Judge: State Attorney Can Prosecute Commissioner Valentino

July 10, 2010

State Attorney Bill Eddins will be able to prosecute Escambia County Commissioner Gene Valentino, according to a ruling issued Friday by Okaloosa County Judge Mike Ward.

valentino.jpgValentino had petitioned the judge to remove Eddins and his office from the case, with his attorney, Barry Beroset, arguing that since the State Attorney’s office used Valentino to make secret audio recordings in 2007, it would be a conflict of interest. Valentino assisted the State Attorney’s office in an investigation of former county administrator George Touart.

A criminal case against Valentino involving campaign related charges was moved in May to Okaloosa County by Escambia Chief Judge Terry Terrell. Valentino has entered a not guilty plea on charges of the solicitation of a political contribution in a building owned by a governmental agency. The charge is a first degree misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in the county jail and a $1,000 fine.

Valentino is accused of accepting a campaign donation at his county office from Pensacola developer Dan Gilmore on November 5, 2009.

Pictured: Commissioner Gene Valentino’s Escambia County Jail booking photo, click to enlarge.

A Rainy Sunday Afternoon?

July 10, 2010

Some of the area had scattered showers and thunderstorms Saturday afternoon, and it looks like a repeat Sunday afternoon with a 70 percent chance of rain.

Here is your official North Escambia are forecast:

  • Tonight: Scattered showers and thunderstorms, mainly before 1am. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 74. West wind around 5 mph becoming calm. Chance of precipitation is 30%.
  • Sunday: Showers and thunderstorms likely, mainly after 1pm. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 94. Calm wind becoming southwest around 5 mph. Chance of precipitation is 70%.
  • Sunday Night: A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms, mainly before 1am. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 75. Southwest wind around 5 mph becoming calm.
  • Monday: A 50 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 94. Calm wind becoming south southwest between 5 and 10 mph.
  • Monday Night: A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms before 1am. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 74. South wind around 5 mph becoming calm.
  • Tuesday: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly cloudy, with a high near 96. Calm wind becoming south southwest between 5 and 10 mph.
  • Tuesday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 73. South southwest wind between 5 and 10 mph becoming calm.
  • Wednesday: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 95. Calm wind becoming south around 5 mph.
  • Wednesday Night: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly cloudy, with a low around 73. South wind around 5 mph becoming calm.
  • Thursday: A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 95.
  • Thursday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 73.
  • Friday: A 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 95.
  • Friday Night: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 73.

Weekend Trip: 50th Birthday Party For To Kill A Mockingbird

July 10, 2010

If you are looking for a short weekend trip, Monroeville, Alabama, would love to have you this weekend as they throw a birthday bash for the literary classic “To Kill a Mockingird”.

Published July 11, 1960, “To Kill a Mockingbird” was an instant success, and would go on to sell over 30 million copies in 40 languages. The plot and characters by Harper Lee were loosely based on the people and places she saw growing up in Monroeville.

This summer, Monroeville has turned into the fictional Maycomb of the novel, with events culminating this weekend.

The schedule on Saturday includes a preview screening of Sandy Jaffe’s upcoming documentary Our Mockingbird. The evening concludes with a giant lawn party of food, drink and conversation on the courthouse lawn. There will also be 1930s-era children’s games on the courthouse lawn and walking tours of downtown Monroeville including the sites where Harper Lee and Truman Capote lived as children. Museum volunteers will assist in these tours sharing their love of the famous novel and how it relates to their hometown.

The schedule for Sunday, the actual publication date of “To Kill a Mockingbird”, includes cake and ice cream on the courthouse lawn from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. The Pastry Shop in Mobile, Alabama, is creating a special cake for the event.

Throughout the weekend, visitors can participate in a silent auction for a signed, mint-condition, as-new 35th Anniversary Edition of “To Kill a Mockingbird” (all proceeds benefit the Monroe County Heritage Museum’s Education Fund.) The auction ends at 5 p.m. on Sunday. Also, the reading copy of a 50th Anniversary edition of  To Kill a Mockingbird signed by all the readers in the marathon reading will be auctioned.

For more information visit www.tokillamockingbird.com or click here for a pdf schedule.

Pictured top: Monroe County’s world famous courtroom. Picture bottom: The Old Courthouse museum on the square in Monroeville.  Courtesy photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.

Today’s Schedule, Photo Gallery: Blue Angels At Pensacola Beach

July 10, 2010

Today is the annual Blue Angel’s Pensacola Beach Air Show.

The event begins at noon, with the Blue Angels scheduled to fly at 2 p.m. On Saturday, NewsRadio 1620 will have live narration during the air show beginning at noon with Paul Stadden and former Blue Angels solo pilot Len Anderson.  NewsRadio 1620 and Cat Country 98.7 will have special traffic reports with live updates all day Saturday.

