I Lost My Son: Remembering Fallen Marine J.R. Spears
October 25, 2015
It’s been 10 years since Marine Cpl. J.R. Spears was killed by a single gunshot wound in Iraq, the first fatality from Escambia or Santa Rosa counties during the war in Iraq.
Saturday afternoon, his family, community members and even complete strangers gathered next to the J.R. Spears Memorial Field at Don Sutton Ballpark in Molino to remember the Tate High School graduate. It was, according to his father Tim Spears, a chance to celebrate what he meant to family and the community.
Spears and his daughters Jessie and Jenny wore black t-shirts with the No. 62 — J.R. Spears’ jersey number at right guard for the Tate Aggies. The team has since retired the jersey number in his honor.
Those gathered Saturday afternoon laughed and cried as they remembered J.R., and many wrote personal messages to him on red, white and blue balloons.
“Love and miss you – our hearys are broken. Save a place for us. Kisses from Molino,” said the message on one balloon. Many people wrote “Semper Fi” or “Thank you”. While another person wrote “You are forever in our hearts”. The balloons were released heavenward in his memory.
“We are going to send them straight to heaven,” event emcee T. Bubba Bechtol told the crowd.
For a photo gallery, click here.
The event also raised money for the J.R. Spears Memorial Scholarship that provides tuition for deserving Tate High graduates at Pensacola State College. When the winner of a “50/50 raffle” to benefit the scholarship fund was announced, a member of the Patriot Guard stepped forward and collected his winnings, only to return the cash to Tim Spears for the scholarship fund.
From the balloons, to the stories, to the hugs, and even the hamburgers and hot dogs, it was all about remembering the legacy of J.R. Spears.
“I don’t want everybody to forget why he died. He was doing what he thought was right,” father Tim Spears said. “A month or so before he was killed, there was a picture that came out…that showed him inside a house in Iraq talking to a man and a woman about why it so important for them to go and vote in their election and telling them what democracy was all about. That’s the kind of stuff that I want everybody to know.”
“They are not just over there killing people. They are trying their best to do what is right for the country that they are in and while defending our freedom and way of life over here,” he continued.
Then he paused, fighting back tears.
“And I guess there’s just a little bit personal on my part. I lost my son, and I want everybody to remember him and what he did.”
For a photo gallery, click here.
NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Firefighters Battle Fire At Atmore Chemical Plant
October 25, 2015
Firefighters spent several hours battling a fire at a chemical plant in Atmore.
Smoke was reported Saturday morning at Sunbelt Chemicals, located just off Highway 31 near the Atmore Country Club. The source of the smoke was traced to a smoldering fire inside insulation located over an office area inside the plant. The insulation contained sulfur dust that was burning, official said.
Firefighters worked for hours to remove the smoldering insulation. There were no injuries reported, and officials say the fire poised no danger to the public.
The plant manufactures and distributes sulfur products.
NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
CrossFaith Church Motorcycle Ride Benefits Alzheimer’s Services
October 25, 2015
CrossFaith Church in Molino held their annual “Ride to Remember” motorcycle ride Saturday to benefit local Alzheimer’s victims and their families. The ride began at Eagle’s Talon on Copter Road and ended at the church in Molino with a cookout, door prizes and more.
For a photo gallery, click here.
Photos by Megan Whitney Horne for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Motorcycle Hits Tate High School Band Bus, Flees Scene
October 25, 2015
The Florida Highway Patrol is still searching for a motorcyclist that slammed into a school bus loaded with Tate High band members early Saturday morning.
Members of the Tate High Showband of the South were on several buses returning from an away football game. At Highway 87 and High School Boulevard in Navarre, the driver of a 2006 Yamaha motorcycle attempted a U-turn and struck the rear of the bus driven by Jackie Carnley of Milton.
After the collision, the driver of the motorcycle fled the scene on foot. The passenger on the motorcycle, 29-year old Donna G. Williams of Navarre, was transported to Fort Walton Beach Medical Center with minor injures.
There were 51 total passengers — 43 minors and eight adults — on the school bus. None of of them were injured.
The accident remains under investigation by the FHP.
