Lawmakers Tour Tornado Damage; Offer Hope For State Aid, FEMA
February 21, 2016
Saturday morning, Northwest Florida lawmakers toured the devastation from last Monday’s tornado, talking to the victims and vowing to do all they can to make sure assistance dollars flow to the Century area.
NorthEscambia.com was along for the ride as State Sen. Greg Evers, Rep. Clay Ingram and Rep. Doug Broxson joined Escambia County Commissioner Steven Barry, Century Mayor Freddie McCall and Council President Ben Boutwell in touring the area.
Along the way, they stopped to talk to residents that were out working on the clean up, like Helen Mincy.
“I don’t have anything and government officials need to get out here and help us. We ain’t got nothing,” she said. As Evers listened, she explained that she was out saving what she could, even 2×4’s, in order to save money on any rebuilding project.
At stop after stop, they heard the frustration of residents who have been told that, so far, there is no state or federal aid on the way.
“To see this with your own two eyes is pretty powerful. People are really hurting, really struggling. That don’t have anywhere to lay their head at night, worried about their stuff, worried about their families,” Ingram said. “We can go back to the capital and sell this in a more personable way that folks need help.”
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Evers agreed.
“I think the damage is devastating far beyond anything that we could have imagined when we heard about it Monday in Tallahassee. We learned a lot today from looking over it. We can actually take what we saw back to Tallahassee and make a difference, maybe release some money at the state level,” he said.
Ingram said that budget proposals are not yet final, giving the Northwest Florida Delegation time to attempt to put money for the Century area into the next budget.
“We definitely have to try to make a play to either reserve some funds from the affordable housing money,” he said. “It was good that we got to see this while we still had a little bit of a time window to act.”
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The lawmakers signed a letter encouraging Gov. Rick Scott to declare a disaster area and make aid available (pictured above).
McCall said he was encouraged after the tour.
“I feel relief. I feel like they have seen firsthand what we’ve got, and I feel like they can better tell the story when they get back (to Tallahassee). I am encouraged that the governor is going to hear about this, and he’ll hopefully pay attention to what we have up here,” McCall said.
A federal disaster declaration from the White House would require documented losses of over $25 million in the county. The EF-3 tornado damage falls short, but Evers announced that FEMA representatives will tour Century next week to determine if any exceptions could be made to that threshold to allow for federal help.
A large percentage of those suffering tornado damage do not have any insurance and live below the poverty level.
Pictured top and bottom. Helen Mincy explains her tornado damage to Sen. Greg Evers. Pictured top inset: Evers and Rep. Clay Ingram (left) drag debris out of Front Street. Pictured middle inset: (l-r) County Administrator Jack Brown, Commissioner Steven Barry and Ingram discuss aid options. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Farm Share Giveaway Helps Tornado Survivors
February 21, 2016
Farm Share partnered with Senator Greg Evers and Representatives Doug Broxson, Mike Hill, and Clay Ingram to sponsor a disaster relief food distribution in Century Saturday at the Century Business Center on Pond Street. Families in need after the devastation of last week’s tornado were given food and supply bags free of charge from Farm Share.
Each household received a variety of fresh produce, canned and dried food, water, juice, paper products, and other needed essentials.
NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
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Showers Move In Tonight
February 21, 2016
Here is your official NorthEscambia area forecast:
Today: Mostly cloudy, with a high near 75. Light south wind becoming southwest 5 to 10 mph in the morning.
Tonight: A 40 percent chance of showers. Cloudy, with a low around 59. South wind around 5 mph.
Monday: Showers and possibly a thunderstorm. High near 68. South wind around 5 mph. Chance of precipitation is 90%.
Monday Night: Showers likely, mainly before midnight. Cloudy, with a low around 56. South wind around 5 mph becoming southeast after midnight. Chance of precipitation is 70%.
Tuesday: Showers and thunderstorms likely, mainly after noon. Cloudy, with a high near 71. South wind 5 to 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%.
Tuesday Night: Showers and thunderstorms likely. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 55. South wind 10 to 15 mph, with gusts as high as 20 mph. Chance of precipitation is 70%.
