Funeral Services Held For Jail Explosion Victim
May 5, 2014
One of the two victims of last week’s explosion at the Escambia County Jail was laid to rest Monday afternoon. Robert Earl Simmons, age 54 of McDavid, died in the blast that injured 184 others.
Simmons was a native of Century and lifetime resident of the area, having worked in the construction injury.
He was arrested on multiple felony animal cruelty charges on January 14. He was being held without bond due to an alleged probation violation in a 2012 grand theft and trespassing case. He was due in court for probation violation hearing on May 2 — just two days later after the explosion – to determine his possible bond eligibility.
He is survived by his mother, a son, a daughter, a stepdaughter and numerous other relatives. Graveside services for Robert Earl Simmons were held Tuesday afternoon at Ray’s Chapel Baptist Church in Bogia.
Santa Rosa Completes Flood Damage Assessment
May 5, 2014
Santa Rosa County has completed flood damage assessments needed in order to seek a federal disaster declaration.
Preliminary assessments show the county has met state and federal damage thresholds for individual assistance for residents and businesses, so the assessment process by state, FEMA and local teams has ended. The following numbers were submitted to the state for use in the federal declaration process:
Residences – 782 total
- Affected – 355
- Minor – 180
- Major – 212
- Destroyed – 1
- Inaccessible – 34
Businesses
- Minor – 16
- Major – 32
Inaccessible – 3
Agricultural damage includes:
- Farm Structures – 5 affected at $50,000 loss
- Land Damages – 10,000 acres affected with a $750,000 loss.
Crop Damage
- Total acres of farmland affected: 55,000 acres.
- Wheat – 1,153 acres planted and affected with 35% yield loss.
- Oats – 70 acres planted and affected with 35% loss.
- Corn – 700 acres planted and affected with 10% loss.
- Grass (Hay) – 1,500 acres planted and affected with 40% loss.
- Vegetables – 350 acres affected with 10% loss
- Yield losses on cotton and peanuts are anticipated due to delayed planting up to 3 to 4 weeks. Fields will have to dry out and many will have to be reworked to repair soil erosion damage before planting can occur.
- Estimated percent of losses covered by insurance is 7.5%
Damage to county facilities overall were minor, with the exception of the Health Department and EOC:
- South Santa Rosa Health Department – 8 to 15 inches of water
- Emergency Operations Center– Water under raised floor, 750 gallons of water extract
- Milton Library – water intrusion
- Roof leaks at Chumuckla Community Center, Administration Building and Whittle Building
Pictured top: Flood damage on Villa Venyce in Santa Rosa County. Pictured below: Damage on Veneitan Way. Courtesy photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Nora Sarmiento Lambe
May 5, 2014
Nora Sarmiento Lambe, age 86, of Cantonment, went to be with her Lord and husband on May 2, 2014. She was born in Manila, Philippines on August 31, 1927. She graduated from the Philippine Women’s University with a B.A. in social work and received her M.A. in theology from Scarritt College for Christian workers prior to embarking on a 30-year career as a senior social work supervisor for the State of California in the San Francisco Bay Area. Nora was a member of the Eastern Star, the United Methodist Women, The Prayer Shawl Ministry and an active member of St. Luke United Methodist Church (UMC) in Pensacola.
Survivors include her daughter, Vita Alina (Lambe) Tibbs; stepsons, Donald Gary Lambe and Larry Albert Lambe; sister, Ruth Sarmiento Banados; granddaughters, Rachel Nicole Tibbs and Kaela Alyssa Tibbs; son-in-law, Charles Wint Tibbs and many nieces and nephews.
A memorial service will be held at 5 p.m. on May 10, 2014, at St. Luke UMC-Pensacola with Rev. Larry Anderson officiating.
The family will receive friends at the church one hour prior to service time.
After the memorial service, Nora will be interred beside her husband, Donald Lambe, in the columbarium garden.
St. Luke UMC, East Nine Mile Road, is in charge of arrangements.
Linnie Virginia Miller Strickland
May 5, 2014
Linnie Virginia Miller Strickland, born June 11, 1945, in Corpus Christi, TX passed away, Wednesday, April 30, 2014. She was the beloved wife of 53 years of David O. Strickland Sr. sh was the loving mother of Keith D. Strickland and the late David O. Strickland, Jr; mother-in-law of Angelia Strickland; grandmother of Amanda and David A. Strickland; niece of Dorothy Berman and sister-in-law, aunt, cousin and friend.
