Ernest Ward Holds Spring Band And Chorus Concert
May 27, 2012
The annual Ernest Ward Middle School Band and Chorus Spring Concert was held last week at the Walnut Hill Community Center. Attendees enjoyed musical selections from each group along with a spaghetti supper. Submitted photos by Matt Brook for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Is Your Church Having VBS?
May 27, 2012
Now is the time to submit your Vacation Bible School announcements to NorthEscambia.com so that we can include them on our events page and let everyone know.
Email your VBS event details to: news@northescambia.com
Please try to submit your information as far in advance as possible.
Escambia Marine’s Latest Mission: Selling Baby Gates
May 27, 2012
An Escambia County Marine knew he wanted an online business but did not know what product he would sell until his wife became pregnant. Venturing into the business of selling baby gates was the last thing on his mind until 30-year old Staff Sergeant Larry Griffin discovered that he was going to become a father.
Baby gates is quite an unusual business for someone who is considered the “The Few, The Proud”.
“It’s amazing how soft even the toughest men can get when you bring a child in this world,” SSgt Griffin said.
Griffin, a Texas native now stationed in Pensacola, enlisted into the United States Marine Corps in 2000 as an F/A-18 avionics technician. He’s been all over the world to include a tour in Iraq in support of the Global War on Terror, and several trips to the Western Pacific. Griffin said he dedicated and very loyal to the Marine Corps but realized that he won’t be in the Corp forever. His settled on the ultimate goal after the Corps to work for himself and become a business owner.
“I’ve always wanted to own my own business,” he said. “I don’t want to work hard for earned income. I would rather work hard for passive income.”
After marrying his wife in 2009, Griffin began educating himself on business and entrepreneurship in preparation for life outside of the Corps. He read books and watched videos until one day he came across an opportunity to put his plan into action. He suddenly became a student for a company that was going to teach him everything he needed to know about internet marketing. This is when he decided he was going to build a website around a product and run an online store. He had no idea what he was going to sell, nor was he prepared for the news he was about to receive.
After learning that his wife was pregnant with their first child, SSgt Griffin felt a sense of urgency to find something to sell on his future online store. It had to be something in demand, yet something easy to market.
“I was spending a ton of time trying to figure out the perfect product to sell. Finally, after my wife got pregnant, it just hit me… baby gates,” SSgt Griffin said. “I was looking for something in relatively high demand. People are always going to have children and be concerned about their safety, so I figured my focus would be providing baby gates to parents.”
With no prior experience with building a website, SSgt Griffin began to put the training to work. Ultimately, after hard work and dedication, he created the BabyGatesGalore website.
“My website offers a much larger variety than the average department store, at equally competitive prices. It carries only the highest quality, trusted names in baby gates,” he said.
A limited time discount is currently being offered on his BabyGatesGalore.com website by entering the text “family discount” at checkout, he said.
Repeat Felon Sentenced To 20 Years For Burglary
May 27, 2012
Charlie James Lyons was sentenced by Judge Michael Allen to 20 years state prison on count one and five years concurrent on counts two and three for burglary of an unoccupied dwelling, grand theft and criminal mischief. Lyons will be required to serve 85-percent of the 20-year sentence.
In November 2009, the victim stated that when she returned to her home, she noticed that one of her windows was broken and her residence had been ransacked and a wedding ring set was missing. During a search of the residence by police, blood droplets were found on a piece of glass from the shattered window. Charlie Lyons’ DNA matched the blood droplets from the scene of the crime, according to court documents.
During the officers’ interview with Lyons, he confessed that he used a brick to break the window and cut himself on the broken glass as he entered the residence.
In 1982, Lyons was convicted of robbery with a firearm and served a 15-year prison sentence. In 1992, Lyons was convicted for burglary of an occupied dwelling and he served a 17-year prison sentence.
Featured Recipe: Bold Burger Stars During Grilling Season
May 27, 2012
Today’s featured recipe from food writer Janet Tharpe is a bold burger with kicked up toppings.
Braves Beat Wahoos 7-3 Before Capacity Pensacola Crowd
May 27, 2012
The Braves collected six straight singles as part of a five-run eighth inning, as first baseman Ian Gac recorded three hits, to lead Mississippi to a 7-3 win over the Pensacola Blue Wahoos in front of another capacity crowd of 5,038 on Saturday night at Pensacola Bayfront Stadium.
It was the 17thh sellout crowd of the year at the bayfront stadium in their 23rdd home opening of 2012. The victory clinched the series for the Braves, who improved their record to 22-26 this season, while the Blue Wahoos fell to 23-26 this year.
Pensacola entered the eighth inning leading 3-2, but Mississippi plated five runs on six straight singles to grab a 7-3 advantage they would not give up. Prior to their late inning scoring spurt, Mississippi brought home single scores in the fourth and sixth innings, including Gac’s RBI double in the sixth.
The Blue Wahoos took an early 1-0 lead in the second thanks to RF Andrew Means’ first home run of the year, while C Brian Peacock drove in the next two tallies for the Fish. The Pensacola backstop drew a bases-loaded walk in the fourth, and later drove in 3B David Vidal with an RBI single in the sixth.
Both starters did not factor in the decision despite quality starts, with Pensacola RHP Daniel Corcino (6.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 7 SO) yielding just two earned runs on six hits in six frames, while Braves LHP Sean Gilmartin (6.0 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 4 BB, 9 SO) tied a season-high with nine strikeouts and gave up three runs in his six innings of work.
Braves reliever Andy Russell (2.0 IP) earned the victory after throwing two shutout innings in relief of starter Gilmartin, while RHP Mark Serrano (0.0 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 4 ER) suffered the loss to fall to 3-1 on the year.
