One Injured In Highway 97 Crash
March 19, 2016
One person was injured in a single vehicle crash Friday night on Highway 97 in Walnut Hill.
A driver lost control on Highway 97 north of North Highway 99 about 10:20 p.m., ran off the roadway, clipped a power pole and struck a magnolia tree before the vehicle came to a stop. One person was transported by Atmore Ambulance to Atmore Community Hospital with injuries that were not considered critical.
The accident also downed a electric service line, leaving at least one home without power.
The accident remains under investigation by the Florida Highway Patrol; further details have not been released. The Walnut Hill Station of Escambia Fire Rescue also responded to the crash.
NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
IMPACT 100 To Give Away Over $1 Million In Grants
March 19, 2016
IMPACT 100 Pensacola Bay Area, a local women’s philanthropy group, has announced that its 2016 Membership Drive has successfully concluded with a record of 1,082 members. The organization will give back to the community by awarding ten high impact project grants of $108,200 each to nonprofit agencies in Escambia and Santa Rosa Counties on October 16, 2016.
This will be the 13th year that IMPACT 100 will award grants to local nonprofit agencies. After awarding the 2016 grants, IMPACT 100 Pensacola Bay Area will have funded 77 grants, totaling $8.318 million.
“We are thrilled to have such a tremendous response from our community and we can’t wait to see what innovative projects the nonprofit agencies submit this year,”said Cyndi Warren, President of IMPACT 100. “Thanks to every one of our members, the Pensacola Bay Area shines once again as the largest Impact 100 organization in the world.”
Two grants will be awarded in each of the following five focus areas: Arts & Culture; Education; Environment, Recreation & Preservation; Family; and Health & Wellness.
Non-profit organizations interested in applying for a grant are invited to attend this year’s Nonprofit Education Workshop with guest speaker Quint Studer, founder of the Studer Group. He will present “Dream Big – Create IMPACT” at First Baptist Church, 500 North Palafox Street, on Thursday, April 26, 8:30 a.m. until 12:30 p.m. All nonprofit organizations in Escambia and Santa Rosa Counties are invited to learn about the grant process, get tips to writing a more successful grant, be inspired to dream big and create a winning project. Letters of Intent to Apply for a grant are due April 30. Grant Applications must be submitted by June 24.
Four Sentenced In Burglary Ring
March 19, 2016
Four co-defendants in a burglary were sentenced by Circuit Judge Ross Goodman to the following:
Johnnie Lee, 56 years old from Pensacola, was sentenced to life in prison on charges of gurglary of a structure causing more than $1,000 damage to said structure, criminal mischief causing over $1,000 damage and fleeing to elude a law enforcement officer.
Noral Scott, 54 years old from Pensacola, was sentenced to 50 years state prison on charges of two counts of burglary of a structure causing more than $1,000 damage to said structure, conspiracy to commit burglary, possession of burglary tools, and resisting arrest without violence.
Markett Simpkins was tried and convicted of burglary charges from this case in December and was sentenced to 25 years in state prison by Circuit Judge John Miller. Donald Robinson pleaded no contest to the burglary charges on July 31, 2015 and was sentenced to 10 years state prison by Circuit Judge John Miller.
On November 24, 2014, officers from the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office and Pensacola Police Department were conducting surveillance on individuals involved in a string of business burglaries. Those burglaries involved breaking into safes and ATM units.
The surveillance led officers to the Eglin Federal Credit Union ATM located in the 8500 block of Navarre Parkway in the Soundview Plaza Shopping Center. Officers conducting surveillance saw three individuals: Noral Scott, Markett Simpkins, and Donald Robinson enter the building at the Eglin Federal Credit Union ATM while Johnnie Lee drove around as a lookout. When officers converged on the building, they discovered the suspects had cut a hole in the wall into an adjacent pet grooming business. Scott, Simpkins and Robinson were located in the attic of the pet grooming business and were removed by officers from the Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office SWAT team. Johnnie Lee was located in the neighborhood directly behind the shopping center and led deputies on a pursuit, ultimately ending when Lee collided with a sheriff’s vehicle.
