Dry, Warm Weather Continues
October 7, 2015
Here is your official North Escambia area forecast:
Tonight: Patchy fog after 1am. Otherwise, mostly clear, with a low around 60. East wind around 5 mph becoming calm.
Thursday: Sunny, with a high near 87. Calm wind becoming east around 5 mph in the morning.
Thursday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 63. Southeast wind around 5 mph becoming calm in the evening.
Friday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 87. North wind around 5 mph.
Friday Night: A 20 percent chance of showers. Partly cloudy, with a low around 66. West wind around 5 mph.
Saturday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 83. North wind 5 to 10 mph.
Saturday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 56. North wind around 5 mph.
Sunday: Sunny, with a high near 81. North wind around 5 mph.
Sunday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 56. North wind around 5 mph becoming calm.
Columbus Day: Sunny, with a high near 84.
Monday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 61.
Tuesday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 84.
Tuesday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 61.
Wednesday: Sunny, with a high near 85.
West Florida Tops Northview
October 7, 2015
The West Florida Lady Jaguars defeated the Northview Chiefs Tuesday in high school volleyball action.
In varsity play, West Florida topped Northview 27-25, 25-20, 22-25, 25-18. In junior varsity play, West Florida beat Northview 25-16, 25-9.
NorthEscambia.com photos by Gary Amerson, click to enlarge.
Open-Carry Gun Bill Hits Business Concerns
October 7, 2015
Floridians permitted to carry concealed handguns would be able to display firearms on the outside of their clothes, under a measure that cleared its first House committee Tuesday.
However, several lawmakers in both parties and an influential business group expressed concerns about the potential impact of the proposal on private property rights.
The House Criminal Justice Subcommittee voted 8-4 to support the measure (HB 163), filed by Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fort Walton Beach, for the 2016 legislative session. It would allow people with concealed-weapons licenses to openly carry firearms, something the state has banned since establishing conceal-carry rules in 1987.
Gaetz described his proposal, one of a number of firearm-related bills before the Legislature, as allowing citizens to be “armed with their own liberty.”
The Northwest Florida lawmaker pointed to certain crime rates that are lower in other states that allow some form of open-carry. But he wouldn’t go so far as to say his measure — his father, Sen. Don Gaetz, R-Niceville, is sponsoring the Senate version (SB 300) — will make Florida safer.
“I can say that the statements from some of the shrillest voices that oppose the Second Amendment that this will lead to the wild, wild west are unfounded based on any review of the crime data and statistics maintained by the (U.S.) Department of Justice,” Matt Gaetz said.
Still, the measure, backed by gun-rights groups, may need to be changed or face opposition in future committees.
Gaetz said the bill wouldn’t have any impact on a separate proposal (SB 68 and HB 4001) that would allow people to carry concealed weapons on state university and college campuses nor would it permit people to openly carry guns into private businesses that prohibit firearms. Gary Hunter, representing the Florida Chamber of Commerce, said the bill needs more clarity about private property rights.
“That’s an important issue to many businesses who feel like that’s something that could be of concern to them,” Hunter said.
Chamber of Commerce Executive Vice President David Hart said outside the meeting that the business group — which hasn’t taken a formal position on the Gaetz proposal but has a board-level policy about protecting private property rights — will oppose the measure if it continues to advance without changes.
Criminal Justice Subcommittee member Scott Plakon, a Longwood Republican who also serves on the Judiciary Committee, said that while he was voting for the measure Tuesday, he hoped the property-rights issues could be worked out before its next committee appearance.
Others said the proposal needs to better define how people can publicly display handguns while openly carrying.
“What we’re talking about is allowing people to walk down a street with a firearm in their hand — pointed down, not pointed at anyone but pointed down — they can lawfully walk past a bank, past a bar, past a school, not encased in a holster,” said Rep. Dave Kerner, a Lake Worth Democrat who voted against the measure. “The right to carry a weapon irresponsibly is not a constitutionally protected right, and that is what this bill will do.”
Kerner added there is little to no instruction in concealed-weapons training courses about how to keep other people from simply taking openly carried firearms.
“The reason that police officers carry their weapons in a level-three holster is because of the fear that if they’re in a fight that weapon can be stolen, taken and used them against them,” said Kerner, a former police officer.
