Second Time: Century Man Charged With Strangulation Of Girlfriend
January 21, 2013
For the second time in seven months, a Century man has been charged in connection with an alleged attempt to strangle one of the mothers of his children.
Maurice Austin, 24, was charged with battery by strangulation and remains in the Escambia County Jail with bond set at $5,000.
The victim told Escambia County Sheriff’s deputies that she was driving near Cottage and Zion and was forced to stop when Austin jumped in front of her car. She said Austin forced his way into the driver’s seat, drove to Zion Street and parked the vehicle at a friend’s house.
The victim claimed Austin hit her with closed fists, pulled her from the vehicle by the hair and strangled her until she passed out. Deputies noted bruising on the victim’s legs, shoulders, chest and arms.
Austin faced similar allegations back in July 2012 when another victim, then pregnant with his child, told deputies that she was walking down Jefferson Avenue near East Street in Century to catch a ride with friends alongside Highway 29. She said Austin was standing in the road.
The victim claimed Austin grabbed her by the neck, pushed her into the ditch and began fighting with her. The victim told deputies she broke free and continued walking toward her destination. She said that Austin’s girlfriend pulled off to the side of the road and ran over her foot. The two women — Austin’s girlfriend and the mother of his child — tried to fight, but Austin kept them apart briefly before saying he was going to step back and watch them fight, according to an Escambia County Sheriff’s Office report.
A third party drove by, broke up the fight and transported the victim to the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office Century Substation, the report states. The victim reportedly suffered cuts, bruises and swelling. Her flip-flop was broken on the foot she claimed was ran over, but she told deputies that there was no pain and she could move all her toes.
When questioned by deputies, Austin’s girlfriend denied knowledge of the alleged events.
Charges against Austin were dropped in the July 2012 incident after the victim refused to testify against Austin.
Landfill Fire Fills Neighborhoods With Smoke
January 21, 2013
A landfill fire is sending smoke and ash into adjacent neighborhoods in the Ensley area.
The fire broke out Friday night at the Cove Landfill on Raymer Street, directly behind Pine Meadow Elementary School. Area fire departments and landfill employees continued to work to contain the fire Saturday and Sunday, and the Florida Forest Service responded.
Just before noon Sunday, the Forest Service reported the fire to be about 2-3 acres in size with little advancement. Just after noon, fire crews from Ensley and Cantonment were called back to the scene to assist the forest service in battling the blaze.
The Forest Service said smoke will continue for some time in parts of the area. Residents in the immediate area report ash falling from the sky and covering vehicles.
Northview’s Neiko Robinson Pays First Visit To Penn State
January 21, 2013
Northview High School senior Neiko Robinson visited Penn State over the weekend. Robinson is expected to sign with the Penn State Nittany Lions on National Signing Day — February 6.
It was the first trip to Happy Valley for the PSU commit, his first ever trip to anywhere in Pennsylvania and the first time he had ever set foot in a 110,000-seat stadium.
Robinson, a 6-foot, 162-pound defensive back, visited with coaches Bill O’Brien and John Butler during the trip, and toured the Penn State campus during his 1,700 mile round trip.
Pictured top: Northview’s Neiko Robinson (center) celebrates after the Chiefs won the Class 1A state championship in Orlando. NorthEscambia.com photo, click to enlarge.
Obama Sworn In For Second Term (With Video)
January 21, 2013
President Barack Obama was formally sworn in for a second four-year term, and Vice President Joe Biden also took the oath of office Sunday before Monday’s public inauguration ceremony, to be witnessed by hundreds of thousands of people on the National Mall.
Obama took the oath just before noon in a ceremony lasting about half a minute in the oval-shaped White House Blue Room, with views of the executive mansion’s South Lawn sweeping down to the Washington Monument.
With First Lady Michelle Obama, daughters Malia and Sasha, and a small group of reporters looking on, Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts administered the oath (video below).
