Seuss Week: Thing 1, Thing 2, Bratt Elementary Has Twins Too
March 3, 2017
Bratt Elementary has 11 sets of twins attending the school.
In celebration of Dr. Seuss Week, the twins were honored on the morning news. Each set of twins was called out by name along with their description of how they go together. They also received a treat bag decorated as Thing 1 or Thing 2 according to their birth order.
The twins are listed along with their definition of how they go together.
- Four-year olds Adalynn and Madalynn Lowery go together like forever and always.
- Five-year olds Jeremiah and Zechariah Russell go together like green eggs and ham.
- Five-year olds Tucker and Cade Hare go together like cookies and milk.
- Seven-year olds Genevieve and Gabriella Graham go together like peas and carrots.
- Seven-year olds Wyatt and Noah Spence go together like peanut butter and jelly or peas and carrots.
- Seven-year olds Margaret and Montgomery Baker go together like chicken and dumplings.
- Seven-year olds Jakeriyah and Ja’kayvioun Jacobs go together like cookies and milk.
- Nine-year olds Derek and Justin Kinley go together like nachos and cheese or milk and cookies.
- Ten-year olds Anija and Anyla Mcneir go together like cake and icing.
- Eleven-year olds Raegan and Rabekah Abbott go together like peanut butter and jelly or cake and ice cream.
- Eleven-year olds Jayla and Jaden Brown go together like copy and paste or fire and ice.
Justices Uphold Ban On Openly Carrying Guns
March 3, 2017
Rejecting arguments by Second Amendment supporters, the Florida Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a longstanding state ban on people openly carrying firearms in public.
Justices, in a 4-2 ruling, said the state law “regulates only one manner of bearing arms and does not impair the exercise of the fundamental right to bear arms.” In doing so, the Supreme Court sided with the 4th District Court of Appeal, which ruled in 2015 against a man arrested in St. Lucie County for openly carrying a gun in a holster.
“(We) agree with the 4th District and are satisfied that the state’s prohibition on openly carrying firearms in public with specified exceptions — such as authorizing the open carrying of guns to and from and during lawful recreational activities — while still permitting those guns to be carried, albeit in a concealed manner, reasonably fits the state’s important government interests of public safety and reducing gun-related violence,” said the 47-page majority opinion, written by Justice Barbara Pariente and joined fully by Chief Justice Jorge Labarga and Justice Peggy Quince. Justice R. Fred Lewis agreed with the result but did not sign on to the opinion.
But Justice Charles Canady, in a dissent joined by Justice Ricky Polston, said the law “collides with the Second Amendment right as understood” in a landmark 2008 U.S. Supreme Court decision striking down a Washington, D.C. gun law. He described as “feeble” arguments that the open-carry ban is justified for public-safety reasons.
“Of course, many people are made uncomfortable by the fact that others are permitted to keep and bear arms at all,” Canady wrote in the 10-page dissent. “But contemporary sensibilities cannot be the test. Such sensibilities are no more a basis for defeating the historic right to open carrying than for defeating the understanding that the Second Amendment recognizes the right of individuals to keep and bear arms.”
Justice Alan Lawson, who joined the court at the end of December, did not take part in the case.
The challenge to the law stemmed from the 2012 arrest in St. Lucie County of Dale Norman, who had a concealed-weapons license but was carrying a gun openly in a holster. A jury found Norman guilty of a second-degree misdemeanor, and a trial judge imposed a $300 fine and court costs, according to Thursday’s ruling.
Norman, who was represented by attorney Eric Friday of the Second Amendment group Florida Carry, then took the case to the 4th District Court of Appeal before ultimately going to the Supreme Court.
Pariente’s majority opinion traced issues in the case to a 1987 law that authorized the state to issue concealed-weapons licenses. She wrote that lawmakers also passed a separate measure that year barring people from openly carrying firearms.
The majority opinion drew a distinction between the Florida open-carry ban and the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in the Washington, D.C. case and another case involving gun laws in Chicago. She wrote that unlike those laws, “which completely banned the possession of handguns in one’s home, Florida’s open carry law regulates only how firearms are borne in public.”
