Church Pumpkin Patch Open In Cantonment
October 26, 2017
Looking for a pumpkin? The Allen Memorial United Methodist Church Men’s Pumpkin Patch is open once again this year at the corner of Highway 29 and Neal Road. Pumpkins of all shapes and sizes are available, with some priced as low as $1. The pumpkin patch is open daily from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m.
Pictured: The Allen Memorial Pumpkin Patch in Cantonment. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Sunny Today, Colder This Weekend
October 26, 2017
Here is your official North Escambia area forecast:
Thursday: Sunny, with a high near 73. Calm wind becoming south around 5 mph in the afternoon.
Thursday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 54. South wind around 5 mph becoming calm in the evening.
Friday: A 20 percent chance of showers after 1pm. Partly sunny, with a high near 77. South wind 5 to 10 mph.
Friday Night: Showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 55. South wind 5 to 10 mph becoming west after midnight. Chance of precipitation is 70%.
Saturday: A chance of showers and thunderstorms before 1pm, then a slight chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 61. Northwest wind 5 to 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 50%.
Saturday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 39. Northwest wind around 5 mph.
Sunday: Sunny, with a high near 61. Northwest wind 5 to 10 mph.
Sunday Night: Clear, with a low around 38. Northwest wind around 5 mph becoming calm in the evening.
Monday: Sunny, with a high near 67.
Monday Night: Clear, with a low around 46.
Tuesday: Sunny, with a high near 73.
Tuesday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 52.
Wednesday: Sunny, with a high near 74.
FWC Seeking Comment On Proposed Hunting Rule Changes
October 26, 2017
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission staff have drafted proposed rule changes regarding hunting and FWC-managed lands that would impact 2018 hunting seasons.
FWC is still seeking public input on those plans. To submit comments to FWC on these and other proposed rule changes, click here.
Proposed Northwest Region changes include:
Blackwater WMA, Carr Unit – discontinue the special-opportunity released quail season and permit requirements; and allow northern bobwhite to be released and taken by shotgun during the small game season. A daily no-cost permit and proof that northern bobwhite were purchased within the past 90 days from a game farm licensed by the Commission or another state would be required for each individual or group participating.
Blackwater WMA, Hutton Unit – shift the 4 existing November quail hunts to February; and expand dove hunting from 4 to 8 days by adding 4 additional days of dove hunts during the second phase of the statewide dove season.
Escambia River WMA – allow raccoon hunting year-round in the still and dog hunt areas, except during the youth turkey hunt and spring turkey season; and limit camping to 14 days within any consecutive 30-day period.
Perdido River WMA – expand small game season from 30 to 68 days; and limit camping to 14 days within any consecutive 30-day period.
Teacher Charged With Abusing Special Needs Student
October 25, 2017
An Escambia County special education teacher has been charged with cruelty toward a child after after allegedly flipping over a desk over while a special needs child was sitting in it.
According to the arrest report, 56-year-old Donna Dixon of Cantonment is a teacher at Escambia Westgate School. She was placed on suspension a day after the alleged incident.
Deputies were shown a video of the student sitting in a desk with her head down. The video shows Dixon walking into the room and directly to the desk where the student is sitting.
The arrest report said Dixon “picked up the front of the desk and pushed it backward. This caused the victim to fall backward and hit a large plastic cart before hitting the floor.” Dixon “manipulated the desk until the victim was no longer in it.” She then placed the desk back upright and then walked out of the room, deputies reported seeing in the video.
Deputies say Dixon met with them at the sheriff’s office for an interview. Dixon told deputies she was helping students get to their buses when the victim would not comply.
A member of the Escambia County School Board showed deputies video of the student sitting in a desk with her head down. The video shows Dixon walking into the room and directly to the desk where the student is sitting.
The arrest report said Dixon “picked up the front of the desk and pushed it backward. This caused the victim to fall backward and hit a large plastic cart before hitting the floor.” Dixon “manipulated the desk until the victim was no longer in it.” She then placed the desk back up and then walked out of the room, deputies reported seeing in the video.
Deputies say Dixon met with them at the sheriff’s office for an interview. Dixon told deputies she was helping students get to their buses when the victim would not comply.
Another teacher that witnessed the incident told deputies everything happened so fast that she didn’t know how to react. Shortly after Dixon left the room leaving the student on the floor, the witness said two more people walked into the room and helped the student up off the ground.
Dixon was released from the Escambia County Jail on a $10,000 bond . She has been suspended by the Escambia County School District
Escambia Clerk Warns Of Jury Duty Scam
October 25, 2017
The Escambia County Clerk’s office reports that citizens have received phone calls from individuals seeking money as a result of the citizen having missed jury duty.
