Wahoos In Battle For South Division Crown
August 31, 2015
Pensacola is battling to become the first Cincinnati Reds Double-A affiliate to make the playoffs since 2006.
But Jackson, which has sunk to last place in the Southern League’s North Division in both the first and second half, isn’t making it easy. The Generals won its second straight game over the Blue Wahoos, 8-2, Sunday at The Ballpark in Jackson.
Pensacola, which took the opener in the five-game series, is now 6-7 overall against Jackson this season.
Blue Wahoos starter Tim Adleman, who led the Southern League with a 2.12 ERA entering the game, had a rare bad outing. He gave up six earned runs in 4.1 innings, falling to 9-9 this season with a 2.43 ERA.
The Pensacola right-hander was done in almost singlehandedly by Jackson second baseman Tyler Bortnick, who hit a solo shot in the first inning. He then smacked a grand slam off Adleman in the Generals’ five-run fifth inning that put Jackson up, 6-0. Bortnick last went yard on Aug. 22, 2013.
The Generals added two more runs in the eighth inning to go ahead, 8-0, before Pensacola finally scored.
The Blue Wahoos scored one run in the eighth inning with two out when second baseman Zach Vincej doubled and shortstop Alex Blandino singled him in. Pensacola right fielder Duran then crushed a solo homer to left center field in the ninth, his sixth dinger this season and second in four days. Duran currently has 42 RBIs on the season.
After failing to post a winning half since the team started in 2012, Pensacola is battling Mississippi for a postseason spot. The Blue Wahoos dropped to 35-28 in the second half of the Southern League South Division race.
Meanwhile, Mississippi, which is 34-27, was playing Biloxi Sunday night. If the Braves win, they would go up a half game. If not, they would remain a half game behind the Blue Wahoos.
The Blue Wahoos are looking to become the first Reds Double-A affiliate to advance to the playoffs since Chattanooga in 2006 — the longest drought of any Southern League affiliate. Chattanooga lost to Huntsville in the first round.
Pensacola right fielder Jesse Winker’s six-game hitting streak was snapped with a 0-4 day. Winker, the Reds top prospect, has hit in 20 of his 26 games this month and is batting .352 (32-91) in August.
Marquez Smith was 2-4 — the only Blue Wahoo to have a multi-hit game Sunday — and raised his season average to .270 with Pensacola.
Tate Ag Students Get Up Close Look At Baling Hay
August 31, 2015
Agriculture students at Tate High School took part in a class Friday led by Melissa Gibbs and Austin Courson on how to bale hay.
“Cut it. let it dry, flip it, let it dry some more, rake it into rows and bale it,” explained observer Kim Stefansson, school district public relations coordinator.
Pictured: Baling hay Friday morning at Tate High School. Photos by Kim Stefansson for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Pot Industry Pitches: Armored Cars, Pot Billboards, Flavor Varieties
August 31, 2015
Armored cars ferrying pounds of pot products — with names like “Stinky Purple” — from Pensacola to Miami. Cannabis advertised on billboards throughout the state by companies linked to some of the Capitol’s most powerful lobbyists.
That scenario could soon become a reality as state officials prepare to pick Florida’s first medical-marijuana vendors.
More than two dozen nurseries — and their consultants, doctors and pot experts from across the country — are seeking to become one of the fortunate five granted “dispensing organization” licenses to grow, process and distribute the non-euphoric marijuana authorized by Gov. Rick Scott and the Legislature last year. One nursery will be chosen in each of five regions of the state.
The News Service of Florida conducted an intensive review of the 28 applications, released by Department of Health officials last month.
Many of the applications are highly redacted, leaving the public in the dark regarding critical information, such as ownership of the organizations, what types of products they want to sell or the financial fitness of the applicants. Some of the applications are almost completely blacked out due to claims of “trade secret” exemptions.”
