Lightning Sparks Water Works Electrical Fire
June 12, 2008
An apparent lighting strike sparked an electrical fire Wednesday afternoon at a well house belonging to the Walnut Hill Water Works. The fire, in the 8000 block of Highway 97 just north of Wiggins Lake Road, was reported just after 3:00 by a passerby.
The fire was confined to the power meter and electrical box on the outside of the building. The outside of the concrete block structure was blackened by the fire, but was otherwise undamaged.
The water system’s 699 customers are also served by a well at a water tower at Highway 97 and Arthur Brown Road, and by a well at a water tower in Enon. The temporary loss of the well at Highway 97 near Wiggins Lake Road is not expected to adversely affect the water system.
The Walnut Hill Volunteer Fire Department was able to quickly extinguish the small fire in the meter box using a fire extinguisher.
Pictured above: A small fire burns in the meter box at a Walnut Hill Water Works well house on Highway 97 just north of Wiggins Lake Road following an apparent lightning strike. Pictured below, top: A fireman uses a fire extinguisher to put out the small fire. Pictured below, middle: The outside of the building as the meter burns. Pictured bottom: The charred remains of the wiring inside the meter box. NorthEscambia.com exclusive photos, click to enlarge.
Have Something To Buy, Sell Or Trade? Try Our Free Classifieds
June 12, 2008
Don’t forget…NorthEscambia.com has added a classified ad page, and, best of all, personal ads are FREE!
Ads for individuals are free, up to 60 words. They must include a phone number or email address. Items for sale, items to give away, items wanted, pets, cars, trucks, real estate, you name it…you can list it for free on our classifieds page. Ads will run for 10 days, at which time they can be renewed…for FREE!
And for limited time, business ads on our classifieds page are also FREE! Business ads are free until June 16 and will run for one week. Limit two ads per business under the free offer. All ads are subject to approval. After June 16, business ads will be available on the NorthEscambia.com Classifieds for a small charge.
To visit the NorthEscambia.com Classifieds, click here.
Molino 16u Girls Lose To Myrtle Grove; NEP Wins Tournament
June 12, 2008
NEP swept the 16u Northwest Florida Girls Softball Alliance All Star Tournament by downing Myrtle Grove Wednesday night in Molino.
The Molino 16u girls played Wednesday night’s first game against Myrtle Grove, but fell short of the win. That put Myrtle Grove in the final game against NEP.
Molino beat Perdido Tuesday night to advance to Wednesday night’s game.Molino downed Bellview Monday night. They 16u girls beat Navarre 8-1 Sunday afternoon in the double elimination tournament. Their one loss was to NEP Saturday morning.
About 1,500 people were expected to attend the tournament that began Saturday at Don Sutton Park. More games are scheduled beginningat 6:00 Thursday evening, but all of the North Escambia teams are out.
Sunday was not as good for the Molino 12u and 10u teams. The 12u girls lost to Bellview Sunday afternoon, eliminating them from tournament play. They lost to Pace Saturday morning.
The Molino 10u girls lost to NEP Blue Sunday afternoon, also knocking them out of the tournament. The lost to Tiger Point Saturday afternoon.
For more on the tournament, including photo galleries from Saturday games, click here.
NorthEscambia.com photo.
Lightning Sparks Water Works Fire
June 11, 2008
An apparent lighting strike sparked an electrical fire Wednesday afternoon at a well house belonging to the Walnut Hill Water Works. The fire, in the 8000 block of Highway 97 just north of Wiggins Lake Road, was reported just after 3:00 by a passerby.
The fire was confined to the power meter and electrical boxes on the outside of the building.
NorthEscambia.com will have a complete story and more pictures posted on Thursday morning.
Latest FCAT Scores Released For North Escambia Schools
June 11, 2008
The latest round of FCAT scores were released Tuesday by the Florida Department of Education.
NorthEscambia.com has a complete look at the results from each school. Scroll down for charts with the results, and click the links below for a detailed look at each school.
- Bratt Elementary School
- Byrneville Elementary School
- Carver/Century Elementary
- Carver/Century Middle
- Ernest Ward Middle School
- Molino Park Elementary
- Northview High School
Community Rallies Behind Carver/Century In Effort To Keep School Open
June 11, 2008
About 70 Century residents rallied behind Carver/Century K-8 School at a public forum Tuesday night.
