and field supervisory oversight of collecting, removing and disposal of all debris.
FEMA’s Public Assistance program is an essential source of funding for communities recovering from a federally declared disaster or emergency. The Florida Division of Emergency Management works with FEMA during all phases of the program and reviews projects prior to FEMA final approval.
Applicants work directly with FEMA to develop projects and scopes of work. FEMA obligates funding for projects to FDEM after final approval.
Once a project is obligated, FDEM works closely with applicants to finalize grants and begin making payments. FDEM has procedures in place designed to ensure grant funding is provided to local communities as quickly as possible.
FEMA’s Public Assistance program provides grants to state, tribal and local governments, and certain private nonprofit organizations, including houses of worship, so communities can quickly respond to and recover from major disasters or emergencies.
NorthEscambia.com file photos, click to enlarge.
Four Century Residents Charged With Neglecting Six Children
October 21, 2021
Four Century residents were arrested Wednesday night for child neglect after deputies found them living in squalor with six children in two campers, according to the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office.
Deputies responded to the campers Wednesday on a sexual battery call. They found Norman Tracy Tedder, 55, and his wife Tabitha Rolin Tedder, 50, and Michael Tracy Tedder, 29, and his wife Elizabeth Mae Dennis, 28, living with the six minors. All four were charged with felony child neglect and booked into the Escambia County Jail. They were released on $7,500 bond each.
The Department of Children and Families temporarily removed the children and transported them to the Gulf Coast Kids House.
The ages of the children were redacted from the arrest report.
Some readers may find the following details disturbing. Reader discretion is advised.
One camper was “extremely dirty”, with “raw sewage coming from the back side of the camper and flowing underneath the camper causing an unbearable foul odor”, and “hundreds of roaches”, according to an arrest report. The roaches were in thee food cabinet, running over the food, on the stove, on the sink and on the counter.
A deputy further described the camper as having roaches inside the shower and toilet area, pots with old food in them on the kitchen counter, a sink filled with dirty dishes and a refrigerator he called “extremely nasty”. There was one full size bed, a let-down bed with roaches crawling on it, and a baby crib in the camper. Two cats and two dogs were inside, and there were power cords running through the camper and by the kitchen sink, the report states.
“The camper had a foul odor inside and out that was unbearable,” the deputy wrote in his report.
The other camper, described as being “extremely small,” was also roach infested, dirty and piled full of clothes and other items making it impossible to enter, the report states.
According to the ECSO, there was no electrical service on the property; the campers were powered by numerous electrical cords strung together to a nearby home. Some of the cords had bare wires in places and junctions exposed to the weather.
“The parents smelled as if they had not bathed in several days,” arrest reports state.
No other information was made available about the sexual battery call.
ECUA Truck Blows Tire, Rolls Into Nine Mile Road Underpass
October 21, 2021
An ECUA truck blew a tire and grazed an underpass on Nine Mile Road midday Thursday.
After the tire blowout, the truck rolled into the Highway 29 overpass at Nine Mile Road. The truck only grazed the underpass, and the driver was not injured, according to Nathalie Bowers, ECUA spokesperson. She said the truck will be back on the road tomorrow.
Escambia Fire Rescue responded to what was reported as a vehicle explosion. Firefighters cooled the truck and the recyclables cargo as a precaution due to overheating around the tire.
Witnesses described tire blowout as being extremely loud as it echoed from the underpass and rattled the adjacent area.
NorthEscambia.com photos by Kristi Barbour. The bottom submitted photo shows the truck moments after the incident. Click to enlarge.
Century Hiring New Town Manager, Town Clerk And Assistant Clerk; Has Finally Hired For A Minimum Wage Job
October 21, 2021
The Town of Century wants to hire an interim town manager, a town clerk and an assistant town clerk. Meanwhile, they have finally hired an entry level employee, seven months after first rejecting the mayor’s recommendations.
As we first reported three weeks ago, Interim Town Manager Vernon Prather has notified Century that he is leaving when his contract ends December 1, saying that he has decided to fully retire. Town Clerk Kim Godwin is no longer full time, notifying the mayor that she is now going to nursing school. She cut her hours to at least 25 per week, the minimum number needed to keep her benefits. And Assistant Town Clerk Emily Easterling recently resigned.
This week, the town council voted to advertise all three positions for three week in hopes of making selections soon.
