After Fiery Debate, ‘Warning Shot’ Bill Passes Florida House
March 21, 2014
After a nearly two-hour debate that focused on Florida’s controversial “stand your ground” law, the state House on Thursday easily passed a bill that would expand the self-defense law to include threatened use of force — including showing a gun or firing a warning shot.
The measure (HB 89) by Rep. Neil Combee, R-Polk City, would extend immunity to people who threaten to use force in self-defense — the same immunity already in law for those who actually shoot people in response to perceived threats.
It passed in a 93-24 vote after a floor debate filled with the names of people associated with gun-related crimes that sparked public outrage in Florida, especially Marissa Alexander, a Jacksonville woman who faces the possibility of 60 years in prison for firing a shot into the wall during a domestic dispute.
The proposal has become known as the “warning shot” bill, although Combee said Thursday that people who call it that “do a terrible disservice to the general public if they put the notion out that this bill somehow or other authorizes or encourages warning shots, because it does not. We specifically did not put ‘warning shot’ in the bill.”
The omission of those words bothered Rep. Kionne McGhee, D-Miami, who questioned how HB 89 would have helped Alexander.
Most of the debate Thursday, however, centered on an amendment by House Minority Leader Perry Thurston, D-Fort Lauderdale, that sought to repeal the “stand your ground” law. While Democrats and Republicans went back and forth about the law, few of the arguments were new.
“I thought we had this settled,” said Rep. Dennis Baxley, an Ocala Republican who sponsored the House version of “stand your ground” in 2005. The House Criminal Justice Subcommittee in November rejected a bill (HB 4003) by Rep. Alan Williams to repeal “stand your ground.”
Thurston filed the amendment, he said in an email before the vote, because under the law, “Innocent people have been killed and the perpetrators have been able to walk away. … ‘Stand your ground’ encourages citizens to use force if they ‘feel’ threatened even if no real threat exists.”
Rep. Reggie Fullwood, D-Jacksonville, pointed to black mothers who warn their teenage sons, “Be careful, because a black boy’s life is not as valuable.”
The law “may work for your community, but it’s not working for ours,” Fullwood, an African American, said to other House members.
But Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fort Walton Beach, who famously vowed that “not one damn comma” of the law would be changed, took issue with such arguments by the law’s opponents.
“In 90 percent of the cases where there is an African American decedent, the shooter — or killer — is also African American,” Gaetz said. “While African Americans constitute about 17 percent of the population in the state of Florida, they account for over 31 percent of assertions of the ’stand your ground’ defense. …And African Americans are 8 percent more likely to prevail when asserting a ’stand your ground’ defense than Caucasians.”
He said a wider sample size, not a handful of cases that have attracted attention, would show no racial disparity under the law.
Thurston’s amendment failed in an 83-31 vote.
The final version of Combee’s bill contained an amendment, passed Wednesday, that would limit access to court records in self-defense cases. The amendment, filed by Gaetz, would allow people found to have used justifiable force in a “stand your ground” hearing to have their court records expunged.
The Senate version of the bill (SB 448) could be approved next week.
While Combee’s bill drew heavy debate, another gun-related bill with a distinctive nickname — the “Pop-Tart” bill — passed in minutes by a vote of 98-17. Sponsored by Baxley, the proposal (HB 7029) would prevent children from being disciplined for simulating guns while playing or for wearing clothes that depict firearms. It draws its nickname from a widely reported news story about a Maryland 7-year-old who was suspended from school last year for chewing his breakfast pastry into the shape of a gun.
The bill attracted bipartisan support in the House from Democrats, who are often critical of “zero tolerance” school discipline policies, and from gun-friendly Republicans.
Pictured: A bill by Rep Neil Combee and Rep. Matt Gaetz (handshake, center) passed the Florida House Thursday to strengthen the ‘Stand Your Ground’ law. Courtesy photo for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Sex Offender Gets Life For Violating Probation
March 21, 2014
A convicted sex offender was sentenced to life in prison Thursday for violating his probation.
