FFA Smoke Turkey/Boston Butt Sale Underway
November 6, 2008
The annual Northview High School FFA Alumni Smoked Turkey and Boston Butt Sale is now underway, just in time for Thanksgiving.
In the annual fund raiser, you can choose either a seven to nine pound smoked Boston butt or a 10-12 pound smoked turkey for $25 each.
Boston butts will be available for pickup on Monday, November 24, the the smoked turkeys will be available for pickup on Tuesday, November 25. The deadline to order is Tuesday, November 11.
Proceeds from the sale will go to benefit the Northview High School FFA Scholarship Fund. The sale is sponsored by Archie’s Catering Smokehouse in Molino.
For a printable order form that you can mail to the school with your payment, click here.
For more information, call (850) 327-6681 extension 248.
Walnut Hill – A View From Above
November 6, 2008
Things look a little different from 60 feet up than they do on the ground.
NorthEscambia.com had the opportunity recently to take a ride up in an Escambia River Electric Cooperative bucket truck. From 60 feet above the parking lot at the Ernest Ward Middle School gym, the view of Walnut Hill is impressive.
For more photos, click here.
Pictured top: Looking at the intersection of Highway 97 and Arthur Brown Road. Pictured left: Libbie Johnson from the Escambia County extension service gets a ride in the bucket truck. Pictured below: Looking 60 feet down at Ryan Carter and Sherry Digmon from the Atmore News. NorthEscambia.com exclusive photos, click to enlarge.
Special thanks to EREC for the ride.
Garbage Bills To Increase
November 6, 2008
If you live in the Town of Century, your trash bill is headed up beginning next month.
Allied Waste, which picks up trash in Century under contract with the town, has informed the town that rates will go up 91 cents per residential customer. That will increase the month rate for residential trash service from $14.13 per month to $15.04 per month. It will be the first trash rate increase in about three years.
“They are not asking us; they are telling us,” Century Mayor Freddie McCall said, adding that the town’s franchise agreement with Allied Waste does allow for the increase without the town’s approval.
Former Century Mayor Evelyn Hammond Still At Town Hall?
November 6, 2008
She’s been gone from the mayor’s office in Century for almost a year, but if you get the town’s answering machine, there’s still an option to talk to Evelyn Hammond.
Century resident Annie Savage said she called the town hall recently, getting the town’s auto-attendant rather than a live person. There were the usual options to press numbers to be connected to employees like Town Clerk Dorothy Sims. But then there was “press 4″.
Savage told the town council that she was appalled to her “press 4 for Mayor Evelyn Hammond”, especially considering Hammond has been out of office for 11 months.
When asked by NorthEscambia.com if she “pressed 4 just to see what happened”, Savage said she did not. NorthEscambia.com attempted to reach the recorded phone message Wednesday evening, but when dialing the listed number for Century Town Hall we were connected to a live operator at the town’s answering service.
Town officials said the recording would be changed as soon as possible by the phone service provider.
What Will New Board, Superintendent Mean For Carver/Century, Other North Escambia Schools?
November 5, 2008
[NorthEscambia.com Exclusive]
Carver/Century K-8 School may have won a temporary reprieve at the polls on Tuesday, and Tuesday’s vote could spell an increased voice for North Escambia on the county’s school board.
“The cloud over Carver/Century has been lifted,” newly elected District 5 school board member Bill Slayton told NorthEscambia.com Tuesday night. “We need to step back and look at what we are going to do there.”
Current Superintendent Jim Paul, who did not seek re-election after a drunk driving arrest, was expected for months to call for the closure of Carver/Century before next school year, but he did not. Any closure recommendation would now come from Malcolm Thomas who will take office as superintendent on November 18.
“We have to pause a minute on closing Carver/Century,” Thomas said. “It is not that I am in opposition to closing that school, but I don’t want to close it now to find out that we just have to reopen it next year.”
Project Green Leaf could the school’s saving grace. The electric car manufacturing facility with up to 1,100 jobs proposed for Century could drastically change the future of Carver/Century.
“I want specific answers, not just the (Project Green Leaf) sales pitch before making a decision. I want the facts,” Thomas said. “That does not mean that it is over. It just means we are pressing the pause button on closing the school.”
But once the district has exercised “due diligence” and explored Carver/Century and Project Green Leaf’s future, the district will move forward. That may mean closing the school, Thomas said, and it may not. He said he is not opposed to closing and consolidating schools if warranted. In fact, he said a handful of smaller Pensacola area schools could be on the chopping block very soon.
As for the rest of the schools in North Escambia, Thomas had nothing but praise. From Molino Park Elementary to Bratt Elementary, North Escambia’s other elementary schools are in great shape, he said, noting the Bratt is the top school in the entire county according to numbers from the Florida Department of Education. He expects no changes at Ernest Ward Middle, an “A” school several years running, or at Northview High School, a “B” rated school with improving state test scores.
“The problem area that we must address is Carver/Century,” he said. The school improved to a “B” school this past year, up from an “F” the year before. It has also failed to make the state’s definition of adequate yearly progress, leading to state-funded student transfers out of the school.
“There are great schools in the north end,” Slayton said. “I want to continue to make sure that they receive equal treatement in the educational system, and that they are part of the plan in this county.”