Several wires were cut on the outside of the building to attempt to disarm the security system. Additional damage was done to the walls, doors and ceiling of the businesses.
Johnnie Lee was convicted of the charges by a Santa Rosa County Jury on March 2 and Noral Scott entered a plea to the charges on October 23, 2015. Lee has an extensive prior criminal record, including five prior burglaries, possession of burglary tools and multiple grand theft and dealing in stolen property charges spanning multiple decades back to 1979.
Scott also has an extensive criminal history, including a conviction for second degree murder in 1980. Both Johnnie Lee and Noral Scott are charged in several burglaries in Santa Rosa County which are set for trial on April 11, as well as burglaries in Escambia County set for trial on March 28.
Court Backs Use Of New Law In Death Penalty Cases
March 19, 2016
Florida’s new death-penalty sentencing process should apply to prosecutions that were already underway when the new law went into effect this month, a state appeals court ruled Friday.
The 5th District Court of Appeal also decided that a U.S. Supreme Court decision, in an Escambia County case known as Hurst v. Florida, did not strike down the state’s entire death penalty as unconstitutional, but instead overturned the procedure for imposing death sentences.
But because the issues “involve questions of great public importance,” a three-judge panel asked the Florida Supreme Court to decide whether the Hurst decision declared that the state’s death penalty is unconstitutional and if the new law applies to cases already in the pipeline before the new sentencing process went into effect March 7.
In a Jan. 12 ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court found that Florida’s system of giving judges, and not juries, the power to impose death sentences was an unconstitutional violation of defendants’ Sixth Amendment right to trial by jury.
The 8-1 U.S. Supreme Court decision dealt with the sentencing phase of death-penalty cases after defendants are found guilty, and it focused on what are known as aggravating circumstances that must be determined before defendants can be sentenced to death. A 2002 U.S. Supreme Court ruling, in a case known as Ring v. Arizona, requires that determinations of such aggravating circumstances must be made by juries, not judges.
The ruling left Florida temporarily without a death-penalty sentencing structure, prompting the Legislature to hurriedly pass a bill intended to fix the process. Gov. Rick Scott signed the bill March 7, and it went into effect immediately.
Under Florida’s new law, juries will have to unanimously determine “the existence of at least one aggravating factor” before defendants can be eligible for death sentences. The law also requires at least 10 jurors to recommend the death penalty in order for the sentence to be imposed, and it did away with a feature of the old law that had allowed judges to override juries’ recommendations of life in prison instead of death.
The Florida Supreme Court, which indefinitely put on hold two executions after the Hurst ruling, has been grappling with how — or whether — to apply the ruling to inmates already on Death Row. The questions posed Friday by the appellate judges are part of a process known as “certifying” questions to the Florida Supreme Court.
Friday’s ruling came in the consolidated cases of Larry Darnell Perry, accused of killing his 3-month-old son in 2013, and William Theodore Woodward, charged with murdering two of his neighbors in 2012.
After the Hurst decision, Perry and Woodward asked judges in their cases to bar prosecutors from seeking the death penalty. The judges agreed with the defendants’ lawyers, who argued that, because there was no constitutionally permitted death penalty process in Florida at the time, the state could not pursue death sentences in the cases.
But the appellate court on Friday sided with the state, saying that blocking the death penalty “impermissibly invades” the discretion of the state to seek the sentence.
The appeals court also rejected arguments that the new sentencing law should not apply in the cases of Perry and Woodward because of a 1972 law that provides alternative sentences if the death penalty is deemed unconstitutional. The 1972 law, which required that all death sentences be converted into life imprisonment, came in response to a ruling in a case known as Furman v. Georgia that resulted in a nationwide moratorium on the death penalty.
In the 10-page decision issued Friday, appeals-court Judge Richard B. Orfinger wrote that the Hurst ruling “struck the process of imposing a sentence of death, not the penalty itself.”
Orfinger, joined by judges Kerry I. Evander and F. Rand Wallis, also disagreed with the defendants’ contention that the application of the new law to pending cases would amount to an “ex post facto” violation of both the Florida and U.S. Constitutions.
