$202K To Rehab 4 Homes, Including 105 Year Old, $11K House In Flood Zone
March 22, 2012
The Town of Century has been awarded $202,704 in grant-funded contracts to rehabilitate four private homes in the town — including a 1907 home located in a floodplain.
The town was awarded a $650,000 Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) last year to rehabilitate or replace about nine homes that are currently occupied by persons of low or moderate income. The town also received $100,000 in Residential Construction Mitigation Program Funds for hurricane retrofits.
A 105-year old wood frame home (pictured top) at 541 East Pond Street is among the four selected by the town for rehabilitation. According to the Escambia County Property Appraiser’s website, the home owned by Roy and Rosie Pearl Hale has a taxable value of $10,960, while the rehab cost will be $81,850.
According to the town, the 1,456 square foot East Pond Street home is located in a floodplain — so demolition and reconstruction is not allowed. “The only assistance available to the homeowner is substantial rehabilitation of the existing unit and the homeowner will be required to purchase flood insurance upon completion of the substantial rehabilitation,” according to town documents.
Other homes selected for rehabilitation will range in cost from $34,611 for a home at 210 East Street to $51,701 for a home on Mayo Street (pictured inset). The project for each of the homes is detailed in the graphic below.
Back in November, the town awarded $230,567 in contracts to rehab four other homes.
NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Tate Gets Tourney Win; EA Girls Beat Sparta
March 22, 2012
Here’s a look at baseball and softball action from around the area:
Tate 10 — McAdory (Ala.) 5
After suffering their first loss of the season Tuesday, the Tate Aggies bounced back with a win Wednesday.
The Aggies beat the McAdory (Ala.) Yellow Jackets 10-5 in the Acentria/Aggie Classic. The Aggies are now 11-1 on the season. Tate dropped to Pinson Valley 3-2 in eight innings Tuesday.
Tate will play the Hueytown Golden Gophers at 7 p.m. Thursday at Tate (this is a location change) for fifth place in the tourney.
SOFTBALL
Escambia Academy 14 – Sparta 0
The Lady Cougars of Escambia Academy shut out Sparta on Tuesday, 14-0. Sydney McGhee was 3-4 at bat with a single, double and triple. Megan Duncan was 3-3 with 2 RBIs.
Escambia Academy 2 — Sparta 1
In junior varsity play, Escambia Academy defeated Sparta 2-1. Kennedy McGhee and Autumn Corley had doubles for the JV Lady Cougars, while Victoria Sawyer, Anna Catherine Sasser and Carson Barnett had singles.
Race, Morality Enter Senate Redistricting Fight
March 22, 2012
Racial and even moral conflicts entered the already-contentious redistricting process Wednesday as a key Senate committee sent a proposed map to the floor despite Hispanic and conservative Christian disagreements with some elements of the plan.
The maps passed the Senate Reapportionment Committee on a day that at times veered between the unusual and the surreal.
District numbers for the upper chamber’s new redistricting plan — necessary because the Florida Supreme Court threw out the maps — were selected in part by a raffle-style drawing. That prompted one Senate Republican to accuse the panel of breaking the state’s gambling laws.
And the racial politics of Miami-Dade County, which had been relatively muted throughout the redistricting process, have begun to boil over in a battle over whether to create a fourth majority-Hispanic district in the county.
The most unique flare-up of the day came when senators essentially raffled off odd and even seats. Because of the way the state’s term limit laws work, an odd or even seat can mean the difference between a lawmaker serving an eight-year term or getting an extra two years.
The original Senate map gave almost every incumbent in the chamber an opportunity to serve as long as 10 years, one of several aspects of the plan that the Florida Supreme Court said violated the anti-gerrymandering Fair Districts amendments approved by voters in a 2010 referendum.
But the raffle upset some lawmakers who are opposed to gambling and said the new system sent the wrong message.
“I believe that there are people all across the state of Florida that will be very, very deeply offended by the Florida Senate casting lots to make a decision,” said Sen. Ronda Storms, R-Valrico.
