Ooops! Non-Payment Put Brakes On ECAT Website
August 17, 2013
Failure to pay the required domain registration fee on time temporarily put the brakes on the Escambia County Area Transit website.
According to registrar records, the GoECAT.com domain name expired Monday, August 12 but was not renewed until Friday, August 16. After the domain expired, visitors were greeted by a page that declared “This domain has expired.”
By late Friday night, after a payment was apparently made, the GoECAT.com web site was back up and running.
Wahoos Fall To Braves
August 17, 2013
Pensacola’s Robert Stephenson fired six shutout innings before yielding a pair of runs in the seventh and eventually falling in his Double-A debut, 5-1 to the Mississippi Braves in front of the 26th sellout crowd of the year at Pensacola Bayfront Stadium.
Stephenson, touching 96 MPH with his fastball, allowed just two hits in the first six innings before walking the first two batters he faced in the seventh inning. Michael Lorenzen, the 38th overall pick in the 2013 draft, entered and gave up RBI singles to Jaime Pedroza and Barrett Kleinknecht with another run scoring on a throwing error by left fielder Josh Fellhauer turning a one-run deficit into a 3-1 lead for Mississippi.
Stephenson was charged with a pair of runs to fall to 0-1 with Pensacola. The right-hander yielded just two hits in six-plus innings with five strikeouts and three walks.
Mississippi’s Michael Lee was just as good for the Braves, limiting Pensacola to just one run on six hits in seven innings. His lone outlier was a Travis Mattair RBI single in the last of the second to give the Wahoos a 1-0. Lee improved to 8-8 on the year.
The Braves were able to put the game out of reach with a pair of runs in the top of the ninth against Drew Hayes. Mississippi strung together three hits around an error with RBI’s coming from Dan Brewer and Kleinknecht.
Pensacola will look to avoid its second series sweep of the year on Saturday night at 6:30 p.m. The Wahoos will give the ball to Carlos Contreras (1-2, 3.12) with the Braves countering with southpaw Ian Thomas (7-7, 2.62).
story by Kevin Burke
Local Jobless Rate Steady
August 17, 2013
The latest job numbers released Friday the unemployment level holding almost steady across the entire three-county North Escambia area — as Florida’s unemployment rate also held steady.
Escambia County’s unemployment held steady at 7.1 percent from June to July There were 1,047 people reported unemployed during the period. One year ago, unemployment in Escambia County was 8.9 percent.
Santa Rosa County unemployment held steady at 6.8 percent from June to July. Santa Rosa County had a total of 5,188 persons still unemployed. The year-ago unemployment rate in Santa Rosa County was 8.5 percent.
In Escambia County, Alabama, unemployment dropped from 8.0 percent in June to 7.8 percent in July. That represented 1,139 people unemployed in the county during the month.
Florida’s unemployment rate has held steady through the front part of the summer. Bolstered by private-sector job growth in the fields such as automotive sales and repair, home maintenance and garden supply, transportation and utilities, the state’s unemployment rate stood at 7.1 percent in July, the same as in May and June, the state Department of Economic Opportunity announced Friday.
Alabama’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate, at 6.3 percent in July, was down from June’s rate of 6.5 percent and was below the year-ago rate of 7.6 percent.
Thomas: Most Molino Park Stolen Tech Items Will Ultimately Be Replaced
August 16, 2013
Tens of thousands of dollars — that’s the price tag Escambia County School Superintendent Malcolm Thomas is putting on the electronic items stolen last weekend from Molino Park Elementary School. An official inventory is still underway to determine what was stolen as the school was burglarized and vandalized Friday night.
“It was a significant number of items for a school the size of Molino Park,” he said. So far, officials have said that multiple Apple computers, Macbooks, iPads and two Wii game consoles were taken.
To see the surveillance video, click here.
Thomas said Thursday that the school district will take that full inventory and decide their next step toward replacing at least most of the technology items.
“We will first give it a matter of a few weeks to see if the Sheriff’s Office might recover some or all of the items,” he said. “If not, we will find a way to make it right for the students.”
The district will first explore any insurance availability, then look at other options — including a general fund expenditure — to replace the items. The entire process to find funding and order the missing items, will be time consuming, Thomas said, and may mean Molino Park will be without the stolen technology until early next year.
Anyone with any information about the crime is asked to call Gulf Coast Crime Stoppers at (850) 433-STOP or the Escambia Sheriff’s Office at (850) 436-9620. Crime Stoppers callers can remain anonymous and did not have to give their name.
Pictured top: An empty spot marks the locations of a stolen Apple computer from a Molino Park Elementary School classroom. Pictured inset: Pictured below: Three Apple computers were stolen from this desk in a computer lab. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Blood Drive Saturday During The Market At St. Monica’s
August 16, 2013
A blood drive will be held Saturday from 8 a.m. until 1 p.m. during the Market at St. Monica’s. The event take place at St. Monica’s Episcopal Church at 699 South Highway 95A in Cantonment.
