Photo Gallery: Byrneville Elementary Ready For Emergencies
August 29, 2009
Byrneville Elementary School held several practice emergency drills Friday morning to prepare for a variety of situations.
Students participated in fire drills, tornado drills, campus evacuations and other drills to get ready for emergencies. Students, teachers and even the principal practiced exiting classroom windows with emergency ladders. Students were even evacuated from the school to the nearby Byrneville Community Center.
Units from Escambia Fire Rescue’s Century Station were at the school to assist in the drills.
“This is a practice and that the activity is being carried out to assure that our students know what to do if a real emergency situation takes place,” Bryneville Principal Dee Wolfe-Sullivan said.
For a photo gallery, click here.
Pictured left: Practicing a classroom evacuation with an emergency ladder. NorthEscambia.com photo, click to enlarge. Pictured below: Students evacuated campus to the Byrneville Community Center.
North Escambia’s Very Own Road Man: Rigby Retires After 25 Years
August 28, 2009
Sometimes a man can move a mountain.
In the case of Ron Rigby, he has probably moved the equivalent of several mountains during his career. Rigby is retiring from the Escambia County Road Department after 25 years –all but just a few months of those years operating a Gradall excavator, moving tons and tons of dirt across North Escambia.
When Rigby climbed into the operator’s seat of a Gradall Thursday at the road department’s Camp Five near Byrneville, he said it was a part of him he was going to miss. Like a surgeon, turned excavator arm around effortlessly. There was a smile on his face –sometimes a man just enjoys his work. And his coworkers.
“I’ve been with these guys so long,” Rigby said of the others that work out of Camp Five, the county road department’s headquarters for all projects in North Escambia’s District 5. “They are all like family. I’ve really enjoyed working with them. I’m going to miss them all.”
Rigby was hired by the county road department 25 years ago. Within six months, he was assigned to work on a Gradall, digging ditches and moving dirt all over North Escambia.
Over the years, he watched many men hired to haul dirt or bush hog road shoulders as they worked their way up through the ranks to various supervisory positions. But Rigby was always at home behind the controls of his excavator. Many of his coworkers described that excavator as an extension on his arms.
He said that he will always remember being part of constructing various roads around North Escambia. “I ride down Rockaway Creek Road,” he said, mentioning it as just one example, “and I remember when we paved it. It makes you feel good.”
He said he’ll never forget the 12 hour days for weeks at a time after hurricanes Erin, Opal, Ivan and Dennis. “They were a lot of work for everybody,” he said.
Thursday, Rigby’s coworkers gathered at Camp Five for a congratulatory luch — fried fish with all the fixin’s and a retirement cake complete with the Road Runner Looney Tunes character.
They laughed, shared stories of being stuck in muddy ditches and remembered Rigby’s quarter century serving the citizens of North Escambia.
“I’m really go to miss them,” he said.
Rigby said he is looking forward to his retirement and spending more time with is wife Suzanne. He’s also looking forward to some good fishing and hunting time, and perhaps even a little travel.
“You know,” he said, “I am really looking forward to enjoying Susie and the time we can together.”
NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Playground Equipment Being Installed At New Bratt Park
August 27, 2009
Installation of the playground is underway at the new Bratt Community Park on West Highway 4. The playground and swings are not yet open to the public.
County employees are currently working to install the 8-foot wide, eight-tenths of a mile walking track around the perimeter of the 13-acre park, according to Joy Jones, director of Escambia County’s Parks and Recreation Department.
“We are just getting started, but we are going to keep it going,” Jones said recently of work on the park. The county is still waiting on one permit to be issued, she said, and then the work on other park features like the picnic pavilion will begin.
The park will also include two softball fields, a full basketball court and exercise and rest stations positioned along the track. The softball fields will not be lit for night play; in fact, the park’s hours will follow that of other county parks — sunrise to sunset.
The park is being funded with $200,000 in LOST (local option sales tax) monies set aside for the park’s construction.
Jones expects that park will be completed within six months.
Pictured above and below: Work is underway to install the playground at the Bratt Community Park. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Flomaton Fire Names Poster Contest Winners
August 26, 2009
Flomaton Fire and Rescue recently held their second annual poster contest at Flomaton Elementary School, naming a brother and sisters as co-winners.
