No Serious Injuries In Highway 29 Morning Wreck
November 6, 2018
There were no serious injuries in a morning commute crash on Highway 29 at Roberts Road in Cantonment. Minor passengers in the crash were reportedly properly restrained in safety seats. NorthEscambia.com photos by Kristi Barbour, click to enlarge.
Libbie Johnson Named UF/IFAS Extension Professional Of The Year
November 6, 2018
Libbie Johnson, agricultural agent for UF/IFAS Extension Escambia County, has named the Extension Professional of the Year. The award was presented at the Florida Farm Bureau Annual Meeting.
The Extension Professional of the Year Award recognizes an Extension Agent who has contributed to the Farm Bureau mission and vision, assisted with crop and/or animal production, completed notable work toward improving Florida agriculture and provided superior customer serving when working with county Farm Bureaus statewide.
Photo for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge
Highway 29 Crash Claims One Life
November 6, 2018
A single vehicle accident on Highway 29 in Cantonment claimed the life of a Pensacola man Monday night.
Patrick Owen Henry, 58, was pronounced deceased following the 6 p.m. crash.
The Florida Highway Patrol said Henry was traveling south on Highway 29 near Success Drive when his 2013 Dodge Challenger left the roadway and entered the grassy shoulder. The vehicle traveled about 60 feet on the shoulder before colliding with a cluster of small bushes and a large pine tree.
NorthEscambia.com photos by Kristi Barbour, click to enlarge.
Century Unveils New Website
November 6, 2018
The Town of Century has official unveiled a new website.
The site was built and is hosted by Municode, a Tallahassee based firm. Century currently contracts with the company to make their code of ordinances available online..
Municode submitted a base bid of $4,000 for design, development and implementation of a new website and $1,500 for annual hosting, maintenance and customer support. An interest-free four year payment plan was offered. Municode has been in business for 66 years and works with over 4,200 government agencies across the country.
Townofcenturyflorida.com was to be constructed using content management system (CMS) that will allow town employees to keep the site updated.
The town’s previous website was last updated in 2015. That website was developed by an area marketing firm in 2012 for $5,950, part of a $11,450 package that also included a five year comprehensive marketing strategy.
Escambia Man Gets Three Life Sentences For Shooting At Deputies
November 6, 2018
An Escambia County man will spend the rest of his life in prison for shooting at Escambia County Sheriff’s deputies.
Russell Lee Enfinger was sentenced to three consecutive life sentences on three counts of attempted first-degree premeditated murder. These life sentences are mandatory without any possibility of parole.
On November 24, 2017, deputies from the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office responded to a residence on Holly Street in reference to an anonymous phone call about a subject with an outstanding warrant. The homeowner gave the deputies permission to search that location and they encountered Enfinger sleeping in a back storage area.
After the deputies spoke with Enfinger, he pulled a handgun and pointed it at them. The deputies exited the shed and ran for cover in the backyard, seeking refuge behind a cabinet. Enfinger exited the shed and fired numerous shots at two of the deputies, striking the cabinet multiple times and narrowly missing the deputies.The deputies briefly returned fire before retreating to seek cover.
Enfinger fled the scene by jumping a fence that led into an alleyway where he was ordered to stop by another deputy. Enfinger fired one round at the deputy before his gun jammed and fled over another fence.
He was later found hiding behind a dumpster at a nearby Taco Bell where he was discovered to still be in possession of the firearm. Enfinger suffered a single gunshot wound andwas taken into custody without further incident.
Pictured: The scene at a Taco Bell on Nine Mile Road following deputy involved shooting last November. File photo for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
DeSantis Pins Hopes On GOP Turnout
November 6, 2018
In his final push in the campaign for governor, former Republican Congressman Ron DeSantis told supporters on Monday that he can win the race if the GOP dominates election-day voting.
“I think if Republicans vote and vote in big numbers on Tuesday, we will win all of these races,” he said at a rally outside the Freedom Pharmacy on the east side of Orlando.
He was joined by U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., state Rep. Matt Caldwell, the Republican candidate for agriculture commissioner, and Ashley Moody, a former judge who is the GOP nominee for attorney general.
DeSantis told reporters that he is entering election day “roughly at parity” with Democrat Andrew Gillum after the early voting period, which gave the Democrats a slight edge based on calculations through Monday.
But DeSantis, who stepped down from his Northeast Florida congressional seat in September, said “a lot of our super voters have yet to vote,” referring to loyal Republicans who have voted in the last three or four elections.
“We just have a lot of our voters who want to vote on election day. That’s just the way they are. We’re definitely going to win election day, so I’m looking forward to that,” DeSantis said.
Rubio sounded a similar theme in his remarks.
“This sounds like an oxymoron, but hear me out. This election is going to be decided on election day, not just by the counting of the (votes) but by who votes,” Rubio said. “I know a lot of people are waiting until tomorrow. But we have to make sure they vote.”
