Mostly Cloudy Tonight
November 15, 2015
Here is your official North Escambia area forecast:
Tonight: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 62. East wind 5 to 10 mph.
Tuesday: A 20 percent chance of showers after noon. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 77. Southeast wind 10 to 15 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph.
Tuesday Night: A chance of showers, with thunderstorms also possible after midnight. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 70. Southeast wind 10 to 15 mph, with gusts as high as 20 mph. Chance of precipitation is 50%.
Wednesday: Showers and thunderstorms. Some of the storms could be severe and produce heavy rainfall. High near 74. Southeast wind 5 to 15 mph becoming northwest in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 20 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%.
Wednesday Night: A 40 percent chance of showers before midnight. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 52. North wind around 5 mph.
Thursday: Sunny, with a high near 70. North wind around 5 mph.
Thursday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 47. North wind around 5 mph.
Friday: Sunny, with a high near 67. Northeast wind 5 to 10 mph.
Friday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 43. Northeast wind around 5 mph.
Saturday: Sunny, with a high near 66.
Saturday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 42.
Sunday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 63.
Sunday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 41.
Monday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 63.
Escambia County Crime Rate Increases As Overall State Crime Falls
November 15, 2015
The crime rate fell across Florida while inching up in Escambia County, according to the 2015 Semi-Annual Uniform Crime Report released Friday by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
The report shows Florida’s crime volume dropped 2.2 percent compared to the first six months of 2014, but increased 2.6 percent in Escambia County.
The Semi-Annual UCR calculates crime volume, the number of index crimes known to law enforcement. The index crimes of murder, robbery, burglary, and larceny all fell statewide during the reporting period while forcible sex offenses, aggravated assault and motor vehicle thefts increased across Florida.
Overall indexed crimes in Escambia County increased to 7,143 from 6,961 from January to June 2015 when compared to first six months of 2014.
Murders increased from 8 to 7, rapes from 69 to 97, robberies from 167 to 197, aggravated assaults from 753 to 911, and larcenies from 4,285 to 4,443. The number of burglaries decreased from 1,384 to 1,300 and motor vehicle thefts were down from 296 to 287. The percent of crimes cleared increased from 30.2 percent to 32.7 percent.
The Escambia County numbers include not only crimes investigated by the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office, but also the Pensacola Police Department, FDLE, the UWF Police Department and Pensacola State College Police. Three of Escambia County’s eight total murders were in the City of Pensacola, and the Pensacola Police Department investigated about 20 percent of all index crimes during the period.
During 2014, the overall crime rate in Escambia County decreased 9.1 percent when compared to the previous year.
Pictured: The scene of a fatal shooting in late January 2015 on Backwoods Road in Century. NorthEscambia.com file photo. Raw Escambia County data from the 2015 Semi-Annual Uniform Crime Report is below, click to enlarge.
Escambia School Choice Expo Set For Monday
November 15, 2015
The 2015 School Choice Expo will be held Monday at Booker T. Washington High School.
Families are asked to arrive at 5:30 p.m. to check-in inside the auditorium on the north side of the school. After a welcome and a briefing on how the event has been arranged, doors will open at 6 p.m. to enter the school where information tables will be set up in the gym, atrium and cafeteria. The event is scheduled to end at 7:30 p.m.
Each academy will have a table with staff members available to answer questions.
In addition, School Choice will have tables set up with computers for families wishing to access the online application (with staff members available for assistance).
Snacks or a light dinner will be available from The Cat Shack.
Washington High School is located at at 6000 College Parkway in Pensacola.
Florida Baptist Children’s Homes To Hold Christmas Open House
November 15, 2015
Florida Baptist Children’s Homes will hod a Christmas Open House December 11 from 6-8 p.m.
There will be jolly good eats, enlightening cottage tours and fun-filled family entertainment. The campus is located at 1000 Chemstrand Road in Cantonment.
“It is a wonderful opportunity to experience a place where lives of children are changed every day,” said Dr. Jerry Haag, president of Florida Baptist Children’s Homes. “Just a little bit of time, energy and resources can make a major impact in a child’s life.”
As of September, there were 230 children in licensed foster care in Escambia County and 143 in Santa Rosa County.
Florida Baptist Children’s Homes brought hope to more than 106,000 children and families last year through its local and global ministries.
