Northview Names Students Of The Month
February 12, 2013
Northview High School has named their Students of the Month from January. They are Courtney Peebles and Dustin Parker. Submitted photo for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Former Republican Party Chair Pleads Guilty To Criminal Counts
February 12, 2013
Former Republican Party of Florida Chairman Jim Greer pleaded guilty Monday to five criminal counts in connection with his fundraising activities during his time in office, ending a two-year legal odyssey that had threatened to unearth secrets of the state GOP and former Gov. Charlie Crist.
The guilty plea set off a round of political finger-pointing in Tallahassee, with Republicans laying the blame for the debacle on Crist, a newly-minted Democrat who could challenge current GOP Gov. Rick Scott in 2014. Democrats, meanwhile, tried to tag the RPOF with Greer’s ethical baggage.
Greer pleaded guilty to four counts of grand theft and one count of money laundering; prosecutors will ask for 42 months in prison.
The case against Greer centers on allegations that he used his position as party chairman to steer business to Victory Strategies, his fundraising company. Greer said party leaders knew what he was doing, and that a secret severance agreement between himself and party leaders should have protected him from any criminal liability.
Greer sued the RPOF, former Senate President Mike Haridopolos and Sen. John Thrasher, who succeeded Greer as party chief, for the $123,000 he was offered in the severance agreement and $5 million in damages. Greer will drop that suit following the plea deal, his attorney said.
Damon Chase, who had fiercely represented Greer during the long-running and multifaceted legal battle, said in an interview Monday that he still believed Greer would have won at trial.
“The evidence was overwhelmingly in our favor, but I guess Greer got an offer that he couldn’t refuse,” Chase told the News Service.
Chase wouldn’t elaborate on any terms of Greer’s agreement to plead guilty, saying it was confidential.
“Knowing the deal he got, I don’t blame him one bit for taking it,” Chase said.
The case had promised to be a statewide legal and political spectacle, with Greer threatening to drag the RPOF’s dirty laundry into open court. Also potentially on the firing line was Crist, a Republican-turned-independent-turned-Democrat who is widely believed to be plotting a political comeback.
In fact, RPOF Executive Director Mike Grissom referred to Greer as “the man Charlie Crist personally picked to lead the Republican Party of Florida” in a statement regarding the plea deal.
“For the past three years, Jim Greer has tried to damage the reputation of the Republican Party and its leaders, but the truth is now known that Jim Greer broke the law, stole from RPOF and our donors, and then said and did everything he could to cover up and distract attention from his crimes,” Grissom said. “Everything Jim Greer has said and done over these past few years should be considered in that light.”
Democrats, meanwhile, tried to keep Republicans from ducking blame.
“Republicans in Tallahassee breathed a collective sigh of relief this morning, but they have nothing to feel good about,” said Florida Democratic Party spokeswoman Brannon Jordan. “The former chair of their party admitted to four counts of grand theft before a national audience.”
Greer will be sentenced next month.
Greer faced few problems when Charlie Crist’s star was on the rise after a sweeping victory in the gubernatorial elections of 2006, a year that saw historic gains by Democrats nationwide. But after Crist’s controversial embrace of President Barack Obama’s stimulus package in 2009 — a move that would begin Crist’s eventual move away from the party — Greer became more controversial among conservative critics.
Greer had maintained that it was that discontent on the right and his ties to Crist, rather than any concerns about his fundraising, that precipitated his resignation from the party in early 2010.
But for whatever reason, and with whomever to blame, Greer decided Monday not to take that battle to its last stage.
By The News Service of Florida
New Computers For Tate High
February 12, 2013
Over five dozen new computers are set to be purchased for Tate High School.
The news Dell computers include two basic staff desktops, 11 basic student desktops, two laptop carts and 50 Latitude 2120 netbook computers with Microsoft Office Pro Plus 2013 software. All of the computers will have a three year warranty.
The total cost for the new technology is $44,850.87. The Escambia County School Board is expected to approve the purchase at their February 19 meeting.
Cantonment Woman Arrested Following January Wreck
February 12, 2013
A Cantonment woman was recently arrested on a drug charge following a single vehicle wreck in January in McDavid.
The Florida Highway Patrol said 24-year old Jessica Nicole Godwin was northbound on Highway 29 near Brown Road about 9:20 p.m. on January 10 when she lost control, ran off the roadway and hit a culvert. Her 2001 Kia Sephia then became airborne, overturned and landed on its roof in a ditch.
Firefighters were forced to use the Jaws of Life to free Godwin from the vehicle. She was transported by ambulance to Sacred Heart Hospital in Pensacola.
Godwin, of Louis Street, Cantonment, was arrested February 5 on an outstanding warrant from the Florida Highway Patrol for possession of a controlled substance without a prescription, a third degree felony.
