AG Bondi Says Execution Date Should Not Have Been Changed For Her
September 9, 2013
Attorney General Pam Bondi said Monday she should not have requested an execution be rescheduled from the night of her “campaign kickoff” fundraiser.
Bondi’s statement came after Gov. Rick Scott said he was unaware that the waterfront Tampa fundraiser, scheduled for Tuesday, was the reason she had requested the delay in the execution of convicted murderer Marshall Lee Gore.
“As a prosecutor, there was nothing more important than seeing justice done, especially when it came to the unconscionable act of murder,” Bondi said in a release. “I personally put two people on death row and, as attorney general, have already participated in eight executions since I took office, a role I take very seriously.”
“The planned execution of Marshall Lee Gore had already been stayed twice by the courts, and we should not have requested that the date of the execution be moved,” Bondi added.
On Aug. 13, Scott had scheduled Gore’s execution for 6 p.m. Sept. 10. But less than a week later, Scott advised Florida State Prison Warden John Palmer that he was moving the execution to 6 p.m. Oct. 1 “at the request of the Attorney General.”
Speaking to reporters Monday outside the Capitol, Scott said he was simply complying with a request from a state Cabinet member when he rescheduled the execution.
“Her office contacted my office and asked for a postponement, and that’s what we did,” Scott said. “No, I did not know (the reason).”
When the execution date was rescheduled, a spokeswoman for the attorney general said the event conflicted with another previously scheduled event. On Friday, a different spokeswoman for Bondi confirmed that the Tampa fundraiser is the event that had been scheduled before Gore’s execution was set for the same night.
“We set the date, the attorney general’s office asked for a postponement, so we went along with that,” Scott responded when asked Monday if he thought the reason for the delay was proper. “We try to comply with when other cabinet members ask for something. We try to work with them.”
An invitation to the event lists members of the host committee, including House Speaker Will Weatherford, R-Wesley Chapel, and Sens. Jack Latvala, R-Clearwater, Bill Galvano, R- Bradenton, Tom Lee, R-Brandon, Wilton Simpson, R- Trilby, and Jeff Brandes, R-St. Petersburg, and Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn.
Bondi has yet to receive a challenger to her 2014 re-election.
Gore, whose sanity has been the focus of efforts to block the execution, was convicted of killing two women in 1988 in Miami-Dade and Columbia counties.
Gore’s death warrant is for the murder of Robyn Novick, whose nude body was found in March 1988 in a rural area of Miami-Dade.
by Jim Turner, The News Service of Florida
Mosquito Spraying Tonight West Of Highway 29 From Muscogee Road To Highway 97
September 9, 2013
The Escambia County Mosquito Control Division intends to proceed with a “fogging mission” today in an area west of Highway 29 from Muscogee Road north to Crabtree Church Road, plus a small area bounded by Crabtree Church Road, Highway 97 and Sunshine Hill Road.
Mission hours vary but typically occur in the early evening hours from 6 to 10 p.m. For more information, call (850) 937-2188.
Spray areas are depicted on the maps below in green; click to enlarge.
Tropical Storm Humberto Forms
September 9, 2013
Tropical Storm Humberto formed in the Atlantic today, and it is expected to strengthen ad become a hurricane by about Wednesday.
The latest information and forecast for Humberto is in the graphic above, click to enlarge. The latest models are below.
Man Injured, Toddler OK After McDavid ATV Crash
September 9, 2013
A man was injured in an ATV accident Sunday afternoon near McDavid.
The 51-year old man suffered multiple broken bones when he crashed his ATV in a fence. A 3-year old boy was also on the ATV at the time of the crash and suffered on minor injuries.
The man was transported by Escambia County EMS to Sacred Heart Hospital in Pensacola.
The accident occurred about 2:20 p.m. in an area past the end of Brown Road, just off Highway 29. The accident remains under investigation by the Florida Highway Patrol. Further details, including the man’s name, have not yet been released.
The McDavid station of Escambia Fire Rescue also responded the accident.
Northview To Name Football Stadium, Possibly For Tommy Weaver
September 9, 2013
Northview High School is considering naming their football stadium, possibly in memory of late teacher and coach Tommy Weaver.
