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Blog: We Need You

This whole NorthEscambia.com thing has been fun. We’ve been doing this about three months now. Some of you have been here from day one; some of you have just starting visiting the site. No matter how long you’ve been visiting with us, we sure do appreciate each and every time you stop by.

In this blog, I usually make some grand point…or make a grand point with a local politician. But today I thought we’d just chat about the site in general.

We’ve laughed, raised an eyebrow or two and cried together on this site in the past three months. Now it’s time to move forward into phase two of this little project…advertising. More on that in a moment.

Our pages have been looked at over two million times in the past three months. That’s a lot for a North Escambia area that has 18,000 people. We’ve discovered that many people outside the North Escambia area look at this site on a regular basis.

Local politicians visit the site to see what we have covered and read our viewpoints. This site has finally given the “north end” a loud collective voice in local politics, an important factor as this county continues to grow and government tends to forget more and more about the rural areas to their north.

People in the Pensacola metro have turned to our site to learn more about North Escambia stories. Thousands turned to NorthEscambia.com, for instance, when three people died in a tragic auto accident recently in Walnut Hill. We, of course, had photos that the News Journal did not, so many people posted links to our stories and photos. We even provided a photo that the News Journal printed in their paper two days after the accident.

Speaking of that accident…that’s when came together as a family. After we ran the story, we started to get people emailing us with comments about those involved. We decided to put together a Memorial Message Board. You responded in a big way, with hundreds of heartfelt comments being sent in. We all had a good cry together and leaned on each other. That’s what good families do.

Now it’s time to move forward. The family needs you for this next move.

First…we need you to keep reading NorthEscambia.com as often as you can. There are new stories posted pretty much every morning. Sometimes, like when bad weather struck the area Wednesday morning, stories are posted during the day as events unfold.

Second…we need you to keep telling your friends and neighbors in the area about NorthEscambia.com. It’s getting to really rare that we run into someone that has not heard of the site, but there are still just a few people out there that don’t know we exist. Spread the word!

Third…we need your news tips. We don’t always know about everything that’s going on the area. No matter how big or small, tell us what is happening in your church, school or neighborhood.

Fourth…we need you understand that this site is run by just one person. It’s not humanly possible to be all places at all times. We will miss a story, especially if you don’t let us know it is going to happen in advance. Please don’t email “why didn’t you cover this event at my church?”. Instead, let us know about it before it happens. Or even take some pictures and email them to us.

Fifth…let us know how to improve the site. And yes, I know we need sports. That’s why we need someone to help us with sports. If you know that guy or gal that breathes local sports, send ‘em our way. If you go to a local team’s sporting events often, let us know. You can help us. And…don’t forget about little league. We are going to need your help with stats and photos. Let us know how you can help.

Sixth…money. This site has ran for over three months at our expense; there have not been any ads on the site. But the time for that is very near. We’ve have a list of people that have send us emails and let us know that they are ready to go and advertise on the site. If you’d like one of the remaining advertising spots, we need you to let us know quickly before they are all gone. If you don’t have a business, tell a local business you’d like to see them support NorthEscambia.com. And, by all means, when you do see advertising on the site, let those advertisers know just how much you appreciate them supporting us.

Did you notice a theme to all six things? “We need you.” That’s it. We need you to continue to be a part of the NorthEscambia.com family. I need you, and I personally appreciate each one of you. Thanks for being part of the NorthEscambia.com family.

To contact us about any of the things we mentioned, use our contact form.

—William

Blog: Go Home Truck

“I rejoice knowing that Drew is the arms of Jesus this morning.”

Those are the words that Hank from Molino wrote on our memorial message board about 2-year-old Drew Marlow.

” I rejoice knowing that Drew is the arms of Jesus this morning.”

Drew and his father Danny died instantly in a two vehicle accident on Highway 97 Monday. Joyce McGahan died a few hours later at a Pensacola hospital. Those are the facts we all know by now about the accident that has shaken communities from Walnut Hill to Molino to Cantonment and beyond.

“I just can’t imagine losing my child and my husband and trying to understand why,” someone from Walnut Hill wrote in. I can’t tell you why it happened, beyond the fact that God has a plan. We may not alway agree with that plan, nor can we understand it all time.

I’m not going to try to provide any answers; I can’t. But I’m going to share a thought with you.

I drove past the accident site Tuesday afternoon, pretty close to 24 hours after the crash. A song by the contemporary Christian group “Casting Crowns” was playing in the car.

