Ball Registrations Continue For Century, Jay
February 8, 2014
Century Little League registration will be Saturday, February 15 from 9:30-11:30 a.m.; Thursday, February 20, 5-7 p.m.; and Saturday, February 22 from 9:30-11:30 a.m. at Showalter Park in Century. Teams for ages 3 and up; birth certificate required. Registration fee is $50 for the first child, $45 for each additional sibling. For more info, call Jamie at (850) 393-9624, Brandy at (850) 607-0743, Charity at (850) 501-9663 or Ashley at (850) 261-1701.
Jay Recreation Registration will continue Saturday, February 15 and Saturday, February 22 from 9 a.m. until noon in the new gym lobby. $50 for the first child, $40 second child, $30 third child. Bring a copy of each child’s birth certificate. Tryouts are Saturday, March 1.
Chiefs Advance To District Championship Against Chipley
February 8, 2014
The Northview Chiefs will face the Chipley Tigers Saturday night for the District 3-1A basketball title.
The Chiefs defeated Baker Friday night 65-55, while the Tigers defeated Jay 61-41.
Scoring for Northview against Chipley were Tony Mcaroy 19, Neino Robinson 16, Cameron Newsome 13, Eric Williams 9, Nick Lambert 4, and Tydre Bradley 3.
Northview will travel to Chipley for the championship game at 7:30 p.m. Fans can send off the Chiefs, or follow them to Chipley, by being at NHS at 3:45 p.m.
Northview Lady Chiefs Open Season With Wins Over Freeport
February 8, 2014
The varsity Northview Lady Chiefs beat Freeport 16-2 Friday night in their season opener, while the JV Chiefs beat Freeport 4-3.
The Chiefs will travel to Chipley on Feburary 13. Their first home games of the season will be on February 17 against Pace with the JV playing at 4:00 and the varsity at 5:00.
Pictured: The Northview Lady Chiefs in Freeport Friday night. Courtesy photo for NorthEscambia.com , click to enlarge.
Ernest Ward Names Valentine’s Court (With Photo Gallery)
February 8, 2014
Ernest Ward Middle School held its annual Valentine’s Dance Friday night, naming a queen and her court based upon student votes. Pictured (L-R) are seventh grade knight and maiden Alex McMinn and Nikoal Creamer; eighth grade queen and king, Celeste North and Levi Wagner; and sixth grade maiden and knight McKinzi Kent and Keaton Brown.
NorthEscambia.com photo, click to enlarge.
Doris Arnell Long Tullis
February 8, 2014
Mrs. Doris Arnell (Long) Tullis, 86, passed away on Friday, February 7, 2014, in Century.
Mrs. Tullis was born in Wallace, AL, on March 5, 1927, and resided in Flomaton most all of her life.
Mrs. Tullis was a retired banker serving 38 years with the Escambia County Bank in Flomaton. At the time of her retirement in March of 1992, Mrs. Tullis held the position of vice president and head cashier and served on the board of directors. She enjoyed her work, enjoyed meeting the public, and always was willing and able to assist her customers.
She was also a long time member of the First Baptist Church in Flomaton.
Mrs. Tullis was preceded in death by her husband, Jesse L. Tullis; her parents, Mack B. Long and Minne L. (Barnett) Long; three brothers, John William “Johnny” Long, Samuel Harvey “Bo” Long and Billy Ray “Piggy” Long; and one sister, Willodean (Long) Johnson.
Mrs. Tullis is survived by two sons, Joffrey N. (Karen) Tullis and Ronald R. (Donna) Tullis, both of Flomaton; one stepson, Dent L. (Margie) Tullis of Panama City; eight grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.
Visitation will be Sunday, February 9, 2014, from 6 p.m. until 8:30 p.m. at the Petty-Eastside Chapel Funeral Home.
Funeral services will be held Monday, February 10, 2014, at 11 a.m. from the Petty-Eastside Chapel Funeral Home with Dr. Jerry Keese and Rev. Dustin Stockstill officiating.
Interment will follow at the Flomaton Cemetery.
Pallbearers will be her nephews, Daniel Moore, Darrell Moore, Donnie Moore, James E. Parker, Stephen Long and John David Long.
Honorary pallbearer will be her nephew, Gary Dwayne Long.
Alternate pallbearers will be Roger Adkinson and Larry White.
Petty-Eastside Chapel Funeral Homes, LLC is in charge of all arrangements.