Linnie was a dedicated wife, mother and grandmother. She spent many hours volunteering in her community and the church she loved. She was a court appointed special advocate for the Juvenile Court. Linnie worked at Vanity Fair and ITT Financial as a supervisor. She was also a volunteer at Longmeadow Rescue Ranch. Her family and friends will continue to celebrate her life.
Funeral services will be held Saturday, May 10, 2014, at 1 p.m. from the Johnson-Quimby Funeral Home Chapel with Rev. Mike Grindle officiating.
Burial will follow in Oak Hill Cemetery.
Visitation will be held Saturday, May 10, 2014, from11:30 a.m. until service time from the Johnson-Quimby Funeral Home.
In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to American Heart Association.
Johnson-Quimby Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.
Flood Washes Away Bristol Park; Memories And Spirits Stay High
May 4, 2014
Bristol Park Road was nearly quiet, strangely peaceful late Thursday afternoon. The sound of a few generators, a little hammering and even a little laughter from neighbors gathered on a lawn.
Just a few hours before, the neighborhood had been the scene of a hellish nightmare for residents and rescuers as heavy rains sent people scurrying into their attics to avoid rising flood waters. At first, the normally peaceful creek behind their homes began to lap at thresholds before entering uninvited and to the surprise of most residents. Important items were saved, albeit very temporarily, by moving them to higher spots around the home — the couch, the top of the fridge. But the water became a raging river, rising and rising, consuming worldly possessions and leaving some residents to question their own mortality.
Dozens were rescued in boats by first responders and volunteers alike. Many times, rescuers were forced to cut their way into attics to rescue men, women and children.
Most were quiet, very methodical as they toted a lifetime of possessions to the curb. A bedroom dresser looked very normal, nearly off the showroom floor new, as it sat on the sidewalk. But it’s contents were held tightly inside by the wet swollen wood, the homeowner forced to use crowbar to pry open drawers. Couches, mattresses, bedroom suites, dining tables, refrigerators — all the usual household contents — were piled high up and down the road.
But it was some of the smallest items in the trash piles that quietly told the biggest stories. A “Christmas 2007″ ornament amongst the soaked Christmas decor that held happy stories of many a Christmas morning. Prom pictures from days, and hairstyles, gone by, next to a bagged cap and gown and a “Snowflake 1990″ Christmas bear. The things of memories decades ago destroyed.
The piles were endless on the curb at almost every house. Wet, drippy sheet rock and the entire contents of every home. One house was different….the household items were piled in the side yard, not by the road for pickup. Perhaps a little hope that everything could simply dry, be put back inside, and everything would be the same. Perhaps an optimist, perhaps a dreamer. Perhaps it was just a little too hard to say goodbye to everything.
Sewage bubbled and gurgled into the street from a manhole, the stench drifting along in the cooling late evening air. Night was settling in on a neighborhood united by great loss and sorrow, their dreams and memories washed away.
At a nearby Publix, a woman stood near the checkouts, her face telling a story worth volumes as she broke into tears. It’s going to be a long, tough recovery for the area.
By Saturday, the Bristol Park neighborhood was different. The shock was gone, reality had settled in for many. It was no longer the quiet, surreal feeling of shortly after the flood.
At a town hall meeting, residents expressed concerns about “looters” — outsiders seen as criminals going through the neighborhood loading up items like appliances from the trash piles and hauling them off. The “looters” were a real concern for many residents. Sure the items were out for a trash pickup, almost a proper burial, but something about the idea of taking away your lifetime of possessions as their own was just wrong. A deputy told residents that items on the roadway are considered “abandoned property” and that there was nothing the Sheriff’s Office could do to stop them.
ECUA board member Larry Walker told residents that ECUA would begin pickups of the trash and debris bright and early Sunday morning, continuing until the area was clean.
Bristol Park was a hustle and bustle of wall to wall activity Saturday. Churches, aid groups and well-meaning individuals flood packed the street between the mountains of household items and wet carpet and sheet rock. They passed out cleaning supplies, helped tote debris, provided food and even a shoulder to cry on.
