Driver Escapes Serious Injury In Highway 29 Rollover
December 15, 2018
A driver escaped serious injury when he flipped his vehicle early Saturday morning on Highway 29 in Gonzalez. The accident happened on Highway 29 near Old Chemstrand Road about 12:45 a.m.. The driver refused medical transport from the scene. The accident is under investigation by the Florida Highway Patrol. Escambia Fire Rescue and Escambia County EMS also responded. Further information has not been released.
NorthEscambia.com photos by Kristi Barbour, click to enlarge.
Body Found In Escambia River Identified As Missing Pollard Woman
December 15, 2018
Authorities have positively identified a body found in the Escambia River as 74-year old Eva McBride of Pollard, AL.
McBride was last seen at her home on November 23 on McBride Circle, east of Flomaton and very near the Alabama/Florida line. Her home is located less than a mile from the Conecuh River, which becomes the Escambia River in Florida.
Her body was found December 9 in Santa Rosa County about a mile south of the Terrell’s Landing boat ramp off Oil Plant Road, upriver from Fischer Landing in Century.
No cause of death has been released. Read more
West Wins All Star Football Game; Killam Receives GPA Award
December 15, 2018
The West team from Escambia County beat the East team 9-0 Friday night the 15th annual Subway High School All-Star game at Blue Wahoos Stadium.
Northview High School quartback Seth Killam received the academic award for overall GPA.
Players taking part were:
West Team Roster (Escambia County):
Catholic - Tykies Hestle - DB
Catholic - Tyree Dunn - DL/ILB/OG
Catholic - Ryan Gay - OL
Escambia - Patrick Sanders - DB/S
Escambia - Jesse Saulsberry - DB/S
Escambia - Tadarius Dunn - LB
Escambia - Rodney Robinson - LB
Escambia - Ronnie Perez - K
Escambia - Isaac Barrow - OL/DL
Escambia - Aric Harris - OL
Escambia - Eric Jones - OL
Escambia - Noah Lord - LB
Northview - Lance McLaughlin - ILB
Northview - Seth Killam - ATH
Pensacola - Ernst Stallworth - WR/DB/St
Pensacola - Najahte King - LB
Pensacola - Ja’Rod Nobles - DB
Pensacola - Abram Smiley - RB
Pensacola - Greg Perkins - WR/TE
Pensacola - Hunter Rayburn - C/DL
Pensacola - James Kitt - DE/N
Pensacola - Jacobi Lyles - DE, N, OL
Pine Forest - Martin Emerson - CB/S
Pine Forest - Wyatt Gill - MLB
Pine Forest - Devon Witherspoon - CB/S
Pine Forest - Anwar Lewis - RB/Slot
Pine Forest - Taajhir McCall - DE
Pine Forest - John Gill - OT
Tate - Patrick Palmer - WR/DB/RB
Tate - Spencer Ruiz - WR
Tate - Hunter Riggan - QB
Washington - Julian Robinson - RB
Washington - Jordan Payne - DL
Washington - Tim Robinson - OL
Washington - Kysam Mohammed - FB/LB/LS
West Florida - Antarrius Moultrie - MLB
West Florida - Keyshawn Swanson - DB/WR
West Florida - Amir McDaniel - DB/WR
West Florida - Xavier Pugh-Davis - WR
West Florida - Taylor Meacham - DL
West Florida - Darius Washington - OT
West Florida - Tyler Sanders - OL
West Florida - Trevor Jordan - QB
The coaching staff for the west team will be head coach Rhett Summerford of West Florida High School assisted by a representative from each school in Escambia County.
