Santa Rosa Man Dies In Single Vehicle Traffic Crash
November 11, 2013
A Santa Rosa County man died in a single vehicle traffic crash over the weekend.
The Florida Highway Patrol said 39-year old Shawn Edward Nava of Milton failed to properly negotiate a curve on Twilight Drive, struck a guy-wire and overturned. His 1995 Toyota Camry came to rest on its roof following the crash at 11:50 p.m. Friday.
James “J.B.” Walker
November 11, 2013
Mr. James “J.B.” Walker, 96 of Oak Grove, passed away November 11, 2013, in Pensacola. He was born January 14, 1917, in Oak Grove to the late James Edward and Laura Jones Walker. He served in the United States Coast Guard during WW II. He retired from St. Regis Paper Company with over 40 years of service. He was a member of Oak Grove Baptist Church where he served as chairmen of the Deacons for many years. Mr. Walker enjoyed farming, playing dominos and watching his grandsons play ball.
He is preceded in death by his parents, wife of 50 years, Gladys Walker; brothers, Clarence and Louise Walker, Cephas and Rosa Walker; and sister, Lucille and Thomas McCall.
He is survived by his son, Sam and Vivian Walker of Oak Grove; and his grandsons, Scott Walker and Brandon Walker.
Funeral services will be held Wednesday, November 13, 2013, at 2:30 p.m. from the Johnson-Quimby Funeral Home Chapel with Rev. Roy Chewing and Rev. Dennis Brown officiating.
Burial will follow in Oak Grove Cemetery.
Active pallbearers will be George Carpenter, Doug Frost, Billy Darby, Doug Godwin, Elvin Pugh and Ellis Mason.
Honorary pallbearers will be Harry Hassebrock, Doris Gentry, Martha Carpenter, A.J. Hudson, Bill Colley, Mr. and Mrs. Byron Tims, Mr. and Mrs. Gary Bouler and Mr. and Mrs. Ronnie Gilley.
Visitation will be held Wednesday, November 13, 2013, from 1 p.m. until service time at the Johnson-Quimby Funeral Home.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Oak Grove Cemetery Fund.
Johnson-Quimby Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.
Mary Etta Lambert
November 11, 2013
Mrs. Mary Etta Lambert, 81, of Canoe, passed away at her home on November 10, 2013, on a beautiful Sunday morning. She was born June 8, 1932, in McCullough, to the late Richard Harrison and Zellie Vickrey Robinson. She was a homemaker and a faithful member of the Huxford Community of Christ.
She is preceded in death by her parents and by her beloved husband, Ray Lambert.
She is survived by her children, David and Sonja Lambert of Canoe and Beth and Shawn Linam of McCullough; her grandchildren, Alisha Linam, Ryan Lambert, Nicholas Linam, Emily Lambert, and Cole Lambert; brother, Wendell Robinson of Excel; and sister, Pauline Kirby of McCullough.
Funeral services will be held Wednesday, November 13, 2013, at 11 a.m. at the Johnson-Quimby Funeral Home Chapel with Seventy Wayne Ellis and Elders Tommy and Sharon Jernigan officiating.
Burial will follow in Huxford Community of Christ Cemetery.
Active pallbearers will be her grandchildren.
Visitation will be held Wednesday, November 13, 2013, from 10 a.m. until service time at the Johnson-Quimby Funeral Home.
Johnson-Quimby Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.
Milwaukee Brewers’ Gindl Inspires Young Baseball Players
November 10, 2013
There’s nothing like the crack of a wooden bat on a sunny North Escambia afternoon. Not just any old wooden bat, but a good Louisville Slugger. A custom made Genuine Made C271 Pro Stock, American made from Carolina ash.
One after another, after another, the baseballs sailed to the outfield fence in Bratt for Northview High School Chief outfielders to catch. And sometimes they were over the fence, the bases loaded, bottom of the ninth home run feeling with every one.
