All West Florida Libraries To Close A Couple Of Days Next Week
September 15, 2014
All West Florida Public Library System locations will be closed to the public on next Monday and Tuesday, September 22-23. During this time the libraries will undergo a new software migration featuring expanded services to better serve the community. All library staff will receive training on these days.
While the libraries will be closed, patrons will be able to view the library system’s website, MyWFPL.com and online databases accessible through the library system.
Tammy Teresa Turk McCann
September 15, 2014
Mrs. Tammy Teresa Turk McCann, 50, passed away on Friday, September 12, 2014, in Birmingham.
Mrs. McCann was a native of Flomaton and a resident of Bratt for the past 30 years. She was a school bus driver for the Escambia County (FL) School District for the past 15 years; she was a Sunday school and youth leader at church. She was a member of the Pleasant Hill Baptist Church.
Her father, Clint Turk and grandson, Logan Hawthorne precede her in death.
Survivors include her mother, Mary Turk of Pollard, AL; Husband, Robert McCann of Bratt; four daughters, Jennifer (Tony) Zisa of Bratt, Kimberly (Chance) Hawthorne of Flomaton, Leslie (Clifton Furney) McCann of Canoe, AL, and Megan (Adden Swenson) McCann of Pensacola; two sisters, Debra (Tony) Simmons of Panama City and Chasity (Mike) Pettis of Brewton; and six grandchildren.
Funeral services will be Tuesday, September 16, 2014, at 10 a.m. at the Petty-Eastside Chapel Funeral Home in Atmore with Rev. Kevin Stott officiating.
Burial will follow at the Flomaton Cemetery.
Visitation will be Monday, September 15, 2014, from 6-9 p.m. at the Petty-Eastside Chapel Funeral Home.
Pallbearers will be Chance Hawthorne, Tony Zisa, Clifton Furney, Adden Swenson, Keith McCann and Skylar Macks.
Honorary pallbearers will be Steve Hanks and Nathan Simmons.
Petty-Eastside Chapel Funeral Homes is in charge of all arrangements.
Reimagine Century Breathes New Life Into A Community In Need
September 14, 2014
Reimagine Century’s goal was to breathe new life into Century, where the faithful reached out to touch the hearts and lives of area residents in need.
That goal appeared to have been reached both spiritually and literally Saturday as a young woman gave birth in an ambulance at Century’s Showalter Park during the event. (We are told mom and baby are doing fine.)
For hundreds and hundreds more in need, the event brought new life and new hope with a caring word, a quick prayer and uplifting music, along with clothing, food, medical screenings, diapers, laundry detergent and even lunch….everything absolutely free.
For a photo gallery, click here.
Saturday’s Reimagine event was supported by a $25,000 grant from State Farm Neighborhood Assist program. A similar event — Reimagine Brownsville — is planned for Saturday, October 25.
Reimagine Century was sponsored in part by numerous organizations, including NorthEscambia.com, Abundant Life Church, Aids Healthcare Foundation, At the Table Ministries, Bagdad Assembly of God, Bay Area Food Bank, Bethany Christian Services, BRACE, Century Chamber of Commerce, Century Correctional Center, Century First Baptist Church, Covenant Hospice of Milton, CrossFaith Church Molino, Crown Church, Escambia County Early Learning Coalition, Escambia County Head Start, Escambia County Healthy Start Coalition, Energion Publishing Company, Escambia County School District, Escambia County Sheriffs Department, Flomaton First Baptist Church, Froman Fun Inflatables, George Stone Career Bus, Harvest Christian Center/Cantonment, HIS Horse Team, Ministry Village at Olive Baptist Church, Mission Fishin’ Ministry, NAACP Youth Council, New Beginnings Worship Center of Brewton, Northview High School NJROTC, Pensacola House of Prayer, Pensacola Teen Challenge, Salvation Army, Shannon Productions, Soundscapes Sound Company, Step-Up for Students, Tabernacle Baptist Church, The Extra Mile Ministry, Tom Thumb Stores, Transformation Church, Truth for Youth and United Bank.
Greater Escambia Relay For Life Kickoff Event Set For Tuesday
September 14, 2014
Team captains, survivors and community members are invited to attend the 2015 Kickoff of Relay for Life of Greater Escambia. The event will be held at Heritage Baptist Church on Highway 297A at 6 p.m. Tuesday.
The 2015 Relay for Life of Greater Escambia will be at Tate High School on Saturday, April 18, 2015, from 11 a.m. until 10 p.m.
“We look forward to seeing a huge community turn out for the meeting,” said Pat Clements, event chair.
Pictured: The 2014 Greater Escambia Relay for Life at Tate High School’s Pete Gindl Stadium. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Florida’s Oldest: Barrineau Park 4-H Club Celebrates 100 Years
September 14, 2014
A 100th birthday celebration was held Saturday for the Barrineau Park 4-H Club, the oldest continuously operating 4-H Club in Florida and perhaps in the country.
4-H members past and present shared memories of 4-H — everything from Corn Clubs of days log ago, to raising hogs, to public speaking to photographs on Instagram and Facebook.