Pictured: One Cantonment woman was seriously injured in this single vehicle crash on Highway 29 near Brown Road in McDavid. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Man Arrested On Child Porn Charges
February 11, 2013
An Escambia County man wanted on outstanding warrants for possession of child pornography has been arrested.
Brent E. Hooper, 37, of East Maxwell Street, turned himself in at the Escambia County Jail just before 10 p.m. Sunday. He was charged with 20 counts of possession of child pornography and seven counts of distribution of obscene communications.
Investigators determined Hooper had downloaded sexually explicit images involving children onto his laptop computer and also transmitted those images to other computer users.
Agents with the North Florida Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force initiated a search warrant February 4 at Hooper’s residence after he was identified via the internet as obtaining and distributing child pornography.
Task force members who assisted the Pensacola Police Department with this investigation included the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Office of Homeland Security and Escambia County Sheriff’s Office.
Trooper Pursuit Ends With Minor Wreck
February 11, 2013
A Florida State trooper was involved in a minor crash Sunday during a pursuit in Santa Rosa County.
The FHP said the trooper observed a 2012 Chevrolet Cruze traveling at 110 mph on I-10. The trooper, in a marked 2012 Dodge Charger, overtook the Cruze at the intersection of Garcon Point Road and activated his emergency lights and siren in a traffic stop.
The vehicle fled west on Da Lisa Road for two-tenths of a mile before braking sharply, causing the trooper to strike the Cruze from behind. The driver of the Cruze then fled north on Woodville Road at a high rate of speed.
The pursuit was called off due to entering a residential neighborhood.
The trooper suffered minor injuries in the crash and was not transported to the hospital. The trooper’s vehicle suffered about $2,500 in damage.
ECAT Plans To ‘X-Out’ Buses Over Gas Tax Increase Use
February 11, 2013
The local transit union plans to X-out ECAT buses this week to protest reported plans by the City of Pensacola to keep a four cent gas tax hike rather than passing it along to the county for mass transit.
Late last year, the Escambia County Commission approved a four cent gas tax increase beginning in 2014 to fund ECAT public transportation. The Town of Century balked, and now it appears the City of Pensacola may use the funds in an effort to new jobs to town.
On Thursday, the ATU Local 1395 will show the public, bus riders and elected officials one possible result to cutting $700,000 or more out of the transit service. About seven to 10 bus routes will be tagged with an “X” to show how many people would be without bus service with the funding reduction.
The union said the action is a direct response to an announce by Escambia County Commission Chairman Gene Valentino last week. Valentino said Pensacola proposes to use proceeds from the recently passed gas tax for economic development. Pensacola may use the funds as incentives for Project Stallion, a Singapore aerospace company with 500 jobs that is considering a location at the Pensacola International Airport.
“The Union has supported a dedicated gas tax for mass transit (ECAT) since 2007 and is encouraging the members of the city council to not only support the bus system by approving the gas tax for ECAT but allow the city to have a joint effort in how the system run with the county, a union press releases stated.
Valentino said last week that Pensacola needs to head “back to the drawing board” an find another way to finance their portion of a bond issue for Project Stallion.
The Town of Century has also refused to agree to remit their portion of the tax to the county, claiming it would potentially force the three gas stations in Century to close as drivers cross the state line and purchase cheaper gas in Flomaton.
Century asked the Escambia County State Legislative Delegation to support a bill exempting Century from the tax, but that idea failed because Florida law won’t allow the exemption. Century is now considered a push for a constitutional amendment to nix the tax in Century.
NorthEscambia.com file photos, click to enlarge.
Bill: Drivers Texting In Fatal Crashes Would Be Guilty Of Homicide
February 11, 2013
Drivers whose texting leads to an accident and death would be guilty of homicide under a bill filed last week in the Senate and expected to soon show up in the House.
Drivers whose texting led to death could be charged with vehicular homicide, a second degree felony punishable by up to 15 years in jail under a proposal (SB 708) filed this week by Sen. Darren Soto, D-Orlando.
Rep. Irv Slosberg, D-Boca Raton, is expected to file a companion measure in the House.
The bills are among a handful of efforts to reduce the use of wireless communications by motorists. Florida is one of a few states that have not adopted restrictions against texting while driving – even when death occurs as a result.
By The News Service of Florida
School News: Book Fair At Ernest Ward; Orientations At Northview, EWMS
February 11, 2013
Orientation sessions are planned at Northview High and Ernest Ward Middle schools, and Ernest Ward is holding a book fair this week. Details:
Northview High Orientation
Northview High School will host an orientation for all eighth grade students entering the ninth grade at Northview for the 2013-2014 school year. The orientation agenda will include a variety of useful topics that will help parents and students become more familiar with the registration process, student academic progression, and other requirements. The orientation will begin at 6 p.m. on Monday, February 25th in the Northview theater.
