Charges Dropped Against Century Man Accused Of Battery On His Mother
February 8, 2018
Criminal charges have been dropped against Century man that was arrested for aggravated battery on his mother.
Javis Cain Grimes, 33, was charged with felony aggravated battery causing bodily harm, but those charges were dropped by the State Attorney’s Office. An Escambia County Sheriff’s Office arrest report stated that Grime’s mother told deputies that he had shoved her into a wall, causing facial injuries.
However, the victim told prosecutors that Grimes did not push her as the arrest report stated, and she requested that charges be dropped almost immediately after his arrest.
“She said it was all just a misunderstanding,” Assistant State Attorney Greg Marcille said.
National Signing Day Roundup
February 8, 2018
Here’s a roundup of National Signing Day commitments:
- Justin Helton, Northview — Dodge City Community College (Kansas)
- Alex Young, Tate — Mississippi
- Tyler Dorsett, Tate — Valdosta State
- Shermari Jones, Tate — Independence Community College
- Juanito Gonzlez, Tate — Mount Union
- Keyshawn Helton, West Florida High — Florida State
- Devin Abrams, West Florida High — Furman
- Dillon Bredesen, West Florida High — South Carolina State
- Adarius McWilliams, West Florida High — Alabama-Birmingham
- Taylor Williams , West Florida High — Valdosta State
- Jacob Copeland, Escambia — Florida
- Daishon Folsom, Escambia — Hutchinson Community College (Kansas)
- Chris McCray, Escambia — Glenville State University
- Dominic Miller, Escambia — Pensacola State (baseball)
- Ladarius Harris, Pensacola High — Southeastern University
- Tyrese Albritton, Pensacola High — Southeastern University
- Marquis Coleman, Pensacola High — Southeastern University
- Deandre Thurman, Pensacola High — Webber International
- Tyrese CunninghamPensacola High — Webber International
- Kenneth Wesley, Pensacola High — Bluefield Community College
- Deaaron Finklea, Pensacola High — Bluefield Community College
- Mystikal McGhee, Washington — Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College
- Ray Samuel, Escambia – Hutchinson Community College (Kansas)
- Tony Gerencser, Pace — Millsaps College
- Walter Yates III, Gulf Breeze — Savannah State University
- Rainey Niles, Gulf Breeze — Louisiana-Lafayette (soccer)
- Margeaux Hunt, Gulf Breeze — West Alabama (soccer)
- Jaylan Brown, Escambia County (Atmore) — Birmingham Prep School
- Louie Turner, Escambia Academy – Alcorn State
Pictured: Northview High School’s Justin Helton signed with Dodge City Community College (Kansas). NorthEscambia.com photo, click to enlarge.
UWF Announces 2018 Football Signing Class
February 8, 2018
University of West Florida football coach Pete Shinnick announced a class of 15 high school standouts on Wednesday, marking the fourth full class of recruits after he was hired in 2014.
Shinnick’s first group since advancing to the national championship game includes eight offensive players, six on defense and one kicker. The mid-year transfer group includes eight players who enrolled at UWF in January and four that sat out the fall semester as redshirts.
“When we put the numbers together four years ago we figured we’d sign between eight and 12 (in this class),” said Shinnick, who was named the AFCA and D2Football.com Division II National Coach of the Year. “Our coaches did a fantastic job identifying some really good guys and when they became available, and we had the opportunity to get them, we took advantage of it.”
“I feel great about getting the 15 (high school signees) that we did get. Two areas where we don’t have a lot of young guys on our current roster are the offensive line and defensive back.”
The incoming group of prep signees and college transfers combine to include six offensive linemen and two tight ends. UWF also picked up eight defensive backs.
The class features 19 players from Florida, three from Alabama and one each from Georgia, New York, North Carolina and Texas.
The 26 total players will add to a roster that has more than 90 returnees, including 17 starters from last year’s team that went 11-4 overall, 5-3 in Gulf South Conference play and gained national attention with its run to the Division II National Championship Game in it’s second year of competition.
UWF’s spring practice will begin on March 24 and end with the Blue-White Spring Game on Saturday, April 21.
