Barrineau Park Community Center To Host Music Night, Swing Dance
September 6, 2012
The Barrineau Park Community Center will play host to two big events Friday and Saturday nights — a bluegrass music night and swing dancing.
Friday — Barrineau Park Music Night
The monthly Barrineau Park Music Night will be held Friday night at the Barrineau Park Community Center. The featured local groups are Southern Sounds and bluegrass group Trugrass.
The singing starts at 6:30 p.m. Food and refreshments will be available beginning at 6 p.m. The event is a family-friendly — no alcohol is permitted on the property, and no smoking is allowed in or near the building.
Admission is free, but donations are accepted for musicians’ expenses.
For more information, call (850) 572-4433. The Barrineau Park Community Center is located on Barrineau Park School road, about three miles west of Molino.
Saturday — Swing Dancing
“Swing Molino Swing”, a family oriented event, will be held at the Barrineau Park Community Center Saturday night.
The event begins at 6:30 p.m. with lessons. There will be a $5 charge to cover costs, and there will be a $5 meal available with a hot dog, chips, dessert and drink. Spike heels are not allowed, and females that plan to wear a dress and practice the dip moves will need a pair of shorts underneath.
Summer Of 2012 Was Wettest On Record
September 6, 2012
The summer of 2012 was the wettest on record for the Pensacola area , according to data released Wednesday by the National Weather Service.
The Pensacola Regional Airport, the official recording location for the county, recorded 39.19 inches of rain — nearly 15 inches above normal. That broke the old record of 37.04 inches set in 1994. The high rain totals were thanks to a June flood and rains from Debbie and Isaac.
The heavy rains also kept temperatures near normal. The average summer temperature was 81.9 degrees just above the normal of 81.5 degrees.
Pictured: June flooding at the Escambia County Jail. NorthEscambia.com file photo, click to enlarge.
Bill Clinton Blasts GOP, Hails Obama At DNC
September 6, 2012
In a Democratic National Convention address that combined withering attacks on Republicans with a full endorsement of President Barack Obama, former President Bill Clinton delivered a point-by-point repudiation of the GOP case for defeating Obama and said the nation was better off now than when Obama was elected.
Clinton acknowledged that many people were still feeling the pain of a slow economic recovery, but said things were turning around.
“If you will renew the president’s contract, you will feel it,” Clinton promised.
He also discussed the Republican’s attempts to use the economic downturn as a reason to throw Obama out, laying blame for the crash on the GOP. Clinton summed up their case this way: “We left him a total mess, he hasn’t cleaned it up fast enough so fire him, put us back in.”
The campaign of GOP nominee Mitt Romney shot back, slamming Obama for looking to Clinton to validate his candidacy.
“Americans deserve a president willing to run on his own accomplishments, and not the record of a predecessor,” spokeswoman Amanda Hennenberg said.
In her own speech, Massachusetts Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren, a star among the Democratic base for her work on consumer protection, also nodded toward the troubled economic times.
“People feel like the system is rigged against them,” Warren said. “And here’s the painful part: They’re right.”
Clinton formally placed Barack Obama’s name up for nomination on Wednesday night. Obama will accept his nomination Thursday night during a nationally-televised speech. The speech was planned for the city’s 74,000-seat outdoor football stadium, but the threat of severe weather has moved the event back inside the Time Warner Cable Arena, the site of the rest of the week’s activities.
By The News Service of Florida
Learn More About Starting Your Own Cottage Food Business
September 6, 2012
Escambia County Extension will host a “Cottage Foods: Starting Your Own Cottage Food Business” program for those that wish to sell food made in their homes.
The program will cover pricing, marketing, food safety, demonstrations and include a time for questions and answers with the Extension Service Small Farms and FCS Staff. Farms or individuals interested or currently marketing processed foods are encouraged to attend.
Cottage foods by definition are foods made in the home for resale that do not require refrigeration. These include but are not limited to jams, jellies, preserves, honey, cakes and pies.
