State Attorney’s Office Clears Century Officals, Mayor-Elect
December 12, 2007
Century Mayor Evelyn Hammond, council member Nadine McCaw and Mayor-elect Freddie McCall, Sr. will not face charges from the State Attorney’s Office. And investigation determined that there was not enough evidence to bring charges against any of the three.
Hammond was under investigation for allegedly using her position as mayor to influence the mayoral election or to prevent the Town of Century from collecting outstanding municipal water bills from Eddie Hammond, her son. But insufficient evidence to that effect was found by the State Attorney’s Office.
The investigators also found insufficient evidence that McCaw and McCall used money and watermelons to buy votes in Century’s recent town elections.
In those elections, the incumbent Hammond was defeated 341 to 241 votes by McCall. McCaw defeated James R. Sutton for Council Seat 2 339 votes to 242 votes.
The entire investigation began after Hammond filed a complaint with David Stafford, Escambia County Supervisor of Elections, that McCaw and McCall attempted to buy votes. After that complaint, her former campaign manager Annie Savage, Ann Brooks and Nolan Nelson filed a complaint against Hammond. Brooks ran against Hammond for the mayor’s seat in the last election in 2003. This year, Brooks was elected to the town council seat two, defeating 30-year incumbent Marie McMurray 412 votes to 183.
The new council members and mayor will take office in January.
One Killed In McDavid Accident Identified
December 11, 2007
Troopers say one person was killed in a single vehicle accident Saturday night in McDavid.
The Florida Highway Patrol identified the victim as Bobby Ray Jones, 52. Troopers did not immediately have an address available for Jones, but officials on the scene indicated the victim was from Cantonment.
The accident occurred at 9:36 Saturday night and involved one vehicle. A white pickup was on its side in the edge of the woods just off the northbound lanes of Highway 29. There were no passengers in the vehicle, according to troopers.
The exact cause of the accident is still under investigation.
Northview Girls Win Weightlifting Meet Against West Florida, 55-22
December 11, 2007
The Northview High School Girl’s Weightlifting team defeated West Florida Tech High School 55-22 Monday afternoon on the road in Pensacola.
Results were as follows:
| 1st Place | Total Lifted | 2nd Place | Total Lifted | 3rd Place | Total Lifted |
| Ashley Digmon |
130 lbs
|
Kasey Baggett |
170 lbs
|
Kirsten Robinson |
180 lbs
|
| Briana Halteman |
190 lbs
|
Lennie Caum |
165 lbs
|
||
| Stormy Hayes |
180 lbs
|
Courtney Cooper |
175 lbs
|
||
| Sarah Killam |
180 lbs
|
Brittany Peebles |
175 lbs
|
||
| Camden Loncar |
200 lbs
|
Caitlin Spence |
170 lbs
|
||
| Jessica Mothershed |
210 lbs
|
Allie Vidak |
165 lbs
|
||
| Felicia Settle |
190 lbs
|
Heather Ward |
195 lbs
|
The Northview Chiefs will face Washington High School at home Thursday afternoon at 3:30 under the direction of Head Coach Stephanie Elowsky.
Fourth Candidate Files For District Five Commission Seat
December 11, 2007
A Democrat has entered the race against three Republicans for the District 5 Commission Seat that includes the North Escambia area.
Democrat John F. Hartman filed Friday for the seat currently held by Republican Kevin White of Molino. Hartman lists a post office box in Gonzalez as his address.
Three Republicans had already filed for the job. Incumbent Commissioner Kevin White prefiled back on January 29 of this year. Chris Washler of Cantonment filed August 27, and Randall E. McCrackin of Cantonment filed this past Tuesday, November 20.
As of September 30, White had raised $32,405 in contributions, loans and in-kind contributions. Those contributions included a $200 loan from the candidate, who lists his occupation as an auto repair shop owner. His expenditures totaled $431.70 as of September 30, mostly for postage and printing. Click here to view White’s campaign finance reports in pdf format.
Washler had raised $1,244.45 as of September 30. That amount included a $300 loan and and $44.35 in in-kind contributions from the candidate. He had spent $30.61 on office supplies. Click here to view Washler’s campaign finance reports in pdf format.
Hartmant and McCrackin have not filed campaign finance reports to date, as they were not a candidates when the last report was due on September 30.
