Blog: Every Knee Shall Bow
May 10, 2009
The ACLU is asking a federal court to find a Santa Rosa County School District employee in contempt for offering a prayer at a school function.
At the time administrative assistant Michelle Winkler prayed at the February 20 Employee of the Year Banquet, a federal injunction was in place ordering school employees to refrain from praying at school functions. That injunction was upheld Friday by federal judge Casey Rogers, implementing a five year ban on prayer and religion in Santa Rosa Schools. Read that story here.
Escambia County has taken note, ordering schools not to take part in events such as Baccalaureate that are religious or Christian in nature. For the first time in 13 years, there will be no school-sponsored Baccalaureate program for Northview’s graduating seniors.
Winkler was instructed by District Administrator Jud Crane to offer a two to three minute “thought for the day” that was to not include a prayer. In an email exchange, Crane assumed that Winkler would withdraw from speaking if she could not offer prayer.
“I’m still on, and be unfearful of the current events, with your ‘off the record’ permission, I would like to use the prayer that I had prayed about and received from God and will suffer whatever consequences for,” Winkler wrote in an email. “I cannot be silent as God is my very life and Christ is who I am.”
“I simply cannot compromise my LORD. Like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah,” she wrote in another email, “I simply won’t bow down to another god.”
In our land of “free speech”, Casey Rogers’ federal order issued Friday prohibits school employees from communicating with a deity, including prayer and reading from sermons or sacred texts. Our nation and so much of world history is based upon the Bible, the mostly widely published book in the history of the world. Presidents and kings have prayed, and many of those prayers are an integral part of history. Prayer is a part of America. The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said it well — ” To be a Christian without prayer is no more possible than to be alive without breathing.”
But under Rogers’ order, the Bible is not a historical or scientific text acceptable in Santa Rosa Schools. The Bible, under the order, is in the same class as a comic book.
Teachers will not be allowed to display crosses, drawings of Jesus or other items depicting their faith in their classrooms. Teachers are not allowed to pray at school events. Pastors and clergy are not allowed to pray at school events. Not even bless the food.
“School officials shall prohibit the person making the address from offering a prayer,” the order says of persons speaking at school events. That is freedom of speech?
The order does allow students to lead prayer in certain circumstances. But a teacher cannot participate in the prayer. School employees are forbidden from folding their hands, bowing their heads or kneeling. That is freedom of speech?
Teachers with web pages are forbidden from acknowledging their religious beliefs on their web pages. School student clubs cannot have a chaplain. From the FFA to the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, there’s no chaplain permitted. That’s freedom of speech?
Escambia School officials will be forced, perhaps eventually by a court order, to follow the same rules. Our teachers are at the forefront of the battle, and they need the prayer that the ACLU seeks to prohibit. We are one nation under God. We will stand and pray for our teachers and students. Our students have many rights under the court order to lead prayer, and we will see the Lord do mighty works through them.
The ACLU has a court order. Christians have the almighty power of the Word.
I ask that you share this article with your friends, your neighbors and your churches. Pray for teachers and school employees like Michelle Winkler that they stand strong.
Here are the words that Michelle Winkler spoke at a school employee awards ceremony that have the ACLU seeking the federal contempt order:
“I love the way You have created each of with a purpose which includes the need to serve one another in ways that bring encouragement and inspire each of us to help one another to excel.
Tonight we celebrate some of those who are an inspiration to us and in whose deeds we have been blessed.
There is a Tree (Christ), on which grows the fruits of life: love joy and peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control.
May we each eat freely from that tree and thereby extend that same grace and mercy to one another as You have faithfully committed Yourself of lavish on us.
Thank You, Father God- in Jesus’ holy and precious name – Amen.
To our teachers and school staff — it takes courage to stand. But keep standing strong. Peter 3:14-15 says: “But even if you should suffer for the sake of righteousness, you are blessed. And do not fear their intimidation, and do not be troubled, but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence.”
And there is a final argument on this issue that all, the ACLU included, should remember.
“For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.” Romans 14:11.
Blog: 1,200 Area Jobs Announced Today — But Not In Escambia County
April 29, 2009
Another major economic development announcement took place this morning on the Gulf Coast, and, one again, the jobs were not in Escambia County.
