Lorraine Gudrun Brown
January 15, 2014
Mrs. Lorraine Gudrun Brown, 63, passed away on Monday, January 13, 2014, in Eight Mile, AL.
Mrs. Brown was a native of Cobleskill, NY, and has resided in Perdido, AL, for the past 20 years. Mrs. Brown was an avid reader, writer, knitter and crafts person. Her parents, John and Eleanor Brown, preceded her in death.
Survivors include her four sons, Derek (Cathy) Larkin of Perdido, AL, Shane (Sandra) Brown of Foley, Joshua (Tamara) Law of Pensacola, and Brion (Heaven) Hillman of Bay Minette; one brother, Russell Brown of Atmore; 11 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
Memorial services will be held Friday, January 17, 2014, at 6 p.m. at the Petty-Eastside Chapel Funeral Home with Sis. Wanda Hadley officiating.
Petty-Eastside Chapel Funeral Homes is in charge of all arrangement, Atmore, Alabama.
Early Morning Fire Destroys Abandoned Home In Cantonment
January 14, 2014
Fire destroyed an abandoned home early Tuesday morning in Cantonment.
The fire was reported about 12:50 a.m. in the 100 block of Webb Street. The small wood frame, shotgun-style home was almost fully involved when the first fire engine arrived on scene moments after the initial call.
The house, which had burglar bars on the windows, had no electric service.
There were no injuries reported. The cause of the fire is under investigation by the Florida State Fire Marshal’s Office.
The Cantonment, Ensley, Bellview, Beulah, Ferry Pass and Osceola stations of Escambia Fire Rescue responded or provided coverage during the fire.
NorthEscambia.com photos by Kristi Smith, click to enlarge.
Morgan Prefiles For Third Term As Sheriff
January 14, 2014
Incumbent David Morgan prefiled Monday to seek the office of Escambia County Sheriff in the 2016 election.
If elected, this would be Morgan’s third term as sheriff. In the 2012, he received 77 percent of the vote over 23 percent for challenger John Powell. Republican Morgan defeated Democratic challenger Larry Scapecchi by a margin of 52.6 percent to 47.4 percent in the 2008 election.
Morgan is the first candidate to prefile for any Escambia County office in 2016.
Body Found In Bay Identified As Former Tate High Student
January 14, 2014
A body found in Choctawhatchee Bay on Christmas Day has been positively identified as a former Cantonment resident.
A cause of death has not yet been determined for 20-year old Levi Alfred Waltene Barnes, according to the Fort Walton Beach Police Department. But police currently do not suspect foul play or suicide, saying they currently believe his death to be accidental.
He was last seen December 14.
Barnes attended Tate High School where he was active in the JRTOC program. He is a former resident of the Florida Baptist Children’s Home in Cantonment.
One Injured In Highway 97 Collision With A Deer
January 14, 2014
One person was injured late Monday night in a collision with a deer south of Walnut Hill.
The accident happened just before midnight on Highway 97 at Tungoil Road. A 27-year old passenger in the vehicle was transported by Atmore Ambulance to Atmore Community Hospital with minor injuries.
The deer did not survive the collision.
The accident was investigated by the Florida Highway Patrol. The Walnut Hill Station of Escambia Fire Rescue also responded to the accident.
NorthEscambia.com photo, click to enlarge.
Florida Changes To Common Core Are Unveiled
January 14, 2014
The Florida Department of Education unveiled a list of recommended changes to the state’s learning standards Monday, the next step in an effort to tamp down criticism of the state’s participation in a national set of benchmarks known as Common Core.
The agency’s list, which followed three public hearings across the state last year, included 98 changes to the voluminous standards. Many of the changes are technical, would clarify existing standards or would shift some concepts from one grade to another.
But others are more substantive, including amendments that emphasize financial issues in math and specify that Florida students must still learn cursive writing.
“With your input, we have strengthened our standards to ensure they are the best and highest standards, so that all Florida students graduate from high school prepared for success in college, career and in life,” Education Commissioner Pam Stewart said in a statement issued by her department.
