Century’s New Splash Pad Installed
September 6, 2016
Century’s new splash pad has been installed, but is not officially open yet.
While the splash pad has been operational over the past few days, there is still another control part to be installed before an official opening day and before hours of operation are announced, according to Mayor Freddie McCall. At times, the splash pad may not function until it’s officially opened.
A $50,000 Florida Recreation Development Assistance Program grant was awarded to the town last October to fund the splash pad. The competitive grant program provides state funds to develop lands for public outdoor recreational use, such as building or renovating sports facilities or playgrounds. Century was the only recipient of the grant last year in Escambia County.
NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
EREC Crews Continue To Restore Power After Hurricane Hermine
September 6, 2016
Linemen from Escambia River Electric Cooperative continued to work throughout the three-day holiday weekend to restore power in areas impacted by Hurricane Hermine. Over 10,000 Tri-County Electric Cooperative customers were left without power by the storm. Photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
**For an earlier story about Gulf Power helping with hurricane recovery, click here.
**For an earlier story about EREC, click here.
Photos: Northview Mini Cheerleaders
September 6, 2016
The Northview High School Cheerleaders held a min-cheerleader camp that culminated with a performance at last Friday night’s game.
NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Blue Wahoos Capture Both Halves Of South Division
September 6, 2016
Pensacola Blue Wahoos second baseman Alex Blandino came through with arguably the biggest hit of the season when his double knocked in two runs and lifted his club to an improbable second half Southern League South Division title.
Pensacola swept all five games from the Birmingham Barons with a 3-1 victory Monday at Regions Field to end the second half 40-30, which was one more win than the Mississippi Braves (39-30). The Blue Wahoos finished with its best overall record at 81-59 since its inaugural season in 2012, while Mississippi finished the season 73-65.
Entering the last two games of the regular season, Pensacola trailed Mississippi by 1.5 games. Mississippi lost 7-0 to the Biloxi Shuckers on Sunday and fell again, 4-1, Monday. Meanwhile, Pensacola won both games, 5-4, and, 3-1. It was Pensacola’s first sweep of a five-game series since July 9-13, 2015 against the Montgomery Biscuits.
In addition, Pensacola also became the first Southern League team to win three straight division titles since the 2009 and 2010 seasons. The Blue Wahoos captured the second half last season and the first half and second half this season. The Jacksonville Suns and Tennessee Smokies both did the same thing in 2009-2010.
It was all made possible when Blandino smacked a double to center field in the seventh inning to drive in the first runs of the game. The No. 14 Cincinnati Reds prospect’s extra-base hit scored third baseman Taylor Sparks and center fielder Jeff Gelalich and put the Blue Wahoos up, 2-0.
Pensacola padded its lead when right fielder Sebastian Elizalde knocked in his seventh RBI of the series with Birmingham when he smacked a two-out single in the ninth inning to drive in Gelalich for a 3-0 lead.
The Barons did score one run in the bottom of the ninth when DH Eudy Pina belted a one-out, solo homer to left field — his fourth of the season — off of Pensacola reliever Abel De Los Santos. He worked the final 1.1 innings and allowed one run, two hits, one walk and struck out one to earn his third save of the season.
Before scoring in the seventh, Pensacola had only two runners reach second base. In the fifth inning, Blue Wahoos catcher Chad Wallach doubled but was stranded there. In the sixth inning, Pensacola left fielder Phillip Ervin was hit by a pitch and then stole his career-high 36th base of the season to reach second.
Birmingham pitcher Thaddius Lowry threw seven innings in his fourth start for the Barons after being called up from the High-A Winston-Salem Dash. He allowed two earned runs on five hits, one walk and struck out two before giving way to Birmingham reliever Connor Walsh.
Meanwhile, Pensacola right-handed starter Nick Travieso pitched a season-high 7.2 innings and was replaced by De Los Santos after Travieso, the Reds No. 15 prospect, allowed Birmingham center fielder Hunter Jones to single and walked second baseman Joey DeMichele. De Los Santos got the next batter to ground out to him.
Travieso gave up five hits, walked one and struck out six. He improved to 5-7 with a 3.84 ERA. Coming into the game, the 22-year-old, who was placed twice on the 7-day disabled list this season, had one quality start in five appearances in August.
The Blue Wahoos go into the Southern League South Division playoffs against Mississippi with a five game win streak and have won 10 of its last 11 games.
Area Sailor Reenlists Atop Mount Fuji
September 6, 2016
A sailor from Santa Rosa county recently reenlisted atop Mount Fuji, the tallest mountain in Japan.
Cryptologic Technician (Collection) 2nd Class Elijah D. Stotts, from Pace and CTR3 Henry R. Lundblad, from Lake Villa IL, said the oath more than 12,000 feet above sea level after a seven-hour climb through wind and rain.
“Choosing an ambitious site for my reenlistment goes hand-in-hand with my Navy career,” said Stotts. “I didn’t join the Navy because it would be easy. I didn’t hike the highest mountain in Japan because it would be easy. I did both because they are life accomplishments I can be proud of.”
