Photos: Santa Visits Century Branch Library
December 21, 2012
Santa Claus made a special stop by the Century Branch Library Thursday afternoon. Children were able to join Santa and his helpers as they celebrated Christmas with a story, crafts, lots of fun and a little one-on-one time for the kids to tell Santa their wish lists.
Submitted photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
School Library Employee Arrested On Child Cruelty Charges
December 21, 2012
A part-time school library assistant was arrested Thursday on multiple child abuse charges.
Escambia County Sheriff’s investigators arrested Dorothea R. Vega, 59, for domestic violence charges including battery, torturing a child, caging a child and cruelty toward child act that could result in physical mental injury. She was booked into the Escambia County Jail without bond.
Investigators learned that the victim had been hit by numerous household objects and made to take prescription medications in an effort to control the child’s behavior. During the investigation deputies went to the home where they found alarms on the door of the child’s room. The child was made to stay in the room, unless she was doing chores. Deputies said if the alarm sounded the child was beaten by Vega.
The living conditions were found to be deplorable, investigators said. Deputies said the child was not always permitted to eat or take a bath and would sometimes use a school’s restroom to bathe in.
The Sheriff’s Office said Vega was arrested at Ensley Elementary School where she works as a library assistant.
Number Of Sex Offenders In Florida Increases Dramatically
December 21, 2012
The number of sex offenders in Florida has increased dramatically in recent years even as the number of offenders who can’t be found by law enforcement has decreased, according to a new report.
According to the Legislature’s Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability, there were 23,813 sex offenders in Florida communities in 2012, an increase of 28 percent since 2005. At the same time, the number of offenders whose location isn’t known by law enforcement has been cut almost in half, going from 1,259 in 2005 to 693 this year.
But OPPAGA also found that almost a quarter of sex offenders can’t get a driver’s license or state-issued ID despite a legal requirement that they do so, and that homeless sex offenders “present challenges to the registration and notification process.”
By The News Service of Florida
Century CI Makes Christmas Brighter For Needy Kids
December 20, 2012
Christmas will be a lot brighter for numerous students at Oakcrest Elementary School, thanks to officers from the Century Correctional Institution.
Corrections officers from Century CI gave 42 new bicycles to Oakcrest students through the Going COASTAL (Correctional Officers and Students Together Amplifying Learning) program. Corrections officers visit the school each month through the program, which aims to cast a positive light on law enforcement in a community where many children have seen family members arrested. In the program, corrections officers read to and mentor the students.
The Century CI officers also contributed a trailer load of plants and flowers to the school to help beautify the campus.
Submitted photos for NorthEscambia.com.
Santa Rosa Sheriff’s Office Has Major Phone Problems
December 20, 2012
The Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office is experiencing major technical issues with their phone system, which is in the process of extensive repair.
Officials said late Wednesday night that all non-emergency numbers may not work and it may be impossible to reach dispatch for services using regular phone numbers. Officials said if a regular number does not connect, call one of these alternative numbers to connect to dispatch:
- 850-361-5116
- 850-361-5643
- 850-497-3552
911 is still functioning for emergency calls only.
Arrest Made In Georgia In October Escambia County Murder
December 20, 2012
A Pensacola man has been arrested in Georgia for the murder of Labar Cardalyo Brown of Highway 29 back in October.
Robert Marvin Parker, Jr., was arrested Wednesday morning at an unknown apartment complex in Clayton County, Georgia. Parker is being held on one count of murder and is awaiting extradition back to Florida.
Parker is accused of shooting Brown to death on October 22 as Brown was sitting in a car in the 6800 block of Tiki Lane. Investigators say there was evidence found that suggests the
murder was drug related.
Pictured: Reader submitted cellphone photos show the scene on Tiki Lane after Labar Cardalyo Brown was shot and killed on October 22. Photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Man Gets 25 Years For Molesting Young Teen
December 20, 2012
A Milton man was sentenced to 25 year in state prison for molesting a child in Escambia County by Judge Jan Shackelford.
In November, Ryan Scott Debord was found guilty of an Escambia County jury of sexual battery while in a position of custodial or familial authority and lewd or lascivious molestation upon a child over 12 but less than 16 by an offender over 18 year of age.
Between July 2011 and February 2012, Ryan Scott Debord molested a 13 year-old female child, according to evidence presented in court.
Debord was also designated as a sexual offender.
