A Short History of Nearly Everything
June 18, 2008
The Pensacola Little Theatre presented “A Short History of Nearly Everything” Tuesday at the Century Branch Library.
In the play, characters Isaac Newton, Marie Curie, Albert Einstein and Charles Darwin presented a short history of (like the title says)…nearly everything.
The program was the second installement in the library’s summer reading program.
Next Tuesday at noon, magician Sammy Smith will amaze at the Century Branch Library’s Summer Reading Program. The program is free for children of all ages.
For more information on the Summer Reading Program at the Century Branch Library, call 256-6217.
For more photos from the event, click here.
Pictured above: Characters Isaac Newton, Marie Curie and Charles Darwin from “A Short History of Nearly Everything” at the Century Branch Library. Pictured below: Children enjoy the program. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Molino Highway 29 Crash Seriously Injures One
June 17, 2008
One person was seriously injured in a two vehicle accident Tuesday morning in Molino.
The accident happened about 6:30 at the intersection of Highway 29 and Barrineau Park Road. The Florida Highway Patrol says the driver of a white Nissan car pulled into the path of a southbound Dodge pickup truck. The driver of the white car, a 17 year old female, was trapped in her car until being freed by firemen. She was taken by LifeFlight to Sacred Heart Hospital in Pensacola.
The driver of the pickup truck was not seriously injured.
No further information was immediately available from the FHP. The accident remains under investigation.
The Molino Volunteer Fire Department and the Cantonment Volunteer Fire Department both responded to the scene.
Pictured above: The driver of this vehicle was take by LifeFlight to Sacred Heart Hospital following an accident in Molino Tuesday morning. Pictured below: The pickup truck that struck the white car. Pictured below, middle: Troopers investigate the crash. Pictured bottom: Northbound traffic was backed up several miles. NorthEscambia.com exclusive photos, click to enlarge.
Upcoming School Time Changes Will Not Apply In North Escambia
June 17, 2008
New money saving school start and dismissal times in the works for the next school year will not apply to North Escambia schools.
Shawn Dennis, assistant superintendent for operations, presented the new start times at a school board workshop Monday, but said the changes would not apply to Bratt Elementary, Carver/Century K-8 School, Molino Park Elementary, Ernest Ward Middle or Northview High School.
For the rest of the county:
- Elementary schools would start at 7:30 a.m. and end at 2:00 p.m.
- High schools would start at 8:30 a.m. and end at 3:35 p.m.
- Middle schools would start at 9:30 a.m. and end at 4:35 p.m.
But there could be some minor time changes for North Escambia students, Associate Superintendent Ronnie Arnold told NorthEscambia.com. The district is proposing adding an additional 30 minutes per day to the elementary schedule. Northview High students could see a minor time change next year as well, as one period is dropped from the daily schedule. Updates to North Escambia school start times will be posted here on NorthEscambia.com.
The start time changes are forecast to save the district an estimated $1.2 million per year by allowing a more efficient use of school buses.
Carver/Century Won’t Close This Year; Paul To Recommend Closure For 2009-2010 School Year
June 17, 2008
NorthEscambia.com has learned that Paul will recommend the closure of the school at the June 26 special budget meeting of the school board.
Carver/Century K-8 School will not close for the next school year.
Superintendent Jim Paul did not recommend the closure of Century’s only school at Monday’s school board workshop, and it is not on the agenda for this afternoon’s school board meeting.
As NorthEscambia.com first reported early Monday afternoon, the school will remain open for the 2008-2009 school year. But Paul will recommend the closure of the school for the 2009-2010 school year in just a few days.
“It was not on the agenda, and it was not discussed,” Associate Superintendent for Public and Interagency Affairs Ronnie Arnold said of Monday night’s meeting.
“But he (Paul) is expected to bring a recommendation that the school be closed for the 2009-2010 school year at the board’s meeting in July,” Arnold told NorthEscambia.com Monday night after the board’s four and a half our workshop wrapped up.
Closing the school for this school year was not logistically feasible, Arnold said. “He (Paul) did not feel it could be closed in the right way in that time frame.”
Laura Nelson, a member of the town’s Blue Ribbon Committee to save the school, told NorthEscambia.com “I give the Lord the Praise!”
Nelson organized a community prayer service in early May to pray to keep the school open.
“We never felt like the school should close because it was not best for the children. I also would like to thank Mr. Jim Paul for taking time to hear from us and consider what we had to say,” she said.