Ernest Ward Book Fair
Ernest Ward Middle School Spring Scholastic Book Fair will be held this week, February 11-15. Students will be allowed to shop during scheduled hours and during their lunches. The Fair will also be available during the Valentine’s Dance Friday evening. Cash only sales. The Book Fairs is also online, click here.
Ernest Ward Middle Orientation
Ernest Ward Middle School will hold an orientation and registration for all students who plan to attend EWMS next school year. The event will be held Thursday, February 21 from 5:30 until 7:00 p.m. in the school gym.
Invitations have already been sent home with sixth and seventh grade EWMS students, along with students from Byrneville, Bratt and Molino Park elementary schools.
The invitation includes a free meal catered by Archie’s Catering Smokehouse for the immediate family of each student who returns the completed form to their homeroom teacher, guidance counselor or the school office by Tuesday, February 12.
During the program, EWMS and staff will be available to answer questions and explain middle school programs, extracurricular activities, and middle school academies. Parents are encouraged to attend the event to complete their child’s registration process for the next school year
Effort To Abolish Florida’s Death Penalty Fails On Committee Vote
February 11, 2013
An effort to abolish the death penalty in Florida finally got a hearing last week in a House committee after a three-year effort, but then quickly went down to defeat.
The House Criminal Justice Subcommittee voted 9-4 against a bill (HB 4005) that would have statutorily abolished the death penalty in the state.
But the rare vote to kill a bill in committee, rather than just bottling it up never to be heard, gave death penalty opponents their first chance to extensively argue for a repeal, following several years in which the measure’s sponsor, Rep. Michelle Rehwinkel Vasilinda, has been unable to persuade Republican leaders to put the bill before a committee.
Rehwinkel Vasilinda, D-Tallahassee, offered extensive praise for committee chairman Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fort Walton Beach, for being willing to allow the debate on the often divisive and emotional issue. Gaetz also had the committee take testimony from a number of death penalty opponents, including a rabbi, a university criminology professor and a woman whose daughter and grandson were murdered but who has advocated against the death penalty.
The debate and vote on the bill preceded another discussion on potential flaws in application of the death penalty, the beginning of a discussion that may result in legislation later this year.
But Gaetz said that before debating whether to make the death penalty law better, it only made sense to take up the “threshold question … of whether Florida should even have the death penalty.”
Rehwinkel Vasilinda said she was passionate about the notion that it should not, citing the too high chance of executing someone who is innocent – considering that 24 death row inmates have been exonerated. She also cited her own personal beliefs that arise out of her Catholic faith. She also said the United States is increasingly out of step with other modern democracies, most of which have banned capital punishment.
Most of those who spoke in favor of abolishing the death penalty said it was because it was unfairly applied, and the state’s track record on wrongful convictions doesn’t seem to be very good.
Rep. Kionne McGhee, a former prosecutor who also experienced the justice system from the perspective of someone whose father and brother were murdered, said regardless of whether it’s right, the system doesn’t work.
“One innocent life taken on death row is enough to question the system,” said McGhee, D-Miami.
Rehwinkel and others also told the committee that there’s a growing sense that even if it were the right thing to do philosophically, that the expense of carrying out the death penalty is depriving communities of money that could go for other criminal justice needs.
Gaetz said he, too, was passionate about the issue, but on the other side, and believes above all else, that it serves as a deterrent in particular situations, if not more broadly.
“I like knowing today that in Florida everybody knows that if you kill a cop you will be executed,” Gaetz said. “I want everybody in prison to know that if a corrections officer is killed by your hand, you will die.”
The committee also heard a plea in favor of keeping the death penalty from another perspective. State Attorney Brad King, a central Florida prosecutor, laid out gruesome details of some of the state’s most notorious murders of children, arguing that some crimes are simply so atrocious that death for the murderer is the only option that makes any sense.
He reminded the panel about the case of 9-year-old Jessica Lunsford, for example, and how after being abducted and raped, she was buried alive, and investigators noted the marks on her finger nails from trying to claw her way out of a plastic bag.
Murderers chose to end those lives without due process, he said.
“By their choice, by their decision, they should be judged,” King said.
And King asked the panel what he should say to the families of the children he mentioned, who may wonder why their loved ones died but a brutal killer might be allowed to live.
“It is right to say their life is not more valuable than the little lives that they took,” King said.
Gaetz said the committee will continue to listen to death penalty opponents as it takes a broader look at fairness issues with the application of capital punishment.
By The News Service of Florida