Florida Gas Prices Back Off Record Highs
March 21, 2022
The price of oil suffered steep losses last week, enabling the price of gasoline to back off from record highs.
The state average price for gasoline is on a nine-day streak of declines, dropping a total of 20 cents per gallon. On Sunday, drivers paid an average price of $4.18 per gallon.
In Escambia County, the average was $4.11 per gallon.
A low price of $4.04 could be found Sunday night in North Escambia at a station of Highway 29 in Cantonment. In Pensacola, the lowest price Sunday night was $3.91 at a station on Pensacola Boulevard in Ensley.
“The oil market remains extremely volatile, after seeing big swings in both directions during the past few weeks,” said Mark Jenkins, spokesman, AAA – The Auto Club Group. “Last weekend, oil prices dropped on demand concerns regarding a COVID outbreak in China, which resulted in lockdowns. By the end of the week, oil prices charged higher again as global crude supply concerns – regarding the fallout from the Russia-Ukraine conflict – moved back to the forefront. Fortunately, oil prices are well below the high we saw more than a week ago. This should enable gas prices to slip lower this week, unless oil suddenly spikes again.”
Search Warrant Served At Gun Shop In Investigation; Officials Seek More Info
March 20, 2022
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is asking the public for information about an Escambia County gun shop after a search warrant was served there on Friday.
NorthEscambia.com was the only media there as local, state and federal authorities executed a search warrant Friday at Don’s Gun Shop at 9413 North Palafox Street, just north of Nine Mile Road. On Friday, FDLE confirmed they were involved in serving the search warrant.
On Saturday, the agency said they have received “multiple citizen complaints” about the gun shop. FDLE said they are investigating the allegations in a joint investigation with the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office, the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). No further information about the “complaints” has been released.
“We believe members of the public may have additional information that could aid in our investigation,” FDLE said, asking for the public to submit any tips by calling their Pensacola office at (850) 595-2100.
A sign on the front door of the business on Saturday stated, “Closed. If your gun was here, please call the number on the card below. Sorry for the inconvenience.” That number is FDLE Special Agent Chelsea Atzel at (850) 595-2012 or cell (850) 378-6746.
NorthEscambia.com exclusive photos by Kristi Barbour, click to enlarge.
Wrong-Way Bicyclist Lands In Jail On Multiple Charges
March 20, 2022
A man riding his bicycle the wrong way on Highway 31 in Flomaton early Saturday morning landed in jail on multiple charges.
Hubert Lamer Johnson, 43, was charged with public intoxication, possession of a controlled substance (methamphetamine), possession of marijuana second degree, possession of drug paraphernalia, and resisting arrest.
A Flomaton Police Department officer observed a man identified as Johnson riding his bicycle without proper lighting and headed the wrong direction on a four-lane portion of Highway 31.
“Johnson possessed illegal narcotics and was also believed to be under the influence of a substance,” Flomaton Police said, adding that he resisted arrest but was quickly controlled.
Johnson remained in the Escambia County Detention Center in Brewton without bond early Sunday morning after his bond was revoked in a previous case.
Straight Line Winds, Not A Tornado, Destroyed Mobile Homes, Injured 10, NWS Says
March 20, 2022
Straight line winds, not a tornado, were responsible for the injuries and damage at a mobile home park north of Atmore Friday morning, according to the National Weather Service in Mobile.
A team from NWS surveyed the damage Saturday morning, determining that “a swath of damaging straight line winds impacted the Poarch, AL, area,” about 9:04 a.m.
A total of 10 people were injured, two critically, at the Big Oak Mobile Home Park at 7400 Jack Springs Road, just north of the Poarch Creek Indian Reservation. There were no fatalities.
At least nine mobile homes were completely destroyed, and other structures in the area were damaging, including structures at Perdido River Farms, a tribe-owned beef farm.
“A narrow swath of intense wind gusts estimated at 90 to 100mph affected a mobile home park where several mobile homes were rolled/destroyed. The surrounding area sustained severe wind gusts to the southeast where several trees were snapped/uprooted and a farm and nearby residences sustained roof damage to several buildings. The survey team found no evidence of convergence with all damage laid out in a southwest to northeast swath suggesting straight line wind damage,” the NWS report states.
“It’s devastating. Those people have nothing left,” Escambia County (AL) Sheriff Heath Jackson said. “We are so thankful that no one was killed or severely injured, but to know everything that you owned is no more. That’s difficult to see.”
“It looked like a bomb hit some of them,” Atmore Fire Chief Ronald Peebles told NorthEscambia.com on Friday.
Several of the homes were blown from their foundations and scattered about the mobile home park. First responders from Poarch Creek, Escambia County, Alabama, Baldwin County and the state combed through the wreckage looking for anyone injured or trapped.
“We have one guy that was in his mobile home when the storm hit. He was asleep. He said when he woke up, he was in the woods,” Jackson said. “Obviously the Good Lord was looking out for him.”
Escambia County (AL) Emergency Management Director David Adams said Friday that while there were indications of some rotation in the damage, it appeared straight line winds were the likely cause.
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Photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Flood Warning Issued For The Escambia River Near Century
March 20, 2022
A flood warning is in effect for the Escambia River near Century until early Wednesday morning. Minor flooding is forecast.
Early Sunday morning, the stage was 16 feet. The river is expected to rise to a crest near 18 feet Monday morning. It will then fall below flood stage late Tuesday evening.
At flood stage of 17 feet, considerable flooding of lowlands occur.
The Perdido River near Barrineau Park is expected to crest at 8.9 feet on Monday, just below action stage of 9.0 feet. Minor flood stage for the Perdido River is 13 feet.
