Tate Aggies Football Banquet Honors Student Athlete Killed In Crash; Mom Addresses Attendees
January 13, 2019
“God’s got this.”
The mother of Sean Banks, Davisa Banks, addressed players, coaches and families Saturday night during the annual Tate High School football banquet.
She said she taught her children to do things the right way the first time and offered comfort to the Aggie family.
The Tate High School football program paused to honor Banks Saturday night during the football banquet. Banks was killed, along with his older sister Antoinette McCoy in an alleged DUI crash early Saturday morning.
“He was a special young man,” Tate Aggies Head Coach Jay Lindsey said during the banquet at Hillcrest Baptist Church. He said no other player will wear Sean’s #53 jersey. The number has been retired.
The jersey and Sean’s photo were at the front of the room, just off stage right, in memorial.
One by one, players hugged mom Davisa Banks and offered their support.
The Tate Quarterback Club released the following statement:
“Our hearts are broken to learn that Sean Banks, star varsity football player #53, and his sister Antoinette McCoy, died from injuries sustained in a car crash in the early morning hours of January 12th. This young man will forever live in our hearts. Sean was a hardworking student (3.91 GPA) with an enthusiastic view on life, and his smile was as bright as the sun. He was also a basketball and baseball player at Tate High School.
“Antoinette was Sean’s oldest sister, and his biggest fan! She was a sweet, thoughtful girl, full of life and light; she touched the lives of everyone she met.
“May God look down upon this family, and bless them during this time of grief and sorrow. Keep them in your prayers.”
Sean Banks also played basketball and baseball, was a member of the Tate Academic Team and was recently named a Tate Student of the Month.
RELATED STORIES
Tate High Aggie Family Mourns Loss Of Student Sean Banks
Two Killed In East Kingsfield Crash; Cantonment Man Charged With DUI Manslaughter
Grief Counselors Available Monday For Students, Staff At Tate High School
Pictured top: A memorial for Sean Banks Saturday night at the Tate High School football banquet. Pictured top inset: Sean Banks’ mother Davisa Banks addresses the attendees. Below: Players hugged Davis Banks and offered their support. Pictured bottom: Head coach Jay Lindsey looks toward Banks as he spoke Saturday night. Photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Sunshine Returns For The First Half Of The Week
January 13, 2019
Here is your official North Escambia area forecast;
Today: Mostly sunny, with a high near 58. Northwest wind 5 to 10 mph.
Tonight: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 38. North wind around 5 mph.
Monday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 54. North wind 5 to 10 mph.
Monday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 35. North wind around 5 mph.
Tuesday: Sunny, with a high near 57. North wind around 5 mph.
Tuesday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 35. Northwest wind around 5 mph becoming calm.
Wednesday: Sunny, with a high near 62. Calm wind becoming northwest around 5 mph.
Wednesday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 43. Southwest wind around 5 mph becoming calm.
Thursday: Partly sunny, with a high near 66. Light southeast wind becoming south 5 to 10 mph in the morning.
Thursday Night: A 50 percent chance of showers. Cloudy, with a low around 54.
Friday: A 50 percent chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 69.
Friday Night: A 50 percent chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 57.
Saturday: Showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 65. Chance of precipitation is 60%.
Drivers Runs Off Highway 29, Hits Mobile Homes
January 13, 2019
The driver of a pickup truck ran off the roadway and struck two mobile homes in Cantonment Saturday afternoon.
The vehicle was apparently northbound when the driver crossed the median, struck several mailboxes, hit a utility pole, struck the corner of a mobile home before the truck came to rest under a second mobile home.
The driver was transported by Escambia County EMS with non-life threatening injuries. No one in the mobile home was injured.
The crash is under investigation by the Florida Highway Patrol.
NorthEscambia.com photos by Kristi Barbour, click to enlarge.
One Alabama Jail Escapee Captured In Wawbeek; One Still On The Run
January 13, 2019
One of two inmates that escaped from work release in Brewton was captured on Saturday, and at last report authorities were still searching for second escaped prisoner.
Christopher Blake Moye (pictured right), 27, was tracked by K-9 teams to Wawbeek where he was taken into custody Saturday.
Moye and 27- year old Christopher Ladale Pugh escaped from the barracks at the Escambia County (AL) Sheriff’s Office on Friday.
Pugh was jailed for violation of probation, receiving stolen property and burglary. Moye was jailed on charges of violation of probation and theft of property. Both are expected to face additional charges for the escape.
The Escambia County (AL) Sheriff’s Office, Escambia County (FL) Sheriff’s Office, Escambia County (FL) Road Prison K-9 teams, Flomaton Police and other agencies were involved in the manhunt.
