Clouds, Middle 60s Tonight
May 30, 2023
Here is your official North Escambia area forecast:
Tuesday Night: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 66. Calm wind.
Wednesday: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms after 1pm. Partly sunny, with a high near 86. Calm wind becoming east around 5 mph in the afternoon.
Wednesday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 67. South wind around 5 mph becoming calm.
Thursday: A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms, mainly after 1pm. Mostly sunny, with a high near 87. East wind 5 to 10 mph.
Thursday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 66. East wind around 5 mph becoming northeast after midnight.
Friday: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms after 1pm. Sunny, with a high near 88. Northeast wind 5 to 10 mph.
Friday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 67. Northeast wind around 5 mph becoming calm in the evening.
Saturday: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms after 1pm. Sunny, with a high near 89.
Saturday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 68.
Sunday: A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly sunny, with a high near 88.
Sunday Night: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly clear, with a low around 66.
Monday: A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Sunny, with a high near 88.
Two Arrested After Beulah Traffic Stop, One On Drug Charges
May 30, 2023
Two people were arrested after a traffic stop Monday in Beulah.
The Escambia County Sheriff’s Office said narcotics were discovered after they stopped a 2022 Dodge Ram at Beulah Road and Mobile Highway.
Kyle Matthew Smith, 32, was charged with possession of methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia. His bond was set at $11,000.
Naomi Hope Williford, 23, was also taken into custody on an outstanding warrant for fleeing and eluding. She was released on a $5,000 bond.
The Sheriff’s Office said the Dodge pickup was seized.
Escambia County Partnered With Northview FFA To Build Wetland Wood Duck Boxes
May 30, 2023
The Escambia County Natural Resource Conservation Division recently partnered with the Northview High School FFA Chapter to build wood duck boxes for wetland habitats across the county.
The division said wood duck boxes provide suitable nesting sites for wood ducks in urbanized areas and can help attract ducks to local wetlands. This first round will be placed at Jones Swamp Wetland Preserve, with more to come in the near future.
Photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Gas Prices Up Slightly Over Last Week, AAA Says
May 30, 2023
Florida gas prices increased slightly last week as an estimated 2.1 million Floridians were forecast to take a road trip for Memorial Day weekend.
The Florida average price on Memorial Day was $3.41 per gallon. That was the seventh-highest Memorial Day gas price in 20 years but $1.16 per gallon less than last year’s holiday.
The average Monday night in Escambia County was $3.31 per gallon. A North Escambia low of $3.19 could be found at two stations in Cantonment. In Pensacola, the low price was $2.95 at the warehouse clubs.
“Florida gas prices dipped down to $3.38 per gallon last week, but rebounded a few pennies per gallon by the holiday weekend,” said Mark Jenkins, spokesman, AAA – The Auto Club Group. “Pump prices are likely to fluctuate like this throughout the summer travel season. However, we may have already seen the highest prices of this year, unless a major hurricane affects refinery operations along the gulf coast.”
One Dead, One Injured In Atmore Double Shooting
May 29, 2023
A man is dead and another person was seriously injured in a double shooting early Monday morning in Atmore.
It happened about 2:15 a.m. in the area of Carver Avenue and King Street. The Atmore Police Department responded to a shots fired complaint and found the victims.
Both were transported to an area hospital. One of the victims died from his injuries, and the other remains in serious condition, according to Atmore Police.
The motive remained under investigation as investigators worked to notify family members.
NorthEscambia.com file photo.
After Firing Superintendent, School Board To Decide What’s Next At Tuesday Meeting
May 29, 2023
The Escambia County School Board has scheduled a special meeting for Tuesday, May 30 to plan their next steps after voting last recently to terminate Superintendent Tim Smith.
The board voted 3-2, with Patty Hightower and Bill Slayton dissenting, to fire Smith with his final day set for May 31. They also named Assistant Superintendent for Human Resources Keith Leonard as interim superintendent, presumably beginning June 1.
In the meeting, the board is set to determine how to transition to an interim superintendent and how to start the process of finding a permanent replacement. The details of moving Leonard into the interim role were not discussed last week. Leonard and Smith were two finalists for the position, with Smith chosen for the top spot.
