Escambia Retired Educators Honor Teachers, Students
May 24, 2018
The Escambia Retired Educators Association (EREA), recently honored outstanding retired educators and local students.
Beverly Reinschmidt was named Volunteeer of the Year. She retired with 35-years as a Tate High School English, journalism and yearbook teacher. She works with her sister Dorthy Lister to help produce Tate’s annual musical.
Pam Schwartz was named the EREA teacher of the year. She was an elementary teacher at Ferry Pass, an exceptional student educator for the county and former president of the Escambia Education Association.
Northview High School’s Anna Belle Barberree was presented a $1,000 EREA scholarship, and Madison Levins from Byrneville Elementary School was named essay winner.
Photos by Bonnie Exner for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Tate High School Presents Senior Awards
May 24, 2018
Tate High School recently held their Senior Honors Night. Among the awards presented to the Tate High Class of 2018 were:
National Merit Commended Scholars – Ashlyn Adams, Hannah Huggins, William Jones, Rosemary Smyth
Eagle Scouts — Paul Ashton, Alexander Babkin, Zachary Kempf, Lathan Lee, Jon Levan, Jonathan McClure, Patrick McHaney, Adam Norre, Blake Norre, Charles Page, Samuel Peterson, Ethan Stillwell, Thomas Young
Military Enlisted
- USMC: Aleaha Burleigh, Turner Cobb, Dylan Frederick, Jordan Heiny, Dalton Shenberger
- US ARMY: Carson Burgess, Parker Hand, Khavory Hartwell, Andrew Hoskins, Dawson Hux, Sage Martin, Mykaela Reed, Kaitlyn Reeves, Daniella Sandoval
- USAF: Emiyah Blanton, Patrick McHaney, Michael Morton, Claire Pierce
- USN: Brandon Pollock, Ulysses Silguero
Alpha Delta Kappa Scholarship — Miranda Avery
Cox Hero Award – Nina Ventura
DAR Good Citizen Scholarship — Brandon Pollock
Northwest Florida Gator Club & Pensacola Heritage Foundation — Mollie Anderson
Pensacola Civitan Club Citizenship Award — Maurice Hendricks
Poarch Creek Indians Scholarship — Henry Langford, Christian McGhee
Take Stock in Children Scholarship — Olivia Brown, Devin Searcy, Taylor Smith, Sabra Stewart
Barnhill Family GRIT Award & Scholarship – Danielle Williams
John E. Frenkel Educational Grants (Pensacola Interstate Fair) -- Miranda Avery, Adam Norre, Blake Norre, Trae Melton, Kathryn Skipper, Rosemary Smyth, Nicole Woods
Chris Williams Memorial History Scholarship – Thomas Young
Dillon Roberson Aggie Hero Award — Dawson Foster
PSRA Bob Hemme Scholarship — Emma Grissom
Ballpark Closing Ceremonies Tonight For NWE, Changed To Next Week For Century
May 24, 2018
Closing ceremonies will be held tonight for Northwest Escambia Bradberry Park, while Century Little League has rescheduled their closing ceremony for next week due to this weekend’s rainy forecast.
Century Little League
Century Little League will hold closing ceremonies next Tuesday at 6 p.m. at Showalter Park. Players and coaches should wear their jerseys.
Northwest Escambia Bradberry Park
Northwest Escambia Bradberry Park will hold closing ceremonies Thursday at 6 p.m. There will be additional fun activities and fireworks at dark. Players should wear their jerseys.
NorthEscambia.com photo, click to enlarge.
Woman Upset Over Building Rental, Century’s Leadership; Concerned Over What Cops ‘Do To Young African American Men’
May 24, 2018
A Century woman is not happy over the rental of a Century community center during a recent family graduation event, taking her case to the town council, complaining about their lack of leadership, their lack of communication skills, their public speaking abilities and expressing concerns about the town prompting a response from the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office because of what “police officers do to young African American men”. Meanwhile Century’s mayor and the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office are disputing many of her claims.
