FWC Law Enforcement Report
October 6, 2015
The Florida FWC Division of Law Enforcement reported the following activity during the weekly period ending October 1 in Escambia and Santa Rosa counties.
ESCAMBIA COUNTY
Officers Manning and Cushing were on patrol over the weekend on the FinCat. They conducted 12 fisheries inspections in both state and federal waters. Three federal boarding’s revealed violations for possession of red snapper during a closed season. Prior to boarding one of the vessels in federal waters, one of the fishermen asked if gray triggerfish was in season before admitting to having some in the cooler. During the inspection, Officer Manning discovered gray triggerfish, undersized greater amberjack and red snapper. The violations were documented and turned over to National Marine Fisheries Service.
SANTA ROSA COUNTY
Lieutenant Hahr was patrolling at Keyser Landing in the Escambia River Wildlife Management Area when he observed a truck heading towards the landing. This area has been vandalized several times recently, so Lieutenant Hahr followed the vehicle. The truck was being driven erratically and the driver spun the tires unnecessarily on the roadway. When Lieutenant Hahr stopped the truck, he observed two open containers of beer and the driver showed signs of impairment. The driver performed very poorly on field sobriety tasks and was arrested for DUI. The man later provided a breath sample of .162g/210L. The driver and a passenger were also cited for open container.
This report represents some events the FWC handled over the past week; however, it does not include all actions taken by the Division of Law Enforcement. Information provided by FWC.
Court Reverses Course, Rules Against Slot Machines At Poarch Creek Track
October 5, 2015
In an unusual legal move that sent ripples throughout the state’s pari-mutuel industry, an appellate court reversed itself and decided that a Northwest Florida racetrack operated by the Poarch Creek Indians of Atmore` cannot have slot machines without the authorization of the Legislature.
The ruling by a three-judge panel of the 1st District Court of Appeal sided with Attorney General Pam Bondi and Gov. Rick Scott’s administration, which sought a rehearing after a 2-1 ruling this spring in favor of Gretna Racing in Gadsden County.
As they did in the earlier opinion, the judges Friday asked the Florida Supreme Court to weigh in on the issue of whether pari-mutuels can have slot machines if local voters approve, or if the games require the express say-so of the Legislature.
Rehearings are commonly sought by lawyers on the losing sides of issues but are rarely granted.
The Gretna case is even more unusual because Judge Nikki Ann Clark, who joined Judge Robert T. Benton in May’s majority opinion, retired while the request for rehearing was pending. The May ruling would have given the small Northwest Florida facility permission to add slot machines after Gadsden County voters approved them.
The court decided against granting Bondi’s request for an “en banc,” or hearing before the full appeals court, in favor of a rehearing before a three-judge panel with a new member. Judge Ross L. Bilbrey on Friday joined the 32-page majority opinion authored by Judge Scott Makar, who wrote a scathing dissent in May.
The case hinges on a semantic analysis of a 2009 law establishing eligibility for slot machines at pari-mutuels. The 2009 law, which went into effect the following year, was an expansion of a 2004 voter-approved constitutional amendment that authorized slot machines at seven existing horse and dog tracks and jai-alai frontons in Broward and Miami-Dade counties.
The 2009 change allowed a Hialeah track, which wasn’t operating at the time the amendment was approved, to also operate the lucrative slots. The law in question consists of three clauses, including one that deals with counties outside of Broward and Miami-Dade.
State regulators last year denied the Gretna racetrack a slots license, arguing the Department of Business and Professional Regulation was “not authorized to issue a slot machine license to a pari-mutuel facility in a county which … holds a countywide referendum to approve such machines, absent a statutory or constitutional provision enacted after July 1, 2010, authorizing such a referendum.” The agency justified its decision with a non-binding opinion by Bondi.
Lawyers for Gretna argued that the statute does not include the word “enacted,” and other counties do not need prior authorization from the Legislature to get the requisite voter approval for slots.
But, in Friday’s ruling, Makar wrote that Bondi’s interpretation of the law was “spot on.”
