From Active Shooters To Drones, NAS Pensacola Completes Anti-terrorism Exercises
February 18, 2023
An annual anti-terrorism force protection exercise wrapped up Friday at area Navy bases.
Exercise Citadel Shield-Solid Curtain 2023 is an annual, two-part force protection exercise.
“(The exercise) is an important exercise designed to ensure our people and security forces are at peak readiness to deter and respond to potential security threats,” said NAS Pensacola Installation Training Officer Trent Hathaway. “We use realistic scenarios to ensure U.S. Navy security forces maintain a high level of readiness to respond to changing and dynamic threats.”
According to Hathaway, scenarios during Citadel Shield – the first week of the exercise – included an unmanned aerial surveillance exercise, a hostage situation and an active shooter drill, each of which members of the NAS Pensacola Anti-Terrorism Training Team used to gauge readiness from responding NAS Pensacola NSF personnel. Hathaway added that training serves to coordinate individual, departmental and installation responses to these drills.
“Exercising our personnel in response to varying realistic threats enhances our personal and force-wide readiness,” he said. “The exercise tests information dissemination, individual response plans, security force response, and our ability to coordinate with local emergency responders and the community.”
Hathaway also stressed that the annual exercise was unrelated to any current threat, but was designed and executed to increase readiness and to deter or respond to potential security threats.
“These exercises essentially enhance the training and readiness of NAS Pensacola security personnel and better prepare them for potential force protection situations,” he said. “We should train the way we fight, so ensuring a learning environment for security personnel to exercise functional plans and operational capabilities was one of the chief goals of this exercise at a local level.”
Hathaway said the second week of the annual Navy-wide exercise – Solid Curtain – centered around NAS Pensacola’s capability of exercising Navy Command and Control capabilities and evaluating the readiness and effectiveness of fleet and installation force protection programs.
“Coordination with area commands to ensure our force protection efforts are accurate and capable is something we test annually,” Hathaway said. “Communication during any event is critical in ensuring the safety of our most valuable assets – the men and women here – is critical to our ongoing mission of training the best aviators and aviation maintenance personnel in the world.”
by Bruce Cummins, NAS Pensacola
Pictured top: A NAS Pensacola Navy Security Forces sailor participates in an active shooter scenario during Exercise Citadel Shield – Solid Curtain. Pictured below: NAS Pensacola U.S. Navy Security Forces’ K-9 Handler Master-at-Arms 2nd Class Dylan Pilkington participates in a drone training scenario during Exercise Citadel Shield-Solid Curtain 2023. Photos by Bruce Cummins/NAS Pensacola for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Former ECUA Recycling Manager Sentenced In Half Million Dollar Racketeering Case
February 18, 2023
A former recycling manager at the Emerald Coast Utilities Authority’s Materials Recycling Facility (MRF) was sentenced to prison Friday for selling a half million dollars worth of recyclables through a shell company he owned.
Jarrell Lamar Reynolds previously pleaded guilty to first degree felony racketeering. Judge John F. Simon sentenced him to seven years in state prison, plus three years probation. He was also ordered to pay full restitution in the amount of $510,685.06 to ECUA
In September of 2018, Reynolds was hired by ECUA to manage the recycling operation at the Perdido Landfill.
“He was hired, according to ECUA management, because of his experience in the industry and his personal contacts with potential new vendors and customers,” an arrest report states. “ECUA believed that hiring Reynolds would increase the efficiency the recycling operation and increase their revenues through the introduction of new customers for their recyclable material.”
On December 5, 2018, Reynolds created a shell company called JAT Recycling in Georgia, and he was the lone officer of the company. He used the shell company to acquire the property from ECUA and sell the recyclables. Once sold to third parties, Reynolds maintained control of about $510,000 in profits and transferred them to multiple accounts he controlled, according to court documents.
The profits were then used by Reynolds to purchase cars, investment properties, and other personal expenses.
Additional charges of racketeering as well as organized fraud, money laundering, and extortion were dropped in exchange for Reynolds’ guilty plea.
“Today’s sentencing hearing concluded the hard work of ECUA staff and the State Attorney’s office to bring Mr. Reynolds to justice,” said ECUA Executive Director Bruce Woody. “ECUA Finance Director, Justin Smith, identified a decrease in revenue from the sales of recycling materials within two months of Mr. Reynold’s hiring and quickly conducted an internal audit that resulted in the filing of a criminal report with the Economic Crimes Division of the Escambia County Sheriff’s office. The State Attorney’s office then filed charges that lead to today’s adjudication of guilt on one count of racketeering.”