Aircraft scheduled to take part in the show include: a Grumman Widgeon G-44 flown by Julian MacQueen; Prometheus flown by Skip Stewart, Team RV; Red Star and the Dragon–Dragon Aviation; Fat Albert, a C-130 Hercules; and the Blue Angels F/A-18 Hornets.

For a photo gallery from Thursday’s Pensacola Beach practice show, click here. Photos courtesy Cheryl Casey Photography

Are you heading to the show? Send us your pictures! Email news@northescambia.com

NWE Football Registration Continues Today

July 10, 2010

Registration will take place today for Northwest Escambia football in Walnut Hill.

Registration will continue each Saturday in July at Ernest Ward Middle School from 10 a.m. until noon.

The cost is $70 for the first child, $35 for the second child and free for additional children in the same family.  Teams are available for children 5 to 13 years old. Birth certificates and social security cards are needed for each child for registration.

July Lawn And Garden Tips

July 10, 2010

theresafriday.jpgTiming is the key to success in your lawn and garden. And in this weekly feature, Teresa Friday, the Residential Horticulture Extension Agent for Santa Rosa County, offers an assortment of July lawn and garden tips.

Flowers

  • Plant heat-tolerant annuals such as: celosia, coleus, crossandra, impatiens, kalanchoe, nicotiana, ornamental pepper, portulaca, salvia, and vinca.
  • Lightly re-fertilize to enhance color and vigor.
  • Deadhead, or pinch off, spent flowers to stimulate more flowering.
  • Pinch back leggy growth.
  • Check roses for black spot fungus and apply a fungicide if necessary.
  • Mulch beds to 3-inches deep to help control weeds.
  • Monitor weekly for insect or disease problems.
  • Increase air circulation between plants. This helps prevent formation of fungal diseases such as leaf and stem blights.

Trees and Shrubs

  • Crape myrtles are blooming, so it’s an excellent time to select them for your landscape. Choose cultivars with the appropriate mature size for your site.
  • Deadhead crape myrtles to extend bloom time.
  • Check azaleas for the large, black azalea defoliator caterpillars. Control by hand picking or use an approved insecticide.
  • Watch for spider mites on shrubs and flowers; lacebugs on azaleas and pyracantha; flower thrips on roses, gardenias and other blooming plants; and oleander caterpillars on oleanders.
  • Prune hydrangeas and gardenias when flowering stops.
  • Do not heavily prune any of the spring flowering shrubs such as azaleas, camellias or spiraea.
  • Give trees a pre-hurricane check. Look for limbs that might snap and trunks that could split. Prune immediately.
  • Psocids (tree cattle) create the white webbing covering the branches and trunks of some trees. They feed on surface debris and do not injury the trees.

Fruits and Nuts

  • Prune blueberry bushes after harvest is completed.

Vegetable Garden

  • Plant eggplant, lima beans, okra, southern peas, peppers and watermelon.
  • Remove spring-planted tomato plants from the garden once harvesting is complete.
  • Burn or remove diseased plants from your property. Don’t place them in the compost pile.
  • Set out new tomato plants by late July. Try the “hot set” varieties.
  • Control tomato hornworm and fruitworms.
  • Establish a compost pile; high temperatures and frequent showers speed the breakdown process.
  • Solarize the soil to reduce nematode population in the vegetable garden. Remove old plant debris, till the area thoroughly, moisten well and cover with clear plastic film. Seal the edges with soil. Leave the cover on for 6 weeks.

Lawns

  • Monitor for sod webworms, spittlebugs, chinch bugs, caterpillars and mole crickets.
  • Use a soap drench to irritate insect pests into moving, making them easier to see. Mix 1 ½ oz of liquid dishwashing soap and 2 gal of water in a sprinkling can, then equally distribute the solution in over a 2 X 2 foot area.
  • To reduce stress on the lawn: mow before it is too high, keep mower blades sharp and raise the mowing height by ½ inch when the weather is hot.

Contact your local Extension Office for detailed instructions on these recommendations.

Four Injured In Muscogee Road Crash

July 10, 2010

At least four people were injured in a two vehicle accident Friday afternoon near Cantonment, and, as emergency personnel were working, a third vehicle became involved.

The accident was reported about 5 p.m. at the intersection of Beulah Road and Muscogee Road near the Alabama state line.  As emergency workers were loading patients from the first collision, one of the wrecked pickup trucks was struck by a utility trailer being towed by a passing pickup truck. There were no injuries in the second accident.