That constitutional problem would only arise if the new law retroactively altered the definition of crimes or increased the punishment for the crimes, Orfinger noted.
While Florida’s new law changes the process used to determine whether the death penalty will be imposed, it does not modify the punishment attached to first-degree murder, Orfinger wrote.
“The new sentencing statute added no new element, or functional equivalent of an element, to first-degree murder. Hence, the changes to our capital sentencing procedures do not resemble the type of after-the-fact legislative evil contemplated by the ex post facto doctrine,” he wrote.
by Dara Kam, The News Service of Florida
Weekend Gardening: Daffodils Signal Spring
March 19, 2016
Few plants seem to signify the freshness of spring quite as well as daffodils. The name “daffodils” is derived from “addodell” a variant of Asphodel (a plant of the Asphodelus genus.) In historical documents and the common language of 16th century Europe, the term “daffodil” referred specifically to the wild daffodil, Narcissus pseudonarcissus.
The derivation of the Latin narcissus is unknown. It is frequently linked to the Greek myth of Narcissus, who was rumored to be so obsessed with his own reflection that he died while gazing at himself in a pool of water. From the location of his death sprang the narcissus plant. Another Greek myth finds Persephone, daughter of the goddess Demeter, lured to her doom by the God Hades while picking a narcissus. Therefore the plant is perceived as a symbol of vanity in some Western culture.
Others attribute the plants’ name to its narcotic properties. One translation of the Greek name is “I grow numb!” All narcissus species contain the alkaloid poison lycorine, mostly in the bulb but also in the leaves. Members of the Amaryllidaceae family contain unique types of alkaloids. They are responsible for the poisonous properties of a number of the species. Of the 200 different chemical compounds found in this plant family, at least 79 of them can be found in narcissus.
Daffodils are a popular potted plant for cut flowers, but also make attractive naturalized ground covers in gardens and around trees, providing color from the end of winter through late spring. If the narcissus blooms on Chinese New Year, it is said to bring wealth and good fortune throughout the year. The flower color varies from white through pinks and yellows to deep reddish-orange with multiple petal forms. Hundreds of cultivars are available.
Planting dates vary according to geographical location, but bulbs are usually planted in the fall when the soil is cool. Daffodils grow well in full sun or light shade, with the blooms lasting longer when protected from the noon day sun. When selecting a location for planting, it should be noted that the individual flowers will face the sun.
Pre-chilled bulbs should be planted in 6-8” deep holes with a tablespoon of slow release fertilizer added to the soil directly under the bulb and with 4-5” of soil covering the bulb. Watering throughout the winter will be necessary if rains are infrequent. After flowering, the daffodils need to be fertilized and watering should continue. The foliage will naturally turn yellow and die as stored food is restored to the bulb.
Division, transplanting and collection for forcing potted plants can be done after all the foliage has declined. To force Daffodils to bloom at varied times in a container the dried bulbs will need to be stored at a 45° F temperature for 4-6 weeks prior to being placed in the sun to grow.
The bright, cheery Daffodil flowers are beginning to bloom now and will continue as Easter approaches, reminding us that spring really is coming.
Email Sheila Dunning at sdunning@ufl.edu.
NorthEscambia.com file photos, click to enlarge.
Middle School Report Cards Delayed
March 19, 2016
Middle school report cards were due to be sent home Friday in Escambia County, but distribution has been delayed until the Monday after spring break.
Meanwhile, parents can see the report cards online in the Focus Parent Portal.
Federal Protection Sought For Black Bears
March 19, 2016
Conservation and animal-protection groups want a federal endangered-species protection designation for Florida black bears before another hunt may be held in the state. T
he Center for Biological Diversity and the Animal Legal Defense Fund, along with more than a dozen groups, filed a petition Thursday with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that seeks to place the black bear under the federal Endangered Species Act. Jaclyn Lopez, Florida director at the Center for Biological Diversity, said the proposal is intended to “make sure the bear has a place in Florida’s future.”
The groups note the bear population has been able to grow from between 300 to 500 in the 1970s to around 3,500 due in part to being listed as threatened by the state.
