Hurricane Season? All Quiet In Florida, But Experts Say That Could Change
October 13, 2014
Florida is in the middle of hurricane season, but you’d never know it by looking at the forecast. With a little more than a month left to go, there have been no immediate threats to the Florida coast this year. Tropical Storm Fay and Tropical Storm Gonzalo are in the Atlantic, but are expected to be no threat to Florida.
In fact, it’s been nine years since the state was hit by a significant storm, but Dennis Feltgen, public affairs officer for the National Hurricane Center in Miami, are reminding folks that sometimes there’s a calm before the storm.
“So here we are basically a week into October and yes, there’s a lot of breathings of sighs of relief out there, and I think that’s a little bit too early,” he says.
Feltgen explains the warmer waters in the Gulf of Mexico during October and November make hurricanes more likely for the Florida coast, compared to states along the Atlantic.
The last hurricane to directly hit the Tampa Bay area was in October 1921. The last major one to hit Florida was Hurricane Wilma in October 2005.
Daniel Nyquist, a spokesman for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), says while out of sight, out of mind can make people forget about the importance of preparedness, now is a good time to evaluate your supplies and emergency plan.
“You don’t want to be thinking about your own level of preparedness when flood waters are rising, or when you’re feeling the shake of an earthquake,” he stresses.” “You really want to take the time on a day like today when it’s pretty nice outside to think ‘What would I do if this happened to me, how can I get ready, what resources are available?’”
Feltgen agrees that the time to prepare for a hurricane is when the skies are clear.
“If you don’t have a hurricane plan in place, and the hurricane warnings are already flying out there, it’s too late to get your plan,” he points out. “You’re going to be making very difficult decisions under duress, and odds are the decisions you make are going to be the wrong ones.”
Feltgen recommends assembling an emergency kit, and making a family communications plan.
It’s also good to understand evacuation routes in your community and the elevation level of your property to know if it’s flood prone.
Pictured: Hurricane Wilma, the last significant hurricane to hit Florida’s coast, struck in October 2005. Image courtesy NOAA for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Group Calls For DCF To Give Up Child Protection Oversight
October 13, 2014
An advocacy group has called for the Florida Department of Children and Families to relinquish its oversight of child-protective services to local law enforcement or other agencies following last month’s mass murder-suicide involving six children in Gilchrist County.
Roy Miller, spokesman for the Children’s Lobby, said the murders amounted to the last straw in the department’s response to a series of child deaths stretching back many years.
“Why is DCF continuing to do the direct oversight of child-welfare services when they have a three-decade history of not doing it well?,” he asked. “We need a new model.”
Miller’s group was responding to a department report on Don Spirit, the Gilchrist County man who murdered his daughter and six grandchildren before committing suicide on Sept. 18.
Citing media reports, the group said the Department of Children and Families was warned last year that “Spirit, a convicted felon with a history of discharging a gun that resulted in the death of a child, should have no contact with his grandchildren. More damning, some of the grandchildren themselves, as recently as last year, told DCF workers they feared their grandfather. Yet, they were living with him at the time of their horrific deaths and the household composition was known to DCF.”
The Department of Children and Families released a preliminary report last week, saying it would increase staff training and take up other reforms in the wake of the murders. DCF did not immediately respond to a request for comment about Miller’s calls for change.
According to the department, the family had been involved in 18 child-protective investigations since 2006, with Spirit involved in six of the investigations and alleged to be the perpetrator in three. Investigators confirmed that Spirit had physically abused his then-pregnant daughter, Sarah, who became one of his murder victims and was the mother of the six dead children.
The Children’s Lobby said DCF did not enforce its own safety plans or take action after a verified report that Spirit physically injured one of his granddaughters in 2013.
The murders in the small community of Bell drew national attention and scrutiny about DCF’s prior involvement with the family. Both the department and the Gilchrist County Sheriff’s Office had visited the family’s home as recently as Sept. 2, but the preliminary report said a case note showed that the children were not “in imminent danger of illness or injury from abuse, neglect or abandonment.”
The department concluded that the rampage could not have been foreseen, calling the tragedy “an extreme outlier” — but Miller strongly disagrees.
“Clearly what we are doing isn’t working,” he said.
For nearly two years, the Department of Children and Families has been under fire for the most recent round of child deaths on its watch. Lawmakers responded with a sweeping reform measure and increased funding during the 2014 legislative session.
But although the department has been putting the reforms into place, the murders in Bell have brought a new hail of condemnation.
“While DCF issues one more report stating they will use this tragedy to do better, six murdered children who relied on DCF to protect them don’t get a do-over,” Miller said. “This report is not at all different from any number of previous DCF reports about children the state failed to protect.”
