Oak Grove Landfill Permit Renewal Under Consideration
June 3, 2011
A public hearing will be held June 16 to consider the renewal of a construction and demolition debris disposal pit permit in Oak Grove.
The current permit for the facility, located at 745 North Highway 99, was issued in 1996 and is now expiring. The 20 acre disposal area is on a 26 acre piece of property.
The public hearing will be held at 5:32 p.m on June 16 in the Escambia County Commission Chambers in downtown Pensacola.
2,200 Lose Power Around Cantonment; Eight North Escambia Schools Lose Internet, Email
June 3, 2011
About 2,200 Gulf Power customers lost power for just over an hour Thursday afternoon, and the outage left eight North Escambia schools without internet access or email.
The power was out in the Cantonment area from about 2:18 until 3:28 p.m., according to Jeff Rogers, corporate communications supervisor with Gulf Power. The outage was centered around Tate Road after a feeder line tripped, he said.
The power outage at Tate High School cut internet and email for the schools in North Escambia. Tate High High School, according to the school district, houses the server that provides internet and email connectivity to all of the North Escambia schools.
Tate High, Bratt Elementary, Jim Allen Elementary, Ransom Middle, Ernest Ward Middle, Molino Park Elementary, Byrneville Elementary and Northview High all lost internet and email service. Service returned after power was restored.
Sweet Deal: ‘Project Sugar’ Could Mean 100 New Escambia Jobs
June 3, 2011
Escambia County is hoping for a sweet deal by pledging support for a project that could bring 100 new jobs.
The new business name has not been released yet, but officials say “Project Sugar” is a maker of confectionery products and is expected to bring over 100 full-time jobs to
the area. The average wage would be $43,000 plus benefits. The company would have a minimum capital investment of $6 million.
Escambia County is pledging an incentive up to a quarter million dollars. The company would receive $125,000 when they reach 50 jobs, $2.15 million in payroll and a capital investment of $6 million. Once the company reaches 50 jobs and $4.3 million in payroll, the county would contribute another $125,000 in incentive money.
The $250,000 will come from Escambia County’s Economic Development Fund.
Northview Honors The Class Of 2011 (With Photo Gallery, Awards List)
June 3, 2011
The Northview Class of 2011 held Senior Honors Night at the school Thursday night, with over $1.25 million in scholarships and academic aid presented to members of the senior class.
During the event, the school also named Sarah Killam as valedictorian and Emily Vickrey as salutatorian.
For a photo gallery from the event, click here.
(Editor’s note: Top academic honor students, Beta Club members and subject area awards will be in included in an upcoming story.)
The following scholarships and awards were presented Thursday nightL
Atmore Rotary Club Academic All Stars
Mallory Bell $750
Ashley Digmon $750
Laneicia Gomez $750
Sarah Killam $750
Sara Conner $500
Tyler Garrett $500
Jocelyn Gould $500
Jessynia McCall $500
Christina Sepulveda $500
Emily Vickrey $500
Dustin Yuhasz $500
Barrineau Park Historical Society
Dixie Picheo $500
FFA Alumni Scholarship
Allyson Bullard $500
Stephanie Solari $500
Allison Vidak $500
FFA National Scholarship Dodge/Ram
Allie Vidak $1000
First National Bank and Trust
Sarah Killam, Valedictorian $100 Saving Bond
Fortis Institute of Technology
Allison Freeman $500
Florida A&M University
Derrick Portis $2000
Jim and Jumi Ross Memorial Scholarship
Tyler Garrett $750
Nashville Auto-Diesel College
Adam Freeman $1000
NNOA Scholarship
Tyler Garrett $500
Pensacola Civitan Club Citizen of the Year
Ashley Digmon, Gift Card
Pensacola State College
Haley Simpson $1600 (renewable)
Jocelyn Gould $1600 (renewable)
Poarch Band of Creek Indians
Derek Lewis $3500 Fred L. McGhee Memorial
Dustin Lewis $4000 Indian Descent Scholarships
Shawna Montgomery $30,000 Tuition Assistance Program
Brooke Tullis $30,000 Tuition Assistance Program
Megan Flurnoy $30,000 Tuition Assistance Program
Spirit of the Chief Award
Sarah Killam $1000
Austin Arrington $1000
United Bank of Atmore Award
Emily Vickrey, Salutatorian $75 Saving Bond and 5 shares of stock
University of West Florida
Sarah Killam $17,000
Joshua Scott $1000
US Army Scholar Athlete
Sarah Killam, Medal
Colton Sims, Medal
USNA/NROTC
Tyler Garrett $180,000
Walnut Hill Ruritan Glenn Key Ruritan Award
Stephanie Solari $500
Walnut Hill Ruritan Service Award
Adam Freeman $100
NAACP
Laneicia Gomez
Jocelyn Gould
Auburn University
Tyler Garrett $1000 Board of Trustees Scholarship
Tyler Garrett $1000 Chick-Fil-A Scholarship
Better Business Bureau Student Ethic’s Scholarship
Sarah Killam $1000
Charles and Alice Mayson Scholarship
Sarah Killam $12,000
Faulkner State
Mallory Bell $5500
Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University
Derrick Portis $2000
Florida Bright Futures Recognition
25 – Florida Medallion $200,000 (4 years, $8000 each)
Jansen Bodiford
Caitlyn Brown
Allyson Bullard
Haley Coleman
Trestine Dean
Ashley Digmon
Laneicia Gomez
Jocelyn Gould
David Lambert
Dabney Langhorne
Derek Lewis