In 1989, Timothy Richard Jordan was convicted of sexual Battery, robbery with a weapon, and attempted murder of a student at UWF. He was sentenced to 40 years state prison to be followed by 10 years of probation. Jordan was released in 2007. In July 2013, Jordan violated his probation by resisting an officer without violence and failure to comply with sexual offender regulations.
Judge Linda Nobles sentenced Jordan to life in prison.
Clerk Injured During Flomaton Armed Robbery
March 21, 2014
A store clerk suffered minor injuries during an armed robbery Thursday night in Flomaton.
Two black males armed with handguns rushed into the Dollar General on Sidney Manning Boulevard (Highway 29) in Flomaton at the store’s 10 p.m. closing time, according to Flomaton Police Chief Bryan Davis. The suspects escaped with an undisclosed amount of cash.
The suspects fled the scene on foot southward toward Roosevelt Street where it is believed they got into a vehicle.
No shots were fired, but Davis said one store clerk was injured during the incident.
The suspects were dressed in all black, including black hoodies, black pants and shoes. They had bandanas — one described as blue with small white pattern like snowflakes — on their faces. One was carrying a red bag that he demanded be filled with cash.
“We are looking for tips from anyone that may have seen someone matching the suspect’s description at any of the surrounding businesses before the robbery,” Davis said.
Anyone with information should contact the Flomaton Police Department at (251) 296-5811 or call their local law enforcement agency.
Former Gov. Askew Returned To Pensacola For Graveside Service
March 21, 2014
Former Florida Governor Reubin Askew, who died last Thursday at age 85, was escorted back to his hometown of Pensacola Thursday afternoon.
He was returned to lie in repose Thursday evening f at this former home church, the First Presbyterian Church on East Gregory Street. Askew will be buried with full military honors Friday at Bayview Memorial Park, 3351 Scenic Highway, Pensacola. The graveside service will begin at 11 a.m. and is open to the public.
Askew is survived by his wife Donna Lou; a son, Kevin and a daughter, Angela White; six grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren. In lieu of flowers, the family is asking that donations be made to the Children’s Home Society of Florida, Lafayette Presbyterian Church in Tallahassee, or the charity of the donor’s choice.
Pictured top: The body of former Florida Governor Reubin Askew is escorted through downtown Pensacola Thursday afternoon. Courtesy photo for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Florida Supreme Court: Pensacola Beach Residents Should Pay Property Taxes
March 21, 2014
The Florida Supreme Court on Thursday unanimously ruled that homes and condominiums in Navarre Beach and Pensacola Beach should be subject to property taxes, though they were built on land leased from Santa Rosa and Escambia counties.
Justices upheld 2011 appeals-court rulings in favor of the Santa Rosa and Escambia property appraisers and tax collectors.
The cases centered on long-term leases that the Northwest Florida counties approved for the development of homes and condominiums on the land. Plaintiffs in the cases contended that residences in the area should not be subject to property taxes, known as “ad valorem” taxes, and instead should face intangible personal property taxes. The Supreme Court noted that government-owned property usually is not subject to property taxes.
But it agreed with the 1st District Court of Appeal that the plaintiffs are the “equitable owners” of the properties and should pay the taxes.
“Here, for ad valorem tax purposes, the ‘owner’ of the property is not a governmental entity,” said the 19-page Navarre Beach opinion, written by Justice Charles Canady.
Navarre Wins Aggie Classic (With Final Standings, Thursday Scores)
March 21, 2014
The Navarre Raiders won the 24-team Aggie Classic hosted by Tate High Thursday night with a 5-1 win over the Christ Presbyterian Lions. The West Florida Jaguars finished fourth, the Milton Panthers fifth, the Escambia Gators ninth, and the Tate Aggies rounded out the top 10.
