Chemical Tanker Truck Wrecks Near Walnut Hill; One Family Evacuated
February 16, 2016
One nearby family was evacuated Monday night after a chemical tanker truck accident near Walnut Hill.
The driver of the 18-wheeler, 60-year old Lowell Lienemann of Houston, was detoured from Highway 29 due to the tornado damage in Century. He was southbound on North Highway 99 approaching Highway 164 near Walnut Hill. He attempted to turn west onto Highway 164 due to a “No Truck” sign on Highway 99. The right side wheels of the tanker trailer left the roadway and fell into a culvert, causing the entire truck to overturn onto its side, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.
The truck was loaded with Hexamethylenediamine, a moderately toxic corrosive material that can cause serious burns and severe irritation. Very little, if any, of the chemical solution was leaking from the overturned tanker into a ditch.
After the initial response from local Escambia Fire Rescue crews, a hazardous materials team from Pensacola arrived to oversee the offloading of the chemical and the righting of the tanker car. Work continued into the early morning hours as firefighters kept a 150-foot distance from the truck, leaving the intersection closed overnight.
The cleanup was expected to last well into Tuesday morning.
One family that lives directly at the intersection was evacuated as a precaution.
NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
All Schools Open On Wednesday
February 16, 2016
Malcolm Thomas, Superintendent of the Escambia County (FL) School District announced that all of the selected schools that were closed Tuesday following Monday night’s storm, will be open for students and staff on Wednesday at regular times.
Bus routes that support those four schools have been checked for downed trees, etc.
“There will be a few bus routes affected, but those families will be contacted to let them know where their student should meet their bus until all road ways are reopened,” said Thomas. “We did have some students whose homes were damaged by the storm. Should those students’ parents feel they need to miss additional school days while they react to the damage, they should contact their school’s front office staff directly.”
Thomas also said there wasn’t any damage reported that would affect operations at any of the ECSD schools.
Schools that were closed on Tuesday included: Bratt Elementary School, Byrneville Charter Elementary School, Ernest Ward Middle School and Northview High School All other Escambia County (FL) public schools will also open at their regular times on Wednesday.
Hundreds Remained Without Power Overnight
February 16, 2016
Virtually all of the Century area was without power Monday afternoon after a tornado ripped through the area. Crews from Escambia River Electric Cooperative and Gulf Power worked throughout the night to restore power.
A spokesperson for EREC had approximately 700 members without power following yesterday’s tornado and storm. The service area received extensive damage with many poles and lines down and debris. Crews have worked throughout the night restoring power. As of 8:15 a.m., EREC had about 30 members still without power and seven poles still down. Crews will continue to work until all members’ power has been restored.
Gulf Power company reported about 575 customers in the Century area without power as of about 1 a.m. Tuesday as their crews continued to work.
Pictured: The view from an EREC bucket truck as crews worked to restore power in the Century area late Monday night. Photos courtesy EREC for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
More Tornado Updates: Follow Us On Facebook, Twitter
February 16, 2016
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House Ready To Move On Death Penalty Changes
February 16, 2016
Taking an approach backed by prosecutors and Attorney General Pam Bondi, the Florida House on Wednesday is slated to take up a bill that would revamp the state’s death-penalty sentencing system.
Lawmakers are hurrying to make changes after the U.S. Supreme Court on Jan. 12 ruled that the current system is unconstitutional because it gives too much power to judges, instead of juries, in sentencing defendants to death.
The House and Senate agree on a key part of addressing the Supreme Court ruling — requiring that jurors be unanimous in deciding that at least one “aggravating” factor exists before a defendant can be eligible for the death penalty. But the two chambers are divided on a high-profile issue about whether jurors should be required to be unanimous in recommending to judges that death sentences be imposed.
In the past, Florida has required only majority recommendations. The House, with support from prosecutors and Bondi, wants to move to a 9-3 vote, while the Senate wants to require a unanimous recommendation. The House is slated to take up its bill (HB 7101) during a floor session Wednesday afternoon, according to a calendar of bills approved Monday by the Rules and Calendar Committee.
by The News Service of Florida
Molino Man Charged With Trying To Stab Mom, 75, And Uncle
February 15, 2016
A Molino man has been charged with trying to stab his 75-year old mother and his live-in uncle with a knife.
Deputies responding to a disturbance in the 1100 block of McKinnonville Road arrived to find Alvin Richard Wallace rolling on the floor fighting with his uncle, trying to stab him with a buck knife. Deputies were able to separate the fight and detain Wallace.
Wallace’s elderly mother told deputies that he threatened to kill her and his uncle with the buck knife raised in his right hand. He had allegedly been drinking heavily before the incident and told deputies that he did have a knife in his hand but could not remember what happened, according to an Escambia County Sheriff’s Office arrest report.
Wallace, 51, was charged with two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and booked into the Escambia County Jail where remained Monday with bond set at $15,000.
