One Injured In Old Chemstrand Crash
July 12, 2016
One person was injured in a two vehicle crash Tuesday afternoon at Old Chemstrand Road and Highway 95A.
According to the Florida Highway Patrol 62-year old Clara Hallmark of Pace was traveling south on Highway 95A in a 2008 Toyota Camry when she failed to stop for stop sign and crossed into the path of a 1998 Ford F150 driven by Jose Osorio-Dominguez of Pensacola.
Pace was transported to Sacred Heart Hospital with minor injuries. Her passenger, a properly restrained one-year old, was not injured. Osorio-Dominguez and his passenger, 41-year old Jesus Rodriguez LuisAngel, were not injured.
Alcohol was not a factor in the crash, and all parties were wearing their seat belts.
Pace was cited for running a stop sign; Osorio-Dominguez was cited for no driver’s license.
NorthEscambia.com photos by Kristi Barbour, click to enlarge.
Jay Man Now Charged With Homicide In Double Shooting
July 12, 2016
One woman was killed and another injured in a double shooting near Jay Monday afternoon. The shooting happened at a home on Tractor Trail, just south of Highway 89.
According to the Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office, Barbara Wolfe suffered a gunshot wound to the chest and was pronounced deceased on scene. Kimberly Horne was transported via helicopter to a trauma center suffering from a gunshot wound to the leg. She has since been discharged from the hospital.
Christopher Warrick, a 57-year old resident of the home, was taken into custody and booked into the Santa Rosa County Jail. He was charged with homicide, aggravated battery, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. The case remains under investigation and charges may be upgraded, according to the Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office. He is being held without bond.
NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
New Three Story, 50 Unit Apartment Complex Planned For Century
July 12, 2016
A new 50-unit apartment complex is planned for Century, according to Mayor Freddie McCall.
McCall told the Century Town Council Monday night that the “Century Park Apartments” will be constructed on Second Street, which is the entrance to the parking lot of of the Bill G. Ward Courthouse.
The complex includes two, three-story buildings and 125 parking spaces. Sixteen of the apartments will be 984 square feet with two bedrooms and one bath, while 22 will be 1,119 square feet with three bedrooms and two baths. There will also be 12 apartments with 1,291 square feet with four bedrooms and two baths.
Some of the apartments will be reserved for low income residents, McCall said.
Century Park Apartment plans show the Royal American Construction company in Panama City to currently currently be accepting bids on the project. The developer is the Paces Foundation of Smyrna, GA.
A construction timetable and other details have not yet been announced.
NorthEscambia.com graphics, click to enlarge.
Wet Weather Pattern Continues
July 12, 2016
Here is your official North Escambia area forecast:
Tuesday: A 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly sunny, with a high near 90. Calm wind becoming south around 5 mph in the afternoon.
Tuesday Night: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms before 1am. Partly cloudy, with a low around 72. South wind around 5 mph becoming calm after midnight.
Wednesday: A 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 91. Calm wind becoming south around 5 mph in the afternoon.
Wednesday Night: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms before 1am. Partly cloudy, with a low around 73. South wind around 5 mph becoming calm after midnight.
Thursday: A 50 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly sunny, with a high near 94. Calm wind becoming south around 5 mph in the afternoon.
Thursday Night: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly cloudy, with a low around 74. Southwest wind around 5 mph becoming calm after midnight.
Friday: A 50 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly sunny, with a high near 93. Calm wind becoming south around 5 mph in the morning.
Friday Night: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 74. Southwest wind around 5 mph becoming calm after midnight.
Saturday: A 50 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly sunny, with a high near 91.
Saturday Night: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 73.
Sunday: A 50 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly sunny, with a high near 93.
Sunday Night: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly cloudy, with a low around 73.
Monday: A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly sunny, with a high near 94.
One Injured In Gonzalez Hit And Run Crash
July 12, 2016
One person was injured in a hit and run crash near Ascend Performance Materials Monday evening.
The wreck happened at the intersection of Old Chemstrand Road and Junction Drive. The driver of a Ford car was briefly trapped following the crash and was extricated by firefighters. The other driver fled the scene.
