Cold Rain Tonight
February 25, 2015
Here is your official North Escambia area forecast:
- Wednesday Night A 50 percent chance of showers before 9pm. Cloudy, with a low around 34. North wind 5 to 10 mph.
- Thursday Mostly cloudy, with a high near 49. North wind 5 to 10 mph.
- Thursday Night Mostly cloudy, with a low around 31. Wind chill values between 25 and 30. North wind around 10 mph.
- Friday Sunny, with a high near 53. North wind 10 to 15 mph.
- Friday Night Partly cloudy, with a low around 31. North wind around 10 mph.
- Saturday Partly sunny, with a high near 58. North wind around 10 mph.
- Saturday Night Mostly cloudy, with a low around 45. East wind around 10 mph.
- Sunday A 30 percent chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 65. Southeast wind around 10 mph.
- Sunday Night A 30 percent chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 58.
- Monday A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 70.
- Monday Night A 30 percent chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 60.
- Tuesday A 20 percent chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 74.
Escambia Democratic Executive Committee Elects Officers
February 25, 2015
The Escambia County Democratic Executive Committee unanimously elected Mike Lowery, president of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1395, as their new chairman. He replaces Cassandra McAway.
Clorissti Johnson Mitchell, who works for Aylstock, Witkin, Kreis & Overholtz, PLC, was elected vice chair.
Deb Moore was elected secretary, and Tom Brown was elected treasurer. Member of the Escambia County DEC Steering Committee will be Dianne Krumel, Bill King, Jack Cerone, Mary Ann Andrews and past DEC Chairwoman Evalyn Narramore.
“Clorissti and I will focus on registering new voters, educating and organizing our base, and working hard to improve our local party status,” Lowery said in a press release.
The ‘Odd’ Neighbor: Cantonment Man Charged With Stalking
February 25, 2015
A Cantonment man described as an “odd” neighbor has been arrested for stalking a woman.
The victim told the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office that she, her husband and her young child moved into a Cantonment home just off Neal Road back in mid-December. She said that a neighbor came over the day she moved in. The neighbor, later identified as 50-year old John Matthew Fick, began asking questions about her past and told her that he had previously been charged with stalking, a confession that she found to be “odd” behavior.
Fick returned the following day asking more questions, and then began dropping by the victim’s home unexpectedly at odd times, until the victim and husband instructed him to stay away, according to an arrest report. The victim said Fick began to walk around the neighborhood looking at her, which scared her.
In early February, the victim began a new job at a Cantonment store. On her first day at work, she said Fick showed up and began to follow her around the store. She told her manager, who asked Fick to leave the store. A short time later, Fick called the store, demanding to speak to a district manager to make a complaint against the victim.
The manager told deputies that Fick did enter the store and follow the victim around, but at no time did she fail to wait on him as a customer.
Over time, the victim became “increasingly scared for her life and her family’s’ lives due to the actions of Fick,” an Escambia County Sheriff’s Office report states. “Fick is clearly engaged in a course of conduct directed at her that has caused substantial emotional distress and serves no legitimate purpose.”
When questioned by deputies, Fick denied the allegations and said he just simply “sees her around the neighborhood”, and Fick claimed he has been harassed by the victim and her husband.
Fick remained in the Escambia County Jail Wednesday morning with bond set at $15,000. If he is released on bond, he’s been ordered to stay away from the victim and her family. According to court records, he was convicted in a 2013 stalking case and complete 12 months probation. He also has previous convictions on multiple drug charges in Escambia County.
Escambia To Receive Almost $3 Million In Grant Funds For Flood Repairs
February 25, 2015
Escambia County will receive nearly $3 million in grant funding to assist with seven flood repair projects after money became available in the Emergency Watershed Protection Program.
The county had previously applied unsuccessfully to the program, but funding just came available and was announced this week. The County could also be eligible for reimbursement on design costs up to 7.5% of total construction costs, or nearly $224,000.
The EWPP alleviates hazards to life and property caused by floods, fires, windstorms and other natural occurrences.
The projects covered under the grant include:
Crescent Lake, one and a half miles east of the intersection of Mobile Highway and Michigan Avenue; 600-feet north of Michigan Avenue. Stormwater toppled the 72-acre Crescent Lake embankment causing flooding downsteam. Flooding deposited sediment and debris to the side of Michigan Avenue, an arterial five-lane road and threatens to destroy 14 apartments. The grant will provide $674,531 to fix the breach in the Crescent Lake embankment and install a concrete emergency spillway. Workers will vegetate disturbed areas and remove debris and sediment from the downstream channel to Michigan Avenue to prevent flooding.
The Gatewood Ditch, south of Gatewood Drive, 400-feet south of Johnson Avenue. Eroding into a retention pond and an adjacent apartment complex. The debris and sediment from the erosion are reducing the drainage capacity and threatening to destroy downstream drainage structures and further damage Johnson Avenue. The grant will cover $350,790 of the cost to fill the eroded area and replace 1,700 feet of concrete-lined ditch. Workers will plant vegetation on the side slopes to protect from further erosion and replace the damaged retention pond outlet, stabilizing the stormwater facility outlet.
Olive Road, 1,000 feet southwest of Scenic Highway and Olive Road intersection. Erosion at the outlet of a concrete-lined waterway carved a gully adjacent to Olive Road 40-foot deep and 100-feet wide that threatens to collapse the westbound lane of Olive Road. Olive Road is a primary east-west arterial with an average daily traffic of 12,800 vehicles. The grant will provide $198,671 to install a concrete box, pipe-drop structure and a water and sediment control basin to stabilize the head of the gully and safely discharge stormwater.