“The alternative view, which would restructure the statute and change its meaning to allow slot machines to be deployed on a statewide basis without any clear authority to do so, is inconsistent with principles of statutory and constitutional construction, legislative intent, and the history of laws prohibiting slot machines in the State of Florida,” he wrote.
Makar also raised the question of whether the Legislature has the authority to approve slot machines outside of Broward and Miami-Dade counties, based on a previous Florida Supreme Court ruling in a case known as “Greater Loretta.” That opinion, which dealt with an interpretation of Florida’s 1968 Constitution, found that “all other lotteries — including bolito, cuba, slot machines, etc., are prohibited.” Makar asked the Supreme Court for guidance.
“So which is it? Are slot machines a form of lottery that only the people may approve via constitutional amendment? Or are slot machines not prohibited as lotteries under (the state Constitution’s) article X, section 7, which may be legislatively authorized statewide without constitutional authority?” Makar wrote.
Makar also asked the court to settle the issue of the 2009 law. Voters in five other counties — Brevard, Lee, Hamilton, Palm Beach, and Washington — have also approved referendums authorizing slots at local pari-mutuels. State regulators have denied applications for slots in four counties, and the Palm Beach Kennel Club has an appeal pending. Tracks in Lee and Brevard counties are likely to appeal as well.
In an opinion concurring in part with Makar, Bilbrey wrote that he ended up on the three-judge panel thanks to “the luck of the draw.” The former Pensacola circuit judge joined the appeals court in January after being appointed by Scott.
Addressing the circumstances surrounding the rehearing, Bilbrey acknowledged that “the judgment of a retired colleague is entitled to some deference.” But, he wrote, “a successor judge is not required to always vote identically to the predecessor on rehearing.”
The Gretna facility, owned by the Poarch Creek Indians and a handful of investors, has been mired in controversy since its inception. Florida officials granted the track the country’s first pari-mutuel license for rodeo-style barrel racing, but a court later decided that gambling regulators erred when they awarded the license.
“We are disappointed with this reversal, and we look forward to a review from the Florida Supreme Court where we feel this issue will be resolved in our favor,” the tribe said in a statement following Friday’s ruling.
In his dissent Friday, Benton argued that gambling regulators’ interpretation of the law “would render superfluous the entire third clause” of the statute that deals with “any licensed pari-mutuel facility in any other county.”
The agency’s interpretation would mean that a referendum authorizing slots could only be held if the Legislature passed another law, Benton pointed out.
“But that was the status quo” before the 2009 law was enacted, Benton wrote. “There was no need or purpose in enacting a statutory provision to state the obvious,” he wrote.
David Romanik, a lawyer who represents Gretna and is a part owner of the facility, said he was disappointed in the court’s decision to “overrule its own very well-reasoned original opinion, but grateful that the Supreme Court will have the opportunity to review this issue of great statewide importance.”
But an association that represents horse breeders and trainers lauded the ruling.
“Justice has been served today in Florida. Simply, the 2012 Gadsden County slot referendum never should have been approved, inasmuch as it was based upon the pretext of ‘pari-mutuel barrel racing’ — the licensing of which was ultimately ruled in 2013 to be an overstep of regulatory authority,” Florida Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association President Bill White said in a statement.
by Dara Kam, The News Service of Florida, with contribution by NorthEscambia.com
Grand Opening Tuesday For Ernest Ward Middle School
October 5, 2015
An official grand opening ceremony for Ernest Ward Middle School will be held on Tuesday, October 6 at 10 a.m. The even will include remarks from school district officials, the architect and construction company. NorthEscambia.com photo.
Bonus Photos: NHS Band, Dance Team, NJROTC, Cheerleaders
October 5, 2015
For a game action photo gallery, click here.
NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge
Jay Peanut Festival Draws Thousands (With Two Photo Galleries)
October 5, 2015
The annual Jay Peanut Festival attracted thousands to the Gabbert Farm Saturday and Sunday.
For more than 20 years, The Jay Peanut Festival at the Gabbert Farm has been a fall tradition on the Gulf Coast, showcasing the history, agriculture, food and fun of Santa Rosa County. What started as a chance for local kids and farmers to show off their best of the season has become an annual event covering 15 acres and drawing about 70,000 people to the Gabbert farm over two days.
