Guest Viewpoint: Florida Hazardous Walking Conditions Law Inadequate To Protect Our Students
October 2, 2019
Wednesday wass “National Walk to School Day”. But children in Florida are often at risk when walking to school, according to Rob Doss, a retired Marine and educator, and the retired director of transportation for the Escambia County School District.
He believes the Florida’s Hazardous Walking Conditions” law is inadequate. Doss explains why, in his own words:
If I handed you a Florida statute entitled “Hazardous Walking Conditions” and told you that it describes the conditions under which a public school student’s walking conditions would be judged “hazardous,” what would you expect to find as you read it? Think of your elementary school child or grandchild for a moment. What criteria would you expect the Florida legislature to have in place that would adequately protect children as they’re making their way to and from school during the busiest traffic times of the day?
Think of an intersection that has stop lights like the one at Mobile Highway and Michigan Avenue or Barrancas Avenue and Navy Boulevard. Those are complex intersections with right turn on red authorized, left turn arrows, and free-flow right turn lanes…traffic moving in all directions. Let’s say that the intersection has a traffic volume of 3,600 vehicles passing through it every hour. That’s 1 vehicle passing through the intersection every second. Would you expect that intersection to be considered hazardous for a student to cross on their way to school?
Now, think about Kingsfield Elementary and Ransom Middle School students crossing at the intersection of Kingsfield Road and Highway 97, Tate High School students crossing Highway 29 at Kingsfield Road, Jim Allen Elementary School students crossing the intersection of Highway 29 and Muscogee Road, or Beulah Middle School students crossing 9 Mile Road at Rebel Road. Would you expect either of those intersections to be hazardous for your child or grandchild to cross on their way to school?
Finally, let’s think of a road that has a posted speed limit of 35 mph but has very little room for a person to walk on the side of the road. The road has a traffic volume of 150 vehicles passing by in each direction. That’s a total of 1 vehicle driving by every 12 seconds. Do you think the law would consider that roadway to be hazardous for a student – or any person for that matter – to walk along so closely or to walk on the roadway itself?
You would probably be surprised to learn that none of those scenarios are considered hazardous for public school students of any age under the law.
It’s obvious that section 1006.23 of the Florida Statutes, the law that defines hazardous walking conditions for public school students, is a woefully inadequate criteria for determining whether a walking route to and from school is hazardous for public school students. It neither safeguards public school students who reside within a reasonable walking distance of school nor encourages infrastructure development and improvement that would make walking to and from school safe for students. It’s particularly unfortunate that this statute is in the Education Code, a place where one would expect to find guidance that reflects a thorough understanding of the cognitive ability of children and the need to provide them safe access to quality education.
However, in probably every school district in Florida, including in Escambia, school districts transport those students around conditions that the state doesn’t consider hazardous. The state classifies those students as “ineligible” transported students and provides school districts no funding support to transport them safely like it does other students. But that transportation service is costly to school districts and when they find themselves in a crunch to fund classroom initiatives, they often look for resources elsewhere such as unfunded student transportation service.
In fact, ineligible ridership has become such an issue in Florida that for the 2017-18 school year, Florida school districts reported that they transported more than 90,000 students who were ineligible for a state funding contribution at a cost to local school districts of more than $92 million statewide. Escambia County reported transporting 3,506 ineligible students during the 2017-18 school year at a cost to the school district of nearly $3.5 million. Of course, not all of those students were transported because of hazardous walking conditions, but many were. The fact is, however, that the decisions that school districts have made to transport those students even without a state funding contribution has kept kids alive. What other choice have they had? The question is why, in spite of the existence of a statute in the Education Code that deals specifically with hazardous walking conditions for students, are Florida school districts left in that position?
The fact that the National Complete Streets Coalition has placed Florida at the top of the list as the nation’s most dangerous state for pedestrians and the fact that the nation’s 6 most dangerous metropolitan areas for pedestrians – and 8 of the top 10 – are in Florida lends additional credence to the concern about the inadequacy of the hazardous walking conditions statute.
