Blue Wahoos Beat Jackson
May 4, 2015
Pensacola Blue Wahoos pitcher Josh Smith picked up his second win of the season by throwing seven scoreless innings against the Jackson Generals on Sunday.
Smith, who last pitched for the Blue Wahoos in 2013, is now 2-1 with a 2.70 ERA after giving up six hits and striking out eight in Pensacola’s, 5-1, victory at The Ballpark in Jackson. The win ended a two-game losing streak to the Generals, who wrap up its five-game series Monday with Pensacola.
Smith wasn’t the only star for Pensacola on Sunday. Designated hitter Kyle Waldrop went 3-5 with a double, scored a run and drove in two more. Marquez Smith also had a 3-5 day and scored.
Pensacola scored first in the third inning. They took a 1-0 lead when Juan Silva tripled for the first time this season on a soft line drive to right field and Beau Amaral knocked him in with a single on a line drive to left field.
Marquez Smith then singled sharply to left field and Waldrop doubled on a fly ball to center field that drove in Smith to put Pensacola up, 2-0. Waldrop moved to third base on a Seth Mejias-Brean ground out to shortstop. Chris Berset drove Waldrop in on a sacrifice fly to center field for a 3-0 Pensacola lead.
Pensacola made it 4-0 when Jesse Winker reached first on a fielder’s choice and two out. Smith followed with a single to right field and Winker took third on a fielding error by Jackson right fielder Jabari Blash. Waldrop then drove in Winker with a two-out single to center field.
The Blue Wahoos added an insurance run in the ninth when Juan Perez singled on a ground ball to the second baseman and reached third on a wild pitch by Jackson’s Trevor Miller. Ryan Wright then drove Perez in on a sacrifice fly to go ahead, 5-0.
Perez went 2-5 and has now hit in six straight games and 15 of the last 16 games. He’s leading Pensacola with a .311 batting average.
Cantonment Motorcyclist Charged With Fleeing From Deputies
May 4, 2015
A Cantonment man has been charged with running from deputies on his motorcycle.
An Escambia County deputy reported that he observed a Honda motorcycle at the intersection of Nine Mile and Pine Forest roads. He said the driver, later identified as 21-year old Brian Paul Watkins, turned around and looked directly at him. The deputy later activated his lights and siren to conduct a traffic stop because the motorcycle’s tag was expired. The deputy reported Watkins continued at a normal speed before taking off at a high rate of speed and passing through two red lights. The deputy reported that he turned off his lights and sirens, discontinuing the traffic stop, as Watkins continued at a high rate of speed on Pine Forest Road “with no regards to other vehicles that were in his path of travel”.
A warrant was prepared for his arrest.
Watkins was charged with felony fleeing and eluding while lights and siren activated and cited for resiting an officer and operating a motorcycle without a license. He remained in the Escambia County Jail Monday with bond set at $52,000.
Woman Dies When Her Home Is Hit By Vehicle
May 4, 2015
An Escambia County woman sitting in her living room died in a traffic Sunday.
Donna Sue Alexander, 52,was inside her home in the 1600 block of East Mallory Street when a Toyota Tacoma pick-up truck driven by John Dye, 30, crashed into the house.
Alexander died at the scene, while Dye was taken to a local hospital to be examined for injuries.
Dye was northbound on 17th Avenue when the truck left the road, struck the house and entered the living room. The cause of the crash, which occurred around 6:40 p.m. Sunday, remains under investigation. Charges are pending the outcome of the investigation.
Court Forces Florida Prisons To Go Kosher
May 4, 2015
After more than a decade of legal wrangling, a federal judge has ordered the Florida Department of Corrections to provide kosher meals to inmates, rejecting the state’s argument that the religious diet is prohibitively expensive.
Corrections officials are already serving the kosher meals but have refused to acknowledge that they are required to do so under the federal “Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act” law enacted in 2000.
The U.S. Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against the agency three years ago as part of a drawn-out fight over the kosher meals, an option not only for Jewish prisoners but for Muslim and Seventh-Day Adventists whose religions also proscribe dietary restrictions.
The lawsuit challenged corrections officials’ claim that they were not required to provide the meals, as well as the rules the agency used to determine who was eligible to receive the meals.
About 10,000 inmates receive kosher meals now being served at all of the state’s institutions, and corrections officials have no plans to discontinue the special diet, according to Department of Corrections spokesman McKinley Lewis.
“If you want a kosher meal, you can have a kosher meal,” he said.
The department started offering the kosher meals in 2004 to Jewish prisoners at 13 facilities and transferred inmates who were eligible for the meals to those institutions. The agency expanded the program to inmates of all faiths in 2006 but halted it the following year before reinstating it as a pilot project at a single prison in 2010, serving fewer than 20 prisoners.
A year after the lawsuit was filed, the department again began serving kosher meals and promised to have the meals available to all inmates by last July.
Last summer, the department switched to all-cold meals, consisting largely of peanut butter and sardines, served twice a day, prompting some inmates to complain that the unappetizing diet was aimed at discouraging prisoners from signing up for the plan.