Both Stotts and Lundblad are temporarily assigned to the forward-deployed Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Barry (DDG 52) as part of a NIOC direct support team, complementing Sailors from NIOC Far East in Yokosuka, Japan.
Lt.j.g. Stewart Atchley, from NIOC Yokosuka, and L.t.j.g. Christopher M. Jozwiak, from NIOC Hawaii, read the oath of enlistment for the Sailors at the summit.
“It’s always an honor to be a part of a reenlistment and re-administer the oath we all take to defend our constitution,” said Jozwiak. “Our relationship with our Japanese allies is a sign of the strength that oath carries. To perform this ceremony atop the highest and most respected mountain in Japan is a unique yet fitting place.”
“I felt honored when Petty Officer Lundblad asked me to do his reenlistment,” said Atchley. “Particularly on Mount Fuji being a difficult place to get to, I encourage him to continue to challenge himself throughout his career.”
NIOC Sailors routinely provide information warfare officers and enlisted personnel, expertise, and equipment while conducting signals intelligence, information, and cyberspace operations for U.S. 7th Fleet units.
“CTR2 Stotts and CTR3 Lundblad are a welcome addition to our support team aboard Barry,” said Atchley, the direct support officer temporarily assigned to Barry. “I hope having such an iconic start to their new enlistments will motivate them to continue with their high level of professionalism.”
Barry is forward deployed to Yokosuka, Japan, in support of security and stability in the Indo-Asia-Pacific.
Pictured: Cryptologic Technician 2nd Class Elijah D. Stotts, right, from Pace, Fla., stationed at Navy Information Operations Command (NIOC) Hawaii reenlists with Lt.j.g. Christopher M. Jozwiak, left, from Fort Wayne, IN, at the 12,389 foot summit of Mt. Fuji. USN photo for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Tate, West Florida Football Teams Tackle Childhood Hunger
September 5, 2016
The Tate and West Florida football teams may have battled it out on the football field Friday night, but they also teamed up to fight childhood hunger.
The Aggies and the Jaguars joined the Escambia County Schools Backpack Program USA to tackler hunger. Football fans were urged to donate loose change or cash during the game. All donations were earmarked for Pine Meadow, McArthur and Jim Allen elementary schools, which were identified according to need by the Escambia County School District.
The event was organized by the Tate High School Quarterback Club, with fans of both teams sharing in the project to raise $500.
The mission of the Escambia County Schools Backpack Program is to provide weekend food supplements for at-risk children in area elementary schools.
Pictured are (L-R) Scott Stillman of the Escambia County School District, Temarques Dunnigan, Kaleb Moore, Shermari Jones, Trae Melton and Ladarryl Paige. Photo for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Scott Thanks Gulf Power Crews Restoring Power Following Hurricane
September 5, 2016
Gulf Power workers continued to help restore power after Hurricane Hermine, and Gov. Rick Scott has taken at least two opportunities to thank many of them in person.
Sunday night, Scott visited Gulf Power employees at the Wahoo Seafood Grill to thank them for working hard to bring power and utilities back to Tallahassee’s homes and businesses following Hurricane Hermine (pictured top, inset and below). On Saturday, Scott visited with a Gulf Power line crew as they worked in a Tallahassee neighborhood (pictured bottom).
Photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Escambia Man Dies In Crash, Possibly While Racing
September 5, 2016
An Escambia County man was killed in a single vehicle crash Sunday night, possibly while racing another vehicle.
The Florida Highway Patrol said 25-year old Jerrandin Pankey of Pensacola was traveling south on W Street from Truman Avenue in a 1993 Chevrolet Camaro when he lost control, hit a utility pole, a fence and two parked vehicles. He was pronounced deceased on the scene by Escambia County EMS. He was not wearing a seat belt.
A preliminary investigation by the FHP indicated that Pankey may have been racing a gray Ford Focus.
Anyone with information on the crash is asked to contact Corporal Kelley with FHP by meial at ShawnKelley@flhsmv.gov.
Century Changes September Council Meeting Schedule
September 5, 2016
The Century Town Council has changed their meeting scheduled for September to accommodate the Labor Day holiday and budget hearings for the upcoming fiscal year.
The September council meeting schedule will be as follows:
- Monday September 05 — Canceled – Labor Day
- Monday September 12 — 6:50 pm 1st Budget Hearing
- Monday September 12 — 7:00 pm Meeting
- Monday September 19 — 6:50 pm 2nd Budget Hearing
- Monday September 19 — 7:00 pm Meeting
All meetings are open to the public and are held at 7995 North Century Boulevard.
NorthEscambia.com file photo, click to enlarge.
Florida Gov’t Weekly Roundup: A Stormy Week In Florida
September 5, 2016
It wasn’t quite a week of firsts in Florida, but it was a week of “the first time since.”
For the first time since 2005, a hurricane made landfall in the state — ending a decade of calm for a peninsula that juts out into one of the most active tropical storm areas in the world.
And for the first time since it was created in 1992, someone with a name other than “Corrine Brown” won the state’s 5th Congressional District, as former state Sen. Al Lawson toppled one of Florida’s longest-serving incumbents.
