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Road Construction Won’t Slow Holiday Travel

A little good news for motorists this Labor Day weekend — those pesky road construction zones won’t slow you down.

To ease traffic congestion and insure safety along the roadways in northwest Florida, construction contractors working on state roads will cease operations during the Labor Day weekend, according to Tanya Sanders Branton, public information specialist for the Florida Department of Transportation.

There will be no work on state roads requiring lane restrictions through Monday, September 6, she said. All major roads in northwest Florida will be open to normal traffic.

Companies Plan To Announce Hundreds Of Century Jobs

A group of new industries are planned for Century that could mean up to 500 jobs, breathing life back into the old Alger-Sullivan Lumber complex that has sat idle for a number of years.

Century Lumber and Land, LLC plans to join Railmark Holdings and Milton Timber to announce a total of five ventures slated for Century.

The companies will, over a course of time, be in the business of:

• treating railroad crossties
• dry kiln treating domestic lumber for the building industry
• building and selling lumber kilns
• repairing freight railcars, railroad track and maintenance
• processing and marketing Paulownia trees as biomass fuel and wood products

“Century Lumber and Land is definitely moving to Century, company Manager Jim Craft told a group of business and industry leaders at a Thursday board meeting of the Century Chamber of Commerce. “We are as anxious to get started as y’all are for us to get started.”

An official announcement is expected within a few weeks.

“I’m optimistically looking forward to the announcement,” Century Mayor Freddie McCall said. “If it happens we will be celebrating.” He said his office and the Century Chamber had worked for seven years to bring a company to the Alger-Sullivan site.

Craft said Century Lumber and Land’s unique crosstie treating method uses an environmentally friendly chemical. The company will also use dry kiln treat domestic lumber and sell their own line of kilns.

Railmark, a Michigan company, will establish a location of its established  track construction and maintenance company in Century to serve the Florida, Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi markets. The company will use a portion of the Century property to perform both shop work and mobile repairs railcars.

Milton Timber will market biomass fuel — essential a charcoal type product — made from Paulownia trees. The Paulownia tree is rapidly growing species, gaining about 17 feet per year, that can be harvest every five years.

Craft said the operations would employ 300 to 500 people with a 36-42 month period, with about 200 of those employed by Railmark.

The 38 acre property was last sold in early 2006 to DMT Holdings, LLC in Navarre, according to the Escambia County Property Appraiser’s online records. The facility includes five buildings totaling just over 300,000 square feet, according to the property appraiser. The buildings on the property range in age from 11 to 54 years,with the largest 160,150 square foot building constructed in 1972.

Pictured top:  Darrell Kelsoe of Milton Timber explains the Paulownia tree during a Century Chamber of Commerce meeting Thursday.  Pictured inset: Jim Craft of Century Lumber and Land, LLC. Pictured below:  The former Alger-Sullivan Lumberyard in Century. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.

Photo Gallery: Hundreds Turn Out To Meet The Northview Chiefs

Hundreds of people turned out Thursday night to Meet the Chiefs at Northview High School.

Click here for a complete NorthEscambia.com photo gallery with the junior varsity and varsity football players, the cheerleaders, the band and the fans.

NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.

Escambia Purchases $12.5 Million Radio System; Media Outlets Ask For Delay Over Dispute With Sheriff

The Escambia County Commission voted Thursday night to purchase a $12.5 million communications systems for use by the county’s law enforcement, EMS, fire department, road department, road prison and code enforcement.

Local media outlets, including NorthEscambia.com, the Pensacola News Journal, CatCountry 98.7, NewsRadio 1620 and WEAR TV 3 had lobbied the commission to delay the purchase over concerns about Sheriff David Morgan’s plans to encrypt his department’s radio traffic — leaving the media and the public unable to listen in using a radio scanner.

“It does seem that loosing the ability to listen to the audio transmissions of our county’s radio systems would be a very bad for the public  to the extent the media is the eyes and ears of the public,” Dave Hoxeng, owner of CatCountry 98.7 and NewsRadio 1620 told commissioners Thursday night.

“Let me ask you a rhetorical question. If your house is on fire or your wife is getting beaten, who do you want to respond? The public? The media? Or the Sheriff’s Office or fire department?” Morgan asked the commission. “For us to spin this to say something that it is critical for the media to respond to this incident is complete and utter nonsense.”

Morgan has publicly opposed allowing media access to the radio traffic on encrypted channels to be used by his department. Instead, he has proposed expanding an Internet based CAD — computer aided dispatch — system that shows active calls, as well as a “paging” system that will use text or email messages to alert media outlets on pagers or smartphones about high priority calls.

