Lady Chiefs Lose Season Openers To Baker (With Gallery)
August 24, 2018
The Northview High School varsity and junior varsity volleyball teams fell in their season openers Thursday night.
The varsity Lady Chiefs lost a district match to Baker 7-25, 12-25, 7-25. After winning their first set 25-22, the junior varsity Lady Chiefs were defeated by the JV Lady Gators 9-25, 13-15.
Up next, the Northview Lady Chiefs will host a district match against the Jay Lady Royls on Tuesday. The junior varsity takes the court at 5:00; the varsity follows at 6:00 in Bratt.
NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Register Today For NHS Mini Majorette Clinic
August 24, 2018
The Northview High School Majorettes will host a Mini Majorette Clinic Monday, August 27 through Thursday, August 30 from 4-5:30 p.m. each day in the Northview gym.
The cost is $25 per child and includes the clinic, official tshirt and admission to the August 31 home football game. To register or for more information, please contact Leslie Johnson, majorette instructor, by phone or text at (251) 363-4076. The deadline to register is Friday, August 24.
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West Florida Libraries Receive $25,000 Donation From Friends
August 24, 2018
Friends of West Florida Public Library donated $25,000 to West Florida Public Libraries for youth programs such as Summer Reading Club supplies and educational performers, and STEAM activities such as WFPL’s robotics, science, art, and engineering programs.
Friends of West Florida Public Library is a nonprofit organization founded in 1973. Over the past 40-plus years, the Friends have raised more than $2 million to enhance the programs and services at West Florida Public Libraries such as developing library programs, building new library locations and many other activities.
The Friends raise money through their book stores located inside Pensacola Library located at 239 N. Spring St. and Tryon Branch Library located at 1200 Langley Ave. The Friends also host book sale events throughout the year.
Biloxi Completes Sweep Of The Blue Wahoos
August 24, 2018
Biloxi completed the five-game sweep at MGM Park Thursday night as the Wahoos dropped a heartbreaker, 3-2.
It was a promising start for the visitors when Jose Siri homered on the first pitch of the game from Cameron Roegner to give Pensacola a snappy 1-0 lead. For Siri, it was his 12th second-half home run, adding to the franchise record that he set earlier this year.
Wyatt Strahan (L, 7-11) started the game strong for the Wahoos. Strahan faced one over the minimum through the first five innings of his start. In the sixth, Cody Ponce’s (W, 7-6) one-out double marked the first time the Shuckers had a runner in scoring position against Strahan. It was also his first professional hit. After a flyout by Corey Ray, Troy Stokes Jr walked and Keston Hiura singled to tie the game at one. Lucas Erceg followed with an RBI single and the Shuckers jumped ahead 2-1.
In the seventh, Biloxi added one more run off of MLB-rehabber Rookie Davis. After a leadoff double by Luis Aviles Jr., a pair of flyouts moved and eventually scored Aviles from second.
Pensacola clawed their way back into the game with a run in the eighth. Malik Collymore led off the frame with a pinch-hit single, and after a walk to Siri, both runners advanced on a sac bunt from TJ Friedl. Mitch Nay brought home Collymore with a sac fly and the Wahoos were only down 3-2. After Brad Kuntz walked Scott Schebler to put runners on the corners, Mike Guerrero brought in his closer, Nate Griep (S, 33), and he struck out Gavin LaValley to end the inning.
In the ninth, Taylor Featherston led off with an infield single. After Luis Gonzalez moved Featherston to second with a sac bunt, Griep walked the next two batters to load the bases. Griep worked around the threat by inducing Siri into a foul pop out and Friedl into a comebacker to the pitcher to end the game.
This is the second time this season Pensacola has been swept. As it stands, Pensacola is outside of the postseason, trailing the BayBears by a half game in the wildcard standings. If Pensacola cannot overtake Biloxi in the second-half standings, the team with the best overall record in the South Division will claim the other postseason berth.
