Driver Injured In Cantonment Crash That Cut Power For Hundreds
February 14, 2018
An early morning wreck sent one person to the hospital and cut power to about 750 homes and businesses in Cantonment.
The driver of a Dodge Ram pickup lost control, ran off the roadway and slammed into a utility pole about 3:50 a.m.
The adult male was trapped in his vehicle and extricated by firefighters before being transported as a trauma alert by Escambia County EMS to Sacred Heart Hospital.
A utility pole was snapped during the crash. Gulf Power crews restored power just after 9 a.m.
The accident is under investigation by the Florida Highway Patrol. The Cantonment and Ensley stations of Escambia Fire Rescue and the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office also responded.
NorthEscambia.com photos by Kristi Barbour, click to enlarge.
Bratt Couple’s ‘Doomsday Romance’ Was Born On Top Secret Plane, Knowing One Might Not Survive
February 14, 2018
On Valentine’s Day, a Bratt couple celebrated a “Doomsday romance” born in one of the most secure places on earth, where only one member of the couple might survive as one of the last living people on the planet.
Gary and Kayleen Amerson were married in 1991 after meeting in the Air Force and being assigned to the Boeing E-4 Advanced Airborne Command Post, project name “Nightwatch” but more commonly called the Doomsday Planes. If the United States were ever in a nuclear war, the planes would provide a mobile command post for the president, secretary of defense and the nation’s top military leaders. The planes also follow the president as he travels abroad.
The year was 1988, the last year of the Cold War.
Gary was wrapping up a tour at Grissom AFB in Indiana and was anticipating getting out and returning to Bratt to work with his dad. A distracted driver totaled his car and he bought a new SUV, thinking he had a year to pay it off before leaving the Air Force. A military “roll back” (which gave airmen a choice of another four years or an immediate discharge) forced his hand, and he had to re-enlist for another tour. He volunteered to go overseas or to the coast, but was given an unwanted second Midwest assignment to Offutt AFB outside Omaha, NE.
Kayleen was in Iowa, attending her second college taking her third change in major and, on a whim, visited the recruiter, signing on to “any job that flies”. She requested an overseas assignment and instead was assigned to the nearest possible base to her home — at Offutt AFB, NE.
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Both arrived at Offutt in summer of 1989, assigned to the 1850th Airborne Communications Squadron to serve as airborne communications systems operators aboard the E-4B “Doomsday Planes”.
They lived two doors apart in an exclusive flyers’ dorm that allowed for crews to rest around the clock, since flyers didn’t keep regular hours.
Kayleen and Gary flew the same training flights. As 20-somethings, they fell between the old married guys that had been around forever and the new young airmen that were too young to drink.
Kayleen took to hanging out with Gary because the younger airmen were afraid of him and wouldn’t continually ask him to buy them beer, so they would leave her alone if she was with him. By the time they were each assigned to mission teams that fall, they were best friends. They were engaged that spring and married the following year.
“So both of us were in careers we hadn’t planned, assigned to a place neither wanted to go, and landed right where we were meant to be,” Kayleen said.
“One random afternoon I was hanging out in Gary’s room,” she added. “Gary finally got around to asking me if I wanted to go out … like on a date. I agreed, and then not knowing what else to say, left and went back to my own room.
“A few minutes later there was a knock at the door and there stood Gary, saying tentatively ‘I’m here to talk to my old best friend, not my future date.’ I said ok, slightly confused, and he continued in a new, more excited voice, ‘I’ve got a really hot date and I need you to take me shopping for some new clothes!’”
“The mission kept up a 24/7 hot alert, meaning one airplane was always on, keeping in constant communications with other national command centers. The crew of 60 plus, including flight crew, battle staff and communicators, slept in shifts in the ‘alert facility’ right next to the jet and could be airborne in moments in the event of a national emergency.” she said.
Each crew came on duty on Thursday mornings and would stay with the plane until the following Thursday. Gary and Kayleen were on opposite teams after they began to date and after their marriage, so they worked opposite duty shifts with six days together in between. Their eventual honey moon in June 1991 was the longest period of time they had ever spent together.
They spent hours on the phone when the other was away.