Bratt Elementary Releases Latest Honor Roll
February 8, 2018
The following students were named to the second nine weeks honor roll at Bratt Elementary School:
Kindergarten Honor Roll
Waylon Bell
Rex Brown
Bailey Campbell
Jonah Carter
Sarah Jane Classen
David Daniel
Zoey Davidson
Ella Grace Diller
Amanuel Dubose
Linley Dunn
Brooklynne Fountain
Audrey Franklin
Cameron Gipson
Tucker Hare
Braylie Harrison
Riverly Heathcock
Kalli Ikner
Zoe Jantz
Rylan Johnson
Jonathan Kaul
Ivyonna Knight
Trevor Knighten
Brantley Laborde
Landon Lee
Jadon Long
Bentley Lowery
Madalynn Lowery
Makyla Mason
Freddie McCall
Brylynn McGhee
Shaleria Mitchell
McKenzie Norton
Dalton Perdue
Brylee Peters
Kailah Pompa
Bentley Rice
Aric Rolin
Chayton Rolin
Anniston Salter
Sawyer Sandoval
Samuel Sandoval
Calee Satterwhite
Houston Smith
Emma Southard
Makiah Spates
Bella Walker
Angel Whisenton
First Grade A Honor Roll
Alexis Amerson
Alexa Beasley
Jaxon Byrd
Addison Carpenter
Harmony Cruz
Carson Eady
Aubrey Flowers
Pryce Flowers
Josyah Fontenot
Olivia Garrett
Nathan Gilmore
Kyndal Hadley
Mason Helton
Sophia Ikner
Maybree Johnson
Jeremy Lisenby
Noah Luker
Keylashia Randle
Caden Sanspree
James Thompson
Javan Thompson
Kinley White
First Grade A-B Honor Roll
Eric Anthony
Sadie Baker
Nola Barber
Jerrilynn Barlow
Abigail Brown
Payton Coon
Kintley Flowers
Christian Fountain
Jepp Godwin
Alexa Hardy
Autumn Heist
Denis Lambeth
Parker Marsh
Mya McCants
Briley Moore
Demeatree Moorer
Jonathan Patrick
Layla Pettway
Jade Presley
Madison Rice
Jamileon Syria
Brooklyn Turk
Mi’Kavion White
Dillon Wiggins
Second Grade A Honor Roll
Govan Alexander
Landon Allcock
Jack Carpenter
Logan Diller
Sawyer Gilmore
Brody Hall
Camden Jacobson
John McAnally
Hunter Parker
Kain Pompa
Christian Roberts
Makinzi Roley
Lani Steadham
Kaylee Wilson
Second Grade A-B Honor Roll
Tyler Amerson
Eli Anthony
Kasei Barlow
Gabrielle Boatwright
Jamarreai Davison
Braxton Dinc
Jacob Dove
O’Neshia DuBose
Brayden Faircloth
Zachary Flowers
Parker Ganey
Emmalee Grimes
Anthony Johnson
Evelyn Jones
M’kenzie Mcghee
Mya Pettway
Madalynn Pittman
Brooklyn Reynolds
Jackson Sellers
Breah Shelly
Adalynn Southard
Noah Spence
Wyatt Spence
Cassandra Stilwell
Kameryn Thompson
Third Grade A Honor Roll
Montgomery Baker
Amara Campbell
Christian Caraway
Jacobi Dougall
Annberly Dunn
Jad’Quie Evans
Hayden Gipson
Cathryn Greenwood
Laila Hadley
Presley Johnson
Kylee Langham
Kaylee Long
Savannah Lowry
Mikayla McAnally
Dakota Richardson
Avery Stuckey
Third Grade A-B Honor Roll
William Classen
Caley Daharsh
Crimson Davis
Carlie Davis
Kylar Davis
Thomas Davis
Nolan Eady
Lori Hall
Jackson Helton
Dallas Kelson
Khloe Mason
Logan Morris
Makayla Plato
Anna Claire Sanspree
Miles Smith
Jake Taylor
Raleigh Warr
Jason Wiggins
Cobie Wiggins
Melissa Wilson
Fourth Grade A Honor Roll
Desiray Bagwell
Jackson Bridges
Addison Classen
Tristan Crumm
Samantha Minchew
Jackson Simmons
Fourth Grade A-B Honor Roll
Lauren Abbott
Ellie Adkins
Claire Amerson
Wade Bailey
Bailey Blackwell
Karissa Boatwright
Nevaeh Bush
Luke Chavers
Aakira Davis
Jordan Dawson
John Glenn
Talise Gregson
Joseph Hardenbrook
William Heard
Tristan Johnson
LanDon Johnson
Jessica Jowers
Keeli Knighten
Carley Moore
Christopher Odom
Braylan Shelly
Brayden Smith
Maggie Stewart
Mya Wilson
Fifth Grade A Honor Roll
Ashton Covan
Colton Criswell
JaCee Dortch
