Twitter Hit By Denial Of Service Attack; Facebook Problems Too
August 6, 2009
The popular social blogging service Twitter was down Thursday morning, hit by a denial-of-service attack that left the service inaccessible for hours.
“We are defending against a denial-of-service attack, and will update status again shortly,” the company said in a post shortly before 10:00 CDT. An update posted on the company’s status blog said “the site is back up, but we are continuing to defend against and recover from this attack”.
“We’re working to get back to 100% as quickly as we can,” the company said.
The social-networking giant Facebook also had network issues Thursday morning, with some users reporting that portions of the site were not working at all or were slow.
A denial-of-service attack employees thousands or even millions of computers to attempt access upon a particular site. The site is unable to handle the massive surge in traffic, and it fails. In a denial-of-service attack, a company’s computers and security are not breached; the site is simply rendered offline. User data is not at risk during a denial-of-service attack.
Work Is Now Underway At New Bratt Park
August 6, 2009
Work is now underway on the new Bratt Community Park, with the entire park expected to be completed by early next year.
County employees are currently working to install the 8-foot wide, eight-tenths of a mile walking track around the perimeter of the 13-acre park, according to Joy Jones, director of Escambia County’s Parks and Recreation Department.
The next step will be in the installation of the playground at the park, which is located at the corner of Highway 4 and Bratt Road near the First Baptist Church of Bratt. The playground has already been delivered to the county, and it is in storage in Pensacola waiting for an installer from the manufacturing company to begin installation later this month.
“We are just getting started, but we are going to keep it going,” Jones said of work on the park. The county is still waiting on one permit to be issued, she said, and then the work on other park features like the picnic pavilion will begin.
The park will also include two softball fields, a full basketball court and exercise and rest stations positioned along the track. The softball fields will not be lit for night play; in fact, the park’s hours will follow that of other county parks — sunrise to sunset.
The park is being funded with $200,000 in LOST (local option sales tax) monies set aside for the park’s construction.
Jones expects that park will be completed within six months.
Pictured top: Work is underway on the walking track at the new Bratt Community Park. NorthEscambia.com photo, click to enlarge. Pictured below: Plans for the park. Click plans to view the park plan in pdf format.
Shots Fired At Area Prison
August 6, 2009
Authorities have revealed that shots were fired over the weekend at an Atmore prison.
The incident happened about 3:00 Sunday morning when a guard in a tower at Fountain Correctional Facility in Atmore saw movement along a fence and thought that a prisoner was in the process of escaping. The guard fired a warning shot into the air, according to Brian Corbett, a spokesperson with the Alabama Department of Corrections. When the suspect turned toward the officer, the officer fired another shot at the man dressed in black ninja garb.
Reginald Watkins, 20, of Mobile was not hit by the shots. Before Watkins was taken into custody by officers. authorities said he tried to dump a bag that contained 13 bags of marijuana, 23 cells phones, 21 cell phone chargers, a cell phone battery, 43 assorted pills and 15 cigars. Officers believed Watkins had planned to throw the bag over the prison fence — cell phones are hot contraband for conducting criminal activity from behind bars.
Watkins was booked into the Escambia County (Ala.) Detention Center on multiple charges, including possession of a controlled substance and possession of marijuana. The charges against Watkins were all dropped by the District Attorney’s Office on Monday, Corbett said, for reasons not known to him.
Property Owners In Molino Subdivision Want County To Vacate Right Of Ways
August 6, 2009
The Escambia County Commission is expected to vote tonight to schedule a public hearing to vacate alleyways and a right-of-way in a Molino subdivision.
Glen and Claire Dunaway own several lots at the subdivision north of Fairgrounds Road and east of Jahaza Street. Several alleyways and right-of-ways divide the lots into different sections in what is legally known as Wilder Subdivision. The Dunaways have asked the commission to vacate their rights to the alleyways and right-of-ways, a total area of 0.84 acres. No one will be denied access to their property as a result of the vacation, according to Joy Blackmon, the county’s Public Works bureau chief.
The public hearing, if approved by the commission, will be scheduled for September 3, at 5:31 p.m.
Click the graphic above to enlarge.
Mistrial In Atmore Murder Trial
August 6, 2009
A mistrial has been declared in the case of an area man accused in the 2008 stabbing death of an Atmore man.