The candidates’ next finance reports are due by January 10, 2008, for the period that ends December 31, 2007. The primary election is scheduled for August 26, 2008. The prefile deadline for local offices is noon on May, 19, 2008.
NorthEscambia.com will have complete local election coverage over the coming months.
Parents Notified If Their Student Is Overweight
December 11, 2007
North Escambia area parents of first, third, sixth and ninth grade students received letters Monday notifying them if their student’s weight is under, at, or above the healthy range for their child’s age.
For the first time in four years, the overall number of overweight students decreased in Escambia County in all measured grades except third.
BMI is a measurement of body fat based on height and weight and is used to screen for ealth problems resulting from an unhealthy body weight. The BMI for 19 percent of Escambia County students came in as “overweight”, with another 16% “at risk for overweight”.
The total percentage of students in Escambia County whose BMI places them as at risk for becoming overweight or overweight are:
The total percentage of students for the 2006-2007 school year in each weight category
are:
To read the “at risk” and “overweight” letter received by parents Monday, click here.
A total of 11,981 students were measured this fall in Escambia. Data of students’ Body Mass Index is required by the State of Florida.
Two Injured In Molino Christmas Parade
December 8, 2007
Two people were injured in the Molino Christmas Parade Saturday afternoon in separate incidents.
The first injury occurred near the intersection of Highway 97 and County Road 95A when a female riding a horse was thrown to the pavement, according to witnesses. Members of the Molino Fire Department were on scene almost immediately; one of their units was in the parade just behind the horse riders. The victim was treated on scene and refused to be transported to the hospital.
The second injury occurred about 150 feet further in the parade route in a separate incident. Another female rider in the same group of horses fell after her foot became stuck in the stirrup as she got off her horse, according to witnesses. Witnesses say her injuries appeared to be more severe, and that she was placed on a backboard before being transported by ambulance.
The first rider later called for fire medics after leaving the parade area and returning to a private residence.
We also have complete coverage of the North Escambia area participants in the Atmore Christmas Parade posted here.
Pictured above: The Molino Fire Department treats the second injured. Picture below is the scene from the first injury.
Vehicle Hits House on Highway 97
December 8, 2007
A Dodge pickup truck driven by Henry Edward Myrick of Sunshine Hill Road, Molino collided with a house at the intersection of Highway 97 and County Road 99 in Walnut Hill Saturday morning. There were no injuries.
Florida Highway Patrol troopers say the accident happened about 3:15 a.m. when Myrick failed to stop at the stop sign on Highway 99, went through the intersection and collided with the corner of the house. The truck continued for a short distance past the corner of the house, parallel to the brick home, missing a propane tank by about two feet.
Myrick told troopers the accident happened at 3:15 a.m., but he was unable to report it because no one at the home would answer the door. It was called in by a passerby about 7:00 a.m. that reported an unusual vehicle next the house, but did not report it as being an accident. Another passerby discovered it was an accident and reported it as such about 7:10.
The resident of the home, an 94 year old female, told troopers she was asleep in the back bedroom of the house at the time and thought the sound was thunder. She was unaware the house had been hit by a truck until she was summoned to her door by deputies about 7:30.
Troopers say Myrick was issued citations for careless driving and no proof of insurance.
Click either photo to enlarge.
NorthEscambia.com Surpasses 250,000 Pages Served
December 7, 2007
Thursday night, NorthEscambia.com surpassed a quarter million page views after being online for just over a month.
A page view is simply one person viewing one page on the site. That does not mean that a quarter million people have viewed the site…one person will usually view more than one page per visit. The photo gallery pages are not included in the 250,000 page view total.
The site has been averaging 10,000 to 15,000 page views per day the last few weeks, according to site statistics.
Many inquiries have been received by NorthEscambia.com concerning the availability of advertising on the site. Ads are not currently available on the site, but there is a waiting list for potential advertisers. There are just a few slots remaining when advertising is available. If your business would like to be on the list to possibly advertise on NorthEscambia.com, let us know by filling out our contact form.
Some interesting facts about NorthEscambia.com visitors:
- The most viewed story involved the death of an Escambia County Deputy in Walnut Hill.
- The second most viewed story was about the Walnut Hill Volunteer Fire Department Fish Fry.