Saturday was a return trip to the Bristol Park neighborhood for Brennan Moore and Tim Stewart of Tag’ Tail (TNT) Charters. Both captains used their boats to rescue trapped residents during the flood. Saturday, they were joined by friends and volunteers to cook and serve over 60 whole chickens, 40 Boston butts, 40 racks of ribs and 200 pounds of fish.
“”They don’t have power and they don’t have anywhere to go. They don’t have anywhere to cook. So, if we come out here and we cook and come here and do what we need to do and they’re fed for the day,” Moore said. “It just makes me feel like the Lord has put me in the place today where he wants me and this is where I need to be.”
Pictured top: Sewage bubbles onto Bristol Park Road Thursday afternoon. Pictured top inset: A rescue hole cut into an attic. Pictured inset: A soaked prom photo and Christmas bear placed out with the contents of a house for trash pickup. Pictured lower inset: Household contents piled outside homes. Pictured lower inset and below: A free meal provided by volunteers on Saturday. (Saturday photos credit Linda Craft.) NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
FWC Law Enforcement Report
May 4, 2014
Florida FWC Division of Law Enforcement reported the following activity during the weekend ending May 1:
On the evening of April 29, heavy rain, strong winds and thunderstorms pounded northwest Florida throughout the night and into the next day. These heavy rainfalls led to the unexpected levels of flooding and flash flooding which devastated the four county area. Officers worked night and day diligently responding to search and rescue events, calls for service and assisting the public.
Investigator Goley and Officer Tison responded to an EMS call where a vessel was needed. After engine failure, the officers agreed to walk in and recon a safe route to gain access and
remove the patient. Investigator Goley and Officer Tison waded to the residence using the approximate crown of the road as their bearing line. Within several minutes, they arrived at the residence and found four people there. The water was creating a significant concern for the patient, a 92‑year‑old woman who was bedridden with Hospice caretakers and family members present. The water level was within three inches of compromising the patient in her bed. The officers decided to return for their boat and EMS personnel, push the boat to the residence, and assist in transporting the patient to the ambulance. They walked out and returned with the boat and EMS personnel, each holding onto the boat as they made their way back to the residence. Officer Tison assisted EMS personnel with preparing the patient for transport while Investigator Goley secured the boat. The patient, who was secured on a backboard, was placed on the bow of the boat and officers made their way back to the ambulance. When they arrived, the patient was transferred to the ambulance for transport to the hospital.
Investigator Goley and Officers Cushing, Bartlett, Tison, and Pettey were working late on the evening the heavy rains began in Escambia County. They responded to a request to assist Escambia County Fire Rescue in evacuating people from the area near Bristol Creek. Investigator Goley and Officer Cushing coordinated their search efforts and launched a vessel to search the homes on Ashbury Lane. With heavy rains, treacherous water, debris and submerged objects, they located two adults standing on the front porch of their home in chest high water. After recovering these people and trying to navigate out, they located three more subjects. After recovering these subjects, they returned to the command post and turned over the passengers to EMS personnel.
Officers Pettey and Tison completed a search in a flooded area and were returning to the command post, when they were redirected to assist Escambia County Fire Rescue in assisting an ambulance crew that ran into the swollen creek, stranding the ambulance crew and three patients. The officers, in conjunction with Escambia County Fire Rescue, safely extracted the stranded subjects and brought them across the creek to the command post for medevac.
This report represents some events the FWC handled over the past week;however, it does not include all actions taken by the Division of Law Enforcement.
Regional Champs! Tate Lady Aggies Headed To Final Four
May 4, 2014
The Tate Lady Aggies won the Region 1-7A championship game Saturday night 5-1 over East Ridge.
Casey McCrakin hit an over the left field fence homer in the bottom of the first for the Lady Aggies. The Aggies improve their lead to 3-1 with consecutive doubles from Tori Perkins and Kaylen Rowell. McCrackin scored two runs — on a sacrifice fly from Rowell in the second and a fielder’s choice also from Rowell in the third.
Next up for the Aggies is a road trip to the final four state semifinals in Vero Beach against St. Thomas Aquinas Friday afternoon, with their eyes set on the state championship game on Saturday.
Florida Gov’t Weekly Roundup: Legislative Session Ends
May 4, 2014
In some ways, it was a session of the unexpected.
