Tate Beats Choctaw 63-42
October 22, 2016
In a 105 total point game, Tate beat the Choctawhatchee Indians Friday night in Cantonment 63-42 for an Aggies Senior Night win.
Choctaw jumped out to a 7-0 lead at Pete Gindl Stadium just over a minute into the first quarter. A Jake Henry quarterback keeper touchdown run across midfield tied things up 7-7 at the 9:23 mark. Then Henry found Corey Moorer for an Aggie touchdown, Tate on Top 14-7 with 5:57 in the first.
Choctaw then pulled ahead 21-14 with touchdowns late in the first and early in the second. Henry tied things up with a keeper and 67-year touchdown run at 7:35 in the second quarter, 21-21.
Tate went ahead 28-21 with 2:33 on the clock in the half when Henry found Ladarryl Page on a 6-yard touchdown pass. Tate expanded their lead to 34-21 when Henry completed a 3-yard pass to Rodriquez Smith for a touchdown with seven seconds in the half, 35-21 as the Showband of the South took to the field.
In the third, Henry was in again on a 70-yard run. With a good kick from Evan Legassey, Tate was up 42-21. The Aggies kept rolling with a 10 yard pass from Henry to Moorer for another TD, 48-21. After a Choctaw touchdown, Tate was up 56-28 on a 12-yard rushing touchdown from Paige with 2:21 to go in the third quarter.
The Indians scored touchdowns at the 10:23 and 3:22 marks in the fourth quarter.
The Aggies sealed the win with 3:22 to go in the game when Henry rushed five yards for a touchdown. Legassey’s kick was good for Friday night’s final, 63-42.
The Tate Aggies (7-2, 1-1) will travel to Pine Forest next Friday night for their final game of the regular season. A playoff spot is on the line in the game…both teams have lost this season for first place Escambia, so a win locks in the district runner-up spot.
Look for more game photos and photos from senior night by Monday on NorthEscambia.com.
NorthEscambia.com photos by Kristi Barbour, click to enlarge.
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Bondi’s Office Looks For Clarity On Death Penalty
October 22, 2016
Attorney General Pam ondi has asked the Florida Supreme Court to clarify a ruling last week that struck down a portion of the state’s death-penalty law, arguing that failing to do so “will only generate confusion.”
In a pair of opinions issued last Friday, the court found that a statute, passed in March in response to a U.S. Supreme Court decision in a case known as Hurst v. Florida, was unconstitutional “because it requires that only 10 jurors recommend death as opposed to the constitutionally required unanimous, 12-member jury.”
Bondi’s request for clarification came in the case of Larry Darnell Perry, who was convicted in the 2013 murder of his infant son. An appellate court had asked the Florida Supreme Court to decide whether the law passed in March applied to cases that were already under way.
In last Friday’s 5-2 decision in the Perry case, the court said that the law was unconstitutional because it did not require unanimous jury recommendations and “cannot be applied to pending prosecutions.”
The state contends that death penalty prosecutions can continue without a change in the law, so long as trial courts require unanimous jury recommendations to comply with last week’s ruling.
But the Supreme Court majority did not address the issue of “severability,” which would allow portions of the law that are not deficient to remain intact, Senior Assistant Attorney General Carol Dittmar wrote in the 11-page request filed Thursday.
“This omission unnecessarily invites continued litigation. The language leaves open the possibility that defense attorneys will assert that no valid death penalty law exists in Florida, demanding that trial judges strike notices of intent to pursue capital cases and refuse to impanel capital juries,” she wrote.
However, “the state maintains that after severing the constitutional defect, current capital prosecutions should still be conducted as long as the trial courts ensure that the jury’s final recommendation is unanimous,” Dittmar continued.
The arguments “will no doubt be rejected by some trial courts and accepted by others,” leading to more litigation in “an already overburdened system,” Dittmar wrote.
“…This court’s finding of a constitutional flaw will only generate confusion, absent some clarification as to trial court’s authority to cure the legislative error,” she argued.
But defense lawyers maintain that, a decade ago, the Supreme Court asked the Legislature to address the issue of unanimity. They say it’s now the Legislature’s job — not the court’s — to fix the law.
“It’s not clarification to ask the court to rewrite the statute,” said Martin McClain, who has represented over 200 defendants facing the death penalty.
Like Bondi, legislative leaders and prosecutors — who pushed for 10-2 jury recommendations in death-penalty cases over the repeated warnings of defense lawyers — contend that the statute does not have to be changed immediately for prosecutions to move forward.
But an Ocala judge on Monday put on hold the penalty portion of a murder trial, saying the court needed direction from the Legislature before proceeding.
