Community To Rally Tonight In Support Of School
July 24, 2008
Century area residents will once again come together for a community meeting in support of Carver/Century K-8 School.
The meeting will be held at 6:30 tonight in the school cafeteria, and the public is invited to attend.
About 70 people attended the last Carver/Century community meeting back on June 10. At that time, Escambia School Superintendent Jim Paul was expected to recommend closing the school to save the district $680,000a year. In June, it looked like that closure could come as early as this school year. But Paul later said he would recommend closure of the school for the 2009-2010 school year at the school board’s July meeting, and that did not happen.
But Associate Superintendent Ronnie Arnold told NorthEscambia.com that Paul is now expected to recommend closure to the school board at their August 19 meeting. If that recommendation is approved, this school year would be the last for Carver/Century.
Many in Century hoped that the school would remain open after the Blackcat’s Florida Department of Education school grade improved from an “F” to a “B”.
But that will have no impact on Paul’s decision, according to Arnold.
“He (Paul) was very happy for the Carver/Century community for the ‘B’ the school received,” Arnold said of Carver/Century’s school grade. “The grade itself does not have a bearing on any potential closure recommendation.”
Arnold pointed out that Paul recommended the closure of Pensacola Beach Elementary School in 2001 despite of the school’s grade. In the 1999-2000 school year, Pensacola Beach Elementary was ranked as an “A” school with 100 percent of students scoring at grade level or above on both the reading and math FCAT. In Pensacola Beach Elementary’s last year, 2000-2001, the school had slipped from an “A” to a “B” rating.
“He recommended the closure of Pensacola Beach Elementary in 2001 for many of the same reasons he would recommend the closure of Carver,” Arnold said of Paul’s recommendation. “Simply stated, it’s the cost-per-student to operate schools of such small population.”
Pictured above: The last community meeting held at Carver/Century K-8 School on June 10. NorthEscambia.com file photo, click to enlarge.
About 1,000 Pot Plants Found Wednesday PM Near Jay
July 24, 2008
The Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Department worked into the night Wednesday night to destroy about 1,000 marijuana plants found near Jay.
The plants were located in the Brownsdale community southwest of Jay near Bud Diamond Road.
It was not immediately known if this major drug find was related to the arrest of a Jay man earlier this week for the cultivation of about 85 marijuana plants. Tharon “Buckshot” Godwin, 66, was charged with possession of marijuana with intent to sell, manufacture or deliver, a third degree felony in connection with 85 pot plants located in a wooded area on Bud Diamond Road near Chumuckla Highway, very near Wednesday night’s find. To read the story about Godwin and the 85 marijuana plants, click here.
Habitat Plans To Build Homes In Molino; Families Are Needed To Move In
July 24, 2008
Pensacola Habitat for Humanity still has plans to build six houses in the Molino area next Spring, and now they are looking for deserving families ready to move into them.
Janet Westlake, Habitat’s volunteer in charge of church relations, told NorthEscambia.com that as long as a few corporate sponsors work out, Habitat plans to build the homes during the Spring Break 2009 period.
They will be built by college students in the Pensacola area for spring break. They will work on the houses in the mornings and enjoy the area beaches and attractions in the later afternoons and evenings.
The first house, the “Methodist House”, will be a joint project of Aldersgate, Cottage Hill, Allen Memorial, Lathram Chapel, McDavid and Farm Hill United Methodist churches.
A Habitat home is not a free handout; home recipients must have the ability to repay a small mortgage payment each month. That money goes into the program to build future Habitat homes.
Qualification is based upon three primary criteria: the ability to pay the mortgage, the need for adequate housing and the willingness to partner with “sweat equity” of 300 hours of volunteer time in the construction of their own home or in community service with another community organization. Income guidelines are in the table to the left.
For more information on Pensacola Habitat for Humanity, visit www.pensacolahabitat.org or call 434-5456.
The homes will be located on donated lots on Schaag Road off County Road 95A in Molino.
Pensacola Habitat for Humanity is a non-profit Christian ministry whose purpose is to build homes and improve communities in partnership with low and very low income families in Escambia and Santa Rosa Counties.
