North Escambia Community Transportation Offers $1 Rides
May 11, 2019
The North Escambia Transportation Service Pilot Project offers $1 rides as a door-to-door on demand transportation project in the area north of Quintette Road.
The project serves Walnut Hill, Davisville and Bratt on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and Century, Molino and McDavid on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. The service is available from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday-Friday.
The service is $1 per trip with riders picked up at their home or other location within the North Escambia area. The new service does not run a fixed route, but it allows connections at the standard fare to the ECAT Route 60 bus that connects Century, Molino and Cantonment to the rest of the ECAT system.
To qualify for the program, participants must live north of Quintette Road within Escambia County and complete a short application (click to download). All trips require a 24-hour advance reservation by calling (850) 595-0501 between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. on weekdays
The service is available for anyone living in the service area that completes the application and meets one or more of the following conditions:
- Persons with no other means of transportation that do not live on a bus route
- Persons age 60 or older
- Persons with disabilities
- Persons that have an economic hardship
The North Escambia Transportation Service Pilot Project is funded through a Transportation Disadvantaged Mobility Enhancement Grant.
NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Northview Lady Chiefs Beat Franklin County In Regional 1A Semifinal
May 11, 2019
The Northview Lady Chiefs beat Franklin County 5-1 in the regional 1A semifinals Friday evening in Bratt.
Senior Kendall Enfinger allowed no hits in six innings. She entered the game after the first inning when started Tori Herrington came out with a pulled muscle.
For a photo gallery, click here.
“Tonight was a big win for us here at Northview. We played a really good team,” Northview Head Coach Amy Holland said. “We knew they were going to be a tough team to beat. We’ve looked at their stats. They’re no sloppy team; they’ve had a good season.”
“Our girls were ready tonight,” Holland added. “Tori got hurt there early in the game, and that’s something our out team hadn’t had to rely on somebody else. But they relied on Kendall. Kendall Enfinger came in as a senior; she got the job done tonight. I think she pitched an awesome game. Her team said ‘hey, you pitche, we’ve got your back’ and that’s what our team did tonight.
“We Tori got hurt and I had to come in, honestly I got a little nervous at first,” Enfinger said. “But then I realized, hey I can do this and do this for her. She’s always had my back through all the years. We’ve played on the same team since we were seven years old.”
“We played more as a complete team tonight than we’ve played all year,” Holland said.
Northview, currently ranked No. 2 in the state, will travel to Wewahitchka Tuesday night in the regional final. The winner will advance to the state semifinal May 21 against either Trenton or Frostproof.
For a photo gallery, click here.
Pictured top: Kendall Enfinger tossed six innings for Northview’s regional win Friday night over Franklin County. Pictured below: Kaitlin Gafford slides in for a score, Ashley Ragsdale swings, and the Northview Lady Chiefs celebrate. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Nine Mile At Highway 29 To Be Closed Sunday Night Into Monday Morning
May 11, 2019
Nine Mile Road at the Highway 29 overpass will be closed from 8 p.m. Sunday to 6 a.m. Monday as crews remove a traffic barrier wall.
The following detour will be in place:
- Eastbound Nine Mile Road will be reduced to one lane, directed to Highway 29 southbound, U-turn at West Hood Drive, and return to Nine Mile Road.
- Westbound traffic will perform the same operation at West 9 1/2 Mile Road.
Additionally, Highway 29 traffic between Interstate 10 and 9 1/2 Mile Road may experience alternating lane closures as crews continue drainage and paving operations.
Construction activities are weather dependent and may be delayed or rescheduled in the event of inclement weather.
Jay Tops Northview For District Baseball Championship
May 11, 2019
The Jay Royals claimed the District 3-1A baseball championship Friday night with a 3-2 win in Bratt over the Northview Chiefs.
After the Chiefs took a 1-up lead in the bottom the second on an error, Jay answered with one in the top of the fifth as Carson Walters scored on a sacrifice by Dutch Burkhead for a 2-1 lead.
In the bottom of the sixth inning, Nick Venable doubled on a 2-2 count to score Bryson Love.
Josh Majors got the start for Jay, going four innings, allowing one run on one hit and striking out two.
Seth Killam led for the Chiefs, allowing two runs on two hits and striking out four in six innings. Venable tossed one inning in relief out of the bullpen, allowing one run and one hit.
Venable lead at the plate for Northview, going 2-4 with one RBI. Brycen Loven went 1-2 with a run.
For Jay, Walters, Trace Seib and Trevor Flowers had one hit each.
Jay will host Port St. Joe Tuesday at 7 p.m., while the Northview Chiefs will travel to Panama City Bozeman at 7 p.m. in the regional semifinals. The winners will face off Friday night at 7 p.m. in the regional finals.
