Woman Critically Injured In Freak Gas Station Accident
May 5, 2016
A 25-year old female was critically injured in a freak accident Wednesday afternoon after she stopped to pump gas in Flomaton.
The woman stopped her vehicle at the Kangaroo gas station on Sidney Manning Boulevard just before 5 p.m. According to Flomaton Police Chief Bryan Davis, after she got out of the vehicle, she partial re-entered the vehicle but had one leg out of the open driver’s door. Somehow the vehicle was put into gear and “took off” in a forward direction, where the driver’s door struck a concrete curb, pushing the door closed on the woman’s leg.
She was transported by Atmore Ambulance to the helipad at the Escambia County (FL) EMS post in Century, and then flown by helicopter to a Pensacola hospital.
Her name has not been released.
NorthEscambia.com file photo.
Victoria Kelson Named Tate FFA Rodeo Queen
May 5, 2016
Victoria Kelson of Cantonment has been crowned queen of the 25th Annual Tate FFA Alumni Foundation Rodeo.
She is the daughter of Billy and Vanessa Kelson of Cantonment and Darrell and Kelly Wilson of Molino. Kelson is a sophomore at Tate High School where she is a member of FFA, BETA club and the National Honor society with a 4.08 GPA.
Kelson is in the veterinary program at Tate High and hopes to attend Auburn University to study veterinary medicine. She is also a member of Escambia county 4-H Horse Club and has participated in many community project and fundraising events, dedicating time to Special Olympics and St. Jude’s Childrens Hospital.
She has loved horses since her grandmother Carolyn McKissack bought her a pony when she was just five-years old. She credits her grandmother for introducing her to horses and other animals.
She will be riding the horse Penny Grace at the rodeo, which she purchased for just $400 and trained her to be the beautiful horse that she is today. Kelson plans to keep training her horse to be well rounded, able to jump pull and rodeo.
Kelson, an honors students, was a Tate High School cheerleader this school year and a member of the FFA Parliamentary Procedure Team.
The Tate Rodeo beings at 7:30 p.m. both Friday and Saturday at the Escambia County Equestrian Center. Advance tickets are available at Farm and Nursery Mart, Hill Kelly Dodge, Farm Bureau Insurance (Nine Mile and Molino), Jimmy’s Grill, and Barnes Ace Hardware. Tickets are $8 for adults and $3 for children in advance and $10 and $5 at the gate.
Photo by Janice Courson for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Florida GOP Tries To Come To Terms With Trump
May 5, 2016
As Donald Trump essentially locked up the Republican presidential nomination late Tuesday, Florida GOP leaders began facing a decision none of them expected to be making a year ago: Line up behind the real-estate mogul’s White House bid, or figure out how to win around him in the fall.
U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, the last Republican given much of a chance of beating Trump at the Republican National Convention this summer, dropped out of the race Tuesday night after a crushing loss in Indiana. Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who lagged far behind, followed suit Wednesday morning — clearing the field for Trump.
Shortly after Trump’s victory Tuesday, Republican Party of Florida Chairman Blaise Ingoglia issued a statement calling on the party to get over a contentious primary that once included U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush.
“Now, we must all come together as a party and complete the task at hand, which is defeating Hillary Clinton in November,” Ingoglia said. “A Clinton presidency would be disastrous for this country, our military, our debt, our freedoms and the Supreme Court.”
Joe Gruters, co-chairman of Trump’s campaign in Florida, said Wednesday the party has already started to gel behind the billionaire developer, who will now lead the GOP’s quest to put together 270 electoral votes in the general election. Florida is likely to be crucial to that effort. If Clinton, the likely Democratic nominee, simply wins the states that have voted for her party in every election dating back to 1992, a victory in Florida would put her in the White House.
“People will come together,” Gruters said. “It’s always difficult after an election to see your guy go down.”
Gov. Rick Scott long ago said the GOP should back Trump, and some candidates running for other offices began calling for party unity on Wednesday. Carlos Beruff, a U.S. Senate candidate whose outspoken style has drawn comparisons to Trump, called on his fellow Republicans to back the nominee.
