Byrneville’s Kilcrease Wins Retired Educators’ Essay Contest
June 14, 2014
Maille Kilcrease of Byrneville Elementary School was the 2014 winner of the Escambia Retired Educators Association’s annual Fifth Grade Essay Contest. In her essay, Kilcrease wrote about her grandpartents, Donald and Barbara Kilcrease. Maillie Kilcrease (center) is pictured with her teacher Jacke Johnston (left) and Byrneville Principal Dee Wolfe Sullivan during the EREA banquet at New World Landing. Courtesy photo for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Susan Bear Leath
June 14, 2014
Susan Bear Leath, 75, passed away peacefully on June 4, 2014. Susan was born on December 14, 1938, in Pensacola. She is the daughter of Lewis Bear Sr. and Peggy Loeb Bear Freiberg.
Susan is survived by her husband of 51 years, James William Leath; son, Eric Leath; daughter, Nikki Leath (Roy) Faktor; brothers, Lewis (Belle) Bear Jr., and Donald Bear; sister-in-law, Janis Bear; nephews and nieces, Lewis (Jen) Bear III, Cindi Bear (Chad) Bonner, David (Cindi) Bear, Emily Bear, and Daisy Bear; cousins, Ellen (John) Walsh, Leo (Monica) Loeb, Sally (David) Loeb, Dottie Kahn Boyle (David) Galloway, Elisa Jennings (Mike) Sullivan, and Leslie Jennings (Jeff) Eckhouse.
Always ready to help anyone, Susan was a Brownie troop leader, frequent school volunteer, a lifelong member of the Temple Beth El sisterhood, and member of Impact 100, along with many other charitable organizations. She followed the path of an old saying–”any good that I may do let me do it now for I may not pass this way again”. She always reached out to lend a hand to others, without regard for any recognition. She loved animals, small children and people. She always closed a conversation with “I love you” and meant it.
Rabbi Joel Fleekop will be officiating a memorial service followed by a celebration-of-life at 1 p.m. on Sunday June 22, 2014, at New World Landing. All friends and family are welcome, attire will be casual. We request that contributions to your favorite charity be sent in lieu of flowers.
Florida Gov’t Weekly Roundup: Time To Hit Reset
June 14, 2014
It was a week of resets in Florida, whether in Gov. Rick Scott’s relationship with Hispanic voters or in Florida State University’s beleaguered and increasingly contentious presidential search.
Just a day before U.S. House Republican Leader Eric Cantor lost a Virginia congressional seat after seeming too open to a deal on immigration reform, Scott touched the third rail of GOP politics by signing a bill that would allow some undocumented immigrants to pay in-state tuition rates at Florida colleges and universities. Scott focused on other parts of the “affordability” law in an apparent effort to shield himself from conservative criticism.
Meanwhile, FSU completed a slow-motion reboot of its hunt for a new leader, after an effort to start the process with an exclusive interview of influential Sen. John Thrasher, R-St. Augustine, turned into a public relations debacle. But segments of the university community still regarded the process warily.
And a bill meant to reset the timeline for Death Row inmates to be executed was upheld by the Florida Supreme Court.
SEE YOU AT BEEF’S
In some ways, a Beef ‘O’ Brady’s makes sense as a setting for a campaign event to tout the governor’s efforts to hold down college tuition. The eating establishment might be one of the few places where college students can afford to grab a sit-down meal.
Some of Scott’s later stops didn’t make quite as much sense; few financially-strapped undergraduates are staying at The Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables.
But the Monday visit to a Beef ‘O’ Brady’s in Southwest Florida was where Scott went first to boast about signing HB 851. The bill dealt with the immigrant tuition issue and also rolled back a law signed by former Gov. Charlie Crist that allowed state universities to get tuition increases from the system’s Board of Governors instead of from the Legislature.
Scott zeroed in on the latter, in no small part because Crist has now become a Democrat and is the incumbent’s most likely challenger in the November election.
“I know what it’s like to work your way through school, but for many kids today, the rising cost of college tuition is making it hard to afford college,” Scott said in the campaign statement. “That’s why it was so important to reverse Charlie Crist’s 15 percent tuition hike and give every student who grows up in Florida the chance to pursue an affordable college education.”
Under the legislation, students who attend secondary school in Florida for at least three years prior to graduation will qualify for in-state tuition, regardless of their immigration status.
And the bill changes the so-called “differential tuition” law signed by Crist. Only the University of Florida and Florida State University now will qualify for such increases, which are capped at 6 percent a year, and only if they meet certain conditions.
On Monday, Democrats tried to use the signing of the bill to remind Latinos that Scott had opposed similar in-state tuition legislation in the past and that his rise to the GOP nomination in 2010 was fueled partly by his promises to crack down on illegal immigration. Scott also vetoed a measure last year that would have allowed some young undocumented Floridians, known as “Dreamers,” to receive driver’s licenses.
Florida Democratic Party Chairwoman Allison Tant told The News Service of Florida that Democrats were happy that one of the party’s longstanding priorities was approved.
“But this governor has just signed into law something that he has been adamantly opposed to,” Tant said. ” … This time last year, he vetoed the rights for Dreamers to get a driver’s license so they could actually go to a community college or a university, go to a job so that they could get ahead and suddenly, deathbed conversion, he’s woken up and decided that, well, maybe we ought to allow for in-state tuition for these Dreamers anyway.”
Scott also highlighted a portion of the bill that could save parents money on prepaid tuition contracts that are meant to lock in the costs of a higher education for their children.
“This is a great victory for families who want to ensure their students can get a great education, start a successful career, and live the American dream right here in Florida,” Scott said in a statement issued Wednesday by his campaign.
BILLS GALORE
Scott has spent most of his time on the campaign trail lately. But that didn’t stop him from signing 95 more bills into law Friday, including measures to further restrict abortions in Florida, keep electronic cigarettes out of the hands of minors and regulate the commercial parasailing industry.
The new laws, which mostly go into effect July 1, are also designed to draw more private insurers to write flood-insurance coverage in the state, crack down on questionable charity operations and move up the start of the 2016 legislative session from the usual March kickoff to January.
That left a few bills still on Scott’s desk, including proposals to try to curb human-trafficking in the state and a measure that would legalize a form of medical marijuana that purportedly does not get users high but which alleviates life-threatening seizures.
And lawmakers sent him dozens more Friday.
FINDING A PROCESS FOR FINDING A PRESIDENT
While the tuition to go to Florida State might not be rising quite as quickly anymore, there’s another kind of uncertainty hanging over the Tallahassee campus: what’s going to become of a muddled process meant to find the university’s next president.
After the search became bogged down in negative publicity over the arrangement with Thrasher, and the Faculty Senate issued a vote of no confidence in the search process, William “Bill” Funk, a Dallas-based consultant brought in to help find FSU a new president, abruptly resigned from the job Monday.
Committee Chairman Ed Burr, in a release posted on the Presidential Search Advisory Committee’s website, expressed disappointment about Funk’s resignation.
“Mr. Funk felt he could no longer make the kind of contribution to the search that the university deserves,” Burr said in the release.
Funk’s action came less than a week after Burr reversed the committee’s May 21 decision to pause the process so the panel could first interview Thrasher, R-St. Augustine, for the job. Funk had advised the committee that Thrasher’s aspiration for the job was keeping other desired candidates from wanting to apply.
Burr, who is also an FSU trustee, noted he came to his decision to reopen the search process because additional applications for president had been submitted.
On Wednesday, the committee agreed to have Burr negotiate a contract with Monterey Park, Calif.-based Storbeck/Pimentel & Associates.
Thrasher, however, is still widely considered the front-runner for the job.