The halls at Flomaton Elementary were filled with posters reflecting all of the students’ hard work. Members of Flomaton Fire and Rescue were hand and had the hard job of judging and picking the winner. When they were done, there was a two-way tie for the winner. And the winners turned out to be siblings.
Madison Wright, a second grader in Mrs. Luttrell’s class and her brother Jake Wright, a fourth grader in Mitzi Smith’s class, had the winning posters. The two posters will be combined and turned into artwork for t-shirts.
When told about being double winner’s of the poster contest and that they actually had tied for first place, the two siblings, almost in unison, asked the question, “Well who gets to ride in the fire truck?”. Much to both of their delights, they were told they would both be allowed to ride on a Flomaton fire truck during this year’s Flomaton High School Homecoming Parade.
The poster contest was held in cooperation with the Alabama Department of Forestry. The Flomaton fire department was awarded a $4,500 grant to educate the community about preventing wildfires. Flomaton Fire and Rescue was the only volunteer fire department in Escambia County to receive the grant.
The grant will be used to purchase t-shirts to be passed out in Flomaton featuring the winning poster contest artwork from the Wright siblings. Each of the Wrights will also receive a certificate and plaque from the fire department, and a t-shirt for themselves and their entire family. Jake and Madison’s entire classes will also receive a t-shirt, and a t-shirt will be given to each student that entered the poster contest.
The t-shirts are being printed, and when completed, Fire Chief Steve Stanton will make the presentation to the winners and all the recipients of the t-shirts at the school. Madison and Jake will also receive their certificates and plaques at that time.
Pictured above: Flomaton Fire and Rescue poster contest winners Madison and Jake Wright with their winning posters. Submitted photo for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Becoming One: Teacher Liaison Working To Bring Communities Together
August 24, 2009
The transition of Carver/Century K-8 School into Ernest Ward Middle and Bratt Elementary will go smoothly. Just ask anyone involved with either school in any capacity, and they are sure of it.
Except for Joyce Wright-Evans. She’s double sure.
Wright-Evans is a teacher on special assignment as a community liaison at Bratt and Ernest Ward this year in a position funded by federal stimulus dollars to help ensure that parents and the community are as involved as possible with the two schools. It is all part of the plan to make sure the consolidation of Carver/Century K-8 into Ernest Ward and Bratt goes as smoothly as possible.
“It’s going to be a great year,” Wright-Evans said last week while sitting in the office of Ernest Ward Principal Nancy Gindl-Perry. “I am very proud to be part of the Ernest Ward family.”
“You hear that?” Perry asked. “Part of the Ernest Ward family…that’s what we are here at Ernest Ward…family.”
With hundreds of children in the two schools — an expected 547 just at Ernest Ward — a big part of Wright-Evans’ job will be helping parents and the community feel like part of that family at EWMS and Bratt Elementary.
“I think she has the right temperament, and she has the right personality. She’s very energetic, and that passion for children is going to show,” Escambia School Superintendent Malcolm Thomas said of Wright-Evans. “She is going to be a good thing for everyone involved with either school.”
Jeff Garthwaite, former principal of Carver/Century K-8 School and now stimulus funds coordinator for the school district, agreed.
“She will be there to help plan community activities like open house, and she will be there to smooth out any bumps in the road that might happen,” Garthwaite said. “She will troubleshoot any problems, and she will act as an advocate for children and parents with the school.”
“Parents can contact me about anything involving the schools,” she said. “We work together as a team.”
Wright-Evans will also be reaching out to community groups and businesses, looking for their involvement with Bratt and Ernest Ward.
“It’s all about the kids,” Wright-Evans said. “It is about each one of them. The kids come first.”
Wright-Evans will maintain an office at Ernest Ward and travel frequently to Bratt. To contact her about any issue or more information on how to become involved with the two schools, email jwright-evans@escambia.k12.fl.us or call Ernest Ward Middle at 327-4283 or Bratt Elementary at 327-6137.
