Photo: Double Parked?
August 18, 2010
This cellphone photo shows a parking mishap recently at Grocery Advantage in Cantonment. There were no injuries report. Submitted photo by Brandie Ratcliff for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
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Century Fighting Alcohol At Community Center, Postpones Meeting, Buys Newspaper Ad
August 18, 2010
The Town of Century will fight alcohol at a community center, purchase a $325 newspaper ad and postpone their next regular meeting.
Alcohol At The Ag Building
Council member Sharon Scott addressed what she said was an alcohol problem at the Century Ag Building on West Highway 4 near the nursing home. There have been several complaints about loud music and alcohol at parties at the facility over recent months.
“We are going to have to be more proactive about the Ag Building with alcohol,” Scott said at Monday night’s council meeting.
“We are,” Mayor Freddie McCall responded.
Newspaper Ad
Also at Monday night’s meeting, the council voted to a purchase a $325 ad in an upcoming football section in the Tri-City Ledger.
“It’s to support our football team,” McCall said.
Postponed Meeting
The Century Town Council’s next regular meeting has been rescheduled for Monday, September 13 at 7 p.m. The meeting was rescheduled from September 6, which is the Labor Day holiday.
Escambia To Benefit From Ag In The Classroom Grant
August 18, 2010
Students in Escambia County will benefit from a recently announced Florida Agriculture in the Classroom grant.
Elementary and middle school students in Escambia County will learn about local agriculture and healthy eating choices by observing fruits, vegetables and herbs grown in raised bed gardens and participating in Florida Agriculture in the Classroom lessons. The project is one of 19 volunteer grant projects funded statewide by the Florida Agriculture in the Classroom program.
The Gainesville-based, non-profit association funded by sales of the agriculture specialty license plate known as the ‘Ag Tag’ will spend nearly $25,000 on projects carried out primarily by University of Florida IFAS extension and 4-H agents, agri-science teachers and other educators who are working to educate students about Florida agriculture. The projects will reach more than 9,000 students.
“Our volunteer grants program is just one way we fund projects carried out by our grassroots network of volunteers around the state,” said Florida Agriculture in the Classroom Chairman and Florida Beef Council representative Vina Jean Banks. “Without them, we wouldn’t reach nearly as many students as we do each year.”
Escambia County’s grant will be funded through the Escambia County Extension agency.
Century Hires Gonzalez As New Town Clerk
August 17, 2010
Monday night, the Century Town Council voted to hire Century native Leslie Gonzalez as the new town clerk.
Gonzalez recently returned to Century from South Florida where she was employed by Equity Residential, The Cove at Boynton Beach. In the position, she leased apartments to prospects. She was previously employed as a teacher and lunchroom aid in Palm Beach County, and as a bookkeeper for a Jacksonville law firm.
Mayor Freddie McCall said Gonzalez’s starting salary will be $12.02 per hour or $25,000 per year. Over the next year and a half, she will attend programs offered by the Florida League of Cities to obtain her city clerk certification. At that point, McCall said, her salary will be raised to $14.48 per hour, or about $30,000 per year.
Tuesday will be the first day on the job for Gonzalez.
Gonzalez was one of the top four candidates when Century accepted applications for the town clerk job following the Apil retirement of Dorothy Sims, McCall said. In June, the council hired Darlene Peters of Pensacola as the town clerk.
But by August, the town learned that Peters’ husband had accepted an out of state job. On August 3, council members were told that Peters would remain on a part-time basis temporarily as she worked to complete a degree at an area college while the town works to hire another clerk. Monday night, McCall said Peters had already left the town in order to join her husband.
The town will also hire current consultant Debbie Nickles to work two days per week on a tempory contract basis at $20 per hour to work on grant applications and perform other tasks while Gonzalez is trained.
The motions to hire Gonzalez and Nickles both passed 3-1, with Henry Hawkins against and Gary Riley absent.
Pictured top: Century Town Clerk Leslie Gonzalez. Submitted photo for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
New Drug Policy For Escambia Schools
August 17, 2010
A new plan to attack drugs will in place when classes begin August 23 in the Escambia County School District.