“Although the ECUA and its ratepayers were protected from financial harm by insurance designed to protect the public’s assets against losses, this conviction was important to demonstrate that checks and balances are in place to discover misappropriation of funds, and this conviction will further deter such activity. My thanks to ECUA’s Justin Smith and Assistant State Attorney, Paul Gillespie, for their work in bringing Mr. Reynolds to justice,” Woody added.
Two Young Children Injured In Crash With Escambia County Ambulance
February 18, 2023
An eight-month old and a one-year old were among those injured when a car and ambulance collided on I-10.
The crash happened about 2:45 a.m. Friday, on I-10 westbound about a quarter of a mile west of the Pine Forest Road exit.
An Escambia County EMS ambulance was traveling westbound in the left lane of I-10 with the siren and lights on while enroute to a medical emergency. The 17-year old driver of a Hyundai sedan failed to yield to the oncoming ambulance and braked “heavily”, according to the Florida Highway Patrol. That caused the ambulance to collide with the rear of the Hyundai.
Troopers said the Hyundai driver pulled over for a few minutes and then fled the scene. The car was later located in the center median of I-10 near the three mile marker.
The driver of the Hyundai and her passengers — children ages eight months and one year — was transported to Sacred Heart Hospital with non-life threatening injuries. The two occupants of the ambulance were not injured.
The driver of the Hyundai was cited for no driver’s license, leaving the scene of crash, failure to provide insurance, failure to yield to emergency vehicles, and failure to have a child under three secured in a car seat.
Prayer Vigil Held As Search Continues For Missing, Endangered Cantonment Woman
February 18, 2023
As the search continues for a missing and endangered Cantonment woman, a prayer vigil was held Friday night.
Mary Louis Fountain, 69, was last seen on February 6 in the area of Winners Circle off East Kingsfield Road. The Escambia County Sheriff’s Office said she may be in need of medical attention.
Friday night, a prayer vigil for Fountain was held at her church, the Greater First Baptist Church of Cantonment.
According to the ECSO, she may also go by the name of Mary Henson Fountain.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Sheriff’s Office at (850) 436-9620.
Public Comment Period Opens For Hurricane Sally Infrastructure Grant Projects
February 18, 2023
A public comment period is open on Rebuild Florida Infrastructure Repair Program projects. The program is designed to fund fund infrastructure restoration and hardening projects in communities impacted by Hurricane Sally.
The Escambia County Commission has selected five project to prioritize:
- Energy-efficient Escambia County Transit Center and solar-powered bus shelters with ADA upgrades
- Upgrades to the Pensacola Bay Center
- Indoor multi-use facility at Ashton Brosnaham Park
- Beach Haven stormwater and septic-to-sewer project
- 11 stormwater projects in Escambia County:
- Carver Park Phase 2
- Brickyard Road
- Woodrun Bridge Replacement
- Pensacola High School Drainage Improvements
- Oakfield Estates/Palafox Street
- Monroe Avenue
- Gulf Beach Highway Pipe Replacement
- Vista Park
- Muldoon Road Drainage Improvements
- Bayou Grande Villas
- Olive Road Street and Drainage
The comment period is open until March 20. Public comments can be email to sallyrecoverygrant@myescambia.com.
Tate Aggies 6A Playoff Run Ends In Orange Park
February 18, 2023
The Tate Aggies 6A playoff run came to an end Friday night with a 51-40 regional loss to Oakleaf in Orange Park, Florida.
The Aggies season record was 18-6.
The No. 4 Gulf Breeze Dolphins will travel February 21 to take on No. 1 Ponte Vedra. The Aggies defeated No. 5 Nease 54-49 Friday night.
Pictured: Tate defeated Crestview 55-50 in district playoff action. NorthEscambia.com file photos, click to enlarge.
Cantonment Wreck Shuts Down Highway 29 Northbound
February 17, 2023
At least one person was injured in a two-vehicle crash that shut down Highway 29 northbound in Cantonment late Friday afternoon.
A SUV and truck collided at the intersection of Highway 29 and Tate Road, in front of Domino’s, about 5 p.m. The truck then rolled over, coming to rest upright just off the roadway.
For more photos, click or tap here.
Northbound traffic was detoured to Highway 95A.
Escambia County Fire Rescue and Escambia County EMS responded.
The Florida Highway Patrol is investigating the cause of the wreck.
NorthEscambia.com photos by Kristi Barbour, click to enlarge.
Cantonment Woman Gets 53 Years In Prison For Murder Of Her Daughter’s Father
February 17, 2023
A Cantonment woman has been sentenced to 53 years in prison for an Okaloosa County murder.
Carissa Lynn Parker, 30, pleaded guilty to second degree murder with a firearm last November and faced up to life in prison.
