Power Cut In Walnut Hill As Part Of Major System Upgrade
January 13, 2013
A portion of Walnut Hill was without power about an hour Saturday morning during a planned outage as the Escambia River Electric Cooperative power delivery system was upgraded.
Escambia River Electric Cooperative and it power supplier, PowerSouth Energy Cooperative, is in the late stages of construction a new Oak Grove Graham electric substation on Highway 99A near North Highway 99. The new facility will have a total power capacity of 20 MVA (megavolt ampere), over twice the capacity of the aging Oak Grove Substation with a total capacity of 9.375 MVA.
The new substation and new distribution lines were installed to upgrade the EREC system and meet the needs of the Genesis Rail Services Walnut Hill Station. At the facility the largest of its kind in the U.S., crude oil is transferred from the oils fields of North Dakota to Walnut Hill by train and offloaded.
The area without power Saturday morning included Arthur Brown Road, Pine Forest Road, Pineville Road, County Road 99A and connecting streets and roads.
Pictured top: Electric linemen work on County Road 99A at Highway 97, adjacent to Ernest Ward Middle School, during a planned power outage Saturday morning. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Escambia’s Stafford, Other Election Bosses To Ask For More Early Voting
January 13, 2013
Escambia County Supervisor of Elections David Stafford and state’s local elections supervisors set to testify Monday before a Senate committee about what went wrong with Florida’s 2012 elections. They are set to ask lawmakers to allow them to increase early voting after the snafus that produced long lines at polling places in November, according to a summary of their legislative package.
Stafford is past president of the Florida State Association of Supervisors of Elections, which said it would request that the Legislature give county supervisors the option to allow up to 14 days of early voting.
Lawmakers reduced the number of early voting days to eight as part of a controversial elections bill approved in 2011; under the supervisors’ proposal, counties would still have to offer at least eight days of early voting.
The legislative package, released Thursday, also includes a proposal that would require lawmakers to limit the summaries of all potential constitutional amendments to 75 words. Currently, amendments sent to the ballot by the Legislature don’t have to follow that limit, which applies to citizen initiatives. Supporters of the limit say reading lengthy ballot summaries can slow down voters.
The News Service of Florida contributed to this report.
Fire Destroys Shooting House
January 13, 2013
Firefighters from the Walnut Hill Station of Escambia Fire Rescue responded to a reported brush fire late Saturday night to find that a Walnut Hill shooting house had been destroyed by fire.
A passerby reported seeing a brush fire several yards off Highway 97 south of Howell Road. When firefighters arrived, the shooting house was already a total loss and a small brush fire had been sparked by the blaze. The fire was quickly extinguished.
There was no word on the cause of the fire.
One Arrested In Shooting, Two Still Wanted For Questioning
January 13, 2013
One suspect has been arrested in connection with the shooting that left one person dead and two people wounded Thursday night on Escambia County’s Belair Road.
Freddie Dayshen Fountain III, 23, was charged with two counts of attempted homicide, a weapons offense of firing missiles into a dwelling, and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. He remained in the Escambia County Jail with bond set at $190,000.
About 10:10 p.m. on January 10, deputies responded to a shots fired disturbance in the 700 block of Belair Road in the Montclair area. Deputies found Aquarius Devaughn dead, and both Durall Sumler and Shawn Jordan suffering from gunshot wounds. Sumler and Jordan remain in Baptist Hospital.
Escambia County Sheriff’s Office investigators released a list of seven people, including Fountain, believed to have information on the crime. Four of the people were questioned and released.
Investigators are still looking for Travaris J. Stallworth and Kwamane Q. Silas for questioning. Anyone with information on their whereabouts is asked to call the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office at (850) 436-9620 or Gulf Coast Crime Stoppers at (850) 433-STOP.
Florida Gov’t Weekly Roundup: Health Care, Elections And More
January 13, 2013
Florida Gov. Rick Scott and state health officials spent much of the week on their heels while the estimated price of the Affordable Care Act dropped faster than tree ornaments the day after Christmas.
What began Monday as a $26 billion millstone around the neck of Florida taxpayers was reduced eight-fold to a more manageable $3 billion expense after Agency for Health Care Administration officials fine-tuned their 10-year estimates for what expanding Medicaid would cost the state.
Beginning Monday with comments on a chilly street corner in Washington, D.C., Scott, — a vocal critic of Obamacare — took heat for citing figures that key legislative analysts questioned and the governor’s opponents said were downright inflated.
In contrast, groups eyeing election reforms came up with surprisingly similar remedies this week. Separate groups called on lawmakers to be a little more laconic on proposed constitutional amendments, saying the length of the 2012 general election ballot contributed to long lines at the polls.
The governor spent the remainder of the week traveling the state and touting a proposed tax break for manufacturing machinery while calling for performance pay for public employees.
AHCA ESTIMATES TUMBLE AMID SKEPTICISM
Following a meeting with U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, Scott lamented to a small cadre of Washington reporters that the costs to Florida of the unfolding health care plan would be catastrophic — $26 billion over a decade.
“Growing government, it’s never free,” Scott said. “It always costs money.”
