Abandoned Boat Found On River
September 4, 2008
This boat was found abandoned at Fischer’s Landing on the Escambia River near Century Wednesday morning. Authorities were unable to locate the owner of the Bayliner boat. We though the boat made an interesting, almost artsy, black and white picture that we’d share with you. NorthEscambia.com photo, click to enlarge.
Ray’s Chapel Member Deploys To Iraq
August 26, 2008
A member of Ray’s Chapel Baptist Church in Bogia left Sunday for training before being deployed to Kuwait or Iraq.
US Air Force Sgt. John Weaver departed Sunday for specialized training at Camp Bullis, Texas. He will be at Camp Bullis for six weeks before being deployed overseas for at least six months.
Sgt. Weaver is originally from Jay and currently lives in Pensacola with his wife Lisa and three girls, Krista 12, Randi, 10, and Starla, 7. He is stationed at Hurlbert Field.
He and his family are very active and faithful members of Ray’s Chapel, they make the drive several times a week to the church.
The church held a social in his honor to have extra fellowship with him before deployment. Church members made special items for John’s troop of nine members, such as inspirational bracelets and note pads. The church will continue in their support of Sgt. Weaver and his family with prayers and care boxes in the months to come.
Pictured top: Starla, Lisa, John, Randi and Krista Weaver. Pictured middle: Sgt. Weaver presents the flag during a service at Ray’s Chapel Baptist Church. Pictured below: A church social at Ray’s Chapel in honor of Sgt. Weaver. Submitted photos by Ramona Preston for NorthEscambia.com.
Ramona Preston contributed to this article.
Pleasant Hill Baptist Celebrates 152 Years
August 26, 2008
Pleasant Hill Baptist Church in Bluff Springs observed its 152nd anniversary on Sunday.
The turnout for the anniversary event was small due to the threatening weekend weather from Tropical Storm Fay. The scheduled guest preacher did not attend due to the weather forecast, but lay leader Robbie McCann filled in.
The church was founded in 1856 by Rev. James Lazrus Bryars. Early family members were Crarys, Pritchetts, Sturdivants, Bratchers, and Fillingims. Rev. Bryars pastored the church for more than fifty years, until his death in 1907.
The church is no stranger to weather problems. In 2005, a large tree crashed into the church sanctuary in Hurricane Dennis.
Pleasant Hill Baptist Church is located at 4600 North Century Boulevard.
Larry Walker contributed to this article.
IP Awards Grants To Ernest Ward Middle, Quintette Park Association, Other Groups
August 21, 2008
Ernest Ward Middle School and the Quintette Community Center were among the recipients of grants from the International Paper Pensacola Mill. The grants, totaling $50,000, were presented to 15 groups in the area.
The 2008 Foundation grant presented to Ernest Ward Middle School will be used to purchase InterActive Reader workbooks for one grade level for the 2008-2009 school year. The InterActive Reader program is designed to reward excellence and help mid to high-level readers take their skills to the next level where most programs leave off.
The grant presented to the Quintette Community Park Association was used for their Youth Summer Enrichment Program that served over 120 children in the Quintette and Cantonment areas this summer with academic tutoring, sporting events, arts and crafts and other fun-filled activities. In addition, each child received a nutritious meal which they may not have otherwise received during the summer months.
Of the 34 applications accepted, 15 were chosen by the mill’s grant review committee to receive funding for part or all of a program or project benefiting the community.
“The selection process is rigorous, and it’s difficult to choose since all of our applicants are worthy of receiving their request,” said Jessica Morris, mill communication manager. “We’re confident that the projects we’ve chosen to fund this year reflect the values of the Foundation, the company and the employees.”
Grants are awarded through the IP Foundation in Memphis, TN, which focuses primarily on education – specifically environmental education, literacy and minority career development opportunities. The company also supports organizations where its employees actively volunteer and critical civic needs in the communities where our employees live and work. Applicants must be a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization or qualifying federal entity to apply.
