Northview High Teacher Moretz Receives Governor’s Shine Award
November 13, 2014
A Northview High school teacher was one of six educators who formerly served in the military honored by Gov. Rick Scott Wednesday.
James Moretz received the Governor’s Shine Award for his service to our country and his contributions to Florida’s students. The Governor’s Shine Award is presented to Floridians who have positively impacted children through education.
Moretz is a U.S. Navy veteran and native Floridian who teaches at Northview High. Soon after graduating from Wakulla County High School in 1981, Moretz joined the Navy where he served continuously for nearly 23 years. In 2004, Lt. Commander Moretz retired from active naval service and last served at Naval Air Station Pensacola.
After his naval career, Moretz worked for the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office and the Escambia County School District as a school resource deputy for eight years.
While working full-time, he used the GI Bill to attend college, where he earned two associate degrees from Pensacola State College and a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from the University of West Florida in 2012. Moretz later attained certification to teach social sciences for grades 6-12. He is now in his third year of teaching United States government and economics at Northview.
“It is an honor to thank these teachers who went from serving their country to serving Florida students in the classroom. A great education system is key to creating a highly-skilled workforce and driving our economy forward. These teachers have gone above and beyond the call of duty by preparing our students today for the jobs of tomorrow, and I thank them for their continued service to Florida families,” Gov. Scott said.
“Teaching is not easy, but for those veterans lucky enough to be up for the challenge it is a very rewarding career,” Moretz said Wednesday. “I am humbled to be part of the students’ lives through education.”
“We are definitely proud of Mr. Moretz,” Northview Principal Gayle Weaver said. “He always shines in everything he does.”
Pictured top: Northview High teacher James Moretz (blue shirt) received the Governor’s Shine Award during a Florida Cabinet meeting Wednesday morning in Tallahassee. Moretz is pictured with (L-R) Attorney General Pam Bondi, Gov. Rick Scott, CFO Jeff Atwater and Commissioner of Agriculture Adam Putnam. Pictured inset: Moretz also received a Veterans Service Award medal from Scott. Photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
State Sued Over Deer Dog Hunts In The Blackwater Forest
November 13, 2014
A retired U.S. Air Force pilot and National Rifle Association member wants the state to stop hunters from using dogs to track down deer around his Panhandle property.
Claiming they have been threatened by hunters and that dogs chasing deer can scare rescued horses, William Daws, Jr., and his wife, Ouida Gershon, filed a lawsuit Wednesday in Leon County circuit court against the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. The lawsuit seeks to stop deer-dog hunting in the portion of the Blackwater Wildlife Management Area where they have lived since 2005.
Susan Smith, a spokeswoman for the agency, said Wednesday she couldn’t comment on pending litigation.
Daws, a hunter who spent 23 years in the Air Force, including combat service in Vietnam, isn’t seeking to outlaw the deer-dog practice in Florida, just around his section of the management area where he and a number of other people live. Such hunts are allowed 44 days a year.
“If they close it to deer-dog hunting, hunting is still allowed,” said David Theriaque, the attorney for the couple. “It’s not as if you’re closing the wildlife management area to hunting. It’s just that this particular form of hunting would be banned.”
Deer-dog hunters use canines to trail deer through the woods. The dogs are unleashed when deer tracks are found or when hunters are within areas deer are known to frequent. The hunters typically follow in pickup trucks to where the dogs are expected to round up the deer for shooting.
The state commission was advised by staff at the Sept. 10 meeting in Kissimmee that closing more areas to hunting with dogs is possible, “however, interest in hunting with dogs remains extremely high.”
A total of 155 permits were approved for the 2014-2015 season.
In seeking both a temporary and permanent injunction to halt the state agency from allowing the hunts to occur in their section of Blackwater, which runs up to the Florida-Alabama border, Daws and his wife are asking for at least $15,000 in damages, claiming the state agency’s issuance of permits to deer-dog hunters has deprived them of their constitutional rights as property owners.
“They are hunters, they support hunters,” Theriaque said. “It really boils down to they have bought land and the state is allowing people to run their dogs through. The state can stop this in a heartbeat by saying we can close deer-dog hunting in that portion of Blackwater.”
The 191,651-acre Blackwater area in Okaloosa County and Santa Rosa counties consists of public land that is interspersed with a number of privately owned properties.