Wednesday: A chance of showers before noon, then a chance of rain after noon. Partly sunny, with a high near 62. Southwest wind around 15 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph. Chance of precipitation is 40%.
Wednesday Night: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 39. Northwest wind 10 to 15 mph, with gusts as high as 20 mph.
Thursday: Sunny, with a high near 58. Northwest wind 10 to 15 mph.
Thursday Night: Clear, with a low around 37.
Friday: Sunny, with a high near 59.
Friday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 36.
Saturday: Sunny, with a high near 63.
Bush Ends Presidential Bid After SC Loss
February 21, 2016
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush had the money. He had support from large parts of the Republican establishment. And he had a golden name in GOP politics.
But none of it seemed to matter.
After another lackluster finish Saturday in the South Carolina Republican primary, Bush announced he was halting his presidential campaign. Bush made the televised announcement with his wife, Columba, at his side.
“I’m proud of the campaign that we’ve run to unify our country and to advocate conservative solutions that would give more Americans the opportunity to rise up and reach their God-given potential,” Bush said, appearing emotional. “But the people of Iowa and New Hampshire and South Carolina have spoken, and I really respect their decision, so tonight I am suspending my campaign.”
The announcement ended the possibility of Bush following his brother and father into the White House and left five Republicans — including Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, a former Bush protege — in the race.
Rubio later said he has “incredible affection and admiration” for Bush and the Bush family.
“He was the greatest governor in the history of Florida, and I believe and I pray that his service to our country has not yet ended,” Rubio said.
While the favorite of many Republican insiders and fund-raisers, Bush could never appear to get his footing in a race that has been largely dominated by the outsider Donald Trump. That showed again Saturday, with Trump easily winning the South Carolina primary after also winning in New Hampshire.
Bush announced the campaign suspension as results showed him winning less than 10 percent of the vote in South Carolina and trailing Trump, Rubio and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz. Trump repeatedly took shots at Bush during the campaign, including describing the former governor as “low energy” — a description that got widespread attention.
Bush was elected governor in 1998 and was a dominating presence during his two terms in Tallahassee, earning a reputation as something of a policy wonk. In his speech Saturday night, Bush defended his policy-driven approach to the noisy presidential campaign.
“In this campaign, I have stood my ground, refusing to bend to the political winds,” Bush said. “We put forward detailed, innovative, conservative plans to address the mounting challenges that we face, because despite what you might have heard, ideas matter, policy matters, and I truly hope that these ideas that we’ve laid out will serve as a blueprint for a generation of conservative leaders at every level of government so that we can take back our country.”
Rubio, who was in a battle Saturday night with Cruz for second place in South Carolina, tried to cast the campaign after Bush’s exit as a three-candidate race that includes Rubio, Cruz and Trump. Ohio Gov. John Kasich and physician Ben Carson also remain in the race.
“After tonight, this has become a three-person race, and we will win the nomination,” Rubio said.
by Jim Saunders, The News Service of Florida
Photos: Go Inside The Tornado Damaged Century Methodist Church
February 21, 2016
Someone joked to the Rev. Janet Lee that a great hymn for this Sunday morning would be the great classic “Leaning on the Everlasting Arms”. She didn’t seem amused.
The community has leaned on the Century United Methodist Church for about 114 years. A simple, but beautiful wooden church that’s stood strong on Church Street since just after the turn of the Century. Notably, a couple of years longer, we’re told, than the Baptist church next door.
Now the church building is precariously leaning after last Monday’s tornado lifted it off it’s foundation and shifted the entire building about two feet away. The building, according to a structural engineer, is a total loss and in danger of possible collapse. It will have to be torn down.
Since Monday, church members and volunteers have worked, despite the danger, to remove stained glass windows, pews and other furniture, and chandeliers from the building. Members have former members have stopped by, some posing for pictures on the porch, and reminiscing about the weddings and funerals and special services — the important moments in their lives and the in the lives of their families — that took place in the little wooden church.
Some are quick to point out that Church is the gathering of the Lord’s people, not the physical building. That Century UMC body, for now, will be holding services in a house they own just across the street for the tornado damaged church.
NorthEscambia.com exclusive photos, click to enlarge.
