Blog: 2009 Predictions; 2008 Reflections

January 1, 2009

Out with the old; in with the new. Black eyed peas and football. Resolutions, weight loss plans and diets. Can’t figure out the date to write on checks. Must be the New Year.

We have worked a bit on a set of predictions for 2009. Those are a little later in this post. But first, we want to look back at 2008 and take a look at some predictions we made a year ago today.

On New Year’s Day 2008 we thanked you for making NorthEscambia.com a success. We were proud that during the two months we were online in 2007, we posted 200 stories, 800 pictures and had over half million page views in two months.

We are humbled to look back at 2008 and tell you that we posted about 2,500 stories and over 10,000 pictures from North Escambia. We now average over 2 million page views per month. During 2007, we served over 20 million pages. While we spend our days crafting the words to tell you the stories we report, words can’t begin to describe our gratitude to you for welcoming NorthEscambia.com into your life and making it the number one source for local news in the area. Thank you.

Now, looking backing out the predictions we made a year ago for 2008:

  • We predicted a lot of bickering among the Escambia commission. King Mike Whitehead resigned as chair of the commission before the other commissioners gave him the boot. Whitehead got the boot from the commission, as voters voted him right out of office.
  • We predicted “the county commission just might notice that “north Escambia” extends beyond 10 Mile Road”. Now they know. They read and they learn from NorthEscambia.com.  Commissioners have been seen at events in North Escambia. A former District 5 commissioner, Wilson Robertson, now holds Mike Whiteheads seat. Some of them have been up here enough they don’t even need their GPS.
  • “Things will get hot concerning volunteer firefighters in the county. There are those that are pushing for end of our volunteer departments. The McDavid, Century, Molino and Walnut Hill volunteer fire departments are a vital part of our communities. We, as the communities of North Escambia, will not stand by and let them be closed, or our volunteers replaced with a few paid firefighters,” we wrote on January 1, 2008. We wrote several editorials and offered a lot of coverage on the issue. In the end, North Escambia was not forgotten, nor were the volunteers.
  • “We’ll see an expansion of leisure services in North Escambia. Perhaps a new park will be announced, and the county will move forward on the conversion of the old Molino  Elementary into a community center,” we predicted a year ago. A new park was announced in Bratt, and the county has named the Molino community center a top priority. That one is just waiting on the dollars to make it a reality.
  • “The Escambia County School Board will feel the budget crunch. The district will consider closing at least one North Escambia School,” we predicted. The budget crunch is on, the the board pretty much had key in hand ready to lock the doors at Carver/Century K-8.

Now for 2009 predictions:

  • We predict that our predictions are going to be harder this year. We are living in uncertain times. Recession. Budget crunches. Layoffs. Bailouts. Closures. They are words that we have not used in a long time in our country, and those words are filtering down to North Escambia. It’s going to be a rough ride, but we are a tough people. We will prevail.
  • We predict that the opening of the Wind Creek Casino in Atmore will impact North Escambia. But we may not like what we get. Increased traffic. More accidents. Crime will increase. Casinos are not just the glitz and glamour we see in Wind Creek’s advertising. If a casino’s payout is 10 percent, that means 90 percent of the money that heads up Highway 21 will be lost. Divorce lawyers and bankruptcy lawyers are going to love that place. Times are tough. People can’t afford to be losing money at a casino. “Hellhole” is the word Dr. Ted Traylor, the pastor of Olive Baptist used to describe Wind Creek.  All that glitters is not gold.
  • We predict that you will not see an advertisement for the casino on NorthEscambia.com. We will refuse them. Their ads are everywhere you look or listen. But not on our site. If you choose to head to the casino, that’s your business and we won’t be judging you. But we know enough about elementary school math to know it’s just a bad idea, and we are not going to promote something where 90 percent lose. It’s bad math.
  • We predict that county leaders will continue to remember that North Escambia exists. We will not let them forget, nor will we be second rate cousins to the rest of the county.
  • We predict that major changes in North Escambia schools are not over. We will continue to hear talk of closing Carver/Century K-8 School. But if it closes, don’t expect the building to be empty. Don’t be surprised to see the school district offer the charter on the school to the current Byrneville Elementary. Dee Wolfe-Sullivan and the other folks at Byrneville have done some amazing things.
  • LHS EV…the electric car company planned for Century with hundreds of jobs. It’s not the great picture that has been painted. This one is going to be a stinker.
  • The budget crunch is not over. From county government, to businesses to our dining room tables.
  • There will be two named hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico and they will both head toward Texas or Mexico. Well…everybody else offers predictions, so we thought we’d toss one in there too. We can guess as good as the next guy.
  • NorthEscambia.com will continue to grow and serve you in 2009. We have several new features planned and a few fun things also.
  • We’ll all learn a little more about our community by visiting here at NorthEscambia.com. There’s so much more here than the things we mentioned so far in these predictions. Predictions aside, we know that North Escambia will continue to be a great place to live and work. That’s why we call this area home. Thanks again for being part of the NorthEscambia.com family.

Comments

3 Responses to “Blog: 2009 Predictions; 2008 Reflections”

  1. Chuck on January 2nd, 2009 9:16 pm

    Kudos to you william for not promoting gambling on your site. In these times people that are down on their luck are easily lured into the pipedream of easy money, and if there is easy money out there it won’t come from a drive up to the reservation. Again, thank you.

  2. AL on January 1st, 2009 10:17 pm

    I am kind of a ’surrogate” North Escambian :) …. but I follow your articles faithfully because they are more timely and less burdensome than those by other “news” sources.
    I found your site via the information on Danny and Drew’s accident, and the following stories / memorial page / Drew’s Field articles.

  3. Mother of Three on January 1st, 2009 9:15 am

    William,
    I have often wanted to thank you and Jane for your perseverance in covering our area. Particularly Bratt Elementary where you receive plenty of head butts instead of thank you’s.
    I so appreciated your stories on Danny and Drew. The memorial page and your “Go Home, Truck” blog on February 3 were more special than you know. They both helped with the healing process a bit. It’s hard to believe it’s been almost a year.
    Your coverage of our Volunteer Fire Departments has been awesome. How you cover them all so well, along with everything else, and still sleep is beyond me.
    I’m glad to see that FNB of Atmore is advertising with you and I hope more businesses (other than Wind Creek, obviously) will follow suit.
    Often times when I tell folks to check something out on NorthEscambia.com, they right away say how the love the sight and check it at least daily.
    Thanks for all you do for our communities and I wish you and Jane and the girls a happy, safe, healthy, and prosperous New Year!

Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under Archive