Gaetz said he expects concealed-weapons courses would be changed to include better instruction on how people can secure their weapons while openly carrying.
“We’ve trusted various gun-safety organizations to be able to develop that curriculum,” Gaetz said. “I think a natural consequence of this bill is it will be that that curriculum will evolve to reflect the rights people have.”
As for law enforcement, the Florida Sheriffs Association has yet to take a position. But Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey, who appeared with Matt and Don Gaetz at press conference before the committee meeting, said he supports open-carry as a crime deterrent.
“I will promise you that the best law enforcement agencies in the country has response times in minutes, but violent criminals are going to take our lives in seconds,” Ivey said.
by Jim Turner, The News Service of Florida
Cloudy Timeline For Medical Marijuana Leads To Frustration
October 7, 2015
With the Department of Health unable to say when licenses will be issued in the state’s new medical-marijuana industry, a House Republican on Tuesday blasted delays in carrying out a 2014 law billed as helping children with severe epilepsy.
Rep. Greg Steube, R-Sarasota, said “there’s a lot of frustration” among lawmakers who voted to approve allowing non-euphoric types of medical marijuana. He said the Department of Health received applications about three months ago from nurseries seeking licenses to grow, process and dispense the substances, but a panel is still reviewing the proposals.
“It’s been almost two years since this bill was passed, and we still don’t have any restitution for these children that are trying to get this drug that the Legislature recognized as something that is a need for the state of Florida, and I would just like some guidance from the department on, when are we going to have some movement ahead and some timeline here as to when these people (licensees) are going to be picked, when this product is going to be available to people in the state of Florida?” Steube said.
Steube’s comments came after Nichole Geary, general counsel for the Department of Health, made a presentation to the House Health Quality Subcommittee about efforts to carry out the high-profile law. During the presentation, Geary said she couldn’t give a timeline for awarding the licenses in five regions of the state, a critical step in moving forward with making the drugs available.
“At this time, we are unable to provide a date upon which the licenses will be issued,” Geary said. “The department is very mindful of the need to move forward as quickly as possible in issuing the licenses in the five … regions. The panelists have been instructed to move through the applications as diligently as reasonably possible without sacrificing the quality of the review.”
The discussion in the House subcommittee came as two key players on medical-marijuana issues — Sen. Rob Bradley, R-Fleming Island, and Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fort Walton Beach — plan to hold a news conference Wednesday to talk about cannabis legislation they will bring to the Senate and House. Bradley and Gaetz were lead sponsors of the 2014 law, which became widely known as the “Charlotte’s Web” bill because of a type of medical marijuana that it allowed.
The law allows substances that purportedly do not get users high, with the types of cannabis low in euphoria-inducing tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, and high in cannabadiol, or CBD. Parents of children with severe forms of epilepsy pushed lawmakers to approve the low-THC cannabis, believing it can end or dramatically reduce life-threatening seizures.
Under the law, the Department of Health was required to put together a regulatory structure for the new industry and faced lengthy legal challenges to its rule proposals. An administrative law judge in May approved a department rule, clearing the way for the process to select one licensee in each of the five regions.
In all, the department’s panel is considering 28 applications for the coveted licenses. But Steube and other lawmakers have been frustrated at the slow pace of the work.
House Health Quality Chairman Cary Pigman, R-Avon Park, tried to shield Geary from questions Tuesday about the license-application process, saying it remain ongoing. But Steube said he couldn’t avoid the issue and alluded to some members of the subcommittee who hadn’t even been elected when the 2014 law was passed.
“Most of this committee didn’t even vote on this bill because they weren’t in the Legislature when this bill went through,” he said. “So there’s a lot of frustration on people that supported this legislation.”
by Jim Saunders, The News Service of Florida
Willie Lois McGhee Fore
October 7, 2015
Willie Lois McGhee Fore, 72 of Atmore, departed this life on Tuesday October 6, 2015, in Mobile. Mrs. Fore was employed by Community Action Agency as a Family Service worker with Freemanville Headstart. She was a member of United Pentecostal Church of Atmore and was also a song leader for the church. She was a member of the Poarch Band of Creek Indians.
She is preceded in death by her parents, Kinzy and Ethel McGhee; first husband, Kenneth Ray Corey; and brother, Raymond McGhee.
