Wavely Kendrick McGhee
January 21, 2019
Wavely Kendrick McGhee entered into his eternal home on January 17, 2019.
Ken was born to the late Wavely and Clara Evelyn McGhee on July 20, 1933 in Dozier, Alabama. He was well known by his friends as Ken. However, his family called him Kent, a nickname given to him by his father. He graduated from Dozier High School in May of 1952. Ken served in the United States Navy from October 1, 1952 to September 26, 1956. He served in the Korean War aboard the USS Mount Baker. While serving his country, he was awarded the National Defense, United Nations, and Good Conduct medals, and the Korean Presidential Citation.
In 1957, the Monsanto Company hired Ken, where he worked for many decades before retiring. In 1963, Ken married the love of his life, Ruby Lucille Taylor. They were happily married 50 years until her death on August 5, 2013. After retirement, Ken enjoyed visiting with his family and friends. He often traveled to the “peanut country” in Jay to purchase peanuts. Ken loved to talk and one of his favorite pastimes was buying and selling merchandise to his friends and family. He was an avid gardener and had a green thumb like no other. One of the numerous joys in his life was watching all of his nieces and nephews grow up.
Ken is preceded in death by his wife, Ruby Lucille McGhee; his parents, Wavely and Clara Evelyn McGhee; and his five siblings; Annie Earl Wilcox, Mary Maxine Russell, William Cannon McGhee, Robert Merrill McGhee, and Clara Eleanor Dubose.
His brother-in-law, Joe Lalas, his sister-in-law, Sara McGhee, and numerous nieces and nephews lovingly remember him.
Funeral services with Military Honors were held Monday, January 21, 2019 at Faith Chapel Funeral Home North.
Graveside service was held at the Dozier Cemetery in Dozier, Alabama.
The family would like to express our appreciation for the caregivers, nurses, and doctors of the Specialty Care Center that assisted with our loved one’s care over the past three years.
Faith Chapel Funeral Home North is entrusted with the arrangements.
Mary Frances Akins
January 21, 2019
Mary Frances Akins, 72 of Booneville, AL, passed away January 20, 2019. She was born to the late Braxton and Ola Mae Byrd Booker in Godway, AL, on June 22, 1946.
Her parents precede her in death.
She was an active member of Booneville Baptist Church where she played piano for many years.
She is survived by her husband, Bruce Akins of Booneville, AL; two sons, Timothy B. (Tracy) Akins of Gulf Shores, AL and Daniel Akins of New Orleans, LA; three grandchildren, Laura Akins, Oliva Akins, Braxton Akins and one great-grandchild, Brooks Hadley.
Funeral services will be held Tuesday, January 22, 2019, at 11 a.m. from the Booneville Baptist Church with Bro. David Atchison officiating.
Burial will follow in Booneville Baptist Church Cemetery.
Active pallbearers will be Mickey Akins, Harry Akins, John Akins, Andy Akins, Medor Akins and Joe Helton.
Visitation will be held Tuesday, January 22, 2019, from 9:30 a.m. until service time from the Booneville Baptist Church.
Johnson-Quimby Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.
Janice Ann Johnson Dietz
January 21, 2019
Mrs. Janice Ann Johnson Dietz, age 72, passed away Tuesday, January 15, 2019, at her home in Century, Florida.
Mrs. Dietz was a native and lifelong resident of Century, FL. She was an avid fisherman and hunter. She is preceded in death by her parents, Mickey and Elmar Johnson and two brothers, Donald Dewayne Johnson and Mickey Raymond Johnson.
She is survived by her daughter, Dana (Rodney) Burkett of Century, FL; three grandchildren, Heath Burkett, Miranda Burkett and Mazie Burkett; and two great-grandchildren, Hayden Burkett and Kenzie Burkett.
Funeral services were held Friday, January 18, 2019, at the Petty-Eastside Chapel Funeral Home with Elder Richard Ash officiating.
Burial was at McCurdy Cemetery.
Pallbearers were Randall Hollingshead, Steve Stanton, Bud Campbell, Charlie Brown, James Campbell, Randy Sims and Billy Campbell.
Petty-Eastside Chapel Funeral Homes is in charge of all arrangements.
New Education, Training And Employment Program Coming To Century
January 20, 2019
A new program is headed to Century with a goal to educate, train and employ.
Youth Build is designed for people who face challenges finding a job. They will help young adults get their GED, train them, and get them ready for the workforce.
