Wahoos Open With Loss To Biloxi
April 10, 2015
Pensacola hosted its second historic season opening game in its four years of existence. This time, it was the Biloxi Shuckers first game in history and the city’s first game since 1908 – nearly 107 years ago.
The Shuckers earned its first Southern League win, 4-0, Thursday against the Blue Wahoos, thanks to shortstop Orlando Arcia’s double that knocked in two runs in the top of the third inning. The Wahoos managed just three hits in the loss.
The Shuckers scored its first runs in the third to go ahead 2-0. That’s when the Brewers’ No. 2 prospect Arcia, who was 3-4 with two doubles and three runs batted in, lined a shot over Blue Wahoos right fielder Kyle Waldrop that drove in both Biloxi’s Adam Weisenburger and Kyle Wren.
The Shuckers added another run in the 6th when Michael Reed smashed a single off Pensacola reliever Chad Rogers down the third base line that scored Arcia for a 3-0 lead. Arcia singled in the 9th inning to score Josh Fellhauer, a former Wahoos player, to put the Shuckers ahead, 4-0.
Blue Wahoos Manager Pat Kelly said he doesn’t envy the Shuckers’ extended road trip.
“That’s a really long time,” Kelly said. “They will either be really close or fighting all the time.”
Biloxi’s road game – Pensacola’s 105th sellout in its history – was the first of 55 scheduled over the next two months for the Milwaukee Brewers’ Double-A affiliate. The team will spend 60 straight nights in a hotel in nine different cities reached by bus.
It’s one of the longest road trips in recent history after the franchise moved from Huntsville, Ala., to Biloxi in the offseason. Its home opener is tentatively scheduled June 6 in downtown Biloxi.
Just how excited were Shuckers fans for the team’s season opener? Interim Mayor Kenny Glavan showed up in a Biloxi jersey and threw out the first pitch with Pensacola Mayor Ashton Hayward.
“This is a historic day for Biloxi just as it was for Pensacola when they had their first opening day (in 2012),” Glavan said. “We look forward to a great relationship.”
Asked before the game who was going to win, Glavan, a likely mayoral candidate, sounded like a true politician: “It will be really competitive and the best team is going to win,” he said.
The Reds top prospect Robert Stephenson welcomed the Shuckers to Pensacola with five straight fastballs in the 95 mph range. He ended up striking out Wren, Milwaukee’s 19th best prospect.
Stephenson, who had his 80-mph change up working, too, fanned Wren again in the 5th and had seven total in 5.2 innings. He gave up four hits, two walks and three earned runs.
Stephenson said he’s happy with the way his change up looked.
“I was a little bit amped up and that’s when I ran into trouble,” Stephenson said.
He also promised the Blue Wahoos would not pop champagne over the Shuckers first franchise victory.
“I can’t tell you we will be celebrating that,” he said smiling.
The second game of the five-game series with the Milwaukee Brewers Double-A affiliate Biloxi Shuckers is scheduled at 6:30 p.m. Friday. RHP Daniel Wright makes his Double-A debut as he takes the mound for the Wahoos and is scheduled to be opposed by the Shuckers RHP Tyler Wagner.
Florida House Approves Tax Cut Package
April 10, 2015
The House approved a $690 million tax-cut package Thursday that, in part, would slash taxes on cell-phone and cable-television bills, eliminate sales taxes on college textbooks and provide tax holidays on school supplies and hunting gear.
What the package will look like when the legislative session ends remains unknown, as the Senate has taken a slower approach to tax cuts and is in a budget standoff with the House about health care funding. The House voted 112-3 to approve the package, which is highlighted by Gov. Rick Scott’s call for a 3.6 percentage-point reduction in taxes on cell-phone and pay-TV bills, comprising about $470 million of the package.
“Here’s the questions we have to answer: Do we want people to pay more every month on their cell phone bill and their television bill?” asked House Finance & Tax Chairman Matt Gaetz, a Fort Walton Beach Republican who sponsored the bill. “And these aren’t just rich folks, they’re not just folks who live on the water, these are working-class people.”