Escambia Man Gets 15 Years For Battery Of Pregnant Woman
December 20, 2012
An Escambia County man has been sentenced to 15 years in state prison on charges of aggravated battery on a pregnant person and battery.
Rafie Lee was sentenced by Judge Gary Bergosh as a prison releasee reoffender. On April 7, 2012, Lee and the victim, Hope Cattell, were arguing when Lee pushed her to the ground and hit her several times. Cattell’s daughters, Brittni Freeman, who was nine-months pregnant at the time, called her grandfather for help. When Freeman attempted to hand the phone to her mother, Lee pushed Freeman to the ground and she fell on her stomach.
Scott: Consider More Early Voting, Shorten Ballot
December 20, 2012
Gov. Rick Scott said in media interviews Wednesday that the state must consider adding early voting days and shortening the ballot to avoid the long lines that plagued elections in some counties this year.
Scott also suggested in interviews on CNN and WNDB radio in Daytona Beach that local supervisors of elections should have more flexibility on polling locations in order to allow for more voting machines where they’re needed.
But the most surprising thing the Republican governor suggested may be that he and GOP legislators may have erred in reducing the number of early voting days from 14 to 8 for the 2012 elections.
“We’ve got to go back and look at the number of days of early voting we have,” Scott said on CNN’s Starting Point with Soledad O’Brien.
“People are frustrated in our state,” Scott said. “We’ve got to restore confidence in our elections.”
Scott signed the law in 2011 that reduced the number of voting days, though when asked on CNN whether that meant he bore some of the blame, Scott replied that he simply followed the law.
“I comply with the law,” Scott said. “But we do need change.”
Scott said he wanted a bipartisan group to look at the number of early voting days, but wasn’t specific on CNN or in the later radio interview about how many more days he thinks might be needed.
And in the interview on WNDB radio he suggested that it wasn’t a given that more days are needed – saying only that investigation is needed to see if that’s the case.
“We need to look at early voting days to see if we need to add more days,” Scott said. He also acknowledged the number of critics who have suggested that possible solution. “We need to listen to the citizens of the state,” Scott said. “They come up with the best ideas.”
Scott also said the long ballot was part of the problem. He pointed specifically to the 12-page Miami-Dade ballot, which was loaded down with local issues in addition to statewide races, legislative and judicial races and 11 constitutional amendment questions.
“Twelve pages… this took some people 40 minutes to get through,” Scott said. “It was just too long.”
Scott’s interviews came as former Gov. Charlie Crist – who as a GOP governor in 2008 expanded early voting times by executive order, angering his fellow Republicans – told the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee that lawmakers should err on the side of allowing as many people as possible to vote. Crist has since become a Democrat, and is seen as a possible challenger to Scott in 2014. The Judiciary Committee held a hearing Wednesday on “the state of the right to vote.”
Crist suggested Florida should return to 14 days of early voting instead of 8 and also suggested that national standards on early in-person voting might be worth studying.
Overall, Crist said generally making it easier to vote, rather than harder, is the way to go.
“America wins and democracy thrives when more people vote,” Crist said. In considering any changes to voting laws, Crist suggested that policymakers should “just be respectful to the voters.
“Allow them to exercise this wonderful opportunity and privilege that we have in America to choose our leaders,” Crist said.
Also speaking to that panel, Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida alleged that the 2011 law that reduced early voting and made other changes that some said made it harder to cast a ballot was done intentionally to reduce turnout among Democrats – a charge backers of the plan have stridently rejected.
The law, Nelson said, was “clearly designed to disenfranchise likely Democratic voters.”
Backers of the 2011 law said they were targeting fraud in tightening the voter identification rules and that the effort to reduce early voting days was aimed at cutting costs.
By The News Service of Florida
Local Extension Offices Collect Half Ton Of Peanut Butter For Needy
December 20, 2012
County Extension Offices in Escambia and Santa Rosa counties collected nearly a half ton of peanut butter during a recent “Take a bite out of Hunger” food drive.
The Escambia County Extension Office collected 336 jars of peanut butter weighing in at 430 pounds, and the Santa Rosa County County Extension Office collected 378 jars weighing 490.6 pounds.
During the peanut butter food drive campaign, Extension Office is 15 Northwest Florida counties collected a total of 2,039 jars of peanut butter weighting 2,843 pounds. In addition, the the Florida Peanut Producers Association donated a 1,400 jar pallet of peanut butter.
The peanut butter will be donated to local food pantries.
Submitted photo for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.