Railroad Crossing Signal To Be Installed On Arthur Brown Road
January 6, 2011
New railroad crossing gates and flashing lights will be installed on Arthur Brown Road in Walnut Hill.
The Florida Department of Transportation will fund the $250,000 estimated cost to improve the Alabama & Gulf Coast Railway crossing. Escambia County and Alabama & Gulf Coast will split the $3,146 annual maintenance cost for the crossing controls.
The Arthur Brown Road railroad crossing, which is located two miles west of Highway 97, will include crossing gates that will prevent vehicles from entering the crossing when it is activated.
Westbound drivers approaching the crossing currently travel parallel to the railroad tracks before making an immediate 90 degree turn across the tracks, making it difficult to see oncoming trains.
Volunteers Needed For Cold Weather Shelter
January 6, 2011
The Town of Century is seeking volunteer groups to staff and manage a cold weather shelter.
The town will provide the building and pay the costs of operating the cold weather shelter on an as-needed basis, according to Mayor Freddie McCall. The town, he said, needs a church or other organization willing to manage the shelter and provided volunteers for staffing.
For more information, contact McCall at (850) 256-3208.
Man Charged With Shooting Neighbor’s Dog
January 6, 2011
A Cantonment man is facing two felony charges for allegedly shooting and killing his neighbor’s dog.
Vincent Jerome Clay, 42, was released from the Escambia County Jail on $5,000 bond. He was charged with a weapons offense for using a firearm during a felony and animal cruelty after Clay’s neighbor on Calloway Street told Escambia County Sheriff’s deputies that Clay shot and killed a Rottweiler name Barak.
Clay reportedly claimed that the dog had had killed his goats. The dog’s owner, Lula Mae Wilson, said she paid him $100 for the goats. Wilson tethered the dog in her yard, but it escaped. That’s when, according to the police report, Clay shot the dog with his shotgun. Deputies found the dog dead under his house along with freshly splattered blood.
Clay will be arraigned on January 27.
Northwest Escambia Little League Plans Registration
January 6, 2011
Northwest Escambia Little League registration will be held the next three Saturdays in Walnut Hill.
Registration will be from 9 a.m. until noon on Saturday January 8, 15 and 22 at Bradberry Park for ages three to 18. A copy of the child’s birth certificate is required for registration.
Registration fees are $40 for the first child, $30 for the second child and free for additional children. The child will be measured for their uniform, and there will be a $20 deposit toward each child’s uniform fee.
2010 Persons Of The Year: Jack Moran
January 6, 2011
NorthEscambia.com is naming Persons of the Year for 2010 each day this week. Click here for previous recipients.
Jack Moran of Century has posthumously been named one of our North Escambia Persons of the Year.
Moran served a director of the Arts Council of Northwest Florida, a director of The Century Community Development Partnership and a director of the East Hill Academy for autistic children. He was founder and director of the Arts Committee of North Escambia County Florida, a director of the African-American Historical Society, founder and director of The Teaspoon Foundation and he was an active member of his political party’s County Executive Committee.
He also served as one of the founding organizers and member of the board of the Century Community Development Partnership, Inc., a non-profit organization with a mission that included working toward affordable housing in the rural communities of north Florida following the devastating hurricanes of 2004 and 2005.
Moran loved Century and passionately fought to help make Century a better place to live. He strongly encouraged people to get involved in what was going on in their community and attend town council, school board and other meetings.
As a board member of the Early Learning Coalition which introduced the Dolly Parton Imagination Library to the children of Century and surrounding areas. Over 300 area children have been enrolled in the program and now receive a free book each month until they turn five years old.
Moran also worked to bring “Opera in a Box” to the students at Bratt and Byrneville elementary schools, along with several presentations by Ballet Pensacola.
Moran was vested as “Sir Wallace”, a Knight in the Sovereign Order of St. John of Jerusalem (OSJ) by Crown Prince Michael.
Born Wallace David Moran in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, he was a Navy, USMC, Seabee veteran and recipient of the American Spirit Honor Medal. After finishing graduate school, he was hired by his personal mentor, Charles Tandy, chairman of the Tandy Corp.
