Jay Cross Country Qualifies For State
November 13, 2010
The Lady Royals of Jay High School qualified for the Class 1A meet with a sixth place showing Friday in Region 1-1A.
Leading the Royals was Emerlee Trevino with a time of 21:36.57 for a 23rd place finish. Other top runners for the Lady Royals were Robin Blackman at 26th (21:40.31), Jessica Thornton at 31st (21:58.94), Allison Blair at 34th (22:21.60), Jenna Thornton at 58th (24:09.72), Caristyn Golden at 59th (24:24) and Ally Settle at 60th (24:34).
Only two public schools advanced to the state competition. Team finishes were as follows:
- Oak Hall (Gainesville) 39
- Providence (Jacksonville) 40
- Maclay (Tallahassee) 87
- Aucilla (Monticello) 113
- St. Johns Country Day (Jacksonville) 127
- Jay (Jay) 167
- Bishop Snyder (Jacksonville) 171
- P K Young (Gainesville) 186
- Mandarin Christian () 244
- Pensacola Christian (Pensacola) 286
- Altha (Altha) 319
- Rocky Bayou Christian (Niceville) 339
Photos: Blue Angels Homecoming
November 13, 2010
Blue Angels homecoming air show continues Saturday at Pensacola Naval Air Station. Performances begin at 9:30 a.m. with the Blue Angels flying at 2 p.m. Gates open at 8 a.m.
For a photo gallery from the Blue Angels homecoming airshow, click here.
Pictured above: The Blue Angels perform. Pictured below: Explosive action during the night show Thursday at NAS Pensacola. NorthEscambia.com photos by Kristi Smith, click to enlarge.
Cantonment Resident’s Wreck Cuts Power To Nearly 2,000
November 13, 2010
A Friday morning wreck involving a Cantonment resident left nearly 2,000 Gulf Power customers without power.
The Florida Highway Patrol said Lonnie G. Craft, 54, experienced a medical problem and hit a power pole and electrical boxes on Detroit Boulevard in the Ensley area. Craft was pulled from the vehicle in serious condition before the 2006 Mercury caught fire.
Craft was not charge in connection with the accident.
Haircut Frees Girl Trapped In Wreck
November 12, 2010
A quick haircut from first responders freed a teenage girl was trapped in an overturned truck near McDavid Friday afternoon.
The wreck happened about 4 p.m. on a dirt portion of Pine Barren Road about a mile north of Highway 29. A Dodge pickup occupied by two teenage girls left the roadway and overturned against a tree.
First responders said that one girl was able to climb out of the truck, but the other was trapped by her long hair entangled in the wreckage. Firefighters cut her hair in order to free her from the truck.
Both girls were transported to Sacred Heart Hospital in Pensacola with minor injuries. The accident is under investigation by the Florida Highway Patrol.
The McDavid Station of Escambia Fire Rescue provided the haircut, and Escambia County EMS also responded to the accident.
NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Man Flees Atmore Police, Slams His Car Into A Building
November 12, 2010
An Alabama man that fled from Atmore Police was seriously injured when he slammed his car into a building.
Zachary A. Smith, 20, of Excel, Ala., was listed in serious condition after being airlifted to Baptist Hospital in Pensacola.
According to the Atmore Police Department, an Atmore police officer conducted a traffic stop about 6:20 p.m. Thursday on Smith’s 1994 White Honda Accord after it was observed traveling on Martin Luther King Drive at a high rate of speed. As the officer exited his patrol car at the traffic stop at the intersection of Ashley Street and Martin Luther King Drive, Smith restarted his car and fled westbound on Ashley Street.
According to the Atmore Police Department, the officer lost sight of the vehicle near the intersection of Ashley Street and North Main Street. Officers soon discovered that Smith had traveled across Main Street, through a business parking lot, across Trammel Street and had struck a the former Gray Oil Company building on Ashley Street.
Smith was transported by ambulance to Atmore Community Hospital and then airlifted to Baptist Hospital where he was listed in serious condition Friday.
Atmore Man Arrested After Pensacola Carjacking, Police Chase
November 12, 2010
An Atmore man was apprehended after an early morning carjacking and police chase in Pensacola.
Casey Monta Coleman, 20, of Patterson Street, Atmore, is charged with robbery, resisting arrest without violence, and numerous traffic offenses including fleeing and alluding after the incident that began at 1 a.m. Friday.
Escambia County deputies responded to the Kangaroo convenience store at 4126 Mobile Highway after a 911 call from Lisa Barber, 39, of Orlando. She reported that her 1996 Isuzu Trooper had been forcibly taken.
Barber told deputies that she had parked her car at the Western Inn, located across the street from the convenience store, when she was approached by the suspect later identified as Coleman. She stated that Coleman pulled her from the vehicle and threw her to the ground. Barber then witnessed Coleman enter her vehicle and leave, driving east on Mobile Highway, according to the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office.
Around 2:20 a.m. a deputy found the stolen vehicle near the intersection of La Salle Way and Montclair Road and attempted to conduct a traffic stop. Coleman refused to stop and deputies pursued the vehicle to the 1000 block of Mills Avenue where Coleman jumped out and began to flee on foot. Deputies and a Sheriff’s K-9 later located Coleman hiding under a boat at 1036 Mills Avenue where he was apprehended.
