Driver Uninjured In Crash With Church Sign
November 11, 2016
A driver refused medical treatment after plowing into a church sign Thursday afternoon at Nine Mile and Rebel roads. Photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
ECSO: School Bus Driver Attacks Student With Hammer
November 10, 2016
Two people have been arrested after a student reported being hit with a hammer by his school bus driver.
The Escambia County Sheriff’s Office reports obtaining video of school bus driver Jimmy Edwards, 55, striking the child with a hammer, then kicking the student off the bus on Highway 98 at Fairfield Drive. Edwards was charged with aggravated child abuse and child neglect.
School bus monitor Pamela Bethea, 54, was charged with failure to report child abuse after she allegedly remained in her seat during the incident and said nothing.
Edward allegedly armed himself with the hammer and said he would show the boy “he was not playing” after the victim called him an “old man”.
Video shows Edwards walked to the back of the school bus and hit the victim twice in the head with his hand. He then swung the hammer at the victim two times while the boy was still sitting down.
The victim got up and walked to the front exit of the school bus. Edwards then swung the hammer twice, nearly missing the victim’s head, while the boy was walking away.
Edwards then hit the boy’s arm with the tool before kicking him off the bus. The boy, a student at Camelot Academy, was forced to walk home without any supervision.
Edwards and Bethea have been suspended by the Escambia County School District as the investigation continues.
Two People, Including Deputy, Injured In Beulah Crash
November 10, 2016
Two people, including an Escambia County deputy, received minor injuries in a two vehicle crash early Thursday morning in Beulah.
The accident happened about 12:08 a.m. at Beulah Road and Mobile Highway. According to the Florida Highway Patrol, 30-year old Daniel James Garner was southbound on Beulah Road when he failed to stop. His Honda Civic collided with an eastbound Chevrolet Tahoe, which was an unmarked Escambia County Sheriff’s Office vehicle driven by Jimmie Tatum of Pensacola.
Both were transported by Escambia County EMS to Sacred Heart Hospital by ambulance with minor injuries.
Garner was cited by the FHP for violation of a traffic control device.
The Beulah Station of Escambia Fire Rescue also responded to the crash.
Reader submitted photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Northview Veterans Program: ‘When I Hear The National Anthem Play, I Don’t Take A Knee’
November 10, 2016
Northview High School honored veterans Tuesday at their annual Veterans Day program.
Guest speaker was former Northview teacher Tom Meehan, a United States Army and Vietnam veteran. He served for four years, 1968-1972, as a helicopter pilot and reached the rank of CWO2.
Meehan told of Harry and Heath – a Vietnam war roommate killed in action and a roommate that later took his own life due to post traumatic stress disorder. And he addressed the recently controversial practice in our nation of not standing during the National Anthem.
“When I hear the National Anthem play, I don’t take a knee to protest some social injustice. I stand at attention, place my hand over my heart and with a tear in my eye think of Harry and Heath and all the other veterans throughout this nation’s history that made America the greatest country on earth,” Meehan told the Northview students.
He said all veterans deserve respect.
“All veterans, whether they served at peacetime or at war, at home or abroad, on the front lines or in the rear, have one thing in common. They all made a pledge to duty, honor, country,” he said.
The event also included the reading of essays from Northview NJROTC cadets Jacob Borelli, Hannah McGahan and Alyssa Borelli; a special recognition for local veterans and NJROTC flag detail presentation.
NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Trump Election Boosts Scott, Bondi
November 10, 2016
Two of Florida’s top Republican leaders are immediate political beneficiaries of Donald Trump’s surprising but decisive presidential victory Tuesday.
Gov. Rick Scott and Attorney General Pam Bondi never embraced the favorite-son presidential candidacies of former Gov. Jeb Bush and U.S. Sen Marco Rubio. That put Scott and Bondi at odds with the majority of Florida’s GOP establishment.
But Trump’s victory, which included winning Florida, has vaulted Scott and Bondi to the front of an inner circle of supporters who may benefit in a host of ways from the coming Trump administration.
Within hours of Trump’s early-morning victory speech in New York City, Scott posted a message online, drawing parallels between his initial gubernatorial campaign in 2010 as a businessman and political novice with Trump’s victory.
“I was the outsider,” Scott wrote. “The Republican Party didn’t support me, and they spent a lot of money against me, and I won anyways because Floridians wanted a change. The same was true for Americans this year.”
