No Injuries In Highway 29, Highway 97 Crash
November 16, 2015
There were no injuries in a two vehicle accident Sunday night at the intersection of Highway 29 and Highway 97 in Molino. All parties involved in the crash refused medical treatment. The accident is under investigation by the Florida Highway Patrol. NorthEscambia.com photos by Kristi Price, click to enlarge.
Operation Christmas Child Collection Week At First Baptist Bratt, Grace Fellowship Atmore
November 16, 2015
Volunteers be busy this week at the First Baptist Church of Bratt and Grace Fellowship in Atmore during “National Collection Week” for Operation Christmas Child. For the 22nd year, the simple, gift-filled shoe boxes will bring Christmas joy and evangelistic materials to children in over 130 countries across the world.
National Collection Week for OCC is November 16-23. The First Baptist Church of Bratt will be the official OCC Relay Center for the north end of Escambia County, FL, while Grace Fellowship will collect boxes in Escambia County, AL.
“This is not about the FBC of Bratt”, says Student Pastor Tim Hawsey, Relay Center coordinator. “This is about being a blessing and bringing God’s love and hope to children in poverty around the world that would not receive it otherwise. We have gone through the intense process of been approved as a church to be a Relay Center to collect the boxes from individuals, families, and churches of our area, document and pack them into special cartons and take them to the next level for Samaritan’s Purse, and we have been blessed to do it for six years now.”
Collection hours at the First Baptist Church of Bratt will be:
- Monday, Nov. 16 – Friday, Nov. 20: 8 a.m. – noon, 4-6 p.m.
- Saturday, Nov. 21: 10 a.m. – 2 p.m.
- Sunday, Nov. 22: 9 a.m. – noon, 4-7 p.m.
- Monday, Nov. 23: 8 a.m. – 10 a.m.
Collection hours at Grace Fellowship in Atmore will be:
- Monday, Nov. 16: 1-4 p.m.
- Tuesday, Nov. 17: 1-4 p.m.
- Wednesday, Nov. 18: 5 – 8 p.m. (packing party)
- Thursday, Nov. 19: 1-4 p.m.
- Friday, Nov. 20: 1-4 p.m.
- Saturday, Nov. 20: 9:30-11:30 a.m.
- Sunday, Nov. 22: Noon-3p.m.
- Monday, Nov. 23: 8-9a.m.
Operation Christmas Child boxes should be packed in a specific manner, and there are changes this year. For more information, call Hawsey at the First Baptist Church of Bratt at (850) 327-6529, visit www.samaritanspurse.org/occ, or call (800) 353-5949. Resources are available for churches that wish to participate.
NorthEscambia.com file photos, click to enlarge.
Tate High School Varsity Cheerleaders Place First At Competition
November 16, 2015
The Tate High School Varsity Cheerleaders won first place at the Cheer Omega Cheer Games this past Saturday. Submitted photo for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Bill Would Propose Cap On Lottery Scratch Off Games
November 16, 2015
Florida Lottery scratch-off ticket players would have fewer options under a measure filed by state Rep. Frank Artiles, R-Miami. Artiles’ proposal would require the state lottery, which now offers nearly 60 different scratch-off games, to scale back that number to 20, with the most expensive single card selling for $5.
The state’s scratch-off games, which range in price from $1 to $25, collectively produce the largest amount of revenue for the state lottery.
During the past fiscal year, which ended June 30, scratch-off tickets generated $3.7 billion in sales, up from $3.4 billion a year earlier. Overall, the Florida Lottery reached $5.58 billion in sales during the year.
Candle Sparks Cantonment House Fire
November 15, 2015
Fire damaged a Cantonment home Sunday morning.
The fire was reported about 9:35 a.m. on Copper Ridge Drive, just off Pine Forest Road. Firefighters were able to quickly extinguish the fire and save a family dog. There were no injuries.
The fire was reportedly started by a candle.
NorthEscambia.com photo by Kristi Price, click to enlarge.
Escambia County Crime Rate Increases As Overall State Crime Falls
November 15, 2015
The crime rate fell across Florida while inching up in Escambia County, according to the 2015 Semi-Annual Uniform Crime Report released Friday by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
The report shows Florida’s crime volume dropped 2.2 percent compared to the first six months of 2014, but increased 2.6 percent in Escambia County.
