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Independent News | July 29, 2021 | Volume 22 | Number 30 | Original portrait of T. T. Wentworth Jr. Courtesy of UWF Historic Trust

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winners & losers

outtakes

news 6, 7

It's all out there somewhere; it’s just waiting to be found.

feature story

buzz 8

publisher Rick Outzen

graphic designer Tim Bednarczyk

editor & creative director Joani Delezen

contributing writers Gina Castro, Savannah Evanoff, Jennifer Leigh, Jeremy Morrison, Sydney Robinson, C.S. Satterwhite

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4/7/21

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July 29, 2021

winners & losers

Patricia Gandolfo / Pensacola State College

winners PATRICIA GANDOLFO Pensacola State

College announced the University of West Florida assistant coach as its new head volleyball coach. An accomplished player herself, Gandolfo began her collegiate career at Missouri State University-White Plains and then played at UWF. In 2017, she was inducted into the Missouri State University-White Plains Hall of Fame, named a 2017-2018 AVCA 30 Under 30 recipient, was a member of the GSC All-Decade Team, an NCAA Third Team AllAmerican, an NJCAA First Team and Second Team All-American as well as an NJCAA All-Regional and All-Conference Team Player. She was an accomplished student as well, earning All-Conference Academic and All-Regional Academic Team honors in 2006, 2007 and 2008. Gandolfo earned a Bachelor of Communication Arts degree from UWF in 2011 and a master's in Exercise Science and Community Health from UWF in 2018. That year, she was named UWF's Most Outstanding Student of the Year.

JUSTIN BECK Conservation Florida recently created its Northwest Advisory Council to address land conservation matters in the area. Beck Partners CEO Justin Beck will chair the council. The Northwest Advisory Council will serve as a community champion of Conservation Florida and its work in the area. It will build a community that informs the organization's decisions on the needs specific to Northwest Florida. Beck was in the inaugural Inweekly Rising Star Class in 2008. CITY PUBLIC WORKS & ENGINEERING

The City of Pensacola has been awarded a $500,000 grant from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection's Green Stormwater Infrastructure Program, which will allow the city to incorporate green infrastructure concepts into a flood mitigation project on Barrancas Avenue, continuing the city's ongoing efforts to improve water quality of local waterways. The city will use this funding to implement environmental features in the flood mitigation project that will ultimately reduce the flow of pollutants into Bayou Chico.

losers FLORIDA COVID RATE Florida's rate

of new COVID-19 infections has climbed sharply over the past two weeks. Its sevenday average of cases is now the highest in the nation. Hospitals across the state are adjusting their visitation protocols and rescheduling elective surgeries due to the dangerous and accelerating influx of cases. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Florida on Thursday, July 22, reported 12,647 new COVID-19 cases—23% of all nationwide cases for the day and the highest daily figure since January. From July 1 to July 23, Baptist Health Care has treated a total of 65 patients who have been hospitalized for COVID-19. Of those, 57 were unvaccinated. Baptist plans to provide this information to the media on Tuesdays and Fridays.

ESCAMBIA COUNTY JAIL The county announced last week it will fix design flaws in its new $142 million correctional facility that have made it difficult for attorneys to meet with their clients. The 840-bed jail that opened in June doesn't have enough spaces to allow for privacy and confidentiality for attorney-client meetings. Public Defender Bruce Miller told the daily newspaper that the new facility was designed to be a correctional institution and not a pretrial detention, making access to legal counsel an "afterthought in the design." GAETZ & GREENE ROADSHOW This

summer, the GOP Wonder Twins, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), launched a nationwide joint fundraising tour. Both Gaetz and Greene contributed $150,000 apiece from their own campaigns to the joint fundraising committee "Put America First." According to recent filings with the Federal Election Commission, the joint fundraising effort reported only $59,345.54 in contributions, while spending over $287,000. Only four people gave $500 or more to the shared committee. Apparently, two negatives don't make a positive. inweekly.net

