HBO’s ‘Saving Pelican 895′ To Premiere In Pensacola
April 10, 2011
An HBO documentary about an oil-covered pelican known only as “Pelican 895″ will premiere Monday night in Pensacola.
The HBO Documentary Films presentation “Saving Pelican 895″ will premiere on-screen at the Saenger Theatre for an invitation-only audience. The program will debut on HBO on April 20.
More than 7,000 birds were killed as a result of the April 2010 BP oil spill that spread throughout the Gulf of Mexico. But after three months, cleanup workers at the Fort Jackson Oiled Wildlife Rehabilitation Center of Louisiana had rescued 894 surviving oiled pelicans. Saving Pelican 895 presents the story of the effort to save the 895th surviving oiled pelican in Louisiana, showing how conservationists, government agencies and wildlife activists joined forces to preserve this one life. The film follows number 895 from his rescue and recovery as an incapacitated juvenile bird with oil-slicked feathers through his ultimate maturation and release back into the wild.
Taylor Brodsky, an Emmy and Peabody Award winner and Oscar nominee, directed Saving Pelican 895.
Schmidt, Johnson To Wed
April 10, 2011
Mr. Chester Schmidt and Ms. Faith Pendleton announce the forthcoming marriage of their daughter Missy Hope Schmidt to John Percy Johnson, the son of J.T. and Kay Johnson from Century. The wedding will take place at Grace Baptist Church in McDavid at 2 p.m. on Saturday May 14, 2011. A reception will follow the ceremony.
Jay First Grade Teacher Among Nominees For Rookie Of The Year
April 10, 2011
Nominees have been announced for the 2011 Santa Rosa Rookie Teacher of the Year by the Santa Rosa Education Foundation. The award honors exceptional teachers with three or fewer years of total teaching experience.
Nominees include Shellie Macht, a first grade teacher at Jay Elementary School.
The winning teacher will be announced at the 16th annual Rookie Teacher of the Year reception at Russell Elementary on April 19.
Other nominees are: Katherine Miller, Avalon Middle; Duane McDonal, Bagdad Elementary; Belinda Gieger-Britt, Berryhill Administrative Complex; Ellen Baucom, Berryhill Elementary; Melinda Holland, Central High; Meredith Simmons, Chumuckla Elementary; Missy McMillion, S.S. Dixon Intermediate; Kami Russell, S.S. Dixon Primary; Emily Craft, East Milton Elementary; Tricia Outzen, Gulf Breeze Elementary; Stephen Stanquist, Gulf Breeze High; Dina Pagonis, Gulf Breeze Middle; Donna Moore, Hobbs Middle; Hilary Rivkind, Holley-Navarre Intermediate; Roger Makar, Holley Navarre Primary; Shundra Brown, T.R. Jackson Pre-K; Shellie Macht, Jay Elementary; Allison Pritchett, Locklin Technical Center; Evangeline Schepper, Milton High; Rita Marcilliat, Navarre High; Nadia Batson, Oriole Beach Elementary; Summer Clark, Pea Ridge Elementary; LaTarsha Ukazim, W.H. Rhodes Elementary; Shana Carlson, Russell Elementary; Ray Gentry, Santa Rosa High; Staci Levi, Sims Middle; Jessica Negrotto, West Navarre Intermediate; Nicole Hausleiter, West Navarre Primary; Robin Abernathy, Woodlawn Beach Middle.
State Attorney: Deputies Justified In Shooting 25 Times At Suspect
April 9, 2011
The State Attorney’s Office says Escambia County deputies were justified when they fired their weapons during the October hostage standoff that seriously wounded Deputy Jeremy Cassady.
On October 29, deputies responded to a home off Scenic Highway were Phillip Monier was holding his ex-girlfriend Jackie Rosenbloom hostage. According to the State Attorney’s report, Cassady fired the first shot at Monier’s head and missed. Fourteen deputies in all fired a total of 25 shots, none of which hit Monier.
The hostage, Rosenbloom, was struck a number times in the pelvis and leg. She survived her injuries.
Sacred Heart Hospital Stands To Lose $15 Million From State Medicaid Cuts
April 9, 2011
Sacred Heart Hospital stands to lose $15 million in funding it receives for services it provides to low-income patients covered by Medicaid under the state budget proposed by the Florida Senate.
