Escambia Man Gets Eight Years On Meth Charges
July 8, 2015
An Escambia County man was sentenced to state prison on drug charges.
David Gerald Fields was sentenced to eight years in state prison after a Santa Rosa County jury found him guilty of manufacture of a controlled substance and unlawful possession of a listed chemical. The 37-year old Pensacola man was arrested on November 17, 2014, by the Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Department who responded to a report of a meth lab on West Lake Road in Milton.
As deputies arrived, four individuals, including Fields, ran from the residence and were detained. Inside the residence officers discovered numerous items consistent with the manufacture of methamphetamine, including various chemicals that are used to produce the drug.
Circuit Judge John Simon sentenced Fields following the jury’s verdict to eight years in the state prison followed by five years of probation. Assistant State Attorney Zach Brost prosecuted the case.
Down And Dirty: Teachers Learn About Soil
July 8, 2015
The University of Florida IFAS Soil Science Department offered a one-day, Teach the Teacher International Year of Soil Workshop for educators Tuesday at the West Florida Research and Education Center in Jay.
Teachers were able to learn about soils and how to relate the information back to their students. The workshop covered topics including Soils and Civilizations, What is a Soil, Water Retention and Movement in Soil, Soil is Living, and Soil Protects the Environment.
Pictured top: Andrew Williams, NRCS soil scientist, shares how to classify soils and making soil surveys. Pictured inset: Trent Mathews, Santa Rosa NRCS DC, explains soil layers in a pit. Pictured below: Teachers learn about soil during the Teach the Teacher International Year of Soil Workshop for educators Tuesday at the West Florida Research and Education Center in Jay. Courtesy photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
New Food Options Now Open At The Pensacola Airport
July 8, 2015
Next time you head to the Pensacola Airport, there will be several new food choices on the menu.
Pensacola International Airport and OHM Concessions Group day held a ribbon-cutting ceremony Tuesday to celebrate the grand opening of the airport’s renovated and expanded food and beverage concession areas.
The new concessions include a post-security Pensacola Beach House bar and restaurant, Einstein Bros. Bagels, Freshens and Chick-Fil-A, all operated by OHM Concessions Group. Attendees got a chance to sample delicious items from each restaurant, including Baklava French Toast bites, Pot Pie Fritter mini’s, and brownie bites. Guests were also able to meet some of OHM’s 63 local employees that greet and welcome passengers traveling through the Pensacola airport every day.
Pictured: A ribbon cutting was held Tuesday for new food concessions available at the Pensacola airport. Courtesy photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Mobile Beats Wahoos
July 8, 2015
Pensacola and Mobile remained scoreless until the BayBears broke out with six runs in the fifth inning Tuesday and went on to defeat the Blue Wahoos, 9-4, at Hank Aaron Stadium.
Both teams remained scoreless the first four innings. In fact, Pensacola starter Daniel Wright had given up just three singles, walked two and benefitted from two double plays. Meanwhile, Mobile righty A.J. Schugel gave up just two hits to the Blue Wahoos to that point.
But in the bottom of the fifth inning, Gabriel Guerrero, who hit a walk-off two-run homer Monday, hit his 16th double of the year to left field and would score on a fielder’s choice by Schugel to put Mobile up, 1-0. Second baseman Kevin Medrano would then double to center field for Mobile to drive in Rudy Flores and Schugel for a 3-0 BayBears’ lead.
Mobile shortstop Jack Reinheimer would then single on a soft line drive to left field to score Medrano to put the BayBears up, 4-0. Wright would be replaced by reliever Jimmy Moran, who would make a throwing error on center fielder Socrates Brito hit, allowing Reinheimer to score. Finally, left fielder Zach Borenstein would hit a sacrifice fly to left field to bring in Brito and put the BayBears ahead, 6-0.
Schugel improved to 4-2 this season for Mobile working seven innings, allowing two earned runs on five hits, a walk and he struck out seven.
Borenstein has owned the Blue Wahoos pitchers, batting .325 with four homers and 16 RBIs in three series. He hit a two-run homer Tuesday off of Pensacola reliever Ben Klimesh—his seventh of the year—in the seventh inning to put Mobile ahead, 9-2.
Pensacola catcher Kyle Skipworth, who was 1-3, also hit a solo home run in the seventh off of Schugel to cut Mobile’s lead to 7-2. Skipworth now has three homers and eight RBIs on the year and is hitting .290 since coming off the disabled list June 26.