“Early Extension agents were having a hard time working with the adults and helping them understand new technologies and new practices for growing corn and tomatoes and livestock,” Dr. Nick Place, dean of the University of Florida/IFAS Extension program, said while explaining why 4-H clubs were formed 100 years ago. “We were able to really work with the kids and help them understand these new technologies, and they would take that home and then their parents would adopt it.”
The club was presented with numerous honors and awards, including a special message from Congressman Jeff Miller that will be read into the Congressional Record on Monday on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives.
For a photo gallery, click here.
There are currently 23 students involved in the Barrineau Park 4-H Club who are active in everything from leadership, citizenship, livestock, horses, food and nutrition, environmental education, marine science, shooting sports and public speaking and the club has become known for raising and showing prize-winning hogs.
The club is also celebrating in true 4-H fashion by helping others. Members have been busy performing 100 hours of community service, gathering magazines to donate to nursing homes, collecting shoes for needy families and food for area food banks, baking cookies and cupcakes to give to the local fire department and writing thank you cards to military personnel.
For an earlier story, click here for more of history of the Barrineau Park 4-H Club.
Pictured top: Members, alumni and supporters of the Barrineau Park 4-H Club gather for a 100th birthday photo Saturday outside the Barrineau Park Community Center. Pictured inset: Dr. Nick Place, dean of the University of Florida/IFAS Extension program. Pictured below: Commissioner Steven Barry presents an Escambia County proclamation to the Barrineau Park 4-H Club. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
FDOT Warns About Campaign Signs On The Right Of Way
September 14, 2014
As election season gears up across Northwest Florida, the Florida Department of Transportation is reminding all citizens that state law prohibits political signs on state right of way.
Florida law states that no signs shall be erected, used, operated, or maintained on the right of way of any highway on the state highway system.
Political signs placed on state right of way will be removed by FDOT staff and placed at one of the department’s operations centers. FDOT personnel will make reasonable attempts to preserve campaign signs that are taken down and to provide campaign offices an opportunity to claim the signs, the agency said.
The roadway right of way includes the roadway surface, concrete or grassy median, intersections, entrance and exit ramps, and a strip of land, usually bordering either side of the road, which is reserved for shoulders, drainage ditches, sidewalks, traffic signs/signals, fencing, electrical traffic signal control boxes, utility lines and future road expansion.
Improperly located signs on state right of way poses a traffic safety hazard that can distract motorists or block their view, endanger the safety of individuals who are erecting signs along busy highways and present obstacles to crews who maintain roadways.
Northview Tribal Beat Performs At Troy Band Day
September 14, 2014
Nearly 2,000 middle and high school band members — including the Northview High School Tribal Beat – performed alongside the Troy University Sound of the South Saturday night during the college’s annual Band Day.
The students were from over 30 schools from Alabama, Florida and Georgia and performed at halftime during the Troy Trojan’s loss to Abilene Christian University.
Northview’ s Tribal Beat and the other bands took part in a rehearsal Saturday morning with the Sound of the South. The bands then took part in the Trojan Victory Parade and the team’s Trojan Walk.
Photos by Connie Brook for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Showers, Thunderstorms For Sunday
September 14, 2014
Here is your official NorthEscambia area forecast:
- Sunday Showers and thunderstorms likely, mainly after 1pm. Partly sunny, with a high near 91. Northeast wind around 5 mph becoming south in the afternoon. Chance of precipitation is 60%.
- Sunday Night Scattered showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 71. Southeast wind around 5 mph becoming calm in the evening. Chance of precipitation is 30%.
- Monday Showers and thunderstorms likely, mainly after 1pm. Partly sunny, with a high near 91. Calm wind becoming south around 5 mph in the morning. Chance of precipitation is 60%.
- Monday Night Scattered showers and thunderstorms, mainly before 1am. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 71. South wind around 5 mph becoming calm in the evening. Chance of precipitation is 40%.
- Tuesday Showers and thunderstorms likely, mainly after 1pm. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 88. Calm wind becoming north around 5 mph in the morning. Chance of precipitation is 60%.
- Tuesday Night Scattered showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 69. Calm wind. Chance of precipitation is 30%.
- Wednesday Scattered showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 87. Calm wind becoming northwest around 5 mph in the morning. Chance of precipitation is 40%.
- Wednesday Night Mostly cloudy, with a low around 68. North wind around 5 mph becoming calm after midnight.
- Thursday Isolated showers and thunderstorms. Mostly sunny, with a high near 87. Chance of precipitation is 20%.
- Thursday Night Partly cloudy, with a low around 67.
- Friday Isolated showers and thunderstorms. Partly sunny, with a high near 84. Chance of precipitation is 20%.
- Friday Night Mostly cloudy, with a low around 67.
- Saturday Isolated showers and thunderstorms. Partly sunny, with a high near 86. Chance of precipitation is 20%.