Arguing for the state in the request for clarification, Dittmar wrote that the flaw in the statute “is easy to fix” through “accurate jury instructions and simple interrogatories” and “does not require any substantive rewriting of the law.”
But defense lawyers say that allowing trials to proceed without changing the statute could be even more problematic.
Relying on judges to craft jury instructions in different cases “is a situation that will cause havoc,” said 5th Judicial Circuit Public Defender Mike Graves, whose office represents Kelvin Lee Coleman in the Ocala murder trial and who argued Coleman’s case Monday. A jury late last week found Coleman guilty of two counts of first-degree murder.
“We literally could have dozens and dozens of different procedures, different jury instructions on the issue of death in individual cases. That, I think, would cause absolutely unnecessary complication in review,” Graves said. “I don’t for the life of me understand what their hurry is.”
The state’s death penalty has been in limbo since January, when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Florida’s sentencing system was unconstitutional because it gave too much power to judges, instead of juries. Following that decision, the Florida Supreme Court indefinitely put on hold two executions, which are still pending.
Of the 31 states with the death penalty, Florida is one of just three — including Alabama and Delaware — that have not required unanimous jury recommendations for death to be imposed. Delaware’s high court has halted that state’s death penalty following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in January in the Hurst case.
The Hurst ruling did not address the issue of unanimity, which became a flashpoint during this year’s legislative session as Florida lawmakers sought to repair the state’s death penalty sentencing process to comply with the U.S. Supreme Court decision.
Defense lawyers repeatedly told lawmakers that Florida’s “outlier” status regarding unanimity jeopardizes the state’s death penalty because the U.S. Supreme Court considers “evolving standards of decency” when considering the issue.
A Senate proposal originally required unanimous jury recommendations, but lawmakers ultimately struck a deal — backed by Bondi and prosecutors — in which at least 10 jurors were required to favor death for the sentence to be imposed.
“Refusing to make a steady, reasoned review of the situation is what led to the chaos our court system is now dealing with. Lives are literally at stake. Have patience. Take a breath,” Pete Mills, an assistant public defender in the 10th Judicial Circuit who is chairman of the Florida Public Defender Association’s death penalty steering committee, said in a telephone interview Friday.
“If the Court attempts to fix this on their own, it could be a violation of the separation of powers recognized in our state’s Constitution,” Mills said. “They run the risk of misinterpreting what the Legislature will do. The Legislature might have bigger plans.”
Incoming Senate President Joe Negron, a Stuart Republican who will take over as head of the chamber after the November elections, told The News Service of Florida this week that there was “no ambiguity” regarding the need for unanimous jury recommendations following the state Supreme Court opinions.
Negron, a lawyer, said that lawmakers could deal with the issue during next year’s 60-day legislative session, which begins in March.
Bernie McCabe, the state attorney in the 6th Judicial Circuit in Pasco and Pinellas counties, said he believes prosecutors can move forward because the state Supreme Court, in the decisions last week, “has established the procedures necessary if you’re going to seek the death penalty.”
But McCabe also said that the attorney general’s concern about clarification is valid.
“We have cases pending that need to be resolved, and there is perhaps confusion over the proper mechanism over how to resolve them,” he said.
McCabe said he is trying two cases in which he is seeking the death penalty that are at a critical stage.
“I think we can go ahead. Others will perhaps disagree,” he said. “I can see where it might be helpful if the Supreme Court just came out and said, OK, judges here’s what you do, and go ahead and do it.”
by Dara Kam, The News Service of Florida
Friday Night Football Finals
October 22, 2016
Here are final football scores from around the North Escambia area.
FLORIDA
- Northview 12, Walton 10
- Tate 63, Choctaw 42
- Jay 50, Rocky Bayou 0
- West Florida 19, Arnold 0
- Niceville 27, Pine Forest 14
- Catholic 38 Washington 22
- Mosley 31, PHS 30
- Baker 69, Lighthouse Academy 7
- Freeport 42, Bozeman 8
- OFF: Escambia, Milton, Pace, Gulf Breeze
ALABAMA
- W.S. Neal 32, Escambia County (Atmore) 20
- Autauga Academy 41, Escambia Academy 34
- Bayside 44, Flomaton 24
- T.R. Miller 49 Clarke Co. 35
Pictured top: Luke Ward scores a Northview touchdown against Walton Friday night. NorthEscambia.com photo, click to enlarge.
No Injuries In Midday Cantonment Crash
October 21, 2016
There were no injuries in a two vehicle collision at Highway 297A and Country Road 97 in Cantonment about noon Friday. Both drivers refused medical treatment. The accident is under investigation by the Florida Highway Patrol. NorthEscambia.com photos by Kristi Barbour, click to enlarge.
