Ernest Ward Names Students Of The Month

October 26, 2016

Ernest Ward Middle School has named Students of the Month for September. They are (L-R) Lane Wilson, eighth grade; John Bashore, seventh grade; and Kohle Harigel, sixth grade. Photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.

Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under FEATURE TOP STORY, Features, News

Tate Aggies Breast Cancer Walk Raises Over $2K

October 25, 2016

Over 100 people took part in the recent Aggies Support the Fight: A Walk to Help End Breast Cancer at Tate High School, hosted by Tate High School’s Community Caregivers and National Honor Society.

Organizers had hopes of 300 laps walked, representing 300,000 women who will be diagnosed with breast cancer in 2016, but participants walked just over 400 laps. The proceeds were combined with the Lady Aggies volleyball team’s Dig Pink proceeds and the Student Council’s “Fight Like an Aggie” shirt proceeds for a combined donation of just over $2,100 to the Pensacola Breast Cancer Association.

Plans are already underway for a second annual walk in 2017.

Additional Tate High School clubs — FAB, Art Club, Mu Alpha Theta, HOSA, and Spanish Club — also worked to make the walk successful.

Photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.

Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under FEATURE TOP STORY, Features, News

Helping Others: Grand Opening Today For New Cantonment Thrift Store

October 25, 2016

A grand opening was held Tuesday at a new secondhand thrift store in Cantonment that aims to help others.

Saint Monica’s Episcopal Church officially opened Monica’s Attic Thrift Store in the old Winn Dixie shopping center at 470 Highway 29 South. Regular operating hours are Tuesday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Patrons of Monica’s Attic Thrift Store can shop knowing their purchases will positively impact the community, and donors can recycle items they no longer use or need, with the benefit of a tax deduction. Carrying a variety of gently used home décor, furniture, housewares, and books, as well as clothing and accessories for men, women and children, store sales will fund the community food pantry and the beans and rice programs of Saint Monica’s Episcopal Church.

Leadership of the congregation, which includes approximately 135 members, saw a promising opportunity to enhance their service to the community with the development of a thrift store, says Rev. Anthony MacWhinnie, II.

“Our aim with the store is to offer quality items at reasonable prices for those who may be shopping on a limited budget, while also establishing a self-sustaining means by which we can further expand our outreach services to benefit more families and individuals in this community,” MacWhinnie explains. “Keeping in mind our fundamental purpose as a body of believers is to love and serve others, the thrift store was a natural avenue for our church to continue to positively impact our neighbors in very practical, but important ways.”

In addition to the thrift store, the congregation extends several ministries to the community at large. Their emergency food pantry allows the church to supply a bag of non-perishable foods and basic hygiene products on the spot, any time a sudden need arises, such as a personal tragedy or natural disaster.

To provide meals to those in need more frequently, the monthly beans and rice ministry packages and distributes gifts of food, including large bags of beans, rice and other items as available. Since the program was established in 2008, the church has served an average of 30 local families each month. But recently, the need has increased, with growing numbers of people gathering at the church on the last Saturday of the month to receive the generous helpings of food offered.

Donations may be dropped off at the store during operating hours. Special arrangements for large donations may be made by calling (850) 780-6888.

Pictured: Monica’s Attic Thrift Store in Cantonment. Courtesy photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.

Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under FEATURE TOP STORY, Features, News

Photos: Northview Senior Night

October 24, 2016

Northview High School held Senior Night Friday, honoring football players, band members, cheerleaders, a dance team member and NJROTC members that have been part of the 2016 football season.

For a photo gallery, click here.

NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.

Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under FEATURE TOP STORY, Features

Hundreds Attend Williams Station Day; Dancers Dazzle Crowd (With Gallery)

October 23, 2016

Hundreds attended the annual Williams Station Day in Atmore Saturday, including a large crowd for the day’s entertainment — including Twirl Time and the Northview High School Dance Team.

Williams Station Day takes its name from Atmore’s early history when in 1866 the community was a supply stop along the Mobile and Great Northern railroad. Festival-goers were entertained by a wide variety of musical acts, and a wide variety of arts and crafts were also available

For a photo gallery, click here.

NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.

Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under FEATURE TOP STORY, Features, News

It’s a Tradition: Pumpkins, Pumpkins Everywhere (With Photo Gallery)

October 23, 2016

Looking for a pumpkin? The Allen Memorial United Methodist Church Men’s Pumpkin Patch is open once again this year at the corner of Highway 29 and Neal Road in Cantonment. Pumpkins of all shapes and sizes are available, with some priced as low as $1. The pumpkin patch is open daily from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m.

Organizers said hundreds of pumpkins have been sold far this year.

The church held its annual Fall Festival on Saturday with free activities for children, and plenty of food from the Methodist Men, including smoked turkey legs.

For a photo gallery, click here.

NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.

Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under FEATURE TOP STORY, Features, News

Northview Tribal Beat Earns Overall Superior At Dixieland Band Competition

October 23, 2016

The Northview High School Tribal Beat Band received an overall Superior rating Saturday during the Dixieland Band Competition at at T.R. Miller High School in Brewton.

The Tribal Beat earned a “1″ rating for drum major, percussion and music, and a “2″ rating for majorettes/color guard.

NorthEscambia.com photos by Gary Amerson, click to enlarge.

Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under FEATURE TOP STORY, Features, News

UWF Discovers Third Shipwreck From Luna Fleet

October 22, 2016

The University of West Florida archaeology program announced today the discovery of a third shipwreck from the Spanish fleet linked to Tristán de Luna y Arellano’s 16th century expedition to modern-day Pensacola. The discovery comes less than one year after UWF archaeologists identified the terrestrial site of Luna’s colony in a developed neighborhood in Pensacola, marking the earliest multi-year European settlement in the U.S.

The third shipwreck was found in Pensacola Bay near Emanuel Point I and II, the first two shipwrecks linked to the Luna expedition. Emanuel Point I was found by archaeologists from the Florida Bureau of Archaeological Research in 1992 and was later investigated by BAR and UWF. Emanuel Point II was discovered by UWF during a summer field school in 2006.

The third ship, Emanuel Point III, was discovered by UWF archaeologists and students during the Combined Archaeological Field Methods course on June 20, 2016. After identifying the land settlement in 2015, the UWF team was able to narrow the field of search for the remaining shipwrecks during the summer field school in 2016.

“We chose a shallow spot with a sandy bottom to dive to give the students a break after we’d been in another part of the bay where it was deeper and darker,” said Dr. Greg Cook, assistant professor of anthropology and principal investigator of the Emanuel Point II shipwreck. “We thought there probably wasn’t anything there, but had found an anomaly when we surveyed and decided to let the students have fun investigating it. Within two minutes, the divers came up and said they felt stones with their probes. Later that afternoon, the first artifacts were found. I said that day, ‘You know, it shouldn’t be this easy.’”

The UWF team has discovered ballast stones, iron concretions and articulated hull of the ship, including frames and hull planking, as well as remnants of ceramics once carried on it. They received a joint permit from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to conduct test excavations through March 2017 to determine the extent of the shipwreck and the type of wood used to make the ship, which will indicate if it was among the earliest ships to be built in the New World.

“We stand a good chance that this is a different type of ship from Emanuel Point I and Emanuel Point II,” said Dr. John Bratten, chair and associate professor of anthropology and co-principal investigator of Emanuel Point II. “Because it was found in shallower water than the others, it might be smaller, possibly what they called a barca. This discovery is significant in understanding 16th century ship construction.”

The UWF archaeology program’s exploration of the Luna fleet has been funded in part by a Special Category Grant totaling more than $290,000 from the Florida Division of Historical Resources. The matching grant, awarded to UWF in 2014, provided funding for faculty, staff and students from UWF to conduct fieldwork, laboratory analysis, artifact conservation and curation, archival research in Spain and public outreach in all seasons for two years.

“This is an extremely exciting and timely discovery following the recent investigations at the nearby terrestrial Luna site,” said Dr. Timothy Parsons, director of the Florida Division of Historical Resources. “I’m very pleased that the Division can support this work through our Special Category Grants Program.”

Maritime field investigations by UWF, including continuing survey and excavations, have mainly focused on the six ships that were lost during a hurricane that hit Pensacola Bay in September 1559. The Luna expedition included 1,500 soldiers, colonists, slaves and Aztec Indians who traveled in 11 ships from Veracruz, Mexico, to Pensacola to begin the Spanish colonization of the northern Gulf Coast. The hurricane hit Pensacola one month after they arrived, sinking many of their ships and devastating their food supplies. After two years, the remnants of the colony were rescued by Spanish ships and returned to Mexico.

The Luna settlement in Pensacola lasted from 1559 to 1561, which predates the Spanish settlement in St. Augustine, Florida, by six years, and the English settlement in Jamestown, Virginia, by 48 years.

“Finding the third ship is highly significant because it confirms we have the whole fleet in Pensacola Bay,” added Dr. John Worth, associate professor of anthropology and principal investigator of the Luna land settlement. “The historical documents say that two ships were loaded, ready to go back to Spain. As long as we had just two shipwrecks, it could mean that the rest of the fleet was somewhere else. Now we know we really do have the fleet, not just two ships that happened to be from the fleet.”

Emanuel Point I was found in 1992, and UWF archaeologists continued investigations through 1998 under the direction of Dr. Roger Smith, Florida State Underwater Archaeologist. In 2006, UWF archaeologists and students located Emanuel Point II. UWF continued to examine the second shipwreck with its summer field schools until grant funding was received in 2014. The funding has allowed UWF archaeologists to work continuously at the site and search for additional shipwrecks for two years.

The Luna land settlement was identified in October 2015 when Pensacola native Tom Garner discovered Spanish colonial and Native American artifacts at a privately owned residential lot within view of the two uncovered shipwrecks in Pensacola Bay. UWF has continued investigations at the settlement site since it discovery, including offering a land-based field school during Summer 2016. Together, the shipwrecks and land settlement provide a unique insight into the earliest multi-year European colonial settlement to be archaeologically identified in the United States.

“They found the third ship closer to land while we were working on a lower part of the settlement site,” said Dr. Elizabeth Benchley, director of the Division of Anthropology and Archaeology and the Archaeology Institute. “Watching the survey boat over Emanuel Point III, seeing how close it was to land and imagining this was where the people came and stepped ashore; it gives me goosebumps. It’s very powerful to put yourself in a location where you can envision what the landscape was like in 1559.”