Road Construction Headaches
May 19, 2010
Road construction in the Walnut Hill area created headaches for many drivers Tuesday afternoon.
Most of the stretch from south of Highway 164 to North Highway 99 was reduced to one lane that was open intermittent as paving operations continue. Drivers were delayed up to 15 minutes.
Ernest Ward Middle School, which dismissed at 3:45 was in the construction area, further complicating traffic problems when school buses hit the highway.
Lane closures — and delays — are expected again each day this week.
The 22 mile, $5.7 million Highway 97 resurfacing project is due to be complete by the fall.
Pictured above: Crews work to resurface Highway 97 in Walnut Hill Tuesday afternoon. NorthEscambia.com photo, click to enlarge.
22 Local Candidates Qualify By Petition
May 19, 2010
The deadline to qualify by petition to run for office in Escambia County passed at noon Monday.
Candidates that did not qualify by petition by the deadline can still qualify for office by paying a qualifying fee.
All submitted petitions have been processed and the list of candidates that have successfully met the petition requirements is as follows:
County Commissioner, District 2
- Dave Murzin
- Paul Redman
- Karen Sindel
- George Touart
- Gene M. Valentino
County Commissioner, District 4
- Dennis D. Green Jr.
- Grover C. Robinson IV
School Board, District 1
- Jeff Bergosh
School Board, District 2
- Gerald Boone
School Board, District 3
- Linda Moultrie
- Charlie Nichols
ECUA, District 4
- Stuart Brown
- Ryan M. Fendt
- Dale Perkins
Escambia Soil & Water Conservation District, Group 4
- Lynn Laird
Escambia Soil & Water Conservation District, Group 5
- Dan Cain
- Dillon Powell
City of Pensacola Mayor
- Ashton Hayward
- Diane Mack
- Mike Wiggins
Pensacola City Council, District 1
- Steve Fulford
Pensacola City Council, District 2
- Courtney B. Peterson
NWE Football Meets Sunday
May 19, 2010
There will be a Northwest Escambia Football meeting this Sunday at 2 p.m. in the Ernest Ward Middle School gym.
The public is welcome to attend and learn how the football league works. NWE is also looking for a coach for their Midget team.
Northview Honors Working Students, Their Employers
May 19, 2010
Imagine holding three jobs at the same time, plus succeeding in high school. Or attending classes, playing a sport like football or basketball and working a job. Or playing in the band, playing softball, cheerleading or being an NJROTC leader — all while being in high school and working a job.
That’s the story of many of the 34 members in the Diversified Career Technology/Career Education Clubs of Florida class at Northview High School. And many of them have a GPA of 3.0 or higher.
Tuesday night, the CECF honored students and their employers at their annual banquet.
“We are proud of the people like you that give them the opportunity to work,” DCT instructor Tommy Weaver told the employers. “It’s been a very trying year with the economy and we appreciate you.”
“Learning to work can be a foundation in your lives,” Dr. Michelle Taylor, Escambia County’s Workforce Education specialist, told the students.
(story continues below photo)
Student employees in the program and their employers are:
- Jasey Gibson, Whataburger-Cantonment
- Jessica Bloodsworth, Whataburger-Century
- Dustin Boutwell, Jeff’s Feed & Seed-Flomaton
- Kolbi Cobb, Northview High School-Bratt
- Caitlyn Nall, Escambia Clerk of Court-Century
- Lance Bushaw, Winn Dixie-Atmore
- Samantha Byrd, Arby’s-Atmore
- Stephen Jay, Winn Dixie-Atmore
- Brittany Pete, Whataburger-Century
- Megan Poston, Kmart-Pensacola
- Dakota Stuckey, Northview High School-Bratt
- Maranda Baggett, David’s Catfish-Atmore
- Patricia Boughner, Whataburger-Century
- Brittany Burt, David’s Catfish-Atmore
- Tori Chavers, Piggly Wiggly-Davisville and Subway-Atmore
- Naomi Cooler, Northview High School-Bratt
- Clay Kirby, Winn Dixie-Atmore
- Angela Rodriquez, Northview High School-Bratt and Kentucky Fried Chicken-Pensacola
- Lauren Lowe, Whataburger-Cantonment and Publix-Pensacola
- Colton Maughon, Kaaos Audio-Atmore
- Brittany Peebles, Ron’s Sporting Goods-Atmore
- Magen Weekley, Kohl’s-Pensacola
- Caitlyn Roley, Piggly Wiggly-Century
- Haley Smith, Subway-Flomaton.