For a photo gallery, click to enlarge.
NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Escambia Mom Convicted Of Manslaughter In Death Of 9-Year Old
May 11, 2019
An Escambia County woman has been convicted in the death of her adopted daughter.
Grace Smith, 71, was found guilty of aggravated manslaughter and aggravated child abuse after Veronica Posey, her 325-pound niece Veronica Posey sat on 9-year old Derricka Lindsay as a form of punishment. Lindsay could not breathe and died.
A Escambia County jury took about 2.5 hours to return the guilty verdict against Smith. She will be sentenced in late May.
Posey was convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to life in prison. Smith’s husband, James Smith, pleaded no contest to aggravated manslaughter and received 10 years in state prison.
Pine Forest Beats Escambia For First District Title In 12 Years
May 11, 2019
The Pine Forest Eagles won their first district championship in 12 years Friday night, claiming the District 1-7A title with a 3-0 win over the Escambia Gators.
Jason Roberts pitched a complete game win for Pine Forest, giving up zero runs on four hits and striking out three over seven innings.
Tekoah Roby led Pine Forest, going 2-2 with one RBI. Also for Pine Forest: John Pinette 1-3, R; Timmy Williams 1-3; Nolan Rigby 1-3, R; Chase Gullat 1-2, RBI.
Photo for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Tate Aggies Football Players Volunteer At Molino Park, Kingsfield Elementary Schools
May 11, 2019
Tate Aggie football players continued their outreach service Friday morning, helping out in the car rider lines at Molino Park and Kingsfield elementary schools. Next week, they will be at Jim Allen and Lipscomb elementary schools.
Photos by Kristi Barbour and Dorrian Vance for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Inspirational Student Hero Awards Presented
May 11, 2019
The annual Cox Inspirational Student Hero Awards were presented to 52 Escambia County students.
“These students have overcome so much in their young lives while maintaining positive attitudes and being a joy for those around them,” said Gulf Coast Market vice president David Deliman. “They deserve their time in the spotlight for being such an inspiration to us all.”
The students were chosen by a committee of leaders at their school, due to their resilience in the face of adversity. Whether they have overcome a loss of a family member, medical issue, difficult family situation or other hardship, they did so with a smile on their face and continued to encourage and inspire others around them.
During the event, Cox presented the students with a personalized engraved medallion and certificates of honor. The students were also presented with certificates of achievement from Congressman Matt Gaetz and State Senator Doug Broxson.
The award recipients were:
A.K. Suter Elementary – Joseph Thomason
Bellview Elementary – Rebecca Dortch
Bellview Middle – Tex Jones
Beulah Elementary – Ashton Young
Beulah Middle – Jacob Botsford
Blue Angels Elementary – Morgan “Brinlee” Bennett
Bratt Elementary – Reece Starns
Brentwood Elementary – Alisha Straughn
Brown Barge Middle – Gary Lee, Jr.
Byrneville Elementary – Emily Carter
Camelot Academy – Linda Bruster
Cordova Park Elementary – Lula Wilson
Ensley Elementary – Alexander Patrick
Ernest Ward Middle – Olivia Bush
Escambia High – Bethaney Griffin
Ferry Pass Elementary – Alexa Mendoza
Ferry Pass Middle – Cele Leigh Hernandez Mendoza
Global Learning Academy – Gabriel Johnson
Hellen Caro Elementary – Sarah Stearns
Holm Elementary – Jai’Juan “JJ” McBride
Jim Allen Elementary – Coy Jenkins
Jim Bailey Middle – Roy Pettaway
Kingsfield Elementary – Leonardo “Leo” Rincon
Lakeview Day Support – Aine Kellett
Lincoln Park Primary – Jamarcus McKay
Lipscomb Elementary – Ronan Potter
Longleaf Elementary – Diamond Jenkins
McArthur Elementary – James Silvestre
Molino Park Elementary – Aryanna Smith
Montclair Elementary – Makiyah McMillian
Myrtle Grove Elementary – Eric Dennard
N.B. Cook Elementary – Ava Nelson
Navy Point Elementary – Ariana Seymour
Northview High – Cade Allen
O.J. Semmes Elementary – Connor Roper
Oakcrest Elementary – Nick Spencer
PACE Center for Girls – Eve Warnock
Pensacola High – Lakeisha King
Pine Forest High – Christopher “Chris” Bush
Pine Meadow Elementary – Nicolas Fayard
Pleasant Grove Elementary – Shyla Williams
Ransom Middle – Mia Portis
Scenic Heights Elementary – Zameena Harper
Sherwood Elementary – Nathan Horn
Tate High – Ezekiel “Zeke” Goodwin
Warrington Elementary – Kamoni Brown
Warrington Middle – Kaleb Hart
Washington High – Jaelen Moorer
Weis Elementary – Alishia Anderson
West Florida High – Chris Lee
West Pensacola Elementary – Zachary Krusen
Workman Middle – Jorge Gomez
EMS Report Finds North Escambia Problem, Commission Discusses Solutions
May 10, 2019
An ombudsman report on Escambia County Public Safety found an issue with ambulance service in part of the North Escambia area, and that led commissioners to discuss future funding during a Thursday meeting.