The event included tours of the 1930s Farm Museum, food booths, dozens of arts and crafts vendors, pony rides, games and fun. The Jay Peanut Festival was also a chance to try all varieties of peanuts – boiled, green, fried, candied and more.
For a photo gallery, click here. Photos by Michael Pevahouse.
For a second photo gallery, click here. Photos by Michele Gibbs.
Pictured: Lots of peanuts were available at the Jay Peanut Festival. Pictured below: Visitors stroll through vendor booths. Photos by Michael Pervahouse for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Feds, Pharmacies Grapple With Pain Pill Dilemma
October 5, 2015
Susan Langston wiped away tears as she spoke of a 40-year-old woman who had struggled with cancer for a decade before a Fort Myers pharmacy refused to fill a prescription for pain medication.
The prescription was rejected because it was written by a doctor at the Cleveland Clinic, a facility 100 miles away from the woman’s home and where she sought cancer treatment after her own doctors told her she was going to die.
But, according to the chain pharmacy’s policies, the prescription was flagged because it wasn’t ordered by the woman’s regular doctor, the woman traveled a long distance to obtain the prescription, and it came from South Florida, a part of the state once considered the pill-mill capital of the nation.
According to Langston, the pharmacist quit.
The cancer patient’s plight is one of many stories Langston has fielded in her job as the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration diversion program manager in the Miami office.
“This girl is being labeled a drug seeker, a doctor shopper. She went to a different doctor. She got a different pain medicine. She drove a long distance, and she paid cash. But she also walked in there with a bald head to a pharmacist that she’s been going to for 10 years, who knows she’s none of those. And that’s awful. That’s not what we’re about. No one has ever gotten in trouble with the DEA in Florida from filling a cancer person’s prescription,” an emotional Langston said in an extended interview this week via Skype with The News Service of Florida.
Florida patients like the Fort Myers woman are caught in the crosshairs of a state and national crackdown on prescription pill abuse that’s morphed into a dreaded “pharmacy crawl” by people suffering from cancer, chronic pain and other illnesses but who can’t get their doctors’ orders for pain medications filled.
Pharmacists blame an overzealous Drug Enforcement Administration for the problem. Doctors — and the DEA — point the finger back at the pharmacists charged with filling prescriptions or at the corporations that have developed checklists to screen out dubious patients.
Meanwhile, some patients are checking into hospice care early — or even committing suicide — in search of relief.
The dilemma has reached such proportions that the Florida Board of Pharmacy is considering changes to its rules regulating the dispensing of pain medications, switching from a focus on detecting fraudulent prescriptions to ensuring that legitimate patients get the drugs they need.
But most of the players involved in Florida say the proposed rule change, scheduled for a vote Monday by a pharmacy board committee, alone will likely do little to alleviate the situation.
The rule change won’t have any effect on the policies of corporations like Walgreens and CVS, or on the policies of distributors who control the supply of drugs that flow into pharmacies.
“So it doesn’t really matter what the state of Florida says, or the DEA, or anyone else, as long as the corporation says, this is what we think,” Langston said.
Pharmacy chains won’t reveal their checklists for which patients pass muster.
When asked whether CVS has such a policy, company spokesman Mike DeAngelis referred to guidelines laid out in an industry paper released this summer, endorsed by more than a dozen associations representing doctors’ groups, chain pharmacies, pharmacists and distributors.
The “Stakeholders Challenges and Red Flag Warning Signs Related to Prescribing and Dispensing Controlled Substances” includes myriad items related to how people behave when they present prescriptions to be filled, as well as to the prescriptions themselves. One trigger is whether the patient “presents prescriptions for highly abused controlled substances,” something common for patients with chronic pain or cancer.
“Our corporate office will look into any complaint we receive from a patient who believes they are being denied a legitimate prescription, but our pharmacists do a great job in using their professional judgment to determine whether a controlled substance prescription was issued for a legitimate purpose,” DeAngelis said in an email.
One major concern for pharmacists involves an unwritten “30 percent rule” — the amount of pharmacies’ prescription drug orders made up of controlled substances — that many believe triggers scrutiny by the DEA.