Now, Miller said, the Children’s Lobby will join forces with others critics of Florida’s child-welfare system who believe DCF should transfer the oversight of its protective services to local law enforcement agencies or other community partners, such as local governments, who can do the job better.
Currently, six Florida sheriffs’ offices oversee child-protection services in their counties — Broward, Hillsborough, Manatee, Pasco, Pinellas and Seminole — rather than the Department of Children and Families having the responsibility.
Many children’s advocates believe the sheriffs do a better job.
“DCF cannot and should not perform protective investigations,” said Cindy Lederman, a dependency court judge in Miami-Dade County. “DCF has consistently proven itself incapable of conducting comprehensive investigations. We need trained law enforcement officers to take over.”
In February 2010, the state’s Office of Program Policy and Government Accountability released a memorandum concluding that sheriff’s offices have advantages for conducting child-abuse investigations. The state office noted that “due to their law enforcement affiliation, child-abuse investigators working for sheriffs generally have greater access to training and specialists, as well as enhanced cooperation and community respect not always afforded to DCF investigators.”
But some sheriffs have been wary of the responsibility, if only due to the cost. The 2014 Legislature allocated $8.1 million for those sheriffs’ offices that conduct child protective investigations, along with $13.1 million for 191 new investigators at the department.
Nanette Schimpf, a spokeswoman for the Florida Sheriffs Association, said law enforcement officers generally accompany DCF child-protective investigators on cases “because it can be a dangerous job.”
But not all sheriffs choose to oversee the investigations. “It’s on a county-by-county basis,” Schimpf said.
by Margie Menzel, The News Service of Florida
High School Football District Standings, Schedules
October 13, 2014
Here is a look at local high school football district standings, scores from last week, and Friday night’s schedule for Florida schools:
FHSAA Eligibility Experts Offer Class Today In Escambia County
October 13, 2014
Today, the Escambia County School District will host a team from the Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) to conduct training that will address FHSAA rules and regulations for the athletic eligibility for middle and high school student athletes. This training opportunity will be held in the auditorium of Booker T. Washington High School at 6000 College Parkway from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.
FHSAA eligibility and compliance experts will educate student athletes and their families on the rules and regulations concerning recruiting as well as how to establish, protect, and maintain a student athlete’s athletic eligibility throughout high school.
Along with student athletes and their families, the public is also invited to attend this training.
Major Fire Destroys Downtown Atmore Business, Threatens Entire City Block (With Photo Gallery And Video)
October 12, 2014
Fire destroyed a downtown Atmore business early this morning and threatened the remainder of a city block.
The fire was reported about 12:45 a.m. in The Parish Grill, a downtown restaurant open only a few months. Atmore firefighters reported smoke showing from the establishment when they arrived on scene. The Poarch Fire Department and the Walnut Hill Station of Escambia (FL) Fire Rescue were called to assist, along with later responds from the McDavid Station of Escambia (FL) Fire Rescue and fire departments from Bay Minette and Brewton.
NorthEscambia.com was the first media on the scene shortly before 1:00, and heavy smoke was rolling from the two story building at the time, prior to the arrival of the Walnut Hill and Poarch fire departments.
For an exclusive photo gallery, click here.
For exclusive raw video from the scene, click here.
The smoke became heavier and heavier, rolling into the night sky above the downtown area. As the smoke rolled out of the building, it appeared to be coming from the second story of the adjacent buildings, including the Smith Trading Company in the old Atmore Hardware building and the historic Strand Theater.
By 1:30 a.m., it appeared firefighters were making little progress in knocking back the fire as they attacked it from the front and rear of the building. A short time later, flames reaching 30-40 feet into the air erupted from near the back of the building. At that point, firefighters pulled out of the building, and an Atmore Fire Department ladder truck was used to make an aerial attack on the blaze, extinguishing the towering flames. But heavy smoke continued to pour from the structure. The ladder truck operator reported that most of the building’s roof had collapsed.
For the next several hours, firefighters alternated fighting the fire from inside the building and aerially from the ladder truck. Small patches of flame would repeatedly burst through the top of the building. The building was a total loss.
As of about 5:00 a.m., the building was still burning.
Carl Anderson, the owner of one adjacent business, Carl’s/The Tot Shop, said his building suffered smoke and water damage. Anderson also owns the adjacent former Atmore Hardware building on the opposite side of the restaurant. As of about 3:00 a.m. he had not entered the building. Firefighters reported smoke but no flames inside the structure.
