5,100 Acre Dump Planned Upstream From North Escambia Draws Protests
February 15, 2011
Protesters gathered at a county commission meeting in Evergreen, Ala., Monday to show their solidarity against a 5,100 acre landfill.
Conecuh Woods LLC has formally applied for the landfill, which will include a 1,600 acre “disposal cell” from Range to Repton to near the Big Escambia Creek. Big Escambia Creek flows southward into Escambia County, Alabama, through Flomaton and drains through a North Escambia swamp into the Escambia River.
Holding signs that proclaimed “No Dump!”, the protesters gathered as the Conecuh County Commission met to discuss plans for public hearing next month on the landfill, which will accept about 15,000 tons of waste per day from across the country.
Many local governments downstream from the proposed Conecuh Woods, including Atmore, Escambia County (Ala.), and the Poarch Creek Indians, have adopted resolutions opposing the landfill.
The Citizens for a Clean Southwest Alabama has hired a law firm to fight the proposed dump.
The public hearing for the Conecuh County Commission to consider approval for Conecuh Woods is set for March 10, 9 a.m., at Reid State Technical College in Evergreen. The commission has until April 2 to make a decision on the proposal.
Pictured top: Residents gather Monday in Evergreen, Ala., to protest a planned 5,1000 landfill. Photos courtesy WALA FOX 10 for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Sacred Heart Ranked Among Nation’s Top 5 Percent Of Hospitals
February 15, 2011
The nation’s leading independent health care ratings organization has ranked Sacred Heart Hospital among the top 5 percent of all U.S. hospitals for clinical excellence.
As part of its ninth annual HealthGrades Hospital Quality and Clinical Excellence study, HealthGrades identified those hospitals performing in the top 5 percent nationwide across 26 different medical procedures and diagnoses.
Based on the results of the national study, HealthGrades recognized Sacred Heart by presenting hospital leaders with the Distinguished Hospitals for Clinical Excellence Award™. The rankings are based on a comprehensive study of patient death and complication rates at virtually every hospital in the country.
“Sacred Heart Hospital is among an elite group of hospitals in the United States,” Lisa Esch, vice president of professional services for HealthGrades, told an audience at the hospital. ”There are 268 hospitals in the nation and 26 in Florida that are recipients of this year’s award. Our study showed that those top-rated hospitals had a mortality rate among Medicare patients that was almost 30 percent lower than all other hospitals.”
In presenting the award to Carol Schmidt, president of Sacred Heart Hospital, HealthGrades also recognized Sacred Heart’s quality in specific categories of care, noting that Sacred Heart ranked among the top 5 percent of hospitals in the nation for treatment of stroke. The study showed Sacred Heart’s risk-adjusted inpatient mortality rate for Medicare patients diagnosed with stroke was 51 percent lower than the average nationwide.
Based on the data, HealthGrades awarded special Excellence Awards to Sacred Heart in the areas of:
- Stroke Care
- Critical Care
- Pulmonary Care, and
- Bariatric Surgery
In comparing the performance among hospitals for specific medical conditions and treatments, HealthGrades assigns a rating of 1-star (poor), 3-star (as expected) or 5-star (better than expected.) HealthGrades gave Sacred Heart a 5-star rating in 14 categories that included: treatment of heart attack, heart failure, hip fracture repair, pneumonia, gastrointestinal bleeds, peripheral vascular bypass, and respiratory failure.
“This award is a milestone in our journey toward excellence in clinical care that began more than seven years ago at Sacred Heart and continues today,” said Laura S. Kaiser, president and CEO of Sacred Heart Health System. “This achievement is the result of an unwavering focus on the quality of care provided to our sickest patients at the most important times. It truly has been a team effort by many physicians and clinical staff across multiple departments.”
Unlike other hospital quality studies, HealthGrades evaluates hospitals solely on patients’ clinical outcomes: rates of deaths and complications in hospitalized patients. HealthGrades’ analysis is based on approximately 40 million Medicare patient discharges for the years 2007, 2008 and 2009.
