District 5 Commission Candidate Packy Mitchell Drops Republican Party
August 20, 2011
Escambia County Commission District 5 candidate Packy Mitchell is no longer running as a Republican.
As of Friday, Mitchell is now running as an independent for the seat currently held by Kevin White of Molino.
Mitchell, a resident of Neal Road inCantonment, ran unsuccessfully for the seat in 2008, finishing second among Republican candidates.
White has announced that he is running again as Republican. Republicans Sam Archer and Jim Taylor of Cantonment and Dennis Wiggins of Century, who is running with no party affiliation, have also prefiled.
Escambia Deputies Seek Two Sexual Battery Suspects
August 20, 2011
The Escambia County Sheriff’s Office is seeking the public’s assistance in identifying two individuals wanted for sexual battery.
The suspects are described as a white male with brown hair, approximately 5-foot-8 tall, and a black male with “dreads” pulled back in ponytail, approximately 6-feet tall.
The incident occurred on July 20 at around 10 p.m. as a 37-year-old woman was approached from behind by the suspects. They grabbed her arm and pulled her into an abandoned house in the 1900 block of West Yonge Street, where they forced her to have sexual intercourse. The woman was able to escape after the attack and flee with minor injuries.
Anyone who may have information related to this case is asked to contact the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office at (850) 436-9620 or Gulf Coast Crime Stoppers at (850) 433-STOP.
Pictured: Sketches of two suspects wanted for a sexual assault in Escambia County, click to enlarge.
Century Schedules Business Tax, Budget Workshops
August 20, 2011
Century has scheduled two special workshops — one to discuss next year’s budget and the other to discuss an increase in the local business tax.
The Century Town Council budget workshop will be held Thursday, September 1 at 1:30 p.m. at the Century Town Hall. Later that day, at 3:30 p.m., a workshop will be held to discus the implementation of a local business tax.
For more information on the local business tax being considered by Century, click here.
Burglary At Old Alger Sullivan Lumber Co. Under Investigation
August 19, 2011
The Escambia County Sheriff’s Office is investigating an apparent burglary at the former Alger-Sullivan Lumber Company in Century.
Nothing was reported missing from the abandoned building on Lumber Road near Front Street, according to Deputy Chris Welborn, spokesman for the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office. The incident was reported Thursday afternoon after someone noticed the burglary on the Jefferson Avenue side of the complex.
A crime scene unit was called to the scene as part of the investigation. So far, there have been no arrests.
Pictured above: A burglary was reported Thursday afternoon at the former Alger-Sullivan Lumber Company in Century. NorthEscambia.com photo, click to enlarge.
Local Marine Travis Nelson Killed In Afghanistan
August 19, 2011
A local family learned Thursday that their 19-year old Marine son, LCpl Travis Nelson, was shot and killed while conducting combat operations in in Helmand province, Afghanistan.
Travis Nelson — a member of the 1st Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C. — had been in Afghanistan for about a month. His 19th birthday was just two weeks ago.
Travis attended Bratt Elementary School from the first through fifth grades and Ernest Ward Middle School through the seventh grade. His family then moved to Pace, where he attended Pace High School.
Travis grew up in a military family. Friends said Thursday night that they remember a young Travis always had two things on his mind — fishing and growing up to join the military.
“He had the military in his blood growing up,” said close family friend Janet Little Cooper of Bratt, who watched Travis grow up with her son. “That’s what he always wanted. He never faltered on that.”
Chris Chambliss agreed. He coached Travis in Northwest Escambia baseball at Bradberry Park in Walnut Hill.
“He talked about the military a lot when he was young. He always wanted to be a Marine when he became a young man,” he said.
His parents, Beckie and Scott Nelson, moved back to Bratt about a year ago. His sister, Anna, will begin the sixth grade Monday at Ernest Ward Middle School. Travis was engaged to Madeline Cates of Pace; She had recently moved to Bratt to live with the Nelson family to await Travis’ return from Afghanistan.
Funeral arrangements are not yet complete.
Pictured top and inset: LCpl Travis Nelson and his fiance Madeline Cates shortly before his deployment to Afghanistan. Pictured below: LCpl Travis Nelson. Courtesy photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Cantonment Double Murder Suspect Claims Self Defense During Trial
August 19, 2011
The Cantonment man accused in the stabbing death of a pregnant Cantonment woman and her baby last summer claimed the murder was self defense.
Phillip Arnold, 66, is facing two first degree premeditated murder charges for the stabbing deaths of Angela Castella Brown, 44, and her child on July 5, 2010, in Cantonment. During the first day of his trial Thursday, Arnold claimed Brown had picked up knife and he stabbed her before she could stab him.
The state argued that Arnold planned the murder, saying that a witness claimed Arnold has stated that he was going to kill someone just before the murder. But the defense said the statement was just talk.
Arnold showed no emotion during his trial Thursday, staring forward as his 911 call from the night of July 5, 2010, was played in court.
“Yea, my name is Phillip Arnold. I did some stabbing up here on what’s the name of this road?…Stacey Road. “Tell police to come pick me up.”
After the stabbing, Brown’s child was delivered in an emergency c-section. The baby died seven hours later. The baby’s father said on the stand Thursday that Brown was six months pregnant, but defense attorneys said that was not the case and that the baby could not have survived on its own.
Arnold’s trial is expected to wrap up as early as Friday.
Pictured top: Double murder suspect Phillip Arnold listens in court Thursday as his 911 to call to report the stabbing of Angela Brown last summer. Photo courtesy WEAR 3 for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Florida Considers Testing For Pre-K Students
August 19, 2011
While K-12 teachers have come under increasing scrutiny over their performance, with student test scores now linked to their salaries, voluntary pre-kindergarten providers are skating by with little oversight and accountability, argues one prominent early learning advocate.