She is survived by her husband, James Stephen Fore of Robinsonville; three sons, Cecil Ray (Jeanne) Corey of Poarch, Harold Glen (Debbie) Corey , Edward “Eddie” Phillip (Cassie) Fore all of Robinsonville; one brother, Joe Frank (Dorothy) McGhee of Atmore; three sisters, Mary Stella Gibbs of Atmore, Carolyn Rackard of Poarch, Betty Ruth (Gene) Sheppard of Dothan; sister-in-law, Mary Jane McGhee of Poarch; grandsons, Caleb Corey and Cody Nall; granddaughters, Megan Corey, Caitlyn Corey, Leandra Corey, Parker Corey, Kaylen Fore, Kenzie Fore; great-grandchildren, Kendall Corey and Aurora Rosabell Lopez; nephews, David Gibbs, Chet McGhee, Ken McGhee, Jason Rackard and Jeremy Rackard; nieces, Rosemary Powell, Gina Simmons, DeeDee Ward, and over 30 foster children; and three special friends, Evelyn Padgett, Vicki Corey and Amanda Lane.
Services will be held Saturday, October 10, 2015, at 10 a.m. from the United Pentecostal Church of Atmore, with Bro Steve Pendelton, Sis. Mary Gibbs and Rev. Derek Gobert officiating.
Interment will follow in New Home Cemetery.
Family will receive friends on Friday, October 9, 2015, at the United Pentecostal Church of Atmore from 6 p.m. until 9 p.m.
Johnson-Quimby Funeral Home is in charge of all arrangements.
Grand Opening Held At Ernest Ward
October 6, 2015
A grand opening ceremony was held today at the rebuilt Ernest Ward Middle School in Walnut Hill. We’ll have a complete story and photo gallery coming up Wednesday morning on NorthEscambia.com.
NorthEscambia.com photos.
Atmore Man Killed In Single Vehicle Crash
October 6, 2015
A single vehicle accident north of Atmore claimed the life of an Atmore man Monday night.
According to Alabama State Troopers, 19-year old James Bradley Tolbert was killed when he was thrown from the bed of a pickup truck in which he was a passenger. He was pronounced deceased on the scene of the 8:45 pm. crash on Butler Street, about eight miles north of Atmore.
The driver of the 2003 Dodge Ram, 29-year old James Patrick Godwin of Atmore was not injured.
Further details have not been released as Alabama State Troopers continue their investigation.
Tate High Graduate Appears On ‘Who Wants To Be A Millionaire’
October 6, 2015
Tate High School graduate Matthew Bailey appeared during ” on “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire” Monday night. He didn’t bring home the million, but did win $20,000. Bailey is a 2013 honors graduate from Tate High School. Images courtesy @MillionaireTV for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
New Assisted Living Facility May Bring New Jobs To Century
October 6, 2015
A new assisted living facility and the jobs it may bring to Century have Mayor Freddie McCall excited.
The owners of The Terrace At Ivy Acres in Jay, also an assisted living facility, have plans in the works to open a similar facility in in the Century Industrial Park. McCall told the Century Town Council Monday night that he was not sure how many beds the facility would operate, but it would bring 20-30 much needed jobs to the town. “That’s the part (the jobs) I remember and the part I’m happy about,” he said.
The front lots in the industrial park, just off West Highway 4, are already zoned for medical services and already occupied by medical-related facilities such as the Century Health and Rehabilitation Center, Lakeview Center and an Escambia County EMS post.
There is a lot just under 2.5 acres available in the area zoned for medical facilities, McCall said, but the new assisted living facility might not fit on the property. In that event, they are considered a lot further back in the mostly unoccupied industrial park, but it’s not properly zoned, he said.
Changing the zoning and amending the town’s comprehensive plan for the assisted living facility to locate elsewhere in the park would be a 3-6 month process, McCall said. The town took the first step in that potential process Monday night by voting to spend $1,300 for wetlands survey on four lots in the industrial park.
There’s no word on any timetable for opening the assisted living facility in Century, if project developers move forward.
Pictured: The Terrace at Ivy Acres in Jay. Courtesy photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
North Barth Road To Be Closed Wednesday
October 6, 2015
CSX Railroad is scheduled to close North Barth Road at the railroad crossing until Wednesday, October 7, for repairs to the crossing. All maintenance and repair activities are weather dependent and may be delayed or rescheduled in the event of inclement weather.