Local Scholarship Fund Committee Cooking Ribs, Butts For Labor Day
August 28, 2013
A local scholarship fund committee will be cooking up ribs and Boston butts for the Labor Day weekend.
The Solon Lee Gandy Scholarship Committee is accepting orders for racks of ribs for a $20 donation and Boston butts for a $30 donation.
The Solon Lee Gandy Scholarship has awarded over $8,000 in college scholarship monies to deserving seniors in a three county area. Call Bill Gandy at (850) 982-6847 to place an order for pick up this weekend.
Century United Methodist Receives Statewide Community Involvement Award
August 28, 2013
The Century United Methodist Church was recently honored with the Florida Health Care Activity Coordinators Association’s Community Involvement Award. The statewide award is presented to a group or organization that provides ongoing, outstanding support to the activity department of a long term care facility in Florida. The members of Century UMC provide countless volunteer hours at the Century Care Center. Accepting the award on behalf of the church was Rev. Janet Lee. Submitted photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Walt Beckman
August 28, 2013
Walt Beckman, 80, a native of Pensacola passed away August 26, 2013. He retired from the U.S. Air Force after 27 years and served in the Korean Conflict and Vietnam. He worked as a correctional officer with Escambia County for 15 years. In addition Walt worked as a volunteer firefighter with the Ensley Fire Department for 30 years. Walt originated the “Stop, Drop & Roll” for elementary students. He received the Heart of Gold Award for his outstanding service with the Ensley Volunteer Fire Department.
Walt was a loving husband, father, grandfather, great-grandfather and a friend to many people. He was an avid NASCAR fan, and was a Dale Earnhardt fan. He was known as “Pickle PaPa” to his grand and great-grandchildren.
He is preceded in death by his parents, mother-in-law and his brother.
He is survived by his loving wife of 57 years, Geneva Beckman; sons, Guy (Randy) Beckman, Mike (Jan) Beckman and Christopher (Frances) Beckman; daughters, Lois (David) Krause and Therese (Dana) Drexler; grandchildren, Joey Beckman, Randall (Shelbi) Beckman, Jessica (Jeff) Ealey, Amanda Beckman, Megan Beckman, Derek Beckman, Kristy and Amanda Lewis, Nina Krause, Shannon Jones and Jason (Brittany) Drexler; great-grandchildren, Addison Beckman, Brooke Ealey,Amber Ealey, Cohen Ealey, Landon Eldredge and Khloe Jones.
Visitation will be held from 5 p.m. until 7 p.m. at Faith Chapel Funeral Home North on Thursday, August 29, 2013. Funeral service will be held at 10 a.m. on Friday, August 30, 2013, at Faith Chapel Funeral Home North with Father Francis officiating.
Interment will follow at Clopton Cemetery.
Faith Chapel Funeral Home North is entrusted with the arrangements.
Carma Mae Bagwell
August 28, 2013
Infant Carma Mae Bagwell, tw0 months old, passed away on Sunday, August 25, 2013, in Brewton.
Carma Mae Bagwell was a native and life long resident of East Brewton. She was a Little Angel called Home. Her great-grandfather, Charles Ladner and grandparents, Eloise Woods and Herbart Woods precede her in death.
Survivors include her father, Marcus Woods and mother, Lindsey Bagwell, both of East Brewton; one brother, Ryland Woods of East Brewton; five sisters, Desiray Bagwell of Century, Chloe Satterwhite, Calee Satterwhite, Haylee Wood sand Kylah Woods of East Brewton; grandparents, Tina Bankston of Flomaton and Rusty Bagwell of Flomaton; great-grandmother, Dottie Ladner of Century and special Nana, Cheryl Dykes of Century.
Funeral services will be Friday, August 30, 2013, at 2 p.m. at the Petty-Eastside Chapel Funeral Home with Rev. Jimmie Colley officiating.
Burial will follow at the Happy Valley Cemetery.
Visitation will be Thursday, August 29, 2013, from 6 p.m. until 9 p.m. at the Petty-Eastside Chapel Funeral Home.
Pallbearers will be John Ladner and Anthony Woods.
Petty-Eastside Chapel Funeral Homes is in charge of all arrangements.
Five Arrests Made In Molino Park Burglary; Many Stolen Items Burned
August 28, 2013
[Updated] Two adults and three juveniles have been arrested in connection with the burglary and vandalism of Molino Park Elementary school on August 9. Over $60,000 in property was stolen, and the school sustained another $7,000 in damages. Most the stolen items — including computers and iPads– were burned by the suspects.
Tatanya Zahna Blackmon, an 18-year old female from the 2400 block of North Highway 29 in Cantonment, and Rodriques Ricardo Young, a 19-year old male from the 1300 block of Barth Road in Molino were both booked into the Escambia County Jail on Monday afternoon. Both were charged with grand theft, larceny, criminal mischief with property damage, destroying evidence and contributing to the delinquency of a minor. Both remained in the Escambia County Jail with bond set at $90,000.
