SWAT Team Responds to Escambia County Home
January 20, 2013
The Escambia County Sheriff’s Office SWAT Team responded to a home on Oakcliff Road off Patricia Drive in West Pensacola Sunday afternoon.
A person reportedly barricaded themselves inside the home, refusing to exit. The incident was over by about 4:26 p.m. The person inside the home was taken to an area hospital for a mental evaluation.
There were no injuries reported. No other details have been made available.
McDavid Registered Sex Offender Headed Back To Prison For Four Years
January 20, 2013
A registered sex offender from McDavid is headed back to prison after violating his probation and cutting off his electronic ankle monitor.
Nathan Arron Mack, age 21 of 403 Railroad Street, was sentenced by Judge Joel Boles to four years in state prison after being convicted of violation of probation, failing to report a residence change and destroying electronic monitoring equipment.
In January 2011, Mack was convicted of the sexual battery of a 14-year old girl. He was sentenced to 18 months in prison, with credit for time served awaiting trial, followed by 18 months probation. Under the terms of his probation, he was forbidden to have unsupervised contact with any minor and ordered to enter a sex offender counseling program.
The victim’s stepfather told Escambia County Sheriff’s deputies that the 14-year old, who had been reported as a runaway, was at Mack’s residence on Railroad Street. When deputies arrived at the residence, they found Mack and the teen girl.
According to a Sheriff’s Office arrest report, Mack admitted to having intercourse multiple times with the 14-year old. He admitted that he had picked up the Pensacola girl at the Winn Dixie on Nine Mile Road because he knew the victim’s mother would not allow the two to be together. The young girl corroborated Mack’s story, according to the report.
When deputies contacted the victim’s mother, she advised that she wanted to pursue criminal charges against Mack. The mother stated that she had retrieved her daughter from Mack at the McDavid Mini Mart the week prior and had forbidden him from having any contact with her daughter.
Mack, a registered sex offender, was released from the Okaloosa Correctional Institution on November 30, 2011, and placed on probation.
In August 2012, deputies found Mack in the area of Bluff Springs Road and Dawson Road after a tip he was in that area, about two weeks after he had removed his electronic ankle monitor. Mack told deputies he removed the monitor because he knew he had already violated his probation and he was going to hide out until warrants became active. He told deputies he threw the monitoring bracelet and charging station into the woods in the area of Mystic Springs about two weeks earlier.
Firefighters Extinguish A Dozen Fires Over Three Mile Stretch Of Hwy 4
January 20, 2013
Firefighters worked Saturday afternoon to extinguish a dozen or more small grass fires along a three mile stretch of West Highway 4.
The series of grass fires were along West Highway 4 from Nall Road in Century westward to Canoe Creek. It appeared that a malfunction on a piece of equipment or a vehicle was sparking and started the fires along the roadway.
The Century and Walnut Hill stations of Escambia Fire Rescue were dispatched to the fires, and the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office assisted with locating the fires and in search for the responsible vehicle.
Pictured top: Small burned areas dot a three mile stretch of Highway 4 from Nall Road to Canoe Creek. NorthEscambia.com photo, click to enlarge.
Store Robbery Suspect Arrested; Century Woman Charged As Accessory
January 20, 2013
An Escambia County man was charged with a Saturday morning convenience story robbery, and a Century woman was charged with being an accessory in the crime.
Felipe Samuel Cruz, 46, was charged with the robbery of the Tom Thumb at Saufley Field Road and Blue Angel Parkway just before 8:00 Saturday. Cruz allegedly entered the store, held a knife to the clerk’s throat and demanded cash.
As deputies were arriving on scene, they spotted Cruz running and were able to catch him as he was attempting to enter a Jeep Cherokee Laredo occupied by 29-year old Candida Rose Daw of Whirlpool Road in Century and Summer Kalb.
Cruz was charged with aggravated battery and robbery with bond set at $115,000. Daw and Kalb were booked into the Escambia County Jail. Daw’s bond set at $10,000; Kalb was held without bond.
Blood Drives Monday In Flomaton, Ensley
January 20, 2013
Blood drives will be held in two locations Monday in the North Escambia area:
- McDonalds, 80 Hwy 113, Flomaton — 11:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
- Walmart, 8970 Pensacola Blvd, Ensley — 2 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.
Blood donors must be at least 17 (16 with parental consent), weigh 110 pounds or more, be in good health and have a picture identification.
Florida Gov’t Weekly Roundup: Let The People Vote Early, In More Places
January 20, 2013
Gov. Rick Scott this week broke with many in his own party by saying some recent Republican-backed election changes should be reversed to give voters more time to cast ballots.
