State And County Leaders Discuss Cantonment Train Delay Solutions
January 30, 2019
Florida Sen. Doug Broxson and Escambia County Commissioner Steven Barry met with CSX and International Paper Tuesday to discuss trains blocking local roads for extended periods of time.
“I’m very pleased with the outcome, and very optimistic that there will be a better outcome in the Cantonment and Cottage Hill areas,” Barry said, a sentiment echoed by Broxson.
“CSX will work out how they can be more of a good neighbor, and hopefully do that before we meet again in 60 days,” Broxson said.
The first step will include real time communication between Escambia County and the railroad. County officials and emergency dispatchers “will have the ability to have real time contact with a knowledgeable person (at CSX) and not wait for three days,” the senator said.
The real time communication and an increased operational awareness by CSX is also expected to lead to improvements for residents of Cantonment and Cottage Hill neighborhoods that have been blocked for hours by trains with no way in or out. Barry said CSX will work to open at least one crossing that will allow access into the neighborhoods.
One Cantonment neighborhood, east of Highway 95A from Countri Lane to McKenzie Road, has been completely blocked for hours by a stopped train. There are documented incidents where fire trucks and EMS units were unable to respond to medical emergencies in the neighborhood due to stopped trains.
“Highway 29 should also change,” Broxson said. “I’m convinced there shouldn’t be any reason it would be closed for an inordinate amount of time; we should see a reduction in that soon.”
Currently, trains in and out of International Paper often block Highway 29 just south of Muscogee Road for long time periods, backing up traffic for miles.
There are four parallel tracks beds on the IP property just west of the crossing that merge into a single track across Highway 29. For the first time, Broxson and Barry learned Tuesday that the tracks are not managed by CSX; they are operated by the Alabama & Gulf Coast Railway (AGR), and they are expected to become involved in ultimate solutions.
AGR is a mid-sized railway owned by Genessee & Wyoming that operates 348 miles of track from Pensacola to Columbus, MS, and uses other tracks into Mississippi and south to Mobile. AGR makes a connection to CSX in Cantonment.
“IP is kind of a victim in all this,” Broxson said, referring to trains blocking Highway 29. “They have no control over the rail system other than making sure their product is ready to roll.”
“We want to thank both Senator Broxson and Commissioner Barry for working to rectify this situation,” Whitney Fike, communications manager for International Paper in Cantonment, said. “This is a significant inconvenience for local residents and our employees at the mill. We look forward to a swift resolution to the problem.”
“Being able to come over today and speak with the commissioner and the senator and listening to their specific concerns, on behalf of their constituents, will help us work with the county to put together a plan,” CSX Regional Vice President for State Government Affairs Craig Camuso said.
Trains blocking local roadways is quality of life issue, Barry has said, because people can spend 30 minutes or more each day waiting for a train blocking Highway 29 near Muscogee Road. And Barry said it’s an obviously a public safety issue when first responders are blocked from reaching citizens in need.
Broxson said that while he expects significant improvements, there will never be a complete end to crossings blocked by trains in Escambia County.
“We will never be able to always guarantee every roadway will not be blocked because train traffic in this country is vital,” he explained.
Pictured: Escambia County Fire and EMS vehicles blocked from responding to emergency calls by a train on Highway 29 in Cantonment. NorthEscambia.com file photos, click to enlarge.
Molino Park Students Dress As 100-Year Olds To Celebrate 100th Day Of School
January 30, 2019
Molino Park Elementary School students celebrated the 100th day of the school year Tuesday by dressing up like 100-year olds.
Photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Escambia County, Navy Complete OLF 8 Land Swap
January 30, 2019
A land swap between Escambia County and the U.S. Navy is now complete.
Navy Outlying Field 8 (OLF 
on Nine Mile Road now officially belongs to Escambia County, which traded a property now known as OLF X south of Jay for helicopter training. An ribbon cutting for OLF X will be held Wednesday.
The land exchange provides Escambia County with property that can accommodate a wide variety of residential and light industrial development options, that will benefit the citizens and improve the county tax base. In return, the Navy gains a new, fully functional helicopter OLF, that meets current helicopter flight training requirements and is closer to NAS Whiting Field.
Navy Federal has offered to purchase 100 acres of OLF 8 for $4.2 million to expand their campus, and the county has received one unsolicited offer of $18 million for about 530 acres. [Read more ...] The county would legally required to declare the 530 acres as surplus and sell to the highest bidder.
“Although we (Escambia County) paid a lot for this property — recent appraisals peg the value of our soon-to-be acquired property in Beulah at between $46K and $51K per acre,” Escambia County Commissioner Jeff Bergosh wrote on his blog Tuesday. “This means this huge field could be worth as much as $32 Million in the current red-hot real estate market in this booming community. This means Escambia County taxpayers will be taking possession of an asset that is valued as much as $14.5 Million over the cost of acquisition—on day one.”
“Yes, this is a big deal for Escambia County. It is also a huge win for the U.S. Navy and Naval Aviation. This is what you call a ‘win-win’,” Bergosh said.
