Demolition Of Old Ernest Ward Middle School Begins
March 18, 2015
Demolition began this morning on the old Ernest Ward Middle School in Walnut Hill.
Work started with the former middle school administration building, which housed science classes 20 plus years ago when the school was Ernest Ward High School.
Demolition on the remainder of the facility, including the main portion of school constructed in 1945, will be completed by the end of next week if the contractor receives the necessary permits as expected. Once the old school is demolished, the area will become mostly parking.
Students moved into their new $20 million state of the art Ernest Ward Middle School, located behind the old school, the first week of February.
Pictured: Demolition began Thursday morning on the old Ernest Ward Middle School in Walnut Hill. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Santa Rosa Man Gets 13 Years In Shotgun Play Death
March 18, 2015
A man playing with a shotgun when his friend was shot will spend the next 13 years in state prison James Hunter Gates was convicted of manslaughter with a firearm and possession of a firearm by a convicted delinquent. Gates faced a maximum sentence of 45 years in state prison.
Gates, 20, was arrested on August 25, 2014 after deputies responded to a shooting at a residence on Keyser Lane in Pace. They found 24-year old Romeo Wolff dead from a gunshot wound to the head. Investigators with the Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office determined that Gates and Wolff were drinking alcoholic beverages in a bedroom that evening while playing with a shotgun that belonged to Gates.
As a convicted delinquent, Gates was prohibited from possessing any firearms.
Wolff pointed the barrel of the gun at his face and dared Gates to pull the trigger. Gates responded by pulling the trigger which caused the gun to fire. Wolff was struck in the face with the blast and died at the scene.
Century Biz Challenge Moves Foward With Workshop, Site Tour
March 18, 2015
A small group of potential applicants in the $25,000 Century Business Challenge had the opportunity Tuesday evening to learn more about the process and tour the potential home for their new business.
A husband and wife set to submit their business idea took advantage of a chance to visit the Century Business Center to see the spaces available in the former Pond Street school.
Prizes for the winner of the Century Business Challenge include space at the Century Business Center at a lease rate of $1 per year, with the possibility of an extension of that rate for two more years based on the company’s performance. They will also receive $25,000 in operating funds from the Studer Institute. And the Century Town Council has recently approved offering the same $1 per year lease rate at the Century Business Center for the second place finisher.
Three potential applicants attended an open “Is Your Business Concept Feasible” workshop following the Century Business Center tour. The final application deadline is March 31.
After applications are submitted, there will be closed door workshops for participants before a business plan and personal financial statements are due at the end of May.
The Century Business Challenge is part of an economic development partnership of the Haas Center, the Town of Century and the Studer Institute. Applications and more information about the business challenge can be found at www.CenturyBusinessChallenge.com.
For more photos of the Century Business Center, click here.
Pictured top and below: Century Business Challenge winners can chose space in the Century Business Center for $1 per year. Pictured inset: Potential applicant Holly Driver listens Tuesday evening during a workshop presentation. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Alabama Death Row Inmate Dies Of Natural Causes
March 18, 2015
Alabama death row inmate David Eugene Davis, 56, died Sunday, March 15, at the Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore. The time of death was estimated at 3 a.m.
Davis had been moved to the facility’s infirmary when he died of apparent natural causes. The body was turned over to the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences.
Davis was convicted of the 1996 capital murders of Kenneth Douglas and John Fikes in Odenville and sentenced to death on July 7, 1997. The victims’ bodies were found inside a burned out home.
The Alabama Department of Corrections announced the death in a news release Tuesday afternoon.
Move To Overhaul Florida Alimony Laws Continues
March 18, 2015
After years of squabbling, strange bedfellows are finally united on a major overhaul of Florida’s alimony laws, agreeing to do away with permanent alimony and to use formulas to determine payment amounts based on the lengths of marriage and the combined earnings of couples.
The House Civil Justice Subcommittee gave a first nod to the measure (HB 943) in a party-line vote Tuesday, with Democrats skeptical about the proposal they say favors breadwinners.
Testimony on the measure was a sharp departure from debate over a hotly contested version of an alimony rewrite vetoed by Gov. Rick Scott two years ago that, unlike the current proposal, would have applied retroactively.
“It is a compromise. It seeks balance,” said West Palm Beach lawyer Tom Sasser, who helped craft the measure and represents the Florida Bar Family Law Section, which vigorously fought the previous proposal. “This is the time to make this go forward and to alter the way we deal with alimony and the landscape of alimony in Florida.”
