Florida Executes Child Killer
July 11, 2014
Eddie Wayne Davis, convicted in the 1994 murder of an 11-year-old Polk County girl, was put to death Thursday at Florida State Prison near Starke. He was pronounced dead at 6:43 p.m. by the Department of Corrections.
The U.S. Supreme Court denied a last minute appeal Thursday, three days after the Florida Supreme Court also rejected an appeal.
Davis, 45, argued, in part, that he suffered from a medical condition that could make the state’s lethal-injection process unconstitutional in his case. But the Florida Supreme Court rejected that argument.
Davis was convicted of kidnapping 11-year-old Kimberly Waters, sexually assaulting and strangling her and leaving her body in a dumpster.
Davis is the 19th person executed by Florida since Gov. Rick Scott took office, surpassing the 18 executions that occurred under former Gov. Lawton Chiles, who served two terms between 1991 and 1998. There were 21 executions during the two terms of former Gov. Jeb Bush, 11 in the first and 10 in the second. Five Death Row inmates were executed during former Gov. Charlie Crist’s single term.
by The News Service of Florida
Judge Strikes Down Congressional Map
July 11, 2014
In a highly anticipated ruling, a Leon County judge struck down a map of the state’s congressional districts drawn by the Legislature in 2012, potentially throwing the political future of the state into turmoil.
But the ruling, issued by Circuit Judge Terry Lewis, is virtually certain to be appealed and end up before the Florida Supreme Court, meaning that this year’s elections will likely proceed normally.
Legislative leaders were reviewing the ruling late Thursday, according to their offices. But a lawyer for voting-rights groups challenging the map said it was “very satisfying” to see Lewis’ opinion and said his side was ready for an appeal.
“We’re very optimistic that the Supreme Court will uphold the ruling,” attorney David King said.
The order, issued late Thursday, is the first to address the state’s congressional map under the anti-gerrymandering Fair Districts constitutional amendments, approved by voters in 2010. The Supreme Court already invalidated the Legislature’s first draft of a state Senate plan, which was then redrawn before the 2012 elections.
Lewis’ ruling specifically takes aim at the districts represented by Democratic Congresswoman Corrine Brown and Republican Congressman Daniel Webster. Brown’s district, which winds its way from Jacksonville to Orlando, has been criticized for years as one of the worst examples of gerrymandering in the nation.
It isn’t clear when lawmakers might have to redraw the districts, especially given the likelihood of an appeal. Lewis’ ruling doesn’t set a deadline, and candidates have already qualified for the 2014 elections under the boundaries approved by the Legislature.
But if the lines are redrawn after appeals play out, any changes to the Webster and Brown districts are likely to ripple through the rest of the map, given that all congressional districts have to have equal populations. Moving voters into or out of the two districts thrown out by Lewis would have a domino effect on surrounding seats.
According to Lewis, lawmakers and the staff members charged with the once-a-decade redistricting process tried to shield the map drawers from political influence, even as Republican political consultants tried to find a way to manipulate the process.
“That being said, the circumstantial evidence introduced at trial convinces me that the political operatives managed to find other avenues, other ways to infiltrate and influence the Legislature, to obtain the necessary cooperation and collaboration to ensure that their plan was realized, at least in part,” Lewis wrote. “They managed to taint the redistricting process and the resulting map with improper partisan intent. There is just too much circumstantial evidence of it, too many coincidences, for me to conclude otherwise.”
Lewis also found fault with explanations offered by the Legislature for some of the damning evidence at the trial. For example, one key email featured Kirk Pepper, an aide to then-House Speaker Dean Cannon, asking a political consultant whether some unstated issues with Webster’s Orlando-area district related to “performance or geography.”
The state had argued that Pepper was being sarcastic.
“Mr. Pepper testified that, though it may seem that they were discussing political performance, his reply to his friend was actually a signal reminding him that they should not discuss such things. Perhaps, but that is a very unusual and illogical interpretation,” Lewis wrote.