However, that designation was lifted in 2012 when a new management plan was approved.
In October, the state held what resulted in a two-day hunt in four parts of the state, with 304 bears killed — 16 short of the so-called “harvest objective.”
The Center for Biological Diversity estimates at least 590 bears were killed in Florida last year, when factoring in the hunt, habitat loss and road kill. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission hasn’t made any decision about a future hunt. Florida lawmakers included $500,000 to reduce human-bear conflicts in the state’s new $82 billion budget, which Gov. Rick Scott signed late Thursday
The money is to match local dollars in purchasing bear-resistant garbage containers. The budget specifies that at least 60 percent of the money has to go to local governments that have “an ordinance in place focused on resolving issues associated with bear attractants and garbage.”
by The News Service of Florida
NorthEscambia.com file photo.
Florida Gov’t Weekly Roundup: No Rest For The Weary
March 19, 2016
The week after the legislative session is usually a quiet one. Lawmakers, lobbyists and reporters take some time to catch up on sleep, reacquaint themselves with life outside the Capitol, and generally begin the recuperation after a 60-day sprint.
This year, there was no time for rest. On Monday, presidential candidates and surrogates — some of them lawmakers — crisscrossed the state to try and get voters motivated ahead of the Tuesday primaries. And if voting for the leader of the free world wasn’t enough news on Tuesday itself, Gov. Rick Scott also announced his intentions on the state budget in an unusual move.
By midweek, things had started to slow down a bit and return to the normal post-session lull. The quiet probably won’t last for long. Primaries for state offices will start soon enough — all 160 legislative seats will be up for grabs — and the presidential campaign seems to once again be a race to see who can win Ohio and Florida. Catch your breath while you can.
RUBIO FOLDS HIS HAND
When the Republican Party of Florida decided to award all 99 of its Republican National Convention delegates to the winner of the state’s March 15 presidential primary, it seemed to be an attempt to boost former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush or current U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio. Party leaders repeatedly denied that helping out the state’s favorite sons was the objective, but few believed them.
But Bush’s campaign never made it to Florida, and Rubio ended his White House bid Tuesday after real-estate mogul Donald Trump walloped him by nearly 20 points. Trump carried almost 46 percent of the vote, to 27 percent for Rubio, according to unofficial returns. U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and Ohio Gov. John Kasich came in a distant third and a more-distant fourth.
Things were even more lopsided on the Democratic side, where former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton routed U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont. Clinton had more than 64 percent of the vote, to 33 percent for Sanders.
Bowing out of the race, Rubio still questioned Trump’s bona fides as the best leader for the Republican Party. But he stayed away from the kind of jokes about Trump’s manhood that for a time knocked Rubio off his message in the weeks leading up to Florida.
“America needs a vibrant conservative movement, but one that’s built on principles and on ideas, not on fear, not on anger, not on preying on people’s frustrations,” Rubio said. ” … But after tonight it is clear that while we are on the right side, this year, we will not be on the winning side.”
Trump, for his part, greeted Rubio’s departure with remarks that could be called gracious — something not normally associated with the bombastic billionaire.
“He’s tough, he’s smart, and he’s got a great future,” Trump said.
Rubio’s Democratic critics weren’t so kind.
“Florida Democrats knew that once Americans got to know Marco, they would see what those of us in the Sunshine State have known all along: Rubio is nothing more than a self-centered career-politician heavy on ambition and light on substance,” party Chairwoman Allison Tant said in a statement issued after the result became clear.
But other politicos agreed with the sentiment Trump voiced about Rubio’s future in the Republican Party, even if they disagree with Trump on almost everything else.
“If you know Marco, you know this is a guy who is young and still wants to be a meaningful force and positive force in American political life,” said Rick Wilson, a Republican political consultant who worked for independent efforts backing Rubio.
How that will manifest itself, though, was unclear. By the end of Thursday, Rubio had already ruled out running for vice president, governor or senator — something that seemed to leave open only the possibility of another presidential bid in 2020 should this year’s GOP nominee falter.
