Tate Softball Destroys Pine Forest 21-0, 23-0
February 23, 2018
The Tate Aggies beat destroyed the Pine Forest Eagles with shutout wins in varsity and junior varsity softball Thursday.
Tate 21, Pine Forest 0
Hanna Brown had a solo home run over the left field fence for the Tate High School Aggies as they shutout Pine Forest 21-0 Thursday night.
For Tate: Deazia Nickerson 1-1, 2R, 3RBI; Amber DeCoux R; Shelby Ullrich 1-3, R, RBI; Hannah Brown 2-2, 2R, RBI; Belle Wolfenden 1-3, 3R, 1 RBI; Ashley Lunquist R, RBI; Madisen Nelson 1-2, R, RBI; Sydni Solliday R; Ryleigh Cawby 2-2, R, RBI; Kayliegh Cawthon R; Kyndal Bray R; Katie Snyder R; Gabby Locke 3R; Taylor Hedgepeth R, Avery Beauchaine R.
Tate 23, Pine Forest 0 (JV)
Lilly Locke had a grand slam over the center field wall as the Tate junior varsity beat Pine Forest 23-0.
Photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Local Governments Wary Of House Tax Package
February 23, 2018
A $350 million tax package moved forward Thursday in the House, but local governments are fighting parts of the bill that they say could lift restrictions on “puppy mills” and adult entertainment establishments.
The House Appropriations Committee voted 18-7 to advance the wide-ranging package (SB 7087), which includes offering sales-tax “holidays,” providing some post-Hurricane Irma tax relief and reducing a commercial lease tax.
The package has run into controversy as city and county officials object to what they consider overly broad preemption language that would prohibit local bans on the sales of any goods subject to sales taxes.
Edward Labrador, a lobbyist for Broward County, said preemptions typically are designed to address a specific issue and noted the House proposal would have tied Broward’s hands in the past when it outlawed synthetic drugs called “bath salts.”
“We acted before the state did, and if this provision had been in place, we wouldn’t have been able to deal with that issue,” Labrador said.
Amber Hughes, a lobbyist for the Florida League of Cities, said the recently introduced preemption language raises too many questions, ranging from how it would impact local prohibitions on adult entertainment establishments to how scooters are rented.
“If we want to have an individual conversation about different preemptions, which I know we do pretty much every session, we’d be happy to do that,” Hughes said. “But doing it in the tax package maybe is not the correct place.”
Kate MacFall, the Humane Society’s Florida state director, argued the measure would eliminate rules that about 60 governments have on pet-breeding facilities.
“If this were to pass, it would allow stores to source from inhumane breeders, puppy mills, that keep animals in conditions that pet-loving Floridians would find appalling and unacceptable,” MacFall said.
Some lawmakers said the package should be slowed until decisions are made about the Legislature’s intended response to the Feb. 14 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, along with related costs.
“Until we know what we’re doing the next three weeks, I’m not doing anything,” said Rep. Jared Moskowitz, a Coral Springs Democrat and a graduate of the school where 17 people were killed.
Rep. Jason Brodeur, R-Sanford, expressed concerns about aspects of the preemption. But he said he was willing to work with bill sponsor Rep. Paul Renner, R-Palm Coast, to tighten the language to address adult book stores and massage parlors.
“Being from a county in Central Florida, we’re very sensitive to the public-safety risks that come from human trafficking,” Brodeur said. “Our county has worked very hard to get these places out of our community. If this would blanket let them back in, I think it would undo about 15 years of work by our county.”
Renner, who is chairman of the Ways & Means Committee, defended the preemption language by saying the puppy mill issue illustrates the need for statewide regulations.
“If you have a situation where some cities have banned the sales of those types of puppies and others have not, you have not solved the problem,” Renner said. “You’ve not solved the problem for the puppies and you’ve not solve the problem for the residents of Florida. I think it, in fact, makes the case why in certain areas we need to look at statewide, and in some cases federal, preemption.”
Florida Retail Federation lobbyist Melissa Ramba also argued that local ordinances banning sales of select items create problems for business owners.
“Address the bigger problem, not the sale of cats and dogs. A retailer should be able to sell any legal retail product in Florida,” Ramba told the committee. “The ordinances that local governments pass only support online sales. They do not support your local business. You can still order a dog online and pick it up at the airport, even though you may have an ordinance that may ban the sale of cats and dogs.”