“The media is attempting to portray to you tonight that we are trying to restrict their access. Nothing could be farther from the truth,” Morgan said. “In order to protect my officers and protect the public, this system needs to be encrypted.”

The sheriff provided the commission of an example where unencrypted scanner traffic could present a public service and officer safety issue.

“Horrible areas on Pond Street and Juniper, common knowledge that the druggies up there are listening to our radio scanner,” Morgan said of Pond Street in Century and Juniper Street in Walnut Hill.  With “the druggies” listening to scanners, Morgan said “When we roll up on scene they’ve closed up shop and left on Pond Street…now all the drug dealers know that Mrs. Smith is the one that called. If that’s not a public safety issue folks, I can’t describe one to you any  better that that.”

“What I am truly hearing from the media is ‘you are not giving us what we want’…we’ll that’s life. My concern is public safety and officer safety,” the sheriff said.

Dick Schneider (pictured) publisher of the Pensacola News Journal, asked the commission to delay a vote on the radio system to give local media outlets another opportunity to meet with Morgan.

“We would like to continue our discussions with Sheriff Morgan on making this work for the benefit of the media and, most importantly, the public,” Schneider said. He suggested that criteria could be determined to establish which companies are professional media, and those outlets could be provided with the digital key needed to unencrypt the Sheriff’s Office radio traffic.

Kyle Brinkman, news director at WEAR TV 3, said the encrypted radio channels “would hamper our ability to serve the public and quickly deliver information during situations such as hurricanes and tornadoes.  We all are all aware of how important it is to be able to deliver timely and relevant information to viewers during these life threatening situations.”

The decision to encrypt the Sheriff’s Office radio traffic was a policy decision to be made by the sheriff, not the commission, Commissioner Gene Valentino said.

Radio traffic of the other county services will not be encrypted, allowing the media and the public to continue to listen to fire and emergency medical traffic using scanner radios. The new radio systems is expected to be installed and operational in as little as 18 months.

Out Of Jail Just 15 Minutes, Woman Steals Sledgehammer

A woman had been out of the Escambia County Jail all of 15 minutes before being busted for stealing a sledgehammer out of vehicle in the jail parking lot.

Deadra Roberts-Otto, 37, was released from the Escambia County Jail at 11:05 Wednesday night. At 11:20, Escambia County Sheriff’s Office deputies were called to the jail parking lot where Roberts-Otto had allegedly broken into toolbox on the back of a 2002 Chevrolet pickup track and removed a sledgehammer.

The truck’s owner told deputies he was outside talking another subject when he saw Roberts-Otto go into the toolbox on the back of his pickup and take the sledgehammer. The victim told deputies that when Roberts-Otto spotted him, she gave the sledgehammer back.

“The suspect stated she was upset because she did not get her children’s birth certificates and social security card from the jail,” said Sgt. Ted Roy, spokesperson for the Sheriff’s Office.

Roberts-Otto’s 15 minutes of freedom ended when she booked back into the Escambia County jail on charges of burglary of a vehicle and petit theft. He bond was set at $1,500. Prior to the sledgehammer theft, she was jailed on a trespassing charge.

Ernest Ward Middle Eagles Soar Past Perdido Raiders

The Ernest Ward Middle School Eagles beat the Perdido Middle Raiders Thursday evening, 32-6.

The Eagles soared to a quick lead, 6-0, about two minutes into their season opener. With four minutes to go in the first quarter, the Eagles scored again. Then, in the second, Ernest Ward expanded their lead to 18-0.

Ernest Ward made it an all-Eagles first half, with a 32-0 lead at the buzzer. The Raiders managed to score just six in the second half, for the 32-6 final.

The Ernest Ward Middle School Eagles — the only middle school football team in Escambia County, Fla. — will be at home next Tuesday against Excel.

For more submitted photos, click here.

Pictured: Action as Ernest Ward Middle School beat Perdido Thursday evening. Submitted photos by Wayne Holland, click to enlarge.

Tate Beats Washington, 30-20

The Tate Aggies beat Washington High Thursday night in the season opener for Florida schools, 30-20.

Sophomore Lorzeno Long put the Aggies on the Board from seven yards and added a two point conversion with just over two minutes to go in the first quarter. Tate’s lead expanded to 14-0 in the second with a 43-yard touchdown run. Less than another minute had expired on the clock before Washington answered with a touchdown, 14-6.

The Wildcats scored again to narrow the Aggies’ lead to 14-12 headed to the lockers at the half.

In the third, senior Josh Dees scored from the five and Ladarian Young, a junior, added a two point co version to expand Tate’s lead to 22-12. Then in fourth, both Tate and Washington scored back to back TD’s, including a 30-yard run from Long, his second touchdown of the night.