About 5:30 p.m. Friday, the manhunt was centered around railroad tracks at Old Fannnie Road and Welka Road, east of Flomaton and about a half mile north of Alabama-Florida state line.
NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Grief Counselors Available Monday For Students, Staff At Tate High School
January 13, 2019
Counselors will be available Monday at Tate High School for students and staff following the death of a student early Saturday morning.
Sean Banks, 17, and his older sister Antoinette Marie McCoy, 22, were killed in an alleged DUI crash.
Related Stories:
Tate Aggies Football Banquet Honors Student Athlete Killed In Crash; Mom Addresses Attendees
Tate High Aggie Family Mourns Loss Of Student Sean Banks
Two Killed In East Kingsfield Crash; Cantonment Man Charged With DUI Manslaughter
UF/IFAS Extension Offering Pesticide Licensing Training Course In Walnut Hill
January 13, 2019
The UF/IFAS Extension Office will offer a public training session for individuals interested in obtaining a private pesticide applicators license or continuing education units. The training session will take place on Thursday, January 17 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Walnut Hill Community Center at 7850 Highway 97 in Walnut Hill.
Class attendees will learn the basics of applying pesticides correctly and will be able to take the private applicator and core exam necessary to become a certified private applicator by the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. The cost is $20 and lunch will be provided. Continuing Education Units will be offered to those who are already licensed.
Attendees must register to ensure the correct number of exams will be available. To register for the class, contact Libbie Johnson at 850475-5230 or libbiej@ufl.edu. Participants can also register in person at 7:30 a.m. the morning of the class.
Arbor Day Art Contest Entries Accepted Now
January 13, 2019
Celebrate Arbor Day by participating in the UF/IFAS Extension Arbor Day mail art contest. Make your own drawing, collage, painting or photo — or decorate a postcard or envelope — related to the theme, “Plant Trees Today for Shade Tomorrow.” Be creative and have fun!
The contest age groups are children 12 and under, teens ages 13-18, and adults 18 and older. One winner will be selected from each age group, and winners will receive either a tree, a shovel or a book about trees.
Mail entries to: Arbor Day Mail Art Contest, Escambia County Extension, 3740 Stefani Road, Cantonment, FL 32533. Entries can also be dropped off at the Extension office. Include your name, age and phone number or email address on the back of your art. Entries must be postmarked by Tuesday, Jan. 15.
Entries will be displayed at the Escambia County Extension office through the month of January. Artwork may be used in Extension programs, such as blogs, flyers and workshops. No received work will be for sale, and we reserve the right to omit offensive work. A panel will judge the works and choose one winner from each age group prior to Friday, Jan. 18.
Winners will be awarded Saturday, Jan. 19 during the mail art display and tree giveaway event at the Escambia County Extension office. If winners cannot attend, they may pick up their prizes at the Escambia Extension office by appointment.
For more information, contact Carrie Stevenson at 850-475-5230 or ctsteven@ufl.edu.
Billy Ray Ward
January 13, 2019
Billy Ray Ward, 81, of McDavid, died January 10, 2019 at his home in McDavid, FL. He was a member and deacon of Ray’s Chapel Baptist Church and Walnut Hill Ruritan Club.
Mr. Ward was born March 20, 1937 in McDavid, attended Century High School and joined the Air Force. He graduated from the University of Nebraska at Omaha with a Bachelor’s Degree. He retired from the Air Force and Civil Service at NAS Pensacola.
He was preceded in death his wife of 57 years, Frances Nadine Carlisle Ward; parents, Thomas Jackson Ward and Clara Luticia Brunson Ward and siblings, Grady Leon, Eleanor Marie and Troy Eugene Ward.
Mr. Ward is survived by his daughter, Gloria Ward of Boone, NC; son, Donald Ward of McDavid, FL; grandsons, Derek Berry, Sean Ward and ZeZe Williams; siblings, Bonnie Voncile (Joe) Silcox of Crossville, TN, and Dewey Ronald Ward of Middleburg, FL and sister-in-law, Barbara Posey of McDavid, FL.
Funeral services will be held Tuesday, January 15 at 2:00 PM at Ray’s Chapel Baptist Church with Rev. Nathan Brown officiating.
Burial will follow at Ray’s Chapel Cemetery with Full Military Honors.
Visitation will be held Monday, January 14, 2019 from 6 to 8 PM at the Petty-Eastside Chapel Funeral Home.
Pallbearers will be Military Bodybearers.
Honorary Pallbearers will members of Ray’s Chapel Sr. Adult, Deacons of Ray’s Chapel and Highland’s Men’s Classes.
Gruters Tapped To Lead Florida Republicans
January 13, 2019
Entering an election cycle in which Florida will again be a key battleground in the race for the White House, state Sen. Joe Gruters of Sarasota was chosen Saturday to lead the Republican Party of Florida.