A new call center in Mobile County near Saraland will employ about 1,200 people. Ryla Cooperation will begin hiring most of those people immediately and hopes to put them to work by June 1.
And the Mobile County Commission is not giving away the bank to lure the company. They are paying them just $87,500 a year for the next two years to locate in Mobile County.
Meanwhile in Escambia County, we continue to rely on the Pensacola Chamber of Commerce and grand dreams of a Maritime Park. The old build it (read: shell out millions) and they will come theory just does not cut it in today’s economic climate anymore. The Escambia commission has discussed moving away from the Pensacola Chamber to do the county’s economic development, but so far nothing.
We can’t help but wonder how hard the Pensacola Area of Commerce works to sell economic development in North Escambia. The county tried to lure an electric car plant to Century with millions in funding, but that failed. But what has the Pensacola Chamber done for North Escambia?
Besides the car plant, which was a county deal, the only major development discussed in North Escambia has been a possible Gulf Power nuclear power plant. But the Pensacola Chamber and the county commission had nothing to do with that. In fact, they did not even know it was planned until NorthEscambia.com reported it.
It’s great that Mobile County will get 1,200 new jobs, and we are sure some North Escambia residents will drive to Saraland to work. But we are tired of the jobs going everywhere but Escambia County. It’s time for the Escambia County Commission to take immediate action toward county economic development. The current system in the is county is broken, and it needs fixing fast. Wouldn’t we like to see 1,200 new jobs in Escambia County by June?
We must, in light of the recent stories that we have reported about the push to consolidate Escambia County, Century and Pensacola into one super-Pensacola, mention that the change are advocating is not consolidation to improve economic development. It’s time for Escambia County to shut the door on the Pensacola Chamber and the city’s economic ways. The Pensacola Chamber and its backers will not work to put a business in Century or Escambia County. Pensacola has a pension fund going broke and a multi-million dollar Maritime Park that needs funding.
It’s time for Escambia County to get into the economic development business and dump the Pensacola Chamber.
Blog: Have You Seen Susan Boyle? You Can’t Judge A Book By…Well, Just Watch The Video
April 18, 2009
If you’ve missed the TV news or all the email forwards the past few days, you might have missed Susan Boyle.
Who is Susan Boyle, you say, and what does she have to do with North Escambia? A few days ago she was an unknown, simple looking woman from a village in Scotland that’s about the size of North Escambia. Today, she’s been on every news show because of a surprise performance in Britain’s Got Talent, an American Idol like show across the Pond.
The crowd laughed and Simon Cowell, a judge on both American Idol and Britan’s Got Talent, rolled his eyes when Susan first took the stage. Judging the book by the cover, as the old saying goes, Susan’s performance was going to be laughable. Jumping to conclusions will come back to bite you sometimes.
When Susan Boyle opened her mouth, it was nothing short of amazing. Enough describing it…watch the entire by clicking here to visit YouTube. We at NorthEscambia.com wanted you to hear it and join the millions that have heard and been amazed Susan Boyle.
And by the way…we know that most NorthEscambia.com readers are American Idol fans. We can actually see our traffic drop on Tuesday and Wednesday nights when Idol is on, with little spikes during the commercials. So go ahead and laugh at Simon.
Blog: North Escambia, Thank You For Being You
March 29, 2009
When we went to bed Friday night, we all knew it was going to rain. But little did we know that the Molino area would receive 12-15 inches of rain.
Residents that have lived in the area all of their lives tell NorthEscambia.com that they saw flooding in places like never before. When we drove to Molino Saturday morning, we knew there was flooding at 29 and 97, but it was much worse that we expected. Vehicles lost. Homes damaged or destroyed. Tired, wet and alone, people stood in awe at nature’s power.
Countless deputies, state troopers, department of transportation employees, volunteer firemen, ambulance workers and more from across the area worked to keep people safe and rescue the trapped during Saturday morning’s flooding. Volunteer firemen came from Molino, McDavid, Century, Walnut Hill, Cantonment, Ensley and beyond to provide aid. And let’s don’t forget the power company workers than struggled for hours to restore our power across the area.
