IP Awards $85,000 In Community Grants
October 29, 2018
International Paper’s Pensacola Mill awarded $85,000 in grants through International Paper Foundation to local community organizations. Funding priority for grants is given to programs related to International Paper’s Signature Causes:
Education – Programs focused on helping children succeed via a comprehensive approach to education. Priority is given to literacy programs from birth through 3rd grade.
Hunger – Programs dedicated to improving food security throughout our communities.
Health & Wellness – Programs that promote healthy living habits.
Disaster Relief – Programs that help communities prepare for and recover from natural disasters.
Funding also is available to address environmental initiatives, employee engagement and other critical community needs.
“We are privileged to be able to assist our local community organizations in their efforts to make a difference in the lives of the residents and children of Northwest Florida,” said Whitney Fike, manager, communications, International Paper Pensacola Mill. “We are able to provide the resources to address critical needs in communities where we live and work and the efforts of these organizations serve to strengthen our community.”
Local community organizations and their projects that were awarded grants for 2018 are:
- AMI Kids Pensacola, “Pensacola GED”
- Autism Pensacola, “Summer Learning Lab and Kids for Camp”
- Ballet Pensacola, “Discover Dance”
- Beulah Academy of Science, “Culinary Arts Program”
- Big Brothers Big Sisters, “One to One Mentoring”
- Cantonment Improvement Committee, “Cantonment Community Outreach Festival”
- Capstone Adaptive Learning and Therapy centers, “The Tell Me Early Learning Literacy Program”
- Children’s Home Society of Florida, “Garden for Community Partnership”
- Council on Aging of West Florida, “Foster Grandparents Eco Solutions Project”
- Covenant Hospice Foundation, “Covenant Care – Granting Final Wishes for Hospice Parents”
- Creative Learning Academy “Professional Development Resources: Being a Writer”
- Epilepsy Foundation of Florida, “Camp Boggy Creek”
- Episcopal Day School, “Exhibit A(rt) – Taking Pride in Student Art”
- Ernest Ward Middle, “Innovation Walls,” “Aquaponics,” “Eagles Build for the Birds,” and “Food Backpack and Share Table”
- Escambia County 4-H Foundation, “4-H Shooting Sports”
- Escambia County Extension, “Healthy Trees, Healthy Communities”
- Escambia County Public Schools Foundation, “Literacy Grants for Excellence”
- Every Child a Reader in Escambia, “Books for the Break”
- Feeding the Gulf Coast, “Backpack Program”
- First Baptist Church of Ensley, “Feeding the Homeless”
- Greater First Baptist Church, “Community Literacy Mentoring and Tutoring Program”
- Greater Pensacola Symphony Orchestra, Inc., “5th Grade Concerts”
- Health and Hope Clinic, “Access to Care”
- Hillcrest Baptist Church of Pensacola, “Disaster Relief Engagement”
- Institute for Human and Machine Cognition, “STEM – Science, Technology, Engineering and Math Programs”
- Jim Allen Elementary School, “Learning to Read…the Possibilities are Endless”
- Junior Achievement of Northwest Florida, “Financial Literacy Education for Cantonment Students”
- Kingsfield Elementary, “Literacy Libraries” and “The Future Engineers of Fourth Grade”
- Manna Food Bank, “Healthy Kids Initiative”
- Milk and Honey Outreach Ministries, “Literacy and Language”
- Miracle League of Northwest Florida, “Improve Lightning on Fields”
- My Brothers and Sisters, “Women in Transition”
- My Fathers Arrows, “The Green Healing Project”
- Partnership for Community Programs “Bay Day 2019”
- Pathways for Change, “Healing Women Veterans”
- Pensacola Children’s Chorus, “2019 Summer Festival”
- Pensacola Civitan Club, “Wheelchair Ramp Building Program”
- Pensacola Little Theatre, “Acting Up”
- Pensacola Mess Hall, “Questing Corner”
- Pensacola State College Foundation, Inc., “Food Pantry”
- Pensacola United Methodist Community Ministries, “Food on the Go”
- Pensacola’s Promise Chain Reaction, “Service Learning Program”
- Pine Forest High School, “Scholastic for Success” and “Literacy, Learning and Life”
- Quintette Community Park Association “Senior Citizen and Youth Programs”
- Ronald McDonald House of Northwest Florida, “Home for Dinner Program”
- Sacred Heart Foundation, “Motor and Sensory Therapy Rooms” and “Hands-on Learning”
- Santa Rosa Education Foundation, “Literacy Lifelines for Early Learners”
- Studer Community Institute, “Brain Bags”
- The Global Corner “The Global Corner Visits Canada: An Activity Book for Young Explorers”
- University of West Florida Foundation, “Argo Pantry,” “Emerald Coast B.E.S.T. Robotics Hub,” “National Writing Project,” and “UWF Community Garden”
- WSRE Foundation, “Imagination Station Literacy”
Pictured top: Ernest Ward Middle School (recipient of multiple awards). Pictured below (top to bottom): Cantonment Improvement Committee, Greater First Baptist Church (Cantonment), Kingsfield Elementary, Jim Allen Elementary, Ernest Ward Middle (two photos) and all grant recipients. Photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Marianna Mom: Real Life After Hurricane Michael
October 29, 2018
by Ali Wiggins
If you think a little rain and some wind rolled through here, you’re wrong.