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IN HONOR OF SUE We lost Sue Hand, and our community is less without her. For nearly four decades, Sue served as the executive director of FavorHouse of Northwest Florida and was a fierce champion for domestic violence and sexual assault survivors. She passed away suddenly on Sunday, July 18, at the age of 79. FavorHouse of Northwest Florida, Inc. has been assisting women and men in gaining back their lives after abuse since 1979. The house was built after a task force study in 1976 found that there was no housing for victims of spousal abuse and their children. The Spouse Abuse Task Force then became Favor (Family Anti-Violence in Organized Response), first as a program under the YMCA and later as FavorHouse. When funding became available from the Marriage License Trust Fund, FavorHouse was the designated program recipient for funds in District 1. Ninety-eight percent of victims seeking shelter at FavorHouse are women. The emergency shelter capacity is 50 beds with a children's playroom and a children's counseling room. Almost half the time, children are being abused as well and often accompany their mothers to FavorHouse, where they find shelter, food, clothing and counseling. Sue shared with me, "They can come in at any time of the night. Most come with little to nothing." In July 2004, Inweekly reported the rise of domestic violence in the cover story "The Ugly Face of Domestic Violence." We did the article because Escambia County had eight murders tied to domestic violence, and its rate of domestic violence per 100,000 population, 730.4, ranked 23rd in the state. To help fund FavorHouse's services, Sue created the First White Rose Luncheon. The inaugural fundraising event had 350 attendees and Gov. Jeb Bush as the speaker in 2015. Later that year, Sheriff Ron McNesby and State Attorney Bill Eddins appeared in television commercials that focused on domestic violence. Their message, "Domestic violence offenders go

to jail," was placed on a heavy rotation on local television and radio stations. But domestic violence reports continued to rise. The issue became personal when one of my daughter's classmates showed up at our house in tears. Her father had punched her repeatedly on Sunday morning before he left to preach at the church he pastored. I called Sue for help, and we quickly became friends, kindred spirits fighting the system that too often looked away from violence in homes in our community. Sue taught me that domestic violence happens across the community, not just in households struggling financially or with drug abuse. In March 2009, we hit the subject hard again with Sean Boone's "The Domestic Violence Epidemic." The rate of domestic violence jumped up to 868.1, moving it to seventh in the state, in McNesby's last year in office. Sheriff David Morgan put domestic violence at the forefront of his administration in hopes of turning things around. He asked Sue and domestic abuse experts, like Pensacola State College Police Chief Nancy Newland and University of West Florida professor Kimberly Tatum, a former assistant state attorney, to better educate deputy responders. I wish I could write that we turned the tide on domestic violence, but we didn't. In 2017, PNJ reporter Kevin Robinson wrote that Escambia County ranked first in domestic violence incidents among the 11 counties with populations between 250,000 and 450,000 people. The statistics are still high. Sue fought for victims to the end, and FavorHouse will continue to help a cross-section of Escambia County. Its 24-hour hotline, (850) 434-6000, offers counselors who can help victims by providing immediate safe shelter, giving instructions on how to file a restraining order and providing referrals on where victims of abuse can receive financial assistance. Please consider a donation to FavorHouse in Sue's memory. You can donate online at bit. ly/3zxaY5c. {in} rick@inweekly.net

Sue taught me that domestic violence happens across the community, not just in households struggling financially or with drug abuse.

July 29, 2021

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LAKEVIEW IN A POST-BAPTIST WORLD

Photo Courtesy of Baptist Health Care

By Rick Outzen Baptist Hospital is relocating from Pensacola's inner city to Brent Lane off Interstate 110. It's leaving behind Lakeview Center, from which the health care system will separate on Oct. 1 after a 25-year affiliation. Inweekly sat down with Lakeview CEO Allison Hill to discuss her organization that employs 3,000 team members across all its operations with annual revenue of about $300 million. "Most people, when they hear the name Lakeview Center, they are thinking of our behavioral health services because when Lakeview started in 1954, we were a small child guidance clinic," she said. "And I think our reputation in the community is around our substance abuse and mental health services. But over the 67-year history, we have started other lines of business because we saw needs in the community that we could help address." Hill continued, "So Lakeview is a human service organization. Our mission is helping people throughout life's journey, and we touch people in a lot of different ways." The Lakeview Behavioral Health division provides mental health and substance abuse services for all ages and across the continuum of care. The services range from traditional outpatient services, such as psychiatry and medication management, to residential programs and crisis and emergency services. The service area includes Escambia, Santa Rosa and Walton counties. "I think why that is special is because we can touch an individual wherever they are in their life journey," said Hill. "Some66