Another theme struck by DeSantis and his supporters on Monday was an appeal to Hispanic voters. His rally was held in Orange County, which has the third largest bloc of GOP Hispanic voters in the state, although its 28,000 voters are overshadowed by 275,000 Hispanic Republicans in Miami-Dade County.
DeSantis said his economic message of low taxes and limited government will appeal to many voters, including Hispanics, in contrast to his Democratic opponent, Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum, who wants to raise corporate income taxes by $1 billion to pay for teacher raises.
DeSantis called Gillum a “committed leftist ideologue.”
“That’s just who he is. If he gets in there, Florida’ trajectory is going to change dramatically. I don’t think we want to stop our economic momentum,” DeSantis said.
Rep. Jeanette Nunez, a Miami Republican who is running for lieutenant governor with DeSantis, slammed Gillum for Tallahassee’s crime rate, which is above the state average based on population.
“We understand that a good economy is important, but if your communities are not safe, all of that is for naught. That is something our opponent has a terrible track record in,” Nunez said. “If he can’t keep the city of Tallahassee safe, he can’t keep the citizens of the state of Florida safe.”
The Orlando rally was one of five campaign stops scheduled for DeSantis on Monday, with similar appearances in Jacksonville, Vero Beach, Pinellas County and Fort Walton Beach.
He was joined at two of the rallies by Lara Trump, a daughter-in-law of President Donald Trump. The president himself held two campaign rallies in support of DeSantis in the last week, including a Saturday night event in Pensacola.
DeSantis used Trump’s backing to make the case that if he is elected, the state will be in a better position to receive support from Washington, D.C., in contrast to Gillum who has called for the impeachment of the president.
“You should have a governor who can work constructively with the administration in Washington to make sure Florida is getting what it needs,” DeSantis said.
DeSantis along with his wife, Casey DeSantis, a Jacksonville television personality, will vote Tuesday morning in Ponte Vedra Beach. They will watch the election results at a campaign party Tuesday night in Orlando.
by Lloyd Dunkelberger, The News Service of Florida
Florida First Round Football Playoff Tickets Available Online
November 6, 2018
FHSAA playoff tickets are on sale for first round football games through GoFan, the official ticketing partner of the FHSAA. Mobile ticketing allows fans to use their mobile device as their game ticket, providing a faster and more convenient entry.
Tickets are $8 each, the same as the gate price. A convenience fee is added to each online purchase.
CLASS 1A
CLASS 5A
CLASS 6A
Click here and select game from list
Other Classes
Click here and select from list.
Gillum Vows Areas Won’t Be ‘Forgotten’ If He Wins
November 6, 2018
Most of the houses, the ones still standing, are crowned with blue tarps, and the heavy-duty trucks are still clearing massive trees snapped like matchsticks on the back roads surrounding the Sunrise Worship Center in Jackson County.
For many members of the almost-all black audience who came to hear Democratic gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum speak Monday on the penultimate day before what voters have been told is the most important election in their lifetimes, Gillum represents more than the opportunity to make history by putting an African-American in the Florida governor’s mansion.
The Tallahassee mayor also carries the promise of delivering what some of the region’s black residents feel has been lacking in the aftermath of the devastation wrought by Hurricane Michael, which made landfall in the Panhandle as a Category 4 hurricane on Oct. 10.
“We need more support in the black areas,” Lori Hall, 42, told The News Service of Florida after Gillum addressed dozens of area residents during a final bus tour Monday. “It’s like we’re forgotten about.”
Gillum veered from his typical stump speech, in which the gubernatorial candidate points out that he’s visited places like Calhoun County, The Villages and other conservative locales, to target the folks in the audience, some of whose homes still lack power.
“Marianna, I want you to know that, even though this area is often referred to as the ‘Forgotten Coast,’ you’re not going to be forgotten with the Gillum-King administration,” Gillum, 39, said, referring to his running mate, Chris King.
Florida “cannot be all that she needs to be if we’re leaving whole parts of the state” behind, he said.
“We can’t reach our highest heights of potential. If we get parts of our areas that have been devastated by hurricanes, and we’re not real smart about how we reconstruct these areas, you start to lose population. Folks start to go other places. Jobs and industry decides that they don’t want to open up again. They’ll go someplace else. That won’t work for us. That won’t work for you. So you need a governor that’s going to go to work on your behalf to make sure that we get you back to 100 percent, that will get you back whole, that will make this an area that works, for everybody,” Gillum said, eliciting a roar from the crowd.
Gillum is facing off Tuesday against Ron DeSantis, a Republican backed by President Donald Trump, in one of the most closely watched governor’s races in the nation.
Trump traveled to the Sunshine State twice last week to boost enthusiasm for DeSantis and for Gov. Rick Scott, who is running against Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson.
Meanwhile, former President Barack Obama held a rally Friday for Gillum and Nelson in Miami.
Gillum’s drawn other A-list support as well; he’s been joined by black and Hispanic athletes and celebrities on the campaign trail since his surprise Aug. 28 victory in a crowded Democratic primary.
Over the weekend, for example, actresses Eva Longoria Bastón, America Ferrera, Rosario Dawson, Zoe Saldaña and others campaigned with Gillum’s wife, R. Jai, in Kissimmee, home to a fast-growing Puerto Rican population.