If you think since folks are getting their power turned back on everything’s fine now, you’re wrong.
If you’ve seen some pictures and think you know what it feels like to live it because you’ve seen a hurricane before, you’re wrong.
Travel 45 minutes to the east or west of us and things are probably back to normal again.
If I hear one more person say that they have seen a few hurricanes and then proceed to tell me how bad they were…. well, this wasn’t just a hurricane. It was the third strongest hurricane to hit the US in recorded history.
I don’t care what hurricane you’ve seen, you ain’t seen bad! If you were alive in 1935 and saw the “Labor Day” hurricane hit the FL Keys, or in Mississippi in 1969 to see Camille, then we’ll talk. If not, you have no clue.
If you are seeing the national news about Panama City and Mexico Beach, we are close to the same. The storm never really slowed down much or weakened when it left them. It hit us full force and we are 60 or so miles inland. Jackson and Calhoun counties were hit just as hard.
Folks are living with generators, gas cans, sometimes rationed gasoline if you can find a place that sells it.
Curfews. Only two times of day: daylight and dark. People are living in tents, their cars, friend’s homes, hotels.
You don’t go to the store, you get in line at the PODs. We have long lines for water, MREs, tarps, bug spray, and baby diapers. You could be the wealthiest guy around and it wouldn’t matter. There are very few places to spend it. It’s cash only purchases, no fast food, no ATMs. The stores that are open are only open from sun up to sun down. So you can forget picking up a gallon of milk on your way home. Winn Dixie closes at 5 now and Walmart probably not long after that.
We have no idea what’s going on outside of this bubble because we have no internet, no phones, no cell service, no television.
We live with our windows wide open and no air conditioning.
We have people from all over the nation here, most of them to help us. We are so thankful for them all. Those folks came here with good intentions, to get us back up and running.
But everyone that came here isn’t here to help. How do you know for sure which is which? We have looters and scammers. Some just walk up behind you in your own yard while you’re hanging your laundry on the clothesline and scare the mess out of you just asking if you need help with a downed tree. That fellow snuck right up behind me. He should’ve hollered from his truck. NOT COOL! You can’t tell who belongs in your neighborhood or not.
You carry a pistol with you at all times just in case you guessed wrong on whether they are a good guy or a bad guy.
Now it’s time for bed. The whole family piles up in one room with air mattresses, fans, open windows and firearms in case someone decides they need your generator, gas cans or food more than you do. You can’t sleep because you hear every single noise outside. You hear every siren and you cringe with each one. Flashlights in the dark? It could be a lineman or a boogie man, you don’t know!
You go a week and then realize you haven’t seen nor heard one bird because there are no trees left. All the trees are on the ground, and I mean ALL of them. And all the creatures that lived in them are now everywhere. Yellow jackets and mosquitoes that look like they’re from Jurassic Park.
The sounds of chainsaws, diesel trucks, helicopters, sirens, and generators are a constant.
The death toll continues to rise. Many deaths aren’t from the storm. Folks are dying in the clean up of this storm. Houses are burning down as some folks get power turned back on and all the history that they’ve held are now gone with them.
Debris piles are taller than the homes they sit in front of. One lane roads and downed power lines everywhere. AND THIS IS DAY 15!!
The depression this brings is real. No one here is dreaming this up. You couldn’t even if you tried. If you think you could handle all this and go right on like nothing happened, you are welcome to set up camp here in Jackson County, Florida. I will give you my spot. I would love to see how you fair. Everywhere else in the world seems to be business as usual. Not here!
