MLK Day Holiday Closure List
January 15, 2017
The follow will be closed Monday for the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday.
ESCAMBIA COUNTY
- Escambia County Board of County Commissioners
- Escambia County Property Appraiser
- Escambia County Tax Collector
- Escambia County Area Transit administrative offices, ECAT bus and trolley service
- Escambia County Supervisor of Elections office
- Escambia County Clerk of the Circuit Court & Comptroller’s office
- Escambia County Animal Shelter
- West Florida Public Libraries
- Escambia County Schools
Exceptions:
The Perdido Landfill will be open for normal business hours.
CENTURY, PENSACOLA, JAY
All Century, Jay and Pensacola offices and departments will be closed on Monday.
ECUA
ECUA offices will be closed Monday. No change in residential and commercial sanitation collections for ECUA customers in Escambia and Santa Rosa counties.
SANTA ROSA COUNTY
- Santa Rosa Board of County Commissioners offices
- Santa Rosa County Clerk of the Court
- Santa Rosa County Property Appraiser
- Santa Rosa County Supervisor of Elections
- Santa Rosa County Tax Collector
Exceptions:
The Central Landfill will be open for normal business hours, 7 a.m. until 5 p.m.
Half Of Century Tornado Recovery Assistance Applications Denied
January 15, 2017
Today marks 11 months since an EF-3 tornado devastated part of the Century area. Many residents without insurance are still working their way through a maze to receive government housing help. Over half the applicants for the largest available assistance program have been denied.
Two major programs — State Housing Initiatives Partnership program (SHIP) and Community Development Block Grants (CDBG) — are the source of government funding for tornado recovery in the Century area. For the purposes of this story, the “Century area” includes all housing damaged during the February 15 tornado, not just housing within the Century town limits but also housing in unincorporated Escambia County.
According to information provided by Escambia County, five CDBG applications have been approved for housing demolition. One $5,500 demolition project has been awarded.
There have been 59 applications for repair, replacement or demolition assistance through the SHIP program. Of those, 27 applications have been approved for a total of $1.8 million while 32 SHIP applications have been denied. Typical reasons for denial, according to county officials, were the client declined assistance, did not respond and had their file closed, was over income guidelines, was not the actual property owner or the property was not actually tornado damaged.
There are no pending SHIP applications. The county is working with some of the denied applicants to refer them to any other possible source of help, including BRACE, the Housing Finance Authority and Rural Development. Some have already been referred or received assistance elsewhere.
Of the SHIP applicants that were approved, 11 of the 27 required legal assistance in order to get approval.
Once an applicant is approved for SHIP or CDBG funding for repair or replacement, they do not directly receive any money. The county puts a contract out for bid and pays for the repairs directly. Some of the SHIP repair jobs have been completed, along with some SHIP and CDBG demolitions. Other SHIP replacement housing is awaiting soil test results, the resolution of legal description inconsistencies or the finalization of housing plans.
NorthEscambia.com file photo, click to enlarge.
Molino Book Club To Meet January 30
January 15, 2017
The Molino Book Club will meet Monday, January 30 at 6 p.m. at the Molino Branch Library.
Molino Library friends will join together for a lively discussion of January’s book choice, “I Always Loved You” by Robin Oliveira. This historical novel is based on the life of Impressionist Artist Mary Cassatt.
Springtime Weather Continues
January 15, 2017
Here is your official North Escambia area forecast:
Tonight: Areas of fog after 9pm. Otherwise, mostly cloudy, with a low around 56. Southeast wind around 5 mph.
M.L.King Day: A 30 percent chance of showers, mainly after noon. Areas of fog before 9am. Otherwise, partly sunny, with a high near 76. Southeast wind 5 to 10 mph.
Monday Night: Patchy fog after midnight. Otherwise, mostly cloudy, with a low around 59. Southeast wind 5 to 10 mph.
Tuesday: A 20 percent chance of showers. Patchy fog before 9am. Otherwise, mostly cloudy, with a high near 77. South wind 5 to 10 mph.
Tuesday Night: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 59. South wind around 5 mph.
Wednesday: A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 74. Southwest wind around 5 mph.
Wednesday Night: A 20 percent chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 60. South wind around 5 mph.
Thursday: A 50 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 73. South wind around 5 mph.
Thursday Night: Showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm. Cloudy, with a low around 60. South wind around 5 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%.
Friday: A 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly sunny, with a high near 73.
Friday Night: A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 60.