“…It is hard to understand how defendants can have a compelling state interest in not spending money that they are already voluntarily spending on the exact thing they claim to have an interest in not providing,” U.S. District Judge Patricia Seitz wrote in a 31-page opinion.
“Furthermore, not only are defendants voluntarily spending the money on providing kosher meals, they have repeatedly represented that they are committed to providing kosher meals” and that the current religious diet plan is sustainable, both monetarily and security-wise, the judge wrote. “Thus, defendants’ compelling state interest argument is substantially dampened by its voluntary decision to provide kosher meals.”
The kosher meals cost about $3.56 per inmate per day, compared to $1.89 per day for regular meals. The department estimated that the costs for making kosher meals available to all inmates could total between $384,000 and $12.3 million, depending on how many inmates signed up for the program and decided to stick with it.
But even the department’s “worst-case scenario” estimate equates to just .005 of its total annual budget, Seitz wrote.
“Clearly, in pure numbers these amounts are not insignificant. However, in an overall budget of nearly $2.3 billion per year, these amounts are relatively small,” Seitz wrote.
While nearly 10,000 prisoners — about 10 percent of the total inmate population — receive kosher meals today, corrections officials expect participation in the program to decline to about 1.5 to 2 percent. In the five prisons where the meals have been served for a full year, the participation rate dropped by one third.
The department, which has spent more than $400,000 in legal costs fighting the lawsuit, last year contended that the kosher meals were prohibitively expensive.
If just 1.5 to 2 percent of the total prison population joined the program, the department would spend up to $1.7 million a year, not including extra costs for disposable utensils and plates, lawyers for the department wrote in a brief last year.
“For a cash-strapped agency like the Department of Corrections, these amounts are not a ‘relatively minor expense,’ given other crucial needs that compete for funds,” Florida Assistant Attorney General Lisa Kuhlman Tietig wrote.
But the department’s lawyers failed to show that the cost of the program has affected prison operations in any way, Seitz wrote.
“There is no evidence that any program s have been cut, that any staff has been cut, or that there has been any harm to any aspect of defendants’ operations,” she wrote.
Seitz also ordered the department to stop using a “zero-tolerance” policy that removed inmates from the kosher meal plan if they were caught eating regular meals or purchasing non-kosher food from the canteen, something corrections officials have already abandoned.
And Seitz also ruled that prison officials can’t kick inmates off of the kosher plan if the inmates miss 10 percent or more of their meals in a month, another policy the department has discontinued.
Seitz criticized the department for complaining about the costs of the special diet but not using its own policies to restrict who receives the meals.
“Defendants have at their disposal an alternative means to contain costs without burdening the religious exercise of those prisoners with a sincere religious belief requiring them to keep kosher. To date, however, defendants have actively chosen not to use these alternative cost reduction methods,” she wrote.
by Dara Kam, The News Service of Florida
Pictured: The cafeteria at Century Correctional Institution. NorthEscambia.com file photo, click to enlarge.
Northview Teacher Recognized By Freedoms Foundation
May 4, 2015
Northview High School social studies teacher James Moretz has been recognized by the Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge. He has received a scholarship to attend the Medal of Honor Legacy graduate program this summer. His scholarship will include transportation, accommodations, graduate credit, meals, and a guided tour of the historic area of Philadelphia including the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, the National Constitution Center, and many more highlights.
Founded in 1949, the Freedoms Foundation is a national, non-profit, non-partisan, non-sectarian educational organization. The Freedoms Foundation provides a wide range of educational and awards programs for students, teachers and citizens to gain a greater awareness and appreciation of the principles and responsibilities of a free and democratic society.
Pictured: Northview High School social studies teacher James Mortez. NorthEscambia.com photo, click to enlarge.
NewsRadio 1620 Wins Edward R. Murrow Award
May 4, 2015
NewsRadio1620 has won a 2015 regional Edward R. Murrow Award from the national Radio, Television, Digital News Association (RTNDA).
The station won in the Outstanding Continuing Coverage category for its reporting on the extensive flood that occurred in April, 2014. From the time that the rains began moving into the greater Pensacola area on April 29, the station provided continuous live coverage of local weather and flood conditions for the next two days, preempting all other regular programming.
NewsRadio1620 is now eligible for consideration for a national award in the same category. Edward R. Murrow Awards are considered to be among the most prestigious of the broadcast journalism awards. This year, RTNDA received more than 4,000 entries from radio and television stations across the United States. This is the 5th Edward R. Murrow Award that NewsRadio1620 has won for local news coverage.
NewsRadio1620 and sister station CatCountry 98.7 are locally owned and managed by Dave and Mary Hoxeng.
Roxie Willis Stallworth
May 4, 2015
Born in Century on June 4, 1925, Mrs. Stallworth was a postal employee, then became a full-time mom. Roxie was loyal to her Lord, her family and the many friends she knew and loved. Many lives were touched by her warm and caring heart. Roxie was a member of Pine Forest Baptist Church where she served the Lord and others for 39 years, as were the number of lashes on our Savior Jesus Christ’s back.