FDOT: Weekly Traffic Alerts
October 25, 2015
Drivers will encounter traffic disruptions on the following state roads in Escambia and Santa Rosa counties as crews perform construction and maintenance activities.
Nine Mile Road from west of I-10 to Heritage Oaks Drive in Escambia County – Eastbound lane closures from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. beginning Sunday, Oct. 25 through Friday Oct. 30 as crews perform construction activities.
S.R. 727 (Fairfield Drive) between Mobile Highway (S.R. 10A) and N. Palafox (S.R. 95/U.S. 29) in Escambia County – Intermittent lane closures from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. Monday, Oct. 26 through Friday, Oct. 30 as crews perform striping operations.
I-110 Bridge Painting – Drivers may encounter intermittent daytime restrictions on city streets under I-110 between Maxwell and Garden Streets as crews clean the bridges. The $2.6 million rehabilitation project is anticipated to be complete summer 2016.
I-10 Six Lane, Santa Rosa County – I-10 east and westbound between the Escambia Bay Bridge and State Road (S.R.) 281 (Avalon Boulevard) in Santa Rosa County. Alternating lane closures Sunday, Oct. 25 through Thursday, Oct. 29. Lane closures will be in effect from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. as crews place temporary asphalt, concrete barrier wall and striping. Drivers will also encounter alternating lane closures on S.R. 281 (Avalon Boulevard) near the I-10 interchange as crews pace barrier wall and remove concrete.
U.S. 98 Resurfacing, Santa Rosa County – U.S. 98 between Live Oaks Village shopping center and the Gulf Breeze Zoo in Santa Rosa County. Alternating lane closures from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. Friday, Oct. 23, through Thursday, Oct. 29. Crews will be placing the final layer of asphalt on the roadway and completing work list items.
Drivers are reminded to use caution, especially at night, when traveling through a work zone. All planned construction activities are weather dependent and may be re-scheduled in the event of inclement weather.
Photo Gallery: Hundreds Attend Williams Station Day
October 25, 2015
Hundreds attended the annual Williams Station Day in Atmore Saturday.
Williams Station Day takes its name from Atmore’s early history when in 1866 the community was a supply stop along the Mobile and Great Northern railroad. Festival-goers were entertained by a wide variety of musical acts, and a wide variety of arts and crafts were also available. An opening ceremony that featured a pink balloon release to recognize Breast Cancer Awareness month in October.
For a photo gallery, click here.
NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Florida Gov’t Weekly Roundup: Ink And Mumbo Jumbo
October 25, 2015
Nobody thought the Legislature’s latest attempt at crafting new Senate districts was going to be easy.
But this week’s intraparty Republican fighting at the opening of a special session — in a year that sadly might best be characterized as the “Session That Never Ended” — foreshadowed what could be another grim two weeks of drawing maps, chased by an equally foreboding regular session in a few months.
The contentiousness wasn’t restricted to the Legislature’s domain, however, even if another painful controversy did wind up inside the Capitol.
Florida A&M University President Elmira Mangum narrowly survived an attempted ouster that sharply divided alumni and students and wound up with the exit instead of the chairman of the college’s board of trustees.
Meanwhile, Capitol denizens might want to think again if they are considering a pool on the outcome of what could turn into another doomed redistricting attempt.
Senate President Andy Gardiner put the daily fantasy sports industry on notice this week that he’s definitely not “all in” on the online activity that’s swept the nation.
YEP. REDISTRICTING
The Senate Reapportionment Committee on Friday voted along party lines to approve a Senate map proposed by Chairman Bill Galvano, R-Bradenton. But there was grumbling from even some Republicans that the map might be flawed, most notably from Senate budget chief Tom Lee, a former Senate president. Before voting for the proposal, Lee called his chamber’s six proposals “defiant” and accused GOP leaders of being “unnecessarily dug in” on plans that would ultimately fail to garner support from the Florida Supreme Court.
Friday’s vote capped off a week of acrimony over the Senate plans.
Plunging into the debate Monday, the heretofore sharply divided House and Senate quickly hit on an area of disagreement about whether all 40 Senate seats will be up for re-election next year.
The split on the opening day of the session was an ominous sign about the three-week gathering aimed at producing a map that follows the voter-approved “Fair Districts” redistricting standards.
