Sheriff’s Office, Fire And EMS Out In Force In School Zones
August 23, 2011
The Escambia County Sheriff’s Office and even the fire department and ambulances were out in school zones Monday in an attempt to slow down drivers.
The Sheriff’s Office was busy enforcing the posted speed limits in school zones for the first day back to class in Escambia County, while crews from Escambia Fire Rescue and Escambia County EMS manned crossings and sat with lights flashing to draw attention to the schools zones.
For more back to school week safe driving tips, click here.
Pictured: An Escambia County Sheriff’s deputy makes a traffic stop near Ernest Ward Middle School in Walnut Hill Monday morning after the driver was clocked speeding in the school zone. NorthEscambia.com photo, click to enlarge.
Mom Charged With Tossing Dead Baby In Trash Changes Plea
August 23, 2011
The Escambia County woman accused of throwing her dead infant daughter in the trash and leaving two of her other children alone while she reported them missing has entered a no contest plea.
Christian Rochelle Woods, 23, changed her plea Monday morning. She is scheduled to be sentenced on October 3.
Woods was charged with manslaughter and two counts of child neglect causing great bodily harm for leaving the children, ages 18-month and two years, home alone for two days in a home with no power or water. The children were left with only a few cups of Jello to eat.
Authorities said that the little girl was found dead in a trashcan, Myleahya Woods (pictured left), weighed just 11 pounds. Prosecutors say she starved to death. The other two children found in the home, Myleahya ’s twin sister, Mykayhala (pictured right) and Jaterius Woods, 2, were also severely malnourished. When deputies found Mykayhala under a bed in the filthy Escambia County home, she was in a coma. Escambia County Sheriff David Morgan said deputies first thought Mykayhala was dead until her eyes fluttered.
Woods called deputies to report that her children were missing. But deputies became suspicious. They found Jaterius and arrested Woods on child neglect charges because he showed what they said was obvious signs of abuse. About 12 hours after her arrest, Woods admitted that Myleahya was dead in a trashcan on the back porch of her home.
Prosecutors said Woods’ family members had no idea what was going on with the children, and that she never asked for help.
Photo Gallery: First Day Of School
August 23, 2011
Monday was the first day of school in Escambia and Santa Rosa counties, and NorthEscambia.com asked our readers to submit photos of their children heading back to class.
For a reader submitted photo gallery, click here.
Editor’s note: The photos for this gallery were submitted on Monday. We are unable to accept new submissions today.
Pictured top: Crista, Derek and Justin head toward Bratt Elementary Monday morning. Pictured inset: Jessica, a third grader, waits for the bus Monday in her new Molino Park shirt and spirit sleeves offered by the Molino Park PTA. Pictured below: Second grader Tymiriana, first grader T’ahna and kindergarten student Aden get ready Monday morning to head to class at Bratt Elementary School. Submitted photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Bratt Elementary Car Rider Line Changed Back To ‘Normal’
August 23, 2011
Beginning Tuesday afternoon, the car rider line at Bratt Elementary school will revert back to last year’s arrangement.
The previous drop-off and pick-up on the north side of the school will return Tuesday afternoon for the remainder of the school year. Cars will enter the north gate (closest to Highway 4), loop around and exit the north gate. This is the same car rider route as last year.
After evaluating new drop-off and pick-up routes on Monday, the school district’s director of transportation recommended that the school revert back to the old arrangement, Bratt Principal Jeanene Hall said.
School officials asked that parents waiting to enter the school gate on Highway 99 be careful to not block private driveways at nearby homes.
Human Remains Found In Escambia County Under Investigation
August 23, 2011
The Escambia County Sheriff’s Office is investigating after human remains were discovered in one neighborhood Sunday afternoon.
The remains were found in a wooded lot near the Marcus Pointe Apartments on Enterprise Drive.
“The caller was out walking his dog in a wooded area at the rear of the apartment complex,” said sheriff’s spokesman Deputy Chris Welborn. “He noticed the body lying in the brush and contacted us.”
Investigators have not yet been able to identify the male victim, but they have classified his death as suspicious.
“The body has signs of injuries that are not indicative of self-inflicted wounds,” said Welborn. “We are awaiting the results of an autopsy to determine the exact cause of death.”
Investigators do not have any missing person cases that could be linked to the found remains.
