Inweekly June 4 2020 Issue

Independent News | June 4, 2020 | Volume 21 | Number 23 | Photo by Natalie Allgyer/ @nallgyer | Mural by Brandon Vessels / @vesselsartstudio

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winners & losers

outtakes

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5

news 6&9

It's everyone's reality, and it needs to be fixed.

a&e

buzz

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10 publisher Rick Outzen

graphic designer Tim Bednarczyk

editor & creative director Joani Delezen

contributing writers Savannah Evanoff, Jennifer Leigh, Jeremy Morrison, C.S. Satterwhite

contact us info@inweekly.net

calendar 14

Independent News is published by Inweekly Media, Inc., P.O. Box 12082, Pensacola, FL 32591. (850)438-8115. All materials published in Independent News are copyrighted. © 2018 Inweekly Media, Inc. All rights reserved.

CALLING ALL WRITERS Inweekly is working on a special issue, and we need you.

We’re accepting submissions for our first ever “written by you” issue.

Short stories, essays, poems, book reviews, interviews with your grandma—whatever you’ve got, we want to read it.

The deadline for submissions is Friday, June 5. All pieces must be in electronic format and emailed to joani@inweekly.net.

All submissions will be reviewed by the Inweekly staff and the best selections will make it to print.

(Some additional pieces may be published online only depending on length and space.)

We are also accepting photography submissions with the same deadline. For consideration, those images need to be high resolution (at least 250 dpi).

Chosen submissions will be published in our June 18 issue.

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inweekly.net

Dear Readers, If you only read one sentence in this issue, we want it to be this one:

Black lives matter.

Inweekly stands in absolute solidarity with everyone who's heartbroken and angry about the murder of George Floyd and the countless others who came before him.

In particular, we are proud to stand with the hundreds of Pensacola citizens who’ve gathered at Graffiti Bridge over the last week to protest peacefully and engage in a public display of unity at a time when it’s so desperately needed.

We see you—showing up, making donations, educating yourselves and using your personal platforms to advocate for action. We see you, and we are proud to know many of you and to call you our readers, advertisers, friends and neighbors. Keep it up, please.

Inweekly is also proud to stand with Pensacola Dream Defenders and the other local activist groups, past and present, and their efforts to combat systemic racism within our community. All politics is local politics, after all, and this is especially true when it comes to law enforcement and criminal justice reform.

In an effort to amplify their voices, and to give you some local calls to action, we have put together a resource page on our website, inweekly.net.

Inweekly is committed to being a better ally, to vigorously supporting anti-racist policies and politicians and to using this newspaper to facilitate change whenever and wherever we can. We know it won’t happen overnight, but we’re in it for the long haul.

We hope you are, too.

Stay in the fight. We promise to stay in it with you as long as it takes.

June 4, 2020

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winners & losers

Photo courtesy of Emmanuel Sheppard & Condon

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winners EMMANUEL SHEPPARD & CONDON

Last month, the law firm brought ice cream trucks to Ascension Sacred Heart to treat the associates who have been working hard to help keep the community well during the pandemic of COVID-19. Emmanuel Sheppard & Condon hosted TASTEbuds, Mister Softee Northwest Florida and Frosty World Gelato ice cream trucks and served more 500 people. Dawn Rudolph, president of Ascension Sacred Heart Pensacola, said, "The community's support of our health care workers as we face together the threat of the coronavirus pandemic has been very gratifying to our entire team."

COUNCIL ON AGING OF WEST FLORIDA

SAGECare awarded the Council of Aging a bronze certification in LGBT cultural competency. The certificate verifies that all Council on Aging management staff partook in sensitivity training, and the organization as a whole is committed to treating all older individuals with dignity and sensitivity, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identification.

SAGECare is recognized by AARP, Forbes, The Washington Post and other worldrenowned companies as the leader in cultural competency for a generation whose sexuality remains widely stigmatized.

losers KAYLEIGH MCENANY The White House press secretary has repeatedly defended President Donald Trump's attacks on mail-in voting, claiming there is "bipartisan consensus on the fact that mass mail-in voting can lead to fraud." A W&L axiom is the one who complains the loudest probably has similar issues. The Tampa Bay Times reviewed McEnany's voting history in Florida and found she voted by mail 11 times in every Florida election in which she participated since 2010.

THOMAS COOPER The West Virginia postal carrier has been charged with attempted election fraud after he admitted to altering the party affiliations of five mail-in requests for absentee ballots from Democrat to Republican, according to U.S. Department of Justice. Cooper delivered the applications to the Pendleton County clerk, and they "appeared to have been altered by use of a black-ink pen," according to U.S. Attorney Bill Powell. Cooper told an investigator that he altered the forms "as a joke" and he was "just being silly," according to an affidavit.

five local Allstate agency owners have been hosting a virtual food drive for Feeding the Gulf Coast to help families struggling to put food on their table during this pandemic. In addition to the funds raised by the Allstate agents, Feeding the Gulf Coast received a $10,000 Allstate Foundation Helping Hands® grant in recognition of these Allstate agency owners' volunteerism, which will provide an additional 50,000 meals to local families in need. Allstate Insurance agents from Pensacola to Panama City also conducted a school supply drive for Big Brothers Big Sisters at each office. The Helping Hands Foundation recognized their project and granted BBBSNWFL with a $20,000 gift.

TEXAS SUPREME COURT Last week, the Texas Supreme Court blocked a push to expand vote-by-mail to registered voters in the state amid the pandemic, saying that a lack of immunity to the coronavirus did not count as a "disability" for which a voter can apply for a mail-in ballot. Under Texas law, voters can qualify for mail-in ballots only if they are 65 years or older, have a disability or illness, will be out of the county during the election period or are confined in jail. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton successfully argued the risk of contracting the virus alone did not meet the state's qualification. While the court sided with Paxton, the justices indicated that it is up to voters to assess their own health and determine if they meet the state's definition. When they cite a disability for requesting an absentee ballot, voters are not required to list the disability. Locals officials are required to send them a ballot if the application form is filled out correctly.

GINNY CRANOR The Pensacola Fire

ESCAMBIA COUNTY In May, the Florida

ALLSTATE INSURANCE AGENTS Thirty-

Chief Ginny Cranor was off-duty and playing tennis Sunday, May 17, when she saw a man at a nearby court fall and suffer a heart attack. She immediately started CPR, and her swift actions have been credited with saving the man's life.

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Kayleigh McEnany / Aspects and Angles / shutterstock.com

Department of Health reported Escambia County had 413 new COVID-19 cases—11 more than April. Deaths tripled, increasing from 11 on April 30 to 33 by May 31. A third of the May deaths happened over the past two weeks among nursing home residents. inweekly.net

outtakes

By Rick Outzen

REAL CHANGE The video of George Floyd's death is burned into my memory just as the videos of Pensacola Police Officer Jerald Ard running over Victor Steen, 17, in 2009 and Officer Daniel Siemen firing seven shots into the abdomen of Tymar Crawford, 28, last year.

How can we stop these needless deaths?

On Monday, former President Barack Obama wrote on Medium that state and local elected officials are the ones that matter most in reforming police departments and the criminal justice system.

"If we want to bring about real change, then the choice isn't between protest and politics," he said. "We have to do both."

The former president recommended that we make sure every law enforcement agency has clear policies, including an independent body that conducts investigations of alleged misconduct.

Over our 20-year history, this newspaper has seen too many questionable arrests and shootings get rubber-stamped as justified. We wholeheartedly endorse the creation of an independent review panel with subpoena powers.

Past official efforts locally have been sad, ineffective charades. Former Escambia County sheriffs Jim Lowman and Ron McNesby had a Citizens' Liaison Law Enforcement Group that met quarterly at the sheriff's office to address formal complaints. The sheriff appointed the group, and, of course, nothing happened.

In 2003, ACLU, NAACP and Movement for Change tried to get the county commission to form an independent citizens' board with subpoena power to review 15 deaths involving Escambia County Sheriff's deputies since 1994. Inweekly supported the independent panel after deputies killed two citizens during the summer of 2003— one who was a mentally-ill man who was naked when deputies shot him.

County Administrator George Touart said there was no money available in the county's budget to fund the panel. The commissioners, who included current administrator Janice Gilley, refused to support the proposal.

Civil rights leaders formed their own

panel, Citizens Law Enforcement Oversight (CLEO), to investigate allegations of police misconduct. Since they didn't have subpoena power, their investigations consisted mainly of reviewing police reports and videotapes obtained through public record requests. Inweekly reported on their findings, some of which led to the state attorney's office reopening investigations.