Saturday: Showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 72. Chance of precipitation is 60%.
Saturday Night: A 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 61.
Sunday: Showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 73. Chance of precipitation is 60%.
IEA Equestrian Team Qualifies For Upcoming Regionals
January 15, 2017
Local middle and high school equestrian teams from Trinity Farm have qualified for regionals.
The teams compete in Interscholastic Equestrian Association “IEA” horse shows. in which they “blind ride” — drawing a horse to ride at the event ratheru than riding their personal horse. The show judges the riders primarily on their abilities for the chance to win college scholarships.
The regional competition will be held February 5 at the Escambia County Equestrian Center.
Pictured: Trinity Farm of Northwest Florida team members (front center) Paige Keener, (first row, L-R) Lexi Bryant, Megan Gulsby, Sarah Hodge, Olivia Stone, (back) Morgan Mickel, Tessa Walsingham, Lilli Bonner, and Athena Critides, Photo for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
GOP, Dems Pick Party Chiefs
January 15, 2017
Florida’s Republican and Democratic parties picked new leaders on on Saturday.
Ingoglia Wins Second Term As State GOP Chair
by Brandon Larrabee, The News Service of Florida
Following the state GOP’s strong performance in the November elections, Republican Party of Florida Chairman Blaise Ingoglia overwhelmingly won a second term Saturday at the party’s annual meeting.
In a vote of the party’s executive committee, Ingoglia defeated his only competitor by a 2-to-1 margin, taking 152 votes to 76 for Christian Ziegler, the Republican state committeeman for Sarasota County.
Following a heated race, Ingoglia urged Republicans to put any divisions behind them, as elections for governor, the state Cabinet and U.S. Senate loom in 2018.
“We need to come together as a party, starting right now,” he said. “We cannot afford to lose a millisecond fighting amongst ourselves.”
Ingoglia was buoyed by the GOP’s showing in November, when President-elect Donald Trump carried the state and U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio easily won re-election. At the same time, Democrats made only minimal gains in the state Legislature and congressional delegation, despite favorable district maps.
But the fall results did not necessarily indicate the incumbent was a shoo-in — Ingoglia won his first term in 2015 by ousting then-Chairwoman Leslie Dougher despite swing GOP victories the year before.
Ingoglia, who is also a state representative from Spring Hill, had also weathered a stormy beginning to his tenure. Senate Republicans moved to separate their campaign operations from the party following Ingoglia’s election. The relationship between the party and Gov. Rick Scott, who backed Dougher in 2015, is somewhere between icy and nonexistent.
The wedge between Scott and the party was one of the top arguments for Ziegler’s supporters.
“Not only does Christian enjoy an excellent relationship with the No. 1 elected official of these great United States, he enjoys a strong relationship with the No. 1 elected official of the great state of Florida, our governor, Rick Scott,” said Joe Budd, the state committeeman from Palm Beach County.
Ingoglia’s backers continued to point to the results in November, though. Trump became the first Republican presidential nominee to carry the state since 2004, and a potential wave against the GOP never materialized.
Rubio, who seconded Ingoglia’s nomination, said the chairman was the best choice to lead the party forward facing midterms in 2018 and as the GOP starts to lay the groundwork for Trump’s re-election bid in 2020.
“It’s hard to think about in those terms, because we just got out of an election,” Rubio said. “But (the) re-election’s already started. And it needs to start with a strong Republican Party of Florida.”
In his remarks to the executive committee, Ziegler said the party was helped last year by an influx of resources from the Republican National Committee, the energy generated by Trump’s larger-than-life personality and Rubio’s organization.
“But to win in 2018, we will be on our own,” he said.
Ziegler also promised to be “a full-time chairman” — an implicit shot at Ingoglia’s role in the Legislature.
Ingoglia took shots of his own, seeming to bristle at Ziegler’s attempt to claim the mantle of the grass-roots candidate for the position. The chairman recalled traveling to county GOP fundraising dinners across the state.
“‘Grass roots’ is not a talking point. It’s a state of mind,” Ingoglia said. “It’s a commitment that lasts for years, not weeks, and certainly not for a campaign.”
Florida Democrats Pick Prominent Fundraiser As New Party Boss
by Lloyd Dunkelberger, The News Service of Florida
Florida Democrats on Saturday picked a prominent fundraiser from Miami-Dade County to lead their party for the next four years, turning aside four other challengers.