When lawmakers decamped to Tallahassee at the beginning of March, the agenda was full of conservative red meat. Taxes and fees would be slashed by $500 million. The state’s de facto school-vouchers program would be expanded. Military veterans would be given benefits in something dubbed the “Florida GI Bill.” Public-employee pensions would be overhauled. And, if all went well, Gov. Rick Scott would be placed on a glide path to re-election.
Most of those things happened — though, it should be noted, the pension changes went down in flames. Some of them happened in an unexpected way, such as the voucher expansion, which seemed dead 12 hours before it was revived.
But other items that weren’t on the radar or at best looked like long shots before the Legislature was gaveled into session in March ended up headed to Scott’s desk by the time of the Legislature’s traditional adjournment “sine die.”
Some undocumented immigrants will be able to pay in-state tuition at Florida colleges and could become eligible to practice law in the state. And Republicans furiously fighting against a constitutional amendment that would allow the use of marijuana for medical problems backed a proposal that would give access to a non-euphoric version of the drug to rein in frequent seizures. Scott said he would sign those measures.
Other issues of interest mostly to Adams Street insiders and the most politically active citizens also moved through. Under one bill, the 2016 session will begin in January, as long as Scott approves, allowing Tallahassee-bound reporters to head to spring training games and lawmakers to get back home and start raising money. Or they could enjoy a spring weekend at the beach instead of in the Capitol’s Knott Building. Under another measure, voters will decide this fall whether outgoing governors should replace retiring Supreme Court justices when they’re leaving office at the same time.
As for Scott’s re-election — polls are all over the map. Former Gov. Charlie Crist, the most likely Democratic nominee, is ahead by a lot, or a little, or in a dead heat with his successor, depending on which survey you prefer. Scott has already spent what Democrats estimate to be about $20 million on campaign ads, but if he reaches his self-identified fundraising goal for the election, there’s $80 million more where that came from. And most Floridians are either just beginning to tune into the contest or waiting for a few more months before they make up their minds.
Which means that the election this fall could be like the session that just ended: some things predictable, some things unexpected and an interesting ride all the way to the end.
2014 WORK PLAN: NOT ACCORDING TO PLAN
For the second year in a row, House Speaker Will Weatherford, R-Wesley Chapel, and Senate President Don Gaetz, R-Niceville, touted their ability to compromise and reach a joint “work plan” for their chambers — a shared agenda meant to serve as a contrast to the often-toxic relationship between their predecessors, former House Speaker Dean Cannon and former Senate President Mike Haridopolos.
For the second year in a row, the document included changes to the Florida Retirement System as one of its components. And for the second year in a row, the work plan was largely a success — except for the FRS changes. Gaetz said afterward that the two leaders won approval for “about 4.3″ of their five work plan entries.
The failure of the pension overhaul was particularly frustrating for Weatherford, who was the primary force behind overhauling the retirement system for hundreds of thousands of state and county employees. On Wednesday, Weatherford wasn’t quite ready to concede defeat on the initiative — but was already eulogizing the plan, which went through multiple versions as lawmakers looked for the combination that could pass the Senate.
“We’ve always known that it wasn’t going to be an easy lift,” he said.
Another one of Weatherford’s work-plan priorities came down to the very end, when a drive to expand eligibility for the state’s de facto voucher program passed in the waning hours of the session. The plan appeared dead on Thursday evening after Democrats used a procedural move to block it on the Senate floor.
But Republicans revived it Friday morning, tacking it onto another education measure (SB 850). That bill passed — only to twice be put on hold in the House, as lawmakers discussed whether to take off language dealing with diplomas for students with disabilities, an issue that was a priority of Sen. Andy Gardiner, an Orlando Republican who will take over from Gaetz following the November elections. Ultimately, the House let the measure pass unchanged.
Other work-plan priorities — including increasing benefits for veterans, slashing taxes and fees by $500 million and improving state services for the elderly and children — proved easier to pass, usually by broad, bipartisan margins.
“While there’s dysfunction in Washington, D.C., and other states around the country, you showed that we could put policy above politics. We could put Florida above politics. And we can pass a significant work plan that changes the way that our state grows and changes the way that we prosper,” Weatherford said after the session ended.
TRYING TO REGAIN INNOCENTS
Gaetz and Weatherford had already agreed to focus on reforming the child welfare system as part of the work plan when The Miami Herald began running “Innocents Lost,” a scathing series of articles documenting 477 child deaths over six years.