Anyone who may have information related to this case is asked to contact the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office at (850) 436-9620 or Gulf Coast Crime Stoppers at (850) 433-STOP.
Florida Timeline For Redistricting Drawing Fire
August 23, 2011
As lawmakers move toward the end of their statewide tour to gather voters’ input on the once-a-decade redistricting process, the timeline for the next step in the redrawing of the state’s political maps is becoming more contentious.
A coalition of voting-rights groups, led by the League of Women Voters and supporters of the Fair Districts amendments, is pushing legislative redistricting committees to move forward with drawing proposed maps as quickly as possible.
Critics of the Legislature’s somewhat vague timeline say mass chaos could follow if lawmakers don’t approve maps soon enough to give the attorney general, Florida Supreme Court and Department of Justice enough time to review the plans well in advance of the June 18 opening date for qualifying.
Otherwise, would-be candidates will essentially have qualifying week — from June 18 to June 22 — to look at final maps and decide whether they want to make a bid.
“That’s not an acceptable amount of time for candidates to figure out where their districts are and to start to run,” said Senate Minority Leader Nan Rich, D-Weston.
Instead, voting rights groups are pushing for lawmakers to tee up the redistricting maps for a vote by the Jan. 13 end of the first week of the legislative session.
“We recognize that many measures come out of the Legislature with little or no public input into the final product,” said a letter signed by the League, the NAACP, Common Cause Florida and Hispanic advocacy group Democracia USA. “But redistricting is too important for a ‘Tallahassee special.’ A timeline without the deadlines we suggest is a guaranteed recipe for disaster.”
Members of the league have also showed up at the redistricting public hearings across the state to pound lawmakers for not setting up an early timeline.
After the letter was issued, House Speaker Dean Cannon, R-Winter Park, fired back.
“Given the League’s complete refusal to meaningfully participate in the redistricting process by submitting any proposed maps themselves, this is clearly another politically motivated ruse that attempts to mislead the public and increase the chance the districts will end up being drawn by the courts,” Cannon said.
Supervisors of elections have also raised concerns about the problems that could be caused by maps being finalized in June.
Lawmakers involved in crafting the lines concede that Florida’s process is one of the latest in the nation. But Senate Reapportionment Chairman Don Gaetz, R-Niceville, said that’s because the state is one of the last to receive its redistricting data from the U.S. Census Bureau. And, he said, some of the states that have already drawn lines either hold their elections later this year or rammed through partisan plans.
Legislative leaders also say that they are captives, essentially, of a timeline laid out in the Florida Constitution, which requires them to approve the maps in 2012. House Redistricting Chairman Will Weatherford, R-Wesley Chapel, said last week that supporters of moving the timeline up had an opportunity to do that, if they wanted to.
“It would have been nice if the Fair Districts folks would have put that into the constitution,” he said.
And lawmakers say they’ve done what they can by moving the legislative session up from its traditional starting date in March to January in an effort to pass the maps as quickly as possible.
“Florida did accelerate the process,” Gaetz said. He added that his committee will take up at least some maps during its first pre-session meeting in September.
As for concerns with qualifying, Gaetz noted that candidates can get signatures for their qualifying petitions from any voter in the state of Florida for the 2012 elections — without regard to district boundaries, as is usually the case.
“If you want to run for office in a redistricting year, it’s actually easier to be a challenger and get petitions signed than in any other year,” he said.
But Rich said she was unconvinced, particularly when faced with concerns from elections officials across the state.
“I think that a supervisor of elections of a major county understands more what is needed to pull off an election … in which the state of Florida can be proud,” she said.
By Brandon Larrabee
The News Service of Florida
Funeral Services Announced For Lance Corporal Travis Nelson
August 22, 2011
Funeral arrangements have been announced for LCpl Travis Nelson, the 19-year old Marine killed in action last week in Afghanistan.
Visitation will be held Friday, August 26, 2011, from 12:30 p.m. until funeral time at the Atmore First Baptist Church.
Funeral services will be held Friday, August 26 at 2 p.m. at the Atmore First Baptist Church with Chaplain Lt. Commander Jeffrey Bornemann and the Rev. George Weaver officiating with military honors.
Burial will follow at Oak Hill Cemetery in Atmore.
