Marian Frances Vaughan Day,
September 16, 2011
Marian Frances Vaughan Day, 68 of Seguin, TX, and formerly of Walnut Hill, died Wednesday, September 14, 2011, at her residence.
She was a homemaker, born in Tuskegee, AL, on October 20, 1942, to the late Thomas Morris and Frances Chasteen Merritt Tyson.
She is survived by two sons Byron Vaughan and wife, Trisia of Atmore, John Vaughan and wife, Kelly of Stockdale, TX; one daughter Micaela Fuller and husband, Scott of Bastrop, TX; three brothers Kenneth Tyson of Bay Minette, Jimmy Tyson of Harriett Bluff, GA, “Skeeter” Tyson of Killen, AL; one sister Dottie Davis of Walnut Hill; and six grandchildren, Kalyn, Kevin, Jacob, Hattie, Bethanie and Wendy.
Services will be Saturday September 17, 2011, at 11 a.m. from the Johnson-Quimby Funeral Home Chapel with Rev. James Boyd and Rev. Ted Bridges officiating. Interment will follow in the Walnut Hill Baptist Church Cemetery. Active
Pallbearers will be Ronnie Cox, Clint Davis, Chris Barry, Glen Wiggins, Burton Wiggins and Todd Wiggins.
Family will receive friends Saturday, September 17, 2011, at Johnson-Quimby Funeral Home in Atmore from 9 a.m. until service time..
Johnson-Quimby Funeral Home is in charge of all arrangements.
Two Teens Injured In Dirt Road Crash
September 15, 2011
Two teens were injured in a single vehicle crash Thursday afternoon on a dirt road near McDavid.
A 16-year old lost control of his Dodge Ram 1500 pickup truck on Pine Barren Road and struck several trees just before 6 p.m.. The driver and his 14-year passenger were transported to West Florida Hospital by Escambia County EMS with non-life threatening injuries.
The accident remains under investigation by the Florida Highway Patrol. The Molino Station of Escambia Fire Rescue also responded to the accident.
Picture: Two teens were injured in this single vehicle crash Thursday afternoon on Pine Barren Road. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Fire Destroys Molino Barn
September 15, 2011
Fire destroyed a large barn in Molino Thursday afternoon.
The fire was reported about 3 pm. in the 10000 block on Pilgrim Trail. The barn was full engulfed when the first firefighters arrived on scene. The 30 by 40 foot barn contained a large amount of hay, which took about three hours to extinguish.
The barn was located down a long drive behind a residence. The residence was not threatened by the blaze, but firefighters worked to prevent a second barn and a wooded area from burning.
There were no injuries reported. The cause of the blaze was not immediately known.
The Molino, McDavid, Walnut Hill, Cantonment and Century stations of Escambia Fire Rescue responded to the blaze, along with Escambia County EMS. The Ensley Station of Escambia Fire Rescue moved their engine to Molino while the Flomaton Volunteer Fire Department stood by in the Century to handle any additional calls in North Escambia.
For a photo gallery from the scene, click here.
Pictured above and below: Fire destroyed this barn on Pilgrim Trail in Molino Thursday afternoon. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Arnold Gets Life For Murdering Pregnant Woman, Baby
September 15, 2011
A Cantonment man was sentenced Thursday to life in prison for the stabbing death of a pregnant Cantonment woman and her unborn child.
Phillip Arnold, 66, was sentenced by Judge Jan Shackelford to life in prison for the murder of 44-year old Angela Castella Brown. He also received a concurrent life sentence for the murder of her baby Angel Chambers. On August 19, after a two-day trial, Arnold was found guilty by an Escambia County jury of second degree murder for killing Angela Brown and first degree murder for killing her baby, Angel Chambers.
On July 5, 2010, Arnold fatally stabbed Brown, who was six months pregnant, on South Chipper Road. She underwent an emergency C-section after she was stabbed. The baby died just over seven hours after being delivered.
Missing Man Found Alive
September 15, 2011
An elderly man missing from the Brewton area since Tuesday was found alive by searchers this morning in Conecuh County, Alabama. He was transported to D.W. McMillan Hospital in Brewton, where family members said he was in good condition.
Rufus Davis Blair, 77, had not been seen since he left his residence on Cooper Cemetery Road without his cell phone or personal belongings. His 2003 white Buick LaSabrewas found near Castleberry, Alabama, and volunteers from across the area spent the morning searching a heavily wooded area. They first located one of his shoes near a creek, and later found him about 10:30 a.m.
DUI Conviction For Man That Drove Into Two Houses
September 15, 2011
A Cantonment man that drove into two houses last year has been convicted of DUI.
Aaron Lee Deyton, now 22, was found guilty of driving under the influence by Judge Thomas Dannheisser in connection with an incident in Cantonment just after 1 a.m. on November 20, 2010.
According to the Florida Highway Patrol, Deyton was westbound on Muscogee Road when he left the roadway and struck a culvert west of Rittenberry Road. He then crossed over both lanes of Muscogee Road and left the roadway a second time. His 2004 Ford pickup then struck another culvert and traveled into a yard at 1119 Muscogee Road where it struck a fence, small tree, a house and a parked SUV. He continued through another fence in the yard at 1121 Muscogee Road before striking that house and coming to a final rest.
