Ernest Ward Journalism Students Tour WEAR 3 TV Studio
March 7, 2018
Journalism students from Ernest Ward Middle School recently visited the WEAR 3 studios in Pensacola. They were able to tour the station and watch a live “Dayside” news broadcast from behind the scenes. Photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Florida Senate Approves Year Round Daylight Savings Time
March 7, 2018
Northwest Florida took a big step toward year-round daylight saving time after a Senate vote Tuesday.
Floridians will change their clocks forward on Sunday, but that could become a thing of the past under a proposal that cleared the Legislature on Tuesday. The Senate voted 33-2 to give final approval to a measure (HB 1013) intended to eventually keep Florida on daylight-saving time throughout the year. Sen. Doug Broxson, whose district includes Escambia and Santa Rosa counties, voted in favor of the bill.
The next stop is the desk of Gov. Rick Scott, whose office said he will review the proposal after formally receiving it. If Scott signs the bill, Congress would ultimately be responsible for approving the proposed change.
If approved, Northwest Florida would be one hour ahead of neighboring Alabama during part of the year, including winter. For example, on Christmas Day if it were 10 a.m. in North Escambia, it would be 9 a.m. in Atmore.
The idea of year-round daylight-saving time has been promoted as a way to help the state’s tourism industry, as people would be able to stay out later with the additional sunlight.
Hawaii and most of Arizona currently don’t participate in switching from standard time to daylight-saving time and back. They stay on standard time throughout the year.
by The News Service of Florida with contribution from NorthEscambia.com
Pictured: This clock in Flomaton, AL, would be one hour behind neighboring Century, FL, several months out of the year if year-round daylight saving time is implemented in Florida. NorthEscambia.com photo.
Big Softball Wins For Northview, Tate Aggies
March 7, 2018
The Tate and Northview softball teams recorded big wins Tuesday night:
Tate 15, Washington 3
The Tate High School Aggies beat the Washington Wildcats 15-3 Tuesday night.
Avery Beauchaine got the win for the Aggies in six innings, allowing four hits, three runs and two errors, while walking two and striking out eight.
For Tate: Belle Wolfenden 1-3, 3B, R; Kayliegh Cawthon 1-1, R; Shelby McLean R; Hannah Brown 2-2, 3B, 3R; RBI; Shelby Ullrich 2-3, R; Ashley Lunquist 1-2, RBI; Bailyn Murdy 2-4, 3B, 2RBI; Madisen Nelson 1-3, R, RBI; Kyndal Bray 1-1, R; Ryleigh Cawby 1-2, 2B, R, RBI; Katie Synder 1-1, 2R; Sydni Solliday 1-3, 3B, R, 2 RBI; Amber DeCoux 2R; Avery Beauchaine 1-4; Taylor Hedgepeth 1-2, RBI
Northview 17, Baker 1
Tori Herrignton had eight strikeouts in five innings for the Lady Chiefs while driving in a homerun at the plate.
For Northview:
Ashley Ragsdale 2-4, 2RBI; Kendall Enfinger 3-4, RBI; Tori Herrington 3-3, 4RBI, HR; Aubree Love 2-4, 2RBI; Lydia Smith 2-4, 4RBI; Heather Knowles 1-2, RBI; Rylee Huskey 1-2, RBI; Sullivan 1-3, RBI.
Tate 22, Washington 0 (JV)
Lilly Locke homered over the right centerfield wall as the junior varsity Tate High School Aggies shut out the Washington Wildcats 22-0 Tuesday.
Flag Football: Northview Falls To Pensacola High
March 7, 2018
The Northview Chiefs flag football team opened their premiere season Tuesday afternoon with a 37-0 loss at Pensacola High School. The Lady Chiefs will travel to Pine Forest High School to take on the Lady Eagles next Monday at 5 p.m. Pictured top: Savannah Spence gain yardage for the Northview Lady Chiefs Tuesday at Pensacola High School. Pictured below: Susannah Amerson punts for Northview. Photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Deputies Seek Man For Questioning In 2017 Nine Mile Road Homicide
March 6, 2018
The Escambia County Sheriff’s Office is looking for a man for questioning only in connection with homicide just over a year ago.
The ECSO said they want to talk to 32-year-old Jovan Lidell Proctor about a January 6, 2017, homicide in the 130 block of East Nine Mile Road, near Holsberry Road.
Deputies said a drug deal went bad, and Allen Ray Elliott was shot about 5:45 p.m. in the area behind Vannoy’s Tires. He died from his injuries on the way to the hospital.
Anyone with information on Proctor’s whereabouts or the shooting is asked to contact the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office at (850) 436-9620 or Crime Stoppers at (850) 433-STOP.
Pictured top: The scene of a shooting on East 9 Mile Road on January 6, 2017.. Pictured below: Deputies escort an ambulance from the scene. NorthEscambia.com file photos by Kristi Barbour, click to enlarge.
Godwin Named Interim Century Town Clerk
March 6, 2018
Kim Godwin has been named Century’s interim town clerk.