Gruters, who defeated Charlotte County State Committeeman Bob Starr in a 192-25 vote at the party’s annual meeting in Orlando, will replace Blaise Ingoglia, a House member from Spring Hill who has served as chairman of the state party since 2015.
In a statement released after the vote, Gruters said he will work with county party officials and local elected officials heading into the 2020 elections, as President Donald Trump is expected to run for a second term. He also pointed to helping Gov. Ron DeSantis, who took office Tuesday.
“Our party is in a battle for the soul of America, and Florida will be critical heading into the next election cycle,” Gruters said. “I anticipate working with Governor DeSantis to push his bold agenda forward for our great state, securing another term for our President Donald J. Trump and making Florida red again.”
Gruters, a certified public accountant and longtime leader of the Sarasota County Republican Party, was elected to the Senate in November after serving two years in the House. Because he technically won a special election to replace former Sen. Greg Steube, who ran for Congress in November, Gruters will be on the ballot in 2020 for another term in the Senate.
But the 2020 elections will be dominated by the presidential race, as swing-state Florida will be a focus for Republicans and Democrats. Gruters served as a co-chairman of the Trump campaign in Florida in 2016.
The 2020 ballot is not expected to include other statewide races, as the next campaigns for governor, Cabinet offices and a U.S. Senate seat are not slated to occur until 2020.
But Gruters will preside over the party during an election cycle that will be important for the state Legislature, in part because the winners in 2020 will direct the once-a-decade redistricting process. The GOP, which has totally controlled the Legislature since 1996, is almost a sure bet to retain control of the Republican-dominated House in 2020, but it holds a narrower 23-17 edge in the Senate.
While Democrats made some gains in legislative and congressional races in the 2018 elections, Republicans took home the biggest prizes. DeSantis defeated Democratic gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum, and former Gov. Rick Scott toppled veteran Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson.
The most-notable win for Democrats was Nikki Fried’s victory in the race for agriculture commissioner. That victory put a Democrat on the state Cabinet for the first time in eight years.
by Jim Saunders, The News Service of Florida
Florida Gov’t Weekly Roundup: DeSantis Flexing Some Executive Muscle
January 13, 2019
There’s a new sheriff in town, both literally and figuratively.
Gov. Ron DeSantis came in as Florida’s chief executive with both guns blazing during a week of pomp, pageantry and policy-making.
After being sworn in Tuesday, DeSantis appointed the state’s first Cuban-American female Supreme Court justice, handed pink slips to a water-management board (or at least tried to), and suspended two elected county officials, including beleaguered Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel, who was replaced by veteran cop Gregory Tony.
DeSantis, a former congressman, also issued a sweeping executive order targeting the state’s water woes. The order created an “Office of Environmental Accountability and Transparency,” an “Office of Resilience and Coastal Protection,” and the post of “Chief Science Officer” to deal with toxic algae blooms and other issues that have plagued Florida rivers and coastlines.
The newly minted governor was asked before his first Cabinet meeting Friday about “climate change” — a phrase that purportedly was verboten during the reign of his predecessor, now-U.S. Sen. Rick Scott.
When asked whether he believes in climate change, DeSantis avoided a direct answer.
“We put in that executive order that, as climate changes and our environment changes, water rises in places in South Florida and there’s increased flooding, we want to make sure that we’re taking steps that we can to combat that. We’re going to create an Office of Resiliency to try to combat effects,” DeSantis said. “Look, to me, I’m not even concerned about, is it this sole cause, that sole cause, when you have water in the streets you have to find a way to combat that.”
The governor said his office intends to coordinate “a thoughtful response” to the issue but didn’t bite when asked if he agrees with scientists that humans contribute to climate change.
“Next, next question,” DeSantis said.
DeSantis also flexed his executive muscle in other ways, including targeting appointments that Scott made in his final days in office. The new governor said he intends to yank some of the “effectively lame-duck appointments,” or those that have not been confirmed by the Senate.
“Now, some of the people in that batch were people that I know and respect. You may see me reappoint some of them back. But we’re pulling all of them back. We’re going to take a fresh look at it, and we’ll move forward from there,” DeSantis said.
‘ESSENCE OF WHAT A JUDGE SHOULD BE’
Hitting the ground running Wednesday morning, DeSantis appointed appellate judge Barbara Lagoa to the Florida Supreme Court.
The governor’s selection of Lagoa, the daughter of Cuban émigrés, was the first of three Supreme Court appointments DeSantis will make, following the mandatory retirement of three justices who comprised what had been the court’s more liberal-leaning bloc.
