Northwest Escambia All-Stars Headed To State After Sectional Win
July 19, 2009
The Northwest Escambia All-Stars are headed to the state tournament after winning the 11-12 Year Old Major League All-Star Sectional Tournament championship Saturday in Destin.
NWE beat Chairs-Capitola 3-2 in the first game of the tourney. Mallory Ryan pitched six, striking out two and giving up just two walks. Reagan Bell scored one for Northwest Escambia, and Madison Arrington added a couple.
Arrington had an impressive in-park home run for NWE.
NWE took game two of the series for the championship, 10-0.
Mallory Ryan pitched three innings for Northwest Escambia, striking out four and giving up no walks. Courtney Peebles finished the game on the mound for NWE.
Arrington, Darby Randolph, Addy Lee and Ryan scored one each for Northwest Escambia. Courtney Peebles and Kyndall Hall picked up two each for NWE.
Northwest Escambia will travel about 650 miles to the state championship tournament in Coconut Creek, Fla., which is just north of Fort Lauderdale. Brackets for the eight-team tournament are not complete.
The NWE 10-11 Year Old All-Stars with their championship banner Saturday afternoon in Destin. Pictured middle: (L-R)Danielle Steadham, Addy Lee, Kyndall Hall, Kendal Cobb, Courtney Peebles, Darby Randolph, Reagan Bell, Cheyanne Schoonover. Pictured front: Mallory Ryan and Madison Arrington. Pictured back row: Manager Jerry Mason and Coach David Arrington. Pictured below: Mason and Arrington accept the team’s championship plaque. Submitted photos by Kim Ryan for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Fort Pickens Once Again Open After Ivan
July 19, 2009
Escambia County’s Fort Pickens is once again open and accessible to the general public by car.
The seven-mile road to Fort Pickens reopened just a few weeks ago for the first time since Hurricane Ivan, once again bringing accessibility to the fort that was completed in 1834.
Services in the park are still limited, with diesel generators providing electricity to some areas including the visitor’s center, some restrooms and the snack bars store near the fishing pier. Campgrounds are open, but campers must supply their own power and water.
For a NorthEscambia.com photo gallery of Fort Pickens from Saturday, click here.
About 35,000 vehicles passed through the Fort Pickens gate in June, up from 25,000 the June before Ivan. Park officials estimate that 105,000 people entered the park in June.
Fort Pickens is open from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., except for registered campers. The visitor’s center is open from 9:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.. Lifeguards are on duty at Langdon Beach in the park from 9:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
“It is important that visitors understand there is still much work to be accomplished within the Fort Pickens Area and, upon reopening, full visitor services will not be available,” said Jerry Eubanks, superintendent of Gulf Islands National Seashore.
The entrance fee is $8 per vehicle for a seven-day pass. However, there will be a free admission weekend August 15 and 16 at National Parks nationwide.
The speed limit on the road from the park entrance to the ranger station is enforced at 15 mph to protect shorebirds nesting alongside the roadway. Once nesting season is over, the speed limit will be increased to 35 mph.
Visitors should also bring cash — due to no telephone lines, the ability to use debit and credit cards is sometimes not available.
“We regret that services will be limited, however, we understand how anxious our visitors are to return and to experience once again this wonderful resource,” said Eubanks.
Pictured top: Visitors took advantage of a free admission day Saturday at Fort Pickens in the Gulf Islands National Seashore. Limited electricity at the fort is provided by the generator in the photo. Pictured below: One of the large cannons that overlooks Pensacola Pass. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Firefighters Battle Brush Fire On State Line
July 19, 2009
Firefighters battled a large, slow-moving brush fire on the state line south of Wawbeek, Ala., Saturday afternoon.
The fire was reported about 5:00 on Wawbeek Road between Glass Dairy Road in Alabama and Highway 168 in Florida. The fire was burning in 10 to 15 acres of pine trees.
The Century, Walnut Hill and McDavid stations of Escambia Fire Rescue battled the blaze. The Florida Division of Forestry was called to scene to plow a line around the fire.
There were no structures threatened by the fire, and there were no injuries. The cause of the blaze was not immediately known.
NorthEscambia.com photo, click to enlarge.
Conservation Workshop Planned
July 19, 2009
The Conservation Trust for Florida is hosting a workshop on agricultural lands conservation and estate planning for landowners and stakeholders.
While the workshop will be held in Tallahassee, the workshop also will be telecast on Wednesday July 22nd from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. to IFAS Extension offices in Santa Rosa and Jackson Counties.
Conservation easements can help landowners realize tax savings on property taxes, federal income taxes and, in some cases, estate taxes. Based on the value of the conservation easement, the federal tax incentives allow qualifying farmers and ranchers to deduct up to 100 percent (landowners 50 percent) of their total income the year of the conservation easement donation. Any remaining value of the donated easement can be deducted, (up to 100 percent of the landowners income), and carried forward for 15 years; for a potential total of 16 years of no federal income taxes.