Here are final standings in the 2014 Aggie Classic:
- Navarre Raiders
- Christ Presbyterian Lions
- South-Doyle Cherokees
- West Florida Jaguars
- Milton Panthers
- Brentwood Bruins
- Knoxville Catholic Irish
- Washington Hornets
- Escambia Gators
- Tate Aggies
- Ponte Vedra Sharks
- Second Baptist School
- Davidson Academy Bears
- Sallisaw Black Diamonds
- Edmond North Huskies
- Niceville Eagles
- Washington Wildcats
- Brentwwod Academy Eagles
- Pryor Tigers
- Claremore Zebras
- Tulsa Union Redskins
- Sapulpa Chieftains
- Gibson Tigers
- Jay Bulldogs
Thursday scores were as follows:
Washington Hornets 6. Brentwood Academy Eagles 5
Knoxville Catholic Irish 8, Pryor Tigers 3
Davidson Academy Bears 13, Jay Bulldogs 2
Ponte Vedra Sharks 5, Niceville Eagles 2
Sallisaw Black Diamonds 7, Milton Panthers 4
Christ Presbyterian Lions 7, Second Baptist School 6
Brentwwod Bruins 6, Claremore Zebras 3
South-Doyle Cherokees 6, Escambia Gators 2
Tate Aggies 9, Sapulpa Chieftains 1
Navarre Raiders 5, Tulsa Union Redskins 2
Edmond North Huskies 6, Washington Wildcats 2
West Florida Jaguars 12, Ft.Gibson Tigers 0
Brentwood Bruins 9, Milton Panthers 3
Ft.Gibson Tigers 9, Sapulpa Chieftains 5
Second Baptist School 6, Ponte Vedra Sharks 0
Tate Aggies 8, Knoxville Catholic Irish 7
South-Doyle Cherokees 3, West Florida Jaguars 2
Davidson Academy Bears 8, Sallisaw Black Diamonds 6
Washington Hornets 3, Escambia Gators 2
Claremore Zebras 13, Washington Wildcats 6
Tulsa Union Redskins 15, Niceville Eagles 10
Navarre Raiders 5, Christ Presbyterian Lions 1
Pryor Tigers 12, Jay Bulldogs 0
Edmond North Huskies 0, Brentwwod Academy Eagles 0
Century, Pensacola At Odds Over Natural Gas Franchise, North Escambia Service
March 20, 2014
The Town of Century and the City of Pensacola are at odds over natural gas service in Bratt and Walnut Hill — a disagreement that has raised concerns that three schools could suddenly be left without natural gas service.
Century currently holds franchise rights from Escambia County to provide natural gas service from the Escambia River westward to almost the Perdido River and from the Alabama state line southward to near Bogia. The franchise area includes Century, Byrneville, Bratt, Oak Grove, Walnut Hill and McDavid.
The 50-year franchise was granted by the county in 1968 to the Town of Century (then known as the Town of South Flomaton) to provide natural gas services to the northernmost part of the county.
Pensacola Energy, formerly known as Energy Services of Pensacola, currently provides natural gas service to commercial customers in Bratt and Walnut Hill — within the Town of Century’s gas franchise area. Pensacola Energy provides natural gas to Ernest Ward Middle School and Escambia Grain in Walnut Hill, and Bratt Elementary and Northview High School in Bratt. They also provide natural gas service to an unknown number of residential customers near Kansas Road, Green Village Road and North Highway 99 in Bratt.
“They have infringed in our territory and taken some of our major customers,” Century Mayor Freddie McCall said, adding it would be a “big financial gain” for Century’s gas department to acquire the schools and other customers being served by Pensacola Energy within a territory that legally belongs to Century.
The gas service disagreement between Century and Pensacola exploded in February after Century requested their franchise agreement with the county be extended.
Century is now considering significantly upgrading its capacity for servicing residents and businesses located in this franchise area, but the present franchise expires in five years. Rather than extending the current franchise agreement, the town is requesting that the BOCC adopt a new franchise ordinance that provides it with the same rights and responsibilities, including payment of franchise fees, as those franchises that the commission recently approved with Gulf Breeze and Pensacola.
