Day Admits To Murder; Says He Threw Body In River
October 17, 2009
The murder suspect that eluded law enforcement agencies in two states has admitted to killing a Nokomis, Ala., man, and has he also told authorities where he disposed of the body.
Bruce Edward Day, 42, admitted to Escambia County (Ala.) Sheriff Grover Smith last week that killed Woodrow “Token” Allen in December of 2001. Day told the sheriff, according to court testimony, that he wrapped Allen’s body in chains and tossed it in the Alabama River. Despite numerous searches, authorities have never located Allen’s body.
Investigators testified that witnesses admitted that Allen was violently beaten before Day shot and killed him. The murder weapon has never been recovered, by authorities said the witnesses had provided important information about the gun’s whereabouts.
Day surrendered peacefully to Smith on September 8, two days after he fled from the Gulf Power Crist Plant in Pensacola where U.S. Marshals had tried to arrest him.
Day’s father, William Fore, called Escambia County (Ala.) Sheriff Grover Smith about 8:30 night of September 8 and told the sheriff that he wanted to talk to him “now” at his Atmore residence, according to Chief Deputy Mike Lambert. When the sheriff arrived about 8:45 p.m., Day surrendered without incident.
As Smith transported Day to the Escambia County Detention Center in Brewton, Day reportedly told Smith details about the murder, including how he disposed of the body.
Day remains in jail on $250,000 bond.
South Walton Beats Jay
October 17, 2009
The South Walton Seahawks beat the Jay Royals Friday night in Santa Rosa Beach 12-7.
By the end of the third quarter, South Walton was up 12-0 after a 64-yard run. In the fourth quarter, the Royals hit the end zone after 10 plays, capped by a 9-yard touchdown from Hunter Boutwell.
The Seahawks held Jay to 112 yards on the ground, 48 of those yards from Chris Carrigan. At quarterback, Steven Brabham was for 3 for 10 with 75 total yards for Jay.
Jay is now 1-4 overall and in District 1-1A. The Royals will host the Northview Chiefs next Friday night.
Northview Recognizes Future Chiefs
October 17, 2009
The Northview High School Quarterback Club honored future Chiefs before Friday night’s football game. The Quarterback Club invited all Northwest Escambia and Century youth football players and cheerleaders to attend the game.
The players and Chiefs had the chance to introduce themselves on the stadiums public address system.
Click here for a photo gallery from the event.
Pictured above and below: Future Chiefs were recognized Friday night before Northview High School’s football game. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Big Wins For The Two Escambias, Big Loss For Flomaton
October 17, 2009
Escambia County 21 Citronelle 14
Escambia County High School had a 21-0 lead heading into halftime Friday night at home in Atmore against Citronelle.
The Blue Devils were without star quarterback Rico Stallworth for a violation of team rules that coaches would not disclose. He was replaced at the starting QB position by Derrick Williams. Williams scored a third of the Blue Devils’ points with a one-yard run. Nieko Williams had touchdown runs of five and 22 yards.
The Blue Devils, who improved their record to 2-6, 2-3 will be at home against Spanish Fort next Friday night.
Millry 48 Flomaton 0
Millry blew past the Flomaton Hurricanes Friday night with a 48-0 shutout.
Flomaton, with just one district win this year, will be at home against Washington County next Friday night.
Escambia Academy 38 Meadowview Christian 7
In their last home game of the regular season, Escambia County had an easy victory Friday night against Meadowview Christian, 38-7. The Cougars will travel Highway 21 to Monroe Academy next Friday night.
Atmore Man Arrested In Christian Home For Probation Violation
October 17, 2009
An Atmore man was arrested in the Christian Home Community Friday afternoon on a probation violation warrant from a conviction stemming from a 2005 narcotics arrest.
Justin Bryan Steel, 23, of Estes Lane, Atmore, was arrested without incident by the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office at a home in the 3000 block of Pine Barren Road on an outstanding warrant issued last month accusing him of violating probation.
Steel was arrested February 6, 2005, and charged with marijuana possession, possession of narcotics equipment and no valid driver’s license. He pleaded nolo contendere on September 23, 2008, to all charges, and the court withheld adjudication. He was sentenced to six months probation concurrently on each count. In March of this year, he was accused of violating his probation.