times outpatient is appropriate; other times they may need a little more wraparound, a little more intensive service, and we can hand off, amongst our different programs, just to meet people where they are and then step out and let them continue on their life journey and be there when they need us." In 2001, the state privatized foster care. If an individual suspects abuse or neglect, they call the 1-800 number. If there's a finding of abuse or neglect in Escambia, Santa Rosa or Okaloosa county, Lakeview's FamiliesFirst network gets involved. "We work with families and children to keep kids safe," said Hill. "Sometimes that means they stay in the home, and we provide case management support, wraparound services. If the child has to be removed, then we work with the state to find the most appropriate placement." She continued, "We'll look for relatives, foster homes, maybe a group home or medical foster home, depending on the needs of the child. And we work towards reunifying with the family. If the case plan goal can't be met, parental rights are terminated; we work towards the goal of adoption." Florida has seen a rise in the number of children in foster care, but Hill said the trend has begun to reverse. Hill explained Lakeview handles foster cases differently than other agencies because the primary reason for removal from a home has historically been due to domestic violence and substance misuse. "It's not uncommon to have a family involved with FamiliesFirst also involved with Behavioral Health," she shared. "Many times, our families need employment opportunities

and haven't been able to find them other places, so we can help with that." Hill added, "The reason we got involved with the foster care program was we see the same kind of family dynamics and can put services together in a way that helps the family accomplish the goals they want." Lakeview's largest division involves vocational services, Global Connections to Employment (GCE), which provides employees around the country. She said, "We're in, I believe, 19 states now. The majority of our team members, about 1,800, are within that division. And the mission is to employ individuals with significant disabilities." GCE participates in the federal setaside procurement program, and threefourths of its direct labor is performed by an individual with a significant disability. The company has workers on military installations all over the country. "They're doing lots of different kinds of activities, food service and custodial," said Hill. "Our largest contract is a technologybased contract. We're working with a lot of services-abled veterans in that particular area because we can provide the training and supports and accommodations where other employers may not be as understanding, or as creative, I guess maybe, in helping individuals be successful." The Lakeview CEO stressed GCE has succeeded by providing first-class customer service. She said, "They want to make sure that meals are appropriate, that the facilities are clean, that work is of high quality. So it's a good balance there in terms of supporting our mission. It's just the way we accomplish the work, I think, that makes us a little bit different."

The decision to decouple Lakeview and Baptist Health Care came about as the two organizations looked at the move to the new campus by 2024. "Over the past 25 years, we've just grown, as I described, and the hospital has as well," Hill explained. "We started down this path almost a year ago. I guess we didn't know it was this path, but we started talking about how do we have a structure in place where we can do what's best for Baptist, Lakeview and the community." She continued, "Because we wanted to make sure that services were not impacted in any way. And so the plan that we've arrived at, that we're executing on now, accomplishes all of those things." According to Hill, the disaffiliation decisions have been collegial and collaborative. She added, "There're processes currently in place, and even post-transaction, so nothing falls through the cracks. Because over 25 years, things have gotten intertwined that maybe even now it just kind of happens." It has helped that many of those grants are in Lakeview's name anyway, as well as most of the property. The organization also has its own accounting and payroll, which will make the separation on Oct. 1 easier than one might think. "I think the opportunity is going to come as we have future decisions that we can make," said Hill. "We'll engage in a strategic planning process because it's not often that a 60-something-year-old organization has a chance to reinvent and clarify its story and help the community understand what we are here for. And so we're going to make sure that we do that right—engage our team members, engage the community and stakeholders so that we have a good foundation to move forward from." Will Lakeview leave the West Moreno District? "What I can tell you about that is I don't have immediate plans to go anywhere, but I also appreciate that our services aren't necessarily just here on the main campus and that I do appreciate that the neighborhood will change once the hospital relocates," she said. Lakeview is participating in the conversations about the future plans for the current hospital site. Hill said, "We'll have input, ideas and impact from decisions that get made. But at this point, no decisions have been made, and a lot of conversation has happened." She added, "We have a fantastic activity center with a gym and a lot of meeting space, so we're an important part of this neighborhood as well. And so I know it's important for us to be actively engaged in the planning process." Hill is excited about the future for Lakeview and the neighboring community. She said, "I would want the community to know that we're here for them when they need us to be here—that being that trusted partner is important to me; it's important to the organization." {in} inweekly.net