This new franchise would expire in 2045 would not extend beyond the geographical franchise area previously designated in 1968. Century currently provides gas service only in a portion of their franchise area — near the town limits, south along Highway 29 to and including a portion of Highway 164, and west into Byrneville.
The Escambia County Commission was set to hold a public hearing and vote on the extended franchise agreement back in February, but that action was tabled after Pensacola Energy Director Don Suarez express concerns that Pensacola would no longer be able to serve the schools and other customers in Bratt and Walnut Hill due to different wording in the the franchise agreement.
“We already have customers in this area,” Suarez told the Escambia County Commission in February. “What we are trying to protect are those customers and the service to those customers. There is a clause in the 1968 franchise that allows any customer served by another corporation or entity providing natural gas to those customers to allow them to continue to receive gas from [that corporation or entity]. The new ordinance does not have that clause. And in addition, the original ordinance was not an exclusive franchise; the new ordinance is an exclusive franchise.”
McCall said Suarez “lied to the county commissioners in the meeting”, but McCall did not offer any specifics.
The mayor said Century contends that the old Energy Services of Pensacola provided services illegally in Century’s franchise area and place pipes on county right of ways without county permission. As a result, he said, Pensacola does not actually own the infrastructure used to serve the North Escambia customers.
McCall there are no Pensacola Energy pipelines from Pensacola to Walnut Hill and Bratt. Instead, he said, Pensacola Energy taps into the same Gulf South pipeline that Century uses as their natural gas source. He said the Gulf South meters should be read and the service transferred to Century.
McCall said Pensacola Energy has threatened to cut service to their Walnut Hill and Bratt customers, including Northview, Ernest Ward and Bratt Elementary, without further warning.
“It’s not right,” he said. “In the best of all worlds, they are going to see the handwriting on the wall, and they are going to walk away and there will be no interruption in service.”
“It remains to be resolved whether the City of Pensacola had the right to provide such service, and, further, whether it will be allowed to continue to do so,” Matt Dannheisser, Century’s attorney, said in March 11 letter to Pensacola Mayor Ashton Hayward.
“The Town of Century had been made aware of certain comments attributable to your staff that customers which Pensacola currently serves in Century’s franchise territory may be immediately cut off and will not have any gas service,” Dannheisser wrote. “The last thing the Town of Century wants is for school children to show up one day for school and there be no gas for heating or preparing food.
“From your conversation with Mayor McCall, I understand that you share those feelings and assured Mayor McCall that service to customers in the Century franchise will not be terminated until our two cities resolve the matter,” the attorney wrote.
Rebecca McLellan, a spokesperson for the City of Pensacola, told NorthEscambia.com Wednesday that “Pensacola Energy has told the Escambia County Commission that it wants to continue to serve its existing customers”.
“Pensacola Energy will continue to serve the current customers in Century until voted otherwise by Escambia County Commission,” she said.
The Escambia County Commission has not yet rescheduled the item for consideration as the parties continue their negotiations.
Pictured top: A Pensacola Energy meter in front of Ernest Ward Middle School in Walnut Hill, inside the Town of Century gas franchise area. Pictured below: The Town of Century’s gas franchise map (click to enlarge). NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Emergency Cleanup Over At McDavid Train Derailment Site, Long-Term Monitoring Begins
March 20, 2014
The emergency cleanup from a January train derailment in McDavid has ended and the work focus has shifted to long term environmental concerns. And, Wednesday, the Escambia County Health Department rescinded their health alert for Fletcher Creek.
On January 28, during a rare ice storm, 23 cars from a CSX train derailed behind the McDavid Sawmill on Champion Drive. Four cars containing a 96 percent concentration phosphoric acid derailed into Fletcher Creek which feeds into Cotton Lake and the Escambia River. Three of the cars were breached, one catastrophically. Officials reported as much as 30,000 gallons of corrosive acid spilled into the creek.