“We learned to live in sound bites. We had to fit everything into a weekend that a normal couple would handle in a month. We had been talking about eventually getting married for a while, which for us was probably weeks. I knew when he got the rings but he hadn’t asked me yet,” she said. “It was a night before he was scheduled to leave and I was doing my darndest to get him to propose before he left because I absolutely did not want to wait another two weeks before our next conversation. I kept trying to maneuver us into what I considered romantic settings to set him up to propose but it turns out he already had a plan, and all my maneuvering kept getting me further and further from the target.”
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Many, many nights, the one not on alert would bring dinner and after the office cleared out for the night create a picnic in the crew lounge. They knew that the one on alert could be called at any time and have to dash out without so much as a goodbye kiss.
“We spent more time together in that building than at home for the first years of our marriage,” she said.
“We watched the first invasion of Iraq sitting on the floor in the lounge listening to Wolf Blitzer on CNN. We watched the Branch Dividian saga unfold and Ruby Ridge shortly thereafter. One of us was on alert when the first reports came in of the relatively unsuccessful car bomb attempt at the World Trade Center when no one knew the name bin Laden. Gary was in Japan following President George H.W. Bush when the president choked at a state dinner, and those of us back home wondered if we’d be scrambling a backup jet to get to a successor. We watched all the big events of the world through the lens of always anticipating a presidential catastrophe or bolt out of the blue.”
They also knew that in the event of an all-out nuclear war, their marriage would die. Literally.
“Gary and I were on separate teams, so only one of us would survive,” Kayleen said.
“Once, I was on shift on the plane and we had an alert for an inbound missile that would impact the United States,” she said. “We ran through the protocol, called the Pentagon, they reacted and we launched. The whole time I’m thinking ‘yeah me, I get to survive because Gary is at home’.” It turned out to be a false alarm.
“We understood each other’s stress, so it was a natural outlet,” Gary remarked.
The Amersons spent their first years of marriage at Offutt when they were reassigned to Andrews Air Force Base. Gary to the 99th Airlift Squadron, Kayleen to the 1st Airlift Squadron — same mission, different planes to fly the nation’s top leaders — the vice president, secretary of state, secretary of defense, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the First Lady.
“There our relationship was largely passing glances and radio calls from different continents,” Kayleen said of their time at Andrews AFB.
Major holidays, like Christmas and Valentine’s, stand out in Kayleen’s memory because they would often be apart. “I would plan ahead and hide things in the house, like 12 different notes for the 12 days of Christmas.”
Kayleen quit flying in 1997 to start a family and work at NSA. They spent 1999-2000 at Ramstein Air Base in Germany, went back to Offutt in Nebraska in 2003 and Scott Air Force Base in Illinois until retirement at the end of the decade. Kayleen had the only deployment, to Qater in 2005-2006.
And now they are back in Bratt.
“We used our wedding money in 1991, still at Offutt, to buy the land we currently live on. Bratt was always the plan.”
Both currently commute together for three hours a day, working as cybersecurity consultants supporting the U.S. Navy.
“We have always worked together or in similar, connected jobs,” he said. “There were no secrets between us; we knew the same things. If one of us had been a civilian, there would be things I could not tell her about work.”
“God meant for us to be together. Gary is the only person in the world I am able to stand to be around all the time. We just fit,” she said.
“It’s like the Garth Brooks song Unanswered Prayers,” he said. “God decided that we were meant to be together.”
“It is true that the whole idea of mutually assured destruction was a very real fact for us on a daily basis. So you just create the best forever that you can for however long as you get. We got lucky and got the forever after,” Kayleen said.
Submitted photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Southeast Alabama Wreck Claims The Life Of Cantonment Man
February 14, 2018
A wreck in Southeast Alabama Tuesday claimed the life of a Cantonment man.
Alabama State Troopers said a 1996 GMC Sonoma driven by Corey Smith of Cantonment collided with a 2007 GMC Yukon driven by a 17-year old in Ashford, Ala., east of Dothan near the Georgia state line.
The teen driver of Yukon escaped without injury before it burst into flames and was consumed by fire.
Smith was transported to Southwest Alabama Medical Center in Dothan where he later passed away from his injuries.
The accident remains under investigation by Alabama State Troopers.