Everyone that donates blood will receive a free t-shirt and a coupon good for a free haircut at Fantastic Sam’s.
The Market at St. Monica’s is held the first and third Saturday of every month at the church and features of variety of produce, arts and crafts, and other vendors.
Requirements for giving blood are below.
- Donors must be in generally good health
- At least 17 years of age, without permission. 16-year olds are now allowed to donate with permission granted by parents or legal guardians.
- Must bring picture ID
- Weigh at least 110 lbs
- Free of infection, fever or flu symptoms, for 3 days
- No cancer within the last 5 years
- No antibiotics within the last 48 hours
- No tattoos within the past 12 months
- No chest pain, heart disease, heart surgery (Requires written physician release with diagnosis)
- No history of viral hepatitis
- Cannot have lived in France for 5 years or more between 1980 and the present
- Cannot have lived or visited in the UK for a total of 3 months or more from 1980 to 1996
- Cannot have received a blood transfusion in the UK between 1980 and the present
- Military personnel (current and former), and their dependents, who spent time in military bases in northern Europe during 1980-1990, or southern Europe during 1980-1996, for 6 months or more
- All military personnel (active & reserve) that are returning from Iraq, are deferred for a period of 1 year after the last date on location in that country.
Pictured top: Fresh flowers available during a previous Market at St Monica’s. Courtesy photo for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
More Florida Firefighters Headed To Fight Western Wildfires
August 16, 2013
The Florida Forest Service deployed another 20-person hand crew out West Thursday to help fight wildfires.
Two people from the local Blackwater District are on the crew, bringing the total number of Blackwater personnel to nine sent out to join another 110 from across the state.
“This is the first time ever that Florida has had four hand crews out at once,” Joe Zwierzchowski, Wildfire Mitigation Specialist for the Florida Forest Service. These firefighters will assist with front-line firefighting operations by using shovels, axes and rakes to manually create a fire break or fire line around the wildfire. Hand crews are critical to wildfire suppression in the western United States.
Child Molester Gets 25 Years
August 16, 2013
An Escambia County man has been sentenced to state prison for molesting a seven-year old girl in 2011.
Thursday, Judge Jan Shackelford sentenced 27-year old Jason Edgar Casey to 25 years to be followed by probation for the rest of his life as a sexual predator. On Monday, Casey entered a plea to a charge of lewd/lascivious molestation on a victim less than 12 by a defendant over 18.
Escambia County Semi-Annual Crime Stats: Most Crimes Down
August 16, 2013
Violent crimes are down, but murders are up, according to the latest crime data from the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office.
Thursday, the Sheriff’s Office released their semi-annual Uniform Crime Reporting statistics for the first half of 2013. The numbers show overall violent crimes, including robbery and rape, in Escambia County decreased by 14.7 percent for the first half of 2013 compared to 2012. But, with five murders in the first half of 2012 and nine between January and June of 2013, the murder rate in Escambia County was up 80 percent.
The overall crime rate dropped by 8.7 percent during the same period.
The total number of property crimes were down 6.8 percent. The value of property stolen during the first half of 2013 in Escambia County was $7.28 million, down 8.6 from the same period last year.
The offense clearance rate — the number of crimes solved — increased 23.2 percent.
“Our heartfelt thanks go out to the men and women of the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office and the citizens for their partnership. You are making a difference,” Escambia County Sheriff David Morgan said.
The crime data released Thursday will be submitted to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. FDLE will release a statewide crime data report in November.
To see the full Escambia County indexed crimes report, click here.
Deer Hunting Changes Proposed
August 16, 2013
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is looking at possible changes to deer hunting in Northwest Florida, including all of Escambia and Santa Rosa counties, for the 2014-2015 hunting season.
Under the proposed changes, the FWC is looking at antler-point regulations in Deer Management Unit (DMU) D-1 that would require that antlered deer have at least one antler with two or more antler points on one side to be eligible for harvest. DMU D-1 is south of Interstate 10.
In DMU D-2, which is north of Interstate 10, antlered deer would need at least one antler with three or more points on one side to be eligible for harvest.
Hunters under the age of 16 would be exempt from the proposed antler-point regulations on private lands and on some wildlife management areas.
“The purpose of the antler-point regulations, both in DMU D-1 and DMU D-2, is to protect the majority of 1.5-year-old bucks from harvest while allowing the harvest of 2.5-year-old and older bucks,” said James Kelly, Assistant Deer Management Program coordinator. “During our outreach efforts, we heard a lot of support for increasing the number of bucks in the population, improving buck-to-doe ratios and increasing the size of bucks harvested.”
Other changes under consideration are to shift the antlerless deer season on private lands in DMU D-1 (south of I-10) from the current seven consecutive days to four weekend days during the general gun season.