The Comprehensive Drug Awareness Plan will use cameras and other surveillance methods to target the influx of drugs into the district’s schools. The district will decide later at a later date to possibly implement random drug testing in the future.
“I’m very happy to see the district moving in this direction. I have been steadfast in my advocacy of this type of a policy in our schools for the last four years,” said Jeff Bergosh, Escambia County School Board District 1 member. “We can and should do everything we can to control the environment in and around our schools.”
Bergosh said he believes the new drug policy will have a dramatic and immediate impact in the county, and it will help thousands of children if properly implemented.
The following is an outline of the plan:
Purpose: Create drug free zones within middle and high schools. Prevent alcohol, cocaine, marijuana, prescription, tobacco and other illegal drugs from being present on Escambia school campuses.
Prevention (Curriculum & Instruction Assistant Superintendent and Level Directors)
- Marketing materials (slogan; posters)
- Drug education and awareness (assemblies, speakers, etc)
- Video messages for morning announcements
- Notice to students about potential of searches for drugs; unannounced searches of desks, lockers and other targeted areas
- Student committees on each middle and high school campus to focus on prevention
- Parent education
- Early intervention for elementary schools (Too Good For Drugs; Red Ribbon Week)
- Agency involvement to include law enforcement
Enforcement (Protection Services)
- Drug dog searches (frequent and systematic)
- School Drug watchdog reporting organizations
- Random drug testing – requires School Board approval
- Surveillance cameras installed at all middle and high schools
Consequences (Court Liaison)
- Consistent consequences for offenders
- Provide rehabilitation training / assistance as part of consequence
Support (Guidance Services and Alternative Education)
- Assistance for addicts
- Training for administrators, teachers and support staff to recognize early warning signs of drug use
- Tip Boxes for each middle and high school
- University of Florida partners with one pilot high school to complete the Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) with focus on prescription drugs
Dog Chasing Cat Ends With Domestic Dispute, Woman Jailed
August 17, 2010
An incident that begin with a dog chasing a cat ended with a fight, a Molino woman under a horse, then barricaded in a house and then pepper sprayed at the jail.
Kelly Nichole Herzberg, 28, of Highway 196, was charged with felony count of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and a misdemeanor count of battery.
The Escambia County Sheriff’s Office responded to a home in the 1100 block of Highway 196 Saturday night in reference to a disturbance. Herzberg’s mother said her daughter’s dog was off its leash, chasing the family cat. The mom looked for the cat in the barn, where she found Herzberg in a stall with a horse. The mom told the daughter to exit the horse’s stall for her safety.
At that point, according to the Sheriff’s Office report, Herzberg said “no way” and proceeded to get underneath the horse. When mom entered the horse stall, Herzberg allegedly pushed her. When the 28-year old’s father entered the barn, Herzberg began yelling that “the horses were hers and the barn also belonged to her and that everyone else was going to die tonight”, according to the arrest report.
Herzberg then, according to the report, left the barn, throwing rocks at the father. He was struck on his chest and side. Herzberg then ran into the house, locking the family outside.
The father told deputies that Herzberg stated that “she had a bullet for him”, and a 22-year old sister told deputies that Herzberg also said “I’m going to get half your will. You’re all going to die tonight”.
Herzberg refused to open the door for Deputy Jason Mann or Sgt. Jay Camac when they arrived at the scene. She told them that “the FBI had been notified of the situation and that the house belonged to her, not her father”.
As Mann and Camac waited for backup to arrive in order to make a forceable entry into the house, the younger sister made contact with Herzberg by phone. Herzberg agreed to allow the younger sister to enter the house through the garage. She threatened to kill the sister if she allowed deputies to enter the garage, the report states.
When Herzberg unlocked the garage door, she was taken into custody by deputies.
At the Escambia County Jail, Herzberg became violent toward detention deputies and was pepper-sprayed, according to the ECSO report.
Herzberg remained in county jail Monday night on $3,500 bond.
Century Seeks Grant For Hurricane Evacuation Routes; Resident Wants Local Shelter
August 17, 2010
The Town of Century will apply for a $1.18 million federal grant to improve hurricane evacuation routes, and one resident wants to know why the town is unable to find funding for a hurricane shelter so citizens can weather a storm close to home.
