Accused Piggly Wiggly Shooter Pleads Not Guilty
June 2, 2011
The Atmore man accused of shooting another man outside the Davisville Piggly Wiggly on mothers day has pleaded not guilty.
Gary Winston Smith, 57, entered the plea in Escambia County Circuit Court 0n a felony charge of aggravated battery with a firearm. He’s accused of the of the May 8 shooting of Garland Rodney Johnson, 45, of Century.
Smith is due to appear in court again before Judge Jan Shackelford in late July.
The whole incident, authorities said, was over a woman allegedly seeing both men. For for information about the shooting and a photo gallery from the scene, click here.
Pictured top: A North Escambia man was shot just outside the Piggly Wiggly on Highway 97 in Davisville on May 8. Pictured inset: This NorthEscambia.com exclusive photo shows Gary Winston Smith of Atmore being arrested in connection with the shooting. Pictured below: The victim, Garland Rodney Johnson of Century, was transported by LifeFlight to Baptist Hospital in Pensacola. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Records Highs Set
June 2, 2011
Temperatures topped the 100 degree mark in many locations across the North Escambia area on Wednesday. A record high of 101 degrees was set at Pensacola today, breaking the old record of 100 set in 1953. Mobile’s old record of 98 set in 1998 was broken with an afternoon high also at 101.
The unofficial, old fashioned but almost-accurate mercury thermometer at NorthEscambia.com reached 103 in the shade Wednesday afternoon. (Pictured above.)
NorthEscambia.com photo, click to enlarge.
Photos: Bratt Elementary 5th Grade Talent Show
June 2, 2011
The fifth grade students at Bratt Elementary School held a talent show Wednesday morning. For a photo gallery from the event, click here.
Submitted photos by Mandi Kinley for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Retails Sales Up In Escambia, Santa Rosa
June 2, 2011
Data released Wednesday afternoon shows retail sales were up in March across Escambia and Santa Rosa counties.
The area’s retail sales across all categories were up 7.5 percent — the third highest jump in Florida, according to the Florida Office of Economic and Demographic Research.
The Pensacola Bay Area’s biggest gains were in business investment, with an increase of 15 percent. The business investment category includes taxable sales includes sales by building contractors, heating and air conditioning contractors, insulation, well drilling, electrical contractors, interior decorating, paint and wallpaper shops, cabinet and woodworking shops, soil, lumber and building suppliers and roofing contractors.
Sales of autos and automotive accessories were up 11.5 percent, while tourism and recreation spending was up 10 percent.
Consumer durables (appliances, furniture, home electronics, aircraft, boat dealers, hardware and decorating stores sales) recorded a 7.1 percent jump, while consumer nondurable good sales were up 3.1 percent. Nondurable goods are taxable sales that include food and convenience stores, department and clothing stores, drug stores, antique dealers, bookstores, florists, pet dealers and suppliers, social organizations, storage, communications firms, print shops, nurseries, vending machines, utilities, and any “kind” that doesn’t fit into the other categories.
Building investment in the two county region was the only category with a decline in sales, down 0.4 percent. The category of “business investment” taxable sales includes farm equipment, feed and seed suppliers, store and office equipment, computer shops, machine shops, industrial machinery, hotel and restaurant suppliers, transportation equipment, manufacturing and refining equipment, industrial suppliers, paper and packaging materials, medical and optical supplies, commercial rentals, and wholesale dealers.
Escambia Deputy’s Trial Delayed
June 2, 2011
Opening testimony was scheduled to begin Wednesday in the trial of an Escambia County deputy charged with sexually assaulting a woman, but now his trial has been delayed until July.
Mike Priest, 33, is accused of forcing a woman to perform sexual acts in his patrol car.
Priest had just completed a shift as an off-duty security officer at Captain Funs nightclub when he gave the woman a ride home. The victim told authorities that Priest threatened to take her to jail for public intoxication if she did not comply with his demands.
Priest, an Escambia County Sheriff’s Office employee since August, 2006, was charged with two counts of sexual assault – sexual battery on a victim over twelve. He remains free on $40,000 bond.
ACLU Files Suit Over State Employee Drug Tests
June 2, 2011
Requiring job applicants take a drug test and randomly selecting current public employees to do the same is unconstitutional, attorneys for the American Civil Liberties Union said Wednesday after filing a federal lawsuit to stop the practice ordered by Gov. Rick Scott.
In what is expected to be a series of lawsuits on recently passed legislation and gubernatorial edicts, the ACLU called on a federal judge in Miami to immediately suspend an executive order signed by Scott in March that requires all agencies to set up random drug testing protocols for existing workers and require new hires to submit to drug tests as a condition of their employment.
In doing so, Scott has not only pushed the envelope over who can be tested, but has acted counter to multiple court rulings that require some probable cause or special circumstance before drug tests can be administered, Peter Walsh, an attorney representing the ACLU, told reporters Wednesday.
“This is a case in which the office of the governor has ripped the envelope apart,” said Walsh.
A spokeswoman for Gov. Rick Scott responded that Floridians overwhelmingly support drug testing for state workers. She said the governor, who has required testing for new hires since he took office, is confident the executive order will withstand court scrutiny.
“There’s an odd hypocrisy here,” said spokeswoman Amy Graham. “The ACLU supports all kinds of mandatory disclosures by public employees, but not the most important disclosure – whether or not they’re fit to be in the workforce.”
Scott signed the executive order March 22, giving agencies 60 days to begin testing new hires, an increasingly common practice in the private sector. Agencies must give existing employees another 60 days notice before beginning random tests.
“The taxpayers of Florida are entitled to expect that Florida’s public-sector employers be provided the same tools that are now available to private-sector employers to ensure their workforce is drug free,” the executive order reads.
