Mississippi Downs Blue Wahoos
July 30, 2014
The Pensacola Blue Wahoos dropped their fourth straight to the Mississippi Braves, 4-3, on Tuesday night at Trustmark Park in Pearl, Miss. Robert Stephenson (L, 5-7) was plagued by seven walks over his 4.2 innings of work despite striking out six Braves hitters.
Mississippi scored their first run on a passed ball to match the Blue Wahoos first-inning run and tie the game early. Pensacola re-claimed the lead with a run in the third when Ryan Wright scored from second on a hustle double into shallow centerfield by Travis Mattair.
The Braves did the lion’s share of their damage in the fifth. Robert Stephenson fought his control with three walks in the fifth inning and he allowed just one single before exiting with the bases loaded and two outs and the game tied at two. James Walczak allowed a single to the first batter he faced, Braeden Schlehuber, which scored two runs and gave the Braves all they needed.
Stephenson allowed 4 R/3 ER over his 4.2 inning and matched his season high with seven walks to go with six strikeouts. He surrendered just three hits in the losing effort.
Braves starter Ryan Weber (W, 4-4) picked up the win after allowing just 3 R/ER on eight hits over 6.0 innings. Ryan Kelly (S, 2)came in to work a scoreless ninth for his second save of the year.
The Blue Wahoos will try to stop the skid on Wednesday with RHP Michael Lorenzen (4-5, 2.70) on the mound against Braves RHP Mitch Atkins (5-0, 4.65). First pitch is slated for 7:00 p.m. from Trustmark Park.
by Tommy Thrall
Field Corn Variety Tour Held
July 30, 2014
A Field Corn Variety Tour was held Tuesday at the UF/IFAS West Florida Research and Education Center near Jay.
During the tour, producers and ag officials from across the region had a chance to learn about about 20 different varieties of corn, including heirloom varieties, plus crop and weed management. The event was a joint project of UF/IFAS, the Alabama Cooperative Extension Service, and Escambia and Santa Rosa counties.
Pictured top and bottom: The Field Corn Variety Tour Tuesday at the UF/IFAS West Florida Research and Education Center near Jay. Pictured inset: A tall heirloom variety of corn. Photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
No Injuries In Cantonment Intersection Crash
July 29, 2014
There were no injuries in a two-vehicle accident Tuesday morning in the intersection of Highway 29 and Muscogree Road. Everyone involved in the 9:45 a.m. crash refused medical treatment. The Cantonment Station of Escambia Fire Rescue and the Florida Highway Patrol responded to the crash. NorthEscambia.com photo by Ramona Preston, click to enlarge.
Cantonment Pharmacy Closes After 41 Years, Millions Of Prescriptions And A Few Marriages
July 29, 2014
The employees at Cantonment Pharmacy gathered one last time. They shared a few laughs and a lot of tears as they covered the windows with paper and posted a closure notice. The employees, the family, of Cantonment Pharmacy posed for a few photos before saying goodbye. Then, with the turn of the front door lock, a big piece of Cantonment faded into the history books.
Pharmacist John Reading said the decision to close the landmark business after 41 years and millions of prescriptions filled was not an easy one, but necessary. The business, he said, was sold to Winn Dixie, with customer records transferred to their Cantonment store.
“It all came down to the economy, insurance and the big chain stores,” Reading said. “The little guys are just being squeezed out of business.” Small pharmacies, he said, often receive a lower reimbursement rate that big chain stores, and legislation signed by Gov. Rick Scott will only make the problem worse next month.
“We sold to Winn Dixie after they made a fair offer. They are fairly close for our customers, have a fair price and our pharmacies have worked together for years. It was just the best thing for us to do right now.”
“I’m going to miss seeing the people and the families I’ve know for three or four generations. I even performed marriages for a few of them as a notary,” Reading said. “We know the people so well…..we love them.”
Pictured: The employees of Cantonment Pharmacy gathered one last time as the business was closed and sold to Winn Dixie. Photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Poll: Overwhelming Support For Medical Marijuana In Florida
July 29, 2014
Young and old Floridians overwhelmingly support letting sick patients get high for medical reasons, according to the latest poll on the issue, but getting voters to put medical marijuana into the state constitution is still not a guarantee.
A poll released Monday found that almost 90 percent of Florida voters want doctors to be able to order marijuana for patients. The poll by Quinnipiac University found widespread support for medical marijuana. Eighty-eight percent of Florida voters — including 83 percent of voters age 65 and older and 95 percent of those between 18 and 29 — approve of medical marijuana
“Even though a proposal to legalize medical marijuana, on the ballot this November, must meet a 60 percent threshold, these numbers make a strong bet the referendum is likely to pass,” Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University poll, said in a prepared statement accompanying the results.
But even supporters of the proposed constitutional amendment acknowledged that the poll results may overestimate Floridians’ support.