Survey Says: Floridians Are Just Fed Up
February 15, 2011
Close to half of Floridians surveyed say the state is worse off than it was five years ago, while one-in-five say they are seriously considering moving elsewhere, a new poll by Leadership Florida shows.
The survey of 1,220 Floridians was conducted last month by the Nielsen Company for Leadership Florida, an arm of the state Chamber of Commerce.
It found that 69 percent of Floridians believe business community leaders rarely do what’s right for the state. Another 65 percent said state government wastes taxpayers’ dollars. About three-fourths of those polled gave “fair” or “poor” marks to the performance of the state and federal government, while 65 percent gave similar grades to county government.
“The public is very wearisome of the slow economic recovery and the high frustration level of Floridians is impacting their opinion of government at every level,” said Susan MacManus, a University of South Florida political scientist. “At the same time, people have an expectation of what they want the governor and the Legislature to do: to create jobs and remove major barriers to doing business in the state of Florida,” she added.
Floridians gave Gov. Rick Scott a mixed message in the survey. While 52 percent of Floridians supported firing ineffective teachers, a signature issue for Scott, only 3 percent of Floridians believe tax relief should be the governor’s top priority. Scott has championed a $2 billion tax cut for property owners and businesses. While Scott also campaigned heavily on cracking-down on illegal immigration, only 1 percent of respondents said that should command the governor’s focus this year.
EREC Sends Area Juniors On Tallahassee Youth Tour
February 15, 2011
Fourteen high school juniors were guests of Escambia River Electric Cooperative last week in Tallahassee as they learned more about their state legislature and electric cooperatives.
Participants included Ashley Brazwell, Crystal Davis, Myranda Jernigan, and Taylor Mitchell from Central High School; Crystal Brown, Cody English, Caristyn Golden, Sawyer Hudson, Meredith Owens, and Sara Stokes from Jay High School; and Taylor Byrd, Holly Dickson, Nolan Taylor, and Elizabeth Wright from Northview High School.
While in Tallahassee, the students met with nearly 100 other high school juniors from electric cooperatives throughout the state of Florida. EREC delegates enjoyed visiting the Challenger Museum and viewing the IMAX movie, Hubble (3D). Youth Tour participants observed court in session in the Florida Supreme Court and participated in a mock session in the senate chambers where various members of the Legislature addressed the group.
The Youth Tour program provided students an opportunity to learn more about their state government and electric cooperatives and also gives them a chance to interact
with other students from co-ops throughout the state.
“It was a great educational experience and a lot of fun for the entire group,” according to Sabrina Owens, EREC’s marketing director.
Pictured top: 2011 EREC Youth Tour delegates with Florida State Representative Doug Broxson. Left to right: Ashley Brazwell, Taylor Mitchell, Sawyer Hudson, Elizabeth Wright, Cody English, Taylor Byrd, Holly Dickson, Rep. Broxson, Nolan Taylor, Crystal Davis, Sara Stokes, Myranda Jernigan, Crystal Brown, Caristyn Golden, and Meredith Owens. Submitted photo for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
The 2011 Gulf Coast Agribusiness Conference Is Thursday
February 15, 2011
The 2011 Gulf Coast Agribusiness Conference is this Thursday at the Chumuckla Farmers’ Opry.
Speakers from the Southeast will provide farmers with ideas for new crops and business models. A trade show will be held at the conference, with space for vendor booths and equipment displays.
The target audience for this conference includes producers of all types of livestock and specialty crop production in the Western Panhandle of Florida and Baldwin and Escambia counties in Alabama. The conference is also an informational seminar for existing and prospective ranchers and specialty crop producers.
Conference topics will include “Keys to Successfully Choosing Enterprises That Suit Your Small Farm,” “Small Farm Livestock Production,” “Beef Cattle and Goat Production,” “Small Farms Poultry Management,” and “High Tunnel Production”.