To read Principal Jeff Garthwaite’s reaction, click here.
This afternoon’s meeting of the Escambia County School Baord will take place at 5:30 in Room 160 of the J.E. Hall Center at 30 East Texar Drive in Pensacola. Meetings are open to the public. At Monday night’s meeting of the Century Town Council, council member Sharon Scott and Mayor Freddie McCall still encouraged Century residents to attend today’s school board meeting to support the school.
Principal Relieved Carver/Century To Remain Open; Ready To Work
June 17, 2008
Carver/Century K-8 School Principal Jeff Garthwaite said he was relieved to get a phone call Monday letting him know that Superintendent Jim Paul did not plan to recommend closing the school before the upcoming school year.
“We got the news we needed to get,” Garthwaite said. “We can now move forward with our plans for the next school year. There were a lot of logistical, operational and planning things that just would not let them close the school this year.”
Garthwaite told NorthEscambia.com that he has no plans to step down as the school’s principal; he said will remain there for the school and students.
“My plan is to be here and continue to make this the best learning institution that it can be,” he said.
Century Town Council Talks Sewage
June 17, 2008
The Century Town Council once again talked sewage for a great deal of their Monday night meeting. And Leola Robinson was there to talk back.
When Robinson placed a mobile home on property she owns in the 7500 block of Williams Street, she did not connect the trailer to the town’s sewer system. The town billed her each month for the minimum sewage usage charge, and that bill reach about $3,000 by the time the issue came before the town council about a month ago. The town discovered that due to time limitations, they could only bill her for $624 in service and reduced the bill.
But Robinson once again defiantly told the council that she is not going to pay up.
“I will not pay a penny for something they did not make available to me,” Robinson told the council Monday night. “They did not make it available to me.”
“As long as the sewer is not available to me, I won’t pay a penny,” she reiterated.
Council President Ann Brooks read two town ordinances at the council’s June 2 meeting that indicated that every property owner in the town must connect any structure to the town’s sewer service within three months. If not, the ordinances say the town can charge the property owner a minimum monthly fee and enter the person’s property to connect the service. The ordinances also prohibit septic tanks in the town unless approved by the health department and the council.
“That was not true,” Robinson said of the media’s reporting on the ordinances. “I have not violated no ordinances.”
“They have not made it available to the black people on the west side,” Robinson said of sewer taps. She said taps were installed when the sewer system was installed for people on Highway 29, but not on West Highway 4. “We are people just like they are,” she said.
“I’m not going to argue if it is accessible or not,” Century Mayor Freddie McCall said. He said the town was in the process of installing a tap near Robinson’s mobile home. He said that Bellsouth was to have located telephone lines by midnight Monday so that the town could being installing a line on Tuesday.
In other sewer related business, the town council voted to raise the sewer reconnect fee from $30 to $250 at Monday night’s meeting.
McCall said it takes several men with a backhoe most of the day to dig six to eight feet down to install a shutoff valve on customer sewer lines that are to be disconnected. He asked that the reconnect fee be raised to compensate the town for that considerable expense.
“It’s something to deter it from happening,” McCall said of past due sewer bills. “We have people that pay the $30 every month.”
He said a letter was going to all sewer customers with seriously delinquent bills asking for payment.
The first paragraph, he said “is begging the people to come in an talk with me”. The second paragraph outlines the town’s legal right to collect the bills, and the third paragraph once again says “please come in and let’s get this worked out”.
When council member Gary Riley asked if the town’s citizens would be informed of the increased fee, McCall said that they would be informed through NorthEscambia.com and The Tri-City Ledger.
The council also discussed water service on Backwoods Road again. The area is served by an inadequate two inch line that runs under the middle of the road. The town has attempted, and the county has attempted, to obtain right of way easements for the county road that is inside the town limits. That has yet to happen, so they may be forced to run the new water lines down the middle of Backwoods Road. That, the mayor says, will lead to future problems if the lines must be dug up for repairs.
Council member Sharon Scott said that many of the property owners that live out of town will be home for the Fourth of July holiday, and she volunteered to help contact them.
The mayor will also investigate hiring a title company to track down property owners.
In other business Monday night:
- McCall reported that Helicopter Technologies is “paid up” to date.
- The council amended the budget to reflect a half million dollar grant for sewage lift station generators.