In 2006, Pensacola City Council approved the city manager and police chief appointing a Citizens' Liaison Committee to review police conduct and policies. The committee met a few times and then vanished.

For the next 13 years, the idea of an independent citizens' panel to review allegations of law enforcement abuse and misconduct faded from local politics. The death of Victor Steen drew some attention, but police reform wasn't an issue in the 2010 mayoral election.

However, the death of Tymar Crawford may be the game-changer, thanks to the Dream Defenders. The civil rights group made a series of demands of Pensacola Mayor Grover Robinson, which included the establishment of "an all-civilian oversight structure that includes a police commission as a civilian complaint office by July 5, 2020."

Last summer, Mayor Robinson told reporters he was "not opposed to doing something like that." He said, "If we need to have a citizen group evaluating how we're doing with our policing and how we can be better, I mean, I'm open to that anytime."

While he has acted on other demands by the Dream Defenders, such as terminating Siemen's employment with the city and improving police training, the mayor hasn't announced any plans for civilian oversight of law enforcement. Inweekly believes the oversight structure may have the most long-lasting impact on improving the Pensacola Police Department and race relations within the city.

However, time is running out. The longer the delay, the greater the likelihood the opportunity will fade away. Please contact the mayor and city council and push them to act before July 5. Real change won't happen without an independent review of law enforcement. {in} rick@inweekly.net

Over our 20-year history, this newspaper has seen too many questionable arrests and shootings get rubberstamped as justified.

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KEEPING THE WATCH

VIGILS HONORING GEORGE FLOYD AND TYMAR CRAWFORD CONTINUE AT GRAFFITI BRIDGE

By C. Scott Satterwhite

Photos by Natalie Allgyer

Starting late last week and continuing through the weekend and into this week, locals have been gathering by Graffiti Bridge to protest the death of George Floyd and make sure that a mural honoring his memory remains on display.

Floyd, an African American man who died after a Minneapolis police officer kneeled on his neck for several minutes, is the subject of a now-infamous video where he can be seen saying his dying words, "I can't breathe." As the video circulated through social media, protests sparked initially in Minneapolis spread across the nation to demand accountability for his murder and larger societal change in general.

At Graffiti Bridge, a local artist created a mural of Floyd, which was later defaced with brown paint. This act led to a repainting of the mural with a steady vigil to protect it that has only grown since the repainting. The local landmark is also home 66

to another mural, on the other side, for a different victim of police brutality—Pensacola's own Tymar Crawford.

Crawford was a 28-year-old African American man killed by a Pensacola police officer on July 5, 2019. His death launched months of protests in Pensacola and drew national scrutiny. The officer who shot and killed him, Daniel Siemen, was fired from the Pensacola Police Department, but a grand jury determined that there was not enough evidence to warrant criminal charges in the case.

PENSACOLA PERSPECTIVE

As many Pensacolians saw parallels between Floyd's death and Crawford's shooting—both at the hands of law enforcement—others made connections to a string of recent high-profile shooting deaths of African Americans. In early May, a video

surfaced of Ahmaud Arbery, a 25-yearold African American man from Georgia, being shot to death by two white men in broad daylight. A week later, police from Louisville, Ky., shot and killed 26-year-old African American EMT Breonna Taylor in a botched raid.

When the May 25 video surfaced of Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin with his knee on Floyd's neck, protests erupted across the country, including Pensacola, many bringing their own stories to the moment.

One of those responsible for bringing people together at Graffiti Bridge was a friend of Tymar Crawford, a man who asked to go by the initials A.D. "We're doing this for everybody. We're just trying to bring everybody together in unity. It's all about family. It's all about spreading love and peace," A.D. said.

Though he helped spread the word for

the event, A.D. said he was still surprised by the size of the crowd that showed up Friday, May 29, for the publicized memorial.

"We're doing this for everybody.

We're just trying to bring everybody together in unity. It's all about family. It's all about spreading love and peace." A.D. "When we first brought this together, it was nothing planned," he said. "We just spread the word on Facebook Live, and now look at it. It went from three people to 500 people, maybe more than that. This is a blessing."

He described the event as historic, drawing on the national protests, but also seeing the vigil as a way to honor Crawford.

"Tymar Crawford was my friend," said A.D. inweekly.net

"He died the wrong way. This is for him, too.

Tymar was like my brother. This is a celebration for him, too. We're all in this together."

MINNEAPOLIS REPORTS

The peaceful nature of the gatherings at Graffiti Bridge were in stark contrast to some happening throughout the country, most notably in Minneapolis.

Patty Mayberry, a former resident of Pensacola who lives in Minneapolis, described a scene of chaos. Mayberry wrote of numerous reports of armed groups— reportedly white supremacists—in her neighborhood and fire in the streets, with helicopters flying above constantly.

As fires burned throughout her neighborhood, residents used their own hoses to put out the fires.

"We saved people's houses," she said.

"It felt good."

Mayberry also told of several eyewitness accounts of protesters confronting white supremacists, while the liquor stores and a library burned with police firing tear gas throughout the night. As she continued to send reports throughout the weekend, she said "You know, for five days, I've been saying, 'Maybe tonight will be chill.'"

"People are jumpy," said Mayberry.

"There is shit going on, but people jump to the worst conclusion first and quickly."

Pensacola's protests were markedly different but still large in scale. Few police were in sight, but there were many parked squad cars nearby. Despite the lack of confrontation, emotions ran high throughout the events.

FIGHTING TOGETHER

Tiana Wade, who stood alongside hundreds of people Friday night as cars passed by honking, said that she came out to support "my black family [and] my black people."

"Honestly, seeing [the rally] happen and thinking about it makes me super happy and super emotional. I'm just tired of being angry all the time." Tiana Wade "Honestly, seeing [the rally] happen and thinking about it makes me super happy and super emotional. I'm just tired of being angry all the time," Wade said.

As Wade spoke, she wiped tears from her eyes as cars continued to pass by with horns blaring and the crowd cheering.

"I'm emotional about everything going on right now. I'm happy to see everyone who comes together and is fighting for all of this stuff right now. Then everyone passing by, honking their horns, it makes me even happier," she said.

As people chanted "Black Lives Matter" in the background, Wade said that she wants this spirit to continue.

"If you're black, fight with us. If you're white, fight with us. Continue to fight with us because this has to stop. It just has to stop," Wade said.

Nikki Larkins, a military veteran and June 4, 2020

student at UWF, said that this was her first protest and that she came out "in solidarity with the black community."

"I wasn't expecting so many people, but I hope more people keep coming," she said.

"I hope that with everything that's going on that this doesn't fizzle out…that people keep fighting after this."

BEYOND THE PROTESTS

While the event mostly grew organically, a few organizations assisted. Dream Defenders, Social Trans Initiative (STRIVE) and Party for Socialism and Liberation helped spread the word and offer material aid to the organizers.

"Our organization helped in playing a part in this, but from yesterday's quick organization for the event after the defacement of the mural for Floyd to the incident in Minnesota, everything was so quick," Indigo Lett, an activist with STRIVE, said.

Lett said that she hopes people become "more invested in black people's issues [after this protest] and working-class people's issues," she said. "It's not just a racial issue; it's also a working-class issue. But specifically, this is happening to black people."

"That could've been my dad. That could've been me. It could've been any one of my cousins or anybody that I know who's black or brown," Lett, who identifies as African American, said when speaking about Floyd's death.

"Hopefully, today will be the start of a coalition and a movement that's backed by the people, and for the people, that benefits everyone," she said. "That's what I hope comes from this protest."

Allen Reyes, a student at UWF, hopes broader changes occur as a result of the national protests.

"Even if we get justice for this one specific individual, it doesn't really change the system, and it doesn't prevent people from suffering what [Floyd] suffered. I want a change in the system," Reyes said.

Another UWF student, Jaide Holland, said she came out to show her solidarity with the protesters.

"I needed to come out because, basically, enough is enough," she said. "This isn't a trend that is just happening; it's been going on for several years."

Holland went on to name numerous African American men and women who've joined an infamous list of hashtags, from Trayvon Martin to George Floyd.

"People are tired. I support every part of this [protest], and I just want to make sure everyone knows I'm with them," she continued.

While Holland said that she hopes for a murder conviction for Officer Chauvin, she also wants more to come from these protests.