Volunteers Returning To Rebuild Tornado Damaged Homes In Century Area
October 21, 2016
World Renew-Disaster Response Services is returning to the Century area to assist in restoring homes for tornado survivors.
World Renew will be partnering with the Escambia County Long Term Recovery Group (LTRG), made up of organizations that have been assisting low income survivors in their recovery since an EF-3 destroyed and damaged over 140 homes in February 2016.
World Renew will provide skilled volunteer labor to construct replacement homes and make repairs on others that were damaged. World Renew teams, made up of an average of 18-20 volunteers, will be working in coordination with the Pensacola Habitat for Humanity and the Florida Recovery Team on recovery reconstruction beginning on October 24, 2016. The volunteers commit to serve for three weeks per team rotation.
The group’s very first project on Monday will be the completion of two properties in Flomaton before they turn their full focus on Century.
Anita Totten of BRACE said the group already has a list of properties that need assistance from the Town of Century’s leadership, Escambia County’s Neighborhood Enterprise Division and a disaster case management team. But if anyone feels they need tornado recovery help but may not be on the list, they should call United Way of Escambia County at 211 or (850) 595-5905.
The recovery work of the Escambia Long Term Recovery Group is supported by State Housing Initiative Partnership (SHIP) funds and donations to the United Way Disaster Fund.
The World Renew reconstruction volunteer teams will complement the work of community recovery partners that include the Escambia County Board of County Commissioners, Town of Century, Escambia County Housing Finance Authority, Northwest Florida Community Housing Development Corporation and over a dozen non-profit and faith-based organizations including Catholic Charities, Florida Baptist Disaster Relief, Legal Services of North Florida, Pensacola Habitat for Humanity, St. Vincent de Paul, United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR), United Way and over a dozen more organizations, many of which have been assisting survivors since the night of the tornado.
Greg Strader, executive director of BRACE said, “The Escambia Long Term Recovery Group is thrilled that World Renew has returned to our community”. World Renew-DRS deployed 349 volunteers to aid low income survivors following our 2014 flood. Those volunteers provided over 39,000 hours of service in our community”.
In addition, the “green shirts” as World Renew volunteers are affectionately known, served in Escambia County for over two years following Hurricane Ivan.
NorthEscambia.com file photo, click to enlarge.
Century Deals With 500 Gallon Sewage Spill On West Highway 4
October 21, 2016
About 500 gallons of sewage spilled into a ditch on West Highway 4 in Century on Thursday.
About 8:30 a.m., a town street crew discovered the approximate 500 gallon wastewater spill in the ditch at about 30 West Highway 4, just west of the Century Woods Apartments. The sewer department applied lime to the ditch and area surrounding the force main break.
At last report Thursday, the town was in the process of repairing the pipe. The affected area was isolated with caution tape and lime was applied.
“The affected area has been isolated with caution tape. No other areas were affected by the leak and there is no potential risk to the public health, safety or welfare,” according to a town statement.
NorthEscambia.com file photo, click to enlarge.
Truck Driver Sentenced To 15.5 Years On Federal Child Porn Charges
October 21, 2016
Andre M. Straughn, 40, of Milton, was sentenced to 15.5 years in prison for receipt and transportation of child pornography, as well as making a false statement to a federal agent. After incarceration, Straughn will serve 10 years of supervised release and will be required to register as a sex offender.
In July 2015, law enforcement agents became aware of online child pornography files that were linked to Straughn’s online activities. Law enforcement agents conducted an investigation and determined that Straughn was a truck driver who traveled to other states with his cellular device and laptop and used multiple electronic platforms to engage in online child pornography.
After Straughn returned home from a trip, agents searched Straughn’s residence. Straughn told law enforcement agents that he did not have an online storage account, did not use the social media application Kik, and could not remember the password to his cellular telephone. A forensic review of Straughn’s electronic devices revealed that Straughn did maintain online storage accounts and a Kik account. In total, Straughn’s online storage account, laptop, and other electronic devices revealed more than 50,000 images and videos of child pornography, dating back approximately 10 years. Straughn pled guilty on June 2, 2016.
“Protecting our children from exploitation is a top priority of my office and the Department of Justice,” said United States Attorney Canova. “I commend the hard work of our prosecutors and law enforcement professionals who protect our communities and bring child predators to justice.”
“Our communities are safer today now that this criminal will spend the next 15.5 years behind bars,” said Susan L. McCormick, special agent in charge of HSI Tampa. “HSI special agents will continue to relentlessly pursue those who want to do harm to our children.”
The case was investigated by the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations, Pensacola Police Department, and the other agencies in the North Florida Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. Assistant United States Attorney David L. Goldberg prosecuted the case.