East Team Roster (Okaloosa and Santa Rosa County):
Baker - Octavian Mclaughlin - RB
Baker - Derek Peoples - CB
Baker - Zach Mason - DT
Choctaw - Brady Peters - QB
Choctaw - Johnny Holquin - TE
Choctaw - Nathan Lewis - LB
Choctaw - Mason Bruns - P/OLB
Choctaw - Marketrius Warmble - Corner
Choctaw - Chris Beverly - C/Guard
Crestview - John Gillis - QB
Crestview - Bryson Norris - OL
Crestview - Luther Fagalima - OL
Crestview - Weston Tew - OL
Crestview - Marcus Maloy - WR
Fort Walton Beach - Shiloh Addo-Nobles - DE
Fort Walton Beach - Daquis Upshaw - CB
Fort Walton Beach - Ra’Shiek Hawthorne - DT
Gulf Breeze - Cooper Harris - WR
Gulf Breeze - London Parries - S/C
Gulf Breeze - Carl Taylor - LB/RB
Gulf Breeze - Harrison O’Daniel - LB
Jay - James Eddings - RB
Jay - Stone Brown - LB
Milton - Tavian Williams - LB
Milton - Marquise McRoy - WR
Milton - Xavier Robinson - DB
Milton - Justin Campbell - DL
Navarre - Alex Gilchrist - DL/TE
Navarre - Matthew Downey - SS/FS
Navarre - Kevin Taich - PK
Navarre - Bryson Garner - OL
Navarre - Mitchell Hunt - DT, OT, LS,
Niceville - Jack White - QB/Slot/FS
Niceville - T.J Pope - RB
Niceville - Eyin Cole - WR/FS
Niceville - Xavier Graham - OL/DL
Niceville - Aiden Ancog - OL/DL
Pace - Coltan Bennett - FS
Pace - Erin Holland - OLB
Pace - Robert Wright - OLB
Pace - Daniel Tate - OL
Pace - Jacob Lewis - OL
Rocky Bayou - Nick Bowers - OL
The coaching staff for the east team will be Greg Thomas of Choctaw High School assisted by a representative from each participating school in Okaloosa and Santa Rosa County.
Pictured: Northview’s Lance McLaughlin, Ray Bush, Keegun Johnston and Seth Killam at Friday night’s Subway All-Star Game at Blue Wahoos Stadium. Photo courtesy Lacey McLaughlin for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
New High School Football Classifications Announced; Tate Moves Up
December 15, 2018
The Florida High School Athletic Association has announced new football classifications for the 2019 and 2020 seasons.
The big local change is in Class 6A with the three teams changing classes. Tate and Navarre move up to District 1-7A with Crestview, Chiles, Niceville, Leon and Lincoln.
Pine Forest will move down from 6A to District 1-5A with West Florida, Pensacola High, Arnold, Bay and Choctaw.
District 1-6A will still include Escambia, Washington, Pace, Gulf Breeze and Milton, with the addition of Mosley and Fort Walton Beach.
Northview and Jay will remain in the rural Class 1A with Baker, Chilpley, Cottondale, Freeport, Graceville, Holmes County and Vernon.
Pensacola Catholic remains in Class 3A.
Classifications were based solely on student enrollment, then geography. If a school disagrees with the classifications, they can become an independent for the two year classification cycle.
File photos by Jennifer Repine for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Tate Band Offers Gift Wrapping
December 15, 2018
The Tate Band Showband of the South will be wrapping gifts for donations at Walmart on Highway 29 in Ensley through Christmas Eve. Look for the big white tent near the entrance.
Tate Band Gift Wrap Schedule:
Saturday, Dec. 22nd – 8 a.m. – 8 p.m.
Sunday, Dec. 23rd – 8 a.m. – 8 p.m.
Monday, Dec. 24th – 8 a.m. – 12 p.m.
Pictured. Tate band moms wrapping gifts outside Walmart in Ensley on Saturday. Photo for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Escambia Man Wins Half Million Dollars In Scratch-Off Game
December 15, 2018
The Florida Lottery announced Friday that Daymion Baker, 44, claimed the first $500,000 top prize from the $500,000 Cash Blast Scratch-Off game at Florida Lottery Headquarters in Tallahassee.
He purchased his winning ticket from the Tom Thumb at 1802 Creighton Road in Pensacola. The $5 game, $500,000 “Cash Blast,” features six top prizes of $500,000 and more than $58 million in total cash prizes.
Live Nativity: ‘Night In Bethlehem’ Sunday Evening In Molino
December 15, 2018
Highland Baptist Church will host “Night in Bethlehem” on Sunday from 5:30 until 7 p.m. Visitors can taste, smell, feel and experience what Bethlehem was like on that wondrous night. There will be a live Nativity with live animals.
Admission is free. Highland Baptist Church is located at 6240 North Highway 95A in Molino.
Plan Seeks To Help Florida Children Get Health Insurance
December 15, 2018
Florida may have a plan to address the increasing number of children who lack health insurance, but it remains to be seen whether the proposal will get funded.
The state Agency for Health Care Administration wants $16.3 million to help insure an additional 22,000 children in the Florida Healthy Kids program and lower the costs for some children already in the program, according to a legislative budget request.
