Bids Opened On Century Water Project
September 10, 2009
The Town of Century has opened bids for a $1.6 million water system improvement project that will bring improved water service to many residents, including those at the end of Backwoods Roads that have waited a decade for help.
The low bids totaled just over $1.5 million for the project which will include a new 500,000 gallon elevated water storage tank to improve system reliability and fire protection, two natural gas operated back-up generators to improve system reliability for the existing water treatment plants, 16,000 feet of six-inch water main and a booster station to provide fire protection, improve pressure and system reliability in a portion of the existing water system franchise area.
Part of the project will include upgrading a two-inch pipe serving Backwoods Road to a six-inch water main. Backwoods Road residents have complained about poor water pressure and poor water quality for 10 years.
With engineering fees, the project will total about $1.58 million. Of that, $1.39 million will come from a federal stimulus grand awarded by the state; the balance be from a low interest loan. Once the council approves the loan terms and the project begins, it is expected to be completed within about a year.
Tell Us What You Think: Obama Health Care Reform (With Video, Full Text)
September 10, 2009
Last night, President Barack Obama outlined his health care reform plan. If approved, the plan will impact every American.
You can read the entire speech by clicking here (pdf) or watch it
We want to know what you think about the plan. Leave your comments below in our comments section.
Cantonment Man Wins Nearly $200,000
September 10, 2009
A Cantonment man is nearly $200,000 richer after purchasing a FANTASY 5 Quick Pick ticket Tuesday.
David Jordan, 69, of Cantonment, claimed the FANTASY 5 top prize drawn on September 8, according to Florida Lottery officials.
Jordan received a one-time, lump-sum payment in the amount of $198,369.62. He purchased his winning FANTASY 5 Quick Pick ticket at Tom Thumb, located at 6960 Mobile Highway in Pensacola. The retailer received a bonus incentive of $500 for selling the top prize winning ticket.
According to Jordan, he is an avid FANTASY 5 player and has been since the game began in 1989. Tuesday, he purchased two FANTASY 5 tickets, one with his favorite numbers and the other was a Quick Pick. When he and his wife got up Wednesday morning to check the numbers and when he first glanced he knew he didn’t win with his numbers but some of the numbers looked similar to the numbers on the Quick Pick ticket.
He then visited the Lottery’s web site to double check the numbers, and called Tom Thumb to triple check. And then he was off Wednesday to claim his six-digit prize.
Jordan says he is still in shock and beyond excited about his prize. “I wouldn’t know what to do with a million dollars but this was the perfect amount,” Jordan said.
Jordan was the only winner in the state with the numbers 3-11-17-19-34. There were 304 people with four of five numbers, and each of them won $105.
Century Considers Council Health Insurance; Could Cost $60,000
September 10, 2009
The Town of Century’s budget for the next fiscal year is approaching completion, but employee related issues like raises, insurance and annual bonuses must first be resolved.
Perhaps the hardest item for the town’s council to settle on will be insurance — specifically whether or not to continue to offer health insurance to town council members. Preliminary numbers show that the it will cost the town about $60,000 a year to offer insurance to council members, even though only two of them currently opt for coverage.
If the town does not offer insurance to the council members, the town’s insurance rates for the next fiscal year will range from $514 per month for an employee only to $1,638 for full family coverage. If the council is offered coverage, or if either of the two council members with coverage now opt for COBRA coverage, the rates jump to $688.25 per month for an employee-up to $2,197 per month for full family coverage.
If any member of the council is covered, the rates jump across the board for all employees. Or at least that is how the council currently understands a proposal presented to them; the council will bring the insurance agent back for a meeting with the council to explain why it will cost a total of about $60,000 more if council members are covered.
“Five thousand dollars a month is a huge amount,” said Robert Hudson, the town’s accountant.
If the council votes not to offer the insurance to themselves, the two council members currently covered by the town’s insurance — Ann Brooks and Nadine McCaw — would be entitled to continue their insurance coverage at their own expense under a federal law called COBRA.
“We would have to do COBRA or not have insurance,” Brooks said. “I can tell you know I would do COBRA.”
