Chemstand Road Closed Again
August 18, 2009
Chemstrand Road was temporarily reopened to through traffic at Kingsfield Road on Thursday, August 6, while conflicts related to the underground utilities in the area are being worked out.
Morgan Contracting, Inc., the ECUA’s contractor on the Northern Transmission Main Project, expects to resume construction activity on the pipeline’s installation on Tuesday, August 18, at which time Chemstrand will again be closed to through traffic at Kingsfield Road.
Florida’s Populaton Declines For First Time Since 1946
August 18, 2009
Florida’s population declined last year for the first time since 1946 as the steep national recession put the brakes on in-state migration and also sent many residents packing, University of Florida researchers reported Monday. That population decline, according to one state representative, should be a wake up call for the state.
Florida lost 58,000 residents compared to a year earlier, as the nation’s fourth largest state settled in with a population of 18.7 million people. The number of Floridians lost represents a city roughly the size of Pensacola.
“Florida is not the place it was in the past,” State Representative Dave Murzin told NorthEscambia.com. Murzin blames the declining population, in part, on a perception that property taxes and property insurance rates are too high in the state.
“In an economy that is based on sales tax,” Murzin said, “it’s a problem. Florida has got to realize that we have no industry, and we can no longer base revenue on people coming into our state.”
“It’s certainly a unique situation after so many years of sometimes remarkable growth,” said Stan Smith, director of the Bureau of Economic and Business Research at the University of Florida. “More people are leaving and fewer are coming in.”
A year earlier, even as the recession began to grip Florida and the nation, the state still gained 126,852 new residents. But those findings were a sharp drop from increases of almost 500,000 residents seen in 2003-04, records show.
The university is expected to release details of the latest population survey Wednesday. Only statewide numbers were made available Monday to the News Service of Florida, but the findings bolster trends already reflected in three consecutive years of school enrollment declines and a drop in the number of jobs available in Florida.
State economists forecast that Florida’s unemployment rate will hover around 11 percent through at least the first half of next year.
Luring out-of-state residents has been Florida’s go-to economic plan since the early days of statehood. One of Florida’s most robust periods occurred when annual population growth of between 2 percent and 2.6 percent was reported from the mid-1990s through 2006, according to UF demographers.
But when the recession hit — officially December 2007 — Florida’s growth numbers began tailing off. Looking ahead, only 70,000 new Floridians are expected to be added in the next two years, officials have said.
The decline is evident in Florida classrooms, where 10,000 students this fall are expected to leave the nation’s fourth largest school system. It’s the third straight year of shrinking enrollment in the 2.6 million-student system, reversing 25 years of often-rapid growth following a brief slump which occurred the recession of the early 1980s.
“Population growth is the biggest economic driver we have,” said Amy Baker, coordinator of the Legislature’s Office of Economic and Demographic Research. “Our economic recovery is really based on when people elsewhere feel comfortable enough to sell their homes and buy here, and take a chance to come to Florida to take a new job.”
“Until employment improves, we’re not expecting to see huge jumps in the economy,” Baker added.
Researchers say Americans nationwide are staying in place because of the cratered housing and job markets.
Just over 257,000 people moved away from New York between July 2007 and July 2008, according to demographers at Queens College. But that was the first time that fewer than 300,000 New Yorkers left annually since the Census Bureau began collecting the data in 1982.
The number of New Yorkers leaving also is about half what it was in 2005-06, the peak year for out-of-state migration.
New York has been the leading source of domestic migrants to Florida and the Sunshine State remains the top choice of departing New Yorkers. There’s just not as many of them.
Florida lawmakers this spring tried to kick-start the staggering development industry by approving legislation backed by business groups that removed a key underpinning of growth-management legislation.
Lawmakers erased road-building requirements for projects in densely-populated areas – saying it will encourage urban infill.
Sen. Don Gaetz, R-Niceville, chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Florida’s Economy, defended the Legislature’s approach as not merely trying to put the spurs to Florida’s one-trick pony again.
“The days are over for us thinking economic development means standing at the stateline with a glass of orange juice and a land map,” Gaetz said.
But Chris McCarty, a UF economist, isn’t so hopeful.
“Growth is being managed by other factors,” he said. “Basically, it’s whether people can sell their homes in other states and move to Florida. We’re not seeing that.”
Escaped Atmore Prison Inmate Recaptured
August 17, 2009
An inmate that escaped over the weekend from an Atmore prison is back behind bars after being arrested this afternoon in Mobile.
Officials say Devin Nalls, 35, escaped from the J.O. Davis/Fountain Correctional Facility in Atmore. They discovered him missing during a routine check at 9:10 Saturday night. He was seen at about 7:00 p.m.
Nalls was located Monday afternoon in Mobile. He was taken into custody just after 3:00 this afternoon by U.S. Marshals and officials from the Alabama Department of Corrections after a traffic stop near I-65 amd Highway 90.