On the last day of the session, lawmakers approved a far-reaching bill designed to revamp Florida’s child welfare system, which had drawn legislative scrutiny over child deaths even before the Herald’s reporting. The measure (SB 1666) passed both chambers unanimously, accompanied by $47 million in new funding for child protection.
“I believe that this legislation includes provisions that will require information about the tragedy of children dying and make that information available,” Gaetz said.
The measure was linked to a sweeping human trafficking bill (HB 7141), and both were collaborations by the House Healthy Families Subcommittee and the Senate Children, Families and Elder Affairs Committee.
Funding for the bills is linked, also. The biggest item is for child protective investigators, with $18.5 million for 191 positions at the Department of Children and Families and $8 million for the six county sheriffs’ offices that conduct investigations. The goal is to reduce investigator caseloads.
GAMBLING GOES BUST
A gambling overhaul was a crap shoot from the beginning, and in the end it turned out to be no dice.
Lawmakers spent $400,000 on a gambling analysis by New Jersey-based Spectrum Group, didn’t like the first version the industry group provided and, ultimately, shelved any gambling legislation altogether.
Out-of-state gambling operators have pushed the Legislature for several years to approve “destination resorts” — a term that this spring morphed into “integrated resorts.” The issue split the business community, with the Disney-friendly Florida Chamber of Commerce ardently opposed to the idea while Associated Industries of Florida, after buddying up with Las Vegas Sands, arguing that casino resorts would be an economic and jobs boon to the state.
The Senate Gaming Committee took its show on the road, holding six hearings throughout the state to take testimony from folks on both sides of the issue, before floating a proposal that would have allowed two casino resorts — one each in Broward and Miami-Dade counties — that would have paired hotels, retail and slots.
But Weatherford effectively put any gambling plans on ice early in the session when he laid out two requirements for any legislation to pass his chamber.
Weatherford wanted a constitutional amendment to go on the November ballot that, if approved by voters, would have required a statewide vote on any future gambling expansions.
What finally killed any gambling proposals this session was Weatherford’s almost insurmountable second condition — that Scott complete a deal with the Seminole Tribe of Florida before the end of the session.
Scott is negotiating the portion of a 2010 compact that gave the Seminoles the “exclusive” rights to banked card games, including blackjack, at five of its seven facilities in exchange for $1 billion over five years. The card deal expires on Aug. 1, 2015.
Just a week before the session ended, Scott’s envoys — Lt. Gov. Carlos Lopez-Cantera, the governor’s chief of staff Adam Hollingsworth and general counsel Pete Antonacci — told House and Senate leaders in private meetings that a deal with the tribe was imminent.
Legislators who were part of the huddles said that Scott’s team didn’t reveal any details but were instead “taking the temperature” on the possibility of a special session in mid-May so the Legislature could ratify the compact.
But news leaked out that the Seminoles were willing to pay more than $2.5 billion over seven years to add another casino in Fort Pierce, and that the deal didn’t appear to include any sweeteners for casino operators or the state’s pari-mutuels.
That put the kibosh, at least for now, on a special session.
GOING TO POT
The Republican-dominated Legislature doesn’t like pot.
At least, not until this year, when, in an amazing turnaround, legislators gave overwhelming support to a medical marijuana proposal Scott has said he will sign. The proposal deals with a strain of marijuana that is low in euphoria-inducing tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) but high in cannabidiol (CBD). The strain, known as “Charlotte’s Web,” is supposed to dramatically reduce life-threatening seizures in children with a rare-form of epilepsy but has not been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Holley and Peyton Moseley — a Panhandle couple who enlisted the support of Rep. Matt Gaetz, a Fort Walton Beach Republican who just happens to be the Senate president’s son — led the charge on the issue on behalf of their adopted daughter RayAnn and about 150,000 other Florida families they say can benefit from the low-THC marijuana.
Scott said he will sign the proposal (SB 1030), though the governor failed to limit the bill as he had hoped. The governor wanted to only allow patients involved in clinical trials to have access to the marijuana, usually administered in paste or oil form.
“I’m a parent and a grandparent. I want to make sure my children, my grandchildren, have the access to the health care they want,” Scott told reporters after the measure received final approval from the Legislature on Thursday.
