Area Bank To Open New Branch
March 8, 2009
A bank with an Atmore location will break ground next week on a new location in Brewton.
Gulf Winds Federal Credit Union will hold an official groundbreaking ceremony at 1 p.m. Tuesday in front of the Super Wal-Mart in Brewton.
Gulf Winds’ board of directors, management and area officials will attend the short groundbreaking ceremony. The new branch in Brewton is expected to open in late-2009.
The Brewton branch will be the tenth for Gulf Winds and the second in Alabama. Atmore was the first. The new branch will be a full-service financial institution complete with a drive through lane, drive-up night deposit, an ATM and numerous technology upgrades that save time and add convenience.
Spring Forward; Change Battery In Your Fire Alarms?
March 8, 2009
As you “spring forward” with the change to daylight-saving time today, Escambia County Fire Rescue wants to remind residents to make another change that could save their lives — changing the batteries in their smoke alarms.
Officials say the peak time for home fire fatalities is between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. when most families are sleeping. Children and senior citizens are most at risk, and a working smoke alarm can give them the extra seconds they need to get out safely.
Fire officials also recommend residents test smoke alarms by pushing the test button, planning “two ways out” and practicing escape routes with the entire family. Families should also prepare a fire safety kit that includes working flashlights and fresh batteries.
Communities nationwide witness tragic home fire deaths each year. An average of three children per day die in home fires and 80 percent of those occur in homes without working smoke alarms. Non-working smoke alarms rob residents of the protective benefits home fire safety devices were designed to provide. The most commonly cited cause of non-working smoke alarms: worn or missing batteries.
Tragically, fire can kill selectively. Those most at risk include:
- Children — Approximately 1,000 children under the age of 20 die each year in home fires. Children under age five are at twice the risk of dying in a home fire. Eighty percent of fatal home fire victims who were children were killed in homes without working smoke alarms.
- Seniors — Adults over age 75 are three times more likely to die in home fires than the rest of the population; those over 85 are 4.5 times more likely to die in a home fire. Many seniors are unable to escape quickly.
- Low-Income Households — Many low-income families are unable to afford batteries for their smoke alarms. These same households often rely on poorly installed, maintained or misused portable or area heating equipment — a main cause of fatal home fires.
Changing smoke alarm batteries at least once a year is one of the simplest, most effective ways to reduce these tragic deaths and injuries. In fact, working smoke alarms nearly cut in half the risk of dying in a home fire. Additionally, the International Association of Fire Chiefs recommends replacing your smoke alarms every ten years.
For more information about fire safety, call Escambia County Fire Rescue at 850-475-5530 or visit our web site at www.myescambia.com
For information about obtaining a free home smoke alarm call 850-595-HERO (4376).
Large Brush Fire Destroys Area Mobile Home
March 8, 2009
What firefighters believe began as a brush fire in the Quintette area Saturday afternoon destroyed a mobile home.
The mobile home had been completely destroyed by fire when the first firefighters arrived on scene. The mobile home had been empty since it was damaged by Hurricane Ivan.
Firefighters from multiple departments responded to the fire about noon Saturday off Rocky Branch Road, north of Quintette Road.
The mobile home was located on a dirt road about two miles off Quintette Road in a very isolated area.
The fire also burned several vehicles and about 15 acres of wooded area. Trains on a nearby track were also stopped for a short time due to the fire.
Fire units from Molino, Cantonment, Ensley, Beulah and Pace responded to the fire along with Escambia County EMS, the State Fire Marshal and the Florida Division of Forestry.
There were no injuries reported.
Most fire units were complete by 2:30 Saturday afternoon.
Click here for more photos from the scene.
Pictured above and below: What apparently started as a brush fire destroyed this unoccupied mobile home in the Quintette area Saturday afternoon. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Did You Remember To Spring Forward?
March 8, 2009
Did you remember to Spring Forward? Today is the first day of Daylight Savings time. Pictured above: The clock at the Escambia County Bank in Flomaton is one of the largest clocks in the area. Bank officials say the clock is rather easy to “spring forward”; it is all electronic. NorthEscambia.com photo.
Meeting Malcolm: Thomas Pays Surprise Visit To Northview High School
March 7, 2009
For a few minutes Friday morning, Escambia School Superintendent Malcolm Thomas was not focused on the 40,000 students in the district, but on Northview High School senior Timeka Marshall and an assigned paper.