Reimagine Flomaton Touches Communities In Need
February 21, 2016
The goal of Saturday’s Reimagine Flomaton event was to breathe new life into Flomaton where the faithful reached out to touch the hearts and lives of area residents in need. The event was planned months ago, and suddenly took on a new importance after tornado ravaged areas of Century and Flomaton last Monday.
The event at Hurricane Park included a 15,000 pound food distribution, as well as other free activities and giveaways including clothing, diapers, pillows and laundry detergent. A free lunch was also available.
There were free children’s activities including face painting, bounce houses and a coloring contest in which three children won new bicycles. There was also live Christian music, dance and more.
NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Tate Showband Members Raising Hawaii Trip Money
February 21, 2016
The Tate High School Showband of the South has a variety of fundraisers planned for the next several months to benefit the band’s trip to Hawaii next December to play at the 75th anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack. Saturday, a group of band students were raising money outside Tractor Supply on Nine Mile Road. Photo for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Small Business Mobile Assistance Center Deployed To Century
February 21, 2016
Following the tornado that swept through northern Escambia County on Monday, the Florida SBDC at the University of West Florida deployed its emergency response Mobile Assistance Center to the town of Century to aid local businesses impacted by the storm.
The FSBDC at UWF has partnered with the Century vouncil members and city officials to place the MAC—a 38-foot RV equipped with laptops, printer, satellite communication, and more—at the Century Chamber of Commerce. Florida SBDC at UWF disaster specialists will be available on-site to help affected businesses prepare disaster loan applications and with other post-disaster challenges.
“We are here to help the business community of Century,” said Kelly Massey, regional director for the Florida SBDC at UWF. “Our center is glad to offer assistance through our MAC unit after this recent storm and tornado hit. We know it has caused damage and grief to the people there, and we intend to provide no-cost consulting services to assist Century in their post-storm challenges.”
“We are deeply saddened to see and hear the stories of damage and loss that individuals and small businesses in our area have suffered,” said Michael Myhre, CEO and network state director for the Florida SBDC Network. “We want businesses to know that we’re here to help in this time of need.”
For more information, contact the Florida SBDC at UWF at (850) 474-2528.
Photo for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Florida Gov’t Weekly Roundup: Crunch Time
February 21, 2016
Members, bills are dying.
Those four words — or something like them — have long been used by legislative committee chairmen and presiding officers to try to get lawmakers to focus on the task at hand or to move quickly through contentious agendas. The line also happens to fit what starts happening as the session enters its second half.
Some of this year’s bills that are in trouble — such as gun bills bottled up in the Senate by Judiciary Chairman Miguel Diaz de la Portilla, R-Miami — have been on the brink almost since the legislative session began. Others, like legislation to formalize a gambling agreement between the state and the Seminole Tribe, are “heavy lifts,” to use the phrase almost always attached to gaming bills. One high-profile health-care bill is already formally dead in the Senate.
But other fights live on. The House and Senate are still trying to reach a compromise on Gov. Rick Scott’s two biggest priorities, tax cuts and a package of economic development incentives, though it’s not clear how interested the governor is in compromising on either. And a House floor fight on education this week might act as a preview to even more controversial initiatives on public schools in the weeks ahead.
The more time that the Legislature spends on those proposals, the larger the number of bills that will die.
LET’S MAKE A DEAL
Scott came into the legislative session with two key priorities. And whether planned or not, the House and the Senate each seem willing to give him one. Lawmakers in the House favor a $1 billion tax cut, albeit one structured differently than the governor’s idea, and the upper chamber is willing to go along with a $250 million “Florida Enterprise Fund.”
That scenario makes it very likely that each side will get part of the governor’s agenda, and Scott will end up with half a loaf (or maybe a little more) on both issues.
“I think it’s important that everybody is going to have to give, everybody is going to have to give a little,” Senate President Andy Gardiner, R-Orlando, told reporters Thursday. “The House is going to have to give, the Senate is going to have to give, and the governor is going to have to give.”
At the same time, Scott’s economic development plans seemed to gain some momentum in the House, where the chamber moved closer to the Senate on a new process for approving incentives. But the funding for the effort remains a sticking point between the two sides.