And our neighbors. From the guy next door to the lady down the street, neighbors came to the aid of neighbors in our time of need. And, as always, the American Red Cross was there with a hot meal and a friendly smile. There were others, we are sure, that we missed mentioning.
Once again we found out why living in North Escambia is such a great thing.
To all of those we mentioned, , to all of those that prayed for prayer and protection, to all of those that prayed thankfully that no one was injured — there are just two simple words for all.
Thank you.
Blog: Century Council’s Actions Were Just Plain Stupid
March 18, 2009
Irresponsible. That’s probably the best word to describe the actions of the Century Town Council at their Monday night meeting. At least it is a better word than stupid.
The Century Town Council spent more time debating and put more apparent thought process into hiring a man to clean ditches with a shovel than they did to hire an attorney to take on the Escambia County School Board.
Less than 24 hours before the school board was to make the final vote to close Carver/Century K-8 School, the council listened to a short presentation from Leroy Boyd of the group Movement for Change. Boyd told the council that they could hire lawyer Jeffery Toney for $7,500 to $8,000 to file an injunction against the school board in an attempt to save the school.
Boyd told the council that he had been “asked to come here”, but declined to say who asked him to speak to the council. He told them that the school board had already made their decision, and in order to save the town’s only school “you will have to file a legal challenge”.
With that little information, the council was ready to whip out the checkbook and sign a blank check over to an attorney they apparently did not know; Council President Ann Brooks even had to ask Boyd how to spell Toney’s name.
Boyd cautioned the council that the up to $8,000 to file the injunction might not be the end of their expenses. He warned the council that Toney had told him to expect an appeal on whichever side lost the injunction hearing, plus if an injunction were obtained there were be additional fees for fighting a case and any appeals.
At no point did any council member or the mayor ask what the legal basis for an injunction against the school board might be. At no point did any council member or the mayor ask about Mr. Toney’s qualifications or experience as an attorney.
It took a question from NorthEscambia.com, not the council, for Boyd to say he did not know what the legal basis for a court case might be, other than “it won’t be race”.
It was nearly a year ago that NorthEscambia.com broke the story that Carver/Century could be targeted for closure, nearly a month before the topic was brought up at a school board meeting. We even ran an investigative piece in May that detailed where students that live in the Carver/Century attendance zone actually attend school, one of the primary sets of data used by the school board in their closure decision.
The council has known for at least almost one year the the school board would eventually vote to close the town’s only school. But the council decided to hire an attorney they knew very little, if anything, about less than 24 hours before they knew the ax would fall on the school.
We are not going to discuss the school closing; what is done is done. We are making no insinuations about the legal expertise of Mr. Toney; we frankly know very little about him. It’s not about Mr. Toney’s rates for his services; he’s got as much right to make a living as the next guy. And we are indifferent toward Movement for Change, also knowing little about their group. This is not an opinion about whether or not the council should be fighting the school board, that’s why you get legal advice before deciding if you should announce you’ll try to seek an injunction against somebody. (Oops.)
Our problem with the Century council’ s stupid (sorry — irresponsible) actions Monday night would be the same if the lawyer were Mr. Toney or Pensacola’s Fred Levin, the well known attorney for which the law school at the University of Florida is named.
The council spent nearly 10 minutes discussing if they should hire a laborer to clean ditches. The candidate, chosen from a field of 28 applicants, had qualifications that the mayor and department supervisor felt were adequate for the job. The mayor and a supervisor interviewed him. The gentlemen passed his criminal background check. The mayor recommend that the council hire him.
But after much discussion, the council decided that they wanted to meet the man that will clean their ditches for $10 an hour before they hired him.
But when it came time to hire an attorney to file for an injunction against the Escambia County School Board for legal reasons unknown to the council, the council made a quick and irrational decision 5-0 to hire Toney for perhaps $8,000 plus. But wait…don’t fill in that check yet because there might be appeals and other expenses. We think the legal terminology is “blank check”.
This is the same council that, also at Monday night’s meeting, was unable to approve a $500 donation to the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life until they could find a budget category where they had the money. The council has made a great effort this year to play by their own rules and spend no money until it was in a budgeted category. There was no discussion where the council will get the funds to pay Mr. Toney.