LHP Seth Varner (8-2, 3.13) will take the hill to open Pensacola’s most important series of the season. The Blue Wahoos will welcome the BayBears for the final five games at Blue Wahoos Stadium this season. Mobile is expected to send RHP Alex Klonowski (9-3, 4.28) on the bump for the visitors.
Pensacola Teen Found Safe
August 23, 2018
UPDATE: Payton Pacheco has been found and is safe. She contacted Pensacola Police and let them know she was at a McDonald’s in Pensacola.
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Payton Pacheco was last seen leaving the Brittany Forge Subdivision off Spanish Trail on Monday, according to KlaasKids. She is described as being 5-feet, 2-inches tall, 135 pounds with black hair and brown eyes. She was last seen wearing shorts and a sweatshirt and carrying a black duffel bag.
Anyone with information is asked to call KlaasKids at (855) 733-5567 or the Police Department at (850) 435-1900.
Rate Increase Planned For ECUA Water, Sewer Customers; No Garbage Hike
August 23, 2018
A 4 percent rate increase could be on the way for Emerald Coast Utility Authority water and sewer customers, but for now there’s no sanitation rate increase on the table.
The proposed 4 percent increase would translate to $1.02 per month for the average water customer consuming 6,000 gallons per month. The proposed increase of four percent would equate to an increase of $1.31 per month at the average 4,600 gallons level of sewer usage. The current average ECUA user pays $26.58 for water and $32.93 for sewage.
The current average ECUA user pays $26.58 for water and $32.93 for sewage.
ECUA has increased rates year for the last 10 years, ranging from 8 percent in 2011 to 1.93 percent 2014. The increase was 3 percent in 2017.
“ECUA as an organization is only 36 years old, although a vast portion of our utility systems and underground infrastructure are decades older,” ECUA spokeswoman Nathalie Bower said. “ECUA has approximately 1900 miles and 1300 miles of water and sewer mains, respectively, in our system. We have accomplished important upgrades and expansions in the last decade that are the backbone of the water production/transmission and wastewater collection/treatment services we provide. Now, we must address infrastructure issues to comply with the FDEP consent order that pertains to our sewer collection system. Utilities across the nation are faced with the same directives from the EPA with regard to sewer system infrastructure.”
ECUA board members Larry Walker and Dale Perkins votes against the increase.
The first of two public hearings on the rate increase will be held at 3:00 Thursday afternoon, with another public hearing set for September 27.
A plan that would have increase garbage rates by $5 per month and add a $1.50 capital improvement fee failed to pass the board.
Century Man Gets Another 15 Year Sentence For Burglary
August 23, 2018
A Century man received an additional 15 years in state prison Wednesday after pleading no contest to burglary charges against him. The sentence will run concurrently with a previous sentence for Curtis Matthew Capers.
Capers (pictured left) was the getaway driver for Vernon Lambeth of Century in the burglary of a home on Highway 168. In October 2016, a woman returned home to find Lambeth inside.
“I noticed some things were out of place, and then there he (Lambeth) was, standing in the hallway looking at me,” the victim told NorthEscambia.com on the day of the incident. She said she returned quickly to her 21-month old child, who was outside in a vehicle, to call 911 as Lambeth ran outside and into a nearby wooded area.
A K-9 team from Century Correctional Institution was able to track Lambeth down and take him into custody near Wawbeek Road.
Capers was seen leaving in the area in an older model green SUV with bullet holes. The vehicle was located in Alabama just north of the state line on Sam Jones Road, about two miles from the burglary. A K-9 was able to track Lambeth down; he had attempted to conceal himself with roofing tiles in an abandoned barn. A pillowcase that contained stolen items from the home on Highway 168 was also located. And Capers was positively identified by the burglary victim.
Law enforcement also observed screwdrivers and a crowbar inside of the vehicle. Capers was arrested and interviewed by Escambia County Sheriff’s Office Investigator David Preston. During the interview, Capers admitted to his knowledge and involvement, not only to this burglary, but two additional burglaries in which he and Vernon Lambeth committed. He still faces charges of armed burglary and grand theft of a firearm for those burglaries on Rockaway Creek Road and North Pineville Road.