House Rules Chairman Ritch Workman, R-Melbourne, spent the better part of a year working out a deal between Sasser and Family Law Reform, an organization representing alimony payers who’ve fought for five years to get the law changed.
The group’s founder Alan Frisher called the proposal a “step in the right direction toward balanced compromise.”
Frisher said the state’s current alimony law “perpetuates an entitlement attitude that should not be allowed” and “is abusive to both the payer and the payee.”
This year’s proposal, sponsored by freshman Republican Rep. Colleen Burton of Lakeland, would also establish a formula to determine how long ex-spouses can receive alimony. Unlike the measure Scott red-lined, the current plan would give judges discretion to veer from the formulas for payments or durations under certain conditions.
The measure “streamlines, as much as possible, a difficult process for any family that’s going through a divorce,” Burton told the panel, and helps divorcing spouses predict what to expect, “all the while, all the while, leaving the final determination in the hands of a judge.”
The measure would eliminate current bridge-the-gap, rehabilitative, durational and permanent types of alimony but not affect temporary alimony. It would also change what are now considered short-term, mid-term and long-term marriages. Under the new plan, the category of mid-term marriages would be eliminated and long-term marriages, now defined as 17 years or longer, would apply to unions of 20 years or more.
The formula for the duration of alimony payments is based on the number of years of marriage, while the amount of the payments relies on a couple’s gross income — the higher earner’s salary minus the earnings of the spouse seeking alimony — and sets the length of time for alimony payments.
As an example of how the formula would apply to short-term marriages, or those less than 20 years, payments in a 10-year marriage in which the combined earnings of the couple are $100,000 would be $1,041.67 per month.
As an example of how the formula would work for marriages of 20 years or longer, payments in a 20-year marriage in which the gross income was $100,000 would come to $3,333.33 per month.
An alimony recipient who has been married for less than 20 years would be eligible to receive payments for .25 times the number of years of marriage. For example, a spouse who had been married for 10 years would be able to receive alimony for 2.5 years. Alimony recipients who had been married for 20 years or longer would be eligible for .75 times the number of years of the marriage, meaning someone divorcing after 20 years would be eligible to receive alimony for 15 years.
The proposal would affect alimony modifications already in the pipeline or new alimony.
The National Organization for Women opposed the measure two years ago, and the group’s Florida lobbyist, Barbara DeVane, objected to the current proposal Tuesday.
“It’s like déjà vu. Over and over we have to come forth and oppose these changes in the alimony law to try to protect women. I’m always especially concerned about older women who get married, stay home, raise children, get older … and the husband decides to trade her in for a younger model, and on and on and on,” DeVane said. “I know this is a different bill from two sessions ago. But it’s still a bad bill.”
The proposal would also allow someone paying alimony to ask for a reduction if an ex-spouse’s income increases by 10 percent. But someone receiving alimony would not be able to seek an increase in payments unless the payer was unemployed or underemployed at the time the alimony was set.
The proposal would also require alimony payments to stop when a paying ex-spouse reaches the federal retirement age, or when an alimony recipient has a “supportive relationship” even if he or she is not living with the paramour.
The bill’s goal “is to reduce litigation that inflicts both (an) economic and emotional toll on spouses and their families who are going through a divorce and seeking alimony,” Burton told the panel.
But two Democratic lawyers on the committee weren’t satisfied with Burton’s changes.
“In a nutshell, I think it’s one-sided and unfairly benefits the payer at this point,” Rep. Cynthia Stafford, D-Miami, said.
Rep. Lori Berman, D-Lantana, said divorces should be focused on what’s best for children and families. The measure doesn’t do that, Berman said.
“This is a one-size-fits-all bill. It doesn’t look at equity and justice,” Berman said. “We’ve taken these percentages for duration and amount and just pulled them out of the air.”
The proposal has one more committee stop before heading to the House floor for a full vote. The Senate version has not yet been vetted by any committees.
International Delegation Tours ECUA Cantonment Facility (With Photo Gallery)
March 18, 2015
An international delegation from the Philippines toured the Emerald Coast Utilities Authority’s Center Water Reclamation Facility in Cantonment on Tuesday.
The group lead by Bill St. John, U.S. Department of State’s International Visitor Leadership Program, focused on wastewater management initiatives offered at the CWRF. The local visit was arranged by the Gulf Coast Citizen Diplomacy
Council.
The group included two mayors, a project director, and staff who are looking at the topic of sustainable urban development.