The special meeting will take place at 1 p.m.May 30 at the J.E. Hall Center on Texar Drive.
In November 2018, Escambia County citizens voted to move from an elected to an appointed superintendent.
Two Charged Hours After Bratt Shooting
May 29, 2023
For an update to this story, click here.
Two people have been arrested into connection with a shooting Sunday morning in Bratt.
Tiana Brooke Chick, 20, was charged with aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, burglary with battery, battery, and criminal mischief. She was booked into the Escambia County Jail Sunday night with bond set at $202,000. Kendrell Devon Kyles, 18, was also booked into jail Sunday night, charged with aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, burglary with battery, use of a firearm during the commission of a felony, battery and criminal mischief. His bond was set at $251,000.
The Escambia County Sheriff’s Office said Chick and Kyles went to a mobile home on Oakshade Road, behind Northview High School. Inside the residence, the victim and his current girlfriend were asleep, according to deputies.
“The two suspects entered the home. Both victims were battered,” Sgt. Melony Peterson said. “At some point male victim was shot in the arm by male suspect who was armed with a handgun.”
The injuries were not considered life threatening. Both suspects fled the scene.
Deputies said Chick and the male victim were previously in a relationship.
For more photos from the scene, click or tap here.
NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
‘I Didn’t Get To Come Home…I Died Doing Something Meaningful’
May 29, 2023
For Memorial Day, we share the story of the death of local Marine LCpl. Travis M. Nelson, who gave his life in Afghanistan on August 18, 2011.
Gold Star Mom Beckie Nelson spoke with NorthEscambia.com a decade after Nelson’s death and her son’s ultimate sacrifice in Afghanistan.
I Died Doing Something Meaningful.
And she shared with us a short, simple note LCpl Travis Nelson left behind in his field book just in case he did not return.
“Dear friends & family, If your reading this it seems I didn’t get to come home. I love each and every one of you and I want you to know I have no regrets. I died doing something meaningful.”
He died a few short weeks after writing that note.
Beckie Nelson clings to those words that provided her peace and understanding.
“We received Travis’ belongings weeks after the funeral. The emotions we felt as we opened the trunk are unexplainable. Still in disbelief, our hearts still in pieces, it was gut wrenching to say the least. When I saw this page I closed the book, laid down on his bed with it in my arms and I actually slept for the first time in weeks.”
Growing Up With A Promise To His Mother
A young Travis Nelson grew up in Bratt, just two doors down from the modern day Travis M. Nelson Park that was named in his memory about a year after its 2010 opening.
He would play on those very grounds, shooting his BB gun and riding his go cart. His first love in his young life was fishing. At four years old, he would spend hours with relatives fishing on the Escambia River. No matter how old he got, he never gave up the love for a fishing pole and hook. He also loved playing baseball at Northwest Escambia’s Bradberry Park in Walnut Hill.
On Sept., 11, 2001, Travis Nelson was nine years old when America was attacked. He was not playing; he was fixated on the news.
And he made a promise that day. The kind of promise to a mother that a young man will do anything to uphold.
“I’ll never forget him saying ‘Momma, I will protect you. I will be a soldier’,” Beckie Nelson said.
The family last saw Travis on July 13, 2011, as he deployed for Afghanistan. Their last phone conversation was Monday, August, 15, 2011, as he requested items for a care package.
That care package was still sitting by the front door three days later. It never made it to the mail.
August 18, 2011.
It was about noon on Thursday, August 18, 2011, at the Nelson home in Bratt.
An American flag fluttered in the breeze on the porch.
And three men in military uniforms stood at the door. Beckie Nelson knew what that meant.
“I just screamed and said no,” she said. “I just went to my knees and said don’t let them come in. I knew right away that he was gone.”
My Biggest Fear
The next day, Beckie Nelson sat in the middle of her bed with a laptop, reading the scores of reader comments on a NorthEscambia.com story about Travis Nelson’s death.
“He really was our hero,” she said, clutching a 5×7 photo of her son.
