Saturday Morning Wreck Claims One Life
February 17, 2018
A crash early Saturday morning in Beulah claimed one life.
The Florida Highway Patrol said 58-year old Miao Huang of Pensacola pulled her Cadillac from the stop sign on Frank Reeder Road into the path of a Dodge Ram driven by 43-year old Billy Ray Foley, Jr. of Seminole, AL.
Huang was pronounced deceased at Sacred Heart Hospital, while Foley was transported to Sacred Heart in critical condition following the 5:50 a.m.crash.
Any charges in the crash are pending the outcome of a Florida Highway Patrol investigation.
A dog pen with three hunting dogs inside was ejected from the bed of the pickup during the crash. The dogs escaped from the pen, but volunteers were able to locate all three, including two on the Navy’s Outlying Field 8, or OLF-8.
The Beulah and Bellview stations of Escambia Fire Rescue also responded.
Photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Flomaton Fire Destroys One Home, Damages Another
February 17, 2018
An early morning fire destroyed one home and damaged another in Flomaton.
The fire was reported about 4 a.m. on Cotton Ridge Drive. Flomaton Fire Chief Steve Stanton said firefighters battled the fire for about three hours, due to construction factors like a double ceiling and a metal roof. A home next door was also damaged by the fire.
There were no injuries reported.
The exact cause of the fire is under investigation by the Alabama State Fire Marshal’s Office. Responding agencies included the Flomaton and Friendship fire departments, the Century Station of Escambia Fire Rescue and Escambia County (FL) EMS.
Photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Motorcyclist Killed In Escambia Crash
February 17, 2018
A Friday night crash claimed the life of an Alabama man on new Warrington Road near Martha Avenue.
The Florida Highway Patrol said 61-year old Anthony DiCenso of Elberta, AL, was traveling on a Harley motorcycle on New Warrington Road. The FHP report states 38-year old Christopher Sullivan of Pensacola pulled his Toyota 4Runner away from a stop sign into DiCenso’s path about 7:25 p.m.
Censo was transported to Baptist Hospital and later succumbed to his injuries.
The Florida Highway Patrol said charges are pending the outcome of their investigation.
Editor’s note: The Florida Highway Patrol report identified the driver as Anthony Censo, but multiple family members tell us his last name was DiCenso.
Firefighters Respond To Cantonment Pizza Hut
February 17, 2018
Multiple Escambia Fire Rescue stations responded to a report of smoke inside the Cantonment Pizza Hut restaurant at 744 South Highway 29 about 8 p.m. Friday.
Initial information indicated the smoke was from a light fixture.
There was no major damage and no injuries reported.
NorthEscambia.com photos by Kristi Barbour, click to enlarge.
Trump, Florida Leaders Meet With School Shooting Victims
February 17, 2018
U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson and Florida Senate leaders visited Broward County on Friday as the community continued to reel from a mass shooting this week that killed 17 people at a Parkland high school. President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump also visited school shooting victims on Friday.
Senate President Joe Negron, R-Stuart, Senate Minority Leader Oscar Braynon, D-Miami Gardens, Sen. Lauren Book, D-Plantation, and Sen. Gary Farmer, D-Fort Lauderdale, went to Broward Health, where they met with medical workers who treated victims of Wednesday’s shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, according to Negron’s office.
They also met with family members, hospitalized victims and Broward County schools Superintendent Robert Runcie and saw parts of the high school.
“I cannot imagine the fear our students and teachers were facing on Wednesday afternoon. The pictures and video I viewed previously did not prepare us for the horrendous sight we viewed today at Stoneman Douglas,” Negron said.
Nikolas Cruz, 19, who was expelled from the school last year because of disciplinary issues, was charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder after entering the high school with an AR-15 rifle and going on a shooting spree. The shooter pulled a fire alarm and was dressed to blend in with the crowd of students. He then opened fire for seven minutes close to dismissal time.
A football coach, an athletic director, a social studies teacher and 14 students were killed. At least 14 people were wounded, with five suffering life-threatening injuries.
Nelson, talking with reporters Friday, expressed concerns about how Cruz, despite having mental-health issues, purchased the semi-automatic rifle.
“I grew up here in Florida on a ranch. I have always had guns as a boy growing up on a ranch,” Nelson, a Democrat, said. “I have hunted all my life and still hunt with my son, but an AR-15 is not for hunting. It’s for killing.”
On Friday afternoon, the FBI acknowledged that it had failed to act on a tip last month about Cruz. That led Governor Rick Scott to issue a statement calling for FBI Director Christopher Wray to resign.
“The FBI’s failure to take action against this killer is unacceptable,” Scott said. “The FBI has admitted that they were contacted last month by a person who called to inform them of Cruz’s ‘desire to kill people,’ and ‘the potential of him conducting a school shooting.’ ”
The attack Wednesday was the second-worst mass school shooting in U.S. history.
Charlotte Dwyer, a junior at the high school, told The News Service of Florida that she was in Spanish class, across campus from where the shooting took place, when her class heard the fire drill. Dwyer and her classmates walked 10 to 15 feet from their building when they saw students running for their lives.