Storms later called a point of order and asked for an opinion by Attorney General Pam Bondi during the raffle, saying Senate staff might be committing a misdemeanor by running the operation. Senate Reapportionment Chairman Don Gaetz, R-Niceville, rejected the point but said Storms was free to ask for an opinion from Bondi.
“This isn’t a lottery,” he told reporters. “This is the minority leader and the majority leader advising me as to what they believe ought to be put in the amendment that describes the assignment of senatorial district numbers.”
Storms said she would file an amendment to reorder the districts and make sure incumbents serve no longer than eight years — though she admitted the measure was likely to fail. The current way, she said, would damage the institution over the long term.
“Even though these particular 40 Senators are serving, I think that we have diminished the decorum and the stature of the state of Florida by twirling balls around in a basket and having the secretary of the Senate call out numbers,” Storms said.
Meanwhile, Sen. Miguel Diaz de la Portilla said he would take his fight to create a fourth majority-Hispanic seat in Miami-Dade County to the Senate floor. Diaz de la Portilla, R-Miami, would turn the district represented by Sen. Gwen Margolis, D-North Miami Beach, into one where non-black Hispanics would comprise 66.2 percent of the voting-age population.
But he brushed aside claims that the effort was meant to help his brother, Alex Diaz de la Portilla, who has filed to run for Margolis’ seat.
“Whoever wants to run for that district, that potential fourth Hispanic seat, will have to run and compete with a number of other people, because it will be an open seat,” Miguel Diaz de la Portilla said.
Margolis, in a debate with Diaz de la Portilla in front of reporters, dismissed those claims and said Diaz de la Portilla’s amendment could lock whites out of the county’s delegation.
“This amendment, if it makes a fourth seat in Dade County a protected seat, disenfranchises every Anglo,” said Margolis, who is white. “There will never be an Anglo member of the Florida Senate from Dade County if this amendment passes.”
Diaz de la Portilla portrayed Margolis as an incumbent attempting to cling to power and said deciding not to create the fourth district could open the map up to a challenge under the federal Voting Rights Act.
“You have incumbency protection on the one hand versus enfranchising language minorities on the other,” he said.
The map ultimately passed on a 21-6 vote, with Margolis and three other Democrats joining every Republican in approving the plan. In a separate vote, five Republicans and one Democrat, Sen. Gary Siplin of Orlando, opposed renumbering the districts through the raffle.
Democrats who opposed the overall plan said it didn’t go far enough to address justices’ concerns about eight districts, the numbering system and the division of the city of Lakeland.
“We have fixed a few things,” said Senate Minority Leader Nan Rich, D-Weston. “But I think the map simply does not fix a number of the things that the court suggested to us that needed to be corrected.”
Republicans, though, said the map was a success despite the arduous process.
“This is as good a product as you can possibly get,” said Sen. Nancy Detert, R-Venice.
By The News Service of Florida
Tate High Mock Trial Team Wins State Championship
March 22, 2012
Tate High School recently won the Florida High School Mock Trial Championship in Orlando.
Teams from 18 judicial circuits competed for the state title. Each competed in multiple rounds on the way to the state title. Judges and attorney from across the state evaluated each team.
Tate High School competed in four rounds of competition and then faced off against the Community School of Naples in the fifth and final round to win the state championship title. Tate will represent Florida in the national championship to be held in New Mexico.
Members of the Tate team were:
Asia Cravens, Sarah Barlow, Tanner Newman, Hannah Malone, Matthew Bailey, Chance Sturup, Tatiana Teate, Amy Sapp, Brianna Riddell, Andrew Belt and Ryan Colburn.
Cravens also won “Best Attorney” for her performance throughout the competition.
The Tate High Mock Trial Team is led by teacher Angie Sapp and their attorney-coach Travis Johnson of Meador and Vigosdky.
Justice Harry Lee Anstead (Retired) served as keynote speaker for the program and administered the Lawyer’s Oath to students to be temporary members of the Bar during the program. He addressed issues of professionalism and civility and encouraged students to be friendly and ethical throughout the competition.