Coarch Ed Rigby’s Aggies spoiled the Washington coaching debut of Michael Smith.

Tate will travel to Pensacola High Friday night, September 10 at 7:30.

Hurricane Season Heats Up With Earl, Fiona And Gaston

The hurricane season is heating up, with three named storms moving across the Atlantic.

For Gulf Coast residents, only Gaston bears watching. Gaston rolled off Africa and quickly went from a depression to a tropical storm on Wednesday. The storm is far from land, and its future path remains highly uncertain. Gaston weakened to a tropical depression on Thursday.

Meanwhile, powerful Hurricane Earl is moving toward North Carolina and causing worry up the entire Eastern Seaboard. Tropical Storm Fiona is not far behind early, but it is headed into hostile conditions likely to cause weakening before the storm is swept out to sea.

Back over Africa, yet another strong tropical wave will move off the coast with some potential for development.

The latest information on each storm can be found in the graphics on this page.

North Santa Rosa Transportation Improvements Outlined

Several transportation priorities have been identified for northern Santa Rosa County.

The Santa Rosa County Commission will recommend the following proposed projects for 2012-2016 to the West Florida Regional Planning Commission:

• Four-lane Highway 87 to the Alabama state line to promote regional connectivity between the Gulf Coast and I-65. Until Highway 87 can be four-laned, passing lanes south of Highway 4 to Country Road 399 would improve safety.
• Construct a trail from the end of the sidewalk on Spring Street in Jay to the Jay Schools between Alabama Street, Escambia Street and School Street. Sidewalks already exist on Spring Street from Commerce Street southward for 2,000 feet. The trail would extend about 3,600 feet to the schools.
• Continue the sidewalk on the south side of Highway 4 from Jay City Hall to the western town boundary. A sidewalk has been completed on the south side of Highway 4 from City Hall to Beck Avenue, funding through the Transportation Enhancement Program.
• Resurface Munson Highway from Highway 4 to the Alabama state line.

Florida Bans Fox Pens; Last Was In Walnut Hill

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission voted Wednesday to permanently ban all fox pens, like the one formerly located in Walnut Hill.

The rule approved by the FWC permanently prohibits the chasing of foxes and coyotes with dogs within an enclosure in Florida. The FWC had considered the issue for more than a year, and the practice was temporarily prohibited in February. At that time, the FWC ordered the Shady Oaks Fox Pen at 4000 South Highway 99 in Walnut Hill to cease any operations. The FWC did not accuse Shady Oaks — the last legal fox pen in Florida –or its owners of any wrongdoing.

There were as many as six state permitted fox pens in Florida in 2009, but all had closed by the end of the year except for the approximately 200 acre Shady Oaks Fox Pen in Walnut Hill. At one time, there were about 50 fox and coyote pens from the Panhandle to Central Florida.

In a prepared statement, The Humane Society of the United States praised the unanimous decision by the FWC banning what the group termed a “cruel practice”.

“We thank Chairman Rodney Barreto and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commissioners for their decisive leadership and thorough work to end the inherently cruel practice of fox penning that has no place in the 21st century,” said Jennifer Hobgood, Florida state director for The Humane Society of the United States.

“This is not about taking away hunting opportunities,” said FWC Chairman Rodney Barreto. “I’m a big believer in fair chase, and I have a list of places where hunters can still engage in those activities.”

“Coyotes and certain other nonprotected furbearers can still be taken year-round using several methods, including dogs,” Maj. Curtis Brown, head of the FWC’s Captive Wildlife and Investigations Section, said. “This can occur on open private lands and in specific wildlife management areas.”

Public input on the recommendation to permanently prohibit the enclosures varied from stating that “the prohibition preserves the true sportsmanship that hunting is all about” to saying that “legitimate fox and coyote hunters have been misrepresented on the issue”.

“This is not a referendum on hunting – we are a pro-hunting commission,” FWC Commissioner Brian Yablonski said Wednesday. “It is a question of fair chase and protecting the essence of hunting.”

Deliberations over this issue began last September, when Commissioners directed the agency’s law enforcement staff to review the permitting process and research the history and numbers of fox/coyote enclosures in the state.

At the February meeting, commissioners agreed to temporarily prohibit the practice. FWC staff was directed to work with stakeholders to address certain issues of concern regarding the enclosures and to draft proposed rules for the Commission’s consideration.

Pictured: A fence surrounds the former Shady Oaks Fox Pen on South Highway 99 near Walnut Hill. NorthEscambia.com file photos, click to enlarge.

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