“The poll is just another demonstration that support for this is broad,” said Ben Pollara, executive director of United We Care, the group responsible for getting the proposal on the November ballot and working to get it passed.
The poll shows “that the vast majority of Floridians support the general concept of medical marijuana,” Pollara said.
Critics of the proposal, who’ve pumped at least $3 million into efforts to kill it and are prepared to spend more, blasted the semantics of the poll, as well as its findings. The proposal that will appear before voters in November, bankrolled by Orlando trial lawyer John Morgan, would allow doctors to decide whether patients who have debilitating medical conditions could receive medical marijuana. Doctors could not “prescribe” the substance, which would be distributed by state-licensed operators.
“This poll has been, and continues to be, a complete outlier in support of medical marijuana because it asks a question that won’t be on the ballot. Amendment 2 doesn’t require a doctor’s prescription,” said Sarah Bascom, spokeswoman for the “Vote No on 2″ campaign.
Connecticut-based Quinnipiac University, which frequently conducts polls in Florida and other states, found bipartisan support for legalizing medical marijuana, with an 80-19 percent split among Republicans — whose level of support was the lowest of any subgroup.
“Forget the stereotypes of stodgy old folks living out their golden years playing canasta and golf,” Brown said. “Almost nine in 10 Floridians favor legalizing medical marijuana and a small majority says adults should be able to possess small amounts of the drug for recreational purposes.”
The groundswell of support, mirrored in other polls, gave cause for cheer to backers of the proposed constitutional amendment. Experts estimate that both campaigns might spend up to $20 million on the issue.
“This poll clearly shows that the disingenuous arguments being put forth by organizations like Drug Free Florida and the Florida Sheriffs Association are not fooling Florida’s voters,” Pollara said. “Floridians understand this is an issue of compassion, and they are ready to put these kinds of health care decisions where they belong: in the hands of patients and their doctors, not politicians.”
Opponents are likely to rely on polling showing weakened support for the issue when linked to adolescents’ use of medical marijuana.
GOP legislative leaders and other Republicans who oppose legalization of medical marijuana signed off this spring on a form of marijuana that purportedly does not get users high but is believed to relieve seizures in children with a rare form of epilepsy. The Department of Health is in the process of creating rules for the new law, which authorizes strains of marijuana that are low in euphoria-inducing tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, and high in cannabadiol, or CBD. The law also allows patients who suffer from severe muscle spasms or cancer to be put on a “compassionate use registry” for the low-THC product as long as their doctors approve.
Under the law, doctors who order the substance for their patients must also file their treatment plans with the University of Florida pharmacy school. The university would also be eligible for $1 million in grants to study the efficacy of the low-THC treatment for children with severe forms of epilepsy.
But university officials say that participating in that research could cost them millions more in federal grants for other programs.
“Federal law prohibits possession, cultivation, manufacturing and distribution of marijuana. Violating federal law threatens the federal funding UF receives. As a state agency, UF is required to comply with the law. An outside counsel review of the laws reached the same conclusion,” University of Florida spokeswoman Janine Sikes said Monday.
The university may in the future find a researcher who could evaluate the effectiveness of the low-THC, Sikes said in an e-mail.
That research would only pertain to “outcomes measurement of patient care — not a drug or plant study,” Sikes said.
Rep. Katie Edwards, a Plantation Democrat who has gathered reams of research on the topic and was instrumental in passage of the low-THC legislation, had hoped that the University of Florida would be the conduit into the state for medical marijuana. She said she was disappointed in the university’s position but remained hopeful “that another entity that fits the criteria laid out in the statute will step up and assist the many patients who are desperately seeking this treatment.”
The Department of Health is holding a second rule-making workshop on the low-THC issue Friday in Tallahassee.
Edwards, like others, remains concerned that federal laws making marijuana illegal could pose problems getting the substance into the state to kick-start the low-THC program.
“Very quietly,” Rep. Matt Gaetz, a Fort Walton Beach Republican lawyer who sponsored the legislation, said at the last rule-making workshop when asked how authorized growers will obtain seeds or plants. “But I know a few parents of children with intractable epilepsy who will be happy to go get it for you.”
But Edwards, also a lawyer, indicated that the state needs to come up with a better plan.
“I would never counsel a client to break the law and turn a blind eye,” Edwards. “That’s why I’m trying to find a solution that will work.
The poll released Monday also showed that Florida voters support allowing recreational marijuana by a 55 percent to 41 percent margin, but men and women are split on the issue, the poll found. Men support allowing Floridians “to legally possess small amounts of marijuana for personal use” by 61 percent to 36 percent while women are more skeptical, with 49 percent approving and 45 percent opposed. Young voters support the idea by a 72 percent to 25 percent margin, while voters 65 and older are opposed by a margin of 59 percent to 36 percent.
Seventy-one percent of voters also would support having a medical marijuana dispensary in the town where they live. The lowest level of support for having a dispensary in their neighborhoods comes from voters over age 65, with 57 percent in favor and 37 percent opposed.
