Northview High School FFA Video
March 12, 2014
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Northview High School FFA as featured on the ECTV show “Community Crossroads”. For the related story, click here.
(If you do not see the video above, it’s because your home, school or work firewall is blocking external videos from YouTube.)
Sequel Electric Supply Video
March 12, 2014
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Surveillance video from February burglary at Sequel Electric on Van Pelt Lane. For the related story, click here.
If you do not see the video above, it is because your work, school, or home firewall is blocking external videos from YouTube.
Lawmakers Roll Foward E-Cigarette Bans
March 12, 2014
Minors wouldn’t be able to buy electronic cigarettes under one proposal ready for a full Senate vote and another working its way through House committees. The Senate on Tuesday teed up its measure (SB 224), sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Lizbeth Benacquisto, R-Fort Myers, for a full vote as early as March 20.
The bill would add nicotine dispensing devices, but not nicotine patches, to the list of tobacco products prohibited for sale to people under age 18. The bill also would make it illegal for minors to possess electronic cigarettes and associated products.
Hours later, the House Government Operations Appropriations Committee unanimously supported a similar proposal (HB 169) that would ban the sale of electronic cigarettes to minors and would also create statewide regulations that supersede local-government rules regarding the products.
“We cannot have 415 cities and 67 different counties having different types of e-cigarette laws,” said Rep. Frank Artiles, R-Miami, one of the bill’s sponsors. Florida League of Cities lobbyist Casey Cook expressed concern that the bill would remove existing ordinances that in some cases control where products are placed.
“If you sell tobacco products, they have to be located behind the counter. This preemption would do away with that,” Cook said.
Artiles said the issue would be addressed before the bill reaches its next committee stop. The electronic cigarettes, which dispense nicotine through a vaporizer, are viewed by some as more acceptable than smoking. But critics, including Attorney General Pam Bondi, argue that e-cigarettes with flavors like bubble gum and banana are likely to appeal to youths and could get them addicted to nicotine or hooked on smoking at early ages.
District 5 Residents Express Concerns About Roads, Transportation At Town Hall
March 11, 2014
Roads and transportation were hot topics Monday evening as Escambia County District 5 Commissioner Steven Barry held a town hall meeting in Barrineau Park.
Several residents told the commissioner about dirt roads that need paving, or existing paved roads that need widening or improvement.
Barry said an existing project was underway to widen Jacks Branch Road with pave shoulders, a much needed project, he said, “because everyone knows someone that has been hurt in an accident there”. Work is also progressing, he said, toward paving Barrineau Park Road to the Perdido River to join with Baldwin County’s paved road. On that project, a purchase order has been awarded for about $260,000. The project should begin in 30-45 days and complete within another 120 days, or towards the end of summer.
Escambia County Public Works Director Wes Moreno said other paving projects were underway or planned for Enon School Road, Brickyard Road, McKinnonville Road, Blake Street, Eastman Lane and Chalker Road, among others. He said the county does as much of the prep work as possible, contracting out the actual paving. When the county did the prep work a section of Bratt Road that was recently paved, taxpayer saved about $300,000, or about 40 percent, versus an all-contractor job.
Resident Bonnie Exner express her appreciation to the county for using old schools as community centers, while another resident expressed his displeasure in ECAT public transportation, saying that residents that ride the bus should pay a higher fare that covers the actual expense of their trip.
ECAT provides one route in District 5 — a three times per day mini bus with stops in Ensley, Cantonment, Molino and Century. District 5 residents with their own vehicles often face the longest commutes to work in the county, Barry said, adding that a four-cent gas tax for ECAT that was approved prior to him taking office was not necessarily fair for District 5 residents. The tax went into effect January 1. Barry said ECAT needs to increase ridership to help supplement their costs.
Resident Ted Brown suggest more “park and ride” lots to be used as central meeting points for commuters that take part in carpools.
Also at Monday’s town hall meeting at the Barrineau Park Community Center, Barry presented plaque to Ruth Gordon. She worked to have an unused classroom building at the Molino Community Complex re-purposed for Head Start, which will relocate there next school year from Cantonment. She also served as the District 5 member on the West Florida Regional Library Blue Ribbon Task Force Committee.