The building was rented for a “graduation dinner” on May 19, according to a rental agreement (download at left) signed March 22 for the “Habitat Building” on Pond Street. Tawana Jones told the Century Town Council that the event was for three of her nephews to celebrate their high school graduation; the rental agreement was signed by her sister-in-law.
Mayor Henry Hawkins said it was actually a party and violated the rental agreement. According to a document (page bottom) distributed to the town council by Hawkins, the event was promoted on Facebook as a “Grad Party” beginning at 8:30 p.m. with $5 admission for ladies before 11:30 p.m. and a $10 admission fee for men.
“It was hundreds and hundreds of youth…they were able to enjoy themselves in their own community with their own leaders because that party was there. It was a party they looked forward to for months. It was the talk of the town…it was shared more than 5,000 times on Facebook,” Tawana Jones said. “There was no way that the Town of Century or anybody not to know that this party was taking place.”
The rental agreement states no admission may be charged for an event without pre-approval.
Jones said someone from the town should have made a phone call or sent a Facebook message to alert her that charging admission was not allowed. She does not dispute the admission fee was in violation of the terms.
“I’m not going to sit here an not take responsibility. The application clearly states that you cannot charge to get into the building. It clearly states that,” she said. “I guess we did not follow policies and procedure. We did charge, at first, to get into the gates. Once the police, law enforcement showed up, they did correct that and we stopped charging.”
“We are standing there and five carloads of deputy sheriffs shows up when you’ve got young African American men. I want you to use this mentality as a teacher,” Jones said. “What if one of those cops would have came there. What if one of those cops or cellphones would have been mistaken as a gun. We know what police officers do to young African American men.”
She described the deputies as very apologetic and professional. “They searched the building to make sure there was not alcohol. And guess what? They did not stay the entire time. They actually left. They came back at 11:45.”
The Escambia County Sheriff’s Office, however, says their official records show a different sequence of events and that there were never five deputies on the premises that night.
An off-duty deputy hired by the town under the rental agreement was present at the community center from 8 p.m. until midnight, according to Major Andrew Hobbs, spokesperson for the ECSO.
“He walked through the building periodically as part of his job; otherwise he was outside as not to hinder anyone from enjoying the event,” Hobb stated.
“Two additional deputies stopped by about midnight to see if the deputy working security needed any assistance with traffic due to the large number of people, or assistance with clearing the building since the town rules required it to be vacated by midnight,” Hobbs said, adding the event was peaceful — there were no conflicts and no complaints.
The rental agreement states “no one may be in the building or parking lot after 12:00 midnight”.
“We hired security. We had over 20 people, that’s my family alone, circling that area making sure,” Jones told the town council “When the police came there, they looked, they searched. What is the problem you guys? …They said the mayor told us to enforce the rules. If you guys charge, we are asking you vacate the premises now. They said also that they were told by the mayor that you guys are serving alcohol.”
“We had to reiterate several times you guys the mayor is African American. They were making a race issue. We are like no…it wasn’t because you were black. So that wasn’t the issue. The issue is leadership you guys,” she said she told her nephews.
“I have heard worse as a English teacher coming from leaders. You guys are leaders,” Jones told the council. “I have heard worse, I have never heard….there are public speaking forums you can attend that teach you how to speak in a public forum. I’m not, please don’t take this as a bad thing. There were certain things I did not even understand that came from this podium today. There’s not an excuse, how can we tell our kids to get a better education….when we ourselves cannot speak proper English. When we ourselves cannot articulate, put together a sentence.”
“But it’s OK for us to send five police car loads to them when all they were doing was enjoying this day. You guys there was not one incident, not one single incident. Not one.”
“It wasn’t the admission that was the issue,” Hawkins said. “The application said graduation dinner, and someone brought it to my attention on Facebook it said a party. That was my issue. A dinner and a party is two different things.”