Obama shook Roberts hand, kissed his wife and children, and said to his family, “I did it.”
This was the seventh time in U.S. history a president has taken the oath on Sunday, before a public ceremony the following day. The U.S. Constitution requires a president’s term to begin on January 20.
Obama used a Bible that belonged to his wife’s grandmother, LaVaughn Delores Robinson.
SWAT Team Responds to Escambia County Home
January 20, 2013
The Escambia County Sheriff’s Office SWAT Team responded to a home on Oakcliff Road off Patricia Drive in West Pensacola Sunday afternoon.
A person reportedly barricaded themselves inside the home, refusing to exit. The incident was over by about 4:26 p.m. The person inside the home was taken to an area hospital for a mental evaluation.
There were no injuries reported. No other details have been made available.
McDavid Registered Sex Offender Headed Back To Prison For Four Years
January 20, 2013
A registered sex offender from McDavid is headed back to prison after violating his probation and cutting off his electronic ankle monitor.
Nathan Arron Mack, age 21 of 403 Railroad Street, was sentenced by Judge Joel Boles to four years in state prison after being convicted of violation of probation, failing to report a residence change and destroying electronic monitoring equipment.
In January 2011, Mack was convicted of the sexual battery of a 14-year old girl. He was sentenced to 18 months in prison, with credit for time served awaiting trial, followed by 18 months probation. Under the terms of his probation, he was forbidden to have unsupervised contact with any minor and ordered to enter a sex offender counseling program.
The victim’s stepfather told Escambia County Sheriff’s deputies that the 14-year old, who had been reported as a runaway, was at Mack’s residence on Railroad Street. When deputies arrived at the residence, they found Mack and the teen girl.
According to a Sheriff’s Office arrest report, Mack admitted to having intercourse multiple times with the 14-year old. He admitted that he had picked up the Pensacola girl at the Winn Dixie on Nine Mile Road because he knew the victim’s mother would not allow the two to be together. The young girl corroborated Mack’s story, according to the report.
When deputies contacted the victim’s mother, she advised that she wanted to pursue criminal charges against Mack. The mother stated that she had retrieved her daughter from Mack at the McDavid Mini Mart the week prior and had forbidden him from having any contact with her daughter.
Mack, a registered sex offender, was released from the Okaloosa Correctional Institution on November 30, 2011, and placed on probation.
In August 2012, deputies found Mack in the area of Bluff Springs Road and Dawson Road after a tip he was in that area, about two weeks after he had removed his electronic ankle monitor. Mack told deputies he removed the monitor because he knew he had already violated his probation and he was going to hide out until warrants became active. He told deputies he threw the monitoring bracelet and charging station into the woods in the area of Mystic Springs about two weeks earlier.
Firefighters Extinguish A Dozen Fires Over Three Mile Stretch Of Hwy 4
January 20, 2013
Firefighters worked Saturday afternoon to extinguish a dozen or more small grass fires along a three mile stretch of West Highway 4.
The series of grass fires were along West Highway 4 from Nall Road in Century westward to Canoe Creek. It appeared that a malfunction on a piece of equipment or a vehicle was sparking and started the fires along the roadway.
The Century and Walnut Hill stations of Escambia Fire Rescue were dispatched to the fires, and the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office assisted with locating the fires and in search for the responsible vehicle.
Pictured top: Small burned areas dot a three mile stretch of Highway 4 from Nall Road to Canoe Creek. NorthEscambia.com photo, click to enlarge.
Store Robbery Suspect Arrested; Century Woman Charged As Accessory
January 20, 2013
An Escambia County man was charged with a Saturday morning convenience story robbery, and a Century woman was charged with being an accessory in the crime.
Felipe Samuel Cruz, 46, was charged with the robbery of the Tom Thumb at Saufley Field Road and Blue Angel Parkway just before 8:00 Saturday. Cruz allegedly entered the store, held a knife to the clerk’s throat and demanded cash.