A warrant for his arrest was issued September 24 for violation of probation. Steel is being held in the Escambia County Jail without bond.
You Don’t Need A Driver’s License To Drive A Tank; Army Recruiter Visits EWMS
October 17, 2009
You don’t need a driver’s license to drive an Army tank, and drill sergeants don’t really yell at recruits.
Those were just a couple of the interesting answers to equally interesting questions Friday afternoon from sixth grade students at Ernest Ward Middle School. The answers were from SFC Bobby Ewing, U.S. Army recruiter. Ewing met with each of the three grade levels at the school on Friday to encourage them to work hard, get a good eduction and have a plan for the future — whether or not that plan includes a career a in the military.
For more photos from the event, click here.
“If you are a drill sergeant, that gives you the right to yell at people?” one student asked. “We don’t yell at people, we just speak in a very loud voice,” Ewing responded, drawing a laugh from many of the students.
Students asked dozens of other candid questions about Ewing, ROTC and the military.
“Do you need a driver’s license to drive a tank?” a sixth grader asked. “No, but you do need training he replied.”
Ewing explained ROTC and military careers to the students, pointing out that ROTC provides an opportunity to enter the Army or other service branch at a higher pay grade.
He answered other questions that ranged from personal to almost top secret.
“What’s the worst thing you’ve ever done?” That answer involved taking his wife to the wrong restaurant for her birthday.
“When you join the Army, do they tell you about Area 51?,” a student asked. He looked disappointed at the answer, while the rest of the students laughed. “All I know about Area 51 is what I saw in the Will Smith movie Independence Day.”
For Ewing, a 1997 graduate of Northview High School, those down to earth questions provide the opportunity to bring the military seem real for the students.
“Have any of your good friends been killed in action?”
His answer was a little slower and more thought out than most during his visit with the students.
“Yes, three of them….one, she was blown up.”
Prior to the question and answer session, Ewing focused on motivating the students to do their best in school and concentrate on their eduction for their future careers. When speaking later in the afternoon to EWMS eighth grade students, he also focused on choices and opportunities available to them as they attend Northview High next year.
“He is great,” Ernest Ward Principal Nancy Gindl-Perry said. “He really, really gets them going and encourages them.”
Like Ewing, many of the EWMS students were dressed in camouflage Friday because it was “Camo Day” at Ernest Ward as the school celebrated the last day of EWMS Spirit week.
For more photos from the event, click here.
Pictured top: Ernest Ward students, dressed in camouflage as part of the school’s spirit week, list to SFC Bobby Ewing Friday afternoon. Pictured inset: Ewing, an Army recruiter, explains the military to the students. NortEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Escambia (Ala.) Man Dies From H1N1
October 16, 2009
An Escambia County (Ala.) man has died from the H1N1 flu.
Health department officials said today that a man in his 40’s from Escambia County (Ala.) man died after testing positive for H1N1. Health officials did not release the man’s location within the county.
The area man’s death brings the total number of deaths in Alabama to 18 from H1N1, commonly referred to as the swine flu.
Other H1N1 deaths in Alabama have occurred in Bullock, Calhoun, Cherokee, Dale, Houston, Jackson, Jefferson, Macon, Madison, Mobile, Montgomery, Russell and Talladega counties.
Alabama Public Health officials said they would announce when and where the H1N1 vaccine would be available in Escambia County on their website, www.adph.org.
Wanted Man Busted After He’s Found Hiding In Apartment Attic
October 16, 2009
Atmore Police served warrant Friday afternoon on a man they say shot two people — including a juvenile shot in the back.
Charles Franklin Jones, 21, of Atmore, was arrested about 4:30 Friday afternoon connection with the shootings last week. Officers from the Atmore Police Department found Jones hiding the attic of a building at The Pines II Apartments on Jack Springs Road. Three small children were in the apartment; their grandmother took custody of the children as the officers took custody of Jones.
Jones was charged with assault first degree.
At 9:09 p.m. Saturday night, October 10, the Atmore Police Department received calls that shots had been fired on Jones Street in Atmore.
