Atwater Looks For Next Steps At Dozier Boys School In Marianna
September 23, 2015
The Florida Cabinet is expected next week to discuss the state’s next steps after researchers finish onsite work at the shuttered Arthur G. Dozier School for Boys, a former reform school where children are alleged to have been abused and died in Marianna.
State Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater wrote a letter Sept. 4 to Secretary of State Ken Detzner that said University of South Florida researchers, who have been excavating the site and seeking identification of remains, will submit a final report to the governor and Cabinet in the coming months.
Atwater urged that one entity be put in charge of issues that will follow the completion of the researchers’ onsite work.
“Now, the next phases involving the preservation of artifacts unearthed, the storage and reinterment of the remains of those unidentified, decisions regarding appropriate memorials, and state funding appropriations will need to be addressed,” Atwater wrote. “The issues involving the preservation of historical resources and records, archives, and state monuments seem best to be handled by the Department of State or an appropriate oversight body. Having one entity to oversee these next phases and ensuring the inclusion of stakeholders and families will be paramount as we move towards eventual closure.”
In the letter, Atwater asked for the issue to go before the governor and Cabinet, and it has been placed on the agenda of a meeting next Tuesday.
Dozier served as a state reform school for decades. Atwater’s letter said the USF researchers would submit a final report in December, though the Cabinet agenda indicates it will be submitted in January.
by The News Service of Florida
Pictured top: A trench dug in the search for human remains at the Arthur G. Dozier School for Boys in Marianna. Pictured below: Mapping the graves. Pictured inset: The remains of George Owen Smith have been positively identified. Courtesy photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Okaloosa County Deputy Dies After Being Shot, Suspect Dead
September 22, 2015
An Okaloosa County deputy has died after being shot Tuesday morning out side an attorney’s office in Shalimar.
Deputy Bill Myers was 64. The 25-year veteran rejoined the agency to serve part-time in 2013. He is survived by his wife, children and granddaughter. He was, according to Sheriff Larry Ashley, saving money to take his granddaughter and family on a trip to Disney World.
Investigators say Myers had just finished serving a domestic violence injunction to 33-year old Joel Dixon Smith of Navarre at Cotton and Gates Law Firm on Plew Avenue around 8:20 a.m. Deputy Myers was walking outside when he was shot multiple times in the back, including a gunshot wound to the rear of his head.
Investigators say the suspect in the shooting, 33-year old Joel Dixon Smith of 9807 Navarre Parkway in Santa Rosa County, then drove to the Comfort Inn and Suites, 148 John Sims Parkway, in Niceville, where he barricaded himself inside a room.
The OCSO Special Response Team responded and evacuated the building, setting up a perimeter.
After an hour and a half of negotiations, the suspect came out of his room with a weapon at 11:13 a.m. Deputies responded and the suspect was struck and taken to Fort Walton Beach Medical Center where he later died. No members of the SRT Unit were injured.
“Deputy Myers has been a treasured part of this agency’s family since 1989,” said Sheriff Larry Ashley. “He served this community with distinction for decades. He was loved, admired, and respected for his dedication to the law enforcement profession. He loved photography and he had an ability to make those around him smile, especially his young granddaughter who he adored and took to Disney World as often as he could. We pray for his soul and for his family and we ask that the community pray for them as well, and for all the men and women who have the courage in these troubled times to put their lives on the line for others.”
“We also want to express our sincere gratitude to all of you who have reached out to our agency at this time with words and gestures of support, and to all the agencies which assisted us today at the scene of the shooting and in Niceville.
Ashley described Smith as a “sick little coward”.
In a written statement late Tuesday afternoon, Gov. Rick Scott said, “Today, our hearts are broken to learn of the death of Deputy Bill Myers. Florida’s law enforcement officers risk their lives daily to protect others, and any act of violence against these brave heroes is shameful and cowardly. My wife, Ann, and I send our sincerest condolences to Deputy Myers’ family and brothers and sisters in Florida’s law enforcement community. I am grateful for the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Department and all law enforcement and first responders whose immediate response helped protect innocent lives during this horrific incident.”
Pictured: The scene outside a Shalimar law firm following the shooting of an Okaloosa County deputy Tuesday morning. Photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge
Century Approves Property Tax Increase, $4.25 Million Budget
September 22, 2015
The Town of Century Monday night gave final approval to a budget for the next fiscal year that is down about 16.5 percent from last year, along with a property tax increase.
The budget for the 2015-2016 fiscal year is $4,259,831.36, down from $5,107,641.34. Last year’s budget was higher due to the inclusion of increased grant income and expenditures. For a summary of Century’ budget, click here (pdf).