Scott’s lament did not go unnoticed and soon became the grist for critics who said the governor’s figures were inflated and inaccurate. Even the Agency for Health Care Administration, an agency under the governor’s eye, blinked.
Days after Scott’s initial estimates, which were based on earlier AHCA figures, the agency reduced its estimates to a lowball $3 billion over 10 years.
The revisions came after state budget analysts, including the top staff member on the House Health Care Appropriations Subcommittee, raised questions about the assumptions that AHCA had used in the earlier report.
Scott’s office continued to defend the higher estimate, which took into account the federal government’s historic financial support for Medicaid of about 58 percent. The Affordable Care Act calls for the federal government to fund a minimum of 90 percent of the costs for people who take advantage of expanded Medicaid eligibility.
Unless the federal law changes, House Appropriations Chairman Seth McKeel, R-Lakeland, said lawmakers must base their calculations on what the law says.
“We must follow our process which requires estimates based on current law and practice,” McKeel said. “This is critical to the integrity of our budgeting process.”
ELECTION REFORMS EMERGE
Following a 2012 election cycle remembered for images of weary voters standing in late-night lines, a series of proposed election reforms appeared to coalesce this week as various stakeholders, from election supervisors to Scott, weighed in.
Among the top suggestions: Limit the length of ballot initiatives and allow local supervisors to offer more days of early voting in more locations.
Local elections supervisors say they’d like more flexibility in future elections to accommodate the growing number of voters who choose to cast ballots before Election Day. Scott also appears more amenable to extending early voting hours.
The Florida State Association of Supervisors of Election said it would request that the Legislature give county supervisors the option to allow up to 14 days of early voting. Lawmakers reduced the number of early voting days to eight as part of a controversial elections bill approved in 2011.
Sen. Jeff Clemens, D-Lake Worth, filed a proposed constitutional amendment this week seeking to limit to three the number of proposed amendments the Legislature could put on the ballot in any one election. Clemens has filed another proposal to automatically register voting-age motorists who apply for Florida drivers licenses.
The ballot limitation, if not the sponsor, may have some traction this year. Senate President Don Gaetz has said lengthy amendments may have played a role in long lines and said the Senate would have a high bar for considering proposed amendments while he is president.
But in a state where the public and lawmakers have long used the constitution to get things done when the Legislature won’t, and in a famously decentralized state where locals have a lot of power, could officials really shorten the ballot? And would it actually make a difference?
SCOTT NAMES FIVE TO BOG
Gov. Rick Scott appointed five new members of the Board of Governors on Thursday, bringing him close to having named a majority of the 17-member panel responsible for overseeing Florida’s 12 state universities.
Scott’s office announced the appointments of Wayne Huizenga Jr., Ned Lautenbach, Alan Levine, Wendy Link and Edward Morton in a brief news release late Thursday. The five will join three other members of the board that Scott has appointed.
The five were named to seats that were either vacant or where the terms of current board members had expired and those members had not applied to be reappointed. Scott’s office has yet to announce what will happen with the seat currently held by Norman Tripp, who has asked for another term.
BILLS FILED
With the New Year behind them, lawmakers did what they do best, they filed bills. Among a handful of proposals this week is a measure by Sen. Eleanor Sobel, D-Hollywood, to allow same-sex partners to receive some of the benefits –heath care, pension benefits, custodial rights – that are afforded married couples.
The legislation specifically states it is not an attempt to do an end-run around a provision in the Florida Constitution defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman, but it would allow gay Floridians to get some rights approaching marriage.
MANUFACTURING TAX BREAK PROPOSED
Scott on Wednesday proposed eliminating the sales tax paid by manufacturers when they purchase equipment, part of his ongoing effort to cajole companies to move to Florida and get those already here to add workers.
There already is a sales tax exemption for new equipment but to qualify companies must prove they’ve increased their “productive output” by 5 percent after buying the equipment. Until Jan. 1, they had to show they’d increased output by 10 percent, but lawmakers reduced the requirement during last year’s legislative session at the urging of Scott.
The proposed break would save companies an estimated $45 million a year.
STORY OF THE WEEK: The Agency for Health Care Administration slashes the state’s estimated cost of Obamacare from $26 billion to $3 billion.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “In Miami-Dade County, the ballot read like the book of Leviticus – though not as interesting,” Senate President Don Gaetz in reference to the 12-page ballot that greeted voters in the South Florida county.
By The News Service of Florida
Two Die While Racing On Escambia Road
January 12, 2013
This story has been updated. Click here.
Two people died in a traffic accident early Saturday morning in Escambia County.
Witnesses told the Florida Highway Patrol that the driver of a 2000 Volkswagen Passat was racing the driver of an Acura on Blue Angel Parkway approaching Cerney Road. The driver of the Passat lost control and hit a tree.
The driver and the passenger — described by the FHP only as Hispanic males ages 32 and 21 — were pronounced deceased at the scene.
The late model Acura, metallic blue in color with aftermarket rims and exhaust, fled the scene driven by a white male.