The caller indicates that the citizen must pay a fine or fee in order to ensure a warrant for their arrest will not be issued. In the latest of these jury scams, the caller is claiming to work for the Escambia County Sheriff’s office. Neither the Sheriff’s office nor the Clerk’s office will ever demand payment via telephone in lieu of arrest.
This scam has been occurring in the Pensacola area and elsewhere in Florida. If you, or someone you know, have received such a call, please call the Sheriff’s office at (850) 436-9620.
County Responds To Sheriff David Morgan’s Budget Appeal
October 25, 2017
The Escambia County Commission has filed a response to Sheriff David Morgan’s appeal of his budget to the Governor’s Office.
The entire response is 29 pages long (click here for pdf) plus 564 pages of exhibits in three parts. (click here, here and here).
The county approved a final budget of $455,840,072, with $3,744,070.41 set aside to fund a three percent raise for all employees. That included $1,246,031 for the Sheriff’s Office to use for pay raises.
Of the total final budget, the board adopted a budget for the Sheriff’s Office that totaled $56,739,867, representing a voluntary reduction in his original budget request for court security no longer provided and acknowledging his request for what Morgan referred to as a 3% “merit increase” for all employees, according to the county response. The budget excluded an allocation to fund six new cadet positions and did not fully fund his requested per employee health insurance contribution.
The county said the sheriff’s budget was increased by 2.35 percent over the last fiscal year and was the fifth consecutive year it was increased.
In his petition, Morgan cited three primary objections to his budget as adopted by the county commission: denial of the Sheriff;s request for $2,083,523.81 to fund the “Sheriffs Retention/Compression Plan- Phase I”, denial of the Sheriff’s request for $319,154.28 to fund six new cadet positions and (3) denial of the Sheriff’ss request for an additional $400 per employee to fund health insurance benefits.
The county maintains they rejected Morgan’s plan based upon logic and reason. The Board said only 62 percent of the Sheriff’s personnel are sworn deputies; leaving almost 40 percent of the workforce as administrative staff. By comparison, the sheriffs of Leon County and Santa Rosa County employ 78 percent and 71 percent as sworn deputies respectively.
“The Sheriff currently employs more administrative staff in his Public Information Office than in Robbery/Homicide; more in Human Resources than in Major Crimes; more in Finance than in Special Victims,” the county’s response stated. “With almost half the workforce performing administrative functions, the Sheriff retains ample time and resources to produce promotional videos.”
Commissioner also questioned how much of the Sheriff’s $2 million plan to retain deputies would actually go to deputies versus administrative personnel.
The sheriff has steadily received budget increases for personnel expenditures, but he’s made no attempt to give deputies more money by shifting funds in his budget, the county stated.
The county also cited the sheriff’s use of the Law Enforcement Trust Fund (LETF). The money comes from criminal seizures and is supposed to be used to prevent crime.
The response states, “Historically, a very small percentage of the LETF was used for promotional materials or event sponsorships. However, over the last three years, the vast majority of the LETF has been utilized by the Sheriff for promotional materials or events. From 2008-2017, the Sheriff’s LETF expenditures for promotional materials and events rose from 4% to 96% with notable increases in 2012 and 2016, which were election years.”
According to the county, Sheriff Morgan has spent almost $1.5 million over the past three years on promotional materials and events instead.
Commissioners say those include:
- American Heart Association – The sheriff contributed $5,000 for eight people to attend the “Dance Your Heart Out” gala ball.
- ARC Gateway – The sheriff contributed $20,000 for 20 people to attend their “Wreaths of Joy” Gala.
- Council on Aging- The sheriff contributed $10,000 for 20 tickets to attend the “Rat Pack Reunion Ball” and dinner, at which the sheriff was a member of the featured Rat Pack.
- Greater Pensacola Junior Golf Association – The sheriff contributed $5,000 for eight people to attend a banquet.
- Hadji Temple Association – The sheriff contributed $5,000 for eight people to participate in the “Hadji Shrine” annual golf tournament.
- Independence for the Blind – The sheriff contributed $2,500 for eight people to attend the annual “Eye Ball”.
- King Richard Foundation – The sheriff contributed $1,000 for 20 people to attend the “Beauty By the Bay” fashion show and dinner event.
- Panhandle Charitable Open – The sheriff contributed $20,000 for 10 people to attend the “Fore Charity Tee-Off Par-Tee” event.
- Pensacola Little Theater – The sheriff contributed $2,500 for 20 people to attend their annual gala.
- Pensacola Opera – The sheriff contributed $5,000 for 10 people to attend the annual “Jukebox Gala” event.
