No Injuries In Century Wreck
August 22, 2009
There were no injuries in a Friday afternoon wreck in Century.
The driver of a Nissan Exterra collided with a pickup truck at the intersection of North Century Boulevard and West Highway 4 about 4:30 p.m. Emergency officials reported no injuries in the crash.
Pictured above: There were no injuries in the Friday afternoon collision between this Nissan and a pickup on North Century Boulevard at West Highway 4 in Century. NorthEscambia.com photo, click to enlarge.
Lightning Strikes Reported At Two Area Homes; No Major Damage
August 21, 2009
Fire stations from across the area responded to two reported lightning strikes mid-afternoon Friday. There was no major damage reported at a home on Nokomis Road (top) or at a home or Wawbeek Road (below). NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Rabies Alert Issued For North Escambia; Person Bit By Rabid Fox, Rabid Raccoons Found
August 21, 2009
The Escambia County Health Department has issued a Rabies Alert for North Escambia after one person was bit by a rabid fox and two raccoons that bit dogs tested positive for rabies.
Robert Merritt, director of environmental health for the health department, said that a dog was bitten by a rabid raccoon on Crabtree Church Road in Molino in May, and a dog was bitten by a rabid raccoon on Handy Road in Cottage Hill this month. He said a fox that bit a person somewhere in North Escambia this month also tested positive for rabies, but, due to patient privacy laws, he was not able to identify in which community the incident occurred.
The dogs bitten by the rabid raccoons were quarantined; while the person bitten by the rabid fox is undergoing treatment.
Dr. John Lanza, Director of the Escambia County Health Department today issued a rabies alert for the central to northern geographical region of Escambia County, Florida. This is in response to three wild animals that tested positive for rabies.
Escambia residents should be aware that rabies is present in the wild animal population and domestic animals are at risk if not vaccinated. The public is asked to maintain a heightened awareness that rabies is active in Escambia County. Alerts are designed to increase awareness to the public, but they should not give a false sense of security to areas that have not been named as under an alert.
This rabies alert will last for 60 days and covers all of central and northern Escambia County from Muscogee Road north to the Alabama State line.
An animal with rabies could infect other wild animals or domestic animals that have not been vaccinated against rabies. All domestic animals should be vaccinated against rabies and humans should avoid all wildlife contact, especially with raccoons, bats, and foxes.
Rabies is a disease of the nervous system and is usually fatal to warm-blooded animals and to humans. The only treatment for human exposure to rabies is rabies-specific immune globulin and rabies immunization. Appropriate treatment started soon after the exposure will protect an exposed person from the disease.
The following advice is issued:
o All pets should have current rabies immunizations.
o Avoid contact with all wildlife, especially raccoons, bats, and foxes.
o All persons with any unusual exposure incident, or bites, with a wild animal should be evaluated by a physician to determine their need for treatment.
o For general questions pertaining to rabies in animals, contact the Escambia County Health Department’s Environmental Health Division at (850) 595-6700.
o Secure outside garbage in covered containers to avoid attracting wild animals.
o Do not leave pet food outside as this practice also attracts other animals.
o For questions regarding the health of an animal, contact a veterinarian.
o Veterinarian staff and animal control staff should be alert for animals encountered with signs suspicious for rabies and contact the Escambia County Health Department’s Environmental Health Division at (850) 595-6700.
For further information on rabies, go to the Florida Department of Health website: http://www.doh.state.fl.us/disease_ctrl/epi/diseases.htm or contact the Escambia County Health Department, Environmental Health office at (850) 595-6700.
Police Officer Husband Saves Choking Paramedic Wife; She Taught Him How
August 21, 2009
When Atmore paramedic Susan Odom taught a CPR and Heimlich Maneuver class to a group of Atmore Police officers, she never imagined that the training would save her life. And she certainly never thought her husband would be the one to come to her rescue.
Susan had finished her shift at Atmore Ambulance and headed to her Atmore home last Friday morning. Her husband, Atmore Police Department Corporal Arthur Odom, was at work, filling out a report at the police station.
That’s when the first 911 call for help came in. Dispatcher Betty Cox took the call from the Odom home, but there was seemingly no one on the line.
“The kids were off to school, and I was just doing the normal stuff — cleaning house,” Susan said. “I had some watermelon and a banana. I swallowed and knew something was wrong. It was stuck in my throat; it would not come up. I knew I started panicking.”
