Scott Signs Budget, Slashes $615 Million
May 27, 2011
Saying lawmakers had approved a budget weighted down with “short-sided, frivolous, wasteful” projects, Gov. Rick Scott vetoed a record $615 million from the once nearly $70 billion spending plan. The moves pleased Scott’s grass-roots, tea party allies but irritated some influential lawmakers.
Speaking to an event at The Villages that had all the trappings of a political rally, Scott called for the Legislature to plow the money from the vetoes into K-12 education — even though lawmakers cut far less from public schools than Scott’s original proposal in February.
“Let’s turn these short-sided, frivolous, wasteful spending programs into long-term investments into the future of Florida’s workforce,” Scott said. “By doing this, we are prioritizing our children and our grandchildren’s education over special interests, paying as we go and living within a budget.”
The record veto number — aimed at encouraging the small-government activists who helped Scott beat the Republican establishment in last year’s GOP primary — was significantly inflated by axing $305 million in authorized spending for the Florida Forever land-conservation program, as long as the state could generate the money from the sale of surplus lands.
That actual money wasn’t really in the budget – and most of it wasn’t likely to be either. Florida Forever supporters believed those surplus land sales would generate as little as $5 million to $10 million.
“It was not a major source of money,” said Eric Draper, executive director of Audubon of Florida. “It does not make sense for the governor to veto that. It certainly doesn’t make sense that he would then claim that as some sort of budget reduction.”
Draper said conservationists had hoped whatever money could be provided for the program could keep Florida Forever running until better times could lead to more funding for land conservation.
“Gov. Scott has taken a program that was struggling and kicked it to the curb,” he said.
Meanwhile, House Speaker Dean Cannon, R-Winter Park, suggested Scott’s comments on education were disingenuous, given that less than $100 million of Scott’s vetoes came in general revenue that could easily be shifted to education by the Legislature.
“What is more surprising is the Governor’s sudden emphasis on K-12 education,” Cannon said in a statement issued by his office. ” … It would have been helpful if the Governor had shared this new found emphasis with us before the budget was finalized.”
Democrats were less kind about Scott’s claim that he was signing a “jobs budget.”
“Only tea partiers under the control of billionaire right wingers could cheer such propaganda,” Senate Minority Leader Nan Rich, D-Weston, said in a withering statement about the signing. “Only the supporters of voodoo economics could honestly believe that firing 4,500 state workers followed by thousands more public school teachers in a state already drowning in pink slips will somehow create jobs.”
Scott used his line-item veto to cut $164 million worth of university and college construction projects.
The projects were predominantly funded using bonds backed with revenues from a utilities tax. Scott said he was concerned about adding more bond debt, and the negative impact that might have on the state’s rating.
“Florida is borrowing beyond its self-imposed constraints and taking on debt that it should not,” Scott said.
State University System Chancellor Frank Brogan issued a statement Thursday saying Scott had raised “compelling questions about how the state addresses funding for the construction of much-needed classrooms, labs and research facilities.”
University of Central Florida lobbyist Daniel Holsenbeck called the Scott vetoes “not surprising.” UCF was one of the hardest hit schools, with $21.3 million in money for repairs and new construction axed.
“We are disappointed, but we certainly respect his opinion and we will not stop working on getting these projects funded,” Holsenbeck said.
Holsenbeck said UCF needs money to pay for the construction of a classroom building, for instance. Without it, the university has to delay needed construction and squeeze more students into the same number of rooms.
But perhaps the most expensive budget line-item for college construction projects was saved. The University of South Florida polytechnic campus, in Senate Budget Chairman J.D. Alexander’s home district, was protected from Scott’s veto pen, though other USF projects were nixed.
Alexander, R-Lake Wales, has been a strong advocate for the campus and was angered last year when funding for the campus was vetoed by Gov. Charlie Crist.
Scott defended the $35 million expenditure in his veto message, saying the new campus focuses on the “high-tech fields of the future,” and will help ease the state university system’s “demand for access.”
On another closely-watched item, the governor declined to veto a $150 million raid of the state’s road-building fund, blaming it on lawmakers’ decision to use the money to plug holes in public school funding.
“To me, it wasn’t much of a choice,” Scott said at The Villages. “We are putting that $150 million into education.”
Bob Burleson, head of the Florida Transportation Builders’ Association, called for lawmakers to come up with a way to restore the funding.
“By deliberately making the STTF raid veto-proof, they have tied Governor Scott’s hands and are responsible for the potential elimination of thousands of Florida jobs,” Burleson said.
Scott cut down multimillion dollar projects across the state, some of them seemingly politically appealing. He slashed $12 million in funding for the National Veteran’s Homeless Support Group, $10 million for the restoration of the St. Johns River and $6 million in economic aid for the Panhandle in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon oil disaster.
He also sliced a series of smaller-ticket items that he and allies said weren’t critical in hard times, from $400,000 to study casino gambling to $250,000 to craft a plan for rainwater collection at state prisons.
“Where I’m from, rainwater can be caught with a $2 bucket,” Scott said.
Almost immediately, questions began cropping up about whether lawmakers might overturn Scott’s decision — either next year or in a special session before the Legislature returns in January for an early session centered on redistricting.
