Amendment 3 Could Determine Future Of Florida Supreme Court
October 17, 2014
A low-profile ballot proposal that supporters say would avert a constitutional crisis but opponents say is nothing more than thinly-veiled partisan power grab is headed to voters in November, possibly with the future of the Florida Supreme Court at stake.
Amendment 3 would essentially grant an outgoing governor the right to appoint replacements for Supreme Court justices and District Courts of Appeal judges who leave office at the same time as the governor does.
It comes after years of heated battles over the high court, which has served as one of the last barriers to the Republican agenda in Tallahassee. And it comes against the backdrop of an election between Republican Gov. Rick Scott and former Gov. Charlie Crist, his Democratic rival, that could decide which governor gets to make the appointments in 2019.
That has left critics suspicious of the motives of Republican lawmakers who approved it.
“We think that this is politicizing the way that the court works,” said former Republican Sen. Alex Villalobos, who has sometimes butted heads with his party since leaving office.
At the center of the issue are three justices — R. Fred Lewis, Barbara Pariente and Peggy Quince — who are part of the court’s left-of-center majority. That voting bloc, which often decides controversial cases on a 5-2 margin, has frustrated GOP lawmakers and governors for years.
Lewis, Pariente and Quince will reach the mandatory retirement age for justices before their next retention election, meaning they will have to step aside in early 2019. That will happen at the same time that the governor elected in the November 2018 elections is taking office.
As it stands now, according to Senate Judiciary Chairman Tom Lee, R-Brandon, it is unclear who would have to power to appoint replacement justices — the outgoing governor or the incoming governor. The proposed constitutional amendment, if approved, would give that power to the outgoing governor.
“The Senate Judiciary Committee thoroughly researched the Florida Constitution and case law surrounding the filling of court vacancies and concluded that, under the Florida Constitution and case law, either governor is arguably authorized to make these appointments,” Lee wrote in an op-ed distributed to media members.
Former Supreme Court Justice Harry Lee Anstead and others say that flies in the face of a 2006 advisory opinion from the Supreme Court that “a vacancy exists upon the expiration of the term of the judge or justice.” Anstead, who was a member of the court that unanimously approved the opinion, said that means the new governor gets to make the appointment.
“What’s wrong with that?” he asked. “We have lived with that at least 40 years, and nothing terrible has happened to us.”
But Lee pointed to a 1955 case involving county judges in which the Supreme Court ruled that the outgoing governor’s appointments were valid. That ruling occurred before the adoption of the merit-retention process for appeals court judges in Florida, though Lee said the current rules are “substantially the same” now.
“The stakes will be immeasurably higher in 2019 when the dispute involves three Supreme Court vacancies,” Lee wrote.
He also highlighted logistical issues in having the new governor make the appointments.
“Even if the appointments could be made on the incoming governor’s inauguration day in 2019, the Supreme Court would likely not be fully functional for weeks as the new appointees close existing law practices, relocate to Tallahassee and get up to speed with their new duties,” Lee wrote.
Anstead said existing justices or judges from the state’s district courts of appeal can be appointed by the chief justice to serve as acting justices — something that briefly happened, for instance, at the end of Anstead’s final term to allow him to wrap up some cases.
Lewis, Pariente and Quince have been in the middle of a political storm for several years now. In 2011, in the wake of several court decisions that went against the Legislature, then-House Speaker Dean Cannon proposed splitting the Supreme Court into two panels and putting those three justices on the court that would handle criminal cases — not challenges to the Legislature’s authority.
That plan was killed in the Senate.
In 2012, when the three justices faced their last merit-retention election — in which a candidate runs for re-election, but not against an opponent — the Republican Party of Florida formally opposed the justices. All three still easily won another term.
Coincidentally, Quince was appointed in 1998 during a change in administrations from outgoing Democratic Gov. Lawton Chiles to incoming Republican Gov. Jeb Bush. After Bush argued that he had the right to name the next justice, he and Chiles agreed to jointly appoint Quince.
