Molino Head Start Commits To Two More Years
March 27, 2017
The Escambia County Commission has agreed to extend the low cost lease for the Head Start program in Molino.
The Community Action Program Committee, Inc. first leased the property next to the Molino Library on Highway 95A in April 2014 for Head Start. A grand opening for the program was held in October 2014 after renovations were complete to create classroom space in the 3,755 square foot building.
Community Action Program Committee Inc., is a non-profit corporation that provides assistance to low-income pre-school children ages birth to five years in Escambia County. They lease the building at $1 per year with their new two-year term beginning April 29.
Head Start and Early Head Start Programs provide comprehensive, developmental services for low-income pre-school children ages birth to five and support services for their families. The purpose of the Head Start programs is to promote school readiness by enhancing the social and cognitive development of children through the provision of health, educational, nutritional, social and other services. The cornerstone of the program is parent and community development.
Pictured: The grand opening of the Head Start program in Molino. NorthEscambia.com file photos, click to enlarge.
Warm Temps, Showers Ahead
March 27, 2017
Here is your official North Escambia area forecast:
Monday: A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms, mainly after 4pm. Areas of fog before 9am. Otherwise, partly sunny, with a high near 81. South wind 5 to 10 mph.
Monday Night: A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms before 7pm. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 60. South wind around 5 mph.
Tuesday: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly sunny, with a high near 82. South wind around 5 mph.
Tuesday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 59. South wind around 5 mph becoming calm after midnight.
Wednesday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 83. Light southeast wind becoming south 5 to 10 mph in the morning.
Wednesday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 61. South wind around 5 mph.
Thursday: A 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly sunny, with a high near 81. South wind 5 to 10 mph increasing to 10 to 15 mph in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 25 mph.
Thursday Night: Showers and thunderstorms likely. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 61. South wind 5 to 15 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%.
Friday: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms before 1pm. Mostly sunny, with a high near 81.
Friday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 57.
Saturday: Sunny, with a high near 83.
Saturday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 59.
Sunday: A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly sunny, with a high near 79.
Escambia Schools Honor Volunteers, Partners
March 27, 2017
The 2017 Escambia County School District Appreciation Luncheon was held recently to thank volunteers, mentors, business and community partners and teachers.
Those honored from the North Escambia area included:
Jim Allen Elementary
Teacher of the Year – Lacey Brown
Adult Volunteeer - LessLee Earnest
Senior Volunteer – Jill Hale
Bratt Elementary School
Adult Volunteer – Bonnie Reaves
Senior Volunteer – Carolyn Loggins
Partner – Walnut Hill Vol Fire Dept
Escambia Westgate
Adult Volunteer – Anna Dudenhofer
Senior Volunteer – Anthony Keligond
Youth Volunteer - Victoria Kent
Partner - Liberty Church, North Campus
Roy Hyatt Envir Studies Center
Adult Volunteer – Kay Uriz
Senior Volunteer -Tony Uriz
Lipscomb Elementary
Adult Volunteer – Ayako Chibano
Senior Volunteer – Arnie Zinck
Youth Volunteer – Anna Pearce
McArthur Elementary
Adult Volunteer – Kayla Henderson
Senior Volunteer – Lucy Timpson
Youth Volunteer – Carly Jo Johnecheck
Molino Park Elementar
Adult Volunteer – Marsha Marks
Senior Volunteer – Pat Levoy
Youth Volunteer – Brittanie McLemore
Partner Little Caesars
Ransom Middle
Adult Volunteer – George Foss
Senior Volunteer – Theresa Frazier
Youth Volunteer – Louis LeDuc
Partner - Jersey Mike’s Subs
Ernest Ward Middle
Adult Volunteer - Dr. Sheldon Harigel
Senior Volunteer – Henry Lewis
Youth Volunteer – Tristin Long
Partner - Poarch Band of Creek Indians
Northview High
Adult Volunteer - Mike Neese
Senior Volunteer – Jerry Fischer
Youth Volunteer – Mitchell Singleton
Partner – Town of Century
Tate High School
Adult Volunteer Arthur Porter
Senior Volunteer - Daniel Keely
Youth Volunteer -Zyreshia Jackson
Partner– Escambia Heat and Air
Pictured top: The Northview High School table at the 2017 Escambia County School District Appreciation Luncheon. Submitted photo for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
FDOT: Delays At Highway 29, North Tate School Road
March 27, 2017
Drivers can expect delays this week on Highway 29 at North Tate School Road, according to the Florida Department of Transportation. The northbound, outside lane will be closed from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. Monday, March 27 through Thursday, March 30 as crews extend the southbound (left) turn lane, install a new northbound (right) turn lane, and construct a new driveway at Arby’s. NorthEscambia.com photo, click to enlarge.
