Posse Earns Tourney Wins
June 22, 2014
Over recent weeks, the Pensacola Posse team won a tournament at Donalsonville, GA, were champions at a Gulfport, MS tournament, and placed second in a Daphne, AL, tournament. Members of the team include Meagan Jones, Mallory Miller, Kristen Quina, Morgan Bolan and Hadley Staratt from Tate High School; Bryce Miller, Ashley Kummer, Samantha Kummer, Kallie Okahashi and Tristan Pearson from Pace High School; and Savanna Ullrich from Escambia High School. Coaches are John Quina, Randy Miller, Peter Kummer and Sean Staratt. Reader submitted photo for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Weekend Gardening: Time To Prune Gardenias And Hydrangeas
June 22, 2014
By Santa Rosa County Extension
Hydrangeas and gardenias are two of our most beloved shrubs in the South. They are revered for their flowers and are planted in large drifts throughout Northwest Florida.
Gardenia shrubs are evergreen and produce shiny, dark green leaves. They are known for their waxy, creamy white flowers. The flower’s aroma, adored by many gardeners, is powerful and pleasant.
Hydrangeas are deciduous shrubs and produce coarse, light green leaves. Their large leaves will fall off after a freeze. Although you are left with bare sticks during the winter, the summer blooms are well worth the winter bareness. While there are many different types of hydrangeas, the mopheads are probably the most recognizable. Their large inflorescences are usually blue on acid soil, pink on alkaline soil and a dirty white on neutral pH soil.
Even though these shrubs are different in many aspects, the one thing they have in common is when they “set” their flower buds. Both shrubs develop flower buds on old (mature) wood of the previous year and open in early summer of the following year. Flower buds are formed at the terminal end of stems and, if not killed by cold or removed by inappropriate pruning, provide the showy floral display the next year.
The best time to prune gardenias and hydrangeas is after they finish flowering for the season. Pruning them at the incorrect time of the year, such as winter, will remove the flower buds.
Your pruning program should be purposeful. First, remove all diseased, weak and dead wood. It will be important to disinfect your pruning equipment after removing suspect branches. Pruning shears, loppers and saws can be dipped in a weak bleach solution to prevent spread of disease between plants.
Once all the problem branches have been removed, then think about thinning the plant. Shrubs are often thinned to reduce a top-heavy appearance or to open up a dense canopy. To thin, simply remove some of the oldest branches by pruning them down to the ground. Remove about a quarter to a third of the branches, selecting the oldest ones for elimination. When thinning, take care not to damage the nearby younger stems and foliage.
Next, cut back branches that are excessively long. Prune back to a lateral branch that is six to twelve inches below the desirable plant height, removing no more than a third of the stem. Cut each branch separately to different lengths with hand pruners. This will maintain a neat informal shrub with a natural shape. Plants sheared into various geometric shapes produce a formality not suitable for many modern, natural landscapes. Making pruning cuts down inside the canopy instead of on the outside edge will also hide unsightly pruning cuts.
Within the last several years, reflowering hydrangeas have found their way into the marketplace. Reflowering hydrangeas produce an initial flush of flowers followed by sporadic flowering or later flushes of flowers in the same growing season.
Endless Summer Hydrangea is a reflowering hydrangea. It is very forgiving and will not suffer if left unpruned or pruned at the wrong time. In fact, young, recently planted shrubs are best left alone. Unlike other hydrangeas, your Endless Summer® will bloom on both old and new wood, branches that grew last year and the new branches from this year. Another unique feature is that this hydrangea will continue to set buds and bloom throughout the season. Deadheading, or removing the spent flowers will encourage continual blooming.
Huntsville Downs Wahoos
June 22, 2014
Pensacola Blue Wahoos pitcher Michael Lorenzen took the mound Saturday after one of his best nights ever.
His roomie, relief pitcher Carlos Contreras, got called up to play for the Cincinnati Reds.
