Woman Shot During Escambia Home Invasion Robbery
November 28, 2013
Deputies are searching for a suspect in a Monday night home invasion in Escambia County that left a woman with a gunshot wound to her face.
Just before 7 p.m., deputies responded to Gail Street in reference to a home invasion robbery with a gunshot victim. According to witnesses, three black males armed with handguns entered the female victim’s home and demanded money. When the suspects did not find what they wanted, they shot the woman in the face, deputies said. At least two more shots were fired at the house as the suspects fled the scene.
A witness reported a seafoam green, late 1990’s model Oldsmobile fleeing the scene. The victim was transported by Escambia County EMS to an area hospital.
Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call Crime Stoppers at (850) 433-STOP.
Holiday Closings For Thanksgiving
November 28, 2013
The following will be closed in observance of the Thanksgiving holiday.
- Escambia County Schools (Wed-Fri)
- Santa Rosa County School (Wed-Fri)
- Escambia (Fla. & Ala.) and Santa Rosa county offices (Thur-Fri)
- Century, Jay, Milton, Pensacola, Atmore, Flomaton city offices (Thur-Fri)
- Perdido Landfill (Thurs, landfill open Fri, offices open Mon)
- U.S. Post Office — retail windows closed, no mail delivery or collection (Thur)
- Florida state offices (Thur-Fri)
- Federal offices (Thur-Fri)
- No bus service from ECAT on Thursday
- West Florida Public Libraries, including Century Branch (Thur-Fri)
- Santa Rosa libraries (Thur-Sun)
- Pensacola State College
- University of West Florida
ECUA Garbage:
ECUA’s Thursday residential routes will be collected Friday, and Friday’s routes will be collected on Saturday. Thursday’s commercial routes were picked up on Wednesday; Friday commercial routes will be picked up as usual.
Turkey Time Cooking Tips
November 28, 2013
It’s Thanksgiving, time for family and friends to gather and give thanks. And time for cooks to ponder the correct way to prepare their turkey.
Today, we are taking a look at the proper way to cook your turkey with tips from Dorthy Lee, Family and Consumer Sciences Agent for the Escambia County Extension Office.
Clean
Begin every meal preparation with clean hands, and wash hands frequently to prevent any cross contamination. As a rule, hands that have come in contact with raw meat or poultry should be washed for twenty seconds in hot, soapy water.
Separate
Raw meat and poultry products may contain harmful bacteria, so make certain that the juices from those products do not come in contact with food that will be eaten without cooking, like the salad. Also, never place cooked food on an unwashed plate that previously held raw meat or poultry.
Cook
Use of food thermometer should be a standard operating procedure in your kitchen and, when used correctly, will ensure that your turkey is cooked to perfection. To be safe, the
temperature of a whole turkey should reach 180°F between the breast and the innermost part of the thigh.
If you stuff your turkey, the center of the stuffing must reach 165°F. If the stuffing has not reached 165°F, then continue cooking the turkey until it does. Let the turkey stand twenty minutes after removal from the oven before carving.
Chill
This is another important step because food-borne bacteria can grow while food sits unrefrigerated. Refrigerate or freeze perishable leftovers within two hours of cooking. To prepare your leftovers, remove any remaining stuffing from the cavity and cut turkey into small pieces. Slice the breast meat. Wings and legs may be left whole. Refrigerate stuffing and turkey separately in shallow containers.
Use or freeze leftover turkey and stuffing within three to four days, gravy within one to two days. Reheat thoroughly to a temperature of 165°F, or until hot and steaming.
For more information, call the Escambia County Extension office, (850) 475-5230.
Photos: Camp Fire Kids Celebrate Thanksgiving With Feast
November 28, 2013
Camp Fire USA Century Youth Learning Center held a Thanksgiving feast this week for children and their parents. The daycare’s children, dressed as Pilgrims or Native Americans, held a program before the meal, singing songs and using sign language to ask everyone if they they were ready to eat before enjoying a full Thanksgiving meal.
Handmade toilet paper roll turkeys proclaimed some of the items that the children are thankful for, including moms, dads, siblings, other family, teachers, toys, God, pets and food.