Florida officials hope to use the money to take advantage of a federal change that allows the state to return the program to its pre-Obamacare days. Though mostly administrative in nature, Florida Healthy Kids Chief Executive Officer Rebecca Matthews said the moves would lower premiums to $170 a month for so-called full-pay children, which could attract more children to the program.
But House Speaker Jose Oliva is frustrated by the amount of money taxpayers spend on health care and has made lowering costs a top priority. While he says he’s troubled by the rise in the uninsured rates, he may nevertheless be hesitant to approve increased funding.
“To say “I’m troubled by it, I’ll dump a whole bunch more money in it,’ is to say, ‘The next presiding officers will then have to come back and try to figure it out because the prices will continue to rise,’ ” Oliva told The News Service of Florida last month.
The legislative budget request comes on the heels of a Georgetown University Center for Children and Families report this month that showed about 325,000 uninsured children in Florida in 2017, up from 288,000 in 2016. That put Florida’s overall uninsured rate for children at 7.3 percent.
It was the first time the percentage of uninsured children had increased in the last decade, according to the analysis.
Prior to the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare, the Florida Healthy Kids program provided subsidized insurance coverage to low-income children ages 5 to 18 and access to managed-care plans with children-centric benefits. It also allowed children who lived in families that earn more than 200 percent of the federal poverty level to have access to the same plans, but their premiums weren’t subsidized with federal funds.
All children enrolled in the program, regardless of their incomes, had access to the same managed-care plans.
After 2015, though, the state was required to revamp the program so full-pay children were offered Obamacare-compliant policies. The policies have different benefits and were subject to co-insurance requirements and deductibles.
As a result, full-pay enrollment in the program plummeted from a high of 36,000 to a low of 10,000 children in January 2017.
The Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018, though, exempts Florida Healthy Kids policies from the Obamacare requirements and allows states to again combine the programs. Though full-pay children wouldn’t have their monthly premiums directly subsidized with federal funds, the children would be able to tap into the child-centric health coverage that the state was able to negotiate on behalf of children whose premiums are subsidized.
Matthews said including full-pay children in the same program — and insurance risk pool — as the other children will lower monthly premium costs from $245 to $170.
Matthews said she was lobbying the Legislature, the incoming DeSantis administration and Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis, who makes appointments to the Florida Healthy Kids Corp. board of directors, on the funding request.
Matthews’ lobbying appears to have had some success in the Senate, where Health and Human Services Appropriations Chairman Aaron Bean expressed support for the proposal this week.
“That’s something in the future that we can look at as a committee going forward to make sure we are doing all we can do that everybody has access to health insurance,” said Bean, R-Fernandina Beach.
by Christine Sexton, The News Service of Florida
Boil Water Notice Issued In Beulah Area
December 14, 2018
A precautionary boil water noticed has been issued by the Emerald Coast Utilities Authority to customers located in the following area:
- Beulah Rd. between Beulah Church Road and Mobile Highway
- Twenty One Oaks Drive
- Twenty One Oaks Lane
- Tisdale Lane
This notice is being issued after repairs were made to a 6-inch broken water main. Precautionary boil water notices are issued as a part of the standard protocol following any loss of water pressure, whether as a result of planned maintenance activities or unscheduled repairs.
Residents located in the specified PBWN area are advised to boil water for one minute at a rolling boil or to use eight drops of regular unscented household bleach per gallon of water, for water to be used for drinking or cooking purposes. Two independent bacteriological samples have been initiated and the advisory will be lifted as soon as possible. This process routinely takes 48 hours.
Vehicle Hit By Train In Cantonment; Atmore Man Hospitalized
December 14, 2018
An Atmore man was seriously injured Thursday night when his vehicle was struck by a train in Cantonment.
The accident happened about 11:40 p.m. on County Road 97 just south of Muscogee Road.
The Florida Highway Patrol said 20-year old Dustin Ryan Crumbley was traveling north when he failed to stop in time at an Alabama Gulf Coast Railway railroad crossing. The train engine collided with the side of his 2000 Toyota Tundra.
He was transported to an area hospital as a “trauma alert” by Escambia County EMS. A puppy in the vehicle was also seriously injured and taken to a veterinarian at an emergency animal clinic in Pensacola.
The FHP cited Crumbley for failure to obey a railroad crossing traffic control device and for not wearing a seat belt.
The marked crossing has flashing lights, but no crossing arms.
NorthEscambia.com photos by Kristi Barbour, click to enlarge.
