Union Pushes For ECAT Public Transit Gas Tax
April 24, 2012
The union that represents ECAT drivers is pushing for a new 3-cent gas tax to fund public transit in Escambia County.
After the Escambia County Commission considered, and decided against, cutting $3.7 million in funding for libraries, commissioners also mentioned the idea of cutting $3 million in funding for ECAT and replacing it with a 3-cent gas tax that would be in addition to the county’s current 10-cent levy.
Escambia County is facing a projected $9.5 million budget deficit this year, with $6.2 million of that money going to the state after a requirement that counties reimburse Tallahassee for unpaid Medicaid expenses that have been adding up for over a decade.
In a letter to the commission, Michael A. Lowery, president of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1395, said he supports the gas tax.
Lowery said the transit union supports the gas tax rather than closing libraries.
“The Union also stands strong behind maintaining our Library System for the great citizens of Escambia County and we would argue that having access to public libraries and funded by our County is crucial to support many of our lower income citizens and their children for furthering their education. Many of these citizens don’t have the ability and means to afford the books, internet, and library programs to be successful,” Lowery wrote.
He said the gas tax would cost the average Escambia County driver about $20 per year.
If the library funding had been cut, the Century Branch Library would have been closed, and the currently under-construction Molino Library would never open.
Pictured top: A gas war of sorts continued Monday in Cantonment and Molino, with several stations selling a gallon of regular for $3.65 — several cents below the rest of Escambia County. NorthEscambia.com photo, click to enlarge.
Identities Released: Clerk, Robber Both Dead After Store Shootout
April 24, 2012
The identities have been released of a clerk and a robber both killed in a shootout at an Escambia County store Monday evening.
Shortly after 5 p.m., 33-year-old Joshua Levi Hilton of Pensacola entered the AC Grocery at the intersection of Pace Boulevard and Godfrey Street and robbed store clerk Terra Denise Fountain, age 41, at gunpoint, according to investigators.
During the robbery, Fountain retrieved a firearm, and both exchanged gunfire inside the store. Hilton managed to flee the store on foot, but collapsed a short distance away. Hilton was still clutching the gun and money he had taken, according to the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office. He died a short time later at a local hospital.
Fountain was pronounced dead at the scene.
There were no other suspects in the robbery, the Sheriff’s Office said.
Nearly two hours after the shooting, dozens of onlookers were still at the scene, watching as crime scene technicians processed evidence. Deputies stood watch, keeping the onlookers back from crime scene tape surrounding the parking lot of the small store. One of the glass windows of the store was shattered.
For a NorthEscambia.com photo gallery from the scene, click here.
Pictured top: Both a robber and store clerk died in a shootout at the AC Grocery on Pace Boulevard Monday evening. Pictured inset: An Escambia County Sheriff’s Office investigator works inside the store following the shootings. Pictured below: A crime scene technician (left) gathers evidence near a shattered window in the small grocery store. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Woman Caught With Drugs At Jail
April 24, 2012
A Cantonment woman is facing a felony drug charge after allegedly being caught with drugs on her person as she was being booked into the Escambia County Jail.
Caitlin Bagwell was charged with possession of controlled substance without a prescription.
She had been arrested at the Ensley Walmart when deputies responded to a suspicious vehicle complaint and found that she had an outstanding warrant for failure to appear in a traffic case.
A detention deputy found half a Xanax and another unknown pill which will be tested.
She was released from the Escambia County Jail on a $250 bond, according to jail records.
Santa Rosa To Join Escambia In Suit Over Medicaid Bills
April 24, 2012
Santa Rosa County is ready to join 27 other counties in Florida — including Escambia — in a Florida Association of Counties lawsuit over a new state Medicaid Law.
The Santa Rosa Commission voted unanimously in a Monday workshop to join the lawsuit. The vote must be ratified during the commission’s regular meeting on Thursday. The new Medicaid law allows the state to recoup tens of millions of dollars in disputed Medicaid costs from counties.
Under the law, Santa Rosa owes an estimated $1.5 million, while Escambia County owes about $6.2 million to the state for disputed Medicaid bills that have been adding up for about a decade.
The Legislature last month approved recouping the money, with leaders contending that counties have not fully made required Medicaid payments. The counties, however, argue that the state’s billing system has major flaws.
Escambia County, for instance, has found that it is being billed for residents of Santa Rosa County and even Alabama residents that used medical facilities in Pensacola.
Ernest Ward Middle Names March Students Of The Month
April 24, 2012
Ernest Ward Middle School has named March Students of the Month. They are: Rhayeshawanna Davidson, sixth grade; Hunter Kite, seventh grade; and Blake Green, eighth grade .