Submitted photos by Pam Townson for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Mary Lou Kinnard
November 28, 2013
Mary Lou Kinnard, was born May 13, 1911, in Gonzalez, Fla., and raised in Alabama. She graduated high school in Excel, Ala. After graduation Mary Lou entered nursing school at City Hospital in Mobile and graduated nursing school in 1934. She started her first nursing job in 1935 at Mercy Hospital in Alma, MI. Mary Lou married Clark Kinnard June 5, 1936, in Alma, MI. Later they retired to Wewahitchka, Fla., in 1969 and she retired from nursing in 1970. Mary Lou moved to Pensacola in 1981 and was a member of Trinity Lutheran Church.
Mary Lou is preceded in death by her husband of 43 years, Clark Kinnard; three brothers and three sisters-in-law.
Survivors include her niece, Gloria Faye (Floyd) Cornett; other nieces and nephews; and two special friends, Olean West and Kathy Toepfer.
Visitation will be held Friday, November 29, 2013 from 5 p.m. until 7 p.m. at Faith Chapel Funeral Home North.
Services will be held Saturday, November 30, 2013, at 11 a.m. at Faith Chapel Funeral Home North with Reverend Sanford Stanton officiating.
Interment will take place immediately following at Little Flock Primitive Baptist Church Cemetery.
Flowers will be accepted or donations may be made to Covenant Hospice of Pensacola. Special thanks to the caregivers at Homestead Village Assisted Living for their loving care.
Faith Chapel Funeral Home North is in charge of arrangements.
Melba Yvonne Kelly
November 28, 2013
Ms. Melba Yvonne Kelly, 76, passed away on Wednesday, November 27, 2013, in Atmore.
Ms. Kelly was a native and lifelong resident of Bratt. Ms. Kelly was a Sunday school teacher, children’s church, organist and was retired from B.C. Moore. She was a member of the Bratt Assembly of God.
She is survived by her two brothers, Rev. Charles (Eloise) Kelly of Dunn, NC and Everette Sylvester (Wanda) Kelly of Bay Minette; four sisters, Katherine Cotton and Clara Franklin, both of Dothan, Alice Higginbothem of Pensacola and Lorine Elliot of Bratt; and number of nieces and nephews.
Funeral services were held Friday, November 29, 2013, at the Petty-Eastside Chapel Funeral Home with the Rev. Charles Kelly and Rev. Theron Collingsworth officiating.
Burial will follow at Godwin Cemetery.
Pallbearers will be her nephews.
Petty-Eastside Chapel Funeral Homes, LLC is in charge of all arrangements.
Cook Safely This Thanksgiving to Prevent Kitchen Fires
November 28, 2013
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is alerting consumers that the threat of fires in the kitchen triples on Thanksgiving Day. From 2009 through 2011, there was an average of about 1,300 cooking fires on Thanksgiving Day. This is more than three times the average daily rate from 2009 through 2011 of about 400 cooking fires a day.
“As fire safety experts have said for years, ‘Stand by your pan!’” said CPSC Chairman Inez Tenenbaum. “If you are frying, grilling or broiling food, stay in the kitchen. Not following this advice can be a recipe for disaster on Thanksgiving and throughout the year.” When it comes to fires in the home, cooking fires are number one. They accounted for nearly 150,000 fires (more than 40 percent of all annual unintentional residential fires) each year from 2009 through 2011. Unattended cooking is the top cause of cooking fires. Cooking fires also caused the most home fire-related injuries, with an estimated annual average of nearly 27 percent, or 3,450 injuries each year.
Overall, CPSC estimates an average of 362,300 unintentional residential fires, 2,260 deaths, 12,820 injuries and nearly $7 billion in property damage attended by the fire service occurring each year between 2009 and 2011.
To stay safe in the kitchen, avoid wearing loose-fitting clothing with long sleeves near ranges or ovens, watch children closely so they don’t come into contact with cooking food or hot stovetops, turn pan handles toward the back of the stove to prevent kids and others from spilling a pan’s scalding contents onto themselves.
In the event of a fire, call 911. Cover a pan with a lid to smother the flames. Never pour water or flour on a fire. That can make it worse. Keep a fire extinguisher in the kitchen.
“Turkey fryer fires can be explosive and result in serious burns,” said Glenn Gaines, Deputy U.S. Fire Administrator for the United States Fire Administration (USFA). “Only use a turkey fryer outside and away from your home. Never use it in a garage or on a porch. Don’t overfill the oil or leave the turkey fryer unattended.”