As a certified instructor, Susan knew about the Heimlich Maneuver, a series abdominal thrusts used to dislodge an item lodged in the airway. She even knew how to perform the Heimlich on herself, leaning at first over a dining room table chair, and then over a high sink in the bathroom. But nothing worked.
Betty Cox, the dispatcher, asked Arthur if there would be anyone at his house that would be playing on the phone making calls to 911. She knew where the silent call was originating from thanks to the computerized E911 system.
Arthur left the police station and began driving the mile to his house. That’s when the dispatcher notified him that there had been a second 911 call from his house.
“The phone had dropped the call,” Susan said. “So I called back. All I could do was hit the floor to make noise. I did not know what else to do. I realized I was in real trouble. I don’t really remember what happened next; I was real close to blacking out. The next thing I knew, my husband was coming in.”
“When that second call came in, I knew something was not right,” he said. “I found her in the floor when I came in the house.”
“That’s when all of that training kicked in,” Arthur said. Susan had trained him well. He performed the Heimlich Maneuver, eventually clearing her airway, saving her life.
After the obstruction was cleared, paramedic Susan refused to let her coworkers from Atmore Ambulance take her to the hospital.
Instead, she and Arthur did something that she admits some might find unusual moments after being saved from death by choking.
They went to eat lunch.
“I did eat very carefully,” she said.
“It’s what we both do,” she said. “We help people everyday. It was routine, part of our training. Sure, it happened to us, but it did not bother either one of us too much.”
“He did save my life, and I am very thankful for him every day,” she said. “He is my hero.”
Call it a perfect match, he says. The proverbial two peas in a pod.
“We actually met at a motorcycle wreck,” he said. He was there working as a police officer; she was there as the paramedic on the Atmore Ambulance that responded. They have been married for four and half years now.
“It was love at first sight,” Arthur said, cracking a little smile. “I saw her, and that was it.”
He never knew that when he swept her off her feet, he would be saving her life.
“I have confidence in all the officers,” she said, noting that they had all taken her class and been recertified in CPR and the Heimlich Maneuver.
“Last week, Atmore Police Officer Arthur Odom responded to a strange 911 call at his own house,” Channel 3 News anchor Bob Solarski began a report on WEAR Thursday night as Arthur and Susan gathered around the TV to watch.
“I don’t like how they did the report,” she said as the report aired. “It was not really them; it just does not seem right to see us sitting there on the TV talking about this.”
But she hopes the attention from the WEAR interview, an interview on WKRG TV and this NorthEscambia.com article accomplished one thing — “I hope this gets more people to sign up for a CPR class that includes the Heimlich Maneuver. I’m living proof that it can save someone.”
Part of the American Heart Association class that Susan teaches also stresses the importance of using a landline –not a cellular — phone to call 911 when possible.
“If I had called from a cell phone, they would not have known where to send help,” Susan said. “Even though I could not speak, they knew were to send help because our address showed up on the E911 system.”
Pictured above: Susan and Arthur Odom at their Atmore home. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
County Accepts $3.3 Million To Hire 20 New Deputies; Will Cost County $1.1 Million
August 21, 2009
The Escambia County Commission voted Thursday night to accept a $3.3 million, three-year grant to hire 20 new Escambia County Sheriff’s Office deputies under a federal economic stimulus program.
By agreeing to take part in the COPS Hiring Recovery Program, commissioners committed to funding $1.1 million to keep the deputies on the payroll one year after the three year grant ends.
The U.S. Department of Justice announced $1 billion in funding across the nation including $3,344,620 for the ECSO for 20 deputies in late July. The program includes $1 billion in grants to create or maintain 4,699 sworn officers nationwide under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
Only four agencies in Florida — the Miami PD, Jacksonville PD, Polk County SO and Pasco County SO — received funding for more officers than Escambia County.
But the other area agencies that applied — the Flomaton Police Department, Escambia County (Ala.) Sheriff’s Department, Poarch Creek Tribal Police Department and the Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Department – received nothing. The Atmore Police Department did not apply for funds under the program.
Charges Dropped Against Molino Mom Accused Of Child Abuse, Battery On Husband
August 21, 2009
Prosecutors have dropped charges against a Molino woman accused of hitting her child in the head with a plate and slapping her husband.
Tina Louise Ferrell, 46, was charged May 21 with one count of aggravated child abuse and one count of aggravated battery in connection with an incident at a mobile home on Duxbury Avenue off Highway 29 in Molino.
Between the time she was charged and when charges were dropped yesterday, Ferrell was required by the court to not have any contact with the children at the Duxbury Road address where the incident allegedly occurred.