- Studer Community Institute – The sheriff contributed $5,000 for a sponsorship package for eight people to attend the “Light Up Learning” dinner event.
- Teen Challenge – The sheriff contributed $2,000 for eight people to participate in a golf tournament.
- Veterans’ Memorial Park Foundation – The sheriff donated $5,000 to the foundation.
- WSRE Public Television – The sheriff contributed $2,500 for eight people to attend the “Milestones and Memories” annual event.
“While these are worthwhile charities, the County is charged with accounting for every penny of taxpayer dollars. Citizens have the right to expect that their tax dollars will be spent in a manner that supports the charge of the public office those dollars are funding. The Sheriff’s questionable use of LETF dollars does not support the Sheriff’s core mission of law enforcement and crime prevention activities, and belies the Sheriff’s claim that he does not have the financial resources to adequately address personnel issues or otherwise fulfill his core mission,” the county said.
The county’s response also questioned Morgan’s cutbacks in funds for school resource officers.
“Prior to filing this appeal, the Sheriff publicly announced a drastic and unilateral reduction in school resource officers, citing ‘budgetary concerns’. His willingness to remove officers from their post of protecting school children is difficult to justify when one considers the almost $1 ,500,000 the Sheriff has spent over the past three years on promotional activities and payments to outside agencies that have little or no relation to law enforcement or crime prevention.”
“In addition, while LETF funds are specifically authorized for school resource officers, the Sheriff has chosen not to utilize the LETF for this purpose during any of the last five years. Instead, the Sheriff has funded school resource officers from his personnel budget. The Sheriff recently announced to the School Board that he no longer had the financial resources to provide this service ostensibly due to the County’s failure to meet his budget request. Had the Sheriff funded the school resource officers from the LETF, he would have more funds available in his personnel budget to address retention and attrition concerns and implement his Pay Plan. The Sheriff knew or should have known he could utilize LETF funds for school resource officers, but he chose not to do so. This was a seemingly illogical decision at best.”
The county also said Morgan’s claims that the county refused to negotiate are a “blatant misrepresentation of facts”, and the county was extremely critical of Morgan’s public campaign — including advertisements and billboards — in an effort to build public support for his requests.
“After submitting his budget request, the Sheriff commenced a months-long media campaign to garner public support for his requested budget, to include advertising on television networks, billboards, radio stations, and websites such as YouTube. Examples of these media spots included a commercial that aired on the ABC television affiliate and other networks that referenced deputies shot in the line of duty and asked citizens to call their commissioners to request support for his budget, with the commercial showing the pictures and office phone numbers of each commissioner. The Sheriff also ran a 27-minute YouTube video explaining his budget request. In this promotional campaign, the Sheriff touted he would take his budget to the Governor’s Office if he were not granted what he requested,” the document states. “…Despite these subversive tactics, the Board attempted in good faith to determine the Sheriff’s budgetary needs and how they could be balanced with the County’s other budgetary requirements and obligations.”
After a yet to be scheduled hearing by the governor’s office, a recommendation will be made to the Florida Administrative Commission. The commission will then make a recommendation within 30 days.
Free Beans And Rice Giveaway Saturday In Cantonment
October 25, 2017
Saint Monica’s Episcopal Church, will be distributing free rice and dried beans and other non-perishables on Saturday from 9 until 11 a.m. (or while supplies last) at the church located at 699 South Hwy 95-A in Cantonment.
There are no guidelines and no paperwork required.
Senators Angry At Delays In Medical Marijuana Licenses
October 25, 2017
Frustrated senators grilled Florida’s pot czar Tuesday, demanding explanations for why his office missed a legislatively mandated deadline to issue new medical-marijuana licenses and why ailing patients are stuck waiting for state-issued ID cards.
Christian Bax, executive director of the state Office of Medical Marijuana Use, blamed one of the delays on a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of part of a new law that required health officials to issue 10 new marijuana licenses by Oct. 3.
But Senate Health Policy Chairwoman Dana Young, R-Tampa, rejected Bax’s explanation.
“I’m not buying that just because there’s litigation out there you can’t fulfill your statutory duty to issue these additional licenses,” Young, a lawyer, scolded Bax.
The new law, passed during a special session in June, was intended to carry out a constitutional amendment, approved by voters in November, that broadly legalized medical marijuana in Florida.
The lawsuit cited by Bax deals with a portion of the law that reopened the application process and ordered the Department of Health to grant five licenses by Oct. 3, after it approved five other new licenses in August. One of the licenses in the second batch must go to a grower who had been part of settled lawsuits, known as the “Pigford” cases, about discrimination against black farmers by the federal government.
