No Injuries In Byrneville Crash
December 20, 2017
A driver was not on the scene of a single vehicle accident when first responders arrived late Tuesday night near Byrneville.
The driver lost control of an older model Buick LeSabre while eastbound on Highway 4, struck a culvert and went airborne at Dora Lee Killam Road about 10:45 p.m. The vehicle struck a stop sign and road sign before continuing back across the roadway and striking a tree.
A witness said the driver fled the scene a few minutes later, getting into a light-colored Jeep that continued eastbound on Highway 4 toward Century at a high rate of speed.
The accident was under investigation by the Florida Highway Patrol. The Century Station of Escambia Fire Rescue and Escambia County EMS also responded to the crash.
NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Century In $100K Dispute With New Apartment Complex Over Tap Fees
December 20, 2017
The Town of Century and the development company behind a soon to be open 50-unit Century Park Apartments are at odds over just how much it will cost to turn water service on to the complex.
The developer, the non-profit Paces Foundation, tendered a $63,750 check to cover water and sewer connection fees, but that check was returned by the town. Now, according to town consultant Debbie Nickles, the town is seeking a $180,250 connection fee.
And Monday night, the Century Town Council voted 4-1 not to honor the lower amount Paces submitted. Council President Ann Brooks cast the lone dissenting vote.
The $10 million Century Park Apartments complex is scheduled to open with 50 units as early as next month on Second Street, near the Billy G. Ward Courthouse.
Paces contends that the $63,750 submitted was agreed upon during a 2015 meeting with then-Mayor Freddie McCall and Nickles. The only written agreement to come out of that meeting was a handwritten page showing calculations that Paces said were based upon the 2015 rates as published online in the town’s municipal code. The handwritten document also included a proposed fee for natural gas; however, the developer later opted to go all-electric.
“It was agreed to by me, as a representative of the Paces Foundation, and the mayor at the point in time and your town planner. So from that, we had an agreement,” Development Manager Rick Haymond of Paces told the town council.
“So at the time we went by the documentation that was written under the ordinances and your resolutions for the fees,” Nickles told the council. Haymond said he never had a written contract regarding tap fees with a municipality in his 17 years, and had often used published rates available online.
McCall and Nickles (pictured left) do not deny the meeting, nor do they deny the agreement or the approximate $63,000 tap fee.
“The town made a commitment to them. To me, they should do the right thing and honor that commitment,” Nickles said.
Council member Luis Gomez said written documentation and agreements should appear on town letterhead and have signatures. He said the town is attempting to regroup and change the direction of finances in the town.
“The only reason I am objecting so hard is because I took office in February for this seat and at time we were operating totally red. And we are trying to regroup and change the direction of the finances and the budget in the town of Century,” Gomez said.
“I don’t know what else we could have done than to go to the highest officials in the city,” Haymond said, pointing out that the tap fee is the only disputed amount; he said Paces will be subject to all other current water and sewer rates.
Century Water Superintendent Alicia Jernigan (pictured left) said the new apartment complex will be served by a sewage lift station near Pilgrim Lodge Church which has had four recent failures with needed repairs estimated at $50,000. She said the citizens will have to pick up the repair costs.
“Our infrastructure has to be maintained, and our infrastructure is failing, Jernigan said. The failure, she said, is due to low rates and not putting money aside over 30 years to make repairs. “If we can’t handle what is coming through Pilgrim Lodge (lift station) now, how are we going to handle 50 more units? So $50,000 of that (tap fee) right now off the top will be to rehab that lift station.”
“I understand where you are coming from, you just can’t put that problem on us. To begin with, I don’t think it’s fair to put that problem on us.,” Haymond said.
“You want to do what you want to do and it’s OK, but when we do what we need to do, now you have a problem,” Century Mayor Henry Hawkins said. “Based on my consideration, I don’t like it. We have an adopted rate and I am still holding you accountable to that rate. If you want water, it’s going to cost you ‘X’ amount of dollars for fees.” He explained “X amount of dollars” as being the town’s new rates.
“I have not seen an agreement,” Hawkins continued, discounting the documentation provided by Paces and the handwritten figures. “This is not an agreement to the fees,this not an agreement to the fees. And what was scratched out that – you said y’all do business that way. If you do businesses that way, I’m surprised you haven’t lost your shorts yet.”
