Man Busted Moments After Burglary At Closed State Line Lotto Store
October 10, 2013
A Century man was arrested Thursday afternoon moments after a burglary was reported at the closed State Line O’ Yes Lotto on Highway 97 in Davisville.
At about 12:11 p.m., the Escambia County (Fla.) Sheriff’s Office received a report of a burglary in progress at the pink building, which has been closed since owner Thomas “Tommy” Kroll was shot and killed during a robbery on November 6, 2012.
As Florida deputies arrived, the suspect, later identified as 53-year old Joseph Steve Davis, was attempting to flee the scene in his vehicle. Davis turned north on Highway 97, crossing in Atmore, Ala.
The Atmore Police Department conducted a traffic stop on Davis about six minutes later. He was taken into custody in Atmore on alcohol related charges. Additional charges of burglary of a business are pending with the Escambia County (FL) Sheriff’s Office.
Davis reportedly took beer from the closed business. He was booked into the Escambia County (Ala.) Detention Center in Brewton.
Pictured: Burglary Joseph Steve Davis as seen in a 2007 file photo. Pictured top: The State Line O’Yes Lotto has been closed since the November 2012 murder of the store’s owner during a robbery. NorthEscambia.com file photo, click to enlarge.
Two Injured In Truck Versus Tree Crash
October 10, 2013
Two people were injured in a truck versus tree crash late Wednesday night near Bratt.
The driver of a Chevrolet pickup was westbound on Highway 4 at Canoe Creek just after 11 p.m. when he apparently left the roadway just off a bridge at a high rate of speed and ran into a wooded area. The truck overturned, with the pickup bed striking an oak tree. The truck continued a short distance before the tree fell onto the cab of the truck.
Both 21-year old male occupants of the vehicle were able to crawl out of the wreckage. They were transported by ambulance to Atmore Community Hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
The accident is under investigation by the Florida Highway Patrol; further details including names have not yet been released.
The Walnut Hill and Century stations of Escambia Fire Rescue, the Atmore Fire Department and Atmore Ambulance also responded to the crash.
Pictured: This pickup came to rest under a tree it knocked down during a Tuesday night wreck near Bratt. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Cantonment Man Charged With Firing Gun Outside Home
October 10, 2013
A Cantonment man is facing multiple charges after opening fire outside a residence.
Jerome Allen, age 58 of Booker Avenue, was charged with felony aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, felony carrying a concealed firearm, a misdemeanor count of a carrying a concealed weapon, a felony weapons offense for using a weapon during a felony, firing a weapon in public, firing a weapon into a dwelling and possession of a controlled substance without a prescription. Allen remains in the Escambia County Jail with bond set at $27,000.
The victim said the incident began Tuesday night with Allen banging on her door because he believed she had his Xanax pills. After beating the doors and windows, Allen allegedly fired a shot at the residence on Avery Street before fleeing the area.
An Escambia County Sheriff’s deputy stopped Allen’s vehicle on Mobile Highway. Inside the vehicle, deputies reported finding two empty .45 shell casings, a loaded .45 caliber semi-automatic pistol between the driver’s seat and center console, a baton in the driver’s door compartment and a taser on the front passenger seat. Deputies also found about three dozen Xanax pills in Allen’s back pocket.
According to an arrest report, Allen confessed to deputies that he discharged the firearm at the residence on Avery Street.
Tate Aggies Holding Softball Skills Camp This Saturday
October 10, 2013
The Tate Aggie Softball coaches and players will hold a softball skills camp this Saturday for girls age 7 and up.
Hitting, fielding, base running, pitching and catching will be covered in two session.
A hitting, fielding and base running session will be from 9 a.m. until 12 p.m. and cost is $30. The pitching and catching session will be from 1 p.m. until 2 p.m. and cost is $20. Both sessions are $50.
Lunch will be served to participants that attend both sessions. The first 30 girls to pre-register will receive a free t-shirt. For more info or to register contact Chris Mason at (850) 698-3720 or cricket.mason@gmail.com. Registration forms also on www.nepball.com website. Walk-up registration will take place Saturday from 8-8:45 a.m.
Florida Vehicle Registration Fee Cut Cruises In Senate
October 10, 2013
The drive to remove about half the unpopular 2009 hike on vehicle-registration fees quickly got a green light in its first Senate committee Wednesday.
The Senate Transportation Committee wasted little time in unanimously backing the proposal (SB 156) by Sen. Joe Negron, R-Stuart, to provide an average $12 in savings for each vehicle registration.
“This bill is very simple,” Negron said.
The simplest part is that the bill doesn’t carry the baggage a similar measure had last session that led to its demise.
Rather than the Senate’s earlier plan to pay for the reduction by eliminating a tax break that has been enjoyed by the politically influential insurance industry since the 1980s, the revised proposal now takes the money from general revenue.
Florida Chamber of Commerce President Mark Wilson said that by not seeking to eliminate the insurance tax credit, which covered about 15 percent of salaries paid to Florida-based employees of insurers, the proposal is a lot more palatable to business.