Pictured top: Escambia County District 5 Commissioner Steven Barry addresses a town hall meeting Monday evening at the Barrineau Park Community Center. Pictured top inset: Escambia County Public Works Director Wes Moreno discusses dirt road paving. Pictured bottom inset: Barry presents an appreciation plaque to Ruth Gordon who served on a library task force. Pictured below: Numerous residents attended the meeting. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Motorcyclist Collides With School Bus
March 11, 2014
A motorcyclist has passed away from injuries he received when he hit a school bus that pulled into his path Monday afternoon.
School bus driver Brenda Gentry Matchett, 66, attempted to pull from the stop sign on 46th Avenue onto Lillian Highway. She failed to see motorcyclist Larry Dakota Austin, 22, and pulled the school bus into the path of his 1998 Honda motorcycle, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.
Austin attempted to stop before hitting the bus but was unable to do so, according to the FHP. He slid under the bus, colliding with the right rear tires before sliding out into Lillian Highway, troopers said.
Austin was transported by Escambia County EMS to Baptist Hospital in critical condition.He passed away from his injuries Friday morning.
Charges in the accident are pending investigation, the FHP said.
Local Students Represent India At Model United Nations Conference
March 11, 2014
Four Northview High School students recently took part in the 35th annual Florida High Schools Model United Nations conference in Orlando.
The high school conference was modeled after real debate and United Nations actions and programs.
Northview students Jessica Amerson, Moriah McGahan, Bethany Reynolds and Madison Weber, under the leadership of teacher Anna Barry, represented the assigned country of India. They learned about the government, history, current problems and other important subjects within India. Amerson and Weber were part of the committee United Nations Entity for Empowerment and Gender Equality (UNWOMEN); McGahan and Reynolds were a part of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) committee.
Students were provided with topics to debate with representatives of other countries to formulate a resolution paper to solve the problem in a way beneficial to their represented country.
Northview was the first Escambia County public school to participate in a Florida High Schools Model United Nations conference. The trip was made possible by supporters including the Walnut Hill Ruritan Club, Town of Century Gas Department, Barrineau Park Historical Society, Steven Barry, Escambia River Electric Cooperative and the Northview High School Rho Kappa club.
Pictured top: Northview representatives to the Florida High Schools Model United Nations (L-R) Moriah McGahan, Jessica Amerson, Madison Weber and Bethany Reynolds. Pictured inset: Reynolds and McGahan represented India on the UNICEF committe. Pictured below: Amerson and Weber negotiate during the conference. Photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Committee Moves Forward With Florida Voting Bill
March 11, 2014
A Senate committee Monday moved forward with a bill that would allow online voter registration in Florida and put new restrictions on drop-off locations for absentee ballots.
The Senate Ethics and Elections Committee unanimously approved introducing the measure (SPB 7068), which will still have to return to the panel for another vote. Because of that, Democrats backed away from offering amendments that could still become flashpoints in the debate over the measure.
Much of the controversy over the provisions in the bill focused on language that would allow elections supervisors to provide secure boxes to receive absentee ballots, but only at early-voting locations and supervisor of elections’ offices.
The language is a response to a Nov. 25 directive by Secretary of State Ken Detzner essentially ordering supervisors to stop providing locations other than the supervisors’ offices where voters could drop off completed absentee ballots.
But Pinellas County Supervisor Deborah Clark threatened to defy that order in a set of elections to choose a successor for the late Congressman C.W. Bill Young. Eventually, Detzner agreed not to go to court in an effort to force Clark to follow the directive.
Ethics and Elections Chairman Jack Latvala, R-Clearwater, said the incident is part of a long-running quest by Clark to move toward voting by mail. He claimed Clark opens just three early-voting locations in an effort to push voters toward casting absentee ballots.
“What we have here is we have one supervisor of elections who has decided to try to do everything possible to have vote-by-mail elections. … She’s made a policy decision that affects everybody, that we’re going to have mail elections,” Latvala said. “And I just frankly think that’s wrong.”