“You’ve got to persuade people with what you write,” Thomas told Marshall in the school’s media center. She was working to prove in her paper that television is harmful to people.
“How can you prove that? How can we find information to prove it?” the superintendent asked.
“I’m looking up a lot of facts,” she said. “I’ve got a lot so far.”
Thomas, sitting at a Northview media center table and reading over Marshall’s notes, asked what she planned to do after high school.
“Probation officer,” she responded. “I’ve been accepted to Faulkner State, and I plan to apply to others.”
“Good plan,” Thomas said. “This girl has got it together. I’d be proud to call her my daughter.”
That’s the way Thomas spends many of his mornings…visiting one of the district’s schools or centers. He’s not talking to just the administrators, but to the teachers, staff and the students. Northview made 53 schools he has visited since taking office.
In the school office, he met senior Ashley Snow (pictured left) who works for the school under a cooperative education program. She also works at the Movie Gallery and is looking at a job at the Atmore YMCA.
“Work her hard so she’ll know what the real world is like,” Thomas said.
In the media center, Thomas also met senior Shaquaina Lewis. She was also working on a paper. The subject? Helping mentally ill patients recover without pills.
“They should be able to,” she told the superintendent. “And if they can’t, I’m going to be the one to figure out how to make them recover one day.”
The smile on Thomas’ face was apparent. Later, outside the media center, he said it was students like Lewis that inspired him.
“She has a goal,” he said. “She’s going to do her paper, and if she finds out that it can’t be done, her goal is figure out how to get it done. She has a real future.”
That is Thomas’ goal…to get it done. But in order to meet that goal, he believes his school visits will help understand the way to accomplish his goal of building the best school district that he can.
At each of the schools he visits, he asks at least two teachers or staff members three questions: “How’s your family?” “Do you have the tools you need to get your job done?” and “Give me the name of somebody that has helped you do your job better or has improved the school.”
When he gets home at night, he hand writes those helpful people a thank-you letter and mails it to their homes. He even buys the stamp.
In these days of budget cutbacks, school closures and money, money, money — Thomas is not about to make the district pay for his early morning trips to the schools in the district.
In fact, he won’t let the district pay for any of this travel, whether it be to Northview or Gainesville.
“That’s what you do when you lead,” he said. “In these hard times, you have to lead the way.”
Thomas said the school visits are one of the best parts of his job.
“Everything we do is about the people in the schools,” he said. “I enjoy meeting them face to face.
Pictured top and bottom: Escambia School Superintendent Malcolm Thomas helps Northview Senior Timeka Marshall with an assignment. Pictured middle: Thomas meets NHS senior Ashley Snow. NorthEscambia.com exclusive photos, click to enlarge.
Authorities Search Area Near AL/FL Line For Missing Woman’s Body
March 7, 2009
Alabama authorities continued their search Friday for Melinda Wall McGhee, the Atmore area woman that has been missing for five years.
Escambia County (Ala.) Sheriff’s Department officials spent part of Friday searching an area off Perry Lane in Wawbeek for clues in McGhee’s disappearance. Perry Lane is about a mile north of Highway 31 off Sardis Church Road near Old Atmore Road. The location is about three miles north of the Florida/Alabama line and North Escambia.
On the last day of January, authorities searched a water-filled gravel pit off Jack Springs Roads near the Judson Cemetery between Atmore and Poarch, but they did not locate a body.
Melinda Wall McGhee was reported missing from her residence on Kent Road on March 24, 2003. She was 31 at the time.
Authorities said that they follow up on leads and recheck some locations involved in the case.
Anyone with information on McGhee’s disappearance is asked to call the Escambia County (Ala.) Sheriff’s Department at (251) 809-0741 or their local law enforcement agency.
Pictured above: Two photos of Melinda Wall McGhee who went missing in March 2003.
Carver/Century Students Pocket Hundreds Of Dollars In FCAT Cash
March 7, 2009
Carver/Century K-8 held their FCAT Cash Grab Thursday and Friday. Students were awarded dollar coins and $2 bill for their gains on the FCAT practice test.
“Remember the FCAT is next week, and we are going to work to do our best,” Principal Jeff Garthwaite told the students Friday morning. “What level do we want?”
“Three!”
“Four!”
“Five!”
The students around the cafeteria yelled the score they thought they would make on the FCAT.
“Are we going to do our very best next week?” the principal asked.
“Yeah!” the students yelled.
The school handed out almost $400 in their FCAT Cash Grab.