"I just want people to realize that this is an actual problem," said Holland. "It's not a problem that we [African Americans] are making up. The system is not set up for black people to live in at all, and it needs to be fixed. It's not just our reality. It's everyone's reality, and it needs to be fixed." {in} *As this issue was going to press Monday, June 1, the murals for both Floyd and Crawford still stand, with nightly vigils continuing at Graffiti Bridge.

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inweekly.net

DEBUNKING THE SCARBOROUGH CONSPIRACY

By Rick Outzen Throughout May, President Donald Trump sought to link MSNBC host Joe Scarborough to the 2001 death of a staffer that worked for Scarborough when he served as a Republican congressman for our area.

On May 12, Trump tweeted, "When will they open a Cold Case on the Psycho Joe Scarborough matter in Florida. Did he get away with murder? Some people think so.

Why did he leave Congress so quietly and quickly? Isn't it obvious? What's happening now? A total nut job!"

Trump returned to Twitter several times to continue his attacks on Scarborough. He hinted that Scarborough had an affair with the married aide, Lori Klausutis. The president urged law enforcement to reopen an investigation. However, he and the White House staff offered no supporting evidence for his tweets when questioned by the media.

Klausutis' husband, Timothy, wrote a letter to Twitter requesting the platform remove the president's tweets. He pushed back against the conspiracy theorists and accused Trump of perverting his wife's death for "perceived political gain."

He wrote, "These conspiracy theorists, including most recently the president of the United States, continue to spread their bile and misinformation on your platform, disparaging the memory of my wife and our marriage."

Faced with a barrage of presidential tweets, Scarborough didn't back down and called Trump "cruel and callous" for making an innocent family the collateral damage of his war on the media. Newspapers fact-checked Trump's accusations and found them meritless.

JOE AND THE DONALD

The funny thing is the last time Joe Scarborough was in the Inweekly offices, he took a call from Donald and Ivanka Trump.

In August 2015, he was in Pensacola for

a bobblehead night in his honor at Pensacola Blue Wahoo Stadium and had stopped by the office with Collier Merrill. Trump had announced his candidacy for the presidency, and Ivanka called Joe to talk about the campaign.

It wasn't long before Donald Trump took over the phone call, and Joe was telling him about Northwest Florida. Collier even spent some time on the phone with him. Joe and Trump had a very positive relationship then, which led to him being a regular call-in guest to "Morning Joe" for several months.

That relationship began to sour in December 2015 when then-candidate Trump suggested all Muslims should be banned from entering the country. It completely fell apart after he was elected, and he tweeted that "low I.Q. Crazy Mika" and "Psycho Joe" had insisted on coming to his New Year's Eve celebration at Mar-a-Lago.

Trump took the tweet to a new low when he wrote of Joe's wife and co-host, Mika Brzezinski, "She was bleeding badly from a face-lift. I said no!"

While Senator Ted Cruz may be willing to forgive nasty remarks from Trump about his wife, Joe neither forgives nor forgets.

WHAT HAPPENED TO LORI KLAUSUTIS?

When Joe Scarborough served in Congress, he was a political rock star in Pensacola. He had a band that played regularly at the Fish House.

He led the Republican revolution in the Florida Panhandle that saw Democrats switch parties in record numbers. He built a political machine that got Republicans elected to several county offices. He seemed to be destined for higher office, maybe even the presidency.

In May 2001, Scarborough announced his retirement. He had joined the Levin Papantonio law firm and was closing out his tenure in Congress when Klausutis, 28, was found dead in his Fort Walton Beach branch office on Friday, July 20, 2001.

Three weeks earlier, I had come back as

the publisher of the Independent Florida Sun, having stepped aside when the Florida Sun and Pensacola Independent had merged at the first of the year. Joe and I didn't get along. He still wanted control over the editorial content, and I had to figure out how to take the newspaper to a new level using a staff that he had hired. Our fights were often and epic.

On the morning that Klausutis's body was found, I was in our offices next to Jerry's Drive In on Cervantes Street reviewing the issue that had just hit the stands. Joe was in Washington, D.C. We had already had our morning phone battle over what would be the next cover story.

Klausutis, his constituent services coordinator, had been found on the floor near a desk. Police reported no sign of a break-in or a struggle inside the office. Her body had no indications of suicide.

The Okaloosa County associate medical examiner ruled she had likely died sometime late Thursday afternoon as a result of the cardiac arrhythmia that rendered her unconscious.

When she fell, her head struck the side of the desk. Blood collected internally in her head, and the resulting blood clot killed her.

The only hiccups in the investigation were the medical examiner's office and the Fort Walton Beach Police Department refused to release records of their investigations and the autopsy report, after the Daily News made a public record request.

When the autopsy report was finally released, it backed up earlier statements that Klausutis' death was accidental. The fall was likely triggered by an undiagnosed heart condition known as floppy mitral valve disease, which is typically marked by abnormal heart rhythms. The autopsy and police reports contained no smoking guns. The story should have ended there.

CONSPIRACY THEORY

While I have often called Pensacola the "City of Grudges," the rumors about Klausutis' death seem to have started elsewhere.

In 2002, the skeletal remains of Chandra Levy, 24, were found in Washington, D.C. park. The Federal Bureau of Prisons intern had been missing for a year. It later was revealed that she was having an affair with then-Democratic congressman Gary Condit. The world of D.C. politics had to find a GOP target to offsite the Democratic one, and Scarborough became the fodder for a conspiracy.

Condit was cleared of any involvement but lost reelection. The conspiracy theory went away until Ingmar Guandique was arrested in 2009 and convicted of Levy's murder. The arrest and trial resurfaced rumors and innuendos about Scarborough and Klausutis's death. The conspiracy popped up again in 2015 when the conviction was thrown out because prosecutors withheld evidence.

The salacious narrative had no supporting facts but was more embellished with each retelling on the web and as Scarborough become more popular nationally.

Each time the lies resurfaced, the media debunked them.

While Trump has done his best to revive the conspiracy to discredit one of his most consistent critics, the insinuations and attacks have gone nowhere. Morning Joe's ratings have soared, while Trump's approval ratings have slipped. It's just politics, unless you are member of Lori Klausutis' family.

The uproar seems to have died down for now, but Scarborough has a unique ability to get under Trump's skin so it's unlikely any ceasefire will last long. {in} Note: Joe Scarborough founded the Florida Sun in 1999. He was publisher emeritus and shareholder of the Independent Florida Sun, one of the many names for this publication, for two years, 2001-2003. Joe has been the co-host of MSNBC's Morning Joe since 2007. He was named to the 2011 Time 100 as one of the most influential people in the world. He and Rick Outzen no longer fight.

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June 4, 2020

9

tion from Feeding the Gulf Coast about food tonnage distributions and active feeding sites."

The list of Summer Feeding sites is available on myescambia.com.

VOTING RESTORED, FOR NOW On

PARKING CONTROL SHIFTS The city

of Pensacola will take over the management of downtown parking come October, following a decision by the Pensacola City Council last Thursday to terminate a 2007 agreement with the Pensacola Downtown Improvement Board to oversee parking.

"I think this is the right direction to go in," said Councilwoman Sherri Myers.

Mayor Grover Robinson said that the issue is that the DIB is limited to managing parking only within its boundary, while the greater downtown footprint extended beyond that.

"I think part of the problem is DIB is limited to 44 blocks by state statute," the mayor said, suggesting shifting the entire parking apparatus into a municipal function would make sense—"just to keep things simple."

FEEDING KIDS When the Escambia County School District discontinued its meal service on Friday, May 29, 960 children had to find food elsewhere. Fortunately, Florida received good news last week.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture

010 1

approved Florida's request to implement the Pandemic EBT program to provide nutrition benefits statewide to the families of more than two million children eligible for free or reduced-price school lunches.

Eligible families will automatically receive this supplemental benefit in June, with funding made possible by the Families First Coronavirus Response Act. Additional information will be available from the Florida Department of Children and Families.

Laura Coale, Escambia County's director of communications and public information, told Inweekly that the county has 54 feeding sites open for the Summer Feeding Program.

"Under normal operations, the schools stop serving meals at the end of the school year," said Coale. "The designated Summer Feeding sites are then activated to meet this need."

She added, "Due to COVID-19, the Emergency Operation Center is monitoring feeding sites daily through WebEOC, including, but not limited to, information from the United Way 2-1-1 about the number of calls requesting food and informa-

Sunday, May 24, U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle struck down major parts of a state law requiring felons to pay court-ordered "legal financial obligations" (LFOs) to be eligible to vote, which opened the door for hundreds of thousands of convicted felons to vote in the 2020 elections.