“The group was interested in exploring programs that address sanitation and waste management, as well as study sustainable approaches to ensuring a clean water supply to a community,” said Matt Rizzo, GCCDC program coordinator.
CWRF was named a top-three finalist for the 2011 Global Water Reuse Project of the Year by Global Water Intelligence in Berlin, Germany, EU. The facility uses advanced wastewater treatment technology, and achieves zero-discharge through partnerships for industrial reuse of the reclaimed water. The reuse partnerships also reduce demand on the Sand-and-Gravel Aquifer, the sole source of the area’s drinking water.
For additional photos, click here.
Pictured top: Municipal Mayor Honorable Gerard Sy Montojo, Mubicipality of Romblon, Province of Romblon, Michael Chan Rubio, project director River Rehabilitation Project, ABS-CBN Foundation, Municipal Mayor Honorable Maria Angela, Sabando, Local Government Unit of Roxas, Palawan, andDon Palmer, ECUA director of water reclamation, in front of the control room for ECUA’s Center Water Reclamation Facility in Cantonment. Pictured inset: The group listens to Rubio explain how the facility works. Pictured below: The CWRF in Cantonment. NorthEscambia.com photos by Ditto Gnorme, click to enlarge.
State To Reopen Fatal Case Of Inmate Gassing
March 18, 2015
Rommell Johnson, an inmate at a Florida Panhandle prison who had chronic asthma, couldn’t breathe on June 3, 2010.
Less than five hours after receiving treatment for severe breathing problems by a day-shift nurse, Johnson was dead, the result of an asthma attack caused by noxious chemicals sprayed by guards. The death was ruled accidental by the Department of Corrections inspector general and a medical examiner.
The circumstances leading up to Johnson’s death, and prison officials’ handling of it, bear striking similarities to the death just three months later of Randall Jordan-Aparo, an inmate at another Panhandle prison who died after being repeatedly sprayed with the same lethal chemicals used on Johnson.
Both men suffered from chronic breathing ailments. Both men were in solitary confinement when they were accused in official reports of creating disturbances before they were gassed. The same lead inspector — who found no basis for complaints made by an employee of the Northwest Florida Reception Center in Johnson’s death — oversaw both investigations.
But unlike the Jordan-Aparo case, which last year helped open a floodgate of inquiry into inmate abuse at the hands of prison guards and is now the subject of state and federal investigations, Florida authorities closed the book on Johnson’s death after deciding that no one did anything wrong the night the 44-year-old inmate died.
The state paid Johnson’s mother $175,000 to settle a wrongful-death lawsuit against the department and a prison nurse who examined Johnson the night he died. No prison workers, including the nurse, were accused by the department of wrongdoing.
After being contacted by The News Service of Florida and told about Johnson’s death, Department of Corrections Secretary Julie Jones said she intends to have Johnson’s case reviewed by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, now probing about 100 unresolved prison deaths.
“Although it’s old, there’s absolutely nothing lost by trying to go back and make sure that justice is done. It doesn’t matter if it’s past or present. I will open this again and have FDLE review it,” Jones, who was named to the secretary’s job in December, said Monday.
Inspectors stumbled onto an alleged cover-up involving the death of Jordan-Aparo two years ago while investigating reports of corruption at Franklin Correctional Institution, about 100 miles from the Northwest Florida Reception Center in Washington County, where Johnson was serving a life sentence.
The inspectors later sued the department, claiming they were retaliated against for raising questions about the investigation into Jordan-Aparo’s death. A Tallahassee judge dismissed the lawsuit last month, but the inspectors’ lawyer said he intends to appeal. Three of the guards involved in Jordan-Aparo’s death were fired, and the case is still the subject of state and federal investigations.
It’s unclear exactly what took place the night of Johnson’s death or even exactly when the inmate — a paranoid schizophrenic — died at the Northwest Florida Reception Center. Incident reports, a highly redacted inspector-general’s report and an autopsy report by the medical examiner offer different, at times contradictory, accounts.
Florida Justice Institute Executive Director Randall Berg, who represented Johnson’s mother in the lawsuit against the state, said it is unknown how many other closed cases bear further scrutiny.
“I don’t think that we can ever be confident that we found all of them. I think it’s the tip of the iceberg. We can only investigate those cases which are brought to our attention since there is no real meaningful oversight by the department to police itself,” Berg said.
According to a sergeant who was on duty at the prison on the night Johnson died, the inmate might have been dead before he was wheeled into the shower to be cleaned off, prior to anyone trying to revive him and before an ambulance was called.
