Photo Gallery: Century Celebrates Legacy Of Martin Luther King, Jr.
January 22, 2013
Dozens turned out in Century Monday to honor the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
The Century-Flomaton Improvement Association held their annual motorcade, ending with a program and celebration at the Ag Building. Songs, essays and speeches honored King’s memory, looked forward to the future and honored local community leaders that have passed away. Guest speak Lorenzo Jones addressed the group before a community lunch.
For a photo gallery, click here.
Pictured top: Members of the Pilgrim Lodge Baptist Church Youth Choir perform Monday morning during a MLK Day celebration in Century. Pictured inset: Audience members enjoy the choir performance. Pictured below: A panoramic picture of the event (click it to enlarge and view properly). NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Photo: Ring Around The Moon
January 22, 2013
High, thin cirrus clouds led to a halo around the moon Monday night, according to the National Weather Service in Mobile. NorthEscambia.com photo, click to enlarge.
Photos: Atmore MLK Day Parade
January 22, 2013
In Atmore, the 2013 Martin Luther King Jr. Day parade rolled through town to a memorial program and lunch at Escambia County High School on Monday.
For a photo gallery, click here.
Pictured top: An entry in Atmore’s 2013 Martin Luther King Jr. Day parde Monday. Pictured inset: The parade honored King’s memory. Pictured below: A float in the parade. Pictured bottom: The Northview High School NJROTC participated in the event. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Gaetz: Consider Internet Sales Tax, But Not Gun Control
January 22, 2013
Senate President Don Gaetz, R-Niceville, said the Legislature should consider finding ways to collect the sales tax on online purchases, but all but ruled out taking up any gun control proposals in 2013.
Speaking with the Tampa Bay Times’ editorial board, Gaetz said he was open to discussing measures aimed at getting out-of-state businesses to collect the required sales tax on Internet sales. Democrats have proposed the idea as a way of closing the state’s budget gap for years.
“I think that’s an anomaly in the tax code, maybe an inequity in the tax code, that seems to me we have to look at,” Gaetz said.
The Senate president also said he backs universal background checks for the purchase of guns, but he doesn’t anticipate that and other ideas for gun control to land on the Senate agenda this year.
“Congress is going to take that up,” he told the paper. “Let them have that debate.”
By The News Service of Florida
Photos: Local Attends Inauguration
January 22, 2013
Madison Boyett of Molino attended the inauguration of Barack Obama to his second term on Monday. Boyett currently attends the University of Vermont.
Pictured: The sun rising behind the U.S. Capitol Monday morning. Pictured: Boyett attends the inauguration of Barack Obama to his second term. Photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
JV Basketball: Northview Beats Atmore In MLK Tourney
January 22, 2013
The junior varsity Northview Chiefs beat Atmore 37-30 Monday in the Escambia County High School MLK Tournament. The Chiefs finished third overall in the tourney.
Leading scorers for Northview were Trent Howard with 15 and Keondrae Lett with 11. Howard was also named to the All Tournament Team.
With Monday’s win the JV Chiefs improved to 5-2 on the season.
The junior varsity Chiefs will play Baker Tuesday at 4:00 in Bratt for their last home game of the season. Also Tuesday at Northview, the junior varsity girls will play Escambia County High School at 5:00, the varsity girls will play ECHS at 6:00 and the varsity boys will play Baker at 7:00.
NorthEscambia.com file photo, click to enlarge.
Celebrating Dr. King; A Day Of Service
January 21, 2013
Hundreds of local residents gathered Monday morning to celebrate the legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr. and to give back during a National Day of Service.
In Century, the Century-Flomaton Improvement Association held their annual motorcade, ending with a program and celebration at the Ag Building. Songs, essays and speeches honored King’s memory, looked forward to the future and honored local community leaders that have passed away. Guest speak Lorenzo Jones addressed the group before a community lunch. (Pictured below)
Also in Century, a small army of volunteers organized by Americorps worked at the Carver Community Center on Jefferson Avenue to clean, paint and make repairs to the aging building as part of the National Day of Service. (Pictured left)
In Flomaton, a walk along Martin Luther King Avenue ended with a program at the Damascus Missionary Baptist Church with guest speaker H.K. Matthews.
In Atmore, the 2013 Martin Luther King Jr. Day parade rolled through town to a memorial program and lunch at Escambia County High School. (Pictured top)
In Pensacola, the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day parade traveled through the downtown area, with over 5,000 free books and 10,000 free bookmarks will be distributed to children at the parade.
NorthEscambia.com will have complete coverage and photo galleries from several events posted Tuesday morning.
STILL TO COME:
The Martin Luther King Jr. Parade in Cantonment starts at 4:00 at the corner of Washington and Carver off Muscogee Raod behind the paper mill. Line up for participants is at 3:30 at the corner of Washington and Carver. Parade will travel Washington, Robinson and Booker before returning to Carver.