The state Senate’s proposed budget is threatening Florida’s health care safety net by imposing what amounts to a 35 percent Medicaid reimbursement cut on all Florida hospitals, according to the hospital. The funding cuts would have the most impact on 15 safety net hospital systems which deliver nearly half of all charity care and Medicaid care to patients in Florida.
Based in Pensacola, Sacred Heart Health System is one of those 15 hospitals which are now being asked to absorb a large part of the Senate’s proposed Medicaid cuts.
“These cuts in Medicaid funding will severely reduce access to health care services for those who are poor and vulnerable in our community,” Laura Kaiser, president and CEO of Sacred Heart Health System, said.
“Our mission is to care for everyone, regardless of one’s ability to pay. Medicaid payments to doctors and hospitals have always been low – actually less than our cost for providing care,” Kaiser added. “But these new cuts are extreme and will significantly reduce our ability to continue vital services that are life saving and life giving. For example, we provide the only Children’s Hospital in Northwest Florida – if we are forced to cut back our pediatric services or reduce staff, children will have nowhere else to go.”
The $720 million being slashed from just 15 safety net hospital systems represents 45 percent of the total $1.8 billion in program cuts that the Senate is leveling on all 200 hospitals in the state.
“These cuts, which are unprecedented in their enormity, will hurt patients, hospitals and communities across Florida,” said Tony Carvalho, President of the Safety Net Hospital Alliance of Florida (SNHAF), which represents the state’s leading teaching, public and children’s hospitals. “We are urging the Senate to maintain funding for the Medically Needy and Medicaid for the Aged and Disabled programs, similar to what is being recommended by the Florida House.”
Navy Drops Dismissal Of Tate Grad Sailor Found In Bunk With Another Male
April 9, 2011
The Navy has dropped dismissal proceedings against a Cantonment sailor who was facing unprofessional conduct charges after being found in bed with another male.
Petty Officer Stephen Jones, stationed at the Naval Nuclear Power Training Command in Charleston, S.C., learned Friday that the Navy was rescinding his discharge orders.
Jones, a Tate High School graduate, was reportedly found asleep in a bunk in February with another male soldier. The two men, who were both clothed, claimed they simply fell asleep while watching The Vampire Diaries on a computer, but their commander ruled that Jones “willfully failed to exhibit professional conduct” and discharge proceedings began.
His attorney claimed that the Navy wanted to discharge Jones because the Navy suspected his was gay, but there was no proof or admission of homosexuality.
“We strongly suspected that his command was trying to find a round about way to discharge Jones because it suspected him of being gay, and we simply were not willing to stand by and watch a new version of ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ emerge under the new label of ‘unprofessional conduct,’” a statement from Servicemembers United Executive Director Alexander Nicholson said. Servicemembers United is the nation’s largest organization of gay and lesbian troops and veterans.
Woman, 78, Shoves Gun-toting Robbers Out The Door
April 9, 2011
A 78-year-old woman threatened at gunpoint in attempted home invasion fought back, and two suspects were in jail within about an hour.
Mary Collins, 78, was home alone at her residence in the 900 block of Twinbrook Ave., when three juvenile males came to her door asking if they could cut her grass. When she told them no, she closed the door and the juveniles walked away. About an hour later, while Collins was in another part of her home, she heard a noise and went to investigate. She found one of the juveniles armed with a gun standing in the residence.
Collins, according to a sheriff’s report, yelled at the suspect and shoved him toward the door. The startled suspect ran out of the house.
At around 12:07 p.m. Thursday deputies were dispatched to the incident and by 1:30 p.m. they had two suspects in custody. Arrested were 17-year-old Maurice Antoron Atkins, of Pensacola, and 13-year-old Luis Beuno Martinez, also of Pensacola. A third suspect, described as a light skinned black male wearing a grey shirt and jeans, was able to escape capture.
“We are working on identifying the third suspect in this case,” said sheriff’s spokesperson Deputy Chris Welborn. “We’re asking anyone with information concerning him or his whereabouts to contact us.”
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.
Molino Man Pleads Not Guilty To Torching His Foreclosed Home
April 9, 2011
A Molino man charged with setting fire to his home that was in foreclosure last fall has pleaded not guilty.