“We can’t put Century’s reputation on the line for a party,” council member Luis Gomez said. He said eight years ago a girl was shot during a “party” in the same building. He then started the popular “Century Block Party” at a local park, which has attracted hundreds of youth per year to an end of the school year celebration that has gone off without incident.
“We are going to show them that we know how to live, and we know how to act,” he said of his reason for the Century Block Party after the town’s previous mayor ended community center rentals. “But I had to hire the deputy sheriffs to be there at that party because they will clown, you know this.”
“You are not going to stereotype my people,” Jones interrupted despite Gomez’s attempt to continue.
“I’m not stereotyping. They are my people,” Gomez, who is also African American, said. “You’re a teacher. You know how to read. It says from eight o’clock until 12. They flyer says everybody in as late as 11:30. That means you had 30 minutes.”
“I am not arguing the policies and procedures. It clearly states that. I am arguing the way the situation was handled,” Jones said as she continued to speak over Gomez repeatedly.
“You paid for the police to be there. They were paid to be there for the duration of the rental; they were supposed to leave after everybody was gone,” Gomez said. You paid for them to be there…You paid for it. That’s the policy.”
“This right here shows what I am talking about,” Jones said. “There is a lack of leadership here. It starts from the top up.”
The building rental agreement was signed by Tawana Jones’ sister-in-law Tara Jones, who did not appear before the council. Jones paid $100 toward the rental on March 22 and a final payment of $250 on May 18, the day before the event. Hawkins noted that the rental agreement states payments are due “in full five days prior to the event”.
The mayor said Tara Jones will not receive any type of refund due to the policy violations.
The town council plans to review their community center rental agreement at a future meeting.
NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
One Injured In Late Night Cantonment Crash
May 24, 2018
One person was injured in a single vehicle crash just before midnight Wednesday near County Road 97 at Sandicrest Drive in Cantonment.
A male driver lost control and crashed into a chain link fence. He was transported to an area hospital by Escambia County EMS with non-life threatening injuries.
The accident is under investigation by the Florida Highway Patrol. The Ensley Station of Escambia Fire Rescue also responded.
NorthEscambia.com photos by Kristi Barbour, click to enlarge.
Escambia County Announces CPR App To Help Save Lives
May 24, 2018
Escambia County Emergency Medical Services has joined more than 2,800 communities nationwide to launch the PulsePoint mobile app in Escambia County, a lifesaving app that alerts CPR-trained citizens when someone in a nearby public place suffers sudden cardiac arrest.
Public safety communications centers send alerts through the app at the same time they dispatch first responders to the scene, so that citizens may administer aid while responders are en route. The app also notifies users of the closest available automated external defibrillator, or AED.
According to the American Heart Association, there are more than 356,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests annually in the U.S., about 90 percent of which end in death. Early application of bystander CPR and rapid defibrillation from an AED have proven to be crucial in improving a person’s chance of survival.
The American Heart Association estimates that effective hands-only CPR provided immediately after a cardiac emergency can double or triple a person’s chance of survival, but only 46 percent of sudden cardiac arrest victims received bystander CPR in 2016. Even fewer receive a potentially lifesaving therapeutic shock from a public access AED.
Anyone with a smartphone can download the free PulsePoint Respond app through the Google Play Store and Apple App Store. Once the app is installed, select the agency serving the area where you live or work to receive alerts. Users may follow more than one agency.
Related story: “I’m The Guy Who Died At Chick-fil-A” – Escambia EMS Recognizes Cardiac Arrest Survivors
If the cardiac emergency is in a public place, the location-aware PulsePoint app will alert users in the vicinity of the need for CPR simultaneous with the dispatch of advanced medical care. The application also directs these potential rescuers to the exact location of the closest AED.
PulsePoint is a nonprofit foundation building applications that work with local public safety agencies to improve communications with citizens and off-duty personnel, empowering them to help reduce the millions of annual deaths from sudden cardiac arrest.