Judge: No Bond For Driver Charged With DUI Manslaughter
November 12, 2010
A Navarre man charged with DUI manslaughter in connection with a Tuesday night wreck in Molino was ordered held without bond during his first court appearance.
According to the Florida Highway Patrol, driver Terry E. Lee, 41, of Navarre was traveling on Omega Drive about 6:15 p.m. Tuesday when his Toyota car left the roadway, traveled through a wooden fence and across a pasture before hitting another fence and a tree. Lee’s passenger, Brandee N. Scott, 49, of Pensacola, was pronounced dead at the scene of the crash.She was reportedly impaled by a wooden board from the fence.
Lee, who was airlifted to Sacred Heart Hospital following the crash, reportedly told Florida Highway Patrol troopers that he was not involved in the crash.
Terry Eugene Lee, 41, is facing charges of DUI manslaughter, DUI property damage, no driver’s license, driving with license suspended resulting in death, and three counts of possession of a controlled substance without a prescription.
For Wednesday’s NorthEscambia.com story about the accident and more photos, click here.
Pictured above: One person died in this single vehicle crash Tuesday evening in Molino. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Your Money: Gulf Power Bills Going Down
November 12, 2010
A little good news for Gulf Power Company customers — power bills are headed down in January.
Beginning January 2011, the typical residential customer will see a 2.8 percent decrease on their electricity bill as compared to January 2010, according to the company.
Gulf Power said the decrease is primarily driven by a lower cost of fuel the utility uses to produce electricity. By strategically monitoring its generation fuel mix to use the most cost-effective generation available, the company was able to lower residential electricity prices for 2011.
“The bottom line is that fuel prices have come down and we’re passing that savings along,” said Jeff Roger, spokesman for Gulf Power. “It’s a drop that will directly benefit our customers.”
Gulf Power’s base rates have not changed since 2002, but the cost of fuel continued to rise. Now, those fuel costs are coming back down.
“In previous years we saw the costs for fuel soar, but right now we’re projecting the costs will continue to be lower,” said Rogers. “In the end it means lower electricity bills and that’s great news for Gulf Power customers.”
Gulf Power primarily uses coal and natural gas as fuel for generating electricity, Rogers said.
Millions Of Gallons Of Reclaimed Wastewater Put To Use
November 12, 2010
Millions of gallons of reclaimed water now are flowing from the Emerald Coast Utilities Authority’s new Central Water Reclamation Facility in Cantonment to Gulf Power, a partnership that company officials said is bringing cleaner air and water to Northwest Florida.
Gulf Power’s Plant Crist has started receiving up to 10 million gallons a day of reclaimed water from ECUA’s new plant through a four-mile pipeline connecting the two facilities in Cantonment. The water is being used for the scrubber system at Plant Crist and for generating electricity.
The scrubber system, which cost $645 million and started operating last December, reduces regulated air emissions from Plant Crist by more than 95 percent. And, because of the partnership, Gulf Power will reduce the amount of water it takes from the Escambia River by about 10 million gallons a day.
“We’re giving this reclaimed water a beneficial use while conserving a valuable natural resource,” said Sandy Sims, Gulf Power Public Affairs manager. “While our scrubber has been providing cleaner electricity for almost a year now, this innovative project shows how partners can work together to benefit our customers and the environment — with cleaner air and water.”
The partnership earned Gulf Power and ECUA a 2010 Sustainable Florida Best Practices Award from the Florida Collins Center for Public Policy.
Gulf Power eventually will use up to 17 million gallons a day of reclaimed water, of which more than 80 percent will be evaporated as part of the scrubber, cooling tower and plant operations.
The new ECUA facility eventually will replace the Main Street Wastewater Plant, which had been discharging up to 20 millions of gallons of effluent daily into Pensacola Bay, and stands in a coastal flood zone, vulnerable to storm surge. The new wastewater treatment plant is a zero discharge facility.
Pictured above and below: The Central Water Reclamation Facility in Cantonment. Submitted photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
W.D. Childers Bribery Case Headed To Federal Court
November 12, 2010
The case of W.D. Childer’s overturned bribery conviction will now be heard by a federal appeals court.
Childer’s bribery conviction was overturned in a federal appeals court in June, with the judge ruling that testimony that was disallowed in the original trial could have led to a different outcome and that his constitutional rights were violated.
Now, 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals will rehear the case after vacating the decision to reverse his conviction.
Childers, who once served as President of the Florida Senate, was convicted of bribery and accepting unlawful compensation for official acts in connection with a Highway 29 soccer complex scandal in 2002 while he served as an Escambia County Commissioner.
The soccer complex scandal eventually landed four Escambia Commissioners in jail on charges that included Childers, Willie Junior, Terry Smith and Mike Bass. Junior was later found dead under a house, committing suicide the day before he was to be sentenced.
Childers, once known as “The Banty Rooster” for bringing home the bacon for Northwest Florida, was released from state prison on June 17, 2009, having served almost three years of a 42-month sentence on the charges related to the $3.9 million soccer complex purchase. Junior testified that he received a collard green pot full of cash in exchange for his vote to purchase the soccer complex.
Childers was also the first man in Florida jailed for violating the open-meeting portion of the Sunshine Law for a phone call he and Smith made to then Supervisor of Elections Bonnie Jones. Childers served about a month in jail before being released.
Most notably for North Escambia, Childers was the man responsible for the funding to four-lane Highway 29 to the Alabama state line.