NHS Lifters Place In Recent Meet
February 17, 2017
The follow are Northview High School results from a recent weightlifting meet:
Greg Pressley, 2nd place, 119-pound class
Dalton Hadley, 3rd place, 129-pound class
MJ Jones, 1st place, 139-pound class
Ohijie Elliott, 1st place, 154-pound class
Colten Dockens, 2nd place, 154-pound class
Chase Olsen, 1st place, 169-pound class
Keaton Solmonson, 2nd place, 169-pound class
Tim Bush, 2nd place, 183-pound class
Ray Bush, 3rd place, 183-pound class
Jacob Hawkins, 3rd place, 199-pound class
Tyler Kite, 3rd place, 219-pound class
Justin Helton, 2nd place, Heavyweight class
File photo.
Century Celebrates Tornado Recovery With Trees
February 16, 2017
A small crowd gathered Wednesday afternoon to celebrate Century’s recovery efforts following an EF-3 tornado one year ago.
The storm tore through the town with winds of up to 152 mph, damaging or destroying over 100 homes and businesses on February 15, 2016.
Mayor Henry Hawkins joined recovery workers and the Florida Forest Service in planting trees at the Century Community Center on West Highway 4, and about 200 trees were available to the public for Arbor Day. Hawkins also issued an official proclamation celebrating the tornado recovery and Arbor day.
“Trees,” Hawkins said in the proclamation, “are a source of joy and spiritual renewal.”
Photos by Jared Sigler for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Cantonment Man, Four Others Arrested In Armed Burglary
February 16, 2017
Five people – including a Cantonment man – have been arrested on various charges after they were involved in an armed burglary incident on Sunday.
Arrested were:
- Terry Jackson, 34, of the 1000 block of McKenzie Road, Cantonment. Charged with two counts of burglary, one count of fleeing and eluding, and one count of criminal mischief.
- Joshua Miller, 30, address unavailable. Charged with two counts of burglary and one count possession of a weapon by a convicted felon. Miller also has an outstanding warrant from Manatee County for armed bank robbery.
- Joseph McElroy, 35, of the 200 block of Airport Boulevard, Pensacola. Charged with armed burglary, possession of a weapon by a convicted felon and criminal mischief.
- Tina McDaniel, 35, of the 200 block of North Pinewood, Pensacola. Charged with two counts of burglary and one count of criminal mischief.
- Amanda Combs, 29, of the 3000 block of Muldoon Road, Pensacola. Charged with two counts of burglary and one count of criminal mischief.
Detective Matt Mercado said officers were dispatched to an armed burglary call at a residence in the 700 block of West Government Street around 10 a.m. Sunday (Feb. 12). Mercado said Combs, McDaniel, Jackson, McElroy, and Miller had gone to the residence, cut through a fence and then broke a lock and latch off a storage trailer on the property. Mercado said the property owner – Warren Williams, 49 – had asked Combs and McDaniel several times to remove their personal belongings from the trailer, but they hadn’t and arrived unannounced on Sunday.
Williams called police during the burglary, and before officers arrived, McElroy also pulled the power meter from the house. Williams went outside to confront the suspects and when he did, Mercado said McElroy pointed a handgun at him and threatened to shoot him. McElroy then entered the trailer with Combs and McDaniel and discharged the firearm inside the trailer while Williams was trying to keep the door shut until police arrived.
As an officer arrived, Jackson and Miller got into a truck and fled the scene and McElroy exited the trailer and fled on foot. Officers pursued the truck but discontinued the pursuit after a short time.
Jackson was taken into custody around 5 p.m. Sunday at a home in the 200 block of Airport Boulevard.
Detectives and PPD SWAT members returned to the residence on Tuesday to execute a search warrant for McElroy and Miller. Mercado said SWAT officers were involved because officers had received information that McElroy and Miller had threatened to shoot officers if they tried to take them into custody. Both suspects were taken into custody at the house without incident.
On Tuesday, detectives seized a .32 caliber handgun fired in the burglary incident on Sunday and also some methamphetamine from the house. The investigation is continuing.