Perhaps there is enough money in the town’s legal expense category. The council does, after all, have a town attorney. And they did save money by not bothering to discuss their legal concerns over the school closure with their own attorney. Why would you know there was an issue for a year and not discuss it with your own attorney, but instead hire someone unknown to you 24 hours before the school’s D-day?
Where was the thought process on the part of the council? They apparently did not learn from their past mistakes that making quick decisions of a major nature based upon a fast presentation can come back to bite them.
A few months ago, the council approved a resolution supporting the creation of a commission to study consolidated government in Escambia County. A special interest group make a slick presentation, and they were soon smiling and signing a resolution they had never seen before that was prepared by that special interest group.
It was not long before they learned that perhaps what they had signed so quickly might not have been what they thought it was, and they were soon rescinding the resolution much to the delight of the Pensacola media that made them look worse than foolish.
Let’s hope the young man that has applied for the $10 an hour job to clean and dig ditches in Century passes the scrutiny of the of Century council and gets his job. He’s willing to bust his butt to have a job if he’s willing to clean ditches for $400 a week. What a responsible man.; we like him already. And he can be proud to know that he will undergo more review than a lawyer hired on an unbudgeted whim by the council.
The council’s actions were not irresponsible, the first word we used in this blog. It’s that second term we should have used — stupid.
We welcome your appropriate on-topic comments below.
Blog: We Sure Could Use A Little Good News Today
March 10, 2009
On the March 4 edition of Nightly News, anchor Bryan Williams asked viewers to send NBC news tips about people that are doing positive things, inspiring things. Thousands upon thousands of people have sent them ideas in the past few days.
The folks at the Munson Volunteer Fire Department sent us information about firefighter Adam Bondurant, one of just 50 certified deaf firefighters in the nation. It’s a story that made us feel uplifted and inspired when we read it. It’s not really a local North Escambia story, but it’s from our friends and neighbors in north Santa Rosa County, were we have developed a large number of daily readers. We really thought you would enjoy reading it today on our front page.
Putting one and two together, we decided that “we sure could use a little good news today”, as an old country song says.
We will continue at NorthEscambia.com to cover the news like we always have — the good, the bad, the ugly and everything else. But in today’s doom and gloom in the news, we decided to ask you for your help in finding good news.
Visit our contact form by clicking here and tell us about a person that inspires you, a person that does something in your community, a person that just has an interesting life. Everybody has a story if you’ll just stop and listen.
We want not only to know about good news in North Escambia; we don’t mind sharing a little good news from Atmore, Flomaton, Jay, Cottage Hill, Cantonment — any of our neighboring communities that surround North Escambia.
We will feature the interesting and the inspiring in a series of stories we will call “Hometown People” here on NorthEscambia.com.
To send us your inspiring stories, click here for our contact form.
Go ahead and suggest that person you are thinking about; don’t think their story is too small. Everybody has a story to tell.
Blog: Our ‘Snow Chaser’ Mission To Find The White Stuff, Snow Photos
March 2, 2009
NorthEscambia.com took our coverage all the way to Montgomery Sunday afternoon on a “Snow Chaser” mission, and we’ve posted a photo gallery of our trip.
If you’ve ever lived north of Birmingham, you might as well not read beyond this point, because you are probably going to laugh.
My children have never seen real snow. Born in Florida, raised in Florida and being less than 16 years old, they are not old enough to remember the “Big Snow of 1993″ that we had here in North Escambia.
We read the forecast with great anticipation Saturday night when the National Weather Service mentioned snow in our forecast here across the northern part of Florida. But by Sunday morning, the word “snow” was gone from the forecast. Looking at the temperatures and radar, we knew that snow was not going to happen in our part of the world.
But looking at the radar, we saw that snow was headed for Montgomery. But would it stick? We were not sure. I watched live video cameras on a Montgomery TV station’s web site. Not sticking. Keep checking back over the next hour or so. Hmm…the ground in Montgomery was turning white. There it was, just 140 short miles from our house was that snow. The mere mention of snow makes my two girls giddy with excitement. Here was the chance to be super dad.
“Girls…bundle up! We are headed to Montgomery to see snow!” I said. The screams of excitement were deafening. Better than Christmas morning.