Ferrell and her husband were asleep about 7 p.m. on May 21 when her 10-year old child tried to wake her to get help with a one-year old child in the home, according to an Escambia County Sheriff’s Office report. Deputies said when Ferrell refused to help with the infant and went back to sleep, the 10-year old tried to wake her again with drops of water sprinkled in her face. That’s when Ferrell slapped her husband and threw a plate a him, deputies said; the plate missed the husband and struck a three-year old in the head.
The three-year old was transported to Sacred Heart Hospital in Pensacola with injuries that were not serious. The 10 and one-year old were not injured.
Prosecutors dropped charges against Ferrell on August 18, saying there was not enough evidence to prove their case without a reasonable doubt.
Hundreds Get To Know Ernest Ward
August 21, 2009
Pictured: Hundreds of parents and students attended the sixth grade and new student orientation Thursday morning at Ernest Ward Middle School. With growth — partially from the closure and consolidation of Carver/Century K-8 School — Ernest Ward has an expected record enrollment this year of 547 students. At the top, Ernest Ward Band Director Charles Tucker explains his band program to parents and students Thursday morning. Pictured left: Hundreds pack the hallways of the school during a tour. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Commissioners Approve Policy On Using Blackberrys, Laptop, Text Messaging
August 21, 2009
The Escambia County Commission has approved a new policy that restricts how commissioners can use technology during meetings and to conduct public business.
The policy, drafted by County Attorney Allison Rogers, “is to establish rules for the county commissioners use of technology to ensure they conduct themselves in a responsible, professional, ethical and efficient manner, with an eye toward the public’s perception of their elected officials”.
In the past, it has not been uncommon to see a commissioner typing a message on a Blackberry or other cell phone, or typing on their laptop computer during a commission meeting.
The policy forbids a commissioner from having any device, including a personal cell phone, powered on during a meeting unless it is on silent or vibrate.
The policy forbids commissioners from communicating on blogs; social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace and Twitter; or using text or instant messaging for county related matters. The policy even encourages commissioners request that text and instant messages be disabled on their county-owned devices.
All emails related to county business will also be required to using an official county email address — no personal email addresses can be used for county business. If a commissioner receives an email related to county business at a personal email address, they are to forward it to county address and request that the sender use a county address in the future.
Florida’s broad public record’s laws state that emails related to county business are public record and must be archived, or maintained.
If a commissioner violates the policy, the other commissioners “may take an available enforcement action against a fellow commissioner”.
“The point is, you don’t want these things to be an interactive way of communicating with each other,” Rogers said. “The policy is really one part courtesy and three parts preventative medicine.”
County Forgives $20K In Code Fines On $39K Piece Of Property
August 21, 2009
The Escambia County Commission has agreed to forgive almost $20,000 in code enforcement fines on a piece of Molino property worth just $39,000 after the new property owners cleaned up the property to the county’s satisfaction.
When Claude and Sherrill Ward obtained the half acre lot at 1233 Betts Avenue, they inherited a code enforcement lien totaling $20,032.50. The property had been accumulating a fine of $25 per day since December 21, 2005. The property appraiser says the lot is worth just $39,420.
Thursday night, the Escambia County Commission voted to drop all but $675 in court costs on the property, because the Wards brought the property into compliance with code enforcement orders. The Wards were making good on a promise they made to the commission back on June 18.
Free NFL Punt, Pass & Kick Program
August 21, 2009
The Escambia County Recreation Division will host the NFL Punt, Pass & Kick program on Sunday, August 23 at 2 p.m. at the Ensley football fields at John R. Jones Athletic Park, 555 East Nine Mile Road. Boys and girls, ages eight through 15 are eligible to participate and admission is free.
Established in 1961, the NFL Punt, Pass & Kick program is the oldest NFL youth football program. Girls and boys in four separate age divisions (8-9, 10-11, 12-13, and 14-15) compete against each other in punting, passing and place-kicking in a fun and engaging forum.
With more than four million boys and girls from around the country participating in the NFL Punt, Pass & Kick competition each year, it is one of the world’s largest youth sports participation programs.
Local children have an opportunity to move on to the sectional competition and possibly visit New Orleans for the Team Championships.
No football shoes, turf shoes, cleats or bare feet are allowed. Please come dressed in appropriate gym attire.
For more information or to register, please contact the Escambia County Recreation Division by phone at 850-475-5220, by email at recreation@myescambia.com or visit us on the web at www.myescambia.com.