“Jesus, You know just how far the east is from the west…In the arms of Your mercy I find rest ’cause You know just how far the east is from the west.” That’s the chorus of that song.

There along that straight stretch of Highway 97, many of you have enjoyed many a splendid sunrise as you drove by and looked to the east across the wide open fields. Many of you have driven that same stretch of Highway 97 in the late afternoons and enjoyed a spectacular sunset to the west. It’s probably one of the best places along all of Highway 97 to enjoy both the sunrise and the sunset. But just how far is it from the east to the west? It’s just one of those things about God’s world we can’t comprehend.

Drew understands. He knows. He has sat with the maker of the universe, the maker of the east and the west.

Many tears have been shed across the area this week for all three victims. People, myself included, that never knew Drew have been deeply touched by that little boy. He’s brought our communities together, and he has glorified the name of our Lord Jesus.

No preacher in the area will reach as many people this week as 2-year-old Drew did in the local media.

How you say? Read the Memorial Message Board that we started Tuesday. That’s just a small sampling of the overwhelming number of comments were received. But you’ll notice one common thread…Jesus. Most of the comments talk about God, Jesus, heaven and prayer.

Look at the front page of this past Wednesday’s Atmore Advance. Scripture is quoted from the Bible in an article by Publisher Adam Prestidge. Look at the editorial by Ryan Carter in this week’s Atmore News, or read it online here. In this week’s Tri-City Ledger, Janet Little Cooper explains what the Bible says about death.

Hundreds, thousands of souls have been touched by Drew. He’s touched lives in unimaginable ways this week. He has caused all of us to remember just how fragile our lives are, and caused many to exam their relationship with the Lord. He’s caused people to talk openly about life, death and eternity. Perhaps by losing his life, he’s caused many more to be saved.

I spent a lot of time this week reading your comments about Danny, Drew and Joyce. Not just the ones you read on the site. There were many more where someone just wanted to express a thought, but they just did not want to share it publicly. I know many of you have cried as you wrote your memorials, and the rest of us have cried right along with you as we read them.

But there was one that just tore me up. You see, I’m one of those people that when I read, I visualize things in my head. I never knew Drew. But I pictured this cute little boy, an innocent face, a sweet smile, a simple young child’s voice when I read this comment from Walnut Hill:

“My sweet Drew, I will miss you like crazy. I am so happy to have had the day to spend with you last week. I will forever treasure it. You will always be in my heart. If I could only hear you say “Go home truck?” again.”

Go home truck. Imagine a little boy saying that, wanting to do one of his favorite things and ride home in the truck.

Go home truck. Go home truck.

Drew did go home truck Monday afternoon. Home to the streets of gold to touch the face of God.

“I rejoice knowing that Drew is the arms of Jesus this morning.”

–William

Blog: Political Calls Are Driving Me Nuts

If you are registered voter in Escambia County, I bet your phone has been ringing more than you’d like with prerecorded candidate calls. They have been about to drive me nuts the past few days.

You can register for the national Do Not Call Registry and even pay to be on the state’s do-not-call list, but it’s not going to stop the political calls. Do you think politicians are going to regulate their ability to call you? Nope. They are as legal as they can be.

As of Sunday night, the McCain campaign has placed the most calls to me. Recorded calls from smooth announcer voices, recorded calls in McCain’s voice and even recorded calls from his wife. I’m guessing that by the time Tuesday rolls around, it would not surprise me to get a call from his dog or his third cousin Mark’s second cousin twice removed.

There have been the live calls too. Some candidates are actually signing up regular folks to call a list of number from their homes and pitch the candidate.

“Do you want to take a survey about your political preferences?” one caller Saturday wanted to know. Yes, I do. My preference is to hang up now. After all, it’s my phone, my time and my biscuit getting cold on the table.

I’d like to think that if you are reading this far into this blog posting that you are an informed adult, perfectly capable of making decisions now swayed by a phone call at supper. You read NorthEscambia.com, you watch the evening news and read a newspaper or two. Is the recorded call from the candidate’s wife going to change your mind in the 11th hour?

I heard one voter say he had narrowed his choice down to two candidates in his party for Tuesday. Both had been calling his house. The one that called the most will lose his vote. Oops. That political strategy backfired a bit.

When one of the candidates decides to call me in person, I’ll listen. Until then, I’ll get up from the table and answer the phone and grumble a bit that my biscuit is getting cold. I don’t like cold biscuits, and taking me away from a hot meal equals a bad idea.