Scott led the Rebuilding America Now PAC for Trump, raising and spending $20 million on television advertisements in key battleground states that Trump carried, including Pennsylvania and Ohio.
Scott, who has run two hard-fought but successful gubernatorial campaigns based on an economic prosperity message, noted he had long predicted Trump would carry Florida based on a promise to create more jobs.
“It turns out that the elites in Washington have no idea what is going on in this country,” Scott said. “They are completely clueless. They are in complete shock right now. I love it.”
Scott wrote that Trump, who is a part-time Florida resident at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, has “harnessed the passion of Americans for turning Washington upside down and starting over!”
“He will have a lot of work to do. But, that’s exactly what Americans are demanding,” Scott said.
Although speculation has started that Scott could join the Trump administration, Scott said Wednesday afternoon that he plans to remain in his job as Florida’s governor, with a little more than two years left in his final term.
Many believe Scott is positioning himself for a 2018 challenge of U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, the only Democrat who holds a statewide office in the nation’s third-largest state.
Brian Ballard, a Tallahassee lobbyist who was Trump’s finance chairman in Florida, said Scott will benefit from Trump’s unexpected win.
“Rick Scott has been a promoter of Donald Trump since the beginning,” he said. “He stepped out and led the super PAC at a time when a lot of people thought Trump didn’t have a chance.
“He deserves great credit. It does validate a lot of what he has said.”
As chairman of an independent super PAC promoting Trump, Scott had to keep his distance from Trump under federal election law, Ballard said.
“Trust me, we would commiserate on things, but he couldn’t get involved because he had such a high level of concern about not violating the super PAC statutes,” Ballard said.
While Scott had to remain in the background, Bondi, who endorsed Trump before Florida’s March 15 presidential primary, was the state’s most visible Trump supporter, appearing with him at key rallies in the final days of the election.
Ballard said Trump and Bondi, who is in the middle of her second and final term as attorney general, are very close.
“Her relationship with Donald Trump, which I have seen up close and personal, is incredible,” Ballard said. “He wanted her at every rally. He wanted her on the plane. He wanted her to be his lucky charm. He has great affection for her.”
Bondi’s support never wavered although she became embroiled in a campaign controversy about a $25,000 donation Trump made to her political committee and whether that influenced her office in 2013 to dismiss allegations that Floridians had been bilked by Trump University. Bondi adamantly denied any impropriety.
“When there were bad days, she always helped even if it was quiet help,” Ballard said.
Ballard said he expects Trump to consider Bondi, a former state prosecutor from Tampa, for a role in his administration.
“My guess is if she wants to play a role in the administration, she can play a significant role, and I hope she does,” he said.
While Scott and Bondi are likely to benefit from Trump’s ascension, the new president may present some challenges for Rubio, who was elected Tuesday to a second term as a U.S. senator.
Trump’s presidency makes him, barring some catastrophe, the odds-on favorite to be the GOP’s nominee in 2020, boxing out any presidential bid by Rubio, who was a viable 2016 candidate until Trump trounced him in the Florida presidential primary.
But in contrast to the animosity between Trump and Bush, Ballard described Rubio’s relationship with Trump as a “positive rivalry,” although Rubio kept his distance from Trump during the general election.
“I think they’re fans of one another,” Ballard said. “I think (Rubio) will be a leader in the Senate. He’s going to have the stature of a former presidential candidate. I think he is going to be important to the Trump administration on foreign policy issues and Latin America.”
The fact that Rubio’s chances for a 2020 presidential bid have diminished may also be a positive, Ballard said.
“He is going to be able to be a senator and make a decision on what he wants to do,” Ballard said. “I think he will be a great senator when he doesn’t have that next office to think about.”
Incoming state Rep. Joe Gruters, a vice chairman of the Florida Republican Party who was elected Tuesday to a House seat representing portions of Sarasota and Manatee counties, is another early supporter of Trump who will have access to the new president.
Gruters, who was the co-chair of Trump’s campaign in Florida, has a relationship with the incoming president that dates back to 2012 when Gruters invited Trump to an event where the real-estate developer was honored by local Republicans after being denied a speaking spot at the Republican National Convention in Tampa.
Ballard is likely to benefit from the Trump presidency. Originally a Bush supporter, Ballard has a long history with Trump, representing the Trump Organization in Florida as a lobbyist.
Susie Wiles, Ballard’s lobbying firm partner from Jacksonville, played a critical role in Trump’s victory, leading the successful Florida campaign during its final two months. Wiles was also a key political strategist for Scott, helping him win his first election in 2010.