While Contreras made his debut pitching in the ninth inning against the Toronto Blue Jays, Lorenzen recorded a career high seven strikeouts in five innings. However, it was not enough for Pensacola, which dropped the game, 5-4, to the Huntsville Stars in front of a sellout crowd of 5,038 at Pensacola Bayfront Stadium.
Lorenzen said he’s taken a Contreras frame of mind when he gets two strikes on a batter.
“I want to put guys away now,” said Lorenzen, who has 54 strikeouts on the season in a rotation of flame throwers. “Instead of trying to make them make contact, I’m thinking, ‘I’m going to put you away with my best pitch.’”
The righty, who entered the game with 10 straight scoreless innings, allowed three in the first inning to Huntsville on four singles and a double. Lorenzen didn’t give up another run or hit through the next four innings.
Fresh in his mind and recorded on his cell phone was Contreras getting the call from Wahoos manager Delino DeShields that he was getting called up to the big leagues. DeShields talked Spanish to try to fake him out before telling him he was going to the bigs.
Contreras asked him twice in disbelief, “Who me?” And then said excitedly, “I’m going to call my mom!”
“It was one of the greatest moments in my life,” Lorenzen said after Saturday’s game. “His reaction was one of the best things ever. He didn’t sleep a minute. I was worried because they (Cincinatti) had a 3 p.m. game.”
When Lorenzen left the game after the fifth inning, the Wahoos had a 4-3 lead. Lorenzen, who is 4-4, has not earned a decision in six starts this year.
Huntsville, the first half champion of the Southern League North Division, has now won two of the first three games in the five-game series. The Stars regained the lead, 5-4, with two runs in the seventh inning when Kentrell Davis lead off with the team’s first hit since the first inning.
Davis scored on a wild pitch and throwing error by Wahoos catcher Ross Perez trying to catch him going to third. With the infield in, Huntsville’s Jason Rogers then hit the ball sharply past the shortstop that scored Shea Vucinich.
by Tommy Thrall
FWC Honors Man For Teaching Hundreds How To Hunt Legally
June 21, 2014
The Escambia County volunteer that has taught hundreds of local residents how to hunt legally has been recognized.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) named Paul Averill of Escambia County as its 2013 “Volunteer Hunter Safety Instructor of the Year,” an award given to the volunteer who significantly advances the cause of safe hunting through extraordinary service in training and education.
Since 2002, Averill has volunteered teaching the state’s hunter safety course, which is required of anyone born after May 31, 1975, who wishes to obtain a Florida hunting license to hunt unsupervised. He acts as hunter safety area coordinator for Escambia and Santa Rosa counties. During the 2013-14 year, Averill organized and taught 16 hunter safety classes, certifying a total of 490 students.
Averill has previously won the Northwest Region’s Area Coordinator of the Year Award. He played a key role in the development of the Klondike Archery Park in Pensacola. He is also a National Rifle Association instructor and range safety officer at a large private shooting range that is open daily to the public.
Over the years, Averill has recruited several new hunter safety instructors, and he promotes the program at every opportunity in the greater Pensacola area through his work with local shooting ranges, gun clubs and sporting goods stores.
“He makes sure every kid has the opportunity to take a hunter safety class, and that’s probably his greatest asset to the program,” FWC’s Northwest Regional Hunter Safety coordinator Will Burnett said. “Paul will go the extra mile to get a kid certified and continue the heritage of hunting in Florida.”
Because Averill received the award, he is now in the running and representing Florida for the national title “Federal Ammunition Hunter Education Instructor of the Year.”
Three Takes Seats On Century Council Without Opposition
June 21, 2014
Three Century residents earned seats on the Century Town Council at noon Friday when no one qualified to run against them in this year’s elections.
Incumbents Sandra McMurray Jackson and Gary Riley are running without opposition . Political newcomer Benjamin Boutwell qualified for Seat 3 on the town council without opposition, taking the seat held by Jacke Johnston who did not seek reelection.
Jackson, Riley and Boutwell will be sworn into office on January 5, 2015, for four-year terms.