Pictured: A crash east of Dothan near the Alabama/Georgia state line claimed the life of a Cantonment man Tuesday. Photos courtesy Rickey Stokes for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
A Few Showers Possible Today, 72 For A High
February 14, 2018
Here is your official North Escambia. area forecast:
Wednesday: A 20 percent chance of showers after noon. Partly sunny, with a high near 72. South wind around 5 mph.
Wednesday Night: Patchy dense fog after midnight. Otherwise, mostly cloudy, with a low around 59. South wind around 5 mph.
Thursday: Patchy dense fog before 7am. Otherwise, partly sunny, with a high near 77. South wind 5 to 10 mph.
Thursday Night: Patchy dense fog after midnight. Otherwise, mostly cloudy, with a low around 61. South wind 5 to 10 mph.
Friday: Patchy dense fog before 7am. Otherwise, mostly sunny, with a high near 79. Southwest wind 5 to 10 mph.
Friday Night: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 57. Southwest wind around 5 mph becoming north after midnight.
Saturday: A 20 percent chance of showers. Partly sunny, with a high near 73. Northeast wind around 5 mph becoming southwest in the afternoon.
Saturday Night: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 54. North wind around 5 mph.
Sunday: A 20 percent chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 73.
Sunday Night: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 60.
Washington’s Birthday: A 20 percent chance of showers. Partly sunny, with a high near 78.
Monday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 62.
Tuesday: A 20 percent chance of showers. Partly sunny, with a high near 78.
FHP Charges Suspected Hit And Run Driver
February 14, 2018
The Florida Highway Patrol has arrested a man they say is responsible for a deadly hit-and-run in Escambia County.
Lucas Scott Beaty, 28, was charged with leaving the scene of a crash involving death and tampering with evidence for the crash that happened on Fairfield Drive in November of 2017. He was booked into the Escambia County Jail with bond set at $55,000.
According to the Florida Highway Patrol, Eldred Williams was hit by a vehicle that left the scene of the crash around 9:01 p.m. Evidence at the scene led authorities to the Chevrolet that was involved.
Tate High Lockdown, Gun Search Prompted By Student With An Umbrella
February 14, 2018
A lockdown and a huge law enforcement response were prompted by reports of a possible person entering the Tate High School campus Monday with a gun. And now we’ve learned that the suspicious person was actually a student with an umbrella.
“My son missed the bus this (Monday) morning and walked to school with his umbrella in hand,” Wesley Whiteside said. “When he arrived at school another student was apparently talking with his dad on the phone and saw my son walking on campus ‘with a rifle’. He reported that to his dad who called 911.”
That phone call led to dozens of Escambia County Sheriff’s Office deputies responding to the school, working to clear each building make sure there was not a gun-toting individual hiding on campus. They eventually determined what had actually happened.
“We are going to take any report serious of a person walking onto a school premise with a firearm,” Escambia County Sheriff’s Office Maj. Andrew Hobbs said, confirming that it was ultimately determined that it was the student with an umbrella that led to a parent’s 911 call.
“When my other son called me and told me what happened I laughed because I thought this could only happen to (my son),” Whiteside said. But then, I got a little scared and angry. What if some ‘concerned citizen’ with a real gun saw my son with an umbrella and thought it was a rifle and decided to take matters into his or her own hands to ‘protect’ the school? Or, what if the deputies talking to my son thought he was reaching for a rifle when he went to retrieve the umbrella from under his desk?”
“Our officers are trained professionals and would not just shoot someone. It would depend on the actions taken by the person; those actions would dictate what officers did. They would not just shoot a person with an umbrella,” Hobbs said.
Whiteside said he is upset that pictures of his son and the umbrella were posted on SnapChat and other social media, but he had nothing but praise for those that responded.
“I’m just thankful no one got hurt from this misunderstanding. I’m thankful for the school administration at Tate and the deputies that responded,” he said.
There were no charges filed in the incident.
NorthEscambia.com photos by Kristi Barbour, click to enlarge.
Fire Destroys Shed, Motorhome And Vehicle
February 14, 2018
Fire destroyed a shed along with a motorhome and a vehicle under the shed Tuesday in the Pineview community north of Flomaton.
The fire was fully involved when firefighters arrived on scene. The was no immediate word on the cause of the blaze.
The Pineview, Flomaton, Barnett Crossroads and McCall fire departments responded, along with the Escambia County (AL) Sheriff’s Office.