The money for the school’s cash grab was from the Foundation for Excellence in Education, a non-profit corporation committed to enhancing the quality of public education in Escambia County by encouraging innovation and excellence in the classroom.
During Friday morning’s FCAT Cash Grab, third grader Zynaisha Davis, fifth grader Joshua Tyus, third grader Nyk Gransision and fourth grader Markayla Bradley were the randomly chosen students that got to grab as much cash as they could with one hand from a bowl filled with coins.
Click here for more photos from the Carver/Century FCAT Cash Grab.
Pictured above: Fifth grader Joshua Tyus grabs all the money he can during the Carver/Century FCAT Cash Grab Friday morning at the school. NorthEscambia.com photo.
Northview Chiefs Beat Central Christian To Improve To 4-2
March 7, 2009
Northview beat Central Christian 12-2 in five innings.
Northview scored four in the second, two in the third, two in the fourth and four in the fifth. The Chiefs held Central Christian to just one point in the first and one in the fourth Thursday night in Bratt.
The leading hitters for Northview were Austin Reid, who collected two singles and scored a run. Dakota Stuckey had two singles, scored a run, and added an RBI.
Austin Lowery was one for two at the plate with a two-run homerun. Brad Lowery collected a single, and scored a run. Brad Foster had a triple with three RBI’s. Dabney Langhorne collected a single for the chiefs.
Austin Reid picked up the win on the mound. He pitched four innings, gave up two runs, both unearned. He gave up three hits, walked four, and struck out seven. This brings his record to 2-1 on the season.
The Northview Chiefs are now 4-2 on the year.
Suspect At Large After Manhunt; He Calls Cops To Say He Is Nearby
March 7, 2009
A manhunt Friday afternoon in Byrneville ended with one person in custody and another suspect on the run.
Deputies were searching for Jedd Jackson Grimes, 24, of Brewton. He is wanted on a robbery with a weapon charge in connection with a home invasion; he also has outstanding warrants out of Alabama, according to Lt. Carl Jones of the Escambia County Sheriff’s Department.
The search for Grimes was called off at 4:50 Friday afternoon after tracking dogs were unable to locate him.
At one point shortly after the search began, Jones said Grimes actually called deputies to say that he was in a wooded area not far from where he had ditched his truck.
“But he was on the run and lying to us,” Jones said.
Grimes was described as white male with light color hair that was wearing a white shirt and blue jeans.
Teka Michelle Campbell, 32, of Pensacola was taken into custody at the scene. Deputies say she was wanted on a probation violation warrant and for failure to appear. She remained in the Escambia County Jail Saturday morning without bond. Court records indicate that she violated probation on a petty theft charge from 2006.
Lt. Jones attempted to turn around and stop a small pickup truck occupied by a Grimes and Campbell near 960 Byrneville Road. That address is just south of McBride Road, about 1.5 miles south of Byrneville Elementary School.
Before Jones could make the traffic stop, Grimes fled the scene on foot into some nearby woods behind a house. He was described as wearing a white t-shirt and blue jeans.
Tracking dogs from Century Correctional Institute assisted in the search. Additional tracking dogs from Santa Rosa County were called to the scene.The search was in the area bordered by Byrneville Road near McBride Road, and Crary Road.
The Escambia County (Fla.) Sherrif’s Department, the Escambia County (Ala.) Sheriff’s Department and the Flomaton Police Department were involved in the search for Grimes.
Byrneville Elementary School was placed in lock down, but Principal Dee Wolfe-Sullivan says that the school was been dismissed without incident.
The school dismissed at about the normal time Friday afternoon, but Sullivan said the dismissal was a well planned careful one. Students in the school’s portable building were walked by adults from the classrooms, one building at a time. Students were walked to their buses by teachers and staff.
Sullivan said a deputy was at the campus during the dismissal.
Students that remained after school for tutoring remained under lock down while on campus.
Pictured top and bottom: Suspect Teka Michelle Campbell is placed in a deputy’s cruiser Friday afternoon in Byrneville. Authorities searched for nearly four hours for a male suspect before ending the manhunt. The blue pickup the suspect fled from is in the background of the photo. Pictured middle: An Escambia deputy pulls onto Byrneville Road. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Northview Holds First Home Track Meet In Years
March 7, 2009
Northview High School competed in their first home track meet in many years this week on their newly resurfaced track.
Many NHS track team members placed in the meeting, and the girl’s team placed first with 55 points
The results from the meet are below:
