Century Plans Series Of Special Budget Workshop Meetings
July 8, 2014
Monday night, the Century Town Council scheduled a series of budget workshops for next month to discuss the town’s 2014-2015 budget.
The budget workshop meetings will be held Thursday, August 7; Thursday, August 14; Thursday August 21, and, if needed, Thursday, August 28. All meetings will be held at 3 p.m. in the council chamber at the Century Town Hall at 7995 North Century Boulevard. The meetings are open to the public.
Traffic Delays Today In Century, Cantonment, Creighton Road Areas
July 8, 2014
Drivers in Century, Cantonment to Nine Mile Road and in the Creighton Road areas can expect minor traffic delays today.
Crews will perform pavement testing in the following areas:
- Cantonment: Highway 29 from south of Muscogee Road to north of Nine Mile Road
- Century: East Highway 4 from North Century Boulevard (Hwy 29) to the Escambia River Bridge
- Pensacola: Creighton Road from Davis Highway to Scenic Highway
Drivers are reminded to pay attention to the speed limit when traveling through the construction area and to use caution when driving in work zones, according to the Florida Department of Transportation. Construction activities are weather dependent and may be delayed or re-scheduled in the event of inclement weather.
Hardin Named New Escambia County Forester
July 8, 2014
The Florida Forest Service has a new forester in Escambia County to help private landowners with forest land and urban trees. Cathy Hardin was the Gadsden County forester for the past four years and is returning to her home county of Escambia to be the county forester.
The county forester is available to help landowners apply for cost share programs, answer questions about trees and forests, and recognizes exemplary landowners through certification programs such as the Forest Stewardship Program and the Tree Farm Program. She helps the Florida Forest Service and other agencies with education programs, and also assists the county and municipalities to apply for grant programs and Tree City status, among other duties.
If you have questions or need assistance contact Cathy Hardin, Escambia County forester in Molino at (850) 587-5123 or email cathy.hardin@FreshFromFlorida.com.
Escambia County Releases Flood Damage Numbers
July 8, 2014
Escambia County released data Monday that shows the number of damaged infrastructure items in the county from the late April floods, including roads, bridges, sidewalks and drainage systems.
According to the data:
- Total County infrastructure damage sites – 2,138
- Damage sites completed or repaired – 1,627
- Damage sites assigned for design or repair – 355
- Remaining sites to be assigned – 156
Escambia County still wants to hear from residents that have not reported drainage problems in their neighborhoods. Residents are urged to contact the Escambia County Engineering Department by Friday, July 11 to identify all damages eligible for FEMA reimbursement funds.
For more information, call (850) 595-3440.
Oak Grove Land Clearing Pit Permit Renewal Under Consideration
July 8, 2014
A public hearing will be held July 10 to consider the renewal of a land clearing disposal pit permit in Oak Grove.
The first permit for the county-owned facility, located at 745 North Highway 99, was issued in 1996 and must be periodically renewed. The 20 acre disposal area is on a 26 acre piece of property and operates as the Oak Grove Land Clearing Debris Disposal Pit next to the Oak Grove Convenience Center.
The disposal pit is owned and operated by Escambia County for the purposes of county road and drainage maintenance activities.
The public hearing will be held at 5:31 p.m on July 10 in the Escambia County Commission Chambers in downtown Pensacola.
NorthEscambia.com photo, click to enlarge.
Escambia, Two Dozen Other Counties Renew Legal Fight Over Juvenile Detention Costs
July 8, 2014
A decade into a dispute about how to divvy up the costs of detaining young offenders, the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice and more than two-dozen counties — including Escambia and Santa Rosa — are digging in for more legal fighting.
The Florida Association of Counties and 25 counties have signed on to cases filed since mid-June in the state Division of Administrative Hearings, while the department is revising its latest proposal after a rule-making hearing last month ended in impasse.
Hundreds of millions of dollars hang in the balance.
The conflict centers on the department’s handling of a 2004 law that requires the counties to pay the “pre-disposition” costs associated with juveniles waiting for their cases to be resolved in court. The state pays the cost of detaining juveniles “post-disposition” — that is, after their cases have been decided — but the two sides remain far apart on how to define those and other key terms.
“It’s a fundamental disagreement,” Florida Association of Counties spokeswoman Cragin Mosteller said Monday.
For instance, under the current department rule, which was adopted in 2010, a county such as Escambia must pay for detaining a youth whose case has already been resolved and then, while on probation, commits a new offense that violates terms of the probation.
“It’s going to take the Legislature to resolve whether or not the counties pay for new law violations or not,” Department of Juvenile Justice Chief of Staff Jason Welty said. “We believe that they should be. The governor believes that they should be. And we believe that the Legislature believes that they should be. But (the counties) obviously don’t.”
In an email later Monday, however, Frank Collins, communications director for Gov. Rick Scott, said that is not the governor’s position.
The counties have argued that the department misinterpreted the cost-sharing formula, and so far courts have backed them. In June 2013, the 1st District Court of Appeal upheld an administrative law judge’s ruling that the department had shifted a larger share of the costs to the counties than the law required.
The appeals court also agreed with the counties on such key definitions as “final court disposition” and “actual costs,” noting, “We need not comment further, other than to commend the (administrative law judge’s) extensive and accurate analysis of the rules in question.”
Until that ruling, the counties had been required to pay 75 percent of all juvenile detention costs, while the department maintained that the Legislature actually intended for counties to pay 89 percent.
In the wake of the ruling, lawmakers took up the question during this year’s legislative session. But a bill creating a 50-50 formula died on the last day when counties insisted that the measure include $140 million in reimbursement for past overcharges.
With the failure of the bill, the governor’s office and the department decided to use a formula that will lead to counties paying 57 percent of juvenile-detention costs, while the state pays 43 percent.
The counties say that formula is still unfair and doesn’t take into account the appeals-court and Division of Administrative Hearings rulings. That has led to the Florida Association of Counties and the counties returning to the Division of Administrative Hearings. The counties are also seeking to simplify the formula by which the department calculates their share of the costs.
“We feel very strongly,” Mosteller said. “We certainly feel the courts have ruled in our favor clearly in the past. We would like to see that kind of consistency come from DJJ, but ultimately that is going to be their decision. Unless they can make those changes in the draft rule, we’ll look to DOAH to make a decision.”
Welty agreed that a ruling from an administrative law judge could help break the logjam.
“I think a DOAH ruling could help articulate or define what it is that we should be doing as it relates to the one issue that’s really the impasse issue, and that’s what’s pre-disposition and what’s post-disposition,” he said. “Obviously our interpretation and the counties’ interpretation are different. And absent the Legislature changing the statute, a judge could actually make that determination of what the Legislature intended, as it relates to the statute and what the rule interpretation should be.”
Welty said the department is revising the draft rule and will publish notice of another rule hearing later this month.
The 25 counties challenging the rule are Alachua, Bay, Brevard, Broward, Charlotte, Collier, Escambia, Flagler, Hernando, Hillsborough, Lake, Lee, Leon, Manatee, Martin, Nassau, Okaloosa, Palm Beach, Pinellas, Santa Rosa, St. Johns, St. Lucie, Sarasota, Volusia and Walton.
The dispute affects 38 of Florida’s 67 counties. The poorest 29 counties are considered “fiscally constrained” and aren’t part of the cost-sharing formula.
by Margie Menzel, The News Service of Florida
Wahoos Snap Streak, Defeat The Mobile Baybears 4-0
July 8, 2014
The Pensacola Blue Wahoos (7-12, 38-51) snapped a three-game losing streak to the Mobile BayBears (12-7, 54-34) with a 4-0 win in game four of the series at Hank Aaron Stadium. RHP Robert Stephenson earned his first win in a month as he held the BayBears scoreless over 6.0 innings of work.
Stephenson struck out six batters and surrendered just five hits in his final start before he heads to the All-Star Futures Game in Minnesota. Stephenson’s Futures Game teammate, Jesse Winker, provided a big two-run double in the 6th inning that stretched Pensacola’s early lead to 4-0.
The Wahoos jumped out to an early lead after Yorman Rodriguez reached third base on Brodie Greene’s bunt-single down the line that forced a throwing error from BayBears’ third baseman, Jake Lamb. The bunt-single stretched Greene’s on-base streak to 11 straight games. Ryan Wright hit a sacrifice fly to center to score Rodriguez and the Wahoos never looked back on the way to their streak-snapping victory.
Greene, Winker and Seth Mejias-Brean all finished with multi-hit games for the Wahoos. Travis Mattair finished the game 1-for-3 and added an RBI to his ledger.
The bullpen continued their streak of good pitching with three scoreless innings of relief. RHP Carlos Gonzalez pitched a scoreless seventh inning in his first appearance off of the disabled list and LHP Fabian Williamson followed with a perfect eighth. RHP Shane Dyer allowed a hit and a walk, but struck out Sean Jamieson to end the game.