We are all now using the phrase, “new normal”. I hate it. I liked my old normal just fine, as crazy as it was. I’ve cried. I’ve thrown things. I’ve screamed. And I’ve cried some more. My heart hurts for so many people right now. And my family’s loss is nowhere near what some people have experienced. They’ve lost it all. We still have our family and our home. It is a little damaged, but still in tact. So many don’t.
This wasn’t just a hurricane. This destroyed the lives of thousands of people. We post a dozen or more things a day on social media to help folks find what they are looking for, whether it be a place to wash clothes, a hot meal, clothes for their kids. We post what we are living. This is all we can think about and social media is our only way out.
This last 15 days have been awful. And if you can pick right up and get back to it already, then good for you. I’m having a little trouble with that right now. It still looks like a war zone here. Things won’t ever be the same again. I’ve tried so hard to be positive for the last two weeks.
Now on day 15, I’m tired. My muscles ache from cutting trees and hauling fence. I wasn’t cut out for this. I’ve got poison ivy and ant bites. I’m pissed and I wish this was all just a bad dream. And I really, really miss Netflix.
Day 15 has been a bad one for me. Day 16, I know, will be better.
Thank y’all for your prayers and your support. Thank you for letting the folks in the Panhandle of Florida know we aren’t forgotten. We are tough and determined. It is just how we were made. We will come back from this. I don’t know when, but with all the help that has shown up here in the last two weeks, how could we not?
Thank you all and much love from from Jackson County.
Ali Wiggins is a lifelong resident of Jackson County, which encompasses Marianna, Sneads and Cottondale. She is the mother of two and works as director of sales are marketing for a pharmacy company.
Pictured: Hurricane Michael damage in Marianna. Photos by SPC Jeffrey Scott Hagan for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge. For more photos by Hagan, click here.
Trump To Hold Rally In Escambia County This Week
October 29, 2018
President Donald Trump will hold a Make America Great Again rally next Saturday in Escambia County.
The rally will be held at 6:30 p.m. at the Pensacola International Airport. Doors will open at 3:30 p.m.
For free tickets, click here.
This will be Trump’s fourth stop in Pensacola since 2015.
Pictured: President Donald Trump during a December 2017 visit to Pensacola. NorthEscambia.com file photo.
Firefighters Visit Camp Fire Kids
October 29, 2018
The Century Station of Escambia County Fire Rescue visited Camp Fire Century this week. The firefighters talked about fire safety with the children and showed them firefighting equipment. Photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Bonus Gallery: Northview Band, NJROTC, Cheerleaders
October 29, 2018
For an action gallery and game summary, click here.
NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
FDOT: Weekly Traffic Alerts – Where To Expect Delays
October 29, 2018
Drivers will encounter traffic disruptions on the following state roads in Escambia and Santa Rosa counties as crews perform construction and maintenance activities.
Escambia County:
- U.S. 29 Widening from Interstate 10 (I-10) to U.S. 90 (Nine Mile Road) – The following traffic impacts will take place from Sunday, Oct. 28 through Saturday, Nov. 3. Work requiring lane restrictions will take place from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m.
- Nine Mile Road at the U.S. 29 Overpass: Alternating traffic shifts will direct all traffic onto the westbound or eastbound lanes as crews continue construction of the new center bridge deck. Nine Mile Road lane restrictions are Sunday through Friday.
- U.S. 29 between I-10 and 9 1/2 Mile Road: Drainage and paving operations continue. Drivers can expect alternating lane closures Monday through Saturday.
- U.S. 98 Pensacola Bay Bridge Replacement – Construction activities continue. Drivers will encounter alternating lane closures between 14th Avenue in Pensacola and Bay Bridge Drive in Gulf Breeze from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. Sunday, Oct. 28 through Sunday, Nov. 4
- State Road (S.R.) 750 (Airport Boulevard) from S.R. 291 (Davis Highway) to S.R. 289 (9th Avenue) – Paving operations continue between Davis Highway and 9th Avenue. Lane closures will be in effect from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. Sunday, Oct. 28 through Thursday, Nov. 1
- U.S. 98 (Lillian Highway) Resurfacing from the Perdido Bay Bridge to Dog Track Road– Paving operations continue from the Perdido Bay Bridge to Dog Track Road. Lane closures will be in effect from 8 p.m. to 5:30 a.m. Sunday, Oct. 28 through Sunday, Nov. 4.