Jaylin Evans
Jamison Gilman
Mary Catherine Hughes
Laura Laborde
Colby Pugh
Ally Richardson
Maggie Scott
Zakyla Smith
Fifth Grade A-B Honor Roll
Ayden Atallah
Kinslee Coker
Beau Daw
Noah Faulkner
Aliyah Fountain
Landon Hawthorne
Ja’Marrion Hooks
Taliyah Johnson
Kamryn Langham
Kaitlin Lloyd
Michael McGhee
Anthony Miller
Adannaya Mondaca
Breanna Sanspree
Daygen Slate
Bryce Stabler
Brayson White
Jayden White
Michelle Luvera Currow
February 8, 2018
Michelle Luvera Currow, 49, of Pensacola, FL passed away Sunday, February 4, 2018. She was born January 29, 1969 in Pensacola, FL to Richard and Peggy Core Currow and was a lifelong resident of Pensacola. Michelle was a medical receptionist for over 15 years. She was a lover of all animals, avid Alabama football fan and a beach enthusiast.
She is preceded in death by her mother, Peggy Core Currow. She is survived by her father, Felix Richard Currow; sister, Sherry Currow Finkler (Scott); nephews, Noah and Elijah Finkler.
In lieu of flowers please donate to www.saveunderdogs.com (a local animal rescue) Visitation will be Friday, Feb. 9, 2018 beginning at 2:00 p.m. with a memorial service at 3:00 p.m. Pastor Jerry Passmore will be officiating.
Molino Fire Station Struck By Lightning
February 7, 2018
The Molino Fire Station was struck by lightning late Wednesday morning, damaging several electronic items.
The lightning strike about 10:30 knocked out power, fire radios and some electronic equipment at the fire station on Molino Road. There was no fire.
As of about noon, the station was still running on generator power and a communications company was on the way to repair the radio system. Escambia County Facilities Management will make other repairs.
Fire services are not impacted, according to a county spokesperson. Personnel have still have operable portable radios and pages and have the full ability to communicate and respond to calls.
Stopping For Funerals Is Southern Tradition, But What Does The Law Say?
February 7, 2018
Stopping for a funeral procession is a Southern tradition, but what does Florida law say?
On Tuesday, a driver stopped for a funeral procession on Highway 29 near Cantonment was rear-ended by another driver that did not stop [Read more ...]. The driver that struck the stopped car was ticketed for careless driving, while the driver that did stop on Highway 29 for the funeral was cited for impeding traffic. The funeral was being escorted by an escort company operating a vehicle with amber and purple lights, as allowed by law.
Amy Holland of Bratt was in the funeral procession for her uncle Carl Caraway. The procession was traveling from Faith Chapel Funeral Home in Cantonment north on Highway 29 to Ray’s Chapel Cemetery on Bogia Road.
“The car landed literally one car length in from my vehicle,” Holland said. “That was one of the scariest moments of my life.”
Florida law states “You shall yield to the procession, now that being said it is customary — not law — to pull off to the side of the road and put your lights on. You cannot just stop in the travel lane and interfere with traffic. Statute does say that standing, stopping or parking is prohibited,” according to Lt. Eddie Elmore of the Florida Highway Patrol.
The law also states that drivers must yield right of way to a funeral, such as at an intersection.