Nickles said that the town had never had a formal written agreement with a developer on tap fees, nor had the town seen a $10 million investment in 30 years.
“That is taking this new development and using it as a way to make up for your lack of maintenance and your lack of taking care of your infrastructure problems. In other words, you are tying to get them to pay for your problems,” Nickles said. “I feel like we made a commitment to them (Paces), and the town should honor that agreement.”
The mayor said any agreement should be on official town letterhead and signed.
“That handwritten stuff that I still have not seen yet is not legal documentation,” Hawkins said.
“That handwritten stuff is what I think you saw at the last meeting,” Council President Ann Brooks said.
“I didn’t see it; you kept it away from me. You kept it away from me,” the mayor replied.
“I did not keep it away from you…I don’t know why you didn’t see it,” Brooks said.
William Dunaway, attorney for the Paces Foundation, said the developer would be seeking a new tap fee calculation.
Pictured top: Century Mayor Henry Hawkins denies documentation presented by an apartment developer is a tap fee agreement. Pictured bottom inset: Development Manager Rick Haymond of the Paces Foundation addresses the Century Town Council. Pictured below: Haymond sits with the council as town planner Debbie Nickles (far right) supports his claims. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Poarch Creek Indians Hold Annual Christmas Parade
December 20, 2017
The Poarch Band of Creek Indians held their annual Christmas Parade Tuesday evening in Poarch. The parade was originally scheduled for Friday, December 8 but was postponed by winter weather.
For more parade highlight photos, click here.
NorthEscambia.com photos by Delaney Reynolds, click to enlarge.
ECSO Seeks Cantonment Vehicle Burglary Suspect
December 20, 2017
The Escambia County Sheriff’s Office is searching for a suspect caught on camera checking for unlocked vehicle doors following several vehicle burglaries on December 18 in the Winners Circle subdivision in Cantonment. Anyone with information about his identity is asked to call the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office at (850) 436-9620 or Crime Stoppers at (850) 433-STOP.
Images submitted by the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office.
Deputies Seek Man Caught On Camera Cashing Stolen Checks
December 20, 2017
The Escambia County Sheriff’s Office is seeking a man caught on camera allegedly cashing stolen checks.
On December 7, several cars were burglarized at the Pensacola Athletic Center on Highway 98 in Escambia County. Then on December 8, this suspect pictured cashed stolen checks at different Central Credit Union locations in Escambia County, according to deputies.
Anyone with information about his identity, or the identity of the female pictured in the passenger seat, is asked to call the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office at (850) 436-9620 or Crime Stoppers at (850) 433-STOP.
Images submitted by the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office.
Driver Flips Vehicle Into Ravine
December 20, 2017
A driver apparently lost control in a curve and wrecked early Tuesday morning on West Kingfield Road, with the vehicle coming to rest in a small ravine estimated to be 12-15 feet deep.
The driver walked away from the 12:25 a.m. crash near Kent Lane. He was transported to a Pensacola hospital by Escambia County EMS.
Further details have not been released by the Florida Highway Patrol.
NorthEscambia.com photos by Kristi Barbour, click to enlarge.
Florida Senator Resigns Amid Sexual Harassment Probe
December 20, 2017
UPDATE:
While continuing to maintain his innocence, Sen. Jack Latvala, R-Clearwater, submitted his resignation Wednesday from the Senate after the release of a report finding probable cause that he had sexually harassed a Senate aide. The special master’s report, released Tuesday, spurred leaders including Gov. Rick Scott to call for Latvala to resign. The report also said Latvala might have violated public-corruption laws because of allegations that he told a lobbyist he would support legislation if she engaged in sexual acts. Latvala said in a letter Wednesday to Senate President Joe Negron that he has “maintained that the charges in the original complaint are fabrications and say that still today.” The letter, posted online by the Herald/Times Tallahassee bureau, said the resignation is effective Jan. 5, four days before the start of the 2018 legislative session. Negron, R-Stuart, released a statement saying Negron made the “right decision.”
