Man Airlifted To Hospital After Escambia River Canoe Accident
May 16, 2017
A man was airlifted to a Pensacola hospital after a canoe accident on the Escambia River Tuesday morning.
The incident happened near the Cotton Lake Boat Ramp south of McDavid. The man was pulled from the water by fishermen who were nearby, according to bystanders. He was transported by LifeFlight helicopter to Baptist Hospital in Pensacola.
The McDavid and Molino stations of Escambia Fire Rescue and Escambia County EMS also responded to the call.
Further details have not been released.
Photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Century Moves Forward With Creating Community Redevelopment Area
May 16, 2017
The Town of Century has approved the boundaries of a future Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA).
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.
The Century Town Council voted 4-0 Monday night to move forward with developing a legal description of the 510 acre area depicted in a preliminary map. The area is bounded by Jefferson Avenue to the south, Jefferson Avenue to the east, State Road 4 to the north and the centerline of North Century Boulevard to the west. It also extends north on the east side of North Century Boulevard to include commerical properties up to, and including, the former Burger King.
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.
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.
Clear, Upper 60’s Tonight
May 16, 2017
Here is your official North Escambia area forecast:
Tuesday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 67. Southeast wind around 5 mph.
Wednesday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 88. South wind 5 to 10 mph.
Wednesday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 69. South wind 5 to 10 mph.
Thursday: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly sunny, with a high near 88. South wind 5 to 10 mph.
Thursday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 68. South wind around 5 mph becoming calm in the evening.
Friday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 89. East wind around 5 mph.
Friday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 67. South wind around 5 mph becoming calm in the evening.
Saturday: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly sunny, with a high near 90.
Saturday Night: A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 70.
Sunday: A 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 86.
Sunday Night: A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 69.
Monday: A 50 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly sunny, with a high near 84.
Escambia Man Sentenced To 30 Years For Child Porn
May 16, 2017
An Escambia Count man will spend the next 30 years in prison for possessing child porn.
Circuit Judge Edward Nickinson sentenced Jason Sapp, age 40, to 30 years in state prison for 25 counts of possessing child pornography. He was also designated as a sexual offender and will be required to register as a sexual offender and comply with all statutory requirements.
In October 2015, investigators with the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office executed a search warrant on Sapp’s computer and electronic devices after they discovered that he possessed child pornography. Several images of child pornography were found.
Sapp was interviewed by investigators and admitted he had downloaded child pornography but claimed that he had not accessed the images in several years.
Forensic analysis of his devices revealed he had accessed several files mere days before the search warrant was executed.
Local Elementary Students Shine At Sunshine Math Competition
May 16, 2017
Over 640 students participated in this year’s Sunshine Math Competition recently at Washington High school. Those 640 students were from 28 schools and were on 54 third grade teams, 53 4th grade teams and 52 fifth grade teams.
“This was the largest Sunshine Math competition yet in Escambia County,” said Tammy Barton, ECSD Math Specialist. “We had so many compete that we had to hold the third grade awards in the auditorium and the students and their families filled the house. Then, the awards for the fourth and fifth grade teams filled the gym.”
Individual winners took home a trophy and members of the team that placed took home medals. All of the participants received certificates to mark the day.