RHP Justin Fitzgerald took just his second loss of the season for the BayBears. He went 5.1 innings and allowed 4 R/3ER on four hits while walking four Wahoo batters.
The Wahoos will send RHP Ben Lively (0-1, 2.93) to the mound for the series finale on Tuesday night. Lively will be opposed by RHP Michael Lee (5-4, 4.15).
by Tommy Thrall
Preston “Pete” (Tomahawk) McGhee
July 8, 2014
Preston “Pete” (Tomahawk) McGhee, 58 of Perdido, passed away on Thursday, July 3, 2014, in Pensacola. He was employed by Booker Trucking as a truck driver. He was born on December 17, 1955, in Escambia County, AL, to the late Shirley L. and Willene Partin McGhee.
He is preceded in death by his brother, Bobby Lee McGhee.
Survivors include his wife, Alicia Bray McGhee of Perdido; three daughters, Tonya M. Black of Nokomis (FL), Dana G. Moss of Houston, TX and Mirnda Smith of Repton; four step-children, Daniel K. Griffith, Shawn E. Brown, Robby E. Brown and Shaina M. Brown; one brother, John H. McGhee; three sisters, Betty McGhee Peacock, Angela McDevilbiss and Christine M. Parker; 10 grandchildren, Monica Neisler, Talmadge Moss, Todd Smith, Zackery Smith, Matthew Smith, Lauren Smith, Alexandria “Data” Brown, Asheley Nicole Ward Moser, Cody Allen Pridgen, and Teagen Michea Black.
Services will be Wednesday, July 9, 2014, at 2 p.m. from the Friendly Holiness Church with Rev. Ray Ward and Rev. Dale Aplin officiating.
Interment will follow in New Home Cemetery.
Family will receive friends, Tuesday evening July 8, 2014 from 7 p.m. at the Friendly Holiness Church until service time at 2 p.m. on Wednesday.
Johnson-Quimby Funeral Home is in charge of all arrangements.
Driver Flips Vehicle On Highway 97 Near Davisville
July 7, 2014
One person was injured in a single vehicle rollover accident Monday afternoon in Davisville.
The accident was reported about 2:50 p.m. on Highway 97 just north of Highway 4. The driver of a car lost control and flipped into a ditch, with the vehicle coming to rest upside down in partial wooded area.
The driver was not seriously injured.
The accident is under investigation by the Florida Highway Patrol. The Walnut Hill Station of Escambia Fire Rescue, Atmore Ambulance and Escambia County Sheriff’s Office also responded to the call.
NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Supreme Court Rules In Escambia Case: Car’s Color Not Enough For Traffic Stop
July 7, 2014
A divided Florida Supreme Court has overturned the conviction of an Escambia County man who was found to have cocaine and marijuana after a deputy pulled him over based on the color of his car.
The case stemmed from an Escambia County Sheriff’s deputy in June 2010 running the license tag number on a bright green Chevrolet through a state database. The database indicated the car had been registered as being the color blue, an inconsistency that led the deputy to pull over the car.
During the stop, the deputy noticed the smell of marijuana, leading to a search of the car that turned up marijuana, crack cocaine and cash.
The driver of the car, Kerrick Teamer, was later convicted of trafficking in cocaine, possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia, according to the Supreme Court ruling.
Teamer sought to suppress the drug evidence, arguing it was the result of an illegal, warrant-less search.
The 1st District Court of Appeal sided with Teamer, and the Supreme Court in a 5-2 ruling agreed that the evidence should have been suppressed.
The majority said changing the color of a car is not “inherently suspicious” enough to justify a stop by police and that it is not illegal to repaint a vehicle without notifying the state Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles.
“The law allows officers to draw rational inferences, but to find reasonable suspicion based on this single noncriminal factor would be to license investigatory stops on nothing more than an officer’s hunch,” said the majority opinion, written by Justice Peggy Quince and joined by Chief Justice Jorge Labarga and justices Barbara Pariente, R. Fred Lewis and James E.C. Perry.
“Doing so would be akin to finding reasonable suspicion for an officer to stop an individual for walking in a sparsely occupied area after midnight simply because that officer testified that, in his experience, people who walk in such areas after midnight tend to commit robberies.”
But Justice Charles Canady, in a dissent joined by Justice Ricky Polston, wrote that a “reasonable officer” could have suspected that the license tag had been illegally transferred from another car. “The majority is wholly unjustified in categorizing an undeniably objective factor as a hunch,” Canady wrote.
by The News Service of Florida