Lightning Sparks Davisville House Fire, Minor Damage
July 24, 2008
Lightning was blamed for a fire that damaged a home in Davisville Wednesday afternoon.
The fire was reported about 2:30 at a home in the 9700 block of Highway 97 behind the Davisville Community Church. At the time, a line of storms was moving through the North Escambia area.
Someone at the home had extinguished the exterior fire with a garden hose by the time the first firefighters arrived on scene. There were no injuries reported.
The Walnut Hill Volunteer Fire Department, Century Volunteer Fire Department and Molino Volunteer Fire Department responded to the scene.
Pictured above: Fire sparked by lightning damaged the exterior of the home. Pictured below: Fire damaged the outside of this home behind the Davisville Community Church. Pictured bottom: A firefighter removes a ladder from a truck in preparation to check to the attic of the home. NorthEscambia.com exclusive photos, click to enlarge.
Some Area Workers Received A Pay Raise
July 24, 2008
Some of the lowest paid workers in our area got a little raise Thursday.
Many workers in Alabama will got a raise Thursday as the federal hourly minimum wage went from $5.85 to $6.55 per hour. However, the change won’t put more in the pockets of minimum wage workers in Florida.
Florida’s minimum wage is already higher than the federal minimum. Florida’s mininum wage is $6.79 per hour. Florida voters approved a minimum wage admendment in 2004 that requires an annual increase on January 1 to adjust for the annual rate of inflation.
Next year, the federal minimum wage will increase to $7.25 an hour.
Tate Road Closed Until This Afternoon
July 24, 2008
Tate Road will be closed from North Tate School Road to Swift Creek Drive until about 4:00 this afternoon
Students and faculty attending events at Tate High School will need to use the entrances from Highway 29 on Tate School Road or North Tate School Road, according to Sonya Daniel, Escambia County’s public information director.
The road was closed early yesterday for asphalt repairs.
Jay Man Busted For Growing Pot In The Woods
July 23, 2008
A Jay man was arrested for growing marijuana after deputies found him leaving a wooded area in the Brownsdale community southwest of Jay with the tools of the trade in his possession.
Tharon “Buckshot” Godwin, 66, was was charged with possession of marijuana with intent to sell, manufacture or deliver, a third degree felony.
Santa Rosa deputies were dispatched to a wooded area off a Bud Diamond Road off Chumuckla Highway near Jay after a suspicious vehicle was reported in the area. When they arrived, they found Godwin walking from the woods. The area was private property, and he did not have permission to be there. He was observed to be carrying water bottles and pruning shears, which is commonly encountered with individuals who grow marijuana, according to the Santa Rosa Sheriff’s office.
Deputies called K-9 officers from the Century Correctional Institute. Tracking dogs were able to follow Godwin’s scent back into the woods and to 85 marijuana plants, which had all been well maintained and pruned in order to yield a higher quality of marijuana, according to the sheriff’s department report.
A search of Godwin’s truck revealed more water containers, fertilizers, cultivation tools, packaging and collection materials commonly used in the production of marijuana, and human hair clippings, according to the sheriff’s report. Hair clippings are commonly used to repel deer from marijuana and other crops.
Based on all of the facts and circumstances that were observed, Godwin was arrested for Cultivation of Marijuana and transported to the Santa Rosa County Jail. Godwin’s truck was also seized by deputies, according to Sgt. Scott Haines from the Santa Rosa Sheriff’ Department.
Haines said all of the plants were cut and destroyed. Godwin has been released from the Santa Rosa County Jail on a $7,500 bond.
Pictured above: Santa Rosa County deputies cut marijuana plants found in a wood area by dogs from the Century Correctional Institute. Pictured below: Some of the 85 marijuana plants found southeast of Jay prior to them being cut and destroyed.
If You Can Read This Headline, You Should Read This Story
July 23, 2008
Why should you read this story? Because about one in five people in North Escambia are unable to read and comprehend this story, or a story they might try to read in a printed newspaper. And those people need your help.
