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FWC Hunter Safety Course Offered At Molino Library

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) is offering a free hunter safety internet-completion course in Molino on August 10 at 6 p.m.. Hunter safety courses are designed to help students become safe, responsible and knowledgeable hunters and learn about conservation.

Participants must take the online course before attending this class.

All firearms, ammunition and materials are provided free of charge. Students should bring a pen or pencil and paper. An adult must accompany children younger than 16 at all times.

Anyone born on or after June 1, 1975, must pass an approved hunter safety course and have a hunting license to hunt alone (unsupervised). The FWC course satisfies hunter-safety training requirements for all other states and Canadian provinces.

Those interested in attending a course can register online and obtain information about future hunter safety classes at MyFWC.com/HunterSafety or by calling FWC safety instructor Paul Averill at (850) 982-8070 for more information.

IP Shift Safety Calendar Created By Jim Allen Elementary Students

This shift safety calendar being used this year at International Paper in Cantonment was created by students at Jim Allen Elementary School.

“Nothing is more important than the safety of our team members, and the shift calendar serves as a reminder for all of us to keep an active safety mindset,” said Whitney Fike, IP communications manager. “We asked the students of Jim Allen Elementary to help us create safety messages for each month of our shift calendar. The students were very creative in their safety messages and drawings and we were excited to be able to have them participate.”

International Paper thanked the students earlier this year with a pizza party and copies of the finished calendar.

For more photos, including each photo in the calendar, click or tap here.

Photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.

So What’s A Sparkleberry, Besides FPL’s New Molino Solar Farm?

So what’s a sparkleberry?

Escambia County recently approved a 75 megawatt Florida Power & Light solar farm named the Sparkleberry Solar Energy Center at the end of Pilgrim Trail in Molino.

But many NorthEscambia.com readers asked us what exactly is a sparkleberry. So we took our question to Lydia Purvis, horticulture specialist for Escambia County Extension.

Here’s what she had to say:

Sparkleberry is a Florida native tree. It is known for being a relative of the blueberry, huckleberry and cranberry. It has delicate flowers with a glossy foliage and shiny berries. Sparkleberry is considered to be wildlife friendly and drought tolerant. Growing from hardiness zones 6-9b, Sparkleberry trees can be seen all over the state of Florida.

Sparkleberry is a perennial shrub or small tree. It has fragrant white flowers that hang down like bells in the spring, then as the summer months approach you see green foliage and bluish black berries in the fall. Spring flowers are a good source of food for pollinators. The berries feed birds and other small wildlife.

Sparkleberry (Vaccinium arboretum) berries are also edible to humans. They are not considered as flavorful as their relatives mentioned above. Larger sparkleberries have been incorporated into jams, jellies, and pies historically. Most homeowners leave the berries for the wildlife presently.

Since this shrub is a native to Florida, it has adapted to our hot and humid climate. It can grow in full sun or partial shade. Sparkleberry trees prefer the soil to be sand and dry. Once established, it requires little irrigation.

Sparkleberry is considered a low maintenance tree. The species causes few to no allergens and only requires occasional light pruning.

Here Are The School Supply Lists For Escambia County Schools

Here are the school supply lists for Escambia County.

For a printable elementary school supply list, click here (pdf).

For a printable middle school supply list, click here (pdf).

All elementary and middle schools in Escambia County have the same core supply list, including some optional items. High schools do not have a general supply list.

RELATED: Back To School Sales Tax Holiday Ends Sunday

ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS

Kindergarten

• Crayons — 4 (24-count packs)
• Scissors — 1 pair blunt tip
• Glue sticks — 12
• Plastic Duo-Tang folders — 2 (solid colors)
• Plastic school box — 1
• Spiral notebooks — 3 wide ruled
• Dry erase markers — 4
• Copy paper — 2 reams (white)
• Pink erasers — 4
• Yellow wooden pencils — 24 (No. 2, sharpened)
• Headphones (recommended)
• Facial tissue (optional)
• Colored pencils (optional)
• Colored markers (optional)
• Antibacterial wipes (optional)
• Quart or gallon Ziplock bags (optional)
• Hand sanitizer (optional)

First grade

• Crayons — 4 (24-count packs)
• Scissors — 1 pair blunt tip
• Glue sticks — 6
• Glue — 1 bottle (4 ounces)
• Plastic Duo-Tang folders — 2 with pockets and prongs
• Plastic school box — 1
• Spiral notebooks — 3 wide ruled
• Dry erase markers — 4
• Copy paper — 2 reams (white)
• Eraser caps — 1 package
• Pink erasers — 4
• Yellow wooden pencils — 48 No. 2, sharpened
• Headphones (recommended)
• Facial tissue (optional)
• Highlighters (optional)
• Washable markers (optional)
• Antibacterial wipes (optional)
• Hand sanitizer (optional)