Business groups like the Florida Chamber of Commerce, often closely allied with the Republican Party, and the Florida Council of 100 have supported the proposed constitutional amendment.
“Florida can’t afford to let its highest courts fall victim to uncertainty and doubt if it wants to continue to shine as a prime location for doing business,” Susan Pareigis, president and CEO of the council, said in a news release.
They have been countered in the low-level fight by interest groups that have traditionally opposed GOP efforts on the courts and elections, such as the League of Women Voters of Florida.
Anstead said he’s concerned that allowing an outgoing governor to appoint the justices to the court will remove the accountability that would face a governor who would later seek a second term. Anstead said he’s “not cynical, but … no dummy” when it comes to whether politics is at play.
“If there is partisanship here, it appears to be something of a gamble that Governor Scott will be re-elected,” he said.
But Lee said the uncertainty about the battle between Scott and Crist is the reason to change things now.
“Voting ‘yes’ on Amendment 3 avoids all these questions before we know which political party will be positively or negatively impacted,” he wrote.
by Brandon Larrabee, The News Service of Florida
Mosquito Borne Illness Alert Remains In Effect For Escambia County
October 17, 2014
An mosquito-borne illness alert for Escambia County is continuing, according to the Florida Department of Health in Escambia County said Thursday.
Back in August, the health department issued the alert after receiving notification of a confirmed case of West Nile virus (WNV) infection in a resident of Escambia County.
The Escambia County Mosquito Control Division and the health department continue surveillance and prevention efforts. FDOH-Escambia reminds residents and visitors to avoid being bitten by mosquitoes and to take basic precautions to help limit exposure to mosquito-borne illnesses.
Some mosquito tips include:
- Remove standing water to stop mosquitoes from multiplying
- 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, drums, bottles, cans, pots and pans, broken appliances and other items that aren’t being used.
- Empty and clean birdbaths and pet’s water bowls at least once or twice a week.
- Protect boats and vehicles from rain with tarps that don’t accumulate water.
- Maintain swimming pools in good condition and appropriately chlorinated. Empty plastic swimming pools when not in use.
- Cover skin with clothing or repellent—
- Stay indoors when mosquitoes are active
- Wear shoes, socks, and long pants and long-sleeves. This type of protection may be necessary for people who must work in areas where mosquitoes are present.
- Apply mosquito repellent to bare skin and clothing.
- Always use repellents according to the label. Repellents with DEET(N,N-diethyl-mtoluamide), picaridin, oil of lemon eucalyptus, and IR3535 are effective.
- Use mosquito netting to protect children younger than 2 months old.
- Cover doors and windows with screens to keep mosquitoes out of your house
- Repair broken screens on windows, doors, porches, and patios.
- Keep doors and windows closed if screens are not present.
- Always read label directions carefully for the approved usage before you apply a repellent.
- Some repellents are not suitable for children.
- Products with concentrations of up to 30 percent DEET are generally recommended.
- Other US Environmental Protection Agency-approved repellents contain Picaridin, oil of lemon eucalyptus, or IR3535. These products are generally available at local pharmacies. Look for active ingredients to be listed on the product label.
- Apply insect repellent to exposed skin, or onto clothing, but not under clothing.
- In protecting children, read label instructions to be sure the repellent is age-appropriate.
- According to the CDC, mosquito repellents containing oil of lemon eucalyptus should not be used on children under the age of three years. DEET is not recommended on children younger than two months old.
- Avoid applying repellents to the hands of children. Adults should apply repellent first to their own hands and then transfer it to the child’s skin and clothing.
- If additional protection is necessary, apply a permethrin repellent directly to your clothing.
Foley Defeats Ernest Ward
October 17, 2014
The Foley Lions defeated the Ernest Ward Middle School Eagle Thursday night, 26-12.
Ernest Ward, Escambia County’s only middle school football team, will wrap up their season at home next Tuesday at 6 p.m. as they host the Flomaton Hurricanes.
NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Tate Lady Aggies Softball to Host Softball Camp
October 17, 2014
The Tate High School Aggies Softball team will host a November Camp on Saturday, November 1st at the school’s softball field.
There will be a skills and hitting clinic from 9 a.m. until noon and a pitching/catching clinic from 1-2 pm.
The cost is $30 for one session or $40 for both sessions and lunch. The camp is for ages 7 through the 8th grade.
Register by mail (click for printable pdf registration form) or day of camp. For more information, call (850) 572-6466.
Supreme Court Rejects Cellphone Tracking By Police
October 17, 2014
Pointing to privacy rights, the Florida Supreme Court on Thursday said police need to get warrants before using cell-phone information to conduct “real-time” tracking of criminal suspects.
Justices, in a 5-2 decision, sided with a man who was arrested in 2007 in Broward County after a search of his vehicle uncovered a kilogram brick of cocaine hidden in a spare-tire well. Police tracked the man, Shawn Alvin Tracey, through location information given off when cell-phone calls are made.
In a 46-page majority opinion, Chief Justice Jorge Labarga wrote that using the information without a warrant violated Tracey’s Fourth Amendment constitutional rights, which protect people from unreasonable searches and seizures. Labarga, in ruling that evidence against Tracey should be suppressed, also pointed to the public’s dependence on cell phones.
“We cannot overlook the inexorable and significant fact that, because cell phones are indispensable to so many people and are normally carried on one’s person, cell phone tracking can easily invade the right to privacy in one’s home or other private areas, a matter that the government cannot always anticipate and one which, when it occurs, is clearly a Fourth Amendment violation,” wrote Labarga, who was joined in the majority by justices Barbara Pariente, R. Fred Lewis, Peggy Quince and James E.C. Perry.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Florida issued a statement calling the decision a “big victory for privacy in Florida.”
“The Florida Supreme Court has definitively stated what we have asserted all along: that police can’t track your movements in public using these cell phone tracking tools without first getting a warrant,” ACLU attorney Benjamin Stevenson said in the statement. “Technology is changing all the time, but just because a technology you own is newer than the constitution’s protections doesn’t mean it is exempt from them. Police all over the state should now put an end to warrantless cell phone surveillance once and for all.”
But Justice Charles Canady, in a dissenting opinion, wrote that given the “known realities of how cell phones operate … cell phone users have neither a subjective expectation of privacy nor an objectively reasonable expectation of privacy regarding the cell site information generated by their cell phones.”
“Individuals may very reasonably desire that information they provide to third parties —such as a cell service provider, a bank, or a credit card company — be kept private,” wrote Canady, who was joined in dissent by Justice Ricky Polston. “But a strong desire for privacy is not equivalent to a legitimate expectation of privacy.”
The Tracey case started after police received information that he bought large amounts cocaine, which was transported from Broward County to the state’s West Coast for distribution. In October 2007, police received a court order to use technology that recorded telephone numbers dialed from Tracey’s cell phone and numbers from incoming calls.
More than a month later, officers learned that Tracey would be coming to Broward County to pick up drugs to transport to the Cape Coral area, where he lived, according to Thursday’s ruling. Without getting additional court approval, police used electronically generated cell-phone information to track his movements in real time, ultimately leading to the arrest.
A circuit judge and the 4th District Court of Appeal rejected arguments that evidence in the case should be suppressed, but Labarga wrote that a warrant, based on probable cause, was required for the location information.
“Simply because the cell phone user knows or should know that his cell phone gives off signals that enable the service provider to detect its location for call routing purposes, and which enable cell phone applications to operate for navigation, weather reporting, and other purposes, does not mean that the user is consenting to use of that location information by third parties for any other unrelated purposes,” Labarga wrote. “While a person may voluntarily convey personal information to a business or other entity for personal purposes, such disclosure cannot reasonably be considered to be disclosure for all purposes to third parties not involved in that transaction.”
by Jim Saunders, The News Service of Florida
Victims Identified In Jay Murder Suicide
October 16, 2014
The Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office has released the names of two people involved in an apparent-murder suicide near Jay early Thursday morning.