Bloody clothes were found near a razor wire fence; officials believe Nalls was cut by the razor wire as he climbed the fence. Tracking dogs from the prison were able to follow Nalls’ scent to Highway 21, where officials believe he was picked up by a car.
About 8:00 Sunday night, authorities received a tip that Nalls was seen at the Bay Minette Walmart and was being driven to Atmore by someone in a black 1997 Lexus ES300. The car was reported to have damage to the passenger side tail light. Atmore Police were unable to locate the vehicle in Atmore.
Nalls sometimes uses the aliases Michael Foster and Devon Miller.
Nalls was serving 20 years for a breaking and entering a vehicle in Mobile County.
Pictured: A 2004 photo of Devin Nalls, 35, who escaped sometime Saturday night from an Atmore Prison.
Four Injured In Rollover Accident
August 17, 2009
Four people were injured in a single vehicle rollover accident near the Alabama/Florida state line about 2:00 Monday afternoon.
The four, a 17-year-old driver and three children, were injured in the accident on Miller Road, a dirt road just east of Rockaway Creek Road, less than half mile south of the state line. None of the injuries were believed to life threatening. The injured were transported by Atmore Ambulance to Atmore Community Hospital.
The driver told authorities she swerved to avoid a deer and lost control of the Jeep on the muddy roadway. The vehicle overturned, and came to rest in the roadway on the driver’s side.
The Walnut Hill Station of Escambia Fire-Rescue and the Florida Highway Patrol also responded to the call.
The accident is still under investigation by the FHP.
Pictured above: Four people were injured in this single vehicle accident on Miller Road Monday afternoon. NorthEscambia.com photo, click to enlarge.
Bratt-Davisville Water System Boil Notice Lifted
August 17, 2009
A precautionary boil water notice for the Bratt-Davisville Water System has been lifted.
The notice had been issued last weekend for the area bounded by Still Road, Sandy Hollow Road, Rigby Road, Pine Forest Road, Highway 4, Highway 97, Greenland Road and Meadows Road.
Samples show that the water is now safe to drink, according to the water system.
For more information, contact the Bratt-Davisville Water System at (850) 327-6778.
Pamela Long Wiggins Back In Jail; Judge Ups Bond To Half Million
August 17, 2009
Pamela Long Wiggins is back in the Escambia County Jail — this time on a half million dollars bond — in connection to the Byrd and Melanie Billings murder case.
Long Wiggins, 47, had been free on $10,000 bond since her arrest on July 15 on charges of first degree accessory after the fact. She was back in court Monday morning where Circuit Judge Frank Bell ordered her bond increased from the $10,000 to $500,000. She was taken back into custody and returned to the Escambia County Jail.
According to case documents, Long Wiggins transported weapons and a safe stolen from the Billings home. The safe was later found buried under a pile of bricks in the backyard of a home that she owns in Gulf Breeze.
Pictured: Pamela Long Wiggins’ mugshot taken Monday morning at the Escambia County Jail. Submitted photo for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
No More Alabama Kids Allowed In Florida Schools; District To Enforce Policy
August 17, 2009
The days of Alabama students attending school in Escambia County, Florida schools are over, and students from Escambia, Florida, including those from the closing Carver/Century K-8 School, will not be allowed to attend school in Alabama.
“Nothing has changed,” Escambia County Superintendent Malcolm Thomas told NorthEscambia.com. “We do not have an agreement, and we have a plan that we intend on enforcing.”
“We have a policy in effect that parents must now show proof of residency and a Florida drivers license in order to enroll their child,” Thomas said. “Someone may go to the extreme of living in Alabama but somehow getting a proof of residency and a Florida drivers license, we will most likely enroll that student. I don’t have the resources to go out and verify that every student lives at the address we have.”
“If these people are fabricating addresses, we will do what we can,” he said. “It might take some time before you can validate it in some way. This will be hard to manage if people go to an extreme. We don’t have the resources to check every student.”
Since 1999, a written agreement between the school districts of Escambia County, Alabama, and Escambia County, Florida, has allowed up to 100 students per year from Escambia, Alabama, to attend school in Escambia County, Florida. At a September meeting of the Escambia County (Alabama) School Board, the board voted to rescind that agreement effective with the next school year. Thomas said the Alabama school board’s vote ended the agreement with no action on Escambia County, Florida’s part.
“It takes two people to have an agreement,” Thomas said,”and one party has already backed out of this agreement. When they rescinded it, we no longer had an agreement.”
Alabama students currently enrolled in Escambia, Florida, schools will be allowed to finish the highest level offered by the school where they are currently enrolled.
An Alabama student in the third grade at Bratt Elementary would be allowed to attend school there through the fifth grade, for example. Once that child finished fifth grade, they would not be allowed to move on to middle school in Florida. A student attending Ernest Ward Middle School under the agreement would be allowed to finish the eighth grade but not be allowed to attend Northview High School.