Florida Lawmakers Float Boating Enforcement Changes
February 15, 2016
Law enforcement officers would need “reasonable suspicion” to stop and inspect boats sporting state safety stickers, under a measure that sailed through its final House committee.
The Economic Affairs Committee voted 12-3 to approve the proposal (HB 703), which would revise a state law about reckless and careless operations of vessels.
A key feature of the proposal would lessen the ability of Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission law-enforcement officers, county deputies and municipal police officers to use the pretext of conducting safety inspections to stop and search boats if the vessels display commission safety-inspection decals.
“I just want to give safe boaters the opportunity to be pulled over less,” bill sponsor Ritch Workman, R-Melbourne, said. “Not that they can’t be pulled over at all.”
The proposal wouldn’t prohibit officers from stopping boats when there is reasonable suspicion or probable cause that violations have occurred, such as over-harvesting lobster or fishing out of season.
Workman said he advanced the proposal because boaters from his community complain about being pulled over “almost every time they go out” by officers who say they are conducting safety inspections or say they have seen people not properly in the craft.
The commission’s Division of Law Enforcement-approved decal, available after a boat has undergone a safety inspection, would have to be posted within six inches of the vessel registration decal, according to the proposal.
On non-motorized boats, which are not required to be registered, the decal would have to be located just above the waterline on the forward half of the port side.
The commission already provides the decals, which don’t have an expiration date.
Workman said he doesn’t intend to impose new restrictions on the safety decals, such as requiring the color to be changed annually.
“My fear is that if I mandate a different something every year I have inadvertently created an annual inspection process, which I don’t want to do,” Workman said.
Workman’s proposal also would redefine a law about the noncriminal violation of careless operation of a vessel.
“It will no longer be, if this bill becomes law, ticketable to give a ticket to a boater that you think their kids may be sitting unsafely on the boat, otherwise bow-riding, or if your wife is sunbathing on the front of a boat,” Workman said. “You can still be pulled over for it and lectured, but not ticketed.”
The commission issued 7,770 citations for a variety of violations in 2014, including 3,146 involving safety equipment and regulations, and 802 for the negligent operation of vessels, according to agency records. A year earlier, 6,909 citations were issued by the state agency, with 3,157 involving safety equipment and regulations and 2,227 for negligent operations.
The Senate version of the proposal (SB 1454) has received unanimous support from the Environmental Preservation and Conservation Committee and must still get through Criminal and Civil Justice Appropriations Subcommittee and the Fiscal Policy Committee.
by Jim Turner, The News Service of Florida
Senate Seeks School Funding Change As Budgets Pass
February 15, 2016
The Senate unveiled a proposal that would require the state to pick up at least half of any increase in education funding — a move aimed at lowering property taxes — as the chamber’s lead budget-writer blasted proposals to slash taxes by $1 billion.
Meanwhile, the House and Senate gave final approval to spending plans for the year beginning July 1, setting up negotiations about the budget and tax cuts that will shape the last month of the annual legislative session.
Lawmakers have expressed confidence that this year’s spending talks will go more smoothly than last year’s discussions, which deadlocked over health-care spending and led to the collapse of the legislative session. A special session was called in June to resolve the clash.
But the Senate’s new proposal on education spending showed that even some of the more basic aspects of the budget remained fluid as the session entered its second half. The legislation, approved by the Senate Education Appropriations Subcommittee, is meant to counter criticism that about 80 percent of the proposed increases in public school spending for the 2016-2017 year would come from a property tax known as the required local effort.
“This is not just a tax cut,” said Sen. Don Gaetz, the chairman of the subcommittee and one of the leaders of the push on local taxes. “This is making sure that the state, through its other revenue sources, picks up our fair share of our partnership with local school boards and local property taxpayers.”
Under the bill, at least half of the boost in education funding would have to come from state funds, not the required local effort. But Senate leaders seem to be treating the bill like a statement of their intent rather than formal legislation; it has no House counterpart and has started moving relatively late in the budget process.
Using the Senate’s budget proposal — the most generous one on education funding — the state would need to kick in another $183.2 million to increase school spending by the same amount and get to an even split. An equivalent rollback in property taxes would be about $12.40 on $100,000 of taxable value.
Democrats also backed the principle.
“To me, a deal is a deal, and a 50-50 split, just to the man on the street, sounds like a reasonable thing to do,” said Sen. Bill Montford, a Tallahassee Democrat who doubles as CEO of the Florida Association of District School Superintendents.
There were still unknowns about how exactly the proposal would work. House Speaker Steve Crisafulli, R-Merritt Island, repeated that he would be interested in the proposal as long as lawmakers ensured the money made it back to taxpayers.
“Because if we’re just pushing money back to locals and not cutting the millage, then that’s not ideal, unless we’re writing checks back to the individuals that pay property taxes,” he said.
Senate Appropriations Chairman Tom Lee, R-Brandon, said the proposal would likely work by lowering the millage and not by sending rebates directly to taxpayers, which he said would incur large postage bills.