Pictured top: The annual MLK Day parade in Atmore Monday morning. Pictured inset: A volunteer paints inside the Carver Community Center in Century. Pictured below: The Pilgrim Lodge Youth Choir performs during a celebration in Century Monday morning. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Obama Sworn In For Second Term
January 21, 2013
President Barack Obama is calling for united action by a divided America to address a host of domestic problems as he starts his second term in the White House.
Obama was publicly sworn into office Monday on the steps of the U.S. Capitol as hundreds of thousands of people gathered on the Mall, waving American flags and cheering the nation’s 44th president.
In his inaugural address, Obama invoked the enduring rights of the U.S. Constitution for “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” But he said the country needs to adapt to new challenges so that every citizen had a “basic measure of security and dignity.”
“We, the people, still believe that every citizen deserves a basic measure of security and dignity. We must make the hard choices to reduce the cost of health care and the size of our deficit,” Obama told the crowd. “But we reject the belief that America must choose between caring for the generation that built this country and investing in the generation that will build its future. For we remember the lessons of our past, when twilight years were spent in poverty, and parents of a child with a disability had nowhere to turn.”
Obama also said that the U.S. does not believe that “lasting peace” in the world requires “perpetual war.”
“We, the people, still believe that enduring security and lasting peace do not require perpetual war,” the president said. “Our brave men and women in uniform, tempered by the flames of battle, are unmatched in skill and courage. Our citizens, seared by the memory of those we have lost, know too well the price that is paid for liberty. The knowledge of their sacrifice will keep us forever vigilant against those who would do us harm. But we are also heirs to those who won the peace and not just the war, who turned sworn enemies into the surest of friends, and we must carry those lessons into this time as well.”
The president said the U.S. would support democracy across the globe.
“America will remain the anchor of strong alliances in every corner of the globe;” he promised, “and we will renew those institutions that extend our capacity to manage crisis abroad, for no one has a greater stake in a peaceful world than its most powerful nation. We will support democracy from Asia to Africa; from the Americas to the Middle East, because our interests and our conscience compel us to act on behalf of those who long for freedom.”
Swearing In ceremony
Obama took the two-century-old oath from Chief Justice John Roberts. Obama promised to “preserve, protect and defend” the U.S. Constitution “to the best of my ability.”
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Earlier, the president attended a church service and then headed to the West Front of the U.S. Capitol building for his public inaugural.
Monday’s crowd, while numbering in the hundreds of thousands, was smaller than at Obama’s first inauguration in 2009, when nearly two million people came to see the swearing-in of the nation’s first black president.
Obama was officially sworn in Sunday in a private ceremony at the White House, to meet the dictates of the U.S. Constitution that the country’s president be sworn in on January 20. But with the date falling on a Sunday this year, the major public inaugural activities are on Monday, including Obama’s inaugural address from a podium on the West Front of the Capitol overlooking the teeming masses on the Mall.
Obama took the oath Monday using two historic Bibles – one owned by 19th-century president Abraham Lincoln, and the other by civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., who was assassinated in 1968.
Monday’s inauguration coincides with the federal holiday marking King’s birthday.
Inaugural festivities
After the ceremony Monday, Obama and his wife, Michelle, dined inside the Capitol with congressional leaders. They plan to ride in the inaugural parade, returning to the White House in a motorcade. They likely will get out of the car and walk part of the way, as they did four years ago.
Later, the Obamas attended two official Inaugural balls, in contrast to the 10 balls that were held in 2009.
Vice President Joe Biden, who retook his own oath again Monday, joined the president Sunday for a traditional wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery and attended church with him on Monday.
Both leaders also took part in a National Day of Service on Saturday as part of several days of events related to the inauguration.
Child Hit By Vehicle In Century
January 21, 2013
A child is recovering today after being hit by a vehicle Sunday afternoon in Century.
The 10-year old female was reportedly struck by a vehicle about 1:50 p.m. on Hecker Road at Kelly Field Road, near Showalter Park. The girl was transported by ambulance in stable condition to Sacred Heart Hospital in Pensacola. An update on her condition was not available.
The accident is under investigation by the Florida Highway Patrol.
The Century Station of Escambia Fire Rescue and Escambia County EMS also responded to the accident.
Convicted Cantonment Sex Offender Arrested
January 21, 2013
A convicted sex offender from Cantonment was arrested Sunday on a felony charge for failing to comply with Florida’s address registration laws, according to jail records.
Terrance Devonte Cowart, 20, was booked into the Escambia County Jail with bond set at $5,000. He was required to register as a sexual offender for a 2007 charge for sexual battery; the victim was an underage female, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.