Since 2003, there have been more than 125 turkey fryer-related fires, burns, explosions, smoke inhalations, or laceration incidents reported to CPSC staff. There were 55 injuries among these incidents, but none were fatal. For the incidents reporting a dollar value for the property loss, the total loss reported was around $6 million. Additional incidents involving turkey fryers may have occurred that were not reported to CPSC.
Consumers should also protect themselves by installing smoke alarms in their homes. “Roughly three out of five home fire deaths happen in homes with no smoke alarms or no working smoke alarms,” said Jim Shannon, President of the National Fire Protection Association. “Smoke alarms save lives. Having a working smoke alarm cuts the chances of dying in a fire in half.”
Change the batteries in smoke alarms at least once every year and test the alarms every month to make sure they are working.
To provide a better warning of a fire and more escape time, install more than one alarm and interconnect all smoke alarms in the home. Interconnected alarms speak to one another, so if there is a fire in one part of the house, the interconnected alarms sound throughout the house and alert consumers to the fire more quickly.
For the best protection, install alarms on every level of the home, outside sleeping areas and inside each bedroom, and use both ionization and photoelectric alarms. Alarms that are powered by house wiring should have a battery backup.
Smoke alarms provide the warning, but every family should have a fire escape plan as well. Practice the escape plan with everyone in the house so they can get out quickly. The escape plan should include two ways out of each room (as practical) and a family meeting place that is outside where everyone can meet if there is a fire in the home.
Charles Larry Caraway
November 28, 2013
Mr. Charles Larry Caraway, 59, passed away on Wednesday, November 27, 2013, in Pensacola.
Mr. Caraway was a native of Atmore, former long time resident of Rabun and had resided in McCullough for the past four years. Mr. Caraway was a loving and devoted worker and family man. He is preceded in death by his mother, Bobbie Lou Biles.
He is survived by his father, Charles Caraway of Tensaw, Ala; two daughters, Christy Caraway and Chasity Caraway, both of Atmore; two brothers, Terry Caraway of McCullough and Tim Caraway of Poarch; and six grandchildren.
Funeral services will be held at the Petty-Eastside Chapel Funeral Home on Tuesday, December 3, 2013, at 2 p.m. with the Rev. Diane Everette officiating.
Visitation will be Monday, December 2, 2013, from 6 p.m. until 9 p.m. at the Petty-Eastside Chapel Funeral Home.
Petty- Eastside Chapel Funeral Homes, LLC is in charge of all arrangements.
No Injuries In Cantonment Crash
November 28, 2013
There were no injuries when a driver overturned his vehicle on an unnamed dirt lane near Becks Lake Road and Highway 29 just before 8:00 this morning. The exact cause of the accident is under investigation by the Florida Highway Patrol. Further details, including the name of the driver, have not been released. NorthEscambia.com photo by Kristi Smith, click to enlarge.
Joel Wesley Smith
November 28, 2013
Mr. Joel Wesley Smith passed away peacefully on Monday, November 25, 2013. He was born on September 9, 1931, to parents Chester Brown Smith and Janie Barrow Smith of Castleberry, AL.
Preceding him in death was his beloved wife of 57 years, Opal Virginia Odom Smith who made their home in the Atmore area since 1947, where they owned and operated Smith’s Small Engines on South Main Street, in Atmore. Joel remained in his home in Canoe after Opal’s death in 2006 until a recent lengthy hospital stay.
Joel and Opal were preceded in death by their oldest daughter, Linda Gayle Smith Phillips, of Pensacola; and are survived by a son, Lavon Wesley Smith ( Cynthia) of Cantonment and daughter, Janet Smith McCullough ( Randy) of Chapel Hill, NC. They have eight grandchildren, fourteen great-grandchildren and two great-great-grandchildren. He was the last survivor of ten siblings.
Services will be officiated by Rev. Earl Harrison of The Church of the Living God, where Joel attended for several years. Eastside Chapel of Atmore will handle funeral arrangements for the service on Saturday, November 30, 2013, at 2 p.m.
Interment will follow at Serenity Gardens on Highway 31 in Atmore.
Family will receive visitors on Friday, November 29, 2013, from 6 p.m. until 8 p.m. at Eastside Chapel.
Petty-Eastside Chapel Funeral Homes, LLC is in charge of all arrangements.