Baseball, wooden bats and home runs…the all American stuff that young boys dream of…young boys like Caleb Gindl as he grew up around Molino and went on to play high school ball for the Pace Patriots.
In 2007, Milwaukee selected Gindl in the fifth round of the Major League Baseball draft. He paid his dues year after year in the minors, until he was called up to the Brewers on June 15. A week later, he made history for the Milwaukee Brewers as he became the first in franchise history to hit a walk-off for his first MLB homer. It was his very first major league home run.
“It was awesome; it was nice to know that all the hard work finally paid off,” Gindl said Saturday. “After seven years in the minors and to finally catch a break, it was really nice.”
Saturday, the Milwaukee Brewer’s Gindl was the star attraction — and instructor — at a Northview High School baseball clinic for players ages 9-17. As the clinic wrapped up, he stepped up to home plate and pounded hit after hit to the outfield fence.
“Wow, did you see that?”, a young boy said as a homer topped the fence.
Then it happened. The traditional crack of the bat was replaced with a much more powerful sound, echoing off the nearby Northview football stadium bleachers, as the Louisville Slugger splintered in two.
“I want it, I want it,” the boys cried out. “I want him to sign it!”
Without a doubt, Major League homers and his career are important Gindl. But coming back home and working with the boys and teens and the Northview Chiefs were also a highlight for Gindl.
“It’s always nice to come back where you are from and work with these guys,” he said. “There are some good players out here and hopefully this will help to get them better.”
For 125 NHS Baseball Clinic photos, click here.
And as spring approaches, Gindl will turn his attention to the upcoming season with hopes of returning to the Brewers.
“It is what it is. I have no control over that,” he said. “I’ve just got to go into spring training, be ready to go and try to win a job.”
Pictured: The Milwaukee Brewer’s Caleb Gindl hits during a baseball clinic Saturday at Northview High School in Bratt. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Nice Sunday, Turning Colder Mid-Week
November 10, 2013
Here is your official North Escambia area forecast:
- Sunday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 74. Calm wind becoming north around 5 mph in the morning.
- Sunday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 50. Calm wind becoming north around 5 mph.
- Veterans Day: Sunny, with a high near 75. North wind around 5 mph.
- Monday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 47. Calm wind becoming north around 5 mph.
- Tuesday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 70. North wind 5 to 15 mph, with gusts as high as 20 mph.
- Tuesday Night: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 38. North wind around 15 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph.
- Wednesday: Sunny, with a high near 57. Breezy, with a north wind 15 to 20 mph, with gusts as high as 30 mph.
- Wednesday Night: Clear, with a low around 36. North wind 5 to 10 mph.
- Thursday: Sunny, with a high near 62.
- Thursday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 40.
- Friday: Isolated showers. Partly sunny, with a high near 69. Chance of precipitation is 20%.
- Friday Night: A 20 percent chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 48.
- Saturday: A 20 percent chance of showers. Partly sunny, with a high near 71.
State Looks For Health System Cures
November 10, 2013
Baby boomers are getting older. So are primary-care doctors and nurses. And Florida’s population continues to grow.
That combination could create a prescription for problems in Florida’s health-care system during the next two decades.
A House committee Wednesday began studying the complex set of issues, as it looks for ways to make sure the state has enough doctors and other health-care workers to meet its needs. It’s too early to know what the committee will recommend, but ideas range from taking steps to train — and keep — more doctors in Florida to using new technology such as telemedicine.
State economist Amy Baker presented information to the committee that pointed toward problems as the state moves toward 2030, the year when the first batch of baby boomers will hit their mid-80s. By that time, Florida’s population is projected to grow to 23.6 million from the 2012 total of roughly 19 million, and nearly a quarter of the residents are expected to be ages 65 or older.
Baker said baby boomers will be relatively healthy and have financial assets when they first retire, but they will need more health-care services and their bank accounts will shrink as 2030 gets closer. The baby boom generally includes people born from 1946 to 1964.