Florida Gov’t Weekly Roundup: Get That Pot To Sick Kids ASAP
September 14, 2014
Health regulators are wasting no time getting Florida ready for the “green rush” already sweeping the state as they craft a framework for the new medical marijuana industry. Meanwhile, the “just say no” crowd is letting loose with the green, fanning the flames in the fight over a proposed constitutional amendment that would legalize weed for a variety of medical reasons.
It’s sort of a pot rush, even if the type of weed that will soon be spreading across the state supposedly doesn’t get users high.
The Department of Health’s Office of Compassionate Use this week hurriedly published a revised rule governing everything from stems and seeds to serving the substance to sick kids. The latest version of the rule included tweaks to who can own the five “dispensing organizations” that will eventually get licensed by the state to grow, process and distribute newly-authorized strains of cannabis.
The Legislature, in approving a pot law this spring, required each applicant to have a valid registration from the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services to cultivate more than 400,000 plants, be operated by a nurseryman as defined by state law and have operated as a registered nursery in the state for at least 30 continuous years. At least 60 nurseries meet the criteria.
A preliminary rule floated by health regulators would have allowed nurseries to have just 25 percent ownership in the entities applying for a license. That option drew a rebuke from the Legislature’s Joint Administrative Procedures Committee, which helps oversee state regulations. The original proposal also neglected to specifically address whether the nursery would be required to have a continued role in running the pot operation.
Under Tuesday’s revised proposal, a nurseryman would have to “serve as the operator,” alleviating some concerns that growers would have little or nothing to do with the grow operation despite lawmakers’ intention that the nascent pot business be controlled by companies with a long agricultural history in Florida. The proposal would require a nursery to have at least 25 percent ownership of the organization that gets a license, but also would offer another alternative that would allow “100 percent of the owners of a nursery” to fulfill that 25 percent requirement.
That ownership change appears aimed at appeasing some nursery owners who expressed concerns about financing the marijuana operations. Because pot is still illegal under federal law, nearly all banks are refusing to lend money to marijuana-related businesses. Converting other areas of operations into cash-only business could pose major problems for growers interested in participating in the medical marijuana start-ups, a lawyer for Costa Farms told the Department of Health at a day-long public hearing last week.
With Scott’s blessing, lawmakers this spring legalized marijuana that contains .8 percent or less of euphoria-inducing tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, and more than 10 percent cannabidiol, or CBD. Supporters believe the compound, which hasn’t been approved by the feds, can eliminate or drastically reduce life-threatening seizures in children with severe forms of epilepsy. Under the law, doctors can also order the low-THC, high-CBD substance — usually delivered in paste or oil forms — for patients with other spastic disorders or cancer, as long as they have exhausted all other treatments.
Many GOP lawmakers jumped on the “doesn’t get you high” pot bandwagon this spring hoping to thwart Amendment 2, a proposed constitutional change that would legalize “traditional” medical marijuana.
While the state moves toward getting the low-THC, high-CBD regulatory framework in place by Jan. 1, the battle over Amendment 2 — bankrolled heavily by Orlando trial lawyer and Democratic fundraiser John Morgan — is starting to smoke.
The “Vote No on 2″ campaign recently nailed down the backing of seven former Florida Supreme Court justices, who joined associations representing Florida sheriffs and police chiefs in opposition. And the amendment’s foes are planning to spend $1.6 million on television ads, slated to start running in October, condemning the proposal. Like all constitutional proposals, at least 60 percent of the voters must approve the amendment for it to pass.
“We want every voter to know the dangers of this amendment and that it is not about the sick, it is about legalizing pot for anyone and for any reason,” spokeswoman Sarah Bascom said.
Polls have shown widespread support for legalizing medical marijuana, but that support is expected to drop in the wake of a full-frontal attack. Las Vegas casino magnate Sheldon Adelson has pledged to double the $2.5 million he’s already dropped on the Drug Free Florida political committee, launched by Tampa Bay developer Mel Sembler. Both are mega-GOP money men.
“When your basic position runs completely counter to public opinion, millions in misleading advertising is the only strategy available. But no amount of advertising can overwhelm the basic facts,” said Ben Pollara, campaign manager at United for Care, a group spearheading the amendment. “Floridians know the benefits of medical marijuana are real, and the people of this state are deeply compassionate. We believe the overwhelming majority will vote to make sure patients no longer have to risk incarceration for listening to their doctors and seeking relief from debilitating diseases and medical conditions.”
STORY OF THE WEEK: St. Augustine Republican John Thrasher makes the list of four finalists in the search for a new Florida State University president.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “Is the First Lady not good enough?” — Jackie Schutz, a spokeswoman for Gov. Rick Scott’s campaign, after being asked why the governor remained on the campaign trail instead of attending a Missing Children’s Day event at the Capitol. First Lady Ann Scott took part in the event.
Church Back To School Splash Benefits Molino Park Elementary
September 14, 2014
Aldersgate United Methodist Church in Molino held a Back to School Splash for the community Saturday afternoon. Everything was free, but attendees were encouraged to bring a ream or two of copy paper for Molino Park Elementary School. Photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