Escambia School Superintendent Jim Paul has discussed the possibility of closing the school to shave about $680,000 from the district’s budget, perhaps as early as this next school year.
But those that stood together in support of keeping their school open Tuesday night are hoping for at least one more year to continue to improve the failing school.
“We are going to go over the mountaintop with this thing,” Century Mayor Freddie McCall said of the community coming together to support the school. “All we need is another year from Mr. Paul.”
“No one in the history of the school district has ever written a position paper as to why their school should not be closed,” Rev. Irvin Stallworth, a member of the town’s blue ribbon committee to save the school, said. “But that is what we are going to do.”
He said that ideas collected by the committee at Tuesday night’s meeting will be considered when the blue ribbon committee meets over the weekend to draft a position paper in support of the school. That position paper is expected to be backed by the town council at their Monday night meeting, and then it will be presented to Paul.
“We are going to keep the school open, but we are going to make some changes,” Stallworth said. Those changes, he said, will include more community involvement in the school.
That was a common sentiment among those that spoke during the meeting in the Carver/Century cafeteria.
“I love this school,” former principal Mary Watson (pictured left) said. “This school has put out some really outstanding students.”
“Some of our problem is that the parents are not as involved as they should be,” she said. She said that when she was principal at the school, she tried providing rides, door prizes and refreshments to lure parents to meetings, but most would not attend.
“The problem here is directly related to race. There is a division there,” Watson said. “It’s not just here (at Carver/Century), it’s all over the United States.”
But the biggest problem at Carver/Century, Watson said, has been the mass exodus of student leaving the F-rated Carver/Century for higher rated schools. If all those students returned, she said the school would be “busting at the seams”.
“I see the community as angry; they are not happy,” Jessie McCants (pictured left) said. She said she hears a “loud cry” in the community about its discipline problems and cultural differences.
“You are part of the solution to this problem, and I ask you today to take a stand,” McCants told the crowd.
Sharon Scott, a town council member and member of the blue ribbon committee, asked current principal Jeff Garthwaite if the school had a PTA. He replied that it does not.
“That’s the first thing we need to hop on,” Scott said. “We need a PTA.” She also said the school needs some type of incentive for parents to bring their students back to Carver/Century from other schools in the area such as Bratt and Molino Park elementaries.
Annie Savage agreed that a PTA is needed at the school. She said she has served as PTA or PTO president at least eight times during the school’s history, and she would be willing to serve again even though she no longer has children in the school. “Once a parent, always a parent,” she said.
“This came about because somebody could not balance their budget. Closing a school to balance a budget is ludicrous. The picked us because they thing we are uneducated, poor and most are black,” resident Terri Sanders said.
“Until we can put aside prejudice, as long as we are divided,” she said, “they can conquer us.”
“I will stand with Century to keep the school open,” Myra Simmons, a candidate for school superintendent said. “I believe children should stay in their neighborhood, close to their families.”
“We have to have something in Century to make people want to live here,” said John Hartman, a candidate for the District 5 seat on the Escambia County Commission. “One of the core things you’ve got to have for economic development is a school.”
“Go home and talk to your neighbors and get them involved,” McCall said.
“For me it is irrelevant why they want to close it,” Stallworth said. “We are going to work to keep it open.”
Pictured above: The community gathered at Carver/Century K-8 School Tueday night to support keeping the school open. Pictured below: Carver/Century Principal Jeff Garthwaite addresses the crowd. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Molino VFD Responds To Two House Fires Tuesday Night
June 11, 2008
The Molino Volunteer Fire Department responded to two separate house fire calls Tuesday night.
The Molino, Cantonment and McDavid volunteer fire departments were called to a three story home n the 4400 block of Molino Meadows Road about 7:40. The first units arriving on the scene reported light smoke showing from the structure, but the fire was quickly reported to be out.
The Molino, McDavid and Walnut Hill volunteer fire departments were dispatched to the 6600 block of North Highway 95A near Bet Raines Road about 8:45. That call turned out to be a grease fire in the kitchen.
Some Carver/Century Middle FCAT Results Show Improvement
June 11, 2008
Carver/Century K-8 School’s middle school Reading and Science FCAT results were not the worst in the county, according to numbers released Tuesday by the Florida Department of Education.
At Carver/Century, 57 percent of the sixth graders taking the Reading FCAT scored a 3.0 or above, a level that is considered to be on grade level by the state. That compares to 26 percent of Carver/Century sixth graders last year.