Along with Gac (3-5, 1 R, 2 2B, 1 RBI) LF Alden Carrithers (2-3, 1 RBI, 1 BB) collected two or more hits for Mississippi, while 3B David Vidal (2-4, 1 R, 1 2B) and RF Andrew Means (2-4, 1 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI) recorded multi-hit efforts in the defeat.
The Braves and Blue Wahoos will meet for the final time this series on Sunday afternoon, with first pitch set for 2:00 pm at the bayfront stadium. Pensacola is scheduled to send RHP Tim Crabbe to the hill, while Mississippi is expected to counter with RHP David Hale.
by Andrew Green
Pictured Andrew Means homered for the first time this year as the Blue Wahoos lost to the Braves in Pensacola Saturday night. Photo by Chris Nelson for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Birth: Wyatt Dewayne Johnson
May 27, 2012
FWC Explains Decision To Euthanize Cantonment Bear
May 26, 2012
After following the saga of a black bear seen around a Cantonment apartment complex for a week, many area residents were saddened — or even outraged — that the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission made the decision to euthanize the bear on Friday. [Read more...]
After reading the comments from local residents on a NorthEscambia.com article, Karen Parker, FWC public information coordinator, submitted the following detailed explanation defending the agency’s actions:
Many people do not understand why we have to do this. The answer is that it wasn’t an option for us to release the bear into the wild. He was so conditioned to human-provided food, and showed such a lack of fear of people, that he would simply repeat this behavior elsewhere and someone may be hurt. Unfortunately there are no areas left in Florida where we would feel assured he would not come into contact with people.
Placing the bear in captivity seems a reasonable solution to many people. Unfortunately, placing wild, adult bears in captivity, as many people have asked us to do, has been proven to be harmful to wild bears because they do not adapt well to captivity. Adult female bears normally range over a 15 square mile area, and to place such a wide-ranging animal into a space a fraction of that size is similar to putting a person into solitary confinement. Wild bears taken into captivity risk injuring themselves and their human caretakers as they attempt to escape. These animals also often show signs of stress and depression by remaining in their night dens for weeks or months at a time, destroying items in their exhibits, pacing and swaying repetitively, as well as mutilating themselves.
That leaves us with only one viable option and that is to euthanize the bear. We do not enjoy putting animals down, but there are times when it is necessary, even when human behavior is the one at fault. This and other similar situations involving people, pets and bears, are caused by humans and can be resolved by humans. By preventing bears from getting human-provided food, we can prevent these types of needless situations.
It is heartbreaking to have to euthanize healthy bears, and we completely understand and empathize with those who object to the FWC taking this action. Many communities in Florida are near or in ideal bear habitat, and bears naturally wander into these neighborhoods in search of food. But generally, they stay only if they find a consistent source of food that is easy to obtain – food such as unsecured garbage, birdseed, and pet food. Unfortunately, once bears become used to humans and the food they provide, bears can lose their natural fear of people. When they do, this can be the unfortunate result.
The best way for people to help is to insist that communities in or adjacent to bear country take actions to prevent situations like this from occurring. Some of the most effective tools are rules, ordinances and policies that require the use of proven bear resistant garbage cans and dumpsters by residents, businesses, governments, schools, etc., and not allowing pet foods, bird seed or other food items to be left out of overnight. These tools provide a long term solution to significantly reduce conflicts between humans and bears, instead of having to rely on short term fixes like euthanizing individual offending bears. If what attracts the bears is not corrected and eliminated, more bears may be euthanized.
To successfully implement and enforce such requirements requires both a financial commitment and behavioral change by the people and communities affected because the actions must be consistent and long term. In addition, bear-proof containers are typically more expensive than regular trash receptacles. However, the result is a safer community and fewer bears having to be euthanized.
We can live in bear country without having bear conflicts. Please visit MyFWC.com/bear for more information about Florida’s bears and how you can have a local impact on reducing human-bear conflicts.
Submitted by Karen Parker
Public Information Coordinator
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission
Jim Allen, Other Schools Collect 74,000 Plastic Bags For Homeless Sleeping Mats
May 26, 2012
Jim Allen Elementary joined a half dozen other elementary schools in Escambia and Santa Rosa counties in collecting 74,000 plastic grocery type bags that will eventually provide a sleeping surface for homeless people.
Jim Allen, Bellview, A.K. Suter, Oakcrest, Lipscomb, St John the Evangelist and Bagdad elementary collected the bags in partnership with the Florida Department of Environmental Management Northwest District and the Waterfront Rescue Mission. The classes at each school that collected the most bags were awarded a reusable shopping bag and a one-day pass to any Florida state park.
The bags will be used by a volunteer group that will crochet them into sleeping mats to be donated to the homeless. Each mat requires about 500 bags, meaning the students’ efforts will lead to 148 mats.
The finished mats are 3×6 feet, are lightweight and easy to carry with shoulder strap. They provide the homeless with protection from moisture and hard surfaces when they sleep.
Escambia Man Gets Two Life Terms For Sexual Battery Of Teen
May 26, 2012
An Escambia County man has been sentenced to spend the rest of his life in prison for the sexual battery of a teen.
Michael Dochterman was sentenced by Judge Terry Terrell to two consecutive life sentences for two counts of sexual battery with a knife. Dochterman was also sentenced to an additional 20 years for a third sexual battery and failing to register as a sex offender. Judge Terrell sentenced Docterman as a dangerous sexual felony offender and designated him as a sexual predator.
Last July, Dochterman forced his girlfriend’s 15-year old daughter to have sex with him while repeatedly stabbing her with a knife. The victim was stabbed nine times and suffered a collapsed lung.
At his sentencing, Dochterman stated “I don’t deserve to be in society”.
Dochterman had previously been convicted of sexual battery.