Weekend In Photos
September 6, 2011
From tropical weather to football and much more in between, NorthEscambia.com had the photos from across the area. Click an item below to read the story and see the photo gallery.
Bratt, Molino Park, Jim Allen Open Houses This Week
September 6, 2011
It’s time for parents to meet their child’s teacher in North Escambia, with three schools having open houses on Thursday night.
- Bratt — September 8, 6:30 p.m.
- Jim Allen — September 8, 6-7 p.m.
- Molino Park — September 8, 6:30 p.m.
For more information, contact your child’s school.
ECUA’s Cantonment Wastewater Facility In Operation For A Year
September 6, 2011
The $320 million Emerald Coast Utilities Authority’s Central Water Reclamation Facility in Cantonment has now been in operation for a year.
Six years after Hurricane Ivan’s devastating impact on Northwest Florida and the ECUA’s Main Street Wastewater Treatment Plant in downtown Pensacola, the new CWRF in Cantonment began accepting minimal wastewater flows on August 30, 2010.
A dedication and symbolic turning of a valve took place on December 2, 2010, marking the completion of the largest public works project in the history of Escambia County. The Main Street plant ceased operations on April 28, 2011, marking the day when all of ECUA’s wastewater was processed in Cantonment.
The Cantonment plant sits on 2,000 acres of land adjacent to Ascend Performance Materials (formerly Solutia) on Old Chemstrand Road. A full 15 miles north of the existing Main Street Treatment Plant, the facility is well above the flood plain and is built to resist hurricane-force winds. Redundant power and storage systems help to ensure that the facility can remain operational during conditions that crippled the Main Street plant during Hurricane Ivan in 2004.
The plant uses a highly developed biological treatment and disinfection process to clean water and provide up to 17 million gallons a day of reclaimed water to Gulf Power’s Crist Plant and up to six million gallons a day of reclaimed water to International Paper.
The CWRF has been honored as a top three finalist for the 2011 Global Water Reuse Project of the Year by Global Water Intelligence.
Pictured: The Central Water Reclamation Facility in Cantonment. Submitted file photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
DJJ Wants Shorter Jail Time For Juvenile Offenders
September 6, 2011
The Department of Juvenile Justice could likely make procedure changes that would allow it to reduce the average length of time youths are locked up in detention by a week on average and save the state more than $4.6 million and reduce beds by 120, according to a new report by a Senate committee.
The agency could make bigger reductions in the average length of stay if lawmakers were willing to change the law to give the agency the ability to release kids who have completed requirements of their program without first getting approval from a judge, notes the interim report, released Thursday by the Senate Criminal Justice Committee.
The committee looked at outside reports by Florida TaxWatch the Southern Poverty Law Center, which said earlier this year that Florida keeps juvenile offenders locked up longer than other states with no corresponding benefit – and in fact may actually increase the chances that kids will commit crimes again by keeping them long after they should have been released.
The committee was charged with trying to reconcile the outside recommendations with opinions about their feasibility for implementation inside the agency and found general agreement in DJJ that the length of stay for many juveniles should be reduced.
“The DJJ supports the Florida TaxWatch/(Southern Poverty Law Center) recommendations to modify the length of stay, especially based upon current research indicating that longer stays in juvenile facilities do not appear to reduce offending and for low-risk offenders, institutional placement increases recidivism,” the report said. “In addition, longer lengths of stay produce little or no marginal benefit and there is no marginal gain from residential placement in terms of averting future offending.”
While the DJJ is proposing that lawmakers remove the requirement that a judge sign off on the department’s release of juveniles who have completed their required program, the committee staff didn’t make any recommendations to lawmakers on the question. Interim reports, however, often form the basis for committee legislation.
By The News Service of Florida
Three Dead After Atmore Wreck
September 5, 2011
Three people died in an early morning accident Monday in Atmore.
The accident happened just after 2 a.m. on Brookwood Road in Atmore. Authorities said 25-year old Jeremy D. McNeil of Atmore, lost control when he struck railroad tracks just east of the Huddle House restaurant at a high rate of speed. The Pontaic G6 left the roadway and traveled over 100 feet before hitting two trees.
Two passengers, 17-year old Ricky Herrera of Bay Minette and 14-year old Coby James Smith of Atmore, were pronounced dead at the scene. Another passenger in the vehicle, 18-year old Leonardo Cuenca, Jr. of Atmore, was transported to Sacred Heart Hospital in Pensacola in critical condition.
Atmore Police said Cuenca was the only occupant wearing a seat belt.
Further details on the crash were not available; it remains under investigation by the Atmore Police Department and Alabama State Troopers.