But Langston denied that such a rule exists.
“There’s no number, officially, that triggers anything,” she said.
DEA probes are sparked by a “totality of circumstances,” Langston said.
“Volume, amount ordered, amount received by a pharmacy is only one of those circumstances. But we know that volume alone does not always tell the whole story. We’re very aware of that,” she said.
Langston is frustrated at the blame being placed on her agency.
“We want all pharmacists, patients, doctors and the public to know that the DEA does not want to interfere in any way with legitimate medical care. That would be morally wrong. We want legitimate patients to get the help and the medications that they need,” she said.
But a report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office this summer, based on surveys with industry professionals and DEA officials, found that over half of DEA registrants — pharmacies and distributors — have changed certain business practices based on the result of the agency’s enforcement actions.
More than half of distributors have placed stricter limits on quantities of controlled substances that their customers can order, the report found.
And more than half of individual pharmacies and chain pharmacies reported that the stricter limits “have limited to a ‘great’ or ‘moderate extent,’ their ability to supply drugs to those with legitimate needs,” according to the report.
In contrast, DEA officials “said they generally did not believe that enforcement actions have negatively affected access.”
Cardinal Health, one of the country’s largest distributors, referred questions about its policies to June testimony from one of the company’s top executives at the Florida Board of Pharmacy’s Controlled Substances Standards Committee.
The DEA has instructed distributors not to ship suspicious orders to pharmacies and to report them to the federal authorities. Failure to do so could result in the loss of the distributors’ DEA registration, Gary Cacciatore, the company’s vice president of regulatory affairs, told the committee.
Cardinal Health has placed “individualized limits on each controlled substance drug family,” imposed limits on particular drug strengths within a drug family and scrutinizes the drugs that the DEA has identified as being widely diverted, such as oxycodone and alprazolam, he said.
“These factors and many others play a role in our decisions to service customers and in setting limits on the distributions of controlled substances,” Cacciatore said.
The DEA’s actions may have had an even greater impact on the behavior of distributors and pharmacies in Florida.
In a 2012 settlement agreement, Cardinal Health was banned from shipping and selling narcotics from its Lakeland facility for two years.
Walgreens agreed to a historic $80 million penalty in 2013 related to dispensing of highly addictive narcotics.
And, earlier this year, CVS agreed to pay $22 million in fines after DEA investigators revealed that employees at two of the chain’s Sanford stores were doling out controlled substances without legitimate prescriptions. Three years ago, federal authorities stopped the stores from dispensing a number of highly addictive controlled substances, including oxycodone.
According to the Government Accountability Office report, the number of DEA complaint investigations jumped nationally from 907 in 2009 to 1,428 in 2013, as state and federal authorities grappled with a prescription drug-abuse epidemic that earned Florida the dubious distinction as the epicenter of the problem.
At the urging of Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi in 2011, state lawmakers imposed strict regulations on doctors and pharmacies about dispensing highly addictive pain medications. The effort was aimed at shutting down rogue clinics that had popped up in areas like South Florida and had drawn addicts and traffickers from states hundreds of miles away.
The law barred doctors from dispensing powerful narcotics from their offices, and shuttered almost all of the pill mills where doctors wrote hundreds of prescriptions for pain medications each day.
But the pill-mill problem hasn’t gone away, Langston said.
“Those same lines of people — those people shooting up in their cars, urinating, buying and selling urine, buying and selling pills — they ended up at pharmacies,” she said.
While most pharmacists turned those patients away, “we had a lot of bad pharmacists that turned a blind eye,” Langston said.
“When you have people shooting up in your parking lot, there’s a problem. These aren’t cancer patients or surgery patients doing this. And it’s awful that people like that are having to suffer,” she said.
Langston said she was in a pharmacy earlier this month when a homeless man paid $800 in cash for powerful narcotics. That pharmacy is now under investigation, she said. She watched as the man placed the $20 bills into stacks on the counter.
“It was really sad. I couldn’t believe that pharmacist took that money,” she said.
The DEA has no control over pharmacies’ pricing of drugs, Langston said.