The new standards will be further outlined Tuesday in a pair of online workshops, and the agency is launching a web page to allow the public to submit comments. Stewart’s recommendations are expected to go before the State Board of Education on Feb. 18.
The changes are part of an effort by Gov. Rick Scott and his administration to calm concerns on the political right about Common Core. The national benchmarks started out as a joint project by officials in about four dozen states, but some conservatives have grown worried that the benchmarks will instead lead to unprecedented federal intrusion in local schools.
by The News Service of Florida
Store Employees Robbed At Atmore Bank Night Deposit
January 14, 2014
Atmore Police are looking for a suspect that allegedly stole a night deposit outside a local bank.
About 9:35 p.m Saturday, three employees of the Dollar Tree reported they were outside the night deposit at Regions Bank on East Church Street. As they were about to make the night deposit, a black male walked up behind one of the employees and grabbed the deposit. During the struggle at the drop box, one employee received minor injuries. The suspect fled on foot with the deposit.
Atmore Police officers and members of the Alabama Department of Corrections K-9 Tracking Team searched the area for several hours but were unable to locate the subject.
Anyone with information on the case is asked to call the Atmore Police Department at (251) 368-9141.
Escambia Man Gets 15 Years For Moped Meth Lab
January 14, 2014
An Escambia County man is headed to prison for a meth lab on his moped.
Douglas Keith Caperton, 40, was convicted by an Escambia County jury of trafficking in methamphetamine 200 grams or more, sale, manufacture and deliver of methamphetamine, possession of controlled substance (more than 20 grams of cannibas), possession of listed chemical hydrochloric acid, possession of drug paraphernalia, and carrying a concealed weapon.
Following the verdict, Judge Terry Terrell sentenced Caperton to a minimum mandatory sentence of 15 years state prison during which he will not receive any gain time and will be required to actually serve the entire 15 years.
On August 16, 2013, Deputy Michael Runge with the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office responded to a complaint at 518 Norris Avenue in Escambia County. He made contact with a male and a female standing next to a yellow moped in the front yard. The male consented to a search of his person which revealed a large filet knife in a sheath strapped to his back. At this point he was detained and consented to a search of the moped.
Deputy Runge immediately recognized what he believed to be “1 pot” meth labs and called in Deputy Ken Tolbirt who specializes in investigating meth cases. Deputy Tolbirt arrived and processed the scene which revealed three active “1 pot” labs on the moped. Also on the moped was a bag with 40.5 grams of marijuana. The total weight of the methamphetamine was 336.9 grams.
Crackdown On Sex Predators Starts Moving In Florida Capitol
January 14, 2014
A Florida Senate panel on Monday unanimously passed three bills dealing with sexually violent predators and sexual crimes against children — the first in a series of measures expected to unfold across four committees and both legislative chambers this week.
After a highly critical newspaper series and a fatal attack on a Jacksonville girl, both last summer, legislative leaders vowed to crack down on sexual predators, and that effort was evident in the Senate Criminal Justice Committee.
“We want to send a message that if you do something to our children, you will spend time in jail — and it’s not going to be a short time,” said committee Chairman Greg Evers, R-Baker and the sponsor of one of the bills.
Lawmakers have been focused on the issue since August, when the South Florida Sun Sentinel reported that nearly 600 sexually violent predators had been released only to be convicted of new sex offenses — including more than 460 child molestations, 121 rapes and 14 murders.
What’s more, lawmakers have a cautionary tale in the June murder of 8-year-old Cherish Perrywinkle in Jacksonville. Recently-released sex offender Donald Smith, 57, was accused of abducting, raping and strangling the child. He faces trial in May on charges of first-degree murder, kidnapping and sexual battery; prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.
The shadow of Smith fell on Monday’s discussion as lawmakers sought to plug loopholes that allowed him to be released.
Suzonne Kline, the former administrator of Florida’s Sexually Violent Predator Program, urged the panel to consider the use of a risk assessment tool to determine which offenders are among the 10 percent she said were most likely to re-offend.