Individual Competition Winners and team members
3rd grade
- 1st place: Kaleigh Deese—Jim Allen Elementary
- 2nd place: Ayden Crabtree—Molino Park Elementary
- 3rd place: Emily Dunlap—Jim Allen Elementary
4th grade
- 1st place: Beatrice Bunnell—McArthur Elementary
- 2nd place: Ally Richardson—Bratt Elementary
- 3rd place: Bailee Luciano—McArthur Elementary
5th Grade
- 1st place: Bentley Van Pelt—Bratt Elementary
- 2nd place: Emmalee Bordelon—A.K. Suter Elementary
- 3rd place: John Thomas Tracy—A.K. Suter Elementary
Team Competition Winners
3rd Grade
- 1st Place: Molino Park Elementary Team 2
- Alyssa Brooks, Ayden Crabtree, Austin Jackson, Mary Oliver
- 2nd Place: N.B. Cook Elementary Team 2
- Brenden Boyer, Ray Duong, Caleb Sampson, Brody Turner
- 3rd Place: Scenic Heights Elementary Team 2
- Christopher Tompkins, Mylo Cox, Faiza Chowhury, Benjamin Riley
4th Grade
- 1st Place: Scenic Heights Elementary Team 1
- Zachary Loftus, Freyja Van Hoose, Kevin Jones, Abby Urnowey
- 2nd Place: McArthur Elementary Team 2
- Beatrice Bunnell, Bailee Luciano, Heidi Lynn, Megan Nolan
- 3rd Place: Cordova Park Elementary Team 2
- Wyatt Hart, Brooks Lurton, Zachary Peterson, Lucy Adams Stevenson
5th Grade
- 1st Place: Scenic Heights Elementary Team 1
- Finlee Jenkins, Makayla Johnson, Justin Casler, Coby Lin
- 2nd Place: Cordova Park Elementary Team 2
- Tony Lipnicky, William Flores, William Westerheim, Connor Kane
- 3rd Place: A.K. Suter Elementary Team 2
- John Thomas Tracy, Londynn Amos-Roberts, Madelyn Vowell, Terry Brooks
Above: Bratt Elementary team members.
Above: First place individual fifth grade winner Bentley Van Pelt from Bratt Elementary.
Above : Second place fourth grade individual winner Ally Richardson from Bratt Elementary.
Above: Molino Park team members.
Pictured above: Molino Park Elementary school winners.
Above: Jim Allen team members.
Above: Jim Allen Elementary individual award winners Kaleigh Deese. first place third grade individual, and Emily Dunlap, 3rd place third grade individual.
Above: Jim Allen Elementary team members.
Photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Teens Use Stolen ATV While Burglarizing Vehicles
May 16, 2017
The Escambia County Sheriff’s Office has arrested two teens who where allegedly committing vehicle burglaries while using a stolen ATV as their transportation.
Timothy Eugene Scarbrough, 17, and Robert Wayne Lamarr, 18, were both charged with two counts burglary of an unoccupied conveyance unarmed, grand theft of a motor vehicle and second degree petit theft.
About 4 a.m. on May 15, an ECSO deputy made contact with Scarbrough and Lamarr in the 6000 block of Spanish Oak Court. During the investigation, it was determined that they were using a stolen ATV. When the suspects were searched, vehicle keys were found that tied them to a May 14 vehicle burglary and ATV theft in the same neighborhood. The undamaged ATV was located in a nearby wooded area and returned to the owner.
Pictured: Roberty Wayne Lamarr.
Tate High Band Concert Tonight At Hillcrest
May 16, 2017
The Tate High School Spring Concert will be tonight at 6:30 at Hillcrest Baptist Church.
The concert will feature the concert band, symphonic band at the wind ensemble.
The Tate Band will also “pass the hat” to collect money for instruments, music, and items damaged at Workman Middle School last week. Lightning struck their orchestra room and it caught fire…destroying most everything in it.
Health Officials Look To Halt Smokable Marijuana
May 16, 2017
The Florida Department of Health on Monday ordered a medical-marijuana operator to stop selling a “whole flower” product sold for use in vaporizers but which can easily be smoked, saying the product is not permitted.
Quincy-based Trulieve started selling “Entourage,” a whole flower product meant to be used in the Volcano vaporizer, last week.
The department’s cease-and-desist letter to Trulieve came after The News Service of Florida reported Wednesday about the sales of the whole flower product, which can easily be smoked in pipes, bongs, or joints — all off-limits to patients under Florida’s current medical-marijuana laws.