The decision came after an eight-day trial in the lawsuit filed by voting-rights groups that tried to undo a 2018 state law that required felons who have completed their sentences to pay fees, fines, costs and restitution affiliated with their convictions to be eligible to cast ballots. The groups said the requirement amounted to an unconstitutional "poll tax." Judge Hinkle agreed.

The system "is irrational as applied to the mine-run of affected felons and thus is irrational as a whole," he wrote in his opinion. He declared the court-ordered fees and costs amounted to unconstitutional "taxes."

The News Service of Florida reported that testimony from county elections officials, clerks of court, felons and scholars throughout the trial pointed out the difficulty in ascertaining whether the convicted felons owe money. Court records, especially in older cases, can be contradictory or incomplete.

"The state has shown a staggering inability to administer the pay-to-vote system and, in an effort to reduce the administrative difficulties, has largely abandoned the only legitimate rationale for the pay-to-vote system's existence," the judge wrote.

Many felons do not know, and some have no way to find out, the amount of LFOs included in a judgment, Hinkle wrote.

The dollar amounts in examples may be

small, but the U.S. Supreme Court "has made clear that when the issue is paying to vote, even $1.50 is too much."

The judge's order created a form for people to seek an "advisory opinion" from the Florida Division of Elections to determine whether they have outstanding financial obligations, a process suggested by the state during the trial. Hinkle's form also allows people to assert that they are unable to pay the court-ordered costs.

Under his order, people can register to vote and vote within 21 days of submitting a request for an advisory opinion, "unless and until the Division of Elections provides an advisory opinion that includes the requested statement of the amount that must be paid together with an explanation of how the amount was calculated."

On Wednesday, May 27, Governor Ron DeSantis announced he would appeal the ruling to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit in Atlanta.

UNPAID ELECTRIC BILLS In early May, Inweekly had the Political Matrix poll Escambia County voters about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on their jobs and financials. Of 719 people surveyed, 26.7% said they had been laid off, furloughed or lost hours at work. Of those out of work, 46.4% admitted they were behind on their monthly bills.

The latest filing by Gulf Power Co. has backed up the survey results. The utility saw a drop in payments for electric service in April as it also spent money to try to prevent the spread of COVID-19, a regulatory filing shows.

Jim Turner of The News Service of Florida reports the largest utility in Northwest Florida received about $6 million less in customer bill payments in April than it ordinarily would have collected during the month. About $2.1 million is considered "bad debt," up from the historical average for April of about $300,000, the company

inweekly.net

MARK YOUR CALENDARS said in the filing at the Florida Public Service Commission.

"The company anticipates that COVIDrelated bad debt expense will continue to increase due to higher levels of write-offs for uncollectible accounts," the utility said. "Gulf Power estimates that its bad debt expense attributable to COVID-19 ‌ will continue to increase over the coming months."

SUPERINTENDENT SCOOP School dis-

trict insiders have told Inweekly not to believe the narrative that the next head of the Escambia County School District will come from outside the district. Keith Leonard has the inside track, according to them.

Leonard is currently the district's director of Human Resource Services. He was hired for the position in 2003 by thenSuperintendent Jim Paul. He was the head football coach (1997-2003) and replaced Bill Fryman for about three months before taking the district job.

Before he took over football, Leonard served as Tate's baseball coach, where he started the Tate Aggie Classic, a prestigious high school baseball tournament.

He also was the quarterback when the Tate Aggies won the 1980 Class 4A state championship.

Leonard was considered the favorite to run for school superintendent once Thomas retired, but last year's ballot initiative that switched the post to an appointed one derailed that.

Leonard may already have the three votes to get hired. He contributed money to the campaigns of school board members Paul Fetsko and Kevin Adams. School board member Bill Slayton was Tate's band director (1971-1987) when Leonard was a student at the high school.

MASKS ON ECAT Since Monday, June 1,

passengers have been encouraged to wear face masks while riding Escambia County Area Transit buses. If a rider does not have a mask, ECAT employees will offer one to the passenger throughout June to help prevent the spread of COVID-19.

ECAT operators wear masks. They and other ECAT employees have their temperature taken when they arrive to work as a precaution. ECAT continues to implement safety measures such as limiting ridership to 10 bus passengers and increased bus and facility cleanings.

KITTEN PANTRY LOW The Pensacola Humane Society's Pet Pantry is in dire need of donations, especially for kittens.

The pantry is critically low on essential kitten supplies, such as kitten food, kitten formula, litter and bedding.

The Pet Pantry provides dog and cat food, litter, and treats at no cost to pet June 4, 2020

owners who come to the shelter and present an acceptable form of identification, such as a driver's license. The facility is open 10 a.m.-4 p.m. daily at 5 Q St.

READING RESURRECTED Former Escambia County Commissioner Johnny Reading has pre-filed as a Republican to seek the District 5 seat he held in 1992-1996.

Reading, who won the seat as a Democrat in 1992 and later switched parties, served only six months as commission chairman when fellow Commissioner Mike Whitehead made the motion to remove Reading as chair over how he had pushed to oust then-administrator Barry Evans in May 1996.

Three months later, Reading only received 21% of the votes in the GOP primary and failed to make a run-off. Wilson Robertson won the general election.

When NorthEscambia.com posted the news of Reading's filing, a reader anonymously posted, "Disbarred as a lawyer by the Florida bar after trying to get over a million bucks for work he did not do. Just what we need."

Reading responded on the website, "After suing the governor's office successfully, several times, I had made many powerful enemies. This is how they got back at me. I learned a lot about bad practices watching the Florida Bar. I was deprived of an attorney then."

In 1999, Reading was disbarred by the Florida Supreme Court. The disbarment came six months after Circuit Court Judge Russell Bower of Panama found Reading guilty in an ethics case in which he was accused of trying to obtain $1.5 million on behalf of a paralegal with whom he was working.

According to court documents, Reading accused people of wrongdoing and then wrote "demand letters" saying they would have to pay to avoid lawsuits or criminal charges.

Incumbent Steven Barry and Megan Walters have also pre-filed for the District 5 commission seat as Republicans.

WEDGEWOOD CLEANUP Residents of Wedgewood will have the opportunity to dispose of yard debris and other items free of charge Friday, June 5, during the Wedgewood Neighborhood Cleanup in District 3. Only residents in the designated cleanup area are able to participate in the neighborhood cleanup. Items left at the curb outside of the cleanup area will not be collected. The general cleanup area is south of I-10, west of Ludlow Street and north of Blossom Trail.

All debris must be at the curb directly in front of your residence by 7 a.m. on the day of the cleanup. Please keep tires and paint cans separate from all other debris.

Do not place piles under low-hanging lines or near poles, fences or mailboxes. {in}

CARMEN

JANUARY 22 & 24, 2021

H.M.S. PINAFORE MARCH 12 & 14, 2021

Follow your heart. Love Opera.

WWW.PENSACOLAOPERA.COM 11

June 6, 12 and 20 TICKETS $4 EACH FOR CHILDREN, $5 EACH FOR ADULTS BUBBA WATSON’S

CHECK BLUEWAHOOS.COM FOR FUTURE DATES

DIAMOND DISC GOLF

POST-MOVIE FIREWORKS

CHALLENGE

• Lunch, Dinner, Brunch

• Happy Hour

• Family Meals To Go

• Trivia Nights

at the Hancock Whitney Club

Details at bluewahoos.com facebook.com /BlueWahoosBaseball

instagram.com /bluewahoosbball

twitter.com /BlueWahoosBBall

Guest safety is our top priority

Staff will be in place throughout the event to ensure guests remain at recommended distances.

Blue Wahoos Stadium All Blue Wahoos staff are required to wear 3-ply medical grade face masks.

Temperatures of all staff members are taken upon arrival of each shift.

Cleaning includes handrails, all door handles, public furniture, and high-touchpoints

Food and beverage staff wear medical-grade gloves at all times.

351 W Cedar St, Pensacola, FL 32502

(850) 934-8444

MOVIE & FIREWORKS PRESENTED BY 212 1

inweekly.net

WEEK OF JUNE 4-10

Arts & Encouragement Take a Hike hope, help and other signs of humanity at a time when we really need it...

By Jeremy Morrison

there are over 7 miles of sandy trails to enjoy inside the park.

INTO THE WOODS

Trail, which passes through the park for a mile stretch but also continues for another 7.5 miles through Blackwater River State Forest. This trail is also part of the Florida National Scenic Trail and is maintained by the Florida Trail Association.