Pre-kindergarten programs should test their students more extensively, argues David Lawrence, the head of the Early Childhood Initiative Foundation. Lawrence said this wouldn’t be a “baby FCAT,” but instead a loose assessment of a child’s social, emotional, and cognitive skills in order to determine progress.
“It really pains me that we haven’t, in this state, subjected VPK to the same rigor and accountability that has been done with K-12 programs and services,” Lawrence said at a Thursday meeting of the Higher Education Coordinating Council. Lawrence is on a campaign to introduce tougher standards to the state’s voluntary pre-kindergarten programs. Earlier this month, he delivered a similar speech to the State Board of Education.
His efforts appear to be gaining some ground. The council, which has the authority to make recommendations to the Legislature and governor, signaled it is on board with many of his suggestions.
And next week, the State Board of Education will take up a draft legislative budget request for next year that asks for $4.6 million to begin offering voluntary pre-kindergarten assessments at a cost of $25 per student.
“There is an urgent need to follow what people voted on and have a quality pre-k program,” said Jon Moyle, a retired attorney and business representative on the Higher Education Coordinating Council. The council was formed in 2010 to help coordinate education efforts across higher education and Pre-K-12.
Lawrence, former publisher of The Miami Herald, is a longtime advocate for early learning and helped lobby for the constitutional amendment that first launched a state-funded voluntary pre-kindergarten program for four-year-olds in 2002.
But Lawrence argues that the promise to voters that the pre-kindergarten system would be high-quality has never come to fruition. “We do not have a high quality system in Florida,” he said, and Georgia offers a better program.
Advocates for early learning say extensive research has shown that the right educational intervention at a very young age can make a big difference in a student’s success. “We learn all of our lives, but the window for learning is open most widely in the years from birth to age five,” Lawrence said.
There are 166,398 students enrolled in voluntary pre-kindergarten in Florida.
Like most state-funded programs, the economic recession has curtailed funding for VPK. This year, the Legislature cut funding for the program by $20 million, leaving about $385 million, or $2,383 per child.
Besides more testing, Lawrence said pre-kindergarten instructors should be required to use curriculum that has proven to be effective, and teachers should be required to have associate or bachelor’s degrees.
Florida already tests kindergarten readiness within the first 30 days of the school year.
That data is used to calculate the kindergarten readiness rate for private and public school providers in voluntary pre-kindergarten, similar to how public schools receive lettered school grades.
But Lawrence said more assessment is needed.
“What we are trying to understand is two things, one, how good the provider is, and number two, where the child is developmentally, behaviorally, socially and cognitively,” Lawrence said.
Lawrence said he has been advocating this issue for years and was hopeful it would lead to legislative reforms.
“My hope is that the (lawmakers) will say “Oh, I get it,” Lawrence said.”We need to fix this so it’s the high quality people voted for. And you could make a significant number of fixes at a very small monetary cost.”
Cantonment Woman Charged With DUI After Early AM Crash
August 19, 2011
A 22-year old Cantonment woman is facing several charges after an alleged early morning drunk driving crash.
Keara Marie Duncan was northbound on Pine Forest Road in a 2002 Dodge Caravan when she apparently passed out while making a turn onto 9½ Mile Road about 3:20 a.m. Thursday, according to the Florida Highway Patrol. She collided with a 2002 Chrysler stopped at a stop sign. The driver of that Chrysler, 32-year old Larry D. Simmons II of Pensacola, was not injured.
Duncan was transported to West Florida Hospital with minor injuries.
The Florida Highway Patrol charged Duncan with driving under the influence, careless driving and no proof of insurance. She was booked into the Escambia County Jail with bond set at $250.
Duncan’s blood alcohol level was .125, according to the FHP.
North Escambia Firefighters Among Those That Responded To Massive Ship Fire
August 19, 2011
Firefighters from as far away as Walnut Hill and Century were called upon to battle a fire in a large fishing boat at Patti Shipyard on Bayou Chico.
Smoke could been seen from miles Thursday afternoon from the Dona Martita, a 168-foot, four-story high fishing boat that was undergoing construction in Pensacola for planned use in Alaska.
Dozens of firefighters from numerous departments initially responded to the blaze about 5 p.m. Additional manpower from the Pensacola Fire Department, several stations of Escambia Fire Rescue, the Gulf Breeze Fire Department, Saufley Field and the Pensacola Naval Air Station were soon called in to help.
About 9:40 p.m. the Century, Walnut Hill, McDavid and Molino stations of Escambia Fire Rescue were dispatched to provide additional manpower.
Three firefighters were reported to be injured as of late Thursday night. One reportedly had minor burns while two suffered heat exhaustion.
There was no word on the cause of the fire.
Pictured: A ship fire late Thursday afternoon in Pensacola. Submitted photo for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Two Different Wrecks On Hwy 97 Under Investigation
August 19, 2011
Two early afternoon accidents on Highway 97 are under investigation by the Florida Highway Patrol.
In the first wreck, a male driver may have suffered some sort of medical problem before running off Highway 97 near Pilgrim Trail about noon today. A passerby found the man apparently unconscious in his car. The vehicle had very little damage, if any, where it collided with a ditch.
In the second, unrelated crash, a 65-year old male was injured when he ran off Highway 97 south of Tungoil Road and hit a tree. The man’s vehicle came to rest in a wooded area off the highway. He was transported to Sacred Heart Hospital in Pensacola by ambulance with injuries that were not considered life threatening. A medical condition may have led to the crash.
Further details were not available on either wreck.
Pictured top: A wreck on Highway 97 south of Tungoil Road just after 1:00 Friday afternoon. Pictured left inset: An unrelated accident on Highway 97 in Dogwood park about noon Friday. NorthEscambia.com photo, click to enlarge.