In 2005, the commission reduced the allowed space within Blackwater for deer-dog hunting from 78,172 acres to 19,589 acres, while also closing a number of roads to the hunters.
According to the lawsuit, the couple has sought changes to deer-dog hunting for four years as efforts to protect rescue animals they care for on the property has resulted in being “harassed, bullied, and threatened by deer-dog hunters, including deer-dog hunters firing their guns over the heads of the Daws.”
“They don’t leave their property during daylight hours,” when it’s deer-dog season, Theriaque said. “What happens is the deer jump over the fence, or they’re already on the property, and dogs and houses don’t mix well, especially dogs that are in hot pursuit of deer.”
In an affidavit last week, William Daws said the ongoing conflict with deer-dog hunters has resulted in verbal threats, the couple’s mailbox being shot, threats to tear down fencing, and derogatory graffiti written in the road in front of the their home.
The commission has acknowledged complaints from area homeowners, and the agency has sought to reduce conflicts between homeowners and hunters.
In September the commission approved a change that would require dogs used for pursuing or hunting deer, fox or coyote within permissible areas of Blackwater to be equipped with devices that include Global Positioning Systems and behavior correctional capabilities, in other words shock collars, to keep them within allowed hunting grounds. However, because costs for the receivers and collars can run $650 to $1,100, the rule doesn’t go into effect for two years.
Daws and Gershon argue in the lawsuit that control devices aren’t completely reliable for dogs that are running leash free as “it is well established that dogs cannot read ‘No Trespassing’ signs.”
by Jim Turner, The News Service of Florida
Funeral Services Set For Teen Involved In Molino Wreck; Donations Accepted
November 13, 2014
Funeral services have been set for Darion Taylor Riley, a 16-year old Northview High School student who passed away Tuesday from injuries she received in a traffic crash Friday afternoon in Molino.
Visitation will be held from noon until 2:00 p.m. Saturday at Faith Chapel North, 1000 South Highway 29 in Cantonment with the funeral to follow at 2:00 p.m.
The family had no life insurance. Memorial donations can be made to Faith Chapel North, 1000 South Highway 29 in Cantonment, or call (850) 937-8118. An online donation page had been established, but the family asks that further donations be directed to the funeral home.
For further information about the accident, click here.
Daycare Owner Indicted For First Degree Murder In Toddler’s Death
November 13, 2014
A Santa Rosa County Grand Jury has indicted 55-year old Thelma Denise Lowery for first degree felony murder in the death of a 15-month old child that was attending her daycare.
She is currently being held without bond. If convicted as charged, she will face a mandatory life sentence without the possibility of parole.
According to the Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office the 15-month old was taken to Sacred Heart Hospital in Pensacola with traumatic injuries consistent with shaken baby syndrome. Investigators said the injuries to the child occurred under Lowery’s care at her home daycare business at 4738 Ward Basin Road in Milton.
The toddler later died at Sacred Heart Hospital , according to the State Attorney’s Office. The Sheriff’s Office said Lowery was the person responsible for inflicting the injuries on the toddler.
Lowery remains in the Santa Rosa County Jail without bond.
Mae Day: Dog’s 11 Months On The Run End With Happy Reunion
November 13, 2014
Perhaps the best known dog in Atmore is no longer on the run; she’s back home in Birmingham today, ending an 11-month game of cat and mouse.
Back on January 15, Vickie Clark’s son was visiting Atmore from Birmingham along with 15-month old Mae the dog. Mae jumped the fence, beginning the 11-month saga.
Atmore Animal Shelter employee Brandon James and other animal shelter employees began, very unsuccessfully, to capture Mae.
“She’s one of the smartest dogs I’ve ever come across,” James said Wednesday. “She’d smell you from a long way away and take off.”
The Clarks and the animal shelter turned to the community which in turn provided numerous Mae sighting reports over the past several months. Animal shelter employees would head out, only to be outsmarted or outrun by Mae each time.