Much of the district-specific testimony at the trial focused on Brown’s seat, which was originally created in the 1990s to provide African-Americans with the opportunity to elect a candidate of their choice. Legislative leaders and staff members argued at trial that increasing the district’s black voting-age population, or BVAP, to more than 50 percent would shield it from a challenge under the federal Voting Rights Act.
But voting-rights organizations opposed to the map, like the League of Women Voters, countered that the district was really meant to carve out enclaves of Democratic-leaning voters and make surrounding districts more friendly to the GOP. Lewis largely agreed.
“I also find that the decision to increase the district to majority BVAP, which was accomplished in large part by creating the finger-like appendage jutting into District 7 and Seminole County, was done with the intent of benefiting the Republican Party,” he wrote.
As for Webster’s district, Lewis rejected an argument from the state that lawmakers included an “appendage” of white voters in the plan as part of their efforts to create a Central Florida district where Latinos could influence the outcome of elections.
“There was no evidence to suggest that a Hispanic majority district could be created in Central Florida. Defendants cannot justify deviation from a … constitutional requirement because of a desire to create a Hispanic influence district,” Lewis wrote.
by The News Service of Florida
Vickrey Graduates From Military Working Dog Handler Course
July 11, 2014
Hunter Vickrey of Molino has graduated from the Military Working Dog Handler Course at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, TX. He will now report to his first duty station in Virginia at Fort Myer, which borders Arlington National Cemetery in Washington, D.C.
When Vickrey graduated earlier this year from basic training/military police AIT school at Fort Leonard Wood, MO, he was one of just two of 150 soldiers in the group selected to receive a K-9 and K-9 training.
Wahoos Take Home Opener Against Montgomery’s Biscuits, 4-2
July 11, 2014
Daniel Corcino put what the reigning WWE Tag Team Champion Uso Brothers would call “the kibosh” on the Montgomery Biscuits Thursday night.
In front of a sellout crowd and twin brothers Jimmy and Jey, who graduated from Escambia High School, Corcino clamped down on the Biscuits in the, 4-2, Pensacola victory in the series opener.
Corcino allowed just one run on a solo home run to Alejandro Segovia in the second inning and struck out seven to up his record to 8-7. It was Corcino’s ninth start this season that he has pitched six innings or more and allowed one run or fewer.
He said that meeting the dominating Uso Brothers, who threw out the game’s ceremonial first pitch, pumped him up before the game. Corcino said he has loved wrestling since he was a little boy watching it on TV in the Dominican Republic.
“I love that sport. It’s one of my favorites,” Corcino said. “I met them and they asked, ‘Who’s going to teach me to pitch?’ I said, ‘I’ll teach you, if you teach me how to wrestle in the ring.’”
Corcino came into his 18th start of the season having struggled in his past five games. He was 1-3 with 19 strikeouts and 18 walks in 23.1 innings for a 9.26 ERA.
Corcino, who is the Cincinnati Reds’ No. 10 prospect according to MLB.com, said he considered those outings ancient history. Plus, the 23-year-old is now unbeaten, 4-0, against the Biscuits, including 3-0, this season.
“If you have a bad game you just forget about it,” said Corcino, who walked only one batter. “I threw the ball at the plate and said, ‘Let’s see what happens?’ My last few starts I’ve been a little wild.”
The difference Thursday was command of his fastballs in the 90s and getting ahead in the count on the hitters, said Wahoos manager Delino DeShields.
“When he pitches like that we have a chance to win games,” DeShields said. “When you look at his side work and his pitching in the bullpen before the game, everything’s working. It’s just being able to do it at 6:30 p.m. It was a great job by him tonight.”
The second game of the five-game series with Tampa Bay Rays Double-A affiliate the Montgomery Biscuits gets underway at 6:30 p.m. Friday. RHP Jon Moscot (4-8, 3.19) takes the mound for the Wahoos and is scheduled to be opposed by the Biscuits RHP Albert Suarez (1-0, 1.50).
by Tommy Thrall
Pictured: The Pensacola Blue Wahoos beat the Montgomery Biscuits 4-2 at Pensacola Bayfront Stadium,Thursday. Photos by Michael Spooneybarger/ Pensacola Blue Wahoos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Cantonment Veterinarian Arrested After DEA Investigation
July 10, 2014
A Cantonment veterinarian has been arrested on drug charges following an investigation by the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office and the DEA.
