Fire Destroys Home In Allentown Wednesday Night
October 3, 2019
Fire destroyed a home in northern Santa Rosa County Wednesday night.
The cause of the fire in the 9500 block of Highway 89 in Allentown is under investigation. The occupants reportedly were not home at the time of the blaze.
Allentown, Berrydale, Jay, Skyline, Whiting Field, Pace fire departments, the Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office and Lifeguard EMS responded.
Further information has not been released.
Courtesy photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Boil Water Notice Issued For Cottage Hill Water Works Customers
October 3, 2019
THIS BOIL WATER NOTICE HAS BEEN RESCINDED AS OF OCTOBER 4.
Cottage Hill Water Works has issued a precautionary boil water notice for the following area: Lakes of Carrington subdivision, Hazzard Lane, Commerce Park and Quintette Road between Lakes of Carrington and Highway 29, along with an residents of Highway 29 that lost water pressure on Wednesday.
Cottage Hill Water said a water main was breached by a road crew, prompting the boil water notice.
Cottage Hill Water Works advises that all water used for drinking, cooking, making ice, brushing teeth, or washing dishes be boiled. A rolling boil of one minute is sufficient, or as an alternative bottled water may be used.
This precautionary boil water notice will remain in effect until a bacteriological survey shows that the water is safe to drink.
If you have any questions you may contact the office at (850) 968-5485
Northview Names Homecoming Court; Plans Parade And Friday Meal
October 3, 2019
Northview High School has named their 2019 homecoming court, and there are several big events planned for homecoming.
Homecoming court members are seniors Karlee Criswell, Corteria Leslie, Cloe Smith, Raeleigh Woodfin, Briana White; juniors Naudia Carach, Franki Daw, Libby Pugh; sophomores Nevaeh Brown, Payton Gilchrist, Mia Starns; and freshmen Presley Dortch, Leila Sanders and McKenna Simmons.
The parade will line up at 12:30 p.m. at Bratt Elementary School. The public should not enter the Bratt campus. The parade will depart at 1 p.m. and travel to Northview High.
A homecoming meal will available Friday from 10 a.m. until from the football concession stand to support the Tommy Weaver Scholarship Fund. The $7 meal will include a barbecue sandwich, chips, cookie and a drink.. Preorder by calling the school at (850) 761-6000 ext. 302137 or email aeubanks@escambia.k12.fl.us
The Northview Chief’s homecoming game will kickoff at 7 p.m. Friday against Walton.
Pictured: The 2019 Northview Homecoming Court (front, L-R) Leila Sanders, Presley Dortch, Briana White, Cloe Smith, Franki Daw, Nevaeh Brown, Payton Gilchrist, (back, L-R) McKenna Simmons, Libby Pugh, Corteria Leslie, Raeleigh Woodfin, Mia Starns, and Naudia Carach. Karlee Kriswell was not available for the photo due to dual enrollment. NorthEscambia.com photo, click to enlarge.
David Stafford Seeks Another Term As Elections Boss
October 3, 2019
Incumbent David H. Stafford has prefiled for supervisor of elections as a Republican for the 2020 election.
Stafford was first elected to the position in 2004.
Longtime Incumbent Walker Prefiles For District 5 ECUA
October 3, 2019
Incumbent Larry Walker prefiled as a Republican Thursday for the Emerald Coast Utilities Authorities District 5 for the 2020 Election.
Walker was first elected to the ECUA board in 1988. He ran unsuccessfully for county commission in 2000.
NorthEscambia.com photo.
Flomaton’s Da’Quan ‘Money’ Johnson Selected For AL-MS All Star Game
October 3, 2019
Flomaton High School’s Da’Quan “Money” Johnson has been selected to play in the 2019 Alabama-Mississippi All Star Football game.
Johnson will be a linebacker on the Alabama team in the game to be played December 14 at the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg. Johnson has committed to Troy State, and is the reigning 3A back of the year
Flomaton Coach Doug Vickery will be coaching in the prestigious all-star game.