“I didn’t think I could see past that day. I felt like it would always be that day. I didn’t imagine that I could ever talk about it,” she said. “But I can, and it has to do with the support groups, the military support groups, and the community support.”
She was remarkably strong as she talked about the heart wrenching pain of that day.
But during our interview, her voice broke.
“My biggest fear,” she said before pausing. “My biggest fear was that Travis would be forgotten. I was scared I was going to forget.”
A Fallen Marine Returns.
LCpl. Travis M. Nelson was never forgotten.
The rain poured down at Pensacola Naval Air Station August 24, 2011, as Nelson’s body arrived on the final leg of his journey home.
Outside the main gate of Pensacola NAS, people gathered to pay their respects to the young soldier. The rain did not send them running; they stood silently — many holding American flags — as the hearse carrying an American hero departed on a 55-mile journey to Atmore.
Along the way, some of Pensacola’s busiest roadways came to a complete standstill as the motorcade passed. Many motorists stood outside their vehicles and paid their respects.
In Walnut Hill, just a few miles from Nelson’s boyhood home in Bratt, the motorcade slowed as it approached Ernest Ward Middle School. Nelson was a Golden Eagle, attending Ernest Ward in the sixth and seventh grades.
Hundreds of Ernest Ward Middle School students and teachers dressed in red, white and blue lined Highway 97, American flags in hand, waiting for the arrival of the motorcade.
Several of Nelson’s middle school teachers were among the crowd that suddenly grew silent as the first sirens could be heard. As the procession passed, the students stood with their hands over their hearts, waving Old Glory. The thunder of 127 Patriot Guard motorcycle riders vibrated the ground and echoed across the country fields near the school.
Six Florida Highway Patrol trooper vehicles led the hearse past the school. Many students and teachers broke down in tears at the sight of a flag draped coffin. Others cried as they made eye contact with Nelson’s parents and their daughter — who was a sixth grader at Ernest Ward at the time.
“I look back at those pictures now,” Beckie Nelson said. “Those pictures from the middle school. It meant so much. Those kids are now fathers, mothers, some are now serving in the military.”
My Travis.
“Travis knew at nine years old that nothing was going to hold him back. That was his heart’s desire,” Beckie Nelson said 10 years later. “That’s what he wanted to do with his life.”
“God had a greater plan for my Travis.”
Above: NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Man Charged With Santa Rosa County Homicide
May 29, 2023
A Santa Rosa County man has been charged with a homicide reported Saturday in Pace.
Jeffery Todd Stahler, 61, was charged with second degree homicide murder dangerous depraved without premeditation, felony assault, aggravated assault on an officer, and resisting arrest.
About 4 p.m. Saturday, the Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office received a report that a body had been discovered in the 4100 block of Diamond Street and determined that a homicide had occurred.
When deputies arrived at the scene, Stahler attempted to flee but was taken into custody, according to deputies.
Stahler was booked into the Santa Rosa County Jail without bond.
Memorial Day Monday; Mostly Sunny And Warm
May 29, 2023
Here is your official North Escambia area forecast:
Memorial Day: Mostly sunny, with a high near 87. Very small chance of a quick isolated shower. Northwest wind 5 to 10 mph.
Monday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 63. Northwest wind around 5 mph becoming calm after midnight.
Tuesday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 88. North wind around 5 mph.
Tuesday Night: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 66. Southwest wind around 5 mph becoming calm.
Wednesday: Partly sunny, with a high near 88. East wind around 5 mph becoming south in the afternoon.
Wednesday Night: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 68. South wind around 5 mph becoming northeast after midnight.
Thursday: A 50 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 83. East wind 5 to 10 mph.
Thursday Night: A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms, mainly before 1am. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 68. Northeast wind 5 to 10 mph.
Friday: A 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly sunny, with a high near 85.
Friday Night: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly cloudy, with a low around 67.
Saturday: A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly sunny, with a high near 88.
Saturday Night: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly cloudy, with a low around 68.
Sunday: A 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly sunny, with a high near 90.
Mc David FL
30.87°N 87.48°W (Elev. 269 ft)
Visit your local NWS office at: https://www.weather.gov/mob