Duran continues to hit well in his seven games back with Pensacola after recovering from an injury. He’s hitting .316 after going 1-4 and knocking in a run Tuesday.
Century Expects $603K Grant For Drainage Improvements
July 7, 2015
The Town of Century expects to be awarded a $603,250 grant for drainage system improvements.
Community Development Block Grant Emergency Set-Aside assistance funds were made available following the April 2014 flooding event in Escambia County. As the only small municipality in Escambia County, Century is the only eligible grant applicant, according to Robin Phillips, town consultant, because the City of Pensacola exceeds grant limits.
The town is proposing several drainage improvements with the grant funds, all of which may not be possible within the funding limits:
- Replacement and extension of the existing drainage culverts at the intersection of Zion and Jackson streets to correct a flooding problem.
- Replace the culvert across George Avenue, about 200 feet west of the intersection of West Pond Street and George Avenue.
- Construction of an outfall from the back of the town-owned building leased to Century Pharmacy, connected to an existing drainage ditch.
- Construction of about 350 feet of curb with flumes along Hilltop Road from Red Lane west to Hilltop and Alger road intersection.
- Construction of about 300 feet or curb with flumes along Jefferson Avenue from Barnwell Lane northeast.
In addition, a Citizens Advisory Task Force recommended the possible addition of drainage improvements along Jefferson Avenue, just east of Harley Lane. This project can replace one of the other five projects or be added as an alternate.
The grant timetable calls for a letter of intent to be submitted by July 9, with construction to begin in December or January.
Pictured top: (L-R) Mayor Freddie McCall and council members Gary Riley, Ann Brooks, Sandra McMurray Jackson and Ben Boutwell listen to counsultant Robin Phillips (standing) during Monday night’s meeting of the Century Town Council. NorthEscambia.com photo, click to enlarge.
Three Men Charged With Raping Autistic Teen
July 7, 2015
Three people have been charged with the alleged rape of an autistic juvenile.
Roderick Dewayne Billings, 42, Jorge Gonzalez-Zuazua, 36 and Allen Joel Weeden, were each charged with unlawful sexual activity against a juvenile. “The victim suffers from autism which affects her mentally and renders her unable to make clear and concise decisions for herself,” according to a press release from the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office.
All three were booked into the Escambia County Jail without bond.
The alleged incident occurred sometime between the months of October 2014 and April 2015, the ECSO said.
Man Charged With Abusing Horse Appears In Court; Has Name Corrected
July 7, 2015
A Molino man charged with animal cruelty in connection with a horse seized from a Molino property earlier this year was in court Monday.
Daniel Franklin Barrett, Jr., 36, appeared at an arraignment hearing before Judge Joyce Williams, but his arraignment was postponed until July 13.
He was originally arrested and charged as Daniel Barrett Francis, but the court took action to correct his name to Daniel Franklin Barrett, Jr. The name error was made in the judicial system, not due to any intentional act on Barrett’s part, according to the State Attorney’s Office.
Escambia County Animal Control and Panhandle Equine Rescue seized the horse from the 6000 block of Cedartown Road last February. According to a report provided by the State Attorney’s Office, the horse was being kept at a home under construction with insufficient food and water available on a daily basis. The report states that there was a water trough available to the horse, but it was full of about six inches of water that was not potable and contained algae and remnants of rotten hay.
There was also no shelter available for the horse, the report states.
Barrett was released from the Escambia County Jail on a $500 bond.
Molino, Walnut Hill Fire Volunteers Train With Lifeguard Helicopter Crew
July 7, 2015
The volunteer members of the Molino and Walnut Hill stations of Escambia County Fire Rescue held a joint training meeting Monday with the crew of Lifeguard 1 behind the Molino Fire Station. The Lifeguard air ambulance is based in Santa Rosa County, but often responded to calls in Escambia County. NorthEscambia.com photos by Bethany Reynolds, click to enlarge.
Medical Malpractice Caps Take Another Hit
July 7, 2015
The case started with a dental assistant who went into surgery for carpal-tunnel syndrome and ended up suffering a perforated esophagus.
Now, nearly eight years later, the case could be another blow to a controversial 2003 law that limited the amounts of money injured patients can receive in medical-malpractice cases.