Got to go answer the phone now. The caller id says “P. Call 000-000-0000″. Nothing like a candidate that tries to block their caller id. I think I’ll let my six year old answer and talk to them.

This is going to be fun.

–William

Blog: North Escambia Is An Urban Area? Huh?

We can’t have a rural system of delivery in an urban county.

Let’s read that one again: We can’t have a rural system of delivery in an urban county.

That is what Escambia County Commissioner Grover Robinson said about the consolidation of our rural volunteer fire departments into a countywide unified Escambia County fire department.

Bogia is urban? Walnut Hill? Bratt? Century is an urban metro? What?

Let’s get visual on this one, Mr Robinson. You can scroll down past the pictures to read more, but I want to use some pretty little pictures. First, the busiest intersection in heart of downtown urban Walnut Hill:

That’s urban Walnut Hill’s busiest intersection. We did get all urban and metro and all when the state put in a flashing caution light a while back there where the lines for Highway 97 and Highway 99A come together. If you sit in the 80 acre cotton/wheat field next to this very busy metro urban intersection, the light can be pretty darn distracting from the urban sprawl around you. Why, you might not even notice the fields stretch over a mile behind you.

For visual exhibit two, we have this:

This is the busy urban sprawl here in our urban county where Highway 97 and Highway 29 intersect in Molino. I mean, there is ONE business at the intersection. And it is a Tom Thumb, much like every other corner in Pcola. But look behind the Tom Thumb. There’s just so much cotton sprawl. No, no, I’m sorry. Robinson urban sprawl again.

Now visual demonstration number three:

The above is the busiest intersection in Century there where Highway 4 and Highway 29 come together. Granted, there is the great urban sprawl in the picture there with the gas station, the Panhandle, the bank and the Burger King. True urban area. Four lane highway. A strip of businesses. And behind the businesses, you have the urban sprawl of, ah…oh wait. It’s those pesky little fields again.

Now, here’s another intersection in Escambia County:

That’s Davis and Creighton. It looks so much like the other three pictures.

Mr. Robinson, perhaps you need to ride around your county. It does not end at 10 Mile Road. That’s not even half of the county below 10 Mile Road. In fact, 10 Mile Road is, well, ten miles from the bay. The urban metro shopping center in Davisville, which is also in Mr. Robinson’s county, is 45 miles from that same bay. If you don’t know where Davisville is, just ride up this way and ask. It’s a great urban area just north of Mr. Godwin’s Regional Airport (which, Mr. R. is so much identical to the Pensacola Regional Airport it isn’t even funny).

But, perhaps, the commissioner from District 4, might argue that a house fire is a house fire, regardless of it is just off Davis Highway or just off Pineville Road in North Escambia. Yep. You’ve got a house, flames, a family losing everything.

It’s 2:30 a.m. It’s dark. No, Mr. Robinson, it’s really, actually dark on Pineville Road. Regardless of the urban sprawl there between the Enon County Manor and the Enon Baptist Church, it’s dark enough to see the stars up here. The neighbor wakes and sees the fire next door, calls 911.

The Walnut Hill Volunteer Fire Department is dispatched, along with the volunteers from Century, McDavid and Molino. The Atmore FD responds too. The firemen know when they walk out into the 20 degree cold night where the house is, who lives in it and how to find it. They know there’s no mailbox, no number at the end of the little trail that leads to the house back in the woods. They know the man that lives there is 82, lives alone, sleeps in the back bedroom when he’s not staying with his daughter in Bratt, likes to fish and likes to play catch with his grandson.

Would a paid consolidated Escambia County fire department guy from Pensacola sleeping at Walnut Hill’s Station 15 know that? His fancy county GIS mapping system won’t tell him those things, nor will it help him find the house. When he does find it, he won’t know that the man that lived there is going to be spending the night in Bratt and won’t need to be rescued.

And here in our urban neighborhood, his urban neighbors and firemen will make sure he’s OK when he arrives the house to find it burned. They’ll give him a hug. Cheer him up by asking about his grandson who’s playing little league this spring at Bradberry Park. They’ll make sure he gets some clothes, a little money to get the things he needs. His church will do what they can to help him begin his life again in the urban community of Pineville.

