Junior Little League Tourney Underway; NWE Falls
July 12, 2009
The Junior League All-Star Tournament got underway Saturday at Bradberry Park in Walnut Hill with host team Northwest Escambia losing their first game.
NWE fell 6-3 to Niceville-Valparaiso. Also Saturday, Defuniak Springs beat Shalimar 4-2.
The Northwest Escambia All-Stars will take on Shalimar Monday evening at 7:30, while Niceville-Valparaiso will play Defuniak Springs at 5:00 Monday at Bradberry Park.
For a complete photo gallery from the game, click here.
Pictured: Action from Northwest Escambia versus Niceville-Valparaiso Saturday night at Bradberry Park In Walnut Hill. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Blue Angels Soar
July 12, 2009
Tens of thousands of people — many of them from the North Escambia area — packed Pensacola Beach Saturday for the annual Blue Angels air show.
The main parking lot at Casino Beach was full by 7 a.m., and the parking lots at Fort Pickens and Quietwater Beach were full by 10. At one point, traffic was reported to be backed up from the beach all the way back to the Pensacola Civic Center.
Despite the large crowds, emergency officials reported few problems. About half dozen people were transported to the hospital, and deputies said they made just a handful of arrests.
Click here for more photos from the Blue Angels over Pensacola Beach from Mike Newton, Alisa Hart and Brandy Gafford.
Pictured above: The Blue Angels over Pensacola Beach Saturday afternoon. Pictured below: Thousands packed Pensacola Beach as seen in this photo from the Hilton. Submitted photo for NorthEscambia.com by Alisa Hart and Brandy Gafford for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Taking It To The Streets
July 12, 2009
When registration numbers for Vacation Bible School were not what organizers had hoped for, parish members at St. Monica’s Episcopal Church in Cantonment took registration to the streets –literally. On Saturday, Ray Farrel and Viv Welch were outside the church on Highway 95-A holding a sign and waving to passing motorists. The pair were successful in registering an additional seven children for the program. Registration will continue through Monday, July 13 at the church. Call 937-0001 for more information.
Submitted photo for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Byrneville Boil Water Notice Lifted
July 11, 2009
The precautionary boil water notice for parts of Central Water Works has been lifted as of noon Saturday, July 11.
Central Water Works has submitted water tests for the past two days and all testing has been cleared by the Escambia County Health Department. Thank you for your patience during this precautionary notice.
Teen Mustang Driver Not Injured In Highway 97 Crash
July 11, 2009
A 16-year old driver escaped injury in a single vehicle accident Friday night on Highway 97.
The accident happened shortly after 9 p.m. when the driver of a Ford Mustang apparently failed to stop at a stop sign at the intersection of Tungoil Road and Highway 97. The Mustang crossed Highway 97, coming to rest in an opening in a wooded area off the highway.
The male driver was evaluated by Atmore Ambulance but was not transported to the hospital.
The Walnut Hill Station of Escambia Fire Rescue and the Florida Highway Patrol also responded to the accident.
Pictured above: The driver of this Mustang was not injured in an accident on Highway 97 Friday night. NorthEscambia.com photo, click to enlarge.
Bratt Man Pleads Not Guilty To Charges He Abused Four Year Old Girl
July 11, 2009
A local man has entered a not guilty plea on charges that he molested a four-year girl back in 2000.
Perry Leonard Gibbs, 52, of 5451 Still Road Lot 5 in Bratt, was arrested in June and charged with molesting a child under the age of 12. He was due in court for an arraignment hearing this week, but he waived arraignment, entering a not guilty plea. He is now scheduled for a jury trial in early November.
Gibbs remains in the Escambia County Jail on $25,000 bond. If he makes bond, Gibbs was ordered to have no direct or indirect contact with the victim and to wear a GPS monitor.
A female told the investigators under oath that Gibbs molested her in 2000 when she was four and five years old, according to Sgt. Ted Roy with the Escambia County Sheriff’s Department. The victim told investigators that the molestation occurred in the Walnut Hill area.
The female made the allegations in May of this year, according to Roy.
The felony molestation charge carries a maximum penalty of life in prison.
Escambia Landfill Gas To Be Used To Generate Power
July 11, 2009
More renewable energy will be produced in Northwest Florida soon. Gulf Power’s agreement to build a facility to convert landfill gas to energy at the Perdido Landfill has been approved by the Escambia County Commission.
Initially, landfill gas generators will produce 3,200 kilowatts of renewable energy — enough to power about 1,500 homes. The energy capacity can be increased as the landfill produces more methane in the future. Gulf Power will invest about $6 million in the project.
Escambia County will sell the landfill gas to Gulf Power at a rate of $2.47 per million BTU’s with an escalation clause of three percent per year for 20 years. The contract is expected to net about $850,000 in the first year for Escambia County. The plant should be operational in about a year.
“This partnership with Escambia County will produce tremendous benefits for our community,” said Sandy Sims, manager of Gulf Power Public Affairs. “The process will eliminate a source of greenhouse gas by capturing and using the methane that is already escaping into the atmosphere. And this project will bring more clean energy to Northwest Florida.”
Gulf Power has a contract with Escambia County for the purchase of landfill gas and with LFG Technologies Development to design, build and operate the Landfill Gas to Energy facility at the Perdido Landfill.