“Because this law does not amount to an entire ban on a class of guns or completely prohibit the bearing of firearms in public and does not affect the right to keep arms in one’s home … we conclude that Florida’s open carry law does not severely burden the right,” Pariente wrote.
Canady, however, pointed to the long period of time between the 1987 legislation and the U.S. Supreme Court decision in the 2008 case, known as District of Columbia v. Heller.
“More to the point, the Legislature decided that the sacrifice of open carrying was a necessary and appropriate response to the public opposition generated by the passage of the concealed-carry law,” Canady wrote. “But the legal landscape has now dramatically shifted. Heller has settled that the Second Amendment protects the right of individuals to keep and bear arms. And Heller’s historical analysis points strongly to the conclusion that the individual right includes the right to carry arms openly in public.”
Thursday’s ruling came five days before the start of the 2017 legislative session, which is expected to include a series of debates about gun rights. Lawmakers last year did not pass a proposal that would have allowed people with concealed-weapons licenses to openly carry firearms.
by Jim Saunders, The News Service of Florida
Escambia Attorney Arrested
March 3, 2017
An Escambia County attorney has been arrested.
State Attorney Bill Eddins said James C. Corrigan was charged with racketeering and grand theft. The warrant was issued by an Escambia County judge based on an investigation by the State Attorney Office of a complaint filed by The Florida Bar following an audit Corrigan’s trust account.
Corrigan, who does business as James M. Corrigan, PA, represents clients in personal injury and medical malpractice cases. According to the warrant and supporting documents, Corrigan engaged in a multi-year, complex, continuous scheme in which he misapplied and misappropriated hundreds of thousands of dollars of his clients’ funds.
The Office of State Attorney will continue the investigation and anyone with information should contact investigator Taylor Wells at (850) 595-4200.
Two Sentenced In Century Animal Cruelty Case
March 2, 2017
Two Century men have been sentenced in connection with a 2015 animal cruelty case.
John Jackson Grimes and , Monroe Kemp Moore, Jr., were both sentenced to 12 months supervised probation and ordered to perform 50 hours of community service.
Escambia County Animal Control, Panhandle Equine Rescue and the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office seized three severely malnourished horses from a property in the 2500 block of Highway 168, near Shaw Road, near Century on May 27, 2015.
According to court documents in the case, two of the horses had bones that were projecting and visible due to malnourishment. The horses were unable to graze due to a lack of grass in their quarter of an acre enclosure. It appeared that the horses had no water and no one caring for them for some time.
The horses were rehabilitated by Panhandle Equine Rescue.
The only horse rescue in Escambia County, PER was founded by a small group of concerned citizens with a mission to rescue, rehabilitate and provide adoption services for abused, neglected and abandoned equines. PER is authorized by the court system to investigate equine cruelty in Escambia County.
Photos top and below by PER for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
County Road 97A Boggy Creek Bridge Replacement Underway
March 2, 2017
Construction began in early January on a bridge project on County Road 97A over Boggy Creek near Enon. The existing bridge will be replaced with a new, modern structure with 12-foot travel lanes, eight foot shoulders and a solid concrete barrier railing. The bridge approaches will also be replaced.
Work is currently underway on a temporary detour bridge. Once completed, traffic will be shifted to the temporary bridge as crews construct the new structure. Work is anticipated to be complete in eight months, weather permitting, on the $3,041,965 project.
Drivers are reminded to slow down to the posted speed limit of 30 mph use caution and be aware of the ‘S’ shaped curve when approaching the temporary bridge. There will be weight restriction on the temporary detour bridge. Vehicles weighing over 88,000 ponds and cranes will be prohibited.
The bridge to be replaced was constructed in 1969.
Photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Man Wanted For Questioning In Home Invasion
March 2, 2017
The Escambia County Sheriff’s Office is searching for 32-year old Cody Austin Branch for questioning only in connection with a home invasion.
The home invasion occurred February 9 on Chisholm Road, just south of Nine Mile Road.
Anyone with information on his whereabouts is asked to call Crime Stoppers at (850 433-STOP or the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office at (850) 436-9620.
Ransom Middle Student Named National Quiz Bowl Player Of The Week
March 2, 2017
National Academic Quiz Tournaments has named Maggie Brown from Ransom Middle School as its Middle School Player of the Week for her performance at the February 18 Bulldog Invitational Tournament..