THE $26 BILLION LEGACY CASE

By Rick Outzen The nation's three biggest opioid distributors—McKesson, Cardinal Health and AmerisourceBergen—and pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson reached a $26 billion settlement to resolve thousands of lawsuits with states, counties, cities and other jurisdictions across the country over the opioid epidemic, which has killed more than half a billion Americans. Pensacola's Levin Papantonio Rafferty law firm helped craft the settlement agreement in what The Washington Post described as "one of the largest and most complex civil litigation battles in U.S. legal history." The firm is currently in trial in West Virginia and had several other cases on the docket around the country. Partners Mike Papantonio, Troy Rafferty and Peter Mougey have been in negotiations with the defendants for two years, nearly reaching an agreement early this year only to see it fall apart. They sat down with Inweekly to discuss the settlement. "The deal was dead on arrival in February or March of this year," Mougey told Inweekly while sitting in Rafferty's "war room" in the firm's offices across from the M.C. Blanchard Judicial Building. "The problem was the defendants wanted the global peace, and the cities and counties and the state didn't want to sign off because of concerns about certainty of payments." He continued, "So we came up with a structure that aligned both needs. Now there's a tiered structure that just got creJuly 29, 2021

ated in the last 60 days. The tiered structure is the more states, cities and counties that sign on, the higher the level of certainty of payments, the higher the percentage." If the proposed settlements are fully adopted by states and subdivisions nationwide, the distributors will pay a maximum of $21 billion over 18 years, while Johnson & Johnson will pay a maximum of $5 billion over no more than nine years, with approximately $22.8 billion in settlement proceeds payable to state and local subdivisions. Of the funds going directly to participating states and subdivisions, at least 85% must be used to abate the opioid epidemic, with the overwhelming bulk of the proceeds restricted to funding future abatement efforts by state and local governments. The distributors will make an initial deposit of funds into escrow by the end of September 2021, with additional deposits by Johnson & Johnson and the distributors in early summer of 2022. Funds can begin to flow to states and local governments as early as April 2022, depending on when a settling state meets certain requirements. The Johnson & Johnson agreement also of-

"Johnson & Johnson is no longer in the opiate business. They won't be in the opioid business for 10 years after this, which is huge. And there's the clearinghouse that the companies must maintain." Peter Mougey

fers opportunities for significant acceleration of payments if states and subdivisions meet specified participation levels. While the dollar amounts are monstrous, the injunctive relief elements are game-changers. "Johnson & Johnson is no longer in the opiate business. They won't be in the opioid business for 10 years after this, which is huge," said Mougey. "And there's the clearinghouse that the companies must maintain." He explained, "That's a cool part of this story. The data for tracking every pill from the manufacturers to the distributors to the pharmacies was dumped into this huge database that sat in the basement of the DEA for decades, and it was really unusable. Our shop took control of all of that data, and we created a red flag system out of almost a billion lines of data that identifies suspicious orders—something the companies and DEA should have been doing all along." Rafferty took point on the lawsuits against McKesson, one of the largest opioid distributors in the country. He said, "They had no real systems in place to even monitor what was going on, even though they were supposed to have one. They knew that they were shipping all of these pills, 20 million pills, into a town of 400 people. And they just never stopped it, which they were supposed to and obligated to under the Controlled Substances Act. I mean, they knew what they were doing."

"The disgusting caliber of slimy conduct by corporate leadership in this opioid case reached an alltime low on the morality meter." Mike Papantonio Rafferty continued, "In their policies, they specifically said, 'Do not use the word suspicious because that triggers certain obligations we have.' And so just basically don't use it or else we then have to stop the order, investigate the order and decide whether or not to even ultimately ship the order." Mike Papantonio was appalled at the defendants' behavior. "In the tobacco case that we launched, I believed I had seen the very ugliest corporate conduct imaginable, but I was wrong," said Papantonio. "The disgusting caliber of slimy conduct by corporate leadership in this opioid case reached an all-time low on the morality meter. I doubted people had the capacity to have such disregard for human life. But I saw it here." Mougey shared that working on the case was personal for him. "My brotherin-law died of an overdose, so I still get a little emotional over it. I can still see the

