Election Watch: Several Candidates Officially Qualify On Monday
June 21, 2016
Monday marked the first day of qualifying week for candidates seeking local office.
Those qualified as of close of business Monday for offices included the candidates listed below. Additional candidates have pre-qualified for the positions listed but did not officially qualify as of Monday. Friday at noon is the deadline to qualify for the offices listed.
Tax Collector:
- Buck Lee, Republican
- Deb Moore, Democrat
- Scott Lunsford, Republican
Sheriff:
- Rex Blackburn, NPA
- John Johnson, Republican
- Ron McNesby, Republican
- David Morgan, Republican
Supervisor of Elections:
- David Stafford, Republican
Property Appraiser:
- Chris Jones, Democrat
Clerk of the Circuit Court:
- Pam Childers, Republican
Superintendent of Schools:
- Malcolm Thomas, Republican
County Commissioner, District 1:
- Jeff Bergosh, Republican
- Jesse Casey, Republican
- Karen Sindel , Republican
County Commissioner, District 3:
- Mirza Aftab Ahmad, NPA
School Board, District 1: (Nonpartisan office)
- Kevin Adams
- Willie Kirkland, Jr.
School Board, District 4: (Nonpartisan office)
- Patty Hightower
School Board, District 5: (Nonpartisan office)
- William Slayton Jr.
ECUA, District 1:
- Vicki Campbell, Republican
- James Faxlanger, Republican
ECUA, District 3:
- Clorissti Mitchell, Democrat
- Elvin McCorvey, Democrat
- John R. Johnson, NPA
- Kennie Lyons, Democrat
- Derrick Gainer, NPA
ECUA, District 5:
- Jim Taylor, Republican
- Larry Walker, Republican
City Council, District 1: (Nonpartisan office)
- P.C. Wu
City Council, District 3: (Nonpartisan office)
- Andy Terhaar
City Council, District 7: (Nonpartisan office)
- Jewel Cannada-Wynn
Escambia County Soil & Water Conservation, District 1: (Nonpartisan office)
- Betty Ann Wilson
Escambia County Soil & Water Conservation, District 3: (Nonpartisan office)
- Anne Bennett
SRIA: (Nonpartisan office)
- Thomas A. Campanella
Century Mayor
- Benjamin Boutwell
Warm Afternoons, No Chance Of rain
June 21, 2016
Here is your official North Escambia area forecast:
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Tuesday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 68. South wind around 5 mph becoming calm in the evening.
Wednesday: Sunny, with a high near 91. Light and variable wind becoming south 5 to 10 mph in the afternoon.
Wednesday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 69. South wind 5 to 10 mph becoming light after midnight.
Thursday: Sunny, with a high near 92. Light and variable wind becoming southwest 5 to 10 mph in the morning.
Thursday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 73. South wind 5 to 10 mph.
Friday: Sunny, with a high near 94. Calm wind becoming south around 5 mph in the afternoon.
Friday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 74. Southwest wind 5 to 10 mph.
Saturday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 94.
Saturday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 75.
Sunday: A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly sunny, with a high near 95.
Sunday Night: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 75.
Monday: A 50 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly sunny, with a high near 91.
Century Revisits Establishing A Community Redevelopment Area
June 21, 2016
Back in February, the Century Town Council approved the formation of a Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA), but that effort stalled as the town recovered from an EF-3 tornado.
At Monday night’s meeting of the Century Town Council, council member Ann Brooks questioned the progress of a CRA.
“We need to get our hands wrapped back around it, and, if we are, let’s move forward,” Mayor Freddie McCall said.
Council members expressed concerns over costs to establish the CRA, and exactly how much help Escambia County might provide. “We need someone (from Escambia County) to come talk to us and explain how they might help us,” Brooks said.
McCall said he would call Commissioner Steven Barry and start those discussions.
Upon declaration of an area as blighted, the CRA works to improve conditions. As property tax values rise, most of the increase is funneled back into the redevelopment area for further improvements. An estimate provide by Escambia County showed Century might, in a best case scenario, receive about $5,300 in tax funds for the first year of a CRA that included a full maximum 80 percent of the town.