The overall tax package features a series of sales tax “holidays’ on back-to-school items and hurricane supplies and offers an 18 percent reduction in penalties for non-criminal traffic infractions — such as speeding within 30 mph over the posted limit — if motorists attend driver-improvement school.
Former State Rep. Irv Slosberg expressed concern that the 18 percent reduction in non-criminal traffic tickets would roll back some of the traffic-safety efforts he pushed while in the House.
“What we’re doing by lowering traffic fines by 18 percent, we’re really rewarding bad behavior,” said Slosberg, a Boca Raton Democrat.
Meanwhile, Democrats and public-school educators remain opposed to the largest part of the package, $154 million in sales-tax credits that businesses could take to fund voucher-like scholarships in the Gardiner Scholarship Program and the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship Program.
Critics contend the proposal would be a “giveaway” of public school dollars.
“For the first time, we’re going to give private schools a direct line to the sales tax, which makes up 78 percent of all general revenue,” said Rich Templin, legislative and political director of the Florida AFL-CIO.
Airport officials also continue to express displeasure with the package’s call to reduce the aviation fuel tax next year to 2.85 cents a gallon. Revenue from the tax is used to secure federal matching funds and helps pay for airport improvements.
The rate is currently scheduled to go down from 6.9 cents to 4.27 cents a gallon next year.
The package also includes a $6.7 million cut that would provide a sales-tax exemption for generator purchases by nursing homes and assisted living facilities. It also includes tax refunds on building materials, fencing and gas for farmers hit by Irma.
Another $34.1 million next year in the House package would come from reducing the commercial lease tax from 5.8 percent to 5.5 percent starting Jan. 1. That reduction would affect half of the state’s 2018-2019 fiscal year, and the savings to businesses would grow to $81.1 million when implemented for a full fiscal year.
by Jim Turner, The News Service of Florida
Tate Aggie Tennis Teams Remain Undefeated At 4-0
February 23, 2018
Brick House: Northview Baseball Has Improved Field
February 23, 2018
The Northview High Chiefs baseball field that is sporting a brand new look.
The old chain link backstop is gone and the new brick backstop has been completed with new netting. The brick stretches from dugout to dugout, designed to enhance the appearance from both on and off the field. New concrete pads were also installed under the bleacher seating areas.
“The Diamond Club would like to express it’s sincere appreciation and thanks to all who worked on the project and especially to the many businesses and individuals who sponsor the baseball program at Northview High. Thank you so much,” David Preston, Diamond Club board of directors member, said.
Eric Scott Branch Executed For Brutal Murder Of UWF Student
February 22, 2018
More than 25 years after he sexually assaulted and murdered a University of West Florida student, Death Row inmate Eric Scott Branch was executed Thursday evening at Florida State Prison.
Branch, 47, died by lethal injection at 6:05 p.m. Central, according to the Florida Department of Corrections.
Earlier in the day, Branch was visited by his daughter, who did not attend the execution. He had a last meal of pork chops, T-bone steak, french fries, ginger ale and two pints of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream.
Branch was sentenced to death in the January 1993 murder in Escambia County of University of West Florida student Susan Morris.
In their appeals, Branch’s attorneys argued, in part, that Branch was 21 at the time of the murder and that brain development continues into the mid-20s, according to court documents. As a result, they contended he should be considered like a juvenile for death-penalty purposes.
The U.S. Supreme Court has barred the death penalty for people under age 18 because it would violate an Eighth Amendment ban on cruel and unusual punishment. But the Florida Supreme Court on Thursday rejected the argument that Branch should be considered like a juvenile, saying that “the United States Supreme Court has continued to identify 18 as the critical age for purposes of Eighth Amendment jurisprudence.”
On the evening of January 11, 1993, Branch attacked Susan Morris as she walked to her car in the campus parking lot of the University of West Florida. Branch dragged Morris into a nearby wooded area where he severely beat her in the face and head, strangled her, and sexually battered her. Branch then left Morris’ body in a shallow grave covered with dirt and leaves, and stole her car to flee out of the state.
An Escambia County jury convicted Branch in 1994 of first-degree murder and sexual battery.