Death Penalty Fix On The Fast Track
February 16, 2017
A proposal that would require unanimous jury recommendations for death sentences to be imposed sailed through its first House vetting Wednesday, receiving unanimous approval from the House Criminal Justice Subcommittee.
The legislation (HB 527), and a similar Senate measure (SB 280), is the latest attempt to get the state’s death penalty — on hold for more than a year — back on track in the wake of a series of court rulings.
The issues began with a U.S. Supreme Court decision in January 2016 finding that the state’s capital sentencing system was unconstitutional because it gave too much power to judges, instead of juries.
Lawmakers quickly passed a measure to address the court ruling, which did not address the issue of jury unanimity. The new law included a component that did away with simple majority recommendations for death to be imposed, and instead required at least 10 jurors to agree on death sentences.
But the Florida Supreme Court in October struck down the new law as an unconstitutional violation of the right to trial by jury and said unanimous recommendations are required.
Buddy Jacobs, a lobbyist who represents the Florida Prosecuting Attorneys Association, urged the Criminal Justice Subcommittee on Wednesday to quickly pass the new bill to fix the death penalty.
“We have 50 cases ready to be tried in Florida. Some are picking juries as we speak. This is a real crisis in the criminal justice system, and it’s a real crisis for the victim’s families of these terrible, terrible crimes,” he said.
But defense lawyers, who repeatedly cautioned lawmakers last year against approving a law that did not require unanimity, maintain that the state still has work to do to fix the death penalty statute.
Public defenders contend that the current law is not narrow enough to capture the “worst of the worst,” something that courts look for when evaluating death penalty laws. Florida, one of only two states that does not require unanimous jury recommendations for death, is an “outlier,” 10th Judicial Circuit Public Defender Rex Dimmig said Wednesday.
“Florida will continue to be an outlier after this bill is passed. If Florida is to continue to have a death penalty, comprehensive reform is needed,” he said.
But bill sponsor Chris Sprowls, R-Palm Harbor, said lawmakers have a duty to ensure that Floridians “have access to justice” in the form of the death penalty.
“The only way to ensure that is to have a constitutional statute, and that’s what we’re doing,” he said.
The House and Senate measures face their second committee hearings next week before heading to the floor for full votes. The annual legislative session starts March 7.
by Dara Kam, The News Service of Florida
Lawmakers Unveil Legislation To Limit Testing Time
February 16, 2017
Leading members of the House and Senate unveiled legislation Wednesday that they said could help reduce the amount of time Florida public school students spend on standardized tests during the school year.
But lawmakers admitted that the proposal (HB 773, SB 926), dubbed the “Fewer, Better Tests” legislation, would not explicitly do away with any exams.
The proposal would require the state’s language arts and math tests to be administered in the last three weeks of a school year, with the exception of the 3rd-grade reading exam.
It also requires that the scores for any tests used by local school districts be provided to teachers within a week, instead of the month currently allowed by law. And it calls for the state to conduct a study of whether college-entrance exams are closely aligned with Florida’s high school standards, with an eye on potentially using them as at least a partial replacement for the state’s graduation tests.
The proposal comes amid a continuing stream of complaints from parents that children in Florida’s schools are over-tested. Lawmakers at the press conference said they had heard the gripes.
“We got the message from parents and teachers about how they feel about the testing process, the anxiety that some of their students feel and really the common-sense approach of what they need and what kind of tools they need to make sure that their children or that their students are getting a year’s worth of learning in a year’s worth of time,” said Rep. Chris Sprowls, R-Palm Harbor.
Sprowls is set to become the speaker of the House after the 2020 elections.
The legislation is backed by the influential Foundation for Florida’s Future, an organization founded by former Gov. Jeb Bush to guard his work on education accountability. The foundation and other testing supporters have come under siege from the public pushback against testing in recent years.
Still, the legislation, highlighted at an event Wednesday at the Capitol, doesn’t get rid of any of the exams that parents, students and teachers have complained about.
