Pamela Wiggins Was Once Suspected In $300,000 Arson
July 24, 2009
Pamela Long Wiggins, accused as an accessory in the murders of Pamela and Byrd Billings, was once under suspicion for an arson that caused more than $300,000 in damage in Albany, Georgia.
The Albany Herald reports that Wiggins, 47, was under suspicion of arson according to Albany Fire Chief James Carswell. The newspaper reported:
In Albany she was married in 1988 to Charles Thomas Coco, divorce papers state. She had a son and the couple divorced in September 1992. Coco is now deceased according to a wedding announcement at OnlineAthens.com.
It is unclear whether the 1992 fire happened before or after the divorce.
“The way I understand it, someone went through this property with flammable liquids and set it on fire,” Carswell said. “It caused more than $300,000 worth of damage, according to the report.”
Wiggins remains free on $10,000 bail on the accessory charge in the Billings murder. Her next scheduled court appearance is an arraignment hearing on August 6.
For the complete story from the Albany Herald, click here.
Zoo Wants Tax Money To Stay Open
July 24, 2009
The Zoo Northwest Florida is asking the Santa Rosa County Commission to levy a special tax up to $60 per year on every property owner in a southern portion of the county, plus asking for $250,000 from county governments and agencies in Escambia and Santa Rosa counties. Without a commitment on the money, the Zoo says they will be forced to close as early as August 7.
The property owners that would be forced to pay the tax in Gulf Breeze, Navarre, Holley, Midway and Navarre Beach would receive a gift certificate worth $75 for a family membership to the zoo.
It will be up to the Santa Rosa County Commission to place the special tax on the 2010 ballot with the hopes of bringing in $7.5 million over 10 years.
The zoo is also asking for $125,000 from the Escambia County Commission, $75,000 from the Santa Rosa County Commission and $50,000 from the Santa Rosa County Tourist Development Council.
On Thursday, PETA — the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals — sent a letter to commissioners in Escambia and Santa Rosa counties opposing any funding for the zoo.
Here is the full text of the PETA letter:
Board of County Commissioners
Escambia County
221 Palafox Pl., Ste. 400
Pensacola, FL 32591Dear Ms. Young and Commissioners:
I’m writing on behalf of PETA regarding the The Zoo of Northwest Florida’s pleas for public funding and to urge you to continue denying such requests. Not only is the zoo financially unstable, it also appears to have engaged in a contract that could transfer animals at the zoo to a private owner.
An article in the December 18, 2008, edition of the Pensacola News Journal (enclosed) indicates that the zoo received a $100,000 “loan” from Marcella Leone, owner of a private menagerie in Stamford, Conn. The enclosed documents from the Florida Secured Transaction Registry, filed on December 30, 2008, seem to indicate that the zoo’s animals were used as “collateral” for the loan (the documents specifically mention the zoo’s baby orangutan, Indah). PETA has asked the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to investigate whether this transaction may constitute buying, selling, or otherwise engaging in commercial acts in violation of the Endangered Species Act.
Leone’s facility is not accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums and is also not recognized as a sanctuary. All too often, animals at such facilities are passed on to exotic-animal breeders or dealers, private collections, pseudo-sanctuaries, shabby roadside zoos, the pet trade, or other aspects of the exotic-animal industry.
Because the zoo is approximately $4.5 million in debt, it’s difficult to imagine that it will be in a position to pay off the loan any time soon. At what point will Leone claim the baby orangutanor any of the zoo’s other animalsas payment on the loan?
Again, we urge you not to throw good money after bad at a facility that has consistently experienced fiscal difficulties and does not act in the best interests of the animals in its care. Thank you for your consideration of this important matter.
Sincerely,
Lisa Wathne,
Captive Exotic Animal Specialist
Minimum Wage Increased
July 24, 2009
If you work for minimum wage, you received a raise Friday. The federal minimum wage increased 70 cents Friday to $7.25 an hour, or $28 a week.