Michael Bishop Windley, age 67 of Highway 196 Molino, was arrested on state drug charges of four counts of possession, delivery, and manufacture of a controlled substance and four counts of fraud in obtaining prescriptions. Windley is a veterinarian at the Companion Animal Clinic at 470 South Highway 29 (the former Winn Dixie shopping center), according to Special Agent in Charge Mark. R Trouville of the DEA’s Miami Field Division.
According to the arrest warrant, the DEA received a call in August 2013 from a Winn Dixie pharmacist regarding the suspicious prescribing activities of Windley. During the investigation, DEA learned that Windley was fraudulently obtaining methadone by writing prescriptions in the name of his ex-wife’s dog and filling the prescriptions at various pharmacies in the Cantonment and Pensacola areas and then providing the drugs to his ex-daughter in law.
According to the DEA, Windley filled 30 prescriptions (for a total of 5,400 tablets) for methadone between December 11, 2012 and February 7, 2014. Two of the prescriptions for methadone were filled at two different pharmacies on the same date.
According to the DEA, Windley presented multiple controlled substance prescriptions for 180 methadone tablets each for a dog named Banner under the owner’s name Barbara Ard of the 4600 block of Highway 196 in Molino. Ard, according to the DEA, is Windley’s ex-wife.
During a DEA inspection of the Companion Animal Clinic, Windley first told an investigator that he had researched several medical journals and attended a conference where methadone was used as a pain medication with no side effects in animals. Windley, according to an arrest affidavit, also said he had six dogs, five of which were deceased, that were prescribed methadone. He was unable to produce the medical files of the dogs, telling investigators that the files had been destroyed. The veterinarian then said he wrote the prescriptions for all the dogs under one dog’s name, filled them at area pharmacies and then dispensed it out to the animals’ owners — a wrongful practice, according to the DEA.
Later, Windley voluntarily surrendered his DEA license, the report states, and admitted the pills were for his daughter in law.
The daughter-in-law, a Gulf Breeze resident, told investigators that she would clean Windley’s home and take care of his pets. He would leave a bottle of methadone on a table at his home. She told investigators that she was taking up to 20 methadone pills per day, and investigators witnessed her make a call to her primary physicians to make an appointment to receive help.
Windley was released from the Escambia County Jail on $50,000 bond.
Tax Collector Offices Collecting Food Drive Donations For Manna
July 10, 2014
A food drive is currently underway at Escambia County Tax Collector offices, including Molino, downtown and Marcus Pointe.
The employees of Janet Holley, Escambia County Tax Collector, are supporting Manna Food Pantries by sponsoring a food drive to help them restock their pantry from the April flood. Their goal is to collect 2,000 pounds of food to help Manna meet the needs of the hungry in our area.
Nonperishable food items can be dropped off at any of the three convenient tax collector locations Monday through Friday between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. through August 6. Manna Food Pantries welcomes any food donations, but their most needed items are peanut butter, canned fruit, canned tuna and chicken, and canned dinners.
Escambia Count Tax Collector offices are located at:
- Molino – 6440 Hwy. 95-A North, Ste. A
- Marcus Pointe – 6451 North “W” Street
- Downtown – 213 Palafox Place
Credit Cards Stolen During Flomaton Funeral Used In Molino, Cantonment
July 10, 2014
Authorities are asking for the public’s help in identifying a man that stole credit and debit cards during a Flomaton funeral and then used the cards in Molino and Cantonment.
According to the Flomaton Police Department, the suspect burglarized an automobile sometime between 3:00 and 3:20 p.m. last Sunday during a funeral at the Little Escambia Baptist Church on Highway 113. The suspect took a purse out of the vehicle before fleeing into Florida.
The suspect then attempted to use the victim’s credit and debit cards in Flomaton, and at businesses along Highway 29 in Molino and Cantonment. Flomaton Police Chief Bryan Davis declined to identify the businesses, citing an ongoing investigation.