While saying Trump will be “his own man” and will make mistakes, Ballard said “people are going to love him.”
“He’s going to be much more Ronald Reagan than people really ever dreamed,” Ballard said. “He will be an immensely popular president right away.”
by Lloyd Dunkelberger, The News Service of Florida
Extension Service Hosting Scholarship And Financial Aid Workshop Sunday
November 10, 2016
In an effort to assist parents/guardians and their high-school aged children in taking advantage of financial aid and scholarship opportunities, UF/IFAS Escambia County Extension will offer a free workshop to the public. The workshop will take place Sunday, November 13 at 2 p.m. at the Langley Bell 4-H Center located at 3730 Stefani Road.
A local financial consultant will be on hand to teach this preparatory course in financial aid and scholarships, aimed at helping participants be informed about how to go through the process and knowing what opportunities are available. He will offer tips and information that will help attendees prepare for college in a financially responsible way. This will include how to apply for federal aid such as the Free Application for Federal and Student Aid and Pell Grant, as well as how to take advantage of university/college-specific financial aid and privately-funded scholarships.
For more information, contact UF/IFAS Escambia County Extension at (850) 475-5230.
Seminoles Get Big Win In Gambling Dispute With State
November 10, 2016
Striking a blow to the state, a federal judge ruled Wednesday that the Seminole Tribe of Florida can continue to offer blackjack at its casinos for another 14 years.
U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle’s decision focused on controversial “designated-player” card games allowed at pari-mutuels throughout the state. The tribe has maintained that the games violate a 2010 agreement that gave the tribe exclusive rights to operate “banked” card games, such as blackjack, in exchange for paying $1 billion to the state.
A five-year agreement regarding the banked card games — part of a larger, 20-year deal called a “compact” — expired last summer, prompting the Seminoles to file the lawsuit. The state, meanwhile, filed a separate lawsuit asking the judge to order the tribe to shut down blackjack and other banked games, which the Seminoles have continued to operate.
Under the terms of the compact, the tribe is allowed to continue to operate the banked games if the state permits “any other person” to conduct such games.
In his 36-page ruling, Hinkle agreed with the Seminoles that the state-authorized designated player games triggered the exception to the five-year agreement. He ordered that the tribe be allowed to continue to conduct the banked games for the remainder of the compact’s 20-year term.
“The Seminole Tribe is very pleased with Judge Hinkle’s ruling and is carefully reviewing it. The Tribe believes the ruling provides for its future stability and ensures 3,600 Seminole Gaming employees will keep their jobs,” tribe spokesman Gary Bitner said in a statement.
A spokeswoman for Gov. Rick Scott said his office is reviewing Hinkle’s order.
Pari-mutuels — allowed by state law to conduct games only in which players compete against each other — first launched the designated-player games in 2011. Florida gambling regulators approved a rule governing the games in 2014.
The state’s lawyers insist that the games, in which a player acts as the “bank,” do not violate the compact, even if the manner in which they are being played at some cardrooms might.
But Hinkle, siding with the tribe, disagreed.
“The essential feature of a ‘banked’ game is this: The bank pays the winners and collects from the losers,” he wrote.
Under Florida law, a “banking game” is defined as one “in which the house is a participant in the game, taking on players, paying winners, and collecting from losers or in which the cardroom establishes a bank against which participants play.”
Lawyers for the state argued that a player acting as the bank does not establish a bank within the meaning of the statute.
But Hinkle rejected that, writing that the second part of the definition describes a game banked by anyone, including a player.
“When the cardroom devises and runs the games and sets the rules, including the requirement that a player act as the bank, the cardroom ‘establishes’ a bank. Any notion that players just happen in off the street and decide on their own to establish a bank is wholly fanciful,” he wrote. “A ‘poisoned apple’ is a ‘poisoned apple,’ whether poisoned with arsenic, hemlock or something else. A ‘banked game’ is a ‘banked game,’ whether banked by the house, a player, or someone else.”
And the judge blasted the state for arguing that only activities authorized by the Legislature — not state regulators — could violate the compact.
“It is inconceivable that the parties meant that the state, through the officials to whom it delegated the authority to regulate cardrooms, could allow cardrooms to conduct banked games, issue written assurances that the games comply with state law, adopt a rule approving the practice, but then assert that the exception was not triggered because the Legislature itself had not taken the action,” he wrote.
The tribe agreed to pay the state $1 billion — an amount it exceeded — primarily for the right to avoid competition from the cardrooms.