Second grade

• Crayons — 3 packs (24-count packs)
• Scissors — 1 pair
• Glue sticks — 6
• Plastic Duo-Tang folders — 4 with pockets and prongs and in solid colors
• Plastic school box — 1
• Spiral notebooks — 3 wide ruled
• Notebook paper — 1 pack wide ruled
• Copy paper — 2 reams (white)
• Pink erasers — 4
• Eraser caps — 2 packages
• Yellow wooden pencils — 48 count No. 2, sharpened
• Headphones (recommended)
• Facial tissue (optional)
• Dry erase markers (optional)
• Hand sanitizer (optional)
• Highlighters (optional)
• Antibacterial wipes (optional)
• Colored pencils (optional)

Third grade

• Crayons — 2 (24-county packs)
• Scissors — 1 pair
• Glue sticks — 6
• Plastic Duo-Tang folders — 5 with pockets and prongs and in solid colors
• Plastic school box or zippered pouch — 1
• Composition notebooks — 2
• Notebook paper — 1 pack wide ruled
• Copy paper — 2 reams white
• Pink erasers — 2
• Eraser caps — 3 packages
• Yellow wooden pencils — 48 No. 2, sharpened
• Headphones (recommended)
• Dry erase markers (optional)
• Highlighters (optional)
• Hand sanitizer (optional)
• Facial tissue (optional)
• Antibacterial wipes (optional)

Fourth grade

• Crayons — 2 (24-count packs)
• Colored pencils — 1 (12-count pack)
• Glue sticks — 4
• Scissors — 1 pair
• Plastic Duo-Tang folders — 1 of each color: yellow, red, blue, green, purple, orange and with pockets and prongs
• Plastic school box or zippered pouch — 1
• Composition notebooks — 4
• Notebook paper — 1 wide ruled
• Cap erasers — 24
• Yellow wooden pencils — 48 No. 2, sharpened
• Multi-colored highlighters — 1 pack
• Headphones (recommended)
• Facial tissue (optional)
• Hand sanitizer (optional)
• Dry erase markers (optional)
• White copy paper (optional)
• Antibacterial wipes (optional)

Fifth grade

• Colored pencils — 1 pack
• Glue — 2 bottles (4 ounces)
• Scissors — 1 pair
• Duo-Tang folders — 2 of each color: yellow, red, blue, green, orange with pockets and prongs
• Zippered pouch — 1 or plastic school box — 1
• Spiral notebooks — 3
• Notebook paper — 1 packs wide ruled
• Cap erasers — 24
• Yellow wooden pencils — 48 No. 2, sharpened
• Multi-colored highlighters — 1 pack
• Headphones (recommended)
• Facial tissue (optional)
• 1½ – 2 inch binder (optional)
• Dry erase markers (variety of colors) (optional)
• Antibacterial wipes (optional)
• Hand sanitizer (optional)

MIDDLE SCHOOL

(All grades)

• No. 2 pencils
• Blue or Black ink pens
• Wide ruled notebook paper
• Pack of multi-colored highlighters
• Zippered binder or 2 inch, 3 ring notebook and set of 10 dividers
• Earbuds
• Texas Instruments TI30X solar powered calculator for Algebra I only

Blue Wahoos Fall 8-7 in 10-Inning Walk-Off Loss To Montgomery

The Pensacola Blue Wahoos put forward a resilient effort to come back from an early deficit, but dropped their Saturday night game to the Montgomery Biscuits by a score of 8-7 in 10 innings.

After failing to score in the top of the 10th, the Blue Wahoos surrendered a walk-off double to Ronny Simon on the first pitch of the bottom of the inning. The Biscuits have taken four of the first five in this week’s set, clinching a series victory in advance of the Sunday finale.

In his Double-A debut, Patrick Monteverde pitched into the sixth inning but allowed seven runs, six earned, on 11 hits. He allowed single runs in the first and second inning before J.D. Osborne hit a solo homer in the fifth to trim the Pensacola deficit to 2-1. A solo homer from Tyler Frank and a Simon sacrifice fly in the fifth gave the Biscuits some cushion, stretching their lead to 4-1.

In the top of the sixth, a trio of RBI doubles from Pensacola’s Bubba Hollins, Osborne and Thomas Jones briefly tied the game 4-4. Montgomery would waste no time in re-claiming the lead, however, as Blake Hunt blasted a three-run homer off of Monteverde in the bottom of the inning to put the Biscuits ahead 7-4.