Flomaton Police have obtained surveillance footage of the suspect entering two different businesses. He was described as a black male about six feet tall, wearing khaki pants, an untucked red polo-style shirt, black sunglasses, a gold colored watch on his left wrist and a red hat with the letter “P” on it, possibly a Philadelphia Phillies baseball hat. No description of his vehicle is available.
Anyone with information on the crimes is asked to call the Flomaton Police Department at (251) 296-5811.
Rick Scott Has Enacted Single Term High Of 12 Pro-Gun Laws
July 10, 2014
Gov. Rick Scott appears nearly bulletproof right now in the eyes of the National Rifle Association.
That assessment of Scott comes as the NRA notes that more pro-gun bills have been signed into law in the past four years than during any other recent single gubernatorial term. The organization sent a message to members applauding Scott for setting the record.
Since taking office in 2011, Scott has signed into law 12 gun-related measures backed by the NRA. That total is nine more than former Republican Gov. Charlie Crist approved while enjoying an equally Republican-dominated Legislature between 2007 and 2010. Crist is now running for the Democratic nomination to face Scott in the November elections.
The total number of Scott’s signings remains two fewer than those inked by former Gov. Jeb Bush, who also affixed his name to a one-year record six pro-gun and pro-hunting bills in 2006. A year earlier, Bush had signed the “stand your ground” law. However, Bush’s overall total of 14 new pro-guns laws came during eight years as the occupant of the Governor’s Mansion.
“Governor Scott supports the Second Amendment, and works every day to ensure Florida families are kept safe,” spokesman John Tupps said in an email. “Florida is at a 43-year crime low, and Governor Scott will review any legislation that the Legislature passes and sends to his desk.”
The bills signed by Scott have ranged from the highly contentious, such as the “docs vs. glocks” law in 2011 that has been on hold since being thrown out by a federal judge in 2012, to less controversial laws that reduced the fees for a new concealed carry weapon and allowed tax collectors’ offices handle concealed-weapon license applications.
“The bills that Gov. Scott has signed will make and have made an enormous difference,” said Marion Hammer, the powerful lobbyist for the NRA and Unified Sportsmen of Florida. “These laws will have major impact on law abiding gun owners.”
She wasn’t as praiseworthy of the more politically flexible Crist, who left office with an “A” rating by the NRA and campaigned in 2010 for the U.S. Senate claiming to have “never wavered in his support for the Second Amendment.”
Crist earned the “profound appreciation” of the NRA in May 2009 for vetoing the Legislature’s plan to sweep $6 million from the Concealed Weapons and Firearms Licensing Trust Fund to patch a hole in the state budget. Crist also won praise when signing legislation to allow concealed weapons permit-holders to keep their guns in their vehicles while at work, and by appointing NRA-supported judges Charles Canady and Ricky Polston to the state Supreme Court.
But Hammer alluded to Crist being less than supportive as “critically important bills” were discussed outside of committee meetings while he was still governor.
“When you’re trying to pass legislation, sometimes legislators will ask (the governor) what they’ll do, and if they’re non-committal, that’s always like a negative,” Hammer said when asked about Crist.
A spokesman for Crist said Wednesday that the former governor maintains his belief in the Second Amendment, but favors “sensible gun safety steps” to keep communities and children safe.
“For example, he believes we should get military-style assault weapons and high-capacity clips off the streets and institute tougher background checks to keep dangerous weapons out of the wrong hands,” Kevin Cate, a spokesman for Crist, responded in an email.
The increase in gun-friendly bills becoming law comes as more Floridians are registered gun owners.
As of May 31, there were 1.27 million concealed-weapon or firearm licenses issued in Florida, according to the state Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. The state went over the 1 million mark in Dec. 2012, becoming the first state in the nation to surpass that figure.
And the Florida Department of Law Enforcement conducted 869,457 background checks on firearm purchases in 2013. The annual number of checks grew from 406,370 in 2007, when Crist took office, to 606,655 in 2011, Scott’s first year in office. Each check includes an examination of an applicant’s criminal history and mental-health database reviews.