The Semi-Annual UCR calculates crime volume, the number of index crimes known to law enforcement. The index crimes of murder, robbery, burglary, and larceny all fell statewide during the reporting period while forcible sex offenses, aggravated assault and motor vehicle thefts increased across Florida.
Overall indexed crimes in Escambia County increased to 7,143 from 6,961 from January to June 2015 when compared to first six months of 2014.
Murders increased from 8 to 7, rapes from 69 to 97, robberies from 167 to 197, aggravated assaults from 753 to 911, and larcenies from 4,285 to 4,443. The number of burglaries decreased from 1,384 to 1,300 and motor vehicle thefts were down from 296 to 287. The percent of crimes cleared increased from 30.2 percent to 32.7 percent.
The Escambia County numbers include not only crimes investigated by the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office, but also the Pensacola Police Department, FDLE, the UWF Police Department and Pensacola State College Police. Three of Escambia County’s eight total murders were in the City of Pensacola, and the Pensacola Police Department investigated about 20 percent of all index crimes during the period.
During 2014, the overall crime rate in Escambia County decreased 9.1 percent when compared to the previous year.
Pictured: The scene of a fatal shooting in late January 2015 on Backwoods Road in Century. NorthEscambia.com file photo. Raw Escambia County data from the 2015 Semi-Annual Uniform Crime Report is below, click to enlarge.
Escambia School Choice Expo Set For Monday
November 15, 2015
The 2015 School Choice Expo will be held Monday at Booker T. Washington High School.
Families are asked to arrive at 5:30 p.m. to check-in inside the auditorium on the north side of the school. After a welcome and a briefing on how the event has been arranged, doors will open at 6 p.m. to enter the school where information tables will be set up in the gym, atrium and cafeteria. The event is scheduled to end at 7:30 p.m.
Each academy will have a table with staff members available to answer questions.
In addition, School Choice will have tables set up with computers for families wishing to access the online application (with staff members available for assistance).
Snacks or a light dinner will be available from The Cat Shack.
Washington High School is located at at 6000 College Parkway in Pensacola.
Florida Baptist Children’s Homes To Hold Christmas Open House
November 15, 2015
Florida Baptist Children’s Homes will hod a Christmas Open House December 11 from 6-8 p.m.
There will be jolly good eats, enlightening cottage tours and fun-filled family entertainment. The campus is located at 1000 Chemstrand Road in Cantonment.
“It is a wonderful opportunity to experience a place where lives of children are changed every day,” said Dr. Jerry Haag, president of Florida Baptist Children’s Homes. “Just a little bit of time, energy and resources can make a major impact in a child’s life.”
As of September, there were 230 children in licensed foster care in Escambia County and 143 in Santa Rosa County.
Florida Baptist Children’s Homes brought hope to more than 106,000 children and families last year through its local and global ministries.
While not expected, donations will be accepted for children in the Pensacola area. Items that would make a major impact include non-perishable foods, pajamas, socks, paper or personal hygiene goods.
Contact Florida Baptist Children’s Homes to learn about opportunities to help meet the campus’ Gingerbread Gift needs. This program ensures that every child has a special gift under the Christmas tree.
For more information call the campus at (850) 968-1114, email staff at Pensacola.FL@FBCHomes.org, or visit the Florida Baptist Children’s Homes website at www.FBCHomes.org.
One Injured In Cantonment Accident
November 15, 2015
One person was injured in a two vehicle accident Saturday night in Cantonment. The crash between a box truck and a Chevrolet Impala occurred just before 7 p.m. at Mintz Lane at Wegner Avenue. One person from the Impala was transported by Escambia County EMS to an area hospital with injuries that were not considered serious. The accident remains under investigation by the Florida Highway Patrol; further details have not yet been released. NorthEscambia.com photos by Kristi Price
Paris Attacks Overshadow Second Day Of Florida GOP Event
November 15, 2015
Speaking to Florida Republicans in the wake of a series of deadly terrorist attacks in Paris, GOP candidates for the White House largely stuck Saturday to foreign policy on the second day of the state party’s “Sunshine Summit” event.
It was a striking change from Friday’s first day of the gathering when most of the high-profile contenders for the Republican presidential nomination used standard stump speeches and emphasized their ties to Florida. Instead, the candidates who spoke Saturday included some whose poll numbers have been lower, and they focused on the fallout from the assaults on Paris.
Those attacks overnight Friday — or late in the first day of the summit — left 129 people dead, according to media reports. The Islamic State militant group, which is also known as ISIS, has claimed responsibility.
