Lady Aggies Topped; Hosting Strike Out Cancer Game Friday
March 19, 2015
The Tate Lady Aggies were topped 4-2 by Navarre Wednesday night.
Friday, the Lady Aggies will host their sixth annual “Strike Out Cancer Game” against thethe West Florida High Jaguars. All gat admissions, concessions and donations collected will benefit the Pensacola Chapter of the American Cancer Society for Making Strides Against Breast Cancer. The JV plays at 4:30, with the varsity game beginning at 6:30.
Northview Track Results: First, Second Place Wins
March 19, 2015
The Northview High School girls finished second in an 11-team meet last week at T.R. Miller. And the Northview boys and girls both finished first in a meet Tuesday in Bratt.
Track meet 3/12 at T.R. Miller
Girls Overall
- T.R. Miller 263
- Northview 94
- Hillcrest Evergreen 80
- Opp 49.5
- W.S. Neal 33.5
- J.F. Shields 33.5
- McIntosh 30
- Excel 10
- Monroe County 9
- Red Level 5
Boys Overall
- T.R. Miller 214.5
- Hillcrest Evergreen 163.5
- Opp 72
- W.S. Neal 48
- Monroe County 37
- Northview 35
- McIntosh 29
- Excel 28
- Red Level 16
- J.F. Shields 15
Track meet 3/17 at Northview
Girls Overall
- Northview Girls 77
- JU Blacksher Girls 29
Boys Overall
- Northview Boys 77
- JU Blacksher Boys 22
4X800
1st – -Northview Girls-13:31
4X400
1st – - Northview Girls -5:40
1st – -JU Blacksher Boys -5:37
4X100
1st – Northview Girls -57.81
1st – Northview Boys A -46.72
Girls 100 Hurdles
1st – Odom, A. –Northview 20.31
2nd – White, K. –Northview 21.15
Boys 110 Hurdles
1st – Parker, J. –Northview 17.95
2nd – Jay, W. – Blacksher 18.33
Girls 100 Meters
1st – Odom, A –Northview 13.37
2nd – Sidney, D. –Blacksher 13.82
3rd – Galvin, K – Northview 13.97
Boys 100 Meters
1st – -Garvey, E –Northview 11.29
2nd – Moore, D –Northview 11.31
3rd – Spencer, B –Northview 11.44
Girls 200 Meters
1st – Sidney, D –JU Blacksher 29.50
2nd – Galvan, K –Northview 30.34
3rd – Gibson, M –Northview 31.90
Boys 200 Meters
1st – Moorer, D –Northview 23.83
2nd – Bradley, T –Northview 24.16
3rd – Kirchharr, J –JU Blacksher 26.08
Girls 300 Hurdles
1st – Syria, M –Northview 1:02
Boys 300 Hurdles
1st – Elliott, O –Northview 46.33
2nd – Jay, W – JU Blacksher 50.41
3rd – Parker, J. –Northview 50.90
Girls 400 Meters
1st – Powell, R –JU Blacksher 1:13
2nd – Gibson, M –Northview 1:21.49
Boys 400 Meters
1st – Kirchharr, J –JU Blacksher 1:01.42
2nd – Spencer, B -Northview 1:07.13
3rd – Coon, E -Northview 1:08.41
Girls 800 Meters
1st – Elliott, J –Northview 3:14
2nd – Jackson, B –JU Blacksher 3:45
3rd – James, A –JU Blacksher 3:47
Boys 800 Meters
1st – Attes, A –Northview 2:52
2nd – Calloway, Z –Northview 3:01
3rd – Aaron, C. –JU Blacksher 3:56
Girls 1600 Meters
1st – McGahan, M –Nothview 7:32
2nd – Roux, S. –Northview 7:33
3rd – Barrows, T –Northview 9:34
Boys 1600 Meters
1st – Ates, J –Northview 6:16
2nd – Calloway, Z. –Northview 6:49
3rd – Howard, N –JU Blacksher 7:06
Girls 3200 Meters
1st – Weber, M –Northview 18:05
2nd – Walston, E –Northview 20:43
Girls High Jump
1st – North, C –Northview 4’4”
2nd – White, K –Northview 4’2”
3rd – Fischer, L –Northview 4’
Girls High Jump
1st – Fischer –Northview 4’2”
2nd – White, K – Northview 4’0”
Boys High Jump
1st – Newsome, C –Northview 6’4”
2nd – Parker, J –Northview 5’8”
3rd – Presley, W- JU Blacksher 5’0”
Girls Shot Put
1st – Anderson, K –JU Blacksher 36’5.5”
2nd – Campbell, B –Northview 27’2”
3rd – Cunningham, M –JU Blacksher 25’4”
Boys Shot Put
1st – Johnson, H –Northview 38’7”
2nd – Sherouse, H –Northview 37’9”
3rd – Carter, C. – Northview 37’0”
Girls Discus
1st – Anderson, K –JU Blacksher 105’3”
2nd – Fischer, L –Northview 63’8”
3rd – Cunningham, M –Blacksher 59’06”
Boys Discus
1st – Whitehead, A –Northview 103’4”
2nd – Adams, A –Northview 99’06”
3rd – Lassiter, C. –JU Blacksher 95’01”
Senate Leaves Door Open In Liquor, Groceries Debate
March 19, 2015
The need for a wall between vodka and vegetables would remain in Florida, but a revised Senate bill would open the door to reduced travel time for shoppers between the liquor and grocery aisles.