“We’re at the very front end of this demographic shift,” Baker said.
The health-care system’s needs, however, involve far more factors than just a growing and aging population. As an example, the federal Affordable Care Act is designed to help uninsured people get coverage, which likely means they will go more often to doctors.
Also, information presented to the committee showed that, overall, primary-care doctors and nurses are aging. That points to many younger physicians choosing specialties instead of primary care.
“What I see there is our younger physicians are increasingly moving away from primary care,” Rep. Cary Pigman, an Avon Park Republican who is a physician, said about some of the data presented to the committee.
House Speaker Will Weatherford, R-Wesley Chapel, created the Select Committee on Health Care Workforce Innovation in July, with his office saying the panel “will study and pursue solutions for ensuring access to the right care in the right setting, including methods for increasing the number of practitioners educated in Florida, allowing practitioners to practice to the full extent of their education and training, and attracting a world-class health care workforce to Florida.”
It remains unclear, however, how lawmakers will carry out that mission, and health-care lobbyists fanned out across a committee room to listen Wednesday. Ideas such as shifting responsibilities from doctors to other types of medical professionals — a possible way the state could try to meet some of the needs — often touch off lobbying battles in Tallahassee.
The Florida Medical Association, a politically powerful physicians group, has started circulating a list of proposals to help address the shortage of primary-care doctors and nurses. Among them: Increase funding for medical residency programs so that more primary-care doctors would be able to finish their training in the state, with the hope they would then stay in Florida to practice.
Another FMA proposal would involve expanding the use of telemedicine, with doctors being able to use new technology to care for patients online. A major shift into telemedicine, however, would require addressing a series of sticky issues such as ensuring patient privacy and determining whether insurance companies would pay for telemedicine like they do for face-to-face treatment.
by Jim Saunders, The News Service of Florida
Weekend Gardening: What To Do During November
November 10, 2013
Here is your November gardening calendar from the University of Florida/IFAS Extension:
What to Plant
- Bedding Plants: Create a display of fall colors with cool season plants. Some to try are pansy, viola, and chrysanthemum.
- Bulbs: Bulbs to plant this month include amaryllis, crinum, and daylily. Plant Lycoris (spider lily) in partial shade. Plants will produce foliage in winter and beautiful red flowers emerge in late summer.
- Herbs: Continue planting herbs from seeds or plants. A wide variety of herbs like cooler, dryer weather, including cilantro, dill, fennel, parsley, sage, and thyme.
- Vegetables: Continue planting cool season crops such as beet, broccoli, cabbage, carrot, kale, and lettuce.
What to Do
- Citrus: If freezing temperatures are predicted, protect small citrus trees by watering well at least a day before the freeze. You may also use covers that extend to the
- ground for protection.
- Scale on ornamental plants: Now that temperatures are lower, use dormant oil sprays to control scale insects on trees and shrubs.
- Irrigation: Plants need less supplemental watering in cooler weather. Turn off systems and water only if needed.
- Flowering Trees: Taiwan cherry is an ornamental cherry suitable for north Florida. Late winter will bring pink buds so consider planting one now.
- Birds: As you prune your plants during the cooler months, make a small brush pile in the back of the yard for birds.
- Camellias: Add some of the new cultivars for bright spots of color in winter. Disbudding, or removing some buds now, will insure larger blooms later.
What to Do Every Month
- Adjust irrigation based on rainfall.
- Deadhead flowers to encourage new blooms.
- Monitor the garden for insects and disease.
- Plant trees, shrubs, and perennials and water until established.