Essentially, CRAs use redevelopment funds within a deteriorating area to transform it into one that again contributes to the overall health of a community. The money can roll over year to year, up a 40-year life for a CRA.
CRA funds can be used for a variety of public purposes, including items specified in the agency’s redevelopment plan, planning and surveys, acquisition of real property, affordable housing development and community policing innovations.
In February, the council decided that Century will enter into an interlocal agreement with Escambia County for assistance in forming and managing the CRA. Their next step was to be the formation of a seven member board — the five council members plus two at-large members — to oversee the Century CRA.
There are currently nine other redevelopment districts in Escambia County — Atwood, Barrancas, Brownsville, Cantonment, Englewood, Ensley, Oakfield, Palafox and Warrington — and three within the City of Pensacola.
Pictured top: Century Council members Ann Brooks (left) and Annie Savage listen to discussion Monday night. NorthEscambia.com photo, click to enlarge.
Owe A Library Fine? Pay With Cash — Or Blood
June 21, 2016
The West Florida Public Libraries will now accept blood in lieu of library fines.
The library will waive fines up to $50 for participating patron in exchange for the cardholder donating blood, or making a good-faith effort to donate, at blood drives held at the West Florida Public Libraries. Following a successful blood drive at the main, blood drives will be held once at each library branch during the next year.
The blood donation credit will only apply to fines, not replacement charges for lost materials. If a patron wishes to donate their credit to another individual or family, the library will honor this request. But library patrons will not be allowed to accumulate credit on their account.
The first blood drive will be held Tuesday, June 28 at the main library to be followed by blood drive at a different library location every two months, rotating to each of the library branches in Escambia County. Donors will also receive a free t-shirt and a special edit “I Blood for Books” library card.
Evers Riles Activists With AR-15 Facebook Giveaway
June 21, 2016
Barely a week after the worst mass shooting in the nation’s history, state Sen. Greg Evers — running in a hotly contested Republican primary for a Panhandle congressional seat — drew criticism for planning to give away a semiautomatic rifle similar to a gun used in the attack that killed 49 people and injured dozens of others at a gay nightclub in Orlando.
Evers, a Baker Republican who has frequently sponsored legislation backed by the National Rifle Association, announced Monday he is giving away an AR-15 rifle to a resident of Congressional District 1 who has “liked” and “shared” Evers’ Facebook page. Killer Omar Mateen used a similar gun during the deadly assault early June 12 on the Pulse nightclub.
“With terrorism incidents on the rise, both at home and abroad, protecting our constitutional rights has never been more important,” Evers said in a prepared statement accompanying the announcement.
The winner of the “custom-built” rifle will be selected on July 4, with the contestant having to meet eligibility requirements, according to a press release and a post on Evers’ Facebook page.
But LGBT activists decried Evers’s decision to essentially raffle off the gun while funerals for the 49 clubgoers — most of them gay and Hispanic — have just begun.
“I think it is tasteless, disrespectful, disgusting, political pandering at its worst,” Stratton Pollitzer, deputy director of Equality Florida, an LGBT advocacy group that has raised more than $6 million for victims of the massacre. “The idea that he wants to put the same style assault rifle that was just used for mass murder into the hands of a random stranger is grotesque.”
Evers is running to replace veteran U.S. Rep. Jeff Miller — who announced earlier this year he will not seek re-election — in what is expected to be a brutal campaign against state Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fort Walton Beach, and James Zumwalt, an Iraq war veteran and former Miller aide.
Evers made his announcement the day before U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch is scheduled to travel to Orlando to meet with victims, first responders and other members of the Orlando community reeling from the attack on the popular nightclub in the wee hours of a Sunday morning.
Critics view Evers’ gun giveaway as a way for him to beef up support from Second Amendment backers in arguably the state’s most conservative congressional district, which abuts the Alabama border and spans Escambia, Okaloosa, Santa Rosa and Walton counties and includes most of Holmes County. The winner of the Aug. 30 GOP primary is almost certain to go to Washington.