The purchase is subject to approval of a land lease for the facility, permitting by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and approval by the Florida Public Service Commission.
Once approved by the FPSC, the facility will take about six months to build and is tentatively scheduled to go into commercial operation on May 31, 2010.
Landfill methane gas is one of the most cost-effective forms of renewable energy. Municipal solid waste landfills are the second largest human-generated source of methane emissions in the United States and methane is one of the most potent forms of greenhouse gases — 21 times more potent than carbon dioxide, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection ncy.
“This project shows Gulf Power’s commitment to pursue affordable renewable energy options and promote energy conservation projects while continuing to reduce emissions,” Sims said. “We’re pursuing a more diverse mix of fuel sources to benefit our customers.”
Blog: It’s Time For A Change After Animal Control, Livestock Officer Refuse To Help Starving Animals
July 10, 2009
An animal cruelty incident outside of Century Thursday uncovered a problem in the way Escambia County handles some animal cruelty cases.
When a horse, a donkey, two pigs, four goats and dog were found without food and water, Escambia County deputies responded. There was no problem in getting the donkey and the horse rescued from the property. Panhandle Equine Rescue, a non-profit group based in Cantonment, quickly responded to remove the equines from the property. (Click here for that story.)
But when deputies called Escambia County Animal Control, they refused to respond because they normally deal with cats, dogs and perhaps a snake or two. When deputies called the county’s livestock officer, he too refused to respond because his job description stipulates that he will respond only on public property.
Deputies did not want to leave the animals on the property where they had been living without adequate food and water due to safety concerns for the animals. Additionally, the animals were all technically evidence in a criminal investigation.
“No one wants to be responsible for animals like goats and pigs,” Diane Lowery, president of PER said. “Animal control does not do livestock. County ordinances say that the county must provide a location to impound any animal, but there’s no one to actually pick up live stock. It’s time to change that.”
While on the scene, NorthEscambia.com contact leaders in both the sheriff’s department and the county government. What we found could best be described as a loophole in county services.
“We just don’t do livestock,” Sonya Daniel, Escambia County’s public information manager told us after looking into the situation. “Everything is OK on our side of the fence on this one. This is livestock, and since it looks like this is a criminal complaint, this one falls on the sheriff’s department. That’s why the sheriff’s department has a livestock officer.”
The Escambia County Sheriff’s Department does have a contract livestock officer, Terry Brown, who is called out on an as-needed basis.
Captain Bobby Jackson with the sheriff’s department pulled a copy of Brown’s contract for us. That contract states, according to Jackson, that the livestock officer will respond to “at large animals on public property whether dead or alive”. In our case Thursday, the animals were on private property where the livestock officer has no jurisdiction.
“It looks like there is a loophole in the system,” Jackson acknowledged. “I think this is the first time this has popped up.”
We are by no means faulting animal control, the livestock officer or the sheriff’s department. It really appears that everyone played by the rules. While it appears that Terry Brown, the livestock officer, did his job and followed his contract, there is a problem with that contract. And it is time for it to be changed.
The facts are simple. There is a lot of livestock in North Escambia, and most animal owners are very responsible. But a situation like Thursday’s incident will undoubtedly arise again. Look at PER for instance — they have investigated over 450 cases and seized about five dozen horses.
The problem is simple to resolve — remove the words “private property” from the livestock officer’s contract. The additional cost to the county? Nothing, really. Since the officer is charged with removing animals anyway on public property, he just needs the authority to remove them from private property. It’s for the well being of the animals, plus the animals are criminal evidence. In an animal cruelty case, leaving the animal behind makes about as much sense as leaving a child behind in a child abuse case.
It is time for the Escambia County Sheriff’s Department to review the livestock officer’s duties and contract. We don’t know when the contract was last bid or how much the livestock officer is paid; we were not able to determine that late Thursday afternoon. But perhaps it is time to review and rebid the contract as well.
Animals Found Without Food, Water; Child Found Living In Filth
July 10, 2009
(NorthEscambia.com Exclusive) Authorities are pursuing animal cruelty and child neglect charges against two people after a horse, a donkey, four goats, two pigs and dog were found living without food and water at a home outside Century; and a young teen was found in their mobile home living in what deputies described as “squalor”.
The animals were discovered 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.
Escambia County deputies are in the process of obtaining animal cruelty warrants for the arrest of Steven Wayne Billiot, 57, and Faye M. Kyle, 48, over the starving animals. Deputies are also seeking a 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.
Deputies said that when they provided water for Champagne the horse, she drank nearly a five gallon bucket of water.
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, was called to the scene. PER 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.
County Increases Fire Fee For Over 2,500 Small Businesses
July 10, 2009
The Escambia County Commission has approved a change to the county’s fire services fee that will impact over 2,500 small businesses.
There fire services fee in the county for small businesses was 3.4 cents per square foot. At that level, there were 2,551 small businesses with less than 2,200 square feet that payed less than the county’s residential fire fee.
The county voted Thursday night to impose a $75 per unit minimum for businesses, the same rate paid on residential property in the county. The increase will net the county $125,921 per year.
Commissioner said that they will increase the resident fire fee next year.