Pictured above: Malcolm Thomas was elected as the new Escambia County School Superintendent. NorthEscambia.com graphic.
Morgan Wins Sheriff; Puts Century Criminals On Notice
November 5, 2008
The criminal element in North Escambia has officially been put on notice…there’s a new sheriff in town, and his name is David Morgan.
Republican Morgan, 55, defeated Democratic challenger Larry Scapecchi, 45, by a margin of 52.6 percent to 47.4 percent in Tuesday’s election. Morgan received 76,196 votes, compared to 68,570 for Scapecchi.
In an exclusive interview late Tuesday night, Morgan told NorthEscambia.com that one of his many priorities once he takes office in January will be to reduce crime in Century area. Statistically, Century accounts for a large majority of all sheriff’s department calls in North Escambia.
“I want to put the criminal element that has their foot on the throat of Century on notice,” Morgan said. “Their days are over.”
Morgan said he wants to sit down with Century Mayor Freddie McCall and work on a plan to clean up the town. He said he’s already sat down with the people behind Project Green Leaf, an electric car manufacturing company that is looking to bring up to 1,100 jobs to Century. Project Green Leaf officials have already expressed that crime in Century is a factor that concerns them should they choose to locate in the town.
“Century needs to stand by,” Morgan said. “We want to work on a plan to take care of the problem in that town, and do it quickly.”
Also in NorthEscambia, the sheriff-elect said he intends to reopen the department’s Walnut Hill Precinct that has sat mostly unused for years.
Countywide, Morgan said he intends to hit the ground running in January to make his campaign promises a reality. He plans to restructure the Escambia County Sheriff’ Department administration, putting more deputies on the streets of the county. And he plans to increase pay for deputies and correctional officers.
In the August primary, Morgan beat incumbent Republican Ron McNesby by over 3,000 votes. McNesby had been the county’s sheriff since 2000.
Morgan owns a private investigation firm and has literally spent years campaigning for the sheriff’s job. His law enforcement background was in the military.
Scapecchi spent 25 years in the Escambia County Sheriff’s Department, retiring a couple of years ago as a lieutenant.
NorthEscambia.com file photo.
Thomas Elected As New Escambia School Superintendent
November 5, 2008
Republican Malcolm Thomas is the new Escambia County School Superintendent,
Thomas, 54, defeated challenger Claudia Brown-Curry, 52, with 59.8 percent of the vote Tuesday to 40.2 percent for Brown-Curry. Thomas received 84,802 votes, while Brown-Curry had 56,894.
“I’m very humbled by this,” Thomas told NorthEscambia.com late Tuesday night. “I want to thank my supporters and the voters for being my biggest endorsements.”
“We are going to get up each day and work harder,” he said, toward his campaign promises of better student achievement, better pay for teachers making a difference, better discipline and safety, and better transparency and accountability.
Thomas told NorthEscambia.com that his step toward the superintendent’s office would be to put a survey on his web site for input from Escambia residents on the county’s schools. That survey was on his site, malcolmthomas2008.com, before midnight Tuesday. The anonymous survey asks county residents to identify the one area in which the district performs the best and the one area where the school district needs the most improvement.
Thomas has spent about 28 years with the school district, currently service a the district’s director of evaluation services. He has also served the Escambia County School District as a staffing specialist, department head and a classroom teacher. He resides in Cantonment.
Brown-Curry serves as the District 3 representative on the Escambia County School Board. She’s resigned from that post effective November 18. She ran another unsuccessful campaign for superintendent in 2004. She has served as a teacher in the district.
The school superintendent job pays $130,436 per year.
Highway 97 Accident Injures One Tuesday Night In Davisville
November 5, 2008
One person was injured in a two vehicle accident on Highway 97 in Davisville Tuesday night.
A car and small pickup collided on Highway 97 near Pine Barren Church Road, just north of Highway 4, about 6:00 Tuesday night.
One person from the car was transported to Atmore Community Hospital with injuries that were not believed to be severe. The drive of the truck refused treatment.
The cause of the accident is under investigation.
The Walnut Hill Station of Escambia County Fire-Rescue, Atmore Ambulance and the Florida Highway Patrol were all called to the scene.
Pictured above: One person was injured in this car about 6:00 Tuesday night in a Highway 97 wreck in Davisville. Pictured below: The driver of this truck was not injured. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Incumbent Kevin White Keeps Commission Seat
November 5, 2008
Incumbent District 5 Escambia County Commissioner Kevin White has been re-elected to that seat by a more than 8,000 vote margin.
Republican White defeated Democratic challenger Jim Barnett by a wide margin, 63.6 % to 36.4 %. White received 19,447 District 5 votes while Barnett received just 11,110.
White beat his three Republican challengers back in August by almost 1,000 votes more than the other three candidates combined.
White, 42, owns White’s Automotive Repair. He was first elected to the commission in 2000, his first elected office. Barnett, 59, owns Gateswood Sports in Pensacola. Both men live in Molino.
The four year seat on the commission pays $72,819 per year.
Attempts late Tuesday night by NorthEscambia.com to reach White on three phone numbers we have for him were unsuccessful.
Pictured above: Kevin White (L) and Jim Barnett.
FINAL Election Results
November 5, 2008
These are the FINAL, unofficial election results from local races of interest in North Escambia.
90 of 90 Precincts Reporting In Escambia County