PREVIOUS STORY:
Sen. Jack Latvala not only violated rules regarding sexual harassment but should also be investigated for possible public corruption, according to recommendations by a special master released Tuesday.
Special Master Ronald Swanson, a retired judge, found probable cause to support nearly all of the allegations lodged against Latvala by Senate aide Rachel Perrin Rogers, who accused the Clearwater Republican of making inappropriate comments about her body and groping her on several occasions.
Perrin Rogers filed the complaint last month with the Senate Rules Committee, which then hired Swanson to conduct the investigation and make recommendations.
The Senate should consider “the full range of sanctions,” which include expulsion, Swanson advised.
In a Facebook post Tuesday evening, Latvala said the timing of the release of the report “created special problems for me” because he is having a medical procedure this week and then is headed out of town to be with family in Mississippi.
“If there is one thing that I have learned the last couple months its the value of my family so I am not going to let their holiday be consumed by politics. I will be back in Tallahassee on Dec. 26 and will meet with my legal and political team then to consider the future. I will not have any further comment until at least then,” he wrote.
Perrin Rogers, the chief legislative aide for Senate Majority Leader Wilton Simpson, accused Latvala of engaging in inappropriate acts and comments about her body over the past four years. The Senate aide alleged that Latvala hugged her in an unwelcome manner at least four times during the past two years, “assaulted” her inside an elevator this fall and touched a female lobbyist’s breast in April 2017.
The allegation about Latvala’s treatment of the female lobbyist was the only one that Swanson said was not supported by testimony from Perrin Rogers and other witnesses over the past few weeks.
“The evidence demonstrated a progression in conduct, over time, from unwelcome comments and nonverbal behavior to unwelcome touching,” the report said.
Swanson also said testimony and text-message exchanges between the senator and an unidentified woman who was a lobbyist appear to indicate that Latvala violated ethics rules and may have violated “laws prohibiting public corruption.”
The lobbyist testified that, between 2015 and 2017, Latvala “touched her and groped her in an unwelcome manner every time she went to his office.”
She also said Latvala told her on multiple occasions that “if she engaged in sexual acts or allowed him to touch her body in a sexual manner he would support particular legislative items for which she was lobbying.”
The woman’s testimony is supported by “explicit text messages” sent from the senator to the lobbyist, Swanson wrote in the 35-page report. The most recent text message concerning the possible quid pro quo was sent in February 2016, according to the report. The woman testified that she left her work as a lobbyist “in large part to so (she) would never have to owe (Senator Latvala) anything.”
Swanson recommended the allegations “be immediately referred to law enforcement for further investigation.”
The Senate should also conduct “an internal review of Senate culture,” Swanson advised.
“Interactions between senators, Senate staff and third-party lobbyists, both inside the Capitol and during off-site events and work-related social encounters, should be examined. This may lead to the development of additional guidelines or policy,” he wrote.
And he recommended “increased and routine sexual harassment training” for senators and aides, to include “enhanced training on what elected officials must do if a staff member reports harassment by another elected official, staff member or third party.”
The Senate Rules Committee will meet on Jan. 11, two days after the start of the 2018 legislative session, to consider the matter, Senate President Joe Negron wrote in a memo to the chamber.
“The allegations in the complaint are of an extremely serious and sensitive nature. The Senate is under a legal obligation to maintain the confidentiality of the identity and personal identifying information of alleged victims of sexual harassment in public records. You, as a member of the Senate, are required to protect the identity of alleged victims of sexual harassment that may be contained in the documents you may review. Failure to adhere to strict confidentiality of this information may be cause for discipline,” Negron, R-Stuart, wrote. “The Senate rules are designed to ensure a fair resolution of complaints and it is important that you both understand and respect your role in this important process.”
Swanson’s investigation overwhelmingly supported the accusations leveled by Perrin Rogers, who accused Latvala and his backers of waging a smear campaign against her and her husband, Republican political consultant Brian Hughes who recently went to work as Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry’s chief of staff.
Tiffany Cruz, a lawyer representing Perrin Rogers, said Tuesday that Latvala should be expelled from the Senate.
“With this report, the people of Florida now know that the Florida Senate, an august and important institution has been exposed to a terrible truth; the government they fund with their hard earned tax dollars has failed a basic obligation. It has failed to treat employees with dignity and respect by following the law. The person responsible for this sad truth is Jack Latvala,” Cruz said in a statement.