A number of Democrats said that while the package has good points, they would like to have seen some of the money used for purposes such as helping needy Floridians and boosting school funding. Rep. Kristin Jacobs, D-Coconut Creek, who along with Democrats Mark Pafford of West Palm Beach and Joe Geller of Aventura voted against the bill, said the reduction in revenue will force local governments to raise taxes or cut back on services. The bill includes a variety of tax breaks and would offer a sales-tax holiday on July 4 for weapons, ammunition, fishing gear and camping tents. Also, it would provide a tax holiday for three days starting July 31 on clothes and back-to-school supplies and a tax holiday two days after Thanksgiving at small businesses.
Senate Holsters University Gun Proposal
April 10, 2015
The Senate likely will not move forward with a controversial measure that would allow people with concealed-weapons licenses to carry guns on the campuses of Florida colleges and universities.
Senate Judiciary Chairman Miguel Diaz de la Portilla, R-Miami, said Thursday he doesn’t plan to have the proposal (SB 176) go before his committee, which would effectively kill the bill.
“I’ve polled the members of the Senate, and there doesn’t seem to be too much support for that bill,” said Diaz de la Portilla, whose office has been getting calls from Second Amendment advocates about the measure.
The bill, which has cleared two committees, would need to get through the Judiciary and Rules committees to reach the Senate floor. A House version (HB 4005) is ready to go to the House floor after clearing three committees.
House Speaker Steve Crisafulli, R-Merritt Island, said he was unaware of the latest development from the Senate.
“Obviously there is a lot of legislation still before us, and we’ll make those calls as they come along,” Crisafulli said.
The emotionally charged measure, backed by the National Rifle Association, has drawn opposition from the state university system’s Board of Governors, university police chiefs and the 12 public universities. Among the opponents has been Florida State University President John Thrasher, who, until November, was a powerful senator.
NRA lobbyist Marion Hammer isn’t ready to concede defeat, responding in an email that “nothing is dead until sine die.” Sine die is the expression used around the Capitol for the end of the legislative session.
“The people have a right to know where senators stand on the bill,” Hammer said in the email. “Tough votes are part of the process.”
Diaz de la Portilla’s comments Thursday came a day after Florida Carry, a Second Amendment advocacy group, asserted in a blog post that the Miami Republican intended to have the bill appear before the Judiciary Committee on Tuesday but was told to scuttle those plans by Senate President Andy Gardiner, R-Orlando.
“Clearly caving to the anti-gun Senate Democrats rather than abiding the pro-gun Republican platform,” Florida Carry declared about Gardiner.
The alert continued by saying that “ordering a committee chairperson not to calendar pro-self-defense legislation is a tactic worthy only of Democrat former U.S. Senate President Harry Reid.”
Gardiner spokeswoman Katie Betta said the Florida Carry alert, in “grossly mischaracterizing” Gardiner, incorrectly states that the president makes the final decisions on bills before committees.
“In short, President Gardiner has in no way ‘ordered the bill killed,’ ” Betta said in an email.
by Jim Turner, The News Service of Florida
House Gives Final Approval To Testing Bill
April 10, 2015
Lawmakers gave final approval Thursday to legislation aimed at rolling back testing for public school students in Florida, even as critics argued the wide-ranging measure doesn’t go far enough to ease the burdens of high-stakes exams.
The House passed the measure (HB 7069) with a 105-6 vote, with a handful of Democrat peeling off from bipartisan support for the bill. It now goes to Gov. Rick Scott for his signature or veto.
The bill puts a hold on the use of student test data for school grades, teacher evaluations and student promotion to fourth grade until the new Florida Standards Assessments can be independently validated. It also scraps a law requiring school districts to come up with end-of-course tests in classes where the state doesn’t administer such exams; caps the amount of time students can spend on state and school district tests at 45 hours a year; and reduces the portion of a teacher’s evaluation tied to student performance from the current 50 percent to one-third.
The House vote likely ends the Legislature’s debate on what to do this year about long-running complaints of over-testing, magnified more recently amid a meltdown of the online testing platform used for some of the new assessments. But it is unlikely to cut off discussion of the system of high-stakes exams that have been the bedrock of the state’s education accountability movement.