Like many trying to rally the party around Trump — whose slashing attacks on presidential rivals helped spark a particularly contentious race — Beruff zeroed in on the possibility of a third straight presidential win for Democrats after President Barack Obama’s victories in 2008 and 2012.
“Beating Hillary Clinton in November should be the first goal of all Republicans,” Beruff said. “Donald Trump is the nominee of our party, and I am committed to voting for him and supporting him so that we can take our country back from the liberal policies of Obama and Clinton.”
But other Republicans were balking at the possibility. Members of the #NeverTrump movement that sprung up on social media in response to Trump’s growing popularity insisted that “never means never” — and that they would not vote for Trump in November.
“I expect enough Republicans of conscience and principle will not vote for Donald Trump that it’s going to make it very difficult to win the presidency,” said Rick Wilson, a Republican strategist in Florida who has been a leading voice against Trump.
Wilson said he also expected some Republicans, especially in swing districts, to be hesitant about lining up behind Trump. While some Democrats are already cautioning that Trump could have hidden strengths in a general election, the nominee still polls poorly among women and Hispanic voters.
“You’re not latching onto a campaign that has coattails in a possible direction for most candidates. … There will not be the rally effect that you normally get with a presidential candidate,” Wilson said.
Democrats were already seeking to capitalize on the dynamic of Trump at the top of the ticket. Congressional candidates sent out emails Wednesday trying to fundraise off the GOP front-runner, or get in some shots.
Congressman Patrick Murphy, one of two Democrats running for Florida’s open U.S. Senate seat, raised the possibility in a fund-raising letter of a Republican-controlled Senate confirming a Trump Supreme Court nominee. And the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee tried to tie a slew of Republican candidates running for Murphy’s U.S. House seat to the GOP presidential candidate.
“Inflammatory rhetoric cost Republicans in 2012, now with Trump at the top of the ticket, Brian Mast, Rebecca Negron, and the host of Republican candidates won’t be able to escape their divisive leader who has offended women, minorities and veterans across the Treasure Coast,” said Jermaine House of the DCCC.
State Rep. Dennis Baxley, an Ocala Republican running for the Florida Senate in a strongly Republican district, said he thought much of the anger behind the #NeverTrump movement would begin to cool with time.
“I do think people have to look at the big picture, too, and realize that governing is a crucible that will temper anyone’s posture,” he said.
Baxley also said candidates down the ballot might try to learn things from Trump’s unorthodox campaign, whether joining him in touting the fact that they’re investing in their own campaigns or shying away from referring to “endorsements” by that name.
And at least one prominent Democratic strategist noted parallels to a Florida election in 2010, when an outsider businessman clashed with the Republican Party establishment before winning the top spot on the ticket: Gov. Rick Scott.
“He rightly gambled that #NeverScott would go away after the primary, and the establishment would quickly come together,” strategist Steve Schale wrote in an open letter to fellow Democrats.
by Brandon Larrabee, The News Service of Florida
Ransom Middle Academic Teams Heading To Nationals
May 5, 2016
Ransom Middle School’s Academic Team will compete in the National Academic Quiz Tournaments(NAQT) Middle School National Championship Tournament this weekend in Atlanta.
Ransom team members headed to nationals are Braden Boutwell, Maggie Brown, Ravyn Brown, Chris Espy, Natalie Holt, and Elizabeth McConnell. Alternates: Katie-Rose Haley, Emmalei Miller, and Lili Rollin, along with coaches Clarissa Brown and Lucinda Bateman.
To qualify for the trip to nationals, Ransom teams competed twice in April. In the first tournament in Valparaiso, Team A — Maggie Brown , Braden Boutwell, Chris Espy and Elizabeth McConnell — won five matches, while Team B — Natalie Holt, Lili Rollins, Victoria Long — won two. Brown, Boutwell and Hold were the top three players out of 72 total.
At their second tournament last month, held at Pensacola High School, Ransom participants were:
- Team A: Maggie Brown, Braden Boutwell, Chris Espy and Kendal Russell
- Team B: Ravyn Brown, Lili Rollins and Emmalei Miller
- Team C: Katie-Rose Haley, Carter Pitts, Tristan Espy and Abby Gryskiewicz
- Team D: Taji Williams , Victoria Long and Owen Painter
Team members winning individual awards were Brown in fine arts, Espy in language arts and Haley in both math and fine arts.