If you have ever seen “Storm Chasers” on the Discovery Channel, that was my family Sunday morning. We were prepared. We had the laptop out in the car (pictured left), watching the weather radar as we headed up I-65 at a speed we won’t mention.
Near Georgiana, Ala., (the birthplace of Hank Williams, Jr., in case you didn’t know) we hit S-N-O-W. This was not that little stare to see a flake kind of snow, but what any Florida resident would call a flurry. It was coming down at an incredible rate. The kids were very impressed. Mom and dad were impressed. We don’t have photos to share, because the camera was in the trunk. Sorry.
We stopped at the next exit, Greenville, and the kids go to play in the falling snow for the first time in their lives. It was better than Disney World.
While there, I failed as a reporter. I was so excited taking pictures of the kids playing in the snow, I only took one photo of the snowfall without the kids. That’s the one I’ve shared at the top of the page.
The snow in Greenville was not sticking to anything, so we decided to head further north. Just a couple of miles north of Greenville, the snow was one the ground and stuck to the windward side of trees. Very pretty. We’ve posted photos in the gallery linked at the bottom of the page. Some of the photos are little blurry because they were taken at 80 mph.
We stopped at the next exit, Ft. Deposit (home of Priester’s Pecans), where the girls had a chance to make real snowballs and toss them at each other. They were amazed.
Based upon the radar images we were watching in the car, we tried to get to the east side of Montgomery before it stopped. We did not know about the 8.5 foot wide lanes and the road construction on I-65. Oops. We hoping to find something like the picture to the left. Roy Tarbutton, who lives in Maryland but has a home in Walnut Hill, sent us this picture this morning of the five inches of snow on his Maryland deck. He’s expecting more snow today, delaying a planned trip to Walnut Hill.
While Montgomery saw a good bit of snow on the ground prior to our arrival, we just managed to see a lot of grassy areas with snow and many neighborhoods where rooftops were totally white. By the time we caught up with our snowstorm we were chasing on the east side of Montgomery, there were just a few flurries.
We did manage to scrape snow off another person’s car in a parking lot and make a few more snowballs.
While our photos are not as impressive as the ones you no doubt saw on the TV news of Alabama’s snowfall, I just wanted to share our little NorthEscambia.com “Snow Tracker” mission. There’s something about snow that just brings out the kid in all of us as we watch in amazement.
As for when the “Big Snow of 1993″ will repeat here in Florida, we don’t know. But our fingers are crossed….
Click here for photo gallery from our trip.
Pictured top: Snow falling in Greenville, Ala. Sunday. Pictured top middle: Our “Storm Chasers” setup, watching the radar in the car as the snow falls outside on I-65 south of Montgomery. Pictured bottom middle: Roy Tarbutton, who lives in Maryland but has a home in Walnut Hill, sent us this picture this morning of the five inches of snow on his Maryland deck Pictured below: Snow cover the side of I-65 near Ft. Deposit, Ala. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Blog: The Rest Of The Story
March 1, 2009
And now for a little “shop talk”…that’s what radio legend Paul Harvey would say on his “Paul Harvey News” show when he was about to discuss some news event in the world of media.
That shop talk Saturday night turned to the death of the iconic voice that was our trusted friend. Paul Harvey passed away Saturday at the age of 90.
What does the death of Paul Harvey have to do with NorthEscambia.com? Perhaps more than you realize.
“You know what the news is, in a minute, you’re going to hear…the rest of the story.”
“Stand by for news!” he would say. I remember hearing that booming Paul Harvey voice from the radio. I was pretty young, perhaps in elementary school. The hot summer air on granny’s porch in rural Alabama would be filled with that Midwestern voice that would bring us the news. The news might be the latest national headlines from the president, or it might be the story of a little old lady in Chicago that did something just a bit different than the rest of us.
Whatever the story, it always sounded equally important and interesting, regardless of the subject. Paul Harvey taught us that every person has a story, and, if you will just take the time to listen, that story can be intriguing no matter how mundane it may seem.
He was very plainspoken, weaving the story without being sensational. Sometimes he would interject his commentary, and somehow you would almost always agree with that voice from the little speaker.