“Forget that it was insurance, when you tell an entire industry that after you move your jobs here, you can’t use it after they’re all here, we didn’t think it was good policy to change the policy midstream,” Wilson said.
The tax credit has been estimated as providing the insurance industry with $3.34 billion is tax breaks since 1987.
Staff analysis of the bill projects the proposal as collectively saving motorists $182 million during the next budget year, growing to $239 million the following year and $244 million a year later.
Negron said he’s been advised the updated savings should be $233 million a year, starting next year, which is nearly half the $500 million that Gov. Rick Scott wants to reduce in taxes and fees during the 2014 session. The vehicle-registration fees were increased in 2009 to help close a budget shortfall.
“I’m confident that 2014 will be the year we can finally make this tax relief a reality for every Floridian who drives a car,” Senate President Don Gaetz, R-Niceville, said in a release after the committee meeting. “And I’m hopeful this legislation will be the foundation of a 2014 tax relief package that will benefit hard-working Floridians across our state.”
The proposal still has stops planned in the Appropriations Committee, which Negron chairs, and the Transportation, Tourism, and Economic Development Appropriations Subcommittee.
The House version (HB 61) has been assigned to the Finance and Tax Subcommittee, the Transportation and Highway Safety Subcommittee and the Appropriations Committee, but it has not been scheduled for consideration.
by The News Service of Florida
Extension Service: Worms In Local Trees Not A Concern
October 10, 2013
Fall webworms are active in local trees but are not a concern at this time of the year, according to the Escambia County Extension Service. Caterpillars are feeding on leaves and trees may not look their best as a result, but they will survive just fine. If you can reach the webs and caterpillars you may try to physically remove them but insecticides and pruning are not recommended practices at this time of the year. Leaves are getting ready to fall off and trees will put out new foliage next year, the Extension Service said. Courtesy photo for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Jury Recommends Death Penalty For Floyd
October 10, 2013
Wednesday, an Escambia County jury recommended the death penalty for an Atmore man for shooting and killing his girlfriend in early 2012.
Monday, an Escambia County (Ala.) jury returned a guilty verdict on a capital murder charge against Cedric Jerome Floyd for the January 2, 2012, murder of Tina Roshell Jones, 43, inside her 5th Avenue residence in Atmore. It took the jury only about 30 minutes to reach their verdict.
Wednesday, that jury took less than 40 minutes to recommend Floyd die by lethal injection on an 11-1 vote Wednesday. Circuit Judge Bert Rice will choose to follow the jury’s death penalty recommendation or send Floyd to prison for life without parole when Floyd in sentenced in January.
Floyd’s attorneys, Charles Johns and Kevin McKinley, contended during the trial the Atmore Police Department did not properly handle evidence in the case. They also unsuccessfully tried to obtain a change of venue in the case because of pretrial publicity they said would make it impossible for Floyd to receive a fair trial in Escambia County, Ala.
Floyd represented himself during his sentencing hearings this week.
The Murder
Jones called 911 at 12:46 Sunday morning, January 2 to report that Floyd was breaking into her home. Two minutes later, Atmore Police officers arrived and found Jones lying in the floor of the home with what appeared to be several gunshot wounds, according to Atmore Police. She was transported to Atmore Community Hospital where she was later pronounced dead.
“Witnesses at the scene said they were asleep, but were waken by Floyd demanding keys to a vehicle. After several moments, Floyd fled the scene on foot,” said Jason Dean, Atmore Police chief, said shortly after the crime.
“While officers were at the residence, the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office received a 911 call from Cedric Jerome Floyd, 28 years of age, the boyfriend of Jones, stating he wanted to turn himself in. Deputies responded to Freemanville Drive where Floyd met officers. Floyd was then taken into custody,” said Dean.
Police said Floyd made forcible entry into the home through Jones’ bedroom window in the rear of the home.
Escape To Pensacola
Floyd escaped from the Escambia County (Ala.) Detention Center in Brewton in October 2012. After a massive manhunt, he was captured the following day as he was walking near Pace Boulevard and Clarinda Lane, just south of the Pace-Palafox split, in Pensacola.
Local Bachelor On CMT’s New Season Of ‘Sweet Home Alabama’
October 10, 2013
A Flomaton man will be among 22 bachelors competing to win the heart of a Southern belle when CMT’s “Sweet Home Alabama” begins a new season.
Jacob Lambert, an Atmore fireman and rescue diver, will be among 11 country guys joining 11 city slickers living together in a house in Fairhope while vying for the attention and affection of Kelsey Smith. A former Marine, Lambert looks up to his grandparents as an example of real love, and he cannot wait to start a family and life like theirs. Jacob believes real American living happens out in the country.
In each of the 10 one-hour episodes, Kelsey will say goodbye to more of her suitors as she searches for her one true love.
Born and raised in Tuscaloosa, Ala., Kelsey considers herself a romantic and is ready to find the love of her life. She is currently studying elementary education at Shelton State Community College and has volunteered at a local school for the past four years. In 2012 she was crowned Miss Motorsports Hall of Fame, and with this title she was able to serve the community of Talladega and volunteer with children across the state. In her spare time, Kelsey enjoys watching SEC football and spending time with her family, including her three sisters.