Later, he owned his own small business, designing and manufacturing children’s furniture and wood toys, and a retail antique business from in Louisiana. He was the father of twins -a boy and a girl – and a step-daughter.
After his son died at the age of 25 from a rare form of cancer, he worked from Northwest Florida as a business development and reorganization consultant, mortgage broker, business broker and fraud examiner.
In his retirement, Moran continued to work with his wife Julie, who is managing partner of Century Pharmacy, L.L.C.
Moran passed away July 20, 2010. He was 68.
Pictured: Jack Moran and his wife Julie.
Blood Drive Thursday In Walnut Hill
January 5, 2011
A blood drive will take place Thursday in Walnut Hill.
The Northwest Florida Blood Services bloodmobile will also be at the Walnut Hill Volunteer Fire Department on Highway 97 Thursday from 8 a.m. until 1 p.m.
When you donate to Northwest Florida Blood Services, you can save the life of a hospital patient in northwest Florida. Northwest Florida Blood Services is the exclusive provider of blood products to more than 24 area hospitals who need 175 blood donations a day. Each donation can save up to three lives.
Requirements for giving blood are below.
- Donors must be in generally good health
- At least 17 years of age, without permission. 16-year olds are now allowed to donate with permission granted by parents or legal guardians.
- Must bring picture ID
- Weigh at least 110 lbs
- Free of infection, fever or flu symptoms, for 3 days
- No cancer within the last 5 years
- No antibiotics within the last 48 hours
- No tattoos within the past 12 months
- No chest pain, heart disease, heart surgery (Requires written physician release with diagnosis)
- No history of viral hepatitis
- Cannot have lived in France for 5 years or more between 1980 and the present
- Cannot have lived or visited in the UK for a total of 3 months or more from 1980 to 1996
- Cannot have received a blood transfusion in the UK between 1980 and the present
- Military personnel (current and former), and their dependents, who spent time in military bases in northern Europe during 1980-1990, or southern Europe during 1980-1996, for 6 months or more
- All military personnel (active & reserve) that are returning from Iraq, are deferred for a period of 1 year after the last date on location in that country.
Pictured: The Northwest Florida Bloodmobile during a November blood drive at the Walnut Hill Volunteer Fire Department. NorthEscambia.com file photo, click to enlarge.
Half Million Dollar Expansion Planned For Cantonment Park
January 5, 2011
A nearly half million dollar expansion is planned for the Cantonment Athletic Park.
The Escambia County Commission is set to award the $492,197.50 contract to low-bidder Roads, Inc., of NWF at their regular Thursday night meeting. The project consists of the addition of two multi-use practice fields at the park, including a grass parking lot, landscaping and drainage improvements.
The proposed site is currently wooded and almost completely surrounded by wetlands. A Florida Department of Environmental Protection permit will allow access to the site from the current park with a paved entrance road with a culvert structure.
The park expansion will be funded with local option sales tax monies.
There were a total of nine companies that bid on the project. The second lowest bidder was Gulf Equipment Corp. at $509,312.50 while the highest bid was $653,243.57 from J.B. Coxwell Contracting, Inc.
The Cantonment Athletic Park is an 80 acre regional park at 681 Well Line Road. The park has 12 baseball and softball fields, one football field, restrooms, concessions, playground and security lights. A partnership with Cantonment Baseball Club and Cantonment Football Club provides for various youth athletic programs at the park.
Pictured: An aerial view of the Cantonment Athletic Park showing 12 baseball and softball fields and one football field. Courtesy photo for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
More Rain Possible
January 5, 2011
Here is your official North Escambia area forecast:
- Tonight: Scattered showers and thunderstorms before midnight. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 45. Northwest wind around 5 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%.
- Thursday: Sunny, with a high near 59. Northwest wind between 5 and 15 mph.
- Thursday Night: Clear, with a low around 31. West wind around 5 mph.
- Friday: Sunny, with a high near 64. West wind between 5 and 15 mph.