FALSE ALARM
In the closing days of the legislative session, predictions about a messy end to the budget showdown between Scott and lawmakers were rampant — and dire. Scott would use his line-item veto to devastate House and Senate priorities; Senate Appropriations Chairman Tom Lee, R-Brandon, told reporters that the governor might hack $500 million from a spending plan that totaled $82.3 billion when passed.
That wasn’t even the wildest idea. Scott might veto the entire budget, something almost never done. And whether he nixed the entire budget or just a hefty portion of it, the relationship between the governor and the Legislature had deteriorated to the point that there was open talk of veto overrides — another unusual step.
Scott’s office offered few clear answers, and the governor almost always plays his cards close to the vest when asked about whether he will sign or veto legislation. Then, out of the blue, Scott announced Tuesday that he would sign the budget while trimming just $256 million from the spending plan — a modest amount for a governor known for using his veto pen like a Ginsu when it suits him.
By releasing his budget announcement on the same day when many political journalists would be focused on the presidential primaries, Scott seemed to be aiming for minimal coverage. While he has worked to portray the spending plan as a victory, the governor got very little of what he wanted from the Legislature.
“Before I came into office, Florida was raising taxes and fees and there is no doubt that I will always want more tax cuts and more jobs,” Scott said in a statement released by his office Tuesday. “I look forward to continuing to work with the Legislature to find more ways next year to return money back to families all across Florida.”
The budget bumps up per-student spending on public schools by 1 percent, moving it to a record amount. It spends more than $713.5 million on education construction projects and funds $151 million for restoration of the Everglades and an area lawmakers are calling the Northern Everglades.
House and Senate leaders indicated that the veto list was reasonable enough to distance themselves from any talk of overrides or open confrontation. House Speaker Steve Crisafulli, R-Merritt Island, said Scott “has used his veto in a prudent and fair manner.”
It helped that few of the lines struck from the budget were big-ticket items. The biggest cut was nearly $15 million for construction of the Center of Innovation Technology Education at Eastern Florida State College.
The only other vetoes of $10 million or more were the elimination of $11 million to build a performing arts center at Pasco-Hernando State College, and the removal of $10 million for “quiet zone” improvements near railway lines.
Scott also left in place some of the things most important to legislative leaders, like $20 million to pay for the state share of a downtown Orlando campus for the University of Central Florida, a top priority of outgoing Senate President Andy Gardiner, R-Orlando.
The happy talk was a relief for those involved in the political process for another reason: Barring a court decision or other unforeseen issue, there will be no special session in 2016, a break from last year’s three additional gatherings in Tallahassee.
On Thursday, the Legislature finally sent the budget to Scott. He signed it and vetoed the projects he said he would.
LEGISLATIVE FALLOUT
Even with the budget out of the way, some officials were feeling the effects of what lawmakers did or didn’t do in the session that ended in March — and even what happened further in the past.
Barry Gilway, the president and CEO of state-backed Citizens Property Insurance, said inaction by lawmakers to address a spike in water-damage claims could reverse years of work to shrink the company.
Gilway warned the company’s board that policyholders can expect to see annual rate hikes that approach 10 percent in South Florida, where water-damage claims have been the most prevalent.
Gilway told the board that the company will need to do a better job making lawmakers aware of the potential damage to the insurance industry in Florida unless restrictions are placed on a controversial insurance practice known as “assignment of benefits.”
“I just don’t believe that we got the story across that this is a crisis, this is going to reverse all the improvement we’re seeing in the overall marketplace over the last two to three years,” Gilway said.
Assignments of benefits often arise when homeowners need repairs for problems such as water damage. Homeowners sign over benefits to contractors, who ultimately pursue payments from insurance companies.
Meanwhile, the Florida Board of Governors — which oversees the state’s university system — was facing up to the news that Florida Polytechnic University wouldn’t meet accreditation by its original deadline. Under a 2012 bill establishing Florida Poly, it was supposed to get the OK from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools by December.
The university is hoping to get a final decision on its “candidacy” — the first step in accreditation — this June, following a visit by SACS officials last week. Florida Poly then wanted the association to visit again in the fall, in hopes of completing the process at the end of the year.