In DMU D-2 (north of I-10), antlerless deer days would increase to eight weekend days. Three weekends would occur during general gun season, and one weekend would occur during the muzzleloading gun season.
“The proposed change in antlerless deer days in DMU D-1 is to fulfill the stakeholders’ goal of maintaining or increasing the deer population while also increasing the flexibility of antlerless deer days during general gun season,” Kelly said. “Deer-herd density and productivity is higher in DMU D-2, which is why we are recommending more antlerless deer days for this unit.”
Kelly said the regulation proposals are based on detailed input from hunters, landowners, farmers and others during a series of public meetings, public webinars, surveys and technical assistance group meetings.
The proposed changes are recommendations by FWC staff and have not yet been presented to Commissioners for consideration and action. More detailed information and the opportunity to provide feedback on both proposals can be made at MyFWC.com/Deer.
Groups Ends Protest In Scott’s Office
August 16, 2013
After sitting in at the Florida Capitol for 31 days — since just after the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the death of Trayvon Martin — the group called the Dream Defenders ended its protest Thursday with the help of civil-rights icon Julian Bond.
Leaders said they’ll carry their campaign against the “stand your ground” self-defense law and what they consider other forms of racial bias to the polls, trying to defeat the elected officials who opposed their demands.
That includes Gov. Rick Scott, who is up for re-election next year. The Dream Defenders announced a voter registration drive, with a goal of 61,550 new voters — Scott’s margin of victory in 2010.
“Our work and our power have grown too big for these walls,” said Phillip Agnew, leader of the Dream Defenders.
The group marched to the Capitol on July 16 and demanded a special session on “stand your ground,” which they didn’t get. But they got a national hearing, and Bond — founder of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee and a longtime Georgia lawmaker — declared their non-violent action a success in the tradition of the 1960s civil rights movement.
“It’s fitting that the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington is coming up in a few days,” he said. “That movement made this movement possible, and that movement — your movement — gave our movement its legacy.”
The protest ignited when Zimmerman was acquitted of murder in the shooting death of the unarmed teen Martin. Although Zimmerman’s attorneys did not invoke the “stand your ground” law, which grants immunity to people who use deadly force if they have reason to believe their lives are in jeopardy, the circumstances of Martin’s death touched a nerve among many black, Hispanic and mixed-race people.
Members of the Dream Defenders are mostly high school and college students — “black and brown youth,” they call themselves. They’ve spent the last month in Scott’s office waiting area, telling stories of losing loved ones to gun violence or experiencing racism in school or on the street. They worked laptops, smart phones and video cameras from the third-floor House Democratic office, getting the word out online. They slept on the floor outside the governor’s double doors.
Agnew said the group would leave the Capitol to serve Scott with an eviction notice. He also said they were leaving on their own terms. He pointed to House Speaker Will Weatherford’s promise that the House Criminal Justice Subcommittee would hold a hearing on “stand your ground” during a committee week this fall.
Rep. Matt Gaetz, a Fort Walton Beach Republican and chairman of the subcommittee, said its members would have an opportunity to vote their consciences. But Gaetz has also said “not one comma” of the “stand your ground” law should be changed.
“The right to protest is one that we should protect,” he said Thursday afternoon. “But if they’re on the way to serve the governor with an eviction notice, maybe my hopes for adult behavior are a bit optimistic.”
Gaetz also has noted that Floridians support “stand your ground” by a 2-to-1 margin.
“It would be no surprise if the Legislature reaches the conclusion that ’stand your ground’ keeps them safer,” Gaetz said, “because most Floridians have already reached that conclusion.”
In listing his group’s accomplishments, Agnew said it had forced a poll of lawmakers about whether to have the special session — a proposed session that was overwhelmingly rejected earlier this week.
And they spent an hour with Scott, who refused to call the special session but allowed them to protest at the Capitol around the clock.
In a statement, Scott thanked the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the Capitol Police “for providing a safe environment for people to exercise their First Amendment rights. We live in a great state, in a great nation, where everyone is free to express their views.”
According to FDLE, 33 protesters stayed overnight Wednesday, and as of Thursday, the state had spent $428,566.69 on security.
The sit-in also drew a steady stream of visitors, including entertainer and civil-rights veteran Harry Belafonte, Florida Juvenile Justice Secretary Wansley Walters and rapper Talib Kweli. Another visitor was longtime activist Jesse Jackson, who touched off his own media storm by claiming that Florida practiced apartheid and comparing Scott to segregationist Alabama Gov. George Wallace.
Agnew said the group would return to the Capitol on Sept. 23, when legislative committees start meeting in advance of the 2014 regular session.
story by The News Service of Florida
Pictured top: The Dream Defenders march into Gov. Rick Scott’s Office last month. Photo by Tom Urban for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.