The jury was unable to reach a verdict in the murder trial of Terry Riley. Riley was accused of the April 18, 2008, stabbing death of his roommate, Larry Howard, 51 , of Atmore. The incident occurred on Virginia Drive, just outside the Atmore city limits.
Howard was found dead outside a mobile home on Virginia Drive, stabbed in the heart, after a night of partying with Riley. Authorities never located a murder weapon.
Missing Cantonment Woman Is Located
August 6, 2009
A missing Cantonment woman was found Wednesday, surviving off rainwater in a wooded area.
Family members said Mary Renee McCarthy had been missing since Thursday. She was bipolar and schizophrenic, according to family, and wandered into a wooded area near her home. She was off her medication at the time.
McCarthy was located in that wooded area Wednesday in fair condition.
Flomaton Grad To Release New Album Next Week
August 6, 2009
A Flomaton High School graduate’s new CD will be released next Tuesday.
John Boutwell, who now performs under the name Ryland Bael, will release his country/pop album “Gone Too Long”, featuring 10 new songs that he wrote.
Boutwell graduated from Flomaton High School in 1995 and went on to get degrees from Jefferson Davis Community College and the University of Alabama. He was born in Bay Minette, but grew up around the Boutwell and Lambeth communites on Upper Creek Road just outside Flomaton.
After graduating from the University of Alabama in 2003, he remained in Tuscaloosa and formed his own label — Boutwell Entertainment, LLC. and released “John Boutwell: Remember Me” in 2004. He toured the Southeast for a couple of years to promote the album.
For “Gone Too Long” Boutwell decided to go with the pen name Ryland Bael and write about his life experiences, the result of a three year odyssey of personal heartbreak, healing, and triumph for this south Alabama son.
Ryland’s musical talents have their roots in an old country church in rural Alabama, and his music can best be described as a unique blend of gospel and country intertwined with pop, soul, R & B, jazz, and classical influences.
“I started playing piano and singing almost from the time I could walk and talk. I cut my musical teeth on Southern Gospel music. As I was growing up, being a guy who had no musical education and played everything by ear, whenever I heard something I liked on the radio, I’d take different elements and incorporate it into my own piano style. I began as a gospel writer and gradually began to write more and more country and pop lyrics,” Ryland said. “If you listen close, though, you’ll hear those soulful, gospel licks in almost every song I write and record. I’ll never get away from gospel music. It’s in my blood. “
His days at Flomaton High School helped shape his career. He said he was “discovered” his junior year by the FHS Drama Department when they needed a pianist for a spring musical. Able to play Broadway scores by ear, he would help the cast by transposing the music for those that could not sing in the original key. During rehearsal breaks, he would forgo the Broadway tunes and play songs that were popular on the radio.
“It broke up the monotony of long hours of rehearsal and really was the beginning of my goal to become a recording artist,” Ryland said. ” Suffice it to say, my years in Flomaton laid the foundation for my career aspirations to be a nationally known recording artist. We haven’t quite made it there yet, but we feel good about where things are headed.”
With songs like “Lonesome Highway”, “This Ain’t Goodbye”, “You’ve Had Your Chance”, and “Smile For the Memory”, his new CD shows the soul of man with broken heart that is open to healing. The songs tell the story of human spirit, falling in love and finding one’s self.
“Music is who I am. It’s what I was born to do,” Ryland said.
The CD was scheduled to release last Tuesday, but was delayed by the manufacturing company. When released this Tuesday, the CD will be available from www.rylandbael.com, and online retailers like Itunes, Amazon.com. Rhapsody.com and Napster.com.
Releasing the CD on his own label was a business decision that Ryland hopes will pay off as more and more people discover independent artists online. And he’s hoping that country radio will be good to him with the airtime needed to introduce his music to the country music masses.
“It’s a great project. We just have to work a little harder to get it heard,” he said. “Obviously, from a business perspective, we want to sell as many copies and downloads as possible, but beyond that, I hope this album finds its way to a million listeners that can listen and appreciate this record for what it is. A journey. I think there is something on this album that everybody, no matter what age or demographic, can identify with at some point in their lives. I have this feeling there are a lot of us out there that set out out in life and at some point start to lose ourselves and come to the realization we’ve been ‘gone too long’.”
While the album reflects Ryland’s past, he hopes it leads to a bright future in the music business.
“I’ve made it this far, and I can’t wait to see what the next chapter in my career holds,” he said.