“They can charge what they want. That’s not against the law. But when a pharmacist will do that, it’s very telling. Very telling,” she said.
by Dara Kam, The News Service of Florida
Tate Grad Racks Up Career High Game Rushing Yards For Wofford
October 5, 2015
Tate graduate Lorenzo Long had a career-high 187 yards rushing and a touchdown Saturday was the Wofford College football team beat Mercer University 34-33 in overtime.
Long, now a junior at the South Carolina school, ran for first downs to reach the red zone in the fist quarter, while in the second quarter had a run fall short on fourth-and-one before Wofford turned the ball over on downs.
Wofford used a 60-yard run by Long to set up a 27-yard field goal attempt that was blocked to end the first half.
An interception by the Terriers was dropped and Mercer went on to score on a two-yard touchdown run to make it a 20-17 game with 36 seconds left in the third quarter. Wofford wasted little time in responding, as Long went 53-yards up the middle for a touchdown. The Terriers had a 27-17 lead with 14:28 on the clock in the fourth quarter.
Of Long’s career-high 187 yards rushing n a game, 121 came in the first half before a crowd of 10,489 at Mercer University in Macon, GA. It was his first 100-yard game this season and the sixth of his career.
Long, a 2013 Tate graduate, had 3,227 rushing yards on 423 carries, 37 touchdowns, and 3,826 all-purpose yards while in high school.
Over 100 RESTORE Project Ideas Submitted; Five Specifically Benefit North Escambia
October 4, 2015
Over 100 projects were submitted by the deadline to possibly receive a share of millions of dollars in RESTORE Act funding for Escambia County. The act provides for the allocation and use of funds gained through civil penalties from the Deepwater Horizon blowout and oil spill.
While projects across Escambia County will receive equal consideration, only five projects specifically benefiting some portion of the North Escambia area (north of Muscogee Road) were submitted. Those projects were:
Century Water Quality Improvements — The project would install a lime addition system to lower the pH of the waste water discharged into the Escambia River. Aging lift stations and other portions of the sewage system would be replaced to prevent overflows and eventual infiltration into the Escambia River. The project would also include $198,000 requested by the town from the legislature and a loan of $30,000 to provide fire protection to the Carnley Road area.
Lambert Bridge Road – The section of Lambert Bridge Roadd immediately north of the intersection of Pine Barren Creek (approx. 1/2 mile) has been a source of sedimentation into Pine Barren Creek for many years. This section of road needs to be graded and paved with stabilization of associated ditches to prevent sedimentation of Pine Barren Creek. The section of this road south of the creek was addressed in the same manner a number of years ago.
Cantonment Sportsplex - The project would include the complete restoration of the Cantonment Sportsplex to provide a park offering multiple sports outlets to all youth and families in Cantonment and surrounding areas.
Cantonment Community Center – The project would include a community center for the Cantonment CRA as identified in the Cantonment Redevelopment Plan adopted by the Escambia County Commission in early 2014. The multi-function community center would serve as a job training center, library, adult education center, center for tutoring, senior citizens center, recreation center and housing assistance center.
Cottage Hill Water Works Infrastructure Update and System Improvements – This proposed project would include the replacement of approximately four miles of existing asbestos concrete water main (located on Williams Ditch Road, Phalrose Lane, Highway 95A, Welcome Road and from two wells out to Williams Ditch Road. The project would also include the construction of a new well and storage tank on the northwest end of the franchise near the Central Commerce Park for future growth. There are currently three wells on the system, but one is reaching the end of its useful life.
The Escambia County RESTORE Advisory Committee will meet Tuesday, October 20, at 4 p.m. in the BCC Chambers, 221 Palafox Place, to discuss the 123 submitted projects and the next step in the process. The public is invited and encouraged to attend. The Committee is tasked with reviewing projects and submitting recommendations to the Escambia Board of County Commissioners for consideration.
Pictured top: A RESTORE project information meeting held recently in Cantonment. NorthEscambia.com file photo, click to enlarge .Pictured inset: This map shows the location of submitted RESTORE projects in Escambia County.