The Foundation for Florida’s Future, an organization founded by former Gov. Jeb Bush that plays an influential role in education policy, praised lawmakers for approving the bill.
“They voted to keep education transparent and provide teachers with the information they need to help students learn, while ensuring testing at every level is done thoughtfully,” said Patricia Levesque, executive director of the foundation. “Florida lawmakers have shown it’s possible to achieve fewer, better tests while continuing to measure student success.”
The Florida Education Association, the state’s largest teachers union, issued a more measured statement of support, saying the legislation “takes some steps to easing some of the many negative consequences that parents and teachers see coming from this drastic increase in testing.”
But the union also made clear it doesn’t believe the proposal goes far enough.
“We will need to continue to work to educate the public and lawmakers about standardized testing in Florida and be prepared to make further positive adjustments the next time the Legislature meets,” FEA President Andy Ford said.
Some Democrats who had voted for the bill the first time it came to the House reversed course on Thursday. House Minority Leader Mark Pafford, D-West Palm Beach, said the state shouldn’t go forward with the new assessments until they’ve been properly tested.
“At the end of the day, you shouldn’t be exposing children and their futures to a system that’s unproven,” he told reporters after the vote.
But GOP lawmakers criticized them for voting against a bill that contained essentially everything that the House had included in its bill — and added the review of the FSA to boot.
“We passed (the House version) unanimously, and the only major difference in the Senate bill that came over that we’re taking up now is a safeguard that you all were asking for in the first place,” said Rep. Erik Fresen, R-Miami.
The complaints were not limited to the House floor. Shortly before the vote, Democratic Congresswoman Frederica Wilson and state Sen. Dwight Bullard, D-Miami, rallied against the bill for being too mild.
“We’re taxpaying citizens, and we say, this test is invalid,” Wilson, a former elementary school principal, said in a speech slamming the FSA. “… Somebody’s gotten rich off of all of this testing and I am sick of it.”
Standing outside the Senate chamber, Bullard, a teacher, called for Scott to suspend the use of the tests across the board. Scott has already temporarily suspended an 11th-grade language arts exam that would be permanently eliminated by the bill now on its way to Scott’s desk.
“I’m encouraging all the parents and all the listeners, all the readers, to call Gov. Scott and ask him to issue an executive order making this year’s FSA unnecessary, rendering it unnecessary, because unfortunately, legislators in this particular chamber and the chamber across the way seem not courageous enough to address the issue,” Bullard said.
by Brandon Larrabee, The News Service of Florida
After No Volunteer Response To Fires, Paid Crews Added To One Escambia Fire Station
April 9, 2015
Last Friday morning, there were two house fires in the area served by the Ferry Pass Volunteer Fire Station, but no truck from Ferry Pass ever rolled to either fire due to a lack of volunteers at the time.
This morning, Escambia County Administrator Jack Brown announced that he will be placing a paid fire crew at the station to “assist” the volunteers as of Friday morning to ensure proper coverage for the district that includes ares such as North Davis Highway, University Parkway and eastern Nine Mile Road. The 24/7 paid firefighter positions will be paid with funds already available in the county’s fire services budget this year.
“They (the Ferry Pass volunteers) are handling a lot of calls; they are just overwhelmed,” Commissioner Grover Robinson said as he praised the efforts of new Ferry Pass Volunteer Chief Kevin Winingar who has held the position less than a month. The volunteers at the station do answer a large number of calls, but sometimes they are understaffed, he said.
Brown said the career and volunteer crews will work together at the Ferry Pass station, “respectful of each other and make it work for the residents of Escambia County”.
During a Thursday morning agenda review session, Commissioner Wilson Robertson asked if career and volunteer firefighters could work together in the same station, because he had “heard” that was not allowed under a recent IRS settlement involving volunteer stipends.
Brown said that under a recent legal opinion, volunteer and career firefighters can serve at the same fire station. However, he said paid county employees in fields such as EMS still are not allowed to volunteer as firefighters.