Coconut Creek Democrat Rep. Jim Waldman, a gun owner who has not received glowing scores from the NRA, said the proliferation of pro-gun bills is more about catering to the Republican Party’s “ultra-right” base than sound policy.
“The only way a lot of Republicans get elected is, they need to beef up their bona fides, and one way to do that is to support gun legislation,” Waldman said.
Scott signed five gun-rights bills into law this year, after signing three each in 2011 and 2012. He signed one in 2013.
This year’s offerings would prohibit insurance companies from denying coverage or increasing rates based on customers owning guns or ammunition. Also, they would allow people to threaten to use force, including showing guns, in self defense. Another new law would prevent schoolchildren from being disciplined for simulating guns while playing or for wearing clothes that depict firearms.
“There were not a lot of contentious bills, they were not all that controversial, there were just some contentious people,” Hammer said.
Besides the opposition to “docs and glocks,” most of the gun related controversy in recent sessions has been through failed efforts by advocates seeking to repeal the 2005 “stand your ground” law, which says people can use deadly force and do not have a duty to retreat if they think it is necessary to prevent death or great bodily harm
The so-called “warning shot” law approved this year modified “stand your ground” by extending immunity to those who threaten to use force in self-defense.
In addition to “docs vs. glocks,” a law that restricts how doctors can talk to patients about guns, the 2011 laws signed by Scott included another one that continues to be challenged by cities and counties. That bill established $5,000 fines for county and city officials who enforce local firearms restrictions and empowered the governor to remove local officials from office if they continued to defy the state law.
In June, a judge sided with Palm Beach County against the provision that the governor could remove a county official from office for trying to enforce local gun control rules.
Not all of the gun laws have received universal praise from gun-rights advocates.
An NRA-backed measure Scott signed in 2013, crafted in the wake of 20 children and six adults being gunned down at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., was narrowly-focused on making it harder for the mentally ill to buy guns.
However, the issue put Scott in the crosshairs of two out-of-state groups.
The Colorado-based National Association for Gun Rights and the Virginia-based Gun Owners of America argued that the law — which blocks firearms purchases by some people who voluntarily admit themselves for mental-health treatment — would discourage people with mental illnesses from seeking treatment.
In a letter accompanying the bill signing, Scott noted that the measure was the product of mental-health and gun-rights advocates; he also highlighted his history of support for gun rights.
“During the 2012 GOP Convention, I was asked to issue a temporary executive order to override laws that allow people to carry concealed weapons, which I denied because it was unclear how disarming law-abiding citizens would better protect them from the damages and threats posed by those who would flout the law,” Scott wrote. “Additionally, I’ve signed legislation protecting the privacy of firearm owners and stopping local governments from overreaching in the regulation of firearms.”
by Jim Turner, The News Service of Florida
NEP 7U All Stars Place Second In World Series
July 10, 2014
The NEP 7U All Star Team recently came in second place in the 8U division in the All Star World Series in Gulf Breeze. Team members are Brayden Beck, Kaydon Biggs, Grant Bray-Hastings, Brendan Carpenter, Daviaun Farrish, Nino Freeman, Trevor Land, Jackson Poindexter, Brady Smith, Tradley Thompson and Caden White. Coaches are Travis Thompson, Heath Kelly and Chad Briggs (not pictured). Submitted photo for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Century’s Gonzalez Begins Second Term As City Clerk Association Director
July 10, 2014
Century Town Clerk Leslie Gonzalez recently began her second term as district director for the Northwest District of the Florida Association of City Clerks.
“I have enjoyed getting to know the clerks in the Northwest District. They are consistently the cream of the crop – community minded civil servants who put their heart into their job to make their municipalities shine,” Gonzalez said. “It has been an honor to represent the Town of Century at the state level, and I am delighted to be serving a second term on the board of directors of FACC.”
Gonzalez recently traveled to Panama City to present a resolution from FACC to Terri Lillard, who retired after serving at the City of Panama City for over 23 years.
The Northwest District of the Florida Association of City Clerks covers all municipalities from Escambia County to Jefferson County, just east of Tallahassee.