Following an election mired by hours-long lines in certain precincts, Scott said local election supervisors need more flexibility to expand early voting hours and venues in an effort to make every potential vote count.
Scott’s comments came as lawmakers returned to Tallahassee and began looking at several major issues, from what went wrong on Election Day to finding ways to enhance safety for students following the fatal shooting of 20 grade-school children and six adults in a Connecticut school last month.
Meanwhile this week, a Florida Supreme Court decision upheld a Scott-backed initiative to require workers in the Florida Retirement System to pay into to their pension plans, a ruling that will affect hundreds of thousands of teachers, state and local employees.
And as President Barack Obama announced plans to push for gun control measures, Florida’s governor said he won’t push for any legislation to make it more difficult to own a gun, and the Senate president said he didn’t expect that debate to be held this year in the Legislature, but left to Washington.
SCOTT: EARLY VOTING BACK
Two years after signing an elections bill that critics said was politically inspired to reduce voting by Democrats, Gov. Rick Scott said this week the change should be reversed.
Elections supervisors should have the authority to give voters up to 14 days before Election Day, Scott said this week. The governor also said shorter ballots would help alleviate the long lines that clogged some precincts in the last general election, and that supervisors should have more flexibility in setting up early voting. All of that would, presumably, make it easier for people to vote – which was the argument the losers made when they tried to persuade Republicans not to reduce the opportunities to vote in the first place.
Scott’s announcement breaks with many in his own party who backed the voting restrictions as a way to fight fraud.
Scott also said the early voting period should once again include the Sunday before Election Day, an option used by many black churches to get out the vote and seen by most as an advantage for Democrats.
“Our ultimate goal must be to restore Floridians’ confidence in our election system,” Scott said.
FRS CHANGES OK
In a victory for Republican legislative leaders (and also for Scott), a divided Florida Supreme Court this week upheld a 2011 law that requires government workers to chip in 3 percent of their salaries to help fund their own retirement accounts.
In a 4-3 decision, the high court overturned a Leon County circuit judge who ruled the law violated the constitutional rights of government workers hired before July 1, 2011, the day the law took effect.
Legislative leaders had feared that a loss at the Supreme Court would blow a $1 billion hole in the state budget.
Backers of the contribution said the ruling allows the state to save money and offer retirement plans more similar to business in the private sector.
Critics, including a coalition of unions led by the Florida Education Association, characterized the employee contributions as a hidden tax on government employees, many of whom have not seen a raise in several years.
Had the court sided with the unions, the state would have been on the hook for about $1 billion in contributions that have already been collected.
Echoing the sentiment of other supporters, Senate Appropriations Chairman Joe Negron said government employees should help pay for their retirement packages, as private-sector workers do.
“I think that our constituents want us to live by the same rules that exist in their workplace,” said Negron, R-Stuart. “We can now move forward with crafting our budget.”
The case primarily centered on whether a 1974 retirement law created contractual rights that shielded public employees from having to contribute money into the pension system. The court said no.
“The preservation of rights statute was not intended to bind future legislatures from prospectively altering benefits for future service performed by all members of the FRS,” Justice Jorge Labara wrote for the majority.
ETHICS PROPOSALS ON FRONT BURNER:
Sen. Jack Latvala, chairman of the Senate Ethics and Elections Committee, said this week he expects an ethics bill to go to the full Senate during the first week of the 2013 legislative session in March.
The bill appears likely to deal with several issues, including bolstering penalties for officials who do not file financial-disclosure forms, reining in lawmakers’ use of political committees to pay for meals and other personal expenses, and cracking down on voting conflicts of interest. It also may seek to make it harder for former legislators to lobby after their service.
The bill may also give the Florida Commission on Ethics the power to undertake investigations after receiving referrals from the governor’s office, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, state attorneys or federal prosecutors.
SCHOOL SAFETY
In the wake of the December school shootings in Newtown, Conn., lawmakers appear serious about school-safety changes – they’re already talking about how much it might cost. .
Florida now spends about $70 million on school security. Putting a cop in each elementary school might cost more than $100 million, school district representatives estimate.
A Senate panel this week discussed ways to standardize cost-sharing of school resource officers. In some counties, local sheriffs are paying the bulk of providing law enforcement officers in schools. In other counties they pay little or nothing.
Scott, though, says he has no plans to push lawmakers to enact any gun control legislation this session.
“Gov. Scott supports the second amendment,” a statement from his office said this week. “He will listen to ideas about improving school safety during the legislative session, but he continues to support the second amendment and is not proposing any gun law changes.”
On Friday, Senate President Don Gaetz said he didn’t think state lawmakers were likely to go there on their own, either. In an interview with the Tampa Bay Times editorial Board Gaetz said while he favors background checks on all gun purchases, he doesn’t think any changes to gun laws will come up in Tallahassee.