“It doesn’t eliminate any tests,” Sen. Anitere Flores of Miami, the No. 2 Republican in the Senate, said in response to a reporter’s question.
When the reporter underscored the title that lawmakers gave the legislation, she pointed out that it would limit the amount of time when school districts can administer exams.
“It does reduce the testing window, but I don’t know if actually eliminates any tests,” Flores said.
Supporters said the one-week window for local tests was aimed at prompting districts to get rid of any exams that couldn’t meet that standard.
Rep. Manny Diaz Jr., R-Hialeah, said the local tests contributed more to the current backlash from parents than the state assessments, as districts try to measure their students ahead of the state exams.
“That’s what produced, I think, the overwhelming feeling that kids are just being over-tested anywhere,” said Diaz, who chairs the House subcommittee that oversees public school spending. “A lot of those tests are local because districts just want to see where their students are. And I don’t blame them. But, unfortunately, we have to clear the path for learning to go on.”
After the event, Diaz told a reporter he didn’t think there were too many state tests, but added, “I think we always have to evaluate that, because things change.”
Whether the bills could command support from groups like the Florida Education Association, the state’s main teachers union and one of the organizations pushing back on over-testing, remains unclear. Mark Pudlow, a spokesman for the FEA, said in an email that the group was still studying the proposal.
“There are some elements of the proposal we agree with, others that may be concerning,” Pudlow said. “We’ll be seeking clarification on some of those areas of concern.”
The legislation at least makes some nods in the direction of specific ideas that have been floated to help lighten the testing load in Florida, but doesn’t go as far as more sweeping suggestions.
For example, Sen. David Simmons, an Altamonte Springs Republican who chairs the Senate’s education budget-writing panel, has said there is “a good chance” that legislation he is planning to address testing will recommend doing away high school tests not required by federal law. The bill unveiled Wednesday would not do that.
And Sen. Tom Lee, R- Thonotosassa, has pushed for the state to allow at least some students to use scores on national tests like the SAT and the Preliminary SAT in lieu of state assessments, like the high-school graduation exam.
Diaz emphasized the need to study how well those tests line up with the state’s education standards before going down that road.
“All of those conversations have occurred without us taking an actual deep-dive look at whether that is actually even viable,” he said.
During a committee meeting last month, that argument didn’t appear to persuade Lee.
“If you have a child that is performing well on the PSAT to the point where they’re then going on to make (a high score) on the SAT, what else do we need to know?” he said.
“And if they’re not doing as well as we hope to on our (state tests) after accomplishing those scores on the PSAT and the SAT, maybe it’s our standards that are the problem, not the test.”
by The News Service of Florida
Cool Day, Cold NIght With A Weekend Warmup
February 16, 2017
Here is your official North Escambia area forecast:
Thursday: Sunny, with a high near 64. North wind around 5 mph becoming calm in the afternoon.
Thursday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 37. Calm wind.
Friday: Increasing clouds, with a high near 70. Calm wind becoming southwest around 5 mph in the afternoon.
Friday Night: Showers likely. Cloudy, with a low around 49. South wind around 5 mph becoming east after midnight. Chance of precipitation is 60%.
Saturday: A 40 percent chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 68. East wind around 5 mph.
Saturday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 51. Northeast wind around 5 mph becoming calm.
Sunday: Sunny, with a high near 75. Calm wind becoming northeast around 5 mph.
Sunday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 53. Calm wind becoming east around 5 mph after midnight.
Washington’s Birthday: Sunny, with a high near 77.
Monday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 55.
Tuesday: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly sunny, with a high near 77.
Tuesday Night: A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 58.
Wednesday: A 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 73.
Slayton Wins State Music Educator’s Award
February 16, 2017
Bill Slayton has been named the Florida Music Education Association District School Board Member of the Year. The award is presented annual to an individual for outstanding contributions over an extended period of time to music education throughout Florida as well as nationally.
Slayton represents the North Escambia area as the District 5 member on the Escambia County School Board.
