Obama, Romney Essentially Tied In Florida
May 10, 2012
President Barack Obama and his presumptive GOP opponent, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, are in a statistical dead heat in the nation’s largest swing state about six months before voters Florida head to the polls, according to a new poll from Suffolk University and WSVN-Miami.
The survey shows Obama holding 46 percent of the vote to Romney’s 45 percent, with 7 percent undecided. But Romney’s selection of a running mate could swing the results — with 47 percent of voters backing a ticket with Romney and U.S. Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, compared to 44 percent for Obama and Vice President Joe Biden.
A ticket with Romney and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush would lead Obama-Biden by a 47-45 margin.
In January, the Suffolk/WSVN poll showed Romney with a 47 percent to 42 percent lead over Obama as the Republican primary was getting underway.
“Despite locking up the Republican nomination and a strong showing in the Florida Republican primary in January, Romney still has a lot of work to do to win over Florida voters,” said David Paleologos, director of the Suffolk University Political Research Center in Boston, in a news release. “He would need to repair the fallout of negativity from the Republican primaries by being more likable and offering general-election voters a positive alternative to President Obama.”
The poll, which has a margin of error of 4 percent, included telephone interviews of 600 registered voters from May 6-8.
By The News Service of Florida
Man Walks Up To Deputy With Cocaine In His Pocket
May 10, 2012
A Cantonment man was charged with three felonies after walking up to an Escambia County deputy with cocaine in his pants pocket.
According to an Escambia County Sheriff’s Office report, 37-year old Lorenzo McNeal drove up and parked his vehicle on 57th Avenue near Lillian Highway where the deputy was speaking with an acquaintance Of McNeal.
The deputy asked McNeal for identification, at which time McNeal admitted he did not have a valid driver’s license. He was arrested as a habitual offender for driving without a license. Once at the jail, McNeal was discovered to have a small baggie of cocaine in his hip pocket, according to an arrest report. That resulted in charges of possession of cocaine and introduction of narcotics into a detention facility.
District Attorney Employee Gets Prison For Forgery, Ethics Violation
May 10, 2012
A former worthless check coordinator for the Escambia County (Ala.) District Attorney’s office has been sentenced for felony ethics and second degree forgery convictions. Monica Lynn Watson pleaded guilty on April 16, just before her trial was set to begin.
For each of the two counts, Watson was sentenced concurrently to six years. Her sentence was split to serve 24 months which will follow a six-month probationary period. She was also ordered to perform 300 hours of community service and to pay a fine of $1,500 along with the costs of court. A review hearing is scheduled for November 13.
Watson pleaded guilty to the intentional misuse of her public position for unlawful personal gain through the mishandling of funds in the worthless check unit and to second-degree forgery of a motion that purported to be signed by the District Attorney for the dismissal of a case against a defendant.
“This case involves extensive documentation from the Examiners of Public Accounts of misuse of funds totaling $10,259,” said Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange. “It is important that this defendant is being held to account and punished for her crimes for betraying the public trust and abusing government funds.”
Charges against Watson arose from information in an audit of the Escambia County (Ala.) District Attorney’s Office conducted in 2008 by the Examiners of Public Accounts, covering the period of September 1, 2006, to May 31, 2008. Discrepancies in funds of the Worthless Check Unit (WCU) led to further inquiries, which uncovered money orders that had been received by the District Attorney’s Office but not receipted in the WCU.
It was discovered that two money orders had been deposited into Watson’s credit union account. Furthermore, there was no record in WCU records for certain people who had paid cash to and had handwritten receipts from Watson, but the receipts were logged in under someone else’s name. The Examiners’ audit also cites Watson for filing motions to dismiss cases saying that those defendants had paid all money they owed when they had not, and that the motions were stamped with the District Attorney’s name. According to the audit, $10,259 was stolen from the WCU, which Watson initially refused but later repaid.
Watson faced a potential penalty of two to 20 years imprisonment for the ethics violation, which is a class B felony, and one to 10 years for second-degree forgery, a class C felony.
Elections, Highway Officials Flag Possible Ineligible Voters
May 10, 2012
State elections officials are working with the agency that licenses drivers to identify voters illegally on the rolls because they aren’t citizens, and has already flagged 2,600 people who are registered but may be ineligible, Secretary of State Ken Detzner said Wednesday.
Detzner said the Department of State, which includes the Division of Elections, started working more than a year ago with the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles on the project. New rules now require anyone getting a new driver license or renewing their license or state ID card to submit documentation proving their status as legal residents of the country.