The rail cars and the acid that remained in them, impacted water contained during cleanup and impacted soil have all been removed from the site, according to Brandy Smith, a spokesperson for the Florida Department of Environmental Management. A long-term monitoring plan has been implemented and will continue through at least March 2015, with numerous locations in Fletcher Creek, Cotton Lake and the Escambia River automatically checked for pH and phosphorous levels.
About 300 fish died in the first two days after the derailment from the high acid concentration, but now acid levels are back near normal.
“The pH levels have returned to normal. Phosphorus is slightly elevated and trending downward,” Smith said Wednesday. “At the end of the one year monitoring period, data will be evaluated to determine if Fletcher Creek and Cotton Lake concentrations have returned to levels consistent with background measurements and reasonably expected not to cause an imbalance in natural populations of aquatic flora or fauna.”
Wetland restoration work at the site, such as stream contouring and planting of native species, is continuing.
Phosphoric acid is used in fertilizer production, pharmaceuticals, detergents, food products, beverages and other products.
Pictured top: A train derailment with tanker cars into Fletcher Creek near McDavid. Pictured inset: Phosphoric acid in Fletcher Creek.
Above: The creek bed restoration on the east side of the derailment site.
Above: A breached rail car. Photo taken February 1.
Above. Neutralization and agitation of phosphoric acid. Photo taken February 5.
Escambia Man Gets 25 Years For Parking Lot Shooting
March 20, 2014
An Escambia County man has been sentenced to 25 years in state prison for a store parking lot shooting.
James Nathaniel Marshall was sentenced Wednesday by Circuit Judge Linda Noble to 25 years state prison to serve day for day under the 10-20-Life law. Marshall was convicted on January 10, 2014, for aggravated battery with a firearm, shooting into an occupied vehicle and discharging a firearm in public by an Escambia county jury.
The conviction stemmed from a shooting at the Beacon Foodmart on Barrancas Avenue in December 2012. Prosecutors said Marshall got into a verbal argument with two people. Once the argument ended, the other two individuals got into their vehicle to leave. As they began to drive out of the parking lot, Marshall fired shots at their vehicle. One of the individuals exited the vehicle and was struck in the shoulder with one shot. That person was treated at Baptist Hospital and survived.
Two Former Escambia Business Owners Arrested For Sales Tax Theft
March 20, 2014
Two former owners of Escambia County businesses have been arrested on charges they stole state sales tax rather than submitting it to the Florida Department of Revenue.
Charles Buddy Mize, the former owner of the auto repair shop Tune & Lube Center of Pensacola, Inc., has been arrested on charges that he stole more than $14,000 in sales tax he collected from customers, but failed to send to the state, according to the Florida Department of Revenue.
Mize, 44, who lives in Tallahassee, was arrested by the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office on a felony charge relating to theft of state funds. If convicted, he faces up to five years in prison and up to $5,000 in fines, as well as possible payment of interest and investigative costs. Tune & Lube Center of Pensacola, Inc. was located at 600 E. Cervantes Street in Pensacola.
According to Revenue Department investigators, Mize collected tax from customers at his shop. However, during various periods beginning in 2011, lasting through periods in 2012, he failed to send to the state all of the sales taxes that were collected.
Hugh Brian Carter, the former owner of Carbon Copies, Inc., a business that had specialized in the retail sales of printed material was arrested on charges that he stole more than $18,000 in sales tax he collected from customers, but failed to send to the state, according to the Florida Department of Revenue.
Carter, 49, Pensacola, was arrested by the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office on felony charges relating to theft of state funds and refusal to file returns and pay taxes due. If convicted, he faces up to five years in prison and up to $5,000 in fines, as well as possible repayment of stolen sales tax, along with payment of interest and investigative costs. Carbon Copies, now closed, was located at 6290 West Nine Mile Road in Pensacola.
According to Revenue Department investigators, Carter collected tax from customers at his business. However, during various periods beginning in 2009, lasting through periods in 2012, he failed to send to the state all of the sales taxes that were collected and failed to file tax returns as require by law.