Tracy Deshawn Lett, 14, Jacob Lett, 11, and Vashawn Lamond Brown, 13, were charged with grand theft, larceny and criminal mischief. The suspects were identified by Sheriff’s investigators with the assistance and cooperation of the Escambia County School District.
On Wednesday, August 21, Escambia County Sheriff’s Office crime scene investigators responded to the 1200 block of Barth Road in reference to recovered property relating to the burglary.
Many of the stolen items were found burned. “So much of the stuff is destroyed,” Escambia County Sheriff David Morgan said. “So much of it is just malicious mischief by teenagers.”
To see the surveillance video, click here.
Thousands of dollars worth of electronics were stolen from throughout the school, including Apple computers, iPads, Wii gaming systems, cameras used by the school’s student-operated closed circuit TV station, along with other items. As teachers returned to work Monday, items were still being discovered missing and inventoried.
“They stole computers that are needed for education; they stole from our kids,” Molino Park Principal Alice Woodward said shortly after the crime. “These were items directly used by our students.”
Portions of the school were also vandalized during the break-in. Ceiling tiles were damaged or destroyed throughout the campus, and holes were punched in walls. A vending machine was also toppled and burglarized.
Pictured inset left: Numerous ceiling tiles were damaged during the burglary and vandalism. Pictured below: Three Apple computers were stolen from this desk in a computer lab. Pictured below: Surveillance video shows two people running through the school at 9:17 p.m. on August 9. Pictured inset: An overturned and burglarized vending machine in the school. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Zimmerman’s Attorney To Seek Legal Costs From The State
August 28, 2013
The state is expected to receive a bill for between $200,000 and $300,000 to cover the legal costs of George Zimmerman, who was acquitted last month in the February 2012 shooting death of teen Trayvon Martin in Sanford.
Zimmerman defense attorney Mark O’Mara is preparing a motion to ask Circuit Judge Debra S. Nelson to authorize the payment that would cover the costs of expert witnesses, travel, depositions, photocopies, and an animated 3-D video that defense attorneys showed jurors during closing arguments depicting Martin punching Zimmerman, the Orlando Sentinel reported.
Part of Florida law requires the state to refund legal costs associated with a case, except for attorney fees, when a defendant in a criminal prosecution is acquitted.
A judge would have to approve the refund, which is also submitted to the Justice Administrative Commission for payment. The legal costs would be in addition to the more than $900,000 spent by public agencies on the five week murder trial, according to the Sentinel.
Florida Drug Database Changes Under Fire
August 28, 2013
Proposed changes to a state-run prescription drug database won’t do anything to protect patient privacy, civil rights lawyers argued on Tuesday.
Florida Department of Health officials say they want to tighten security on the state’s prescription-drug monitoring program, after the names and detailed prescription-drug histories of more than 3,000 people were released to defense attorneys after a drug sting in May.
The draft rule changes, discussed at a DOH workshop Tuesday, are “minor, inconsequential and fail to address the practical issues” that led to the release of private data of thousands of people who weren’t under investigation, American Civil Liberties Union of Florida lobbyist Pamela Burch Fort said during the meeting.
But law enforcement officials complained that at least one of the proposals would hamstring investigators. The proposed rule would limit distribution of records obtained from database searches to a single authorized user at any given agency.
Quincy Police Chief Walter McNeil, representing the Florida Police Chiefs Association, said that’s too restrictive.
Allowing more law-enforcement personnel to have access to the records won’t make patient privacy more vulnerable, McNeil said later.
“For the most part, you’ll find that most agencies guard confidential information confidentially. What most agencies will do is treat this information sacrosanctly and make sure that it’s kept in-house,” said McNeil, a former secretary of both the state Department of Juvenile Justice and the Department of Corrections.
Becky Poston, the administrator of the database, told McNeil the agency would consider incorporating his suggestions, also backed up by the Florida Sheriffs Association.
Representatives of the two law-enforcement organizations and the ACLU were the only ones who spoke at Tuesday’s 30-minute workshop.
Lucy Gee, director of the Department of Health’s Medical Quality Assurance Division, said the agency’s goal is to safeguard patient privacy.
“That’s our number one mission here is the safety, the protection of private patient information,” she said. “We expected to get some input from some others. We’re trying all different kinds of ideas and we want to be sure that it meets law enforcement’s needs but it also protects public information.”
But ACLU lawyer Maria Kayanan said broadening distribution of the records would be going backwards.
“It seems like the original purpose of this PDMP (prescription drug monitoring program) has been lost in the fray and now it’s a law-enforcement tool rather than a helping tool for physicians to identify patients that may be doctor-shopping. That’s certainly not what it was sold as,” Kayanan.
The ACLU opposed the database from its inception and now is demanding that database searches require a warrant, something that is not required for law-enforcement officials to review pharmacies’ paper records as part of active drug investigations.
The ACLU filed a complaint about the security breach with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and recently filed an amicus brief in the criminal case in Volusia County. In May, State Attorney R.J. Larizza released the records of more than 3,300 individuals to five of six attorneys for defendants accused of prescription drug fraud.