“Regardless of any traffic control device or right-of-way provisions prescribed by state or local ordinance, pedestrians and operators of all vehicles…shall yield the right-of-way to any vehicle which is part of a funeral procession being led by a funeral escort vehicle or a funeral lead vehicle,” according to Florida statute. “When the funeral lead vehicle lawfully enters an intersection, either by reason of a traffic control device or at the direction of law enforcement personnel, the remaining vehicles in the funeral procession may follow through the intersection regardless of any traffic control devices or right-of-way provisions prescribed by state or local law.” There are exceptions in the law regarding emergency vehicles and directions given by law enforcement.
“We … cannot stress enough if you are going to stop for a funeral procession, please safely pull off the road and put your hazards on. We are deeply saddened that this accident happened today as we were escorting this funeral,” said Lisa Odom of Odom Pilot Escort, which was operating the escort vehicle for Tuesday’s funeral. ” We are not allowed to run blue lights as we are not police officers; we do, however, have amber and purple lights on all of our vehicles. Our number one priority is to keep everyone safe. Our prayers go out to all the families involved.”
Elmore also acknowledged that Southern tradition of stopping for funeral escorts.
“Now for me personally, I will always pull off the side of the road and turn my lights on just the way I was raised,” the FHP lieutenant said.
NorthEscambia.com photos by Kristi Barbour, click to enlarge.
Lunch Rush: That’s Love Right There At Mama Ruth’s In Century
February 7, 2018
by Sean Dietrich
“My daddy built this general store when he was twenty-three,” Mary Hudson Bourgeois says. “Folks used’a visit by mule and wagon.”
I’m sitting in Hudson’s Grocery, sipping tea from a jelly jar, eating fried catfish and collards. There are buck-heads on the wall. Black-and-white family photos. Mounted large-mouth bass. A few customers in cowboy hats. I have tartar sauce on my shirt.
I’m feeling pretty good.
Miss Jackie waltzes out of the kitchen. She’s wearing a dusty apron. She’s tall. Bone-skinny. Skin like molasses. She doesn’t talk much.
“I enjoyed your cooking,” I tell her.
“Mmm hmm,” says Miss Jackie.
This one-room joint is located in the speck-of-a-town, Century, Florida—within spitting-distance of the Alabama line. In this city, folks pronounce “fire” as “far.” A place where middle-school girls can drop eight-point bucks faster than most forty-year-old men.
Mary and her best friend, Jackie, run this meat-and-three.
Today, I visited after church. I waited in a long line with Baptists, Methodists, and Holy Rollers who wore neckties and pearls.
“Sometimes we serve so many, we run outta food,” says Mary.
“Mmm hmm,” Miss Jackie explains.
A few years ago, Mary reopened this dusty store as something more than a market. She calls it, Mama Ruth’s, and she sells everything from antiques to catfish.
“I love what we do,” says Mary. “We’re kind of an all-around country store.”
“Mmm hmm,” Jackie points out.
This tight-knit community supports Mary enough to eat her out of house and home. It’s been that way from the day she first opened. Her business took off. People couldn’t get enough of Miss Jackie’s made-from-scratch cooking.
Then Mary got diagnosed with advanced leukemia.
Doctors told her to get her affairs in order. And fast.
Mary closed shop. She left for Dallas to undergo treatment. It was agonizing. It drained her. She felt alone. She missed home.
“I thought, ‘God, why’s this happening to me?’” she says.
“Mmm hmm.”
Mary’s Dallas mailbox began to fill up. Letters, poems, good-luck charms, food, knit shawls, care packages. Each day, her mailman brought a new load.
Mary might’ve left town, but town never left her.
The letters read something like: “Dear Mary, we prayed for you at First Baptist this morning. We pray every single day.”
Another letter—from a five-year-old: “Dear Miss Mary, I believe God will heal you…”
Mary wipes her face. “This town, they just.. They’re so…”
“Mmm hmm.”
Doctors scheduled her for a bone marrow transplant. But during preliminaries, something happened. Nobody could explain it.
One physician told her she was a miracle. Another man of science admitted he didn’t know what made her cancer go away.