Arrest Warrant Issued For Missing Boater; Still No Sign Of Lee Kent
September 5, 2011
An arrest warrant has been issued for former Jay resident Alonzo Lee Kent, who went missing following a fishing trip in the Gulf of Mexico about a week ago. So far, there’s been no sign of Kent, but his boat was found Friday offshore from the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico.
The stalking warrant for Kent’s arrest was signed last Tuesday by an Escambia County judge, the same day the U.S. Coast Guard ended a three-day search for him and his 32-foot Boston Whaler in the Gulf.
Pensacola Police said a 40-year old woman, whose name has not been released, reported that Kent had repeatedly stalked and harassed her for months. The woman claimed he called her over four dozen times, yelled obscenities while banging on her door and sat outside her home for four hours drinking beer.
According to Escambia County Clerk of Courts records, a temporary restraining order was issued against Kent after being filed by a Pensacola woman on August 26.
Kent’s The Monkey Bar II was located near Chuburna, a small town on the Yucatan Peninsula. There was no one aboard the Boston Whaler, according to the Progreso Hoy newspaper website.
The boat was floating with the keys in the console but no one aboard, according to fisherman Yam Chan who found the boat. The U.S. Coast Guard confirmed late Friday night that the Monkey Bar II was being held by Mexican authorities pending an investigation.
The newspaper reported that pirates from the Cuban-American mafia sometimes use boats to smuggle undocumented Cubans onto the Yucatan Peninsula.
About 8:30 a.m. on August 28, family reported 41-year old Kent, now a resident of Gulf Breeze, missing after he did not return from a fishing trip south of Pensacola Pass. The Coast Guard called off their search for Kent on Tuesday after searching an area larger than Maryland.
Pictured: The Monkey Bar II, the fishing boat belonging to a former Jay resident missing since a fish trip last week, was found in Chuburna, Mexico. Photo courtesy Progreso Hoy for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Gulf Power Offers New Mobile And Online Outage Reporting Tool
September 5, 2011
Gulf Power customers have a new tool called “Power Out” to report power outages.
Click on the light bulb on the left-hand side of gulfpower.com to report the power out at your home or scan a QR Code pictured on this page with your smartphone for a mobile outage tool that lets you report an outage or check the status of an outage. And, if you want to report a street light out in your neighborhood, you can locate the light that is out on an interactive map and click on it to report the outage.
“Computers and smartphones are changing the way everyone does business, so we saw this as an opportunity to use technology to offer a service to our customers,” Jeff Rogers, Gulf Power spokesman, said. “The ‘Power Out?’ button gives you a one-click way to report or check on an outage, whether for your home, a street light or while you’re out on the go.”
Photos: Our Readers At Work
September 5, 2011
On Labor Day we asked our readers to share photos of themselves, their jobs and their coworkers.
For a photo gallery, click here.
Pictured top: Angela Barron (left), ward clerk; Patricia Reynolds delivers the mail; Keri Bishop, RN; and Dr. Jonah McIntyre at work at the Atmore Nursing Care Center. Pictured left: Escambia County School District bus drivers Barbara Hollingsworth and Vicki Godwin at Ernest Ward Middle School. Pictured below: John Jackson of Century at work for CSX Transportation last week in Falls Cut, Pennsylvania. Pictured page bottom: The “office” of Scott Nelson of Bratt, who works heavy civil FDOT road and bridge construction in Tampa. Submitted photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Learn To Grow A Fall Garden
September 5, 2011
Fall gardening season will soon be here, and Escambia County Extension is offering an educational session to help homeowners grow a productive fall garden. Participants will learn the steps on soil preparation, plant selection and proper harvesting to enjoy a variety of vegetables to supplement their table.
The program will be held on Saturday, September 17, from 9-11 a.m. at the Escambia County Extension Office, 3740 Stefani Road, in Cantonment. The program is $5 per person; Preregistration is required by calling (850) 475-5230 or emailing colethia@ufl.edu. The program is limited to 60 participants.
Labor Day: 24,000 In North Escambia Area Out Of Work
September 5, 2011
On Labor Day, the latest unemployment data showed that 24,094 people are out of work in our three county area — a decrease of over 1,000 since last year.
In Escambia County (Fla.), the latest employment data for shows 10.5 percent of the workforce unemployed, steady from the previous month. That translates to 14,833 unemployed in the county.
In Santa Rosa County, the unemployment rate was at 10.2 percent, up from 9.7 percent the month prior. That equals 7,481 unemployed persons.
In Escambia County (Ala.), 11.9 percent of workers were out of a job, down from 12 the month before. There were 1,780 unemployed in the county.
Pictured top: This graphic shows the unemployment rate over the last 10 years in the three county North Escambia area. Click to enlarge.