The Escambia County Commission voted in January to pay back taxes under an IRS audit of the county’s fire services and to work toward keeping things as normal as possible for volunteer firefighters while keeping the IRS and other agencies happy.
Volunteer firefighters in Escambia County currently receive stipend pay for answering 25 percent of their station’s calls during the month, ranging from $300 for a Firefighter I to $550 for a district chief.
The audit was prompted after the IRS discovered that several Escambia County employees were receiving both a W-2, showing taxes withheld from their “day” job with county, and a 1099, showing no taxes withheld as a volunteer firefighter. The IRS found Escambia County should have been withholding taxes on a stipend pay for all volunteers and the county owes over $78,000.
The county paid the $78,000 and agreed to the settlement as offered by the IRS. Volunteer firefighters continued to receive a stipend check will taxes withheld, and they will receive a W-2 rather than a 1099 at year’s end.
Pictured top, inset and immediately below: The first firefighters from the Beulah Station of Escambia Fire Rescue arrive at a fire last Friday morning on Fox Run in the Ferry Pass district and begin fighting the blaze. Pictured below: More photos from the scene. Photos by Dalton Young for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Cantonment Insurance Agent Convicted Of Racketeering, Money Laundering
April 9, 2015
A Cantonment insurance agent was convicted Wednesday of racketeering and money laundering.
Circuit Judge Ross Goodman found Randall Petersen guilty of conducting a fraudulent insurance scheme that involved the theft of several hundred thousand dollars of commissions and bonuses from American National Insurance Company and Liberty National Insurance Company.
In the scheme, Petersen advertised job opportunities on the internet for College Consultants of the Gulf Coast, and induced hundreds of applicants to provide information for life insurance that he and his associates described as free job benefits.
The prosecutor, Assistant State Attorney Russ Edgar, showed that College Consultants was not a real company and Petersen merely used the information from the job applicants to complete life insurance applications that he submitted to the insurance companies. The companies paid Petersen advance commissions, which were as much as 130% of the first year premiums, and bonuses.
Before the companies realized the insureds were not employees, Petersen had obtained hundreds of thousands of dollars of commissions and bonuses and let the policies lapse for nonpayment.
Petersen faces a maximum of 60 years state prison when he is sentenced on May 12. Goodman ordered Peterson held in the Escambia County Jail without bond until his sentencing.
Students Of The Year Honored
April 9, 2015
Escambia County Council of PTA/PTSA recently recognized Students Of the Year from most schools in Escambia County. The awards are presented to students that, in most cases, have overcome some challenge in their educational career.
- A. K. Suter Elementary – Sorcha Reynolds
- Bellview Elementary – Xiomara Flores
- Beulah Elementary – Dawson Guy
- Blue Angels Elementary – Bianca Bahamundi
- Bratt Elementary – Sarius Davis
- Brown-Barge Middle – El Leon Forty
- Byrneville Elementary – Kaitlin Gafford
- C. A. Weis Elementary – Fionna Rodriguez
- Camelot Academy – Destiny Bradley
- Cordova Park Elementary – Charlotte Born
- Ensley Elementary – Stephen Roe
- Escambia High – Dominick Vetitoe, Jason Vetitoe
- Escambia Westgate Center – Kain Bunn, Hannah Schneider, Courtney White
- Ferry Pass Elementary – Cheyenne Robinson
- Ferry Pass Middle – Daniel Holzknecht
- Global Learning Academy – Michael Stembridge
- Hellen Caro Elementary – Alyssa Cravatt
- Henry McMillan Pre-K Center – Irielle Fogan
- Holm Elementary – Martin Bucio
- J. H. Workman Middle – Christopher Taylor
- Jim Allen Elementary – Brayden Cook
- Jim C. Bailey Middle – Camrye Conrath
- L. D. McArthur Elementary – Abigail Conn
- Lincoln Park Primary – Maurice Smith
- Longleaf Elementary – Joshua Straatman
- Molino Park Elementary – Melanie Danforth
- Montclair Elementary – Pretesia Robbins
- Myrtle Grove Elementary – Rachelle Edwards
- N. B. Cook Elementary – Ansley Skipper
- Navy Point Elementary – Daniel Reyes
- O.J. Semmes Elementary – Prestesia Scott
- Oakcrest Elementary – Allison Gibson
- Pensacola Beach Elementary – Kacie May
- Pensacola High – Kayla Pritchett
- Pine Forest High – Allen Fink
- Pine Meadow Elementary – Noah Neely
- Pleasant Grove Elementary – Christian Lim
- R.C. Lipscomb Elementary – Cory Appelberg
- Ransom Middle – Lauren Brown
- Scenic Heights Elementary – Cassidy Palmer
- Sherwood Elementary – A’Darius Adams
- Warrington Elementary – Octavia Hughley
- Warrington Middle – G’niyah Betties
- West Pensacola Elementary – Khalil Kyles
- W.J. Woodham Middle – Robert Vose
Northview, Jay To Meet In Spring Game
April 9, 2015
The Northview Chiefs and the Jay Royals will meet in a Spring Football Game next month.