“Whatever caused them to be displaced, we have so many transients here in Pensacola who are not able to find employment due to misdemeanors or felony records, or just due to the fact that they don’t have the proper education,” said Shirley Stone of the Shepherd’s Place Foundation. “We just want to be able to offer them this type of career.”
“What we primarily like to do is to place them in positions of skilled trade, but there are a number of different programs that they have to go through,” said Gary Loster, president of Youth Build. “Working with unions, and communities, and churches and not for profit organizations is the idea behind Youth Build and Youth Development Corporation.”
The Youth Build Corporation is based in Michigan, but will be bringing the program to Century. It will open to anyone between the ages of 16 and 24 years of age. The nonprofit program will partner with the Shepherd’s Place Foundation. They offer housing and transportation services for financially strapped students.
The plans were announced Saturday at Lee Square in downtown Pensacola. Leaders hope to have the training facility open by April 2019.
Complete details are expected to be announced in the coming weeks.
Pictured top: Shirley Stone of the Shepherd’s Place Foundation with Century Mayor Henry Hawkins. Pictured below: Plans for the program were announced Saturday at Lee Square in downtown Pensacola. Images courtesy WEAR 3 for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Tate Varsity Cheerleaders Take Regionals, Advance To State Finals
January 20, 2019
The Tate High School varsity cheerleaders are headed to state after winning regionals on Saturday.
The Aggie cheerleaders, for the second year, won the Florida High School Athletic Association Region 1 Small Coed Championship. . The first place finish earns them a direct bid to the state finals.
The squad is coach by second-year coach and Tate graduate Morgan White, who spent four years as an Aggie cheerleader.
Photo for North Escambia.com, click to enlarge.
Celebrate MLK Day With Parades, Programs
January 20, 2019
Parades and programs Monday in the North Escambia area will honor Dr. Martin Luther Kings Jr.
Events will include:
Cantonment
The 13th Martin Luther King Parade will begin at 4 p.m. at Carver Park on Webb Street
Century
The Century-Flomaton Improvement Association will hold its annual celebration Monday. A motorcade will depart the old Carver Middle School at 9 a.m., with a program to follow at 10 a.m. at the Century Ag Building on West Highway 4.
Pensacola
The 32nd annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Parade will be at 11 a.m. Monday in downtown Pensacola. The theme is “Work for the Dream: Pray, Vote, Volunteer”.
Atmore
The Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Parade in Atmore will begin at 10 a.m. at the Houston Avery Park with a new route this year. The parade will leave the park, head south on Martin Luther King Avenue, west on Ridgely Street, north on Main Street, east on Ashley Street to Carver Avenue, follow Carver Avenue back to to Martin Luther King Avenue and north to the park.
Pictured. Martin Luther King Day events last year in Century (top) and Cantonment (below). NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
There’s A Super Blood Moon Total Eclipse Tonight; Here’s How To Watch It
January 20, 2019
There’s a total lunar eclipse Sunday night, and the North Escambia area will have perfect viewing weather.
Grab a jacket — it’s going to be clear and cold as temperatures plummet through the 30’s with a slight north wind.
It’s the only total lunar eclipse of 2019. Visible for its entirety in the U.S., this eclipse is being referred to by some as a super blood moon – “super” because the Moon will be closest to Earth in its orbit during the full moon and “blood” because the total lunar eclipse will turn the Moon a reddish hue.
The real show begins at 9:33 p.m. As the moon moves into the darker shadow, significant darkening of the Moon will be noticeable. Some say that during this part of the eclipse, the moon looks as if it has had a bite taken out of it. That “bite” gets bigger and bigger as the moon moves deeper into the shadow.
As the moon moves completely into the earth’s shadow at 10:41 p.m., something interesting happens: The moon begins to turn reddish-orange. The reason for this phenomenon? Earth’s atmosphere. As sunlight passes through it, the small molecules that make up our atmosphere scatter blue light, which is why the sky appears blue. This leaves behind mostly red light that bends, or refracts, into earth’s shadow. We can see the red light during an eclipse as it falls onto the moon in earth’s shadow. This same effect is what gives sunrises and sunsets a reddish-orange color.
The moment of greatest eclipse, when it’s halfway over, will be at 11:12 p.m.
The end of the total eclipse is at 11:43 p.m. That’s when the “bite” appearance returns and the visible slice of the moon becomes brighter. Most of the show is over about 12:50 a.m. Monday, and the end of the eclipse is 1:48 a.m.