Politically, some Republican lawmakers were faced with a dilemma. For them, approving even a strain of cannabis that purportedly doesn’t get users high was troubling. What made it even more problematic was many Republicans’ staunch opposition to a proposed constitutional amendment on the November ballot that would allow doctors to order regular old marijuana for critically ill patients.
“I think after people analyze it they are going to kind of line up. They’ll either say there is a right way involving these derivatives and there’s a wrong way and contrast it with the amendment. Or they’ll say people are going to get this all mixed up and think I’m for (medical marijuana). … It depends how their district reads and how they want to be seen,” House Judiciary Chairman Dennis Baxley, R-Ocala, said earlier this year.
Holley and RayAnn Moseley met briefly with Scott in his office after the low-THC bill passed. For Holley Moseley, the issue is all about saving lives of children like RayAnn, who sometimes has hundreds of seizures a week.
“I just look forward to the day that she gets to start it. Hopefully we’ll be coming back next year to brag and show her off,” she said.
IMMIGRATING TO A NEW POSITION
For years, Florida Republicans have found strong opposition to illegal immigration — and anything that might encourage it — safe political ground. Scott himself got elected in part by labeling then-Attorney General Bill McCollum insufficiently tough on illegal immigration during the 2010 GOP primary.
Then came the Mitt Romney wipeout in 2012, when Latinos helped propel President Barack Obama’s re-election victory nationwide — and in Florida. Suddenly, insiders from Washington, D.C., to Tallahassee were looking for new ways to appeal to Hispanic voters, many of whom viewed anti-illegal immigration rhetoric as a window into an anti-Latino mindset among some in the GOP.
In Florida, Republicans settled on two proposals: One that would allow undocumented immigrants brought to America as children to pay in-state tuition at state colleges and universities, and another paving the way for an undocumented immigrant to practice law in Florida.
In perhaps the highest-profile turnaround, Scott has promised to sign both bills, and in particular championed the tuition legislation, which also does away with the ability of most state universities to request tuition increases from the Florida Board of Governors without legislative approval. (The University of Florida and Florida State University will keep that authority, but at a much lower level.)
The measure (HB 851) allowed Scott to needle Crist, who opposed similar proposals when he was governor but also now supports them.
“We are trying to right the wrongs of the previous administration that raised the price of a college education and opposed providing in-state tuition for children of immigrants,” he said in a statement Friday. “The Legislature did the right thing, and I look forward to signing this historic legislation.”
The more personal measure, though, might have been the one that will allow Jose Godinez-Samperio the right to become a lawyer in Florida. Helped out by a push from influential Senate Rules Chairman John Thrasher, R-St. Augustine, and Sen. Darren Soto, D-Orlando, the measure became law after being attached to another bill (HB 755).
Posing for a photograph while clutching the 26-7 vote sheet in his hand Friday evening, Godinez-Samperio said Friday evening he “thought this was going to be a disaster” when he and his team first started lobbying the Legislature to change the law.
“I’m ecstatic,” he said. “It’s a dream come true. It’s a great day for Florida.”
In a sign of the limits of the GOP’s evolution on immigration, neither bill would have become law without the support of Democratic lawmakers. But as he addressed the House on the tuition bill, Rep. Jose Javier Rodriguez, D-Miami, still entertained the possibility that things had changed in Florida for good.
“I hope that this signals an end to the anti-immigrant extremism that has reigned in both of these houses for over a decade,” said Rep. Jose Javier Rodriguez, D-Miami.
AND ONE MORE THING
One bill will never be a surprise when it passes the Legislature: The budget for the coming fiscal year, which begins July 1. Lawmakers are constitutionally incapable — literally — of going home without deciding how to spend the tens of billions of dollars that come in from the state’s taxpayers and the federal government.
In this case, it was nearly $77.1 billion, a record in terms of raw dollars. The state’s economic recovery appears to be picking up steam. And while Scott and Crist argued over whether the governor or the president deserves more credit, the Legislature was more than happy to shower the extra funding on public schools, child welfare and more than a few local projects.
Not to mention the $500 million in tax and fee reductions — most of it spoken for in a measure Scott has already signed to roll back an increase in motor-vehicle fees signed by (not coincidentally) Crist. The other $105 million was covered by a mish-mash of tax holidays, credits and exemptions that the House sponsor, Rep. Ritch Workman, R-Melbourne, labeled a “patchwork of awesomeness.”