As deputies were arriving on scene, they spotted Cruz running and were able to catch him as he was attempting to enter a Jeep Cherokee Laredo occupied by 29-year old Candida Rose Daw of Whirlpool Road in Century and Summer Kalb.
Cruz was charged with aggravated battery and robbery with bond set at $115,000. Daw and Kalb were booked into the Escambia County Jail. Daw’s bond set at $10,000; Kalb was held without bond.
Florida Gov’t Weekly Roundup: Let The People Vote Early, In More Places
January 20, 2013
Gov. Rick Scott this week broke with many in his own party by saying some recent Republican-backed election changes should be reversed to give voters more time to cast ballots.
Following an election mired by hours-long lines in certain precincts, Scott said local election supervisors need more flexibility to expand early voting hours and venues in an effort to make every potential vote count.
Scott’s comments came as lawmakers returned to Tallahassee and began looking at several major issues, from what went wrong on Election Day to finding ways to enhance safety for students following the fatal shooting of 20 grade-school children and six adults in a Connecticut school last month.
Meanwhile this week, a Florida Supreme Court decision upheld a Scott-backed initiative to require workers in the Florida Retirement System to pay into to their pension plans, a ruling that will affect hundreds of thousands of teachers, state and local employees.
And as President Barack Obama announced plans to push for gun control measures, Florida’s governor said he won’t push for any legislation to make it more difficult to own a gun, and the Senate president said he didn’t expect that debate to be held this year in the Legislature, but left to Washington.
SCOTT: EARLY VOTING BACK
Two years after signing an elections bill that critics said was politically inspired to reduce voting by Democrats, Gov. Rick Scott said this week the change should be reversed.
Elections supervisors should have the authority to give voters up to 14 days before Election Day, Scott said this week. The governor also said shorter ballots would help alleviate the long lines that clogged some precincts in the last general election, and that supervisors should have more flexibility in setting up early voting. All of that would, presumably, make it easier for people to vote – which was the argument the losers made when they tried to persuade Republicans not to reduce the opportunities to vote in the first place.
Scott’s announcement breaks with many in his own party who backed the voting restrictions as a way to fight fraud.
Scott also said the early voting period should once again include the Sunday before Election Day, an option used by many black churches to get out the vote and seen by most as an advantage for Democrats.
“Our ultimate goal must be to restore Floridians’ confidence in our election system,” Scott said.
FRS CHANGES OK
In a victory for Republican legislative leaders (and also for Scott), a divided Florida Supreme Court this week upheld a 2011 law that requires government workers to chip in 3 percent of their salaries to help fund their own retirement accounts.
In a 4-3 decision, the high court overturned a Leon County circuit judge who ruled the law violated the constitutional rights of government workers hired before July 1, 2011, the day the law took effect.
Legislative leaders had feared that a loss at the Supreme Court would blow a $1 billion hole in the state budget.
Backers of the contribution said the ruling allows the state to save money and offer retirement plans more similar to business in the private sector.
Critics, including a coalition of unions led by the Florida Education Association, characterized the employee contributions as a hidden tax on government employees, many of whom have not seen a raise in several years.
Had the court sided with the unions, the state would have been on the hook for about $1 billion in contributions that have already been collected.
Echoing the sentiment of other supporters, Senate Appropriations Chairman Joe Negron said government employees should help pay for their retirement packages, as private-sector workers do.
“I think that our constituents want us to live by the same rules that exist in their workplace,” said Negron, R-Stuart. “We can now move forward with crafting our budget.”
The case primarily centered on whether a 1974 retirement law created contractual rights that shielded public employees from having to contribute money into the pension system. The court said no.
“The preservation of rights statute was not intended to bind future legislatures from prospectively altering benefits for future service performed by all members of the FRS,” Justice Jorge Labara wrote for the majority.
ETHICS PROPOSALS ON FRONT BURNER:
Sen. Jack Latvala, chairman of the Senate Ethics and Elections Committee, said this week he expects an ethics bill to go to the full Senate during the first week of the 2013 legislative session in March.