Winter Returns With Cold Windy Day, Freeze Tonight
January 20, 2019
Here is your official North Escambia area forecast:
Today: Mostly cloudy early, then gradual clearing, with a high near 47. Northwest wind 10 to 15 mph, with gusts as high as 20 mph.
Tonight: Clear, with a low around 29. North wind 5 to 10 mph.
M.L.King Day: Sunny, with a high near 53. Wind chill values between 25 and 35 early. North wind around 5 mph becoming east in the afternoon.
Monday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 37. East wind 5 to 10 mph.
Tuesday: A 20 percent chance of showers after noon. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 62. Southeast wind 10 to 15 mph.
Tuesday Night: Showers likely, mainly after midnight. Cloudy, with a low around 56. Southeast wind around 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%.
Wednesday: Showers and possibly a thunderstorm. High near 69. South wind around 10 mph becoming southwest in the afternoon. Chance of precipitation is 80%.
Wednesday Night: Showers. Low around 40. Southwest wind around 10 mph becoming northwest after midnight. Chance of precipitation is 80%.
Thursday: A 20 percent chance of showers before noon. Mostly sunny, with a high near 53. Northwest wind 5 to 10 mph.
Thursday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 35.
Friday: Sunny, with a high near 52.
Friday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 30.
Saturday: Sunny, with a high near 53.
Youth Basketball: Century Heat
January 20, 2019
Youth Basketball (8-10)
Bucks 22, Century Heat 12
Florida Gov’t Weekly Roundup: DeSantis Calling ‘Em Like He Sees ‘Em
January 20, 2019
He’s been on the job for just a handful of days, but Gov. Ron DeSantis has already burnished his brand as a no-nonsense chief of state asserting his authority via pink slips, ultimatums and generally rocking the boat from one end of the state to the other.
Last week, the freshly inaugurated governor appointed the first Cuban-American woman justice to the Florida Supreme Court, suspended a South Florida sheriff and ousted a Panhandle school superintendent.
This week, the Republican governor placed another justice on the court, took on Airbnb and pushed the Legislature into a corner over smokable medical marijuana. And he capped his second week on the job by giving Palm Beach County elections supervisor Susan Bucher the boot.
Bucher, a former state representative, came under fire for problems related to the November elections. Among other things, her office was unable to complete a manual recount in the statewide race between then-U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson and former Gov. Rick Scott, who eventually emerged the winner in the Senate race. Before leaving office as governor, Scott ousted former Broward County elections supervisor Brenda Snipes, who also drew heavy scrutiny because of problems in the November elections.
Scott and DeSantis may be of like minds when it comes to axing Democratic elections chiefs, but DeSantis has made clear there’s a new chief executive on the plaza level in the Capitol, one whose agenda and demeanor is markedly different from his predecessor.
For example, DeSantis harshly criticized how the state has handled the medical-marijuana issue, griping this week about having other “fish to fry” as the state’s top executive.
The state has evolved since Scott — whose mantra was jobs, jobs, jobs — was elected more than eight years ago, DeSantis told reporters this week.
Florida’s water woes are troubling to residents throughout the state but may not have been as salient an issue a decade ago, said DeSantis, who has demanded the resignation of water management officials appointed by Scott.
Without naming Scott, DeSantis also pointed out that the former governor failed to act on the “Groveland Four,” despite the Legislature’s request for pardons of the African-American men who were accused of rape in a notorious case from the state’s Jim Crow era.
“I had a directive from them that was left over, saying consider this for a pardon. So I did. I was like, these guys got railroaded. We’ve got to do what’s right,” DeSantis said. “I’m just calling ‘em as I’ve seen ‘em. I want to continue a lot of the economic momentum that we’ve had. I think you’ll see a lot of continuity there. But at the end of the day, Floridians expected me to be bold on our water quality and environment, so that’s exactly what I promised and that’s exactly what I’m doing.”
SMOKE ‘EM IF YOU GOT ‘EM
DeSantis stood shoulder-to-shoulder Thursday with Orlando attorney John “#PotDaddy” Morgan, the political rainmaker who largely bankrolled a 2016 medical-marijuana constitutional amendment, and Congressman Matt Gaetz, one of the architects of the state’s pot laws.
The governor challenged the Legislature to fix a 2017 law that banned smoking medical marijuana — or else. If lawmakers don’t comply, DeSantis pledged to drop the state’s appeal of a court ruling that found the smoking prohibition is unconstitutional.