“We are part-time employees; we should not have insurance at all,” Council member Henry Hawkins said.
The town’s new insurance plan will require that an employee work 25 hours per week to qualify, but council members will be grandfathered in, according to Hudson.
Hudson said it would not be unusual for the town to offer council members a monthly supplement to purchase their own insurance.
The town currently pays 100 percent of employee coverage and 77 percent of coverage for family members.
As for employee raises and annual bonuses, the council will discuss those items further at their next workshop session. Presently, council members say they are leaning toward keeping the annual $250 employee bonus, and they are hoping for a one-percent across the board raise for employees.
Photos: Flomaton JV Beats Baker
September 10, 2009
The Flomaton JV picked up their second win of the season Tuesday night against the Baker Gators. The Hurricanes were coming off a win against JU Blacksher last week.
For a photo gallery, click here. And for even more photos, visit www.mikenewtonphotography.
Pictured: Action from Flomaton JV versus Baker Tuesday afternoon. Submitted photo by Mike Newton Photography for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Santa Rosa ACLU Defense Fund Grows; Benefit Tonight At Farmer’s Opry
September 10, 2009
A benefit for the legal defense fund for Frank Lay and Robert Freeman will be held tonight at the Farmer’s Opry in Chumuckla.
Lay, the Pace High School principal, and Freeman, Pace athletic director, face federal criminal charges for praying before a meal at a field house dedication despite an order against prayer in Santa Rosa County Schools issued in response to an ACLU lawsuit.
The benefit begins at 5:30 at the Farmer’s Opry, featuring the music of the Saw Mill Band, the Hendersons and Crossroads, will include a hambuger, french fry and baked bean meal.
Guest speakers will include Dr. Ted Traylor, pastor of Olive Baptist Church; Joey Rogers, pastor of Pace Assembly of God; Mike Wiggins, pastor of Pine Terrace Baptist in Milton and Dave Daughter, former local TV news anchor and host of the morning show on WEBY AM.
Harry Minet, senior litigation counsel for Liberty Counsel, will be on hand to “provide an update on the ACLU’s war on freedom”, according to event organizers. Minet will represent Lay and Freeman in their criminal contempt proceedings on September 17.
Tickets for the event are $10.
Event To Benefit Man’s Attempt To Walk Again
September 10, 2009
A ride to help a local young man walk again will be held this weekend.
Mark Daniel, 20, was paralyzed from the waist down in an October 2007 automobile accident. He was hospitalized for 28 days, underwent rigorous physical therapy and had to learn to live independently again — unable to walk.
“That day, truly changed our entire family’s life it seemed forever. The things that seemed so simple, were now very challenging,” said Renea Daniel, Mark’s stepmother.
Now Mark and family members from Molino have found a treatment that they believe will give him the opportunity to walk again. He has applied and been accepted into the International Cell Medicine Clinic in San Jose, Costa Rica. His stay there will be four weeks while he receives spinal injections of stem cells from donated umbilical cord blood, along with more physical therapy. The total cost of the treatments, including airfare, is $40,000.
“This is a substantial amount of money which of course our health insurance will not cover. But, the longer he is paralyzed the more his muscles will continue to deteriorate and the less chance we will have of these stems cells helping his condition,” Renea Daniel said.
The family is planning a series of fundraisers to pay for the treatment, the first being the Mark Daniel Ride to Walk Benefit Saturday at the Pensacola Interstate Fairgrounds.
Registration begins at 11 a.m, with a $10 fee for any vehicle. The Ride-out is at 1 p.m. to Ashton Brosnaham Park for lunch at 2 p.m.
Pork dinners will be available for an $8 donation, and there will be door prizes, a DJ and more. An after-party will be held at Ruby’s Fish Camp. For more information, call Mark at (850) 572-5660 or Kim at (850) 572-4521. Donations can also be made at Gulf Winds Credit Union or Beach Community Bank to the Mark Daniel Medical Fund.
Hurricane Fred Still A Category 2
September 9, 2009
Hurricane Fred has weakened to category two strength.