“Sen. Evers’s campaign gimmick will improve self-defense for exactly one Floridian. I’ve spent a legislative career fighting for Second Amendment rights for all Floridians,” Gaetz said in a telephone interview Monday.
Evers’s gun contest comes as some, including President Barack Obama, push lawmakers to consider imposing restrictions on the purchase of assault weapons like the one used by the shooter in the Orlando massacre.
Evers defended his AR-15 contest by accusing Obama of blaming the Orlando catastrophe on guns, “when the real threat is radical Islamic terrorism.”
“Where I’m from, people ain’t gonna sit around and wait for the government to protect them, they’ll protect themselves. That’s what this is about — promoting self-reliance in the face of Islamic terrorism,” Evers said in an e-mail.
But Liz Watkins called Evers’s campaign ploy an insult, especially in Pensacola, which has courted the LGBT community and draws thousands of gay tourists each Memorial Day weekend for a major gay pride celebration.
“I think it’s criminal,” Watkins, a Pensacola LGBT activist, said. “I think he is contributing to the death of people. If he isn’t stopped by the law somehow, then Republicans need to look in this guy’s face and say you need to think about what you’re doing. … I’ve got to tell you my stomach’s turning from it.”
Pamela Goodman, president of the League of Women Voters of Florida, said her group is “outraged” by Evers’s announcement.
“We do not believe that actions like that can solve the issue at hand. We need to be having discourse and conversation and action with the people of all sides weighing in on this issue,” Goodman said in a telephone conference call with reporters on Monday.
But as offensive as Evers’s giveaway might be to some, others believe it won’t hurt him in a primary where candidates are eager to flaunt their allegiance to gun rights.
“There’s a decent chance that whoever gets (the rifle), it will be their second AR-15,” said GOP strategist J.M. “Mac” Stipanovich, who splits his time between Tallahassee and Destin, which is included in the congressional district. “There’s a cultural and political divide here that’s hard for some folks to understand. What happened in Orlando, a number of people, including many people in the Panhandle, believe that is an alarm bell, a summons to arm yourself against the coming darkness, the bad guys who are out to get us.”
by Dara Kam, The News Service of Florida
Escambia District High School, Middle School Report Cards On The Way
June 21, 2016
Escambia County School District high school and middle school report cards will be on the way later this week, nearly a month after the last day of school.
Grades were delayed while the school district awaited the arrival of end of course exam scores from the state. Those were received last Friday and have been verified by the schools.
According to Superintendent Malcolm Thomas, the grades have been entered and final reports cards are available for download now in the “Focus Parent Portal” (click here). Report cards will be mailed on Thursday.
‘Docs Vs Glocks’ Law Faces Key Court Test
June 21, 2016
Five years after Florida lawmakers passed what became known as the “docs v. glocks” law, a full federal appeals court will hear arguments Tuesday in a constitutional dispute that pits physicians against gun-rights advocates.
The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, meeting in Atlanta, will take up a challenge by physician groups and individual doctors to the 2011 law, which seeks to restrict doctors from asking questions and recording information about patients’ gun ownership.
The arguments come after years of legal wrangling that has included debates about First Amendment and Second Amendment rights and questions about how far doctors should go in discussing safety with patients. A large part of the dispute has focused on gun-related conversations between doctors and parents as children are being treated.
Marion Hammer, a longtime Tallahassee lobbyist for the National Rifle Association, which backed the 2011 law, said doctors “have no business asking you what private personal property you own.”
“When they ask about guns, and then they lecture you to get rid of guns, that’s politics,” Hammer told The News Service of Florida on Monday. “It’s not medicine. We take our children to the doctor because they are sick. We don’t take them there for political lectures on guns.”
But pediatric cardiologist Louis St. Petery, a former executive vice president of the Florida Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, said doctors also discuss other safety issues with parents when treating children. For example, he said doctors discuss issues related to poisons, swimming pools and cars.