This year’s grant recipients were:
- American Cancer Society
- American Heart Association
- Baptist Health Care Foundation
- Civitan International
- Ernest Ward Middle School
- Escambia County School Readiness Coalition
- Greater Pensacola Symphony Orchestra
- Jim Allen Elementary School
- Junior Achievement
- Partnership for Community Programs / Bay Area Resource Council
- Pensacola Historical Society
- Pensacola Junior College Foundation
- Pensacola Opera
- Quintette Community Park Association
- Wildlife Sanctuary of Northwest Florida
The Pensacola Mill observes one grant deadline per calendar year.
For more information about IP Giving, visit www.internationalpaper.com or call (850) 968-4203.
Pictured above: International Paper Pensacola Mill employee Joe Mack accepts a certificate of appreciation for the mill’s support of the Quintette Community Park Summer Enrichment Program. Pictured below: The Quintette Community Park Association Youth Summer Enrichment Program hosted over 120 children this year in the Quintette and Cantonment area. Each child received a nutritious meal every day and participated in academic tutoring, sporting activities, and arts and crafts. Submitted photos for NorthEscambia.com.
Molino Park Students Hold Prayer Walk Prior To New School Year
August 16, 2008
Over two dozen Molino Park Elementary School students took to the hallways of the school Friday morning to ask for the Lord’s blessing on their upcoming school year.
“Dear Lord, bless our teachers, bless our school, bless our students,” they were led in prayer. Following morning orientation for students and parents, the two dozen plus students went from hallway to hallway, holding a short prayer in each one.
Molino park teachers were given a candle with a little note that said “Thank you for being one more light on the path helping our children become all God wants them to be! We are praying for you.”
The event was led by Highland Baptist Church.
Click here for more photos from the Molino Park prayer walk.
What Happens When Your Power Goes Out? Here’s The Deal
August 13, 2008
A few scattered power outages were reported Tuesday night as a line of strong storms moved through North Escambia. Have you ever thought about what happens when your power goes out? NorthEscambia.com thought we would take a look at the behind the scenes things that take place to get your power back on.
Our scenario below involves Escambia River Electric Cooperative and a hypothetical power outage in Walnut Hill. The events could just as well happen in any community in North Escambia on EREC or Gulf Power.
Here’s our little story, “When the Lights Go Out”:
You were on your couch watching the Olympics early last night. The main storm has passed, and the rain outside has just about lulled you into a quick early evening nap.
Then it happens. Your power blinks one, two, three times and it’s off. You make your way in the dark to the kitchen where your glow-in-the-dark EREC magnet on the refrigerator is illuminated enough so that you can read the outage number. You call the number, 1-877-OUT-EREC, and follow the voice prompts to report your home’s outage. Your job is done.
What happens now? First of all, let’s set up the scenario for our hypothetical outage. Let’s say you live on Arthur Brown Road in Walnut Hill. This address receives power from the Oak Grove substation, just across the road from the Oak Grove Park on North Highway 99. You are assuming the evening’s thunderstorm is the culprit for your home being left in the dark. You know the proper action for you to take is to call the EREC outage number which you have done. Now, here’s the sequence of events which will take place to restore your power as quickly and safely as possible.
In our power outage scenario, your call comes in to the dispatch center and your name and address appear immediately on the computer screen. The dispatcher then contacts the on-call EREC crew to make repairs. Since the two-man crew is on-call for the evening, each crewman has driven home an EREC truck loaded with equipment and supplies necessary to repair any typical outage that might occur. So when the dispatch call is received, each crewman leaves his home and heads directly to the site of the outage. He does not need to take extra time to go by the EREC facility and get the vehicle, equipment and supplies needed to repair the outage.
Upon arrival to the outage location, the crew investigates the reason for the power failure. Meanwhile they have received additional calls from the dispatch center letting them know there are other nearby houses on Arthur Brown Road, Corley Road and Juniper Street that are experiencing outages as well. After assessment of the power system, the crew determines that the cause of the outage is an RE failure (an oil reclosure breaker) in the substation due to a lightning strike.
This can be handled quickly by the two-man crew so there is no need for additional personnel to be called in for assistance. The crew repairs the damage and calls the dispatch center to let them know all power has been restored. The dispatch center then calls back each member that has reported a power outage to be sure they do have power.
The purpose of this story is to create a picture of what is actually happening during a typical power restoration. This is only a possible scenario and, of course, there are many different reasons why your power can go out.