Pictured top: Flomaton’s Da’Quane “Money” Johnson gains yardage for the Hurricanes last Friday night against Escambia County High School. Pictured below: Johnson has shifted to quarterback to the Canes after a knee injury for starter Zeb Vickery. Pictured below: Coach Doug Vickery after last Friday night’s 24-0 shutout of ECHS. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Tate Grad Jordan Chase Torrez Gets Two Chair Turns On ‘The Voice’
October 2, 2019
Tate High School graduate Jordan Chase Torrez nailed his performance on “The Voice” Tuesday night on NBC, securing a spot on Team Blake.
Using the name “Jordan Chase” on air, he performed “Makin’ Me Look Good Again,” by Drake White and garnered chair turns from judges Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani. The video is below.
“I’m so excited to be a part of Team Blake and representing Pensacola! P’cola, hope I made you proud tonight,” Torrez said.
“Wow, he’s 19 and his voice is like a man voice, a serious man voice,” Stefani said before calling his voice “honest”.
“Jordan, when you sing, it’s incredible,” Shelton said. “Because a lot of the time when someone has that sandpaper voice, they don’t have the range that you have.”
When asked what music genre he likes by judge Kelly Clarkson, Jordan replied blues and soul.
“His home is country,” Shelton said.
“Pensacola, that’s the south. So you got all those things going on,” Voice judge John Legend remarked.
“Jordan is already way ahead of his time as a vocalist,” Shelton said after being picked by Jordan.
“I recognize your natural gift, and it’s exciting,” Stefani said. “Jordan, honestly, was shocking to me.”
Jordan spent some of his early years in New Orleans and credits the city for influencing his love for music. When Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005, Jordan’s family was forced to pack what they could and leave town. They eventually settled in Pensacola, but while struggling to find a new home base, Jordan turned to music to cope. He joined the church band and learned to play bass and drums, but kept his singing private.
Jordan graduated from Tate High School this past May.
Jordan and his parents, Mark and Melissa, hosted friends at a watch party Tuesday night at Sammy Barker’s on Nine Mile Road.
Pictured top: Tate High graduate Jordan Chase Torrez appears on The Voice Tuesday night (courtesy NBC). Picture top inset: Jordan watches his performance Tuesday night on The Voice during a local watch party. Pictured bottom inset: Mom Melissa Torrez watches her son’s performance on NBC. Pictured below: More scenes from the watch party Tuesday night. NorthEscambia.com photos by Lexie Kittrell for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Escambia Fire Responds To Small Fire At International Paper
October 2, 2019
Escambia Fire Rescue responded to a reported fire at International Paper in Cantonment midday Tuesday.
The small fire was extinguished when firefighters arrived on scene after the commercial structure fire call about 11:50 a.m. There were no injuries reported.
Operations at the mill continued as normal during the incident.
NorthEscambia.com file photo.
Guest Viewpoint: Florida Hazardous Walking Conditions Law Inadequate To Protect Our Students
October 2, 2019
Wednesday wass “National Walk to School Day”. But children in Florida are often at risk when walking to school, according to Rob Doss, a retired Marine and educator, and the retired director of transportation for the Escambia County School District.
He believes the Florida’s Hazardous Walking Conditions” law is inadequate. Doss explains why, in his own words:
If I handed you a Florida statute entitled “Hazardous Walking Conditions” and told you that it describes the conditions under which a public school student’s walking conditions would be judged “hazardous,” what would you expect to find as you read it? Think of your elementary school child or grandchild for a moment. What criteria would you expect the Florida legislature to have in place that would adequately protect children as they’re making their way to and from school during the busiest traffic times of the day?
Think of an intersection that has stop lights like the one at Mobile Highway and Michigan Avenue or Barrancas Avenue and Navy Boulevard. Those are complex intersections with right turn on red authorized, left turn arrows, and free-flow right turn lanes…traffic moving in all directions. Let’s say that the intersection has a traffic volume of 3,600 vehicles passing through it every hour. That’s 1 vehicle passing through the intersection every second. Would you expect that intersection to be considered hazardous for a student to cross on their way to school?
Now, think about Kingsfield Elementary and Ransom Middle School students crossing at the intersection of Kingsfield Road and Highway 97, Tate High School students crossing Highway 29 at Kingsfield Road, Jim Allen Elementary School students crossing the intersection of Highway 29 and Muscogee Road, or Beulah Middle School students crossing 9 Mile Road at Rebel Road. Would you expect either of those intersections to be hazardous for your child or grandchild to cross on their way to school?