Dustin Lewis
Dixie Picheo
Derrick Portis
Brianna Roley
Megan Ryan
Joshua Scott
Christinal Sepulveda
Hayley Simpson
Colton Sims
Stephanie Solari
Diamond Tullis
Ladarion White
Katie Wieborg
Dustin Yuhasz
Florida Bright Futures Recognition
1 – Florida Academic $12,120 (4 years)
Sarah Killam
Henry H. Reichhold Scholarship
David (A.J.) Lambert, Jr $16,000
International Papers Cantonment Martin Luther King, Jr. Scholarship
Derrick Portis $1000
LaDarion White $1000
Jay Hospital Employee Foundation Scholarships
Jocelyn Gould $1000
Sarah Killam $1000
John E. Frenkel Sr. Educational Grants
Stephanie Solari $1000
Allison Vidak $1000
Quint and Rishy Studer Citizenship Scholarship
Katie Wieborg $1000
Trevecca Nazarene University
Naomi Cooler $10,000
Tri-City Rotary Club Scholarship
Joshua Scott $250
University of Mobile
Emily Vickrey $28,000
University of South Alabama
Allyson Bullard $14000
Colton Sims $33,250
Results Announced In Log A Load Bass Tournament
June 3, 2011
The recent 15th annual charity Log A Load For Kids Bass Tournament raised $15,000 for Sacred Heart Hospital.
The tournament at the Swamp House Marina and Landing offered $10,000 guaranteed prize money, including $3,000 for first place.
Top ten tournament winners were:
- Eddie Milstead and Tony Clements
- Leon Jernigan and Bobby Jernigan
- Kenneth Morris and Chazz Morris
- Larry Bullock and Rodger Caldwell
- JerryManning and Reggie Carper
- Jamie Franklin and Jeff McNiel
- Cole Griffith and David Foshee
- James Purvis and Shane Garrett
- Daniel C. Griffith and Danny R. Griffith
- Josh Halford and Jason Terry
Mystery Weight Fish
- Doug Tipton and Larry Tipton
Appeal Rejected: W.D. Childers Conviction Reinstated
June 3, 2011
A federal appeals court Thursday ruled against former Senate President W.D. Childers in his quest to overturn a 2003 bribery conviction related to a Pensacola land deal.
The full 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta rejected Childers’ argument that his constitutional rights were violated because he was prevented from fully cross-examining a crucial witness.
The 88-page ruling includes a dissenting opinion that said Childers did not receive a fair trial.
Childers was convicted of bribery and accepting unlawful compensation for official acts in connection with a Highway 29 soccer complex scandal in 2002 while he served as an Escambia County Commissioner.
The soccer complex scandal eventually landed four Escambia Commissioners in jail on charges that included Childers, Willie Junior, Terry Smith and Mike Bass. Junior was later found dead under a house, committing suicide the day before he was to be sentenced.
Childers, once known as “The Banty Rooster” for bringing home the bacon for Northwest Florida, was released from state prison on June 17, 2009, having served almost three years of a 42-month sentence on the charges related to the $3.9 million soccer complex purchase. Junior testified that he received a collard green pot full of cash in exchange for his vote to purchase the soccer complex.
Childers was also the first man in Florida jailed for violating the open-meeting portion of the Sunshine Law for a phone call he and Smith made to then Supervisor of Elections Bonnie Jones. Childers served about a month in jail before being released.
Near 100 Again Today
June 3, 2011
Our hot weather will continue into the foreseeable future, with temps on Friday once again approaching 100. Here is your official North Escambia area forecast:
- Friday: Mostly sunny and hot, with a high near 99. Calm wind becoming east between 5 and 10 mph. Winds could gust as high as 25 mph.
- Friday Night: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly cloudy, with a low around 73. Southeast wind between 5 and 10 mph becoming calm.
- Saturday: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly sunny and hot, with a high near 99. Calm wind becoming east between 10 and 15 mph.
- Saturday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 71. South wind between 5 and 10 mph becoming calm.
- Sunday: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly sunny and hot, with a high near 97. Calm wind becoming southwest between 5 and 10 mph.
- Sunday Night: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 72. West wind between 5 and 10 mph becoming calm.
- Monday: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly sunny and hot, with a high near 97. Calm wind becoming southwest between 5 and 10 mph.
- Monday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 71. Southwest wind between 5 and 10 mph becoming calm.
- Tuesday: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly sunny and hot, with a high near 98.
- Tuesday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 72.
- Wednesday: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly sunny, with a high near 96.
- Wednesday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 72.
- Thursday: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly sunny, with a high near 95.
Scott Signs Off On Medicaid Rewrite, Other Health Bills
June 3, 2011
Gov. Rick Scott on Thursday signed a landmark Medicaid overhaul that calls for shifting hundreds of thousands of low-income and elderly Floridians into managed-care plans.