There is no provision to allow siblings to attend an Escambia County, Florida, school based upon the merits of a family member. That could mean one child in a family eligible to remain at a Florida school and another sibling unable to attend.
“That may put a hardship on some families, I realize,” Thomas said. “But Escambia County, Alabama, wanted to stop it, so we have to stop it somewhere.”
Thomas told NorthEscambia.com that the school district also plans to determine if the students that were at Carver/Century K-8 last year actually enroll at Bratt or Ernest Ward this year. Without an agreement in place between the Escambia counties, former Carver/Century students are unable to cross the line to Alabama schools like Flomaton.
If a former Carver/Century student that should be at Bratt or Ernest Ward is not attending one of those schools this year, Thomas said Escambia County (Fla.) school intends on checking on that student.
“We want to make sure that are not at home…and not attending school,” he said. “That would be unacceptable.”
Thomas admits that perhaps the agreement between Escambia County, Alabama, and Escambia County, Florida, may need to be revisited in the future due to the number of Alabama parents that want to send their students to a Florida public school.
“Escambia County, Florida, is happy that the Alabama parents want their children to attend our schools,” he said. “We are proud of what we do, and it is a tribute to the fine job our teachers do at schools like Ernest Ward and Bratt.”
The one charter school in North Escambia — Byrneville Elementary — must also follow the Alabama student policy, Thomas said.
There is one exception to the policy — children of Escambia County (Fla.) School District employees may attend an Escambia County, Florida, school regardless of residency.
Your comments on this story are welcome below. However, do not mention any child or their parent/guardian by name.
Pictured above: Of the 100 students from Alabama that were allowed to attend school in Escambia County, Florida, 18 of them attend Ernest Ward Middle School. Those students will now be allowed to continue at Ernest Ward but not move on to Northview High School. NorthEscambia.com photo/graphic.
Century Man Says ‘Not Guilty’ On Drug Charges
August 17, 2009
A Century man has pleaded not guilty to multiple felony narcotics charges.
Jeffrey Jay, 35, of Pond Street, was arrested by the Escambia County Sheriff’s Department in June and charged with multiple cocaine and controlled substance charges.
Two charges of selling cocaine were dropped by the prosecution. Jay entered the not guilty plea to one count of selling opium or a derivative and two counts of possession of a controlled substance with the intent to sell. All three charges are second degree felonies.
He remains in the Escambia County Jail on $40,000 total bond. Jay’s trial is scheduled for late September.
Free Hunter Safety Course
August 17, 2009
Escambia County Extension Services and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission are offering a free hunter safety course.
Both traditional classroom style and online training are available. The traditional hunter safety course, which covers the knowledge, skills and attitude needed to be a safe hunter, is 12 hours of classroom instruction with a test and three hours on the range. The online version allows students to learn a majority of the knowledge portion of the course via computer with the remainder of the course covered in a four-hour classroom setting followed by a test and three hours on the range.
Participants must be 12 years of age or older. Children under 16 must be accompanied by an adult at all times.
The hunter safety course will be held at the Langley Bell 4-H Center, 4810 West Nine Mile Road. Classes will be held from 6 to 9 p.m. on September 15, 17, 22 and 24 with the range portion held September 26 from 7 to 10 a.m.
Information and registration is available online here or by calling the FWC’s regional office in Panama City at (850) 265-3676. You may also call Libbie Johnson at your local Escambia County Extension Services, 850-475-5230 or email libbiej@ufl.edu.
Zoo Closed — Unless Escambia And Santa Rosa Find $125,000 Each
August 17, 2009
The Zoo Northwest Florida closed at the end of the day Sunday, and it could remained closed forever if Escambia and Santa Rosa counties don’t contribute $125,000 each by Friday.
The cash-strapped zoo has requested $125,000 from each county. Escambia County took a wait and see approach to find out what Santa Rosa County, where the zoo is located, would do. Santa Rosa commissioners declined to contribute general fund revenue to the zoo. Instead, Santa Rosa commissioners deferred the funding request to the Santa Rosa County Tourist Development Council. That group will discuss the request on Wednesday.
“I am optimistic that a positive financial solution for The ZOO can be reached with the support of the TDC & Escambia County,” Danyelle Lantz, Executive Director of The ZOO, said. “This is a temporary hurdle. We have plans in place to insure future financial self-sufficiency for The ZOO. This assistance will allow us the time needed to implement that plan, and get our feet firmly planted.”
Although The ZOO is closed to the public, essential staff will remain on-site to care for the animals. “The health and well-being of our animals has always been, and remains, our top priority,” Lantz stated. Funding is being provided by Animal Park Inc., the prior owners of The ZOO, to ensure that food, care and full veterinarian services are given to the animals.