DeSantis, who had been widely expected to announce he was going to drop the appeal, instead delivered the unambiguous ultimatum, which he called the “sword of Damocles” hanging over the head of legislative leaders.
The Republican governor said he also wants lawmakers to address other components of the 2017 law, which was passed to carry out the voter-approved constitutional amendment. DeSantis said lawmakers should revisit a cap on the number of medical-marijuana licenses and a “vertical integration” system that requires operators to grow, process and distribute cannabis products.
“This is all about doing the people’s will,” DeSantis told reporters at a news conference in Winter Park.
DeSantis accused the Republican-dominated Legislature of failing to implement a medical-marijuana system “in accordance with what the amendment envisioned.”
DeSantis also used the threat of dropping appeals in other marijuana-related lawsuits to goad the Legislature into addressing issues that could include the cap on the number of medical-marijuana licenses and the “vertical integration” system. Moving away from vertical integration could involve opening up the marijuana market to businesses that wouldn’t be responsible for all of the aspects of growing, processing and distributing the products.
“We need to have the people’s will represented in good law that is doing what they intended. I look at how some of this was created, where they (lawmakers) created a cartel, essentially,” DeSantis said.
But an unrestricted medical-marijuana market could raise concerns in an industry in which licenses have sold for more than $50 million.
DeSantis instructed lawmakers to revisit vertical integration, which he said “is not good policy.”
“The way they did this vertical integration, that is not free-market principles, for sure,” he said. “If you’re going to do it, do it according to sound economic principles.”
HE’S A MENSCH
In dual overtures to the state’s Jewish population this week, DeSantis appointed a second Miami-Dade County appellate judge to fill a vacancy on the Florida Supreme Court and came out swinging against Airbnb over West Bank rentals.
DeSantis on Monday tapped Robert J. Luck, a 39-year-old judge on the state’s 3rd District Court of Appeal, to fill the second of three vacancies on the high court. Last week, DeSantis appointed Barbara Lagoa, who had served as chief judge of the Miami-based appellate court, to the Supreme Court.
“Really across the board, people who know him, like him and respect him. So I think not only will he be a formidable force on the Florida Supreme Court, I think he will immediately have the respect of all his colleagues on that court and beyond,” DeSantis said about Luck.
Luck, a graduate of the University of Florida Law School, will be the youngest member of the Supreme Court and could potentially serve until he is 75 years old.
DeSantis, a Harvard Law graduate, noted Luck’s skills as a legal writer. “He was born to be a judge. There’s just no doubt about it,” DeSantis said.
The announcement was made at the Scheck Hillel Community School, a Jewish day school in Miami-Dade where Luck started kindergarten more than three decades ago. He and his wife, Jennifer, have a son and a daughter who now attend the school.
In accepting the appointment, Luck talked about the working-class roots of his family members and their deep ties to the Miami-Dade community.
“Two generations after my grandfather sliced brisket at a deli, one generation after my father-in-law slept on the basement floor of his boss’ T-shirt shop, so he could save as much money as possible, I am here having been sworn in as a justice of the highest court in the state,” Luck said.
The following day, DeSantis announced that Florida employees will no longer be reimbursed for Airbnb stays while traveling, as the state considers economic sanctions over the home-sharing platform’s decision against listing properties in the West Bank, an area that is a major flashpoint in Israeli-Palestinian relations.
“My hope is that Airbnb will rescind that policy,” DeSantis said during an appearance at the Jewish Federation of South Palm Beach County in Boca Raton. “I don’t think they quite understood what they were getting into on this.”
Claiming a “moral obligation” to oppose the Airbnb property-listing policy for the West Bank, DeSantis said the State Board of Administration will determine by the end of this month if Airbnb is subject to a new Florida law that prohibits state investment in companies that boycott Israel.
On Tuesday, Airbnb issued a statement that it “unequivocally rejected” the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions, or “BDS,” movement targeting Israel in support of Palestinians. But it made no mention if the policy about hosts in the West Bank will change.
STORY OF THE WEEK: Continuing to assert his authority in his second week on the job, Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed a second Supreme Court justice, suspended Palm Beach County elections supervisor Susan Bucher and ordered the Legislature to address the state’s ban on smoking medical marijuana.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “Whether they have to smoke it or not, who am I to judge that? I want people to be able to have their suffering relieved. I don’t think this law is up to snuff.” — Gov. Ron DeSantis, speaking about the state’s ban on smoking medical marijuana.
by Dara Kam, The News Service of Florida