There are plenty of other hiking opportunities located within the state forest as well—like Bear Lake Trail, a 4-mile loop around an impounded reservoir that flows into Sweetwater Creek, and also other stretches of the Florida Trail, including to the south the 11-mile Yellow River Ravines Trail and to the north the more than 12mile Wiregrass Trail, which serves as the northernmost leg of the Florida Trail and also connects with the Eastern Continental Trail at the Alabama state line.

Venturing beyond the beach, hikers can find a variety of treks found in preserves and state parks, as well as on the campus of the University of West Florida.

Heading inland up Scenic Highway, there is Bay Bluffs Park. This is a city-maintained park featuring a network of boardwalks leading down the bluffs, through the thick of the thin strip of woods, over the railroad tracks and down to the shores of Escambia Bay. Boardwalk hikes in this area are actually abundant. To the west, there is the Jones Swamp Wetland Beyond the immediate Northwest Preserve and Nature Trail, exploring Florida area, there are plenty more hiking 1,300 acres within the Jones Creek opportunities. Many of these opportunities watershed developed as part of a resinclude continued stretches of the Florida toration project for Bayou Chico. AnNational Scenic Trail. other boardwalk, through the Bayou If you're up to venturing eastward along Marcus wetlands in West Pensacola, the coast, one interesting destination is is located a short distance north. the St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge.

UWF features a boardwalk trail The Florida trail crosses through the area as well—the half-mile Edward Ball Nature and offers the unique experience of hiking Trail, offering a trip through the swamps of within a wildlife refuge.

Thompson's Bayou—but the university also Hiking opportunities within the boasts off-road offerings spanning 600 70,000-acre estuary refuge range from the acres. Divided into three separate routes, easier Lighthouse Levee Trail, providing ranging from just over a mile to more than gulf views near the St. Marks Lighthouse, to two, these trails can be challenging and are the more primitive trails, which are called, open to not only hikers but also cyclists and conveniently, the Primitive Trails, featuring the equestrian community—and horses a series of looped trails through the forest have the right of way. stretching up to a dozen miles.

Farther north is Blackwater River State Throughout St. Marks, hikers can enjoy Park and the larger Blackwater River State stretches of the Florida scenic trail. Day Forest. This area offers a more secluded, hikers set out from access points along U.S. out-in-the-woods environment.

98 on longer treks across Apalachee Bay or In Blackwater, hikers will find a variety shorter trips through coastal swamps. of wildlife, including white-tailed deer, goOr, if you'd prefer, just keep on walking— pher tortoises, wild turkeys and great blue all the way to Big Cypress National Preserve herons. They will also find river views, giant near Miami, where the state trail ends. {in} longleaf pines and a sandhill forest.

For a shorter hike inside the park, there is the Chain of Lakes Nature Trail, •Gulf Islands National Seashore: nps.gov/guis a 1.75-mile loop that •Blackwater River State Park: floridastateparks.org/parksfeatures a chain of and-trails/blackwater-river-state-park oxbow lakes. For •Florida National Scenic Trail: fs.usda.gov/fnst hikers with a bigger appetite, there's the Juniper Creek

GO FURTHER

Looking for a place with some space— somewhere away from crowds, where you can remove your mask and take a deep breath?

Hiking, or even just sustained walking, provides an ideal early summer activity, especially during this season of coronavirus social distancing. And Pensacola and the greater Northwest Florida area provides some pretty fantastic hiking terrain.

A coastal locale, Pensacola obviously features beach hikes, ranging from casual walks along the shoreline to explorations of island woodlands. But this area is also home to hikes under the shade of forests, or along rivers, or, for a more leisurely stroll type of experience, along boardwalks or paved paths.

Here's is a roundup of a few of the area's best hikes to help you map out some summer explorations.

ON THE BEACH

Stretches of local coastline are a part of the federally protected Gulf Islands National Seashore. As such, the area boasts plentiful natural terrain, from sandy beaches to wooded trails, as well as historic forts and boardwalks overlooking wetlands.

June 4, 2020

Let's begin at Fort Pickens, located on the western end of Santa Rosa Island. The fort, constructed in the 1800s, is part of Gulf Islands National Seashore, and the area marks the beginning of the 1,300-mile-long Florida National Scenic Trail.

There are a few different directions to head in Fort Pickens. For a casual walk toward the beach, the Dune Trail offers a boardwalk and interpretive signage. The Bluebird Marsh Trail, meanwhile, is a halfmile loop ideal for birding.

To the west of Fort Pickens lies Perdido Key. This is home to Johnson Beach, also part of Gulf Islands National Seashore.

This area offers the Perdido Key Discovery Trail, a roughly half-mile loop that features a boardwalk traversing wetlands, forests and dunes.

The Perdido Key area also opens up hiking opportunities within Big Lagoon State Park, as well along the beach at Perdido Key State Park, or the 1.5-mile Trout Point Nature Trail boardwalk hike nearby, located inside Naval Air Station Pensacola.

Farther east in Gulf Breeze, there is the Naval Live Oaks Park, also part of the national seashore. In addition to the Brackenridge Nature Trail, a short boardwalk loop,

MORE INFORMATION

13

a&e happenings Attending "normal" events might not be happening yet—but that doesn't mean local businesses and nonprofits aren't still keeping the community connected in creative ways.

ARTS + CULTURE

MUSEUMS PHASED REOPENING The

T.T. Wentworth and Pensacola Museum of Art (PMA) have reopened with limited hours on Saturdays and Wednesdays from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m.

Both museums are operating at limited capacity. In order to ensure social distancing guidelines are kept, visitors must reserve a $5 timed ticket online. The tickets are good for both museums for one day only.

Current exhibitions at PMA include Poppy Garcia's "Bless Your Heart," the annual Members Show, and "DocuFlorida 3" and "Lessons in Ink" at T.T. Wentworth.

You can also still enjoy virtual tours of exhibitions and collection highlights too. For more information on both, visit pensacolamuseum.org and historicpensacola.org.

VIRTUAL HOT GLASS COLD BREW First City Art Center (FCA) is adapting its popular event next month. Hot Glass Cold Brew: Home Edition will take place virtually on Facebook Live on Friday, June 19, at 7 p.m.

The Facebook Live event will feature a pottery demonstration, Gallery 1060 virtual tour, glassblowing demonstration, raffle and live auction. This online event will be interactive, as viewers will be encouraged to ask questions about the process and will receive real-time answers from an FCAC staff member.

Keeping with tradition, unique glass and ceramic cups will be available for $30 starting June 12 in an online store. Cups can be picked up at First City Art Center, 1060 N. Guillemard St., prior to the event. Each cup purchase will include a raffle ticket and a BOGO pint voucher to Pensacola Bay Brewery. For more information, visit firstcityart.org.

COLLECTION UNCORKED: AT HOME

The Pensacola Museum of Art has teamed up with Wine with Hilary Shaffer and Pot Roast & Pinot to bring their popular "Collection Uncorked" wine tasting into your home.

Collection Uncorked invites visitors to

learn more about our permanent collection through curated wine and art pairings. Chief Curator Anna Wall and Shaffer, a certified specialist of wine, are collaborating to match works of art with wines whose flavor profile or origins complement the art, artist or subject matter. This limited-edition curated box of three wines allows you to recreate the experience at home. Inside, you'll find reproductions of the works of art with narratives to guide you on your journey.

Each box is $65. Order by noon on Wednesday of each week and pick up at Pot Roast & Pinot the following Saturday.

For more information, visit potroastpinot. com/product/collectionuncorked.

BALLET PENSACOLA VIRTUAL PROGRAMMING The Ballet Pensacola Virtual

Programming Series gives ballet fans a look at performances in the comfort of their own homes—or anywhere their devices take them.

Utilizing a new soundstage built by the ballet's technicians, the artists will reimagine, repurpose and relaunch two beloved ballets from the Ballet Pensacola repertoire—"Alice in Wonderland" (a 2017 premiere) and "The Matrix " (a 2013 premiere).

For more information, visit facebook.com/ balletpensacola.

PENSACOLA SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA "VIRTUALLY TOGETHER" Be sure

to follow Pensacola Symphony Orchestra on Facebook to see videos of orchestra musicians performing special works from their homes. To watch, visit facebook.com/ pensacolasymphony.

OPERALIVE Pensacola Opera is keep-

ing patrons connected through their new online series OperaLIVE. Episodes typically include things like interviews and performances with artists, plus appearances by Pensacola Opera staff.

