Escambia Man Charged With Leaving Gun Within Reach Of Shot Toddler
March 22, 2014
An Escambia County man has been charged in connection with the self-inflicted shooting death of his son after leaving a gun within his reach.
Sheldon Cleavon Salter, 28, was charged with culpable negligence in the death of his 2 year old son on March 1. The Escambia Count Sheriff’s Office said Salter left a loaded firearm within the reach of the child, making him capable of inflicting the injury that resulted in his death. Salter was also charged with one count of possession of drug paraphernalia in the incident which occurred in the 1500 block of Fairfield Drive.
Salter was released from the Escambia County Jail on a $17,500 bond.
Rodney Atkins Rocks Beulahfest; Fun Continues Today
March 22, 2014
Hundreds attended Beulahfest Friday, and the event continues today at the Pensacola Fairgrounds with a full slate of activities.
The festival features not only great music, but plenty of fun, rides, and of course those delicious sausages. Beulahfest attracts thousands each year, with proceeds benefiting the Beulah Volunteer Fire Department and other local charities.
Friday’s entertainment included local favorite Chloe Channel of America’s Got Talent fame, and county star Rodney Atkins. Saturday’s entertainment includes headliners The Charlie Daniels Band and Lynyrd Skynyrd .
Saturday admission is $15 before 7 p.m.; $20 after. Admission for kids 12 and under is free.
Saturday’s schedule is as follows:
10:00 am – Gates Open
12:00 am – The Dusty Sanderson Band
2:00 pm – The Charlie Daniels Band
4:30 pm – Michael Scott
6:00 pm – 31 South Band
7:30 pm – Chris Martin Band (Battle for BeulahFest Winner)
9:30 pm – Lynyrd Skynyrd
Pictured: Rodney Atkins performs Friday night at Beulahfest. Courtesy photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Annie Priscilla Howell Beasley
March 22, 2014
Annie Priscilla Howell Beasley, 87, of McDavid, passed away Saturday, March 22, 2014, in Atmore. She was a homemaker, born in Geneva, AL on May 11, 1926, to the late John Oscar and Annie Wright Howell.
She is preceded in death by her husband, Ray A. Beasley, Sr.; three brothers; and daughter-in-law, Patricia Beasley.
Survivors include her two sons, Ralph (Janie) Beasley of Bratt and Ray Beasley, Jr., of Loxley; two daughters, Raeanne (Jimmy) Long of Robertsdale and Gloria (Robert) Gilman of Bratt; eight grandchildren and 17 great-grandchildren.
Services will be Tuesday, March 25, 2014, at 11 a.m. from the Johnson-Quimby Funeral Home Chapel.
Interment will follow in Oak Hill Cemetery.
Active pallbearers will be James Robert Gilman, Phillip Gilman, Ray Beasley, III, Jerry Sheppard, James E. Gilman, Robert Gilman.
Family will receive friends, Tuesday, March 25, 2014, at Johnson-Quimby Funeral Home from 10 a.m. until service time at 11 a.m.
Johnson-Quimby Funeral Home is in charge of all arrangements.
Two Indicted In Three Escambia County Murders
March 22, 2014
An Escambia County man has been indicted for the murder of his wife.
State Attorney Bill Eddins said Friday that an Escambia County Grand Jury indicted Antoine Tyshawn Banks, 34, for first degree premeditated murder with a weapon in the death of his wife, Alexis Banks.
Banks shot 29-year old Alexis Monique Banks in the head March 7 at their home on McKinley Drive, just off Mobile Highway near the Osceola Golf Course. That’s where Escambia County Sheriff’s deputies discovered Alexis Banks dead with apparent gunshot wound.
Banks was arrested by Biloxi Police and booked in the Harrison County (MS) Jail the following Saturday morning. Banks as waived extradition and is now in the Escambia County Jail without bond.
