North Escambia Area August Gardening, Lawn Tips
August 9, 2009
The Escambia County Master Gardeners offer the following tips for the month of August:
Yard
Direct Sow: Seeds of late cosmos, gaillardia, lupine, petunia, zinnia, calendula, candy tuft, nicotiana, pansy, marigold, and verbena.
Start: Seeds of butterfly weed, purple coneflower, coreopsis and other perennials to be set out as transplants later in the fall season. Start your seeds indoors because of the heat. Shade them when transplanting to the garden.
Plant: Amaryllis, ajuga, Louisiana iris, ginger lily, daylilies. Plant your woody ornamentals in order for them to become established before winter.
Vegetables
Direct Sow: Seeds of beans (bush, pole, lima), sweet corn, cucumbers, onions (bulbing & green), peppers, southern peas, pumpkin, summer squash, turnips, and watermelon. Select varieties that mature early in order to produce before the weather gets too cool. Provide adequate water and watch for pests.
Plant: The tomato suckers you rooted in the spring, and broccoli, cauliflower, and collards. To plant garlic – Separate the cloves and plant, pointed end up, four to six inches apart and one inch deep.
Miscellaneous
Monitor plants carefully for pests and beneficials. Be especially alert for azalea caterpillars, Dantana major Grote & Robinson (Insecta: epidoptera: Notodontidae). They can defoliate a bush overnight!
Do not apply nitrogen to lawngrass too late in the growing season, as this can slow regrowth the following spring. A general guideline for the last
fertilizer application is mid-September for north Florida. It is possible to apply potassium at a rate of 1 pound of potassium per 1000 square feet. This will help the grass to overwinter, tolerate cold temperatures, and green-up quickly in the spring.
Check the mulch around your plants as organic matter decomposes readily in our climate. Add enough to bring the level back to three inches. Be
sure to keep the mulch pulled away from stems and trunks as roots can form in it, causing the plant to become susceptible to winter damage. Mulch right against the stem can also invite damage from insects and fungi.
Container plants may need watering every day. Continue using a water soluble fertilizer as nutrients wash through the soil.
Continue to water shallow rooted plants such as azaleas, camellias, blueberries and dogwoods during dry spells.
Clean up perennial clumps that have bloomed out and give them a light application of fertilizer. Apply last feeding to azaleas, camellias, and
gardenias.
Disbud camellias to increase flower size. (As soon as you can distinguish the rounded flower buds from the pointed vegetative bud, twist off all but
one of the flower buds at each tip.)
Tie dahlias to stout stakes and continue to disbud if large blooms are desired.
Take cuttings of woody ornamentals to increase your stock: azaleas, oleander, hydrangea, camellia, gardenia, etc. This is the latest in the year you
should air layer.
Try rooting some cuttings of your cold sensitive ornamentals. If they freeze during a cold winter, you will have replacements for the spring.
This is the last month to pinch back mums and poinsettias to produce bushing but do not disbud the plant. Purchase near-mature mums to add color, but do not pinch back.
Keep adding to that compost pile! Remember, diseased plant material should never be added to your compost pile.
The Escambia County Master Gardener Program was established in 1984, jointly with Santa Rosa County. Since that time each county has developed their own program to assist their respective Horticulture Agent. The Escambia County Master Gardener Association currently has 78 certified volunteers and 16 trainees. The volunteers have contributed more than 101,926 hours of volunteer service to the community since 1987. For more information, click here.
Vandals Strike Community Clothes Closet
August 9, 2009
The Jay Community Clothes Closet distributes clothing to anyone that needs it — for free. Now, organizers are trying to figure out why crooks would target their project.
The Clothes Closet operates out of the Jay Community Center, handing out the clothes, shoes and toys on set distribution days. But last week, someone vandalized the group’s items, throwing them all over the room.
“This is a community service, and we are here to try and help the community,” said organizer Wendy Booker.
Booker is asking anyone with information about the incident to please call her at (850) 675-8561 or (850) 686-6124.
District 5 Commissioner White To Hold Town Hall Meeting
August 9, 2009
District 5 Escambia County Commissioner Kevin White will hold a town hall meeting Tuesday, August 11 at 6:30 p.m. at the Escambia County Extension Office, 3740 Stefani Road in Cantonment.
The District 5 meeting will begin with comments from the commissioner and proceed into an open forum where citizens may ask questions, share comments and concerns.
For more information, contact Commissioner White’s office at 595-4950.
Photos On The EDGE: Molino Church Wraps Up VBS
August 9, 2009
Aldersgate United Methodist Church in Molino held their Camp E.D.G.E. Vacation Bible School last week.
The church averaged just almost 50 children and over 50 volunteers each night during the adventure filled week.
For a photo gallery, click here.
Submitted photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Violent Sex Offender Arrested In North Escambia
August 8, 2009
A wanted Tennessee violent sex offender was arrested Friday in North Escambia.
Charles Alton Clift, 34, was taken into custody on warrants out of Hamilton County, Tennessee. Clift was listed as one of the Hamilton County Sheriff’s 12 most wanted fugitives.
The search for Clift began just before 8:00 Friday morning at a house in the 3900 block of Highway 97 near Hendricks Lane north of Molino. Escambia County deputies were unable to locate Clift at that address, but a tip led them to another address in the area. That exact address was not immediately available.
Clift was taken into custody and booked into the Escambia County Jail as a fugitive from justice. He remains in jail without bond.
Clift plead guilty to aggravated sexual battery in 1996 and was sentenced to state prison, according to Hamilton County, Tennessee, court records. He was arrested in August, 2008, after he failed to properly register as a sex offender. Court records show he plead guilty to violation of Tennessee’s sexual offender registry laws in September 2008.