Santa Rosa County:
- I-10 Widening from the Escambia Bay Bridge to S.R. 281 (Avalon Boulevard/Exit 22) – Drivers traveling I-10 and Avalon Boulevard will encounter the following traffic impacts from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. Sunday, Oct. 28 through Thursday, Nov. 1:
- U.S. 98 Pensacola Bay Bridge Replacement – Construction activities continue. Drivers will encounter alternating lane closures between 14th Avenue in Pensacola and Bay Bridge Drive in Gulf Breeze from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. Sunday, Oct. 28 through Sunday, Nov. 4.
- Alternating lane closures on Avalon Boulevard near the I-10 interchange as crews perform construction activities.
- Alternating lane closures on I-10 from the Escambia Bay Bridge to east of Avalon Boulevard as crews widen the roadway.
- Drivers will encounter new traffic patterns on I-10 east and westbound as crews reconstruct the inside and outside shoulders. This work will continue throughout the fall.
- S.R. 87 Multilane from Eglin AFB boundary to C.R. 184 (Hickory Hammock Road) – Traffic between Hickory Hammock Road and the Eglin AFB boundary will continue to be restricted to loads less than 11-feet wide. The restriction will be in place until the project is completed.
- U.S. 98 Safety Improvements at Constitution Drive and Navarre School Road-Construction activities at the intersection of Constitution Drive and Navarre School Road are scheduled to begin the week of Monday, Oct. 29. Improvements will include new turn lanes, drainage upgrades, new curb and gutter, and resurfacing and widening Navarre School Road near the U.S. 98 intersection. Motorists can expect lane closures to occur between 8 p.m. and 5:30 a.m.
All activities are weather dependent and may be delayed or rescheduled in the event of inclement weather. Drivers are reminded to use caution, especially at night, when traveling through a work zone and to watch for construction workers and equipment entering and exiting the roadway.
Pictured: Road construction on Highway 29 at Nine Mile Road. NorthEscambia.com photo, click to enlarge.
Escambia County Weekly Meeting Schedule
October 29, 2018
Here is a schedule of Escambia County public meetings this week:
Tuesday, Oct. 30
Environmental Enforcement Special Magistrate – 1:30 p.m., Escambia County Central Office Complex, 3363 West Park Place, Room 104
Wednesday, Oct. 31
Development Review Committee – 1 p.m., Escambia County Central Office Complex, 3363 West Park Place
Thursday, Nov. 1
Board of County Commissioners Agenda Review Session – 9 a.m., Ernie Lee Magaha Government Building, 221 Palafox Place, Board Chambers
BCC Public Forum – 4 p.m., Ernie Lee Magaha Government Building, 221 Palafox Place, Board Chambers
BCC Regular Meeting (Clerk’s Report, County Administrator’s Report, County
Attorney’s Report) – 5 p.m., Ernie Lee Magaha Government Building, 221 Palafox Place, Board Chambers
BCC Regular Meeting (Proclamations/Public Hearings/Growth Management Report) – 5:30 p.m., Ernie Lee Magaha Government Building, 221 Palafox Place, Board Chambers
The Miracle League: Where Everyone Wins
October 28, 2018
The Tate High School Cheerleaders volunteered as buddies Saturday morning at the Miracle League, where everyone wins.
In a park where hundreds of Escambia County area athletes play baseball, softball and t-ball every year, one set of baseball diamonds stands out from the rest. A rubber surface covers what would normally be clay and grass on three of the fields at the county-owned John R. Jones Jr. Athletic Complex on Nine Mile Road, providing a safe, fun place for everyone who wants to play ball.
And for the Miracle League of Pensacola, “everyone” truly means everyone.
It’s a place where every player plays, hits, gets on base, scores and wins – every game. Operating out of the John R. Jones Jr. Athletic Complex, the Miracle League of Pensacola provides physically and mentally challenged children and adults an opportunity to play baseball, softball and t-ball just like anyone else, all in a spirited and secure environment.
The Miracle League of Pensacola relies on its many volunteers or “buddies” to keep the program going.
Photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Amendment 9: Combining Vaping, Drilling Ban Draws Criticism
October 28, 2018
A move to expand the state’s 16-year ban on smoking in indoor workplaces to include electronic cigarettes and vaping is drawing opposition.
But unlike in 2002 when the smoking ban passed, the opposition is not coming from a campaign by Florida restaurants to kill the proposal.
Instead, the measure is facing criticism, including from some newspaper editorial boards, because of the process used by the 37-member Florida Constitution Revision Commission to put what is known as Amendment 9 on the Nov. 6 ballot.
Rather than allowing the vaping ban to stand on its own as a proposed constitutional amendment, the commission coupled it with a proposed ban on offshore oil drilling in Florida waters, describing the combination as an environmental amendment.
