Florida’s Attorney General Investigating Gas Price Gouging
September 21, 2008
Florida’s attorney general, Bill McCollum, and his office are continuing to investigate complaints of gasoline price gouging in Florida. The following is McCollum’s weekly newsletter.
by Attorney General Bill McCollum
Throughout the state this week, Floridians have been facing higher gasoline prices at the pumps as Hurricane Ike slammed into the Texas coastline. To date, my price gouging hotline has received more than 7,000 calls and emails about the prices, and we have referred more than 2,600 complaints to my investigators to review for possible price gouging.
According to Florida law, price gouging on essential commodities, including gasoline, is prohibited during a declared state of emergency. Price gouging is an unjustified increase in the price of a commodity compared to the average price for the 30 days prior to the declaration of a state of emergency. The statute does permit businesses to pass along cost increases to consumers if those increases can be justified due to higher purchase prices, etc.
With that in mind, my office has issued four subpoenas to the corporate offices of Flying J, Dodge’s Gas Stores, Valero and Pilot Travel Centers. We have requested documentation from the companies detailing the purchase prices the companies paid for gasoline sold at their Florida retail stores because we want to determine whether these increased prices are justifiable by the companies. As Florida’s Attorney General, I will simply not tolerate gouging our consumers out of sheer greed.
My office continues to work closely with the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services as we strive to protect Floridians from price gouging. Reports of price gouging should be reported to my fraud hotline, 1-866-966-7226.
Authorities Searching For Two Escaped Prison Inmates
September 21, 2008
The search is one for two inmates that escaped from a work detail in Atmore.
Authorities across the area are on the lookout for Charles Bales and John Rice. The pair escaped from a work detail in Atmore.
Rice was serving a life sentence for a 1997 Baldwin County burglary. Bales was serving a 10 year sentence in connection with a 2002 robbery. Bales could have been eligible for parole as early as June of 2010.
If you know the whereabouts of either man, you are asked to call 911 or your local law enforcement agency.
Video: Northview Vs. Walton
September 20, 2008
NorthEscambia.com video from Friday night’s Northview High Chief versus Walton High game. Click to play
Chiefs Fall To Walton County, 36-13
September 20, 2008
A young Northview High School team lost 36-13 to Walton High Friday night in Bratt.
Walton blocked two different punts, and they returned both for touchdowns.
A 37-yard pass with 9:56 in the first quarter put the Braves on the board first. A good kick, and Walton led 7-0.
Walton scored another TD with an almost 70 yard run, and they had a good kick with 11:03 in the first to increase their lead to 14-0. With 4:14 in the quarter, Walton scored again to move ahead 23-0.
The Chiefs got their first points on the board with 2:24 to go in the half. A 37 yard pass and a one yard run by Jay Jackson made the score 23-7 going into the half.
Walton picked up another seven with 7:05 on the clock in the third to make the score 30-7. They added another half dozen with 5:21 to go in the ballgame, 36-7 Walton.
Chief Montayo Mitchell intercepted a Walton pass and had scored a touchdown on a 27 yard run with 4:03 in the ballgame for a final score of 36-13.
“All we can do is put this behind us and look forward to next week,” Northview Head Coach Cody Keene told the team after the game. “We are not going to point any fingers at anyone on this one. If we are going to point any fingers, we are going to point them at me.”
“We just made a lot of mistakes in the kicking game, and we just didn’t play very well,” he said. “We tackled real poorly.”
“They’ve got a good football team,” Keene said about Walton after the game. “We are real young, and we are going to keep working and try to improve this week and get ready for a district game.”
Northview’s first district game is next Friday night on the road at Holmes County.
For a complete NorthEscambia.com photo gallery with over 100 photos from the game, click here. The photos include the football players, cheerleaders and band.
Pictured above and below: Walton County downed Northview Friday night 36-13 in Bratt. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Leroy Bears Bite Flomaton, Other Area Scores
September 20, 2008
Flomaton star Tony Ellis was held to just 58 yards on 24 carries Friday night as the Leroy Bears beat the Flomaton Hurricanes 48-14.
Ellis came into the contest at Leroy averaging 212 yards per game. The top ranked Bears extended their regular season winning streak to 14 games.
A photo gallery from the Flomaton game will be posted Sunday morning here on NorthEscambia.com.
In other area action Friday night, Spanish Fort traveled to Atmore and beat Escambia County High School 28-13 on the Blue Devil’s home turf. T.R. Miller shutout Central-Hayneville 49-0. W.S. Neal fell to Thomasville in Brewton, 23-14.
On the Florida side of the line, Gulf Breeze beat Tate 31-24.
Unemployment In Escambia, State Increases
September 20, 2008
Florida’s unemployment rate is the highest level it has been in more than 13 years, jumping to 6.5 percent.
That equates to 606,000 people out of work out of a labor force of 9,320,000.
In Escambia county, the umemployment rate for August was 6.1 percent, or 8,828 people out of 144,043 workers out of a job.
The unemployment rate is up 0.3 percentage point from the revised July rate of 6.2 percent and is up 2.3 percentage points from the August 2007 rate. Florida’s August 2008 unemployment rate is the highest since January 1995, which was also 6.5 percent. The state’s current unemployment rate is 0.4 percentage point higher than the national unemployment rate of 6.1 percent.
Florida’s annual nonagricultural employment growth rate for August 2008 is -1.2 percent. The rate represents a loss of 99,100 jobs from August 2007, to reach a total employment level of 7,924,400. This is slower than the national rate for August which is -0.2 percent. The August 2008 job growth rate continues the trend of negative over-the-year growth that began in September 2007, primarily due to declines in construction.