As that young guy who spent those 15 minutes each day with that voice from Chicago, I had no idea what career path I would take. But this radio thing seemed pretty interesting. After all, this Paul Harvey guy must have made a pretty good living reading those ads for those big companies. Remember “Bankers Life and Casualty Company”? They sponsored Paul Harvey News for 30 years, from the 50’s to the 80’s.
I grew up in a small Alabama town, and I remember when FM radio came to town. It was much like modern day 2009, with the conversion to digital tv and the needed converter boxes. Our family car, a Ford LTD, had only an AM radio with those black selector push buttons. The new FM station was coming to town, and we where not going to be able to hear it in the car without one of those converters.
I remember the excitement of getting the FM converter box to hear the new station in town in our car. We had an FM radio in the house. We were far enough away from the next largest city that the new local FM was about the only FM station we could hear.
And there was Paul Harvey in that new FM radio format, that commanding voice sounding even stronger. But along with Paul Harvey, that new local station in town did local news right before Paul Harvey. There it was on the radio…local news about the people and places in our little town. It was no longer that AM radio station from the next big city with big city news, it was local news on our local FM.
I found that all very intriguing, and continued to think that having a job like Paul Harvey would be cool. But at that age, astronaut seemed pretty interesting too.
“Page…two…”
Fast forward to my senior year in high school. For me at that age, radio was for music and Casey Kasem’s American Top 40, not for Paul Harvey. He was no longer that friend that I listened to each day, but rather just a distant memory. But radio was about to become my friend.
The writer at our local weekly newspaper quit. The editor called the high school English teacher, hoping to find a graduate that might still be in town that could write. The odds of that were slim; graduating high school was usually followed by leaving our little town.
That English teacher recommended that the editor talk to me about writing for the paper. So there I was, a high school senior and now the one and only staff writer for the local paper. Understand that the local newspaper was very different then than local papers are today.
The presses would rumble the building every Wednesday afternoon, and the smell of ink would permeate the building. You could hear the presses outside the building, a rumble like a distant train shaking the ground. In the meantime, back on the main street of town, a lone paper box stood. People would line up, quarters in hand, to buy the paper. Sometime they would wait hours for those first copies to be put in the box. The editor of the paper would take the papers to the box himself; that was the most important job in the world every Wednesday afternoon, and he would do it himself.
One of my early writing assignments was to visit the local radio station to write a story about something they had done, or something they were doing…it escapes my memory what the story I wrote was even about. But the moment is still vivid.
There I was in the broadcast studio of the radio station, interviewing the radio host for the now forgotten story.
Buttons and knobs. I must admit that I’ve always loved buttons and knobs. The studio had plenty of those. This whole radio thing look pretty interesting, mostly due to the buttons and knobs.
“You have a good voice,” an employee of the station told me. “Here, read this,” he said, handing me a AP news story off the dot matrix printer. I read.
The next thing I knew, my first ever job at the newspaper had led to my second ever job doing news at the local radio station. Now I was covering stories in both print and on the air, my own little small town media empire. At the high stakes rate of about $5 an hour at the radio station, I was making two salaries for covering the same news story. I had found the ultimate way to make cash. It was a teen’s dream.
The radio station were I was working was not that first station in town I mentioned earlier. I was working for the competitor, and you had to listen to your competitor to know what they were doing.
There was that Paul Harvey guy, probably a decade after I first heard him, on the competing station. “Stand by for news!” was once again part of my daily life. If I were going to read the news on the radio station, I wanted to read it half as good as Paul Harvey. I’d listen to his style, his delivery technique and the way he crafted his words. His words were never fancy, never those big long “I’m smarter than you” words. They were simple words, like a brush they would paint a picture in your mind over the airwaves.
With simple words and long, dramatic pauses, he did not deliver the news. He pulled you into the news, making you part of each and every story.
Suddenly, this whole radio station “gig” became more than just a cash cow, it had become a passion. At 18-years old, I had discovered that small town news — where everyone has a story — was where I wanted to be.
I spent a few years at that small town radio station, reading the news — telling the daily story of what was going on in our small town. I eventually left the radio station and went to work for a newspaper in a larger town. The editor that had given me that first job while I was still in high school was right. In the newspaper business, you get ink in your veins and just can’t stay away.
