Top 14 North Escambia Stories Of 2014

January 5, 2015

Here are our picks for the Top 14 Stories of 2014 on NorthEscambia.com :

14. Tate’s Showband Of The South Heads To Philly

The Tate High School Showband of the South marched in the 2014 Dunkin’ Donuts Thanksgiving Day Parade in Philadelphia. As part of  tours of Philadelphia and Washington, the students visited Arlington National Cemetery where Showband members placed a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns.

13. West Florida Jaguars State Softball Championship

The West Florida Lady Jaguars won the 4A state championship in almost impossible grand style. The Lady Jags were down 5-1  with two outs in the seventh, before coming back to beat P. K. Yonge 6-5 in Vero Beach.

12. Good Folks, Good Grades

It was nothing short of another great year at Molino Park Elementary School. Principal Alice Woodward was named Escambia County’s Principal of the Year. Sara Calhoun was named the state’s elementary school Reading Teacher of the Year. Monsanto presented the school with a $25,000 technology grant.  Molino Park’s school grade from the Florida Department of Education jumped from a “C” to an “A”.   At Molino Park Elementary School, 95 percent of third graders were proficient in math on the FCAT, the highest level in Escambia County and better than all but less than a dozen schools in the state.

11. Northview’s FFA One Of The Nation’s Best

The honors just kept pouring in during 2014 for the Northview High School FFA — Outstanding FFA Chapter, State Superior Chapter, State FFA Gold Chapter Rating for hosting the top “Food for America” program in Florida. Then at the National FFA Convention in Louisville, KY, the Northview FFA was awarded the Three Star Chapter designation — the highest status at the national level — on live national television for the second straight year.

10. Train Derailment

During January’s rare ice storm, 23 cars from a CSX train derailed behind the McDavid Sawmill on Champion Drive. Four cars containing  a 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. Officials reported as much as 30,000 gallons of corrosive acid spilled into the creek. Cleanup was declared complete in March,with a long-term monitoring program put into place.

9. New 4-H Facilities

In 2012, the children and teens on the 4-H County Council voted to sell their 240 acre Langley Bell 4-H Center to Navy Federal Credit Union. In 2014, progress began on two new 4-H facilities — one at the Extension Service on Stefani Road and the other off Chalker Road in Molino.

8. Century’s Gas Leak Repaired

Major work came to a close in late 2014 on repairs to a  leaking section of natural gas pipe under Highway 29 in Century, three and a half years since the leak was publicly revealed as a “major public safety issue”.

7. Crime And Punishment

The headlines in 2014 were full of crimes — and punishments. From 19 murders across Escambia County, to burglaries in our neighborhoods and street level drugs and associated crimes – the headlines ran the gamut of arrests and sentences from the bench.

6. Century’s Big Plan

Using grant money from the state, Century partnered with the University of West Florida’s Haas Center to develop an economic strategic plan. Already honored by the Florida Chamber Foundation and recognized by the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity’s Competitive Florida Partnership, the plan will be implemented in 2015 with the hope of jump starting Century’s economy.

5. LOST Renewal

Voters renewed the Local Option Sales Tax (LOST) for Escambia County and schools during 2014.  Project after project has been funded over the previous years of LOST, including the ongoing construction of a new Ernest Ward Middle School in Walnut Hill.

4. Highway 29, Highway 97 Intersection

Perhaps the most “famous” intersection in North Escambia, we reported wreck after wreck at the intersection in 2014, including an accident that claimed the life of a Northview High School student.  After a traffic study, Escambia County agreed to foot the bill and the Florida Department of Transportation agreed to install a traffic signal. The year closed with no visible progress on the light’s installation.

3. Ice Storm

Escambia County literally froze in January — closed schools, widespread power outages, pretty much all transportation at a complete standstill — during a freak Florida ice storm.

2. Jail Explosion

As the flood waters filled the basement of the Escambia County Central Booking and Detention Center, rising water caused gas dryers to disconnect. That gas ignited, setting off an explosion that killed two inmates — 45-year old David Paul Weinstein and 54-year old Robert Earl Simmons of McDavid. A corrections officer, Christopher Hankinson, was left paralyzed from the waist down, while about 180 other inmates and corrections personnel were injured.

1. Spring Floods

Without a doubt, the top story of 2014 was the April flood, with an unbelievable 25 inches of rain falling in about 24 hours in parts of Escambia County.  Bridges and roads collapsed or were simply swept away, perhaps hundreds of people were rescued from flooded cars and homes. Over 3,000 homes in Escambia County were damaged or destroyed, and the financial toll was well over $100 million.  One person, 67-year-old Betty Faye Word, died when here vehicle was completely submerged on Highway 29 in Cantonment.

NorthEscambia.com photos.

Without a doubt, the top story of 2014 was the April flood, with an unbelievable 25 inches of rain falling in about 24 hours in parts of Escambia County.  Bridges and roads collapsed or were simply swept away, perhaps hundreds of people were rescued from flooded cars and homes. Over 3,000 homes in Escambia County were damaged or destroyed, and the financial toll was well over $100 million.  One person, 67-year-old Betty Faye Word, died when here vehicle was completely submerged on Highway 29 in Cantonment.

Comments

Comments are closed.

Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under FEATURE TOP STORY, Features, News