She will be taking over for Leslie Howington, who submitted her resignation effective Friday (previous story…).
Godwin is a certified clerk. She will continue to service Century as gas superintendent during the interim period.
Century Mayor Henry Hawkins said the town will advertise the town clerk position by next week on NorthsEscambia.com and the weekly Tri-City Ledger newspaper in Flomaton.
Pictured top: New Interim Town Clerk Kim Godwin takes minutes during a Monday night meeting of the Century Town Council. NorthEscambia.com photo, click to enlarge.
ECAT Planning Expanded Local North Escambia Service
March 6, 2018
Escambia County Area Transit (ECAT) is planning an expanded service in North Escambia as soon as October 1.
ECAT General Manager Mike Crittenden told the Century Town Council Monday night that the county transit system is looking to purchase two 9-10 passenger vehicles to run an “on demand” service. The vehicles will be based in Century and serve communities including Century, Bratt, Walnut Hill and Molino.
Riders will call ECAT a day in advance to schedule a ride in the area with pickup at the their home or other location and local transport within the area. The vehicles will not run fixed-stop routes, but will connect to current fixed route ECAT service to Pensacola.
Crittenden said the service will likely charge ECAT’s current rate of $2.50 to $3.50 per ride, Monday-Friday from 6 a.m. until 7 p.m. — or other days and hours to be determined based upon public input.
ECAT is applying for two grants to purchase the vehicles and provide the service; however Crittenden said the service will still be a go without the grants. ECAT will present realigned routes at an upcoming Escambia County Commission meeting that may cut lower performing routes elsewhere in the county but the service to Century from Pensacola through Cantonment and Molino will remain.
“The current route (to Pensacola), won’t be going anywhere,” he said.
The Century Council voted to a send a letter of support for the expanded service to the Escambia County Commission.
Pictured: Escambia County’s Transit Division Manager Tonya Ellis and General Manager Mike Crittenden address the Century Town Council Monday night. NorthEscambia.com photo, click to enlarge.
Northview Grad Appears On National TV During Oscars, More Appearances To Come
March 6, 2018
Northview High graduate Lakelynn Parker had a (sort of) Oscar moment Sunday night during the national broadcast, and we’ll be seeing more of her on national TV in the coming weeks.
T-Mobile debuted a new commercial titled “Parade” during the Oscars. It begins with seemingly disheartened boy outside his New Orleans home. But things come to life as a parade of people wearing T-Mobile pink approaches, including a shot, albeit very brief, of Parker on horse JoJo.
The Oscars commercial and several others were filmed about a month ago in New Orleans.
“It’s been so hard to hold this in,” Parker said. “It was a great experience. Everyone was so professional and fun to work with. Getting to ride JoJo made it even better.”
Monday, T-Mobile also debuted their campaign on social media with a video that features a longer scene with Parker. And we’re told there should be additional national television ads and social media posts to come over at least the next month.
As for the experience, Parker said it was a great experience working on the ad campaign and the people involved with it.
“I loved meeting so many new friends,” she said.
Parker, of Molino, said she hopes to land more commercials, and would even like to do stunt work.
And if you think you remember Parker from another recent NorthEscambia.com story, you’re right. She was in camouflage, not rhinestone cowgirl pink, in a story about two local young people that rescued and owl. [Read ...]
To view the Oscar’s T-Mobile “Parade” ad, click here. For the social media ad, click here to visit the NorthEscambia.com Facebook page.
Pictured: Lakelynn Parker in New Orleans in a television commercial. First below and inset courtesy T-Mobile. Additional photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Cantonment Man Gets 120 Days On Drug Charges
March 6, 2018
A Cantonment man was sentenced to jail time after being arrested on drug charges related to a traffic stop in late September 2017.
Jordan Elijah Phillips received 120 days in the county jail for possession of methamphetamine with intent to sell, marijuana possession, possession of drug paraphernalia. He was also ordered to pay about $700 in fines and costs, and his driver’s license was suspended for one year. He was given credit for 118 days he spent in jail awaiting trial.
Escambia County deputies conducted a traffic stop on the vehicle Phillips was driving in the area of North “U” Street after observing a seat belt violation. They reported finding a digital scale with marijuana residue in his pants pocket. Upon searching his vehicle, deputies found a baggie containing marijuana, another baggie containing methamphetamine and a digital scale.
Phillips was also cited for not wearing a seat belt.
Florida Senate Narrowly Passes School Safety Plan
March 6, 2018
After two weeks of emotionally charged testimony and raw debate, the Florida Senate on Monday narrowly approved a sweeping measure addressing mental health, school safety and guns in response to last month’s mass shooting at a Broward County high school that left 17 people — including 14 students — dead.
The 20-18 vote came after nearly non-stop advocacy from students, teachers and parents, including survivors from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland who demanded that lawmakers take action before the legislative session ends Friday.
