One Injured in Highway 97 Crash
December 15, 2007
At least one person was injured in a one vehicle accident about 1:00 a.m. Saturday on Highway 97 south of Tungoil Road.
A Jeep Cherokee was in a culvert in a wooded stretch of Highway 97 near 4690 Highway 97.
The accident was originally reported to the Florida Highway Patrol as being on Barth Road near Highway 29 at about 1:00 a.m. Firefighters from the Molino Volunteer Fire Department were unable to find the accident at that location. An additional 911 caller several minutes later reported the accident to be on Highway 97 north of Gibson Road. Molino firefighters located the wreck about 1:20 a.m.
The accident site is about 10 miles driving distance from the original call given to the Molino VFD. It is under investigation by the FHP.
About 11:30 Friday night, at least one person was injured in an accident between Omega Drive and Chance Road on Highway 29 in Molino. That accident is also under investigation by troopers.
Pictured below: A Florida Highway Patrol trooper investigates an accident that happened at 1:00 a.m. Saturday on Highway 97.
Century Whataburger Is Now Open For Business
December 14, 2007
The long-awaited Whataburger restaurant in Century is now open, serving up Whataburgers “Just Like You Like It”.
Lee Cartledge from Barrand, Inc. said store will have between 50 and 60 employees, most of which attended an employee meeting at the restaurant Thursday afternoon. Barrand is the owner of the Century franchise of Whataburger.
When NorthEscambia.com visited the restaurant Thursday afternoon, dozens of workers were busy inside and out putting the final touches on the restaurant.
Barrand owns Whataburger franchises across the Florida Panhandle and in the Dallas, Texas, area. The first Whataburger opened in Corpus Christi, Texas, in 1950, and the first franchised restaurant opened in 1953 in Alice, Texas. The first Whataburger outside Texas opened in Pensacola in 1959.
The Century Whataburger is located at 8340 North Century Boulevard (near the intersection of Highway 4). It will be open 24 hours a day. Today’s “soft opening” will be followed by an official grand opening and ribbon cutting in the coming weeks.
Molino Park Third Grade Performs Christmas Musical
December 13, 2007
The third grade classes at Molino Park Elementary School presented “Around the World at Christmas Time” Thursday.
The students performed Christmas favorites from around the world, including “Para pedir posada” from Mexico, “Pat a Pan” from France, “Dormi, Dormi” from Italy and “Christmas is Coming” from Poland.
Marie Godwin’s class, Cindy Crowell’s class, Florence Cutler’s class, Karon Fletcher’s class and Pam Barnes’ class all participated in the program.
Santa Visits Century Library Reading of “Polar Express”
December 13, 2007
Santa paid a surprise visit to the Century Branch Library Thursday afternoon to the delight of dozens of children on hand to hear a reading of The Polar Express.
In The Polar Express the main character, a young boy, is taken away on the Polar Express train to the North Pole on Christmas Eve. He receives a bell from a harness on one of Santa’s reindeer. The bell does not ring until he truly believes in Santa.
After reading the book, the children were shown a bell that did not ring. When they agreed that they truly believed in Santa, the bell rang. Then Santa appeared at the door.
Each child received a bell, a refreshment gift bag and a wrapped present. The presents turned out to be brand new books. The refreshment bags included hot cocoa mix…Thursday was National Cocoa Day.
The Century Branch Library will present the move The Polar Express at 1:00 Saturday afternoon at the library. The free event will include popcorn and drinks. For more information, contact the library at 256-6217 .
For a complete photo gallery from Santa’s visit to the Century Branch Library Thursday, click here.
Internal Audit Finds Volunteer Firefighters Overpaid $39,500
December 13, 2007
An internal audit of the county’s volunteer fire departments was accepted this morning at a special called meeting of the Escambia County Commission.
The audit find thats volunteer firefighters were overpaid $39,500 during the six months from October 2006 to February 2007, with one third of that money going to firefighters in North Escambia. An audit conducted by the volunteer fire departments found $24,575 in overpayments county-wide.
Assistant County Administrator Willie Taylor told the commission that the $14,925 difference between the county’s audit and the volunteer firefighters’ own audit was due to some documentation coming in late or not being accepted by the county’s auditors due to a lack of supporting documentation.
