Century Correctional Officer Assaulted By Inmate From Escambia County
July 5, 2018
An inmate assaulted two correctional officers at Century Correctional Institution earlier this week.
The Florida Department of Corrections said inmate Rashud Dexter became combative, and two officers were injured. Staff responded and the inmate was subdued.
The officers were examined by medical staff. Dexter will receive a disciplinary report for he assault.
Dexter is serving a 1.5 year sentence from Escambia County for cocaine possession and fleeing from a law enforcement officer. He previously served a 7.5 year sentence for aggravated battery with a deadly weapon.
Ruling Throws Cold Water On Smokable Pot Case
July 5, 2018
Chiding a judge who sided with sick patients and saying plaintiffs likely won’t win on the merits of the case, an appellate court refused to allow smokable medical marijuana while a legal fight continues to play out.
The ruling by a three-judge panel of the 1st District Court of Appeal came in a lawsuit initiated by Orlando trial attorney John Morgan and others who maintain that a Florida law barring patients from smoking their treatment runs afoul of a 2016 constitutional amendment that broadly legalized medical marijuana.
Leon County Circuit Judge Karen Gievers in May agreed with Morgan, who largely bankrolled the constitutional amendment, and plaintiffs in the case. The state appealed, touching off legal maneuvering that led to the appellate panel issuing a five-page decision that effectively blocked Gievers’ ruling while the case continues.
“I respect the 1st DCA immensely, but no matter what, this goes to the Supreme Court, so why not now,” Morgan, who has repeatedly called on Gov. Rick Scott to drop the state’s appeal, said in an email. “It is just a waste of time and taxpayer money. Cathy Jordan may die as this snails its way through the system. All of this proves why people don’t trust politicians. They know what they voted for.”
Cathy Jordan, one of the plaintiffs in the case, credits a daily regimen of smoking marijuana with keeping her alive decades after doctors predicted she would die from Lou Gehrig’s disease. Jordan, who grows her own pot, testified that smoking marijuana treats a variety of life-threatening side effects of the disease and that other forms of ingestion don’t have the same positive impact.
Gievers agreed with lawyers representing Jordan and the other plaintiffs. They contended that it was understood that the constitutional amendment allowed smoking, though it did not expressly authorize it.
State health officials, who answer to Scott, immediately appealed Gievers’ May 25 ruling, automatically putting her decision on hold. On June 5, Gievers lifted the stay, saying Jordan and Diana Dodson, a plaintiff who has neuralgia associated with HIV, would suffer without having access to smokable marijuana.
On the other hand, “there is no evidence the defendants (the state) will suffer harm if the stay is vacated,” the judge wrote.
“Lifting the stay preserves the status quo by returning the law to its previous state as it existed following the 2016 adoption of the constitutional medical marijuana rights” and before the 2017 law went into effect, she added.
But the appeals court quashed Gievers’ decision to lift the stay and directly contradicted the circuit judge. Appellate judges Joseph Lewis, Lori Rowe and M. Kemmerly Thomas found that the plaintiffs “failed to demonstrate that they will suffer irreparable harm if the automatic stay is reinstated.”
Noting that a trial court may vacate an automatic stay only “under the most compelling circumstances,” the judges also scolded Gievers, saying “it was an abuse of discretion for the circuit court” to lift the stay.
Even more, the panel signaled bleak prospects for Morgan and the plaintiffs, at least as far as the appellate court — which also rejected a request to rush the case to the Florida Supreme Court — is concerned.
“Here, after the panel’s preliminary review of the wording of the medical marijuana amendment and the statute prohibiting the use of medical marijuana in a smokable form, we conclude that appellees (the plaintiffs) have not sufficiently demonstrated a likelihood of success on the merits as required to justify vacating the automatic stay,” the judges wrote.
The 2016 amendment “authorized medical marijuana for qualifying patients with certain debilitating medical conditions but authorized DOH (the state Department of Health) to issue reasonable regulations to ensure the availability and safe use of medical marijuana by qualifying patients,” the order said.
In addition, the judges pointed out that the amendment provides that “(n)othing in this section shall limit the Legislature from enacting laws consistent with this section.”
The judges noted that Gievers and the appellate court also have been at odds in a separate lawsuit filed by Tampa strip club owner Joe Redner, a lung-cancer survivor who wanted the state to allow him to grow his own medical marijuana for juicing purposes. Gievers sided with Redner, but, as in the smokable marijuana challenge, health officials’ appeal put her ruling on hold.
The appellate court in Redner’s case, mirroring the order, upheld the automatic stay, deciding that he had little chance of winning on the merits of his case. And the appeals court also refused to speed up his case by moving it to the Supreme Court.
The legal tangle over whether patients should be able to smoke marijuana — one of at least eight marijuana-related legal or administrative challenges about the state’s burgeoning cannabis industry — is also playing out on the political stage in Florida.
Morgan, a political rainmaker who supported Hillary Clinton for president and who toyed with the idea of running for Florida governor as a Democrat or an independent, has framed smokable medical marijuana as a make-or-break issue in Scott’s general election contest against incumbent U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson. Nelson has also come out in support of allowing patients to smoke medical marijuana.
