Escambia Weeds Out 90 Marijuana Plants In 2014; Santa Rosa 234
April 8, 2015
Last year in Escambia County, two people were arrested as 90 marijuana plants were destroyed from seven different sites, according to a report released by the state Tuesday. Across the state, Florida’s Domestic Marijuana Eradication Program resulted in the destruction of more than 31,500 marijuana plants and the arrests of more than 500 people during 2014.
The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services works to prevent the cultivation and distribution of marijuana through the Domestic Marijuana Eradication Program, which is a joint effort with the U.S. Department of Justice Drug Enforcement Agency and local sheriff’s offices and police departments in 49 counties across the state.
Two of the marijuana sites in Escambia County were indoor operations with 27 total plants eradicated, resulting in two arrests. The other five sites destroyed by law enforcement in Escambia County were outdoors with 63 plants, resulting in no arrests.
Authorities in Santa Rosa County eradicated 171 plants from three indoor sites, resulting in four arrests, along with two arrests related to 10 outdoor grow sites with 63 plants. Authorities also seized one weapon related to a marijuana grow site in Santa Rosa County.
The Escambia County Sheriff’s Office was reimbursed $1,750 for their eradication efforts by the program, while the Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office was reimbursed $3,500.
“Our partnership with local law enforcement helps keep marijuana out of our communities, making them safer for the 20 million residents who call Florida home,” Commissioner of Agriculture Adam H. Putnam said.
Pictured top and bottom: Marijuana plants previously seized in the Molino area. Pictured inset: An indoor grow operation near Molino. NorthEscambia.com file photos, click to enlarge.
Century Takes Part In Mayors Day Of Recognition For National Service
April 8, 2015
Tuesday was the Mayors Day of Recognition for National Service, with mayors across the country recognizing those who serve as volunteers. Century Mayor Freddie McCall recognized the service and volunteerism of the Be Ready Alliance Coordinating for Emergencies (BRACE) and AmeriCorps. VISTA. NorthEscambia.com photo, click to enlarge.
Escambia Man Gets 35 Years For Abusing Child
April 8, 2015
An Escambia County man is headed to prison on sex offender charges.
Nathan Matthew Kinard, 35, was sentenced Tuesday by Escambia County Circuit Court Judge Edward Nickinson to 35 years in state prison followed by a lifetime of sexual offender probation. Kinard will be required to serve 25 years as a minimum mandatory sentence. Kinard was also designated as a sexual predator and will be required to register as a sexual predator and comply with all statutory requirements.
Kinard entered a guilty plea to two counts of lewd or lascivious molestation as well as escape, attempted escape and criminal mischief for crimes he committed while awaiting trial at the Escambia County Jail.
During August 2014, prosecutors said Kinard had sexual contact with an eight-year old child victim. DNA recovered from the victim matched the defendant.
House Seeks More Oversight Of Florida’s Prison System
April 8, 2015
Saying that reform must happen, a Florida House panel on Tuesday pushed forward a plan aimed at increasing oversight of the state’s troubled prison system but stopped short of endorsing an independent commission included in the Senate’s corrections overhaul.
The House Justice Appropriations Subcommittee approved the measure (HB 7131) in a 13-2 vote, with two Democrats objecting that the legislation does not go far enough to quash inmate abuse and cover-ups first exposed last summer.
The panel also signed off on a separate bill (HB 7113) intended to steer mentally ill people into diversion programs or other services instead of putting them behind bars. Department of Corrections Secretary Julie Jones, whose appointment received preliminary approval from a Senate committee earlier Tuesday, has maintained that many of her agency’s problems are rooted in a skyrocketing number of mentally ill inmates.
House Criminal Justice Chairman Carlos Trujillo, the prison reform bill’s sponsor, amended the proposal Tuesday to add two more administrative regions to the agency’s three current regions, which he said would increase accountability over the state’s 56 prisons.
The Senate’s plan, approved by the full chamber last week, would create a nine-member, governor-appointed panel that would have broad investigatory powers and essentially take over the job now performed by the agency’s inspector general, who answers to Gov. Rick Scott’s chief inspector general.