“Brandon James has been my lifeline to the whereabouts of this lost puppy. Our family looked for Mae numerous times but sadly she would run from familiar voices and was truly scared and in ‘flight’ mode,” Clark said in a letter praising James and the animal shelter. “Brandon and his team never gave up. The community would contact Brandon with every Mae sighting and he would go out to try to capture this elusive rascal. When I would start to lose hope, Brandon would lift me up and remind me to keep the faith that they would get our girl. Brandon worked tirelessly to capture Mae in every way possible. ”
Members of the Atmore community would feed Mae. One resident would even toss her flea medication stuffed inside a hot dog on a regular basis. James called her “Atmore’s mascot”.
The was one capture along the way but it turned out to be a male look alike.
Then there was a big break in the hunt for Mae last week. She was spotted in a fenced-in yard. James said an animal shelter staffer got close enough — from the upwind side — to hit her with a tranquilizer dart.
“I thought we had her since she was in a fenced-in yard, but no,” James said. “She got away, and then there was a three block foot chase. But she went down from the tranquilizer and we were able to pick her up.”
A quick check by a local veterinarian revealed that Mae was in remarkably perfect health — no worms, no other problems despite her 11-month time on the lam.
Mae was reunited with her “mom” Vickie Wednesday at the animal shelter. There was brief celebration, and then it was back home to Birmingham. Clark said she had no planned stops between Atmore and Birmingham to eliminate any other escape possibilities.
Pictured top: Mae reunited with her family Wednesday, along with members of the Atmore community and the Atmore Animal Shelter staff that took part in her 11-month rescue. Pictured inset: Atmore’s “mascot” dog Mae. Courtesy photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Three Tate Softball Players Sign Letters of Intent
November 13, 2014
Three Tate High School Lady Aggies softball players signed their National Letter of Intent to play at the next level Wednesday.
Rachel Wright will be attending University of West Florida, Lauren Brennan will be attending Lewis University (in a suburb of Chicago, IL), and Tori Perkins will be playing at the University of Alabama Birmingham. The trio has played softball together since their T-ball days at NEP, and they were also starters on Tate’s Final Four team last year.
Pictured top: Tate’s softball signees and their parents. (front, L-R) Diana Wright, Rachel Wright, Tori Perkins, Lauren Brennan, Dorice Brennan, (back, L-R) Marty Wright, Greg Mason, Chris Mason and Mike Brennan. Pictured below: The Tate softball seniors. Pictured bottom. The individual signees and their parents. Photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Escambia County Looking For Deputies, Will Pay For Training
November 13, 2014
The Escambia County Sheriff’s Office is hiring deputies, and thanks to a new Cadet Law Enforcement Student Trainee Program, the ECSO is offering to pay for training.
With the recent addition of 15 deputy positions to the budget, the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office is currently actively recruiting qualified deputy sheriff applicants. The Cadet Program has been designed to attract men and women that may have an interest in law enforcement but may not necessarily have the means to pay for the law enforcement academy.
Cadet applicants will be selected, hired full-time and attend the law enforcement academy. They will receive comprehensive law enforcement training while being paid and receiving benefits as a full-time employee. Once the academy is complete, applicants will take their state exam for certification. Those certified will sign a two year commitment to work full-time as a deputy sheriff for Escambia County.
A law enforcement career offers paid holidays, sick leave, annual leave, health insurance, dental insurance, life insurance, free employee health clinic, 24 hour gym access and the Florida Retirement System (FRS).
“The ECSO is recruiting those unique individuals who have the aptitude and the sense of commitment to serve their community and make a difference in Escambia County,” Sheriff David Morgan said. “Our goal is to provide the highest level of professional public service to the diverse population of Escambia County. We believe we can achieve this by offering this vision to high caliber candidates in our area.”
Qualified applicants must be 21 years of age by June 30, 2015. They must also possess a GED or high school diploma, a valid driver’s license, and have the ability to complete a basic physical abilities test to advance into the hiring process. For a complete job description visit www.escambiaso.com and click on the “jobs” tab.
The Pensacola Police Department also has a Police Cadet Program for males and females ages 18 and up who want to pursue careers in law enforcement.
Cadets work a 40-hour week and are given preference in hiring at age 21 if they successfully pass all examinations required for police officer candidates. Among cadet duties are directing traffic at vehicle accident scenes, completing offense reports for minor crimes, assisting with crime prevention presentations, and fulfilling routine obligations required by various department sections.