For updates on new episodes or to watch past ones, visit facebook.com/ pensacolaopera. You can also subscribe to their channel on YouTube.

PENSACOLA LITTLE THEATRE'S TAKING STOCK Enjoy the Pensacola Little Theatre production of "Taking Stock" from the

Rub elbows with those who take their leisure time seriously.

The ELBOW

ROOM

comfort of your own home with a pay-whatyou-can donation. This performance was completely rehearsed and produced online.

The story is a family drama about two siblings who get together to divide family assets after the death of their mother. This production is for mature audiences only. For more information, visit pensacolalittletheatre.com.

WORKSHOPS AT STUDIO SOUTH

Face-to-face workshops have resumed at Studio South—on June 6, Fiber Space from 2-4 p.m., and on June 9, Fiber Freestylin' from 4-7 p.m. Both classes are free. Studio South is located at 955 E. Nine Mile Road, Ste. 101. For more information and to see a complete list of June events, visit studiosouthon9mileroad.com.

CALL FOR ARTISTS

KEEP IT 100 The next Artel exhibition is

titled "Keep it 100." There are no size or theme requirements for this show, but all works must be for sale and priced at $100.

Dates of the show are June 16 through July 23. Artists may submit up to three pieces.

Drop-off dates are June 12 and 13. For more information, visit artelgallery.org.

PIECES ADRIFT ART SHOW Keep Pensacola Beautiful is recruiting artists to participate in their Pieces Adrift Art Show and Silent Auction. Pieces Adrift is a Keep Pensacola Beautiful programming fundraiser and pollution awareness event.

Artists are welcome to participate with any level of experience, whether hobbyist or professional. Each piece submitted should be comprised of at least 50% litter. Due to COVID-19, KPB recommends using your discretion when picking up litter off the ground. Art pieces may also be created using trash from your home. Artists may also pick through sorted bins of trash at the KPB office left over from last year.

"Pieces Adrift is a creative and unique way to unite the community in achieving a common goal—making Pensacola a beautiful place to live, work and play. It brings awareness to the perpetuating issue of litter and ocean pollution on our beaches and roadways.

By repurposing trash as art, we hope to inspire our community to be mindful of what and

how they throw it away," says Madelyn Newton, Marketing and Development, VISTA. The deadline for submissions is Sept. 1.

For more information, please email marketing@keeppensacolabeautiful.org.

UWF LOOKING FOR SONGS OF IMPACT University of West Florida is

calling all artists—songwriters, musicians and change makers—to share their words of wisdom and inspiration in a music and video contest that brings to life the unyielding spirit of #ArgoNation. If you have words of encouragement, put them to a song and share them. One lucky winner will receive free studio recording time at WUWF, the opportunity to perform at UWF Homecoming and a UWF Bookstore gift card. For more information, visit uwf. edu/go/songs-of-impact.

LIVE MUSIC

LIVE MUSIC AT RED FISH BLUE FISH Live music is back at Red Fish Blue Fish 6-10 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays and noon-4 p.m. on Sundays. For a calendar of bands, visit facebook.com/redfishbluefishpensacolabeach.

SHIP & SHORE AT GARY'S BREWERY

Friday, June 5, at 6 p.m., Ship & Shore will be playing at Gary's Brewery & Biergarten, 208 Newman Ave. For more information, visit facebook.com/garysbrew.

MONDAY NIGHT BLUES Blues Society of Northwest Florida and Seville Quarter present Monday Night Blues every week at 7 p.m. On Monday, June 8, Cat Daddy Blues Band will be the featured act. The opening act will begin at 7 p.m., followed by the host band at 7:30 p.m. and the Blues Jam at 9 p.m. For more live music times, visit facebook.com/sevillequarter.

FITNESS + RECREATION

THE WATER WHEEL FULL MOON PRACTICE Enjoy a group-guided medita-

tion and practice 6:30 p.m. on June 5 at Asher & Bee Apothecary and Tea House, 3014 N. Ninth Ave., Ste. B. Cost is $15. For tickets, visit facebook.com/asherandbee.

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BLUE WAHOOS AND BUBBA WATSON OPEN STADIUM DISC GOLF COURSE

The Pensacola Blue Wahoos and team co-owner Bubba Watson have partnered to bring disc golf to Blue Wahoos Stadium.

The course covers the entirety of the stadium and is open to the public from noon-8 p.m. on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.

Admission is $5 per player per round.

Children ages 6-12, seniors, military members and first responders will receive a $1 admission discount. Children 5 and under receive free admission with a paid adult.

To ensure the safety of participants and in adherence with COVID-19 guidelines, new groups will be allowed to begin playing the course every 15 minutes. Players are encouraged to bring their own discs or to purchase a three-disk starter pack from the Blue Wahoos for $25. Disc rental is not available in accordance with safety. Go to Wahoos Stadium and visit the Bait & Tackle Store behind home plate to register. A scorecard and course map will be provided to each player. For more information, visit bluewahoos.com.

BIKE PENSACOLA SHARES SLOW RIDE ROUTES If you're missing the

monthly slow rides, here's a chance to enjoy the routes. Bike Pensacola is sharing slow ride maps from popular events. Find the maps on Facebook at facebook.com/ bikepensacola. You will still need to adhere to safety and social distancing guidelines.

OCEAN HOUR BEACH CLEAN-UPS

Ocean Hour has picked up its weekly beach clean-ups in the Pensacola area Saturdays at 8:45 a.m. Supplies will be provided, but volunteers are welcome to bring their own.

For locations, visit oceanhourfl.com.

SATURDAYS AT THE MARKET OUTDOOR VENDOR EVENT Located at 5300

Berryhill Road, the outdoor market features artisans and crafters alike from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. on Saturdays. Social distancing guidelines will be in effect. For more information, email saturdaysatthemarket@gmail.com.

PALAFOX STREET SUNDAY STROLLS

Enjoy vehicle-free Palafox Street (from Garden to Main Street) and take a stroll, ride your bike or jog without having to navigate around traffic. The Sunday Strolls will be every Sunday in June.

FOOD + WINE

HERBAL WINE MAKING Learn to make herbal-infused wine and take home a bottle to enjoy. Class is noon on June 6 at Asher & Bee Apothecary and Tea House, 3014 N. Ninth Ave., Ste. B. Cost is $33. For tickets, visit facebook.com/asherandbee.

TIN COW GOES BEEF-FREE FOR MENTAL HEALTH With affordable beef being

unavailable, The Tin Cow is encouraging patrons to go "beef-free" for a good cause.

Through June 7, the restaurant will donate $1 per burger to Lakeview Center when you design your own burger or order a classic June 4, 2020

burger without Angus or Kobe beef. The Tin Cow is located at 102 S. Palafox. For more information, visit thetincow.com.

EVER'MAN CLASSES ON FACEBOOK LIVE Learn to make healthy drinks with

Jordan Zeman of Honey Wholesome in the Ever'man kitchen every month on Facebook Live. The tutorials are scheduled for the fourth Friday of the month at 11 a.m.

Register for free on Eventbrite.

You can also give quarantine cooking a boost with an online cooking class with Becca Fritschle at 11 a.m. on the first Friday of the month. The next class is Friday, June 5. And the Backyard Bohemian, Sherry Brubaker, will be doing classes the second Friday of the month. The next class is June 12.

Visit facebook.com/evermancoop for more information. You can also find a calendar of June classes at everman.org.

BODACIOUS COOKING CLASSES RESUME IN JUNE Cooking classes for

adults and kids are back at Bodacious.

Changes have been made to follow CDC and State of Florida mandated health guidelines with group sizes limited to allow 6-foot distancing guides. All employees will be wearing masks and gloves, following strict sanitation rules for daily cleaning.

Cooking class attendees will receive a 10% discount on all retail products and future cooking classes on the date of the event. For a full calendar of classes and culinary kids camp, visit bodaciousshops.com.

VIRTUAL EVENTS

STUDER COMMUNITY INSTITUTE WEBINAR SERIES Looking for some

professional enrichment while staying at home? SCI webinars are exactly what you need. Tune in June 10 called "Self-Awareness—A Better You, A Better Business with Quint Studer." For more information, visit facebook.com/studerinstitute.

PENSACOLA CINEMA ART VIRTUAL SHOWINGS The theatre is still closed,

but Pensacola Cinema Art (PCA) is making sure you can stream select independent films and support a local nonprofit from the comfort of your own home.

The films they are screening change often and are not available on streaming services like Netflix. Films currently streaming include "Tommaso," starring Willem Dafoe.