That put the spotlight Saturday on issues of terrorism and how the United States should handle the Islamic State’s growth in Iraq and Syria. Many of the candidates either spoke extensively about the attacks or scrapped their standard speeches to focus entirely on the events in Paris and whether the United States should expand its current air campaign against ISIS.
Several also used the events to try to distinguish themselves from other contenders on the issue of national security experience.
Carly Fiorina, a businesswoman who had surged to the top tier of GOP candidates but has lately seen her numbers fade, laid at least part of the blame for the attacks on President Barack Obama.
“Mostly, I am outraged because the murder, the mayhem, the danger, the tragedy that we see unfolding in Paris, in the Middle East, around the world and, too often, in our own homeland, are the direct consequences of this administration’s policies,” Fiorina told a cheering crowd of party activists and officials at the Rosen Shingle Creek resort. “You cannot lead from behind.”
Former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania said the attacks highlighted the need for someone who has dealt with foreign policy over a long timeframe, particularly in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on New York, Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C.
He suggested that he and U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina fit that bill, along with perhaps Ohio Gov. John Kasich, a former congressman. But Santorum also cast doubt on the relevance of Kasich’s experience.
“I think if you’re interested in national security, you’re looking at frankly two people who have had national security experience in the post-9/11 world,” Santorum said. “That would actually be Sen. Graham and myself. Congressman Kasich was long gone, and I think if you look at some of the policies he’s advocating, I don’t think he clearly understands the threat that radical Islam is. He wasn’t in Congress and wasn’t dealing with it.”
For his part, Kasich called for NATO to invoke the mutual defense clause of the organization’s founding treaty.
Kasich called for no-fly zones to be enforced over Syria, where the government of Bashar al-Assad has sought to hold onto power by brutally crushing a rebellion in a war blamed for killing tens of thousands of people, leaving millions homeless and providing a breeding ground for radical groups like ISIS.
“Last night, it was not just one isolated, small group and not just an attack that we have seen of just a lone wolf,” Kasich said. “Ladies and gentlemen, we need to understand that these attacks really represent an attack on Western civilization.”
But not everyone agreed. Former Virginia Gov. James Gilmore, who pointed to his experience as the state’s chief executive during the 9/11 attacks on the Pentagon, said a no-fly zone would be dangerous now that Russia has begun a military intervention in Syria.
“And frankly, we should have had a no-fly zone, which was imposed and put the burden on the Russians to try to intervene and to overturn that, which they probably would not have tried to do,” Gilmore said. “But by delaying so long, and really leaving a lot of our allies out there swinging, now the Russians have intervened and put us in a position where we could end up in a war with Russia.”
Some candidates also used the attacks to highlight divides on how Obama and social conservatives view the conflict between the West and groups like ISIS. Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal was among those calling for blunt declarations about the involvement of Muslims in terrorist groups.
“We need a president who will say this: Islam has a problem. That problem is radical Islam,” Jindal said. “We need a president who will say this to the Muslim clerics and leaders: It’s not enough to condemn generic acts of violence. They must make it clear, they must go after these individuals by name, and say that they are not martyrs. If you kill in the name of Islam, you are not a martyr. You are not going to enjoy a reward in the afterlife, but rather, you are going straight to hell where you belong.”
Many of the candidates also criticized Obama’s willingness to accept thousands of Syrian refugees in response to the suffering. They said the nation wouldn’t be able to adequately screen potential refugees to make sure that terrorists don’t blend in with other Syrians.
U.S. Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky called for regional powers to absorb some of those flowing out of Syria.
“I would like to see Saudi Arabia take them. I’d also like to see Iran take them,” Paul said. “The two arsonists in that region throwing gasoline on the fire — Saudi Arabia, Iran — they’re not taking any refugees. I think the refugees need to go to some of the local countries.”
At least one candidate seemed to use the dangers of the world to remind Republican voters about the risks of nominating a flamboyant outsider like real-estate tycoon Donald Trump. Without naming Trump, who has vaulted to the top of the polls, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said he understands the anger that many GOP voters feel.
“And then you take that anger and you want to use your vote as a chance to send a message about that anger,” Christie said. “These times are too dire for that luxury, and the threats we are facing are too great for that act of vanity.”
by Brandon Larrabee, The News Service of Florida
Pictured: Donald Trump (top) and Rand Paul (inset) at the Sunshine Summit. Photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.