The game will come at the end of the three weeks allowed for spring training. It will be held May 22 at 7 p.m. in Tommy Weaver Memorial Stadium on the Northview campus in Bratt.
Last season, Northview beat Jay 55-20 in Bratt.
Pictured: Last year’s Jay at Northview game. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Radio Icon Marty White Retiring
April 9, 2015
Marty White is retiring after 42 years on the air, with 37 of those years on Pensacola radio. As a fixture on Pensacola morning radio, White woke up Pensacola area listeners on 102.7 WXBM’s “Hometown Morning Show” for over 20 years. Over the last year, he co-hosted WXBM’s afternoon drive show with Lindsey Marie, who will remain with the afternoon show.
His final day on the air will be June 26.
White is a native of Pensacola, a Tate High School graduate and a veteran of the United States Air Force. He has driven race cars at 5 Flags Speedway, flown with the Blue Angels, danced atop radio station vans as “Billy Bob” Ace Traffic Reporter and even donned a snakeskin dress with “Dolly Parton” wig and heels at the Beulah Sausage Fest. All in the name of furthering WXBM’s visibility in the market and all with the station’s call letters emblazoned across his signature ball cap.
White has been recognized by countless charitable organizations for his help in promoting various events and endeavors including the annual Kaps for Kids Event for the Ronald McDonald House, which he was a part of for 15 years. He was recognized by Northeast Pensacola Sertoma with the Service to Mankind Humanitarian Award in 2004-2005. He was recently recognized on the floor of Congress for his laudable 40 years on the air. The Honorable Jeff Miller spoke of White’s successes and achievements serving the people of the Pensacola and northwest Florida area.
White has performed diligently throughout his career; always believing the reason the radio station’s tower was erected was to serve the community. He has spent many hours away from his family during threatening storms to ensure the safety of lives and property, keeping listeners informed with his calm and confident style. He spent many more hours and days on the air after those storms ensuring the community would recover, and rendering factual and pertinent information.
Marty White has been the consummate professional– always ready to lend a hand and provide air time when needed. He is recognized as one of the most talented and loved air personalities to have worked in Pensacola radio. He was at times outspoken, always “telling it like it is”. He often said: ” I try to tell it like anyone listening would, given the opportunity to sit behind the mic.”
White said: “I grew up with a radio under my pillow so I guess it was in my blood early. To have worked most of my career in the town where I grew up is really unusual. I have always been grateful for that. I felt like it gave me an edge. Common sense, versatility, doing my homework and going on the air prepared have been the key to staying around as long as I have. You can’t take yourself too seriously. It’s just a radio show. The folks here have been really good to me and my family and for that I will always be extremely grateful. Now it’s time to enjoy life while I am still young enough to do that. I plan to do some fishing, hunting, play a little golf and get some things done around the house. Thanks for listening. I appreciate it.”
Pictured top and bottom: Longtime radio host Marty White on 102.7 WXBM. NorthEscambia.com file photos, click to enlarge.
Tate High Names Students Of The Month
April 9, 2015
Tate High School has name Students of the Month for March. They are Valerie Samuel (left) and Travoris Hunt (right), pictured with Principal Rick Shackle. Submitted photo for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.