The proposal lands in the middle of a budget process that is entering a critical phase. With the House and Senate voting to approve their versions of the spending plan, Crisafulli and Senate President Andy Gardiner, R-Orlando, will now begin hammering out how much money is spent in each section of the budget.
After that, joint House-Senate conference committees will work out compromises on how to divvy up the funding in each area.
The House passed its budget on a nearly party-line vote, 85-29, after sharp debate. Five Democrats voted with Republicans to approve the measure, while Rep. John Tobia, R-Melbourne Beach, voted against the budget.
Democrats continued to pound away at a prohibition in the House budget on funding for Planned Parenthood, which offers abortion among its health-care services for women. There is already a federal law preventing the federal money that flows through the state budget from being used to pay for abortions.
“The funding that they get from this state is for the things that women need,” said Rep. Kevin Rader, D-Delray Beach.
The Senate, meanwhile, unanimously approved its version of the budget, which does not specifically ban funding for Planned Parenthood. Though they voted for the spending proposal, some Democrats complained about the lack of funding for some areas of the budget as lawmakers ready a sizable tax-cut package.
“For me, personally, even though I’m going to support this budget, I just want to let you know: I think it’s more important for us to spend that money on our students than it is to spend it on a tax cut,” said Sen. Jeff Clemens, D-Lake Worth. “I think it’s more important to spend this money on health care for children or on mental health services than it is for a tax cut.”
At the same time, Lee seemed to all but rule out tax packages of around $1 billion floated by Gov. Rick Scott and the House.
“I can tell you that, in my view, if we even begin to entertain tax cuts remotely in the area of that billion-dollar number, it would be fiscally irresponsible of us,” Lee said.
by Brandon Larrabee, The News Service of Florida
Teens: Enjoy Free Pizza And Books At The Molino Library
February 15, 2016
A “Pizza and Books” program will be held Tuesday at 6 p.m. at the Molino Branch Library.
Teens 13-17 are invited to “geek-out” on both at this book club designed to focus on their favorite reads. The library will provide the free pizza, and the teens will pick the books.
The Molino Branch Library is located at 6450-A Highway 95A in the Molino Community Complex.
NorthEscambia.com photo, click to enlarge.
FDOT: Weekly Traffic Alerts
February 15, 2016
Drivers will encounter traffic disruptions on the following state roads in Escambia and Santa Rosa counties this week as crews perform construction and maintenance activities.
ESCAMBIA COUNTY
- U.S. 29, Escambia County – Intermittent and alternating lane closures within the town of Century and from Champion Drive north continue, including sidewalk work in Century (pictured top).
- Interstate 10 (I-10) over Eleven Mile Creek Bridge- East and westbound traffic will be shifted to the inside lanes at the first of next week as crew begin construction on the outside lanes. Message boards are on site to alert drivers of upcoming change in traffic pattern.
- I-10 Widening, Escambia County – Drivers will experience the following impacts on I-10 east and westbound, near Exit 17 (Scenic Highway) in Escambia County, from 7 p.m. to 6:30 a.m. Wednesday, Feb. 17 through Friday, Feb. 19:
- The right lane of I-10 will be closed.
- Traffic in the left lane will be slowed by Florida Highway Patrol.
- Traffic on the Scenic Highway on-ramp to I-10 eastbound will experience intermittent delays.
- The closures and pacing operations will allow crews to place the concrete deck for the new Scenic Highway overpass.
- S.R. 289 (9th Avenue), Escambia County – Crews continue paving operations between the intersection of Bayou Boulevard and Creighton Road. Lane closures will be in effect from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. Motorists will also encounter intermittent and alternating daytime lane closures between Fairfield Drive and Cervantes Street as crews adjust manholes and valves.
- U.S. 90 (Scenic Highway) at the intersection of Scenic Highway Circle, Escambia County – Emergency repair work continues. New stormwater pipe will be installed beneath Scenic Highway. Traffic flaggers will be on site to assist with traffic control as construction vehicles enter and exit the work area. The repair work will take about two months to complete.
SANTA ROSA COUNTY
- US 98, Santa Rosa County- Alternating lane closures from the Gulf Breeze Zoo to the Okaloosa County line 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. Monday, Feb. 15 through Friday, Feb. 19 as crews perform striping operations.
- U.S. 98, Santa Rosa County- Alternating lane closures between Central Parkway and the Gulf Breeze Zoo from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. Sunday through Thursday through the end of February. Crews will also mill and pave crossovers and side streets through the end of February.
- I-10 Widening, Santa Rosa County – Alternating lane closures between the Escambia Bay Bridge and S.R. 281 (Avalon Boulevard/Exit 22) from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. Sunday, Feb. 14 through Thursday, Feb. 18 as crews perform construction activities.
All activities are weather dependent and may be delayed or re-scheduled in the event of inclement weather. Motorists are reminded to use caution, especially at night, when traveling in a work zone and to watch for construction workers and equipment entering and exiting the roadway.
Pictured top: Sidewalk work, including some lane closures, are continuing in Century. NorthEscambia.com photo, click to enlarge.