Latvala said that, in part, he was trying to force Clark to open more early-voting locations, and complained about the possible unintended consequences of voting by mail.
“I’m waiting on the day when somebody gets indicted on the Thursday before the election, and they get elected because everybody’s already voted and they can’t get their ballot back,” he said.
The online voting-registration portion of the bill, following legislation filed by Sen. Jeff Clemens, D-Lake Worth, was applauded by Democrats on the committee and voting-rights organizations, though some are concerned about a provision of the legislation requiring people who use the method to vote in person the first time.
By encouraging Democrats to offer their amendments when the bill comes through the committee again, the panel avoided a politically sensitive clash over the possible use of Reitz Union at the University of Florida as an early-voting location. Democrats were looking to reverse an order from Detzner barring the student union from being used as an early-voting site in municipal elections.
Latvala contended that if elections officials had asked to use the site as a “bonus pick” provided by law, instead of trying to use it under a provision that allows officials to designate a community center as a site for early ballots, it would have been approved.
“I think there would have been a different answer if it had been asked that way. … No one asked that question with respect to the Reitz Union,” he said.
But UF students who showed up at the meeting still said the rules should be changed.
“There’s no reason why the student union should be used as the bonus location when it could easily be an already-set location,” said Jose Miranda, 21, a senior at the university.
Florida ‘Stand Your Ground’ Law Under Fire, But Likely To Remain
March 11, 2014
Civil-rights leader Al Sharpton led a crowd of about 1,000 people to the Florida Capitol on Monday, demanding that Gov. Rick Scott and the Legislature fix or repeal the “stand your ground” self-defense law.
Sharpton marched alongside the parents of Trayvon Martin and Jordan Davis, two teens the marchers said were wrongly killed under Florida’s first-in-the-nation law, which allows people to use deadly force when they feel their lives are in danger and provides immunity from prosecution.
“Florida is ground zero for a sick and wicked law that has now spread through 23 other states,” Sharpton told the crowd on the Capitol steps. “It started in Florida, and we’ve come to start the ending of it in Florida.”
Speakers ranged from prominent black pastors to radio personality Tom Joyner to Democratic politicians who tried and failed to repeal the law last year.
The speakers invoked Martin, who was killed by neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman in Sanford, and Davis, who was killed by Michael Dunn in Jacksonville, both in 2012. They also invoked Marissa Alexander, who faces 60 years in prison for firing a warning shot at her abusive husband.
All three are African American.
“Now, this bill started out fine,” said U.S. Rep. Corinne Brown, D-Fla.. “Defend your castle. That’s your home. But there’s something wrong when you can shoot a warning shot and get 60 years — Miss Alexander — and you can shoot and kill a black person and feel threatened when you started the fight!”
But House Judiciary Chairman Dennis Baxley, R-Ocala, defended the law against criticism from Sharpton and others.
“This scenario that he’s painted that old white vigilantes are going around hunting down young teenage black kids and murdering them in the street — he knows that is not what’s happened,” Baxley said. “That fits the myth, and that fits the scenario that he wants to paint, but it’s a very dangerous one. It’s very irresponsible, and it will get people hurt that shouldn’t be.”
After the 17-year-old Martin was shot and killed in February 2012, Zimmerman was not immediately charged; he claimed he shot the teen in self-defense. Protests spread nationwide, and in their wake Gov. Rick Scott appointed a task force to review the “stand your ground” law. The task force, which concluded its work before a jury acquitted Zimmerman of second-degree murder charges, recommended minor tweaks to the law but concluded it should remain intact.
Zimmerman claimed he shot Martin in self-defense, but did not use “stand your ground” to avoid being prosecuted. The law, however, spawned changes to jury instructions that at least one Zimmerman juror said resulted in the not-guilty verdict.
After Zimmerman was acquitted last July, a group called the Dream Defenders sat in at the Capitol for 31 days, calling for a special legislative session on the law. State leaders denied the request.