While the pari-mutuels’ designated-player games were not around at the time the compact was signed in 2010, the tribe “would not have entered the compact under those terms had it known this would be allowed” and “certainly did not intend this exclusive right to be easily evaded,” Hinkle wrote.
Regulators in January and February filed complaints against more than two dozen pari-mutuel operators, alleging that the way the designated-player games were being conducted violated a legal prohibition against banked games. Those complaints and a move late last year by gambling regulators to repeal the rule touched off legal battles in state administrative courts.
During a trial in the Seminoles case last month, Hinkle said the rule appeared to be “an end run around the prohibition” against banked card games.
In Wednesday’s order, he elaborated, focusing in part on one cardroom’s requirement that potential designated players pass a background check and post a cash bond of $100,000 to act as the bank.
“The assertion that this game was just players competing against one another, without a ‘bank’ established by the facility, should have been a nonstarter. But the department assured the cardroom in writing that the game was compliant with Florida law. The assurance provided a ’safe harbor,’ protecting the facility from prosecution for conducting an illegal banked game,” Hinkle wrote.
Hinkle’s ruling is not expected to have an immediate impact on the designated-player games, still underway in cardrooms around the state.
“We’ve had two Division of Administrative Hearings judges determine that the games can be played in conformance with Florida law. And that’s what we’re doing,” lawyer John Lockwood, who represents numerous pari-mutuels that operate the games, told The News Service of Florida on Wednesday afternoon.
by Dara Kam, The News Service of Florida
Garbage Rates Rising For Century Residents
November 10, 2016
Century residents will soon see a slight increase on their garbage bills.
The rate for residential service will increase 53 cents, from $16.45 to $16.98 per month for household waste. The town is passing along a 3.21 percent rate increase from Republic Services, the town’s service provider. Residents will notice the price increase beginning in December.
Under their contract with Century, Republic is allowed to periodically adjust rates based upon increases in the Consumer Price Index. With this hike, the residential garbage rate in Century will have increased $1.94 per month since 2011.
Commercial trash service from the town will also increase by 3.21 percent.
Earn An Accredited High School Diploma At The Library
November 10, 2016
Escambia County residents have a new opportunity to earn their high school diploma through Career Online High School at West Florida Public Libraries. Career Online High School, a program brought to public libraries by Cengage Learning and the state of Florida, offers an accredited high school diploma and credentialed career certificate.
A limited number of scholarships will be awarded to qualified learners. Escambia County residents who are at least 19 years old and have a West Florida Public Libraries card in good standing are eligible for the program. Interested residents can get started by completing an online self-assessment here. Successful applicants will be contacted by the library to discuss application into the program and award of a scholarship. While there is no application deadline, a scholarship is necessary to participate in Career Online High School.
Once enrolled, Career Online High School pairs each student with an academic coach, who assists with developing an individual career plan, offers ongoing guidance and encouragement, evaluates performance and connects the learner with necessary resources. Coursework begins in one of eight career fields from child care and education to certified transportation, before progressing to the core academic subjects. Many students are able to graduate in as few as six months by transferring in previously earned high school credits.
This program is funded under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act from the Institute of Museum and Library Services. Florida’s LSTA program is administered by the Department of State’s Division of Library and Information Services.
To learn more about Career Online High School, visit a West Florida Public Library or click here.
Century’s Voter Turnout Lowest In District 5
November 10, 2016
Despite a mayoral race on the ballot, Century had the lowest voter turnout of any District 5 precinct in Escambia County.
In fact, only three other precincts in the entire county had a lower voter turnout than Century’s 60%.
According to unofficial results, voter turnout in District 5 was as follows (listed by precinct number):
6 — St. Monica’s Church 76%
7 — Pinewood Presbyterian 82%
11 — Walnut Hill 71%
18 — Ray’s Chapel Baptist Church 75%
19 — Barrineau Park Community Center 77%
21 — International Paper 71%
22 — Century Town Hall 60%
23 — Byrneville Community Center 74%
25 – Azalea Trace, Hillview Dr. 75%
33 – First Baptist Bratt 74%
36 — Quintette Community Center 74%
38 — Gonzalez UMC 79%
74 – Escambia Extension 82%
88- University Pines, University Pkwy. 74%
111 – St. Luke UMC 79%
112 — Hillcrest Baptist 77%
Pictured top: The Century precinct at Century Town Hall. Pictured below: The Walnut Hill precinct at the Walnut Hill Community Center. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