“We’ve got to start sitting down with the Senate and you’ve got to look at the numbers,” House Appropriations Chairman Richard Corcoran, R-Land O’ Lakes, said. “I think the House is committed to doing as much as we can in tax cuts and that’s what we’ve rolled out in our budget.”
Both the House and Senate are now proposing that any incentive deals through the Florida Enterprise Fund would have at least a 20 percent local financial match. Projects would be intended to create at least 10 jobs, and no payments would be made until performance conditions are met.
The Senate incentives-policy proposal (SB 1646) also would require projected economic benefits to provide a 2.5-to-1 return on investment. The House measure (HB 1325), which initially stood at 5-to-1, has been moved down to a 3-to-1 return on investment.
The talks could affect the Legislature’s one constitutionally required duty of passing a budget before the session adjourns. The tax cuts and incentives are at the heart of discussions about allocations — how much money will be put in each part of the spending plan — that must be done before budget negotiations begin. Gardiner and House Speaker Steve Crisafulli, R-Merritt Island, said those negotiations wouldn’t begin until at least early next week.
SUPREME COURT AND SCHOOLS
The House floor was consumed this week with two issues: how to fix the death penalty after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling struck down Florida’s process for sentencing and whether to give parents more choices in education.
A compromise with the Senate on the death penalty, which emerged as an issue when the high court handed down its decision on the first day of the legislative session, overwhelmingly passed the House.
The bill would require at least 10 jurors to recommend the death penalty for the sentence to be imposed and would empower juries to decide whether defendants should die or be imprisoned for life without the chance for parole.
The House and Senate had been split on whether jury recommendations for death sentences should be unanimous, an idea supported by the Senate while the House proposed 9-3 jury decisions. Under current law, simple majorities of juries have been able to recommend execution to judges.
Crisafulli praised the legislation, saying lawmakers have complied with the Supreme Court ruling.
“Changing the requirement for a jury’s sentencing verdict to be agreed upon by at least 10 of the 12 jurors has moved us to a position where we have gone beyond what was asked of us by the Supreme Court. These reforms will allow us to keep the death penalty in our toolbox to punish our most violent criminals,” Crisafulli said.
The education legislation caused fiery clashes in the chamber. The House pushed through bills aimed at giving bonuses to teachers based partly on their scores on college admissions tests (HB 7043); easing the path for some charter school providers to open additional campuses (HB 7029); and allowing students to go to any school in the state that has open seats (HB 699).
Democrats hammered away at the provisions they found objectionable. House Minority Leader Mark Pafford, D-West Palm Beach, lambasted the bill that would allow high-performing charter school providers to more easily expand, saying that calling charter facilities “public schools” was a ruse.
“The rigged system that we have continues to channel public tax dollars to a private-school system that over time is diminishing our traditional schools,” Pafford said.
Republicans responded, as they often do on choice bills, that approaches like charter schools increase the chances that students will get high-quality educations.
“We have to break the chains of the prison guards of the past who want to preserve just what was, and open these doors of opportunity for the future,” said Rep. Dennis Baxley, R-Ocala.
TAKING A SHOT WITH SLOTS
Following months of negotiations between the Seminole Tribe and the state on a new gaming compact, the Senate Regulated Industries Committee approved legislation that would likely require more negotiations between the Seminole Tribe and the state.
“We are not back to square one, at all,” committee Chairman Rob Bradley, R-Fleming Island, told reporters after a meeting Wednesday at which the bill was approved.
Whichever square lawmakers are now on, the Senate legislation would allow pari-mutuels in at least six counties to add slot machines, a move that drove a wedge between the House and the Senate on the $3 billion deal signed by Scott and the Seminoles. Under the compact, the tribe would add craps and roulette to its casino operations in exchange for a guarantee of $3 billion in payments to the state over seven years.
The House is considering a less expansive proposal that would ratify the agreement and allow slots at the Palm Beach Kennel Club and at a new facility in Miami-Dade County, items permitted but not expressly authorized by the compact.
Under an amendment folded into the bill (SB 7072) by Bradley’s committee, pari-mutuels could add slots in six counties where voters have approved the machines — and other counties where voters sign off on them in the future. The six counties are Brevard, Gadsden, Hamilton, Lee, Palm Beach and Washington.