“Our sixth graders had the highest increase in the county,” Principal Jeff Garthwaite said. “I am very proud of that.”
Of the Carver/Century seventh graders taking the Reading FCAT, 26 percent scored at grade level this year, compared to 22 percent last year.
Of the Carver/Century eighth graders taking the Reading FCAT, 18 percent scored at grade level this year, compared to 36 percent last year.
And on the Science FCAT, just 12 percent of the eighth grade students at Carver/Century Elementary scored a 3.0 or above. That is down from 29 percent last year.
Of the 23 sixth graders taking the Reading FCAT at Carver/Century, nine percent scored a 5.0 or greater, nine percent scored a 4.0, 39 percent scored a 3.0, 13 percent scored a 2.0 and 30 percent scored a 1.0.
Of the 34 seventh graders taking the Reading FCAT at Carver/Century, none scored a 4.0 or greater, 26 percent scored a 3.0, 59 percent scored a 2.0 and 15 percent scored a 1.0.
Of the 17 eighth graders taking the Reading FCAT at Carver/Century, none scored a 5.0 or greater, six percent scored a 4.0, 12 percent scored a 3.0, 18 percent scored a 2.0 and 65 percent scored a 1.0.
Of the 17 eighth graders taking the Science FCAT at Carver/Century, none scored greater than 4.0, 12 percent scored a 3.0, 35 percent scored a 2.0 and 15 percent scored a 1.0.
Carver/Century’s Elementary FCAT Results Low, But Show Large Improvement
June 11, 2008
Carver/Century K-8 School’s elementary Reading and Science FCAT results were not the worst in the county, according to numbers released Tuesday by the Florida Department of Education.
At Carver/Century Elementary, 35 percent of the fourth graders taking the Reading FCAT scored a 3.0 or above, a level that is considered to be on grade level by the state. That compares to 33 percent of Carver/Century fourth graders last year.
Of the Carver/Century fifth graders taking the Reading FCAT, 41 percent scored at grade level this year, compared to 29 percent last year.
“We improved more than any other school in fifth grade reading,” Principal Jeff Garthwaite said.
And on the Science FCAT, 22 percent of the fifth grade students at Carver/Century Elementary scored a 3.0 or above. That is up from 18 percent last year.
Of the 17 fourth graders taking the Reading FCAT at Carver/Century, none scored a 5.0 or greater, 12 percent scored a 4.0, 24 percent scored a 3.0, 12 percent scored a 2.0 and 53 percent scored a 1.0.
Of the 27 fifth graders taking the Reading FCAT at Carver/Century, four percent scored a 5.0 or greater, 15 percent scored a 4.0, 22 percent scored a 3.0, 11 percent scored a 2.0 and 48 percent scored a 1.0.
Of the 27 fifth graders taking the Science FCAT at Carver/Century, none scored a 5.0 or greater, four percent scored a 4.0, 19 percent scored a 3.0, 26 percent scored a 2.0 and 52 percent scored a 1.0.
Bratt Elementary FCAT Scores Some Of The County’s Best
June 11, 2008
Bratt Elementary School was among the county’s top elementary schools on the Science and Reading FCAT tests, according to numbers released Tuesday by the Florida Department of Education.
At Bratt Elementary, 84 percent of the fourth graders taking the Reading FCAT scored a 3.0 or above, a level that is considered to be on grade level by the state. That is compared to 89 percent of Bratt fourth graders last year.
Of the Bratt fifth graders taking the Reading FCAT, 78 percent scored at grade level this year, compared to 77 percent last year.
And on the Science FCAT, 60 percent of the fifth grade students at Bratt Elementary scored a 3.0 or above. That is up from 51 percent last year.
Of the 69 fourth graders taking the Reading FCAT at Bratt, 10 percent scored a 5.0 or greater, 42 percent scored a 4.0, 32 percent scored a 3.0, nine percent scored a 2.0 and seven percent scored a 1.0.
Of the 82 fifth graders taking the Reading FCAT at Bratt, 11 percent scored a 5.0 or greater, 22 percent scored a 4.0, 48 percent scored a 3.0, 13 percent scored a 2.0 and nine percent scored a 1.0.
Of the 82 fifth graders taking the Science FCAT at Bratt, two percent scored a 5.0 or greater, 11 percent scored a 4.0, 46 percent scored a 3.0, 30 percent scored a 2.0 and 10 percent scored a 1.0.