While not expected, donations will be accepted for children in the Pensacola area. Items that would make a major impact include non-perishable foods, pajamas, socks, paper or personal hygiene goods.
Contact Florida Baptist Children’s Homes to learn about opportunities to help meet the campus’ Gingerbread Gift needs. This program ensures that every child has a special gift under the Christmas tree.
For more information call the campus at (850) 968-1114, email staff at Pensacola.FL@FBCHomes.org, or visit the Florida Baptist Children’s Homes website at www.FBCHomes.org.
One Injured In Cantonment Accident
November 15, 2015
One person was injured in a two vehicle accident Saturday night in Cantonment. The crash between a box truck and a Chevrolet Impala occurred just before 7 p.m. at Mintz Lane at Wegner Avenue. One person from the Impala was transported by Escambia County EMS to an area hospital with injuries that were not considered serious. The accident remains under investigation by the Florida Highway Patrol; further details have not yet been released. NorthEscambia.com photos by Kristi Price
Paris Attacks Overshadow Second Day Of Florida GOP Event
November 15, 2015
Speaking to Florida Republicans in the wake of a series of deadly terrorist attacks in Paris, GOP candidates for the White House largely stuck Saturday to foreign policy on the second day of the state party’s “Sunshine Summit” event.
It was a striking change from Friday’s first day of the gathering when most of the high-profile contenders for the Republican presidential nomination used standard stump speeches and emphasized their ties to Florida. Instead, the candidates who spoke Saturday included some whose poll numbers have been lower, and they focused on the fallout from the assaults on Paris.
Those attacks overnight Friday — or late in the first day of the summit — left 129 people dead, according to media reports. The Islamic State militant group, which is also known as ISIS, has claimed responsibility.
That put the spotlight Saturday on issues of terrorism and how the United States should handle the Islamic State’s growth in Iraq and Syria. Many of the candidates either spoke extensively about the attacks or scrapped their standard speeches to focus entirely on the events in Paris and whether the United States should expand its current air campaign against ISIS.
Several also used the events to try to distinguish themselves from other contenders on the issue of national security experience.
Carly Fiorina, a businesswoman who had surged to the top tier of GOP candidates but has lately seen her numbers fade, laid at least part of the blame for the attacks on President Barack Obama.
“Mostly, I am outraged because the murder, the mayhem, the danger, the tragedy that we see unfolding in Paris, in the Middle East, around the world and, too often, in our own homeland, are the direct consequences of this administration’s policies,” Fiorina told a cheering crowd of party activists and officials at the Rosen Shingle Creek resort. “You cannot lead from behind.”
Former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania said the attacks highlighted the need for someone who has dealt with foreign policy over a long timeframe, particularly in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on New York, Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C.
He suggested that he and U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina fit that bill, along with perhaps Ohio Gov. John Kasich, a former congressman. But Santorum also cast doubt on the relevance of Kasich’s experience.
“I think if you’re interested in national security, you’re looking at frankly two people who have had national security experience in the post-9/11 world,” Santorum said. “That would actually be Sen. Graham and myself. Congressman Kasich was long gone, and I think if you look at some of the policies he’s advocating, I don’t think he clearly understands the threat that radical Islam is. He wasn’t in Congress and wasn’t dealing with it.”
For his part, Kasich called for NATO to invoke the mutual defense clause of the organization’s founding treaty.
Kasich called for no-fly zones to be enforced over Syria, where the government of Bashar al-Assad has sought to hold onto power by brutally crushing a rebellion in a war blamed for killing tens of thousands of people, leaving millions homeless and providing a breeding ground for radical groups like ISIS.
“Last night, it was not just one isolated, small group and not just an attack that we have seen of just a lone wolf,” Kasich said. “Ladies and gentlemen, we need to understand that these attacks really represent an attack on Western civilization.”
But not everyone agreed. Former Virginia Gov. James Gilmore, who pointed to his experience as the state’s chief executive during the 9/11 attacks on the Pentagon, said a no-fly zone would be dangerous now that Russia has begun a military intervention in Syria.
“And frankly, we should have had a no-fly zone, which was imposed and put the burden on the Russians to try to intervene and to overturn that, which they probably would not have tried to do,” Gilmore said. “But by delaying so long, and really leaving a lot of our allies out there swinging, now the Russians have intervened and put us in a position where we could end up in a war with Russia.”