Pictured: March Students of the Month at Ernest Ward Middle School (L-R) Rhayeshawanna Davidson, Blake Green and Hunter Kite. Submitted photo for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Man Sentenced To Jail For Stabbing Nine Mile Road Restaurant Owner
April 24, 2012
A Cantonment man that stabbed a Chinese restaurant owner in the neck after tying to skip out on his bill has pleaded guilty.
Connor James Stenson, 20, pleaded guilty to simple battery and petty theft. He was sentenced to 180 days in the county jail on the battery charge and a concurrent 60 days for petty theft. He will get credit for 77 days he has already spent behind bars awaiting trial.
Victim Shou Chen, owner of King Buffet, said Stenson ate a meal and left the building without paying his $16.95 food and drink bill.
Chen followed him to the parking lot and confronted him. That’s when Stenson pulled out a knife, according to an arrest report, and stabbed Chen in the neck, leaving him with a non-life threatening laceration about four inches long. A witness backed up Chen’s story.
Stenson was also ordered to pay $16.95 in restitution in addition to $870 in fines and costs. A judge also ordered him to stay away from the buffet restaurant.
Deputies: No Prior Reason To Suspect Abuse Of Mentally Handicapped Woman
April 24, 2012
The Escambia County Sheriff’s Office said Monday that they did not have any reason before Saturday to suspect that a young mentally handicapped woman was being abused.
The Sheriff’s Office had responded to a home in the 2800 block of Christine Street twice in recent months, according to Deputy Matt Baxter, ECSO spokesman. Nothing about those visits tipped off deputies that the 21-year old was being abused.
Deputies were called to the home Saturday after neighbors reported someone screaming in the backyard. They found the young woman outside, wearing a sandwich-board sign made of plywood and held around her neck with chains. She was crying, bleeding and walking in the rain around a swimming pool. She had worn a path into the ground she had walked so much. She said she was being punished for taking two pieces of candy.
The signs around her neck read “I am a liar and a theif” (sic) and the other read “I well not” (sic). The chains holding the signs had become sightly embedded in her neck.
Deputies also found that she had a four-inch gash in the back of her head. The victim said the suspects hit her with a bucket. Deputies found that the suspects had used superglue to attempt to close the wound. The next day the wound was still open so the suspect sewed it closed with a needle and thread.
Her adoptive parents — Rondal Floyd Hale, age 59, DeeAnn Marie Hale, age 58 — and a visiting friend — Clinton Michael Carr, age 53 — were charged with aggravated abuse of a disabled adult, a first degree felony. Deputies said additional charges may be filed. All three remained in the Escambia County Jail as of Tuesday morning. Bond for Rondal Hale and Carr was set at $100,000 each, while DeeAnn Hale was being held on $50,000 bond.
Neighbors told a Pensacola media outlet over the weekend that they had called deputies before to report that the woman was being abused. But that’s not really the case, according to Sheriff’s Office records.
The Escambia County Sheriff’s Office responded to the home on March 31 for a reported disturbance, Baxter said. The noise turned about to be from a pool party, with several children playing and screaming in the pool. Baxter said the person that called the Sheriff’s Office refused contact from a deputy.
Last December, an Escambia County Sheriff’s Office deputy went to the home at the request of Florida Department of Children and Families investigator. The deputy was simply on “standby” outside the home, Baxter said, and had no part of any investigation. DCF did not report finding any signs of abuse during the visit.
The 21-year old victim was transported to a local hospital under the custody of DCF. It was not known Monday if she remained in the hospital or her condition.
Submitted photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Wahoos Win 10-4, Even Biscuit Series At Two
April 24, 2012
The Blue Wahoos bounced back on Monday night after back to back losses to beat the Montgomery Biscuits 10-4 at Riverwalk Stadium. After a four-run first inning, the Blue Wahoos never looked back as they evened the series at two games apiece.
Joel Guzman and P.J. Phillips both delivered two-run doubles in the first inning to put the Wahoos in front in front 4-0. The Biscuits responded with a run in the bottom of the inning against Blue Wahoos starter Tim Crabbe (W, 1-0). It was the only run he would allow until the sixth inning.
After giving up back to back singles in the bottom of the second, the Wahoo starter proceeded to retire the next 12 batters he faced from the second inning through the fifth. He walked the first two batters of the sixth, but still got out of the inning after allowing just those two runners to score.