Parker contracted the killing of her daughter’s father.
Investigators said Parker shared a child with the victim, 35-year old Edgar Jennings.
Deputies responded to Jennings’ home shortly before midnight on November 19, 2019, after receiving multiple 911 calls of shots fired. They found Jennings dead from an apparent gunshot wound to the head outside a side door of his apartment.
During the course of the investigation, a “controlled phone call” to Parker was set up with the assistance of a relative. During that call, Parker admitted driving her co-defendant, Jordan Phillips, to the scene and discussing with him ongoing issues she was having with Jennings.
Phillips was sentenced Thursday to 40 years in prison.
Video footage from a home near Culp Avenue the night of the shooting shows the car Parker was driving arriving in the area approximately six minutes before the first 9-1-1 call came in. Approximately a minute after the calls started, Phillips is seen getting back into the vehicle and leaving.
Investigators say during the controlled phone call Parker told her relative the suspect had pulled out a gun, she was terrified and that’s when things escalated.
At no time after the shooting did Parker attempt to contact law enforcement, despite knowing Jennings had been killed. She also assisted Phillips by driving him away from the scene of the crime to avoid arrest, according to the Okaloosa Sheriff’s Office.
Escambia Approves Temporary Concrete Crushing Permit For Cantonment Company
February 17, 2023
The Escambia County Commission Thursday unanimously approved a 14-day temporary concrete crushing permit at a Cantonment business.
Chavers Construction has applied for the permit for 14 consecutive working days on their property at 801 Virecent Road in Cantonment. Concrete material that has accumulated on the property over the last couple of years will be crushed on-site. The material will then be re-used as base material for Chavers’ own parking lot and road projects and not be sold or open to the public for sale.
The concrete will be crushed by Sunbelt Crushing between 7 a.m. and 6 p.m., Monday through Friday in a central location on the 18-acre property well behind the Chavers Construction office to minimize any outside impacts. The pile will be sprinkled with water during the operation to minimize any dust, and silt fencing will be used on all downhill slopes. The crushing location will not be visible from any road.
Two nearby residents addressed the commission Thursday morning in opposition to the permit issuance.
“You’ve got people out there on breathing apparatuses in the neighborhood, you’ve got children, you’ve got animals,” Ron Porter told the commission. “Chavers, if they do the type quality work as what their yard looks like…I don’t see how they in business.”
“They have not done the first thing that they promised the neighbors out there that they’d do,” Porter continued. “They’ve done come to us trying to bribe us; they’ve given us a load or so of asphalt for the road And they hadn’t done that. Their word ain’t worth the breath that’s spit out.”
“Y’all aint’ looking out for the citizens in the north end, not at all. You’re doing what’s lining y’all’s pockets,” he told commissioners.
“Not a dime of any of that money goes into any of our pockets,” Commissioner Jeff Bergosh said. “To say so was just ridiculous.”
Sharon Cummins told commissioners that the 18 acres is next to her property, and she’s concerned about noise and ill health effects in close proximity to Jim Allen Elementary School.
“There’s a bunch of elementary school aged children in developmental stages where that stuff, I don’t care how much water you think you are going to spray on it,” she said. “It spews in the air; it’s going to filter down on all of those children out playing at recess. It’s loud, noisy, and it’s just not going to work.”
“We are looking at a 14-day permit. It’s not a permanent or a regular activity that’s going to be on the property,” Commission Steven Barry said, noting that several nearby residents had expressed their support for the permit.
“It’s a temporary permit,” Bergosh reiterated. “I thought everybody loved recycling. We are taking concrete, and we are making products out of it that can be reutilized. I am in full support of it.”
County staff said the permit will be subject to requirements such as maximum wind speed and air quality standards, and county crews will monitor for off-site dust. If the standards are exceeded, the operation will be shut down.
NorthEscambia.com graphic/images, click to enlarge.
Food Distribution For 500 Families Saturday At Jubilee Church
February 17, 2023
Jubilee Church and Farm Share are partnering for a food giveaway for 500-plus families on Saturday.
The event will take place from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m. (or while supplies last) at Jubilee Church, 5910 North W Sree in Pensacola.
“The need in our community continues to grow. With food prices continuing to rise along high gas prices and rising housing costs, our community is struggling to pay bills and put food on the table. We are honored to give back to those in need in our local community,” said Lead Pastor Tim Fox of Jubilee Church.
Families will pick up their food while staying in their cars. The drive-in, pick-up station will be in the parking lot of Jubilee Church. In addition, Jubilee will provide uplifting worship music, and encouraging stories while people wait in their vehicles.