County Code Enforcement Officer Met By McDavid Felon With A Gun, ECSO Says
April 26, 2023
An Escambia County Code Enforcement officer investigating a case near Walnut Hill was met by a convicted felon with a holstered gun on his side, according to the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office.
Haden Brock Howard, 28, was charged with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and failure to appear for a misdemeanor offense following the incident.
While investigating a complaint, a code enforcement officer spotted Howard near his residence in the 2500 block of Green Village Road with a pistol in a side holster. The code officer retreated his vehicle and notified law enforcement.
When a deputy arrived, Howard hid in front of a red pickup truck and stepped out when ordered, with an empty holster, according to an arrest report. He was immediately taken into custody on an outstanding warrant, and the pistol was located under a rubber mat in front of the pickup truck.
Howard was wanted on for failure to appear on a charge of knowingly driving with a suspended or revoked license. He remained in the Escambia County Jail Wednesday with bond set at $17,000. He was convicted of felony grand theft in July 2014.
According to Escambia County Code Enforcement reports, the house is a known drug house and the code violations at the home appear to have gotten worse. The address has an obviously dilapidated house with broken, trash and debris, vegetation overgrowth, two inoperable trucks, and it appears someone has been burning plastic and other trash.
Code enforcement noted that the home does not have ECUA trash service.
Escambia Schools Parents Can Choose Student Access Restrictions For School Library Books
April 26, 2023
Parents of students in Escambia County Public Schools will soon be able to fill out a form specifying what type of books their student can check out of the library.
The move comes as about 190 books have been challenged and a handful have been banned from school libraries.
The library access form will be available in the school district’s Focus Parent Portal on May 1, and it will allow parents to choose their student’s level of access to library collections.
If parents decide that unlimited access is best for their child, they need not fill out the form. The default for all students is unlimited, unless a parent makes another choice.
With unlimited access, students will have “full access to check out grade and age appropriate books that are available at their grade (elementary, middle, high) school library to include same grade level inter library loan as well as classroom libraries”.
Other options are:
- Limited: Students may check out books from the library media center, but there is content that a parent would like their student to not have access to in the library media center including the classroom library.
- No Access: Students are not permitted to check books out of the library media center or use classroom library books.
If a parent chooses “limited” on the form, they will be able to specify which type books they do not want their child to check out.
NorthEscambia.com file photo.
Cat Country 98.7 Named ACM’s Radio Station Of The Year
April 26, 2023
Cat Country 98.7 has won the Academy of Country Music’s Radio Station of the Year award for small markets.
“We have an amazing team who are passionate about radio and who wake up every morning wanting to do the very best job they can and for that we are blessed,” said Cat Country 98.7 owner Mary Hoxeng.
The award will be presented during the 2023 ACM Awards show on May 11 in Texas. The show will be streamed on Amazon Prime Video.
The award, announced Tuesday, is the fifth won by the locally owned station in its 18-year history. The other wins were in 2005, 2008, 2010, and 2019.
Markers And Highlighters In Hand, Century Council Begins Charter Review
April 26, 2023
With a box of markers and a pack of highlighters, the Century Town Council set off on a deep dive into their charter during a two-hour workshop Tuesday night.
It was the first in a series of meetings in which the council will review their outdated charter line by line alongside a draft created over a three year period by a volunteer charter review committee. Both keep Century’s current strong mayor-town council form of government.
The town attorney submitted another draft build around a town manager and no mayor, but the council has all but shelved that version.
There were some questions and few points for clarification, but for the most part Tuesday night, the council was in agreement with the first portion of the charter review committee’s draft
The Century town charter is the document that establishes the town, outlines its powers and spells out how it should operate. The charter has not been updated in almost 40 years, and that often creates problems in the operation of the town.
NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Tate Gets Senior Night Shutout Of Escambia
April 26, 2023
The Tate High Aggies celebrated senior night Tuesday with an 8-0 shutout of Escambia.
Before the game, the Aggies honored seniors Cade Kelly, Ethan McAnally, Frank Randall, Jay Davis, Drew Reaves, Javin Floyd, Rilee Lowery, Michael Sardar, Aidan Byrd, Cam Patrick, Brayden Nobile, Tristin Lynn, and Jamil Sardar.
Complete game statistics were not available at publication time.
NorthEscambia.com game action photos by Brystal Rhodes, click to enlarge.
Walks Haunt Wahoos In 6-4 Loss At Montgomery
April 26, 2023
Dax Fulton and the Pensacola Blue Wahoos pitching staff struggled to find the strike zone on Tuesday night, issuing a combined nine walks in a 6-4 defeat to the Montgomery Biscuits.
Fulton (L, 0-4) surrendered a career-high six walks, plus a two-run double to Evan Edwards and a two-run homer to Diego Infante, as the Biscuits built an early lead. The Blue Wahoos put up a fight, collecting RBI singles from Dane Myers and Will Banfield in the middle innings, but left the bases loaded in the sixth and two runners on in the eighth.
Biscuits starter Mason Montgomery was chased from the game in the fifth inning after a Griffin Conine double, but a bullpen effort from Michael Mercado, Enmanuel Mejia and Graeme Stinson (W, 1-0) kept the Blue Wahoos at bay.
