Century Mayor Wants To Hire Town Clerk Without Advertising
March 20, 2018
Century Mayor Henry Hawkins wanted to a hire a town clerk without advertising the position, but the town council has voted otherwise.
Kim Godwin, who last worked as gas department supervisor, was named interim town clerk March 5 after the resignation of Leslie Howington.
Monday night, Hawkins told the council that he wanted to promote Godwin, a certified clerk, into the position. “I would like to hire Kim,” he said, “because she knows what needs to be done.”
“I think Kim might apply,” council president Ann Brooks said. “I think we need to advertise; someone else might be interested.”
Hawkins said he does not believe the town will receive any other certified applicants willing to take the job in Century. He said the town’s policies allow for discretionary in-house promotions.
“You don’t know until you do (advertise),” Brooks said. “It was already suppose to be advertised.”
The council voted 3-1 to advertise the town clerk position, with Sandra McMurray Jackson voting against and Gary Riley absent. The advertisement will be published on NorthEscambia.com and in the Tri-City Ledger.’
Pictured: (L-R) Century Mayor Henry Hawkins, Interim Town Clerk Kim Godwin and council member Louis Gomez Monday night. NorthEscambia.com photo, click to enlarge.
Deputies Pursue Suspect North From Cantonment
March 20, 2018
Escambia County Sheriff’s deputies pursued a suspect north from Cantonment into Molino Monday night.
Deputies responded to the complaint of a disturbance on Lake Drive off Old Chemstrand Road about 9:35 p.m. A suspect confirmed to have five active arrest warrants fled the scene, according to Deputy Melony Peterson, spokesperson for the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office. As the suspect fled, he struck an Escambia County Sheriff’s Office patrol unit, causing minimal damage and no injuries, she said.
Residents reported the pursuit continued into Molino, traveling along Highway 95A. Peterson said the pursuit was canceled with the suspect’s vehicle last seen traveling north on Highway 29. Surrounding law enforcement agencies were notified.
Further details on the suspect and vehicle were not available late Monday night.
NorthEscambia.com file photo.
Spring Livestock Show, Blue Jacket Jamboree Are Saturday
March 20, 2018
University of Florida IFAS Extension in Escambia County is hosting the Gulf Coast Agriculture & Natural Resources Youth Organization Annual Spring Livestock Show and Northview FFA Blue Jacket Jamboree Saturday March 24 at the Escambia 4-H Livestock Facility located at 5701 Highway 99 in Molino.
This year’s livestock show begins at 8 a.m. with over one hundred 4-H and FFA youth exhibiting hogs, beef cattle, sheep, goats, poultry, and rabbits from Escambia and neighboring counties. The day will conclude with youth exhibitors auctioning off their market animals beginning at 5 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.
Youth exhibitors receive quality premiums for their animals as well as proceeds from the auction of their animals. The GCA/NRYO show and auction is the culmination of the projects that youth have invested months and numerous hours in preparation. The livestock auction has become a success through the generous support of local sponsors and businesses who purchase the animals.
The Northview High School FFA Blue Jacket Jamboree will be held from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. with plenty of arts and crafts, a car show, a tractor show and more. An Egg Drop will be held at 11 a.m. with a special area just for toddlers and pre-schoolers.
Admission is free for all events.
The Blue Jacket Jamboree is sponsored in part by NorthEscambia.com
NorthEscambia.com file photos.
Tom Thumb Special Delivery: It’s A Girl!
March 20, 2018
It’s a girl!
It was a very special delivery about 2 a.m. Monday for Escambia County EMS and the Beulah Station of Escambia Fire Rescue. They responded to the Tom Thumb on West Nine Mile at Beulah Road to a report of a woman in labor. And she was.
The woman gave birth before being transported to a local hospital with her newborn.
At last report, mom and baby were fine.
Attorney: County’s Words Changed In Proposed Agreement With Sheriff’s Office
March 20, 2018
[Update 3/20 9:20 am with comment from ECSO attorney)
The war of words has been ongoing for months between the Escambia County Commission and Sheriff David Morgan over his budget. And now the county attorney says someone changed the county’s words in a draft interlocal agreement.
On March 14, County Attorney Alison Rogers emailed a proposed interlocal agreement to Gerald Champagne, in-house counsel for the Sheriff’s Office. “Attached find both a word and a pdf of the draft interlocal. Open to a conversation about any proposed changes, but I think this is a start,” Rogers said in her email to the ECSO attorney.
In the interlocal agreement sent to the ECSO for review, the county’s version of the document states “These funds shall be inclusive of all benefits and raises.”
(story continues below image, click to enlarge)
Midday Monday, the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office posted images of the interlocal agreement, stating, “We are attaching the working copy of the Interlocal Agreement that was abandoned by the BOCC. Their initial draft is in black. Our additions and clarifications are in red in the pictured documents provided.”