Blue Angels Back In Local Skies
November 10, 2013
The Blue Angels performed a flyover Saturday at Naval Air Station Pensacola to mark the end of the team’s 2013 season and the beginning on the 2014 air show season. Many fan favorite formations, such as the Delta Flat Pass (pictured top), were part of the flyover. Photos by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Kathryn E. Macdonald and Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Terrence Siren for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Florida Gov’t Weekly Roundup: Distant Issues Present Themselves
November 10, 2013
The latest week of committee meetings at the Capitol began with most of the state’s political establishment focused on what was happening more than 200 miles away. After all, that was where former Gov. Charlie Crist, once a Republican, finally and officially started the 2014 campaign season by announcing he would run against incumbent GOP Gov. Rick Scott.
Later in the week, lawmakers found themselves grappling with a controversy connected to the shooting death of Trayvon Martin more than two years ago. In the era of hourly news cycles, the temporal distance of that incident in early 2012 seemed almost as long, or perhaps longer, than the geographical distance from Crist’s campaign announcement. Time and place were not buffers this week from emotions — some of them, in the case of Martin’s death, still all too raw.
‘WHAT IS WRONG WITH POLITICS TODAY’
For months, Crist kept the press guessing — or at least tried to keep the press guessing — about whether and when he would enter the race against Scott. One of the most agile question-dodgers in Florida politics, Crist managed to stoke the rumors that he would run as a Democrat while carefully avoiding a clear-cut statement that he would — which, of course, only served to increase the attention.
On Monday, Crist had drawn it out long enough. He announced that he would, in fact, run to reclaim his old job in his new party. It completed a four-year period in which Crist went from Republican governor and candidate for the U.S. Senate to independent candidate for the U.S. Senate to Democratic candidate for governor.
In biting remarks aimed at those on the right, some of whom have taken to calling him “backstabber” on Twitter, Crist batted away the concerns.
“The far-right wing seems to think it important to make much of my party affiliation,” he said during his announcement at Albert Whitted Park in St. Petersburg. “That is precisely what is wrong with politics today.”
Whatever “the far-right wing” was doing, the Republican Party of Florida was certainly using Crist’s recent political metamorphosis to bash him. The RPOF press office churned out statement after statement from GOP officeholders over the course of several days, all of them following a theme: Crist is a political opportunist who “abandoned” the state to run for U.S. Senate and cares primarily about himself.
The Republican Governors Association — which not too long ago would have touted the accomplishments of Crist — soon joined in. During a conference call with reporters, Texas Gov. Rick Perry slammed Crist for job losses and growing state debt while the former governor was in office.
“The fact is, (Scott) cleaned up the mess that Charlie Crist created,” Perry said.
And it looked like Scott would have plenty of money to hammer home the message. His “Let’s Get to Work” committee reported raising almost $825,000 in October, bringing its total haul for the year to $13.9 million. Since January 2011, the committee has raised $19.1 million to help push Scott’s message.
A similar entity known simply as “Charlie Crist for Florida,” and created late last week, came to light in the wake of Crist’s announcement.
STANDING THEIR GROUND ON STAND YOUR GROUND
When they weren’t swinging at Crist, Republican spent much of the week sniping at Democratic efforts to roll back the “stand your ground” self-defense law. One of the efforts was knocked down Thursday, when a bipartisan group of House members resoundingly rejected a bill by Rep. Alan Williams, D-Tallahassee, aimed at repealing the law.
“We stand and defend what is ours,” said Rep. Jimmie Smith, R-Inverness. ” ‘Stand your ground’ is core to our American way of life.”
Others disagreed, arguing that the law had instead turned Florida into the Wild West. Lucia McBath and Ron Davis showed up at the meeting of the House Criminal Justice Subcommittee to discuss the killing of their son, 17-year-old Jordan Davis.
The unarmed teen was shot at a Jacksonville gas station last year, when 45-year-old Michael Dunn took out his gun and opened fire following an argument over loud music.
“My son was gunned down by a man with violence in his heart…angered and empowered by his gun and by Florida’s ’stand your ground’ law,” McBath said.
But even some Democrats on the panel were worried that Williams’ bill (HB 4003) was overly broad, and it failed on an 11-2 vote. Even so, supporters of doing away with “stand your ground” predicted time was on their side.