casket at the end with my nephew, age 3 or 4, standing there next to it. And so this has always had a personal motivation." He added, "We can make these earthshattering policy changes across the country out of a local office like this, and then we get to bring the results back to our community. It's so powerful to do what we do every day and enforce change in corporate America and change cultures with this injunctive relief. To me, it gets you moving every day. It's powerful." Rafferty was a young lawyer with the Levin firm when Fred Levin masterminded a multi-billion-dollar settlement with Big Tobacco. How does this $26 billion settlement stack up against that?

"I see it stacking up right next to it, as one of those legacy cases. This litigation is going to change what has been one of the most devastating and massive epidemics in our country's history." Troy Rafferty "I see it stacking up right next to it, as one of those legacy cases," he said. "This litigation is going to change what has been one of the most devastating and massive epidemics in our country's history. And almost nobody you meet hasn't been touched by this epidemic in some form or fashion." Mougey shared, "A lesson learned from the tobacco settlement was a lot of the money went into the state's general coffers. One of the things that we've done with this money is that we've ensured that 90% of it will go to treatment, education and trying to fix the problem. And we get a little pushback about that sometimes from our own clients. The money's going to come out over 18 years. And even here in Escambia County, Pensacola will likely be able to put tens of millions of dollars back in our local coffers to help combat the problem here." The attorney pointed out that Congress had first investigated Oxycontin and the opiate epidemic in 2001. Nothing change. The Levin Papantonio Rafferty firm uncovered in litigation well into 2013, 2014 and 2015 that the companies had virtually no system in place to spot suspicious orders or spotted them and kept shipping them over nearly 15 years after Congress opened its first investigation. Mougey said, "And Congress wasn't able to fix it. The DEA wasn't able to fix it. The state Attorney Generals weren't able to fix it. Who fixed it? Who fixed it is private lawyers around the country filing suits on behalf of local governments." {in} 7