Reports from the scene indicated the Florida Highway Patrol was given complete information on the hit and run driver after a witness followed the driver to his home.
Further details have not yet been released by the Florida Highway Patrol as they continue their investigation.
NorthEscambia.com photos by Kristi Barbour, click to enlarge.
FWC Law Enforcement Report
July 12, 2016
The Florida FWC Division of Law Enforcement reported the following activity during the weekly period ending July 7 in Escambia and Santa Rosa counties.
ESCAMBIA COUNTY
No report was submitted for Escambia County.
SANTA ROSA COUNTY
Officer Ramos observed an ATV traveling on a paved public highway and initiated a traffic stop. When he activated his lights and siren, the operator of the ATV veered off the highway and attempted to lose the officer in the woods. Officer Ramos intercepted the man in a nearby mobile home park and a foot chase ensued. After several minutes of running, the man attempted to hide inside a mobile home. Santa Rosa Sherriff’s Office and FHP assisted by maintaining a perimeter around the home until the subject finally surrendered several hours later. A cursory search of the mobile home revealed illegal narcotics. The man was booked into the county jail for fleeing and attempting to elude and narcotics charges.
While on patrol in the Blackwater State Forest, Officers Clark and Hutchinson observed a male subject recreating at a camp site near a creek. While speaking with him, they discovered that the subject was consuming alcoholic beverages in an area where alcoholic beverages are prohibited. After the subject consented to a search of the camp, the officers located a container containing a bag of marijuana and drug paraphernalia. While continuing the search of the subject’s belongings, they discovered a bag containing several syringes and two baggies of methamphetamine. The subject admitted to possessing the methamphetamine but denied ownership of the marijuana. He claimed that the marijuana belonged to a female friend who left the camp earlier in the day. The subject was placed under arrest and booked into the Santa Rosa County Jail.
While patrolling at night in the parking lot of a boat ramp at the Blackwater River, Officers Clark and Hutchinson observed a vehicle parked in a restricted area. The officers pulled next to the vehicle and observed two subjects inside the vehicle. The officers made contact with the female subject who was seated in the driver’s seat. While speaking with her, they observed her making several overt movements as if trying to conceal something. The officers gained consent to search the vehicle. They made contact with the male passenger of the vehicle, who admitted to possessing a bag of methamphetamine. The officers located the methamphetamine and illegal drug paraphernalia inside of the vehicle. After further investigation, the female subject admitted to possessing the illegal drugs and paraphernalia. Both subjects were placed under arrest, transported and booked into the Santa Rosa County Jail.
Lieutenant Hahr and Officer Hutchinson were patrolling by vessel during the fireworks event at the Blackwater River. While patrolling after the event, they observed a vessel occupied by four subjects who were shouting at several subjects on the shore. The officers noticed that the vessel didn’t have the required navigational lights. They conducted a stop on the vessel and made contact with the man who was operating the vessel. The subject had a strong odor of an alcoholic beverage on his breath. While conducting a vessel safety equipment inspection, the man showed several signs of impairment. He consented to one field sobriety task, but when asked to perform more tasks, he refused. Based on the several indicators of impairment, the man was placed under arrest for BUI. A female passenger who was under the age of 21 was also found to be in possession of an alcoholic beverage. The female was charged with possession of an alcoholic beverage by a person under 21 years of age. The operator was transported and booked into the Santa Rosa County Jail. While at the jail, the subject was found to be in possession of a concealed handcuff key. The subject was charged with two felony counts for possession of the hand cuff key while in custody and introduction of contraband into a jail.
This report represents some events the FWC handled over the past week; however, it does not include all actions taken by the Division of Law Enforcement. Information provided by FWC.
Congressional Candidate Bydlak Tours Tornado Damaged Area, Addresses Century Town Council
July 12, 2016
Republic Congressional candidate Rebekah Johansen Bydlak addressed the Century Town Council Monday night after touring areas of Century for a first-hand look at the devastation that was caused by the EF-3 tornado that struck the town on February 15.
Bydlak said she understood how Century had been neglected by FEMA and the federal government following the tornado.
“I know how easy it is for an area this this to be forgotten,” she said. “I won’t let that happen.”