The ACLU filed the case on behalf of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 79 which represents 50,000 public workers who are now subject to the new drug-testing regime and Richard Flamm, a 17-year state employee and Research Scientist with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
“It is an unnecessary and costly invasion of the basic privacy and dignity of all state workers to force us to submit to tests of our bodily fluids with absolutely no just cause,” Flamm said.
The suit contends previous federal court decisions have clearly ruled that that some type of suspicion or a genuine public need must the proven before drug tests can be required without cause.
“The Supreme Court of the United States has held that suspicion-less drug-testing by the government is an unreasonable search (in violation) of the Fourth Amendment, except under certain special circumstances, such as those involving employees in safety-sensitive positions where there is a concrete danger of real harm,” the lawsuit reads.
The complaint is expected to be followed in the weeks ahead by other lawsuits in an attempt to overturn “a tsunami of anti-civil liberties legislation” passed by lawmakers during Scott’s first few months in office dealing with abortion, elections, and free speech issues, said Howard Simon, executive director of the Florida ACLU.
Scott on Tuesday signed another drug testing measure into law. It requires applicants to pass drug tests before they collect temporary cash assistance. In addition, the Republican-led Legislature passed a handful of controversial measures dealing with elections, doctor-patient conversations and abortion, all of which may be targeted for legal challenges.
“This has to be stopped here,” Simon told reporters Wednesday. “There is a concerted attack on the personal freedoms of all Floridians.”
By Michael Peltier
The News Service of Florida
Two Injured In Escambia Shooting, One Charged
June 1, 2011
A disturbance in the Brownsville community of Escambia County ended with two men shot.
At around 5:25 p.m. Tuesday, deputies responded to the intersection of Citrus and Anthony Streets for a reported shooting. When they arrived they found that Jeremiah Dewayne Olds, 22, of Pensacola had been shot in the back and leg. They also found Jessie James Johnson, 31, of Pensacola suffering from a gunshot wound to the thigh.
According to witnesses, the two were shot after a verbal altercation between 49-year-old Larry Anthony Sims, of Pensacola (pictured), his cousin and a neighbor of Sims.
Deputies were told that Sims and his cousin walked over to his neighbor’s residence in the 4000 block of Anthony Street, where Olds and Johnson were standing. Sims reportedly screamed out, “I’ll fight anybody here.” Sims cousin then pulled out a large handgun, described as a revolver, and began shooting.
Olds and Johnson were attempting to run away from the scene when they were shot. They were transported to Baptist Hospital by ambulance, where they were treated for non-life threatening wounds.
Deputies arrested Sims and charged him with accessory to aggravated assault and two counts of accessory to aggravated battery. He was booked into the Escambia County Jail and held on a $16,000 bond.
Investigators have not been able to identify Sims’ cousin and they are seeking the public’s help in doing so.
Sims’ cousin was described by witnesses as a black male, approximately 45 years of age, five-foot-six inches tall with short hair. He was last seen wearing a blue shirt and leaving the area in a brown or gold color truck driven by a white female. The female, who was also unidentified is thought to be his girlfriend.
Anyone with information about this case is asked to call the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office at (850) 436-9620 or Gulf Coast Crime Stoppers at (850) 433-STOP.
Man Accused Of Dumbbell Attack In Store Parking Lot
June 1, 2011
A Century man is accused of beating a man with a dumbbell weight in the parking lot of a local convenience store.
Sammy Maurice Myles, 25, of old Flomaton Road, was charged with aggravated battery with a deadly weapon after the incident Monday night at the Century Kwick stop at 8130 North Century Boulevard.
The victim’s wife told Escambia County Sheriff’s Office deputies that the couple was in their car outside the store when the three men approached them. One allegedly hit her twice in the head, breaking her glasses. Myles allegedly began to beat the husband in the head with the dumbbell weight. The husband claimed that he began to fight back in self defense, at which time the other two men began to hit him.
Both victims were transported to a local hospital by ambulance for treatment of their injuries.
Myles, when questioned later by deputies at the Century Sheriff’s Office precinct, was observed to have a swollen eye and busted lip. He told deputies the husband and wife and jumped him earlier in the evening on Pond Street in Century. He said he had gone to the convenience store to get ice for his eye, at which time the husband and wife jumped him.
Myles was booked into the Escambia County Jail Tuesday morning. He was released Tuesday morning on a $2,500 bond.
The Escambia County Sheriff’s Office arrest report does not specify how many pounds the dumbbell weight was.
McDavid Man Arrested On Assault, Battery, Weapons Charges
June 1, 2011
A McDavid man is facing domestic violence and weapons charges after a domestic dispute.
After an alleged dispute with his sister over $20, Jason Edward Potter, 31, of Purdue Road, allegedly tackled her. He also allegedly used his elbow to break the glass out of gun cabinet, taking a .22 caliber revolver, load it and threaten to kill himself and say that the police would have to kill him.
The sister, age 29, was transported by ambulance to Atmore Community Hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
Potter was charged with domestic violence aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, two counts of battery domestic violence, felony possession of weapon by a convicted felon, and criminal mischief. He was booked into the Escambia County Jail without bond late Monday night.
Scott Signs Bath Salts Drug Ban
June 1, 2011
Gov. Rick Scott on Tuesday signed legislation banning the possession of “bath salts” that are used as a drug.
Law enforcement has said the substances have become dangerously common. The drugs are added to the list of Schedule I controlled substances and their possession is a third degree felony under the new law. The law makes permanent a temporary ban put in place earlier this year by Attorney General Pam Bondi.
“Since the temporary ban in January, which made the use and sale of a new synthetic drug known as ‘bath salts’ illegal, we have seen a decrease in the number of reported medical emergencies related to this drug,” Bondi said in a statement released Tuesday.