The analysis of the applications, which range in length from fewer than 200 to nearly 2,000 pages, provides a glimpse into what the state’s medical-marijuana industry might look like before the end of the year, when pot products could be on the shelf.
One applicant is interested in proffering pot “pods” like those more commonly used in single-dispenser coffee machines.
Another is relying on the expertise of a pot expert from Colorado who is also the co-host of “The Funky Fresh Garden Show,” whose Facebook page features a directive to “Inhale the funk, extract the bull****.”
Two nurseries are partnering with a group that includes the son of an owner of two Florida greyhound tracks.
Yet another applicant boasts the former head of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, Tim Moore, as its chief security officer.
Some of the applications are bursting with in-depth information about everything from machinery, such as air-conditioning systems and carbon-dioxide extraction machines, to “bear-proof dumpsters.”
Many include photographs of marijuana plants in various stages of growth and processing, presumably shot at grow operations in other states.
Nearly all boast that they are best-suited to provide the medical marijuana products — including oil, paste, capsules, nasal sprays, liquids for vaporizing and suppositories — anxiously sought by parents of children with life-threatening seizures who pushed for the law last year.
Each of the applicants turned to experts in places where marijuana is legalized and in production, including Colorado, Illinois, Oregon, Nevada and Canada.
Some of the applications appear to have been adapted from other areas of the country.
For example, Winter Garden-based Razbuton applied in the Central region of the state and is aligned with “Phoenix Botanical Research of Florida,” an organization linked with “Phoenix Farms” and “Phoenix Botanical Research Partners of Illinois.”
Although Florida’s law prohibits smoking of the low-THC products, the Razbuton application includes a lengthy description evocative of a wine review of the “dry hit,” “flavor” and “cloud” of the Harlequin strain of medical marijuana marketed elsewhere by Phoenix.
“The soft scent of mentholated dry mango swirls around the tongue, punctuated by the flavor of overripe peaches,” an explanation of the Harlequin “dry hit” reads. “Exhaling Harlequin produces a dense fog of sweet incense, with a soothing, soft and spicy sandalwood scent.”
Many of the applications include nearly identical information about issues such as systems they intend to use to keep track of the pot plants and products.
And more than a few said they were interested in getting into Florida’s marijuana business because of its potential to help sick patients, especially epileptic children.
But the documents also show the financial benefits some of the businesses hope to reap.
Dewar Nursery, which applied in the Central region, predicts its “Sunshine Holistic Care” medical-marijuana operation could bring in at least $700,000 in sales-tax revenue for the state in its first year, according to an analysis conducted by University of Central Florida economist Sean Snaith.
Razbuton estimates it will rake in $6.8 million in sales the first year, with a net profit of $1.4 million.
Southwest-region applicant Plants of Ruskin predicts its pot operations will harvest from $11,000 to $950,000 a month in sales. The nursery, which has leased 15 acres in Hillsborough County for cannabis cultivation and which estimates its start-up costs at $7.7 million, projects a $2.6 million loss the first year.
Several of the applicants hope to give patients access to additional services.
Knox Nursery, which also applied in the Central region, plans on cultivating and processing medical marijuana at its existing nursery in Winter Garden. If licensed, Knox intends to open dispensaries at the nursery as well as in Orlando, Tampa and Tallahassee.
The nursery also promises to offer “complementary lifestyle services at a discounted rate,” including acupuncture, yoga, massage therapy, meditation, and “other potentially helpful treatment methods.”
Arcadia-based Sun Bulb Nurseries wants to go even farther. The nursery, which applied in the Southwest region of the state, plans to sponsor an annual health fair in the Fort Lauderdale area as part of its marketing strategy.
“Yoga instructors, massage therapists, chiropractors, health coaches, meditation guides, reiki masters, homeopathic doctors, mental health counselors, acupuncturists and those practicing other holistic healing modalities could all participate in the annual health fair,” Sun Bulb’s application reads. “Not only would this give them a lot of exposure to potential clients and be a good opportunity to network with other practitioners, but it would give them an excellent venue for providing pro bono work and serving the community they practice within.”