The council also approved a property tax rate increase from a current year 0.8707 mills to 0.9006 mills, an increase of 6.35 percent. The increase would equal the 2013-2014 rate, while remaining lower than the rate during the previous three years.
One mill is equal to $1 in taxes per $1,000 in taxable value. If the tax increase is approved, the property tax paid to Century on home with a $50,000 taxable value would increase from $42.34 to $45.03, or about $2.69 per year.
With the increase Century would be set to collect $29,549 in total property taxes, up from $27,784. Due to homestead and other exemptions, many Century residents do not pay any property tax at all, according to council members.
Pictured top: Century council members (L-R) Gary Riley, Sandra McMurray Jackson and Ben Boutwell. Pictured inset: Council members Annie Savage. Council President Ann Brooks was not present at Monday night’s meeting. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Sex Offender Gets 130 Months In Prison For Failing To Register
September 22, 2015
Lateef Harris, 38, was sentenced Monday to 130 months state prison for failure to comply with sex offender registration requirements by Circuit Judge Linda Nobles.
Florida law requires that certain individuals convicted of sexually related offenses register with the State of Florida. This registration provides a database through which the State can track their whereabouts. Harris has been a registered sex offender since 1995 and had previously been convicted of failure to comply with the registration requirements. Harris had left the jurisdiction and was arrested in Georgia.
He was originally convicted of sexual battery by an adult on a victim under 12 in Escambia County, according to Florida Department of Law Enforcement records.
Bond Set At $1 Million For Cantonment Suspect That Shot At Deputy
September 22, 2015
Bond has been set at $1 million for a Cantonment man that allegedly opened fire on an Escambia County deputy Thursday night before holding deputies at bay during a two hour standoff.
Christopher Allen Payne, 19, is charged with felony assault on an law enforcement officer following the incident in the 1500 block of Crystal Drive.
Payne’s family called for Escambia County EMS, thinking he might be having a heart attack after taking an illegal substance. Sheriff David Morgan said the family believed the man had ingested some type of narcotics, possibly LSD.
Payne kicked his family out of the, barricading himself inside with two rifles and a shotgun, Morgan said. The Sheriff’s Department SWAT team was called to assist, and neighboring homes were evacuated as a precaution. A Sheriff’s Office hostage negotiator was able to reach Payne on the phone and establish a rapport, Morgan said. Payne was eventually talked into a peaceful surrender.
Payne appeared in Escambia County Circuit Court Monday. He is due to be back in court for an arraignment hearing in just over two weeks.
Escambia County 4-H Presents Annual Awards
September 22, 2015
Escambia County 4-H recently awarded youth, volunteer and club efforts in the past year.
Youth Awards
Beasley Junior Achievement Award – Leah Rutherford, Gracie Meredith
Intermediately Leadership Award – Dillon Conti
Extension Director Leadership Award – Allison Woodfin
Dave and Sylvia Timberlake Helping Hand Award – Danielle Tinker
Langley Bell Award – Tori Kelson and Karrigan Scott
Margie Gindl Public Speaking and Public Awareness Award – Amanda Tanner
Cecil Guidy Animal Science Award – Kaley Lashley
4-H’er of the Year Award – Jessica Conti and Hannah Thorne
Youth Standards of Excellence
Cloverbud
Nathan Jacobs
Senior
Emerald – Rachel Grammer, Tori Kelson, Amanda Tanner, Danielle Tinker, Michelle Tinker
Silver – Karrigan Scott
Intermediate
Emerald – Dillon Conti, Jessica Conti, Lauren Walsh
Silver – Raven Hollis, Ami Rodgers, Raven Thompson
Bronze – Avery DeStafney
Junior
Bronze – Tanner DeStafney, Brayten Workman
Volunteer Awards
Margie Gindl Volunteer Leader Award – Christine Rodgers
Jean Guidy Volunteer Award – Sarah Jane Conti
Volunteer Standards of Excellence
Emerald – Sarah Jane Conti, Christine Rodgers, Sharon Tanner
Gold – Teresa Myrick
Club Awards
Historian’s Book Award – Cool Clovers 4-H Club, by Ami Rodgers
Treasurer’s Book Award – Cool Clovers 4-H Club, by Dawn VanIderstine
Secretary’s Book Award – Barrineau Park 4-H Club, by Jessica Conti
Scrapbook Award – Escambia County Shooting Sports
Club Standards of Excellence
Emerald – Barrineau Park 4-H Club
Gold – Escambia County Shooting Sports
Traffic Shifts At Scenic To I-10 On Ramp
September 22, 2015
Traffic on the Scenic Highway on ramp to Interstate 10 (I-10) westbound was shifted to the the south beginning Monday night, Monday. The new traffic pattern will be in place until summer 2016.