The Sheriff’s Office received a call reporting a shooting at 3771 Nowling Road at 5:56 a.m., and deputies were on scene within three minutes.
Deputies found two deceased individuals – a male and a female – inside the residence. A spokesperson for the Sheriff’s Office said the incident was domestic violence related.
The victims were identified as 41-year old Misty Wright Herring and 43-year old Max Bruce Herring. According to court records, the two were in the process of getting a divorce.
Misty Herring was a pharmacist as the Duramed Pharmacy in Jay, and was formerly the pharmacist at Flomaton Pharmacy.
The shooting appeared to have occurred sometime during the overnight hours. Misty had two children from a previous marriage. Lt. Leeland Butcher said the children were not involved in the shooting and are being cared for by relatives.
Investigators were also seen combing through a truck in the parking lot of the Moore Creek-Mt Carmel Utilities company, a short distance from the scene. Investigators removed at lease one weapon, a long gun, from the vehicle. The vehicle reportedly belonged to one of the victims.
Nowling Road is just outside the Jay city limits, about a mile south of Jay High School. The Jay schools were placed on a brief lockdown this morning as deputies responded and began their investigation. The lockdown was lifted after is was determined to be a likely murder-suicide with no other suspect.
The incident remains under investigation. Further details will be posted as they become available.
Pictured top and inset: An apparent murder suicide was discovered at this home on Nowling Road in Jay. Pictured first two photos below: Investigators and deputies secure a weapon found in a truck in the parking lot of the nearby Moore Creek-Mt. Carmel Utilities Company. Pictured bottom: More photos from the scene. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
State Selects Century To Participate In Competitive Florida Partnership
October 16, 2014
The Town of Century has been selected to participate in the Competitive Florida Partnership, a rural community development initiative.
The Competitive Florida Partnership focuses on improving local economic development activities, particularly in the rural areas of Florida. The Florida Department of Economic Opportunity will assist Century in working to implement the town’s strategic economic development plan in a way that is tailored to the community’s unique character and vision. One facet of the program will be to create a community asset inventory that will be available to local businesses wishing to expand or potential businesses interested in moving to Century.
The Competitive Florida Program will help Century to market the community’s local assets and to set realistic goals for advancing the town’s economic development vision. The program will help Century develop an innovative economic development strategy that promotes partnerships, community design, and a vibrant local economy.
Asset-based economic development is a bottom-up approach that focuses on developing and promoting existing local resources such as the available workforce, buildings and land, public infrastructure, transportation networks, education, political advocacy and civic organizations, to strengthen the local economy. This approach focuses on leveraging a rural community’s assets and economic advantages into sustainable economic growth and prosperity. DEO will work with Century to identify and market these assets and facilitate promotional opportunities to bring economic development to the community.
Young Wyatt Johnson Loses Fight Against Rare Disease
October 16, 2014
Wyatt Johnson of Century passed away late Wednesday afternoon in Atlanta. He was just two and a half.
Wyatt suffered from a rare liver disease – Langerhans cell histiocytosis – that required chemotherapy and would have eventually required a transplant. He also had an enlarged liver, spleen and heart.
Last year, Wyatt received national attention due to Shelby Godwin of Bratt. She saw a fundraising flyer with Wyatt’s picture at CVS in Century. She was so emotionally touched by the young man that she wanted to do something to help him, and she set up a roadside orange juice stand to raise money for a young child she had never met. The then 10-year old used her own money to purchase the oranges and supplies for her little business venture and borrowed an old fashioned juicer from a friend of her mom.
Wyatt’s family has an active GoFundMe website that was established to pay about $30,000 in transportation expenses for Wyatt and his family that were incurred to and from Atlanta where he received his specialized medical care. Donations can be made here.