“Everyone started screaming, ‘Stop! Please, go back inside! Code Red! Code Red! Active shooter!.’ ” Dwyer said. She and her classmates ran into the auditorium, which was the nearest place for shelter and hid in the seat aisles.
“We didn’t know what was happening. Some people thought it was a drill, we were discussing new safety procedures,” she said. “We went on Twitter and saw tweets that people were actually shot, and that was heartbreaking because we just thought maybe it was a kid who came in with a gun and not that anybody was actually hurt. About two hours later, we were evacuated, and that was a really good feeling because just sitting there, waiting, wondering whether somebody was going to come in or not, was terrifying.”
Scott traveled to Parkland on Wednesday to be briefed by law enforcement officials and to visit the wounded in area hospitals. He attended memorial services and vigils on Thursday.
Nelson on Friday talked with reporters about the difficulty in passing gun-control measures.
“It’s very hard to pass legislation unless the president will support it,” Nelson said. “What I would say to the president is, please change your position on assault weapons. Please, change your position, Mr. President, on background checks. These are two common-sense things that we need to etch into law right now.”
President Donald Trump signed a proclamation in honor of the shooting victims and issued a statement Thursday about the shooting.
“Today we mourn for all of those who lost their lives,” he said. “We comfort the grieving and the wounded and we hurt for the entire community of Parkland, Florida, that is now in shock and pain and searching for answers.”
Annika Dean an elementary school teacher, wrapped up her day when she received a text message from her son about an active-shooter drill. A few moments later, Dean got a text message from her son notifying her that it was not a drill. Dean was a survivor of a mass shooting last year at Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood International Airport. Now, her son is also a mass shooting survivor.
“In the airport, I was pretty calm. I was scared. I wasn’t sure if I was going to live or die,” she said. “Mostly, I was concerned about being able to continue to be my son’s mother. With this incident, I just felt helpless. I was worried for him. I knew exactly what he was going through.”
Funerals for the victims began Friday morning, with attendees including U.S. Rep. Ted Deutch, a Democrat whose district includes Parkland. Deutch has worked on a bill, called “The ‘Students, Teachers and Officers Preventing (STOP) School Violence Act” to try to improve local early intervention programs to prevent future school violence.
Dwyer urged local and national lawmakers to act and implement gun-control laws.
“So many of these things have happened,” she said. “We’ve had Sandy Hook, other school shootings and movie theater shootings. When is it going to be enough for them to say, ‘You know what? It’s time we need to put different laws down.’’”
Nelson was taken aback by how vocal students have been in the aftermath of the shooting in calling for changes.
“The students are terrific,” he said. “The fact that they are speaking up as boldly as they are, maybe that is the turning point. You haven’t heard students speak up one after another, after another, after they witnessed this carnage and speaking with conviction.”
by The News Service of Florida
Pictured: President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump also visited school shooting victims on Friday. Courtesy photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Gov. Scott Calls For FBI Director To Resign
February 17, 2018
Gov. Rick Scott on Friday demanded FBI Director Christopher Wray resign after the federal agency acknowledged it failed to follow standard procedures after receiving a tip in January about a man charged this week with killing 17 people at a Broward County high school.
Meanwhile, members of the state’s congressional delegation are seeking U.S. House and Senate investigations into the FBI’s handling of the tip, and two Republican state senators want to establish a task force that would look at violence in schools and communities.
Scott called the failure of the FBI to act on a credible tip “unacceptable.”
“Seventeen innocent people are dead, and acknowledging a mistake isn’t going to cut it,” Scott said in a prepared statement. “An apology will never bring these 17 Floridians back to life or comfort the families who are in pain. The families will spend a lifetime wondering how this could happen, and an apology will never give them the answers they desperately need.”
“We constantly promote ‘see something, say something,’ and a courageous person did just that to the FBI,” Scott continued. “And the FBI failed to act. ‘See something, say something’ is an incredibly important tool and people must have confidence in the follow through from law enforcement. The FBI director needs to resign.”
An FBI spokesman said Friday afternoon the agency had no comment on Scott’s demand.
Nikolas Cruz, 19, was arrested Wednesday after a massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland. Cruz was charged Thursday with 17 counts of premeditated murder, while law enforcement continues to gather information about what was the second worst school shooting in U.S. history.
In a rare admission, the FBI issued a news release Friday that said a person close to Cruz had contacted the agency’s public access line on Jan. 5, outlining the man’s gun ownership, erratic behavior, disturbing social media posts, desire to kill people and even the potential to engage in a school shooting.
The news release said the information should have been assessed as a “potential threat to life” and forwarded to the FBI’s Miami field office, which was not done.
Wray, who has been criticized by many Republicans for his agency’s probe of Russian interference in the 2016 elections, said in the release that an investigation is underway into how the tip-line call was handled.
“I am committed to getting to the bottom of what happened in this particular matter, as well as reviewing our processes for responding to information that we receive from the public,” Wray said.
Wray added that members of the agency have spoken to victims and families and “deeply regret the additional pain this causes all those affected by this horrific tragedy.”
U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and U.S. Rep. Ted Deutch, a Democrat whose district includes Parkland, didn’t go as far as Scott but called for Congress to conduct investigations.