Scott’s signature on a two-bill package (HB 7107 and HB 7109) was not a surprise — he has long pushed for transforming the Medicaid system.
Now, it will be up to the state to convince the federal government to go along. The state Agency for Health Care Administration is required to submit a proposal to federal Medicaid officials by Aug. 1 and is scheduled to start a flurry of public hearings June 10.
If the overhaul is approved, AHCA in July 2012 would start moving forward with a mandatory managed-care program for seniors who need long-term care. That phase would be finished by October 2013.
AHCA would then start putting in place the managed-care requirement for a broader Medicaid population — such as low-income women and children — in January 2013 and finish by October 2014.
The plan, however, has faced opposition from Democratic lawmakers and some patient advocates. They argue, in part, that relying on HMOs and other types of managed-care plans could squeeze needed services for Medicaid beneficiaries.
Lawmakers spent more than a year considering changes to the $20 billion Medicaid program and passed the two bills on the final day of the 2011 legislative session.
Also late Thursday, Scott signed one in a series of controversial bills dealing with abortion.
The bill (HB 97) would ban abortion coverage from policies sold through a health-insurance exchange — a type of insurance marketplace that is scheduled to start operating in 2014 as part of last year’s federal health law.
Scott also approved another measure (HB 1193) that takes aim at the hotly debated federal law. That bill says people cannot be compelled to buy health insurance, except in limited circumstances.
The Republican-controlled Legislature passed the bill in response to what has become known as the “individual mandate” in the federal law. That mandate will require almost all Americans to have health insurance starting in 2014.
By Jim Saunders
The News Service of Florida
Amber-Marie”Sunshine” Tucker
June 3, 2011
Amber-Marie”Sunshine” Tucker, age 23 of Pensacola, went Home to be with Jesus on May 31, 2011.
Sunshine is a native and lifelong resident of Pensacola. She was a ‘06 Tate High School graduate and a present student of UWF pursuing her MBA. Sunshine was a member of Pace Assembly of God. She loved the Lord and is now safe in the arms of Jesus.
Sunshine is preceded in death by her paternal grandparents, James and Glenda Tucker.
Sunshine is survived by her parents, Randall and Carol-Ann Tucker of Pensacola; brothers, Jason (Mary) Tucker of Birmingham and Michael (Anna) Tucker of Wood River, IL; sister, Autumn (Thomas) Martinage of Jacksonville, FL; unofficial twin sister, Ann Laird of Ft. Hood, TX; a niece, Natalie Martinage and an unborn and well anticipated niece; aunt, Carla (Ken) Hedger, of Edwardsville, IL; uncles, Don Houston of Carlyle, IL and Brian (Teresa) Tucker of Raleigh, NC; and maternal grandparents, Carl and Joyce Houston of Wood River, IL.
Celebration of Life Services will be held at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, June 4, 2011, at Pace Assembly of God Prayer Chapel with Rev. Joey Rogers, officiating. Burial will follow in the Eastern Gate Memorial Park Cemetery with Lewis Funeral Home directing. Family will receive friends from 6-8 p.m. on Friday, June 3, 2011, at Pace Assembly of God Prayer Chapel.
The family request that memorial contributions be made to the American Heart Association .
Reverend Louis Caballero
June 3, 2011
Reverend Louis Caballero, 83, of Century, was called home on May 27, 2011.
He is most remembered for actively serving the Lord for 34 years. He shared the journey of life, love, enjoyment of food and marriage of 44 years with his wife Barbara, who went home to the Lord on January 24, 2010.
Throughout the 34 years of his pastoring, he was involved with developing and nurturing numerous ministries throughout the NW Florida and Southern Alabama. He also answered God’s beckoning to do missionary work in Venezuela, Dominican Republic, and China.
“Brother Lou” – interests included spreading the work of the Lord, enjoyed fishing with his family on his pontoon boat, surf fishing on the beaches of Pensacola, active in Single Action Shooting Society, and loved his “muzzle loaders.” The “long lost cowboy preacher” even started taking horseback riding lessons from his granddaughter this past year. He was an avid collector of Lionel model trains and loved setting up as well as replicating journeys throughout the country.
“Brother Lou” was known for helping those he did not know during their time of need. Simple things such as when a person asked for a “couple of bucks for gas” he filled their gas tanks. He would secretly pay for stranger’s dinners. “His work speaks for him”.
Survivors include six children, fourteen grandchildren, twelve great grandchildren, and one sister, Carmen.
Memorial services will be held at 11:00 a.m., Sunday, June 5, 2011, at the Perdido United Methodist Church, 23440 County Rd 47, Perdido, Alabama 36562.
Trahan Family Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.
No Flowers, instead – In his memory, donations may be sent to his passion, the Hispanic Ministry. Please send checks (made payable to Baypines District Office—Memo San Pedro Mission) or money to: Baypines District Office -For Iglesia San Pedro – San Pedro Mission, Attn. Rhoda Sweet, Administrative Assistant, P.O. Box 1711, Bay Minette AL 36507-1711.