The Senate Regulated Industries Committee on Wednesday scaled back a proposal (SB 468) that initially sought to eliminate an 80-year-old state law requiring liquor stores to be stand-alone facilities.
Instead, the bill now would require liquor and other retail products, such as groceries, to remain separate, while providing customers more direct access through doors when the locations abut.
“All this does is keep a person from having to go out into the rain,” said Sen. Kelli Stargel, a Lakeland Republican who proposed the substitute measure.
The initial bill and the revised measure have drawn opposition from independent liquor stores, some county sheriffs and Lakeland-based Publix Super Markets. Meanwhile, support for the initial proposal and the door option has come from free-market groups and retailers including Wal-Mart and Target, which say their customers are looking for increased convenience.
Bill sponsor Denise Grimsley, R-Sebring, said after Wednesday’s meeting that the revised proposal was a compromise.
“After listening to everyone, trying to find an alternative solution that worked for everyone, particularly the consumer, that’s how we got to where we are,” Grimsley said.
But Publix lobbyist Teye Reeves said after the meeting that the grocer intends to continue opposing the measure.
“I’ve talked to every member of the committee about what Publix’s position was,” said Reeves who didn’t speak at the meeting.
Publix has opposed the elimination of the state’s separation law because the company’s business model has been to separate its liquor stores from the main grocery operations.
The door option would be similar to many garden centers that accompany businesses such as Home Depot and Lowe’s Home Improvement. However, committee staff said state law would prohibit shoppers from using the liquor-store registers for their grocery purchases, and the grocery-store registers for liquor buys.
Sen. Aaron Bean, a Fernandina Beach Republican who voted against the door option, said the existing law has worked and that he is concerned the measure could increase liquor consumption.
“I just want to be mindful of how powerful the substance of alcohol can be,” Bean said.
Sen. Joseph Abruzzo, a Boynton Beach Democrat who backed the door option, put his faith in the security at giant retailers to reduce concerns about increased theft of liquor by minors.
“If somebody is going to commit a crime, the surveillance in a small mom-and-pop store is nowhere near the multimillion-dollar systems that I’m aware that most of our big-box retailers have,” Abruzzo said.
Before approving the door option, the committee rejected a proposal by Sen. Jack Latvala, R-Clearwater, that would have kept the state’s separation law in place. Latvala’s proposal would have simply allowed liquor deliveries to be made from the loading docks at grocery and big box stores, with the bottles transported through the stores to adjacent liquor stores.
Grimsley’s proposal has two more committee stops before it could reach the Senate floor.
by Jim Turner, The News Service of Florida
Santa Rosa Deputy Seriously Injured In Central Florida Wreck
March 18, 2015
A Santa Rosa County deputy and the prisoner he was transporting were seriously injured in a head-on collision Monday in Central Florida.
The Florida Highway Patrol said 34-year old Dinara R. Kalimulina, age 34 of Plano, TX, was eastbound on I-10 near Lake City in a 2015 Lexus when she traveled off the roadway and crossed the median into oncoming traffic and struck a marked Santa Rosa County patrol car head-on. Deputy Kurt A. Schultz, 37, attempted to avoid the collision, according to the FHP.
Deputy Joshua Toole, a passenger in the cruiser, was airlifted to Shands Hospital in Gainsesville where he underwent surgery and was listed in stable condition on Wednesday. Kalimulina was transported to an area hospital by ambulance with minor injuries. Her 6-year old passenger was not injured. The inmate was transported to a hospital in serious condition. His name has not been released. Deputy Schultz was not injured.
Kalimulina admitted to the FHP that was distracted by her GPS at the time of the crash. She is facing a charge of careless driving.
Courtesy photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Demolition Of Old Ernest Ward Middle School Begins
March 18, 2015
Demolition began this morning on the old Ernest Ward Middle School in Walnut Hill.
Work started with the former middle school administration building, which housed science classes 20 plus years ago when the school was Ernest Ward High School.
Demolition on the remainder of the facility, including the main portion of school constructed in 1945, will be completed by the end of next week if the contractor receives the necessary permits as expected. Once the old school is demolished, the area will become mostly parking.