If elected, Bydlak told the council that she would be a friend to Century. “I will be a member of the community. I am a resident of North Escambia,” she said.
Bydlak is a resident of Cantonment and a McDavid native. The 25-year old would make history if she is successful in her Congressional bid, becoming the youngest woman ever elected to Congress and the first female to represent Florida’s 1st District.
Bydlak is a graduate of Pensacola State College and the University of West Florida. She holds a master’s degree in political science and public administration from UWF and spent the last three years advocating for lower spending and debt among the public, elected officials, and candidates across the country as director of outreach for the Coalition to Reduce Spending.
She is seeking the Congressional seat currently held by Rep. Jeff Miller, who has announced that he will not see reelection.
Pictured top: Republic Congressional candidate Rebekah Johansen Bydlak addressed the Century Town Council Monday night. Pictured inset: Council member Gary Riley listens to Bydlak speak. Pictured below: Bydlak toured the tornado damaged areas of Century prior to speaking to the town council, including this stop at the Wesley Chapel on Jefferson Avenue. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Hamilton Crossing Drive Closes July 26
July 12, 2016
A section of Hamilton Crossing Drive will closure to all but local traffic beginning Tuesday, July 26. The closure will start approximately 800 feet north of East Kingsfield Road and extend through the cul-de-sac approximately 400 feet farther north. Traffic will be restricted to local traffic only for the duration of the project, and access for residents will be maintained at all times. Traffic will be detoured along Hamilton Crossing Drive.
Construction is to improve water flow and divert water flow to new drainage basins. In addition, a portion of the existing street will be regraded and repaved at a lower elevation in order to divert surface water to the new basins.
The road closure is expected to remain in effect for approximately 60 days. Every effort will be made to expedite construction to reopen the road before the Labor Day holiday on Monday, Sept. 5. If other lane or roadway closures are necessary beyond the above-described time periods, another notice will be issued.
Van Overturns On West Kingsfield
July 12, 2016
Traffic was slowed on West Kingsfield Road near Highway 297A Monday morning by an accident involving a landscaping company van.
‘The van and trailer overturned after the driver lost control. There were no serious injuries.
The overturned van reportedly leaked a quantity of fuel into a ditch. However, the trailer that was being towed by the van contained sand, which spilled and formed a dam for the fuel.
NorthEscambia.com photos by Kristi Barbour, click to enlarge.
Fight Over Kosher Prison Meals Drags On
July 12, 2016
Florida has no plans to stop offering kosher meals to prisoners, but corrections officials don’t want a federal judge telling them they have to keep serving up the special diet, which consists largely of sardines and peanut butter.
A federal appeals court will hear arguments Tuesday in a drawn-out challenge over the kosher meals. The state has spent nearly $500,000 in the lawsuit, filed by the U.S. Department of Justice nearly four years ago, but legal wrangling over the religious meals has lasted more than a decade.
U.S. District Judge Patricia Seitz last year ordered the Florida Department of Corrections to offer kosher meals and barred the agency from removing inmates from the religious dietary plan if prisoners buy non-kosher food from canteens or don’t pick up the meals more than 10 percent of the time.
While they don’t intend to do away with the kosher diet they’ve been forced to offer, corrections officials contend that a federal law — the “Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act” of 2000 — law allows them to stop offering the meal plan if it gets too expensive.
Lawyers for the state also have argued that the cost of the program could pose a security threat and that the agency should be able to drop it if it chooses.
The agency has a large budget deficit, needs to spend money on capital improvements and has growing medical costs, Florida Assistant Attorney General Lisa Kuhlman Tietig wrote in a March court filing.
“Just because the Department (of Corrections) has made a policy decision at this time to provide a kosher diet in the face of these compelling budgetary issues does not mean that the department’s interest in containing costs is not compelling, nor does it mean that RLUIPA (the federal law) mandates the department making such a decision in the face of all of the serious and compelling budgetary issues facing the department,” Tietig wrote.
But Justice Department lawyers argued that the cost of the program doesn’t let the state off the hook.
“In other words, ‘prison officials cannot simply utter the magic words “security and costs” and as a result receive unlimited deference from (courts) charged with resolving these disputes,’ ” U.S. Assistant Attorney General Vanita Gupta, head of the civil rights division, and other Justice Department lawyers wrote on Feb. 24, quoting a separate case dealing with inmates and religious practices.