Bess Inabell Brock
February 8, 2014
Bess Inabell Brock, 92 of Atmore, passed away Thursday, February 6, 2014, at her residence. She was a waitress, born in Muscogee, OK, on October 20, 1921, to the late Charles Henry and Adelle Watson Cobb.
She is preceded in death by her husband, Robert Lee Brock; three brothers; and three sisters.
Survivors include her two sons, Robert (Rita) Brock of Saucier, MS, and Roy (Linda) Brock of Mobile; two daughters, Sheilah Smith of Mobile and Marsha (Curtis) Welch of Atmore; 10 grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren.
Services will be Monday, February 10, 2014, at 11 a.m.from Johnson-Quimby Funeral Home Chapel with Rev. Theron Collingsworth officiating.
Interment will follow in Pine Crest Cemetery in Mobile at 2 p.m.
Her grandsons will be pallbearers.
Family will receive friends Monday, February 10, 2014, at Johnson-Quimby Funeral Home from 10 a.m. until service time.
Johnson-Quimby Funeral Home is in charge of all arrangements.
Letter To The Editor: Grover Robinson On 4-H Property Issue
February 8, 2014
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
I was at a funeral earlier this week and the speaker made a comment about this area that is so true. He said, “in Northwest Florida we would rather fight over pennies than work together for dollars.”
This is a very true statement and it explains much of the controversy that the Escambia Board of County Commissioners (BCC) heard at its February 6, 2014, Public Forum related to the Extension Service and its relationship with 4-H.
Since the sale of the Matt Langley Bell 4-H property, an internal struggle within the Extension Service (IFAS) has occurred. The question is whether to build a building at the current Stefani Road property or invest that money in land and buildings further to the north of our county closer to its agricultural roots.
Both sides have come to the BCC claiming that they represent the children and that the other side is wrong and ultimately the BCC is wrong unless it does what they want. Having listened to both sides the challenge is they both have validity, standing and a future in the success of Escambia County. However, they seem incapable or perhaps unwilling to work together for a mutual solution.
The Extension Service, a joint participation by Escambia County and the University of Florida under IFAS, provides significant services to the community, both the traditional ag as well as other environmental services for the greater community. The challenges are, while our traditional agriculture based in the northern two-thirds of this county, the other services provided create benefits to the 80 percent of the population that lives below Nine Mile Road.
One side represents more traditional agrarian services such as 4-H in growing livestock for show and agricultural needs. The other side of this argument is the group that provides environmental and horticultural services to the urban core of our community otherwise known as Master Gardeners. Both groups serve a vital position within the Extension Services and within Escambia County.
Unfortunately, both want to control the future of IFAS and the proceeds that came from the sale of the Matt Langley Bell Center. Unfortunately, in doing so they have turned on each other and they both seek a political resolution created by the BCC. Let me be clear not only are both groups necessary to Escambia County, both groups are represented by honorable people who I greatly enjoyed getting to know through this process that I wish I could bring together for a solution.
On one side you have people like Jacob Gilmore who absolutely in his heart simply wants to make our community a leader in those areas which are critical to him including raising livestock. On the other side you have individuals like Justice Ken Bell and his brother who are part of the same character as their grandfather who originally endowed our Extension Service with the assets it enjoys now.
It has been my hope for some time that both sides would work together and see there is a need for a facility such as that identified at Stefani Road for providing environmental and horticultural services to the more populated southern end of our county. At the same time it is vitally important to have livestock programs centered on a piece of land in the northern portion of our county that focuses on traditional ag programs.
Commissioner Barry plans to bring a proposal to the next Committee of the Whole. Unfortunately, a series of emails and letters have created hard feelings on both sides before we have the opportunity to really evaluate a solution.
I hope and pray over the next week that we, in Escambia County, see that if we work together we can create more than if we simply line up to fight each other. The future of Escambia County and the future of our success is based on that collaboration of being the best of what we have both our traditional agriculture in our north end and our more urbanized southern end.
If we can ever find the opportunity to work together this community has great potential. I hope the future of Extension will be that catalyst for us to realize the dollars we can create together is much more than the pennies we have fought over in the past.
Sincerely,
Grover C. Robinson, IV
Escambia County Commissioner
District 4
TRAFFIC – I-10 Now Open
February 7, 2014
ALERT — –Interstate 10 now open after having been closed earlier this morning in Santa Rosa and Okaloosa counties due to ice on bridges.
30K Gallon Acid Spill Cleanup Continues After Train Derailment (With Photo Gallery)
February 7, 2014
Work is continuing today to clean up as much as 30,000 gallons of corrosive acid from a creek following a January 28 train derailment during a rare ice storm near McDavid.