Red Cross Assisting Storm Victims That Lost Everything In Trailer Park North Of Atmore
March 20, 2022
The Red of Alabama is assisting victims of Friday’s destruction at a trailer park north of Atmore.
The Red Cross has conducted damage assessments and has been offering assistance from the Poarch Creek Fire Department’s training facility. Anyone that was a victim of Friday’s storm that still needs assistance can call 1-800-RED CROSS.
The National Weather Service on Saturday determined that straight line winds were responsible for damage at the Big Oak Mobile Home Park on Jack Springs Road. There were 10 injuries and at least nine mobile homes that were destroyed when winds of 90-100 mph hit that area north of Poarch Creek reservation.
For more information, click or tap here.
Pictured: The American Red Cross on the ground offering assistance amid the destruction at this mobile home park north of Atmore. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
No Injures In Crash Involving Kia, Pepsi Truck
March 19, 2022
There were no injuries in a Highway 29 crash Friday afternoon involving a Kia and a Pepsi delivery truck.
The Florida Highway Patrol is investigating the crash, which happened about 2:20 p.m. on Highway 29 near Nine and One Half Mile Road.
The crash did close one lane of southbound Highway temporarily.
Photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Fire Damages RV; Firefighters Save Nearby Structure, Vehicle
March 19, 2022
Fire burned through a recreational vehicle Friday afternoon in Molino.
The fire was reported about 4:50 p.m. on Keck Road, off Chestnut Road.
Firefighters from Escambia Fire Rescue were able to contain the fire to the unoccupied camper and prevented it from spreading to a nearby structure and vehicle.
There was no immediate word on the cause of the fire, and there were no injuries reported.
Photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Escambia Master Gardeners Grow Endowment Fund
March 19, 2022
When Ann Luther’s friend asked in 2008 if she wanted to take Master Gardener classes through the UF/IFAS Extension Escambia County office, she had no idea it would become one of her passions.
“I don’t know why, but I’d never heard of it,” Luther said. She had, to be fair, spent years moving from place to place as a military spouse, eventually retiring in Pensacola from a career as an elementary educator and becoming a part-time CPR instructor. Naturally, the teaching aspects of the Florida Master Gardener Volunteer program appealed to her. “I had always liked to garden, but I was never in one place long enough to put much in the ground,” she added.
After completing the course and becoming a UF/IFAS Extension Escambia County Master Gardener Volunteer in 2009, Luther vowed to make people aware of the program. Her involvement grew into many areas of the county’s organization throughout the years, including as a board member.
Growing knowledge throughout Florida
The Florida Master Gardener Volunteer program provides local communities statewide with University of Florida-trained volunteers, like Luther, who are passionate about sharing their gardening knowledge. But each program, coordinated through the local UF/IFAS Extension office, also relies upon fundraising to be able to offer those educational opportunities and outreach.
To reduce the fundraising burden for its future members, the Escambia County group set on a mission three years ago to establish an endowment fund. As 2021 closed, ahead of its five-year goal and despite almost two full years of COVID pandemic-related challenges, the fund reached its $30,000 target. This investment will generate over $1,000 each year for the group’s operations.
“We had a very active Master Gardener board at the time this effort started, and they wanted to find a way for future volunteers to spend less time fundraising and more time teaching,” said Beth Bolles, UF/IFAS Extension Escambia County horticulture agent and coordinator of the county’s program.
Escambia County’s volunteers help community members learn more about growing landscape and food plants successfully, sharing information at churches and public libraries, and through homeowners’ associations and garden clubs.
In a recent effort, Bolles shared, a group of Master Gardener Volunteers helped a local Native American tribe begin growing native plants with a significance to Native American culture. Luther said other projects focus on the military community and veterans’ groups; the volunteers include former military members, too.
‘It’s just my happy place’
“When we got this opportunity to ensure that the Master Gardener program continues after those of us in it now are no longer involved, we all thought that this was such an important opportunity to do something for this wonderful program,” said M.J. Ziemba, who’s been a Master Gardener Volunteer since 2018. “It’s not only wonderful for the people who are in the group; it’s wonderful for the whole community because we then take the information that we learn and help share it.”
Unlike Luther, Ziemba had learned of the Master Gardener program long before she became a volunteer. She thought of joining right then, sometime in the 1980s, but with four kids and a career in education, “I just didn’t have the time.”
“As soon as I retired in 2017, I signed up,” Ziemba said. “Working in the garden and being with my garden friends… it’s just my happy place.”
Securing continued services
Like other Florida Master Gardener Volunteer groups around the state, the Escambia County volunteers’ plant sales contribute some of their largest fundraising efforts each year.
In addition to the plant sales, though, Bolles said the group also got creative in trying to reach the endowment goal. They hosted a rummage sale, used planned speaking engagements to promote the fund and encourage donations, and created a set of educational postcards, with 100% of the proceeds going toward the endowment.
And although they’ve reached their initial goal, she added, “we know we’re still planning for the future, so we will continue to add to it.”
Read more about the Escambia County Master Gardeners Endowment at go.ufl.edu/mgvendowment.
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Man Wanted For Questioning In Homicide Last Week In Ensley
March 19, 2022
The Escambia County Sheriff’s Office is looking to question a man in connection with a homicide last week in Ensley.
Christopher Occie McCullough, 38, is wanted for questioning only in a homicide that occurred March 12 in the 700 block of West Johnson Avenue.
A 47-year old man was shot and killed while riding a bicycle. He was found with a single gunshot wound.
Anyone with information on McCullough’s whereabouts is asked to call the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office at (850) 436-9620 or Crime Stoppers at (850) 433-STOP.