Johnson’s cell — covered in residue from the toxic chemicals which ultimately killed him — was mopped and cleaned just minutes after the unresponsive inmate was removed from the cell and long before an inspector arrived on the scene. That inspector later dismissed the cleaning of the cell as “routine practice” following use of force incidents.
What is known is that Johnson was gassed at least twice with oleoresin capsicum, or pepper spray. The highly caustic chemical causes tearing, nasal discharge, disorientation and the sensation of respiratory distress and can be lethal for people with asthma.
Ronnie Bowers, a retired sergeant who was working at the prison that night, told The News Service of Florida that Johnson had been targeted for gassing earlier in the day but that a nurse refused to authorize the use of chemical agents on the inmate because of his breathing problems.
Bowers, who retired in 2012, also said that he overheard a conversation between captains during a shift change that led him to believe an inmate was going to be gassed. When questioned by inspectors, one of the captains, Michael Mercer, denied that he had pre-arranged Johnson’s gassing.
The Panhandle prison is one of more than a dozen institutions that house some of the state’s most dangerous criminals. The Washington County facility on the outskirts of Chipley is among many Florida prisons that provide good jobs in rural areas and have earned the loyalty of generations of workers, many of whose family members also work for the corrections department.
The prison also has faced recent allegations of inmate abuse.
Last month, five Northwest Florida Reception Center guards were indicted by a federal grand jury for allegedly stomping on a shackled and handcuffed inmate on Aug. 5, 2014. The five guards, who were arrested and fired last year in the beating, were also charged with falsifying reports related to the incident. A sixth prison worker, Capt. James Kirkland, was also arrested and fired last year for allegedly ordering the attack. According to Washington County authorities, Kirkland died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in December.
In the 2010 gassing case, Johnson, who was under “close” supervision in solitary confinement, created a disturbance in the G-dormitory by yelling and refusing to return his food tray about 4 p.m., according to the investigative report written by Senior Inspector Art Rountree. Several officers “counseled” Johnson and warned him that he would be gassed if he did not return the tray and quiet down.
Mercer reviewed Johnson’s chart “and found no medical condition that would be exasperated by the use of chemical spray,” investigator Michael Bates wrote in a medical examiner’s case summary. As required, Mercer then asked a nurse to confirm that no changes had been made in Johnson’s medical records that would prohibit the use of the chemicals and was told by nurse Chavet Paridon that no changes had occurred, although the inmate had been treated for difficulty in breathing that afternoon.
Mercer obtained a canister of the spray and received approval from the duty officer to administer the gas but abandoned the efforts after Johnson complied, according to numerous official reports.
The reports also show that the interaction with Johnson, about 5:10 p.m., was videotaped by a hand-held camera, a procedure required to be used prior to inmates being gassed. Not captured on the hand-held camera were the actual circumstances when Johnson was gassed.
Numerous inmates who were adjacent to Johnson’s cell swore that Johnson was gassed three times the night he died, although official reports only document two gassings. Two anonymous letters sent to then-Gov. Charlie Crist, including one from an officer who was on duty that night, also said that Johnson was gassed three times.
Around 5:30, Mercer reported that Johnson again caused a disturbance, yelling and refusing to stop after he was again warned that he would be gassed.
Sgt. George Cone, whom Mercer had ordered to the dorm from another part of the prison, sprayed Johnson — clad only in boxer shorts — twice within five minutes about 6 p.m., emptying 340 grams of the chemicals onto Johnson’s face and torso, according to numerous incident reports.
According to the official reports, Johnson was then offered a “cool shower” — recommended to clean off the chemicals — but refused. Mercer ordered Johnson to come to the cell door to be handcuffed and shackled so he could be escorted to the shower for decontamination but Johnson did not respond. Mercer ordered another officer to watch Johnson for two hours and continue to offer the cool shower to him every 30 minutes.
By 6:30, “guards indicate they found the victim to have slid down on the floor, face up from a sitting position, breathing but unresponsive to verbal commands,” according to the medical examiner’s report.
At 7 p.m., several guards “escorted” Johnson from the cell, according to Rountree’s report, and took him to the shower. Mercer ordered the guards to put restraints on Johnson. In his incident report, Sgt. Jason Whiddon said that he and two other guards did so.
But Bowers said he saw guards transport the slumped-over inmate, tied to a wheelchair with a bed sheet but with no restraints, to the infirmary. Bowers also said that caught his attention because inmates are always handcuffed or shackled in case they are pretending to be unconscious.