The new districts are needed after lawmakers signed a consent agreement with voting-rights organizations that conceded the current Senate map, drawn in 2012, would likely be found unconstitutional under the anti-gerrymandering amendments.
The concession followed court challenges to legislative and congressional maps that showed Republican political consultants used straw men to funnel maps into the redistricting process following the once-a-decade U.S. Census.
Late Wednesday, Galvano released his proposed draft of the map, as Republican discontent with a plan for whether and when members would have to run for re-election continued to brew.
The complicated dance during a special redistricting session highlighted the delicacy of the issue among lawmakers most affected by the process. It also underscored fissures within the GOP majority over a lingering battle for the Senate presidency following the 2016 elections, which continued to play out before the reapportionment committee gave approval to the plan Friday.
Meanwhile, senators clashed over efforts to come up with a random way of numbering districts without intending to favor incumbents. Because odd-numbered districts vote in presidential years, where larger turnout favors Democrats, and even-numbered districts vote in midterms with smaller and more conservative electorates, the number of a district can affect how safe a seat is for a particular party.
The Senate used a process Thursday overseen by the state auditor general to randomly select which seats would receive even numbers and which ones would get odd numbers. But Democrats complained during the unusual gathering — which was not formally a committee meeting — that it was too early to number the districts because it could provide lawmakers with an idea of when they would have to run.
The numbers would also decide which senators would be able to hold office for four years and who would have to run again in two years if every member of the chamber has to run for re-election in 2016 — though that hasn’t been decided.
Members of the GOP caucus, stung by repeated legal losses in redistricting cases over more than three years, said Wednesday that the Senate should consider asking the Florida Supreme Court or the Leon County judge currently overseeing the settlement what to do about the numbers.
“I just don’t find any consistency in this,” Lee said. “I think I’ve lost confidence.”
FAMU RATTLED
In a dramatic three-hour meeting Thursday, members of Florida A&M’s Board of Trustees made failed attempts to fire President Elmira Mangum and sparked students to march to Gov. Rick Scott’s office in support of the embattled president.
Mangum narrowly survived two votes that could have led to her ouster, the latest episode in a series of public conflicts between the president and several trustees.
Discussion during the meeting centered on payments for renovations to the president’s residence and four employee bonuses, which trustees Chairman Rufus Montgomery described as “irregularities and improprieties” that had not been approved by the board.
“It’s a violation of state law,” said Montgomery, who wound up resigning Friday.
Within hours of Thursday’s votes, FAMU students marched to the Capitol, demanding justice for Mangum. About 150 congregated outside the governor’s office, where their representatives met with members of Scott’s staff.
“It was an act of malfeasance on the part of the FAMU Board of Trustees,” said student body Vice President Justin Bruno, a junior from Orlando. “There needs to be some grounds for their insinuations. …They need to have grounds. They need to have evidence.”
SENATE PRESIDENT NO FAN OF FANTASY SPORTS
Gardiner, R-Orlando, said Wednesday he is exploring what the state can do to shut down daily fantasy sports, even as federal prosecutors are probing the online industry that has drawn accusations of illegal gambling.
Gardiner has asked his lawyers to look into the games, in which players pay entry fees to draft “teams” that compete against each other for cash prizes based on the actual performance of players.
The fast-growing daily fantasy sports industry is the focus of probes by prosecutors in New York and Tampa, where the U.S. Attorney’s Office recently subpoenaed the Florida-based Fantasy Sports Trade Association.
People in the industry contend that fantasy sports is not gambling because it involves games of skill, not chance, which are outlawed under most state gambling laws.
But gambling regulators in Nevada last week ordered companies like FanDuel and DraftKings to stop operating in the state after determining that online players’ activity “involves wagering on the collective performance of individuals participating in sporting events.” The decision prompted several online fantasy sports businesses to shut down operations in the state.
“I have asked staff to kind of start the process of researching as much as we possibly can,” Gardiner, R-Orlando, told The News Service of Florida on Wednesday. “I would remind you we ran the Internet cafes out of the state of Florida because they were outlawed and they were bad. You have the Nevada Gaming Commission saying that FanDuel and DraftKings are gaming and gambling. So we have an obligation, if we’re going to be consistent, that we need to look at them, and, if it is gaming, then we need to react to it.”