(story continues below image)
The version posted by the ECSO shows a line “These funds shall be inclusive of benefits and raises, and associated personnel cost”, with a strike-through indicating the ECSO wishes to have the line removed and replace with their red-letter text.
“But what they posted is not the BOCC’s initial draft,” Rogers said. “Somehow the words in the county’s original were changed.”
“The document we posted with our press release is the exact document that we sent to Alison Rogers, Escambia County Attorney, on Wednesday, March 14, 2018. At the time, our legal staff was engaged in what was believed to be a good faith effort to flesh out the details of the mediation settlement,” Champagne said Tuesday morning in an email. “The language in question was mistakenly added and stricken, and this was merely a scrivener’s error. If the County had not abandoned the attempt to draft an Interlocal agreement, they could have pointed out this error and it would have been immediately corrected. The County also could have accepted our invitation to engage the mediator to work through the issues in a final agreement.”
The lines in question from the two documents are highlighted below, click to enlarge.
County Version:
ECSO Version:
Aggie Classic Scores
March 20, 2018
The Tate Aggies opened play Monday in the 25th Annual Aggie Classic: with a 17-7 win over Carl Albert of Oklahoma. Carl Albert scored four in he first inning, but the Aggies pulled away with six runs in the second inning, including a homer from Darrien McDowell.
Here are scores from Monday’s action in the 25th Annual Aggie Classic:
Union 15, Morgan Academy 7
Goodpasture 10, Union 5
Tate 17, Carl Albert 7
Christ Presbyterian 12, Moore 2
Apopka 7, Cascia Hall 1
Piedmont 12, West Florida 6
Bartlesville 8, Coosa Valley 1
B.T. Washington 6, Marianna 4
Schedule:
Escambia High
March 20
4 p.m. Goodpasture, TN vs. Mustang, OK
7 p.m. Coosa Valley, AL vs. Mustang, OK
March 21
4 p.m. Bartlesville, OK vs. Morgan Academy, AL
7 p.m. Carl Albert, OK vs. Morgan Academy AL
Choctaw High
March 20
4 p.m. Christ Presbyterian, TN vs. Piedmont, OK
7 p.m. Choctaw vs. Union, OK
March 21
4 p.m. Cascia Hall, OK vs. Coosa Valley, AL
7 p.m. Choctaw vs. Washington, OK
Navarre High
March 20
4 p.m. Carl Albert, OK vs. Marianna
7 p.m. Apopka vs. Moore, OK
Pensacola State College
March 21
4 p.m. Christ Presbyterian, TN vs. Marianna
7 p.m. Apopka vs. Mustang, OK
Tate High
March 20
4 p.m. Bentonville, Ark. vs. Washington, OK
7 p.m. Bartlesville, OK vs. Tate
March 21
4 p.m. Bentonville, Ark. vs. McAlester, OK
7 p.m. Piedmont, OK vs. Tate
West Florida
March 20
4 p.m. Cascia Hall, OK vs. Morgan Academy, AL
7 p.m. McAlester, OK vs. West Florida
March 21
4 p.m. Union, OK vs. West Florida
7 p.m. Goodpasture, TN vs. Moore, OK
Chipley Tops Northview
March 20, 2018
The Northview Chiefs lost to Chipley Monday, 3-1. The Chiefs will host Central High School on Tuesday. Photos by Ramona Preston for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Scott Signs Bill Targeting Opiod Addiction
March 20, 2018
Saying it is critical to “stop the addiction in the beginning,” Gov. Rick Scott on Monday signed a high-profile bill designed to prevent patients from getting hooked on powerful opioids.
Flanked by House leaders and law-enforcement officers at the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office, Scott approved the measure as the state continues grappling with drug overdoses that have surged in recent years. The bill is designed, at least in part, to prevent patients from getting addicted to prescription painkillers and then turning to street drugs such as heroin and fentanyl.
“I’ve met a lot of families all across the state who are dealing with drug abuse,” said Scott, who declared a public-health emergency last year because of the opioid issue. “I have a family member that’s dealt with both alcoholism and drug abuse, and I can tell you it’s very difficult for a family.”
Lawmakers unanimously passed the bill (HB 21) on March 9, the final full day of the annual legislative session.
Perhaps the highest-profile part of the bill would place limits on prescriptions that doctors can write for treatment of acute pain. Doctors in many cases would be limited to writing prescriptions for three-day supplies, though they could prescribe up to seven-day supplies of controlled substances if “medically necessary.” Cancer patients, people who are terminally ill, palliative care patients and those who suffer from major trauma would be exempt from the limits.
Some physicians objected during the legislative session to such limits. But House Speaker Richard Corcoran, a Land O’ Lakes Republican who took part in Monday’s bill-signing event, defended the approach.
“It (the bill) also says no longer will we prescribe just blanketly 30-day prescriptions. Now we’ll say it’s a three-day prescription, and then you have to come back and warrant (it),” Corcoran said. “Is that an inconvenience? Yes. Is an inconvenience worth saving 50,000 lives nationwide? Absolutely.”
