Fire Marshal Offers $5,000 Reward In Byrneville Arson, Burglary Case
March 17, 2013
A $5,000 reward is being offered for information on a September burglary and arson in Byrneville.
The fire occurred about 1 a.m. on September 3, 2012, in the 1200 block of Tedder Road.
The residents had been away from their home for several hours. When they returned to their two story home about 1 a.m., they found it full of smoke and called 911. When firefighters arrived, they found that a living room couch had been on fire and had been extinguished, and someone had tried to start a second fire in closet. Items, including a gun, were reported missing after the fire.
The home suffered heavy smoke damage throughout. Five people – two adults and three children – were left temporally homeless by the blaze.
The Florida State Fire Marshal’s Office is offering a reward of up to $5,000 to anyone providing information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for the fire.
Anyone with information is asked to call the State Fire Marshal Hotline at 1-877-NO-ARSON (1-877-662-7766), Emerald Coast Crime Stoppers at 1-888-654-TIPS (8477) or Detective O’Dell at (850) 453-7803.
Thousands Attend Beulahfest (With Photo Gallery)
March 17, 2013
The two-day Beulahfest wrapped up Saturday at the Escambia County Equestrian Center.
Headliner acts Saturday were Confederate Railroad, John Anderson and the Kentucky Headhunters, along with local acts that included The Dusty Sanderson Band.
For a photo gallery, click here.
Marty White, morning show personality on WXBM 102.7, surprised the crowd as he appeared in a dress and wig along with Confederate Railroad. Marty said Confederate Railroad appeared at the Pensacola Interstate Fair about 20 years when their song “Trashy Women” was at the top of the charts, and he appeared on stage in a dress when them then like in the song’s video.
It “surprised them and the crowd with my version,” Marty White said, adding that the outfit still fits after 20 years. “Now there’s a picture for you.”
Beulahfest attracts thousands each year, with proceeds benefiting the Beulah Volunteer Fire Department and other local charities. Beulahfest is sponsored in part by NorthEscambia.com.
For photos and a story about Friday’s Beulahfest events, click here.
Pictured top: Marty “Margaret” White of WXBM with Confederate Railroad at Beulahfest on Saturday. Pictured inset: Tate High graduate Dusty Sanderson performs. Pictured below: The Kentucky Headhunters Saturday night. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Photos: Cantonment Cantonment Baseball and Girls Softball
March 17, 2013
Saturday was opening day for Cantonment Baseball and Girls Softball.
The day included filming a commercial with Sandy Sansing, who made a $500 donation to the organization.
For a photo gallery, click here.
Guest speaker was Greg Litton, a former major league player for the San Francisco Giants, Seattle Mariners and the Boston Red Sox. In 1992, he played all nine positions in the Hall of Fame Game.
Kazoo from the Pensacola Blue Wahoos and the Cat from Cat Country 98.7 were also on hand.
Does your child play at Cantonment? Send us photos and scores this season! Email news@northescambia.com.
NorthEscambia.com photos by Kristi Smith, click to enlarge.
Photos: NWE Opening Day
March 17, 2013
Saturday was Opening Day for Northwest Escambia at Bradberry Park in Walnut Hill.
For a photo gallery from select Opening Day games, click here.
Does your child play at NWE? Send us photos and scores this season! Email news@northescambia.com.
NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Photos: Beautiful Day On The River
March 17, 2013
Saturday was a near picture perfect Spring-like day on the Escambia River at the Molino Boat Ramp. The river remains high, with the boat ramp and dock underwater. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
What Is Your Church Doing For Easter?
March 17, 2013
What is your church doing for Easter?
NorthEscambia.com will provide free advertising for churches in North Escambia or north Santa Rosa County in Florida, or the Atmore or Flomaton area in Alabama. If your church is having a special Good Friday and/or Easter service, or any other special service or event, let us know.
We will share your information with thousands of readers across the area. We will list the services on our Events page free of charge. Please try to keep your announcement for our Events page to 100 words or less. Please send your event listing as far in advance of your service(s) as possible.
Send your announcement to news@northescambia.com or click here for our contact page. We will also be happy to publish photos after your event; email them to news@northescambia.com.
All advertising and announcements are subject to our editorial standards.
Weekend Gardening: March Tips
March 17, 2013
Here are gardening tips for the month of March from the University of Florida IFAS Extension office:
Flowers
- Annual flowers that can be planted in March include: ageratum, alyssum, amaranthus, asters, baby’s breath, begonia, calendula, celosia, cosmos, dahlia, dusty miller, gaillardia, geranium, hollyhock, impatiens, marigold, nicotiana, ornamental pepper, pentas, phlox, rudbeckia, salvia, sweet Williams, torenia, verbena, vinca and zinnia.
- Caladium bulbs are extremely sensitive to cold soil. There is no advantage to planting early. Purchase caladiums while there is a good selection, but wait until late March or April before planting them in shady beds.
Trees and Shrubs
- Finish pruning summer flowering shrubs such as althea, hibiscus, abelia, oakleaf hydrangea and oleander.