In Florida, the increase for a minimum wage worker is less dramatic, with just a 4-cent increase. Until Gtofsuday, Florida’s minimum wage was already at $7.21 an hour.
Tipped employees also received a minimum wage increase from $4.19 plus tips to $4.23.
During 2008, the minimum wage in Florida was $6.79 per hour, 24 cents higher than the federal standard.
Under Florida law, the Agency for Workforce Innovation will be required to calculate a new minimum wage in the state on September 30. Those calculations are based on the Consumer Price Index. If the state calculation is higher than the federal minimum wage, the state wage would take effect in January 2010.
Registrations Being Accepted For Molino Pet Shelter
July 24, 2009
Registrations are being accepted now at the county’s new pet friendly hurricane shelter at Molino Park Elementary.
Emergency Management’s disaster preparedness web site, www.bereadyescambia.com, provides vital information for pet owners evacuating or sheltering-in-place during storms and lists more than 1,500 rooms available in comfortable, pet-friendly local motels. While pet owners are advised to find alternative accommodations in the event of a hurricane, a pet-friendly shelter will be opened for residents as a refuge of last resort.
Molino Elementary School, a general population shelter located at 899 Highway 97 in Molino, will be available to pet owners on a first-come, first-serve basis. Pre-registration for pets is required. Registration forms plus a full list of all requirements and pet owner responsibilities can be downloaded from www.bereadyescambia.com, or picked up at the Escambia County Animal Shelter, 200 West Fairfield Drive in Pensacola.
Pre-registration helps the county plan for how many pets can be expected, however space is limited to between 150 and 350 animals, depending on breed and kennel sizes. Only dogs and cats will be accepted – no pets of any other species are allowed – however there is no limit of cats or dogs per person, nor limitations on breeds. Pet owners will be required to stay at a facility adjacent to the pet shelter and may not leave their pet at the shelter for any length of time.
Identification tags, proof of vaccinations, food, water, any medications plus bedding and kennels must be provided by the pet owner for each animal. Owners will also have to care for each of their animals including feeding, exercising, potty breaks and all clean up.
Plan now where you will go with your pet if you need to evacuate for a storm. Plan now and you will prevent the stressful dilemma of staying in dangerous location during a storm, or leaving your pet behind.
Northview Tribal Beat Band Camp Info
July 24, 2009
The Northview High School Tribal Beat has scheduled their Band Camp 2009.
Band Camp is mandatory for those that wish to be a member of this year’s band.
Here’s the schedule, as provided by Northview Band Director Scott Slay:
- Percussion Sectionals July 27th and 28th 9:00am – 1:00pm
- Woodwind Sectionals July 29th and 30th 8:00am – 11:00am
- Brass Sectionals July 29th and 30th 2:00pm – 5:00pm
- Color Guard Sectional July 27, 28, 29, 30th – 2:00pm – 5:00pm
- Majorette Sectional Contact Kolby Cobb for more info
- Full Band Camp Everybody Monday, August 3 through Friday, August 7th and Monday August 10th through Friday, August 14th 8:00am – 4:30pm
Things to Know:
Come ready to learn, ready to work, be in regulation with district dress code, bring your instrument and whatever supplies you need to perform, reeds will not be provided, sticks and mallets will only be provided at the games, you must have what you need to practice by the first day of full band camp (8/3), bring your own lunch and any snacks you may need, be on time, ready to start on time, if you don’t come to camp – you will not be in band this year. This is going to be a lot of fun – think positive! Mr. Slay
Call for more info: (850) 327-6681 ext 266
Do You Think This Dog Is Cute? Molino Dog In National Contest
July 24, 2009
One Molino dog is hoping to prove she’s cute, and she’s hoping the North Escambia community will help her win a contest.
Suzanne Landry of Molino entered Pumpkin in a cute puppy contest on a national web site, and she is asking the community to vote for Pumpkin. As of late Thursday night, Pumpkin was ahead in the voting. To vote for Pumpkin, visit cutepuppypicture.com and look for the poll in the left column of the page.