Sweet Home Alabama airs beginning Friday, November 15 at 8 p.m. on CMT.
Photos courtesy CMT for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
High School Football Standings, Upcoming Schedule
October 10, 2013
Here is a look at local high school football district standings, scores from last week, and this Friday night’s schedule:
Juvenile Justice Revamp Would Focus On Prevention, Diversion
October 10, 2013
The Florida Department of Juvenile Justice is proposing a major overhaul of its mission, emphasizing prevention while keeping the most dangerous offenders from committing more crimes.
DJJ Secretary Wansley Walters on Wednesday told the House Criminal Justice Subcommittee that by revamping the laws governing her agency, dwindling dollars could be applied more strategically.
“We have hurt the future of many children by moving them deeper in the system than they needed to be,” Walters said. “On the other hand, we have had other children who have wreaked havoc in our communities and moved on into the adult system that we haven’t done a good job on.”
Walters said DJJ possesses the tools and ability “to do a much, much better job and to protect not only public safety but these children’s futures.”
Her draft legislation includes using risk-assessment tools and alternatives to detention in order to keep low- to moderate-risk offenders out of the deep end of the juvenile justice system, where the likelihood of recidivism is highest.
“It really puts into statute the prevention piece, which is a very critical part of the reforms,” Walters said.
Getting the Legislature’s approval would require the support of prosecutors and law-enforcement agencies, but on Wednesday the proposal got significant backing before the subcommittee.
“It has truly been a collaborative, consensus-building process,” Duval County Sheriff John Rutherford said.
“The police chiefs are wholeheartedly committed to prevention,” Winter Haven Police Chief Gary Hester said.
A key tenet of Walters’ plan is the use of civil citations, a method of sanctioning juveniles for non-violent first offenses rather than detaining them. Law enforcement has opposed civil citations in the past, preferring to keep its discretion in charging juveniles, but during Walters’ tenure as secretary the civil-citation practice has spread from 17 to 51 counties.
She told lawmakers the success rate for juveniles who get civil citations was 94 percent, meaning that they complete their legal obligations and don’t commit additional offenses within a year.
But House Criminal Justice Chairman Matt Gaetz, a Fort Walton Beach Republican, didn’t let that pass unchallenged.
“So if a juvenile offender were to receive a civil citation, complete their program and then be re-arrested 12 months and one day later, statistically we would define that as success?” he asked.
The answer was yes, according to DJJ’s research director, Mark Greenwald — “but most of the kids who re-offend do so fairly quickly.”
Rep. Gayle Harrell, a Stuart Republican and a member of the panel, backed the DJJ revamp and the use of civil citations.
“Most of the sheriffs have come around,” Harrell said. “They’re seeing it work. You can’t argue with success.”
But Duval’s Rutherford warned that increased use of civil citations could lead to more prosecutions, because officers who previously let juvenile offenders off the hook would now be forced to take action.
And Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd, president of the Florida Sheriffs Association, said civil citations should be an option — but not mandatory.
“We do more in our county without the civil citation than the civil citation would allow,” Judd said. “I think it is a good alternative if you don’t have a successful program in your county or judicial circuit.”
Yet according to former Monroe County Sheriff Allison DeFoor, who backs civil citations, statistics are driving the change Walters is proposing.
“If everyone will look at the data, the data will carry the day,” he said.
During the 2013 session, lawmakers took a more hard-line approach to juvenile justice than Walters’ revamp would create.
A proposal (SB 660 and HB 603) that would have required law enforcement to issue civil citations to first-time misdemeanants instead of arresting them never got a hearing in either chamber.
Neither did a proposal (SB 1374 and HB 1039), which was intended to reduce what backers called the “school-to-prison pipeline.” It would have required schools with zero-tolerance policies to report to law enforcement only serious threats to school safety.
But two recent developments dealt a $54.5-million blow to DJJ’s budget, Walters told the Senate Criminal Justice Committee on Monday.
The first was a June 2013 ruling by the 1st District Court of Appeal, agreeing with counties in a dispute with DJJ about paying for juveniles’ “pre-dispositional” detention — an additional $35.5 million cost for the agency this fiscal year, with an increase to $39.3 million expected next year.
Also in June, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services discontinued Medicaid funding for youth in non-secure residential facilities, with the fiscal impact to DJJ estimated to be $19 million for 2013-2014.
Walters on Monday asked the Senate panel to make up $19 million of DJJ’s $54.5 million deficit, but on Wednesday said her agency’s legislative overhaul wouldn’t cost the state more.
She said keeping less-dangerous juveniles out of deep-end detention facilities would save money that could be applied elsewhere.
“So that we know we are taking children who are just doing kid things and never going to be serious offenders and not use resources on them, but be able to be very strategic with our resources so we can do a better job with serious offenders,” she said.
by Margie Menzel, The News Service of Florida