The Blue Wahoos scored a pair of unearned runs against reliever Graeme Stinson in the seventh, and Hollins tied the score with a solo homer against Andrew Gross to lead off the eighth. Three innings of hitless relief from Pensacola relievers Eli Villalobos and Sean Reynolds sent the game to the ninth tied 7-7.

Gross stranded a pair of Pensacola runners in a scoreless ninth, but Robinson Martínez (L, 1-1) put up a zero in the bottom of the inning to force extras. Jose Lopez (W, 7-3) pitched a hitless top of the 10th, and Simon blasted the first pitch he saw from Martínez off the top of the right field wall for a game-ending double.

The Blue Wahoos wrap up their series in Montgomery on Sunday.

by Erik Bremer, Pensacola Blue Wahoos

ECSO Uses Drones To Search For Missing Persons, Suspects…And A Walnut Hill Wreck Victim

A car that rolled over multiple times sat in a cotton field with several windows broken out.

Children’s toys, coloring book pages, slippers and a child’s book bag were scattered across the field.

And there was no one around the vehicle.

That was the scene last week along Highway 97 in Walnut Hill. First responders and volunteers searched the field, walking through the row after row of thick, waist-high cotton looking for the driver, a child…anyone that might have been ejected from the vehicle.

The search had a happy ending, with no one found in the field. The driver had fled the scene.

One of the tools used in the search for a possible victim was a drone operated by an Escambia County Sheriff’s Office deputy, one of their certified drone pilots.

The ECSO drone program was one of Sheriff Chip Simmons’ initiatives when he took office, according to Commander Andrew Hobbs.

“We are in the process of building that program with a lot of training,” he said. “We have to understand the statutes and case law about violation of privacy. We are looking at the ways of using technology to best serve the people of Escambia County.”

“We are able to use drones to search for missing persons, suspects in a wooded area…it allows for more availability than other air units and costs are minute compared to a helicopter,” Hobbs added.

For more photos, click or tap here.

Pictured: Escambia County Sheriff’s Office Deputy D. Shaw, a certified drone operator, uses a drone to search a cotton field for a possible wreck victim last week in Walnut Hill. Pictured top inset: Coloring book pages, toys and other children’s items were found in the field near an overturned car (bottom inset). Pictured below: The drone over the cotton field. Pictured bottom: Volunteers  and first responders also walked through the cotton field. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.

Florida’s Back To School Sales Tax Holiday Continues Ends Sunday

Florida’s Back to School Sales Tax Holiday continues Ends Sunday, August 7.

During the sales tax holiday period, tax is not due on the retail sale of:

• Clothing, footwear, and certain accessories with a sales price of $100 or less per item
• Certain school supplies with a sales price of $50 or less per item,
• Learning aids and jigsaw puzzles with a sales price of $30 or less
• Personal computers and certain computer-related accessories with a sales price of $1,500 or less, when purchased for noncommercial home or personal use

For the complete, detailed list from the Florida Department of Revenue, click or tap here.

RELATED: Here Are The School Supply Lists For Escambia County Schools

The sales tax holiday does not apply to:

• Any item of clothing with a sales price of more than $100
• Any school supply item with a sales price of more than $50
• Books that are not otherwise exempt*
• Computers and computer-related accessories with a sales price of more than $1,500
• Computers and computer-related accessories purchased for commercial purposes
• Rentals of any eligible items
• Repairs or alterations of any eligible items
• Sales of any eligible items within a theme park, entertainment complex, public lodging establishment or airport

Distracted Driver Slams Into Alabama State Trooper Near Flomaton Exit

A driver crashed into an Alabama state trooper’s vehicle Friday afternoon on I–65 just south of the Flomaton exit.

According to the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency (ALEA), the trooper was stationary working a previous crash on I-65 southbound when his vehicle was struck in the rear by a distracted driver that failed to move over. The crash propelled the state trooper’s vehicle in the median.

Both the trooper and the other driver were transported by ambulance to an area hospital as a precautionary measure. Neither suffered major injuries, according to ALEA.

Photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.

Man Charged With Trying To Solicit A Child Is Released On Bond

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement has arrested a Santa Rosa County man for trying to solicit a child.

Nickolas Patrick Rose, 22 is charged with transmission of material harmful to a minor, use of a computer to solicit a minor and unlawful use of a two-way communication device. He was released from the Escambia County Jail Friday on a $15,000 bond.

The investigation began in May, when an agent posing as a 14-year-old girl on a social networking site was messaged by Rose Agents said that during the conversations Rose sent a photograph of his genitalia and made sexual comments to the agent’s 14-year-old persona.

Nighttime Lane Closures And Traffic Pacing Planned For Pensacola Bay Bridge

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