The center of Hurricane Fred was located near latitude 15.9 north, longitude 34.6 west or about 705 miles west-southwest of the southernmost Cape Verde Islands.
Fred is moving toward the west-northwest near 12 mph and a turn toward the northwest and then north-northwest with a decrease in forward speed is expected over the next couple of days.
Satellite images indicate that the maximum sustained winds have decreased to near 105 mph with higher gusts. Fred is a category two hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale. Additional weakening is expected during the next few days. Fred is expected to be a tropical storm by Saturday and just a low by Tuesday.
Fred is still forecast to turn nearly due north and head out into the open Atlantic without threatening the United States or any other land mass
Northview Students: Time Changes For Thursday
September 9, 2009
There are changes in the student arrival times Thursday at Northview High School.
Thursday, September 10, seniors will report at 11 a.m. Ninth, tenth and eleventh grade students will report at their regular time Thursday to take the FCAT Simulation Test.
Seniors that ride the bus to school at the regular time will report to the gym.
Century Council Member Gets Nothing From Records Request Nine Months Ago
September 9, 2009
Nine months after a public records request made by a council member, the Town of Century has not provided him any documents. The documents related to the now defunct Helicopter Technology and other town financial business were never provided, according to the mayor, because he thought the matter was settled.
“The town may be in trouble,” Century Mayor Freddie McCall told his council Tuesday night about the open records request from Councilman Henry Hawkins.
Hawkins made a formal written public records request on December 10, 2008. In his request, Hawkins requested that the documents be made available to him within 14 days. McCall said he was told by the town’s attorney on December 20 that Hawkins no longer wanted the records as requested.
“I thought it was a dead issue,” McCall said Tuesday night. “Then I get a rumor this week that it is not agreeable.”
In his December letter addressed to McCall, Hawkins requested a certified copy of all documents related to Georges Van Nevel, Helicopter Technologies, Inc., and Van Nevel Helicopters, including financial journals; all correspondence and documents between the parties, including emails; and copies of all legal pleadings and briefs between the town and its legal counsel.
Hawkins also requested certified copies of records related to commercial and personal loan notes and mortgages held by the Town of Century and the lender and complete payment records on each.
“It may cost thousands and thousands of dollars to supply this information,” McCall told the council, because of hourly fees that might be charged by the town’s attorney and accountant.
“I will pay any reasonable fee to cover the cost of providing the requested documentation,” Hawkins wrote in his December letter. “…I will pickup and remit for these copies.”
“He can make a decision if he would like to pay for it,” Council President Ann Brooks said of the potentially expensive public records request.
“We cannot make decisions at this table without all of the facts,” Hawkins said. “If we had been told the truth years ago about Helicopter Technology, we would not be in the mess we’re in right now.”
The Town of Century held the mortgage on the helicopter company’s building in the town’s industrial park. After the company defaulted, the town won a foreclosure suit against the company, and the town just recently purchased the building for $100 at a foreclosure auction.
“The 14 days has been over…months ago,” Hawkins told his fellow council members Tuesday night. “Y’all can do what you want to do, and I am going to do what I have to do.”
The council, with Hawkins abstaining, voted not to provide him a copy of the requested records without first providing him with an estimate of the monetary charges involved.
Click here to read the December 10, 2008, public records request from Henry Hawkins (pdf).
Florida’s public records laws allows, in general, for public records to be viewed free of charge, but the law does allow a fee for copies. Copies are generally 15 cents for one-sided documents or 20 cents for double-sided pages. Certified copies are $1 per copy under the law. Government agencies are also permitted to charge fees as outline in Florida statutes for excessive clerical and other staff time involved in providing public records. There are other fees permitted by Florida law as well. (Read about the fees allowed by clicking here.)
Pictured top: A public records request from Henry Hawkins was presented to the Century Town Council Tuesday night. Pictured (L-R) Nadine McCaw, Ann Brooks, Sharon Scott, Hawkins and Gary Riley. Pictured inset: Hawkins reads his request out load as Gary Riley listens. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.