Nancy Peterson, Conservation Trust for Florida, Inc. Board of Directors, will serve as moderator. Speakers and topics include: Brian Hershorin Esq., tax benefits of conservation easements; Cindy Wright, MAI – appraising conservation easements; Tall Timbers Executive Director Lane Green – successful land stewardship through research, conservation and education; Marlene Conaway, county comprehensive planning for agriculture lands, Clay Henderson Esq., Amendment 4’s effects on property tax incentives for conservation lands; Joseph Maltese Certified Financial Planner, life insurance as an estate planning tool; Jerry Joiner- USDA Farm Bill Program; and a landowner with a conservation easement will discuss stewardship of conservation easements from a landowner’s perspective.
The goal of the workshop is to reach landowners who are faced with an array of tough decisions concerning the future of their land and to inform them about conservation options. Farmers and ranchers will learn about current tax incentives for land conservation, the beneficial economic impacts of conservation easements and about ways to reduce property, federal income, and estate taxes. In addition, conservation easement appraisal information and national, county, and state resources for land protection will be addressed. Farmers, ranchers, landowners, accountants, appraisers, lawyers, students, and others interested in the protection of the special places in our state are encouraged to attend the workshop.
For information about the Santa Rosa County telecast at the IFAS office in Milton, contact Gerald Edmundson at (850) 689-5850.
CTF Executive Director Busy Shires Byerly recognizes that farms, ranches, and forestlands are an essential resource for Florida’s economy, environment, and rural way of life. She stresses, “Florida is at a critical place in assuring that landowners have practical financial options for their lands as they consider their long term land management goals.”
The workshop is part of a series of workshops geared towards landowners to make effective conservation management decisions for their families and for future generations. The Conservation Trust for Florida is hosting the workshops with its partners, including Tall Timbers, the UF-IFAS Extension Offices and is supported with funding from the Quail Roost Foundation, Progress Energy, Sally Venerable, and the Educational Foundation of America. Four workshops will be held from January 2009 to February 2010 at regional centers to facilitate attendance from multiple counties throughout the state.
Byrd Billings Adoption Fraud Case
July 18, 2009
Byrd Billings was involved in an adoption fraud case involving a fake birth certificate and $2,100 back in 1989.
Court records in Escambia County show that Byrd Billings was involved in an adoption and birth certificate fraud case back in 1989 along with Cindy Reeve Billings, Byrd Billing’s second wife.
That’s when, according to court records, a 20-year old woman, Vickie Lynn Taylor checked in to Sacred Heart Hospital under the name Cindy Reeve. She had delivered a baby at home on June 4. While in Sacred Heart, she listed the father as Byrd Billings on the birth certificate.
After the Escambia County Sheriff’s Department got wind of the incident about ten days later, they interviewed Taylor who told them she agreed to the crime for a $2,100 loan from Billings. She said that the Billingses wanted to claim the baby as their own. That baby was named Justin.
The trio did not admit guilt, but pleaded nolo contendere. That plea means they agreed to be punished without actually admitting guilt. They were sentenced to two years probation.
When Billings divorced Reeve in 1993, his net worth was just $1,400. He had total case assets of just $100 and a monthly income of $1,190. Four months after that divorce, he was married to Melanie Billings.
(Click here to see the divorce final judgement pdf)
In 1995, Cindy Reeve Billings was ordered to pay $300 per month child support to Byrd Billings. (Click here to read the support document pdf))
At the time of his divorce from Cindy Reeve Billings, Byrd Billings was a consultant working for a company called Back Seat, Inc. — the holding company that owned the topless bar Back Seat Lounge.
At the time of the murders, Melanie Billings and her daughter Ashley Markham owned a used car lot and he owned a company called Worldco Financial Services.
The Escambia County Sheriff’s Department has said several times that Billing’s current and former businesses are not part of their investigation.
Official: Census Problem In Century In 2010? Response In 2000 Was Poor
July 18, 2009
Census officials say that Escambia County and Century need to do a better job at getting the word out about the 2010 census in order to improve the 2010 results.
For the 2000 census, only 46 percent of Century residents bothered to mail their census form back to the government. Compared to the national average of 67 percent, something needs to be done, according to Tina Joshua with the Census Bureau.
“We are not getting a true snapshot or the true count,” Joshua said. “We want to raise awareness in the community because if we don’t have a good head count we are not going to be able to get the money into the communities where it is needed.”
The census numbers are important to local governments, she said, because over $300 billion in federal funding is allocated to communities every year based upon their population data from the census. That funding, she said, provides critical services, jobs and economic development.
“We have a distrust of government obviously, a low education level in some cases, some who just don’t care, and some who do not speak or understand the English language,” Joshua said.
The census forms will be mailed to all known households in March 2010, and it is shorter this year than in 2000 — containing just 10 basic questions. The 2000 census was a booklet with detailed questions. If a household does not return the questionnaire by mail, a census worker will visit the home beginning between May and July 2010.