Deyton was sentenced to 12 months probation, 50 hours of community service, DUI school and his driver’s license was suspended for 12 months. He was also assessed $1,100 in court costs.
Sample Ballots In The Mail For Upcoming Century Election
September 15, 2011
Sample ballots for the October 11 Town of Century election are in the mail and should be arriving this week in the mailboxes of the town’s registered voters.
“The sample ballot includes a sample image of the ballot, instructions on where to go and what to bring with you on Election Day, and information on how to request an absentee ballot,” said Escambia County Supervisor of Elections David Stafford.
For a pdf version of the sample ballot, click here.
Grand Theft Auto, Burglary Charges Dropped Against Century Man
September 15, 2011
Charges have been dropped against a man accused of stealing a car that he says his “homeboy” gave him.
Terryvon Floyd Washington, 20, of Pond Street, Century, was charged with grand theft of a motor vehicle, burglary of an unoccupied dwelling and petty theft. According to Escambia County Clerk of the Circuit Court records, those charges were dropped.
A Pensacola woman reported her 2005 Pontiac Grand Am stolen from her apartment off Blue Angel Parkway. Deputies checked and determined the vehicle had been towed on July 7. The victim said her vehicle had been repossessed, but she retrieved it after catching up all of her payments. She also reported that the keys to the car were missing off her kitchen table. There were no obvious signs of a burglary the apartment, the report states.
The vehicle was stopped a short time later in the area of Caribbean and Coral Creek Drives. Washington was driving the vehicle and had the stolen keys in his possession, according to Escambia County deputies.
Washington told deputies, according to the arrest report, that “he did not beak into anything and he got the car from his homeboy”.
Washington remained in the Escambia County Jail early Thursday morning serving a 10 day sentence on an unrelated trespassing charge.
Florida Prison Privatization Draws Ethics Complaint
September 15, 2011
A union opposed to the privatization of Florida prisons announced Wednesday it has filed an ethics complaint aimed at derailing the move, arguing that Gov. Rick Scott faced a series of conflicts of interest in relation to the initiative.
The International Brotherhood of Teamsters, which is engaged in a showdown over the right to represent correctional officers in Florida, says Scott faces dueling priorities because he oversees both the Department of Corrections and a state investment fund that has invested in private prison companies.
The organization also highlights a total of $30,000 in contributions to Scott’s inaugural committee from two of the companies most likely to win bidding on a new contract that would hand over facilities across the southern third of the state.
“It just raises too many questions, and it creates this impression where we have the fox guarding the henhouse,” said Michael Filler, director of the Teamsters’ public service division.
Separately, another union, the Police Benevolent Association, has sued to try to block the privatization. The PBA represents most corrections officers in the state. The Teamsters are trying to force an election over whether the PBA will continue to be the main union for the guards.
The Teamsters said the state owns millions of dollars in stock in the GEO Group and Corrections Corporation of America through its pension fund. That presents a conflict for Scott, who is on the State Board of Administration, which oversees the pension, the union argues in its complaint.
“The governor, as the Chair of the SBA, has an obligation to act in the best interest of the Florida Retirement System Trust Fund – doing so would call for the maximization of profit to the GEO group or the Corrections Corporation of America. … However, State/DOC as the negotiator of the contracts with the companies, is obligated to minimize the payout to the private firms,” the complaint says.
The group argues that the state should bar GEO and CCA from participating in the bidding process, and that the state should investigate the potential conflict before going ahead with the privatization project.
The state owned about $10 million in stock in the two companies as of the close of business Tuesday, said Dennis MacKee, a spokesman for the SBA — $8.8 million in CCA stock and $1.4 million in GEO.
But MacKee said most of the stock was held either in three passive accounts that follow certain indices or in a more active account that is managed externally. Only about $460,000 of the stock is held in an active account run internally.
The total value of the state’s pension fund was $117.7 billion as of Tuesday’s close.
Lane Wright, Scott’s press secretary, also brushed off the contention that the contributions to Scott’s inauguration would influence the bidding.
“Between two and three hundred companies or individuals donated to the inauguration fund,” Wright said. “And that money went to the Republican Party of Florida, in total compliance with the law, not to Governor Scott directly.”
Wright also said Scott would not try to influence the selection process and wants to see the contract awarded to the lowest bidder.
By Brandon Larrabee
The News Service of Florida
Two Caught Stealing Copper
September 15, 2011
Two men are facing a multitude of charges after being caught stealing copper from a trailer south of Jay.
Florida Fish and Wildlife officer David Jernigan responded to a call about a suspicious truck at a trailer near Penton Road and Dusty Trail in the Allentown community. He heard two men inside the trailer and arrested them as they walked outside.
Tremaine Donnell Beasley, age 29 of Pensacola, and 22-year old Matthew Brent Fiquett of Milton, were charged with burglary, possession of burglary tools, larceny and criminal mischief. Fiquett remained in the Santa Rosa County Jail early Thursday morning without bond, while Beasley was held with bond set at $17,000.
Jernigan said more than 80 feet of copper wire was stripped from the trailer.