It just does not work the same in North Escambia as it does off Davis Highway, Mr. Robinson. We can’t have a rural system of delivery in an urban county. Perhaps. But we are not an urban county. When a fire truck is speeding toward your house, it all comes down to time and distance. More of land in this county is rural than it is urban.

You are right, Mr. Robinson. We can’t have rural system of delivery in an urban county. Nor should there be an urban system of delivery in a rural county. And this is a rural county.

I know you disagree. Ride north, Mr. Robinson. This is a rural county. It ain’t Miami-Dade. We can’t have an urban system of delivery in our rural county. You need to discover just how rural this county is. C’mon up. We’ll take you snipe hunting.

If you want to contact Mr. Robinson, his email is district4@co.escambia.fl.us. Email him a link to NorthEscambia.com and tell him to read the blog. His phone number is 595-4940 at work. That number will get his assistant. Don’t won’t to talk to his assistant? His home phone number is 430-4552. He lives in one of those urban neighborhoods where the nearest house if 15 feet out the window. So much like urban North Escambia.

Comments? I’d love to hear them. Fill our our contact form, or email news@northescambia.com.

Blog: Jim Paul, DUI, Happy Birthday And Etc.

Quit scolding me. I’m sorry. It seems that many of you have emailed to tell me to write more on my blog. I’m one of those people that will usually sit and listen with my mouth shut until I have something to say. But I suppose I’ll oblige (is that a Little House on the Prairie word or what?) and write more often.

It’s been an interesting couple of weeks since I wrote anything on my blog. That entry was Mr. Paul, Let’s Talk: My Kids Have Questions in which I challenged Mr. Jim Paul to respond to my elementary school age kids that had questions about his DUI arrest.

Hours after the blog posted, Paul did respond to the questions my girls asked in an exclusive interview with NorthEscambia.com. As far as we know, we are the only news outlet that asked him to explain himself to the kids in the district he is suppose to be running. If you happened to catch the story on WPMI (channel 15) about his comments to the media, you saw him talking on the phone with NorthEscambia.com doing that interview.

The Pensacola News Journal called for him to resign. Many of you emailed us supporting his resignation. We did not publicly call for his resignation, nor did we call for him to stay. We figured he’d be a man about it and admit his wrong doing. He did the media circus thing, granting interviews like the one NorthEscambia.com did. In those interviews, he fessed up to having a couple of drinks and driving off hours later. Short of having liver problems, various experts have said he’s lying. When asked at Tuesday night’s board meeting if he had anything to say, “No, Mam” was the best he could muster. Sounded like a kid afraid to tell momma the truth, if you asked me. Nuff said on that subject.

Former board member Cary Stidham filed today (Thursday) to run against Paul. Back when she served on the board, she pretty much opposed anything and everything Paul remotely appeared to support. She had a rough time in the 2006 election when she was easily defeated by Gerald Boone for the District 2 seat on the board. He raised many times the dollars that Stidham did. If another qualified candidate files to run against Paul, we just don’t see Stidham going very far.

Changing the subject: Happy Birthday to Mrs. Elmira Gandy Crapps! Click here to read the story about her if you have not done so yet. She turns 101 Friday.

I had the chance to sit down with her at the Panhandle in Century Wednesday afternoon. I’ve got to be honest…when she walked in, I thought she might be Mrs. Crapps daughter arriving for the little party. She does not look like, talk like, or act like a person that’s passed the century mark. She’s an amazing lady who’s not shy about giving thanks to the Lord for all of her years. Her dad lived to be 108. Happy Birthday Mrs. Crapps, and many, many more!

You’ll notice the Northview FFA story on the site. NHS teacher Perry Byars and everyone that works with the FFA at Northview deserves a pat on the back. These young men and ladies are our future, and Perry and the other sponsors work hard with them.

Thanks again for stopping by NorthEscambia.com. We appreciate each of you, each time you visit. If you are not visiting each day or so, you might consider stopping by more often. We are posting new stories just about everyday. And to those of you sending us news tips, we appreciate that too!

It does not matter if its some big breaking news story, or just an event at your school, church or club. Let us know about it; send us a picture or two. We want to know what is going on in your community!

Thanks again for visiting with us here at NorthEscambia.com. We look forward to seeing you again soon!

Blog: Mr. Paul, Let’s Talk: My Kids Have Questions

As first reported here at NorthEscambia.com Thursday morning, Escambia County Superintendent of Schools Jim Paul was arrested for DUI in South Florida early Thursday morning.

Mr. Paul…let’s talk. My kids have questions.