“This has been an excruciating few days for the Parkland community. Now, it appears that this tragedy could have been prevented,” Deutch, said in a prepared statement. “The American people should be encouraged to say something if they see something. But we also must be assured that these tips will be processed swiftly and thoroughly so we can avoid future tragedies.”
Rubio called the FBI’s failure “inexcusable.”
“The fact that the FBI is investigating this failure is not enough,” Rubio said. “Both the House and Senate need to immediately initiate their own investigations into the FBI’s protocols for ensuring tips from the public about potential killers are followed through. Lawmakers and law enforcement personnel constantly remind the public that ‘if you see something, say something.’ In this tragic case, people close to the shooter said something, and our system utterly failed the families of 17 innocent souls.”
In the Florida Legislature, Sen. Rene Garcia, R-Hialeah, and Sen. Anitere Flores, R-Miami, asked Senate President Joe Negron on Friday to establish a task force that would look into issues such as mental-health treatment, hardening soft targets such as schools and the possibility of hiring former military members and police officers to patrol education grounds.
“We should not allow the inaction of our federal partners to be the cause of our inaction in addressing the issues of violence in our schools and our community,” Garcia and Flores jointly wrote in a letter. “We must take a holistic approach in addressing these pressing concerns to ensure that we protect all Floridians.”
Garcia and Flores in the past have helped block gun-rights bills in the Senate Judiciary Committee. The committee is scheduled Tuesday to hear a proposal (SB 1236) that would allow school principals or school superintendents to designate people who could carry guns during school hours.
The task force request came as the Second Amendment group Florida Carry urged lawmakers to eliminate “gun-free zones” for people with concealed-weapons licenses and to allow teachers with licenses to carry firearms while in school.
“It is a well-established fact from numerous such events that bad people with guns will only stop their carnage when confronted by an armed response,” Eric Friday, the group’s general counsel, wrote in an open letter. “Every second until that response occurs allows the murderer to kill and maim more innocents.”
Negron, who visited the high school Friday with Senate Minority Leader Oscar Braynon, D-Miami Gardens, Sen. Lauren Book, D-Plantation, and Sen. Gary Farmer, D-Fort Lauderdale, said the Senate will continue to focus on advancing a $13 million increase in the budget, to $78.1 million, for school safety and another $100 million as part of a new category of K-12 school funding specifically to assess and treat mental health.
Habitat For Humanity Opens ReStore
February 17, 2018
A ribbon cutting was held Friday morning for a new Pensacola Habitat for Humanity Restore at Eastgate Plaza at the intersection of 9th Avenue and Creighton Road.
The Pensacola Habitat for Humanity ReStore is owned and operated by Pensacola Habitat for Humanity. The ReStore accepts high-quality donations, then sells those items to raise money to support Pensacola Habitat’s mission of building homes, community, and hope. ReStore merchandise can be priced 50-70 percent less than standard retail prices, making the ReStore a more affordable avenue for home improvement projects while keeping tons of perfectly good items from ending up in the landfill.
Weekend Visitations Canceled At Century Work Camp After Lockdown
February 17, 2018
The Florida Department of Corrections on Friday announced that weekend visitations have been canceled at the Century Work Camp after the discover of a “significant” amount on contraband inside the facility.
As NorthEscambia.com previously reported, the Century Work Camp has been under a partial lockdown since Tuesday following a contraband search.
The contraband discovery is currently under investigation by the Florida Department of Corrections Inspector General’s Office.
The department declined to identify what type or quantity of contraband was located inside the facility on Tedder Road just west of the Century Correctional Institution.
Weekend visitations were also canceled at the Blackwater Correctional Facility due to contraband.
“The secure operation of our correctional institutions is our chief priority. We have zero tolerance for inmate misconduct or the introduction of contraband into our secure facilities. We are taking proactive measures to ensure these institutions can continue normal operations and that the safety of staff and inmates can be upheld. We look forward to resuming normal visitation as quickly as possible,” Michele Glady, FDC communications director, said.
Navy Federal Named One Of Fortune’s Best Companies To Work For
February 17, 2018
Navy Federal Credit Union has been listed at number 42 on Fortune magazine’s list of the “100 Best Companies To Work For” in 2018. This was highest ranking achieved by the world’s largest credit union in their eight years on the list.
“We work continually to make sure that Navy Federal is an outstanding place to build a career,” said Cutler Dawson, president/CEO of Navy Federal. “Our mission is about excellent service to our members and that mission starts with our employees. I believe that our success is all about putting employees first.”
In recognizing Navy Federal, Fortune noted that 96 percent of employees say they were made to feel welcome when they joined the team, and 95 percent are proud to tell others where they work.
“Being part of team you believe in is a critical part of a great place to work. That’s why we continue to invest in an environment where people can learn, prosper and grow,” Dawson added.
Courtesy photo for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Barrineau Park Road Bridge Reopens
February 17, 2018
The bridge on Barrineau Park Road across the Perdido River into Alabama has reopened. It was closed last Monday due to flooding. The photo shows the bridge on Monday. Photo for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.