Pictured top: (L-R) Victoria Long, Chris Espy, Natalie Holt, Lili Rollins, Elizabeth McConnell, Braden Boutwell, Maggie Brown. Pictured inset: Individual first place medals were earned by Maggie Brown in fine arts and Chris Epsy in language arts. Pictured below: (L-R) Lili Rollins, Kendal Russell, Abby Gryskiewicz, Emmalei Miller, Katie-Rose Haley, Taji Williams, Maggie Brown, Chris Espy, Ravyn Brown, Victoria Long, Braden Boutwell, Tristan Espy, Carter Pitts and Owen Painter. Photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
State Examines Services For Foster Kids In Trouble With The Law
May 5, 2016
Thousands of youths in Florida’s child-welfare system have gotten in trouble with the law — and when they do, their caregivers often refuse to take them back.
Now policymakers are trying to improve services to the teens, saying those children had already been abused or neglected when they began acting out in foster care. A work group of the Florida Children and Youth Cabinet has been developing policy recommendations for so-called “crossover youth,” and a meeting on the subject is expected to take place in June.
The policymakers say these young people are among the most challenging in any state system — and the most at risk to spend their lives behind bars or on public assistance.
“We’ve got to get past the rhetoric and sit down and figure out what’s best for these youths, because if we don’t get it right, they’re going to be in our adult prison system when they’re 20 years old,” said Mark Jones, chief executive officer of the Community Partnership for Children, the private agency in charge of placing foster children in Volusia, Flagler and Putnam counties.
According to the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice, 3.4 percent of the 42,211 youths arrested during fiscal year 2014-15 were living with foster families, other caregivers or in group homes at the time of their offense. That’s 1,428 kids, who averaged 2.4 arrests apiece over 12 months.
“The population isn’t great (in size),” DJJ Secretary Christy Daly said. “It’s just that this population is very, very high-need — and very challenging.”
Many caregivers simply can’t cope with troubled teens after a certain point, said Christina Spudeas, executive director of the advocacy group Florida’s Children First.
“I’ve seen them tell the judge, ‘I’ve got six other kids. I can’t keep missing work. I’m going to lose my job, I’m going to lose my home — because of him,’ ” Spudeas said. “Then they call (the Department of Children and Families).”
Fed-up foster parents may refuse to care for the youth any longer. Sometimes the caregiver is willing to retrieve the youth following an arrest, but the judge has imposed a no-contact order due to the youth’s previous battery of the caregiver.
These teens are known as “lockouts.” A second category of crossover youth has no caregiver available due to a death, hospitalization or incarceration.
According to the Department of Children and Families, 14 of Florida’s 17 community-based care lead agencies — which handle foster-care placements — spent $7.7 million on services for 610 crossover kids between July 2014 and March 2015. Of the youth who were identified, 326 were lockouts and 284 had no caregiver available.
What’s more, advocates say, teens who have been arrested face harsher penalties without an adult to support them in court.
“The data shows that children who are accompanied by a parent or caring adult get a lesser sentence and the least-restrictive consequences,” Spudeas said.
Child-welfare professionals say that the kids are challenging because they’ve been traumatized. But it’s unclear how the state can improve its services to them, given the complexities of a system that crosses state agencies — and not just DCF and DJJ.
“The root of the issue for a lot of these kids is behavioral health,” DCF Secretary Mike Carroll said. “A lot of times, we’re not dealing with these kids until they have to come into residential care. … We need to be doing more upstream, so these kids and these families don’t get to that point.”
That means early identification and the coordination of services at the local level. Jones said it could also mean an enhanced placement, such as a specially-trained foster family or a houseparent-style group home with specialized intervention services.
State Rep. Gayle Harrell, the Stuart Republican who chairs the House Children, Families and Seniors Subcommittee, said placement is crucial in such situations.
“Going back into the foster-care system is very problematic because you can’t find a foster family that’s capable of handling them or will handle them,” Harrell said. “And most of them wind up in group homes. And you need to make sure that you have the right type of group home for them.”
What’s more, said Florida Children and Youth Cabinet Chairwoman Wansley Walters, the funding for such services isn’t always available.
