Junior Ice Flyers Bring Home Tourney Wins Too
April 15, 2013
The Pensacola Ice Flyers may have brought home the President’s Cup and the Southern Professional Hockey League championship Sunday night, but they were not the only Ice Flyers to bring hockey championships back to their home ice at The Hangar and the Pensacola Bay Center.
The Pensacola Junior Ice Flyers Mite team also brought home several big tournament wins on the ice around the Southeast.
The Junior Ice Flyers win the Bob Gorman Freedom Memorial Tournament in Huntsville back in January, and they came in second in the Country and Western Showdown in Nashville back in March.
And at the recent Gulf Coast Meltdown Developmental Invitational in Biloxi, the younger Ice Flyers went 4-0 for the tournament on the strength of multiple players, including Liam Bryan of Cantonment (pictured inset) who scored 13 goals.
“There are multiple players who have scored or played great defense,” said Byran’s mom Jessica Bryan. “This is a great group of kids.”
Pictured: The Pensacola Junior Flyers Mite team in action. Photos courtesy Shaun Beal for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Learn About The Treasures Of The Panhandle From Professor, Author
April 15, 2013
The Barrineau Park Historical Society will present a talk and slide show by Pensacola State College professor Dr. Brian Rucker entitled “Treasures of the Panhandle: A Journey through West Florida”.
In his book by the same name, Rucker takes readers on a unique tour of his home region, highlighting the historic treasures and natural wonders.
The event will take place at 6 p.m Thursday at the Barrineau Park Historical Society in Barrineau Park Community Center on Barrineau Park School Road.
Cantonment Teams Take Top Prizes In Log-A-Load Bass Tournament
April 15, 2013
A couple of Cantonment teams took the top prizes in the 17th Log-A-Load for Kids benefit bass tournament held Saturday at Life Oak Landing near Stockton, Ala.
Eddie Milstead and Toney Clements, both of Cantonment, took the $3,000 first place prize with a five-fish weight of 15.70 pounds and a 5.01 lunker prize. The cousins won the tourney back i n 2011 when it was held on the Escambia River.
Brothers Sammy and Shane Garrett of Cantonment took second with a 14.3 pound total weight and a 4.71 lunker.
Log-A-Load Top Ten (5 fish total weight, lunker weight):
- Eddie Milstead and Toney Clements (15.70, 5.01)
- Sammy Garrett and Shane Garrett (14.3, 4.71)
- Adam Ross and Matt Thornton (13.87, 4.68)
- Johney Weaver and David Fisher (13.12, 3.96)
- Keith Marston and Logan Marston (12.83, 3.65).
- Shane Manley and Kevin Zellers (12.72, 4.29)
- Mark Dortch and Bradley Dortch (12.33, 3.42)
- Greg Sessions and Ken Sessions (12.27, 3.66)
- Mark Rose and Terry Davis (11.75, 4.16)
- Sterling Johnson and Tim Taylor (11.38, 2.98)
All proceeds from the event benefit Sacred Heart Children’s Hospital in Pensacola. Log-A-Load is sponsored by the Florida Forestry Association and the Florida Loggers Council.
Mobile Battles Back To Win 5-2 Over Blue Wahoos
April 15, 2013
For the second straight day, the Mobile BayBears offense woke up late and rallied for a 5-2 win over the Pensacola Blue Wahoos. With the victory, Mobile took four of five in the first series of the 2013 Bay to Bay Series.
Pensacola got on the board first for the fourth straight contest, as Donald Lutz singled home Bryson Smith as part of a two-out first-inning rally to put the Wahoos up 1-0. David Vidal extended Pensacola’s lead to 2-0 in the top half of the fifth with a two-out solo homer, his first of the season.
But the lead didn’t last long as Mobile finally got to Pensacola starter Ryan Dennick in the last of the fifth. After one-hitting the BayBears through four, Dennick loaded the bases on two singles and an error before yielding a two-run single to the opposing pitcher Bradin Hagens that knotted the game at two. Dennick was able to rebound and earned a no-decision, giving up two runs (one earned) on five hits over six innings.