The special master’s report painted an ugly picture of Latvala, a veteran senator who has fervently maintained his innocence. Latvala, who announced in August that he was running for governor, enlisted the aid of Tallahassee lawyer Steve Andrews, renowned for a scorched-earth approach to defending his clients.
Testifying on Latvala’s behalf, lobbyist Carole Duncanson said the senator never behaved inappropriately around her.
But even she, who called him “one of the most loyal people” she’s known in more than 30 years in the Capitol, described him as “huggy and touchy-feely,” while adding that, “I don’t know that that’s inappropriate, or that there is anything criminal or wrong with that,” the report said.
Another lobbyist who worked with Latvala testified that he had made comments “which made her feel uncomfortable” and that he had “touched her waist in an unwelcome manner on three or four occasions.”
And a Senate employee who was a former lobbyist said she had a close relationship with Latvala “that was, at times, intimate.” When Latvala became engaged to his current wife, “she thought the sexual nature of her relationship with Senator Latvala would stop,” the aide testified.
“It did not,” she told Swanson.
One incident focused on doughnuts in the majority office. Camille Johnson, the office’s receptionist, testified that Latvala “was very angry because we did not have donuts,” Swanson wrote.
Perrin Rogers said that she met with Latvala privately in the members’ lounge to address the doughnut situation, and that he “briefly squeezed on my love handle section” before she left the room.
Latvala said he may have had a discussion about the doughnuts but denied squeezing the aide.
“I find that just impossible to believe that that happened,” he testified. “I wouldn’t have hugged her at the end of a conversation. I wouldn’t have hugged her period. I mean, I just, I don’t hug Rachel. I haven’t ever hugged Rachel.”
by Dara Kam, The News Service of Florida
Motorcyclist Seriously Injured In Cantonment Crash
December 19, 2017
A man was seriously injured in a motorcycle accident Tuesday morning in Cantonment.
The man crashed his Triumph motorycle at Jacks Branch Road and Muscogee Road about 8:25 a.m. He was transported by Escambia County EMS as a “trauma alert” to an area hospital.
Exactly how the crash happened was not immediately clear and remains under investigation by the Florida Highway Patrol.
NorthEscambia.com photos by Kristi Barbour, click to enlarge.
Cantonment Woman Charged With Using Stolen Checks To Repay Stolen Money
December 19, 2017
A Cantonment woman was jailed after allegedly using stolen checks to pay back stolen money.
Traneceia Donya Smith, 33, was booked into the Escambia County Jail on felony charges of grand theft, uttering a forged instrument and dealing in stolen property.
The victim told deputies that Smith had previously stolen $15,000 from the victim’s son, but that crime had gone unreported. The victim said Smith agreed to repay the money to her son and provided a promissory note that she claimed was from Smith’s grandmother.
Smith made payments of $1,900 and $900 with checks from her grandmother, according to arrest report, but both checks bounced. The grandmother told deputies that the checks on a closed account had been stolen, and she did not sign them.
Smith remained in the Escambia County Jail with bond set at $45,000.
Molino’s Padgett Appointed To Escambia Extension Council
December 19, 2017
The Escambia County Commission has appointed Sabrena Padgett of Molino to the Escambia County Extension Council.
Padgett is a homemaker that home schools her daughter. She is involved in her daughter’s 4-H club, her church and teaches a cooking class with the home school cooperative. The family has a small farm.
According to Escambia County:
The persons appointed to the Extension Council are to be known to have an interest in and concern for the agricultural, family and consumer sciences (home economics), and youth programs of extension; in developing the rural and urban sections; and in developing the county and its resources.
To ensure that every section of the county is represented, the county is divided into zones and a member is selected from each zone. Members must live in the zone to which he/she is appointed and serve staggered two-year terms. Members may serve for a maximum of two consecutive two-year terms before rotating off and must be off the Council for one two-year term before becoming eligible to serve again.
These individuals, which were nominated by the Nominating Committee selected by the Escambia County Extension Council, reside in the zone for which appointed and are known to have an interest and concern for programs of the Escambia County Extension.