Fallen Marine Travis Nelson Returns Home Wednesday, Funeral Friday
August 22, 2011
The body of local marine will arrive in Pensacola Wednesday, and funeral services will be held in Atmore on Friday.
The body of Lance Cpl. Travis M. Nelson, the 19-year old Marine killed in action last week in Afghanistan, arrived Saturday night at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware. His remains will be flown Wednesday to the Pensacola Naval Air Station. The plane is scheduled to land at 2 p.m. in a private ceremony. From there, he will be escorted by Florida State Troopers and the Patriot Guard to Petty-Eastside Funeral Home in Atmore.
Visitation will be held Friday, August 26, 2011, from 12:30 p.m. until funeral time at the Atmore First Baptist Church on South Main Street.
Funeral services will be held Friday, August 26 at 2 p.m. at the Atmore First Baptist Church with Chaplain Lt. Commander Jeffrey Bornemann and the Rev. George Weaver officiating with military honors.
Burial will follow at Oak Hill Cemetery in Atmore.
Nelson, a 2010 graduate of Pace High School, was the son of Scott and Beckie Nelson of Bratt. He is also survived by siblings Daniel Nelson, 28, Jenna McCall, 24, and Anna Nelson, 11. He was engaged to Madeline Cates, 21.
Pictured: A U.S. Marine Corps carry team transfers the remains of Marine Lance Cpl. Travis M. Nelson at Dover Air Force Base, Delaware, Saturday night, August, 20, 2011. Nelson was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejuene, N.C. His parents and fiance reside in Bratt. He was 19 years old. Photo by Steve Kotecki, U.S. Air Force, for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Cantonment VFD Response Inadequate; Chief Asks For 24/7 Paid Fire Crews
August 22, 2011
The Cantonment Volunteer Fire Department has been unable to adequately answer emergency calls, and the department’s chief has asked for a 24/7 paid firefighter crew to be assigned to the station.
“”We can no longer provide the proper minimum fire response,” Cantonment VFD District Chief Jeffery Bingle said. “We’ve got to do something to bring a career crew in for the area.”
The Cantonment Station of Escambia Fire Rescue is currently staffed from 7 a.m. until 4 p.m Monday-Friday by a paid firefighter crew. Outside of those hours and all weekend, calls are answered by volunteers.
Bingle said the department has between 15 to 18 volunteers on the roster, but only five or six of those are very active. Many of those work or go to school outside of Cantonment, leaving an inadequate response to emergency calls. And Bingle said he has become less active in the department due to an increase in responsibilities as the fire chief and emergency services team leader at his employer, Ascend Performance Materials.
“We have no other choice right now than to ask for a paid crew to be assigned to the station 24 hours a day,” Bingle said.
“As District Chief of Cantonment I am officially requesting 24 hour coverage by career personnel. At this time current volunteer staffing levels do not allow for a sufficient number of responders on calls,” Bingle wrote in an email to Escambia County Fire Chief Daniel Spillman.
Spillman is currently gathering the costs associated with 24/7 paid staffing at the Cantonment Fire Station and will ask the Escambia County Commission how to proceed, according to Sonya Daniel, county spokesperson. She said that request could come as early as this week.
In the meantime, Bingle said the Cantonment volunteers are continuing to respond to calls and requesting assistance from neighboring fire stations when there is not an adequate response. He said once a paid crew is in place, the Cantonment VFD will not be disbanded; the volunteers will continue to respond and provide assistance as needed to a paid fire crew.
“I hate doing this,” Bingle said. “I really love the volunteer department.”
Pictured: Volunteers from Cantonment and other departments responded to a wreck near the Cantonment Volunteer Fire Department on May 22, 2011. NorthEscambia.com file photos, click to enlarge.
Hundreds Honor Fallen Marine With Facebook Profile Picture
August 22, 2011
Hundreds of North Escambia area residents have changed their Facebook profile pictures to honor LCpl Travis Nelson who was killed last week in Afghanistan. NorthEscambia.com has made this correctly sized profile picture available for everyone to use. You can download and save the photo by right clicking on the photo on this page, or by clicking here.
You can also visit one of our two Facebook profiles:
http://www.facebook.com/northescambia
http://www.facebook.com/northescambiaWilliam
(When you visit the two Facebook profiles, make sure to “Like” our NorthEscambia.com page and become William’s friend.)