Maggie led the individual scoring in the middle school division of the Bulldog Invitational at Marianna High School, and also led the Ransom Middle School team to a close second-place finish. Her 78 points per 20 tossups heard in the preliminary rounds are all the more impressive considering the middle school division was playing on high school questions.
Brown was one of the founding members of the Ransom Academic Team. Two years ago, Tate High School, including Brown’s older sisters Lauren and Samantha Brown, helped set up the Ransom team.
When asked about her success – she has been a captain and leading scorer since sixth grade – Maggie is quick to credit her teachers at Ransom Middle and at Pine Meadow Elementary for her well-rounded education. Not only has she been able to answer tournament questions from class lessons, but also from information learned through her involvement in extracurricular activities, including Ransom’s Advanced Orchestra – where she is first chair violin/concertmaster, president of the History Club, secretary/treasurer of the Cooking Club, Art Club, and robotics.
Maggie said she just really loves to play and practices with Samantha and Lauren, reviewing and quizzing each other on lessons from all of their classes.
The Ransom team is busy preparing to travel to nationals in May in Texas this May.
Pictured top: Maggie Brown playing the violin. Pictured below: The Ransom Middle School team at the Bulldog Invitational (L-R) Asher Nissim, Abby Gryskiewicz, Saahil Soni, Maggie Brown, and Kyle Schundelmier. Photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Learn To Grow Potted Vegetables At Molino Library
March 2, 2017
Escambia County Extension Services Horticulture Extension Agent Beth Bolles will present a program on patio gardening on Saturday, March 4 at 10:30 a.m. at the Molino Branch Library.
She will give advice on the best method for producing tomatoes and other vegetables in pots.
For more information, call (850) 436-5060.
Bill Would Block Black Bear Hunts
March 2, 2017
Black bears couldn’t be hunted in Florida for a decade, while at least $1 million would be set aside so more people could purchase bear-resistant trash containers, under a measure filed Tuesday in the Senate.
The proposal (SB 1304) by Sen. Linda Stewart, D-Orlando, also seeks to regulate burn schedules in state forests and parks to allow for the regrowth of oak trees, saw palmettos and other berry-producing plants that feed black bears.
“It is our obligation to ensure the preservation of the iconic species as well as the safety of our neighborhoods,” Stewart said in a prepared statement.
During the moratorium, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission would have to conduct a 5-year population trend study of black bears, which includes an impact of hunting. The bill is part of the continued reaction to a black-bear hunt in October 2015 in which 304 bears were killed. The hunt was the first in the state in two decades.
Supporters have argued that hunting is one way to manage bear populations and to reduce potentially dangerous bear-human interactions. The commission, which voted against holding a bear hunt in 2016 to focus on non-lethal means to reduce bear-human interactions, has not discussed plans for a hunt this year.
In 2016, the agency spread $825,000 across 12 counties to help reduce the potential for conflicts between Florida’s bear and human populations by helping residents and businesses acquire bear-resistant trash cans. Stewart’s bill, similar to a House proposal (HB 491) filed in early February by Rep. Amy Mercado, D-Orlando, would prohibit the recreational hunting of Florida black bears until July 1, 2027.
Welfare Drug Tests Proposed For Drug Offenders
March 2, 2017
Senate Appropriations Chairman Jack Latvala and his son, Rep. Chris Latvala, proposed measures Wednesday that would require drug tests for public-assistance applicants who have drug-related criminal records.
The similar bills (SB 1392 and HB 1117) focus on people applying for benefits in the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, or TANF, program. They would require drug tests for applicants who have previous felony convictions for drug crimes or who have a “documented history of multiple arrests” for drug use or possession with the past 10 years.
Such applicants who test positive for drugs would be ineligible for TANF benefits for two years, though they could reapply after six months if they receive substance-abuse treatment. Also, the bills would allow the applicants’ children to receive TANF benefits.
The proposals, filed for the legislative session that starts Tuesday, came more than two years after a federal appeals court rejected Gov. Rick Scott’s attempt to require broader drug testing of TANF applicants. The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said in December 2014 that Scott’s proposal violated Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches and seizures by the government.
by The News Service of Florida