Customers can view films with a onetime fee through links on the PCA website.

Half of the proceeds will go to the theatre.

Visit pensacolacinemaart.com to see what's streaming.

KID-FRIENDLY

GIRL SCOUTS OF GATEWAY COUNCIL: SUMMER CAMP REIMAGINED

Join Girl Scouts for a week-long session challenging yourself in the great outdoors.

Find out what a mood board is, go on a scavenger hunt, make a sundial and build a first aid kit for your hike. This is an install-

BEST DAMN BBQ IN THE SOUTH! OPENING IN JUNE A BEACHFRONT BBQ EXPERIENCE ON PENSACOLA BEACH SERVING AUTHENTIC, LOW-AND-SLOW SMOKED BBQ DAILY.

WATERPIGBBQ.COM

NEXT TO RED FISH BLUE FISH PENSACOLA BEACH 15

a&e happenings ment in Girl Scouts of Gateway Council's Summer Camp Re-Imagined series that offers a traditional summer camp experience in a virtual setting. All girls are encouraged to participate, even non-Girl Scouts. Registration is required. For more information, visit girlscouts-gateway.org/en/camps/summercamp.html.

ART AT HOME WITH PMA Get creative

at home with art activities shared by Pensacola Museum of Art staff. Activities are posted daily at facebook.com/pensacolamuseum.

PENSACOLA CHILDREN'S CHORUS LAUNCHES VIRTUAL SUMMER PROGRAM Pensacola Children's Chorus

is launching a new virtual program called jumpstART for kids designed to build confidence and knowledge within the performing arts.

The program is designed as a chooseyour-own-adventure workshop with a course catalog covering voice, dance, musicianship and career readiness. Courses are geared toward seventh- to 12th-grade students and recent high school graduates.

Participants can hand-select the courses they want for $15 per class.

"There is no 'one-size-fits-all' model for being a successful performing artist," says Alex Gartner, Artistic & Executive Director.

"The pathway for a high school freshman hoping to snag a lead role is much differ-

616 1

ent than a high school senior who is getting ready to audition for university performing arts programs."

Enroll online at pensacolasings.org. No prior experience required.

UWF TO OFFER EXPLORE SUMMER CAMPS VIRTUALLY University of West

Florida Continuing Education is bringing Explore Summer Camps straight to students this year with virtual editions of the most popular programs.

Camps are available for students entering first through ninth grade, with a variety of themes for specific age groups, including Jr. Mad Scientists, Broadway Bound, Ozobots, Percy Jackson, Harry Potter and more.

Each camp will host 10-12 students for an hour and 15 minutes via Zoom, with icebreakers and daily activities planned.

The camps start at $35. To learn more or register, visit uwf.edu/explorecamps.

OPERA CAMP AT HOME Pensacola Opera's 15th annual summer camp is coming to you this June. The "Opera Camp at Home" brings the magic of theatre and music to children ages 6 to 14, filled with supplies and activity guides to help you put on a show from the comfort of your living room, backyard, or wherever you'd like.

Activities include learning a choreographed dance, writing your own opera scene and learning how to do stage makeup. Once

you've received your kit, follow along with the "Opera Camp at Home" activity calendar June 22-26, and share your adventures online.

Register each child at mailchi.mp/pensacolaopera/operacamp.

Once registered, call the Opera Center at 433-6737 to purchase your kit ($50 each). Your kit will be mailed by June 15, or you can pick it up from the Opera Center on June 15 or 16. For more information, visit pensacolaopera.com.

PENSACOLA MESS HALL Pensacola MESS Hall has launched a digital page called MESS Hall To Go. On it, they are sharing hands-on science explorations you can enjoy at home. They are also hosting Virtual Field Trips via Zoom. The interactive experiences are open to all, but preregistration is required.

For more information and register for an upcoming field trip, visit pensacolamesshall.org.

PENSACOLA CHILDREN'S MUSEUM PROJECTS Pensacola Children's Museum

is posting weekly downloadable projects on their website. So far, topics have ranged from rockets to jellyfish to computer coding.

All past projects are still available online. Visit historicpensacola.org and click on the Children's Museum under the Plan Your Visit tab to find them.

POSTER CONTEST Earth Day Pensacola

has rescheduled its annual event for the fall, and organizers are inviting students from grades four-six to enter one of two poster contests: •A 30th anniversary poster contest to celebrate Pensacola's participation in Earth Day for the last 30 years •A 50th anniversary poster contest to celebrate the global anniversary of Earth Day, which was first held in 1970 Posters for 30th anniversary must be Pensacola-themed and include something about it being the 30-year anniversary. Posters for 50th anniversary must be globallythemed and include something about it being the 50-year anniversary. Entries for both contests must be ecologically themed/ based. Artists can only enter one contest.

The deadline to submit posters is 4 p.m.

Friday, July 31. Artists must be a student in Escambia or Santa Rosa County to enter.

The poster design must be able to print to a size of 11 inches x 17 inches and have a fourcolor design limit.

Entries are accepted via email. For the 30th contest, email Marsha at rivermk37@ gmail.com, and for the 50th contest, email Mary at earthethicsaction@gmail.com.

The first-place prize for each contest is a framed poster with a $50 gift card.

Second and third places received unframed posters with $25 and $15 gift cards, respectively. {in}

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June 4, 2020

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free will astrology WEEK OF JUNE 4

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ARIES (MARCH 21-APRIL 19): Aries poet Paul Verlaine wrote "Autumn Song" in 1866. It became a well-known French poem and eventually played a role in a historical turning point. In June 1944, a top-secret British spy organization used the poem as a code to communicate crucial information to the French Resistance, via BBC radio, about the allies' upcoming D-Day invasion of Normandy. In the spirit of poetry being used to accomplish practical actions, I'm now sending out a burst of code to you, Aries. It's adapted from another poem by Verlaine— "Delight in good-omened fortune, baptized by the bristling scents of mint, thyme, and clover on the wind of dawn." Regard this as a signal for you to acquire a necessary resource, strengthen connections with key allies, and intensify your current quest.

TAURUS (APRIL 20-MAY 20): Taurus philosopher Bertrand Russell observed, "The best life is the one in which the creative impulses play the largest part and the possessive impulses the smallest." That is always an important principle for everyone to embrace, in my opinion. But it will be an especially essential truth for you in the coming weeks. Your creative powers will thrive, even soar and generate blessings, to the degree that you downplay and outwit your possessive inclinations.

GEMINI (MAY 21-JUNE 20): "It's OK to live a life others don't understand," writes author Jenna Woginrich. That's a healthy attitude for an eccentric person like her, who taught herself by trial and error how to run a small farm with a meager budget while all alone in the middle of nowhere. But does her advice apply to everyone? I say yes, it does. All of us have quirky behaviors and idiosyncratic ideas and odd feelings that other people find hard to understand, let alone appreciate. I bring this to your attention, Gemini, because the coming weeks will be a time when it's best for you to emancipate yourself as much as possible from the need to be perfectly understood as you express your raw, pure, unique self.

CANCER (JUNE 21-JULY 22): I'm one of the lucky people who has never been addicted to alcohol or drugs. What's the source of my great fortune? Two kinds of grace are key—I suffered no abuse and trauma when I was growing up, and my genetic make-up doesn't predispose me to self-medicate with intoxicants. But I am indeed a bit addicted to other things, like fearful fantasies, sexual feelings, and the urge to win arguments. So I'm blessed in some ways, cursed in others—just like all of us! In honor of our season of introspection, my fellow Cancerian, I invite you to do what I just did—Count your blessings and curses. Doing so will bring you just the right kind of healing.

LEO (JULY 23-AUG. 22): "Jacquemus Mini Le Chiquito" is the name of a tiny

By Rob Brezsny

purse you can buy for $522. It fits into the palm of your hand and won't hold much— maybe a single-use strand of dental floss, a shoe from a Barbie doll, a snippet of a loved one's hair, an aspirin, maybe a few crumbs from a potato chip. In any case, I don't recommend it for you. You should be surrounding yourself with symbols of capaciousness and roominess. You need influences that inspire you to be a spacious container. It's time for you to welcome and receive an abundance of blessings, inquiries and invitations.

VIRGO (AUG. 23-SEPT. 22): "Worry is a way to pretend that you have knowledge or control over what you don't," writes author Rebecca Solnit. "And it surprises me, even in myself, how much we prefer ugly scenarios to the pure unknown." Your assignment in the coming weeks is to thoroughly incorporate Solnit's wisdom—and then wield it with tender ferocity as you reshape your relationship with the future. See if you can manage, if only for 10 days, to fight off and dissolve the reflex to worry. Here's a tip—Any time the agitated fantasy of an ugly scenario rises up in your imagination, remind yourself that it's not objectively true and immediately replace it with a fantasy of a desirable scenario.