Mobile took the lead for good in the seventh against reliever Kyle Lotzkar. Garrett Weber was plunked by Lotzkar (0-1) with the bases loaded and one out to force home a run and give the BayBears their first lead at 3-2. Lotzkar went just one-third of an inning, yielding a run on three hits and hitting two batters. Lee Hyde came on to induce a 1-2-3 double play to get out of the jam.
The BayBears added extra insurance in the eighth when Rossmel Perez brought home two with a two-out single to increase the lead to 5-2.
Pensacola got the tying run to the dish in the ninth inning but Bo Schultz forced a groundout and a flyout to end the ballgame.
Hagens (2-0) picked up the victory for Mobile, tossing seven innings, allowing just the two runs on six hits while striking out five. Schultz picked up his first save of the season by pitching the ninth.
Pensacola now returns home for the first of five with the Jacksonville Suns on Monday night at Pensacola Bayfront Stadium. Daniel Renken is set to start for the Wahoos with first pitch scheduled for 7:00 p.m.
Story by Kevin Burke
Molino Shooting Suspect Pleads, Set For Sentencing
April 14, 2013
A man accused of shooting at an occupied mobile home in Molino in August 2012 has pleaded no contest to the charges against him and will be sentenced next month.
Sharrieff Amin Shabazz, age 20 of Molino, was charged with three counts of aggravated assault by threat with firearm, shooting into an occupied dwelling, drug possession, and possession of a controlled substance without a prescription. He has remained in the Escambia County Jail since the August 22 incident with bond set at $71,000.
He is set to be sentenced in early May before Judge J. Scott Duncan.
The victim, 21-year old Kristi Gulsby, told deputies she was arguing with Shabazz over $6 he had loaned her for cigarettes about three months prior to the August 22 incident. Gulsby said she had paid him back twice.
Gulsby told deputies that Shabazz began cussing her out and screaming that he wanted his money. She said he then reached into his pants pocket and pulled a gun. As he began walking toward the road, Shabazz opened fire on the mobile home with Gulsby and her two juvenile children, one and four years old, nearby, an arrest report states.
No one was struck by the gunfire.
Shabazz was taken into custody a few hours after the shooting during a traffic stop at the intersection of Fairground Road and Jahaza Street in Molino. As the vehicle pulled over for Escambia County deputies, an ATF special agent working the case witnessed a silver handgun and two pill bottles being thrown out of the backseat, which was occupied by Shabazz. Deputies recovered a .380 caliber handgun outside the vehicle along with pill bottles containing 18 Lortab and cocaine. Inside the vehicle’s trunk, authorities reported finding marijuana in a Mason jar and plastic bags.
Pictured above and below: Gunfire rang out at this mobile home on Ayers Street in Molino on August 22, 2012. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Middle School FCAT Begins This Week (With Schedule, Rules)
April 14, 2013
FCAT daily testing begins Monday in Escambia County. For a daily schedule and FCAT rules, click here (pdf).
(The schedule applies to all middle schools in the county. The make up days are specific to Ernest Ward Middle School and may vary at other schools. For more information, call your child’s middle school.)
New Molino Library Off To A Busy Start
April 14, 2013
Library officials reported an active first week at the new Molino Branch Library. The library issued 126 new West Florida Public Library cards and checked out 732 items to patrons during the week following their April 1 opening.
The new library is open 52 hours per week – from 10 a.m. until 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. The Molino Branch Library is located at 6450 Highway 95A (just south of Molino Road) in the Molino Community Complex.
Pictured: Opening day at the new Molino Branch Library. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Florida House Approves Far-Reaching Education Bill
April 14, 2013
A wide-ranging education bill passed the House on Friday and headed to Gov. Rick Scott for his signature. Lawmakers voted 116-0 to approve the measure, which passed the Senate earlier this week.
“This is a transformational bill, and it’s one that will change the trajectory of the education system,” said House Speaker Will Weatherford, R-Wesley Chapel. The bill (SB 1076), which weighs in at 144 pages, would overhaul high school and higher education. It would create two “designations” for high school degrees, each with different requirements, with one aimed at encouraging students to work toward industry certification. The bill would also set out standards for universities to be recognized as “preeminent universities,” with one of those schools being tabbed to operate an online institute in an effort to encourage Internet-based education.