For more information, contact Robin Vickers at rvickers@ufl.edu or (850) 983-5216, Ext. 113. For a schedule and registration form, click here.
Escambia County And Flomaton Win Area Championships
February 15, 2011
Good news Monday for two Escambia County, Alabama, teams as they won their area championships in high school basketball play off action.
The Flomaton Hurricanes got past Cottage Hill 60-58 for the 2A Area 1 championship.
And, in Atmore, the Escambia County High School Blue Devils defeated B.C. Rain 75-53 for the 4A Area 1 championship.
Century Care Center: Be My Valentine
February 15, 2011
Residents at Century Care Center celebrated Valentine’s Day with a lot of good fellowship Monday afternoon.
Sweethearts were Evelyn Bates, Alene Burch, Hattie Floyd, Ada Inman, Ruby Leach, Essie Johnson, Dora Rolin, Betty Roney, Dorothy Roper, Ruth Steele, Thomas Barrow, David Comalander, Larry Gregory, George Lockett and W.E. Welch.
Submitted photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Fire Destroys Excavator (With Explosion Photo)
February 14, 2011
Fire destroyed a John Deere excavator about 10:40 Monday morning on South Highway 99 at Tungoil Road.
The Walnut Hill and Molino stations of Escambia Fire Rescue responded to the blaze. There were no injuries. The excavator, which was being used to clear a lot of brush, was a total loss.
In the photo above, fuel or fluid from the excavator explodes into a fireball before the first fire units arrived on scene. Pictured below: The excavator burns less than second before the top photo. NorthEscambia.com exclusive photos, click to enlarge.
Five Homeless After Fire Destroys Century Home (With Photo Gallery)
February 14, 2011
Five people were left homeless when an early morning fire destroyed their Century home.
Flames were shooting from the roof of the single story wood frame home at 121 Front Street when the first firefighters arrived just after 4 a.m. Monday. The occupants of the home escaped without injury. Four adults and one child were homeless following the fire.
CSX Transportation was forced to halt train traffic through Century after firefighters pulled a hose from hydrant at the old Alger-Sulliver Lumber Company property to supply water.
The exact cause of the fire is under investigation by the State Fire Marshal’s Office.
The Century, McDavid, Molino and Walnut Hill stations of Escambia Fire Rescue, the Flomaton Fire Department and Escambia County EMS responded to the blaze.
For more photos from the scene, click here for a NorthEscambia.com gallery.
Pictured: Fire destroyed a wood frame home at 121 Front Street in Century early Monday morning. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Portion Of Ernest Ward Campus Leased To Northwest Escambia For Ball Field Expansion
February 14, 2011
A portion of the Ernest Ward Middle School property in Walnut Hill is being leased to Northwest Escambia Little League to expand with new practice fields.
The Escambia County School District has leased about 4.5 additional acres to NWE for four new ball practice fields for $1 per year on a 20 year lease. According to NWE officials, the ball fields will be constructed and maintained by volunteers or at NWE’s expense.
The school district owns 90 acres around Ernest Ward, including the current school campus, the NWE’s current Bradberry Park, about 20 acres of farmland and several acres of wooded land (see map above). A portion of the property was already leased to NWE for Bradberry Park, a portion to a communications company for a cellular tower and 19.25 acres to Bama Bottom Farms, LLC.
Brett Ward of Bama Bottom Farms property agreed to forgo 2.75 acres of his parcel, which he leases at $65 per acre, for the ball fields. An additional 1.73 acres for the ball fields is located to the west of the Walnut Hill Ruritan Club community center, behind the district’s bus garage. The 1.73 acres currently includes the old “hog barn” that was used by Ernest Ward High School. (The areas being leased to NWE are shown in yellow in the map.)
NWE’s lease on the Ernest Ward property will be for 20 years, with the option to extend for two additional 10 year terms.
Pictured below and inset: This area around the old Ernest Ward High School “hog barn” and part of the field below are on the current Ernest Ward Middle School property and have been leased to Northwest Escambia Little League for four ball practice fields. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