Committee member Eric Walker, chairman of the FSU English Department, said bringing in a new search firm and reopening the process should improve the public perception of the search. However, he indicated Thrasher’s desire for the job will continue to make potential applicants pause.
TIME TO PICK THOSE FINAL MEALS
There’s been plenty of political controversy over a 2013 law meant to reduce delays in carrying out the death penalty, but there was little judicial disagreement: The Florida Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the constitutionality of the so-called “Timely Justice Act” in a unanimous decision.
Challengers had argued the law would be an unconstitutional infringement on the court system’s authority and separation of powers and violate due-process and equal-protection rights.
With some convicted murderers on Death Row for 30 years or more, lawmakers in 2013 touted the proposed changes as helping more quickly carry out justice. After Scott signed the bill, for example, House Criminal Justice Chairman Matt Gaetz, R-Fort Walton Beach, posted a Twitter message that said, “Several on death row need to start picking out their last meals.”
A few justices, though, said the ruling wouldn’t prevent them from stepping in and safeguarding a defendant’s rights if necessary.
“(This) court is still constitutionally entrusted with the duty to issue a stay of execution if there is a meritorious post-conviction claim pending or, if at the time the warrant is signed, the defendant brings a successive post-conviction challenge that casts doubt on his or her guilt, the integrity of the judicial process, or the validity of the death sentence imposed. … In my view, that remains the essential fail-safe mechanism this court may utilize when necessary to ensure that the ultimate punishment of the death penalty is inflicted in a manner that fully comports with the constitution,” wrote Justice Barbara Pariente, who was joined in a concurring opinion by justices Jorge Labarga and James E.C. Perry.
STORY OF THE WEEK: Gov. Rick Scott signs a bill that would allow some undocumented immigrants to pay in-state tuition rates and roll back the state’s “differential tuition” law, then embarks on a campaign tour to underscore his support for higher education affordability
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “We are literally looking at an unleashing of a Wild, Wild West of potent marijuana products.”–Calvina Faye, executive director of Drug Free America and part of a new campaign to oppose a medical pot amendment set to be voted on in November.
by Brandon Larrabee, The News Service of Florida
Two Injured In Highway 97 Single Vehicle Crash
June 13, 2014
Two people were injured in a single vehicle accident on Highway 97 south of Walnut Hill Friday morning.
The driver of Chevrolet Colorado pickup was northbound on Highway 97 north of Tungoil Road when his pickup apparently ran off the road into a ditch, struck a culvert, went airborne, overturned, and came to rest upright in the ditch.
The driver and passenger, both adult males, were transported by Atmore Ambulance to West Florida Hospital in Pensacola. Their conditions were not available.
The accident remains under investigation by the Florida Highway Patrol; further details have not been released. The Walnut Hill Station of Escambia Fire Rescue also responded to the crash.
NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Mostly Sunny, Some Rain For The Weekend
June 13, 2014
Here is your official North Escambia area forecast:
- Tonight Mostly cloudy in the evening becoming partly cloudy. Isolated showers and thunderstorms. Lows in the upper 60s. Southwest winds 5 to 10 mph. Chance of precipitation 20 percent.
- Saturday Mostly sunny. Scattered showers and thunderstorms. Highs in the lower 90s. West winds around 5 mph becoming southwest in the afternoon. Chance of precipitation 30 percent.
- Saturday Night Partly cloudy. Lows in the upper 60s. South winds 5 to 10 mph in the evening becoming light.
- Sunday Mostly sunny. Slight chance of showers and thunderstorms. Highs in the lower 90s. Northeast winds around 5 mph becoming south in the afternoon. Chance of precipitation 20 percent.
- Sunday Night Partly cloudy. Lows in the upper 60s.
- Monday Mostly sunny. Chance of showers and thunderstorms. Highs in the lower 90s. Chance of precipitation 30 percent.
- Monday Night Partly cloudy. Lows in the upper 60s.