- McCall announced a special called meeting at noon Wednesday with the town attorney.
- The mayor announced that flag poles had been installed at the town’s Wall of Honor. The wall will be dedicated at 10:00 a.m. on July 4.
Two Nights Of Record Low Temps Could Be On The Way
June 17, 2008
You may be able to cut off your air conditioner Wednesday and Thursday nights, says the National Weather Service. After the passage of two cold fronts, overnight lows both Wednesday and Thursday are expected to be around 61 degrees across the North Escambia area.
For today, there is a 30 percent chance of rain with a high of 92. Tonight, there is a 40 percent chance of rain with a low of 68. Wednesday, there is a slight 20 percent chance of rain before winds turn to the north with a high of 88.
Firefighters Respond To Wheat Field Fire Monday Night Near Bratt
June 17, 2008
The Walnut Hill Volunteer Fire Department responded to a brush fire call on Rigby Road at Still Road near Bratt about 9:30 Monday night.
When they arrived, they found a wheat field being burned by a farmer. The approximately 10 acre fire could been seen from four to five miles away, appearing as a huge glowing area in the sky from that distance.
The fire had almost burned itself out by the time firefighters arrived. The farmer had plowed a line around the previously harvested field to prevent the fire from spreading.
Pictured above: Firefighters on the scene of a wheat field Monday night near Bratt. A residence that was not threatened by the fire can be seen. Pictured below: A fire whirl, also known as a fire tornado or fire devil, begins to form in the field. Note the spinning embers rising several feet into the air over the flames. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Carver/Century Not To Close This Year
June 16, 2008
NorthEscambia.com has learned that Carver/Century K-8 School will not be closing this year. It will remain open for the 2008-2009 school year.
Superintendent Jim Paul will not formally recommend that school be closed at tomorrow’s meeting of the Escambia County School Board, according to our sources. He was expected to bring the closure up at this afternoon’s workshop meeting of the board later this afternoon, but not recommend the closure. At 8:30 Monday night, that meeting was still ongoing.
We will have more information posted here on NorthEscambia.com as it becomes available this afternoon, and complete coverage Tuesday morning.
One Room Log Walnut Hill School House Wins Major Historic Preservation Award
June 16, 2008
The Florida Trust for Historic Preservation recently honored the restoration project of the old Walnut Hill School House.
During the Trust’s 2008 Preservation Awards ceremony, the Walnut Hill School House project was awarded Outstanding Achievement in the Restoration/Rehabilitation Awards category. The award was accepted by Escambia County and the Walnut Hill Ruritan Club.
The log school, believed to have been built sometime around or just before 1880, was flattened by Hurricane Ivan in 2004. It was restored under the leadership of Quina Grundhoefer Architects in Pensacola with funding from FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The restoration used mostly the original logs, reassembling them like a giant jigsaw puzzle.
Each year, the Florida Trust for Historic Preservation recognizes significant contributions to the preservation of Florida’s historic resources through the annual Preservation Awards.
According to information posted inside the one room schoolhouse, the exact construction date of the building is unknown because school district records prior to 1880 could not be located. Financial records for the Escambia County School District indicate that William “Uncle Bud” Williams received $40 in April 1880 for “building a new school” and the school received a new heater at the cost of $10 in 1881.
A small shed had been constructed along the railroad about 10 miles north in Alabama several years prior for Williams. The settlement was named Williams Station in honor of Williams in 1866. That community was later renamed Atmore.
The school was originally located near the corner of the present day intersection of Arthur Brown Road and Highway 97. It was moved to its current location on Highway 97 after the construction of the Walnut Hill Community Center, also known as the Walnut Hill Ruritan Building, in the late 1990’s.
When the building was restored, a wheelchair ramp was added in accordance with law. A glassed in area just inside the door will allow visiting school children to view the interior of the building.
The Ruritan Club has placed a period wood burning heater in the building and a single student desk. The club plans to fully restore the interior of the building as a history museum, complete with a teacher’s desk and students desks. There is currently one student desk in the building. The Ruritan Club is in search of more desks like the one pictured at the bottom of the page to complete their collection. If you know where to locate desks like these, email us here at news@northescambia.com and we will put you in touch with the right people.
Pictured above: The exterior of the restored Walnut Hill School House. Pictured below: The interior of the log school house and a period desk. NorthEscambia.com exclusive photos, click to enlarge.