At about 7:10 p.m., 23 cars derailed off a bridge. Four cars containing 96 percent concentration phosphoric acid derailed into Fletcher Creek which feeds into Cotton Lake and the Escambia River. Three of the cars were breached, one catastrophically.
Phosphoric acid is used in fertilizer production, pharmaceuticals, detergents, food products, beverages and other products.
There were no injuries to persons in the crash, but about 300 fish died in the first two days after the derailment from the high acid concentration. A pH level, a measure of acidity where 7 is neutral, was as low as 1.65 at the site and 1.86 just downstream the day following the incident. That’s approximately the pH level of gastric acid in the stomach. Initial acid in Cotton Lake and the Escambia River were at and have remained near normal.
Multiple agencies have participated in the cleanup process, including the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Fish and Wildlife, Federal Railroad Administration, Florida Department of Environmental Protection, the Escambia County Department of Health and Escambia County Fire Rescue. Dozens of people have worked on-site daily since the derailment.
Multiple access roads have been built to the derailment site behind the McDavid Sawmill on Champion Drive. Two rock dams have been built downstream of the derailment to prevent the flow of acid downstream from Fletcher Creek. An additional dam was constructed to control flow into the creek. Agricultural lime has been use to neutralize the acidic water.
The rail cars have been removed from the creek, and now workers will begin removing the acid by neutralizing it, pumping it out and transporting it to a waste water treatment facility.
Groundwater testing has also been conducted, with plans in place to make testing available for any well within a quarter mile of the accident site.
Rail traffic has been moving back through the area for several days. The site is not accessible to the public, but a health advisory remain in effect for Fletcher Creek.
Pictured top: A train derailment with tanker cars into Fletcher Creek near McDavid. Pictured inset: Phosphoric acid in Fletcher Creek.
Scroll down for additional photos.
Above: Tanker and boxcar derailment. Photo taken January 31.
Above: A breached rail car. Photo taken February 1.
Above: Bridge repair over Fletcher Creek and derail tanker cars filled with phosphoric acid. Photo taken February 2.
Above. Neutralization and agitation of phosphoric acid. Photo taken February 5.
Above: Decontamination of a tank car. Photo taken February 4.
Above: Lifting a breached rail car. Photo taken February 1.
Above: Decontamination of rail tank cars. Photo taken February 5.
Escambia Sheriff’s Office Honors Top Deputies, Employees
February 7, 2014
The Escambia County Sheriff’s Office honored its outstanding employees during a Thursday afternoon ceremony.
Honored were:
Law Enforcement Officer of the Year: Deputy Sheriff 1st Class Kenneth Tolbirt
Law Enforcement Officers of the Quarter: Deputy Sheriff Theodore Nelson, Deputy Sheriff Mitchell Stevens
Law Enforcement Employees of the Quarter: Kristyn Miller, Lynn Littlejohn
Law Enforcement Employees of the Year: Kristyn Miller, Lynn Littlejohn
Medal of Courage: Deputy Sheriff Kerem Suhi
Life Saving Medals: Deputy Sheriff 1st Class Mark Smith, Deputy Sheriff 1st Class Brandon Beech, Deputy Sheriff Kerem Suhi, Deputy Sheriff Theodore Nelson, Deputy Sheriff 1st Class Abelardo Lopez, Det. Sgt. Mark Hallford, Deputy Sheriff Mitchell Stevens, Deputy Sheriff 1st Class William Hallford
Medals of Commendation: Kristyn Miller, Lynn Littlejohn, Deputy Sheriff 1st Class David Ingram, Master Deputy Timothy Edmondson, Deputy Sheriff Jeremiah Meeks, Deputy Sheriff 1st Class Ryan Robinson, Cathleen Steele, David Craig, Anita Brooks-Ingram, Patricia Yvarra, and Latonja Crocker, Deputy Sheriff 1st Class Delarian Wiggins
Meritorious Service Medal: Lt. Jason Potts
Civilian Service Awards: Ashely Suarez, Stephen Steele, Kirstie Lassiter and Wayne Blackmon
Deputy Sam Shelley has also requested that Sheriff Morgan present the Purple Heart that he recently received from the United States Navy after a 16 year delay for wounds received while serving aboard the USS Benfold during Operation Northern Watch in the straits of Hormuz in 1997. Then-Petty Officer Shelley showed great composure after being wounded and was able to get several other shipmates to safety.