A South Florida appeals court ruled last week that the law’s limits on pain-and-suffering damages — known in legal parlance as non-economic damages — are unconstitutional in personal-injury cases, such as the case of Susan Kalitan, who was injured after tubes were inserted into her mouth and esophagus as part of an anesthesia process.
The 4th District Court of Appeal’s decision followed a Florida Supreme Court opinion last year that similarly rejected the malpractice law’s limits on non-economic damages in wrongful-death cases. The appeals court cited the Supreme Court’s opinion and said the damage limits violate equal-protection rights under the state Constitution.
The 14-page decision, issued by a three-judge panel of the appeals court, said the “caps are unconstitutional not only in wrongful death actions, but also in personal injury suits as they violate equal protection. … Whereas the caps on non-economic damages in (the section of state law) fully compensate those individuals with non-economic damages in an amount that falls below the caps, injured parties with non-economic damages in excess of the caps are not fully compensated.”
The ruling, written by appeals-court Judge Alan Forst and joined by Chief Judge Cory Ciklin and Judge W. Matthew Stevenson, said the appeal presented an issue of “first impression,” which means it is the first time the constitutional question has been decided. Defendants in the case can ask for a rehearing or appeal.
Then-Gov. Jeb Bush signed the medical-malpractice law in 2003 after a fierce, months-long political battle about limiting non-economic damages. Physicians, hospitals and their legislative supporters argued that the caps were needed because of soaring malpractice-insurance costs. But opponents, including plaintiffs’ attorneys, contended that limiting damages was unfair to injured patients.
Under the law, damages were capped at different amounts, depending on factors such as the numbers of claimants in lawsuits and the types of defendants. For example, part of the law included $500,000 and $1 million damage caps for physicians, with lower amounts when the cases involve emergency care.
Kalitan filed the malpractice case in 2008 in Broward County and named a series of defendants, including the North Broward Hospital District, an anesthesiologist, a certified registered nurse anesthetist and a company that contracted to provide anesthesiologists and staff to the hospital district.
A brief filed in the appeals court by Kalitan’s attorneys said anesthesia was used to put her “to sleep” for the outpatient carpal-tunnel surgery. When she awoke, she complained of chest and back pain but was later sent home. The brief said she was rushed to the hospital the next day, with an infection from the perforated esophagus and had to undergo chest and neck surgery. She was place in a drug-induced coma for three weeks while recovering.
A jury awarded Kalitan about $4.7 million, with $4 million of that in non-economic damages, according to court records. But a circuit judge, applying the caps from the 2003 law, reduced the non-economic damages award by about $2 million, which included amounts to be paid by various parties and a finding that Kalitan suffered a “catastrophic injury.” Such a finding can lead to larger damage amounts than in other malpractice cases.
In court briefs, attorneys for the defendants vehemently argued that the case did not meet the legal definition of a catastrophic injury.
But the appeals-court ruling focused on the broader constitutionality of the damage limits, saying that so “long as the caps discriminate between classes of medical malpractice victims, as they do in the personal injury context (where the claimants with little non-economic damage can be awarded all of their damages, in contrast to those claimants whose non-economic damages are deemed to exceed the level to which the caps apply), they are rendered unconstitutional by (last year’s Supreme Court opinion), notwithstanding the Legislature’s intentions.”
The court ordered reinstatement of the jury’s original damage award, though it noted that the final amount could be reduced because the North Broward Hospital District has “sovereign immunity.” That legal concept limits damages in lawsuits against government agencies.
by Jim Saunders, The News Service of Florida
Kittens Recovering After Being Tossed From SUV; Woman Charged
July 7, 2015
A Santa Rosa County woman was arrested after allegedly throwing kittens out of her SUV, and authorities said late Monday that all of the kittens are doing just fine.
Santa Rosa deputies responded to the area of Highway 87 and Grady Tolbert Road after witnesses reported a woman in a black Infinity SUV throwing several small kittens out of the window of the moving vehicle.
The driver, identified as Veronica F. Gordon of Navarre, admitted to the allegations, deputies said. She was released from the Santa Rosa Count Jail on a $5,000 bond after being charged with felony animal cruelty.
Deputies remained in the area to search for the kittens, all of which were eventually located with the help of local citizens. Dr. Natalie Dyson of the St. Francis Veterinary clinic checked the kittens, aged 5-6 weeks, and reported that all four will be fine.