Boulder Avenue Indictment
Eddins also announced Friday that an Escambia County Grand Jury indicted Henry Payton for two counts of first degree murder with a weapon. The victims, 36-yearold John Edward Gibbons and 34-year old Christopher Lee Fehl, were found deceased of apparent gunshot wounds at their residence on Boulder Avenue.
Impact 100 To Make Over $1 Million In Grants To Non-Profits
March 22, 2014
IMPACT 100 Pensacola Bay Area, a local women’s philanthropy group, is pleased to announce that its 2014 Membership Drive has successfully concluded with 1025 members. The organization will give back to the community by awarding 10 grants of $102,500 each to non-profit agencies in Escambia and Santa Rosa Counties in October.
This will be the 11th year that IMPACT 100 will award grants to local non-profit agencies. Since the inception of IMPACT 100 Pensacola Bay Area in 2004, the organization has awarded 47 grants to 39 different non-profit agencies for a total of $5.151 million.
“We are thrilled to have such a tremendous response from our community and we can’t wait to see what innovative projects the non-profit agencies submit this year,” said Holly Jurnovoy, president of IMPACT 100. “Thanks to every one of our members, the Pensacola Bay Area shines once again as the largest Impact 100 organization in the world.”
Two grants will be awarded in each of the following five focus areas: Arts & Culture; Education; Environment, Recreation & Preservation; Family; and Health & Wellness.
Non-profit organizations interested in applying for a grant are invited to attend this year’s Nonprofit Education Workshop: “Million Dollar Impact – Got Grants?” at First Baptist Church, 500 N. Palafox St. on April 22nd. All non-profit organizations in Escambia and Santa Rosa Counties are invited to learn about the grant process, get tips to writing a more successful grant, be inspired to dream big and create a winning project. Letters of Intent to Apply for a grant are due April 30th. Grant Applications must be submitted by June 27th.
Additional information is available on the IMPACT 100 website at www.impact100pensacola.org.
Florida Gov’t Weekly Roundup: Governors Past And Present In The Spotlight
March 22, 2014
Former, current and perhaps future governors took center stage in the Capitol as spring arrived.
Florida honored former Gov. Reubin Askew, a transformational leader who died last week, with a series of events in Tallahassee and Pensacola. A bipartisan who’s who of dignitaries paid homage to “Reubin the Good,” a prim Southerner whose imprint on nearly every aspect of state policy is still felt more than three decades after he left office.
Meanwhile, the Legislature handed current governor Rick Scott his top election-year priority, a massive cut in vehicle-registration fees. The fee rollback fits perfectly into Scott’s campaign against Charlie Crist, the former governor who is trying to get his old job back and who was at the helm when the fees were hiked.
And, although divided, the House handed Speaker Will Weatherford, considered a top candidate for a run at governor someday, one of his chief legislative goals — a tuition break for undocumented immigrants. Hispanics have tried for a decade to get the measure passed, but its future remains uncertain in the Senate.
FAREWELL TO ‘VISIONARY’ LEADER, ‘REUBIN THE GOOD’
Askew, who died March 13 at age 85, lay in state in a flag-draped casket topped by a single white rose Tuesday in the historic Old Capitol, where “the man of courage” was inaugurated in 1971 and where he served as a lawmaker from Pensacola for 12 years.
Askew was a seminal figure in Florida’s modern history whose policies shaped nearly every facet of the state. Education, the environment, civil rights, the judiciary and “government in the sunshine” were among the legacies the former governor, who served from 1971 to 1979, left behind.
“He was a visionary. He saw issues whether they were in areas of racial fairness or educational opportunities or environmental protection in a generational perspective, not just what’s going to be the best position for the next election. He led by his personal example and by the wisdom of his ideas and the strength of his passions,” said former U.S. Sen. Bob Graham, who also served as governor.
Honoring Askew with a resolution on Tuesday, the Senate heaped bipartisan praise on the late governor as a calming influence during the turbulent civil rights era who led efforts to institute a corporate-income tax. As governor, Askew shepherded Florida from a sleepy state into a booming, modern tourism hub. He also appointed the first black Supreme Court justice and pushed through a voter-approved open government “Sunshine Amendment” in part to clean up a state government mired in corruption and scandal.