One firefighters was taken to a local hospital for heat exhaustion; there were no other injuries reported. All of the businesses were closed at the time of the blaze.
The cause of the fire will be determined by the Alabama State Fire Marshal’s Office.
The Parish Grill building previously housed other restaurants, including The Sweet Shop, Gerlach’s and Pintoli’s.
For an exclusive photo gallery, click here.
For exclusive raw video from the scene, click here.
NorthEscambia.com exclusive photos, click to enlarge.
Raw Video: Downtown Atmore Fire
October 12, 2014
NorthEscambia.com exclusive video from downtown Atmore fire.Click here to return to story.
(If you do not see the video above, it is because your home, work or school firewall is blocking YouTube videos.)
Firefighters Quickly Extinguish Cantonment House Fire
October 12, 2014
Quick work by Escambia County Fire Rescue firefighters saved a home in Cantonment Saturday night.
The fire was reported shortly before 8:00 in the 2900 block of Sundance Lane. Firefighters were able to contain the blaze to a portion of the home. There were no reports of any injuries.
The exact cause of the blaze remains under investigation.
The Cantonment, Ensley, Beulah, Ferry Pass, Bellview, Osceola and Navy fire stations responded to the fire.
NorthEscambia.com photos by Kristi Price, click to enlarge.
12-Year Old Pedestrian Killed In Escambia Crash
October 12, 2014
A 12-year old Escambia County resident was killed in a pedestrian accident early Saturday morning.
Felicia Ponds, 48, was westbound on Michigan Avenue about 4:40 a.m. in a 2014 Dodge Journey when she struck 12-year old D’Montravion Hardwell, according to the Florida Highway Patrol. Troopers said that at the time of the accident, it appeared Hardwell was in the roadway and was pronounced deceased at the scene.
The crash remains under investigation.
Fall Gardening: Time To Tackle The Chaos And Prepare For Winter
October 12, 2014
by Santa Rosa Extension
Towards the end of the growing season, many landscapes are overgrown and untidy. Allowing plants to tower over others can mean the demise of the smaller plant. It’s time to tackle the chaos and prepare for winter.
First and foremost, take a good look at your landscape. If a plant has outgrown its allotted space, perhaps it was the wrong plant in the wrong place. Avoid these types of problems by becoming familiar with a plant before you plant it. While you can try to control the size of the plant to fit its space, it will never be a happy, stress-free plant.
Information on the mature size of a plant and their site requirements can be found in several Extension publications. The Florida-Friendly Landscaping™ (FFL) “Guide to Plant Selection and Landscape Design” is intended for homeowners who want to take the next step and design their own Florida-Friendly landscapes. Included in this book is information on landscape design strategies, a landscape planning worksheet, and the FFL plant list containing many of the UF/IFAS recommended Florida-Friendly plants for each region of the state. It’s available online by clicking here.
Even in a well-planned landscape, though, the gardener’s controlling influence is important. The most useful methods for dealing with especially enthusiastic plants are removing, pruning, supporting or creating barriers to prevent unwanted spreading.
Removing and replacing
Autumn is an excellent time to establish shrubs and trees. Consider removing oversized plants and replacing them with carefully chosen ones that will happily fit within your defined boundaries. Plants that are installed late in the year will develop strong roots systems before hot weather arrives next spring.
Pruning
When it comes to pruning, it’s good to remember that it’s better to prune lightly occasionally as needed, than to allow a plant to get way overgrown and then cut it back severely. A few prudent snips here and there will help keep more vigorous plants from overwhelming their less vigorous neighbors.
Emphasis must be placed on the word “light.” It’s important to remember that late summer pruning may stimulate an additional flush of shoot growth on species which flush several times each year. These shoots could be damaged by an early frost.
Supporting
Another technique to improve the look of an overgrown landscape is staking. Staking or otherwise supporting plants keeps them from leaning or falling over onto others. It helps the tall plant look better, and obviously benefits the plants that would otherwise be covered. The stake should be tall enough to do the job but not be too obvious.
Stakes may simply be placed in such a way that the plant is supported by leaning up against it. On the other hand, it may be necessary to tie the plant to the stake. Typically, twine or plastic ties are used for this purpose. Make sure you tie the lower and upper parts of the plant to the stake to provide proper support.
Other techniques for support include tying twine in a loop all the way around a plant, using a wire cage – this is best done early in the growing season to allow the plant to grow into it – tying a plant to a sturdier, nearby plant or using one of the commercially available support systems.
Barriers
Many perennials and tropical plants spread by underground structures called rhizomes. If growth shows up outside the area you’ve allotted for that plant, promptly dig out the unwanted growth and replant it somewhere else.