“The volunteer association has said that they accept, or that they acknowledge that $24, 575 is the ceiling,” Taylor said. “They owe that amount.”
“We all agree that there will be a further time that we can discuss this issue,” he said. “The purpose of filing today is just to say that the report has been done.”
The Century Volunteer Fire Department (Station 5) had the highest stipend overpayment in the report, with $7,925 in overpayments. The Molino Volunteer Fire Department (Station 18) overpaid its volunteers $3,275, according the report. Overpayments at the McDavid Volunteer Fire Department (Station 9) totaled $1,570, and overpayments at the Walnut Hill Volunteer Fire Department (Station 15) totaled $705, the report says.
An internal audit complete in June had found $52,045 in overpayments, but that figure was revised in this latest audit that was completed in September to the $39,500 adopted today by the commission.
The original audit was revised after submission of about 300 additional documents by all of the volunteer fire departments in the county.
“It has taken an unreasonable length of time, and at excess cost to the County, to perform and complete this audit. This underscores the importance of the finding included in our original report related to the fact that the Volunteer Fire Departments currently have inadequate or insufficient policies and procedures for documenting and retaining training and certification records on volunteer firefighters,” the report states.
The audit reports that better record keeping requirements be put into place, and the stipend payment scale be simplified.
The overpayments included all volunteer departments in the county, not just the departments in North Escambia mentioned in this article. Amounts ranged from the $7,925 at the Century Volunteer Fire Department to $10 at the Brent Volunteer Fire Department.
The original audit in June found the $7,925 in overpayments in Century, while the volunteer’s audit found $2,000 in excess payments.
The June audit found $5,135 in excess payments in Molino, with the volunteer’s audit finding $2,415. Tonight’s report indicates $3,275.
The June audit indicated McDavid overpaid its volunteers $2,615, and the volunteer audit said $1,195. The final audit says the amount is $1,570.
June’s audit found $3,055 in overpayments at Walnut Hill, and the volunteer’s report found $720. The June audit was drastically revised to $705 in the final report.
Fire Damages Mobile Home
December 12, 2007
A mobile home on Still Road suffered heavy smoke damage in a fire about 1:45 Wednesday afternoon.
Witnesses say at least one person and an infant were at home at the time of the fire,. They escaped from the small mobile home without injury. The home was located at 5970 Still Road in Gillmore’s Mobile Home Park.
Fire units from Walnut Hill, Century, Atmore, McDavid and Molino were called to the fire. The cause of the blaze is under investigation.
This fire will be at least the sixth red bulb in Escambia County’s “Keep the Wreath Green” program. In the program, a red bulb is lit at fire stations around the county each time there is a residential structure fire in the county during the holiday season.
Pictured above: A firefighter works inside the structure fire on Still Road Wednesday afternoon. Below: Pictures from the scene. Click the below pictures to enlarge.
Farm Service Agency Holds Elections
December 12, 2007
The Escambia County Farm Service Agency has announced results of its recent mail-in election, with James D. Cunningham re-elected as a county committee person. He will serve a three year term.
Dan Cain was elected as first alternative for the county committee. Bradley Seabrook was elected as second alternative for the county committee.
Escambia County is divided into three “Local Administrative Areas” or “LAA”. LAA 2 is located in the northeastern section of the county and includes Molino, Barrineau Park, and areas south. LAA 2 was the only district to have an office open in this year’s election.
Farmer committees are in charge of local administration of national farm programs. One committee member and at least one alternate are elected from one LAA each year. FSA County Committees make decisions on:
- Commodity price support loans and payments.
- Establishment of allotments, yields, and marketing quotas.Farmer loans.
- Conservation programs.
- Eligibility requirements.
- Incentive, indemnity, and disaster payment for some commodities.
- Other farm disaster assistance.
The FSA Office is located in the Farm Bureau Building on Hwy. 97 East in Molino. For more information, the FSA can be contacted at 587-5345.
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.
Carver Century Accepting Pageant Applications
December 12, 2007
Carver Century is accepting applications until the end of the school day Friday for a pageant to be held in January. The pageant is for girls in grades pre-K through eighth grade at Carver Century. Applications can be submitted to the school office or any middle school teacher. There is a $10 registration fee. For more information, contact Charlyn Madison at 256-6380.
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.