“What we are after is to protect that kid and be sure that kid doesn’t get killed or injured inappropriately because the firearm that is in the home is not properly stored,” St. Petery said during an interview.
Tuesday’s arguments come after a somewhat-unusual move by the full appeals court to agree to hear the case, a move known as hearing the case “en banc.” A U.S. District Court judge blocked the law from taking effect, but a three-judge panel of the appeals court upheld the law in three rulings. The full appeals court then agreed to take up the case.
The case has drawn widespread attention from legal, medical and Second Amendment groups, with friend-of-the-court briefs filed by groups ranging from the American Bar Association to the NRA.
The law, which the Legislature passed after heavy debate, seeks to place a series of restrictions on doctors and other health providers. For example, it seeks to prevent physicians from entering information about gun ownership into medical records if the physicians know the information is not “relevant” to patients’ medical care or safety or to the safety of other people.
Also, the law says doctors should refrain from asking about gun ownership by patients or family members unless the doctors believe in “good faith” that the information is relevant to medical care or safety. Also, the law seeks to prevent doctors from discriminating against patients or “harassing” them because of owning firearms.
The physicians and medical groups challenging the law, dubbed the Firearm Owners’ Privacy Act, argue that it violates free-speech rights.
“In FOPA (the Firearm Owners’ Privacy Act), the Florida Legislature does what no legislative body has done before or since; it prevents doctors from providing patients with truthful advice to keep their families healthy and safe — speech that is recommended as standard protocol by national medical associations,” attorneys for the challengers wrote in an April brief. “If FOPA is allowed to stand, it sets precedent for states, at the bidding of other industries or special interests, to prevent doctors from speaking to patients about risks posed by other dangerous products or activities. The First Amendment does not allow the state to single out and censor one topic (firearms), or one group (doctors, or patients), or to so interfere with the doctor-patient relationship.”
But lawyers in Attorney General Pam Bondi’s office, which is defending the state in the case, contended in a brief that plaintiffs do not have legal “standing” to challenge the law. But even if the doctors have standing, Bondi’s office argued the law “passes muster under any level of First Amendment review.”
“By shielding gun-owning patients and families from discrimination, unnecessary harassment, and bad-faith, irrelevant inquiries and record-keeping, the act narrowly advances the state’s compelling interests in protecting the fundamental right to keep and bear arms from private encumbrances, safeguarding patient privacy, eliminating barriers to health care, and preventing discrimination and harassment in the provision of health care services,” the brief said. “The act represents the most modest of all professional regulations — a requirement that doctors stick to practicing medicine — and it accomplishes its compelling goals without interfering with doctors’ professional judgment or otherwise burdening more speech than necessary.”
by Jim Saunders and Tom Urban, The News Service of Florida
West Highway 4 Delays Today At Canoe Creek Bridge
June 21, 2016
Drivers can expect delays today on West Highway 4 at Canoe Creek due to bridge inspections. The bridge is located between Vaughn Road and Bratt Road, between Bratt and Century. NorthEscambia.com photo, click to enlarge.
Photos: The Strawberry Moon
June 21, 2016
The summer solstice coincided with a full moon Monday night — a rare event that last happened in 1967 and won’t happen again until 2062.
The strawberry moon is the nickname for June’s full moon and does not refer to the perceived color of the moon. The strawberry moon got its name from the Algonquin tribes, which interpreted it as a signal to gather ripening strawberries, according to the Old Farmers Almanac.
Pictured top: The strawberry moon shot from Walnut Hill. Pictured below: The strawberry moon rises over a field in Bratt. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Auburn Athletic Director Jay Jacobs To Speak Tonight In Atmore
June 21, 2016
Auburn University Athletic Director Jay Jacobs is the guest speaker tonight for the Escambia County (AL) Auburn Club.
Tickets for the dinner meeting are $25 for adults, $10 for children under 12. The meeting begins at 6 p.. in the Wind Creek Ballroom. For more information, call or email Edie Jackson at (251) 253-5818 or jackson.edie@yahoo.com. Friends, fans, family and alumni are welcome.