After traveling to Marianna on Monday, Gillum was slated to go to Monticello, Madison and Crawfordville — North Florida towns not far from the mayor’s Tallahassee base. He was scheduled to close out the last day before the election with a “Bring It Home Midnight Rally and Concert,” featuring rapper Sean “Diddy” Combs, Angela Rye, DJ D-Nice and others at Florida A&M University, where Gillum began his political career as student body president.
And Gillum’s election-night party, which will also take place at FAMU, will have some star-power, as well. California billionaire Tom Steyer, founder of the progressive NextGen America organization that focuses on college-age and young voters, will join Gillum and King, after meeting with students near Florida State University.
Democrats across the state — and the nation — are hoping Gillum can help their party reverse course after being shut out of the governor’s mansion for more than two decades.
Holding a blue Gillum sign inside the church, Rosa Pollock said she is “just elated” that the mayor came to her town.
“I’m 72, but right now I feel like about 20. It just gave me so much energy,” Pollock told the News Service.
The windows on her Marianna home are still missing, and a large tree is resting beside the house, but the roof is intact, Pollock said.
Gillum hasn’t won her support because he’s black, but because of “what he’s saying he can do to help this area,” she said.
“I learned a long time ago not to see color. … But I am so proud, on the other hand, that he is like me,” Pollock said. “His blackness is just the icing on the cake. That’s a smart young man. Trust me. He knows what he’s talking about. And I can feel his sincerity. I can feel that. I’m pretty good about being able to tell that about people. “
Pollock, a longtime Democrat, said she sees a boost of enthusiasm this year, compared to previous governor’s elections in Florida.
“Because everybody’s like, oh no. We’ve got to get this thing changed. We’ve got to turn these red states back to blue,” she said.
by Dara Kam, The News Service of Florida
Early Morning House Fire Under Investigation
November 5, 2018
Fire heavily damaged a home early Monday morning off East Kingsfield Road.
Flames were shooting from the roof of the three story wood frame home on High Springs Road when firefighters arrived. All of the occupants were able to get out safely.
The cause of the fire is under investigation by the Florida State Fire Marshal’s Office.
The Ensley, Cantonment, Bellview, Brent and Ferry Pass stations of Escambia Fire Rescue and Escambia County EMS responded.
NorthEscambia.com photos by Kristi Barbour, click to enlarge.
Charges Against Police Chase Suspect Upgraded To Four Counts Of Attempted Murder
November 5, 2018
Charges have been upgraded against a duo charged in connection with a wild, shots fired, 10-mile long police pursuit early October 7 through Escambia County. A deputy’s vehicle was struck by gunfire at least twice during the pursuit that ended on Nine Mile Road. There were no injuries reported.
Christopher Michael Chancey, age 29 of Ten Mile Road, is now charged with attempted first degree premeditated murder with a firearm, three counts of attempted second degree murder with firearm, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, fleeing and eluding and resisting an officer. He is accused of the attempted murder of four deputies.
Charges have been upgraded against Brittany Wagner. She has been charged with principal to first degree murder with a firearm and three counts of principal to attempted second degree murder with a firearm.
A deputy attempted to stop a 2003 Dodge Dakota driven by Chancey at the intersection of Jackson Street and Old Corry Field Road after an improper lane change. The vehicle accelerated away, passing other vehicles in no passing zones. The deputy turned off his emergency lights and discontinued the attempted traffic stop.
A second deputy observed the vehicle slide out of a parking lot and turn northbound on New Warrington Road at a high rate of speed. The deputy attempted a traffic stop as someone fired a weapon at him from the vehicle. The deputy reported seeing the muzzle flash and hearing the gunfire, at which time he swerved his patrol vehicle to avoid being shot. Multiple deputies joined in the chase.
At Fairfield Drive and South Dakota Street, additional shots were fired at deputies. Chancery then turned on W Street and then onto Pensacola Boulevard. On Pensacola Boulevard, the vehicle continued northbound in the southbound lanes. Deputies continue to purse the vehicle as it turned eastbound onto Nine Mile Road.
At the intersection of Nine Mile Road and Old Palafox, a deputy ended the chase by using the PIT-maneuver. The driver, later identified as Chancey, ran from truck. He was taken into custody at gunpoint.
A search of the vehicle revealed numerous bullet holes in the rear glass of the vehicle and a hole in the tailgate. A 9mm hangun was found on the ground outside the driver’s door of the pickup with an empty magazine and chamber. A second unloaded 9mm magazine was on the driver’s seat.
The passenger, Wagner, told deputies that they had left a party in Brownsville and got into an argument. She said Chancey accelerated away from deputies and fired several shots. Wagner said she handed Chancey a backpack that she knew to contain a firearm during the pursuit.
Chancey remained in the Escambia County Jail Monday with bond set at just over $1.1 million. Wagner is being held with bond set at $1 million.
Chase images are from a low quality reader submitted video by Grant Vinson for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