The album can be sampled on www.rylandbael.com, and there are two videos on YouTube.
Flood Advisory — Central Escambia
August 5, 2009
The National Weather Service in Mobile has issued a
* flood advisory for…
central Escambia County in northwest Florida…
central Baldwin County in southwest Alabama…
this includes the city of Bay Minette…
east central Mobile County in southwest Alabama…
* until 700 PM CDT
* at 458 PM CDT…National Weather Service meteorologists found
excesssive rainfall 2 to 3 inches per hour from thunderstorms over
portions of southwest Alabama and west Florida Panhandle.
Precautionary/preparedness actions…
This includes the following streams and drainages…
Tensaw river…D’Olive creek…Perdido river…Middle River…Mobile
river…rains creek…Martin branch…mccurtin creek…Gunnison
creek…Eightmile creek…Styx river…Juniper Creek…nuke Branch…
Bay minette creek…Bowman Creek…roans creek…Flat Creek…Joes
branch…Escambia River…Bellefontaine creek…Clear Creek…Mobile
Bay…Threemile creek…Big Bay John…Alligator Bayou…Williams
Creek…Black Creek…Greenwood Spring Branch…Dyas creek…
Horseneck creek…Hollinger creek…Durbin branch…fish river…
fickling branch…Whitehouse creek…Wilson Creek…baptizing
branch…Smith Bayou…godbolt creek…Aikin creek…Brushy Creek…
Sara, bayou…hells Swamp Branch…Steele creek…Hall branch…
Seymore branch…Chickasaw creek…Silver Creek…corn branch…
perone Branch…Bay branch…Rock Creek…Blackwater river…penasula
creek…Alligator Creek…McDavid creek…McDade creek…elevenmile
creek…Spanish Mill Creek…Rices branch…cowdevil creek…jacks
branch…Cowpen Creek…cowhide creek…still branch…West Fork
Boggy Creek…Nelson branch…narrow gap branch…Freeman Springs
branch…Dodds branch…Dogwood branch and Buffalo Mill Creek.
Additional 1 to 2 inches of rain per hour is possible in these areas.
Most flood deaths occur in automobiles. Never drive your vehicle into
areas where the water covers the roadway. Flood waters are usually
deeper than they appear. Just one foot of flowing water is powerful
enough to sweep vehicles off the Road. When encountering flooded
roads make the smart choice…turn around…dont drown.
Some Problems Reported From Wednesday Storms
August 5, 2009
Minor problems were reported from a line of severe storms that moved through the North Escambia area Wednesday afternoon.
- A tree limb fell across a driveway on Arthur Brown Road near Kansas Road in Walnut Hill, bringing down power lines with it (pictured top).
- A tree was reported to be one fire after falling into some power lines at Highway 4A and State Line Road outside Century.
- A tree was reported to be down across Van Hoosen Road near Flomaton.
- A portion of a a pecan tree was reported by a NorthEscambia.com reader to be down in their yard on Highway 97A near Walnut Hill (pictured below).
- A tree was downed along Highway 97 near Wiggins Lake Road.
- The porch on a home was reported damaged on Fannie Road near Century.
- Small pea-size hail and winds in excess of 60 mph were reported near Walnut Hill.
Scattered power outages were also reported across the area.
Pictured above: A tree limb and power lines were downed on Arthur Brown Road in Walnut Hill Wednesday afternoon. Pictured bottom: A portion of pecan tree was downed on Highway 97A near Arthur Brown Road. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Severe Thunderstorm Warning — Escambia & Santa Rosa
August 5, 2009
The National Weather Service in Mobile has issued a
* Severe Thunderstorm Warning for…
Northeastern Escambia County in Northwest Florida…
Northwestern Santa Rosa County in Northwest Florida.
South Central Ealdwin County in South Alabama…
* until 5:00 pm CDT
* at 415 PM CDT…National Weather Service radar indicated a severe
thunderstorm capable of producing penny size hail…and damaging
winds over 60 mph. This storm was near Flomaton…or about 12
miles southwest of Brewton…and moving southeast at 25 mph.
* The severe thunderstorm will be near…
Jay by 435 PM CDT…
Berrydale by 455 PM CDT…
Frequent cloud to ground lightning is occurring with this storm. Move
indoors immediately! Lightning is one of natures number one killers.
Remember…if you can hear thunder…you are close enough to be
struck by lightning.