FHSAA Seeks To Sack Lawsuit Over Football Game Prayer
October 21, 2016
The Florida High School Athletic Association is asking a federal judge to toss out a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of a decision that prevented two Christian schools from using a loudspeaker for a prayer before a football championship game.
The association said it did not violate the rights of Tampa’s Cambridge Christian School, which filed the lawsuit last month. In a motion to dismiss the case, the association argued that Cambridge Christian and University Christian School of Jacksonville were free to pray before a December 2015 championship game — just not over the public-address system.
“Indeed, as the amended complaint (the Cambridge Christian lawsuit) makes clear, FHSAA has not denied the school’s athletic program the ability to express itself through prayer among themselves prior, during, or following the game, either in the locker room or outside on the athletic field,” said the motion, filed Tuesday in federal court in Tampa. “FHSAA also has not banned the school’s athletes and supporters from saying anything they wish to anyone they speak with, or from displaying any signage they wish to bring with them. But the law does not require — and for good and valid reason does not permit — the FHSAA to promote sectarian prayer through state-run public address systems.”
Cambridge Christian alleges that the association, the longtime governing body for high-school sports in Florida, violated the U.S. Constitution and the state Constitution in denying a request to use the public-address system at Orlando’s Camping World Stadium for a pre-game prayer. The lawsuit also seeks a preliminary injunction against the association continuing the policy for upcoming athletic events.
“By rejecting Cambridge Christian’s request for pre-game prayer over the loudspeaker on the basis of its religious character and viewpoint, the FHSAA unlawfully prohibited Cambridge Christian’s private religious speech and unreasonably burdened its right to freedom of speech and free exercise of religion,” the lawsuit said.
The case stems from the Division 2A football championship game on Dec. 4 between Cambridge Christian and University Christian. Three days before the game, the schools asked the association to be allowed to use the loudspeaker to lead a prayer, but the request was denied.
The teams prayed together at mid-field before the game, according to court documents filed by Cambridge Christian and the association.
In the motion to dismiss filed this week, the association said it uses a public-address “protocol” that includes policies about what announcers can say during games. As examples, that includes announcements about lineups, substitutions and timeouts and includes a script for promotional announcements, the motion said. The association said it does not allow “open access” to the public-address system.
The association’s legal arguments are based, at least in part, on what is known as the Establishment Clause of the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment.
“FHSAA was also upholding its obligations under the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause in not allowing what would amount to a state-sponsored prayer at a state-sponsored championship football game,” the motion said. “Cambridge Christian was not denied the opportunity for prayer — in fact, Cambridge Christian acknowledges that it was allowed to offer a pre-game prayer, which it did so, publicly, from mid-field. FHSAA did not infringe on Cambridge Christian’s right to exercise its religious freedom and free speech rights.”
But the school’s lawsuit pointed to other forms of speech allowed at the game, including messages from corporate sponsors on the stadium’s video screen and advertisements delivered by the public-address announcer. It also said Cambridge Christian’s cheerleading coach was allowed to play music over the loudspeaker while the school’s cheerleaders performed at halftime.
“The policy is not neutral; and, the policy is not generally applicable because it prohibits religious speech, and only religious speech, from being broadcast over the loudspeaker,” the lawsuit said. “The FHSAA’s denial of Cambridge Christian’s request for prayer over the loudspeaker, while allowing for secular messages to be delivered over the loudspeaker and other stadium communications media, constitutes content-based and viewpoint-based discrimination in contravention of the First Amendment of the United States Constitution.”
by Jim Saunders, The News Service of Florida
Forest Service Issues Warning Not To Burn Outdoors
October 21, 2016
Officials with the Florida Forest Service’s Blackwater Forestry Center are urging residents of Escambia and Santa Rosa counties to refrain from any outdoor burning for the next several days.
The area is in the midst of an extended dry spell and a predicted cold front will bring higher winds and lower humidities. There is little no rain in the extended forecast. This combination has prompted an increase in the fire danger level for the district as well as an increase in the response level of Forest Service fire crews.
With these conditions, even well-intended backyard fires can be dangerous.
“The weather will be cooler and people will probably want to get some yard work done,” said David Smith, operations administrator for Blackwater. “Cleaning up is fine but we would recommend that folks not burn their yard debris until we see some relief.”
In addition to the warning to residents, Smith said authorizations for large piles and acreage burns will not be issued at this time.
NorthEscambia.com file photos, click to enlarge.
JV Football – West Florida Beats Northview
October 21, 2016
The West Florida Jaguars defeated the Northview Chiefs 50-8 Thursday night in junior varsity football action.
NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