Some candidates also used the attacks to highlight divides on how Obama and social conservatives view the conflict between the West and groups like ISIS. Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal was among those calling for blunt declarations about the involvement of Muslims in terrorist groups.
“We need a president who will say this: Islam has a problem. That problem is radical Islam,” Jindal said. “We need a president who will say this to the Muslim clerics and leaders: It’s not enough to condemn generic acts of violence. They must make it clear, they must go after these individuals by name, and say that they are not martyrs. If you kill in the name of Islam, you are not a martyr. You are not going to enjoy a reward in the afterlife, but rather, you are going straight to hell where you belong.”
Many of the candidates also criticized Obama’s willingness to accept thousands of Syrian refugees in response to the suffering. They said the nation wouldn’t be able to adequately screen potential refugees to make sure that terrorists don’t blend in with other Syrians.
U.S. Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky called for regional powers to absorb some of those flowing out of Syria.
“I would like to see Saudi Arabia take them. I’d also like to see Iran take them,” Paul said. “The two arsonists in that region throwing gasoline on the fire — Saudi Arabia, Iran — they’re not taking any refugees. I think the refugees need to go to some of the local countries.”
At least one candidate seemed to use the dangers of the world to remind Republican voters about the risks of nominating a flamboyant outsider like real-estate tycoon Donald Trump. Without naming Trump, who has vaulted to the top of the polls, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said he understands the anger that many GOP voters feel.
“And then you take that anger and you want to use your vote as a chance to send a message about that anger,” Christie said. “These times are too dire for that luxury, and the threats we are facing are too great for that act of vanity.”
by Brandon Larrabee, The News Service of Florida
Pictured: Donald Trump (top) and Rand Paul (inset) at the Sunshine Summit. Photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Medical Marijuana Initiative Won’t Need Hearing
November 15, 2015
With Attorney General Pam Bondi declining to launch a challenge, the Florida Supreme Court on Friday called off a hearing scheduled for next month on a proposed constitutional amendment that would legalize medical marijuana.
Justices still need to sign off on the wording of the ballot initiative before it could go to voters in November 2016.
But without opposition to the wording, backers of the amendment appear likely to clear a key hurdle in the initiative process.
Bondi fought a similar 2014 initiative at the Supreme Court, but justices allowed the measure to go before voters. Ultimately, the 2014 initiative failed to pass. People United for Medical Marijuana, a political committee backing the legalization effort, tweaked the proposed 2016 ballot language to address concerns raised about the 2014 measure.
In a statement released by her office, Bondi pointed to the 2014 ruling by the Supreme Court and indicated she would not challenge the revised initiative.
“Voters reviewed the language and at the polls made their decision that the (2014) amendment was bad for Florida,” Bondi said. “Based on the court’s decision in 2014, I have not filed a legal challenge to the current amendment, but my concerns with it are the same.”
The Supreme Court was scheduled to hear oral arguments Dec. 8 but issued an order Friday scrapping them. If the Supreme Court approves the amendment’s wording, supporters of the initiative will need to submit 683,149 valid petition signatures to reach the ballot. They had submitted 345,925 as of Friday afternoon, according to the state Division of Elections website.
by The News Service of Florida
Small Farms Field Day Set For Thursday
November 15, 2015
UF/IFAS Extension Fall Small Farms Field Day will be held Thursday, November 19 from 2-4 p.m. as the West Florida Research and Education Center in Jay. Topics will include high tunnel tomatoes, from cultivar selection to economics, and cover crops.
To register, contact UF/IFAS Extension Santa Rosa County at (850) 623-3868 or bthaxton@ufl.edu.
State Calls Bear Hunt A Success, Opponents Call It A Slaughter
November 15, 2015
Florida wildlife officials Thursday called last month’s bear hunt a success, with 304 bears killed in two days and few hunters cited for violations — but critics called it a slaughter, saying most of the bears were killed on private land, where state regulations could be more easily skirted.
In a report released Thursday, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said 304 bears were killed — 16 short of the so-called “harvest objective” of 320 that was set for the state’s first bear hunt in 21 years.
“We had a safe, sustainable, highly successful bear hunt,” Thomas Eason, the commission’s director of Habitat and Species Conservation, told reporters in a conference call.