Calling his bill “a work in progress,” Trujillo did not rule out a commission but said lawmakers would be abdicating their responsibility by approving such a panel.
“One thing we won’t accept is just passing this problem onto somebody else,” Trujillo, R-Miami.
Establishing five regions — a revival of the same number of regional divisions once employed by the corrections agency decades ago — would introduce “more eyes, more bodies, more people, more boots on the ground,” Trujillo told reporters after the meeting.
“Part of the problem is you have to attack the culture,” Trujillo, a lawyer, said. “In some facilities there’s this camaraderie and this culture of, ‘This is our house and you people just have to live by whatever rules we pass,’ whether they conform with the laws of morals and ethics of everything we live by in society. That’s what has to stop.”
The House and Senate plans come in response to widespread reports about problems and abuse in the prison system. Those reports have included allegations about cover-ups involving inmate deaths, complaints from inspectors who say they faced retaliation for exposing cover-ups and complaints from guards and others about a culture of intimidation against whistleblowers.
Last week, an FBI investigation resulted in the arrest of two prison guards and one former prison worker who were allegedly members of the Ku Klux Klan. They were accused of plotting to kill an ex-inmate after he was released from a rural North Florida institution.
But Allison DeFoor, a prison-reform advocate who heads Florida State University’s Project on Accountable Justice and has pushed the oversight commission, told the panel that adding more regions won’t solve the prison system’s woes.
“It’s structurally broken. It’s not a crisis situation. It’s much worse than that,” DeFoor, a former judge and sheriff, said.
Jones, who objects to the commission as “another layer of bureaucracy,” said she supports the House’s decentralization.
“With as many facilities as we have, it’s important to have additional supervision that answers to Tallahassee, and a smaller span of control for those regional directors is going to be very helpful in the accountability piece,” Jones said Tuesday afternoon.
Jones, like her six predecessors in the past decade, is well-intended, DeFoor said.
“You can’t lift a car with good intentions. You have to have a posse. You need people to do it,” he said.
by Dara Kam, The News Service of Florida
FHSAA Announces New Track And Field, Cross Country Classifications
April 8, 2015
The Florida High School Athletic Association state series assignments were announced Tuesday for track and field, and cross country for the 2015-16 through 2018-19 school years. Local schools were assigned as follows:
Class 3A
Fall 2014 student population: 1,526-2,094
DISTRICT 1
Escambia (Pensacola)
Gulf Breeze
Milton
Pace
Pensacola
Pine Forest (Pensacola)
Tate (Cantonment)
Washington (Pensacola)
Class 2A
Fall 2014 student population: 493-1,525
DISTRICT 1
Arnold (Panama City Beach)
Bay (Panama City)
Chipley (track & field only)
North Bay Haven (Panama City)
Northview (Bratt)
Pensacola Catholic
Rutherford (Panama City)
South Walton (Santa Rosa Beach)
Walton (DeFuniak Springs)
West Florida (Pensacola)
Class 1A
Fall 2014 student population: 11-493
DISTRICT 1
Baker
Central (Milton)
Freeport
Jay
Laurel Hill (cross country only)
Paxton
Pensacola Christian
Rocky Bayou Christian (Niceville)
Baseball: Northview Beats Jay; Navarre Tops Tate
April 8, 2015
BASEBALL
Northview 5, Jay 4 (8 inn.)
The Northview Chiefs defeated in the Jay Royals 5-4 Tuesday in an eight-inning district battle. The Royals will travel to Rocky Bayou Thursday, while the Chiefs will host Chipley in a district game.
Navarre 7, Tate 4
The Tate Aggies lost a road game to Navarre Tuesday, 7-4. Sawyer Smith was 1-3. Marker Miller was 2-4, Logan McGuffey was 1-3. The Aggies are on the road again Thursday against district opponent Niceville.
Pictured: The Northview Chiefs beat the Jay Royals in 8 innings Tuesday in Bratt. NorthEscambia.com photos by Ramona Preston, click to enlarge.