For more information on the Pensacola Police Department’s Cadet Program, please contact Officer Lonnie Isom at 850.435.1912 or by email at LIsom@cityofpensacola.com.
Police: Man Used Craigslist To Solicit Sex With Escambia County Child
November 12, 2014
An Okaloosa County man has been charged after he allegedly used Craigslist to arrange a meeting in Escambia County for sex with what he thought was a 12-year old girl.
William McNeal Goode, 47, of 5851 Saratoga Drive, Crestview was charged with solicitation of a parent or legal guardian for unlawful sexual conduct, attempted lewd and lascivious battery on a minor, traveling to meet a minor for sexual purposes, and using a two-way communication device for an unlawful act.
The investigation began November 5 after the Pensacola Police Department’s Computer Crimes Unit received a complaint about someone soliciting parents via Craigslist to have sex with their children.
The investigation is continuing to determine if Goode had prior sexual contact with children.
Members of the North Florida Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force participating in the investigation included the Pensacola Police Department, Escambia County Sheriff’s Office, Department of Homeland Security Investigations, and Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
Anyone having information about suspicious activity involving Goode is asked to contact the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Officer at (850) 651-7547 or the Pensacola Police Department at
(850) 435-1900
Update: Teen Passes Away From Hwy 29, Hwy 97 Crash Injuries
November 12, 2014
[Updated 11/12/14 2:50 p.m.] A Northview High School student has passed away as the result of injuries she received in a two vehicle crash at the intersection of Highway 29 and Highway 97 in Molino Friday afternoon.
The Florida Highway Patrol said Wednesday afternoon Darion T. Riley, age 16 of Molino, passed away Tuesday afternoon at Sacred Heart Hospital in Pensacola0
The FHP said 16-year old Brayden Hubbard of Atmore pulled his 2011 Hyundai Sonata out of the parking lot of the Tom Thumb and into the median of the intersection. His view of northbound traffic was blocked by traffic stopped in the northbound turn lane of Highway 29, the FHP said. He then attempted to accelerate across the northbound lanes, but his vehicle was struck on the passenger side by a northbound 2012 Ford F250 driven by 51-year old Jeffery L. Nolen of Century.
The force of the impact pushed the Sonata onto the shoulder of Highway 29, with the pickup coming to rest against the passenger side of the car.
Riley, the front seat passenger, was trapped in the Sonata following the crash. Firefighters used a fire engine to pull the pickup away from the car, and then used the Jaws of Life to remove the car’s doors in order to free Riley.
Riley was airlifted by LifeFlight helicopter to Sacred Heart Hospital in Pensacola in critical condition where she later succumbed to her injuries, Hubbard was transported by ambulance to Sacred Heart Hospital in serious condition and has since been released from the hospital.
Nolen and his passenger, 9-year old Ryder Nolen of Century, were transported by Escambia County EMS to Sacred Heart Hospital and have both been released.
Troopers said alcohol was not a factor in the crash.
Any charges in the crash are pending investigation, the FHP said.
Funeral services for Darion Taylor Riley will be held Saturday at Faith Chapel Funeral Home North in Cantonment. Visitation will be held from noon until 2 p.m., and the funeral service will follow at 2 p.m.
NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Century Man Charged With Sawed Off Shotgun Assault
November 12, 2014
A Century man has been charged with threatening another man with a sawed-off shotgun.
Orlando Dantaus Dixon, 27, was charged with two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon without the intent to kill and possession of a weapon by a convicted felon. He remained in the Escambia County Jail Wednesday morning with bond set at $40,000.
A resident of the 500 block of Hecker Road in Century reported that Dixon and two females drove by his home and yelled something. When the victim told Dixon he needed to keep going, Dixon stated “I’ll be back,” the victim told deputis. A short time later, the victim was outside his residence when Dixon returned with an older model brown and rusted sawed-off shotgun and pointed it at him and yelled obscenities, according to an arrest report.
Deputies located the vehicle and the females at the Century Quick Stop on North Century Boulevard. The females told deputies about the verbal altercation and said that Dixon drove to the Carver Community Center on Jefferson Avenue and retrieved the sawed-off shotgun from somewhere out of sight behind the building. The females affirmed that Dixon returned to Hecker Road and pointed the shotgun at the victim.
Dixon, according to his arrest report, is a convicted felon.