“Over the coming weeks I will visit with senators statewide as we carefully examine the Governor’s vetoes and the budget as a whole,” said Senate Majority Leader Andy Gardiner, R-Orlando. “As elected representatives of the people of the state of Florida, it is our duty to thoroughly review the Governor’s decisions while considering the wide-ranging needs of our diverse state.”
Sen. David Simmons, R-Maitland, told the capitol bureau for the Orlando Sentinel and the South Florida Sun Sentinel that he would like to see the Legislature hold a special session to smooth out “rough edges” in education and health-care funding.
But Katie Betta, a spokesman for Cannon, told the papers the speaker had “no plans to call a special session at this time.”
Pictured top: Gov. Rick Scott signs the 2011-2012 Florida budget into law Thursday at The Villages. Courtesy photo for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
By Brandon Larrabee and Lilly Rockwell
The News Service of Florida
Man Charged In 3-Butcher Knife Home Invasion
May 27, 2011
An Escambia County man is charged in a home invasion in which deputies say he entered the home swinging three butcher knives.
Escambia County Sheriff’s deputies arrested Michael Scott Elliot, 50, early Wednesday evening on a charge of armed burglary and two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
Officers responded to a report of a home invasion in the 2900 block of W. Lloyd St. at approximately 8 p.m. Once officers arrived at the location of the call, it became evident that Elliot had fled scene.
The victim stated that a friend had gone to open the front door of the residence to take out the trash and Elliot was standing at the door. Elliot then entered the home swinging three butcher knives, yelling “I’m going to kill you all”, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
The victim started to call 911 and Elliot backed out of the front door, jumped in his car and sped off.
Deputies located Elliot’s vehicle at his home in the 700 block of Citrus Street. He was booked into the Escambia County Jail on $60,000 bond.
Joe W. Lassiter
May 27, 2011
Joe W. Lassiter, 74, of Cantonment died Tuesday, May 24, 2011, at home.
Joe was born April 01, 1937, in Laurel Hill to Berry Lassiter and Bessie Smith Lassiter. He retired from Monsanto after 35 years of service.
He was preceded in death by his parents, brother E.B. Lassiter and sister, Eunice Lassiter.
Survivors include his wife, Charlene Lassiter of Cantonment; son, Joe W. Lassiter, Jr. (Gladys) of the Philippines; daughters, Rhonda Cowan (Rob) of Pace, Linda Popanz (Mike) of Englewood, FL, Pam Paskewitz (Butch) of Beaver Creek, OH and Brenda McElveen (Jack) of Virginia Beach, VA; step daughter, Vikki Thomas (Michael) of Pensacola; sisters, Louvene Harrison of Tallahassee, Ernstine Barnes of Baker, Lisa Miller of Prattville, and Evelyn Lassiter of Ft. Walton Beach; and 13 grandchildren.
Graveside services will be held at 2:00 p.m., Friday, May 27, 2011, at Wing Cemetery in Wing, Alabama.
In lieu of flowers memorial contributions may be made to Emerald Coast Hospice, 5401 Corporate Woods Drive, Suite #800, Pensacola, FL 32504.
Bayview Fischer-Pou Chapel, 3351 Scenic Highway is in charge of arrangements.
Condolences may be offered at www.bayviewfisher-pouchapel.com.
Truck Rolls Into House
May 26, 2011
Emergency crews responded to a home in Bratt Thursday afternoon after a pickup truck rolled into a house.
A surprised neighbor found that his unoccupied Ford F150 had rolled across a backyard and into a utility room at a his neighbor’s home, causing just minor damage. There were no injuries.
The Walnut Hill Station of Escambia Fire Rescue, Escambia County Sheriff’s Office and Atmore Ambulance responded to the call.
NorthEscambia.com photo, click to enlarge.
Escambia School District Websites Hacked, Proclaim Love For Iran
May 26, 2011
Many of the Escambia County School District’s websites were hacked Wednesday night and replaced with a page in support of Iran and displaying an obscene gesture.
The hacker’s page proclaimed “this Website Has Been Hacked…N3td3v!l Was Here” and proclaimed “We Love Iran”. The page also included a skull and crossbones image, along with a drawing of an obscene finger gesture. To see an image of the complete page (Warning: Including the obscene gesture!), click the image on the left.
By midnight, the hacker’s page had been removed from the school district’s main pages, but it remained on the pages of several schools, including Northview High and Ernest Ward Middle, at 7 a.m. Thursday.
Pictured: A portion of the Northview High School website as seen about 12:30 Thursday morning.
Editor’s note: On the image of the hacked page, we have digitally altered the NorthEscambia.com IP address used to visit the page; the page displayed the Internet address of any computer visiting the site.
Getaway Driver: Woman Found Guilty In Molino Pharmacy Robbery
May 26, 2011
A Cantonment woman was found guilty Wednesday on multiple charges related to the September 2010 armed robbery of Scott’s Pharmacy in Molino.