George Thomas Alexander, 49, entered the not guilty plea this week on a charge of felony first degree arson in Escambia County Circuit Court. The charge is in connection with the fire in the 3500 block of Molino Road on October 6, 2010.
The Florida State Fire Marshal’s Office believes Alexander torched the home that was in foreclosure.
“The fire obviously started with human intervention,” Lt. Kevin Fiedor with the State Fire Marshal’s Office said. Damage to the brick home was estimated at about $65,000. The home had no power or gas at the time of the blaze.
Alexander is due back in court for trial in July.
The Molino, Cantonment, McDavid, Century, Walnut Hill and Beulah stations of Escambia Fire Rescue worked for hours to fully extinguish the blaze.
For more photos from the blaze, click here.
NorthEsambia.com file photos, click to enlarge.
Majority Of Florida Voters Disapprove Of Obama’s Performance
April 9, 2011
Slightly more than half of Florida voters said they disapprove of the job President Barack Obama is doing, according to a poll released Friday.
The phone survey of voters taken in Florida March 29 to April 4 by Quinnipiac University found 52 percent of voters disapprove of Obama’s job performance while 44 percent approve.
About 4 in 10 voters say he should get a second term, compared to about 5 in 10 who say he shouldn’t.
It appears to be mostly about policy – 70 percent of those polled said they were inclined to like Obama personally – with 30 percent of them saying they like him, but disagree with what he’s done as president.
Weekend Gardening: Catering To Stink Bugs
April 9, 2011
There are some insect pests that simply laugh at insecticides. One such group is the stink bug family. Stink bugs are naturally tolerant of many pesticides; therefore, few insecticides are available to manage these damaging pests.
Several different species of stink bugs occur in Florida including the brown stink bug, the green stink bug, the Southern green stink bug and the omnipresent leaffooted bug. This group alone damages 21 important commodities in the U.S. They are major pests of beans, peas, okra, soybean, cotton, peach, pecan, and tomato.
Stink bugs live through the winter as adults huddled in grass clumps, leaf litter and under tree bark. Adults emerge in the spring just as crops are starting.
Members of the stink bug family have piercing mouthparts. They insert their mouthparts into the plant tissue and ‘suck’ liquids from the plants. Damaged foliage often will turn yellow and eventually brown in color or become malformed in shape.
Curled, distorted okra pods are often the result of stink bug feeding. Tomatoes develop white or yellow, corky spots underneath the skin as a result of stink bug feeding and this damage imparts an off flavor to the fruit. Depending on the size of the seed when attacked, feeding on pea and bean seed may result in complete shriveling of the seed or cause sunken, ‘stung’ spots on the seed. This latter type of damage is often confused with that caused by cowpea curculio. Okra is seldom damaged extensively, but heavy infestations of stink bugs can cause serious damage to tomatoes, beans, and peas. Stink bugs also feed on corn, and can cause death of seedling plants or curled, ‘cowhorned’ ears.
One non-traditional way of dealing with these pests is through the use of “trap crops”. Trap crops are composed of one or more plant species that are grown to attract insects in order to protect the desired crop from the pest. Protection may be achieved either by preventing the pest from reaching the crop or by concentrating the pests in a certain part of the garden where they can be managed. The idea is to lure and cluster the pests by providing them a more desirable food source.
Buckwheat, sunflower, millet and sorghum all serve as host plants for the four major stink bug and leaffooted bugs. Stink bugs are apparently very finicky with respect to plant growth stages and the quality of their food. Therefore, it is better to plant multiple trap crop species in order to maintain a continuously competitive food source to out compete your prized vegetable plants.
There are a couple of methods of planting these trap crops. They can either be planted to encircle the crop or interspersed among the crop plants. Research has shown that stink bugs exhibit a pronounced ‚edge effect‛ while moving through your garden. They tend to congregate their populations in the border rows. Therefore, it is recommended that trap crops be placed between the suspected sources of stink bugs and the planted vegetables to intercept moving stink bugs. With smaller plots, it is probably better to plant the trap crop around the entire garden.
Just remember, once the trap crop attracts the pest stink bugs, it’s best to eliminate them by hand removal or other methods.
Theresa Friday is the Residential Horticulture Extension Agent for Santa Rosa County. Photos by Theresa Friday.