“The breadth of testimony will lead to change in time,” said lobbyist Karen Woodall, who supported the measure.
Critics of “stand your ground” are likely to turn their attention to a Senate bill (SB 130) that would require law enforcement officers to fully investigate claims of self-defense and create guidelines for neighborhood watch groups.
Much of the controversy over Florida’s self-defense laws came after the deadly shooting of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin by neighborhood-watch volunteer George Zimmerman, who was acquitted after using a defense that did not actually draw on “stand your ground.”
The Senate measure is sponsored by the bipartisan pair of Sens. David Simmons, R-Altamonte Springs, and Chris Smith, D-Fort Lauderdale. But House Criminal Justice Subcommittee Matt Gaetz, R-Fort Walton Beach, was also pouring cold water on that idea.
“There is no meaningful reform currently moving through the Florida Senate,” he said. “I think you’ve got a couple of senators who just want to see something pass, even though it doesn’t fundamentally alter the rights of Floridians in a favorable way.”
OVERSEEING STATE OVERSIGHTS
While the Legislature didn’t do much legislating over the latest committee week, they did plenty of oversight. From child deaths to problems with the state’s unemployment system to a seeming inability to make sure convicted murderers stay locked up, state government was under scrutiny from several directions.
One of the more emotionally charged issues was a series of child-abuse deaths that took center stage Tuesday with the release of a report criticizing the state’s child welfare system.
Department of Children and Families Interim Secretary Esther Jacobo briefed lawmakers on a report by the Casey Family Programs, a private group she had asked to review the spate of deaths when she was tapped to lead the agency in mid-July.
The Casey staff examined 40 recent child deaths suspected to have been caused by maltreatment. In each case, the family had at some point previously been investigated by DCF. The report concluded that child-welfare workers often failed to develop safety plans for at-risk kids or to follow up when they did. Many ignored the signs of families struggling with substance abuse, mental illness, domestic violence and other dangerous conditions for children.
“A number of babies in these families later died from asphyxia resulting from co-sleeping with parents under the influence of drugs or alcohol,” noted the Casey group.
The report did say Florida’s new safety methodology “appears to be well designed to address many of the problematic child protection practices identified in this review.”
Meanwhile, lawmakers sounded ready to take action.
“I’m hearing a lot about process and not a lot about solutions,” Sen. Nancy Detert, R-Venice, said after the meeting. “But I think the solutions are probably going to come from our side of the table.”
Lawmakers were also reviewing the high-profile releases of two convicted murderers who used fraudulent documents to walk out of prison.
Authorities have been investigating the recent releases of Charles Walker and Joseph Jenkins from Franklin Correctional Institution. The two men, who were later caught in Panama City, were released because of bogus court paperwork that indicated their sentences had been reduced.
The state expects to begin using a “secure e-system” in February 2014 to transmit court orders so as to close the door on similar attempts in the future.
Florida Department of Law Enforcement Commissioner Gerald Bailey told lawmakers his agency is still investigating how the inmates were able to walk out of the prison.
“To date we have found nothing to indicate any criminal actions by anyone inside Franklin Correctional or the clerk’s office in Orange County,” Bailey told the Senate Criminal Justice Committee. “However, without a doubt … there was a fraud ring going on among a group of inmates at Franklin CI.”
Despite some lawmakers being pleased with the progress officials have made in trying to prevent future escapes, legislators may consider putting into state law the need for “human verification” when paperwork arrives at a prison indicating the sentence of an inmate has changed.
They also will consider stiffening penalties for people who are involved in creating false court documents.
Meanwhile, in the wake of an uproar about the problems plaguing the federal government’s health-care website, lawmakers looked into troubles with a $68 million unemployment website intended to provide a more modern, user-friendly method of access for people who receive benefits.