It took an Escambia County jury less than two hours to return the verdict about 7:00 Wednesday evening against 24-year old Krystal Lynn Collins. She was found guilty of armed robbery with a firearm and a half dozen felony drug charges. She will be sentenced July 26.
According to the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office, Collins drove the getaway car for Joseph Daniel Flowers during the holdup. Flowers remains in the Escambia County Jail awaiting a July trial.
For a photo gallery from the robbery scene and the suspect’s home, click here.
About 1:15 the afternoon of September 20, 2010, the Escambia County Sheriff’s Department believes Flowers robbed the pharmacy at Highway 29 and Molino Road at gunpoint while wearing boxer shorts on his head.
The bandit was described by witnesses as a white male in a navy blue bathrobe, blue jeans, black house slippers, yellow kitchen-type gloves, and with boxer shorts on his head. He entered the store and announced that he was robbing the business. Employees said he was armed with a revolver that was wrapped in a plastic bag and pointed at a store employee as he demanded prescription narcotics. Flowers threatened to kill witnesses if the police responded, the report states.
Flowers fled the store with a large quantity of narcotics worth several thousand dollars in two plastic bags, according to the ECSO report.
A witness saw Flowers get into a silver, mid-size vehicle parked behind the pharmacy after the robbery. He was unable to get the tag number from the car, but he did note two stickers, one red and one white, on the on the vehicle.
Scott’s Pharmacy personnel told deputies that they believed Flowers, a pharmacy customer, was the robbery suspect, based upon recognizing his voice and a unique gait due to a back injury. Deputies found a silver Honda Civic at Flowers’ residence in the 400 block of Molino Road that matched the description given by the witness.
Collins was present at the home on Molino Road, according to the Sheriff’s Office. She told deputies that she had driven Flowers to a Dollar General Store near the pharmacy prior to 11:00 that morning and she had not gone anywhere else. Surveillance video from the Dollar General placed Collins in the store between 1:06 and 1:08 p.m. — just prior to the pharmacy robbery.
She purchased a bottle of Coca-Cola and a Mountain Dew at the Dollar General, according to deputies. Flowers dropped the red cap from a bottle of Coca-Cola inside the pharmacy during the robbery, deputies said. A Coca-Cola bottle without a cap was discovered in the vehicle at Flowers’ residence.
Inside the home, deputies recovered a .38 caliber Smith and Wesson revolver matching the description of the one given by store employees, according to the report.
Pictured top: Krystal Lynn Collins’ mugshot from the Escambia County Jail. Pictured middle inset: Collins (then with blond hair) was briefly taken into custody after the robbery before being released. Pictured bottom inset: The alleged getaway car with two stickers as noted by a witness. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
vehicle.
‘Functional Consolidation’ Could Happen With Escambia, Pensacola Emergency Calls
May 26, 2011
Escambia County and the city of Pensacola could combine their emergency dispatch services.
County Administrator Randy Oliver, Escambia County Sheriff David Morgan, Mayor Ashton Hayward’s Chief of Staff John Asmar, and Pensacola Police Chief Chip Simmons met Monday afternoon to discuss moving forward with a plan to implement functional consolidation of emergency dispatch operations. The goal of all the entities is to see if it is feasible to maintain the same level of service to the public while saving taxpayers money.
In order to move forward the plan would have to provide a cost savings for county residents while maintaining standards of service. Although cost savings would come from reducing duplicated services, officials said the effort would not result in any staff layoffs except through attrition, as dispatch staff retire.
Representatives from the above agencies will visit Mobile — which recently completed a similar consolidation — to study how functional consolidation was accomplished there.
Drought Now ‘Extreme’
May 26, 2011
Our rainfall deficit continues to worsen, with the North Escambia area now official in an extreme drought with no significant rainfall in weeks. The U.S. Drought Monitor map shows all of Escambia and Santa Rosa counties in a severe drought, along with the southernmost part of Escambia County, Alabama.
The U.S. Drought Monitor is published by the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln using a variety of climatic data.
Pictured top: A field of corn is irrigated recently at Highway 4 and Dortch Road in Bratt. NorthEscambia.com photo, click to enlarge.
Santa Rosa Cuts 7th Period, Teachers
May 26, 2011
Changes are is store next year at Santa Rosa County middle and high schools with the elimination of one class period per day, and several teachers could be out of job.
With an $11 million cut in funding from the state, Santa Rosa will have six periods per day rather than the current seven for grades 6-12. The number of elective classes will also be cut, and students will only be required to have 24 credits to graduate rather than 28.
In all, 64 teaching positions and 13 math coaches will eliminated with the end of seventh period. But, due to state-mandated class-size limits, there will be 30 new teachers and nine support staff members hired at the elementary level.
Playground Blaze Causes Minor Damage
May 26, 2011
A playground blaze caused minor damage Wednesday afternoon at the Bratt Community Park on West Highway 4. The fire burned a large area of wood chips around the park’s playground equipment, which was not damaged. The cause of the blaze was not immediately available.
The Century, McDavid and Walnut Hill stations of Escambia Fire Rescue responded to the 4 p.m. fire.
Pictured: Firefighters work to extinguish smoldering wood chips on the playground at the Bratt Community Park Wednesday afternoon. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
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