Pumpkin’s Bio:
Pumpkin is a one and half year old Bichon Frishe who loves to play with her pink squeaky bone and duck. Her favorite food is chicken. She loves to ride in the car, visit her grandparents and play with her best friend Doug (he’s a Shih Tzu). She loves people, and loves to visit PetSmart where they know her by name and she is a graduate of puppy training school. Pumpkin can site, stay, come, roll over, sit pretty, shake, high five, kiss and crawl.
Carver/Century Final Moving Day To Ernest Ward, Bratt
July 23, 2009
Wednesday was the final scheduled move day from Carver/Century K-8 School to Ernest Ward Middle and Bratt Elementary. According to plans, all teacher materials should have been transferred by Wednesday afternoon to the teacher’s new school. Pictured above: Some of the 58 boxes that were used to move Dee Hendrix from Room 711 at Carver/Century to her new Room 17 at Ernest Ward. NorthEscambia.com photo, click to enlarge.
Local Residents Arrested On Child Abuse And Animal Cruelty Charges
July 23, 2009
Two Century residents were arrested Wednesday on child abuse and animal cruelty charges related to a young teen living in a mobile home in “squalor” and multiple animals living without food or water.
Steven Wayne Billiot, 57, and Faye Marie Kyle, 48, were arrested Wednesday on charges of confinement of animals without sufficient food, water or exercise. Billiot was also charged with aggravated child abuse, and Kyle was charged with child neglect. Both remained in the Escambia County Jail early Thursday morning on $7,500 bond each.
The arrests stemmed from an exclusive NorthEscambia.com story from July 10. The events began after authorities discovered a horse, a donkey, four goats, two pigs and dog were found living without food and water at a mobile home outside Century; and a young teen was found in their mobile home living in what deputies described as “squalor”.
The animals were discovered July 9 at mobile home at 2390 Highway 168, where rescuers say they had been living for days without water or food. The horse named Champagne was tied to a tree with an extension cord at the rear of the trash-covered property. Her ribs were clearly visible as she stood in an unfenced circle of dirt surrounded by tall grass. She had tried so hard to get to the grass that was just outside her reach that her bridle had worn a large sore on her head. Deputies said that when they provided water for Champagne the horse, she drank nearly a five gallon bucket of water.
Deputies applied child neglect warrant because of a young male teen living in the single wide mobile home on the property. The home had no apparent air conditioning and deputies described the living conditions inside the home as deplorable — full of cockroaches, dirty dishes, exposed electrical wiring, holes in the floor and filth. The Department of Children and Families was called to the scene to investigate the living conditions of the child.
The two small pigs were living in a crudely constructed pen made of wire and wood. The dirt in the pen was dry and dusty, according to deputy James Moretz, when he discovered it. There was no water in the pen for the pigs.
The four goats were in a wire pen, also with no water. The donkey was tied to a tree in the front yard of the mobile home, again, with no water. And the dog, also tied a tree in the front yard, appeared to be malnourished and had no water.
Panhandle Equine Rescue, a non-profit group authorized by the court system to investigate equine cruelty in Escambia County, seized the horse and donkey. After difficulty getting any other agency to remove the goats and pigs, PER seized them as well. All of the animals were transported to an area veterinarian for treatment. Click here for a story about how animal control and a livestock officer refused to respond to the scene.
The dog was seized as evidence by a crime scene investigator with the Escambia County Sheriff’s Department and transported to the Escambia County Animal Shelter in Pensacola.
This was not the first time an animal cruelty incident involving Billiot and Kyle had been investigated at the home. The couple voluntarily surrendered two starving horses, Raver and Racer, to PER in April 2008. There were no charges filed in the incident due to the voluntary surrender. (Raven and Racer are pictured left, click to enlarge.)
Deputies also called Escambia County Code Enforcement to the property to investigate conditions inside and outside of the mobile home.