The program will be held at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, September 11 at the Escambia County Extension Office at 3740 Stefani Road in Cantonment. The $5 cost of the program will cover materials and handouts. For registration, contact Fran Lainhart at (850) 475-5230 or via email at lainhaf@ufl.edu to register.
New Suit Filed Against Florida Senate Redistricting Plan
September 6, 2012
The League of Women Voters, Common Cause and other groups are challenging the Senate’s redistricting map in a new lawsuit that alleges it violated the new constitutional requirements against using political considerations in drawing boundaries.
The challenge was filed in circuit court in Tallahassee and alleges that the Senate drew a map which “reflected blatant incumbent favoritism and partisan gamemanship.”
The map was a second attempt by the Senate, after initially having its efforts rejected by the Florida Supreme Court. But the second map – the one being challenged in the new suit – has survived a challenge in the Suprme Court already, though the plaintiffs say that wasn’t a full review of the issues, but was merely a “facial” review.
“The Legislature drew districts that will keep incumbent senators in office, assist incumbent House members with election to the Senate, impact internal Senate leaderhip battles, and make gains for the controlling party,” the lawsuit alleges.
Sen. Don Gaetz, R-Niceville, the incoming Senate president who drove the Republican redistricting effort in the Senate, was dismissive. “Today’s filing is nothing more than summer re-runs of the same complaints that were rejected by the Florida Supreme Court,” Gaetz said.
By The News Service of Florida
Judge Dismisses Challenge To Pill Mill Law
September 6, 2012
A federal judge has dismissed a constitutional challenge to a 2010 state law aimed at cracking down on so-called “pill mills.” U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle, in two orders , rejected the case filed by a patient, two doctors and two health clinics.
The 2010 law included such steps as registration requirements for pain-management clinics and limits on the amounts of controlled substances that doctors could dispense to patients who pay by cash, check or credit card. The Legislature in 2011 passed another law that revamped parts of the 2010 measure.
Hinkle closed the case after issuing an order that largely addressed the issues. He wrote that Florida has a “legitimate, indeed sometimes compelling, interest in regulating the distribution of prescription pain medications” and that it has leeway constitutionally in how it does so.
“Information available to the Florida Legislature in 2010, when it adopted the statutes now at issue, indicated that abuse of prescription pain medication was an acute and increasing problem that had caused a substantial number of deaths and other problems in the state,” Hinkle wrote. “Pill mills were out of control. The state enacted the challenged statutes to address the situation.”
By The News Service of Florida
Campaign Would Connect Vets To Millions In Unused Benefits
September 6, 2012
Only a fraction of Florida’s 1.6 million military veterans get the benefits they’ve earned by serving, leading the Department of Veterans’ Affairs to launch a campaign to find those who should be getting millions of dollars left on the table.
Many of the state’s veterans are paying high premiums or out-of-pocket for health care and other services they should be getting for free from the government, retired Army Col. Mike Prendergast, director of department, said Wednesday. And many vets and their family members get services via other programs that cost Florida taxpayers needlessly.
“Any type of health care, counseling, education or other services that are out there (that veterans are getting through other government programs), that could get paid for by the U.S. Department of Veterans’ Affairs, in effect means that potentially, our taxpayers are paying for that service twice,” Prendergast said.
Florida has the third –largest population of veterans, but only 260,000 of the 1.6 million are drawing the benefits to which they’re entitled the agency says.
The campaign will have a special focus on Florida’s 449,000 Vietnam-era vets, who make up more than a quarter of all veterans statewide.
One of them, Commander Mark Alvarez of the Veterans of Foreign Wars post in Tallahassee, said Vietnam vets are often wary due to how they were treated when they returned from an unpopular war.
“We weren’t that well received,” he said. “But times have changed.”
Alvarez also said that veterans’ services, both federal and state, are much improved since that time.
“The Department of Veterans’ Affairs is reaching out more than ever to veterans, to let them know what’s out there and how they can help,” Alvarez said. “And I think we’re getting better educated and not being so reluctant.”