The town will seek a $1,178,796 U.S. Department of Transportation grant that would be used to resurface several streets to provide potential evacuation alternatives to Highway 29.
“People can run, but they don’t have no place to go,” said resident Leola Robinson. “Why teach them how to run?”
The former Carver/Century K-8 School is Century’s only hurricane shelter, but it is currently listed for sale by the school district.
“We can build one here; we can build a building for the people,” Robinson told the council Monday night.
Debbie Nickles, who serves at the town’s grant consultant, said that Milton did find grant funding to build such a shelter which also serves as a community center. Nickles will explore possible funding options and report back to the council.
Prior to Robinson’s comment, Nickles announced the town could apply for the $1.18 million in funding to resurface roads that would provide alternatives to Highway 29 for hurricane evacuation traffic passing through Century.
About a half million of the grant, if approved, would replace a culvert on Alger Road with a new bridge. The remainder of the funds would resurface Freedom Road, Old Flomaton Road, West Alger Road, East Hecker Road, Jefferson Avenue, Highway 4A, West Pond Street and West Highway 4.
If the town is awarded the federal grant, it will provide matching funds of about $58,000 in the form of engineering services. There are currently plans in place to use Local Option Sales Tax funds for town-funding resurfacing, including engineering fees.
“It (the grant, if awarded) will make our money we are going to spend on resurfacing go further,” said Council President Ann Brooks.
Cross Country: Runners From Four Schools Brave Summer Heat
August 17, 2010
Runners from several area schools have gathered twice weekly this summer to improve their cross country skills. Despite heat indexes well over 100 degrees many afternoons, members of the group have ran a twice-weekly 5K (that’s 3.1 miles) from Tom Byrne Park in Atmore.
The group was comprised of students from Northview High School, Escambia Academy, Escambia County High School and Ernest Ward Middle School. Northview Cross Country Coach Natalie Nall and retired T.R. Miller Coach Alan Ash assisted with the group’s conditioning.
Nall said that there is still time for Northview students to join the Chief’s Cross Country team.
Pictured: (back, L-R) Taylor Hubbard, Julia Thorpe, Aaron Rausch, Dillon Anderson, (front) Bethany Reynolds, Kristen Matthews, Natalie Nall. NorthEscambia.com photo, click to enlarge.
ECUA Recycling Program Expands
August 17, 2010
The Emerald Coast Utilities Authority has added glass, pizza boxes, bubble wrap and more previously excluded items to their recycling program. No sorting is required, and all newly included items can be placed in the gray recycling can with the other recyclables that are currently accepted.
The new recyclable items that are accepted as of Tuesday, August 17 are:
- All glass bottles and jars – no need to sort by color or remove labels.
- Old metal cookie sheets
- Aluminum baking pans
- Metal pots and pans
- Plastic and metal hangers
- Tin foil
- Pie tins
- Egg cartons (Cardboard / Paperboard only – No styrofoam)
- Pizza boxes
- Bubble wrap
The new recyclable items were added after ECUA approved a contract earlier this year with West Florida Recycling, LLC.
The ECUA recycling program began January 5, 2009 as part of the regular residential sanitation service. There are currently 39,000 households, about 54 percent of ECUA customers, utilizing the program.
For a complete list of items accepted in by ECUA, click here.
Semi Accident In Cantonment Closes Roadway For Hours
August 16, 2010
An overturned semi-truck Monday morning in Cantonment created traffic problems for hours.
The accident happened about 8:30 near Muscogee Road and Taylor Street. The driver of the truck, Jerry N. Howell, 60, of Butler, GA, received only minor injuries. The Florida Highway Patrol said Howell was traveling west on Muscogee Road when the right rear wheels of the trailer ran off the road. The trailer fishtailed and rolled onto its left side.
The roadway was closed until almost 1:00 Monday afternoon. Howell was not charged in connection with the accident. The truck was reportedly hauling paper.
The Cantonment Station of Escambia Fire Rescue, Escambia County EMS and the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office also responded to the accident.
NorthEscambia.com photos by Kristi Smith, click to enlarge.