Roxie is preceded in death by her husband of 57 years, Lee Stallworth, Sr., her parents, Roy and Sallie Willis, sister, Vivian Mize, brothers, Ralph Willis, Charles Willis and Daryl Willis, and son-in-law, John Giuntini.
Survivors include her children, Lee Stallworth, Jr. (Jennie), Mark Stallworth, Sr. (Linda) and Viv Giuntini; four grandsons, two granddaughters and two great grandchildren.
Visitation will be at Pensacola Memorial Gardens Funeral Home on Monday, May 4, 2015, from 1 p.m. till the service begins at 2 p.m.
In lieu of flowers, the family request memorials be made to the Haji Transportation Fund, 800 West Nine Mile Road, Pensacola, FL 32534.
Angela C. Meitzler
May 4, 2015
Angela C. Meitzler, 49 of Canoe, passed away Saturday, May 2, 2015, at her residence. She was born in Atmore on June 15, 1965, to Willie and Peggy Jo Buck Booth. She was a beautician for many years but had worked for the past 18 years as a District Manager for Family Dollar Stores.
She is preceded in death by her mother, Peggy Jo Booth.
Survivors include her husband, Bubba Meitzler of Canoe; father, Willie Booth; one son, Jason Purcell of Spanish Fort; one daughter, Kaley Powers of Atmore; and many friends.
Services will be Wednesday, May 6, 2015, at 2 p.m. from Johnson-Quimby Funeral Home Chapel with Bro. Jimmy Kyles officiating.
Interment will follow in McCullough Cemetery.
Family will receive friends Wednesday, May 6, 2015, at Johnson-Quimby Funeral Home from 1 p.m. until service time.
Johnson-Quimby Funeral Home is in charge of all arrangements.
Sandra Johnson
May 4, 2015
Sandra Johnson, age 68,of Atmore, passed away May 3, 2015. She was born in Birmingham to Guy Mitchell Sr.and Frances Hall Mitchell. She graduated from Auburn University where she was a charter member of the Alpha Chi Omega sorority. After teaching math for several years she was privileged to stay home with her two children. She devoted her life to serving the Lord with her family, community, and church. She was a member of Atmore First Presbyterian Church, the Atmore Historical Society, National Day of Prayer Organization, and she served on the board of Sav-A-Life. She loved traveling, gardening, and photography. Her family will remember her as a person who brought joy into the lives of all who knew her.
She is survived by her husband, Robert A. Johnson Jr.; two children, Audrey (Andy) Alsobrook and Paul (Ashley) Johnson; her twin grandchildren, Anna and Andrew Alsobrook; brother, Guy (Karen) Mitchell,Jr.; and nieces, Melissa Mitchell North and Lauren Mitchell.
Funeral services will be held Thursday, May 7, 2015, at 11 a.m. from the First Presbyterian Church in Atmore with Rev. Jim Thorpe officiating. The family will receive friends one hour prior to service time at the church.
Visitation will be held Wednesday, May 6, 2015, from 6 p.m. until 8 p.m. at the First Presbyterian Church in Atmore.
There will be a private graveside service for family only following the funeral service.
Monetary donations can be made to the Atmore First Presbyterian Church or the charity of your choice.
Johnson-Quimby Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.
Molino Thrift Store Ministry Suffering After Theft
May 3, 2015
The Molino community is reaching out to help a local non-profit that suffered a theft sometime Saturday afternoon.
The Molino Outreach Thrift Store, located in a former grocery store on Highway 29, is operated by Pastor Jason Lee, along with his family and numerous volunteers. It’s a different sort of thrift store, one where the bottom line is not nearly as important as helping others.
Over the past few weeks, every piece of clothing in the store has been priced at just 99¢ — not to make a profit but to be a blessing to those that shop there, according to Lee’s postings on the store’s Facebook page. Recently, the store has added new furniture and appliances to their offerings, at substantial savings off regular prices, once again as a blessing to those in the community that support the store. It allows many people the chance to purchase items that they might not otherwise be able to afford, while providing a minimal income to keep the ministry moving forward.
Much of the Molino Outreach Thrift Store’s marketing is limited to word of mouth, promotion by local churches and Facebook.
Saturday afternoon, shortly after the store posted that it is need of paper towels and toilet paper, someone walked out with Lee’s notebook computer. The laptop was not only used to post about the store’s specials and the ministry to Facebook, but it also contained off of their photos used to sell special order furniture on a daily basis.
“Please pray for the person who took it and pray that they will bring it back,” was posted on the store’s Facebook page using another person’s laptop.
Local resident Josh Tucker has created a “gofundme” site to raise funds to purchase another laptop to the ministry and store. Anything donated in excess of the goal amount will be used toward continuing the ministry of the Molino Outreach Thrift Store. To donate, click here.