Monday’s Century Council Meeting Rescheduled For Thursday
January 20, 2014
Monday’s regular meeting of the Century Town Council has been rescheduled.
The third Monday of the month meeting was to be held on Monday, January 20, but was rescheduled to Thursday, January 23 at 7 p.m. due to the Martin Luther King Day holiday.
For more information, contact the Century Town Hall at (850) 256-3208.
FWC Law Enforcement Report
January 20, 2014
Florida FWC Division of Law Enforcement reported the following activity during the weekend ending January 16:
Escambia County
Officer Manning observed a subject cast-netting mullet. After watching him for a while, Officer Manning observed the subject leave the area. Officer Manning followed him to his residence where he asked the subject if he caught any fish. The subject stated that he had not, but a fisheries inspection revealed 57 mullet in his cooler. The subject was cited for possession of over the bag limit of mullet.
MLK Day Programs, Parades Planned
January 20, 2014
Parades and special events will honor the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. across the area on Monday.
Century
The Century-Flomaton Improvement Association will honor Dr. King with a motorcade in Century Monday morning. The motorcade will line up at the old Carver School on Pond Street at 8:00 a.m. The motorcade will roll at 8:30 a.m. and will end at the Agricultural Building on West Highway 4. A program and celebration will follow in the Ag Building at about 10:00 with guest speaker Russell Fountain of the Bethel AFM Church of God in Century, special music and lunch.
Cantonment
The Martin Luther King Jr. Parade in Cantonment starts at 4:00 at the corner of Washington and Carver off Muscogee Road behind the paper mill. Line up for participants is at 3:30 at the corner of Washington and Carver. Parade will travel Washington, Robinson and Booker before returning to Carver.
Flomaton
A Walk on MLK will begin to line up at 8:45 a.m. and begin at 9 a.m. at Martin Luther King and Highway 31 and end at Damascus Missionary Baptist Church where a celebration will begin at 10 a.m. Guest speaker will be Irma Wilson of Atmore.
Atmore
The 2013 Martin Luther King Jr. Day parade will line up at Houston Avery Park and roll at 10 a.m. The parade will travel north on MLK Avenue, turn right on Carver Avenue to Ashley Street, turn left on Main Street to McRae Street, turn right on Presley Street and end at Escambia County High School. A memorial program will follow in the ECHS auditorium about 11:30 a.m. with guest speaker Darryl North, pastor of Empowerment Tabernacle Christian Center.
Pensacola
Parade, 11 a.m., downtown beginning at the intersection of Spring and Garden street east to Palafox, turns north on Palafox, Palafox to Wright Street, turns back around onto Palafox south to Main Street.
Florida Speed Limit Increase Moves Forward
January 20, 2014
A bill that could increase speed limits on some Florida roads is rolling along in Tallahassee. The measure was easily approved by the Senate Transportation Committee on a 6-1 vote.
The proposal — by Sens. Jeff Brandes, R-St. Petersburg, and Jeff Clemens, D-Lake Worth — would allow 75 mph speed limits on limited-access highways, along with a boost in speeds on other roads. The measure would direct the state Department of Transportation to determine the safe minimum and maximum speed limits on all divided highways that have least four lanes.
Supporters of the bill say it’s safe and that many drivers are already going faster than the current top rate of 70 mph. But critics say it could lead to more accidents.
“The highways of Florida are not the German Autobahn,” said Sen. Arthenia Joyner, D-Tampa, the only lawmaker on the panel to vote against the bill.
The legislation still has to pass the Community Affairs and Appropriations committees before pulling onto the Senate floor. For now, there’s no House companion to merge with the Senate’s bill.
by The News Service of Florida
Officials: No Lasting Impacts From Escambia River Oil Spill
January 19, 2014
There have been no reports of lasting impacts from an oil spill just over a week ago into the Escambia River.
During the early morning hours of January 9, up to three barrels of crude oil — 126 gallons — overflowed from a holding pit at Quantum Resource Management’s processing facility near Jay. The oil drained into a nearby creek that flows into the Escambia River near Century. Quantum quickly reported the spill to the Santa Rosa County 911 and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.