Advocacy Groups Say Gulf Islands National Seashore, Other Parks At Risk From Offshore Drilling
May 24, 2018
Environmental conservation groups say Gulf Islands National Seashore and 10 other national parks in Florida are threatened by White House proposals to open to oil drilling currently protected parts of the nation’s outer continental shelf and to revise the 2016 Well Control Rule, according to a report released Wednesday.
Nicholas Lund, co-author of the report issued by the National Parks Conservation Association and the Natural Resources Defense Council, told reporters that the proposed changes put more than 9,000 Florida jobs at risk. The proposals could also cost Florida $876 million in annual economic output, according to Lund, a senior manager with parks association.
“The economic output from the national parks and monuments in Florida is a significant force in the coastal economy of the state,” the 38-page report states. “The economic output measure goes far beyond just visitors’ spending and includes the ripples of activity their visits generate: the spending of both the businesses they patronize and the communities their tourism supports. Many out-of-town visitors of coastal national parks identify a park as their primary reason for traveling to the area.”
The report focused on the potential impacts of oil and gas drilling on different sections of the nation.
Gov. Rick Scott and the state’s congressional delegation have voiced opposition to the plan to open to drilling previously protected parts of the nation’s outer continental shelf — a jurisdictional term describing submerged lands 10.36 statutory miles off Florida’s West Coast and three nautical miles off the East Coast.
In January, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke appeared briefly in Tallahassee to announce drilling would not occur off Florida’s coasts. But the White House’s position has not yet been formalized.
by The News Service of Florida with contribution from NorthEscambia.com
Derrick Brooks Joins Blue Wahoos Ownership Group
May 24, 2018
The Pensacola Blue Wahoos made another big catch when it was announced that Football Hall of Famer Derrick Brooks has joined two time Master champion Bubba Watson and Quint and Rishy Studer in the ownership of the Pensacola Blue Wahoos.
“I, like all Pensacolians have had great respect for Derrick for years,” said Quint Studer. “His accomplishments on the field are legendary. So too is his work off the football field. From a high school in Tampa, running an arena football team to numerous endeavors making life better for children and families, Derrick is a difference maker. His commitment to Pensacola has never wavered. We have seen this with the success of the flag football league.”
“I am excited to welcome Derrick into the Blue Wahoos family. We have known each other for a long time and I know he shares Quint and Rishy’s vision for improving the quality of life in our community” said Watson. “I loved watching Derrick play football, but more importantly I like the way he has used the platform he was given to make a positive impact on the people and communities around him. We are lucky that he is from Pensacola”
“Bubba and Derrick have great respect for each other,” added Studer. “I was thrilled when Bubba brought up the idea of Derrick joining our group. Rishy and I have always taken a long range look at things. Having local ownership is important. Those teams that move out of a city most often are owned by people that are not part of the community. Of course it also takes a supportive city and a well maintained stadium to ensure a team remains.”
In addition Brooks and Studer have created Studer55. The initial focus will be building up flag football with a focus on academics and character building.
“I am humbled, excited, and ready to serve our ownership group in any role that will help the team win,” said Derrick Brooks. “This opportunity to work more strategically with my hometown and better serve our community with my partnership with Quint, Bubba and other partners. I have dreamed of professional sports ownership, so I am grateful that Quint and his wife allowed me this chance. Also, Derrick Brooks Charities plan to expand our flag football league with the NFL and increase our community programs with David Wilson’s leadership as part of the Studer Family of Companies.”
“We have also gotten to know Derrick’s desire to increase his Pensacola presence, as well as longtime coach, and now the athletic director for Studer55, David Wilson’s goal to move to Pensacola,” said Studer. “In the near future we will reveal the increased opportunities for children to be healthy both physically and mentally through Studer55. We are thrilled to have Coach Wilson back in the community.”
Brooks’ decorated NFL career began after twice being name an All-American at Florida State. In 2002, he was named the Associated Press NFL Defensive Player of the Year. That season, he helped the Tampa Bay Buccaneers win the franchise’s first Super Bowl. He is an 11-time Pro Bowler which is tied for the second most for a linebacker in NFL history. In 2014 he was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. His name is also enshrined in the Buccaneers Ring of Honor and his number 55 is one of three numbers retired by the franchise.