Local Airman Among Those Killed When C-130 Crashes In Afghanistan
October 4, 2015
A local airman was among six Americans who died Thursday when a C-130J Super Hercules aircraft crashed shortly after take-off from Jalalabad Airfield, Afghanistan.
Senior Airman Nathan C. Sartain, 29, of Pensacola, and Airman 1st Class Kcey E. Ruiz, 21, of McDonough, GA, were identified Saturday by the Department of Defense.
Both Airmen were deployed to the 455th Air Expeditionary Wing in Afghanistan. Members of the 66th SFS routinely deploy to assist with security operations around the globe. Both Ruiz and Sartain were installation entry controllers and also armorers at Hanscom Air Force Base in Massachusetts.3
They ensured that only authorized personnel accessed the installation, and they provided a proactive deterrent and first line of defense against any threats to the installation, its personnel and its mission, according to 66th Security Forces Squadron Commander Maj. Joseph Bincarousky.
While deployed to Afghanistan, they performed fly-away security team, better known as FAST, missions, meaning they flew on aircraft and were protecting the aircraft itself, the aircrew, passengers, and cargo, as these aircraft flew from one location to another.
Both Airmen were phenomenal young leaders and were nominated for early promotion, Bincarousky said.
“These Airmen were rock stars,” he said. “Their enthusiasm and dedication inspired peers and unit leadership alike. This is the type of young Airman the Air Force needs more of; their absence is palpable. Now it’s incumbent upon us as leaders to take the example they’ve given us and impress it upon others. They’ll be sorely missed by their fellow defenders here, and I’m extremely grateful for and humbled by their service. My heart goes out to their families and loved ones.”
Leaders at their deployed location in Afghanistan also lauded the Airmen.
“Senior Airman Nathan Sartain and Airman 1st Class Kcey Ruiz were critical to our mission here of delivering airpower on the combat frontier, and both were topnotch performers,” said Chief Master Sgt. Derick Stepp, 455th Expeditionary Security Forces Squadron manager. “They were consummate professionals and their loss is a loss for our squadron, their home station units, and our Air Force. They were the very finest of Airmen and their loss has impacted those who worked with them here and at their home station. They will always be a part of our family.”
Also killed in the crash were Capt. Jonathan J. Golden, 33, of Camarillo, CA; Capt. Jordan B. Pierson, 28, of Abilene, TX; Staff Sgt. Ryan D. Hammond, 26, of Moundsville, WV; and Senior Airman Quinn L. Johnson-Harris, 21, of Milwaukee, WI.
The remains of these fallen heroes will be flown back to the U.S. via Dover AFB, Delaware, at a yet-to-be-determined date.
Pictured: U.S. Air Force Maj. Met Berisha, 455th Expeditionary Security Forces Squadron commander, stands at parade rest during a fallen comrade memorial ceremony held in honor of six Airmen Oct. 3, 2015, at Bagram Air Field, Afghanistan. Pictured below: Airmen of the 455th Air Expeditionary Wing pay their respect and mourn the loss of six Airmen during a fallen comrade memorial ceremony at Bagram Air Field. U.S. Air Force photos by Senior Airman Cierra Presentado for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Thousands Attend Jay Peanut Festival (With Photo Gallery)
October 4, 2015
The annual Jay Peanut Festival attracted thousands to the Gabbert Farm Saturday.
For more than 20 years, The Jay Peanut Festival at the Gabbert Farm has been a fall tradition on the Gulf Coast, showcasing the history, agriculture, food and fun of Santa Rosa County. What started as a chance for local kids and farmers to show off their best of the season has become an annual event covering 15 acres and drawing about 70,000 people to the Gabbert farm over two days.
The event included tours of the 1930s Farm Museum, food booths, dozens of arts and crafts vendors, pony rides, games and fun. The Jay Peanut Festival was also a chance to try all varieties of peanuts – boiled, green, fried, candied and more.
Admission is free from 9 a.m. until 6 p.m. on the finale day of the festival on Sunday. The Gabbert farm is located at 3604 Pine Level Road.
NorthEscambia.com photos by Michele Gibbs, click to enlarge.