Five former governors — Graham, Crist, Bob Martinez, Buddy MacKay and Wayne Mixson — joined hundreds of other mourners Wednesday at a memorial service at Faith Presbyterian Church in Tallahassee. Past and current members of the Florida Supreme Court, the Cabinet, dozens of legislators — including Weatherford and Senate President Don Gaetz — also attended the hour-and-a-half service. Askew is survived by his wife, Donna Lou; two children, Kevin Askew and Angela White; and several grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Florida has had “a number of great public servants, people that we like and admire,” Talbot “Sandy” D’Alemberte, a former president of Florida State University and a close friend of Askew, said in one of three eulogies Wednesday. “But I believe we’ve had two people who we loved. And those people were LeRoy Collins and Reubin Askew.”
Askew will be remembered for “his public service calling and his convictions that Florida could be a model for diversity, for equal opportunity and for integrity,” D’Alemberte said.
Askew was dubbed “Reubin the Good” by someone who probably intended the label to be derisive, D’Alemberte recalled.
“But the truth of the matter, he simply was good. If you think about Reubin Askew, you think of a person of good character, good judgment, and charm,” D’Alemberte said.
Askew’s son Kevin revealed that the FBI once assigned the code name “Integrity” to his father.
“And that was the man that he was, was integrity,” he said, praising his dad as “a kind, gentle man” who taught his children “to treat other people as you want to be treated.”
Longtime aide Jim Bacchus, a former congressman and onetime speechwriter for Askew, imparted some advice on Askew’s behalf in an impassioned testimony to the late governor’s belief that people should remain true to their convictions, whatever the cost.
“Lead. What good does it do you to be in public office if you don’t lead? If you don’t take a chance? If you don’t tell the people what they need to hear and not just what they want to hear? Reubin Askew didn’t need to put his finger in the wind to find out what he believed,” Bacchus said.
VEHICLE REGISTRATION FEES IN REVERSE
Scott was on the House floor Thursday when the chamber unanimously approved his top election-year priority, a rollback in vehicle-registration fees authorized by the Republican-dominated Legislature in 2009, when Crist just happened to be at the helm. The bill, which will save motorists roughly $20 to $25 per vehicle, will go into effect Sept. 1, just before voters head to the polls to decide whether to give Scott four more years in the governor’s mansion.
Rep. Jared Moskowitz broke the code about the politics behind the measure (SB 156) during floor debate Thursday evening.
“We’re doing this because one governor wants to use this issue against a former governor in the election,” Moskowitz, D-Coral Springs, said.
Scott wasted no time in making Moskowitz’s prediction a reality.
Scott quickly blamed the vehicle-fee hike, imposed as lawmakers were trying to close a billion-dollar budget gap caused by the state’s prolonged economic slump, on Crist, who’s trying to get his old job back as a Democrat and, right now, is Scott’s chief opponent in the race.
“This is a tax increase that Charlie Crist passed in 2009,” Scott said. “The right thing happened tonight, to reduce these taxes and putting more money back in Floridians’ hands. … I look forward to getting it on my desk and signing it to reduce the tax that Charlie Crist passed in 2009.”
Scott’s campaign used social media to crow about the rollback.
“Thanks to Gov Scott’s leadership, @CharlieCrist’s 2009 tax hikes on car reg fees repealed unanimously,” his campaign Twitter account messaged Friday morning.
Individual registration fees will be reduced by $20 to $25, depending on the size of the vehicle. The bill is expected to cost the state $309 million during the upcoming 2014-15 budget year, and about $395 million annually in future years.
Legislative budget writers have more than $1 billion extra to spend this year, and Scott wants $500 million of that to go toward tax and fee cuts.
But how they’ll carve up the remaining cuts remains to be seen.
