Cantonment Motorcyclist Seriously Injured In Pensacola Wreck
September 15, 2010
A Cantonment man is in serious condition after being thrown from his motorcycle in a Pensacola wreck this morning.
The Florida Highway Patrol said Hayward B. Roberts, 53, was transported to Sacred Heart Hospital in serious condition following the crash at 7:31 a.m. at Pine Forest Road and Chellie Road, near the I-10 intersection with Pine Forest Road.
According to the FHP, Nathan Jay Marsh, 27, of Austin, Texas, pulled his 2006 Mazda pickup out of a business drive into the path of Roberts’ 2003 Harley motorcycle. Roberts, the FHP said, was thrown from his motorcycle into the southbound lanes of Pine Forest Road. Troopers said Roberts was wearing his helmet.
Marsh and his passenger, Benjamin J. Sullivan, 27, of Austin, Texas, were not injured. Marsh was charged with failing to yield right of way by the Florida Highway Patrol.
Escambia Asserting Right Of Way On Privately Owned Portion Of Fairground Road
September 15, 2010
Escambia County is asserting ownership of a right of way along a one-third of a mile stretch of Fairground Road in Molino that is privately owned.
A maintenance map to be adopted by the county shows the the 1600-foot section of Fairground Road runs south of Wilder Branch Creek to just south of Fillingim Lane. By adopting the maintenance map and certifying that the county has maintained the private road for over seven years, Florida law dictates that the county will have right of way on the portion of the road that has been maintained.
Pictured: This map, provided by Escambia County, shows the portion of the privately owned Fairground Road that has been maintained continuously by the county for more than seven years.
Arrest Warrant Issued For Suspect In Sunday Manhunt
September 15, 2010
An arrest warrant has now been issued for the man that was the focus of manhunt Sunday night in Century.
David Michael Mathis, 30, of Century, is wanted on a battery charge following a domestic violence incident on Shady Lane near Stateline Road about 7:30 p.m. Sunday, according to the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office. Mathis fled the area on foot before law enforcement arrived.
Deputies surrounded the area, while a K-9 unit from the Century Correctional Institution searched for Mathis. Officers from the Flomaton Police Department were on the lookout for Mathis in their city, less than one-tenth of mile away. The manhunt was called off about 9:25 p.m.
According to the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office, a female got into an argument with Mathis, her husband of nine months. The argument turned physical, with Mathis pushing her to the ground and attempting to drag her back inside their apartment. A witness approached Mathis with an ax handle and ordered him to leave the victim alone, according to the incident report.
When Mathis fled the area, it is believed he had taken the victim’s cell phone and had been calling friends and relatives asking for help to the get out of the area, the Sheriff’s Office report states.
Mathis is described as a white male, hazel eyes, 170 pounds, 5-foot 8-inches tall, with a bald or nearly bald head.
Anyone with information on the whereabouts of Mathis should call the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office at (850) 436-9650 or their local police department.
Pictured: David Michael Mathis in an Escambia County Jail booking photo from earlier this year.
Century Purchases $137K Water Meters, Expects To Increase Billing
September 15, 2010
The Town of Century has approved the $137,386 purchase of nearly 1,000 new automated water meters to eliminate billing problems and lost revenue.
The purchase of 941 meters from Datamatic, Ltd. will be financed for two years interest free with the first payment due next year. Datamatic has told the town that they will recoup much of the purchase price in additional billings due to increased meter efficiency.
The purchase, which was already in the town’s budget, was approved 3-0 with council members Henry Hawkins and Gary Riley absent from the meeting.
“We were doing the best we could do,” Mayor Freddie McCall said recently of the town’s current automated water meters, “but what we ended up doing was throwing Band-Aids on a situation that required more.”
The current automated meters have been plagued by misreads, billing mishaps and continual customers complaints.
“We have been fighting this for years now,” McCall said at a meeting with a Datamatic official last month. He said that the current system will correctly run only about one of every 10-15 billing profiles. A billing profile is essentially a long-term account history. “It’s a headache.”
“The problems with that product start snowballing and it becomes very inaccurate,” Dan Devane, regional sales manager for meter equipment Datamatic, Ltd., said at a special council workshop August 24. Datamatic manufactured the current, problematic meters, which were installed about five years ago. They also manufacture the new “Mosaic Firefly” equipment the town may purchase.
In trading in the old system for the new, Datamatic will provide the town about $140,000 in discounts.
With the new Mosaic Firefly system, the town’s meter reader will never leave his vehicle. He will simply drive block to block as the meters automatically report their readings. For an estimated $30,000 in upgrades at a later date, the new system wold be capable of automatically reporting water meter readings from across the town without human intervention.
With the completely automated “mesh” system, each meter would communicate with neighboring meters, eventually relaying a report from each meter back to city hall. That method, Devane said, is much more cost effective than sending out a human meter reader. In addition, daily reports could pinpoint customers with leaks, backflows, usage on inactive accounts and fraud.