Branch was previously convicted for the 1991 sexual battery and beating of a 14-year-old girl in Indiana, and was subsequently convicted in Bay County for another sexual battery that he had committed 10 days prior to killing Susan Morris.
Boil Water Notice Issued For Cottage Hill Area Homes, Businesses And School
February 22, 2018
An unknown number of Cottage Hill Water Works customers lost water service Thursday afternoon, including Jim Allen Elementary School and several businesses.
The utility said a contractor installing a natural gas pipeline hit one of the utility’s water mains. Customers in the area including Highway 95A from Highway 29 to at least Neal Road, including Jim Allen Elementary and Porky’s Pizza; Neal Road, an area on Highway 29, Ridge Way Drive, Rose Petal Lane, Pine Top Lane, Forehand Lane and other nearby areas were impacted.
A boil water notice has been issued (see below, click to enlarge). According to Cottage Hill Water Works, customers that only experienced low pressure and no complete water loss will not need to follow the boil water notice.
State Says OK To Town’s Plan To Close Showalter Park Overnight
February 22, 2018
Century Mayor Henry Hawkins wants to close Showalter Park between sunset and sunrise due to multiple problems, and concerns that a fine print on a grant might prevent that have been elimated.
“Somebody in their infinite wisdom went out there and took a crap on a slide,” he said.
Hawkins said the park has been the target of vandals, and an area around an adjacent cemetery has become a “lover’s lane” during the night hours.
Town Planner Debbie Nickles expressed concern that a state grant used in the park stipulated continued public access, and it might be a problem to close the park overnight. Thursday afternoon, Nickles said she checked with the state, and the park can be closed as long as hours are posted , and it is open from at least sunrise to sunset.
“It’s costing us money to fix stupid,” the mayor said, adding the vandalism incidents have happened despite frequent patrols by the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office. He said deputies ride through the park about every hour at night, unless they are on other calls for service.
Showalter park includes the town’s splash pad, a playground, ball fields and more amenities.
NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Update: Pavement Down In Muscogee Road Project
February 22, 2018
The roadway was paved this week in a widening and drainage improvement project on Muscogee Road from Highway 297A to the Perdido River.
Muscogee Road was closed from Beulah Road to Carlisle Road in late September for the installation of a water main, reconstruction of a portion of the roadway, and construction of 5-foot shoulders. Traffic has been detoured via Highway 29 and Barrineau Park Road to Highway 112 in Alabama.
The roadway is not yet open, but it is expected to reopen soon.
There are still three phases to come in the overall project:
Perdido River to Beulah
- 90% Design under review
- Easements needed from Water Management District; request pending design completion
- Design Completion pending construction funding
Carlisle to 97
- 60% Design
- Letters were mailed to residents requesting participation in property donations for right-of-way
- Staff is following up with residents for participation
97 to Nowak
- 60% Design
- Letters were mailed to residents requesting participation in property donations for right-of-way
- Staff is following up with residents for participation
Photo for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Billy Graham: Local Residents Remember Evangelist’s Final Crusade
February 22, 2018
Everything stopped when Rev. Billy Graham came on TV.
Bro. Tim Hawsey, youth pastor at the First Baptist Church of Bratt, remembers watching countless Billy Graham crusades on television over the years, and when everybody around would stop and watch as he preached the Word of God.
“You stopped what you were doing and gather around the TV to hear the Word,” Hawsey said.
The son of a farmer from North Carolina, Graham accepted God as a teen and set about to spread the Gospel, becoming pastor and spiritual adviser to presidents for 70 years while speaking for over 50 years to the hearts of hundreds of millions of people across the world. An altar call was followed by entire stadiums of people joining the song “Just As I Am” as countless people dedicated their lives to Jesus Christ.
But for Hawsey and a group of about 45 from the First Baptist Church of Bratt, watching on television was nothing like hearing America’s pastor in person as they attended his final crusade in June 2005 in New York City.
“There were so many people in that crowd,” Hawsey said Wednesday. “We were back a ways, but you could see him real well on these big screens.”
“The most amazing thing to me about the crowd was just the number of nationalities that were there and the languages that they spoke. They would gather around interpreters speaking their language,” Theresa Hanks of Bratt said.
Graham, age 86 at the time, used a walker to move across the stage and to the pulpit on that warm day.