Despite the lack of opposition to the bill, House members spoke about it for nearly 50 minutes before approving the measure.
by The News Service of Florida
Florida Gov’t Weekly Roundup: It’s Show Time In Tallahassee
April 14, 2013
Speaker Will Weatherford might have given the best description of the House budget this week when he called it a “dress rehearsal.”
Lawmakers suited up and jousted back and forth about the $74 billion spending plan, with everybody knowing that the show would end Friday in a vote to pass it. But the main event will come during the next three weeks when House and Senate negotiators get together and work out their differences on a final budget.
The “dress rehearsal” description, however, also applies to other issues that are moving through the House and Senate — but have more-uncertain finales. And taking center stage Thursday was a debate about whether lawmakers and Gov. Rick Scott will agree on a plan to extend health coverage to more low-income Floridians.
Weatherford, R-Wesley Chapel, and Rep. Richard Corcoran, R-Land O’ Lakes, released a plan, dubbed “Florida Health Choices Plus,” that would provide $2,000 health-care subsidies to low-income parents and some people with disabilities. The plan would reject tens of billions of dollars in federal Medicaid money that otherwise would be available to the state during the next decade through the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare.
But it is a stark contrast to earlier proposals offered by Scott and Senate Appropriations Chairman Joe Negron, R-Stuart, with the key difference centered on whether to accept money from Washington.
Scott has backed a federally funded expansion of Medicaid, at least for three years, to offer coverage to hundreds of thousands of uninsured people. He also has lent support to a Negron alternative that would use federal money to help that same group of people buy private health insurance.
The House plan would rely only on state money, projected to total about $237 million a year. It would provide subsidies to a fraction of the people who would be eligible for a Medicaid expansion or the Negron proposal and would not ensure they receive as much coverage.
But Weatherford has long argued that the state can’t rely on federal promises about funding the Medicaid expansion, a prospect that he and others say could leave Florida taxpayers on the hook in the future. He described the House plan as “sustainable.”
Weatherford also conjured the memory of former Republican Gov. Jeb Bush by describing the House plan as a “BHAG.” Back in the Bush days, that acronym was a point of pride because it stood for “Big Hairy Audacious Goals.”
A hairy goal or not, Scott quickly issued a statement Thursday blasting the House plan because it would not tap the federal funds.
“The House’s plan will cost Florida taxpayers on top of what they are already taxed under the president’s new health-care law,” Scott said. “This would be a double-hit to state taxpayers.”
House Minority Leader Perry Thurston, D-Fort Lauderdale, also scoffed at the notion that the House plan was needed because it was more sustainable than relying on federal funding.
“This thing about being sustainable — that’s just a joke,” Thurston said.
.
NO BUDGET TRAGEDY THIS YEAR: After several years of looking for ways to cut spending, this spring’s legislative session has been notable for its relative lack of budget drama.
Sure, the House and Senate still will have to work out myriad details of a spending plan for the 2013-14 fiscal year. But the Senate unanimously passed its version of the budget Wednesday, and the House approved its plan Friday by a 99-17 margin.
A brightening economy has funneled more money to the state, which makes everybody in the Capitol a little happier. Don’t worry about cutting education funding — the question is how much will lawmakers provide to boost teacher pay.
“When I look at the two budgets side by side, these are issues that can easily be resolved with good faith discussion between the House and the Senate,” said Negron, the Senate appropriations chairman.
Two of the biggest debates that emerged this week in the House and Senate involved pay increases for state workers. In the House, that involved a Republican decision to give $1,000 salary increases and possible $400 performance-based bonuses — instead of $1,400 across-the-board hikes.
That decision, which came in an amendment, angered many Democratic House members, along with Republican Rep. Mike Fasano of New Port Richey.
“What this amendment does is take away a commitment, a promise we made early on that we were going to help our state workers,” Fasano said.