“One of the main impediments, when you have kids going between systems, is that it starts breaking down on who pays for what,” said Walters, a former DJJ secretary. “We need the money to follow the child. But we’re not structured to have the money follow the child. And it gets very complex when you’ve got a kid being served in both systems.”
by Margie Menzel, The News Service of Florida
One Injured In Highway 29 Guardrail Crash
May 5, 2016
One person was injured in a single vehicle crash late Wednesday night.
The driver of a pickup truck lost control and struck a guardrail on Highway 29 near Quintette Road about 11:40 p.m. The driver was transported by ambulance to an area hospital with injuries that were not considered critical.
The accident remains under investigation by the Florida Highway Patrol. The Cantonment Station of Escambia Fire Rescue and Escambia County EMS also responded to the crash.
NorthEscambia.com photos by Kristi Barbour, click to enlarge.
Escambia EMS Receives Florida Excellence Award
May 5, 2016
Escambia County Emergency Medical Services was selected as a Best Practices winner for the 2016 Florida Excellence Awards for the implementation of a customer satisfaction survey. The award will be presented to Escambia County EMS at the 2016 Florida Excellence Awards Best Practices Conference in Orlando on May 12 and 13.
Customer satisfaction surveys have been conducted by Escambia County EMS for a number of years, but they recently switched to a new service which allows staff to easily review the specifics on caregivers, feedback includes the patient’s perception of EMS’s quality of customer service.
The survey evaluates service from the 911 call to transport to billing performance of Escambia County EMS. The complaints EMS receives are typically not related to a patient’s care, but their perception on what could have been done differently during the encounter.
Additionally, Escambia County EMS shares data via ESO’s Health Data Exchange program, which allows medics to see their patient’s emergency room outcomes at West Florida Hospital. Escambia County EMS hopes to implement this data share with Sacred Heart and Baptist hospitals.
National Day Of Prayer Events Today
May 5, 2016
National Day of Prayer events are planned today in Atmore, Century, Pensacola and Molino:
Atmore
Events will be held as follows:
5:30 p.m. – Community Prayer Service, Escambia County High School Gym
5:30 – 6:45 p.m. – Children’s Prayer Service, K-6, accompanied by an adult ECHS, RPM trailer
6:15 p.m. – Bible Reading – ECHS Gym
Century
A National Day of Prayer event will be held at 6:30 p.m. at the Community Center on West Highway 4. Everyone is invited to attend.
Molino
The sanctuary at Highland Baptist Church will be open for prayer from 6 a.m until 7 p.m.
Pensacola
Pensacola’s 25th National Day of Prayer will be held at the Pensacola City Hall at 222 West Main Street from noon until 1 p.m. Special worship from Leah Bridge Taylor of Calvary Chapel of Gulf Breeze.
Pictured: A National Day of Prayer event in Atmore this morning. NorthEscambia.com file photos, click to enlarge.
Wahoos Beat Biloxi
May 5, 2016
The 6-foot-5, 260-pound right-handed Sal Romano looks like a menacing pitcher, especially when he throws a fastball in the mid- to upper-90s off the mound.
But believe it or not, his first Double-A victory came in his 12th start between last season and this season as the Pensacola Blue Wahoos rolled over Biloxi, 8-3, in the series opener Wednesday at Blue Wahoos Stadium.
Pensacola gained a game on Biloxi, improving to 15-11, while the first-place Shuckers dropped to 17-8.
Romano is now 1-1 in five starts this season with a 3.86 earned-run average. He gave up three runs, two earned, to Biloxi in the first inning and then settled down. He allowed five hits, two walks and struck out eight. Last year, for Pensacola the big righty was 0-4 in seven starts with a 10.96 ERA.
Pensacola manager Pat Kelly said the difference is a smarter Romano.
“We’re seeing his maturation,” Kelly said. “He started getting his curveball over the strike zone instead of burying it all the time. He’s still a thrower, though.”
Romano said he had to put the first inning out of his mind after walking to the dugout.
“My fellow staff and guys told me to leave it out there,” said Romano, who committed himself to becoming a Major League pitcher at 15 years old. “I said in my head, ‘Sal, let’s restart this.’”