Ellouise Nellie Smith
April 8, 2015
Ellouise Nellie Smith, 93, of Pensacola passed away on April 6, 2015. At a young age, Ellouise was saved at Berney Points Baptist Church in Birmingham. She enjoyed learning to know Christ and was later baptized. As an adult, Ellouise enjoyed volunteering at Olive Baptist Church and Manna Food Bank, where she received an award for her long-time service. She was also a member of Steadfast Sunday School class at Olive Baptist Church.
Ellouise said, “Jesus has always been a step ahead of me in my joys and especially of my needs. There was always people to love and to be near when they were needed, and always made sure there was manna for me”.
She was preceded in death by her parents; siblings; and her husband, Richard E. Smith.
Survivors include her sons, Richard Smith and Matt (Trina) Smith; grandchildren, Andy (Ginger) Smith, Laura Smith, Adam Smith, Emily Smith, and Helen Smith; great grandsons, Braedon and Rowan.
Trahan Family Funeral Home, 419 Yoakum Court, is in charge of arrangements.
Visitation will be held from 3-6 p.m. with a service at 5 p.m., Thursday, April 9, 2015, at the funeral home. A visitation will be held the following day from 10 a.m. to noon, Friday, April 10, 2015, at the Central Baptist Church, McNeill, MS, with interment to follow at First Baptist Church Cemetery, in Carriere, MS.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Manna Food Bank.
Softball: Jay Beats Laurel Hill; West Florida Over Pace
April 8, 2015
SOFTBALL
Jay 13, Laurel Hill 3 (5 inn.)
The Jay Royals beat Laurel Hill 13-3 Tuesday in Jay. The Lady Royals will host the Lady ‘Canes of Flomaton Thursday afternoon.
West Florida 11, Pace 6
Pictured: The Lady Royals of Jay beat Laurel Hill Tuesday. Photos by Diann Tagert for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Victim Identified In Fiery I-65 Crash
April 7, 2015
Alabama State Troopers have released the name of the woman killled April 2 in a fiery crash on I-65 near the Flomaton exit.
The victim was identified Tuesday by troopers at 51-year old Mary Daphine Bridges of Spanish Fort, AL. She was identified with the assistance of the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences. Bridges was the driver of the silver car in the foreground of the photos on this page.
Five other people were injured in the nine-vehicle crash which involved six passenger vehicles and three semi trucks in the northbound lanes.
For an earlier story and more photos, click here.
NorthEscambia.com and reader submitted photos, click to enlarge.
Century Approves Paving Project Including 12 Streets
April 7, 2015
The Century Town Council has approved resurfacing and patching a dozen streets around the town.
The total cost will be $153,122.69 to contractor Roads, Inc. The project will not be bid; the council will piggyback on an existing Escambia County contract with Roads.
The following streets will be resurfaced or patched as noted:
- Jefferson Avenue – Resurface from curve at Mincey Lane to railroad tracks – $11,467.50
- Jefferson Avenue – Patch near Carver Community Center – $696
- Robert Road — Patch – $319
- Tedder Road – Patch near fire station $1,517
- Pond Street – Resurface from Century Business Center to bridge near sewer plant – $32,817.90
- Pinewood Avenue – Resurface from Hecker to Front Street – $17,701.65
- Mayo Street – Resurface from Hecker to Front Street – $25,437
- Mayo Lane – Resurface from Mayor Street to Jefferson Avenue – $16,367
- Kelly Field Road – Pave gravel road beside railroad tracks – $6,090
- Kelly Field R0ad – Overlay section between ball field and cemetery – $6,595.65
- Kelly Field Road – Resurface from Hecker Road to ballpark gate - $8,201
- Lodge Drive – Resurface from Hecker to Front Street $12,690.70
- Wood Street – Resurface from Lodge Drive to Bradley – $4,746.85
- Hecker Road -Parch near Alger Road – $725
- Renfroe Street – Resurface from Hwy 29 to Ivey Street – $5,650.35
The contract also includes mobilization fee of $2,100. There no word yet on an exact start date.