- Friday Night: Clear, with a low around 35. West wind between 5 and 10 mph.
- Saturday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 61. Northwest wind around 5 mph becoming calm.
- Saturday Night: A 50 percent chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 42. Calm wind becoming northeast around 5 mph.
- Sunday: Showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm. Cloudy, with a high near 49. Northeast wind between 5 and 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%.
- Sunday Night: A 20 percent chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 34. North wind between 5 and 10 mph.
- Monday: Partly sunny, with a high near 54.
- Monday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 32.
- Tuesday: Sunny, with a high near 54.
- Tuesday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 30.
- Wednesday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 45.
Wanted Walnut Hill Man Now Behind Bars
January 5, 2011
A wanted Walnut Hill man is now behind bars, about a month after deputies asked for the public’s help in finding him.
In early December, the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office asked for the public’s help in locating Floyd Scott Mooney, 39, on multiple outstanding warrants.
Tuesday afternoon, Mooney was booked into the Escambia County Jail on felony charges of aggravated stalking and misdemeanor charges of stalking and three counts of contempt of court for violating a domestic violence injunction. He was being held on $25,000 bond.
Putnam Focusing On Jobs For Rural Florida
January 5, 2011
Adam Putnam is focusing on creating jobs for rural Florida.
Flanked by his four children and wife, Melissa, Putnam became the commissioner of the Florida Department of Agricultural and Consumer Services on Tuesday moments before Gov. Rick Scott took his oath and delivered his inaugural address.
Putman, a fifth-generation Florida farmer who left his Polk County-based seat in the U.S. Congress to run for agricultural commissioner last year, swore his oath on a Bible that has recorded births in his family since 1867, he said during a reception in his new office.
The oath was administered by Supreme Court Chief Justice Charles Canady, who preceded Putnam in representing the 12th Congressional District. Putnam, a cattle rancher who was elected to Congress in 2000 when he was just 26 and to the Florida House at just 22, pledged to use his new post to help Scott fulfill his campaign promise to put the state back to work.
“We’re focused on anything that we can (develop) out of the agricultural industry, using clean energy, renewable energy opportunities to create jobs in rural Florida,” he said. “I think that holds the greatest promise. Agriculture – of our three pillars of the economy – is still the strongest, even after these weather events.”
Last November, Putnam defeated Democrat Scott Maddox 56 percent to 38 percent in a low-profile campaign to replace term-limited former Agriculture Commissioner Charlie Bronson. Putnam said Tuesday that Bronson left a “strong legacy,” during his eight years as agricultural commissioner and promised to continue his Farm-to-Fuel program to increase the use of biofuels, which most experts agree is the most available clean energy type in Florida.
“That’s what we intend to build on,” he said. “Seizing on the new opportunities that are there, for Florida to not only provide the food and fiber for the nation, but also homegrown fuel. We want to make sure we keep the climate, keep the environment that allows agriculture to prosper, but also explore some of these new marketing opportunities that will create processing jobs and logistical jobs for rural Florida.”
Now that he is in charge of a $100 billion industry that touches a third of the state’s landmass, Putnam said his office would play a “critically important role” in the state’s promised economic recovery.
“With tourism and construction still facing hardship, agriculture is really a bedrock industry for job creation and economic development that (does not get) the attention and glory the other industries sometimes do,” he said.
As for his own inauguration, Putnam said “it’s just a thrill.” He was the third-highest Republican in Congress as chairman of U.S. House Republican Conference until the GOP lost the chamber in 2006 and had been rumored as a possible candidate for the U.S. Senate seat won by Marco Rubio in 2010.
“It’s a great day for the state of Florida, an exciting time, a new beginning for not only the new governor, but the new Cabinet, an opportunity to roll up our sleeves and do everything we can to create an environment to bring that unemployment rate down and create new opportunities for Floridians,” Putnam said.
Pictured: Adam Putnam during a campaign stop in Molino. NorthEscambia.com photo, click to enlarge.
Story By Keith Laing
The News Service Florida