Glyn Brock Gully, 200 feet north of the intersection of Johnson Avenue and Olive Road. Sediment from the Gatewood ditch and storm debris has reduced capacity in the stream channel, threatening to flood eight downstream homes on Winding Lane and five homes on Cypress Point. The grant will cover $206,657 of the cost to remove sediment and debris from the stream channel and ditch and repair the eroded area with rock riprap.
Addison Drive between Addison Drive and Scenic Highway/ Escambia Bay, 300 feet east of Ellyson Field Industrial Park. A gully is eroding into two homes on Addison Drive. The grant will provide $91,868 to remove sediment and debris from the landslide, grade and shape the slope and install a conveyance system to move water to the outlet.
The Ten Mile Creek channel is unstable and widening, threatening to collapse Pine Forest Road Bridge and erode into nine homes and eight townhouses. The grant amount for repairs is $1,377,175. Workers will stabilize the stream channel grade, address gully erosion on the channel sides and repair outlet structures.
Swamphouse Road, on the University of West Florida campus. Stream bank erosion threatens the road, utilities, the Swamphouse Restaurant and Marina. The storm tore the road in half and trees are falling into the stream channel. The grant will provide $83,440 to re-grade the side slope, plant sod and remove sediment and debris from the channel.
Escambia Deputies To Be On TV Show ‘Cops’
February 25, 2015
A ride-along with Escambia County Sheriff’s Office deputies will be featured on the next new episode of the television show “Cops”. The episode, filmed last year, will air at 7 p.m. Saturday on the Spike network.
Lane Restrictions On Highway 4 In Northern Santa Rosa
February 25, 2015
There will be intermittent lane restrictions on state roadways in Santa Rosa County as crews refurbish pavement markings through March 4.
Work will take place on Highway 4 from the Escambia River to Highway 87A and Highway 87 from Clear Creek to just north of Highway 4 from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m. daily. Lane restrictions will also be in place on I-10 from Avalon Boulevard to the Okaloosa County line daily from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m.
Off duty law enforcement will be on site to assist with traffic control. Motorists are reminded by the Florida Department of Transportation to use caution, especially at night, and obey the posted speed limit when traveling through a work zone.
McCullough Named Century Chamber’s Student Of The Year
February 25, 2015
Northview High School senior Jessica McCullough has been name the Century Chamber of Commerce’s Student of the Year.The annual selection is based upon a student’s well-rounded involvement in school activities, community service and more. Photo for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Northview JV Beats Baker; Baker Tops NHS Varsity
February 25, 2015
The Northview Lady Chiefs split games with the Baker Gators Tuesday in Bratt.
The NHS junior varsity defeated Baker 8-4, while the Baker varsity downed the Lady Chiefs 3-1 in eight innings.
Northview will host Freeport Friday. The junior varsity begins at 4:00, followed by the varsity at 6:00.
NorthEscambia.com photos by Gary Amerson, click to enlarge.
Scott Suspends 11th Grade English Test
February 25, 2015
Days before testing was scheduled to begin, Gov. Rick Scott issued an executive order Tuesday suspending the administration of an 11th-grade language arts test that Education Commissioner Pam Stewart has asked the Legislature to eliminate.
The move was expected; Stewart had recommended last week that Scott suspend the exam so that lawmakers can consider legislation to permanently scrap it. Critics of the test say it’s redundant because students’ graduation requirements in language arts are fulfilled by an assessment given in the 10th grade.
The state’s largest teachers union, though, said Scott should have done more, even as union leaders conceded they were unsure of the limits of his authority. Officials with the Florida Education Association pointed out that the executive order gets rid of just one of the tests that students face, and they pushed for suspending the entire school-accountability system for a year.
“But we think that the governor ought to have an executive order that delays all of this for a year or two in order to let us try to bring everything together and figure out, is the system that we have in place helping instruction and helping students?” union President Andy Ford said.
In a nod to the fact that the state is introducing a new set of statewide exams this year, the Legislature has already given public schools a reprieve from consequences that might have followed poor marks on the annual school report card. But schools will still be given letter grades, students could still be retained in third grade if they don’t pass a state test, and teachers will still see part of their job evaluations based on student performance.
Ford said the state should treat this year’s exams as a “field test” to work out any kinks.
“We should still go ahead and administer the test, but we shouldn’t have the consequences for that,” he said.
Speaking with reporters Tuesday afternoon after a roundtable discussion with local teachers of the year, Scott indicated he wasn’t interested in a delay.
“We all know that when we measure something, there’s a greater chance that we’re going to take it seriously and we’re going to improve,” he said. “I believe our teachers are going to do well. I think our students are going to do well.”
Stewart also recommended curtailing some other local and statewide tests in her report last week, but much of the testing that the state requires would remain in place. Lawmakers plan to pass legislation dealing with assessments during the 60-day session that begins next week.
by Brandon Larrabee, The News Service of Florida
Tate’s Football Season Opener Not In Biloxi After All
February 25, 2015
The Tate High School Quarterback Club announced Tuesday that the school’s football season opener won’t be on the road after all. Instead, Biloxi High School will travel to Pete Gindl Stadium in Cantonment for the first game of the season on a to be announced date
The Aggies full 2015 season schedule is expected to be announced soon.