Tsubooka Hired As Escambia PIO
September 22, 2015
Escambia County has hired Joy Tsubooka as its community and media relations division manager. Her first day on the job will be November 2.
Tsubooka has 10 years of county-level, direct media and community relations experience. Over the last eight years, she has served as the Santa Rosa County public information officer. Previously, she worked as a communications coordinator in the Escambia County Public Information Office, now the community and media relations division. Tsubooka has a BA in Communication Arts from the University of West Florida.
In her position with Santa Rosa County, she was responsible for creating and implementing seasonal campaigns, managing crisis- or disaster-related event information, as well as executing day-to-day internal and external communication strategies. Her communication work was recognized locally when she was selected by a panel of media representatives as the 2009 Florida Public Relations Association Pensacola Chapter Crisis Communicator of the Year and the 2015 Non-profit Communicator of the Year. She also serves as a member of the Florida State Emergency Response Public Information Officer Deployment Team, whose members travel to disaster hit areas to assist local governments with crisis communication needs.
The screening committee for this position was comprised of Escambia County Administrator Jack Brown, Assistant County Administrator Chip Simmons, Escambia County’s Chief of Emergency Management John Dosh, Pensacola News Journal Executive Editor Lisa Nellesen-Lara and WEAR Managing Editor Randy Wood. NorthEscambia.com Publisher William Reynolds was invited to be a part of the committee but was unable to serve due to time constraints.
Tsubooka was selected from a pool of 18 qualified candidates.
Panel Proposes Doing Away With ‘Red Flags’ In Pain Pill Rule
September 22, 2015
Pharmacists would have to get extra training and be encouraged to fill valid prescriptions for controlled substances under a proposed rule revamp aimed at ending the “pharmacy crawl” forced on patients who can’t get their pain medications filled.
But some doctors say the proposed changes to the “Standards of Practice for the Dispensing of Controlled Substances for the Treatment of Pain” don’t go far enough.
A Florida Board of Pharmacy subcommittee on Monday proposed scrapping the rule after hearing complaints from doctors, pharmacists and patients, like a four-year-old kidney cancer survivor whose prescription for pain medication following surgery was repeatedly rejected.
“It’s a step in the right direction, but it’s insufficient,” said Jesse Lipnick, a Gainesville doctor whose specialties include pain management and who served as the Florida Medical Association’s representative on the subcommittee Monday.
The panel agreed to do away with the “red flags” included in the current rule and instead focus on trying to address pharmacists’ fears about filling valid prescriptions for powerful narcotics.
“The Board of Pharmacy recognizes that it is important for the patients of the State of Florida to be able to fill valid prescriptions for controlled substances,” the proposed new regulation begins. “Pharmacists should not fear disciplinary action from the Board or other state regulatory or enforcement agencies for dispensing controlled substances for a legitimate medical purpose in the usual course of professional practice.”
Patients like Robin Haas, who has undergone more than a dozen surgeries on her ankles and neck after two serious car accidents, sometimes travel to more than a dozen pharmacies in a frustrating quest for pain medications. The “pharmacy crawl” has also impacted patients who receive non-opiod drugs such as Adderall, prescribed for attention-deficit disorder.
Pharmacists complain that distributors are limiting their supply of narcotics, forcing the pharmacists to ration their limited stock to their regular patients.
Haas, who is prescribed Dilaudid for chronic pain, said pharmacists have demanded to see her medical records and “treated her horribly.” Going without the medications can cause patients like Haas, already suffering, to experience painful withdrawal symptoms.
“You want to die. You want to be dead,” Haas said.”Withdrawals and the pain, any two alone are horrible. Together, it is your biggest fear. You’re already dealing with this pain on a daily basis. Hand-in-hand with this pain goes depression. Nobody can have this kind of chronic pain day in and day out and not be depressed. Then you have the constant stress and the fear of worrying about, am I going to be able to get my meds to get out of bed at all this month?”
Flipping the rule from its current, negative focus to a more positive approach represents a shift in attitudes towards powerful narcotics, once a scourge in Florida, where travelers from northern states traveled down what became known as “the Oxycontin Express” to purchase pain medications from rogue “pill mills.”
“The changes will help ease some of the anxiety that the pharmacists have,” said Florida Pharmacy Association executive vice president and CEO Michael Jackson, who serves on the subcommittee and who helped craft the original 2002 regulation.