Over the years, there were more newspaper and more radio stations in my future, along with other jobs that were usually media related in some way.
Thinking back to what the newspaper editor would say about ink in the veins, he might have been a little off, at least when it comes to my veins. I ended up with a passion for small town news, telling the stories that otherwise would never be heard.
All that eventually led you and I to be here today on NorthEscambia.com. That “itch” for small town news just never went away. I’ve always been a follower of technology, so the Internet just seemed to be logical place for our local news.
Paul Harvey began his career on AM radio. Then FM. Eventually, those Rest of the Story broadcasts were streamed on the Internet. But regardless of the delivery method, it was still a personal approach to the news.
Those hot, humid summer days listening to Paul Harvey were my early inspiration to become a storyteller of local community news. In that indirect way, Paul Harvey is responsible for NorthEscambia.com.
And now, you know…the rest of the story.
Paul Harvey . . . Good day.
Blog: Sheriff’s Helicopter Grounded Today; We Need It In North Escambia
February 27, 2009
The Escambia County Sheriff’s Department helicopter will take to the skies for the last time this evening. By 3 a.m. Saturday, it will be back in the hanger for the last time.
Escambia Sheriff David Morgan has grounded the department’s air unit. We understand his reason, and it is a big one. The air unit is costing the department about $800,000 a year, and times are tough. Like most everyone, Morgan must cut his budget, and the helicopter was on his radar.
We want to be very clear, we understand Morgan’s decision. NorthEscambia.com does not fault the decision at all.
“We looked for ways to keep the helicopter,” Morgan told NorthEscambia.com. “We even went to other law enforcement agencies that have used it and asked for help. No one wrote a check.”
“It came down to pulling patrols off the streets or grounding the helicopter. I could not take $800,000 worth of deputies off the streets,” the sheriff said.
Makes perfect sense to us, and we agree…$800,000 worth of deputies is better than an $800,000 helicopter program.
However, we believe it is time for someone to find the cash to get the copter back in the air as soon as possible. It is an item of special importance to us in North Escambia.
Why?
To understand the why, let’s look at the what.
In the just over a year that we’ve been publishing NorthEscambia.com, the helicopter has been used numerous times to search for criminals. Time after time, we have seen its effectiveness. Very few times has the helicopter missed finding the bad guy. The search is usually over very quickly, with the helicopter crew finding their man — or woman — within just minutes.
It’s been called to North Escambia to look for a lost hunter. It’s even been called to Century to look for a horse. A horse? It was a dark night when a black horse was running around Century, darting in an out of Highway 29. Deputies called for the helicopter to follow the horse so it could be “apprehended” before it was hit by a vehicle, possibly causing a serious injury or death.
In the basic call the helicopter to look for a criminal in North Escambia scenario, a guy runs from deputies. They setup a perimeter they begin a search with tracking dogs from Century Correctional Institute. The helicopter is called, the criminal is busted and we all sleep safer that night. It’s a very effective recipe.
The scenario works the same elsewhere in Escambia County, like say 9 Mile Road. The perimeter is setup, and the sheriff’s department’s own tracking dogs are called.
But here’s the real difference. The perimeter in the rest of the county may be city blocks. Pretty easy to put a deputy on each corner and watch for the bad guy. But in North Escambia, that perimeter may be roads that are miles and miles apart. The bad guy may be in hundreds of acres of woods. The dogs are good, but they may not find the perp. The dogs and deputies will eventually give up if they can’t find him, and the bad guy will simply walk away.
Let’s look at another real possibility for us here in North Escambia. Little Johnny and his friends are playing. They wander into the woods. Darkness is falling, and they are lost. Mom calls 911. Deputies and tracking dogs can’t find Johnny. The helicopter would likely be able to find him in minutes. But it has been grounded. The scenario could end in unspeakable tragedy.
Little Johnny might be my child. Your child. Your grandchild. Or your elderly grandmother.
“But we saved $800,000.”
Is that going to make you feel better when you have lost your child? There is no price tag that can be put on a child.
If the helicopter saved the life of your child, $800,000 would be the most unimportant thing on earth.
Again, we do not fault Sheriff Morgan for his decision. He only has so many dollars to work with in his budget.