Election Watch: Qualifying Period Ends For Local Candidates
June 21, 2014
Qualifying is now over for candidates seeking local offices in Escambia County.
Those qualified as of the noon Friday deadline are listed below, as provided by the Escambia County Supervisor of Elections Office.
Candidates qualified for local offices are:
County Commissioner, District 2
- Ray Guillory, Democrat
- Doug Underhill, Republican
- Gene Valentino, Republican
- Deb Moore, Democrat
County Commissioner, District 4
- Grover C. Robinson, Republican
- Michael Alexander Lowery, Democrat
School Board, District 1
- Jeff Bergosh
School Board, District 2
- Gerald W. Boone
School Board, District 3
- Laura Dortch Edler
- Linda Moultrie
- Charlie Nichols
ECUA, District 2
- Lois Benson, Republican
ECUA, District 4
- Dale Perkins, Republican
Santa Rosa Island Authority
- Thomas Campanella
- Teresa Preston
Escambia Soil & Water Conservation District, Group 1
- Jacob Gilmore
Escambia Soil & Water Conservation District, Group 2
- Austin Courson
Escambia Soil & Water Conservation District, Group 4
- Lynn L. Laird
Mayor of Pensacola
- Ashton Hayward
- Donna Clark
Pensacola City Council, District 2
- Sherri Myers
- Dennis R. Tackett
Pensacola City Council, District 4
- Larry B. Johnson
Pensacola City Council, District 6
- Brian Spencer
- Mark Taylor
Century Town Council, Seat 3
- Benjamin D. Boutwell
Century Town Council, Seat 4
- Gary E. Riley
Century Town Council, Seat 5
- Sandra McMurray Jackson
Unemployment Rate Up In Three County Area
June 21, 2014
The latest job numbers released Friday show the unemployment level increasing in the North Escambia area.
Escambia County’s unemployment rate was up from 5.9 percent in April to 6.2 percent in May. There were 8,672 people reported unemployed during the period. One year ago, unemployment in Escambia County was 7.3 percent.
Santa Rosa County unemployment also increased, from 5.0 to 5.4 percent from April to May. Santa Rosa County had a total of 4,028 persons still unemployed. The year-ago unemployment rate in Santa Rosa County was 6.4 percent.
In Escambia County, Alabama, unemployment increased from 7.9 percent in April to 8.1 percent in May. That represented 1,125 people unemployed in the county during the month.
Florida’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate, still significantly below the 7.5 percent mark of a year ago, has been mostly flat this year, wavering from 6.2 percent in February to 6.3 percent in March and back to 6.2 percent in April before the May increase.
Alabama’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate, at 6.8 percent in May, was slightly down from April’s rate of 6.9 percent and was above the year-ago rate of 6.4 percent.
The jobless numbers released by Florida and Alabama do not include persons that have given up on finding a job and are no longer reported as unemployed.
The News Service of Florida contributed to this report.
NWE Youth League Now The ‘NWE Chiefs’, Home Field Now Northview High
June 21, 2014
The Northwest Escambia Youth Football and Cheerleading league has rebranded itself as the NWE Chiefs, and they announced Friday that they will be playing all of their home games this season at Tommy Weaver Memorial Stadium on the campus of Northview High School, home of the Northview Chiefs.
NWE’s teams were previously the Eagles, and they previously played home games at Ernest Ward Middle School.
Northwest Escambia Youth Football will hold registration for the 2014 season at Travis Nelson Park in Bratt and at Don Sutton Ball Park in Molino from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. on the following Saturdays: June 28; and July 12, 26. The deadline to sign up for cheerleading was June 21.
Registration fee for football is $85, with NWE providing equipment and game uniforms. Payment plans are available.
Proof of residency or proof in enrollment in Bratt Elementary, Byrneville Elementary, Molino Park Elementary or Ernest Ward Middle School is required. A copy of the child’s birth certificate is also required.
For more information call (850) 449-3185 for football or (850) 377-3102 for cheer.