Sen. Joe Negron, who sponsored amendments adopted Wednesday and is set to take over as Senate president in November, insisted that the changes to the compact struck by Scott and the tribe were necessary to keep the measure alive.
“If you have a pure compact, and that’s all you have, it’s not going to pass out of this committee,” Negron, R-Stuart, said before the vote. “It’s very important that we have geographic concerns echoed in the amendment, and I think we can go back to the Seminole Tribe and negotiate out a compact.”
House Regulatory Affairs Chairman Jose Felix Diaz, who worked with Bradley and Scott’s top staff for months to nail down the accord with the tribe, said that he wants state economists to evaluate the economic impact of the Senate changes. As a result, a vote from the House Finance & Tax Committee, expected next week, will be delayed, Diaz said.
“This bill will be touch and go all the way through to the end. I’m optimistic that there’s a path forward. I just don’t know what it is,” Diaz, R-Miami, said Wednesday evening. “It’s going to take some creativity and a lot of time.”
HOSPITAL BILL FLATLINES
During the 2015 legislative session, and the budget special session that followed, health-care bills were the hottest lawmaking fad. The Legislature was dealing with the fallout of a rapidly dwindling supply of federal money for hospitals, and Senate leaders were pushing for a version of Medicaid expansion. The House favored overhaul of health-care regulations, an approach that Scott seemed to share.
The hospital funding crisis has largely been resolved, and any Medicaid expansion is off the table for at least a few more years. But the idea of trimming some regulations has remained, and no potential change was more loaded than rolling back the “certificate of need” process for new health-care facilities.
A Senate version (SB 1144) ran into a wall of opposition from hospitals, nursing homes and hospice providers, and the Senate Health and Human Services Appropriations Subcommittee voted 6-2 this week to kill it. The measure would have created exemptions to the certificate of need process, under which the state must review and give approval before new health-care facilities are built.
House Republican leaders want to eliminate certificates of need for hospitals. But the Senate proposal, sponsored by Sen. Don Gaetz, R-Niceville, took a different approach — proposing exemptions instead of an outright elimination and also including nursing homes and hospice providers.
The defeat of Gaetz’s bill points to bipartisan opposition in the Senate to making major changes in the process and could signal the demise of the issue during this year’s legislative session. Moments after the vote, Gaetz said supporters of revamping certificates of need could try to add the issue to another health-care bill, though it was not clear how that might happen.
“I haven’t got a plan yet,” he said.
STORY OF THE WEEK: The House and Senate continued working toward an agreement on tax cuts and economic development incentives that could unlock negotiations on the state budget.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “Always I have concluded the death penalty is wrong, because it lowers us all. It is a surrender to the worst that is in us. It uses a power, the official power, to kill by execution. That has never brought back a life, never inspired anything but hate. And it has killed many innocent people.”—Rep. Darryl Rouson, D-St. Petersburg.
by Brandon Larrabee, The News Service of Florida
Glenda Faye Peacock
February 21, 2016
Our Little Angel, Glenda Faye Peacock, went to be with the Lord on February 15, 2016, at the age of 60. Ms. Glenda passed away in Perdido, Alabama.
Ms. Peacock was a native of Jay, and a resident of Perdido, since 1966. She was a member of the Perdido Church of God. She was preceded in death by her parents, Robert and Josephine Peacock.
Survivors include her two brothers, Russell (Wanda) Peacock of Century and Leon Peacock of Jay; four disters, Hazel (Waylen) Lunsford of Milton, Mildred Dykes of Jay, Patricia Cox of Perdido and Diane (Pat) Hadley of Bay Minette.
Funeral services were held Thursday, February 18, 2016, at 1 p.m. at the Petty-Eastside Chapel Funeral Home with Rev. Harrison Steege officiating.
Burial was in Cora Cemetery.
Pallbearers were Keith Lunsford, Paul Dykes, Rusty Peacock, Doug Peacock, Derrell Hadley and Hubert Parker.
Petty-Eastside Chapel Funeral Homes is in charge of all arrangements.