A warrant for violation of sex offender registry, second offense was issued for his arrest after he once again failed to comply with Tennessee’s sexual offender registry laws by not reporting his whereabouts.
Hamilton County, Tennessee, encompasses that Chattanooga area.
More Details On Tice Connection To Billings; Read Arrest Report
August 8, 2009
More details have emerged about the connection between Henry “Cab” Tice and Byrd and Melanie Billings, the Beulah couple shot to death in the their home on July 9.
Tice was arrested Thursday night and charged with grand theft in connection to over $17,000 in worthless checks Tice wrote to the Billings’ family company Worldco Financial Services. He was released on $10,000 bond.
Tice’s arrest report says Byrd Billings stated that he has business dealings with Tice and his Hispanic American Auto Sales. Tice wrote 12 checks totaling $17,342.51 to Worldco that were returned due to non-sufficient funds, according to the report. The checks were payments for vehicles and services conducted through Worldco and Hispanic American Auto Sales.
“Worldco Financial Services has been unable to have Tice make good on the twelve checks and the vehicles consigned to Henry Tice of Hispanic American Auto Sales locations are currently unknown,” the report says.
After his arrest on the grand theft charges Thursday night, Sheriff David Morgan named Tice as a “person of interest” in the murder investigation. The sheriff said Tice and murder suspect Leonard Gonzalez, Jr. had a “father and son relationship” and spoke often.
The Billings family released a statement that said, “We have faith that Sheriff Morgan will be diligent in determining whether there is any connection between Cab Tice and the murders”.
The sheriff also said that Tice admitted when questioned Thursday that Tice had connections to the Mexican mafia. Morgan said he would release further information soon about Tice and his dealings with the Mexican mafia and the car business.
Morgan said Tice had borrowed $50,000 from the Mexican mafia, and that he was still in debt to them. In his dealings with the Mafia, Morgan said Tice would sell cars across the border to be resold in Mexico. The sheriff said the deals were cash, under-the-table.
Click here to read the arrest report (pdf).
Two Billings Suspects In Court, Arraignments Postponed
August 8, 2009
Two more of the Billings murder suspects were in court Friday.
Gary Lamont Sumner, 30, and Frederick Lee Thornton Jr., 19, are being held on open counts of murder. They were in an Escambia County courtroom Friday, where State Attorney Bill Eddins requested that their arraignments be postponed until after a grand jury considers charges on Tuesday.
The judge agreed, postponing their arraignments until August 13. Leonard Gonzalez, Jr, Leonard Gonzalez, Sr., Wayne Coldiron, and Pamela Long Wiggins are also scheduled to be arraigned Thursday.
State Farm To Raise Insurance Premiums, Drop Customer Discounts
August 8, 2009
State regulators on Thursday approved a slate of requests from State Farm Florida Insurance Co. that will raise premiums for homeowners by an average of 28.4 percent.
The decision by the Office of Insurance Regulation, agency officials say, would result in additional premiums of $278 million for the company after all policies come up for renewals beginning Dec. 1.
But the rate increases will target only those customers who now benefit from a handful of voluntary discounts offered by State Farm including premium breaks for policyholders who also insure their cars with the company, have a home security system or have not filed a claim in several years.
State insurance regulators, however, rejected a company request to reduce premium discounts it is required to offer customers who hurricane-proof their homes, saying the company must provide additional data before regulators will be willing to modify discounts already in place.
“They need to do some more work on that piece,” said Belinda Miller, OIR deputy commissioner.
State lawmakers recently enacted legislation requiring insurers to offer premium discounts for homes that are better able to withstand hurricane force winds. To change the discount, companies must provide a detailed study showing that different discount rates are more appropriate.
“State Farm ran a model but did not have what we considered to be a detailed alternative study,” Miller said.
State Farm and Florida regulators are in the process of negotiating a two-year exit plan. Unable to obtain the premium increases it says it needs, the company in January said it would leave the state’s property insurance market over a two-year period once an acceptable withdrawal plan was approved.
State Farm has long offered discounts as a marketing tool. The discounts are voluntary, but must still be approved by OIR. The agency is also required to sign off if those discounts are discontinued, even though regulators have little or no authority to block the decision.
A company spokesman said eliminating the discounts is needed as the company responds to market conditions and its inability to convince regulators that higher premiums are needed.
“Right now what we’re focusing on is developing a plan to provide a soft landing for our customers and to allow them to continue to work through their agents,” said Justin Glover, a State Farm spokesman.
Formal hearings are scheduled to begin in October over State Farm’s exit plan, but Glover said the company continues to talk with agency officials to reach agreement before then.
Community Outreach: Children At Bratt Church Wash Cars For Free
August 8, 2009
Children at the First Baptist Church of Bratt held a free community car wash Friday.
Pete Amerson explained that the car wash was for the community — a chance for the children to do something for the community and spread the Gospel at the same time. First to fifth graders washed cars and stood by the side of Highway 4 with handmade signs advertising their event.
Pictured top: Children at the First Baptist Church of Bratt held a free community car wash Friday afternoon. Pictured inset: Advertising the event. Pictured bottom: Anna Lee, 5, decided to cool off with a hose during the car wash. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
On Stage: Northview Student In High School Musical Production
August 8, 2009
A Northview High School student will be on stage this weekend in the Pensacola Little Theatre performance of High School Musical.
Angel Mitchell spent over 150 hours — about 15 hours per week — rehearsing this summer for her role as a skater and part of the ensemble. Angel will be a freshmen this year at Northview.
High School Musical is based on the Disney Channel original movie. The last performance is at 2:30 Sunday afternoon.
For more information, visit www.pensacolalittletheatre.com.
Pictured above: Angel Mitchell (far right) in the Pensacola Little Theatre performance of High School Musical.