Other DCT Class members are:
- Richard Craig
- Branden Hoffman
- Haley Knapp
- Nastassia Peacock
- Aaron Bellamy
- Ryan Busbee
- Aaron Chancery
- Carley Hetrick
- Kayla Rentz
- Sarah Schachle
Pictured top: Lauren Lowe, who works at both Publix in Pensacola and Whataburger in Cantonment, receives a certificate from DCT instructor Tommy Weaver Tuesday night. Pictured middle: Diversified Career Technology/Career Education Clubs of Florida class at Northview High School. Pictured below: Dustin Boutwell who works at Jeff’s Feed & Seed in Flomaton with Weaver. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Severe Thunderstorm Warning
May 18, 2010
The National Weather Service in Mobile has issued a
* Severe Thunderstorm Warning for…
central Escambia County in northwest Florida…
central Baldwin County in southwest Alabama…
* until 445 PM CDT
* at 419 PM CDT…National Weather Service radar indicated a severe
thunderstorm capable of producing quarter size hail…and damaging
winds over 60 mph. This storm was 4 miles southeast of
Phillipsville…or about 12 miles east of Bay Minette…and moving
east at 15 mph.
* The severe thunderstorm will be near…
rural northwestern Escambia County at 440 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.
Chance Of More Rain Tonight
May 18, 2010
Most of the North Escambia area had rain Tuesday, and there’s a chance of rain continuing into Tuesday night.
Here is your official North Escambia area forecast:
- Tonight: A 50 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms, mainly before 1am. Partly cloudy, with a low around 63. West wind around 5 mph becoming calm.
- Wednesday: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly cloudy, with a high near 88. Calm wind becoming south between 5 and 10 mph.
- Wednesday Night: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms before 1am. Partly cloudy, with a low around 63. South southwest wind around 5 mph becoming calm.
- Thursday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 90. Calm wind becoming south between 5 and 10 mph.
- Thursday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 66. South southeast wind between 5 and 10 mph.
- Friday: Partly sunny, with a high near 91. Calm wind becoming south between 10 and 15 mph.
- Friday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 64. South wind between 5 and 10 mph.
- Saturday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 92. South southeast wind between 5 and 10 mph.
- Saturday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 65. South wind between 5 and 10 mph becoming calm.
- Sunday: Partly sunny, with a high near 93.
- Sunday Night: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 64.
- Monday: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 89.
- Monday Night: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 68.
- Tuesday: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 89.
Kindergarten Open House, Registration Tonight At Molino Park
May 18, 2010
Molino Park Elementary School will hold a kindergarten open house and registration event tonight.
Parents will have the opportunity to meet the teachers and visit the classrooms from 6:00 until 7:30 tonight. Students can also be registered during this time. Students must be five years old by September 1, 2010, to begin kindergarten.
Documents needed for registration are:
- Student’s birth certificate
- Student’s social security card
- Florida immunization record
- Florida physical form
- Proof of residence (current power bill or rent receipt)
(Bring original documents; the school will make copies)
For more information, contact the school at (850) 587-5265.
No Injuries In Highway 97 Rollover Accident
May 18, 2010
There were no injuries in a single vehicle rollover accident Tuesday morning on Highway 97 north of Molino.
The Florida Highway Patrol says Pamela Barnes, 50, of Stockton, Ala., was southbound on Highway 97 about 7:20 a.m. when she lost control of her 2001 Ford truck. The vehicle rotated across Highway 97, struck some trees and came to rest upside down.
Barnes was charged with failure to use due care and with having no vehicle insurance, according to the FHP.
There were no passengers in the vehicle. Engine 1819 from Molino Station of Escambia Fire Rescue also responded to the call.
Pictured above: The driver of this truck was not injured in a Tuesday morning accident on Highway 97. NorthEscambia.com photo, click to enlarge.
Century Councilman Unhappy With Town Clerk Hiring Process
May 18, 2010
One Century councilman is unhappy with how the town is selecting a new town clerk.
The town’s mayor, Freddie McCall, has interviewed seven of 33 applicants for the open position. He was joined in the interviews by the town’s accountant, Robert Hudson. McCall said the seven were chosen based upon the merits of their qualifications and “what they could bring to the table”.
“We zeroed in on about three, and we are waiting on getting the references back,” McCall said.
But council member Henry Hawkins said Monday night that he wanted to be in on the interview process.
“I asked to be in on that process,” Hawkins said. “We have a right and an obligation to be there. There are some things I am not going to waive.”
“I’m mixed up. I thought it was my job to do that,” the mayor said about the interviews. He said he thought he had been instructed by the council to present the final choice for approval.