The Florida Supreme Court said the commission followed the rules, but the decision to combine the proposals might turn at least some voters against what otherwise could be popular ideas.
Constitution Revision Commission member Lisa Carlton, a key supporter of Amendment 9, is asking voters to reflect before possibly voting against the measure because of the process.
“For this election, look at all the amendments on the ballot. Study them and decide, based on substance, whether they fit into what you think Florida should look like for the next generation,” said Carlton, a former state lawmaker who was the commission’s primary sponsor of the proposed vaping ban and a co-sponsor of the oil drilling ban.
Carlton steadfastly defends the process and said the two issues were rolled into an amendment that addresses the environment.
She also noted that the Supreme Court sided with the commission and against opponents who tried to remove Amendment 9 and other amendments from the ballot because the proposals combined different issues. A lawsuit filed by former Supreme Court Justice Harry Lee Anstead and another plaintiff unsuccessfully argued that including various subjects in single ballot measures —- a practice known as “logrolling” — violated the First Amendment, but the Supreme Court rejected the lawsuit.
Retired University of South Florida political-science professor Susan MacManus said, however, that of all the amendments, voters are most perplexed about the coupling of the issues in Amendment 9.
“It makes no sense to the average voter why they were put together,” MacManus told The News Service of Florida in an interview. “Yet the people who wrote it said it was logical.”
Questions about process aside, Amendment 9 — and other amendments on the ballot — could face an uphill battle, McManus said, because of voters skipping items at the bottom of the ballot. In all, voters will face decisions on 12 proposed constitutional amendments, which were placed on the ballot by the Constitution Revision Commission, the Legislature and through petition drives.
The amendments appear on the ballot behind several high-profile races, including races for governor and U.S. senator. McManus said that in past elections, voter “roll-off” — skipping items at the bottom of the ballot — has been as high as 15 percent, but it could be as high as 25 percent this year.
Constitutional amendments must receive 60 percent support from voters to pass.
Amendment 9, in part, would expand a 2002 constitutional amendment that overwhelmingly passed to ban smoking in most workplaces, including restaurants.
In addition to drawing a legal challenge, the way Amendment 9 was put together has drawn opposition such as in a Tampa Bay Times editorial that encouraged readers to vote against the proposal. That move caught Carlton’s ire, leading her to write a letter to the Tampa Bay Times and other media outlets, including The News Service of Florida.
Carlton said the editorial “shocked” her.
“I was completely shocked that a newspaper — which from the news side and the editorial side that has written so much about offshore oil drilling and how horrible it is for our environment and our state and our tourist economy and our sea life — would not look at this as an opportunity for Floridians to make a strong statement to the rest of the country on our thoughts on offshore oil drilling,” Carlton said.
But David Mica, executive director of the Florida Petroleum Council, said he’s not surprised the amendment has drawn criticism.
“It’s not rocket science these are two topics that are totally unrelated,” said Mica, whose group opposes the amendment and maintains that a current state law about drilling in state waters is sufficient. “This issue is the poster child with what was wrong with the bundling that was done. The court said it was legal, but it doesn’t make it right.”
The American Lung Association issued a statement last week supporting Amendment 9, with Chief Mission Officer Deb Brown saying the amendment “will protect Floridians from the dangers of e-cigarette aerosols in our state’s workplaces and public places where smoking is already prohibited.”
And while the restaurant industry lobbied against the 2002 smoking ban, the Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association is supporting Amendment 9.
Samantha Padgett, general counsel for the Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association, said the group thinks the ban on electronic cigarettes and vaping in workplaces should be added to the Constitution for consistency.
“That ship has sailed,” she said of the original opposition to the workplace smoking ban, adding “this is how they regulate now.”
by Christine Sexton, The News Service of Florida
NWE Sophomores And Freshmen Advance To ERC Championships
October 28, 2018
The NWE Freshmen and Sophomore Chiefs are headed to the ERC championships after wins Saturday in Bratt.
The freshmen championship game will be next Saturday at 1 p.m. at Poarch; the sophomore game will kick off at 2:30.
Here are Saturday’s finals:
Seniors
- Brewton 50, Neal 15
- Excel 35, Baker 0
Juniors
- Brewton 35, Baker 0
- Poarch 27, Baker 6
Sophomores
- NWE 20, Brewton 0
- Jay 27, Poarch 6
Freshmen
- NWE 6, Brewton 0
- Excel 27, Baker 0