“It was amazing. They had to help him up and across the stage, and it seemed like he was so fragile,” Hawsey said. “But when he grabbed ahold of that pulpit, it was like the Lord energized him again.”
Graham preached the gospel of Jesus Christ to some 215 million people who attended one of his more than 400 Crusades, simulcasts and evangelistic rallies in more than 185 countries and territories. He reached millions more through TV, video, film, the internet and 34 books.
In 2001, he comforted his country and the world when he spoke at the National Cathedral in Washington, following the September 11 terrorist attacks.
“The power of God truly moved through him,” Hawsey said.
Hanks agreed. “You would get goose bumps on some of the things he said.
Devon (Fuller) Miller was 16 when she joined the First Baptist Church of Bratt on the trip to see Graham’s final crusade.
“His sermon was very straightforward when you heard him preach,” Miller said. “He didn’t beat around the bush, it was straight from the word of God. “It was where anybody could understand. It was not fire and brimstone banging on the pulpit; and it was not about him either. It was all about Christ, not about this internationally famous man standing up there preaching.”
“That was the first time I truly saw the Holy Spirit at work in mass numbers of people at the same time,” said Marcella Wilson, an adult volunteer on the trip. “When Billy Graham gave the altar go people by the hundreds came down to altar to accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior. All ages of people and all kinds of different nationalities and skin colors were coming to the altar getting on their knees asking for forgiveness of their sins and to receive salvation … It was God being God.”
Raja Atalla and his wife Angie now live in Byrneville, but they were working as summer camp counselors in New Jersey in 2005. They attended the last day of Graham’s final crusade on June 26, 2005. He remembers the music that Sunday, traditional gospel songs heard often at Graham’s crusades — including “Amazing Grace,” “How Great Thou Art,” and “Because He Lives”.
“Finally Billy Graham took the pulpit and delivered a clear salvation message focusing on the ‘amazing love of God’ through Jesus. I recall seeing several go forward at the end of his message, though not as many as we expected at a Graham Crusade,” Atallah said.
“The GREAT Billy Graham is dead. There was nobody like him! He will be missed by Christians and all religions. A very special man,” President Donald Trump posted on Twitter Wednesday. And former president Barack Obama posted “Billy Graham was a humble servant who prayed for so many — and who, with wisdom and grace, gave hope and guidance to generations of Americans.”
“I have one message: that Jesus Christ came, he died on a cross, he rose again, and he asked us to repent of our sins and receive him by faith as Lord and Savior, and if we do, we have forgiveness of all of our sins,” said Graham at his final Crusade.
During the week of his 95th birthday in 2013, Graham delivered his final message via more than 480 television stations across the U.S. and Canada. More than 26,000 churches participated in this My Hope project, making it the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association’s largest evangelistic outreach ever in North America, as he proclaimed that America was “in great need of a spiritual awakening.”
But perhaps Billy Graham gets the last word on this death. In his autobiography “God’s Ambassador”, he wrote: “Someday you will read or hear that Billy Graham is dead. Don’t you believe a word of it. I shall be more alive than I am now. I will just have changed my address. I will have gone into the presence of God.”
Pictured top and lower inset: Billy Graham’s final crusade June, 26, 2005, outside New York City. Photos by Raja Atallah. Pictured top inset: A flyer advertising the crusade, courtesy Tim Hawsey. Pictured below: A group from the First Baptist Church of Bratt in June 2005 at the site of the Billy Graham crusade, courtesy First Baptist Church of Bratt. Submitted for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Atmore Man’s Car Goes Over Bridge Guardrail (With Photo Gallery)
February 22, 2018
An Atmore man crashed crashed his vehicle over a guardrail and into the water between the Highway 90 bridge spans in Santa Rosa County Wednesday.
According to the Florida Highway Patrol, 47-year old Daniel Payton Taylor was headed east on Highway 90 when his 2005 Chevrolet Tahoe traveled on the grassy median about two miles west of Woodbine Road. The Tahoe then collided head-on with a guardrail that is intended to protect vehicles from entering the water between the two bridges.
Impact with the guardrail sent the Tahoe into the air before entering the water, the FHP report said. The Tahoe came to rest fully submerged.
Taylor received minor injuries and was transported to West Florida Hospital.
For more a photo gallery, click here.
Photos by Florida Highway Patrol (top) and Jacob Gilmore/Matchett Towing for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