“He (Hawkins) just wants to do the hiring himself, is what he wants,” McCall said. “I was to bring the recommendation to the town and y’all could turn it down if you didn’t approve.”
Council members Sharon Scott, Ann Brooks and Gary Riley said they did not want to be in on interviews for every job candidate, but Brooks said she thought the council should have the opportunity to review the resumes and qualifications of the top seven applicants.
The council voted 3-1 to review the resumes of the top seven town clerk job candidates. Hawkins voted against, while Nadine McCaw was absent due to illness. The mayor will present copies of the seven applicants’ resumes to each individual council member prior to presenting his recommendation for a new town clerk.
Former Town Clerk Dorothy Sims retired at the end of April.
Pictured top: Century Council members (L-R) Sharon Scott, Henry Hawkins and Gary Riley listen Monday night to Century Mayor Freddie McCall explain how he is choosing a new town clerk. NorthEscambia.com photo, click to enlarge.
BP Gives Florida $25 Million For Tourism Ads
May 18, 2010
British Petroleum agreed Monday to give Florida another $25 million to pay for an advertising campaign promising that the state’s beaches remain open and fishing is going strong even as the company struggles to stanch a massive oil spill off Louisiana’s Gulf coast.
The cash comes on top of $25 million the company has already pledged to help offset the state’s costs in preparing coastal regions for a possible landfall of the oil, which continues to mass roughly 350 miles from the St. Petersburg shoreline.
The announcement came following a meeting at the Florida Capitol between BP chief executive officer Tony Hayward and Gov. Charlie Crist. Hayward also said $15 million each in tourism grants will be distributed to Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana.
“The big focus now is on how do we get the people of the Gulf Coast back to normal operations, the normal way of life,” said Hayward, who admitted to a British newspaper last week that he assumes his $6 million-a-year job is on the line over the Deepwater Horizon oil-rig disaster.
Hayward echoed Crist in suggesting a theme for the state’s post-spill marketing campaign.
“Florida is open for business. The beaches are open and clean. The fish are biting, and everything is normal down here,” said Hayward.
Last week, Crist said the company should pay the state almost $25 million for a marketing campaign and another $10 million grant to help Gulf coast counties to respond to the sharp drop in hotel bookings and visitors since the April 20 rig accident, which killed 11 workers. Last week, Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association president Carol Dover said summer bookings along the Panhandle coast had dropped from their usual 90 percent occupancy levels into the teens, despite industry efforts to calm fears by waiving deposit deadlines and making cancellations easier if oil actually came ashore.
Dover acknowledged Monday that the state had sought $35 million from BP for state and county marketing efforts. “But we’re thrilled to have a piece of it,” she said, adding that while the spill has hurt tourism statewide, “Nothing is as bad as the Panhandle.”
Dover said that with tourists staying away, “businesses have truly hit the 911 button.”
The grants BP announced Monday come on top of the roughly $525 million – or about $17.5 million a day – the company has been spending on efforts to cap the broken well a mile below the water’s surface and cleanup efforts along the coastlines in four states. During the first quarter of the year, London-based BP’s profits averaged $93 million a day, according to media reports.
Hayward, however, was buoyed by signs Monday that the company had begun to contain the leak, which has been pumping more than 200,000 gallons of oil daily into the Gulf. BP said it is drawing about one-quarter of the escaping oil into a tanker ship, using a mile-long tube as a funnel. It also is preparing to attempt to “kill” the blown-out well in coming days, using mud and debris as a cork.
“We have achieved some considerable success,” Hayward said. “We are very confident we have contained the spill in the vicinity of the leak.”
Later, joining the governor in meeting with officials at the state’s Emergency Operations Center in Tallahassee, Hayward said, “Over the last 48 hours, we’re beginning to meet with some significant success. I do feel that we have for the first time turned the corner in this challenge.”
Researchers, however, remain concerned that the oil congealing in the Gulf could reach a major ocean current that carries it through the Florida Keys and along the East Coast.
Kathy Torian, a Visit Florida spokeswoman, said the state had already planned a $2.5 million advertising buy to promote the state’s Gulf beaches chiefly to a “drive-time” market stretching through much of the Southeast. But she said the additional BP cash will allow the state to expand the campaign into major national metropolitan markets, with online, newspaper and television advertising, along with international markets primarily in Great Britain and Germany.
Pictured: BP CEO Tony Hayward and Florida Gov. Charlie Crist address reporters Monday at the Capitol in Tallahassee. Photo by Christian Clements for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
By John Kennedy, The News Service Florida.