Julia Bryars Gibbs
October 10, 2012
Julia Bryars Gibbs, 89, born September 21, 1923, went home to be with her Lord on October 09, 2012. Julia was a life long resident of Atmore.
She is preceded in death by her beloved husband, Thomas Hollis Gibbs; parents, Clarence and Mae Boggan Bryars; brothers, Clarence L. Bryars, Ellis Bryars, Elton Bryars and sister Ruth Bryars Caraway.
Julia was employed by Southland Telephone Company for 30 years and spent her later years traveling with her husband in his work to Puerto Rico and the Panama Canal Zone. Upon retirement they traveled the country and enjoyed their beach house and farm. Julia was a brave and courageous lady who fought the good fight and won the battle. She was a source of inspiration to her siblings, children and all who knew her. We were all blessed to have her in our lives and her legacy will live on through her family.
She is survived by her son, Jeffrey Bart (Linda) Gibbs of Molino; Portia Gibbs (Norman) Goss of Montgomery, Tom (Beth) Gibbs of Charleston, S.C., Wyman (Teresa) Gibbs of Athens, AL, Ayla Hixson of Birmingham; 10 grandchildren and one great-grandchild; four sisters, Betty (Vernon) Vinson of Pace; Laurie (J.T.) Moseley of Bay Minette; Mary Jo (Charles) Fickling of Perdido; Sammie (Lonnie) Turberville of Atmore; four sisters-in-law, Lillian Bryars of Pensacola, Nell Bryars of Atmore, Mary Gibbs of Monroeville, and Ruth Bryars of Albany, GA.
Services will be Friday, October 12, 2012, at 11 a.m. from Johnson-Quimby Funeral Home Chapel with Rev. Mike Grindle officiating. Interment will follow in Oak Hill Cemetery.
Family will receive friends, Thursday, October 11, 2012, at Johnson-Quimby Funeral Home from 6 until 8 p.m.
A special thank you to her loving caretakers, Faye Lee, Martha Colbert and Sandy Flowers, Covenant Hospice and Mitzi Thomas for there many acts of kindness.
Cost For iPads For Every Florida Student? $441 Million
October 10, 2012
The State Board of Education has put a price tag on the state’s share of a transition to digital learning materials for public school students across Florida — $441 million — while signaling that it also supports school districts having more freedom to select their textbooks.
The digital learning figure is part of the State Department of Education’s $15.2 billion budget request to the Legislature, which would mark a 4.4 percent increase in the department’s spending plan above the current fiscal year. The board approved the request Tuesday.
Lawmakers are expected to potentially have a $71.3 million surplus to work with for the budget year that begins July 1, but even some budget-writers are cautious of that figure.
Lawmakers have helped drive the state toward more reliance on digital learning materials, passing a bill two years ago requiring schools to adopt digital-only textbooks by the 2015-16 school year and spend at least half their textbook budget on electronic materials.
The budget proposal from the department focuses more on the nuts-and-bolts approach to making that happen: Setting up schools with the capability to make iPads and Kindles useful and making sure that students actually have the devices.
The plan would devote almost $239 million to equipping schools with wireless Internet capabilities, something that 1,616 schools in Florida — almost half the total — currently lack. It would take another $151 million to make sure that every school in the state has access to quality broadband Internet access; 263 schools in Florida have no broadband access at all.
The final $51.7 million would be spent to defray some of the costs of increasing the number of computing devices that students could use — such as iPads, though the department would not require districts to use a certain brand or device. The proposal accounts for leasing each of the devices for three years at $170 a year.
“That’s a great price,” said David Stokes, chief information officer for the State Department of Florida. “Well, how are we going to do that? It’s going to be extremely challenging.”
Stokes said he believed that the state could get the deal by working with vendors.
At the same time, board members are preparing to challenge the textbook adoption process. Districts have to use the state list created by the process for some, but not all, of their textbook purchases. But several board members voiced support for getting rid of textbook adoption, freeing districts to use whatever materials they want for the classroom.
Roberto Martinez, the vice chairman of the board, said the move would allow school districts more flexibility to reach goals set by the state.
“If they want to use textbooks, let them use textbooks,” he said. “If they want to use primary-source material, fine. Digital, fine. Whatever it is. But I think we’re at that stage where we can give them that kind of freedom to accomplish the outcomes that we want.”