Department of Economic Opportunity Director Jesse Panuccio told members of the Senate Commerce and Tourism Committee on Monday that it could take three months from Oct. 15 — when the “Connect” website went live — for the system to fully outperform the prior system.
“We have tried to assure every claimant who has been delayed for technical reasons will not lose benefits,” Panuccio added.
Detert, the chairwoman of the committee, said she is willing to give programmers a little more time to get the system performing as expected. Still, she wanted the agency to reduce roadblocks for jobless people as they try to receive checks and get help finding jobs.
“It’s just not good enough to say we’ll pay you back later,” Detert said. “These are folks that are living hand to mouth, they’re waiting for that check. They’re not reassured they’ll get paid later when they have to eat today on very little money.”
STORY OF THE WEEK: Lawmakers debated whether and how to change the state’s “stand your ground” law in the wake of the acquittal of a neighborhood watch volunteer in the shooting death of an unarmed teenager.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “You can’t dip them in milk and hold them over a candle and see the United Nations flag or Barack Obama’s face. They’re not some federal conspiracy.”–Sen. Don Gaetz, R-Niceville, responding to the concerns some conservative activists have about the Common Core education standards.
by Brandon Larrabee, The News Service of Florida
E-Cigarette Ban For Minors Gains Senate Support
November 10, 2013
With the slim metal tubes becoming a trendy alternative to regular cigarettes, a Senate committee has approved a bill that would prohibit the sale of electronic cigarettes to minors.
The Senate Regulated Industries Committee unanimously supported a proposal (SB 224) by Senate Majority Leader Lizbeth Benacquisto, R–Ft. Myers, that would add nicotine dispensing devices to the state’s prohibition on the sale of tobacco products to people under age 18. The bill also would make it illegal for minors to possess such electronic cigarettes and products.
“I think it’s a very good bill too, it’s probably something we’ve missed in the past,” said Sen. Nancy Detert, R-Venice.
The bill has the support of the Florida Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Brenda Olsen, chief operating officer for the American Lung Association of the Southeast, said her organization also supports the measure but wants the language of the bill to recognize the product in the same manner as cigarettes and other tobacco products.
“There have been a lot of other states that have adopted the same language but that have put e-cigarettes in a separate category,” Olsen said. “We’re really looking toward making sure it’s regulated as a tobacco product.”
If approved, Florida would become the 28th state to ban the sale of electronic cigarettes to minors. Of those states, Alabama, New Jersey and Utah set the age prohibition at 19.
While the smokeless cigarettes, which use heat to vaporize liquid nicotine, are marketed as cleaner than traditional cigarettes, Benacquisto said that as the mother of two teenagers she wants to stop a new generation of nicotine addicts as she reads “article after article” about the increased use of the devices.
“This is an incredibly new product and innovative, that our kids are seemingly attracted to, and the rise of use among our children is staggering,” Benacquisto said after the committee hearing.
The electronic cigarettes are seen by some as more acceptable than smoking, with the process involving a vaporizer to inhale nicotine that is often enhanced with flavors that range from simple vanilla, grape and banana to more alluring cotton candy, peach schnapps, pina colada and bubblegum.
Regulators have agonized over whether the products are a step in helping people quit smoking or serve as a gateway to nicotine addiction.
The Senate measure would make it a second-degree misdemeanor to sell e-cigarettes and related products to minors.
The proposal does not include nicotine patches.
While no cost estimates were available on the impact to retailers, a Senate staff analysis indicated that tobacco permit holders would have to replace their “point of sale calendars” and signage regarding the legal age to purchase tobacco products to also refer to alternative nicotine products.
Benacquisto’s measure must still go through the Criminal and Civil Justice Appropriations Subcommittee, the Criminal Justice Committee and the Appropriations Committee.
The House version of the proposal (HB 153) has three stops scheduled at the Business and Professional Regulation Subcommittee, the Government Operations Appropriations Subcommittee and the Regulatory Affairs Committee.
by Jim Turner, The News Service of Florida