Latvala Vows Help For Department Of Corrections Employees
March 27, 2017
With the Florida Department of Corrections asking to boost pay for entry-level employees to help fight turnover, “help is on the way from the Florida Senate,” according to the chamber’s top budget-writer.
Senate Appropriations Chairman Jack Latvala, R-Clearwater, told his panel that he and other Senate leaders had agreed to help the agency try to stop the outflow of correctional officers to higher-paying private-sector and local jobs.
“Our budget will include some substantial help for you,” Latvala told Corrections Secretary Julie Jones, who presented a pay plan to the committee. Latvala said the details were still being hammered out, in part because state economists will meet to project how much money lawmakers will have to work with as they craft a budget for the year that begins July 1.
Jones told the committee her plan has three prongs: raising pay for correctional officers, probation officers and some supervisors; a hiring bonus for some employees at facilities with high vacancy rates; and additional pay for those who work with inmates with mental-health problems.
The department has already taken some steps to try to tamp down turnover among its newest employees, Jones said, by strengthening penalties meant to recoup training costs for those who leave the agency within their first two years. “But I truly believe that without some kind of a pay package for recruitment and retention, we have nothing left to offer employees to keep them beyond those two years,” she said.
by The News Service of Florda
Blue Jacket Jamboree Is Saturday, Vendors Still Accepted
March 27, 2017
The Northview High School FFA Blue Jacket Jamboree is this Saturday at the Escambia County 4-H Facility in Molino.
The event will be held from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. with plenty of arts and crafts, a car show, a tractor show and more. An Egg Drop will be held at noon, with over 2,000 Easter eggs dropped from a ladder fire truck for children to hunt for free.
Arts and crafts vendors are still being accepted….visit bluejacketjamboree.org or call (850) 712-6267 or (850) 572-1076.
The Blue Jacket Jamboree is held in conjunction with the Gulf Coast Agriculture & Natural Resources Youth Organization Annual Spring Livestock Show. This year’s show begins at 8 a.m. with over fifty 4-H and FFA youth exhibiting hogs, beef cattle, sheep, goats, poultry, and rabbits from Escambia and neighboring counties. The day will conclude with youth exhibitors auctioning off their market animals beginning at 5 p.m. The event is open to the public and there is no charge to attend.
Both events are held at the 4-H Facility at 5701 Highway 99 in Molino.
The Blue Jacket Jamboree is sponsored in part by NorthEscambia.com.
NorthEscambia.com file photo, click to enlarge.
Saint Monica’s Cleans Up Along Highway 95A
March 27, 2017
Saint Monica’s Episcopal Church in Cantonment started a new ministry Sunday after their monthly potluck — their first quarterly Highway 95A trash pick up.
There were 16 people that set out on Highway 95 with trash bags in hand. In just 45 minutes, they group had picked up a pickup truck load of material from the roadside, including 12 bags of trash, five bags of recyclables, one tire and an old desk.
St. Monica’s is partnering with Keep Pensacola Beautiful who provided them the vests along with trash and recycling bags. The church will log their time and effort, and Keep Pensacola Beautiful will provide an Adopt-A–Road sign
The true rewards from starting this ministry is getting to spend time talking and singing with fellow parishioners while doing their part to help the environment and getting a little exercise at the same time, said Elizabeth MacWhinnie.
Photos for NorthEcambia.com, click to enlarge.
Joyce Byars Etheridge
March 27, 2017
Mrs. Joyce Bryars Etheridge, 77, passed away Saturday, March 25, 2017, in Atmore, Alabama.
Mrs. Etheridge was a native of Perdido, AL and had resided in Atmore, AL since 1973. She attended the Splinter Hill Holiness Church. She was a loving wife, mother, grandmother and great-grandmother. She is preceded in death by her parents, Carlton and Ernestine Bryars; first husband, Frank Stewart Jr.; brother, Terry Bryars; and son-in-law, James Snure.
She is survived by her husband, Billy C. Etheridge of Atmore, AL; one son, Donnie (Sandra) Stewart of Atmore, AL; two daughters, Fonda Snure of Milton, FL and Rochel (Keith) Martin of Atmore, AL; two brothers, Larry (Carolyn) Bryars of Perdido, AL and Larson (Margaret) Bryars of Perdido; seven grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.
Funeral services were held Tuesday, March 28, 2017, at the Petty-Eastside Chapel Funeral Home with Rev. Angelo Thomley and Rev. Chris Pruitt officiating.
Burial was at Oak Hill Cemetery.