But it’s time for a solution to get the copter back in the air. Morgan’s budget comes from the county commission. Do they have an extra $800,000 lying around? Not without robbing Peter to pay Paul as the old saying goes. The commission is facing the same budget woes as everyone else.
Where will the money come from? We don’t have that answer. But with billions in economic stimulus money, millions and millions in Homeland Security grants and all that other federal money floating around, we need cash to keep the birdie in the air.
Oh, and to our dear friends in Baldwin County, Escambia County (Ala.) and Santa Rosa County…we are sure you have Sheriff Morgan’s address. You have called for Escambia County’s helicopter to assist you many times. Now we are calling for you to write a check and help pay for the services you have been receiving. The sheriff has asked, and now it is time for him to find a check in the mail.
After all, dear Santa Rosa County Commission, if you can give $125,000 to keep a failing zoo open, you can spend $125,000 to find a lost child.
The next time the helicopter is needed, it might be your child.
Blog: An Addiction, And How It Involves You
February 3, 2009
The first step is admitting an addiction. So here goes: I, like our new president, have a Blackberry addiction.
For those that don’t know, a Blackberry is a “smartphone” — a cellular phone that in may ways is like having a portable computer. From browsing the web, to reading email, to taking photos and videos, to the latest games — I mean productivity software — to watching movies and listening to music…there is very little that can’t be done on a Blackberry.
When I walk out of my office, I always have three things…pants, a camera and the Blackberry. I don’t leave home without it. I use it frequently to update NorthEscambia.com, approve the comments you see on the site and even post stories “live” from the scene of an event.
When a man became trapped inside a grain silo in Walnut Hill Monday, the Blackberry proved its usefulness. NorthEscambia.com was literally first on the scene, arriving before the first emergency vehicles. Minutes later, we were able to post the breaking news about the entrapment on NorthEscambia.com.
For three hours, we posted live updates from the scene using the Blackberry. Our story was continually updated every few minutes with the latest information as we stood inside the grain elevator, just feet from the rescuers working to free the man from the silo. For three hours, several thousand people were able to follow the rescue live on our site, all thanks to the technology offered by the smartphone.
In fact, looking at our fancy statistics program running behind the scenes on NorthEscambia.com, our story live from inside the grain silo was read nearly 50,000 times. People returned over and over during the three hours to read about the event as it unfolded.
We have used the Blackberry before to post brief “more information will be posted soon” stories from the scene of wrecks, fires and the like. Monday was the first time we had used the phone to post ongoing live updates on a story. We appreciate you turning to us for breaking news, and we appreciate you returning over and over for the latest live news.
If you check NorthEscambia.com only once per day, you might want to drop in a few more times per day. We are making more of an effort to post events as they happen during the day in North Escambia.
We are looking at more ways to improve our news coverage on NorthEscambia.com. We have a few more things in the works in the coming weeks that I believe our readers will enjoy.
But back to my addiction. Sometimes you just don’t realize how much you are addicted to something until it is gone. Saturday afternoon, I pulled on the Blackberry on the side on Highway 29 in Molino at an accident. The plan was to post a story on NorthEscambia.com to let you, our readers, know that Highway 29 was closed. The button was pushed for the Internet. Nothing happened. Button pushed again. And again. Still nothing.
The Blackberry date network on our cellular company was down in Florida, Alabama, Georgia and the Carolinas. No internet. No email. Nothing. I felt so disconnected, so lost.
You many have seen the coverage in the national news…President Obama fought the Secret Service to be able to keep his Blackberry. He was first told no, but eventually won the battle to stay connected.
I can understand and feel his pain. Being disconnected is very much like going into withdrawal. It’s just not for me.
I also understand why a Blackberry is sometimes called a “Crackberry”. It’s just that addicting.
I also understand the president when on one of the morning shows he said he also wanted his Blackberry to keep in touch with his children. Those emails and photos from the kids when you are out working somewhere are just priceless. When you are sitting in a meeting and you get a photo from the kids, or a “Hey daddy, I love you” it makes that hefty monthly cellular bill worthwhile.
It also makes the Blackberry part of the family. Perhaps it is not an addiction, but part of the family. Yeah, that’s it.