This was the 22nd year of the state program administered by the Florida Law Related Education Association, a private, nonprofit, nonpartisan civic education organization.
Pictured top: Members of the state championship Tate High School Mock Trial Team.Submitted photo for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
U.S. Marshals Capture Escambia Child Sex Abuse Suspect
March 22, 2012
The U.S. Marshals Florida Regional Fugitive Task Force arrested an Escambia County man wanted locally for three sexual assault charges on a person under 18 years old.
Anthony Cherry was captured Wednesday morning around 11:00 while he tried to hide in a bedroom of a house on the 700 Block of N. G Street. Cherry is wanted by Escambia County Sheriff’s Office for sexual battery by a custodian on a victim over 12 and under 18 years of age, soliciting an act of sexual battery by a custodian on a victim under 18 years old, and lewd and lascivious behavior on a victim 12 years old and up to 16 years of age.
According to police reports, Cherry allegedly committed these acts between March 8 and March 11 of this year. Reports also alleged that on one of the occasions he held the female victim’s arms down behind her while performing sexual acts.
Cherry, 36, was arrested without further incident by Task Force members form the U.S. Marshals, Escambia and Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office along with help from Escambia patrol deputies. Cherry was transported to the Escambia County Jail where he was held with bond set at $52,500.
Black Lawmakers Call For Special Prosecutor In Trayvon Martin Shooting
March 22, 2012
Black lawmakers Wednesday called on Gov. Rick Scott to appoint a special prosecutor to oversee the investigation of Trayvon Martin’s death in Sanford last month.
The unarmed black 17-year-old was shot on Feb. 26 by George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch volunteer, who is claiming self-defense and has not been charged.
Martin’s family has maintained all along that Zimmerman should be charged, and state Sen. Gary Siplin, D-Orlando, agreed, saying that if Martin had been white and Zimmerman black, Zimmerman would have been arrested by now.
Siplin said Seminole County State Attorney Norm Wolfinger, who said this week that a grand jury will review evidence in the case, should step aside because he regularly deals with the local sheriff.
“We’re not contesting the veracity of the current prosecutor, but…he has a relationship with the sheriff’s department, the police department and the city of Sanford, and we think he should step down,” Siplin said.
Siplin also announced a senatorial fact-finding mission to Sanford. He said he will be joined by two other black senators, Sen. Oscar Braynon, D-Miami Gardens, whose district includes the home of Martin’s mother, and Sen. Chris Smith of Fort Lauderdale, who will be the Senate Democratic leader next year, along with three white Republicans: Sens. Joe Negron of Stuart, Lizbeth Benacquisto of Fort Myers and Ronda Storms of Valrico. The group will examine the status of African Americans in Sanford within the next month, Siplin said.
Siplin, who is leaving the Senate in November because of term limits, alleged that in Sanford, whites and blacks are not treated equally by law enforcement.
“The police [have] a history of stopping black folks and taking their fingerprints, or searching their cars without permission. You either let them take your fingerprints, or they threaten to take you to jail,” said Siplin.
The Seminole County State Attorney’s Office and the Sanford Police Department did not immediately return calls for comment.
The shooting death and Zimmerman’s self-defense claim have reopened debate over the 2005 “stand your ground law”,” under which people who feel threatened don’t have to retreat from their attacker before using violence.
Braynon said he believed the law had “empowered people to become vigilantes.”
Meanwhile, Rep. Perry Thurston, D-Plantation, sent a letter to House Speaker Dean Cannon, requesting that a select committee be formed to review the self defense law.
“While no action of any governmental entity can restore the life of Trayvon Martin, I believe it is imperative that the Florida Legislature take this matter seriously and action be taken to prevent future tragedies of this kind,” Thurston wrote.