“Although we cannot imagine all the power outage scenarios that can happen, there is one thing we can be sure of. EREC will be there to restore your power as quickly as possible in the dead of night, in the middle of terrible storms or whatever the case may be – EREC crews will do what needs to be done to get the lights back on,” said Sabrina Owens, EREC’s marketing director.
She said that in the case of major outages such as those that occur with hurricanes or other severe weather, specific procedures are in place to restore power to the most people in the shortest amount of time. The following steps describe power restoration after a storm.
- Transmission towers and lines supply power to one or more transmission substations. These lines seldom fail, but they can be damaged by a hurricane or tornado. Tens of thousands of people could be served by one high-voltage transmission line, so if there is damage here it gets attention first.
- Escambia River EC has several local distribution substations, each serving thousands of members. When a major outage occurs, the local distribution substations are checked first. A problem here could be caused by failure in the transmission system supplying the substation. If the problem can be corrected at the substation level, power may be restored to a large number of people.
- Main distribution supply lines are checked next if the problem cannot be isolated at the substation. These supply lines carry electricity away from the substation to a group of members, such as a town or housing development. When power is restored at this stage, all members served by this supply line could see the lights come on, as long as there is no problem farther down the line.
- The final supply lines, called tap lines, carry power to the utility poles or underground transformers outside houses or other buildings. Line crews fix the remaining outages based on restoring service to the greatest number of members.
- Sometimes, damage will occur on the service line between your house and the transformer on the nearby pole. This can explain why you have no power when your neighbor does. EREC needs to know you have an outage in this type of situation so that a service crew can repair it.
Members themselves (not the cooperative) are responsible for damage to the service installation on the building. The member will need to have a licensed electrician make these repairs.
For more photos from inside the Oak Grove Power substation, click here.
Special thanks to Sabrina Owens at EREC for her assistance with our story, and to the linemen that assisted with the photographs. It’s worth noting that the photographs were taken on a nice sunny morning rather than during a real power outage after a storm due to the dangers of standing in a power substation after a storm has just passed.
Pictured above: EREC prepare to fix an oil reclosure breaker (RE) failure inside the Oak Grove power substation. Pictured below: That breaker is installed on a transmission line headed to the Arthur Brown Road area of Walnut Hill. NorthEscambia.com exclusive photos, click to enlarge.
Area Man Travels To Beijing, Site Of The Summer Olympics
August 12, 2008
The 2008 Summer Olympics are well underway this week in Beijing, China. While Beijing may seem a world away and culturally odd to many in North Escambia, one area man that has made multiple visits to China says it is a great place.
Bill Busch, COO of Alto Products Corp. in nearby Atmore, travels to China at least twice per year to visit the company’s sales office in Shenzhen. Shenzhen is about 1200 miles from Beijing, but Busch has paid several visits to Beijing to visit Alto customers.
“Beijing has very, very nice people,” Busch said. “They are very enthusiastic.”
Besides the people, he said he enjoys the city and its culture.
“It is very much like New York City because it is such a big city,” he said. “But it is perhaps a little more modern. It is very Western. There is a Starbucks everywhere, plus you will find companies like KFC, Pizza Hut and McDonalds all over the city.”
“There is still a lot of old culture there, a lot of people that ride bicycles to work,” he said. “I enjoy things like the older parts of the city and the Great Wall; it is very impressive.”
But equally impressive is the “Bird’s Nest”, the main Olympic stadium that Busch has seen first hand.
Busch enjoys the food when he travels to Beijing, a city that announced it was ordering the removal of dog meat from restaurant menus during the Olympics.
“The food I enjoy contains a lot of vegetables and fish,” he said. “It is very different that the Chinese food in restaurants here in the United States.”
“I really, really enjoy visiting Beijing,” he said.
Alto Products is the world’s largest and oldest independently owned and operated transmission clutch manufacturer in the world, having manufactured over a billion clutches in the past 50 years. In addition to the corporate office and manufacturing facility in Atmore, the company operates offices and distribution facilities in California, New Jersey, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Brazil, Germany, India, China, Dubai and Australia.
“China is one of our fastest growing markets right now,” Busch said.
Alto employees many North Escambia residents at their Atmore facility.