“Congress is going to take that up,” Gaetz, R-Niceville, said. “Let them have that debate.”
STORY OF THE WEEK: Two years after signing a new law reducing early voting, Gov. Rick Scott does an about face and calls for extending the number of days Florida voters can go to the polls early.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “I just don’t quite understand how someone can be a make-believe cop, pursue my son who had every right to be in that neighborhood, chase him, get in a confrontation with him, shoot and kill him and not be arrested. Something has to be done.” Sybrina Fulton in reference to the state’s stand your ground law, (and a delay before the arrest of George Zimmerman in the shooting death of her son, Trayvon Martin.) Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch volunteer has now been charged with murder, but is expected to claim self defense under Florida’s Stand Your Ground doctrine.
By The News Service of Florida
Sunny Skies For Sunday
January 20, 2013
Here is your official North Escambia area forecast:
- Tonight: Mostly clear, with a low around 37. Calm wind.
- M.L.King Day: Mostly sunny, with a high near 64. North wind around 5 mph.
- Monday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 32. North wind around 5 mph.
- Tuesday: Sunny, with a high near 55. North wind around 5 mph.
- Tuesday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 29. North wind around 5 mph.
- Wednesday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 62. Calm wind becoming south around 5 mph in the afternoon.
- Wednesday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 39. South wind around 5 mph becoming calm after midnight.
- Thursday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 67. Light southwest wind becoming south 5 to 10 mph in the morning.
- Thursday Night: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 52. South wind around 5 mph becoming calm in the evening.
- Friday: A 40 percent chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 61.
- Friday Night: A 20 percent chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 33.
- Saturday: Sunny, with a high near 50.
- Saturday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 29.
- Sunday: Sunny, with a high near 56.
Pictured: Saturday’s sunset near Flomaton, Ala. Reader submitted photo by Rhonda Lassiter for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Featured Recipe: Mexican Lasagna
January 20, 2013
Today’s featured recipe for Mexican Lasagna will add new flavors to family mealtime as an old favorite gets a south of the border twist.
Mexican Lasagna
Ingredients
- 1 can (10 3/4 ounces) Campbell’s Condensed Cheddar Cheese Soup
- 1/4 cup milk
- 1 package (about 1 ounce) fajita seasoning mix
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1 can (10 3/4 ounces) Campbell’s Condensed Golden Mushroom Soup
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 tablespoon chili powder
- 1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano leaves, crushed
- 12 corn tortillas (5-to 6- inch)
- Chopped tomatoes (optional)
- Sliced green onions (optional)
Preparation
- Stir cheese soup, milk and half the fajita seasoning in medium bowl until mixture is smooth.
- Cook beef in a 10-inch skillet over medium-high heat until well browned, stirring often to separate meat. Pour off any fat.
- Stir mushroom soup, water, chili powder, oregano and remaining fajita seasoning in skillet and heat to a boil. Reduce heat to low. Cook for 5 minutes. Remove skillet from heat.
- Place 3 tortillas in the bottom of a 2-quart shallow baking dish, overlapping slightly. Spread 1 cup beef mixture over the tortillas. Repeat layers twice. Top with remaining tortillas. Spread the cheese soup mixture over the tortillas.
- Bake at 350°F. for 30 minutes or until hot and bubbling. Let stand for 10 minutes. Sprinkle with the tomatoes and onions, if desired.
Serves
Makes 6 servings
Preparation Time:
20 minutes
Bake Time:
30 minutes
Standing Time:
10 minutes
Hundreds Fill A Bowl For Manna
January 20, 2013
Fill a Bowl for Manna was held Saturday to benefit the local food bank that serves clients across the area.
Attendees filled their keepsake ceramic bowl with sumptuous soups from several restaurants while helping Manna Food Panties raise funds to fill the empty bowls of more than 44,000 people in Northwest Florida.
A $30 admission fee entitled guests to a keepsake ceramic bowl filled with soups by local eateries. The event was held at the Jean & Paul Amos Performance Studio of WSRE-TV.
Courtesy photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Fire Heavily Damages Barrineau Park Road Home
January 19, 2013
A Friday night fire heavily damaged a home near Molino.
The occupant of the home in the 700 block of Barrineau Park Road managed to escape the fire without injuries. The fire reportedly began as a cooking fire in the home’s kitchen about 6:30 p.m.
For a photo gallery, click here.
The Molino, Cantonment, McDavid, Beulah and Ensley stations of Escambia Fire Rescue responded to the blaze.
Pictured: Fire heavily damaged this home in the 700 block of Barrineau Park Road Friday night. NorthEscambia.com photos by Kristi Smith, click to enlarge.