“This is not surprising and why it should go to the Supreme Court now,” Morgan tweeted, referring to the 1st District Court of Appeal order. “It’s not a matter of if but when. So why waste taxpayers money. Vacating a stay is impossible. This issue will haunt @FLGovScott in November when his ‘stay’ will be over!”
by Dara Kam, The News Service of Florida
Cantonment Rotary Makes Donation To Cantonment Improvement Committee
July 5, 2018
The Cantonment Rotary Club recently donated $800 to the Cantonment Improvement Committee for a freezer and tables for use at Carver Park. Courtesy photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Century Cuts Monthly Travel Stipend For Mayor
July 5, 2018
The Town of Century has ended a monthly travel stipend for Mayor Henry Hawkins, instead opting to reimburse him for his actual mileage.
Hawkins and previous mayors had received a monthly travel allowance of $590. A 2016 financial audit found that the town does not have a formal written travel policy and recommended that the town establish such a policy.
The elimination of the set travel allowance came after Hawkins submitted a reimbursement request for $83.15 over and beyond the stipend for a recent trip related to town business.
Now, the mayor will be required to submit mileage reports for reimbursement at the federal standard of 54.5 cents per mile.
Hawkins said he does not see the change hurting him financially because he does a lot of travel for the town.
Molino 12U Team Heading To Dizzy Dean World Series After Tourney Win
July 5, 2018
The Molino 12U team won a Dizzy Dean tournament recently and qualified for the Dizzy Dean World Series in Southhaven, MS, later this month. Molino only game up three runs during the entire tournament. Photo for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Register Now For Next Week’s Tate Youth Football Camp
July 5, 2018
A Tate Youth Football Camp will be held 5-8 p.m. July 9-11 at Pete Gindl Stadium for students in grades 2-8.
The camp will be directed by Tate football coaching staff with assistance from Tate football players. It is an opportunity for youth to work on fundamentals, practice agility, run through drills and learn about being part of a team. No football equipment will be needed. Cleats are recommended, but not required.
The camp fee is $65 preregister online at tatehighfootball.com or $75 first day of camp (checks made payable to Tate Quarterback Club). Each camper will receive a camp t-shirt and a pizza party at the end of camp.
Rubio, Nelson Urge Elections Officials To See Homeland Secuity Help
July 5, 2018
U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio and U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson have encouraged Florida Secretary of State Ken Detzner and county elections supervisors to use federal Department of Homeland Security resources to protect equipment from “hostile foreign government” interference.
In a joint letter to officials across Florida, Rubio and Nelson said “county election boards should not be expected to stand alone” against foreign governments that try to interfere in elections.
“DHS (The Department of Homeland Security) will follow your lead and meet your needs with a tailored set of options,” Rubio and Nelson wrote. “We encourage you in the strongest terms to take advantage of those resources, and to let us know about your experience with DHS and FBI.”
The letter noted that “Russian government actors” targeted Florida in the 2016 election and that in findings by the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, “Russia was preparing to undermine confidence in our voting process and that, in a small number of cases, cyber actors affiliated with the Russian government accessed voter registration databases.”
Wahoos Beat The Biscuits
July 5, 2018
The Pensacola Blue Wahoos belted three home runs in a 7-2 win over the Montgomery Biscuits Wednesday night at Riverwalk Stadium in Montgomery, Ala. Jose Siri paced the Wahoos offense with 2-for-3 night including a grand slam in the second inning. It gave the Blue Wahoos a 5-0 lead, and Pensacola cruised the rest of the way.
Siri opened the game with a triple that almost got out of the park in the first inning. He scored on a Shed Long groundout to put the Wahoos ahead 1-0 in the first inning. It was one of two RBI for Long in the game. The other was on an opposite field home run in the third inning. Mitch Nay made it a 7-0 Blue Wahoos lead with a solo blast to left field in the fifth inning.
Daniel Wright (W, 4-5) made another strong start for Pensacola. He allowed just two runs over 6.2 innings with only one walk and six strikeouts. He earned his fourth win of the year. Biscuits starter Benton Moss (L, 1-3) was saddled with six of the Wahoos runs over three innings in his third loss of the year.
The Blue Wahoos have now won 10 of their last 11 games. Pensacola will try to make it 11 of 12 on Thursday night with RHP Wyatt Strahan (5-7, 6.33) on the mound against RHP Brandon Lawson (2-0, 5.49). First pitch is set for 6:35 p.m. from Riverwalk Stadium.
Details Released In Wreck That Killed Local Man Last Saturday
July 4, 2018
A Cantonment man riding a motorized bicycle was killed last Saturday in Milton, according to information released Wednesday by the Florida Highway Patrol.
Joshua Lockart, 27, was leaving a private driveway on Charlois Road at 9:11 a.m. June 30 when he was struck by a Nissan Sentra driven by 29-year old Elizabeth Bryant of Milton. The FHP said Lockart had limited visibility due to overgrown trees and bushes and was unable to see the car.
Lockart was transported to Sacred Heart Hospital in Pensacola where he later died. Bryant was not injured.
Lockart was a 2010 graduate of Northview High School.
The Florida Highway Patrol Traffic Homicide Division is continuing their investigation.
File photo.
Missing Man Found Deceased After Motorcycle Crash
July 4, 2018
A missing Milton man was found deceased early Wednesday morning after a motorcycle crash.
Stephen Henry, 24, was found on County Road 184 near Old Hickory Hammock Road. The FHP said his motorcycle left the roadway and collided with a utility pole. The accident was discovered at 1:23 a.m. Wednesday.
Henry had been reported missing June 28. The FHP did not specify if they believe the accident happened then, or if the crash occurred Wednesday.
The investigation is continuing.
File photo.