Pictured above: Bill Busch (blue shirt, top middle) in the Alto China sales office with Alto employees Albert and John and their families. Submitted photo.
Local Church Gives New Pastor A Pounding, And A Little Sugar Too
August 11, 2008
The members of one local church gave their new pastor and his wife a pounding Sunday night. And they gave him a little sugar too.
Ray’s Chapel Baptist Church in Bogia gave new Pastor Nathan Brown and his wife Danielle a pounding following their Sunday evening service.
A pounding is an old fashioned tradition celebrated in many churches were a new pastor is welcomed to the church with gifts of food. Traditionally, a pounding would provide a pastor and his family with a pound of staples, such as a pound of flour, a pound of sugar, a pound of butter and a pound of other basic items.
The Ray’s Chapel pounding for their new pastor was perhaps a bit more modern, with items such as Easy Mac, 100 calories packs of Oreo cookies, Kool Aid, Hamburger Helpers and snack items. The boxes of food also include handwritten recipes for many homemade dishes.
Nathan and his wife Danielle are from Dutton, Alabama, near Scottsboro in the northern part of the state.
He is a recent graduate with a master’s degree from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, and he interned at Olive Baptist Church in Pensacola.
He officially began his service as Ray’s Chapel new pastor on August 1.
Poundings, we are told, are sometimes also given in a church to provide food for needy families in the community.
Pictured above: Danielle and Rev. Nathan Brown were given a pounding at Ray’s Chapel Baptist Church in Bogia Sunday night. Pictured below: Some of the food items in the pounding. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Do You Know Anything About These Beads? Hint: They Are Very Old
August 10, 2008
The Teaspoon Foundation in Century seeks your help if you know anything about the local use of beads like those pictured below.
The following was submitted by Jack Moran from the Teaspoon Foundation:
Back in the 1700’s the French, English, and Spanish traders would bring glass beads like these chevron trade beads that were made in Venice, Italy, to be traded with the Native Americans, African slaves, African Freedmen, Rivermen, trappers and Buckskinners. The French, English and Spanish would trade the beads, cloth, knives, axes, traps, and salt for pine pitch, dried corn, deer skins, potatoes, and jerked-dried meat that would be shipped back to Cuba, Spain and Europe via Pensacola or Mobile.
Trade companies like the Leslie-Paton Company in Pensacola paid with beads and wampum (shell) and with Spanish silver as well as with the beads and trade goods. There is a lot of history on these types of trade beads. These beads were cherished by women, especially for hair decoration. If you have or remember having seen any VERY OLD beads of this or other types, The Teaspoon Foundation is interested in hearing from you. We are collecting historical items related to Teaspoon.
If you know stories about the Rivermen who worked on the Escambia or Mobile Rivers a very long time ago, we want to hear them. If you remember stories about coming to Teaspoon to trade stuff, or if you know stories about making pine-pitch, or if you know stories about the old freedmen pine-wood villages or old home-places or cemeteries known to have been located in the woods of North Escambia, Florida, and South Escambia, Alabama, we want to hear those stories too. We will respect your private information.
Please email me at jack@teaspoonfoundation.com
Jean Webb, Former Ernest Ward Staffer, Held Book Signing
August 9, 2008
Jean Webb, a former teacher and administrator at Ernest Ward High School in Walnut Hill, held a book signing Friday. In the end, the books were all sold and many friends were together sharing stories of their days as Golden Eagles.
Webb signed copies of her new book “Feet of Clay” at the main branch of the First National Bank of Atmore Friday afternoon.
Set in Richmond, VA, and Mobile during the 1880’s, “Feet of Clay” is a family saga, a historical romance, a murder mystery, a courtroom drama and a study of human behavior all rolled into one.
“There are no perfect heroes here, only men with feet of clay,” she said of her book. “They have been wronged: They have done wrong, but are honorable men with all too many human flaws.”
Webb, who spent 35 years as an English teacher and administrator at Ernest Ward High School, is currently a member of the Wetumpka Fine Arts Club and the Episcopal Church. Her interests include reading, writing, and following sports…especially football and basketball. She has four children: Letha, Rick, Jean, and Pellar. She now resides near Wetumpka, Alabama.
Click here to order “Feet of Clay” online.