Submitted photo for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Fire destroyed
Sparks Fly On Repeal Of Florida Fireworks Restrictions
February 14, 2018
A proposal to repeal Florida’s longstanding restrictions on the sale of fireworks remains alive in the House after lawmakers Tuesday addressed some safety concerns raised by industry giants fighting the change.
The House Commerce Committee voted 15-11 to support the measure (HB 6037), which would repeal a prohibition on the sale and use of fireworks.
Bill sponsor James Grant, R-Tampa, argued the change is needed to open the fireworks market. State law since 2007 has limited the number of permanent retail facilities and temporary tent locations.
“The way previous legislation was enacted ensured no new retail facilities unless they were currently engaged in sales in March of 2007 or if they had already begun construction, after receiving site approval, in 2007,” Grant said. “So this bill does a couple of things: It opens up and introduces the free market.”
The House bill also would end a much-exploited agriculture “loophole” that has allowed people to buy fireworks if they sign a form attesting they are buying the flying and exploding devices to scare birds.
Grant called the form “an insurance policy for retailers.”
The 3rd District Court of Appeal has held that it is not the responsibility of a seller to check the veracity of a buyer’s form.
Companies that sell fireworks in the state raised objections to the bill.
Michael Dobson, representing Phantom Fireworks, said in eliminating the form, the proposal wouldn’t address age limits on who can buy fireworks.
“Minors cannot contract, they cannot sign a waiver,” Dobson said.
Ken Pruitt, a former Senate president now lobbying for Sky King Fireworks, said the current regulations don’t make it difficult for people to find fireworks and that the 2007 changes were enacted to keep out “black market” roadside fireworks vendors that would set up before Independence Day and New Year’s Eve.
“Whenever you just open it up to anybody, if you think for a moment (the Department of Revenue) is going to find that person on the roadside, and many may not have collected sales tax, they’re going to be gone July 5,” Pruitt said.
Before the vote, Grant removed from his proposal a line that would have preempted local governments from being able to adopt “reasonable” rules and regulations on the public display of fireworks. Grant also removed language to end an annual requirement that the state fire marshal test sparklers.
Fireworks industry representatives expressed support for a Senate measure (SB 198) that includes such things as prohibiting the sale of fireworks to anyone under age 18 and authorizing the state fire marshal to adopt rules governing fireworks.
The Senate proposal has idled since receiving support from the Regulated Industries Committee in October.
by Jim Turner, The News Service of Florida
Pictured: A Flomaton, Ala., fireworks stand, just north of the Florida/Alabama state line. NorthEscambia.com file photo, click to enlarge.
Tate Splits Softball Games Against Pace
February 14, 2018
The Tate High Aggies varsity softball team fell to Pace High Tuesday night, 5-4.
The game was tied at four when Pace singled in the top of the fifth. Hannah Brown pitched seven for the Aggies, allowing five runs, five hits while recording one error and striking out nine.
For Tate: Shelby Ullrich 2-4, 2B, R, RBI; Hannah Brown 2-4, RBI; Madisen Nelson 1-3, RBI; Shelby McLean 1-4, R; Kayliegh Cawthorn 1-4, Amber Decoux 0-2, R; Ryleigh Cawby 0-3, R.
The Tate Junior Varsity team defeated Pace 16-1 in just three innings.
The Lady Aggies will host Milton High School on Friday, JV at 4:30 p.m. and varsity at 6:30 p.m.
Atmore Breaks Ground On New Splash Pad To Open Before Summer
February 14, 2018
A groundbreaking ceremony was held in Atmore Tuesday afternoon for a new splash pad.
“The project started in July of last year when the Atmore Rotary Club partnered with the City of Atmore and the Atmore Lions Club to attempt to raise funds to build a splash pad here in Atmore,” Allen Walston of the Atmore Rotary Club said.
The splash pad at Heritage Park on South Main Street will be about 2,000 square feet and will have a covered seating area for parents.
Walston said the splash pad will not only be a great benefit for local residents, but it will also become a destination for people from areas like Walnut Hill and Bratt.
“Those people will discover what Atmore has to offer, and they’ll spend money while they are in town, adding to the local economy,” he said.
Construction on the splash pad is expected to begin this week.
“Hopefully this project will be completed by the end of April, first of May,” Walston said.
A video appears below.
NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