Slayton holds bachelor and master’s degrees in music education from the University of Southern Mississippi, served as band director for Tate High School’s “Showband of the South” from 1971 to 1987 and served as fine arts supervisor for the Escambia County School District from 1987 to 1991. From 1991 until 2007, he moved into administration for the school district, serving as assistant principal and principal at Woodham High and principal at George Stone Technical Center.
Courtesy photo for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Tate, Northview Players Named To All State Football Teams
February 16, 2017
FloridaHSFootball.com has released their 2016-2017 All State Teams. Several Tate and Northview high school players were selected:
Tate/Class 6A
FIRST TEAM OFFENSE
ATH — Jake Henry, Sr., Tate
1,647 yds passing, 20 TDs; 1,168 yds rushing, 13 TDs
SECOND TEAM DEFENSE
DB — Patrick Palmer, So., Tate
31 tackles, 7 INTs, 4 PBUs, 1 FR
SECOND TEAM SPECIALISTS
LS — Raymond Freeman, Sr., Tate
Northview/Class 1A
FIRST TEAM DEFENSE
AP — Luke Ward, Sr., Northview
47 tackles, 3 TFL, 4 INTs, 3 FF, 1 defensive TD; 1,121 yds passing, 12 TDs, 9 INTs, 1,117 yards rushing, 14 TDs; 24.5 yards avg. per punt return
ATH — Ohijie Elliot, Sr., Northview
113 tackles, 11.5 TFL, 4 sacks, 1 FF; 103 yds receiving, 1 TD
SECOND TEAM OFFENSE
WR — Neikel Robinson, Jr., Northview
48 rec, 818 yds, 6 TDs; 1 two-point conversion; 15 tackles, 4 INTs, 1 defensive TD at safety
HONORABLE MENTION
OL:Justin Helton, Jr., Northview
DL:Jared Aliff, Sr. Northview
LB:Alston Wiggins, Sr., Northview;Hunter Edwards, Sr., Northview
Pictured: Luke Ward (top) and Neikel Robinson (below). NorthEscambia.com photos.
Bratt Elementary Names February Students Of The Month
February 16, 2017
The following students (pictured above) were named Students of the Month for February at Bratt Elementary School.
Bentley Alexander
Troy Ard
Waylon Bell
Ethan Bingham
Camden Clarke
Jerick Cooper
Kylar Davis
Carson Eady
Mayson Edwards
Evelyn Esparza
Jamison Gilman
Logan Kaul
Kaylee Long
Adalynn Lowery
Anyla McNeir
William Plato
Colby Pugh
Madison Rice (not pictured)
Maggie Stewart
Avery Stuckey
Kennedy Ward
Mi’Kavion White
Mya Wilson
Jasmine Zisa
The students pictured below, Madison Rice and Mya Wilson, were chosen to represent Bratt Elementary School as Escambia County Students of the Month for February.
Cantonment Man Arrested For May 2016 Hit And Run Crash
February 15, 2017
A Cantonment man on the lam since a 2016 hit and run crash in Cantonment is now behind bars.
Colby Chase Myrick, 26, is charged with leaving the scene of a crash with injuries, leaving the scene of a crash with property damage, driving while license revoked habitual, reckless driving with injuries, driving while license expired more than six months and tampering with evidence. He also faces citations for failure to report a crash and failure to provide insurance in a crash. He was booked into the Escambia County Jail with bond set at $23,000.
According to the Florida Highway Patrol, Myrick was traveling northbound on Wegner Avenue approaching Mintz Lane on May 31, 2016, when he failed to stop at a yield sign and struck a Toyota Avalon driven by 71-year old Elizabeth Harris of Cantonment.
The Toyota left the roadway and struck a concrete table and landscaping at 302 Wegner Avenue, while Myrick fled fled the scene in a Dodge Ram northbound on Wegner Avenue. Harris and her six-year old passenger suffered minor injuries.
Over two weeks later, the 1996 Dodge Ram was located on Well Line Road and positively identified as the vehicle involved in the crash. The vehicle was identified by a piece of the front grill left behind at the crash scene with a chrome skull with two guns mounted to the front.
NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
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