The council did eventually vote to hire one of two people recommended by the mayor for two open positions, but not without some reservations, in a process that has taken most of the year.
Council member Sandra McMurray-Jackson made a motion to hire Tonya Lambert Creel for the citizen services clerk at $10 per hour, which is minimum wage. The motion died for lack of a second. When Mayor Ben Boutwell said she was the last remaining applicant that was qualified for the job, the council voted again and approved the hire.
Council member Dynette Lewis, looking at Creel’s resume, expressed concern that she had only worked a few months over the past two years.
“That’s a little bit jumpy, you know,” Lewis said.
“I noticed she bounces around quite often,” council member James Smith said. “Even now, she’s employed, but she’s looking over again. So how long has she actually been at the other job? The concern is she going to stick around?”
Also this week, the council once again rejected the mayor’s recommendation for an entry-level service worker in the street department as a motion to hire him failed due to the lack of a second.
Prather said the town had 21 employees two years ago; now that number stands at just 13.
Here’s the eight month process it took to hire a citizen services clerk:
February 2
The town submitted the advertisement for the positions to NorthEscambia.com and others for publication.
The Century Town Council rejected two employees hired by the mayor because they say he violated the town’s charter. After the town received five applications for an entry-level service worker in the street department and 50 applications for a citizen services clerk office position, Mayor Ben Boutwell and staff members made their selections and offered jobs to two people. The service worker was already on the job, and the clerk was set to start a few days later.
The service worker the mayor hired had nine years experience as a millwright at a lumber mill, five years in maintenance at a chemical plant, and six years in home construction. The office worker selected by Boutwell had almost 20 years experience at an area bank as a bookkeeper, loan assistance, teller and accounts payable clerk, and holds an associate degree from Pensacola Junior College.
Council president Luis Gomez said the two were not hired in accordance with the town charter. The charter states that the mayor will present his employee selections to the town council to be approved or denied. The council can only vote yes or no on the mayor’s choice; the charter does not give the council any authority to hire anyone not recommended by the mayor.
At that March 15 meeting, the council voted 3-2 to restart the process and advertise the positions again. Council members James Smith and Sandra McMurray Jackson were in opposition.
The council again rejected Boutwell’s request to hire the same two applicants.
Gomez said he had personally contacted the references listed by the service worker applicant and had found he was terminated for just cause and was not eligible for rehire by a former employer. Gomez made additional disparaging comments about the individual.
The council provided no next step for the hiring process.
The applicant recommended by the mayor and rejected by the council for an entry level window citizens services clerk attended a council meeting wanting to know the status of the job. Gomez told her that he would never consider her for the job, and in a verbal exchange twice referred to her as a “beautiful woman.”
Gomez said he regretted that the woman was essentially caught in the rift between the council and mayor because her application was received last November but the position was not advertised until early February. “What I’m saying is I hate this beautiful woman is tied up in the middle of all this,” he said.
“I know you are a beautiful person. I would love to have lunch with you, even buy you lunch because I know you’re a beautiful person and probably have a beautiful family,” Gomez told Daniel. “But this is business. And please don’t take it personal.”
July 6
On the urging of council members James Smith, the council voted to re-advertise both positions again, this time for 30 days.
Pictured top: Century Town Clerk Kim Godwin has notified the town that she is now part-time while attending nursing school. Pictured inset: Mayor Ben Boutwell (left) addresses the council. Pictured below: Council members Sandra McMurray-Jackson, Dynette Lewis and Leonard White. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Tate High’s Carter Pitts Named National Merit Commended Scholar
October 21, 2021
Tate High School senior Carter Pitts was recently named a National Merit Commended Scholar.
The honor is based on high national percentage scores from the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT). Commended students throughout the nation are recognized each year for their exceptional academic promise.
Additionally, Carter was selected as the Escambia County School District’s academic nominee for the U.S. Presidential Scholarship. His nomination will allow him to compete at the state level for the scholarship.
“Carter is a phenomenal student who epitomizes the Aggie Spirit,” Tate High School Principal Laura Touchstone said. “We are so proud of Carter and all of his accomplishments, both academic and extracurricular.”
Carter is in the top 10 of Tate’s senior class; a four year member of the Showband of the South, currently serving as battery captain; a member of a number of honor societies and other organizations; and captain of the academic team.
Pictured: National Merit Commended Scholar Conner Pitts. Photo for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.