- The number one “referrer” (a site or link sending visitors to the site) was email…meaning many, many people emailed somebody the link to the site and they visited it.
- The second greatest source of visitors was Google. Yahoo was the second most popular search engine sending people to the site.
- Other links sending lots of visitors to the site were in the Pensacola News Journal’s forums (they’ve since deleted links to our site) and from the Northview High School web site.
- The number one search term used at Google to find the site was “north escambia”.
- 80% of visitors are running Windows XP. 6% are running an Apple Mac, one person is still running Windows 95 and a handful are running Linux and WebTV.
- The most popular day of the week for NorthEscambia.com has been Monday; the slowest day has been Sunday.
- Very few people are viewing the site during the three a.m. hour; way too many are still up during the midnight hour.
- The most popular hour for the site has been the noon hour (people visiting during lunch at work, perhaps).
- There have been visitors from Israel, Brazil, the Seychelles islands off Africa, Germany, Japan, China, Taiwan, Canada and Switzerland.
- The greatest number of visitors have come from the Frontier internet service (they provide dialup and DSL in Walnut Hill and Molino), followed by Cox high speed, Road Runner, Bellsouth and AOL.
- The site also popular with users within the Escambia County Schools, Wildblue satellite users, Escambia County and the U.S. Government.
In case you are wondering from all that…we don’t know who you are when you visit the site unless you fill out our form and tell us. The server knows that someone from a particular internet provider visited the site, what pages were viewed, their operating system (Windows XP, Linux, etc.) and where they came from (such as Google, another web site, etc.). Again, we don’t know who you are personally.
County Votes to Make Funding Molino Community Center A Priority
December 7, 2007
The Escambia County Commission approved requesting federal and state funds Thursday night that included making renovation of the old Molino Elementary School a “first priority”.
It will cost an estimated $4 million to renovate the school into a community center. Thursday night’s vote will lead to the county seeking out both federal and state funding for the renovation. The vote did not obligate the county to renovate the building; it just affirmed that they will attempt to find funding sources.
The school closed in 2003 when the new Molino Park Elementary School consolidated Molino Elementary and Barrineau Park Elementary.
The school would transfer ownership from the Escambia County School District to the Board of County Commissioners under a plan that would allow the school district to use the Pensacola Civic Center ( a county facility) rent-free for 10 years for high school graduations. The school district currently pays $40,000 a year for use of the civic center.
Plans call for the school to become a community hub, possibly including a 5,000 square foot library, a museum highlighting Molino history, a small health clinic, a business incubator, renovation of the gym and one additional building for community events and private party rental along with other uses.
The school, which sits on nine acres along County Road 95A, first opened in 1939.
Pictured below: A 2006 aerial view of the old Molino Elementary School.
District 5 Commisioner White Honored By Commission; Other Business Conducted
December 7, 2007
District 5 Commisioner Kevin White was honored at Thursday night’s meeting of the Escambia County Commission for his work as this past year’s chairman of the commission.
“He served in a year that was certainly difficult,” said new commission chair Mike Whitehead. “It was budget issues…it was a turbulent year. I think there was a number of issues that this board had to tackle, and I believe that you did a very good job of leading us through those issues.”
“I believe we came out a better, a stronger, a leaner meaner county than we were before,” he said. “Unfortunately, I think we are looking at another year of the same thing.”
“I appreciate the time, the effort and the talent you brought to the job; it is not as easy one,” Whitehead told White. “On behalf of the entire board…we appreciate what you have done.”
White was present a plaque by the commission.
— In other North Escambia area business, the commission refused to alter a code enforcement lien against property owned by the estate of Roxie Mae Blackmon at 2390 Chance Road in Molino. Mark Whittaker from Hammons, Longoria & Whittaker, P.A. requested the lien be removed.
But code enforcement officer Charles Walker stated that the property was still in violation of county ordinances, with an abandoned mobile home on the property having numerous broken windows.
— The commission also voted to implement a tougher ethics policy required commissioners and county employees to make more explicit disclosures about business relationships. This comes after former County Admistrator George Tuart’s resignation following undisclosed business relationships.
— Increased false fire alarm fees. The 1992 ordinance charged $50 after three false alarms. The new fee scheduled is $50 after the second false alarm and up to $500 for eight or more false alarms in a year.
— Began a nationwide search to replace County Attorney Janet Lander who retires in January.