The bill appears likely to deal with several issues, including bolstering penalties for officials who do not file financial-disclosure forms, reining in lawmakers’ use of political committees to pay for meals and other personal expenses, and cracking down on voting conflicts of interest. It also may seek to make it harder for former legislators to lobby after their service.
The bill may also give the Florida Commission on Ethics the power to undertake investigations after receiving referrals from the governor’s office, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, state attorneys or federal prosecutors.
SCHOOL SAFETY
In the wake of the December school shootings in Newtown, Conn., lawmakers appear serious about school-safety changes – they’re already talking about how much it might cost. .
Florida now spends about $70 million on school security. Putting a cop in each elementary school might cost more than $100 million, school district representatives estimate.
A Senate panel this week discussed ways to standardize cost-sharing of school resource officers. In some counties, local sheriffs are paying the bulk of providing law enforcement officers in schools. In other counties they pay little or nothing.
Scott, though, says he has no plans to push lawmakers to enact any gun control legislation this session.
“Gov. Scott supports the second amendment,” a statement from his office said this week. “He will listen to ideas about improving school safety during the legislative session, but he continues to support the second amendment and is not proposing any gun law changes.”
On Friday, Senate President Don Gaetz said he didn’t think state lawmakers were likely to go there on their own, either. In an interview with the Tampa Bay Times editorial Board Gaetz said while he favors background checks on all gun purchases, he doesn’t think any changes to gun laws will come up in Tallahassee.
“Congress is going to take that up,” Gaetz, R-Niceville, said. “Let them have that debate.”
STORY OF THE WEEK: Two years after signing a new law reducing early voting, Gov. Rick Scott does an about face and calls for extending the number of days Florida voters can go to the polls early.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “I just don’t quite understand how someone can be a make-believe cop, pursue my son who had every right to be in that neighborhood, chase him, get in a confrontation with him, shoot and kill him and not be arrested. Something has to be done.” Sybrina Fulton in reference to the state’s stand your ground law, (and a delay before the arrest of George Zimmerman in the shooting death of her son, Trayvon Martin.) Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch volunteer has now been charged with murder, but is expected to claim self defense under Florida’s Stand Your Ground doctrine.
By The News Service of Florida
Featured Recipe: Mexican Lasagna
January 20, 2013
Today’s featured recipe for Mexican Lasagna will add new flavors to family mealtime as an old favorite gets a south of the border twist.
Mexican Lasagna
Ingredients
- 1 can (10 3/4 ounces) Campbell’s Condensed Cheddar Cheese Soup
- 1/4 cup milk
- 1 package (about 1 ounce) fajita seasoning mix
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1 can (10 3/4 ounces) Campbell’s Condensed Golden Mushroom Soup
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 tablespoon chili powder
- 1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano leaves, crushed
- 12 corn tortillas (5-to 6- inch)
- Chopped tomatoes (optional)
- Sliced green onions (optional)
Preparation
- Stir cheese soup, milk and half the fajita seasoning in medium bowl until mixture is smooth.
- Cook beef in a 10-inch skillet over medium-high heat until well browned, stirring often to separate meat. Pour off any fat.
- Stir mushroom soup, water, chili powder, oregano and remaining fajita seasoning in skillet and heat to a boil. Reduce heat to low. Cook for 5 minutes. Remove skillet from heat.
- Place 3 tortillas in the bottom of a 2-quart shallow baking dish, overlapping slightly. Spread 1 cup beef mixture over the tortillas. Repeat layers twice. Top with remaining tortillas. Spread the cheese soup mixture over the tortillas.
- Bake at 350°F. for 30 minutes or until hot and bubbling. Let stand for 10 minutes. Sprinkle with the tomatoes and onions, if desired.
Serves
Makes 6 servings
Preparation Time:
20 minutes
Bake Time:
30 minutes
Standing Time:
10 minutes