Pallbearers were Keith Martin, Jonathan Rolin, Cody Black, Rodney McGhee, Marty Hadley and Michael Hadley.
Honorary pallbearers were Larry Bryars and Larson Bryars.
Petty-Eastside Chapel Funeral Homes is in charge of all arrangements.
Florida House Starts Moving On Higher Education Overhaul
March 26, 2017
A Florida House committee has endorsed its version of a higher-education reform bill, including expanding Bright Futures scholarships and requiring state universities to begin using “block” tuition.
The bill (HB 3), sponsored by Rep. Bryan Avila, R-Hialeah, is the House’s answer to Senate President Joe Negron’s effort (SB 2) to elevate Florida’s higher-education system by increasing scholarship opportunities, tightening performance standards for state colleges and universities and encouraging more students to graduate on time. The Senate bill passed 35-1 in the first week of the legislative session.
The House and Senate bills are similar, but the House is taking a different direction on a number of issues.
Both bills would expand the top-level Bright Futures award for “academic scholars” to cover full tuition and fees for those students who qualify for the merit-based aid. It would also provide $300 for the fall and spring semesters for textbooks and other costs.
The Senate would expand the scholarship for “academic scholars” to the summer semester, while Avila said the House wants to expand summer support to all Bright Future recipients, including “medallion scholars”” and “gold seal vocational scholars.”
While agreeing with the Senate that the 12 state universities should have block tuition in place by the fall of 2018, the House would require “at a minimum” that the plans allow students to pay no tuition or fees for classes exceeding 15 credit hours per semester. The other details of the tuition plan, which would replace the current per-credit hour charge with a flat per-semester fee, would have to be worked out by the individual universities.
The House bill, which was approved in an 11-3 vote by the Post-Secondary Education Subcommittee, would be a little more lenient in its graduation-rate performance standards for state colleges and universities.
The House would measure state colleges by graduating full-time students who finish their degrees or certificate programs within 150 percent of the normal completion time, which would be three years for a two-year associate degree. The colleges would get extra credit for students who complete their programs within 100 percent of the normal time, which is closer to the Senate standard.
The Senate wants to measure university undergraduate programs on a four-year graduation basis. The House also would use a four-year measure, but would add a six-year measure with weighting for four-year graduations.
The House bill leaves out several programs in the Senate legislation, including a plan to reward top-performing graduate programs, a scholarship program for students from farmworker families and a plan to expand a tuition-free program for national merit scholars to out-of-state students.
The House bill includes a program to attract top-level faculty and would double a state matching grant for “first-generation” students, which are both in the Senate bill.
David Armstrong, president of Broward College, which last week was named a runner-up for a national award recognizing top-performing community colleges, urged the House committee and lawmakers to proceed cautiously on the changes.
“One of the frustrating and challenging things for us in education at any level is when law or policies or funding formulas, no matter how good they are, keep changing on us,” Armstrong said.
He also said the 150 percent graduation measure was more realistic for the state colleges, where a majority of students attend part time.
Armstrong questioned another provision in the House bill that would measure colleges based on their completion of two-year associate degrees but then hold the colleges accountable for their students finishing four-year degrees at state universities.
“We do not have control over them,” Armstrong said, referring to the college students who move to university campuses.
Rep. Ramon Alexander, D-Tallahassee, voted against the bill, saying “this proposal in many respects will have a negative impact on Florida A&M University.”
FAMU could be financially penalized under the Senate and House bill provisions related to graduating students within four years. Based on the students who graduated in 2015, only 13.4 percent of FAMU’s students met that standard, which was the lowest in the 12-university system.
Noting the majority of FAMU students are receiving need-based financial aid and some have to work to stay in school, Alexander said “the one-size-fits-all approach” will hurt some schools.
“We’re picking winners and we’re picking losers,” he said. “I have a problem with that.”
by Lloyd Dunkelberger, The News Service of Florida
Vandals Strike Century’s Anthony Pleasant Park
March 26, 2017
The Escambia County Sheriff’s Office is investigating a case of vandalism at Century’s Anthony Pleasant Park.
Someone spray painted references to “Weed” along with vulgarities and obscene images around the football field, including on the press box, press box window and a light pole. They also destroyed a custom made “Century, Home of the Blackcats” sign that was painted and donated by a local resident last September.
Anyone with information on the incident is asked to call Crime Stoppers at (850) 433-STOP or the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office at (850) 436-9620. Callers to Crime Stoppers do not have to provide their name and may be eligible for a cash reward.
Anthony Pleasant Park is named after Century native Anthony Pleasant, two-time Super Bowl champion. The park was dedicated in his honor in July 2011.
NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