LIBRA (SEPT. 23-OCT. 22): Nobel

Prize-winning Libran author William Faulkner was asked by a cousin if he was drunk when he dreamed up the imaginative stories and characters in his novels.

The truth was that on occasion Faulkner did indeed consume alcohol in excessive amounts. However, he rarely indulged while actually writing. His creative ideas mostly came from his fertile imagination, not an unhinged spirit. In the coming weeks, I hope you will be like Faulkner during the inventive phases he enjoyed while sober and disciplined and driven by focused intention. The astrological omens suggest that's the best recipe for generating original ideas and productive visions.

SCORPIO (OCT. 23-NOV. 21): "What

use is this howling tenderness?" wrote eighth-century Tamil mystic poet Andal. My research on Google reveals that no one has answered her question until now. I decided you would benefit from hearing my response, since you are in a chapter of your life story when howling tenderness could work to your benefit. So here's my counsel: Howling tenderness is useful because it has the power to shatter mysterious barriers that have been at least partially obstructing you from exploring the frontiers of sacred intimacy.

eyes of another who does not judge us can be extraordinarily healing." I urge you to identify the people who can perform this service for you, then ask them point-blank to perform this service, even if it has to happen over FaceTime or via Zoom. To generate the good karma that will ensure this happens in just the right way, offer to perform the same service for others.

CAPRICORN (DEC. 22-JAN. 19): "The changes we dread most may contain our salvation," writes author Barbara Kingsolver. Although I mostly agree with her conclusion, I'll also suggest that we could come up with less melodramatic versions of it. For example, we might say, "The adjustments we're resisting may actually be healthy." Or "The uncomfortable transitions we're avoiding might ultimately lead to a better version of comfort." Or "The revelations we're attempting to ignore and deny could eventually be the source of relief and release." Do any of these work for you right now, Capricorn? I bet at least one does.

AQUARIUS (JAN. 20-FEB. 18): Some

people seem to think of sacredness as being pristine and pious—an immaculate and orderly transcendence of earthly concerns.

Author and minister Marilyn Sewell has a different perspective. "Who can order the Holy?" she asks. "It is like a rain forest, dripping, lush, fecund, wild. We enter its abundance at our peril, for here we are called to the wholeness for which we long, but which requires all we are and can hope to be." I recommend Sewell's version of holiness to you in the coming weeks, Aquarius. You're primed to upgrade and deepen your sacred lust for life.

PISCES (FEB. 19-MARCH 20): When

Europeans arrived in the New World, the Iroquois Confederacy in what's now northeastern North American had been practicing participatory democracy for 350 years.

The visionary principles of these native people ultimately influenced the formation of the United States and its Constitution.

Now would be a good time for you to be inspired by these facts. How? You could draw teachings from the past and use them to create your future. You could study the perspectives of indigenous people and incorporate their wisdom into the way you live your life. You could tune in to and explore the traditions of people you respect and adopt them for your own use.

THIS WEEK'S HOMEWORK: What's your favorite thing to do when you're alone?

SAGITTARIUS (NOV. 22-DEC. 21):

Buddhist teacher Jack Kornfield articulates the spiritual medicine I think you should seek in the coming weeks. You especially need it, and by happy coincidence, it's likely to be available. Kornfield writes, "When we have for so long been judged by everyone we meet, just to look into the

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freewillastrology@freewillastrology.com Rob Brezsny © Copyright 2020

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news of the weird GOVERNMENT IN ACTION In 2013, Chad Dearth of Overland Park, Kansas, purchased his dream car, a 1964 Chevy Impala, and got an "antique" license plate for it. Since then, he has sold the car and moved to a new neighborhood, but earlier this year he received word that seven to 10 collection letters a day were arriving at his old address from state turnpike authorities up and down the East Coast. That's when Dearth learned that Kansas is one of a few states that assign identical numbers to different categories of specialty license plates, and his old antique plate number matched the number on a commercial semi truck—the one photographed by one of the authorities demanding payment for toll violations. Lee Ann Phelps, vehicle services manager for the Kansas Department of Revenue, told Fox4 she doesn't know why the state uses identical numbers, but there are about 625,000 plates in the state that share a number. Kansas has issued a new license for the truck, but in the meantime, the bills continue. Dearth most recently got a letter from the Delaware Turnpike Authority seeking $479.

GREEN EGGS, NO HAM A.K. Shihabudheen of Malappuram, India, and his wife cracked an egg from one of their chickens about nine months ago and were surprised to see a dark green yolk, rather than the standard yellow. "All the eggs which the hen laid ... were this kind," Shihabudheen told The News Minute, "and so we started to incubate the eggs. Out of the six chicks which hatched from these eggs, a few have started to lay eggs and those yolks are also green in color." The eggs taste like other eggs and cause no health problems, the family said.

Experts from Kerala Veterinary and Animal Sciences University suspect the feed given to the birds may be behind the phenomenon, according to Dr. S. Sankaralingam, but Shihabudheen says he gives all his birds the same feed.

MONKEY BUSINESS Egyptian talk show host Lobna Asal abruptly fled the studio mid-interview on May 27 after being attacked by the monkey brought to the set by her interview subject, actor Ibrahim El-Samman, United Press International reported. Appearing on Egyptian channel Al Hayat, the monkey co-starred with El-Samman on his latest project, and at first settled in Asal's lap for several minutes, calmly listening to the conversation, but then jumped down and attacked her legs.

As she ran off, another person arrived to wrangle the primate.

ANOTHER JOB THREATENED Massachusetts-based Boston Dynamics has partnered with the New Zealand robotics company Rocos to develop a robotic dog, Spot, to herd sheep. "The age of autonomous robots is upon us," Rocos chief executive David

By the Editors at Andrews McMeel

Inggs told United Press International. The dog can be controlled remotely as it guides sheep through mountainous and difficult terrain, according to the company. "It just needs to walk with intent toward the sheep and they seem to respond," said Richard Stinear, Rocos chief technology officer. In other words, they act like sheep.

BIRD BRAIN Security agencies in India thought they may have captured a Pakistani spy after villagers in Manyari, a border town in the disputed region of Kashmir, delivered the courier to police, but the mole wasn't a mole at all; it was a pigeon. According to Sky News, Kathua Police Superintendent Shailendra Mishra said the bird flew into a home on May 24 and a "ring was seen attached to one of its legs with some numbers on it ... Some called it a coded message."

Authorities are trying to decipher the message, as pigeons have been used for espionage in the disputed region in the past.

Meanwhile, the BBC reports that a Pakistani man named Habibullah is claiming the pigeon is his, and the number on the ring is his mobile phone number. Habibullah, who lives just a few miles from the India/Pakistan border, has asked for the pigeon's return and told local media India should "refrain from victimizing innocent birds."

Adoption • Paternity • Dependency/DCF Hearings Prenuptial Agreements • Postnuptial Agreements Divorce • Child Custody and Timesharing Child Support • Child Support Modifications Alimony • Collaborative Divorce • Divorce Mediation • Pre-Suit Family Law Mediation

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THE ALLURE OF JUNK FOOD San Diego police responding to a burglar alarm at a Wells Fargo bank in Chollas View, California, around 3:30 a.m. on May 27, found a broken window by the bank's drive-thru. Alarm company personnel told officers surveillance cameras showed a man inside the bank's break room, using the microwave.

Police gained entry to the bank and arrested the unnamed man, who told KGTV he had gone into the bank only to warm up his Hot Pockets. Asked if the Hot Pockets were worth the arrest, the man said, "Hell yeah it was worth it."

•City Parks and Recreation employee Zach Morris was cleaning up storm damage in Wynne, Arkansas, at the city's sports complex on May 24 when he noticed that someone had broken into the concession stand. "The whole place was just looted," Morris told WREG. The stand had been fully stocked for games scheduled before COVID-19 lockdowns began, and thieves helped themselves to drinks and candy, even taking the time to prepare nachos and popcorn before they left. Police are hoping the culprits will confess. "The right thing to do is take responsibility for the mistakes you made," Morris said. {in}

From Andrews McMeel Syndication News Of The Weird © 2020 Andrews McMeel

Send your weird news items to WeirdNewsTips@amuniversal.com June 4, 2020

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