A TUMULTUOUS TIME

With the discovery of original deeds showing a 75-foot public beach easement on 64 lots on Perdido Key, Escambia County Commissioner Jeff Bergosh and others have questioned how the county could have let the condos declare their beaches were private after decades of public access. The political turmoil of the 2000s may bear some responsibility.

Escambia County government was turned upside down during the first part of the 21st century. Forced out of the Florida Senate by term limits in 2000, W.D. Childers returned home and filed to run for the District 1 seat of the county commission, nudging two-term incumbent Mike Whitehead to seek to unseat long-time Clerk of Court Ernie Lee Magaha.

Whitehead lost his race, but Childers easily won his. By June 2001, Childers was the board chairman. The News Journal praised Childers' leadership, but we heard stories of backroom deals and vendors' arms being twisted.

On Aug. 31, 2001, we published "Crazy Like a Fox, Or Just Crazy" to pull back the curtain on what was happening at the Escambia County Courthouse. While he insisted that he autographed hundreds of issues, Childers wasn't happy. He told Escobedo, "That paper is crap. Maybe I'd read it if it had more stories about Elvis."

My partner Joe Scarborough didn't help the relationship when he wrote a satirical column comparing the handwriting of the 5-foot 6-inch Childers to Napoleon's signature. Childers told PNJ opinion editor Carl Wernicke, "Well, the only thing that stopped Napoleon was Russia and the snow. This ain't Russia, and it ain't snowing."

In the following months, this newspaper was slammed by all sides. Threats, both to the business and us personally, came our way daily. Advertisers were warned of dire consequences if they did business with our newspaper.

Officials began to leave county government in droves. From October 2001—February 2002, County Administrator Tom Forrest, Assistant Administrator Bill Neron, Acting Administrator Gregg Welstead, County Engineer Cindy Anderson, Parks and Recreation Director Mark Thornton and County Attorney David Tucker resigned, leaving county operations in complete disarray.

In January, Inweekly and the News Journal questioned a series of land deals. The commissioners had voted 3-2 to use $3.9 million in local option sales tax funds to buy the 48-acre former Pensacola Soccer Complex near the corner of W Street and U.S. Highway 29. Then Commissioner Willie Junior made another addon motion to purchase the former Stalnaker Mazda site on U.S. 29 for $2.3 million, which was approved 3-2.

Childers and Commissioner Mike Bass affirmed Junior's motion in both votes, while Commissioners Tom Banjanin and Terry Smith opposed it. After the votes, Banjanin emailed his constituents, "I smell a rat. I've been fighting buying these lands. There's absolutely no need for them."

On Feb. 7, State Attorney Curtis Golden announced an investigation into the commission over possible corruption related to the purchases. Meanwhile, the county commission continued its search for a new county administrator. Among the 90 applicants was Pensacola native George Touart, the former administrator of Jackson County, Miss., and who had recently accepted a job as the county administrator in Madison County, Miss. The board voted to hire Touart in April, negotiating his salary over a speakerphone during the meeting.

On April 30, Childers, Junior, Smith and Bass were booked into Escambia County Jail on 27 charges, which included bribery, racketeering and violating the state's Sunshine Law. Gov. Jeb Bush suspended them and appointed four replacements—retired PNJ publisher Cliff Barnhart, Florida House staff director Janice Gilley, retired Vice Adm. Tim Wright and Pensacola City Councilwoman Marie Young.

Touart took over a decimated county staff with a lame-duck board. Hurricane Ivan struck Northwest Florida two years later. Many have praised Touart for his leadership in rebuilding the county. However, in September 2007, he would resign under questions about his business dealings with county vendors.

While many of us focused on political intrigue and hurricane recovery, the "private beach" signs began to pop up on Perdido Key. {in} rick@inweekly.net