A textbook flexibility bill included in the department’s priorities would begin to move the state away from the process. Instead, officials envision a system where the department will offer to vet materials for districts that might not have the resources to review the materials on their own.
Okaloosa County Superintendent Alexis Tibbetts, president of the Florida Association of District School Superintendents, enthusiastically supported the change.
“That’s going to be the answer to prayer,” she said. But board members and supporters of the move warned that any effort to get rid of the policy will likely face a fierce fight in the Legislature by publishers.
Indeed, Jay Diskey, executive director of the school division of the Association of American Publishers, said in an interview that the state should preserve textbook adoption.
“The process in Florida has been a way for Florida to ensure that its school standards appear in the curriculum,” Diskey said. He also noted that Florida is one of nearly 40 states that are preparing to move toward a more standardized curriculum.
“It’s probably the worst possible time for Florida to walk away from this process,” he said.
By The News Service of Florida
Scott To Propose Teacher Training Money
October 10, 2012
Gov. Rick Scott said teachers want to be respected and get the professional training they need and that he’ll propose $2 million to make more training available.
“One of the things that will be in my budget this year will be a…matching grant program to work with the school districts, to work with foundations, work with companies to do more professional development for our teachers,” Scott said Tuesday.
“My experience in business has been that if you hope your employees to get better you’ve got to make sure you put them in a position that they can do a good job on the development of whatever their skills are, so I’ll have $2 million in my budget this year to … do a matching grant program.”
By The News Service of Florida
Cemetery Vandalism Under Investigation
October 10, 2012
Authorities are asking for the public’s help in identifying suspects in the vandalism of an area cemetery.
Tuesday, the Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s deputies discovered that gravesites had been vandalized at the Coon Hill Cemetary off Lee Morris Road in Chumuckla. Deputies found that 13 headstones had been knocked over, breaking one.
The cemetery has the been the target of numerous acts of vandalism in the past, deputies said.
Anyone with information about the vandalism is asked to call the Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office at (850) 983-1190 or Santa Rosa Crime Stoppers at (850) 437-STOP.
Pictured: Vandalism at the Coon Hill Cemetery near Chumuckla. Submitted photos by the Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Vernon Bernard Barnhill
October 10, 2012
Mr. Vernon Bernard Barnhill, 71, passed away on Monday, October 8, 2012, in Pensacola.
Mr. Barnhill was a native of Huxfordand a former resident of Navarre and has resided in Pensacola for the past nine years. Mr. Barnhill was retired from the Escambia County Animal Shelter after 30 years of service. He was a dedicated worker.
Survivors include the mother of his children, Elizabeth Lambeth of Stockton; one son, Timothy Vernon Barnhill of Navarre; one daughter, Angela Dawn (Jim) Jarvis of Navarre; one brother, Charles Barnhill of Cantonment; two grandchildren, Ceceliah Lewis and Daniel Jarvis and one great-grandchild, Brantley Burke.
Funeral services will be held Friday, October 12, 2012, at 2 p.m. at Petty-Eastside Chapel Funeral Home with the Rev. Gary Robbins and Eloise Stewart officiating.
Burial will follow at Semirah Springs Cemetery.
Visitation will be Friday, October 12, 2012, from12:30 p.m. until funeral time at Petty-Eastside Chapel Funeral Home.
Pallbearers will be Eugene Barnhill, Winston Godwin, Herman Godwin, Stanley Bulter, David Barnhill and Gil Fisher.
Week Six: Prep Football Standings
October 10, 2012
Leaders are beginning to emerge, but district titles are not yet set in local high school football action.
In District 1-6A, Pace remains undefeated, while Milton and Escambia are 2-1. The Patriots and the Gators will meet this Friday night at Escambia.
West Florida is unbeaten in District 1-5A after handing Gulf Breeze their first district loss last Friday night.
The Northview Chiefs and the Baker Gators are 1-0 in District 1-1A, while Freeport and Jay each have a district loss.
Woman Credits Fireman For Saving Her Life Following Wreck
October 9, 2012
A woman is crediting a Flomaton fireman for saving her following a wreck Saturday in Gonzalez.