What adjective did Workman, R-Melbourne, use to describe the final version of HB 5601 approved Friday? “Awesomer.”
The handful of Democrats who voted against the bill were left with only one complaint: Lawmakers should have spent more, particularly on education and trimming waiting lists for state services.
“The economy is good. We’re moving in the right direction. There’s more money around. But there’s a problem with priorities,” said Rep. Elaine Schwartz, D-Hollywood.
The budget sailed through, the session adjourned and lawmakers were free to focus on their re-election campaigns — and ponder what surprises might be in store when they return in a little more than 300 days to start the annual session all over again.
STORY OF THE WEEK: The Legislature adjourned its 2014 session at 10:40 p.m. Friday, setting the stage for the November elections.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “I’ve been wrongly accused, I’ve been left on Death Row and had one hour to die in the electric chair, and I prayed to fulfill my need. Sometimes my fellow men have let me down, but God have lift(ed) me up.”—James Joseph Richardson, 78-year-old man who could finally receive payment for the 21 years he wrongly served in prison after his seven children died of poisoning. The Legislature approved a bill allowing him to apply for compensation.
By Brandon Larrabee and Dara Kim, The News Service of Florida
Need Help With Insurance After The Flood?
May 4, 2014
Florida Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater is urging Florida panhandle residents whose homes and property were damaged by recent storms to call the Florida Department of Financial Services’ Insurance Consumer Helpline at 1-877-MY-FL-CFO (693-5236) for insurance assistance.
“The days and weeks following a devastating storm are a stressful time for anyone, but our dedicated team of insurance professionals are ready to help answer questions and offer guidance to everyone who needs it,” said CFO Atwater. “We will do whatever we can to help our fellow Floridians get back on their feet as quickly as possible.”
To aid in the recovery efforts, the department’s insurance consumer helpline, open from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. EST, Monday through Friday, will be available for extended hours through the weekend from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. CST, with trained insurance specialists ready to assist with storm-related calls. The department’s Pensacola office located at 610 East Burgess Road will also be open this weekend from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and department representatives will be available on-site to provide additional insurance assistance.
While it appears at this point that the majority of the damage is flood-related, it is important to ensure that consumers who have suffered property damage that is covered under their traditional homeowner’s insurance policy receive the guidance and assistance that they need to recover from this event.
CFO Atwater offers the following tips for those who will need to file an insurance claim:
- Make emergency repairs to protect from further damage, and document the damage and repairs in writing, with receipts and photos to provide to your insurance company.
- Gather copies of your household inventory and other documentation, including photos. This will assist your insurance company adjuster in assessing the value of the destroyed property.
- If you must leave your home because of the damage, give your temporary forwarding address and phone number to your insurance agent or insurance company.
- Beware of fly-by-night repair businesses and hire licensed and reputable service people.
- If considering the assistance of a public insurance adjuster, ask for identification and verify that the adjuster is licensed by calling the Insurance Helpline. Understand how much a public insurance adjuster is charging and what services are included before signing any contract.
Additional information is available regarding disaster-related insurance topics on the CFO’s Disaster Response page at http://www.myfloridacfo.com/Division/Consumers/Storm, where consumers can find tips on how to better protect their homes and families from disasters.
40th Annual Pen Wheels Disabled Fishing Rodeo Held
May 4, 2014
The 40th annual Pen Wheels Fishing Rodeo was held Saturday in Walnut Hill.
Over the history of the fishing rodeo, it has been held at locations ranging from Ft. Pickens to the Three Mile Bridge in Pensacola. Since 2001, it has been held at Jantz’s Catfish Pond on South Highway 99, just off Highway 97.
Dozens of volunteers stood ready Saturday to help the disabled. They baited hooks, tossed a line and offered words of friendly encouragement, while dozens of disabled people were registered in Saturday’s fishing rodeo. They were from around the area, including Pensacola and Century.
The Pen Wheels Fishing Rodeo is provided to the disabled for free as a project of the Pensacola Fiesta of Five Flags organization.
Pictured: The Pen Wheel Fishing Rodeo for the disabled Saturday in Walnut Hill. NorthEscambia.com exclusive photos, click to enlarge.