Both of my girls are students in your school district. One is a bouncy first grader, age six. The other is a maturing young lady in the fourth grade, age 10.

They got off the school bus Thursday afternoon as they do every day. Ran down the driveway and bounded in the door. The oldest one is pretty smart for her age. She’s loves to read. She loves to write. She’s taken a great interest in what I do on NorthEscambia.com everyday, and often goes with me to cover some of the feature stories here.

When the girls got home Thursday afternoon, the oldest asked me what I had written about during the day. I had to tell her first about you, Mr. Paul. Like I said, she’s a bright kid, and she had an idea who you are.

DUI, I told her. She’s been taught about alcohol, and she knows that it’s a bad thing. And she knows that you can’t drink and drive.

“Isn’t he Mrs. Pomeroy’s boss,” she asked. Mrs. Pomeroy is her principal at Bratt Elementary. I told her yes.

“Isn’t he suppose to tell her what to do,” she asked. Again, I told her yes.

“If he was drinking that stuff and driving around,” said my youngest daughter, “is my teacher going to do that? I don’t want my teacher to do that. That’s bad.” Let me remind you that she’s just six.

Mr. Paul, I want you to read that last paragraph again. Think about it and try to understand it with the mind of a little child.

I’m going to repeat it for you. “If he was drinking that stuff and driving around is my teacher going to do that? I don’t want my teacher to do that. That’s bad.”

At six, she loves her teacher. She looks up to her, and looks up to the example she sets. She understands, Mr. Paul, that you are in a position of responsibility over her principal and over her teacher…her hero. She understands that adults are to set examples for children.

This is not about politics. This is not about whether or not you should resign. It’s not about any of that you’ve certainly heard and read in the media the past day.

This is about the simple thought process of a child. The teachers in our county are our children’s heros, mentors and friends. My six year old does not get politics. She gets the fact that you did something very wrong as her teacher’s boss.

This is about my children. This is about the thousands of children in our district. Sure, the middle school and high school students are going to understand what you did. They are going to get it.

But my six year old does not get it. I want you to explain it to her.

We are all listening.

UPDATE: Mr. Paul did respond to these questions in an exclusive interview with NorthEscambia.com Friday afternoon. To hear that interview in its entirety, click here.

Blog: 2008 Predictions; 2007 Reflections

Out with the old; in with the new. Black eyed peas and football. Resolutions, weight loss plans and diets. Can’t figure out the date to write on checks. Must be the New Year.

We have worked a bit on a set of predictions for 2008. Those are a little later in this post. But first, we want to look back at our short time in 2007.

2007 was but a short year for us here at NorthEscambia.com, but what a year it was. After first going online in early November, we published nearly 200 stories and about 800 pictures from the North Escambia area. Over 530,ooo page views later, we are excited about your welcoming us into your homes and offices.

It makes us feel good to see all the visits from the local folks here in North Escambia. It’s great to see all the visits we get from the Escambia County Schools, Escambia County and various other state and local agencies. One of our primary goals in starting this site was to provide you, the residents of North Escambia County, a forum and a voice since we are often forgotten on the other end of our county.

We’ve noticed that most of the Mobile and Pensacola TV stations are visiting the site on a regular basis. It’s good to see that they are checking us out to make sure they have not missed something “big” that happened here in North Escambia. By the way, we sent press releases to all the newspapers, radio stations and television stations in the Mobile and Pensacola areas shortly after the site launched. While many had done stories in the past about new newspapers and web sites around the area, only one — The Atmore News — bothered to cover our opening at all. Wonder why? I’ll let you draw your own conclusions, but just wanted you to know.

Now, on to 2008 and our comments and predictions.