Before Perrywinkle’s death, Smith had been arrested for a series of crimes against children, including impersonating an employee of the Florida Department of Children and Families in a failed attempt to kidnap a girl.
Kline said she had performed a risk assessment on Smith — only on paper, she said, noting that she never interviewed him in person — and that his score was “very high.”
“And had the judge had that information available, I firmly believe that he would not have agreed to allow (prosecutors) to plea down to the lesser sentence, nor would he have given (Smith) a jail term as opposed to incarceration,” Kline said.
The first bill, SB 494 by Majority Leader Lizbeth Benacquisto, R-Fort Myers, would eliminate a three-year statute of limitations on prosecuting lewd or lascivious offenses involving children younger than 16.
“The bill has a simple intention,” Benacquisto said. “It is to provide a voice for children who are older than 11 who have been victimized in some form, to allow them to have the time to make that claim.”
The second bill, SB 526 by Sen. Rob Bradley, R-Fleming Island and chairman of the Senate Civil and Criminal Justice Appropriations Subcommittee, would strengthen penalties against sex offenders. It would increase the length of sentences for certain adult-on-minor sexual offenses formerly classified as lewd and lascivious, ban prison gain-time for people who commit certain sexual offenses and require courts to order community supervision after release from prison for those convicted of certain offenses.
The third bill, Evers’ SB 528, would increase the amount of personal information that registered sexual predators and offenders must provide. It would require them to report their vehicle information, Internet identifiers, palm prints, passports, professional licenses, immigration status and volunteer work at higher-education institutions.
Evers said his bill needed more work in collaboration with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement on the question of tracking all vehicles in households with sexually violent predators. He also said prosecutors wanted some clarifications.
Senate Minority Leader Chris Smith, D-Fort Lauderdale, expressed some doubts about what he called “a slippery slope” in pursuit of tougher sanctions against sex predators.
“I do have pause with the direction we’re going by getting rid of gain time, ” he said. “Rehabilitation — that’s not a word in our vocabulary anymore.”
But in the end, Smith voted with the others.
On Tuesday, the Senate Children, Families and Elder Affairs Committee will take up two more measures dealing with sexually violent predators.
One of the bills, SB 522 by Sen. Denise Grimsley, R-Sebring, would make a series of changes such as adding a state attorney, a law enforcement officer and a victim’s advocate as advisory members to each multidisciplinary team that evaluates offenders considered for civil confinement.
The other Senate measure, SB 524 by committee Chairwoman Eleanor Sobel, D-Hollywood, would require that offenders be defined as sexually violent predators and be subject to civil confinement after a finding by two or more members of a multidisciplinary team.
Also Tuesday, the House Healthy Families Subcommittee will take the first House vote on a measure dealing with sexually violent predators. And on Thursday, the House Criminal Justice Subcommittee will take up five proposed committee bills on the subject.
by Margie Menzel, The News Service of Florida
Library To Uncover “The History Of Molino”
January 14, 2014
The West Florida Library will present “The History of Molino” in a special program later this month.
The event will be hosted by Lil King, president of the Molino Mid-County Historical Society at the Molino Branch Library, 6450 Highway 95A, on Saturday, January 25.
With its location just 25 miles north of Pensacola, the Molino area, including the old town of Molino, played a vital role in the area’s settlement and development. From its start as a Spanish mission in the 1700s, an important mill town during the Industrial Revolution and into the modern era, Molino’s history is the story of life in rural Florida and how it has changed over the years.
The event is a part of the Explore Pensacola History lecture series. For more information, call the Main Library at (850) 436-5060.
Pictured top: Work to uncover evidence of The Mission San Joseph De Escambe along the Escambia River in Molino by the University of West Florida Archaeological Field School. Pictured below: An unusual glass necklace bead found in Molino, believe to possibly be an 18th-century “melon bead” with a translucent cobalt blue color. NorthEscambia.com file photos, click to enlarge.