It’s well past time for the Florida legislature to adopt a reasonable, responsible, and cost-conscious improvement to the hazardous walking conditions statute like the one that I have proposed in order to protect children who encounter hazardous walking conditions between home and school.
Florida Forest Service Suspends Burn Authorizations
October 2, 2019
In light of extremely dry and dangerous conditions, officials with the Florida Forest Service’s Blackwater Forestry Center will not be issuing authorizations for broadcast or pile burns effective Wednesday until further notice. Burn authorizations will not be issued until conditions improve and the area receives significant rainfall. There are no burn bans in effect.
Authorizations from the Florida Forest Service are required for prescribed burning – acreage burns – and piles greater than 8 feet in diameter. Authorizations are not required for residential yard debris burning in piles less than 8 feet in diameter but Forest Service officials are strongly encouraging residents to refrain from any outdoor burning until the area receives rain.
“It is extremely dry and we’ve seen a significant increase in the number of fires here recently,” said David Smith, Operations Administrator for Blackwater. “The smart thing to do – the safe thing – is to just hold off on burning, right now.”
Firefighters from Blackwater – covering Escambia, Santa Rosa and Okaloosa counties have responded to wildfire incidents within the past seven days and there is little relief in the near-term forecast.
The Keetch-Byrum Drought Index for the district is 617 on a scale of 800 with Escambia County registering 610, Santa Rosa County 605 and Okaloosa County 635. These measurements put the area within the “severe drought” range, normal for this time of year should be between 241-420.
The KBDI is a continuous reference scale for estimating the dryness of the soil. The index increases for each day without rain (the amount of increase depends on the daily high temperature) and decreases when it rains. The scale ranges from 0 (no moisture deficit) to 800 (high moisture deficit). The range of the index is determined by assuming that there is 8 inches of moisture in a saturated soil.
Authorities Searching For Career Criminal From Molino; He May Be Armed
October 2, 2019
Authorities are searching for a career criminal from Molino on an outstanding warrant, and they say he could be armed and dangerous.
Steven Ray Stokes, 54, is wanted for grand theft of a motor vehicle, according to the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office. He has an active warrant for stealing a motorcycle from Cantonment in 2018.
Stokes is currently on federal probation for unlawful transport of firearms and conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance, according to federal court records. He was sentenced in 2003 to 174 months in federal prison followed by five years probation. His sentenced was later reduced.
He also served state prison time for multiple convictions. In 2002, he was convicted of running a chop shop on his property in Molino, along with racketeering. Over five dozen stolen vehicles were reportedly found on the property, along with over 50 pounds of marijuana. He would purchase wrecked vehicles at auction and swap the vehicle registration numbers onto stolen vehicles to be resold.
State records show he has also served prison time for convictions dating back to 1996 for trafficking in marijuana, selling cocaine, cocaine possession, fleeing from law enforcement and resisting an officer with violence.
Stokes’ last known address was in the 4400 block of North Highway 29, north of Highway 196.
Anyone with information on his whereabouts should call the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office at (850) 436-9620, Crime Stoppers at (850) 433-STOP or 911.
FDLE Arrests U.S. Air Force Officer In Escambia County On Child Porn Charges
October 2, 2019
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement arrested a U.S. Air Force Officer on child pornography charges Tuesday.
FDLE arrested John Morgan, 29, on two counts of possession of obscene material. Morgan is an active duty and stationed in Pensacola.
The investigation began in August after an agent identified images and videos of child pornography being downloaded and shared from a residential computer on Klondike Road. The images depicted children under the age of 10.
Morgan remains in the Escambia County Jail without bond.
Firefighters Battle Nearly Two Dozen Fires Near McDavid And Flomaton
October 1, 2019
Firefighters battled nearly two dozen brush and grass fires in the North Escambia area Tuesday afternoon.
The largest in Florida was a five acre fire in the area of Honeybee Lane and Roach Road, just west of Highway 29. There were no structures damaged, and no injuries reported. The Florida Forest Service and multiple Escambia Fire Rescue stations responded to the fire, which was reported about 3 p.m. The fire was declared out just after 5 p.m.