The school has received an official request to name the stadium for Weaver, setting the naming process in motion. For a 30 day period, the school will accept suggestions from the community for potential stadium names. Any name change would then be considered by the Escambia County School Board.
Suggestions must be submitted by October 7 by email to bjohnson3@escambia.k12.fl.us.
Weaver was a longtime DCT and Ag instructor and assistant coach who passed away suddenly at the age of 61 in March 2012. The Chiefs’ entire 2012 state championship football season was dedicated to Weaver.
NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
ECUA Receives National Award For Cantonment Facility
September 9, 2013
The Emerald Coast Utilities Authority has been selected to receive a Silver Peak Performance Award, presented by the National Association of Clean Water Agencies (NACWA).
The award recognizes public wastewater treatment facilities for their outstanding compliance records in the previous calendar year.
The ECUA received the Silver Peak Performance Award to honor the Central Water Reclamation Facility in Cantonment and its achievement of near-perfect compliance with its National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit for the 2012 calendar year.
The CWRF, which provides reclaimed water daily to industrial partners Gulf Power and International Paper, is an advanced wastewater treatment facility that the ECUA has operated since its construction in late 2010. The CWRF was built to replace the Main Street Waste Water Treatment Plant, which was damaged in 2004 by Hurricane Ivan.
Pictured top: The Central Water Reclamation Facility in Cantonment. Pictured inset: Ray Yarborough, CWRF plant manager; Don Palmer, director of water reclamation; Kijafa Lee, CWRF plant manager. Courtesy photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
View: Truancy Is No Laughing Matter
September 9, 2013
It’s a classic American coming of age story, so the critics say, but everyone remembers “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” as the quintessential tribute to playing hooky and classic hot-red Ferraris.
Going off to Wrigley Field and fancy French restaurants for a day of laughs and fun with no consequences is only made for the movies, though.
A real-life Ferris Bueller, with nine absences as in the movie, would be a cause for intervention.
Under Florida law, unexcused student absences ranging from 5 in a 30-day period or 10-to-15, in a 90-day calendar period, require the involvement of a range of people and institutions, from school officials to judges.
Truancy is one of the most perplexing public policy issues around. Everyone recognizes it when they see it, but there is no universal definition for truancy.
So it is treated mainly as a local problem, but it has broad, national consequences.
The standard statistical subtype for a Ferris Bueller is not a carefree suburban high-school student anticipating an adulthood full of possibilities, but a low-income, ill-educated, and troubled kid, on the verge of a hard life.
In its landmark 2012 report on the truancy problem, the American Bar Association’s Commission on Youth At-Risk, noted the long-term consequences of truancy: the high unemployment rate for high-school drop-outs (which truancy predicts well) is 20 percent higher than high-school graduates; employed high-school drop-outs earn only 75 percent of what employed high-school graduates earn; and each high-school drop-out costs society between $188,086 to $297,188 annually.
In another report, the stated costs to society in total: $240 billion in lifetime earnings and tax benefits to the national economy.
What is more, truancy predicts 97 percent of first-drug users, with the amount of days a teenager is often truant indicating greater illicit use of drugs.
In many cases, self-reported truants were seven times more likely to have been arrested than the general teenage population.
So the national implications are clear, but how it affects Florida’s future is all-the-more important to highlight.
In many ways, Florida is primed to be a model for addressing truancy: it has been a national leader in considering and adopting educational reforms in the past.
Of its habitually truant students, Florida averages 289,753 out of a total statewide population of 3 million students, according to the state’s School Indicators Report.
Interestingly, Florida’s truancy dilemma has a rural edge: rural counties such as Gadsden and Taylor, as a percentage of their student populations, have truancy rates higher than the state average of 9.6 percent, at 11.2 and 14.3 percent, respectively.
Oddly enough, this serves as a segue way into the nature and face of truancy today.
While any number of cultural indicators or structural problems of society could explain why certain groups and classes are primarily truant cases, it is nonetheless, the case that one-half of all black, Hispanic, and Native American youngsters engage in truancy.