Barriers extending at least one foot down into the ground around aggressive spreaders can sometimes help keep them under control. Digging, dividing and replanting clumps of aggressive spreaders annually is another good way to make sure they stay put.
Overgrown shrubs can cause a house to lose its curb appeal. Proper, regular control measures should be employed to keep a landscape looking its best.
Florida Gov’t Weekly Roundup: Stretch Run For Campaigns, Gay Marriage
October 12, 2014
As the heated, snarky and increasingly testy campaign between Gov. Rick Scott and former Gov. Charlie Crist nears the yearlong mark — has it only been that long? — the two finally met in a debate at a television studio in Miramar.
There wasn’t much new in the clash, which largely consisted of the two men personally exchanging insults that they’ve been trading in emails and press conferences for months. There was Scott, painting the picture of Crist as a flip-flopping political opportunist who helped bury Florida’s economy. And there was Crist, portraying Scott as a corrupt businessman and ally of special interests who lacks Crist’s trademark empathy.
But for all the predictability of the debate, it still served as a notice that the race for the Governor’s Mansion is entering the stretch run. In a little more than three weeks, and after two more debates that promise to be just as nasty as the first, voters will cast ballots and decide which of the two most-recent governors will take the oath in January 2015.
Attorney General Pam Bondi and her two opponents held a more subdued debate as they battle to see who will be the state’s top lawyer. After he was done debating with Bondi and Libertarian candidate Bill Wohlsifer, Democratic candidate George Sheldon turned around and picked a fight with Scott.
Other issues were also coming to a head. Most notably, the U.S. Supreme Court finally reacted to the growing number of federal rulings granting same-sex couples the right to marry in states across the nation — by doing nothing. That might have spoken louder than any opinion the court could have issued, and it put Florida one step closer to legalized gay marriage.
ZERO WAGES AND PRIVATE JETS
Given that they’re in the middle of a campaign that has left Florida covered in more mud than a Woodstock attendee, perhaps the most surprising thing about the debate Friday between Crist and Scott is that they bothered to speak to each other at all. Not that they had much nice to say to each other.
“Charlie should be known as the zero-wage governor,” Scott sniped during a discussion about the minimum wage. “832,000 people had a job the day Charlie took office; they day he left office, they made zero wages.”
Crist, known during his time in office as something of a happy warrior, returned fire with gusto.
“It seems to me that Gov. Scott may be out of touch. … For people who maybe have a private jet, like the governor has, or has a mansion on the waterfront, things seem OK. I understand that, and that’s great. But it’s not great for everybody in Florida,” Crist said.
They fought about each other’s time in office, with Crist arguing that Scott hadn’t pushed hard enough for Medicaid expansion or really done anything to help lower- or middle-income Floridians, while Scott returned time and again to the idea that Crist was a smooth talker with a thin resume and a dismal economic record.
They fought about issues ranging from same-sex marriage to medical marijuana to the federally enforced embargo of Cuba (over which, it should be noted, the governor of Florida has precious little influence).
They fought about basically anything and everything that came up.
“He will always talk about what he’s going to do, but nothing will happen,” Scott complained about Crist.
“I’ve never pled the Fifth in my life,” Crist said — drawing attention to the 75 times Scott invoked his right not to incriminate himself during a deposition in a civil lawsuit.
There are two more debates left in the governor’s race, the next taking place Wednesday in nearby Davie, and few signs that the two will run out of disagreements before those sessions are over.
And when they show up for the second debate, Libertarian candidate Adrian Wyllie hopes to join them. Wyllie is suing the Florida Press Association, Leadership Florida and Broward College, arguing that it is in the public interest for him to be included.
“The Adrian Wyllie campaign is ’serious’ in every sense of the word, and is entitled to participate fully in the electoral process, on an equal footing with the Republican and Democrat candidates for governor,” the complaint said.
When the press association and Leadership Florida first announced their 2014 debate plans last year, they noted in a press release that to be included, a candidate must have the support of at least 15 percent of likely voters, as determined by a poll conducted by Mason-Dixon Polling & Research — a level Wyllie has not reached.
Florida Press Association President and CEO Dean Ridings said the qualifying data were known well in advance. (Disclosure: The News Service of Florida is an associate member of the press group.)
“We have maintained the same criteria since 2010,” Ridings said. “We’ve not changed it, and it would not be fair to the other seven candidates who’ve qualified to run for governor if we were to change our criteria in midstream.”
SCOTT’S OTHER OPPONENT
But Crist wasn’t alone in taking on Scott this week. Sheldon, running a campaign for attorney general that can fairly be characterized as a long shot, helped gang up on the Republican governor.