Despite more than a month of political drama leading up to the Democrats’ state executive committee meeting, Stephen Bittel easily won the election, collecting 55 percent of the votes on the first ballot.
Alan Clendenin of Hillsborough County finished a distant second, followed by former state Sen. Dwight Bullard of Miami-Dade County, Lisa King of Jacksonville and Leah Carius of Osceola County.
Bittel, a wealthy real estate developer from Coconut Grove, was the favorite of the party establishment, drawing support from U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson and other influential party leaders. Bittel, 60, said the vigorous fight to succeed Allison Tant, who has led the party through the last two election cycles, was a positive sign for the party.
“Contentious elections are reflective that there are Democrats all over Florida that are passionate, committed to coming together, moving forward together and starting to win elections,” Bittel said. “Contentious is good. It means that we care.”
Talking to reporters after his election, Bittel said he has ambitious plans for a party that has won two out of the last three presidential races but has lost virtually every other statewide race in recent years.
“We are going to grow this party to a size and strength that has never been seen before,” he said.
He promised an “enormous” staff expansion, more training for local Democratic organizations and the recruitment of candidates at every level, including city, school board and sheriff’s races.
“We have had an under-resourced operation in Florida for a long time,” Bittel said. “We will build a different kind of party and we will change things.”
He also said he will emphasize voter registration in a state where Democrats hold a narrow lead over Republicans and numbers of voters with no party affiliation continue to swell.
“We want a year-round voter registration drive, every day, every month and all year,” Bittel said.
But Bittel’s first task will be mending rifts among party factions and activists who are still dealing with the aftershocks of Hillary Clinton’s loss and bitterness over the party’s role in the defeat of Bernie Sanders in the presidential primary.
“I’ll be honest. We have a fractured party,” said Bullard, who lost a Miami-Dade committeeman race to Bittel last month. After the loss, Bullard moved to Gadsden County to remain a candidate for the party chairman.
Bullard said party leaders need to be make meaningful reforms to unite Democrats.
“There has be some concessions made, some recognition of not doing the same thing over and over again,” Bullard said. “It’s going to be up to leadership to prove otherwise and do the necessary outreach to the Bernie folks, to millennials, to ethnic communities to make them part of this thing.”
As a sign of that outreach, Democrats on Saturday did elect Bullard as one of Florida’s national committeemen, a prominent party post.
Rep. Joe Geller, D-Aventura, who supported Bittel, said the new chairman will be a major asset for the party.
“He brings first and foremost heart, dedication, commitment to progressive causes, organizational skills and vision,” Geller said. “I won’t dismiss the financial resources he can bring. But it’s about sixth on my list.”
Geller said Democrats, who have run well in major urban areas like Miami-Dade, have to develop a statewide strategy.
“Democrats are like French generals. We’re always fighting the last war: I-4, I-4. Man, we’re getting killed on I-10,” he said. “We don’t have to win all those places. But we need to get our votes in all those places.”
The political drama in the leadership race continued on Saturday when Clendenin, who had been ruled ineligible by a party subcommittee on Friday, was reinstated by a vote of the executive committee on Saturday.
Following Bittel’s election, Clendenin said he is fearful the party will not learn lessons from its defeats in the last two election cycles.
“Hopefully as we move forward and Mr. Bittel puts together an organization. It will look dramatically different than what we have,” Clendenin said. “Let’s see what he does.”
Hutchinson Named FWC’s Officer Of The Year
January 14, 2017
He’s rescued a first-time hunter lost at night in the treacherous Escambia River swamp, caught people illegally night hunting and trespassing, discovered a hidden alligator snapping turtle and even apprehended one of his area’s most wanted methamphetamine distributors. He’s also developed an officer mentoring program and performed countless outreach hours to area youth and civic organizations. And all of that was just in 2016.
For his exceptional performance, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) has named Officer Jason Hutchinson its 2017 Officer of the Year. Throughout 2017, Hutchinson will represent the FWC at various events.
“I’m truly humbled by this honor. It’s a real blessing to be able to do what I love with the FWC and my fellow officers,” said Hutchinson.
“Officer Hutchinson’s dedication to resource issues and public safety make him an ideal FWC officer,” said Col. Curtis Brown, the FWC’s Division of Law Enforcement director. “He has made a difference in his patrol area and we’re proud to have him representing the FWC.”
Originally from Santa Rosa County, part of his current patrol area, Hutchinson uses his local knowledge to protect the resources and people in his community. He makes a positive impact both on- and off-duty, and his actions set an example that reaches statewide.