Pictured: Joyce Wright-Evans in the hallway at Ernest Ward Middle School. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Police Officer Husband Saves Choking Paramedic Wife; She Taught Him How
August 21, 2009
When Atmore paramedic Susan Odom taught a CPR and Heimlich Maneuver class to a group of Atmore Police officers, she never imagined that the training would save her life. And she certainly never thought her husband would be the one to come to her rescue.
Susan had finished her shift at Atmore Ambulance and headed to her Atmore home last Friday morning. Her husband, Atmore Police Department Corporal Arthur Odom, was at work, filling out a report at the police station.
That’s when the first 911 call for help came in. Dispatcher Betty Cox took the call from the Odom home, but there was seemingly no one on the line.
“The kids were off to school, and I was just doing the normal stuff — cleaning house,” Susan said. “I had some watermelon and a banana. I swallowed and knew something was wrong. It was stuck in my throat; it would not come up. I knew I started panicking.”
As a certified instructor, Susan knew about the Heimlich Maneuver, a series abdominal thrusts used to dislodge an item lodged in the airway. She even knew how to perform the Heimlich on herself, leaning at first over a dining room table chair, and then over a high sink in the bathroom. But nothing worked.
Betty Cox, the dispatcher, asked Arthur if there would be anyone at his house that would be playing on the phone making calls to 911. She knew where the silent call was originating from thanks to the computerized E911 system.
Arthur left the police station and began driving the mile to his house. That’s when the dispatcher notified him that there had been a second 911 call from his house.
“The phone had dropped the call,” Susan said. “So I called back. All I could do was hit the floor to make noise. I did not know what else to do. I realized I was in real trouble. I don’t really remember what happened next; I was real close to blacking out. The next thing I knew, my husband was coming in.”
“When that second call came in, I knew something was not right,” he said. “I found her in the floor when I came in the house.”
“That’s when all of that training kicked in,” Arthur said. Susan had trained him well. He performed the Heimlich Maneuver, eventually clearing her airway, saving her life.
After the obstruction was cleared, paramedic Susan refused to let her coworkers from Atmore Ambulance take her to the hospital.
Instead, she and Arthur did something that she admits some might find unusual moments after being saved from death by choking.
They went to eat lunch.
“I did eat very carefully,” she said.
“It’s what we both do,” she said. “We help people everyday. It was routine, part of our training. Sure, it happened to us, but it did not bother either one of us too much.”
“He did save my life, and I am very thankful for him every day,” she said. “He is my hero.”
Call it a perfect match, he says. The proverbial two peas in a pod.
“We actually met at a motorcycle wreck,” he said. He was there working as a police officer; she was there as the paramedic on the Atmore Ambulance that responded. They have been married for four and half years now.
“It was love at first sight,” Arthur said, cracking a little smile. “I saw her, and that was it.”
He never knew that when he swept her off her feet, he would be saving her life.
“I have confidence in all the officers,” she said, noting that they had all taken her class and been recertified in CPR and the Heimlich Maneuver.
“Last week, Atmore Police Officer Arthur Odom responded to a strange 911 call at his own house,” Channel 3 News anchor Bob Solarski began a report on WEAR Thursday night as Arthur and Susan gathered around the TV to watch.
“I don’t like how they did the report,” she said as the report aired. “It was not really them; it just does not seem right to see us sitting there on the TV talking about this.”
But she hopes the attention from the WEAR interview, an interview on WKRG TV and this NorthEscambia.com article accomplished one thing — “I hope this gets more people to sign up for a CPR class that includes the Heimlich Maneuver. I’m living proof that it can save someone.”
Part of the American Heart Association class that Susan teaches also stresses the importance of using a landline –not a cellular — phone to call 911 when possible.
“If I had called from a cell phone, they would not have known where to send help,” Susan said. “Even though I could not speak, they knew were to send help because our address showed up on the E911 system.”
Pictured above: Susan and Arthur Odom at their Atmore home. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Hundreds Get To Know Ernest Ward
August 21, 2009
Pictured: Hundreds of parents and students attended the sixth grade and new student orientation Thursday morning at Ernest Ward Middle School. With growth — partially from the closure and consolidation of Carver/Century K-8 School — Ernest Ward has an expected record enrollment this year of 547 students. At the top, Ernest Ward Band Director Charles Tucker explains his band program to parents and students Thursday morning. Pictured left: Hundreds pack the hallways of the school during a tour. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Teachers Returned Monday; Plus: A Look Inside New Modular Buildings
August 17, 2009
Teachers in the Escambia County School District returned to work Monday.