In all three incidents, Capers dropped Lambeth off and waited down the road as a look out until Lambeth called to be picked up. Afterwards, they would sell the stolen items and split the proceeds.
A photograph published on NorthEscambia.com (left) after Lambeth’s arrest for the Wawbeek Road burglary showed him wearing a diamond ring. That ring was identified as one stolen during a burglary on Rockaway Creek Road. Lambeth took items including the ring, firearms and currency valued at $3,180 from the home. Most of the items, according to court documents, were sold or traded from drugs at his home at 120 Front Street.
Lambeth was also charged with the burglary of a home on North Pineville Road where he took jewelry, firearms and money totaling $3,350.
Lambeth pleaded no contest to burglary of an occupied dwelling; two counts of burglary of a dwelling while armed with a firearm, two counts of grand theft; two counts of criminal mischief; introduction of contraband articles into a county detention facility; and possession of a controlled substance (methamphetamine). He was sentenced in August 2017 by Circuit Judge Gary L. Bergosh to 17 years in state prison with a mandatory minimum 10 year prison sentence.
Pictured above and below: The manhunt following burglary on Highway 168 in October 2016. Pictured immediately below: Vernon Lambeth is taken into custody. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Century Purchasing New Gas Meters For $100K To Increase Revenue
August 23, 2018
The Century Town Council has approved using $100,000 to purchase new gas meters in an effort to increase revenue.
The town is projecting a loss of $214,000 during the next fiscal year as they work to determine where the gas they purchase from their supplier is going because much of it is not being billed to customers. The gas is not leaking; the town has said it’s either a problem with customer meters, meter reading or a discrepancy between the amount billed by the town’s supplier and the quantity actually delivered.
Accountant Robert Hudson recommend that the town purchase new customer gas meters using $50,000 from a Special Revenue Economic Development Account that has a $122,000 balance.
The council approved Mayor Henry Hawkin’s request for $100,000 to also purchase new commercial meters. And the town is looking to purchase a meter for about $4,000 for their “gate station” – where metered gas flows from the supplier into the town’s system — in order to verify the quantity received.
The Century Gas Department currently servers 498 customer accounts in and around the town.
NorthEscambia.com file photo.
Navy Tech Arrested On Child Porn Charges
August 23, 2018
Agents with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement arrested Galen Robert Kountz, 43, an active member of the United States Navy, of 6031 Dallas Ave., Pensacola, for possession of child pornography.
Agents received a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children which indicated that a suspected child pornography image was uploaded to a message board. The investigation led FDLE agents to Kountz’s residence, where a video containing child pornography was located on an external hard drive belonging to Kountz.
He is a Navy cryptologic intelligence technician.
Kountz was booked into the Escambia County Jail. Additional charges are dependent upon completion of computer forensic examinations. The case will be prosecuted by the Office of the State Attorney, First Judicial Circuit.
Same Day Hiring Event Tomorrow For Century, Santa Rosa Correctional Institutions
August 23, 2018
A same-day hiring event will be held Friday for Century Correctional Institution and the Santa Rosa Correctional Institution in Milton.
Applicants should bring a driver’s license, legible copy of birth certificate, social security card, high school diploma, GED or college transcripts and any name change documents (if applicable), such as a marriage certificate.
Veterans and current reservists/Guardsmen should bring a copy of their DD-214 or military ID, respectively. Laptops will be provided for online applications and scheduling the Criminal Justice Basic Abilities Test (required for employment). Applicants will have the opportunity to apply online and interview same day with institution administration.
Applicants must pre-register by call (866) 562-3362.
The hiring event will be Friday from 8:30 a.m. until 1 p.m. at Marcus Pointe Baptist Church, 6205 North W Street in Pensacola.