• We will hear way too much bickering about the county commission. An excellent editorial was in the Sunday, 12/30 Pensacola News Journal begging somebody to step up and lead. We agree. This county needs leadership. We also agree with Dr. Ted Traylor at Olive Baptist Church, which has about the largest congregation in the county. We need leaders that lead with a little touch of God, he told the church this past Sunday.
• The county commission just might notice that “north Escambia” extends beyond 10 mile road. Our district five commissioner, Kevin White, knows. But we are not so sure the other four have a clue.
• It will be a nasty election year overall. Both our school board member and county commissioner are up for election this year. Plus there’s a race for sheriff, and the whole presidential mess. We hope that our local District 5 school board and commission candidates with run with integrity and grace. Run on your merits, not the bad points of the other person. As a District 5 candidate, we expect to see you from Molino to Century to Walnut Hill to Enon to Bratt and Bogia. We need to see you in North Escambia, and we need to know where you stand on our issues. We are not Nine Mile road.
• Things will get hot concerning volunteer fire fighters in the county. There are those that are pushing for end of our volunteer departments. The McDavid, Century, Molino and Walnut Hill volunteer fire departments are a vital part of our communities. We, as the communities of North Escambia, will not stand by and let them be closed, or our volunteers replaced with a few paid firefighters.
• We’ll see an expansion of leisure services in North Escambia. Perhaps a new park will be announced, and the county will move forward on the conversion of the old Molino Park Elementary into a community center.
• The Escambia County School Board will feel the budget crunch. The district will consider closing at least one North Escambia School.
• Property taxes and homeowner insurance will continue to be a pain.
• There will be two named hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico and they will both head toward Texas or Mexico. Well…everybody else offers predictions, so we thought we’d toss one in there too. We can guess as good as the next guy.
• NorthEscambia.com will continue to grow and serve you in 2008. We have several new features planned and a few fun things also.
• We’ll all learn a little more about our community by visiting here at NorthEscambia.com. There’s so much more here than the things we mentioned so far in these predictions. Predictions aside, we know that North Escambia will continue to be a great place to live and work. That’s why we call this area home. Thanks again for being part of the NorthEscambia.com family.

Blog: That In-Between, End of Time Kind of Time

Well, this is it. It’s that last week of the year, that year ending time that it just really does not pay to be a reporter. Between Christmas and New Year’s Day, news often takes a break.

No way, you might say. It’s just an excuse to kick back and take the week off. Well, maybe, just a little. But really pay attention to the daily newspapers and the local TV newscasts. What stories are you hearing? “The Biggest Stories of 2007″, “The Year in Review”, “The Best Photos of 2007″. So you have noticed.

It’s called “filler and fluff”. It’s news that in July, well, just would not be news. But it takes up space in print and fills time on the airwaves. Channel 3 got creative this year and ran stories about people that had to work on Christmas day. Translation: “I had to work Christmas; you had to work Christmas…let’s kill some boring time together.”

Then there’s the “return something to the store” stories. That means “I have to stand in line to return the tie grandma gave me and try to get a measly $3 out of it, so I might as well do a story with the three hours I’m going to be here”.

There are have been stories about Christmas trash. Well, there’s lots of trash, and it make the news as a top story. Usually it’s some government scandal when we talk trash on the news, but that last week of the year it’s wrapping paper. Live reports from the curbside trashcan at 6:00.

The daily newspaper is filling up with the “Best Photos of 2007″. Some are really cool to look at; some are just lucky shots. Take 8,000 pictures a year for the newspaper and you will get lucky on one or two. Some of them are really good, however. More filler and fluff, but more entertaining than the guy on 3 standing in the mall trying to make a story out of people that are shopping/returning and not watching the news.

What’s the point of writing all this in my blog? Well, nothing really. It’s just a slow time of the year when nothing much happens. NorthEscambia.com is a new site, so there’s no year-in-review material to run. The kids are out of school; the wife is home from work. So I’m following the lead of the other news organizations around here and using filler and fluff. I hope you understand; I don’t want to work this week any more than the next guy. We’ve been blessed enough too that wrecks, fire and crimes have been pretty quiet also, so nothing there to write about. If “breaking news” happens, we’ll cover it.

We really are working a little bit this week at NorthEscambia.com. We are working on some of the computer code that runs the site, making changes that will make the site better for you. We are also working on a big announcement that will happen in January, but that’s all I can say right now.

Thanks again for taking the time out of your day to visit NorthEscambia.com. We appreciate you stopping by and hope to see you again soon.

— William

Read William’s other blog entries including “Blog: Merry Christmas Meanderings And Other Toy Package Nightmares” by clicking here.

Blog: Merry Christmas Meanderings And Other Toy Package Nightmares

I’m not working today, but just taking a break from twist ties and trying to free toys from packages. It should not take 30 minutes to get on Cabbage Patch doll out of a package. Nor should it take stitches. I don’t think any of the wounds are serious enough to require medical attention, but I need need counseling from the emotional trauma of a six year old that just wants her Cabbage Patch YESTERDAY. I’m ready to get out the power tools (think “Tim the Tool Man Taylor”, if you ever saw the show “Home Improvement” years ago). My wife does not think power tools are such a good idea at this point (1) because emergency rooms are not well staffed on Christmas, (2) something about a circular saw near the neck of a doll could scar the children. Go figure.