Fire Destroys Home Near Pollard; Several Dogs Die In Blaze
September 20, 2008
Fire destroyed a home near Pollard, Alabama, Friday afternoon, killing several dogs.
Fire departments from North Escambia and Escambia County, Alabama, responded to the blaze on Old Highway 31 just west of Pollard. It was reported than an elderly woman might be inside the fully involved structure, but she was not. There were no injuries in the blaze.
Flomaton Police Chief Mike Lambeth, one of the first on the scene, reported that the structure was fully involve before the first fire units arrived on scene.
There were several dogs inside the home at the time of the blaze; some escaped, it is believed that four dogs may have died in the fire.
The Flomaton Volunteer Fire Department, Lambeth Volunteer Fire Department, Friendship Volunteer Fire Department, the Century Volunteer Fire Department, Flomaton Police Department and Escambia County EMS all responded to the call.
The American Red Cross was called into to help the family that lived in the home. They did not have insurance.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
Pictured above and below: Fire destroyed a home near Pollard, Alabama, Friday afternoon. Alisa Hart photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Youth Awakening Held At Christian Home Freewill Baptist
September 20, 2008
Saturday night was the final night of Youth Awakening 2008 at Christian Home Freewill Baptist Church.
The youth pastor on the final night of the three night event was Bro. Eric Bryan from the Bagdad Assembly of God.
“Allowing God to awaken this generation,” was the event’s theme. .
Christian Home Freewill Baptist Church is in the Christian Home community on North Pine Barren Road.
Pictured above and below: Photos from Youth Awakening 2008 Friday night at Christian Home Freewill Baptist Church. Submitted photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Thanking Robert Stewart For Her Life
September 19, 2008
Valerie (Baker) Brock knows that she owes her life to Chief Robert Stewart, the Walnut Hill Volunteer Fire Department and the rest of the emergency workers that worked to remove her from a wrecked car that was literally cut in half.
It’s the call that Stewart said was the most memorable of his 30 year career as a volunteer fireman, because of its severity and because the victim returned to say “thank you”.
Valerie was just 16 on March 9, 2001. She was at the wheel of a friends car, the friend in the passenger seat, as she drove on Highway 99 in Bratt near Oakshade Road. She lost control of the car and hit a tree. The force of the impact was so severe that the car was sliced into two pieces and Valerie’s seatbelt broke, sending her in the dash. The friend was not seriously injured.
“She ran off the road when she went to pass a truck,” Judy Baker, her mother, said. “She hit some potholes. The car flipped three or four times before hitting the tree, splitting in half and landing upside down.”
When Stewart arrived on the scene, which was just a short distance from his home, he found Valerie severely injured. Her leg was partial severed, a major artery cut. A lung was collapsed, and she had a tear in her spleen. She was at death’s door.
“She was talking to the firemen,” her older sister, Somer (Baker) Bridges, said. “She could even tell them her phone number.”
“When I got the call, we went there,” Judy Baker said. “Sam Stewart (Robert’s son) and the other volunteer firemen were already there. Randy (Valerie’s dad) and I were both in shock.”
“Robert came over to us,” she said. “He kept us calm. If he had not been there, I don’t know what we would have done. He worked so hard.”
Valerie “coded” — went into cardiac arrest — twice on LifeFlight on the way to Pensacola.
The road to recovery was a long one for Valerie. Doctors tried to save her leg, but in the end it was amputated.
During her long ordeal in the hospital, Robert Stewart and his wife Diann visited Valerie in the hospital.
“He’s not just a good person, but he’s a hero,” Judy Baker said, “because he put himself out there to help others like Valerie. He came to the hospital to check on her. It meant a lot to me; he and the others saved her life.”
“If it were not for the firemen making the decisions that they did to put her on LifeFlight, she would not have survived,” Bridges said. “They saved her life, and they cared enough to come back.”
“I don’t remember anything right after the wreck,” Valerie said. “I remember being in the hospital, and I remember him (Robert) coming to check on me. It is rare to find people like that who care enough to check on you.
“Because of them, I was able to live. They saved my life. I think of them as heroes.
“I don’t have words to say how much it means to me. I just want to thank them for saving my life,” Valerie said. Valerie was recently married to Nathan Brock (pictured left), a marriage she owes to her survival, Robert Stewart and the Walnut Hill VFD.
“Robert is a special person,” Judy Baker said. “He was a good fireman. But more important, he is a good man.”
Chief Robert Stewart has retired after 30 years as a volunteer fireman.
Pictured top: The front half of the car Valerie Baker was driving when she nearly lost her life in March, 2001. Pictured below: The back half of the car. Pictured bottom: More photos of the car in a junkyard. Courtesy photos.
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Retiring Fire Chief Robert Stewart Honored By Escambia Commission
September 19, 2008
The Escambia County Commission issued a proclamation Thursday night honoring Chief Robert Stewart on his retirement from the Walnut Hill Volunteer Fire Department.
“He has definitely been an asset to the Walnut Hill Community,” Commissioner Kevin White said. “He’s done a great job.”
“Escambia County and its citizens are extremely fortunate to have someone of Chief Stewart’s character and fortitude, volunteering his services to make this community a better place in which to live,” White read from the proclamation. “The Board of County Commissioners of Escambia County, Florida, on behalf of the citizens of Escambia County, commends and congratulates Chief Robert Stewart on this retirement from the Walnut Hill Volunteer Fire Department.”
Stewart received a standing ovation when he was presented a framed copy of the proclamation.
Stewart was a member of the Bratt Volunteer Fire Department from 1967 to 1977 and joined the Walnut Hill Volunteer Fire Department in 1988. He became chief of the Walnut Hill Volunteer Fire Department in 1988 and served in that position for 20 years before retiring recently.