The $400 million package includes more than $100 million for mental health screening and services and at least $25 million to raze and rebuild the building where 19-year-old gunman Nikolas Cruz, who had a lengthy history of mental health problems, used an assault-style rifle to slay teachers and students at the school he once attended.
The “Marjory Stoneman Douglas Public Safety Act” sparked inter- and intra-party schisms, with some Democrats objecting that the bill did not go far enough because it did not include the ban on assault-style weapons sought by many of the survivors and their families.
On the other end of the gun-control spectrum, the legislation posed a challenge for Republicans because it would raise the age from 18 to 21 and impose a three-day waiting period for the purchase of rifles and other long guns, two elements opposed by the National Rifle Association.
The package (SB 7026) has been overshadowed by debate about a “school marshal” program that would allow specially trained school personnel, including teachers, deputized by county sheriffs to bring guns to schools. School boards and sheriffs must both agree to implement the program for it to go into effect.
The Senate signed off on the measure Monday after Republican leaders rebranded the controversial marshal provision, naming it after a Marjory Stoneman Douglas assistant football coach who died protecting students on Feb. 14.
Sen. Bill Galvano, the bill sponsor, said the “Coach Aaron Feis Guardian Program,” would honor the coach “who used his body to shield students from bullets” and “in doing so, lost his own.”
In an attempt to assuage objections to what Democrats disparagingly dubbed the “armed teachers” program, Sen. Rene Garcia, R-Hialeah, offered an amendment that would exclude from the program “individuals who exclusively perform classroom duties as classroom teachers.”
Gov. Rick Scott, who was in Puerto Rico at the time the Senate passed the bill Monday evening, has repeatedly said he does not want armed teachers in schools, something that black lawmakers as a bloc also oppose.
Saying he voted to try to strip the marshal program out of the bill on Saturday, Garcia, R-Hialeah, said, “The whole goal is to try to limit the amount of individuals that can carry in a classroom.”
But Sen. Jose Javier Rodriguez, D-Miami, argued the “exclusive” language means that teachers who double as coaches — such as Douglas High teacher Scott Beigel, who was among the 17 people killed — could bring guns into classrooms.
“It does not change the fundamental flaw in this bill,” Rodriguez said.
Monday’s floor action, which came after nearly eight hours of debate during a rare Saturday session, was another emotional tour de force for senators who have been inundated by pleas from the Parkland community to do something to make schools safer.
Two of the senators who visited the school hours after the shooting broke down while speaking on opposite sides of the measure Monday evening.
Sen. Lauren Book, who helped more than 100 Douglas High students travel to Tallahassee and meet with Scott and lawmakers, sobbed as she described the horror scene at the school, where students’ backpacks, papers and bicycles — and Valentine’s Day flowers — were a stark reminder of the carnage that had taken place the day before.
“We may have different ideas about how to get there, but we can and we must work together … and take action for the safety of our schools, and our children,” Book, D-Plantation, said. “They want us to do something. Do I think that this bill goes far enough? No, I don’t. But what I disagree with more is the idea of our allowing the great to be the enemy of the good.”
Calling the measure a first step, Book — who was one of the three Senate Democrats to vote in favor of the bill — said lawmakers were elected to represent the will of the people.
“Their will is clear. Let’s get something done,” she said, calling the measure a first step. Democrats Bill Montford of Tallahassee and Kevin Rader, whose district includes the Parkland school, also voted “yes” on the bill.
But Sen. Gary Farmer, D-Fort Lauderdale, said the Legislature owes it to the victims and to other schoolchildren to vote down the bill because it lacks the ban on assault-style weapons and high-capacity magazines sought by many in the Parkland community.
“The mentality that we take what we can get and come back next year and fight for more, I’m sorry. I can’t do that. I can’t vote to put more guns in schools, in the hands of teachers or others,” Farmer said. “I believe this will be the first and last step. … Because 14 months from now, when we’re back here … the pressure will be reduced and the NRA will be omnipotent again.”
But Galvano, a Bradenton Republican who will take over as Senate president after the November elections, said the bill will make a difference immediately.
“When it becomes law, things will start changing. It will be one of those areas that we will be able to look back and say we did something. We didn’t allow lives to be in vain. We were able to stand up and say to the families to the communities, to the children, to our children, that we listened and we’re trying,” he said. “We don’t have all the answers, but we’re giving it our best, and we will keep giving it our best.”
The Senate bill will now go to the House, which has a similar proposal. But the House proposal would require sheriffs to participate in the controversial marshal program, if school districts order it.
Sen. Tom Lee, a former Senate president who was one of six Republicans — along with Dennis Baxley of Ocala, George Gainer of Panama City, Denise Grimsley of Sebring, Dorothy Hukill of Port Orange and Greg Steube of Sarasota — who voted against the measure, predicted the House would accept the Senate’s language.
“I can’t imagine them wanting to bounce this back and have to go through this all over again. I suspect that with an 18 to 20 vote, they’re probably going to take this bill in the House,” Lee, R- Thonotosassa, said. “God help us if they send it back.”
by Dara Kam, The News Service of Florida