Students moved into their new $20 million state of the art Ernest Ward Middle School, located behind the old school, the first week of February.
Pictured: Demolition began Thursday morning on the old Ernest Ward Middle School in Walnut Hill. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Santa Rosa Man Gets 13 Years In Shotgun Play Death
March 18, 2015
A man playing with a shotgun when his friend was shot will spend the next 13 years in state prison James Hunter Gates was convicted of manslaughter with a firearm and possession of a firearm by a convicted delinquent. Gates faced a maximum sentence of 45 years in state prison.
Gates, 20, was arrested on August 25, 2014 after deputies responded to a shooting at a residence on Keyser Lane in Pace. They found 24-year old Romeo Wolff dead from a gunshot wound to the head. Investigators with the Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office determined that Gates and Wolff were drinking alcoholic beverages in a bedroom that evening while playing with a shotgun that belonged to Gates.
As a convicted delinquent, Gates was prohibited from possessing any firearms.
Wolff pointed the barrel of the gun at his face and dared Gates to pull the trigger. Gates responded by pulling the trigger which caused the gun to fire. Wolff was struck in the face with the blast and died at the scene.
Century Biz Challenge Moves Foward With Workshop, Site Tour
March 18, 2015
A small group of potential applicants in the $25,000 Century Business Challenge had the opportunity Tuesday evening to learn more about the process and tour the potential home for their new business.
A husband and wife set to submit their business idea took advantage of a chance to visit the Century Business Center to see the spaces available in the former Pond Street school.
Prizes for the winner of the Century Business Challenge include space at the Century Business Center at a lease rate of $1 per year, with the possibility of an extension of that rate for two more years based on the company’s performance. They will also receive $25,000 in operating funds from the Studer Institute. And the Century Town Council has recently approved offering the same $1 per year lease rate at the Century Business Center for the second place finisher.
Three potential applicants attended an open “Is Your Business Concept Feasible” workshop following the Century Business Center tour. The final application deadline is March 31.
After applications are submitted, there will be closed door workshops for participants before a business plan and personal financial statements are due at the end of May.
The Century Business Challenge is part of an economic development partnership of the Haas Center, the Town of Century and the Studer Institute. Applications and more information about the business challenge can be found at www.CenturyBusinessChallenge.com.
For more photos of the Century Business Center, click here.
Pictured top and below: Century Business Challenge winners can chose space in the Century Business Center for $1 per year. Pictured inset: Potential applicant Holly Driver listens Tuesday evening during a workshop presentation. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Alabama Death Row Inmate Dies Of Natural Causes
March 18, 2015
Alabama death row inmate David Eugene Davis, 56, died Sunday, March 15, at the Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore. The time of death was estimated at 3 a.m.
Davis had been moved to the facility’s infirmary when he died of apparent natural causes. The body was turned over to the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences.
Davis was convicted of the 1996 capital murders of Kenneth Douglas and John Fikes in Odenville and sentenced to death on July 7, 1997. The victims’ bodies were found inside a burned out home.
The Alabama Department of Corrections announced the death in a news release Tuesday afternoon.
Move To Overhaul Florida Alimony Laws Continues
March 18, 2015
After years of squabbling, strange bedfellows are finally united on a major overhaul of Florida’s alimony laws, agreeing to do away with permanent alimony and to use formulas to determine payment amounts based on the lengths of marriage and the combined earnings of couples.
The House Civil Justice Subcommittee gave a first nod to the measure (HB 943) in a party-line vote Tuesday, with Democrats skeptical about the proposal they say favors breadwinners.
Testimony on the measure was a sharp departure from debate over a hotly contested version of an alimony rewrite vetoed by Gov. Rick Scott two years ago that, unlike the current proposal, would have applied retroactively.
“It is a compromise. It seeks balance,” said West Palm Beach lawyer Tom Sasser, who helped craft the measure and represents the Florida Bar Family Law Section, which vigorously fought the previous proposal. “This is the time to make this go forward and to alter the way we deal with alimony and the landscape of alimony in Florida.”
House Rules Chairman Ritch Workman, R-Melbourne, spent the better part of a year working out a deal between Sasser and Family Law Reform, an organization representing alimony payers who’ve fought for five years to get the law changed.
The group’s founder Alan Frisher called the proposal a “step in the right direction toward balanced compromise.”
Frisher said the state’s current alimony law “perpetuates an entitlement attitude that should not be allowed” and “is abusive to both the payer and the payee.”
This year’s proposal, sponsored by freshman Republican Rep. Colleen Burton of Lakeland, would also establish a formula to determine how long ex-spouses can receive alimony. Unlike the measure Scott red-lined, the current plan would give judges discretion to veer from the formulas for payments or durations under certain conditions.
The measure “streamlines, as much as possible, a difficult process for any family that’s going through a divorce,” Burton told the panel, and helps divorcing spouses predict what to expect, “all the while, all the while, leaving the final determination in the hands of a judge.”