Finally, let’s think of a road that has a posted speed limit of 35 mph but has very little room for a person to walk on the side of the road. The road has a traffic volume of 150 vehicles passing by in each direction. That’s a total of 1 vehicle driving by every 12 seconds. Do you think the law would consider that roadway to be hazardous for a student – or any person for that matter – to walk along so closely or to walk on the roadway itself?
You would probably be surprised to learn that none of those scenarios are considered hazardous for public school students of any age under the law.
It’s obvious that section 1006.23 of the Florida Statutes, the law that defines hazardous walking conditions for public school students, is a woefully inadequate criteria for determining whether a walking route to and from school is hazardous for public school students. It neither safeguards public school students who reside within a reasonable walking distance of school nor encourages infrastructure development and improvement that would make walking to and from school safe for students. It’s particularly unfortunate that this statute is in the Education Code, a place where one would expect to find guidance that reflects a thorough understanding of the cognitive ability of children and the need to provide them safe access to quality education.
However, in probably every school district in Florida, including in Escambia, school districts transport those students around conditions that the state doesn’t consider hazardous. The state classifies those students as “ineligible” transported students and provides school districts no funding support to transport them safely like it does other students. But that transportation service is costly to school districts and when they find themselves in a crunch to fund classroom initiatives, they often look for resources elsewhere such as unfunded student transportation service.
In fact, ineligible ridership has become such an issue in Florida that for the 2017-18 school year, Florida school districts reported that they transported more than 90,000 students who were ineligible for a state funding contribution at a cost to local school districts of more than $92 million statewide. Escambia County reported transporting 3,506 ineligible students during the 2017-18 school year at a cost to the school district of nearly $3.5 million. Of course, not all of those students were transported because of hazardous walking conditions, but many were. The fact is, however, that the decisions that school districts have made to transport those students even without a state funding contribution has kept kids alive. What other choice have they had? The question is why, in spite of the existence of a statute in the Education Code that deals specifically with hazardous walking conditions for students, are Florida school districts left in that position?
The fact that the National Complete Streets Coalition has placed Florida at the top of the list as the nation’s most dangerous state for pedestrians and the fact that the nation’s 6 most dangerous metropolitan areas for pedestrians – and 8 of the top 10 – are in Florida lends additional credence to the concern about the inadequacy of the hazardous walking conditions statute.
It’s well past time for the Florida legislature to adopt a reasonable, responsible, and cost-conscious improvement to the hazardous walking conditions statute like the one that I have proposed in order to protect children who encounter hazardous walking conditions between home and school.
Florida Forest Service Suspends Burn Authorizations
October 2, 2019
In light of extremely dry and dangerous conditions, officials with the Florida Forest Service’s Blackwater Forestry Center will not be issuing authorizations for broadcast or pile burns effective Wednesday until further notice. Burn authorizations will not be issued until conditions improve and the area receives significant rainfall. There are no burn bans in effect.
Authorizations from the Florida Forest Service are required for prescribed burning – acreage burns – and piles greater than 8 feet in diameter. Authorizations are not required for residential yard debris burning in piles less than 8 feet in diameter but Forest Service officials are strongly encouraging residents to refrain from any outdoor burning until the area receives rain.
“It is extremely dry and we’ve seen a significant increase in the number of fires here recently,” said David Smith, Operations Administrator for Blackwater. “The smart thing to do – the safe thing – is to just hold off on burning, right now.”
Firefighters from Blackwater – covering Escambia, Santa Rosa and Okaloosa counties have responded to wildfire incidents within the past seven days and there is little relief in the near-term forecast.
The Keetch-Byrum Drought Index for the district is 617 on a scale of 800 with Escambia County registering 610, Santa Rosa County 605 and Okaloosa County 635. These measurements put the area within the “severe drought” range, normal for this time of year should be between 241-420.
The KBDI is a continuous reference scale for estimating the dryness of the soil. The index increases for each day without rain (the amount of increase depends on the daily high temperature) and decreases when it rains. The scale ranges from 0 (no moisture deficit) to 800 (high moisture deficit). The range of the index is determined by assuming that there is 8 inches of moisture in a saturated soil.