The House Finance and Tax Committee on Thursday introduced a package that includes tax breaks for gym memberships, cement mixing drums and car seats. The House plan also features four sales-tax holidays, including the popular back-to-school tax cut. The House proposal would also give Scott his requested increase in the corporate-income tax exemption, bringing it from $50,000 to $75,000.
But the Senate isn’t sold, at least not yet.
Senate Finance and Tax Chairwoman Dorothy Hukill’s plan includes a school supplies and clothing tax holiday that is shorter than the House’s version, along with a reduction in a tax imposed on cable and phone services.
“There are lots of different ideas out there. We’re only in the third week. There’s a long way to go,” Hukill, R-Port Orange, said.
DEMS HELP GOP SPEAKER ATTAIN ‘DREAMERS’ DREAM
Weatherford, a Republican from Wesley Chapel, has made a priority of giving in-state tuition rates to students who lack authorization to be in the United States., sometimes called “Dreamers” after the congressional “Dream Act.”
Thursday evening, Weatherford’s chamber made his dream a reality. But the GOP speaker wouldn’t have reached his goal without the help of Democrats.
The House passed the measure with an 81-33 vote, with just one of the 33 Republicans who voted against the bill speaking out during an emotional floor debate.
Nearly half of Weatherford’s GOP caucus voted against the bill, which allows undocumented immigrants to pay cheaper, in-state tuition rates if they attend Florida middle and high schools for at least four straight years before going to college.
In-state tuition for “Dreamers” has been a priority of the Hispanic caucus for a decade.
Weatherford played down the fact that 33 of the 74 Republicans who voted on the bill opposed it.
“If you’d have told me six months ago that over 80 members of the Florida House would vote for a bill to give in-state tuition for the children of undocumented immigrants, I would not have believed you. … I think it was a historic victory for the children of this state that are waiting for that opportunity for that chance to have upward mobility,” he told reporters.
But some critics accuse Weatherford of pandering to Hispanics — a powerful and growing voting bloc courted by national GOP leaders — with the issue.
And despite bipartisan support in the House, the bill could struggle in the Senate, an unusual dilemma in the historically more moderate upper chamber.
Senate President Don Gaetz, R-Niceville, opposes the proposal, and the counterpart (SB 1400) to the House bill narrowly escaped the Senate Education Committee with a 5-4 vote after most of the panel’s Republicans voted against it.
Both the House and Senate proposals include a sweetener for Scott, who campaigned on an Arizona-style immigration law during his first time on the stump four years ago.
The House version passed Thursday would lower from 15 percent to 6 percent the annual tuition increases that universities can impose without legislative approval.
But the Senate version, sponsored by Clearwater Republican Jack Latvala, would abolish the “tuition differential” altogether, something Weatherford opposes but which Scott supports.
After the House vote Thursday night, Scott — without mentioning the undocumented student aspect of the bill — told reporters, “I like the Senate bill.”
Gaetz could not say when — or if — the Senate would take a final vote on the measure.
“We still have plenty of time left for the bill to make it to the floor,” he said before the House vote. “I don’t know if the bill will make it through all of its committees. I don’t know if it will make it through its committees in its current form. So it’s kind of hard to know if and when it will get to the floor.”
STORY OF THE WEEK: Former Gov. Reubin Askew, who died March 13 at age 85, was honored in Tallahassee and in his hometown of Pensacola.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “It’s a shame. A terrible shame. Thousands of children seeking more opportunities for a better life will be denied. I cannot see any reason why we’d quit on these kids.” — House Speaker Will Weatherford after the withdrawal of a Senate bill that would have dramatically expanded a school-vouchers program.
by Dara Kim, The News Service of Florida
Rainy Sunday, Cooler Next Week
March 22, 2014
Here is your official North Escambia area forecast:
- Tonight: A 20 percent chance of showers after 1am. Patchy fog after 1am. Otherwise, mostly cloudy, with a low around 54. South wind around 5 mph becoming east after midnight.