“This land exchange project was extraordinarily challenging considering there was little prior experience or formal guidance available,” said NAVFAC Southeast Project Manager Ferdinand Salomon. “Without the outstanding contributions of a small, but talented and motivated group of team members from NAVFAC, Naval Air Station (NAS) Whiting Field and the Escambia County staff, this project would have been absolutely impossible.”
A land exchange project of this nature is without recent precedent in the Navy. Many of the real estate procedures and processes required to execute this type of transaction are not formalized in Navy real estate directives and have not been successfully accomplished on this scale.
“This transaction is of keen interest to the highest levels of the Navy, and will serve as the model for leveraging our underutilized facilities and real property assets to obtain new facilities, optimize our resources and more effectively support the Warfighter,” said Salomon.
The project was made possible by special legislation authorizing the land exchange in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), signed by President Obama on November 25, 2015. The legislation authorized, but did not require, the Secretary of the Navy to convey NAS Whiting Field’s NOLF Site 8 to Escambia County, in exchange for land and improvements from the county, which are acceptable to the Navy and suitable for use as an OLF to replace Site 8.
A land exchange agreement signed June 2016 between the Navy and Escambia County, was amended September 2017 to reduce certain construction requirements that Escambia County was responsible to build. Site X construction was completed December 2018, and was deemed acceptable by the Navy for use as an OLF.
“Once the construction was complete, we finalized the necessary documents to complete the deed exchange with the county,” explained Salomon. “The timing had to be precise to ensure the paperwork was ready, so that the base could conduct it’s official closing of Site 8 and opening of Site X.”
Pictured above: The lowering of the American flag for the last time at OLF 8, and the final flight in and out on Tuesday. Pictured below: The land swap signing between Escambia County and the Navy. Photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Former Jay Baseball Coach Sentenced To Probation On Battery Charge
January 30, 2019
A former Jay High School baseball coach charged with lewd and lascivious molestation an 2017 has been sentenced to probation.
Brian Joseph Moye was facing two felony counts of lewd and lascivious molestation and one count of sexual battery. He pleaded no contest to two lesser counts of battery and was sentenced to 12 months probation. He will also be required to complete mental health counseling and is ineligible for Florida educator certification or employment as a teacher or administrator.
Moye is barred from having contact with victims.
Two female students, age 16 and age 14, alleged Moye touched them inappropriately in his classroom. Moye denied all of the allegations against him, calling one allegation a “bold face lie,” according to his arrest report.
Ransom Middle School Names January Students Of The Month
January 30, 2019
Ransom Middle School has named their Students of the Month for January. They are Tom Fleming, sixth grade, and Erica Langton, eight grade. Photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Atmore Man Charged With Attempted Murder
January 30, 2019
An Atmore man has been charged with attempted murder for allegedly shooting into a vehicle.
Marcus Flowers, 24, was booked into the Escambia County Detention Center in Brewton Tuesday.
On January 22, the Atmore Police Department responded to the 200 block of Jack Springs Road, near Swift Street, where a female reported the shooting.
She told police she was at the location to pick up clothing when an argument with her child’s father when a verbal altercation started. As she was driving away, Flowers fired at her vehicle, Atmore Police Chief Chuck Brooks said.
DeSantis Weighs In On School Safety After Report
January 30, 2019
With a state commission saying classroom teachers should be allowed to be armed “guardians,” Gov. Ron DeSantis on Tuesday backed the possibility of more school employees being able to carry guns — while also calling for other steps to avoid mass shootings.
DeSantis told reporters that his upcoming budget proposal will include money for school security and supported allowing trained school employees to be armed.
“In terms of the arming of personnel, what I’ve said is, if you’re somebody who is working at a school and you are somebody who is trained and has the ability to do it, then you shouldn’t be precluded, if you carrying a concealed firearm could potentially deter people from viewing that as a thing,” he said. “But what I would not do is say, Oh, Miss Jones, you want to teach English? Well, do you have a Glock? No. I mean, we should not force anybody to do that.”
DeSantis was responding to a question about a report issued by the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Commission, which was created last year after the mass shooting in Parkland that killed 17 students and faculty members.
A state law allows school districts to hire armed “guardians” — school personnel whose primary job duties are outside the classroom — to supplement school law-enforcement officers.
The commission’s recommendations also included allowing teachers to act as armed guardians, an issue that has been highly controversial.
The issue is expected to be debated during the legislative session that starts March 5. DeSantis said the state also needs to step up efforts to head off potential attackers who show signs by things they say or post on social media.
DeSantis said if you “read that (commission) report, these people who are doing these things, it’s not like this is happening out of the blue. I know that they’ve worked on some stuff since this, but I want to have a real robust operation where if somebody’s posting something on Facebook or somebody’s saying things like this and they have these problems,” they will be detected.
ECSO Identifies Man Shot And Killed By Deputy Inside Highway 97 Home
January 29, 2019
The Escambia County Sheriff’s Office has released the name of a man killed in an officer involved shooting Friday night in Davisville.