Anyone with information on the incident is asked to call the Florida Highway Patrol at (850) 484-5000.
Man Gets 20 Years For Century Shooting
January 12, 2013
An Escambia County man will spend then next two decades in prison for a shooting five years ago in Century.
Vinson Sanders, 26, was sentenced to a minimum mandatory of 20 years in state prison by Judge Linda Nobles. Sanders was convicted in of aggravated assault and discharging a firearm from a vehicle.
On January 14, 2007, a vehicle pulled up at the Carver Community Center in Century, and Sanders yelled out the passenger side window at a group of people playing basketball, according to prosecutors. Sanders was seeking revenge against someone who had allegedly beat up his brother a day before.
Sanders became angry and pointed a gun directly at the victim, then proceeded to shoot multiple times as the vehicle drove away on Jefferson Avenue. There were approximately 50 people present including children at the time of the shooting.
A bullet ricocheted off the ground and grazed the victim in the chest, and several other bullets hit multiple cars.
Prior to being arrested in 2007, Sanders was sentenced to 5 years state prison in New York for armed robbery and was not transferred to Florida until 2012.
Pictured top: The Carver Community Center on Jefferson Avenue. NorthEscambia.com photo, click to enlarge.
Five Injured In I-65 Rollover
January 12, 2013
Five people were injured in a single vehicle rollover accident on the interstate north of Atmore Friday.
The accident happened on the northbound side of I-65 about six miles north of Atmore. The 32-year old female driver of a SUV lost control for an unknown reason and ran off the roadway onto a grassy shoulder where the vehicle overturned.
The driver, along with a male passenger about seven years old and three female passengers ranging in age from 14-18 were transported by Atmore Ambulance and Escambia County (Fla.) EMS to Sacred Heart Hospital in Pensacola.
The names of the injured have not been released by Alabama State Troopers. However, officials said some of the injured are from the North Escambia area.
McCall Pumps Up Support For ECAT Gas Tax Exemption
January 12, 2013
Century Mayor Freddie McCall is pumping up support for a state exemption from Escambia County’s proposed four cent gas tax hike to support ECAT mass transit.
Armed with a resolution asking the Florida Legislature for the exemption, McCall addressed the Escambia County Legislative Delegation — Sen. Greg Evers, Rep. Clay Ingram and Rep. Clay Ford.
Century has refused sign off on an interlocal agreement with Escambia County that would allocate additional gas taxes collected in Century to the county for mass transit. Town officials contend the new tax is unfair to North Escambia residents and may force the three gas stations in Century to close as they force drivers choosing to purchase lower priced gasoline across the state line at the first station they come to in Flomaton.
“It’s a quarter mile beyond the state line,” McCall told the legislative delegation during a public forum in Pensacola. “The service station will be taking all of our business.”
The Century Town Council passed a resolution Monday night asking the Legislature to exempt Century due to the town’s proximity to Alabama. The town says the gasoline tax is currently 27 cents less in across the state line in Flomaton.
The resolution also sates that the four cents for ECAT “benefits the south end of the county significantly more than the north end of the county”.
Without the exemption from the Legislature, Century’s refusal to to play along with the county’s new gas tax is perhaps a moot point.
Amy Lovoy, the county’s budget chief, said the county will still receive the additional gas tax proceeds collected in Century because Century will automatically be included if the tax is approved by Pensacola, the largest municipality in the county.
Pictured: Two of Century’s three gas stations at the intersection of East Highway 4 and Highway 29. NorthEscambia.com file photo, click to enlarge.
New $7.7 Million Main Library Opens
January 12, 2013
More than 200 people gathered Friday to celebrate the ribbon-cutting and grand opening of the new West Florida Library main location at 239 North Spring Street in Pensacola.
The library reopened after a two-year renovation and expansion which nearly doubled the library’s size to 51,000 square feet. The two-phase project included the construction of a new wing on Spring Street, after which the original 1957 building was gutted and renovated. The new library includes an expanded children’s area, meeting rooms, coffee shop, bookstore and more. The library also includes more than 50 new computers, including a 10-station computer training lab.
“This library is a tremendous resource and asset for our community,” said Pensacola Mayor Ashton Hayward. “Whether you’re coming to learn, to take online classes, or just to read a good book over a cup of coffee, this library will have something for everyone. This library is truly a beacon of possibility and a testament to our faith in tomorrow.”
The $7.7 million project was funded by $6 million in local option sales tax monies, a $606,500 grant from the U.S. Department of Energy, surplus dollars from the construction of the Tryon Branch Library, and a $100,000 donation by the Friends of the Pensacola Public Library.
The ceremony also featured the dedication of a firefighter memorial and a new wing named for Maurice Bartholomew, a Pensacola firefighter who lost his life in the line of duty in 2000. Bartholomew, an avid reader, was based at the old Fire Station 1, which was previously located on the site of the new wing.
The new library becomes the City of Pensacola’s first LEED-certified building, incorporating a number of energy-efficient strategies, such as a tankless gas water heater and low-flow plumbing fixtures. The improvements are expected to cut the main library’s energy costs by as much as 15 percent.