Click here for more NorthEscambia.com exclusive photos from the rescue, the animals and the property. (Some readers may find some of the photographs in the photo gallery to be disturbing.)
Pictured top: This horse was found without food or water at a mobile home on Highway 168 Thursday afternoon. The horse was unable to reach the grass in the photo because of being tied to a tree. Pictured inset: Deputies James Moretz and Randy Murph remove goats from the property. Pictured below: The backyard of the mobile home were the animals were located. NorthEscambia.com exclusive photos, click to enlarge.
Danceworks Returning To North Escambia With New Teacher
July 23, 2009
Chelsea Sims has some really big slippers to fill. In the fall, she will be taking over as the teacher for Heather Leonard’s Danceworks.
Before announcing her retirement, Leonard taught dance for 14 years to hundreds of girls from North Escambia and surrounding areas. The business will reopen in the fall, under the Heather Leonard’s Danceworks name. Leonard will serve as the administrator and adviser, while Sims will teach the dance classes.
“I always wanted to teach dance,” Sims said. “I felt like this was where God was leading me. I’m very excited.”
“I’m so glad it worked out this way,” Leonard said. “There were so many girls that had put so much into dance; I wanted them to have a chance to continue.”
Sims (pictured left) is a 2009 graudate of Northview High School, where she was a majorette for two years and a varsity cheerleader for two years. She was named Miss NHS 2008, was a homecoming maid as a freshman and sophomore and was homecoming queen her senior year. She was one of Leonard’s dance students for 14 years.
The Heather Leonard’s Danceworks classes will return to the Byrneville Community Center on September 9. There will be a registration on August 20. For more information, call (850) 256-0948.
Reprinted below is the NorthEscambia.com story from April 22, 2008, with more information about Leonard and Sims.
When the music fades after a dance recital in Flomaton Friday night, Heather Leonard will take off her slippers for the very last time as a dance teacher. She’ll head off for the traditional post-recital pizza with the girls, knowing that she’s not only taught dance, but has taught grace and self-respect to hundreds of girls across North Escambia.
After 14 years teaching dance in North Escambia, Heather Leonard is retiring, and she is closing her Heather Leonard’s Danceworks. She will end her career with her students’ final recital at Flomaton High School.
She has taught not just dance to girls from Jay to Century to McDavid to Byrneville to Walnut Hill. She has taught them self-respect, self-worth and a little bit about her Lord.
She began teaching dance as her business 14 years ago after moving to Byrneville. Her first classes were taught at the Byrneville Community Center, a location she would continue to use until just after Hurricane Ivan.
“When I came here it was the biggest blessing that no one had ever really danced,” she said. “I came in and had a fresh slate. Fresh kids with no experience. They got to be mine.”
She was happy that she got to teach the girls of North Escambia that they could respect themselves and still dance.
“I am a Christian, and my values do not line up with a lot of the dance community. I’ve tried to teach the girls that they are how God made them. They are precious, innocent. They are not trashy.”
“I look at the way the dance community is as a whole…cut throat, self-centered, eating disorders to be too thin, smoking, drugs. I can’t stand those things.” Those are the things that Heather crusaded against during her 14 years.
“Once I was saved, I looked to God who showed me that those things were not what He liked,” she said. “He brought me out of the darkness into His light. I became very focused on ballet and finding a way to teach the girls to love themselves the way He made them. I’ve always been very careful to lead them in the right way.”
“We love Miss Heather,” Chelsea Sims, a senior at Northview High School said. She is 17, and she has danced 14 of those years with Heather. “She’s so much more than a teacher. She’s our friend.”
“She helps us with our lives,” Sarah Killam, a freshman at Northview said. She is 15, and she has danced with Heather for 10 of those years. “She’s like a mom to us. Sometimes we will stay after class and talk to her about what is going on in our lives.” The photo to the left shows Sarah with Heather at one of Sarah’s first recitals.
“And she’s always worked to help us be better Christians,” Chelsea said.