For several years, the Florida Network of Youth and Family Services has dealt with youth at-risk of possible delinquency. At any rate, it is the reason why, as an umbrella organization for 28 crisis shelters, we became involved in the community-based agency business, especially in rural counties and urban places with high minority populations.
Last year, the Florida Network was responsible for over 12,000 at-risk youth referred for truancy-related problems.
Almost daily, our agency staff have to deal with a host of issues that influence and surround truant youth, whether that is working with the local school system, helping those at-risk youth avoid interaction with the court system, or further immersion into the juvenile justice or child welfare system—all of this is geared toward finding a result that helps those at-risk youth get on the right track.
In the end, Ed Rooney, the assistant principal in the movie, had Ferris Bueller’s truancy pegged right: “The example he sets is a first-class ticket to nowhere.”
Stacy Gromatski is president/CEO of the Florida Network of Youth and Family Services. Published via contextflorida.com
Local Soldiers Deployed In Afghanistan Receive Anthrax Vaccine
September 9, 2013
National Guard soldiers of the 226th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade from Mobile, Ala., received an anthrax vaccination last week.
Many of the soldiers displayed their fear of needles and shots, while others questioned why they had to receive another anthrax vaccination.
According to the Army Anthrax Vaccine Immunization Program Plan (AVIP), “the mandatory scope of the AVIP shall encompass all personnel assigned to or deployed for more than 15 days in Higher Threat Areas (HTAs) defined in paragraph 3.a.(2) whose performance is essential for certain mission critical capabilities.”
In December of 2008, the Federal Drug Administration approved a five dose vaccination series in lieu of six. The injection will no longer be administered under the skin. The vaccination is now received in the upper deltoid region of the arm. Anthrax boosters are give, to soldiers who have completed the five series vaccination annually to maintain immunity.
All military service members, civilians, and DoD employees deploying to high risk areas are inoculated for the threat of anthrax.
“Anthrax is a disease of military importance. It can be weaponized and used with devastating effects. It is important for American soldiers to maintain a current valid anthrax immunization status,” says Col. John McGuinness, Task Force Tarpon Surgeon, 226th MEB.
Pictured top: U.S. Army National Guardsman 1st Lt. Alexander Williams from Birmingham laughingly attempts to talk his way out of an anthrax shot from Staff Sgt. Kevin Bishop from Atmore at Kabul Base Cluster in Afghanistan. “But I don’t like getting shots,” said Williams. Bishop assured Williams everything would be fine as he administered the vaccine. U.S. Army photo for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Century Man Arrested On Weapons Charges
September 9, 2013
A Century man has been charged with dealing in stolen property and possession of a firearm with an altered serial number. Randy Wayne Sims, 41, was later released from the Escambia County Jail on a $6,000 bond.
Over 20 long guns were reported stolen during a July residential burglary in Brewton, Ala. The Escambia County (Ala.) Sheriff’s Office requested assistance from the federal ATF in the case.
Sims allegedly purchased an AR-15 type rifle for $175 and three single barrel shotguns for $125 each from a man who said he obtained the guns from his grandfather. The man, who was not named in a released Escambia County (Fla.) Sheriff’s Office report, later returned and Sims purchased three double barrel shotguns for $125 each. Sims told investigators that he did not realize the serial numbers had been removed from several of the weapons.
He also told investigators that he just thought it was a “really good deal” that he purchased an AR-15 type rifle for just $175 when it usually retails for over $1,000. Sims also said he was purchasing the weapons as Christmas presents for his family members.
Because Sims purchased numerous firearms for well below their value, some of the firearms had their serial numbers removed and he said he was very familiar with firearms and their value, he should have reasonably believed the firearms he purchased were stolen, according to an arrest report.
A federal investigation in the case is ongoing.
Two other people were previously arrested in the case; Joshua James Land and Joseph Williams, both of Jay were charged with burglary of a residence and theft of property second degree.
Northview Open House Tuesday Evening
September 9, 2013
Northview High School will host their annual Open House Tuesday evening, beginning at 6:00, in the school’s theater. The evening’s agenda is planned to meet informational needs of parents. All parents, students, community members and other stakeholders are invited to attend.
For a printable agenda, click here.