Wahoos And Smokies Suspended In Fifth
May 24, 2018
Wednesday night’s contest between the Blue Wahoos and the Tennessee Smokies has been suspended due to rain. The Smokies led the Wahoos 3-0 before play was halted. Play will resume Thursday at 5:05 p.m. prior to Thursday’s regularly scheduled game.
Eddy Martinez reached on an error to start the third inning and scored on a Trevor Clifton double which gave the Smokies a 1-0 lead. A two-run homer in the fourth from Yasiel Balaguert brought us where we are at now with the Wahoos down 3-0.
Prior to first pitch, Pensacola native and Pro football Hall of Famer Derrick Brooks was announced as a co-owner of the Pensacola Blue Wahoos. Masters champion Bubba Watson formally introduced Brooks during the ceremony. Brooks and Watson echoed Quint Studer’s vision of improving the quality of life in Pensacola.
In game two of the series, right-handed pitcher Keury Mella (4-2, 2.25) will start for the Wahoos against Tennessee right-hander Duncan Robinson (1-1, 3.83).
Century Has Approved $2 Billion In Projects For Capital Trust Agency
May 23, 2018
Over the past 19 years, the Town of Century has served an integral role in the tax-exempt financing of over $1.5 billion worth of projects, including affordable housing projects, airport facilities, hotel and convention developments promoting tourism, health care projects, and K-12 educational buildings.
This week, the Century Town Council approved another $460 million funding this week for “public purpose” projects in Florida that will net up to $161,000 in fees for the town.
It’s a role that has provided hundreds of thousands of dollars for Century.
On the surface it might seem unlikely that Century, the poorest small city in the state, could play a part in the financing of dozens of multi-million projects including the Community Maritime Park in Pensacola, $439 million in hotel and convention centers for the Seminole Nation, airport cargo terminals, schools and apartment complexes.
The approvals were granted by Century and Gulf Breeze as members of the Capital Trust Agency, an independent public body for the purpose of financing or otherwise accomplishing development programs. Century entered into the Capital Trust Agency with Gulf Breeze in 1999 with Century essentially serving as the “second signature” for CTA, certifying that the projects meet a public purpose under IRS rules and regulations.
The CTA is structured in such a way to indemnify Century from any financial risk, whether it be from a company that defaults on repayment or any other legal liabilities, according to Michael Stebbins, CTA attorney. The funds used for the bonds are from the CTA’s funds, not from Century or Gulf Breeze.
Century has received over three-quarters of a million dollars in fees since the inception of CTA.
Funding approved this week included:
- Antares of Ormond Beach will a new senior living and memory care facility located in Ormond Beach. It will include 87 assisted living units and 37 memory care units. A bond issue of up to $35 million would mean a bond fee of $12,250 for Century. But it is more likely $30.675 million in bonds will be issued for fee of $10,850 for Century.
- The Rockledge Senior Housing Project Premium Edge, LLC, will include 55 independent living units, 58 assisted living units and 27 memory care units. A bond issue of up to $35 million would mean a bond fee of $12,250 for Century. But it is more likely $31.4 million in bonds will be issued for fee of $10,850 for Century.
- H-Bay Ministries of Texas plans to construct over 300 assisted living and memory care units in Hillsborough County, Lake County, Citrus County, Marion County and Niceville in Okaloosa County. A bond issue of up to $90 million would mean a bond fee of $31,500 for Century. But it is more likely $86.3 million in bonds will be issued for fee of $30,450 for Century.
- The University Bridge LLC Housing Project will be 886 rental units with 1,244 beds for students at Florida Atlantic University in Sweetwater. A bond issue of up to $300 million would mean a bond fee of $105,000 for Century. But it is more likely $210 million in bonds will be issued for fee of $73,500 for Century.