SUMMER YOUTH CELEBRATION

Escambia County celebrated its Escambia County Summer Youth Employment Program Ceremony on Friday, July 23, at the Brownsville Community Center. Over 100 youth workers were recognized by District 3 Commissioner Lumon May and Neighborhood & Human Services staff. "We started this program because I believe in young people," said Commissioner May. "When we talk about economic development, I think the Charles Gund, Adela Lubkowitz, Jessica Lee, Mark Faulkner, KC Gartman, Margaret Stopp, Robert Jones, III, Mike Morette / Photo by Deanie best thing we can do is Sexton Photography expose young people However, when County Attorney GALA SUCCESS Baptist Health Care to opportunity." Alison Rogers made a public record request Foundation's seventh annual Casino Royale The Youth Employment Program gives for the clerk's email and any other docuGala raised more than $252,000. Proceeds 16- to 24-year-olds the opportunity to get mentation she had, Childers didn't provide will benefit the new Baptist Health Care paid work experience in various county the email and admitted, "My communicacampus at Brent Lane and I-110. departments, Supervisor of Elections and tion was all verbal." "The new campus will incorporate statethe Escambia County School District. The clerk sent Rogers a link to the new of-the-art technology, include a concentration Participants Vitus Larrieu, Kendall Atkins, FRS enrollment form. She wrote, "The form of related services and enable a modern apDe'Shawn Brundidge, Sara Siler and Tyler for Elected Officials has been updated. proach to patient experience, access, wellness Werkieser talked about their experiThere is no longer Option #5 that states and care," said KC Gartman, the chief developences in the summer internship program. 'Withdraw from the FRS to participate in a ment officer of Baptist Health Care. "Our new FloridaWest CEO Scott Luth, Inweekly local annuity plan.' There are limited reahome furthers our journey to bring a modern publisher Rick Outzen and Levin Papantosons to opt out of FRS. FRS is compulsory if nio Rafferty attorney LaRuby May offered and more accessible approach to health care statutes do not allow an opt-out provision." to our region. This new campus will be an inwords of encouragement. When the daily newspaper pressed her novative, convenient, safe and compassionate place to provide and receive care, incorporating about the program's legality, Childers didn't BUDGET DIRECTOR RESIGNS Amber mention the email but said she had been in modern efficiencies in a healing environment." McClure, who was hired by former County communication with the Florida Retirement Last year, the gala was canceled due to Administrator Janice Gilley a year ago to be System (FRS) and Department of ManageCOVID-19 precautionary measures. Many her budget director, submitted her resignament Services. She told the PNJ they didn't event sponsors and donors opted to transition on Friday, July 23, two days after the outright say the program is illegal. tion their sponsorship to a direct donation commissioners' budget workshops. Her last But that didn't keep Childers from to support the Foundation's COVID-19 day on the job will be Friday, Aug. 20. grandstanding, telling Commissioners SteResponse Fund. Contributions to the fund When Gilley was fired on June 17, Mcven Barry, Robert Bender and Lumon May totaled $200,000 and were donated to Clure had to help Interim County Administhat they needed to pay back a portion of Baptist Health Care to support COVID-19 trator Wes Moreno pull together a budget the contributions made to their retirement safety measures implemented for patients proposal after she returned from a schedaccounts. In her letter to Rogers, the clerk and team members, including expanded uled vacation. The budget workshops went wrote that the commissioners didn't need isolation areas of Baptist hospitals to create smoothly with no indication of problems durto get a legal opinion about the plan. additional negative pressure rooms, protecing McClure's presentations to the board. In a separate email, Rogers told the clerk tive equipment and COVID-19 testing kits. McClure resigned via email, "I wanted that FRS allowed the commissioners to opt to share with you that I have made the out of its program this year. If FRS changed BCC BOMBSHELL Escambia County Clerk decision, after much consideration, to its mind, then the agency—not Childers— Pam Childers dropped another bomb at the part ways with Escambia County Board of should have contacted the commissioners. Board of County Commissioners meeting County Commissioners. I am passionate The standard policy has been to grandfather about making a difference and apprecion Thursday, July 22, declaring the state had in people when a program changes. told her the county's annuity retirement ate the time I've been fortunate enough Why did Childers pull the trigger at program was illegal. to serve the citizens of Escambia County the BCC without having all the documents "The state has determined it is illegal to alongside each of you. I have thoroughly have a 401(a) for elected officials," Childers to substantiate her claims? The county enjoyed working with you—you are an inattorney had put on the meeting agenda a told the commissioners. "They emailed me spirational, pleasant group of leaders—your discussion of the 401(a) program. yesterday." passion is apparent." 88

CITY AND CLIMATE CHANGE The City

of Pensacola has launched an interactive online Resiliency Story Map and sea level rise vulnerability assessment, which will help the city collect data to identify and plan for potential sea level rise throughout Pensacola. It can be viewed at bit.ly/2Ttpdsw. Recognizing the threats that higher tides mean for coastal cities, the city received a grant from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection to conduct a vulnerability assessment and develop a resilience plan based on the results. The story map is one of the products of this grant and describes, in summary, the data, methodology and analysis undertaken by the city and the project team. The resiliency story map and vulnerability assessment identify potential vulnerable infrastructure locations in the City of Pensacola expected to be impacted by sea level rise, along with an estimated timeline for sea level rise impacts. The map also identifies priority planning areas for the city through the data collected as it relates to sea level rise. This vulnerability assessment is part of the City of Pensacola's overarching climate planning strategy to address underlying climate change threats. The planning process included the establishment of the Climate Mitigation and Adaptation Task Force in 2017. The report produced by the Task Force provides a general outline of the direction for the City of Pensacola and the region to undertake specific actions to counter threats and impacts of climate change and extreme weather.