Other Republicans, however, focused on the positive: After six years without raises, state workers will wind up with fatter paychecks.
In the Senate, meanwhile, the debate focused on corrections officers, who were left out of a list of law-enforcement employees who would get tiered pay increases. Some senators urged leaders to come up with $30 million for the issue.
“Let’s find the money,” said Sen. Charlie Dean, R-Inverness.
Negron and others said they would work on the issue during budget negotiations with the House.
PENNIES FROM HEAVEN (OR ADAMS STREET): One intriguing subplot during the final weeks of the session will be Weatherford’s attempt to overhaul the state’s campaign-finance laws.
The Senate Rules Committee on Tuesday ditched a proposed increase in the $500 limit on individual contributions to political candidates. The House, meanwhile, has backed increasing the limit to $5,000 for statewide candidates and $3,000 for local and legislative candidates.
Weatherford has made a priority of the issue, calling for the higher limits while banning a type of fund-raising vehicle known as “committees of continuous existence.” But Scott has signaled that he opposes the increases, which also have drawn skepticism from Senate Ethics and Elections Chairman Jack Latvala, R-Clearwater.
“If the governor has the final word on it, and if he’s not going to sign a bill that changes that, then why pursue it any longer?” Latvala said. “Let’s get down to the other issues that we can resolve.”
Whatever the result of negotiations on the issue, campaign-finance reports filed this week showed that the $500 limit hasn’t been too much of a hindrance for lawmakers planning to run again in 2014 and 2016. Incumbents raked in contributions during the weeks leading up to the legislative session, with a few topping $100,000 each.
STORY OF THE WEEK: House Republican leaders proposed an alternative to expanding Medicaid under the federal Affordable Care Act. The House plan would reject billions of dollars from Washington and provide $2,000 subsidies to targeted groups of low-income parents and people with disabilities.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “This is a joyous time. We’re able to give our valued employees a raise.” — Rep. Dennis Baxley, R-Ocala.
Mobile Comes From Behind To Upend Pensacola 5-2
April 14, 2013
The Mobile BayBears scored five runs over their final three at-bats and knocked off the Pensacola Blue Wahoos 5-2 on Saturday night at Hank Aaron Stadium. With the win, Mobile clinched the series victory by winning three of the first four games in the five-game set.
Trailing 1-0 in the last of the sixth, the BayBears finally got to Pensacola starter Chad Rogers. Rossmel Perez led off the inning with a walk and stole second base to move into scoring position with two outs. Mike Freeman then drove him home with a solid single to left, knotting the game at one.
An inning later, Mobile took the lead for good with a two-run frame against reliever Loek Van Mil (0-1). Jon Griffin led off with a double, moved to third on a wild pitch and then scampered home on Van Mil’s second wild toss of the frame. David Nick then provided a solo shot for a 3-1 Mobile lead after seven. Van Mil pitched just one inning and gave up two runs on three hits for his first loss of the year.
The BayBears would add an extra two tallies in the eighth inning off reliever Chris Manno. Batting with the bases loaded, Griffin slammed his second double of the game, this time bringing home two runs to increase the Mobile advantage to 5-1.
Pensacola’s two runs came on two towering home runs. Travis Mattair led off the second inning with his second round-tripper of the year, which was the Wahoos’ only tally until Donald Lutz led off the ninth inning with a solo dinger to right to close to gap to 5-2. However, that was as close as Pensacola would get as Dan Cortes retired three of the next four hitters to give the BayBears the win.
Brett Lorin (2-0) picked up the win by pitching a scoreless seventh in relief of starter Anthony Meo, who made just the one mistake to Mattair over six solid innings in his second start at the Double-A level.
Rogers picked up a no-decision despite one-hitting Mobile through five frames. The right-hander ended up allowing a run on two hits over six innings and was saddled with a no-decision.
The Wahoos and BayBears wrap up their five-game series on Sunday at 2:05 p.m. Ryan Dennick (1-0, 3.60) will get the start for Pensacola against Mobile’s Bradin Hagens (1-0, 1.29).
Story By Kevin Burke