Hutchinson began his career at the Florida Department of Corrections with the ultimate goal of eventually becoming a sworn officer for the FWC, which he achieved in 2012. Hutchinson’s varied work experience provides him with a wide-ranging experience set to draw from, and affords him the unique ability to identify with a number of officers from other agencies with different backgrounds. He has used that ability to the benefit of Floridians multiple times, including when he was instrumental in the apprehension of one of Santa Rosa County’s most notorious methamphetamine cooks. While working a night-hunting detail, he apprehended a subject in the Blackwater Wildlife Management Area who resisted arrest. Experience and instinct led him to contact the Santa Rosa County Narcotics Unit, which obtained a warrant and found seven active meth labs, meth and other paraphernalia in the suspect’s vehicle. Trafficking and manufacturing charges took the subject off the streets and placed him in prison.
Public outreach is another category in which Officer Hutchinson excels. During the past year, he has taught hunter education classes, conducted outreach events at schools and festivals, and has participated in the Blackwater Family Hunt and the Hutton Unit Mobility-impaired Hunts. During these events, Hutchinson has been an integral part of the effort to provide participants with the assistance and support they need to ensure a memorable experience in the outdoors.
Hutchinson created a program in conjunction with the local courts in which juvenile violators speak to their peers during hunter education classes. This counts toward their community service hours, has an impact on youth and keeps the focus of their community service on resource conservation.
“We’re fortunate to have Officer Hutchinson on our team,” Brown said. “The whole state of Florida is fortunate to have him. He not only provides exceptional service on a daily basis, but he sets an example for others as well.”
Hutchinson and his wife Heather, along with their son Jake and daughter Haylee, live in northern Santa Rosa County.
NorthEscambia.com and submitted photos, click to enlarge.
Man Gets 20 Years For Shooting Over Comments About His Saggy Pants
January 14, 2017
An Escambia County man has been sentenced to state prison after another man commented about his saggy pants.
Waymon Jamontez Brazile was sentenced by Circuit Judge Jennie Kinsey to 20 years for aggravated assault with a firearm after he was convicted by an Escambia County jury.
On September 4, 2015, the victim told Brazile to pull up his pants at a convenience store. After a brief argument, the victim left the store on foot. Brazile then followed the victim from the store with a firearm. After a struggle, Brazile shot the victim in the leg and fled the scene, according to prosecutors.
Conrad Graduates From Basic Military Training
January 14, 2017
U.S. Air Force Airman 1st Class Ryan M. Conrad graduated from basic military training at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, San Antonio, Texas.
The airman completed an intensive, eight-week program that included training in military discipline and studies, Air Force core values, physical fitness, and basic warfare principles and skills.
Airmen who complete basic training also earn four credits toward an associate in applied science degree through the Community College of the Air Force.
Conrad is the son of Angela K. Hattaway of Molino, Fla., and Richard G. Conrad Jr. of Milton, Fla., and father of Ethan.
He is a 2007 graduate of Pensacola Junoir College, Pensacola, Fla. He earned an associate degree in 2010 from Pensacola State College, Pensacola, Fla.
Escambia Man Gets Three Years In Federal ISIS Investigation
January 14, 2017
An Escambia county man is headed to prison for lying about his support of ISIS.
Robert Blake Jackson, 31, of Pensacola, was sentenced to three years in federal prison Friday for making materially false statements in a federal investigation.
In October 2014, Jackson’s Facebook profile contained comments, photos, and videos expressing support for extremist terrorist groups such as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS). This included graphic ISIL videos promoting the execution of those who oppose ISIL. In January 2015, a Pensacola telemarketing corporation reported they had recently fired Jackson for viewing ISIL related and other terrorist related websites and videos on his work computer.
In June 2015, during an interview with the FBI, Jackson stated that he never posted any pro-ISIL or violent content, and that he only used the internet at work to search news sites. Upon his arrest in July 2016, Jackson was in possession of an electronic tablet that contained the most recent addition of Dabiq, an ISIL recruitment magazine, as well as audio lectures of Anwar al-Awalki. At his plea hearing on September 23, 2016, Jackson admitted that the statements he made to federal agents were false.
“Our law enforcement agencies work around the clock to keep us safe,” said U.S. Attorney Canova. “The United States Attorney’s Office will vigorously prosecute those who provide false statements to federal agents, because false statements divert precious time and resources from the furtherance of important criminal investigations.”