Lagoa’s addition will cement a conservative majority that will include Chief Justice Charles Canady and justices Alan Lawson and Ricky Polston, all of whom Lagoa cited as references in her application for the post. It also will keep DeSantis’ pledge to purge the Supreme Court of “activist” jurists.
DeSantis, a Harvard Law School graduate who served as a judge advocate in the Navy, hailed Lagoa as “the essence of what a judge should be.”
Lagoa, 51, grew up in Miami and attended New York’s Columbia Law School, where she edited the prestigious law review. A onetime federal prosecutor in Florida’s Southern District, Lagoa had experience in criminal and civil litigation before former Gov. Jeb Bush appointed her to the 3rd District Court of Appeal in 2006, where she has served for more than 12 years.
In her remarks, Lagoa, accompanied by her parents, husband and three daughters, left little doubt that she will fulfill DeSantis’ expectations.
The Florida Supreme Court is “tasked with the protections of the people’s liberties under law,” Lagoa said.
“And in that regard, I am particularly mindful of the fact that, under our constitutional system, it is for the Legislature and not the courts to make the law. It is the role of judges to apply, not to alter, the work of the people’s representatives. And it is the role of judges to interpret our Constitution and statutes as they are written,” she said.
WIPING UP WATER WOES
The following day, DeSantis laid out an aggressive agenda to expand efforts to improve Florida’s troubled waters.
Appearing in areas hit hard by outbreaks of toxic algae and red tide, DeSantis said he was fulfilling a campaign pledge to “take action” to address the issue.
DeSantis’ executive order calls for $2.5 billion over the next four years for Everglades restoration and water resource protection, a $1 billion increase over what was spent the prior four years.
The governor also instructed the South Florida Water Management District to “immediately” start the next phase of a reservoir project south of Lake Okeechobee and to work with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to keep the project on schedule.
He didn’t stop there.
DeSantis also demanded the resignations of each of the eight members — one seat is vacant — of the water district’s governing board, all of whom were appointed by Scott.
The board has been under fire since voting in late November to grant sugar behemoth Florida Crystals a lease extension for land eyed for a reservoir.
‘VILIFIED’ AND TRAMPLED ON
Pointing to a denial of due process, U.S. District Judge Mark Walker ordered DeSantis to give former Broward County elections chief Brenda Snipes the opportunity to tell her side of the story after Scott stripped her of the job.
Snipes, a Democrat appointed by former Gov. Jeb Bush and subsequently re-elected four times, announced Nov. 18 she would step down as supervisor, effective Jan. 4, after a turbulent election.
But on Nov. 30, Scott issued an executive order suspending Snipes and replacing her with his longtime ally, Pete Antonacci. The order cited widespread problems during the 2018 elections and accused Snipes of demonstrating “misfeasance, incompetence and neglect of duty.”
The day after the executive order, Snipes held a news conference and rescinded her resignation. Seeking to regain her job, Snipes later filed a federal lawsuit against Scott and Senate President Bill Galvano, R-Bradenton.
Writing in a 12-page ruling Wednesday, Walker, who heard arguments in the case Monday, found that Snipes could not withdraw her resignation after her replacement had been appointed and sworn in because it was “an unconditional resignation.”
“But rather than accept the resignation quietly and avoid trampling on Snipes’ due process rights, Scott suspended Snipes and vilified her without giving her a meaningful opportunity to be heard,” Walker scolded.
Walker gave DeSantis until Jan. 31 to provide Snipes notice, and until March 31 to give Snipes “meaningful opportunity to be heard,” either in writing or orally.
The federal judge delivered a stinging rebuke to Scott, whose administration he frequently excoriated in rulings in other cases. DeSantis became a party in the case after Scott left office.
“The law can be unclear at times. Statutes can be ambiguous; case law can meander, diverge or swerve from common sense. Judges face murky legal issues every day. Today is not one of those days. Procedural due process is not ambiguous. Flagrantly disregarding plaintiff’s constitutional rights fits into an unfortunate rhythm for Scott. But the ease and comfort Scott has in overlooking plaintiff’s due process rights does (not) make it legally permissible,” Walker wrote.
STORY OF THE WEEK: Gov. Ron DeSantis, sworn into office Tuesday, appointed a new Florida Supreme Court justice, released an aggressive plan to address the state’s troubled waters and suspended two elected officials.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “I believe the rule of law is society’s sacred bond. When it is trampled, we all suffer. For the Groveland Four, the truth was buried. The perpetrators celebrated. But justice has cried out from that day until this.” — Gov. Ron DeSantis, after pardoning Ernest Thomas, Samuel Shepherd, Walter Irvin and Charles Greenlee, who were known as the Groveland Four.
by Dara Kam, The News Service of Florida