Davis, also 17, was killed at a gas station in a car with three other black youths after arguing with Dunn over loud music. Dunn, a white man, claimed he shot at the teenagers because he thought they had a weapon in the car. Last month a Jacksonville jury found Dunn guilty of four charges related to the shooting — but could not reach a decision on first-degree murder.
That prompted the Rev. R. B. Holmes, Jr., the vice-chairman of Scott’s “stand your ground” task force, to ask the governor to seek a repeal of the law.
“Mister Governor,” Holmes called Monday. “I served as the vice-chair of your task force. We said to you, ‘Please, sir, study this law.’ If this law (is) being applied unjustly, unwisely and unfairly, then the moral thing to do is repair it or repeal it.”
Holmes, who is black, has said that Scott should implement the task force’s suggested review of the law “to analyze if black people and poor people are being the victim of misapplication.”
The likelihood of that is not great. A bill that would have repealed “stand your ground” failed last fall, and lawmakers are now considering expanding the law. The House Judiciary Committee voted overwhelmingly last month to approve what has become known as the “warning shot” bill, readying it to go to the full House. The bill (HB 89), sponsored by Rep. Neil Combee, R-Polk City, would grant immunity to people who threaten to use force, including displaying weapons or firing warning shots, in self-defense.
In any case, Baxley, the House sponsor of “stand your ground” when it passed in 2005, said the law didn’t apply in the cases or either Martin or Davis, because their killers were charged and tried before juries.
He also said he’d tried to explain to members of the black legislative caucus that “there is no color line” in the “stand your ground” law.
“As a matter of fact, the numbers show that twice as many African Americans are protected by our law than the general population, if you look at the number of people who successfully use self-defense claims of stand your ground to avoid prosecution,” he said.
by Margie Menzel, The News Service of Florida
Northwest Florida House Members Have Big Money Month
March 11, 2014
Across North Florida, incumbent House Republicans raked in campaign cash in February, according to newly filed finance reports.
In Escambia County’s District 1 which includes North Escambia, Rep. Clay Ingram, R-Pensacola, collected $37,300 during February, giving him an overall total of $107,250. Rep. Doug Broxson, R-Midway, raised $60,950 for his campaign account during the month, bringing the overall total to $109,000 as he seeks re-election in House District 3 in Okaloosa and Santa Rosa counties.
Meanwhile, across the top of the state, Rep. Travis Cummings, R-Orange Park, raised $42,350 during the month, giving him a total of $120,671 in Clay County’s District 18. To the east and south, Rep. Travis Hutson, R-Elkton, brought in $28,801 in February and reported an overall total of $73,796. Hutson is seeking another term in House District 24, which includes Flagler County and parts of St. Johns and Volusia counties.
by The News Service of Florida
Showers, Possibly A Thunderstorm Today
March 11, 2014
Here is your official North Escambia area forecast:
- This Afternoon: Showers and possibly a thunderstorm. High near 70. South wind around 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%.
- Tonight: Showers and possibly a thunderstorm before 7pm, then a chance of showers. Low around 59. South wind 5 to 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%.
- Wednesday: A 20 percent chance of showers before 1pm. Partly sunny, with a high near 71. Breezy, with a southwest wind 10 to 15 mph becoming northwest 15 to 20 mph in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 30 mph.
- Wednesday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 33. Northwest wind 10 to 15 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph.
- Thursday: Sunny, with a high near 60. North wind 5 to 10 mph.
- Thursday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 35. Northwest wind around 5 mph becoming calm.
- Friday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 68. East wind 5 to 10 mph becoming south in the afternoon.
- Friday Night: A 30 percent chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 48. South wind 5 to 10 mph.
- Saturday: A 50 percent chance of showers. Partly sunny, with a high near 72. South wind 5 to 10 mph becoming southwest in the afternoon.
- Saturday Night: A 20 percent chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 50.
- Sunday: A 20 percent chance of showers. Partly sunny, with a high near 71.
- Sunday Night: A 20 percent chance of showers. Partly cloudy, with a low around 44.
- Monday: A 20 percent chance of showers. Mostly sunny, with a high near 69.