Officials said the goal of the hunt was to control the state’s growing black bear population. The hunt had been expected to last up to seven days, starting on Oct. 24, but was halted on Oct. 25, as it quickly became clear that the quota of bears to be killed would be reached sooner than predicted.
According to the report, 59 percent of the bears killed statewide were females, while 21 percent were lactating females, meaning they were caring for cubs. The state allowed hunting in four areas of the state dubbed “bear management units.”
“To stabilize large and growing bear populations in four of the state’s seven bear management units, bears of either sex were allowed to be taken during the hunt,” the report said. “Regulations stipulated that the bear must weigh at least 100 pounds … and cubs must not be present.”
The question of orphaned cubs has been one of the most controversial aspects of the hunt, but Eason said the commission hasn’t seen an increase in the number of cubs it normally encounters. He also said the cubs were big enough to survive on their own.
Laura Bevan of the Humane Society of the United States, which opposed the hunt, acknowledged that cubs “have a chance to survive” without their mothers, but she said the odds are worse. And she noted that during the hunt, a cub that weighed 40 pounds had been killed.
“I have dogs bigger than that,” she said.
But what most troubled Bevan was the gap between the 78 percent of bears killed on private land and the 22 percent killed on public land.
By the terms of the hunt, “baiting” the bears — luring them with food — wasn’t allowed. But Bevan said that restriction is much harder to enforce on private property, and she alleged that the bears had been trained to visit feeders on private land. She pointed to the eastern Panhandle bear management unit, where 111 bears were killed on private land and three on public land.
“On private land they were just blasting away at bears that came, probably, to those feeders for God knows how long,” Bevan said. “They were slaughtered There was no skill involved.”
She also said the hunt took place at the time of year when bears are preparing to hibernate and are especially intent on gathering food.
But Eason said the gap between kills on public and private land was due to greater opportunity, since there is much more private land in the bear management units. He also said private owners have more natural interest in their property.
Additionally, Eason said, the commission has a strong law enforcement presence to guard against breaking the hunt regulations.
“They are out there looking, so I wouldn’t say that it is easier or harder anywhere,” he said. “I would say I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone out there.”
Overall, he said, hunter compliance with regulations was high.
One hunter in the eastern Panhandle region was issued a citation for killing the cub that weighed just over 40 pounds. Another citation went to a hunter in the state’s Central region for using bait to lure a bear. And a hunter in the Central region got a warning for killing an 88-pound bear.
Four more investigations are underway in other cases pertaining to the hunt, said commission Maj. Craig Duval, but he said he couldn’t give details.
A total of 3,778 bear-hunt permits were issued in the months leading to the hunt. They cost Florida residents $100 and out-of-state hunters $300 for the right to each kill one bear. Eason said the sales brought the agency roughly $377,000.
He also said it was too soon to tell if the state will have another bear hunt next year.
“We are taking a holistic approach,” he said. “Hunting is one mortality factor of many, and we need to see where we end up for the whole year across all of that before we can make any definitive idea on whether we are definitely hunting or not hunting.”
by Margie Menzel, The News Service of Florida
Teresa “Diane” Edmonson
November 15, 2015
Teresa “Diane” Edmonson of Molino passed away on November 11, 2015, at her home surrounded by family. Diane was born in Century, on October 28,1950. She was a retired housekeeper from Cross Creek Nursing Home. She loved spending time with her family especially her grandchildren.
She was preceded in death by her parents, Woodrow Wilson Allen and Virgina “Estelle” Allen; her brothers, Raymond “Ray” Wilson Allen and Wayne Curtis Allen; and son, Joiel “JJ” Wilson Edmonson.
Diane is survived by sons, Jerry Nellums (Anita), and John Nellums (Elsie); grandchildren, Kristina Nellums, Daniel Nellums, Daniel Hiatt, Cody Nellums, Gyanna Edmonson, Torrie Edmonson, and Harley Edmonson; great-granchild, Mason Hiatt; brothers, James Robert Allen and Donald “Don” Allen; sisters, Mary Macks, Martha Sullivan, Dothery “Dot” Barrett, and Emma Clark.
Funeral services will be Monday, November 16, 2015, at 2 p.m. at Faith Chapel North Funeral Home.