“When you’re younger,” says Mary. “Sometimes, you just wanna get away from your little hometown. But this community, this restaurant, they saved my life.”
“Mmm hmm,” Miss Jackie says. “That’s love right there.”
Well spoken, Miss Jackie.
Pictured: Mary Hudson and Mama Ruth’s Cafe on Highway 29, just south of West Highway 4, in Century. Photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Tax Law Savings Eyed For Gulf Power Customers
February 7, 2018
Florida regulators Tuesday began moving forward with a process to determine how utility customers should benefit from the federal tax overhaul.
Electric companies such as Gulf Power, gas and private water and wastewater utilities are expected to pass tax savings from the overhaul to customers, and the Florida Public Service Commission will oversee how much — and when — the money will flow through.
Gulf Power, Duke Energy, Tampa Electric and Florida Public Utilities Co. entered into rate settlements last year that address the issue of passing through tax savings to customers, though those agreements were negotiated before Congress and President Donald Trump approved the tax-cut package in December.
In recent weeks, Duke, Tampa Electric and Florida Power & Light have announced that they will use tax savings to avoid billing customers for Hurricane Irma and other storm restoration costs, a total estimated tab that tops $1.9 billion. The Public Service Commission on Tuesday signed off on Duke’s plan to shield customers from getting hit with $513 million in storm costs.
Jeff Stone, general counsel of Gulf Power, said the Pensacola-based utility is working to move forward with savings for its customers by March 1. Unlike Duke, Tampa Electric and FPL, Gulf was largely spared damage from Hurricane Irma in September.
The federal tax changes include reducing the corporate income tax rate from 35 percent to 21 percent. But the law and utility finances are complex. Jon Moyle, a lawyer for the Florida Industrial Power Users Group, said Tuesday that money should come back to customers “sooner rather than later” and that it be clear how the savings flow.
Moyle, whose group includes large commercial electricity users, said he doesn’t want to see the money “mushed together with a bunch of other stuff, and then somebody wakes up a couple of years from now and says, ‘Hey, where did that tax reform savings ever show up?’ “
Moyle’s comments drew a reply from John Butler, an attorney for FPL, which recently said it would use tax savings to cover about $1.3 billion in storm costs that otherwise likely would have been passed on to customers.
“FPL is not mushing,” Butler said. “We are going to use not only all of one year’s tax savings but multiple years’ tax savings to replenish the reserve for the $1.3 billion write-off that we were able to take. And by doing that, we were able to get tax savings to customers in the form of forgoing what otherwise would have been a storm-cost recovery surcharge as close to immediately as I think is possible.”
The Public Service Commission approved moving forward with a process that will start Thursday with staff members meeting with electric utilities. Meetings will follow next week with gas, water and wastewater utilities.
Commission lawyer Suzanne Brownless said each utility has a “unique financial situation.” Ultimately, parties, including representatives of consumers and businesses, will be able to take part in legal “discovery” to delve into information about the implications of the tax changes for each utility.
“These tax law changes are very complex,” Public Service Commission member Julie Brown said. “I envision that we will have a process or proceedings, plural, to ensure the full transparency and accuracy of all the savings that will accrue to the customers.”
by Jim Turner, The News Service of Florida with contribution from NorthEscambia.com
Bratt Road Bridge To Remain Closed For Months Before Work Begins
February 7, 2018
As of Tuesday, the Bratt Road Bridge over Canoe Creek has been closed for two months, and a county official said it may be the end of the year before work begins on a replacement bridge.
A county spokesperson said the Florida Department of Transportation is set to let a contract to replace the bridge in September. Once construction begins, it will take up to about 90 days to install a temporary bridge and open it to traffic, subject to weather delays, according to Joy Tsubooka, Escambia County public information officer.
Once the temporary bridge is opened, construction will begin on a new permanent concrete bridge.
The current wooden-support bridge was constructed in 1956 and was closed by FDOT December 6 after it failed an inspection.
The bridge averaged 425 vehicles per day prior to closure.
Pictured: The Bratt Road bridge over Canoe Creek as seen on Tuesday afternoon. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