Datamatic also manufactured the current gas meter reading system for the Town of Century. McCall said there is no plan to replace that equipment at this point, but it would eventually be phased out for a newer system like that proposed for the water meters.
The new water meters would have a 10 year guarantee, including an internal battery. Each meter would store hourly information for 320 days. The new meters will also be lead-free, a standard required of new meters in Florida by 2012.
The $137,386 purchase will pay for itself in less than two years, according to estimates by Devane. He estimated the town would realize an additional $83,125 in additional billings due to increased meter efficiency and about $2,200 per year in labor savings.
Pictured top: Datamatic Regional Sales Manager Dan Devane describes a new water meter system as Century Mayor Freddie McCall and Council President Ann Brooks look on. Pictured below: This PowerPoint slide details the no cost items the Datamatic company promises to provide to the Town of Century with a water meter system upgrade. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Mixed Beginnings: Ernest Ward Opens Volleyball Season (With Photo Gallery)
September 15, 2010
The Ernest Ward Middle School volleyball team opened their season with a win Monday over Flomaton. On Tuesday afternoon, the Lady Eagles fell to the Escambia Academy Cougars.
Monday afternoon, EWMS took a double header from the Flomaton Hurricanes, winning both sets 25-13, 21-25, 15-7 and 25-6, 25-10 and 15-4. Tuesday afternoon, EWMS dropped a double header to Escambia Academy, 10-25, 23-25 and 25-22, 15-25 and 16-18.
For a NorthEscambia.com photo gallery, click here.
The Ernest Ward Lady Eagles’ short season wraps up with games Monday, September 20 at Ernest Ward and Thursday, September 23 at Escambia Academy. Games begin at 4:30.
Pictured: Action from Ernest Ward Middle School versus Escambia Academy Tuesday afternoon in Walnut Hill. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Report To Be Released Soon On FHP Shooting Of Cottage Hill Man
September 15, 2010
The State Attorney’s Office is now reviewing the case of the shooting death of a Cottage Hill man during a July traffic stop.
Clifton Salter, 59, was shot multiple times during a Florida Highway Patrol traffic stop on Pine Forest Road. Salter also suffered at least one self-inflicted gunshot wood, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
The FDLE has turned the results of their investigation over to the State Attorney’s Office. It is expected that the State Attorney’s Office could release the findings of its case review in the next few days.
Salter suffered from post traumatic stress disorder, according to his brother, Santa Rosa County Commissioner Don Salter. He was a retired BellSouth customer service supervisor and a Vietnam veteran.
The shooting happened at 8:27 a.m. on July 14 on Pine Forest Road just north of Longleaf Drive, about a mile from the Pensacola Interstate Fairgrounds.
Pictured above: Officials investigate the officer-involved shooting of Clifton Salter of Cottage Hill in July. NorthEscambia.com file photo click to enlarge.
Baldwin County, Murphy Defeat Northview Lady Chiefs
September 15, 2010
Baldwin County and Murphy high schools defeated Northview Tuesday in a tri-match.
“We have some work that we need to focus on tomorrow at practice after tonight’s game against Baldwin County High School and Murphy High School. We need to focus on getting our serve receive where it needs to be,” Northview Head Coach Betty Heaton said. “I hope that Thursday against Baker we will show ourselves to be a more complete team.”
Northview Vs. Murphy –Varsity
The Lady Chiefs (1-1) fell to Murphy in two games—5-25, 11-25.
Northview Vs. Baldwin County –Varsity
The Chiefs also lost to Baldwin County in three games — 25-23, 20-25, 11-15.
Northview varsity combined tri-match stats:
Shawn Montgomery — Kills-12, Aces-6, Digs-2, Blocks-3
Raylin Spence — Aces-2, Assists-7, Digs – 2
Sarah Killiam – Digs-1, Aces -1, Assists-2
Northview Vs. Murphy – JV
Northview Vs. Baldwin County – JV
Both Murphy and Baldwin County defeated Northview in JV play. Scores were not available.
Northview JV combined tri-match stats:
Madison Arrington 9 – Assists-3, Aces-2
Taylor Roberson – Aces-1, Kills-2, Digs – 1
Danielle Steadham – Blocks-1, Kills -4
Attorney Generals Attack Health Care Reform In Federal Court
September 15, 2010
The lawsuit challenging the federal health care law enacted this spring is likely to proceed after a federal judge in Pensacola said Tuesday that he was leaning toward letting at least some of the claims by several states against the administration continue.
After asking pointed questions of lawyers for the U.S. Department of Justice, and attorneys representing Florida and 18 other states, U.S. District Judge Roger Vinson said he would probably agree with the federal government on some claims and dismiss part of the suit, but let parts of it proceed.