- Delay the pruning of azaleas, camellias, spiraeas, gardenias and other spring flowering shrubs until after flowering is complete.
- Prune any cold weather-damaged plants after new growth appears.
- If needed, fertilize shrubs and small trees with a slow release fertilizer. A good general-purpose landscape fertilizer is a 15-0-15.
- Mature palms should receive an application of granular fertilizer. Use a special palm fertilizer that has an 8-2-12 +4Mg (magnesium) with micronutrients formulation. Apply one pound of fertilizer per 100 sqft of canopy area or landscape area.
- Last opportunity to spray shrubs with dormant horticultural oil.
- Pick up all fallen camellia blossoms and remove them from your property. This practice helps to prevent petal blight next season.
- Prune ornamental grasses.
- If you are in the market for specific colors of azaleas, visit the local nurseries and garden centers this month. Though this is not the most ideal planting time you are assured of the right flower color without having to wait until next blooming season.
Fruits and Nuts
- Time to finish planting bare-root fruit trees.
Vegetable Garden
- This is the month for establishing a spring vegetable garden. Early March plantings have about an even chance of avoiding a late frost.
- The warm season vegetables that can be planted this month are: bush beans, pole beans, lima beans, cantaloupes, sweet corn, cucumbers, eggplant, okra, southern peas, peppers, sweet potatoes, pumpkins, summer squash, winter squash, tomatoes and watermelon.
- The cool season vegetables that can be planted this month are: beets, carrots, celery, collards, endive, kohlrabi, leek, lettuce, mustard, bunching onions, parsley, English peas, Irish potatoes, radish and turnips.
- More conservative gardeners might wish to wait until the middle to latter part of the month to risk tender plants such as tomatoes and peppers.
Lawns
- Remove excessive accumulation of leaves from the lawn. This will increase the effectiveness of fertilizers and pesticides applied to the lawn.
- If a preemergence lawn herbicide is needed to control summer weeds, it should be applied in early March. Make certain to choose one that is safe on your kind of grass.
- Keep lawn herbicides away from the root zones of desirable flower, shrubs and other plants.
- Fertilize the lawn only after the danger of frost has passed and when the grass has greened up. Fertilize using a complete fertilizer applied at 0.5 lbs nitrogen per 1000 sqft containing 50% soluble and 50% slow-release nitrogen.
- Service the lawn mower: include a sharpening of the blade and adjusting of the cutting height for your type of grass.
- Anyone considering establishment of centipedegrass from seed should hold off until the soil warms up and stabilizes above 70°F. Add Item Here…
Florida Gov’t Weekly Roundup: Going Bust
March 17, 2013
Jennifer Carroll emerged as a popular figure in Republican politics in 2000 when she tried to unseat Jacksonville Democratic Congresswoman Corrine Brown.
Carroll lost the race and a rematch in 2002, unable to overcome the well-oiled Corrine machine. But challenging Brown — who is disparaged by many Republicans — helped fuel Carroll’s political career.
A Navy retiree, Carroll served as executive director of the Florida Department of Veterans’ Affairs before becoming the first black woman Republican elected to the Legislature. After seven years in the House, she became Rick Scott’s running mate and, in 2010, was elected as the state’s first black lieutenant governor.
But all that ended Tuesday as local, state and federal authorities swept into Internet cafes across Florida and began arresting 57 people on charges such as racketeering and money laundering. By the next morning, the Capitol came alive with news that Carroll had resigned as lieutenant governor.
Carroll, 53, has not been charged with crimes. But while serving in the House in 2009 and 2010 she worked as a consultant for Allied Veterans of the World, an Internet café outfit that is at the heart of the investigation into an industry that has always faced questions about whether it featured illegal gambling.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement interviewed Carroll on Tuesday about her work for Allied Veterans. Later that day, she submitted her resignation — a move that led to speculation the rest of the week about Carroll’s activities and, ultimately, about who would replace her as Scott’s second-in-command.
Scott provided relatively little insight during a news conference Wednesday, though he praised Carroll’s advocacy for the state’s military and her efforts to help create jobs.
“I will not elaborate on the details of her resignation further, other than to say that she resigned and she did the right thing for the state and for her family,” Scott said.
In a statement issued Wednesday, Carroll said she did not believe she or a consulting company she co-owned are “targets” in the ongoing investigation.
“My decision yesterday to resign as lieutenant governor represents my unwavering commitment to the great state of Florida,” Carroll said. “I simply refuse to allow the allegations facing a former client of my public relations firm to undermine the important work of the governor and his administration.”
But Carroll’s political career appears all but finished. Making matters worse for the former Navy lieutenant commander, she will be remembered for her involvement with Allied Veterans of the World, a group that authorities say held itself out as a charity for veterans but actually was a gambling operation that enriched a handful of people.
Scott said he won’t name a replacement for Carroll until after the legislative session. With a re-election campaign coming up next year, the choice will be closely scrutinized.