The measure would eliminate current bridge-the-gap, rehabilitative, durational and permanent types of alimony but not affect temporary alimony. It would also change what are now considered short-term, mid-term and long-term marriages. Under the new plan, the category of mid-term marriages would be eliminated and long-term marriages, now defined as 17 years or longer, would apply to unions of 20 years or more.
The formula for the duration of alimony payments is based on the number of years of marriage, while the amount of the payments relies on a couple’s gross income — the higher earner’s salary minus the earnings of the spouse seeking alimony — and sets the length of time for alimony payments.
As an example of how the formula would apply to short-term marriages, or those less than 20 years, payments in a 10-year marriage in which the combined earnings of the couple are $100,000 would be $1,041.67 per month.
As an example of how the formula would work for marriages of 20 years or longer, payments in a 20-year marriage in which the gross income was $100,000 would come to $3,333.33 per month.
An alimony recipient who has been married for less than 20 years would be eligible to receive payments for .25 times the number of years of marriage. For example, a spouse who had been married for 10 years would be able to receive alimony for 2.5 years. Alimony recipients who had been married for 20 years or longer would be eligible for .75 times the number of years of the marriage, meaning someone divorcing after 20 years would be eligible to receive alimony for 15 years.
The proposal would affect alimony modifications already in the pipeline or new alimony.
The National Organization for Women opposed the measure two years ago, and the group’s Florida lobbyist, Barbara DeVane, objected to the current proposal Tuesday.
“It’s like déjà vu. Over and over we have to come forth and oppose these changes in the alimony law to try to protect women. I’m always especially concerned about older women who get married, stay home, raise children, get older … and the husband decides to trade her in for a younger model, and on and on and on,” DeVane said. “I know this is a different bill from two sessions ago. But it’s still a bad bill.”
The proposal would also allow someone paying alimony to ask for a reduction if an ex-spouse’s income increases by 10 percent. But someone receiving alimony would not be able to seek an increase in payments unless the payer was unemployed or underemployed at the time the alimony was set.
The proposal would also require alimony payments to stop when a paying ex-spouse reaches the federal retirement age, or when an alimony recipient has a “supportive relationship” even if he or she is not living with the paramour.
The bill’s goal “is to reduce litigation that inflicts both (an) economic and emotional toll on spouses and their families who are going through a divorce and seeking alimony,” Burton told the panel.
But two Democratic lawyers on the committee weren’t satisfied with Burton’s changes.
“In a nutshell, I think it’s one-sided and unfairly benefits the payer at this point,” Rep. Cynthia Stafford, D-Miami, said.
Rep. Lori Berman, D-Lantana, said divorces should be focused on what’s best for children and families. The measure doesn’t do that, Berman said.
“This is a one-size-fits-all bill. It doesn’t look at equity and justice,” Berman said. “We’ve taken these percentages for duration and amount and just pulled them out of the air.”
The proposal has one more committee stop before heading to the House floor for a full vote. The Senate version has not yet been vetted by any committees.
International Delegation Tours ECUA Cantonment Facility (With Photo Gallery)
March 18, 2015
An international delegation from the Philippines toured the Emerald Coast Utilities Authority’s Center Water Reclamation Facility in Cantonment on Tuesday.
The group lead by Bill St. John, U.S. Department of State’s International Visitor Leadership Program, focused on wastewater management initiatives offered at the CWRF. The local visit was arranged by the Gulf Coast Citizen Diplomacy
Council.
The group included two mayors, a project director, and staff who are looking at the topic of sustainable urban development.
“The group was interested in exploring programs that address sanitation and waste management, as well as study sustainable approaches to ensuring a clean water supply to a community,” said Matt Rizzo, GCCDC program coordinator.
CWRF was named a top-three finalist for the 2011 Global Water Reuse Project of the Year by Global Water Intelligence in Berlin, Germany, EU. The facility uses advanced wastewater treatment technology, and achieves zero-discharge through partnerships for industrial reuse of the reclaimed water. The reuse partnerships also reduce demand on the Sand-and-Gravel Aquifer, the sole source of the area’s drinking water.
For additional photos, click here.
Pictured top: Municipal Mayor Honorable Gerard Sy Montojo, Mubicipality of Romblon, Province of Romblon, Michael Chan Rubio, project director River Rehabilitation Project, ABS-CBN Foundation, Municipal Mayor Honorable Maria Angela, Sabando, Local Government Unit of Roxas, Palawan, andDon Palmer, ECUA director of water reclamation, in front of the control room for ECUA’s Center Water Reclamation Facility in Cantonment. Pictured inset: The group listens to Rubio explain how the facility works. Pictured below: The CWRF in Cantonment. NorthEscambia.com photos by Ditto Gnorme, click to enlarge.