There was a first that seemed inevitable, as the state confirmed the first cases of mosquitoes testing positive for the Zika virus. With the disease already being transmitted locally, it had seemed like just a matter of time until that happened — just like another hurricane in Florida or the end of Brown’s time in Congress.
But like those inevitabilities, no one knew exactly when it would happen until this week rolled around.
THE STORM AFTER THE CALM
Debates over issues like property-insurance reform had taken on a predictable cast at the Legislature over the last several years: warnings that a hurricane had not hit the state in quite some time but that the Sunshine State would experience a large tropical storm soon.
Those predictions came true Friday morning, as Hurricane Hermine — not to be confused with a similarly named character from the Harry Potter books — made landfall near St. Marks around 1:30 a.m.
By late morning Friday, officials were reporting one storm-related fatality, a homeless man in Marion County who was hit by a tree. But more than a quarter of a million people across North and Central Florida had lost power, and downed trees and other hazards made travel difficult.
“Some of the state’s hardest-hit areas were along the coast as you would expect,” Gov. Rick Scott said during a media briefing Friday morning at the state Emergency Operations Center.
“There is a lot of work left to do following the storm,” he said. “We’ll spend the coming days assessing the damage and responding to the needs of our communities and Florida families.”
State offices were closed in 37 counties, and schools were shuttered in 35.
It was Scott’s first hurricane as governor, though he had gotten some practice going through the paces with near-misses and tropical storms. It was also the first hurricane for hundreds of thousands of Floridians who moved to the state over the last decade.
There was a least one more way in which the storm was distinct from the past, as noted by the Miami Herald’s Patricia Mazzei on Twitter: “Florida’s first live-tweeted hurricane.” The platform launched in 2006.
BROWNOUT
In the marquee race of Tuesday’s primary elections, there was no real surprise. U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio was re-nominated by the Republican Party, fending off developer Carlos Beruff and a couple of other candidates in a landslide.
Rubio’s Democratic opponent will be Congressman Patrick Murphy, whose race turned into a rout after his most prominent rival, Congressman Alan Grayson, faced allegations of domestic abuse from an ex-wife. The allegations, which Grayson denies, became public in the closing weeks of the campaign.
But that didn’t mean that Tuesday passed without any major changes. For almost a quarter of a century, Democratic Congresswoman Corrine Brown and her winding district were lightning rods for controversy.
In 1992, three congressional districts were created to give African-American voters a chance to elect candidates of their choice to settle a voting-rights dispute. One of those was the 5th Congressional District, which wound its way from Jacksonville in the north to Orlando in the south.
A voter-approved ban on political gerrymandering changed all that. Brown was forced to run this year in a district that ran from Jacksonville in the east to Gadsden County in the west, cutting through Tallahassee along the way. That brought her a primary challenge from Lawson, whose power base was in the Tallahassee area.
“I’m not going to Washington looking for a job,” said Lawson, who won 47.7 percent of the vote to Brown’s roughly 39 percent. “I’m going to Washington to make a difference.”
Another congressional incumbent facing a stiff challenge, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, hung onto her seat against outsider Tim Canova.
It wouldn’t be election night in Florida without at least some controversy, though, this time in the form of a slip-up that saw Broward County post some voting numbers online nearly half an hour before polls closed at 7 p.m. Under Florida law, releasing election results before the polls close is a third-degree felony.
Secretary of State Ken Detzner said Tuesday evening he had referred the matter to the Broward County state attorney and sheriff. Asked if the Broward elections office could be fined, Detzner said, “It’s a little more serious that that.”
The Broward office blamed the snafu on a vendor, and Detzner said the elections otherwise seemed to go off without a hitch.
THE OLD CRISIS
All the attention to Hermine almost distracted from the issue that had consumed Florida officials for much of the last few weeks: the continuing threat of the mosquito-borne Zika virus, now confirmed to be borne by Florida mosquitoes.
Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam and Scott’s office announced that the disease had been detected in three mosquito samples, but stressed that all of them where in a small portion of Miami-Dade County where the virus was already being locally transmitted.
Still, the governor said the state would step up its efforts to swat the virus, and Republican Congressman Vern Buchanan called for a quick vote on funding to fight the disease.
But while Scott tried to project calm, Buchanan took up a different note.
“Congress must put aside partisan differences and come together immediately to protect the public,” Buchanan wrote in a letter to congressional leaders. “The situation in Florida worsens each week, and now looming rainfall from tropical storms threaten to create a fertile breeding ground for the mosquitoes that carry the virus.”
That highlighted the coming together of Florida’s twin problems right now: Scott urged residents to get rid of standing water as quickly as possible once Hermine had passed. After an eventful week, the last thing the state needed was a feedback loop.
STORY OF THE WEEK: Hurricane Hermine became the first hurricane to hit Florida in a decade, killing at least one person and plunging tens of thousands into darkness.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “This is life-threatening. We have a hurricane. You can rebuild a home. You can rebuild property. You cannot rebuild a life.” — Gov. Rick Scott, urging Florida residents to be cautious Thursday as Hermine approached.
by Brandon Larrabee, The News Service of Florida