“No ‘Not in My Backyard’ mentality here. By an almost 3-to-1 majority, Florida voters would allow a medical marijuana dispensary near where they live,” Brown said.
And the poll found that 44 percent of Florida voters say they have tried pot, including 51 percent of men, 39 percent of women and 48 percent of voters ages 18 to 29. Just 23 percent of voters over 65 say they’ve tried marijuana.
The poll was conducted from July 17 to July 21. It surveyed 1,251 registered Florida voters with a margin of error of 2.8 percentage points.
by Dara Kim, The News Service of Florida
Local Forest Service Firefighters Deployed To Fight Western US Fires
July 29, 2014
Local area firefighters are among dozens being sent from the Florida Forest Service to help battle blazes in the western United States.
There are six Florida Forest Service firefighters from the Blackwater District — which includes Escambia and Santa Rosa counties — that have been been deployed so far to various western states, according to Joe Zwierzchowski, spokesman.
So far this season, the Florida Forest Service has deployed 52 wildland firefighters to western wildfires, including Oregon’s 396,000-acre Pine Creek wildfire and Washington’s 250,000-acre Carlton Complex of wildfires.
“The Florida Forest Service will continue to fill requests for help as we receive them,” said Jim Karels, State Forester. “The experiences that our firefighters gain out West will build upon their first-class training and experience fighting wildfires here in Florida.”
Deployed wildland firefighters will fill a variety of roles, including front-line firefighting, aviation, safety regulation, logging, heavy equipment management and more.
“The Florida Forest Service is a talented group of some of the most skilled firefighters in the country,” said Florida Commissioner of Agriculture Adam H. Putnam. “Thanks to current low wildfire danger levels in Florida, we are able to lend support to other states for the protection of people, structures and natural resources.”
12 Elementary Schools To Add Extra Hour Due To Low Reading Scores
July 29, 2014
Due to low reading scores, a dozen Escambia County elementary schools will have an extended school day when classes begin next month.
The extra hour per day was mandated by the State of Florida for the 300 lowest scoring elementary schools. Students will spend the extra time each day working on reading and comprehension skills.
The extra hour was mandated for Ensley Elementary, Holm Elementary, Montclair Elementary, Myrtle Grove Elementary, Navy Point Elementary, Oakcrest Elementary, O.J. Semmes Elementary, Sherwood Elementary, Warrington Elementary, West Pensacola Elementary, C. A. Weis Elementary and the Global Learning Academy.
None of the elementary schools in North Escambia or District 5 will be required to have the extra hour, and for those schools it will be the normal school day when classes begin August 18.
Photos: Storm Clouds Roll
July 29, 2014
Afternoons storms rolled across the North Escambia area Monday afternoon. Pictured top: Storm clouds move across Highway 97A in Walnut Hill. Pictured: The storm as seen from nearby Corley Road. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Registration Event Today For Dancework Classes
July 29, 2014
Registration is underway for Heather Leonard’s Danceworks, and a registration event will be held today in Byrneville.
The registration will be from 5:30 until 7 p.m. today at the Byrneville Community Center. Or students can register by mail; click here for a form.
Ballet, tap and jazz classes will be taught by Heather Leonard beginning the week of August 18 for girls ages 3 and up, including a class for teens and a hip hop class for those 10 and up. Leonard has taught dance to hundreds of girls from North Escambia and surrounding areas. She is also the coach for the Northview High School Dance Team.
For a printable information sheet, schedule and registration form, click here. For further information, contact Heather Leonard at (850) 529-1358 or email hldanceworks@gmail.com.
Pictured: The Heather Leonard’s Danceworks Spring 2014 recital at Northview High School. NorthEscambia.com file photos, click to enlarge.
Doctors Will Appeal ‘Docs Vs. Glocks’ Ruling
July 29, 2014
Doctors and gun-control advocates said Monday they will appeal to the full 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals a ruling that upheld Florida’s controversial “docs vs. glocks” law.
A three-judge panel, in a 2-1 ruling last week, said the state Legislature had the right to pass the law, which includes provisions restricting doctors and other medical providers from asking questions about gun ownership during medical visits.
The Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, which is helping represent Florida doctors fighting the law, announced the appeal Monday.
“If the appellate court’s decision is allowed to stand, the corporate gun lobby and its political cronies will be given license to silence the medical community from speaking the truth to patients about the real risks of guns in the home, and any powerful industry will be able to dictate whether families get complete, honest information about the dangers posed by its products,” said Jonathan Lowy, director of the center’s Legal Action Project.
Supporters of the 2011 law, which was backed by the National Rifle Association, say doctors might turn away patients who own guns or who don’t answer questions about gun ownership. Critics argue that doctors need to know what’s in a patient’s home so they can offer safety advice.
by The News Service of Florida