And getting that first victory in the Southern League?
“Wins are wins, but obviously it’s nice to get one here in Double-A,” Romano said. “That is nice.”
In the first inning, Biloxi jumped out to a 3-0 lead when third baseman Javier Betancourt smashed a two-out, 3-2 pitch down the left field line clearing the bases for all three runs.
Pensacola came back, though, in the second inning when catcher Chad Wallach hit a two-run bomb over the left field fence with two outs that also scored shortstop Calten Daal. Daal, who was 3-4 and scored twice Wednesday, had got on base with a low line drive to left field to extend his hitting streak to seven games.
Wallach was also 3-4 and scored twice, hitting in the No. 8 spot in the lineup. He raised his average to .209 on the season and leads the team in walks with 13.
“It felt good,” said Wallach, who hit his second homer of the year. “I’ve been struggling a little bit, so it was nice to square up on the ball.”
Kelly said Wallach’s homer changed the complexion of the game.
“Wallach’s blow was big,” Kelly said. “The big key was Wallach getting that two-run home run. We didn’t have that three-run deficit.”
Blue Wahoos fans were being treated to a pitching duel when all of a sudden the force was with Pensacola hitters in the bottom of the fifth inning.
The flood of runs started with a dribbler by shortstop Calten Daal and ended with Pensacola sending all nine batters to the plate and scoring six runs on six hits to go up, 8-3.
The first five batters of the inning all got on base-on four singles and a fielder’s choice-against Adrian Houser, the Milwaukee Brewers No. 17 prospect according MLB.com. Houser struck out nine in four innings, retiring seven in a row at one point, but gave up seven earned runs on seven hits. Houser’s earned-run average jumped from 7.20 to 8.63, as he fell to 1-3 in five starts this season.
The biggest hit that inning came on a line drive triple by Phillip Ervin past a diving right fielder that cleared the loaded bases, giving Pensacola a 7-3 lead. Ervin then scored the final run of the game, when Biloxi catcher Jacob Nottingham dropped the ball trying to tag him out.
Ervin extended his hitting streak to seven games. In the last 11 games, after working with hitting coach Alex Pelaez, is 11-34 for a .294 average, with three home runs, 10 RBIs and 14 runs scored. He’s raised his average from .179 to .244.
Escambia County Releases April 2014 Flood Report
May 4, 2016
Just over two years after the April 2014 flooding event that severely impacted Escambia County and its residents, the county has released the April 2014 Flood Recovery Report to provide citizens with updates about transportation and drainage mitigation projects and repairs in their neighborhoods and communities.
The report highlights Escambia County’s ongoing efforts to make repairs to 2,300 damage points to county roadways, bridges, drainage systems and ponds as a result of the April 2014 flood, along with recommendations from the Stormwater Advisory Team and efforts to improve stormwater standards county-wide. Also outlined in the report are the many sources of funding the county is utilizing to help fund approximately $25.8 million in transportation and drainage repair and improvement projects throughout Escambia County.
“With such staggering destruction, recovery is neither fast nor easy; it must be a strategic, multi-year commitment…While we can never take away the suffering our residents endured as a result of this natural disaster, we can continue to identify and invest in solutions to reduce the threat of flooding and protect our citizens,” County Administrator Jack Brown wrote in the report.
Escambia County has completed 150 of 182 total count infrastructure project related to the flood. There are 15 project in the bidding or design phase and 17 more under construction.
To read the full report, click one of the links below:
In District 5, there are 18 completed projects totaling $1.9 million:
- Alysheba Drive
- Ashford-Turnberry Ponds (2)
- Chemstrand Road CR749
- Copper Forrest Drive & Man O-War
- CR297A at Ditches
- CR297A at Box Culvert
- Devine Farm Road
- Emergency Bridge Inspections & Repair
- Emergency Repairs
- Gonzalez Zone Ponds (12)
- Guidy Lane Bridge
- Hillview Drive East
- Meadowbrook
- Pavement Rehab – Rosedown
- Stillbrook Bridge Repair
- Tecumseh/ Clear Creek Farms
- Water Oaks
- Pavement Rehab – Basin Street/Creekside Court
Additional North Escambia projects