STORY OF THE WEEK: A Senate committee advanced a map of the chamber’s districts, but not without plenty of bipartisan angst.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “But all I get is squid ink when I talk to these people — a bunch of mumbo jumbo that, ‘well, this is my theory.’ Well, show me in some court precedent. Show me in some legal proceeding. Stop telling me what you want the answer to be and tell me what you think it is based upon the law. And I get nothing.” — Sen. Tom Lee, R-Brandon, expressing frustration as lawmakers tried to redraw Senate districts.
by Dara Kam, The News Service of Florida
Panel Calls For More Online Access To Justice System
October 25, 2015
Trying to make legal services more accessible in Florida, recommendations released recently call for a “robust” website outlining local, state and national legal resources that low- and moderate-income residents could access at home or on an increased number of public computers.
The Florida Commission on Access to Civil Justice, created by Supreme Court Chief Justice Jorge Labarga, also called in an interim report for additional people providing pro bono services and to draw leftover money from class-action lawsuits to help fund legal-aid efforts.
Labarga, in a letter to the other justices that was included with the report, called the recommendations a “solid foundation” to expand access to civil justice.
“I am confident the commission is on the right path to create meaningful access to civil justice for all Floridians,” Labarga wrote.
The report notes there is “anecdotal evidence” that a growing number of Floridians are heading to court without legal representation, mostly involving family-court cases.
“The commission was also informed that mortgage foreclosure cases and landlord-tenant cases more frequently involve self-represented litigants,” the report said. “In addition, it is reported that the courts are seeing more cases in which at the beginning of the case one or both parties are represented, but that one or both of the parties do not retain their legal representation through final disposition of the case.”
The committee, created in November 2014 to make civil-justice services more accessible to needy Floridians, will meet again Feb. 12 in Tallahassee.
Craig Waters, a spokesman for the Supreme Court, said no action is expected to be taken on the recommendations until the committee’s final report is submitted. The final report is due June 30.
The interim report notes that local legal-aid agencies, long a safety net for many low-income residents, serve about 20 percent of the needs of indigent civil litigants.
“This does not even take into account the many working-class Floridians who earn too much to qualify for legal aid, but not enough to afford to hire an attorney,” the report said. “This is the Florida civil justice gap.”
Among the recommendations is the creation of an “easy-to-use” Florida Civil Legal Resources Access Website, integrating existing systems from the courts, pro bono community and legal services programs.
To make the site more accessible, the committee recommended the continued development of the Statewide Gateway Portal, which would make more public computers available at libraries, shopping malls or courthouses as a type of legal “triage” for those needing help with divorces, foreclosures or child support.
The committee also recommended that a rule be revised so that more individuals, such as judges who have retired to Florida, could provide pro bono services.
To help fund legal aid, the commission proposed using residual money that remains after class-action lawsuits.
“Eighteen states have court rules or statutes providing for legal aid organizations to receive class action residuals,” the report said.
by Jim Turner, The News Service of Florida
FDOT State Line Landscaping Project Complete On Highway 97
October 24, 2015
Drivers entering Florida on Highway 97 in Davisville now have a little bit better view.
Work was recently completed on a a gateway landscaping project on Highway 97 at the Alabama/Florida state line. The $163,900 project includes state line landscaping on both Highway 97 and on Highway 90 by contractor Pine Grove Nursery and Landscaping. The landscaping is funded by the Florida Department of Transportation.
Pictured: New landscaping in place along Highway 97 at the state line in Davisville. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Escambia Official Named New City Administrator
October 24, 2015
An Escambia County official has been named the assistant city administrator for the City of Pensacola.
Mayor Ashton Hayward announced that Keith Wilkins had accepted his employment offer.
Wilkins is currently the Escambia County Director of Natural Resources Management and most recently was the Director of the Community and Environment Department where he worked to revitalize six Community Redevelopment Districts and the Enterprise Zone in Escambia County. He also directed environmental recovery from the BP Oil Spill securing over $40M in economic and environmental restoration funds for Escambia County, the City of Pensacola and the greater Pensacola/Perdido Bay area.
Wilkins is expected to start his new job at the end of November.