Homelessness is another problem for veterans, especially those of the Vietnam era. But according to Prendergast, the numbers have dropped in Florida thanks to an aggressive campaign by the federal government, dovetailed with state and local veterans’ programs.
“Just in the past year, our numbers have dwindled by about 2,000 who have reintegrated into their communities,” he said.
The state campaign is also reaching out to 140,000 women vets and to 231,000 veterans of Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom.
“Our needs are very different, depending on our stages of life,” said former Army Capt. Courtney Heidelberg, who served in Operation Iraqi Freedom.
For instance, James Brian Fox, a returning Air Force vet enrolled at Florida State University, said he’s now able to get a higher education thanks to paid tuition and five years of free health care.
“To all the veterans out there who are thinking of maybe separating and going to school,” he said, “there are people here waiting to help you.”
Fox also noted that the veterans agency’s outreach campaign includes new media, which he praised for its effectiveness in connecting with his contemporaries.
“The mobile app is great,” he said. “Young people use the Internet for absolutely everything nowadays.”
Prendergast urged the loved ones of Florida vets to help them qualify for services – especially Vietnam-era vets. They might not be ill now, he said, but in ten years they might be suffering from a disability related to their time in Southeast Asia, where they could have been exposed to herbicides like Agent Orange.
“Whatever branch of service we earned our stripes in,” he said, “we never leave a man behind – or a woman.”
By The News Service of Florida
Arrest Made After Escambia County Pastor Shot At His Church
September 5, 2012
An Escambia County pastor was shot in the parking lot of his church Wednesday evening, and deputies have the suspect in custody.
West Pensacola Baptist Church Pastor Laddie Pierce was shot about 6 p.m. as he was headed to a Bible study. He was transported by ambulance to Baptist Hospital in Pensacola. His injuries are not life threatening.
Randall G. Markham, 72, was taken into custody at the scene. He was booked into the Escambia County Jail without bond.
Deputies said Markham and Pierce were involved in an argument outside the church before the shooting. Markham, deputies said, then pulled a firearm and shot the pastor in the leg. There were no other injuries.
Markham, a member of the church’s congregation, admitted to deputies that he shot the pastor because he believed his wife was having an affair with Pierce. Markham told deputies that “his intent and purpose was to shoot Pierce in the groin area one time without killing him”.
“The pastor was shot by a member of our church who suffers with mental health issues. Pastor is doing well and is expected to make a full recovery,” read a statement issued Thursday by the church.
West Pensacola Baptist Church is located on West Jackson street.
Deputy Injured In Rollover Wreck
September 5, 2012
An Escambia County Sheriff’s deputy was injured in a rollover accident Wednesday morning at the New Warrington Road overpass across Mobile Highway.
Deputy Melissa Scruggs, 33, was responding to an armed disturbance call. She was eastbound on New Warrington Road when she struck a guardrail that borders the roadway and traveled into the median. Her 2007 Crown Victoria then struck a bridge concrete barrier and traveled over it. The vehicle came to rest at the bottom of the overpass embankment adjacent to Mobile Highway.
First responders extricated Scruggs from her cruiser. She was transported to a local hospital where she remains in serious condition.
Scruggs has been with the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office for two and half years and is assigned to patrol.
No charges were filed in connection with the accident, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.
Pictured above: An Escambia County Sheriff’s deputy was injured in this accident Wednesday morning at New Warrington Road and Mobile Highway. Photo courtesy WEAR 3 for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Firefighters Respond To Reported Electrical Fire At Bratt Home
September 5, 2012
Firefighters responded to a reported electrical fire at a home in Bratt this morning.
A resident reported sparks from a bedroom outlet about 6:35 a.m. The fire was extinguished before firefighters arrived on scene at the wood frame home on O’Farrell Road, just west of North Highway 99.
The Walnut Hill, McDavid, Century and Molino stations of Escambia Fire Rescue responded to the call.
NorthEscambia.com photo, click to enlarge.