Cristian Charle, Zack Leban and Jefry Yan combined to deliver 4.0 scoreless innings of relief for Pensacola in the defeat.
The Blue Wahoos continue their series against the Biscuits on Wednesday morning at Riverwalk Stadium in Montgomery.
by Erik Bremer, Pensacola Blue Wahoos
West Florida Libraries Director Reports On Branch Usage, Possible Expanded Hours For Century
April 25, 2023
West Florida Public Libraries Board of Governance members heard a report Tuesday on just how many people are using the library branches and a possibly expanded hours in Century.
Over the last three months, the Downtown Library averaged over 500 people per day, Tryon over 300, Belleview about 300, Southwest about 150, and the Molino Library about 150 people per day, Library Director Todd Humble said during a board meeting Monday afternoon in Century.
The Century Library averages up to 90 people per day, he said.
Currently, the Century Library is open five days a week due to staffing. With the anticipated addition of a STEM educator, Humble said the Century branch could be open six days per week.
Pictured top: West Florida Public Libraries Director Todd Humble during a Board of Governance meeting Monday afternoon at the Century Branch Library. Pictured first below: Board members Robin Reshard (left) and Liza Campbell. Second photo below: Board member Blaine Wall. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Breakfast Honors Molino Park Elementary Volunteers, Partners And Mentors
April 25, 2023
Molino Park Elementary School held a “Breakfast of Champions” to celebrate volunteers, community partners and mentors. Collectively, they have logged over 3,400 hours this school year. Photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Tate Wind Ensemble Earns Straight Superior Ratings At State
April 25, 2023
The Tate High School Wind Ensemble earned straight superiors at the Florida Bandmasters Association Concert Music Performance Assessment (MPA) in Tallahassee Photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Viewpoint: Beulah’s OLF8 Development: A Huge Win for Everyone
April 25, 2023
Viewpoint written by Escambia County District 1 Commissioner Jeff Bergosh.
A recent guest editorial and letter to the editor about OLF 8 contained strident opinions presented as facts and half-truths conflated with misstatements. Therefore, I feel obliged to add clarity to this important issue.
The OLF 8 acquisition, master planning, and marketing effort has been a 25-year evolution.
We’ve recently accepted an all-cash offer for OLF-8, allowing for the construction of restaurants, retail, a town-center, high-wage job areas, and other amenities for all Escambia taxpayers.
The bidder I favored–based upon better initially expressed intentions (Breland)—didn’t show up to the selection meeting held on April 6th. They were aware of the meeting and didn’t attend.
DR Horton, by contrast, attended the meeting, presented their plan, and modified their language indicating substantial compliance with the Board’s Master Plan. They’ll be teaming with Stirling properties for the commercial/light industrial portions of the field, and they upped their offer significantly—to $42 Million Dollars ($7 Million more than Breland’s highest offer).
Also-Horton/Stirling’s plan indicates a piece of the parcel for potential sale to the school board for a Beulah High School if that board wants that. Breland’s rendering had no school site. Horton/Stirling’s plan also has a town center; the Breland “rendering”has no town center.
Breland’s plan indicates miniscule retail portions, a tiny portion for job creation (light industrial) and the entire balance of the land residential. Importantly: Breland’s plan didn’t reflect the master plan conformity they assured the board in their initial purchase offer.
The Horton/Stirling plan remains much more strongly aligned with the agreed upon master plan than does Breland’s—look at initial renderings, side by side, below. Judge for yourself.
From the beginning of this acquisition process- as the county worked on creating high-paying, high tech jobs on OLF-8– I forcefully advocated against ANY residential on that field– a position with which most citizens in Beulah with whom I’ve spoken agree.
Pressure applied on the BCC by some area residents and a few politically connected special interests, however, pushed aside the original plan as solely a regional jobs generator.
That’s how we got here.
Over the next 60 days, we’ll hammer out an agreement that’ll result in between a $20-$27 million dollar “profit” for the taxpayers— proceeds that will be used county-wide to address legacy deficiencies in infrastructure and fund quality of life enhancements.
OLF 8 will also generate significant new property tax revenue for the county and the school board; this added revenue allows us to ensure FIRST RESPONDERS are paid competitive wages-assisting us with staffing challenges without raising property tax (millage) rates.
Therefore, I’d caution readers to always be wary in believing a few voices of discord who want you to believe they represent and speak for everyone.
Remember: these same voices have deftly transitioned and recalibrated their opposition as we’ve responsibly advanced this project. “They’ll never complete this land-swap!” naysayers first howled. “These commissioners are reckless—they’ll NEVER recoup this investment!” came next. Now it’s “Commissioners only care about the MONEY.”
It’s very rich how the goal posts move, the attacks change— but the faces of opposition remain the same.
We’ll never successfully hit the Goldilocks zone for these folks—where the porridge is “just right,” but we’ve tried. We engaged the community, compromised, and listened.
Now it’s time to act.
I’m upbeat, positive, and optimistic about the impending OLF8 sale/development.
With integrity and due consideration, we’ll close this deal to produce a huge win—-for everyone!
Viewpoint written by Escambia County District 1 Commissioner Jeff Bergosh.