By The News Service of Florida
Ernest Ward Names March Students Of Month
March 22, 2012
Ernest Ward Middle School has named Students of the Month for March. They are: (L-R) Rhayeshawanna Davidson, sixth grade; Blake Green, eighth grade; and Hunter Kite, seventh grade. Submitted photo for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Man Arrested After Wheelchair Rampage
March 21, 2012
A Century man was jailed after allegedly going on a rampage in a convenience store, running over people, tossing merchandise and shattering a glass door.
Curtis Edward Smith, age 55 of the 3000 block of Highway 168, was charged with two counts of aggravated battery and criminal mischief property damage after the incident before sunrise Monday at the Bindu Food Mart on Gulf Beach Highway. He was jailed with bond set at $6,000, but the amount was lowered to $1,100 by a judge.
Smith allegedly approached the clerk and demanded to speak to the manager, who was not in the store at the time. The clerk told deputies that Smith then began yelling and ripping his shirt, claiming he had been attacked. Smith began to chase the clerk around the store in motorized wheelchair, hitting her once on the shin, and threw potato chip racks at her and around the store, according to an Escambia County Sheriff’s Office arrest report.
The clerk said Smith then began ramming his wheelchair into the store’s door, shattering the glass. Another witness corroborated the clerk’s story and also claimed the Smith called him racial obscenities and hit him with the wheelchair.
When deputies arrived, Smith was still inside the store, yelling, “Call the [obscenity] police and take me to jail”, the arrest report states. As the deputy tried to calm Smith, he attempted to roll toward the deputy, demanding that the officer purchase him a drink and some food. The deputy ordered Smith to turn off the wheelchair, but he began to roll around the store.
Smith was later stopped and transported to West Florida Hospital to be treated for injuries to his feet caused by shattering the glass door of the store.
Smith remained behind bars Tuesday afternoon.
Resident Claims 1979 Century Town Limits Amount To Slavery, Discrimination
March 21, 2012
What started as a public hearing on a new land use map for the Town of Century, ended with a woman claiming slavery and discrimination based upon the town limits drawn 33 years ago.
Leola Robinson, a frequent speaker at Century Town Council meetings, made the claims Monday night as the council met in a final public forum before approving a 2025 future land use map. The plan, which cost the town $40,000 to develop and was the subject of numerous public meetings, is required by the state.
Robinson, a resident of 350 West Highway 4, claimed that her “farm” was wrongly annexed into the city back in 1979 when other farmland was not.
“It is slavery and discrimination,” Robinson told the council. “It must be because I am black.”
According to Escambia County Property Appraiser website records, Robinson owns a 19-acre parcel at 7501 Williams Road that is currently zoned for a mobile home. Records indicate three mobile homes are on the property.
Robinson also owns a 28.72-acre parcel at 351 West Highway 4, across the street from her residence, that is zoned improved agricultural and contains two mobile homes. The remainder of the property is wooded, according to property appraiser satellite images.
Current Century council members, some seemingly bewildered by Robinson’s claims, were unfamiliar with the 1979 annexation process and Robinson’s claims of discrimination for the last 33 years by the inclusion of her “farm” in the town limits.
The 2025 future land use map, which was approved Monday by the council, classifies Robinson’s 19-acre parcel as residential while her 28.72 acre parcel remains zoned agricultural.
Robinson told the council that she wants her property removed from the Town of Century. The council voted to have their attorney explore the legality of the request. But town consultant Debbie Nickles told the council that she doubted it would be possible because removing Robinson’s property from the town would create non-contiguous , and likely illegal, town boundaries.
Pictured top: Town consultant Debbie Nickles(foreground) explains Century’s 2025 future land use map as council members Ann Brooks, Sandra McMurray Jackson, Jacke Johnston and Annie Savage look on. Pictured top inset: Century resident Leola Robinson listens as the map is explained. Pictured below: Consultant Debbie Nickles. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
NHS JV Beats Freeport (With Photo Gallery)
March 21, 2012
The junior varsity Northview Chiefs defeated the Freeport Bulldogs 8-2 Tuesday afternoon in Bratt.
For a photo gallery from the game, click here.
NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