Preliminary information hours later from a Quantum official said the spill was not a widespread threat to the environment and was never a threat to public health.
A cleanup crew deployed absorbent boom and other materials to contain and clean up the spill as much as possible from the river. That cleanup was considered complete by the following afternoon.
A spokesperson for the Florida Department of Health in Escambia County said the oil spill was not a public health emergency and there was no danger from fish caught in the river.
State and local officials continued to monitor the river into last weekend.
Quantum will be required to complete an incident report that details the specific cause of the spill and any corrective actions that will be implemented to prevent a future occurrence. An exact date when the report will be finished was not available.
Pictured: The Escambia River hours after an oil spill from Quantum Resources in Santa Rosa County. NorthEscambia.com file photos, click to enlarge.
Sunny Monday And Tuesday
January 19, 2014
Here is your official North Escambia area forecast:
- Tonight: Clear, with a low around 32. West wind around 5 mph becoming calm.
- M.L.King Day: Sunny, with a high near 65. Light south wind becoming southwest 5 to 10 mph in the morning.
- Monday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 40. Southwest wind 5 to 10 mph.
- Tuesday: Sunny, with a high near 55. Breezy, with a northwest wind 10 to 20 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph.
- Tuesday Night: Clear, with a low around 24. Northwest wind 5 to 15 mph.
- Wednesday: Sunny, with a high near 48. North wind around 5 mph becoming southwest in the afternoon.
- Wednesday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 29. Calm wind.
- Thursday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 54. North wind 5 to 15 mph.
- Thursday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 28. North wind 5 to 10 mph.
- Friday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 50.
- Friday Night: A 20 percent chance of showers. Partly cloudy, with a low around 36.
- Saturday: A 20 percent chance of showers. Partly sunny, with a high near 56.
- Saturday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 37.
- Sunday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 62.
Hundreds Fill A Bowl For Manna To Feed Neighbors In Need
January 19, 2014
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 over $15,000 to feed more than 500 people for a week in our local communities.
A $30 admission fee entitled guests to a keepsake ceramic bowl filled with soups by local eateries — the $30 is enough to purchase a week of groceries for a neighbor in need. The event was held at the Jean & Paul Amos Performance Studio of WSRE-TV.
Courtesy photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Sheriff’s Office To Host Church Safety And Security Workshop
January 19, 2014
The Escambia County Sheriff’s Office is inviting all ministers and concerned church members to attend a special conference on “Church Safety and Security”.”
“Our places of worship should be regarded as safe havens where the community can worship and experience fellowship free from worries about violence, theft or unethical behavior,” said Sheriff David Morgan, “I encourage all citizens to arm themselves with the knowledge necessary to prevent fraud, theft and other crimes.”
The workshop is free and is designed to assist citizens in their efforts to reduce crime in our places of worship and in their communities. The event will be held on Tuesday, February 18 at 6 p.m. at the ECSO Main Administration Building at 1700 West Leonard Street.
To register, call Deputy Delarian Wiggins at (850) 436- 9496.
Pictured: The McDavid United Methodist Church. NorthEscambia.com photo.
Church Launches Ministry Offering Free Beans And Rice
January 19, 2014
Hunger is a reality for many of our friends and neighbors, with some North Escambia families having a difficult time making ends meet.
“With continuing unemployment and increasing costs of living, more and more families have to choose between necessities like health care, child care, and even food,” said Connie Chamberlain of Saint Monica’s Episcopal Church in Cantonment. “January is National Poverty in America Awareness Month. While we cannot eliminate poverty completely, we can do something about feeding hungry people in our neighborhood.”
St. Monica’s Episcopal Church will launch a new Beans and Rice Ministry to do just that.
On the last Saturday of each month — beginning at 9 a.m. on January 25 — the church will distribute uncooked rice and dried beans free to each family who comes until supplies run out. For part of that time, a simple hot breakfast will be offered.