As part of her findings, Janice Kilgore told commissioners that there is often a coverage problem because ambulances are pulled away to calls further south in the county.
Kilgore said that if, for instance, the ambulance stationed in Century transports a patient to a Pensacola hospital, they may get diverted to calls in the south end of the county before they make it back to Century.
“They get stuck here, now they are the closest unit to that call maybe out on Nine Mile Road. So it takes a while for them to get back in the area, so that has a coverage problem in the north end ,” she told the commission.
District 5 Commissioner Barry said he has discussed the issue with several North Escambia volunteer fire chiefs and understands the issue will need discussion and attention in the upcoming budget.
“We get one (ambulance) down here, and it gets stuck down here. And then if there’s a call made, there’s not another one within a number of miles,” Barry said. “The utilization of the assets does need some attention up there.”
“I totally respect what you are saying there that the citizens in your district and the north part of Jeff’s (Bergosh), they are not getting the services that they are paying for,” Commissioner Doug Underhill said. “And I will be cognizant of that as we run through the budget cycle.”
Barry said that the volunteer fire service is his District 5 are “relatively healthy”.
“The citizens are being covered. It’s that we haven’t had a tremendous amount of the new employee staff or the new career firefighters have not been deployed in those stations,” Barry said. “But we still do have healthy volunteers, and it’s a fantastic asset to the entire county in my opinion having those volunteers in a number of the stations.”
Commissioner said a plan is in the works to build a new Beulah fire station in District 1.
“I just want the citizens out there to know that you do have dedicated fire coverage out there,” Bergosh said. “It’s all volunteer, Station 2. And God bless those men that volunteer their time.” In addition, he said the area receives assistance from neighboring fire stations.
“There’s coverage out there. Is there things we need to do to fix it and make it better? Absolutely,” Begosh added. “For my vote it’s not going to be a knee jerk, let’s raise tax rates on existing property owners until we extinguish every other possibility, including being creative and combining EMS with Fire together and looking at all revenue sources including capital purchases and making those with the intelligent funding source which is Local Options Sales Tax, not EMS reserves….I’m not going to raise people’s tax rates.”
Thursday’s discussion was part of a larger EMS report presented to the commission. Click here for a previous story.
Pictured: An Escambia County EMS ambulance at the Walnut Hill Fire Station. NorthEscambia.com photo, click to enlarge.
Remains Of Missing WWII Pilot Returned Home (With Photo Gallery)
May 10, 2019
The recently identified remains of Army pilot killed in World War II were returned to Pensacola Thursday afternoon on their way to a proper burial.
Army Air Forces 2nd Lt. Walter B. Stone of Andalusia, AL, was killed in 1943. Several of his relatives reside in North Escambia.
His remains were flown into the Pensacola International Airport on Thursday and escorted to his hometown for a funeral service on Saturday.
In October 1943, Stone served as a pilot in the 350th Fighter Squadron, 353rd Fighter Group, VIII U.S. Fighter Command. On Oct. 22, 1943, Stone was killed when his P-47 Thunderbolt aircraft crashed in northern France during a bomber escort mission. Because France was enemy-occupied territory at the time of the crash, search and recovery operations were not possible.
In 1990, a French excavation group, called Association Maurice Choron (AMC,) carried out a limited excavation of the site in the forest near La Wattine, France, where Stone was believed to have crashed. Aircraft wreckage that matched Stone’s aircraft was located and a field investigation was recommended.
In April and May 2017, a DPAA Recovery Team excavated a site based on information from a local resident. During the excavation, an identification tag for Stone was located, as well as remains. The remains were sent to the laboratory for identification.
In 2018, in a contract with the University of Wisconsin, the site excavation was completed, with additional remains consolidated with the previously located remains. He was officially accounted for on February 20, 2019.
Funeral services for the veteran will take place Saturday at Pleasant Home Baptist Church in Andalusia, Alabama.
Pictured: The remains of WWII Army pilot Lt. Walter B. Stone arrived at the Pensacola International Airport Thursday afternoon. NorthEscambia.com photos by Kristi Barbour, click to enlarge.