Rosa Bertolla said she though she was going to die after the crash Saturday afternoon at Old Chemstrand Road and Highway 29. The Florida Highway Patrol said 55-year old Terry Mack Smith lost the brakes on his motorhome, sideswiped one car and then slammed into Bertolla’s van.
Bertolla said her van began to fill with smoke, but she was unable to get out. Then she said off-duty Flomaton volunteer fireman Chance Hawthorne pulled her of her van. He had stopped nearby with his wife, on their way home from Pensacola.
“The instinct just kicked in to do what I was trained to do. And I’ve been doing this for five years and this is what I love,” Hawthorne said.
Smith was charged with careless driving in connection with the accident.
Pictured: Rosa Bertolla said her van was filling with smoke when she was pulled to safety by an off-duty Flomaton volunteer fireman Saturday afternoon in Gonzalez. Pictured inset: Bertolli met fireman chance Hawthorne Monday. Photos courtesy WEAR 3 for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
No Injuries In Ransom Middle School Bus Wreck
October 9, 2012
There were no injuries in a school bus crash Monday afternoon involving a Ransom Middle School students.
The Florida Highway Patrol said 41-year old Rebecca L. Johnson of Beulah was southbound on Beulah Road in 2004 Lexus when she rear-ended a 2013 school bus driven by Sharon M. Hazard of Cantonment.
There were 19 Ransom Middle students on the bus at the time of the crash — all of which were uninjured.
Johnson was cited for careless driving, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.
Hundreds Of Local Residents May Have Received Meningitis Contaminated Injections
October 9, 2012
Hundreds of local residents may have been injected with a meningitis contaminated batch of steroids used to treat back and joint pain.
The Escambia County Health Department and the Florida Department of Health (DOH) are working closely with Pain Consultants of West Florida and area medical facilities regarding medical problems from the use of contaminated methylprednisolone acetate in spinal injections for back pain and in joint injections for joint pain. Pain Consultants of West Florida is one of the eight facilities in Florida that have been identified as having received shipments from one or more of the CDC-identified contaminated lot numbers of this medication.
The contaminated medication may have been used in spinal and in joint injections given by Pain Consultants of West Florida between July 8, 2012, and September 28, 2012. The most current information indicates that approximately 300 patients may have received spinal injections and around 200 to 300 patients may have received joint injections during this time frame. These figures may change if further recipients are identified. The Escambia County Health Department and Pain Consultants of West Florida are coordinating efforts to identify recipient patients and contact these persons regarding this matter.
Dr. Kurt Krueger of Pain Consultants of West Florida states: “We are saddened by the effect that this widespread incident may have on our patients in the Florida panhandle and are working with area health departments to make every effort to identify and refer for evaluation all patients who may have received a contaminated injection.”
Persons having received spinal or joint injections of a steroid medication from Pain Consultants of West Florida between July 8 and September 28, 2012, should advise their primary care physician. Persons experiencing signs or symptoms of joint infection or meningitis should seek immediate medical evaluation by their physician or their local hospital emergency department. Symptoms of fungal meningitis may be milder than those normally associated with meningitis. Symptoms of fungal joint infections or meningitis can include:
Worsening of inflammatory symptoms in the treated joint including increased redness, warmth, swelling or pain
Fever, new or worsening headache, nausea, and/or new symptoms consistent with a stroke
Persons at risk of infection should call their physician to ensure that their physician is aware of their risk. More information can be obtained from the Escambia County Health Department at (850) 595-6651 or from your local health department. For individuals outside Escambia County, the Florida Department of Health has set up a toll-free hotline at (866) 523-7339.
K-9 Teams From Century, Atmore Take Southeastern Manhunt Honors
October 9, 2012
K-9 teams from Century and Atmore placed this past weekend in the 2012 Southeastern State Manhunt Field Trials hosted by the Escambia County Road Prison.
The Fountain Prison team took first place with an average time of 15:10. Second place went to an Arkansas team at 16:08.5, and third place went to the K-9 team from the Century Correctional Institution.
The team from the Escambia County Road Prison did not place with an average time of 30:46.
Pictured: Members of Century Correctional Institution’s K-9 team (L-R) Sgt. Burley Townson, Ofc. Darrin Smith, Ofc. Chester Tolbert, Ofc. Tony deGraaf and Ofc. Jamie Sanders. Pictured inset: Team members with their tracking dogs. Submitted photos by Julie Booth for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.