“The giving is done freely–without requirement, without proof of need. The only restriction is that you have to show up to receive,” Chamberlain said. “We invite any member of the community who needs food to come by the church during the distribution hours, and we invite anyone who wishes to support this vital ministry to contribute or to volunteer to assemble food and help give it away on Saturday mornings.”
For more information, call (850) 587-5022 or email clchamberlinb@aol.com.
Youth Arrests Down To Lowest Rate In 30 Years
January 19, 2014
Since January 2011, the number of juvenile arrests has dropped 23 percent statewide and the number of youth arrested for delinquency is down 24 percent – the lowest it has been since 1984.
Governor Rick Scott said, “Today’s youth are the future workforce of Florida. By preventing juvenile delinquency, we are providing Florida’s youth with more opportunities to succeed. With juvenile arrests at the lowest rate in 30 years, and a crime rate that is on path to a 43 year low, it is clear that the efforts we are taking to create a safe, opportunistic environment in Florida are working.
“But we’re not done yet. We want to create an opportunity economy in Florida that will support jobs for generations to come. We’ll continue working with the Department of Juvenile Justice and law enforcement officials to protect our youth and keep Florida communities safe so that every Florida family has the opportunity to live their American Dream in the Sunshine State.”
Key indicators used to measure public safety and juvenile delinquency show that Florida had drastic reductions in nearly every juvenile offense category, including major offenses. This has enabled the Department of Juvenile Justice to operate with the smallest budget in 17 years.
Florida Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) Secretary Wansley Walters said, “At DJJ, we are committed to providing the right services, in the right place, in the right way, at the right time. Community safety is actually compromised when youth are inappropriately arrested, so we have placed an emphasis on prevention and diversion efforts. Last year alone, the state invested nearly $11 million toward preventing juvenile delinquency, and these numbers are proof that we’re making the right reforms to keep our communities safe and our youth on the path to successful adulthood.”
Florida has the nation’s largest, centrally organized juvenile-justice agency, providing prevention, probation, detention (short-term secure housing) and residential (long-term secure housing) services for at-risk and delinquent youth in every community across the state.
In her quest to make Florida’s juvenile justice system the best in the nation, Secretary Walters and her team developed and implemented the “Roadmap to System Excellence,” which outlines the agency’s strategic plan to wisely allocate its resources to the most effective programs, services, and treatments at the most impactful points along the juvenile justice continuum.
In addition to record low juvenile arrests, Florida has seen the following significant improvements since FY 2010-2011:
- Florida’s juvenile crime rate is down from 59 delinquency arrests per 1,000 juveniles during FY 2010-11 to 46 delinquency arrests for every 1,000 juveniles during FY 2012-13;
- School-based arrests declined by 27%;
- The number of arrests involving a felony offense dropped 17 percent;
- Murder/Manslaughter arrests decreased 52 percent;
- Admissions to secure detention declined 26 percent; and
- The number of youth in Florida transferred to adult court declined 36 percent.
Among the strategic measures in the Roadmap, DJJ seeks to shift residential resources to community-based interventions and realign existing resources to increase the availability of transitional services, such as services for vocational programming, employment, education, family support, transitional housing, and transportation.
Walters added, “Deterring youth from the juvenile justice system not only saves taxpayer dollars, it affords our state’s youth more opportunities to chase their dreams and when our state’s children succeed, we all reap the benefits.”
Mary Marx, President and CEO, PACE Center for Girls, Inc. said, “As these dramatic declines in rates of arrests for girls across our state demonstrate, stemming the tide of girls’ involvement in the juvenile justice system required a commitment to expanding community prevention and front-end diversion programs and services. PACE is a nationally recognized leader in helping keep girls out of this system and we are proud to be part of the continuum of programs and services committed to improving the lives of girls and young women across our state.”
Stacy Gromatski, president and CEO, Florida Network of Family Services said, “These outstanding declines in juvenile delinquency validate the story prevention advocates have been telling for years. When we reach kids early, we have an opportunity to make a difference and truly change the entire course of their lives. I commend DJJ Secretary Walters and Gov. Rick Scott for focusing on at-risk youth and I am thrilled that the Florida Network could be part of the solution.”