- Sunday A chance of showers and thunderstorms, then showers and possibly a thunderstorm after 10am. High near 66. North wind 5 to 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%.
- Sunday Night A 50 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms, mainly before 1am. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 46. North wind around 10 mph.
- Monday A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms, mainly after 1pm. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 62. North wind around 5 mph becoming east in the afternoon.
- Monday Night A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 42. East wind around 5 mph becoming northwest after midnight.
- Tuesday Sunny, with a high near 67. Breezy, with a northwest wind 10 to 15 mph increasing to 15 to 20 mph in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 25 mph.
- Tuesday Night Mostly clear, with a low around 36. Northwest wind 5 to 10 mph.
- Wednesday Sunny, with a high near 64. North wind around 5 mph becoming east in the afternoon.
- Wednesday Night Partly cloudy, with a low around 41. Southeast wind around 5 mph.
- Thursday Partly sunny, with a high near 70.
- Thursday Night A 30 percent chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 53.
- Friday A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 76.
- Friday Night A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 55.
- Saturday A slight chance of showers. Partly sunny, with a high near 75. Chance of precipitation is 20%.
Clay Ingram: Session Week 3 Review
March 22, 2014
submitted by Rep. Clay Ingram
We’re through the third week of Session and this was a productive one for us in the Florida House of Representatives.
I had two bills heard in committee this week. HB 1271 is a bill that would bring the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation in compliance with the regulations under the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. The bill also provides transparency and protects consumers. Florida’s HB 1271 passed the Insurance and Banking Committee and is now ready to be heard by the full House of Representatives.
HB 697, which adds new mixes of synthetic drugs to the Schedule 1 list of controlled substances, also passed its final committee and is ready to be heard by the full House of Representatives.
We were in Session twice this week and were able to pass some major pieces of legislation. I am proud to say that the House passed a $395 million tax cut that will reduce vehicle registration fees for all Floridians. This fee was increased under former Governor Charlie Crist’s watch and I’m glad we were able to reduce this burden on our citizens.
This week the House passed three bills that will provide greater protection of our 2nd amendment rights including a stronger Stand Your Ground law. I worked with my friend Representative Matt Gaetz on this legislation that will protect law abiding Floridians who defend themselves against violent criminals.
On Wednesday I also had the privilege of speaking to our Northwest Florida leaders when I addressed the Leadership classes from Escambia, Santa Rosa and Okaloosa Counties. I am encouraged to see our community leaders take in an interest in the legislative process.
This week we also celebrated the life of former Governor and Pensacolian Reubin Askew. I was honored to lead a moment of silence for Governor Askew during Wednesday’s House Session. Governor Askew led our state through some tumultuous times but he was always a true statesman and a gentleman. He will be missed.
That’s all for this week. I’m home for a few days of rest and then back to work for the citizens of Northwest Florida.
Johnny Watson Whitehurst
March 22, 2014
Johnny Watson Whitehurst, a lifetime resident of Cantonment, died March 13, 2014, in Cantonment. He was a retired member of International Brotherhood of Electrical L.U. 676 workers. He was known as “Uncle J” to family, friends and strangers alike. He was an avid fisherman of the Perdido River and touched many lives with his outgoing and giving personality. He will never be forgotten. Rest in Peace “Bubba”. I Love You Daddy.
He is survived by his daughter, Christina Brooke Whitehurst; mother, Edna Whitehurst; father, Johnny Whitehurst, Sr.; sisters, Cathy Garett and Cindy Clark; nephews, Nicholas Clark, Ryan Clark, Zachary Clark, Shaine Garrett and Jordan Garrett; his niece, Ashley Clark; great-nephew, Nicholas Chase Clark and great-niece, Baby Khloie ElizabethGarrett.
Funeral services were held Tuesday,March 18, 2014, at Faith Chapel Funeral Home North.
Interment was at CloptonCemetery.
Faith Chapel Funeral Home North is in charge of arrangements.