With that requirement and other elements of the DHSMV system, elections officials can compare databases to find voters that may not be citizens.
A statement released by Detzner’s office said the names of more than 2,600 voters who may not be citizens have been identified through the new process and sent to county elections supervisors for further review. If found to be ineligible, they would then be removed from voter rolls.
“Our partnership with the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles will be instrumental in our efforts to ensure the accuracy of Florida’s voter rolls, not only this year but in the years to follow,” Detzner said. “Florida voters need to know only eligible citizens can cast a ballot and we’re doing everything in our power to ensure that is the case.”
The prospect of large numbers of ineligible voters has driven the move to make it harder to register to vote and to cast a ballot – which is a key point of contention between those who say the government’s main role in elections is to prevent fraud to ensure their legitimacy, and those who say the government should primarily be concerned with making sure those who are eligible can easily sign up and vote. Voters who cast illegal ballots can be charged with felony fraud.
People who are flagged as possibly ineligible would be notified and have 30 days to show that they are legally allowed to vote, said Chris Cate, Department of State spokesman. “And if they can’t prove that they are a U.S. citizen, they will be removed from the rolls.”
Cate said it’s not clear yet how accurate the first batch of names is, because possibly ineligible voters’ names have only recently been sent to county supervisors, and individuals haven’t had a chance to challenge their inclusion in the list.
“We certainly want to err on the side of the voter, and not remove anybody who is eligible,” said Cate. “So we want to make sure everyone has the opportunity to prove that they are indeed a citizen and prove that they can vote.”
But voting rights advocates are skeptical, and the head of the state chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union said the state was trying to drum up fear of fraud to bolster its defense of a new voting law that makes it harder to register voters and puts some new requirements in place for those who want to change an address during certain times. The changes were made by lawmakers who said they were needed to reduce fraud. The law is now being challenged in federal court.
“Of course we should be able to have confidence in the integrity of the voter rolls, and anyone not eligible should be removed and not permitted to vote,” said Howard Simon, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida. “But the people of Florida are smart enough to see this for what it is: a PR offensive to bolster the State’s legal posture in federal court in Tallahassee and Washington.”
Simon said the new law is a “radical voter suppression measure” that is based on fraud that “did not exist.”
Many of the possible ineligible voters are in Miami-Dade County. Local media there reported this week that the supervisor of elections in that county had been sent about 2,000 names for checking.
State officials say they’re doing a secondary check after getting a match and before sending the information to local officials, trying to cross-reference the person with information from other state and federal databases, including immigration databases, that may solidify the information.
Cate said the first search turned up 1,200 matches and the second 1,400, and that he expected there would be more as the program continues. Most are people who are flagged by HSMV as being in the United States for a short time – which means they likely haven’t become citizens.
By The News Service of Florida
Charges Filed In Fatal DUI Crash
May 10, 2012
A Pace man has been charged for the death of a 19-year old killed in a single vehicle traffic accident April 25 southeast of Jay.
Calan Floyd Lewis, 23, was arrested Wednesday and charged with DUI manslaughter and vehicular homicide. He was being held in the Santa Rosa County Jail without bond.
Jasmine Celest Wuesthoff of Pace was pronounced dead at the scene of the 2:04 a.m. crash near the intersection of Sandy Landing Road and Mineral Springs Road, about a mile from the Sandy Landing Boat Ramp on the Escambia River.
She was a passenger in a 1997 Chevrolet Blazer driven by Lewis. According to the Florida Highway Patrol, Lewis was eastbound on Sandy Landing Road, when he lost control. The Blazer began to spin and ran off onto the north shoulder of the roadway where it hit several trees and shrubs. The vehicle then came to rest upside down on top of the trees and shrubs.
Neither the driver or passenger were wearing a seat belt.
Stolen Historic Century High Class Ring Found In Yard Sale Items
May 10, 2012
Members of the Alger-Sullivan Historical Society in Century received a bit of surprise recently when a class ring stolen from their museum years ago was unexpectedly returned.
The gold Century High School Class of 1995 ring belonged to Dick Erwin, principal during the final year at Century High School. It has been displayed in one of the historical society’s museums before it was stolen.
Jerry Fischer of the Alger-Sullivan Historical Society said the ring was discovered by an area pastor in some items he purchased at a yard sale and then returned historical society for display.
NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Blue Wahoos Drop 3 In A Row
May 10, 2012
A trio of wild pitches from Blue Wahoos pitchers in the bottom of the seventh led to four runs as the Mississippi Braves took their third straight from Pensacola with a 5-3 win. For Mississippi, the victory secured a win in the five-game series.
The Blue Wahoos broke a 1-1 tie in the top of the seventh when Ryan LaMarre singled home Cody Puckett and Yordanys Perez to give Pensacola a 3-1 advantage.
Wahoos starter Daniel Corcino cruised through the first six innings allowing just one earned run. The right-hander exited after issuing a leadoff walk which started the four-run answer to the Wahoos top of the inning rally. Clayton Tanner (0-2) came in and faced two batters in relief of Corcino. He walked one and gave up a hit to another and threw a wild pitch which led to a run. Drew Hayes came in following Tanner and uncorked a pair of wild pitches. The first scored Adam Milligan from third, and the second scored two runners. Barrett Kleinknecht scored from third base and Andrelton Simmons scored from second giving the Braves a 5-3 lead. All four seventh inning runs the Braves scored, came home on wild pitches.
Tanner ended up taking the loss, while Cory Rasmus (1-0) got credit for the win out of the Braves bullpen. Mark Lamm (4) worked a perfect ninth to earn the save. David Hale started for the Braves and was charged will all three Blue Wahoos runs after working 6.1 innings. He gave up six hits, he walked three and he fanned three batters.
LaMarre was the bright spot for the Blue Wahoos offensively. He went 3-for-3 with a run scored and two RBI. He was the only Pensacola hitter with a multi-hit game.
The two teams wrap up the series on Thursday. The Blue Wahoos will send right-hander Tim Crabbe (1-2, 5.72) to the mound against Braves righty Gary Moran (0-1, 4.30). First pitch is set for 7:00 p.m. from Trustmark Park in Pearl, Miss.
By Tommy Thrall
Tomorrow: A Hero’s Goodbye
May 9, 2012
Funeral service were held Wednesday for Robert Stewart, the former chief of the Walnut Hill Volunteer Fire Department who passed away on Sunday at age 62.
Coming up Thursday morning on NorthEscambia.com, we will have complete coverage from multiple photographers as Escambia Fire Rescue, friends and family said goodbye to a man that answered his first fire call 35 years ago.
NorthEscambia.com photo, click to enlarge.
Half Of Man’s Ear Bitten Off In Fight Over Woman
May 9, 2012
An Atmore man is charged with biting off half another man’s ear during a fight over a woman in Bratt.
Brian Craig Sims, age 41 of Marshall Avenue, was charged with aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and criminal mischief for the incident on McElhaney Road.
The victim told Escambia County Sheriff’s Office deputies that Sims knocked on the door of his fifth-wheel travel trailer. When he opened the door, Sims then attacked the victim — hitting him in the head with a two-inch thick stick, trying to choke him and biting off half of the victim’s left ear while he was in a headlock, according to an Escambia County Sheriff’s Office arrest report.
A female in the trailer with the victim said she had previously dated Sims for 2.5 years and that he was very jealous.
After deputies interviewed the victim during treatment at Atmore Community Hospital, they were able to find the other half of his ear at his residence on McElhaney Road, according to the arrest report. Deputies said they contacted the hospital and they advised that they would be unable to reattach the ear.
Sims was released from the Escambia County Jail on a $16,000 bond.
Lows Back In The 50’s
May 9, 2012
Here is your official North Escambia area forecast:
- Tonight: Mostly clear, with a low around 55. North wind between 5 and 10 mph.
- Thursday: Sunny, with a high near 83. North wind between 5 and 10 mph.
- Thursday Night: Clear, with a low around 52. North wind around 5 mph becoming calm.
- Friday: Sunny, with a high near 84. Northeast wind 5 to 10 mph becoming southeast.
- Friday Night: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 61. Southeast wind between 5 and 10 mph.
- Saturday: A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 81. Breezy, with a east wind between 10 and 20 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph.
- Saturday Night: A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 61. East wind between 10 and 15 mph, with gusts as high as 20 mph.
- Sunday: A 50 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Cloudy, with a high near 82. Southeast wind between 5 and 10 mph.
- Sunday Night: A 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Cloudy, with a low around 64. Southeast wind around 5 mph.
- Monday: A 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 84.
- Monday Night: A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 62.
- Tuesday: A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly sunny, with a high near 81.
- Tuesday Night: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 59.
- Wednesday: A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly sunny, with a high near 81.