Perhaps the most-mentioned name this week was Sen. Anitere Flores, a Miami Republican. Along with having experience on key issues such as education, she has largely steered clear of controversy and would add a Hispanic woman to the 2014 ticket — a demographic profile that could have huge appeal to Republicans after their election struggles in 2012.
TURN OUT THE LIGHTS, THE PARTY’S ALMOST OVER: The Internet café industry learned how to play the Tallahassee game: Shell out political contributions. Spend big bucks on lobbyists. And, voila, beat back legislative attempts to shut you down.
But it’s funny how things changed Wednesday, after investigators started making arrests and locking the doors on dozens of the storefront businesses.
Legislative leaders moved at light speed — at least by Tallahassee standards — to announce that they supported shutting down Internet cafes and the games that critics have long contended are akin to slot machines. Cafes also quickly lost much of their political muscle and expertise, as prominent lobbyists cut business ties to International Internet Technologies, a key player in the industry.
And on Friday morning, the House Select Committee on Gaming voted 15-1 for a bill that would effectively shutter the industry. The measure (HB 155) could to go to the full House next week, and a Senate committee will consider its version Monday.
Hundreds of Internet cafes have popped up across the state in recent years, with the industry saying they feature legal, computerized sweepstakes games. But lawmakers didn’t appear willing this week to buy that argument.
“These machines have always been illegal,” said Rep. Carlos Trujillo, a Miami Republican who is sponsoring the House bill. “They’re considered games of chance. They’re illegal.”
Only Rep. Jim Waldman, D-Coconut Creek, voted against the House bill, saying the Legislature might be moving too fast in response to the arrests.
“While well-intentioned, this seems like nothing but what we consistently seem to do around the House and that is a knee jerk reaction to something that took place,” Waldman said.
THIS COULD TAKE A WHILE: In the big scheme of things, the Internet café issue has far less of an impact than how lawmakers handle a potential expansion of the Medicaid program under the federal Affordable Care Act.
But with a Senate select committee this week joining its House counterpart in rejecting the expansion, it appears that questions about offering health coverage to hundreds of thousands of additional Floridians will continue to percolate throughout the legislative session.
True, House and Senate Republicans have voted to reject expanding Medicaid. But Senate select committee Chairman Joe Negron, R-Stuart, also pitched another plan that would offer expanded coverage through private insurers.
While Negron’s plan might not be a Medicaid expansion, it would target the same low-income people who the Affordable Care Act seeks to cover. What’s more, it would rely on the federal money that otherwise would go to Medicaid expansion.
House leaders have expressed interest in the Senate concept, though numerous questions remain to be answered. Gov. Rick Scott has endorsed Medicaid expansion, but House and Senate Republicans appear to want to find another way to offer coverage.
“I oppose the Washington plan, and I want a Florida plan,” Negron said. “I think we have an opportunity to build a better program than what Washington is trying to force on us.”
Democrats support Medicaid expansion. But they also noted that Negron’s proposed alternative would address many of the expansion’s goals.
“Although Republicans voted against what they called ‘traditional Medicaid expansion’ they turned around and endorsed a program that still relies on the same federal dollars and still extends affordable health care to 1 million Floridians,” Senate Minority Leader Chris Smith, D-Fort Lauderdale, said. “Whatever name they opt to give the program, the bottom line is that money allocated by the federal government for Medicaid expansion will be the mechanism. In the Senate, the remaining question is no longer ‘if,’ but ‘who.’ ”
STORY OF THE WEEK: Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll resigned, after being interviewed by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement about her past consulting work for Allied Veterans of the World, a group at the heart of a criminal investigation of Internet cafes.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “The case against Allied Veterans of the World makes clear that Internet casinos are a breeding ground for illegal activity.” — Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam, after the crackdown on the industry.
By The News Service Florida
Food For America Introduces 1,100 Students To Agriculture
March 16, 2013
Over 1,100 elementary students attended the annual Northview High School FFA Food for America program Friday morning at Northview High School in Bratt.
The students from a three county area had a chance to learn about agriculture first hand up close and personal with farm animals, farm equipment and more to learn how food gets from the farm to their tables. Students were even able to make their own butter.
The Northview High School FFA “Food for America” program has been honored as the No. 1 program in the state multiple times.
The day was dedicated to students from Escambia Westgate School who attended the program for the first time.
For a photo gallery, click here.
Pictured: Over 1,100 elementary students attended the Northview FFA Food for America program Friday morning. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Beulahfest Friday (With Photo Gallery)
March 16, 2013
At Friday’s Beulahfest, headliners Shenandoah and Randy Houser entertained thousands.
The festival features not only great music, but plenty of fun, rides, and of course those delicious sausages. Beulahfest attracts thousands each year, with proceeds benefiting the Beulah Volunteer Fire Department and other local charities. Beulahfest is sponsored in part by NorthEscambia.com.
For a photo gallery from Friday at Beulahfest, click here.
Pictured top: Country star Randy Houser performs Friday night at Beulahfest. Pictured inset: The Cat from Cat Country 98.7 poses with members of the Beulah VFD. Pictured below: The midway at Beulahfest. NorthEscambia.com photos by Kristi Smith, click to enlarge.