“Licensed dispensing organizations have a responsibility to ensure their product is not one that can easily be transitioned into a smokable form. Therefore, whole flower products are not permitted,” state Office of Compassionate Use Director Christian Bax wrote to Trulieve on Monday.
Current law bans “smoking” of medical marijuana but includes an exception that allows patients to use vaporizers to consume cannabis products. Smoking is defined as “burning or igniting a substance and inhaling the smoke.”
The “Entourage” products, released by Trulieve last week, come in “small, wire mesh bags” sold in vaporizer cups. The mesh caps affixed to the tops of the bags “can be removed with minimal effort” by purchasers, according to the letter.
“Given the above facts, Trulieve is hereby ordered to immediately cease and desist sale of its Entourage product,” Bax wrote.
In a statement, Trulieve CEO Kim Rivers said Monday the company was “surprised by the letter” but is “immediately and completely complying with the department’s wishes while evaluating our options.”
Rivers told the News Service last week she believed the product was legal and that her company had been selling whole-flower products for nearly a year.
“We feel very strongly that having products available that allow patients to have a choice and to benefit from the entourage effect, also available to physicians to make recommendations to patients, is critical. So if that means we’re pushing the envelope, we’ve had a form of whole-flower vaporizer available from the day we’ve opened. This has always been part of our product line and will continue to be in the future,” Rivers said last week.
Lawmakers during the annual legislative session that ended last Monday were unable to reach consensus on a measure to implement a voter-approved constitutional amendment that legalized medical marijuana for a broad swath of patients with debilitating illnesses.
But they were in nearly universal agreement on at least one thing: Patients shouldn’t be able to smoke pot products.
Key legislators contacted by the News Service last week about the sale of whole flower products that could be smoked were taken by surprise.
John Morgan, the Orlando trial lawyer who largely bankrolled what was known as Amendment 2, has pledged to sue the state over the smoking issue, which he says was tacitly approved in the constitutional amendment approved by more than 71 percent of voters in November.
Patients and advocates maintain that the medicinal effects of whole flower consumption outweigh that of processed products, such as oils or other derivatives, including those inhaled by “vaping.”
But the Department of Health apparently isn’t sold on that argument.
The state’s marijuana operators are allowed to seek permission to sell “ground cannabis plant material” meant to be vaped, Bax acknowledged in Monday’s letter.
“However, as conveyed to Trulieve in a June 28, 2016 meeting on this matter, dispensing organizations may not dispense easily breached products containing whole flower,” he wrote.
Bax also chided Trulieve for recommending the Volcano vaporizer while not selling it onsite. While the vaporizer is available on Trulieve’s website, that’s not good enough because the purchase of delivery devices outside of a dispensing organization is banned by state law, according to Bax.
“The department reminds Trulieve that all sales, possession and use of cannabis outside of the provision” of Florida laws “are a potential criminal act,” he concluded.
by Dara Kam, The News Service of Florida
District 5 Commissioner Barry Town Hall Meeting Today
May 16, 2017
Escambia County District 5 Commissioner Steven Barry will host a town hall meeting on Tuesday, May 16 at 5:30 p.m. at the Barrineau Park Community Center located at 6055 Barrineau Park School Road in Molino. Residents are invited and encouraged to attend the open forum event to discuss issues with the commissioner.
For more information, contact the District 5 office at (850) -595-4950 or district5@myescambia.com.
Escambia Commission To Help Fund Barrineau Park Fall Festival
May 16, 2017
The Escambia County Commission has agreed to provide financial support the Barrineau Park Fall Festival this September.
The fall festival will be September 9 at the Barrineau Park Community Center. The BOCC approved a request for $3,000, to be funded from the 4th Cent Tourist Development Tax, for the Barrineau Park Fall Festival.
It is estimated that the event, sponsored by the Barrineau Park Historical Society, will being about 400 people to the area.
The Board placed $250,000 in the 4th Cent Tourist Development Tax reserves. These funds were to be allocated by the Board for events and other tourist promotion activities.