But weeks after the deadline has passed, Bax has yet to hire a vendor to score what could be hundreds of applications for the highly coveted licenses in potentially one of the nation’s most robust marijuana markets.
Bax has maintained that the lawsuit filed by Columbus Smith, a black farmer from Panama City, has temporarily put the application process on hold.
Smith’s challenge alleges that the new law is so narrowly drawn that only a handful of black farmers could qualify for the license. The lawsuit contends that the measure is what is known as an unconstitutional “special law.”
Smith is asking a Tallahassee judge to stop the Department of Health from moving forward with the application process, something Bax said has prevented him from obeying the Legislature’s directive.
“The prospect of moving forward of accepting licenses with the injunctive hearing looming creates both a logistical and legal problem,” Bax, a lawyer, told the committee Tuesday morning.
But Young wasn’t satisfied with Bax’s justification.
“I hear what you’re saying, but doesn’t it seem a bit complacent for you to simply throw your hands up and say, `Oh, we cannot issue. We’ve been sued. Oh no.’ You all get sued all the time,” an exasperated Young said. “You have a duty under our state laws to issue these licenses, regardless of whether some plaintiff files a lawsuit.”
Bax insisted he is hamstrung by the pending court decision regarding the temporary injunction.
“I don’t think there is anyone in this room who would like to get these licenses out and growing more than I do. We want to move this process as quickly as possible forward,” he said.
But, he added, “If this process gets struck down, we would have to start from the beginning.”
Sen. Kathleen Passidomo, a Naples Republican who is also a lawyer, piled on, putting Department of Health General Counsel Nicole Gehry on the hot seat.
“What valid reason could you have for ignoring a statutory directive? Just saying that you’re afraid of an injunction or litigation has been filed. … I mean, almost every time we pass a law, somebody files a lawsuit, and we still continue to pursue it,” Passidomo said, asking Gehry “what is the down side” of issuing the licenses.
“Once we get an idea of the scope of how the judge views the case, I think the department would be in a better position to evaluate how best to move forward,” Gehry said. “It’s difficult to articulate at the moment because we don’t know what the judge is going to do with the temporary restraining order.”
The new licenses aren’t the only source of frustration for lawmakers.
Sen. Lauren Book, D-Plantation, is among numerous legislators whose constituents have sought help getting state-issued identification cards. Patients must have the cards to purchase marijuana, once their doctors have ordered treatment.
“I’ve had constituents’ families call because they’ve died waiting to get their card and could not get their medication,” Book said.
Bax said it currently takes his office 30 days to issue the ID cards, if applications are complete.
But Book disputed that.
“I went on a fact-finding mission … and I tried the process as an experiment. It took three months to get a patient identification card. That is not unique. That is something that I have heard time and time and time again,” she said.
Bax said he is finalizing negotiations with a vendor who will take over the ID-card system; the outsourcing was another requirement included in the new law. The deal should be finalized in a few days, Bax promised.
Book asked how the contractor would handle the backlog — which Bax said is up to 6,000 patients at any given time — of people waiting for ID cards.
“Flushing that backlog out … is a priority for us,” he assured the panel. “That will be the first thing that’s addressed.”
Bax’s answers did little to quell committee members’ concerns.
“I feel like I know less now and am more confused after your presentation,” Sen. Bobby Powell, D-West Palm Beach, said.
But it’s unclear what disgruntled lawmakers can do to force the health department to act.
“We’re going to have to continue to look into that, but I will tell you that many of the committee members commented during the meeting that they’ve never seen anything like this. And I will tell you that I have never seen anything like this in the eight years that I’ve served in the Legislature. A complete disregard for a legislative mandate,” Young told The News Service of Florida after the meeting.
Ailing patients, who have “already waited too long” for medical marijuana to be legalized, “deserve their government to act appropriately” to make sure they get the treatment they need, Young said.
by Dara Kam, The News Service of Florida
Northview Golfer Plays In Regional Tournament
October 25, 2017
Northview High School golfer Emily Boutwell made school history Tuesday as the first-ever Northview girl to play in the regional golf playoffs.
Boutwell, a sophomore, played in the Region 1-1A Tournament in Tallahassee, coming up short of a trip to the state finals.
Pictured top: Northview golfer Emily Boutwell with Coach James Moretz Tuesday at the Region 1-1A Tournament in Tallahassee. Pictured inset: Boutwell swings during tournament play. Photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Molino Park Elementary Celebrates 50’s Day
October 25, 2017
Molino Park Elementary School marked the 50th day of the school year with a 50’s day on Tuesday. NorthEscambia.com photos by Kristi Barbour, click to enlarge.