Robert C. “Bobby” Martin, 69, was shot inside his home by an Escambia County Sheriff’s Office deputy.
The Escambia County Sheriff’s Office responded to a welfare check about 8:35 p.m. at a home in the 10000 block of Highway 97, about one mile south of the Alabama state line. A relative not at the residence told dispatchers that Martin was armed and threatening to kill another family member.
Deputies arrived on scene, and Martin refused commands, Escambia County Chief Deputy Chip Simmons told NorthEscambia.com on the scene Friday night. He then raised his firearm in the direction of the deputy, forcing the deputy to fire his weapon. Martin was struck three times from the weapon fired by a single deputy. He was pronounced deceased on the scene.
There were no law enforcement injuries, and the other family member on scene was not injured.
Per ECSO policy, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement is investigating the officer involved shooting. The officer was placed on administrative leave, as is standard procedure, according to Simmons.
NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Century Council Elects President Despite Absence Of Two Members
January 29, 2019
The Century Town Council elected its leadership Monday night, three weeks after they first tried and failed and the election was postponed until a full council could make a decision.
But only three of five council members were present Monday night as a vote was taken.
Ann Brooks was reelected as council president on a 2-1 vote with Sandra Jackson voting no, and Ben Boutwell was elected vice president on a 3-0 vote. Council members Luis Gomez and James Smith were not present.
At the January 7 council meeting, Brooks announced that positions would remain the same until all five council members were present to vote.
At that January 7 meeting,, Jackson nominated Boutwell, and Boutwell nominated Brooks. Jackson and Smith voted for Boutwell, while Boutwell and Brooks voted for Brooks, resulting in a tie. Council member Gomez was absent from the meeting. Boutwell renounced his nomination for council president and ceded the nomination to Brooks. The four council members then voted on the remaining nomination for Brooks, but that vote ended in a 2-2 tie with Jackson and Smith voting no.
Monday night’s leadership election did not appear a council agenda emailed last Thursday to members of the council, key staff members and the media, but did appear on an agenda distributed Monday night.
Pictured: (L-R) Century Council president Ann Brooks, Sandra Jackson and Ben Boutwell Monday night. NorthEscambia.com photo, click to enlarge.
Freezing Weather — Protecting Pets, Plants, Pipes And Other Tips
January 29, 2019
When temperatures fall into the teens and hard freeze warning, it is time to take necessary precautions to protect pipes, pets and plants, and check on elderly friends and neighbors.
For tonight’s latest forecast, click here.
Here are ways to stay safe during this year’s first round of cold temperatures, courtesy of the American Red Cross:
- Wear layers of lightweight clothing to stay warm. Gloves and a hat will help prevent losing body heat.
- Know the signs of hypothermia — confusion, dizziness, exhaustion and severe shivering. If someone has these symptoms, they should get immediate medical attention.
- Watch for symptoms of frostbite including numbness, flushed gray, white, blue or yellow skin discoloration, numbness or waxy feeling skin.
- Bring the pets indoors. If that’s not possible, make sure they have enough shelter to keep them warm and that they can get to unfrozen water.
- Avoid frozen pipes — run water, even at a trickle, to help prevent them from freezing. Keep the thermostat at the same temperature day and night to help avoid freezing pipes.
- Do not use a stove or oven to heat the home.
- Space heaters should sit on a level, hard surface and anything flammable should be kept at least three feet away.
- If using a fireplace, use a glass or metal fire screen large enough to catch sparks and rolling logs.
- Turn off space heaters and make sure fireplace embers are out before leaving the room or going to bed.
And here are a few extra details and tips from ECUA on protecting pipes against the freeze:
- Insulate pipes or faucets in unheated areas: Pipes located in unheated areas of your house, such as a garage or crawl space under the house or in the attic, are subject to freezing. If you have time to do this before freezing temperatures arrive, wrap these pipes with insulation materials made especially for this purpose. These materials can be found in most hardware stores or home improvement centers.
- Disconnect and drain outdoor hoses: Detach all hoses from faucets and allow them to drain. This action guards against the water in the hose or pipe from freezing and bursting the faucet or pipe to which it is connected.
- Run a trickle of water: When forecasts call for sustained and / or severe freezing temperatures, run a thin trickle of water from the faucet furthest from the water line coming to your house. Usually this is in a room at the back of the house or outside, in the yard. Allowing the water to circulate through your home’s plumbing helps to keep it from freezing. Some consider this a waste of water but the cost of the water used is extremely slight compared to repairing broken pipes and the resulting water damage.
- Remember the backflow preventer: Residents and business owners who have backflow preventers on their properties for water lines, fire lines, irrigation systems, and swimming pools need to protect their backflow preventers from freeze as well. Extended freezes can burst the body of the backflow assembly, rendering it useless. Wrap these pipes with insulation materials, made especially for this purpose. These materials can be found in most hardware stores or home improvement centers. If the device and the water line are not in use at this time (i.e., irrigation system or swimming pool lines), shut off the water supply line and drain the backflow device.