Motorcyclist Airlifted After Crash Near Bratt
March 3, 2016
One man was critically injured in a single motorcycle accident Thursday afternoon near Bratt.
The motorcyclist lost control on Highway 168 about a mile from Pine Barren Road. The driver and the motorcycle came to rest in a concrete culvert. The 37-year old male was airlifted by LifeFlight to a Pensacola area hospital.
The accident remains under investigation by the Florida Highway Patrol. Further details have not been released. The Walnut Hill and Century stations of Escambia Fire Rescambia and Atmore Ambulance also responded to the crash.
NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
House Fire That Killed Four Children Was Accidental
March 3, 2016
The State Fire Marshal’s Office says a house fire that claimed the lives of four children last month was accidental. The fire originated inside the residence at or near the ceiling above a hallway entrance to the kitchen where the main electric wiring for the house was located. The wiring could not be ruled out as the possible cause.
Escambia Fire Rescue responded to the 5:28 a.m. call on February 18 in the 2500 block of North Baylen Street in Pensacola to find small wood frame home fully involved in fire. Four children — an 11-year old male, 5-year old male, 3-year old female, and and 11-month old female perished in the blaze. They were discovered in a back bedroom of the 700-square foot home.
The mother, Curtisa Johnson, and her 15-year-old daughter, Lakeisha King, escaped without injury.
There were no working smoke detectors in the home.
NorthEscambia.com photos by Kristi Price, click to enlarge.
according to firefighters.
Richard Lee “Ricky” Fine
March 3, 2016
Richard Lee “Ricky” Fine, 62, of Pensacola, passed away February 28, 2016. He graduated from Escambia High School, Class of 1973.
He is preceded in death by his father, John Richard Fine and his sister, Cynthia Fine.
He is survived by his mother; Bertie Fine; daughter, Sarah Fine; son, Shawn Fine; grandchildren, Trinity Fine, Daniel Fine and Madison Fine; siblings, Mike Fine (Ellen), Bert Fine (Danny) and Phelicia Fine; many nieces, nephews and friends.
Visitation will be held Friday, March 4, 2016, beginning at 12 p.m. with the funeral services to begin at 1:00 p.m. at Faith Chapel Funeral Home North with Brother Gary Kelley officiating.
Interment will follow at Jordan Cemetery.
Faith Chapel Funeral Home North is in charge of arrangements.
Appeals Court Ruling Sends Century Man Back To Prison On Drug Charge
March 3, 2016
A Century man that recently completed a prison sentence for a drug charge is headed back to prison following an opinion issued by Florida’s First District Court of Appeal.
Steven Daniel Kite was sentenced this week to seven more years in state prison — the minimum mandatory sentence on a reinstated trafficking charge. The seven years must be served day by day without the possibility of parole or gain time.
He was arrested as part of the “Operation Blister Pack 2″ sweep in April 2013. It took an Escambia County jury just under an hour to find Kite guilty of conspiracy to traffic in methamphetamine and unlawful possession of a listed chemical – pseudoephedrine.
However, Kite moved for and obtained a judgement of acquittal on the conspiracy to traffic count. The trial judge cited two grounds for the judgement of acquittal — inaccurate wording and the failure to prove that there was any agreement between Kite and any other person to purchase and deliver pseudoephedrine. The state appealed the ruling.
The appeals court found the acquittal on the conspiracy to traffic count to be incorrect and ordered the trial court to reinstate the jury’s original guilty verdict.
The appeals court found that Kite did conspire to traffic in methamphetamine. Between December 2010 and April 2013, Kite made 53 purchases of pseudoephedrine, totaling 123.94 grams, from various pharmacies. He would deliver the package of pseudoephedrine to the home of a known methamphetamine cook and receive half a gram of meth each time in return.
Kite previously received a two year sentence, with credit for 122 days previously served, on the possession charge. According to Florida Department of Corrections records, Kite was released from prison on September 20, 2015.
In 2013, Operation Blister Pack targeted nearly 80 individuals on methamphetamine and pseudoephedrine related charges. Many of those arrested were involved with drug groups dubbed “The Village Group”, centered around “The Village” area of Forrest Street and Lakeview Avenue in Cantonment; and “The Ayers Group”, a group centered around Ayers Street in Molino, according to the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office.
Rain Chance This Afternoon, Tonight
March 3, 2016
Here is your official NorthEscambia area forecast:
Northview’s Calloway Honored As One Of State’s ‘Highest Impact’ Teachers
March 3, 2016
Northview High School teacher Tammy Calloway received double honor last week — not only was she honored at the Golden Apple Dinner for being Northview’s teacher of the year, but also she was recognized as one of the “highest impact” teachers in the state.
In a recent letter, Commissioner of Education Pam Stewart congratulated Calloway for being one of the highest impact teachers in the state.