In August, Seitz permanently banned the department from using a “zero-tolerance” policy that removed inmates from the kosher-meal plan if they were caught eating regular meals or purchasing non-kosher food from the canteens, something corrections officials have already abandoned. And her order also bars prison officials from kicking inmates off the kosher plan if the prisoners miss 10 percent or more of their meals in a month, another policy the department says it has discontinued.
Keeping Seitz’s permanent injunction in place “will ensure that prisoners with a sincere religious belief in keeping kosher will not, in the future, have to choose between not eating and violating their faith,” the Justice Department’s lawyers wrote.
The fight over kosher meals in Florida prisons, playing out Tuesday in Miami before a three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, has dragged on for more than a decade.
The department started offering kosher meals in 2004 to Jewish prisoners at 13 facilities and transferred inmates who were eligible for the meals to those institutions. The agency expanded the program to inmates of all faiths in 2006 but halted it the following year before reinstating it as a pilot project at a single prison in 2010, serving fewer than 20 prisoners.
A year after the Justice Department filed the lawsuit in 2012, the state again began serving kosher meals and promised to have the meals available to all inmates by last July.
Two years ago, prison officials switched to all-cold meals, consisting largely of peanut butter and sardines, served twice a day, prompting some inmates to complain that the unappetizing diet was aimed at discouraging prisoners from signing up for the kosher plan.
Corrections officials had argued that the cost of the kosher meals, an option not only for Jewish prisoners but for Muslim and Seventh-Day Adventists whose religions also proscribe dietary restrictions, could cost the state up to $12 million a year because the food cost nearly twice the amount of regular grub.
About 9,000 of the state’s 100,000 prisoners are receiving kosher meals, according to department spokeswoman Michelle Glady. As of Monday, the state was spending $3.32 per inmate per day on kosher meals, compared to about $1.97 for the regular diet.
But Justice Department lawyers argued that the cost of the program is just a fraction of the corrections agency’s nearly $23 million food service budget, and an even smaller slice of its overall $2.3 billion budget.
About 1 percent of prisoners in other states and the federal Bureau of Prisons participate in religious meal programs, while Florida’s participation rate is more than 9 percent, according to court documents.
Lawyers who represented a Jewish prisoner who was denied a kosher diet questioned Florida’s numbers.
“The issue here is that Florida is really the lone holdout among the major prison systems around the country that’s really trying to say that they should be able to, at any time, stop taking care of the religious needs of its prisoners. And that’s very dangerous,” Becket Fund for Religious Liberty lawyer Daniel Blomberg said in a telephone interview Monday.
The Becket Fund represented inmate Bruce Rich, who dropped his case after Seitz gave corrections officials until mid-2015 to offer kosher meals to “all prisoners with a sincere religious basis for keeping kosher.”
The Justice Department derided the state’s $12 million estimated cost of the program as based on “a set of dubious assumptions regarding participation and pickup rates and questionable allocation of costs to the RDP (Religious Dietary Program) and savings to the mainline meal.”
Florida’s “worst-case scenario” estimate is 10 times more than what other states actually pay for kosher meals, according to court filings.
“At the same time they’re providing (kosher meals) in a very unattractive, unappetizing way, but also claiming just massive participation rates, extraordinarily high participation rates compared to anywhere else in the country,” Blomberg said. “And they’re claiming extremely high levels of expense, again compared to anywhere else in the country. So it seems very suspect.”
Providing the religious meals could reduce Florida’s overall prison costs, Blomberg said, citing research showing that allowing inmates to practice their religion can help reduce recidivism.
“Prisoners aren’t popular, and making provisions for prisoners can be unpopular. But the reality is that prisoners are human, and that denying their right to seek God strips away their human dignity,” Blomberg said. “It goes to the issue of human dignity. It goes to the issue of every individual to be able to seek God as their faith requires. And then it goes to the significant benefits to society that are provided when you provide access to faith in prison.”
by Dara Kam The News Service of Florida
Pictured: The cafeteria inside the Century Correctional Institution. NorthEscambia.com file photo, click to enlarge.