Pictured: Wyatt Johnson in October of last year when a special event was held in his honor at Bratt Elementary School for him to meet Shelby Godwin (bottom photo) for the first time. NorthEscambia.com file photos, click to enlarge.
Two Bodies Found In Mobile Home
October 16, 2014
The bodies of a man and woman were found inside a mobile home in Ensley Wednesday night after neighbors called deputies saying the family had not been seen in days.
When Escambia County Sheriff’s deputies arrived, they said cars were in the driveway of the residence in the 99 Oaks Mobile Home Park, but no one would answer the door. Deputies forced their way into the home and found the two bodies. There were reportedly no weapons found in the home.
The Sheriff’s Office said a cause of death will be determined by the Medical Examiner’s Office and a determination will be made if there was foul play in the deaths.
Neighbors described the couple as being in their mid-40’s.
Cross Country: Northview, EWMS, Flomaton, Miller
October 16, 2014
About 90 runners took part in a cross country meet with Ernest Ward Middle, Flomaton High, Milton High, Northview High, Catholic High and T.R. Miller High Tuesday at Northview High School in Bratt.
For additional photos, click here.
Results were as follows:
Top Girls Teams
- TR Miller- 30 points
- Pensacola Catholic- 36 Points
- Milton-63 Points
- Northview -141 Points
- Ernest Ward-153 Points
Fastest Girl-Allie Nelson from TR Miller with a time of 20:02
Top Boys Teams
- Pensacola Catholic- 29 points
- Milton High -50 points
- TR Miller -80 points
- Flomaton -126 points
- Northview -165 Points
- Ernest Ward-237 points
Fastest Boy- Grant Kemp from Pensacola Catholic with a time of 18:08
TOP FIVE RUNNERS FROM EACH SCHOOL
Northview Girls
- Moriah McGhan -25:29
- Mary Sullivan -31:53
- Bethany Reynolds -32:18
- Myisha Syria -33:01
- Jessica Barrows-41:28
Northview Boys
- Brandon Korinchak -20:20
- Josh Borelli -20:49
- Heath Sheldt -23:58
- Austin Ates -24:35
- Triston Reaves -28:03
Ernest Ward Girls
- Addison Albritton 28:11
- Haley Black -32:57
- Cailee Wilburn -33:02
- Lexxi Baggett -33:07
- Anna Sullivan 33:09
Ernest Ward Boys
- Brandon Sheldt -25:36
- Bryce Korinchak-28:07
- Shane Hardin -30:12
- Keaton Brown -32:48
- Alexander Floyd -35:04
Flomaton Boys
- Dustin Reaves -20:37
- Duane Hamby -21:00
- Dylan Patterson -22:07
- Dakota Boatwright -23:28
- Hayden Hammond 23:59
TR Miller Girls
- Allie Nelson- 20:02
- Tara Townsend -23:54
- Sarah Byrd -24:17.21
- Madison Lum -24:17.59
- Carmen Knowles -25:02
TR Miller Boys
- Travis Carlson -19:08
- Micah Flores 19:37
- Walker Harris 21:03
- Noah Morris 21:11
- Tuck McDaniel 21:54
Milton Girls
- Isabella Potate-23:36
- Nikki Delagarza-24:57
- Becky Ward -24:58
- Rachel Natioa-25:49
- Aly Bly-26:27
Milton Boys
- Cody Price -18:57
- Alex McDonald -19:03
- Myles Osborne -19:36
- Virgil Holmes -20:35
- Marcus Deloach -20:45
Pensacola Catholic Girls
- Annabelle Doyle-22:52
- Gabby Endacott-24:18
- Olivia Endacott-24:21
- Vivi Lee -24:35
- Angie Gonzalez-24:40
Pensacola Catholic Boys
- Grant Kemp -18:08
- Edward Neyman -18:09
- John Rawley -18:23
- Henry Marcille -19:23
- Logan Kane-19:40
NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