Ten new classrooms have been installed this year in modular buildings at Ernest Ward Middle and Bratt Elementary schools. The two buildings, which totaled just over $1 million, provide extra space after the closure of Carver/Century K-8 School.
Five classrooms with included restrooms, five sinks and two closets were installed at Bratt Elementary. The improvements at Ernest Ward Middle included five classrooms, two closets, and one 24 by 36 foot restroom facility.
The modular buildings are hurricane rated, and they are connected to the main buildings at the schools with covered sidewalks.
Escambia School Superintendent Malcolm Thomas said the modular buildings are not the “portables” that many adults remember from their days in school. Rather, he said, they are high quality near permanent type construction.
Pictured top: New modular buildings installed at Ernest Ward Middle School. Pictured in three photos below: A look inside the new classrooms. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Northview FFA Holds Officer Leadership Retreat
August 17, 2009
The Northview Chapter of the National FFA Organization recently held a student leadership retreat.
The chapter officers meet for a day long event to prepare for the upcoming school year. Officers participated in workshops at the Walnut Hill Community Center dealing with teamwork, communications and personal development as related to professional presentation in the workforce.
The 2009-10 chapter officers attending were Micah Byars, Lydia Weaver, Stephanie Solari, Allie Vidak, Heather Kite, Gavin Hinote, Wes Chancery and Devin Bell. Lance Blackburn and Lisa Bardin spoke to the officers concerning expectations in the workforce.
Click here for a photo gallery.
Pictured above: Northview FFA officers recently participated in a leadership retreat. Submitted photo for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Not Just For Books: A World Of Services Awaits At The Library
August 16, 2009
Jillian Thorton of Bluff Springs was happy on a recent afternoon, reading a good book by a window in the Century Branch Library. Meanwhile, sister Jenna Thornton and her friend Leah Fischer were on the computer, and brother Chance Thornton was busy searching the shelves for a good book. It was a break from a hot summer afternoon.
The Thorntons are not alone; the Century Branch Library has seen a surge in traffic the past few months, with over 2,000 individuals using the library in July.
The library offers many free items and services beyond just books that people find useful, especially in the down economy, Librarian Patricia Rigel said.
“Like our movies,” she said. “We have hundreds of movies, including the latest releases.” The library’s movie collection is divided into two sections — one for children and one for adults.
The Century Branch Library has computers in the children’s area, and computers with Internet access in another room.
“More and more people are using the computers,” Rigel said. “With the bad economy, more people are using the computers to look for a job.” She said 400 people used the library computers during July.
“Libraries do better when the economy is down,” she said. “People find that they library offers so many things that are free.”
From reading a favorite book without paying $30 at the bookstore, to the movies for checkout, to the free internet, a chance to read magazines for free, books on tape/CD and more — people are discovering that the library offers a lot of free entertainment and education, Rigel said. The library also offers free wi-fi for persons wishing to use the Internet on their own laptops.
“I like the books on CD,” Rigel said. “When you are driving you can just pop one of those in the car CD player and enjoy your favorite book.”
The library also a meeting room available for use by non-profit groups and organizations.
The Century Branch Library will soon be offering several free beginning level computer courses, including mouse skills on September 9, typing on September 16, keyboarding on September 23, and an introduction to Windows on September 30.
During the month of July, 2,039 people used the Century Branch Library. The library issued 51 new library cards in July.
The Century Branch Library is open Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.. On Thursday, the library is open from noon until 8 p.m. The Century Branch Library is located at 7991 North Century Boulevard. For more information on the library or any of its services, call (850) 256-6218.
Pictured top: Friends Jenna Thornton and Leah Fischer use the computers at the Century Branch Library. Pictured inset: Jillian Thorton reads a book while Chance Thornton searches for the perfect book at the library. Pictured bottom: The Century Branch Library’s DVD’s available for checkout span the top shelf of a bookcase. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