“We will not have people knocking on the door if we can just get people to send it back in,” Joshua said.
Three Of Seven Murder Suspects Back In Court
July 18, 2009
Three of the seven suspects in the Byrd and Melanie Billings murder case were back in court on Friday.
Leonard Patrick Gonzalez, Jr, Wayne Coldiron and Gary Sumner faced a judge to be officially charged with two open counts of murder each.
There were apparently some mistakes on the original arrest warrants for each man, and they were in court Friday to face the official corrected charges. The suspects appeared via video feed from the Escambia County Jail.
They are due back in court in early August.
Also on Friday, Robert and Marlene Ingram filed an eviction notice to have Coldiron officially removed from his residence at 210 Yoakum Court in Pensacola.
Unemployment Rate Jumps; 6,000 More Out Of Work In Escambia Over Last Year
July 18, 2009
Escambia County’s unemployment rate has jumped to 10 percent, with nearly 6,000 more people out of work in June 2009 than June 2008.
Not since October 1975, when unemployment reached 11 percent, has the jobless rate exceeded last month’s tally, released Friday by the Agency for Workforce Innovation. The June figure also reflected a 0.3 percentage point increase from May.
The continued increase in the percentage of people seeking jobs is bad news for economy watchers who are looking for at least a leveling off as a sign of an improving overall economy. Some economists have projected that it will continue upward for at least a couple more months, and for more hopeful forecasters looking for an end to the increases, Friday’s news was disappointing.
In Escambia County, the 10 percent June unemployment rate represented 14,127 people out of work, up from 9.5 percent in May. One year ago, Escambia’s unemployment rate was 5.9 percent, or 8,301 people.
In Santa Rosa County, the unemployment rate for June was 9.6 percent, or 6,713 jobless. That is up from 8.6 percent, of 5,953 unemployed in May.
Florida’s June rate was 4.6 percentage points higher than the June 2008 rate and 1.1 percentage points higher than the national unemployment rate for June of 9.5 percent.
Fort Walton Beach had the state’s lowest unemployment rate at 7.1 percent while Palm Coast – in an area where employment had been boosted heavily by the building boom, now just a memory – captured the highest jobless spot with 15.5 percent.
Losses in the construction industry, which led the current unemployment trend, have slowed somewhat and are now being eclipsed by losses in professional services and trade. Tourism and leisure employment is also down, especially in restaurants and bars.
“All major industries except private education and health care services have lost jobs,” said Rebecca Rust, AWI economist.
Florida was among 15 states to post jobless rates in excess of 10 percent, the U.S. Labor Department reported earlier this month. Over the month, jobless rates increased in 38 states.
The national jobless rate rose for the ninth straight month in June, when it hit another 26-year high. Nearly 3.4 million jobs have been lost during the first half of 2009, more than the 3.1 million lost in all of 2008.
Still Florida’s 10.6 percent rate placed it fifth in the nation, well behind Michigan, which is staggered by having 15.2 percent of its working population unemployed.
Meanwhile, state economists said Friday the housing market won’t recover for the foreseeable future as residential housing starts – while up a bit – are not expected to really pick up until the second quarter of 2010.
Coupled with continued tight credit and sluggish consumer spending, fears are that employment growth won’t come this year.
Three out of four state estimates show unemployment not dipping below 10 percent until the second quarter of 2011.
Crossroads In Concert In Molino
July 18, 2009
Christian music group Crossroads will be in concert during the 10:30 worship service Sunday morning at Aldersgate United Methodist Church in Molino.
Crossroads is Kristen Sorrells, Lyndi Hardy and Brad Adkinson. They have been together just over a year, and they were quickly singing at churches across Santa Rosa County and a few churches in Alabama and Escambia County, Florida.
They have performed at the 100th Anniversary of the Southern Baptist Association, Relay for Life in Mobile and at a recent company celebration at Solutia.
Brad is a member of First Baptist Church in Milton. He and his wife Mindy have two children. Lyndi and her husband Robbie are members at Pine Terrace Baptist Church in Milton. Lyndi is also a teacher at Milton High School. Kristen and her husband Phillipp are members at Pine Terrace Baptist Church. They have three children, and she is a stay at home mom.
Aldersgate is located on Highway 29, just south of Highway 97 in Molino. Everyone is welcome to attend.
Sheriff Confirms Contents Of Murdered Couple’s Safe
July 17, 2009
The contents of the Billings’ safe have been verified by Escambia County Sheriff David Morgan.
Morgan said the safe contained personal paperwork such as adoption papers, passports, prescription medication and heirloom jewelry. The medication was prescribed to family members, he said.
“Our investigators knew the contents of this safe since the inception,” he said. Keeping that information from the public was necessary to have the upper hand over those being investigated, the sheriff said.
The safe was buried in the backyard of a home owned by Pamela Long Wiggins, according to Morgan, and was covered by bricks.
The safe was described as having electronic access controls.
A family attorney was the first to divulge the contents of the safe at a morning press conference.