“On behalf of the state of Florida, I would like to congratulate you for being one of the highest impact teachers in the state,” Stewart wrote. “In a recent analysis of your former students’ performance on statewide standardized assessments, for which a state level value-added model (VAM) score is calculated, the Florida Department of Education found that your impact on student learning is among the most statistically-significantly positive in the state.”
Calloway has been teaching for 22 years. She teaches ninth grade reading and co-teaches ninth grade language arts and earth science.
Pictured: Northview Teacher of the Year Tammy Calloway with her Teacher of the Year “Golden Apple”. Courtesy photo for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Housing Rehabilitation Assistance Available In Century On Friday
March 3, 2016
Staff from the Escambia County Neighborhood Enterprise Division will be at the Century Town Hall Friday from 10 a.m. to 2 pm. to take applications for housing rehabilitation programs for citizens in the unincorporated areas, or outside the town limits, affected by the February 15 Century tornado.
Applicants must bring a social security card for all household members and a picture ID for all household members over 18. Additionally, applicants should bring the following current information with them as applicable:
- Three most recent pay stubs
- Social security award letter
- Retirement/pension statement
- Unemployment statement
- Child support/alimony verification
- Current bank statements
- Current mortgage statement
- Current insurance statement
- Utility bill
- Any other documentation related to income being received by any member of a household
Programs available include the county’s HOME, CDBG and SHIP rehabilitation programs. Income limits apply and the property must be owner occupied and current on property taxes to receive assistance. Staff will also take applications again Thursday, March 10 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Century Town Hall. For more information, call the Neighborhood Enterprise Division at (850) 595-0022.
Century Town Hall is located at 7995 North Century Boulevard.
Reimagine Century Volunteer Meeting Tonight
March 3, 2016
A volunteer meeting to plan the upcoming Reimagine Century event will be held at 7:00 tonight at the Century Community Center.
Volunteers are urged to attend to learn how their church, business, ministry, or community agency can become involved in this third annual outreach event.
Reimagine Century 2016 will be held Saturday, May 21. The event will include a wide variety of activities, including a food giveaway, health screenings, live music, information from community agencies, a clothing giveaway, free lunch, youth and teen activities and sports and more.
For more information, call Linda English at (850) 454-5280.
NorthEscambia.com file photo, click to enlarge.
Florida Alimony Overhaul In The Works
March 3, 2016
After years of wrangling, lawmakers are poised to approve an alimony overhaul that would do away with permanent alimony and change the way judges decide how much time children should spend with their divorced parents.
The time-sharing portion of the alimony measure was at the center of a bitter disagreement between two prominent Republican lawmakers — Senate budget chief Tom Lee, who wanted it included in the bill, and House Rules Chairman Ritch Workman, who opposed it. The disagreement caused alimony proposals to stall last year.
While Lee and Workman reached consensus on the measure this week, changes inserted into the Senate proposal on Tuesday haven’t satisfied the Family Law Section of The Florida Bar, which remains opposed to the time-sharing provision.
Like last year’s legislation, both chambers are again proposing to establish a formula for judges to use when deciding alimony payments for divorcing couples.
Lee proposed an amendment on Tuesday that he said “softens” the child-sharing component of the Senate bill. The amendment did away with language that would have established a state policy that a schedule “that provides for substantially equal time-sharing with both parents” — an issue known as a legal “presumption” — is in children’s best interest.
Instead, the Senate measure (SB 668) now instructs judges to “begin with the premise that a minor child should spend approximately equal amounts of time with each parent” and instructs the court to formulate a time-sharing plan based on a variety of factors.
Lee, whose wife is a judge, has pushed for the time-sharing changes to reduce animosity in child custody cases.
“It takes some of the ambiguity out of the statute but not all of it. The language goes from a presumption to a premise, and it no longer says 50-50 (time sharing). It’s approximately, so it gives the court a little bit of room, and then it retains all of the criteria and asks them to inform the litigants of the reason the court has arrived at its decision,” Lee, R-Brandon, said in an interview Wednesday.
Workman said he would have preferred that the alimony bill not address time sharing, but called the revamped Senate proposal a “good compromise” that would likely get a House floor vote, if approved by the upper chamber.
“It moves away from the presumptive language that I think was very detrimental in previous versions of time share,” Workman, R-Melbourne, said. “The merged family-law bill does seem to accomplish both what the members of the Senate wanted when it comes to time share and what the members of the House wanted when it comes to alimony reform.”
The proposals would eliminate certain types of alimony, including permanent alimony, and create formulas for alimony payments. The duration of alimony payments would be based on the number of years of marriage, while the amount of the payments would rely on a couple’s gross income — the higher earner’s salary minus the earnings of the spouse seeking alimony.
The proposals do not contain a retroactivity provision that prompted Gov. Rick Scott to veto an alimony reform measure three years ago, but critics of the overhaul maintain that the changes would hurt older women who stayed at home to raise children and then have a hard time finding jobs.
Workman has worked for years with alimony reform advocates and the Bar’s Family Law Section to revamp what all sides called Florida’s outdated alimony statutes.