“The responding officer was one block away when he arrived at the scene where he found four males running south on Jones Street,” said Director of Public Safety Glenn Carlee. The approaching officer discovered that two of the four males had been shot.
James Hudson Jr., 20, suffered a gunshot wound to his upper leg. He was transported by ambulance to Atmore Community Hospital and then transferred by helicopter to the USA Medical Center in Mobile. The second victim, a juvenile, was shot in the back. He was transported by ambulance to Atmore Community Hospital and transferred by helicopter to Sacred Heart Hospital in Pensacola. Both victims were released the following day.
The four males were walking on Jones Street when Charles Jones approached Hudson. “Jones then allegedly shot Hudson in the upper leg, as the remaining individuals began to run, Jones then fired his weapon three more times striking the juvenile in the back,” Carlee said.
Pictured: Charles Franklin Jones in a September 2007 file photo. Submitted photo for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Open House Saturday At Roy Hyatt Environmental Center
October 16, 2009
The annual open house will be held Saturday at the Roy Hyatt Environmental Center in Cantonment.
Visitors will have the opportunity to stroll through the center’s butterfly garden, climb aboard the one-of-a kind “Bird Bus” and do some bird watching, walk the nature trail, see the endangered White-top pitcher plant, meet the resident reptiles, tour the replica of a one-room school house and the replica of a dog-trot farm house, visit the microscope lab, the bird classroom (where the screech owls live), the water pollution exhibit and more.
There will be activities for the children: face painting, designing butterfly rings, assembling a turtle maraca, constructing pinecone owls, making snake mobiles, plus other fun activities.
Also featured will be a silent auction that will include dolphin cruises, rounds of golf, gift certificates and a one-night stay at a beach hotel.
The Roy Hyatt Environmental Center is at 1300 Tobias Road, Cantonment. The events and open house will take place from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. For more information, call (850) 937-2117.
Local Equine Business Owners Arrested On Horse Cruelty Charges
October 16, 2009
Two Century residents that own a horse related business were arrested Thursday on animal cruelty charges after starving horses were found on their property.
Robin Brownie Floyd, 53, and Lynn Livingston Floyd, 42, both of Gilmore Road, Century, turned themselves in at the Escambia County Jail Thursday on charges of confinement of animals without sufficient food or water. They were released from jail on $6,000 bond each. They are due back in court in early November.
Panhandle Equine Rescue received a tip that several thin horses were being moved by the Floyds to Santa Rosa County, according to PER President Diane Lowery. She said the horses were being transferred to a Santa Rosa County residence and then moved out of state to a horse rescue in Georgia. When PER investigated in September, they found three emaciated horses still on the Gilmore Road property.
“While this may seem like the right thing for them to do, we felt that the Floyds needed to be held accountable, since this is the second time that they have neglected their horses and then given them away”, Lowery said. “This seems to be a pattern for them. Mr. Floyd is a local trainer and farrier and has owned horses for over 30 years, so he should know better. There is no excuse for someone with his knowledge to allow his horses to get in this condition.” Business tax receipt records on file with the Escambia County Tax Collector’s office show the Floyds do own an equine services business operated from a Gilmore Road address.
PER investigated a similar complaint about the Floyds in 2006, Lowery said.
Lowery said Robin Floyd transported nine of his horses to Santa Rosa County where one was euthanized by a veterinarian. She said six horses, including one carrying a foal, remain on the Century property. The Georgia group Horse Rescue, Relief and Retirement Fund, Inc. has offered to take the horses.
“We would have taken in the horses, but the other rescue had already agreed to take them. It would have been difficult for us, since we are at full capacity with little donations coming in, but we would have found a way to help them had it come to that,” Lowery said.
For more photos of the horses from Gilmore Road, click here. (Some readers may find the photos disturbing. Submitted photos by Panhandle Equine Rescue from 2009 and 2006.)
Lowery said both groups are in need of donations to take care of the horses. For more information on the Georgia group, visit www.savethehorses.org and for more information on PER and how to donate to that organization visit www.panhandleequinerescue.org.
Pictured top: One of the horses involved in an abuse case on Gilmore Road. Pictured left inset: Escambia County Jail mug shots of Robin Floyd (top) and Lynn Floyd taken Thursday. Submitted photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.