State officials have at least 90 days from the when the applications were due on July 8 to pick the five licensees. But that three-month period has been extended because health officials are seeking additional information from several of the applicants.
As of Tuesday, the Department of Health had not named two of the three members of the committee created to select the five licensees. According to the agency’s rule, the committee will be comprised of the director of the agency’s Office of Compassionate Use; a member of the Drug Policy Advisory Council appointed by the state surgeon general, who heads the health department; and a certified public accountant, also appointed by the surgeon general.
Lawyer Christian Bax, who was affiliated with unidentified medical-marijuana organizations in other states, was appointed to take over the Office of Compassionate Use last month after former director Patricia Nelson, who helped develop the rule governing the applications, stepped down. Bax is the third director of the division in less than a year.
Under the law, nurseries that have been in business for at least 30 years in Florida and grew at least 400,000 plants at the time they applied in July were eligible to seek licenses. Twenty-six nurseries applied for licenses, and three applied in two of the five regions established in the rule. Applicants could apply in more than one region, but can only receive a license in one.
Redlands Nursery and Alpha Foliage, owned by John and Carolyn DeMott, both applied in two separate regions. The nursery has partnered with “Surterra Florida,” a limited liability corporation whose officers include two Atlanta investors also seeking to establish a footprint in Georgia’s nascent medical-marijuana industry. Alex Havenick, whose mother Barbara owns greyhound tracks in Naples and Miami, is also one of the officers of the Florida group.
Influential lobbyists Billy Rubin, a close ally of the governor, and Ron Book both represent Surterra.
Tallahassee lobbyist Brian Ballard, an influential Republican who is also a fundraiser for Scott, is listed as one of the owners of Sunbulb, an Arcadia nursery seeking a license in the Southwest region of the state. Ballard’s name can also be found on the application for Homestead-based Keith St. Germain Nursery, an applicant for licensure in the Southeast region.
In a telephone interview, Ballard said he is also affiliated with San Felasco Nurseries, doing business as “Grandiflora,” which is trying to get a license in Northeast Florida. Nearly all of that nursery’s 765-page application was redacted — including the “entire operations manual” — because of “trade secrets.”
Ballard said it is common for lobbyists to accept ownership shares of businesses they represent, as he did in the case of the medical-marijuana applicants.
“We both know there’s plenty of folks out there that have interests that don’t disclose. I wanted to make sure that we complied not only with the rule but with the intent of the rule. Clearly the intent of the rule is to not be surprised by people who have ownership-type interests,” he said.
by Dara Kam, The News Service of Florida
Bonus Photos: Northview Football, Cheerleaders Band
August 31, 2015
For a bonus photo gallery from last Friday night’s Northview at Crestview game, click here.
The gallery includes football action shots, the band and the cheerleaders. For the game action story, click here.
Photos by Gary Amerson for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Jay Teen Killed In Early Morning Wreck
August 30, 2015
A Jay teen died in a single vehicle accident early Sunday morning about four miles south of Jay.
David T. Palmer, 17, was traveling east on Bragg Lake Road off of Highway 89 when he failed to negotiate a curve, according to the Florida Highway Patrol. His 2008 Chevrolet began to rotate clockwise and traveled down an embankment. Palmer was pronounced deceased at the scene.
Investigators believe the crash occurred between 4:00 and 4:30 a.m., but an exact time has not yet been determined. Alcohol was not a factor in the crash. The FHP investigation is continuing.
Teen Killed In Santa Rosa Traffic Crash
August 30, 2015
A teen was killed in a two vehicle crash about 10:40 Saturday morning in Santa Rosa County.
Adrian Lewis Dunklin, Jr., 17, was traveling south on Avalon Boulevard near Santa Monica Street when his 2014 Honda cross the center line into the path of a 2008 Nissa SUV driven by 35-year old Julie Counts Richardson of Milton.