- Tuesday Mostly sunny. Slight chance of showers and thunderstorms. Highs in the lower 90s. Chance of precipitation 20 percent.
- Tuesday Night Partly cloudy. Lows around 70.
- Wednesday Mostly sunny. Chance of showers and thunderstorms. Highs in the lower 90s. Chance of precipitation 30 percent.
- Wednesday Night Partly cloudy. Slight chance of showers and thunderstorms. Lows around 70. Chance of precipitation 20 percent.
No Injuries In Trash Truck, Pickup Crash
June 13, 2014
There were no serious injuries reported in an accident involving a trash truck Thursday afternoon.
The accident involving a pickup truck and a ECUA truck happened about 3:15 p.m. on Beulah Road at the Perdido Landfill. Both vehicles came to rest on a guardrail. Both drivers reportedly refused Escambia County EMS transport to the hospital.
The Beulah Station of Escambia Fire Rescue also responded to the crash. Further details have not been released by the Florida Highway Patrol.
Reader submitted photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Court Rules Against Cities, Red Light Cameras
June 13, 2014
Wading into the controversial issue of red-light cameras, the Florida Supreme Court on Thursday sided with motorists who challenged local red-light camera ordinances in Orlando and Aventura.
The case focused on red-light camera programs that the cities began using before approval of a 2010 statewide law that authorized the traffic devices and set requirements.
In a 5-2 decision, the Supreme Court said the cities did not comply with the state’s traffic laws at the time because of the way they enforced red-light camera violations. The cities used municipal-code enforcement systems that were different than the way state laws said traffic offenders should be punished.
“Each of the ordinances creates a municipal code enforcement system for the disposition of red light violations that is entirely separate from the enforcement system established under (two parts of state law),” said the majority opinion, written by Justice Charles Canady and joined by Chief Justice Ricky Polston and justices R. Fred Lewis, Jorge Labarga and James E.C. Perry.
But Justice Barbara Pariente, in a dissent joined by Justice Peggy Quince, wrote that the majority opinion failed to “take into account the breadth of the home rule authority granted to municipalities by both the Florida Constitution and by statute.”
“Although this subject is of interest to many Floridians, the wisdom and public policy questions regarding the use of red light cameras are not before this court, nor are any potential constitutional issues that may be implicated through the use of these cameras,” Pariente wrote. “Instead, the only issue in this case is the purely legal question of whether municipalities were authorized to enact red light camera ordinances, which imposed municipal fines on drivers for conduct already covered by the Florida Uniform Traffic Control Law, prior to 2010, pursuant to their home rule authority.”
Red-light cameras have been heavily debated in recent years as they have been installed in cities across the state. While supporters say they help traffic safety, critics question, in part, whether the use of the devices is motivated by cities seeking more money from traffic fines.
The Supreme Court took the cases after conflicting rulings by lower courts. The 3rd District Court of Appeal upheld the Aventura ordinance, while the 5th District Court of Appeal struck down the Orlando measure.
The plaintiff in the Orlando case, Michael Udowychenko, challenged the ordinance after getting cited for running a red light in 2009. The Aventura ordinance was challenged by Richard Masone, who also was cited in 2009. The filed the cases, at least in part, to get fines set aside.
State lawmakers in 2010 approved what is known as the Mark Wandall Traffic Safety Act, the statewide red-light camera law.
But in a footnote in her dissent Thursday, Pariente wrote that the 2010 law had not made the issues in the local cases “moot, particularly given the significant amounts of money that were collected by the cities of Orlando and Aventura pursuant to their then-existing municipal ordinances — which the majority has decided must now be returned to the individuals who violated these ordinances.”
The majority opinion does not explicitly address returning money to motorists, but it upheld the decision by the 5th District Court of Appeal.