House Approves Vehicle Fee Rollback; Ready For Scott To Sign
March 21, 2014
Motorists will start to pay less when registering their vehicles in the fall, shortly before voters go to the polls to decide whether to re-elect Gov. Rick Scott, in a major victory for the unpopular chief executive.
The House, after releasing a wide range of tax-cutting proposals on Thursday, unanimously approved the largest part of Scott’s request for $500 million in taxes and fees reductions — the elimination of the vehicle registration fee increase put into place in 2009 by the Republican-dominated Legislature.
By reducing individual vehicle registration fees by $20 to $25, depending upon the size of the vehicle, the bill is expected to save motorists a total of $309 million during the upcoming 2014-15 budget year, with the new, lower rates going into effect Sept. 1.
The Senate approved the measure (SB 156) on Tuesday; the bill now goes to Gov. Rick Scott, who said he will sign it.
During the discussion of the bill on Thursday, House Democrats called the rollback they were now voting for a political gimmick that will allow Scott to campaign on cutting a tax that was enacted while potential Democratic opponent Charlie Crist was in the governor’s mansion.
“We’re doing this because one governor wants to use this issue against a former governor in the election,” said Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D-Coral Springs.
Republicans disagreed.
“This bill is not about politics over policy. Keeping taxpayer dollars in the pockets of our citizens is always good policy,” replied Rep. Ritch Workman, R-Melbourne, who carried the bill. “Politics will play itself out after session, as two men that we all know will battle it out to be our next governor.”
Scott, who visited the House floor during Thursday’s debate, took a political tone outside the House chamber following the vote.
“This is a tax increase that Charlie Crist passed in 2009,” Scott declared. “The right thing happened tonight, to reduce these taxes and put more money back in Floridians’ hands.”
The overall savings is expected to grow to about $395 million a year, once it’s in effect for the full 12 months.
Earlier in the day, the House Finance and Tax Subcommittee introduced a plan that would surpass the governor’s call for $500 million in cuts through a package that includes four sales-tax free holidays in the coming year, including one for gym memberships.
“We want to make sure make sure we’re not a barrier between you and your health,” Workman, the committee chairman, said of the proposal to drop sales taxes for those paying for gym memberships during the first week in September.
The package, cobbled together from different bills and proposals that have been filed and moving in the House, could reduce state revenue by more than $150 million. It will return to the committee next week.
Workman’s package includes: sales-tax free holidays for back-to-school items, hurricane preparation, energy- and water-efficient appliances, and physical fitness memberships; a three-year exemption on cement mixing drums; a lifting of sales taxes from the purchase of car seats and other child restraints; Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam’s request to reduce the sales tax businesses pay for electricity and shift about $188 million to school construction and maintenance; and Scott’s call to increase in the corporate income tax exemption from $50,000 to $75,000.
The package is vastly different from the Senate proposal that was announced Wednesday by Finance and Tax Committee Chairwoman Dorothy Hukill, R-Port Orange.
Hukill’s package would limit the cuts to a three-day back-to-school sales tax-free period (SB 792) as well as a measure to scale back the communications services tax (SB 266) that is imposed on cable and phone services.
Workman said that, because of the differences, he’s “concerned” about the upcoming budget conferences with the Senate, where the chambers will try to iron out a compromise.
“It’s going to be an interesting conference. I’m going to fight for our bill because I think it was very organic and very natural and very diverse. I think it touches a lot of people in different and unique ways,” Workman said. “You know, sometimes there is a curtain — and you think is something going on — but there is nothing going on there. I think it’s going to be one hell of a conference.”
Hukill, whose package reaches the $500 million mark when combined with the vehicle registration fee reduction, said she had yet to review the House package but called Workman’s approach “interesting.”
“We’re going to have to negotiate and see what we come up with that we agree upon, what’s going to help the most people,” Hukill said. “There are lots of different ideas out there. We’re only in the third week. There’s a long way to go.”
by Jim Turner, The News Service of Florida