The former state lawmaker and agency head filed a lawsuit Wednesday against Scott for allegedly under-reporting personal financial interests. Scott’s campaign called the lawsuit a campaign distraction orchestrated by Crist, something that would hardly be surprising if it turned out to be true.
Political or not, the case isn’t exactly the first time Scott’s personal finances have resulted in a court challenge. A judge this summer ruled in favor of Scott’s use of a blind trust to maintain his finances, though the case is being appealed.
The new suit claims Scott has failed to adhere to financial-disclosure requirements in the state’s Sunshine Amendment by failing to list all his assets, and Sheldon claimed Bondi has fallen down on the job. It came on the heels of a report by the Miami Herald and Tampa Bay Times that information provided by Scott on his state-required financial-disclosure forms differed from what he has submitted to the IRS and to the Securities and Exchange Commission.
“I don’t know why he’s done this,” Sheldon said. “To the people of Florida, whether you’re worth $100 million or $300 million, as a taxpayer I don’t even understand those numbers, and most of the people of Florida don’t understand those numbers, but that’s not what’s relevant. The question is what is he hiding?”
Scott spokesman Greg Blair pointed to Scott’s use of a blind trust that manages his finances and described the lawsuit as campaign “mudslinging.” As part of his financial disclosure this year, Scott ended a blind trust he formed in 2011 and publicly listed his investments. After the disclosure documents were filed, Scott placed his investments into a new blind trust.
“Governor Scott opened the blind trust he formed in 2011 for the sole purpose of providing transparency and publicly listing his assets on his financial disclosure in June,” Blair said in a prepared statement. “This blind trust was established to protect the people of Florida from having an elected official make decisions in his or her own self-interest.”
Bondi had already defended Scott’s honor earlier in the week, when Sheldon brought up the Herald-Times report in the attorney-generaldebate. Bondi said Sheldon’s comments in that instance were “how a politician talks, not an attorney general.”
“To imply that our governor is corrupt, that is not appropriate for any candidate to say that, nor an attorney general to say that, based on a newspaper article,” she said.
GAY MARRIAGE SOONER THAN LATER?
There could soon be new business in Florida for caterers and invitation printers, and thousands more Floridians might need to set reminders on their cell phones about the dates of their wedding anniversaries. The U.S. Supreme Court turned away appeals from cases in Virginia, Oklahoma and Utah that paved the way for gay marriage in those states, something that could soon lead to same-sex unions in Florida.
U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle in August struck down Florida’s ban on same-sex marriages, but he also placed a stay on the ruling while the cases from the three other states were pending at the U.S. Supreme Court. Justices declined Monday to hear those cases, as well as similar cases from Indiana and Wisconsin, giving victories to gay-marriage supporters who had won in lower courts.
Attorneys for same-sex couples quickly asked Hinkle to move forward with ending Florida’s ban.
In a five-page motion filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Tallahassee, ACLU attorneys asked the judge to lift the stay and wrote that Monday’s decision sent a “strong signal that any remaining doubt about the Supreme Court’s ultimate resolution of the legal issue does not justify continuing to deny recognition of same-sex couples’ valid out-of-state marriages.”
“The Supreme Court’s action yesterday shows that the Supreme Court has decided to let stand decisions — like this court’s (Hinkle’s) — enjoining as unconstitutional state laws that refuse to recognize the marriages of same-sex couples,” the motion said.
During her campaign debate, Bondi, whose office has defended the state’s ban, said there are additional cases that could reach the U.S. Supreme Court and “we’re going to be reviewing everything in Florida to see what to do next.”
No one is saving any dates just yet, though. Even if Hinkle decides to lift the stay, it is not clear when same-sex marriages could start in Florida.
In his August ruling, Hinkle wrote that the stay would remain in place until resolution in the Supreme Court of the Virginia, Oklahoma and Utah cases, plus an additional 90 days. The additional 90 days would give Florida time to seek another stay, possibly from the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta or the Supreme Court.
STORY OF THE WEEK: Gov. Rick Scott and former Gov. Charlie Crist meet in the first of three highly anticipated gubernatorial debates.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “It’s so bizarre it’s like up there with aliens arriving and Elvis is still alive. … This is almost like a cult. It’s like Reverend Moon or Jim Jones type stuff.”–Trial attorney John Morgan, who is leading the fight for an amendment allowing the use of medical marijuana, on a legal theory that the practice is already legal in Florida and that Morgan’s amendment could undermine it.
by Brandon Larrabee, The News Service of Florida