Something also sparked multiple fires alongside southbound Highway 29. The fires were both north and south of Champion Drive.
Fire departments in Escambia County, Alabama, responded to about 15 separate fires along Highway 31 east of Flomaton. Steve Stanton, Flomaton fire chief, said the fires were sparked by log truck traveling with blown out tire.
Forestry officials in Florida and Alabama are asking residents of both states not to burn outdoors until significant rainfall is received due to the extreme fire danger.
Pictured: Fire rages alongside Highway 31 near Flomaton Tuesday afternoon. Photo for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Mobile Home Destroyed By Fire
October 1, 2019
Fire destroyed a mobile home in Ensley Tuesday afternoon.
The fire was reported shortly before 1 p.m. in the 9700 block of Fowler Avenue, just south of 9 1/2 Mile Road. The mobile home was about 75 percent involved in fire when Escambia Fire Rescue arrived on scene.
No one was home or injured in the fire, but at least one family pet perished. The American Red Cross is assisting two adults and three children left without a home.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation by the Florida State Fire Marshal’s Office.
NorthEscambia.com photos by Kristi Barbour, click to enlarge.
Plans Resubmitted For New Convenience Store At Hwy 29, Hwy 97 In Molino
October 1, 2019
Developers have headed back to the Escambia County Development Review Committee with plans for a new convenience store the intersection of Highway 29 and Highway 97 in Molino.
The pre-application drawings submitted the Development Review Committee show a slightly scaled-down store compared to plans considered earlier this year for the 8.22 acre property.
Drawings that went before the committee in January showed a 6,000 square foot store, while the new plans show the store to be about 4,700 square feet with two additional gas pumps.
The property is owned by DGS Holdings of Atmore. In late 2017, plans were submitted to Escambia County by s Diamond Gasoline of Atmore for a convenience store on the property, but that project was not completed.
The Escambia County Development Review Committee will hold a pre-application meeting on store plans this week. Before construction could begin,the plans must go through several more steps in the county approval process. At the pre-application stage, there is no assurance that plans will ever reach the construction stage or that the facility will have the currently outlined layout.
NorthEscambia.com graphic.
ECUA Rate Increase Effective For Water, Sewer And Garbage
October 1, 2019
Rate increases took effect Tuesday for Emerald Coast Utilities Authority water, sewer and sanitation customers.
In late August, the ECUA board approved a 2.3% rate increase for water and sewer, which ECUA said translates to just a few cents for the average customer.
“For the single-family residential, it means an increase of .28 on the base rate and an increase on the volume charge of .06. In total, the proposed increase to a household with an average consumption of 6,000 gallons would be an increase of .64 per month,” ECUA Public Information Office Nathalie Bowers said about water rates.
For sewer, the base rate increase equates to 33 cents plus 17 center thousand gallons, or $1.01 for the average residential customer.
Following a motion by District 5 board member Larry Walker, the motion to increase water and sewer rates pass unanimously.
The board also approved a sanitation rate increase on a 3-1 vote, with District 1 member Vicki Campbell dissenting.
Base sanitation collection rates will increase 5%, but a disposal fee on sanitation bills will remain constant. For single family residential customers with one 90-gallon or smaller container, the sanitation rate will increase 91 cents from $23.25 to $24.16.
The water, sewer and sanitation rate increases also includes commercial accounts.
Rachel Weber Named Kingsfield Elementary Teacher Of The Year
October 1, 2019
Rachel Weber has been named the Kingsfield Elementary School Teacher of the Year. She is a third grade teacher. Courtesy photo for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Century Charter Review Committee To Hold First Meeting Thursday
October 1, 2019
The Town of Century Charter Review Committee will holds its first meeting on Thursday, but only general housekeeping topics are scheduled to be discussed.
The 11-member committee will learn about the Sunshine Law and public records requirements in advance of future meetings.
The committee is tasked with exploring the town charter – the document that establishes the town, outlines its powers and spells out how it should operate. The current Century charter has not been updated in almost 40 years.
NorthEscambia.com file photo.