Pictured top: A sneak peak at a drawing of the new NWE Chiefs helmets. Courtesy image for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Health Officials Warn Of Bacteria In Local Waters
June 21, 2014
The Florida Department of Health in Escambia County urges residents and visitors to limit exposure to Vibrio vulnificus. Occurring naturally in the warm coastal waters, particularly during the summer months, Vibrio vulnificus has the potential to cause serious illness.
Vibrio vulnificus is a bacterium that normally lives in warm, brackish seawater. Since it is naturally found in warm marine waters, people with open wounds, cuts, or scratches can be exposed to Vibrio vulnificus through direct contact with seawater or estuarine water. Also, Vibrio vulnificus can cause disease in those who eat raw or undercooked oysters and shellfish.
Healthy individuals typically develop a mild disease; however, Vibrio vulnificus infections can be a serious concern for people who have weakened immune systems.
- Symptoms of Vibrio vulnificus can include vomiting, diarrhea, and abdominal pain.
- Wound infection can lead to skin breakdown and blistering.
- In persons who have weakened immune systems, particularly those with chronic liver disease, Vibrio vulnificus can invade the bloodstream, causing a severe, life-threatening illness with symptoms like fever, chills, decreased blood pressure (septic shock) and blistering skin lesions.
Individuals experiencing these symptoms should contact a physician immediately for diagnosis and treatment. Individuals with wound infections should also seek care promptly.
“It is important for people to be vigilant of these symptoms and seek immediate medical care,” said Dr. John Lanza, Director of the Florida Department of Health in Escambia County. “Residents and visitors should also avoid consuming raw and undercooked shellfish as well as foods that have come into contact with raw seafood.”
TIPS TO STAY HEALTHY AND SAFE
- Thoroughly cook oysters and other shellfish, either by frying, stewing, or roasting to eliminate harmful bacteria and viruses in the meat.
- Avoid exposing open wounds, cuts, or scratches to seawater or estuarine water.
The Florida Department of Health works to protect, promote and improve the health of all people in Florida through integrated state, county and community efforts.
For more information, please contact the Florida Department of Health in Escambia County at 850-595-6683, or visit www.EscambiaHealth.com.
Huntsville Beats Pensacola
June 21, 2014
The Huntsville Stars showed why they compiled the best record in the first half of the Southern League on Friday night at Pensacola Bayfront Stadium.
Led by first baseman Nick Ramirez, who clobbered two home runs including a grand slam in the eighth inning and drove in a career-high six RBI, the Stars evened the five-game series with the Pensacola Blue Wahoos at one game apiece with an 11-1 victory.
Ramirez is among the league leaders with 51 RBI and 13 homers on the season. His grand slam came during a six-run eighth inning that broke the game wide open for the Stars, who took an 11-1 lead.
“It was nice to get back playing like we usually play,” Ramirez said.
While Huntsville racked up the runs, Pensacola had 15 batters reach base and left 11 men on, including leaving the bases loaded in the second inning.
“We definitely didn’t get a big hit tonight,” said Blue Wahoos manager Delino DeShields. “But we have a lot of new guys playing at a different level and they’re going to go through their growing pains.”
Pensacola centerfielder Yorman Rodriguez kept the Blue Wahoos from being blanked with a leadoff solo home run in the seventh inning that cut Huntsville’s lead to 5-1. Rodriguez, who has moved to the leadoff spot for Pensacola, last had a home run on April 21 against Jacksonville. He now has a three game hitting streak.
“Tonight was his best night in quite some time,” DeShields said. “I just hope he continues. We need his production.”
Starting pitcher Jon Moscot has struggled in his last two outings, losing them both and giving up a season-high four earned runs both times. Moscot, who dropped to a 4-6 record, gave up three runs in first inning on a walk, single, double and triple. In the first two innings alone, he threw 50 pitches.
Meanwhile, Huntsville’s Jed Bradley, who was drafted 15th overall in the first round by the Brewers, got the win. Bradley, who is the eighth pitcher to start for Huntsville, was making just his fourth start at the Double-A level.
by Tommy Thrall