A passenger in Dunklin’s vehicle, 17-year old Aubree D. Manapat Kramer of Pace, was pronounced deceased at the scene. Dunklin and a second passenger in his vehicle, 17-year old Josh J. Jones, received minor injuries and were transported to West Florida Hospital. Richardson was transported to Sacred Heart Hospital with minor injuries.
The crash remains under investigation by the Florida Highway Patrol.
Ernest Ward Seeks Donations Of Legos, Tinker Toys, Building Sets
August 30, 2015
Ernest Ward Middle School is seeking donations of construction toy sets for their new Innovation Center. The school is in need of sets of Legos, Erector Sets, Tinker Toys, Lincoln Logs and similar items.
Call Mrs. Stallworth at (850) 327-4283 extension 110 for more information.
As part of Vision 2020 in the Escambia County School District, schools are going back to the concept of letting students explore, experiment and learn through trial and error. Libraries have become Innovation Centers where students can create, explore, discover and invent using a variety of materials, such as the construction sets.
Mosquito Borne Illness Alert Continues After West Nile Cases Confirmed
August 30, 2015
A mosquito-borne illness alert for Escambia County continues after at least two West Nile virus cases were conformed in the county.
The second case of West Nile was recently confirmed in an adult male. This makes the sixth human case in Florida in 2015.
“Residents and visitors should take precautions to avoid being bitten by mosquitoes and to limit exposure to mosquito-borne illnesses,” says FDOH-Escambia Director, Dr. John J. Lanza. The Escambia County Mosquito Control Division and FDOH-Escambia continue surveillance and prevention efforts. There is heightened concern that other Escambia County residents and visitors may become ill from being bitten by an infected mosquito.
To protect yourself from mosquitoes, the health department recommends that practice of “Drain and Cover”:
Drain standing water.
- Drain water from garbage cans, house gutters, buckets, pool covers, coolers, toys, flower pots or any other containers where sprinkler or rain water has collected.
- Discard old tires, bottles, pots, broken appliances and other items not being used.
- Empty and clean birdbaths and pets’ water bowls at least twice a week.
- Protect boats and vehicles from rain with tarps that do not accumulate water.
- Maintain swimming pools in good condition and chlorinated. Empty plastic swimming pools when not in use.
Cover skin with clothing or repellent and cover doors and windows.
- Wear shoes, socks, long pants and long sleeves when mosquitoes are most prevalent.
- Apply mosquito repellent to bare skin and clothing.
- Always use repellents according to the label. Repellents with DEET, picaridin, oil of lemon eucalyptus, and IR3535 are effective.
- Re-apply mosquito repellent as often as needed to prevent mosquito landings and bites.
- Use mosquito netting to protect children younger than 2 months old.
- When using repellent on children, apply to your hands first and then rub on their arms and legs.
- Place screens on windows, doors, porches, and patios. Always repair broken screens.
Florida Minimum Wage Increase Proposed In The House
August 30, 2015
A House Democrat filed a bill Friday that calls for increasing the state’s minimum wage to $15 an hour. The bill (HB 109), filed by Rep. Victor Torres, D-Orlando, will be considered during the 2016 legislative session and mirrors a bill (SB 6) filed last month by Sen. Dwight Bullard, D-Miami. Previous proposals to increase the minimum wage have not moved forward in the Legislature. The state’s minimum wage, which gradually increases each year, hit $8.05 in January.
by The News Service of Florida
Put A Ring On It: Tate’s State Champion Softball Team Receives Rings
August 30, 2015
The Tate Lady Aggies won the Class 7A softball state championship last spring, and they were back in the spotlight Friday night as they received their state championship rings from Principal Rick Shackle and Escambia School Superintendent Malcolm Thomas. Photos by Jennifer Repine for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