But the changes may do little to eliminate pharmacists’ fears concerning the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, which has cracked down on drug stores in an attempt to shut down rogue clinics and stem the prescription drug addiction epidemic.
And the new rule won’t force corporations like Walgreens — which paid an historic $80 million fine related to dispensing of highly addictive narcotics — and CVS to change their policies and procedures, which may be contributing to the problem by making it harder for some patients to get their prescriptions filled.
“A regulatory board does not have that kind of authority to change what goes on in the (corporate headquarters),” Jackson said. “But what we’re doing here will help modify a little bit the behavior of pharmacists that are out there, to give them comfort knowing that this tribunal, this panel, this regulatory board of their peers are taking a different approach to overseeing what pharmacists are obligated to do under Florida laws and rules.”
The pharmacy board’s Controlled Substances Standards Committee could vote on the changes to the rule at its next meeting on Oct. 5. The committee has held two meetings on the issue since June.
While more education about Florida and federal law and an emphasis on filling valid prescriptions could help some patients, some subcommittee members balked at requiring pharmacists to document when they refuse to fill a prescription.
“If pharmacist x doesn’t like you because you have blue hair, that prescription will never be filled in that pharmacy chain ever. That is a problem,” said Harold Dalton, president of the Florida Society of Interventional Pain Physicians, who serves on the subcommittee that met Monday. “That is one of the things we’re dealing with. If one pharmacist is having a bad day, and they deny a prescription for that patient, and we don’t know why because we’re never told, then that patient will never get that prescription.”
But Board of Pharmacy member Jeffery Mesaros, who chaired Monday’s meeting, said that requiring documentation could slow down the process and exacerbate the problem. Pharmacists might be more likely to refuse to fill a prescription if they see that a few of their colleagues have already rejected it, Mesaros said.
“I think that’s going to create the red flags and create the crawl,” Mesaros, a lawyer and pharmacist, said. “It may create a cascade.”
by Dara Kam, The News Service of Florida
Scott To Begin Two-Day Recruiting Trip To Kentucky
September 22, 2015
Gov. Rick Scott will fly to Kentucky early Tuesday for two days of private meetings in Lexington and Louisville with unidentified business owners about moving or expanding to Florida.
There won’t be any warm welcome from the top executive of the Bluegrass State for Scott, who has already has lined up at least one Kentucky company to say it’s bringing jobs to Florida.
Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear, a Democrat, will be busy the next two days, said his spokesman Terry Sebastian.
“Gov. Beshear is meeting with a delegation of Taiwanese officials on a substantial deal for Kentucky farmers, as well as announcing an oral health initiative for thousands of Kentucky children,” Sebastian said.
Beshear, who has traded barbs with the Republican Scott over the economies of both states, has previously said the trip for Scott will “waste his time.”
But Scott, who is scheduled to be with staff from his office and Enterprise Florida in Lexington on Tuesday and Louisville on Wednesday, already is poised to announce at least some new jobs while in Kentucky.
Scott’s office declined to discuss the details of the announcement, which will be made Tuesday morning in downtown Lexington.
For Scott, this is his fourth “domestic economic development” mission this year.
Scott earlier went to Philadelphia, Los Angeles and Hartford, Conn. Each location, as with this week’s venture, was in a state with a Democratic governor.
It remains to be seen how successful these recruitment trips will be.
The Philadelphia excursion focused on the continued expansion of Wawa convenience stores in Florida, while attracting more maritime cargo highlighted the stop in Los Angeles.
Bill Johnson, president and CEO of Enterprise Florida, the state’s public-private business recruiting agency, acknowledged last week before a Senate committee that Florida failed to land a “significant” Connecticut-based company, one of “America’s oldest and largest.” He said the unidentified corporation didn’t want to go south of the Georgia-Florida line.
Scott and Enterprise Florida, in hunting for private businesses to expand or relocate to Florida, have been playing up that Florida doesn’t have a personal income tax and is “proud” to be a right-to-work state while targeting Kentucky’s “pro-union, big government policies.”
Two years ago, he wrote a public letter to Kentucky businesses about moving to Florida and two weeks ago Enterprise Florida started running an ad touting Scott’s upcoming visit.
The Louisville Courier-Journal, expressing some of the bitterness that lingers over Scott’s decision to move the headquarters of nation’s largest hospital chain out of Kentucky two decades ago, has used the words “poach” and “plunder” in reporting on the upcoming executive visit.
As CEO of Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corp., Scott relocated the company’s headquarters from Louisville to Nashville in the mid-1990s after publicly criticizing Kentucky’s tax structure.
by Jim Turner, The News Service of Florida