But Learn to Read of Northwest Florida is working to change that. Right now, there are four people in the North Escambia area that are ready to learn to read, but there are no tutors to teach them.
Learn to Read executives and volunteers meet with community leaders Tuesday in Century to ask for…almost beg for…help in finding tutors.
During the year that Learn to Read has operated a Century office, only six tutors have volunteered. That’s a number that Learn to Read leaders are not happy with.
“We are committed to the program and to making it work,” Tom Allen (pictured left), president of Learn to Read, said. “We desperately, desperately need volunteers, especially volunteers that are willing to tutor.”
Allen cited statistics that about one in five Escambia residents are either unable to read at all, or they read at a low, non-functioning level.
“These people can’t function in society,” he said.
Learn to Read volunteer tutors typically meet with their students one on one for about an hour and a half two times per week, according to tutor trainer Georgia Brazzell. Complete training and materials are provided at no charge.
Edna Earle Barnes (pictured left), the Century coordinator for Learn to Read, said she would like to have found more than six tutors out of two workshops held in Century. “But it is six more than we had when we started,” she said.
Volunteer tutors must be 18 years old and have a high school diploma. A degree or teaching experience is not needed.
An orientation session for potential tutors will be held on Thursday, August 14 from 10:00 until 11:30 a.m. at the old Century hospital. The next tutoring workshop in Century will be held on Saturday, August 23. Registration is required. To register, call 256-0880 or 473-4347.
Tutors and students do not have to reside in Century or Escambia County, Florida. Everyone is welcome.
Where Are The Century Town Limits? The Town Does Not Know
July 22, 2008
Where exactly is the Town of Century? The town council has determined that it does not exactly know, and they may eventually turn to an engineering firm to find out.
The town limit discussion at Monday night’s meeting of the town council started over a trash can. The council voted to forgive a past due garbage bill for a resident on Pleasant Hill Road who has not had a can for years but has run up a $446 garbage bill. The council also voted to require the resident to pay a garbage bill from now forward.
“If we are going to exempt him from this point on,” Mayor Freddie McCall said, “are we going to be able to do this for the rest of the citizens?”
“If you are live in the city limits, you have to have garbage,” council member Nadine McCaw said. “The only thing to do is deliver him a can.”
“When did I get in the city limits?” the man asked. “I’ve been on that hill for 36 years.”
“Your dad voted for years,” McCall said of the father that had lived in the home. Only residents in the town limits can vote in Century elections.
Several residents said that the east side of Pleasant Hill Road is in the town and the west side is not. And that is exactly what several popular internet mapping services indicate, including Google Maps. But those maps are not legal.
When asked exactly where the town limits are, the mayor said the town really did not have an accurate map.
“I’ve got no earthly idea,” McCall said of exactly where the town limits lie.
The council voted 5-0 to have the mayor attempt to find an accurate survey or map depicting the town limits. If he is unable to locate one, the town may end up paying an engineering firm for a survey.
Pictured above: A 1990 map from Century’s Comprehensive Plan. NorthEscambia.com photo, click to enlarge.
A Rocky Road: Dump Truck Overturns, Blocks Hwy. 31 Near Flomaton
July 22, 2008
Morning traffic came to a standstill on Highway 31 east of Flomaton Tuesday after a dump truck full of small rocks overturned.
The accident happened a little after 7:00 at the intersection of Highway 31 and Fannie Road, about a mile and a half outside Flomaton. The driver of the truck and a passenger were injured and transported by ambulance to D.W. McMillan Hospital in Brewton. LifeFlight was originally called to the scene, but was unable to respond due to poor visibility.
Preliminary reports indicate that the truck overturned when the driver entered a curve too fast, causing the load to shift.
When the dump truck overturned, its load was spilled across Highway 31. The resulting pile of gravel took heavy equipment and about an hour to cleanup.
The Flomaton Fire Department, the Century Volunteer Fire Department, the Flomaton Police Department, the Escambia County (AL) Sheriff’s Department and others reponded to the accident.
The accident is under investigation by the Alabama State Troopers.
Photos and information by Alisa Hart for NorthEscambia.com