Another high-profile part of the bill will require physicians or their staff members to check with a statewide database before prescribing or dispensing controlled substances. In the past, Florida has not required physicians to use the database, known as the prescription drug monitoring program. The goal of the database is to prevent addicts from visiting multiple doctors or pharmacies to get supplies of drugs.
Opioids have caused thousands of deaths in Florida in recent years. In 2016, for example, fentanyl caused 1,390 deaths, heroin caused 952 deaths, oxycodone caused 723 deaths, and hydrocodone caused 245 deaths, according to a House staff analysis.
House Commerce Chairman Jim Boyd, a Bradenton Republican who sponsored the bill, described it as “another step to curbing this epidemic.”
“I grew passionate about this a couple of years ago because I just saw what it was doing,” Boyd said during the bill-signing event at the sheriff’s office. “There’s not a person in this room who doesn’t have a family member or a friend of a family that hasn’t been affected by this epidemic.”
by Jim Saunders, The News Service of Florida
13-year-old Charged With Attempted Murder By Arson
March 19, 2018
A young teen has been charged with attempted murder following a fire Saturday near Jay.
The Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office responded to a fire on Stafford Farm Boulevard off Chumuckla Highway. The fire was investigated by the Bureau of Fire and Arson Investigations, which determined that the garage fire was intentionally set.
During the course of the investigation, deputies received information that a teen living nearby was involved with setting the fire.
The teen has been identified as 13 year-old Ethan Marsh-Hual.
Marsh-Hual was transported to the Santa Rosa County Jail. He is charged with multiple felonies - attempted premeditated murder, arson, burglary of an occupied dwelling and burglary of a vehicle. He was transported to the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice in Pensacola.
A resident of the home reported that he smelled smoke after being awakened by his daughter and found a wall to a garage to be hot. He opened the garage door, observed the fire and emptied a fire extinguisher on it before putting out the fire with a garden hose.
The teen told deputies that he had become friends with an unknown juvenile neighbor not named in an arrest report, and the two had gotten into a fight. The individual allegedly told others at school that he threw up on his mailbox and made fun of him. Marsh-Haul told investigators that he went bed at 10:30 p.m. and set his alarm for midnight. After his alarm went off, he said he went out of his window and lit a propane tank on fire inside the home.
Sheriff Says Budget Mediation Unsuccessful, Likely Headed Back To Governor
March 19, 2018
Escambia County Sheriff David Morgan said in a release Monday afternoon that a signed budget mediation agreement with Escambia County appears unsuccessful, and he is likely continuing his appeal to Gov. Rick Scott.
The Sheriff’s Office released the following statement:
“The attempt to resolve the budget appeal through mediation appears to have been unsuccessful. Based on communication after the mediation, the BOCC staff wants to include any future contributions or cost increases to Worker’s Compensation, Unemployment Compensation, Florida Retirement System, and Health Care, as part of what was agreed to as a salary fix. The BOCC will be free to increase their own subsidies and the other constitutional officer’s subsidies over the next 3 years while keeping the Sheriff’s Office at current levels. There would be no way to project what an employee’s salary would be in three years if subsidy increases have to come out of the salary dollars.
“We cannot go into the details of the mediation per a confidentiality agreement. More work was to be done to flesh out the details of the Mediation Settlement as evidenced the BOCC’s County Attorney (who was present during the mediation) drafting a more detailed Interlocal Agreement that was sent to us last week for review and input. There now seems to be some internal conflict between the Commissioners concerning the agreement. In addition, the BOCC is now attempting to unilaterally define the Mediation Settlement by casting aside the more detailed draft Interlocal Agreement. We asked the BOCC to join a conference call with the mediator on Friday to clarify the issues. They declined. If the Commissioners are now being told that the mediation settlement was always meant to be the final language in the Interlocal Agreement, we would encourage them to individually and directly contact the mediator for clarification of that point. We will not accept any settlement that prevents the full implementation of the salary study or fails to correct the gross underfunding of ECSO salaries. We are fully confident that when the facts are presented to the Governor that he will decide in the ECSO’s favor.”
Just before noon Monday, Joy Tsubooka, Escambia County public information officer, said the county had not yet been informed about the failure of the mediation agreement.
County Attorney Alison Rogers emailed each commissioner and Administrator Jack Brown at 4:54 p.m. Friday to inform them that an interlocal agreement affirming the mediation agreement had been emailed at 4:28 p.m. to Gerald Champagne, in-house counsel for the ECSO.
The email stated “Attached is an interlocal that incorporates the Mediation Agreement. If your client executes it, please advise.”
To read the interlocal agreement as written by Escambia County, click here (pdf).
To read the interlocal agreement with changes by the ECSO in red, click here (pdf).
For an earlier story, click here.