The Family Law Section endorsed the alimony changes, but objected to the time-sharing provision, a position Lee’s new language hasn’t changed.
Switching from a “presumption” of equal time sharing to a “premise” of the same does little to change the impact of the proposal, lawyers for the Family Law Section argued.
The revised Senate bill would favor one parent who “has the financial resources to disprove this presumption” of equal time sharing, Elisha Roy, past chair of the Family Law Section, said in a text.
“The unintended result of this presumption is a situation where many cases will resolve with no child support being awarded to either parent, leaving one parent in a situation where they may have the child a great deal more of the time because the other parent does not exercise the timesharing they are presumed to get, without the financial resources to support the child,” Roy said.
The changes would likely cause an increase in child-custody litigation, Roy predicted.
Workman said it was “tough to hear” that the Family Law Section opposed the measure, but that he’s heard from other divorce lawyers who support it.
“So I feel comfortable enough that is a step in the right direction because it’s not universally rejected by all of those that work in the business,” he said.
by Dara Kam, The News Servie of Florida
Lawmakers Ready To Sign Off On ‘Pastor Protection’ Bill
March 3, 2016
Responding to a landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling last year, the Florida Legislature is poised to pass a controversial bill aimed at protecting clergy members who object to performing wedding ceremonies for gay and lesbian couples.
The measure (HB 43), dubbed the “Pastor Protection Act,” was approved Wednesday by the House and was quickly taken up by the Senate. A final Senate vote could come as early as Thursday, with approval sending the bill to Gov. Rick Scott.
The bill was filed after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled last year that same-sex couples have a fundamental right to marry. House sponsor Scott Plakon, R-Longwood, and Senate sponsor Aaron Bean, R-Fernandina Beach, said the bill would protect churches, clergy and church employees who decline to perform marriage ceremonies contrary to their beliefs.
“The bill is a shield. It is not a sword,” Bean said. “Pastors have asked for protection because they’re fearful of being discriminated against.”
He said 17 other states have passed similar protections since the Supreme Court ruling in June in a case known as Obergefell v. Hodges.
But in the House and Senate, opponents contended that the First Amendment already protects pastors who refuse to perform same-sex weddings. They challenged supporters to show that any religious organizations have been punished for discriminating against same-sex couples.
Rep. Kevin Rader, a Delray Beach Democrat whose wife is a rabbi, compared it to passing a bill against aliens landing in Florida.
“This is just unneeded regulation,” Rader said. “It is just a crazy thing. A pastor protection act, from what? What pastor needs it?”
Bean said lawsuits have not yet come, in part, because the Supreme Court decision was just nine months ago. He compared the bill to getting a flu shot to prevent “something bad” from happening — in this case, a lawsuit against a pastor or church for refusing to participate in a same-sex wedding.
“I hope this bill is never needed,” Bean said.
In both chambers, opponents said the bill would open the door for pastors to refuse to marry mixed-race couples or divorced people. And they said it sent a message of exclusion to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Floridians.
“It’s a mean-spirited jab at the LGBT community… a prima facie that says, ‘Not Welcome,’ ” said Rep. Ed Narain, D-Tampa.
Rep. Evan Jenne, D-Dania Beach, likened the bill to “spitting at someone’s feet” and said the House is “on the wrong side of history.”
But Rep. Dennis Baxley, an Ocala Republican and former executive director of the Christian Coalition of Florida, said the Obergefell ruling had shaken the worldview of conservative Christians.
“If there is anybody under assault and discrimination, I’ll tell you who it is,” Baxley said. “It is anyone who holds a biblical world view, and is simply trying to live by it. They are under assault. We are called haters.”
Plakon also said the final version of the bill represented a compromise with the American Civil Liberties Union and the advocacy group Equality Florida. In exchange for limiting the bill’s reach to religious institutions — and keeping it out of the private sector — those groups agreed to withdraw their opposition.
“We withdrew our opposition because one of the major agreements by both of the bill sponsors was that Florida was not going to go in the same direction as Georgia and expand the pastor-protection law to include adoption agencies and for-profit businesses that serve the public,” said Carlos Guillermo Smith of Equality Florida.
He said that Georgia last month passed a pastor-protection act that at the “11th hour” was expanded to include such things.
“Now that the bill is no longer subject to harmful amendments, we are less concerned about the legal impact,” said Michelle Richardson of the ACLU of Florida. “But the members should certainly think about the message the bill sends to gay Floridians.”
Watching the proceedings was the Rev. Chris Walker, pastor of the Cathedral Power International Church in Clermont. Walker authored an online petition about the pastor-protection issue that has drawn more than 24,000 signatures since July.
The petition came to Plakon’s attention and helped lead to the bill, which passed the House in a 82-37 vote.
“I say we need the bill, because who would have thought the Supreme Court would redefine what God had already defined?” Walker said. “We are in uncharted waters right now. We don’t know what’s going to take place, and this bill needed to be here so that we would have that protection for the future.”
by Margie Menzel, The News Service of Florida