“They put him on the floor of the shower underneath the shower head with his back against the wall. The officers used cups to rinse him from the shoulders down,” Sgt. Mark Angove said in an incident report written that night.
Once in the shower, Johnson “refused to acknowledge staff or orders or follow them,” according to Mercer’s incident report.
After the shower, Johnson was taken back to the medical unit where nurse Viven Ogg performed various tests, including placing ammonia under Johnson’s nose, to make sure that he wasn’t faking respiratory distress. Someone later tried to resuscitate Johnson.
At approximately 7:10 p.m., “when he became unresponsive and quit breathing,” prison staff tried to resuscitate Johnson, according to Bates’ report. He was pronounced dead on arrival after being transported by ambulance to a nearby hospital.
Videos from cameras in the prison showed that orderlies entered Johnson’s cell 15 minutes after he was removed from it and began to clean it up.
“This was routine practice following all uses of force,” Rountree wrote in his report.
Two days later, Bowers said that two guards who were working for him and who had participated in the use of force on Johnson were called to the front office.
When they returned, Bowers said the guards told him they had to sign the reports detailing what happened the night Johnson died.
Prison officials “had the paperwork looking good” and told the two guards that “all they had to do was stick together,” Bowers said the men told him.
“It was a cover-up job,” Bowers said.
Inmates who were in the confinement unit the night Johnson died, who were interviewed between a week and two months after the incident, said they never heard Johnson creating a ruckus before he was gassed.
Two inmates — Levert Stewart and Jerome Butler — who were in a cell across from Johnson said that guards had left the flap on their cell door window open and they were able to see and hear guards coming and going before and after Johnson was gassed.
“During the days following, officers repeatedly came to their cell asking them what they saw and threatened them not to talk to anyone,” the inmates told Rountree.
Corrections officials, who have not changed their policy that allows inmates with chronic lung ailments to be gassed, last year asked the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to review unresolved inmate deaths. Johnson’s death, considered an accident, was not one of those cases.
Berg, the lawyer for Johnson’s family, and other advocates have asked the U.S. Department of Justice, which is reportedly investigating wrongdoing at several state prisons, to do a full review of the Florida prison system.
“As a result of there being no meaningful oversight by the department, one will have no idea whether all of the wrongful deaths have been brought to light,” Berg said.
by Dara Kam, The News Service of Florida
Century Residents To Get Help With Windstorm Home Upgrades
March 18, 2015
The Town of Century will assist local resident strengthen their homes against hurricanes and other windstorms.
The program will provide funding for the installation of hurricane resistant windows and doors, roof upgrades, installation of hurricane straps or clips, anchor walls or columns to the foundation and other upgrades.
Applicants must meet HUD low and moderate income limits, based on family size and reside within the Century town limits.
To apply, call the Century Town Hall at (850) 256-3208 during the application period between 9 a.m. on Friday, March 20 and 3 p.m. on Friday, April 10. Funding will be provided by the Florida Division of Emergency Management.
Northview Perfect Streak Ends; Tate Softball Slams Fort Walton; Jay Over Chipley
March 18, 2015
Baker 8, Northview 5
Northview 10, Baker 6 (JV)
The Northview Chiefs’ undefeated season came to an end on the road Tuesday night with an 8-5 loss to Baker. In junior varsity action, Northview defeated Baker 10-6.
SOFTBALL
Tate 15, Fort Walton 0 (3 innings)
For Tate: Casey McCracken 3-3 3R, 1RBI, HR; Tori Perkins 3-3, 2 R; Hayden Lindsey 1-3, 3 R, 2 RBI, 2B, RBI; Rachel Wright 2-2, 1 R, 1 RBI, Savannah Rowell, 1-2, 1 R, 3 RBI.
Jay 5, Chipley 2
Pictured: Northview at Baker. NorthEscambia.com photos by Ramona Preston, click to enlarge.
Jay, Northview Students Chosen For Washington Youth Tour
March 18, 2015
Olivia Britt of Jay High School and Morgan Wiggins of Northview High School have been name winners of the Escambia River Electric Cooperative 2015 Youth Tour to Washington contest.
Judges from PowerSouth Energy Cooperative in Andalusia, AL, and Southern Pine Electric Cooperative in Brewton, AL, scored contestants in their interviews based on their knowledge of Escambia River Electric Cooperative and the history of rural electrification. Personal attributes of each candidate such as character, academic ability, personality and leadership skills were also considered.
Britt and Wiggins will represent EREC on the Washington Youth Tour in June. They will also have the chance to see the sites, learn about the nation’s capital, rural electrification and more.