The shopping was done on time this year. No more searching for something around the house to re-gift at the last moment. I made over three gallons of chocolate sauce to give to family and friends this year; I probably gained three pounds just standing over it on the stove and inhaling. It’s become really popular…just must sell the stuff next year.

Church on Sunday morning, family gifts Sunday afternoon. Monday was a trip to out of town parents. We missed getting to attend a Christmas Eve church service in person, but listened to the live internet streaming from one in Pensacola. “Let your light shine” was his theme, and the music was great. They let their camera guys have the night off (at least for the 11 pm service), so the video with the service was of the security camera in the parking lot scanning back at forth. You could see Davis Highway. There were still way too many people on the road for 12:15 Christmas morning.

Santa arrived at our house about 1:30 Christmas morning. I tried to get some pictures to post here on NorthEscambia.com for you to see, but he was just too lively and quick. It was not a lot this year, but the kids were happy. There’s nothing like the smile on the face of a child.

Christmas day was with family locally. Turkey is good. Chocolate covered nuts. Those are better, at least when consumed in bulk.

I hope you had a Merry Christmas. No “Happy Holidays” here. What’s up with that? Reminds me of a story somebody emailed us this week:

She made it just in time to see Amy’s kindergarten class walk out on stage to sing their song, “Christmas Love”. The children had rehearsed for weeks and those in the front row had practiced holding up large letters, one by one, to spell out the title of the song. As the class would sing “C is for Christmas” a child would hold up the letter C. Then “H is for Happy” and on and on until each child holding up his letter had presented the complete message, “Christmas Love”. The performance was going smoothly, until Amy held up her letter M upside down. She was totally unaware that her letter M appeared as a W. Some of the older children began to snicker at Amy’s mistake, but she had no idea there were laughing at her. So she stood tall, proudly holding her W. Teachers tried to quiet the children’s laughter, but could not. Finally a hush came over the audience when the last letter was raised. Amy’s mother smiled as her eyes filled with tears. In that instant, everyone understood the reason they were there and why we celebrate Christmas. When the last letter was held high, the message read loud and clear: CHRISTWAS LOVE!

Christ Was Love. Christ is Love. Enough said. Merry Christmas!

Blog: Wow, What A Response

Wow. That’s all I can say about your response to the new NorthEscambia.com site.

Over the past few weeks, this site has been averaging over 10,000 page views per day, not including the photo gallery pages. Everywhere I go in the community, people are excited like you just would not believe about this site.

I’ve enjoyed reading all the comment emails and submissions from our contact form. Dozens upon dozens of you have taken the time to comment on the site, letting us know how much you appreciate it. I’ve tried to personally respond to each and every email, but there have been so many I may have missed a few. But rest assured I have read your comments and appreciate them.

It’s been a few weeks now since we quietly launched the site with an announcement at the Walnut Hill Volunteer Fire Department’s annual fish fry. We are grateful to them for letting us do that.

There have been a few stories over the past few weeks we had rather not covered. Two stories in particular…the death of an outstanding deputy in Walnut Hill and the death of a suspect in Century…were not the kind of news we hope to report.

Why do you cover such bad things? I’ve been asked that a couple of times. Simply because they happened here in our community. We’ve got to take the bad with the good. It’s much like that nasty medicine mom would pop into your mouth as a child, sometimes you’ve just got to deal with the bad to make things better.

But hopeful we have shown you what we are all about here at NorthEscambia.com. Most of the stories we cover have been the good, positive things that make our community such a great place to live. From community festivals, to school and church events, to Canadian geese hanging out here for the winter…we want to cover the good hometown things here where we live.

We want to know what’s going on in your community here in North Escambia. We can’t be everywhere all the time. Take the time to let us know what is going on.

How can we help? That’s a question I also hear a lot as I meet the good folks of North Escambia. Right now, you can help us in two ways. First, tell everyone you know about the site. It helps us get the word out. Second, as I mentioned before, tell us about things going on in your community, at your church, at your school.

And by the way…if you know of someone that can write, or take pictures, or both that might have the time to help us cover things, let us know. We can’t pay much, if anything, right now, but we’d love to talk.

Thanks again for visiting NorthEscambia.com!

—William

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