“We can have Sunday School sometimes after dance,” Darbi Langhorne said. She’s now in nursing school at Pensacola Junior College. She has danced with Heather for 14 years.
The theme song for Friday night’s recital will be “Sharecropper’s Seed” by Christian artist Nicole C. Mullen. “So I’m praising the Lord of the harvest…God still cares for the least of these,” the song says.
“The Lord cares about everyone. He cares about you, about me. One of my relatives was having a hard time, addicted to drugs. It could have been me. It’s impresses me so much how much God cares,” Heather said. “This dance is dedicated to him.”
Every performance for Heather Leonard’s Danceworks always starts the same. “Before every performance we circle up and pray,” she said. “It has always been that way.”
For the past few years, her dance studio has been in the back of the Country Bumpkin building in Century. It’s nice studio…a mirrored wall, a proper wood dance floor and metal ballet bars.
“That’s not how we started,” Darbi said. “We started with a mirror on a wood frame we rolled out at the community center. The (ballet) bars were PVC pipe and duct tape. But we just danced anyway.”
Hurricane Ivan proved to be a test for Heather and her students. It heavily damaged the Byrneville Community Center where her classes were held. There was no ceiling, no heat and water puddled on the floor when it rained.
“But we were determined,” she said, “that Ivan was not going to beat us. It was a lesson in perseverance. We felt like we had to continue to show that we had not been beat by Ivan.”
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Heather and the three girls gathered around on the floor looking through a box of pictures (pictured above). They would laugh as they looked at 14 years of memories. Sometimes Heather would pause, a fond memory on her mind.
“It’s been a great time,” she said.
“I love it a lot. I’ve been dancing since I was three years old. There has never been a year since then that I did not dance.”
So why is she retiring from dance?
“The Lord put it on my heart to set dance aside,” Heather said. “He wanted to make sure I love Him more than I do dancing. He changed my life. He made me; He saved me. He wants me to show others how much He cares.”
She expressed her thanks to the North Escambia community for supporting her during her 14 years. And she expressed special gratitude to her husband Stephen.
“My husband has been so supportive over the years,” she said. “He was the brains behind the business. He helped me go into business without doing into debt, and to be a good steward. I appreciate him so much.”
The final Heather Leonard’s Danceworks recital will be at Flomaton High School this Friday night at 7:00. Admission is free.
For more photos from Heather Leonard’s Danceworks, click here.
Pictured top: (L-R): Heather Leonard, Darbi Langhorne, Sarah Killam and Chelsea Sims practice their “Sharecropper’s Dream” dance. NorthEscambia.com exclusive photos, click to enlarge.
The Bizarre Billings Multi-Million Dollar Copyright Story
July 23, 2009
Byrd Billings had a plan — copyright the names of his children and charge anyone, including the government, millions each time they used one of the names.
The legal papers were filed in both Escambia County Circuit Court and United States District Court Northern District of Florida. Billings’ rambling writings on the court documents detailed his plan. Billings served as his own attorney when filing the documents.
He would copyright the name of a child. Anyone that used the name of that child in any form would owe him up a million dollars per occurrence. Simply using the name, according to the documents, was an agreement to pay.
Billings even demanded payment from the Florida Department of Children and Families. Each time DCF used a family member’s name in a letter, Billings would fire off a bill back to DCF, often demanding millions of dollars for copyright infringements.
DCF acknowledges that after several attempts to charge the state agency, DCF sent a letter back to Billings warning that the state could take legal action if there were additional demands. After DCF wrote their letter, DCF said Billings’ copyright infringement claims ended.
Wednesday, Billings family attorney Crystal Spencer said she did not believe that Billings’ copyright claims were an attempt to get money, but rather an attempt to protect the privacy of his children.
“I think that he was given some incorrect advice,” Spencer said of Billings’ reasons for filing the court papers.
“I would not call them bizarre,” she said of his filings. “I would call them different…It was to protect the privacy of the children.”
To read two of the documents obtained by NorthEscambia.com, click here and here.