But SACS informed the university that it couldn’t do both site visits in the same calendar year, President Randy Avent said. Board of Governors members were not pleased.
“I just have to tell you we all sat up here fat and happy thinking that this was going just the way we should, and I for one am disappointed to hear it this way. … Maybe you ought to go back and look at the people you have working on this to make sure that you’re being fully informed and that we’re being fully informed,” board member Norman Tripp said.
A bill Scott signed along with the budget, though, extends the deadline for accreditation until December 2017.
STORY OF THE WEEK: U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio suspends his presidential campaign, ending the hopes of the only remaining full-time Floridian in the race and giving another boost to businessman Donald Trump.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “The Senate president, exercising his privilege as a caucus of one, decided to shut things down. That is the unequivocal truth.”—Marc Dunbar, a partner with the Jones Walker law firm and a lobbyist who represents the owner of Gulfstream Park Racing in Broward County, on the failure of a major gambling bill in the 2016 session. Gardiner denies that he blocked the measure from reaching the floor.
by Brandon Larrabee, The News Service of Florida
Escambia County Purchases AED’s For Community Centers, Ballparks
March 18, 2016
Between football games last September, a youth league coach fell onto the field at Northview High School in full cardiac arrest.
In the moments that followed, the pieces of a lifesaving puzzle quickly fell into place. Husband and wife medics, a doctor and other football fans trained in CPR rushed to the field, literally taking turns performing chest compression on the beloved coach. An Automated External Defibrillator (AED) was retrieved from a nearby building, an ambulance arrived, and prayers were said.
The coach was revived and has since made a full recovery.
The incident led to a vote Thursday night by the Escambia County Commission to place 32 AED’s at ballparks and community centers with athletic programs throughout the county. The purchase includes 32 fully automatic AED’s with voice prompts, wall cabinets, adapter kits to make each AED usable on children and four years of service and onside preventative maintenance. The LifePak CR PLus AED’s are the same model used on Escambia County EMS ambulances.
The $54,681.29 bid was awarded to CPR Savers and First Aid Supply, LLC. Low bidder was Second Chance Medical Products, but the company’s bid did not include on-site preventive maintenance nor did they have a service representative within a 50-mile radius as requested in the invitation to bid.
“This was a case where EMS could take a relatively small amount of a money and invest it in making the community safer,” Escambia County Public Safety Director Mike Weaver said. He said that community and sports group members will be provided AED training, and CPR training will be made available for the public.
The county will also allow churches and non-profit groups to purchase the same model AED’s at the county’s contract price, with advance payment.
For last September’s story about the coach, click here.
NorthEscambia.com file photo.
Tate Wins The Aggie Classic
March 18, 2016
Tate 5, Milton 0
The Tate Aggies won their own Aggie Classic Thursday night with a 5-0 shutout of Milton.
The Aggies jumped out to a 3-0 lead with a three-run homer over the right-field wall from Cole Halfacre.
Tate hitters — Mason Land 1-3, run; Branden Fryman 3-4, RBI, run; Cole Halfacre 1-3, 3 RBIs, run, HR; Hunter NeSmith 1-3; Jake Davis 2-3, RBI, HR; Hunter McLean 1-2; Josh Kea 1-2, run.
WP – Logan McGuffey (6 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 8 K, 1 BB)
For more photos, click to enlarge.
(Other Thursday scores are below photos, scroll down.)
Pictured: A night of celebrations for the Tate Aggies. Pictured top: Celebrating the Aggie Classic championship. Pictured inset: Cole Halfacres pops a three run home over the fence. Pictured below: Three run homer from Halfacre and a homer from Jake Davis. NorthEscambia.com photos by Jennifer Repine, click to enlarge.
Other scores:
Chiles 19, Edmond North 5
Second Baptist 11, Washington 1
Jenks 7, Next Level 2
Stillwater 5, Gulf Breeze 1
Christ Presby. vs. Union (rainout)
Escambia vs. Shawnee (rainout)
Reno 7, Coweta 5
West Florida 4, Piedmont 3
Leon 5, Pryor 0
Emery 8, Morris 4