Vinson did not suggest which parts of the claims against the Obama administration were likely to survive, meaning the contours of the case will not be clear until he issues his formal ruling Oct. 14. He did, however, set a schedule for future briefs and hearings, which included Dec. 16 oral arguments on a motion to find the health care law unconstitutional that attorneys for the state plan to file.
That was enough for Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum, who filed the legal challenge a day after President Barack Obama signed the health care law in March, to say Tuesday he was optimistic the case would go forward.
“I think we’ll be in standing at the end of the day for the case,” he told the News Service of Florida. “Obviously how he rules on all of this is very important to us. We certainly want to be there with the individual mandate; we want to be there with our claims for the states that we’re concerned about, the overload of Medicaid and so forth and state sovereignty.”
The National Federation of Independent Businesses, a co-plaintiff in the case, was hopeful Vinson would side with them on standing too.
“We are very encouraged,” said Karen Harned, NFIB executive director. “We felt that the constitution was really the star of the show today during arguments and we feel we’ve got that on our side.”
The DOJ argued that Tuesday should have been the end of the line for the lawsuit because the states, the National Federation of Independent Businesses and two Florida residents couldn’t challenge the legality of the health care law because they would not be affected by it until 2014, when the law is scheduled to be implemented.
The states countered that the law violates the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution by requiring residents to purchase insurance, and that the requirement that states expand their Medicaid rolls violates the states’ rights guaranteed in the 10th Amendment.
Vinson questioned both sides, but appeared to be more sympathetic to arguments put forth by the states.
“This really puts all 50 states on the short end of the stick, because all the federal government has to say is ‘we’re going to give you some money, and you’re going to have to do this,’” Vinson said. “And for something such as health care, which (is) essential, the states are left powerless. Is that where we are?”
Vinson pointed out that Congress and President Obama maintained during debates in Congress that the health care bill would not raise taxes, but the Justice Department was arguing in court Tuesday that the bill could not be challenged because the federal government had the authority to levy taxes.
“I’ve given this a lot of thought,” Vinson said. “We had the Whiskey Rebellion because people rebelled against having to pay taxes for the whiskey that they made. The government never made people buy whiskey.”
Deputy U.S. Assistant Attorney General Ian Heath Gershengorn replied that Congress had determined that everyone was going to buy medical services at some point in their lives, whether or not they wanted to buy insurance.
“Congress found that there are separate markets here, one for medical services, one for health care,” he said. “Individuals cannot keep themselves (out of the medical services market) because they cannot control when they might get hit by a bus,” he said. “And when that happens, the individual gets care because we do not allow individuals to die on the floor of the emergency room.”
The mandate is allowed, the government argues because of the billions of dollars a year in unpaid medical bills absorbed by the market each year.
David Rivkin, Jr., a Washington, D.C. lawyer who worked in the administrations of Presidents Reagan and George H.W. Bush, and is representing the states in this case, disagreed.
“Cost shifting is not unique to health care,” he said. “It permeates every aspect of our market economy. Unfortunately, millions of Americans default on their credit card payments…millions of Americans fall into personal bankruptcy. What happens in those cases? The costs are shifted to other participants in the market.”
Despite Vinson’s pointed questioning, Gershengorn said he was confident legal precedent was on Washington’s side in the case.
“The states (are) free to disagree with policy judgments Congress has made,” he said as he wrapped up his argument. “They are not free to overturn 70 years of Constitutional law.”
But Blaine Winship, special counsel in the Florida AG’s office, argued that the court should weigh in on the health care law because it was so controversial.
“I concede we don’t have cases” where the states’ claim that they should be able to challenge the law on behalf of their residents, who were dual citizens of the state they live in and the country, Winship told Vinson. “We’re simply pointing out that if there ever was a case where (that) could apply, this is it.”
Joining Florida in the lawsuit are Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Nebraska, Nevada, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah and Washington.
By Keith Laing
The News Service Florida
for NorthEscambia.com
Cantonment Men Involved In Highway 29 Crash
September 15, 2010
Two Cantonment men were uninjured in a traffic crash Monday afternoon on Highway 29 in Pensacola.
The Florida Highway Patrol says Lonnie G. Craft, 54, was northbound on Highway 29 in his 2003 pickup truck near Johnson Avenue when he went into diabetic shock. His truck struck the rear of a 2000 Chevrolet pickup driven by Omar Banmally, 39, of Cantonment. Craft traveled another tenth of a mile following the collision before he was stopped by an Escambia County Sheriff’s deputy who witnessed the crash.
There were no injuries in the traffic accident, but Craft was transported to Baptist Hospital due to his diabetic state, according to the FHP. Craft was charged with careless driving.
Northview Holds Open House
September 15, 2010
Parents and community members had the opportunity to visit Northview High School during their annual open house Tuesday night. Pictured top: Teacher Tom Meehan (foreground) explains vocational programs at the school to a group of parents and students. Pictured below: Students Savannah Singleton, Lauren McCall, Charleigh McPherson, Charla Stark attend the open house. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