The accidents are under investigation by the Florida Highway Patrol. The Beulah and Cantonment stations of Escambia Fire Rescue and Escambia County EMS also responded.

For more photos from the scene, click here.

Pictured top: Four people were injured in this two vehicle collision Friday afternoon near Cantonment. Pictured below: A third vehicle pulling a utility trailer became involved in the crash as emergency workers were on scene. NorthEscambia.com photos by Kristi Smith, click to enlarge.


Fred Sherman Salter

July 9, 2010

Mr. Fred Sherman Salter, 72, passed away on Thursday, July 8, 2010 at a Mobile, AL hospital.

Mr. Salter was born on a cold, frosty November 21, 1937 in Burnt Corn, AL and was a resident of Escambia County, AL since he was very young. He was a 1955 graduate of W.S. Neal High School, a retired employee of Container Corporation of America after 39 years, a veteran of the U.S. Army, and active in the IBEW. He also served twelve years on the Escambia County School Board, was President of Pollard McCall PTO, a member of the Civitans for many years and served on the McCall Water Board. He served as treasurer of the Atmore American Legion and was a long standing member. He was also a member of the unofficial coffee drinking café clubs around town and a member of the Brewton Pentacostal Holiness Church for 47 years, where he served as deacon and treasurer for most of that time. He went on several missionary trips to Costa Rica and Guatemala where he helped build churches and church schools. Preceded in death by his Parents, Marvin Andrew and Gussie Idonia Salter, an older Sister, Thelma Salter, and a Brother, Reginald Wesley “Bud” Salter.

Survivors include: his Wife of 47 years, Frances DeLaine Salter of Atmore, AL; his Son, Fred Sherman and Teresa Salter, Jr.of Brewton, AL; 2 Grandchildren, Ashley Megan Nall and Stephen Andrew Salter; a Grandson by mutual love agreement, Jonah Isaiah Pate; 2 Great-Grandchildren, Trever Alan Nall and Jordan Elizabeth Salter; and a Sister, Wylmogene Hart of Brewton, AL.

Funeral services will be held Sunday, July 11, 2010 at 3:00 P.M. at the Brewton Pentacostal Holiness Church with the Rev. Byrnes Pitts officiating.

Burial will follow at Green Acres Cemetery with Petty Funeral Homes, LLC. directing.

Visitation will be held Saturday, July 10, 2010 between 6:00 and 9:00 P.M .at the Petty-Eastside Chapel Funeral Home.

Pallbearers will be David Chavers, Chuck Chavers, Joey O’ Bannon, Jerry Pate, Chris Byrd, Fred Balkcom, Pete Duiano, Ray Lee, Irvin Carnley, Jr., Gerald Franklin, and Lamar Hodge.

Honorary pallbearers will be the American Legion.

Driver, 16, Facing Charges After Early Morning Alcohol Related Crash

July 9, 2010

Three teens were involved in a single vehicle alcohol related accident early Friday morning at Highway 29 and Highway 97 in Molino, and the driver is facing multiple charges.

Ashton Vincent, 16, of Cantonment, was charged with having an unlawful breath-alcohol level for a minor (greater than .02), traveling too fast for conditions, reckless driving and violation of curfew restrictions after the 2:23 a.m. crash.

According to the Florida Highway Patrol, Vincent was traveling east on Crabtree Church Road  approaching Highway 97 at an apparent high rate of speed in a 2010 Dodge Challenger. She lost control, traveled through the parking lot of the Tom Thumb, hit large concrete sign, and overturned several times across two ditches and into the intersection of Highway 97 and Highway 29. The vehicle landed upright in the intersection.

Vincent suffered minor injuries, as did her two passengers — Nicole Galletti, 16, of Pensacola, and Morgan White, 16, of Pensacola. All three were wearing their seat belts, according to the FHP.

Highway 97 and a portion of southbound Highway 29 were closed over an hour by the crash.

The Molino Station of Escambia Fire Rescue, Escambia County EMS, the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office and the Florida Highway Patrol responded to the early morning crash.

Three teens were injured in this single vehicle alcohol related crash about 2:20 a.m. Friday at Highway 97 and Highway 29 in Molino. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.

Teen Severely Burned In Lawn Mower Fire

July 9, 2010

A Flomaton teen was severely burned in a lawn mower fire Thursday.

The 15-year old was transported by ambulance to D.W. McMillan Hospital in Brewton after the noon accident. He was later transferred to the University of South Alabama Regional Burn Center.

Further details were not available.

The Flomaton Fire Department, Engine 519 from the Century Station of Escambia Fire Rescue, Escambia County EMS and the Flomaton Police Department responded to the call.

Submitted photo by Christine Stanton for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.

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