Larizza’s office is asking a judge to clarify whether prosecutors are required to release the data again to defense lawyers.
Michael H. Lambert, a Daytona Beach lawyer whose name and prescription history was on the list but who was not being investigated, sued Larizza and is challenging the constitutionality of the law. Larizza and Attorney General Pam Bondi are asking a Jacksonville judge to dismiss the case, scheduled for a hearing next week.
The ACLU is also fighting the state health department over records related to the search in the Volusia case.
Kayanan contends that the program allows law enforcement to cast too broad a net by using wildcard search parameters that result in the return of records unrelated to people actually under investigation.
The proposed rule changes do nothing to narrow the scope of the searches, she said.
And the proposed rule also does not include any remedy for patients like Lambert whose prescription drug data was released to third parties. Current laws and rules do not require individuals to be notified if their histories have been wrongfully released.
The agency will publish the proposed rule and take public comments before formally adopting it, Gee said.
“I’m hoping that when we publish our proposed rule text that we’ll get more written comments,” she said.
The release of the names in May heightened concerns over the database, which became operational two years ago. Gov. Rick Scott, at one time a staunch opponent of the program, reversed his opposition to it as Bondi lobbied heavily to take steps to curb prescription-drug abuse. Lawmakers this spring agreed to fund the program.
by Dara Kam, The News Service of Florida
Barons Beat Wahoos 5-4
August 28, 2013
Dan Black belted a solo homer in the top of the seventh inning breaking a 4-all deadlock to give the Birmingham Barons a 5-4 win over the Pensacola Blue Wahoos in the final home game of the 2013 season at Pensacola Bayfront Stadium. The game was played in front of the 31st sellout crowd of the year as the Wahoos ended up drawing 307,094 fans over 66 home dates.
Black’s homer was his 17th of the season and came off Wahoos reliever Chris Manno (L, 4-4) after Pensacola had rallied for three runs in the last of the sixth inning. Pensacola got an RBI single from Devin Lohman, a sacrifice fly from Brandon Short and an RBI double from Ray Chang to erase what was a 4-1 deficit against Barons reliever Henry Mabee (W, 1-0). He was eventually credited with the win thanks to Black’s homer.
Robert Stephenson got the start for Pensacola and didn’t last past the fifth, allowing four runs on seven hits with four strikeouts and five walks. Cody Puckett tagged Stephenson for a solo homer two batters into the game, giving Birmingham a 1-0 lead. Stephenson ran into trouble in the fourth, yielding an RBI double to Chris McMurray before giving up a pair of runs on a two-run double to Mike Blanke, knocking the right-hander from the game.
Pensacola knotted the game at one in the last of the third on a bases loaded sacrifice fly from Yorman Rodriguez against Birmingham starter Chris Bassitt, who ended up going five-plus frames for the Barons, allowing three runs (two earned) on four hits with four strikeouts and three walks.
The Wahoos had a chance to tie the game in the last of the ninth as Ray Chang doubled with one out against Birmingham closer Cody Winiarski (S, 3). However, Winiarski battled back to strike out Ryan LaMarre and get Mike Costanzo to ground out to end the contest.
Pensacola will wrap up the season with a five-game series in Mobile starting on Thursday night at Hank Aaron Stadium at 7:05. Carlos Contreras (3-2, 2.92) gets the call for the Wahoos opposite the BayBears’ Bradin Hagens (10-8, 3.64).
Pedestrian Killed On Davis Highway
August 27, 2013
A pedestrian was struck and killed last night on North Davis Highway.
The Florida Highway Patrol said 17-year old Mason Lloyd Maines was northbound on Davis Highway as 53-year old Daniel David Ducker of Pensacola tried to cross the highway south of Northcross Lane at 10:24 p.m. Ducker failed to see Maines’ 2005 Toyota Tacoma and stepped into the path of the vehicle.
Ducker was transported to Sacred Heart Hospital by Escambia County EMS where he was pronounced deceased at 11:13 p.m.
Maines and his passenger, 20-year old Walter Devin Cheek of Pensacola, were not injured.
Report: Florida Still Grappling With Income Levels, Foreclosures
August 27, 2013
While Gov. Rick Scott travels the state touting job growth and an unemployment rate below the national average, a report released last week by state analysts points to some continuing economic problems such as a lack of income growth and persistent home foreclosures.
Florida had a 1.5 percent decline in personal income during the first quarter of 2013, when compared to the last quarter of 2012. The report, posted online by the Legislature’s Office of Economic and Demographic Research, said housing is “generally improving” but that Florida had the highest foreclosure rate in the country in July 2013.
Also, the report noted that while the state’s unemployment rate dropped from 9.4 percent in December 2011 to 7.1 percent in July 2013, a large part of that drop — 47.8 percent — stemmed from people dropping out of the labor force or delaying entry to the labor force.
“The job market will take a long time to recover — about 515,000 jobs have been lost since the most recent peak,” the report said. “Rehiring, while necessary, will not be enough.”