That decision said, in a footnote, that a proposed class action had been denied in the Orlando case. It also noted that only Udowychenko had challenged the ordinance and that “others who paid the fine most likely would be barred” by a legal doctrine that often prevents recoveries by people who voluntarily make payments.
by Jim Saunder, The News Service of Florida
Weaver Completes Navy Basic Training
June 13, 2014
Navy Seaman Cody J. Weaver, son of Ricky Weaver of Pensacola and Cassandra E. and stepson of Gene M. Craig of Cantonment recently completed U.S. Navy basic training at Recruit Training Command, Great Lakes, IL.
During the eight-week program, Weaver completed a variety of training which included classroom study and practical instruction on naval customs, first aid, firefighting, water safety and survival, and shipboard and aircraft safety. An emphasis was also placed on physical fitness.
The capstone event of boot camp is “Battle Stations”. This exercise gives recruits the skills and confidence they need to succeed in the fleet. “Battle Stations” is designed to galvanize the basic warrior attributes of sacrifice, dedication, teamwork and endurance in each recruit through the practical application of basic Navy skills and the core values of Honor, Courage and Commitment. Its distinctly ”Navy” flavor was designed to take into account what it means to be a Sailor.
Northview Students Earn Microsoft, Adobe Certifications
June 13, 2014
Numerous Northview High School students in grades 9-11 earned Microsoft Office Specialist Certifications or passed Adobe certifications as follows:
Passed three MOS certifications –
- Jessica Barrows
- Ciara Campbell
- Holly Cofield
- Hailey Forcheaux
- Mallory Gibson
- Landon Godwin
- Kaitlyn Kline
- Aaron McDonald
- Danielle Robinson
- Caleb Therrell
Passed four MOS certifications -
- Alyssa Bell
- Ethan Bomba
- Christopher “Noah” Coker
- Hanna Ging
- Kaylie Hudson
- Adrian King
- Andrea Miles
- Samantha Sharpless
- Destiny Stevens
Passed five MOS certifications –
- Alyssa Borelli
- Niki Coleman
- Charmayne Fountain
- Trevor Levins
- Kaitlyn Pugh
- Mitchell Singleton
- Nathan Singleton
- Harmoni Till
- Asja Trotter
- Jessica Stacey
Passed Adobe Illustrator
- Breanna Payne
Passed Adobe Photoshop
- Jadlyn Agerton
- Sean Allister
- Natalie Barrow
- Matthew “Ryan” Chavers
- Iyanna Davidson
- Lawrence Douglas
- Austin Faircloth
- Nathan Galvan
- Mallory Gibson
- Cheyenne Gray
- Dariane Guy
- Dillon Hall
- Brayden Hubbard
- Taylor Kearley
- Kaitlyn Kleinatland
- Logan Lambeth
- Brittanie McLemore
- Teamber Moorer
- Audriene Odom
- Kortney Reid
- Savanna Roux
- Jada Tucker
- Shania Ward
- Takeya Williams
- Hadley Woodfin
Brown On The Job As Escambia County’s New Administrator
June 13, 2014
Today wraps up the first week on the job for new Escambia County Administrator Jack Brown. He was hired back in April, ending a hiring process that took about 18 months for commissioners to make their final decision.
His first official day on the job was June 9, and his contract is for just one year. His salary was set at $150,000 for the year, plus normal county benefits. The county also offered up to $5,000 to pay his moving expenses from Perry, Fla., where he served as administrator in Taylor County.
One of Brown’s first big tasks is to present a proposed budget to the county commission. It’s due July 15. And while he’s the boss over county employees, he can’t hire any assistant administrators or department heads without the backing of commissioners.
After retirement from the Army in 1996, Brown served Taylor County as the director of human resources, county coordinator and county manager. In January 2001 he was hired as the general manager of RDS Manufacturing Company, a position he held for 18 months prior to being recruited as a faculty member at Florida State University.
While at FSU, he was elected as a Taylor County County commissioner . In the summer of 2006 he announced that he would not seek a second term. In January 2007, he resigned from FSU and returned to serve Taylor County as the county administrator.