The offense got cranked up again in the seventh when Henry Rodriguez doubled home Miguel Rojas and Ryan LaMarre. The Wahoos added four additional runs in ninth to make it 10-3. Montgomery added a solo home run in the bottom of the ninth from Greg Sexton to cap the scoring for the game.
Five Blue Wahoos had multi-hit games for Pensacola. LaMarre, Didi Gregorius, Rodriguez and Guzman all had two hits while Cody Puckett finished the game 3-for-5 with a run scored and an RBI. Gregorius’ two-hit game raised his average to a league leading .403.
Crabbe earned his first win of the season with his longest start of the year. Kyle Lobstein (L, 1-2) allowed all four first-inning runs and gave up six hits over four innings in the losing effort.
The two teams wrap up the series in Montgomery on Tuesday. The Blue Wahoos will send right-hander J.C. Sulbaran (1-1, 2.65) to the mound against Montgomery righty Joe Cruz (1-2, 5.02). First pitch is set for 10:35 a.m. at Riverwalk Stadium.
By Tommy Thrall
Pictured top: Tim Crabbe worked a season-high six innings in his first win of the season. Photo courtesy Emmele Photography for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Green To Run For Property Appraiser
April 24, 2012
A political newcomer pre-filed Monday to seek the office of Escambia County Property Appraiser.
Charles M. Green IV of Navy Boulevard pre-filed as a Republican for the office currently held by Democrat Chris Jones. There are currently no other announced candidates in the race.
The Informant: Subject Of Matt Damon Movie Speaks
April 23, 2012
His life story was so compelling that Matt Damon portrayed him in a 2009 Warner Brothers movie. He was one of the top executives at one of the largest companies in the world. Making $3 million per year, living in a huge house with his wife. He was on top of the world.
Until his wife called the FBI.
Then, he discovered his real happiness behind bars in a federal prison — making not millions, but $20 a month.
Mark Whitacre, now 54, made history as the highest level corporate whistleblower ever, working undercover with the FBI for years to expose a price fixing scheme at Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), a massive global food processing corporation.
“Society will give you a second chance and they will forgive you,” Whitacre said as he addressed a group of GED graduates and their fellow inmates at Century Correctional Institution. Whitacre is no stranger to being in prison; he spent nine years in federal prison after ADM accused him of embezzling $9 million while he was working as a FBI mole. “It is about redemption and second chances.”
In the early 1990’s, Whitacre’s wife began to notice that something was wrong with him. He fessed up, telling her about the price fixing scheme.
“I told her that it effects everyone that goes to the grocery store,” he said, “that we were stealing from them.” ADM makes food additives such as high fructose corn syrup and other products found in most of the processed foods in the average grocery store. “It was wealthy people taking advantage of poor people.”
“She turned me in,” Whitacre said, “within an hour to the FBI.”
In federal prison, he knew things had to change.
“I knew I had to come out different than I went in,” he said. “I came out better.”
A few months into his prison sentence, Whitacre said he made the decision to help his fellow inmates. Whitacre helped inmates obtain their GED certificates and their correspondence course college diplomas. He finally felt he was earning his keep in life, while making $20 a month behind bars — a far cry from that $3 million a year ADM salary.
“Helping people…I will continue that until I am gone,” he told the Century Correctional inmates.
There are three steps that all inmates need to take, he said….steps that can also be applied to those on the outside.
The first is taking personal responsibility and not blaming others for being in prison.
“I got everything I deserved; the 9.5 years were my fault,” he said. “I had a catch me if you can attitude. It took a stay at home mom to start the probe into the largest price fixing scheme in U.S. history….but it was all my fault.”
The second step is surrounding yourself with positive influences.
“Show me your friends, and I will show you your future,” he said.
The third step, he said, is giving back.
“There is nothing more rewarding than giving back in your community, even in prison.
Once released from prison, Whitarce went to work for the biotech company Cypress Systems, Inc., a company that is heavily involved in cancer research. He started at the bottom of the employment ladder and eventually worked his way up to his current position of chief operation officer and president of operations. He often speaks at FBI events and was the guest speaker in 2011 at the Quantico FBI Academy where he told his story of second chances.
As for his wife…they couple is still married. She is a recent teacher of the year at Warrington Middle School in Pensacola.
“I stand here as living proof,” he said to Century Correctional inmates, “that America does forgive and give you second changes. You can get your life back.”
Whitacre’s story was later made famous in the Warner Brothers movie “The Informant!” with Matt Damon was Whitacre.
For a previous story about the Century CI graduation, click here.
Pictured top: “The Informant” Mark Whitacre addresses GED graduates at Century Correctional Institution. Pictures top inset: Century Correctional inmates listen to Whitacre speak. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.