MORE CLERK GAMES Escambia County Clerk of Court Pam Childers is upset that Tourist Development Council Chair David Bear has asked the Florida Auditor General to conduct an independent audit of the TDC expenditures. Bear and his board are concerned about alleged irregularities in how Childers accounts for her office's 3% administration fee for handling bed tax collections. At the budget workshop on Wednesday, Childers sent a warning to Visit Pensacola CEO Darren Schaefer, who has been in charge of the organization since April 2020, that he should be worried about Visit Pensacola's procurement process. She veiled her comments as if it was the Board of County Commissioners who was worried. It should be noted the budget workshops are for the commissioners to review the county administrator's proposed budget and the budgets of the constitutional officers and outside agencies, such as Visit Pensacola. The clerk in the past has rarely made comments on the presentations—but not this year. inweekly.net

"I'd like to bring something to your attention, Darren, and this has to do with something the commission has requested," said Childers to Schaefer after his presentation. "And I want to make sure that it's communicated because Darren is new and that is your solicited bid for your marketing, in this case, would be Showcase. I just want to remind you that your chair (Bear) has asked for an Auditor General audit that may or may not come." She continued, "But one of the things they look at is your procurement process. You may not know this, but this board has requested a demand that you follow their procurement process. I'm not sure that that has happened yet. I wanted to bring it to your attention because this has been a conversation from the board." Childers told him that her staff would get with him, and he should look at the Okaloosa operational audit from the auditor general—"that's very, very informative, and it would be helpful to you." Schaefer said Visit Pensacola had restructured its accounting codes to match the county's. "I don't want to get too far on a limb, but I know in discussion of our procurement process, we've been trying to follow what the county has been doing and being consistent with those procedures," he said. "We bid a lot out in 2020 and made a number of changes, and part of that was in trying to reduce costs." He continued, "Our bid with Showcase was a three-year bid that just went into effect Sept. 1, 2020, so we're just finishing up our first year of the Showcase." Other than Chairman Robert Bender mentioning that Interim Visit Pensacola CEO Jack Brown changed accounting and procurement over a year ago, none of the commissioners seemed to be concerned with what Childers said she was doing on their behalf. Very strange.

July 29, 2021

NEIGHBORHOOD CLEAN-UP The next Mayor's Neighborhood Cleanup will be on Saturday, July 31, in the Eastgate, Parker Circle and Palisade areas. For details, visit bit. ly/3rrMnMc. This event allows City of Pensacola Sanitation customers in the cleanup area to leave eligible items at the curb for pickup. City of Pensacola Sanitation Services will pick up the items free of charge. Sanitation customers in the cleanup area must place items curbside by 7 a.m. on the day of the cleanup. Please do not place items at the curb prior to Wednesday, July 28. Please note that items left curbside outside of the cleanup area will not be collected. The cleanup includes bulk items only. Yard waste or garbage will not be collected. Items eligible for removal include household appliances and electronics, household junk and debris, furniture and mattresses, carpeting, barbecue grills (no propane tanks), bicycles and toys, tires, old paint and paint cans. Items not eligible for removal include building materials (concrete, bricks, blocks, roofing, drywall or more than one cubic yard of lumber), household or pool chemicals, herbicides or pesticides, explosives or ammunition, auto parts, dirt or sod, propane tanks, garbage or yard trash 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. LOCAL BAR NEWS The Escambia-Santa Rosa Bar Association recently held its annual installation banquet and formally celebrated the 50th anniversary of the association. Judge Linda Nobles conducted the installation of the 2021-2022 Executive Council and Young Lawyers Division officers and members. Newly installed Executive Council officers are Garrett LaBorde, president; Aaron McCurdy, vice president; Christine Kelly, secretary; Joe Passeretti, treasurer; and Heather

Lindsay, immediate past president. New and returning Executive Council members are Ryan Cardoso, Shekka Drayton, Jessica Etherton, Rebecca Gilliland, Joe Kirkland, Stephen Luongo, John Mahoney II, Amie Remington, Rachel Sheffield, Haley VanFleteren, Aaron Watson and Young Lawyers Division Representative Andrew Spencer. The inaugural Civility and Professionalism Award was presented to Judge Ross Goodman. Henceforth, the award will be named in his honor and presented annually. The 2021 Michael A. Doubek Community Service Award was presented to Douglas Grayson Miller. The 2020 Michael A. Doubek Community Service Award was retroactively awarded to Judge David Langham. The award is presented to a member or group of members of the Escambia-Santa Rosa Bar Association in recognition of volunteer service to the community. Newly installed Young Lawyers Division officers are Andrew Spencer, president; Michelle Nguyen, vice president; Logan Sliva, treasurer; and Brooke DiSalvo, secretary. Returning board members are Cecily Parker and Travis Morock. Shannon Morris was recognized as the recipient of the 2021 Young Lawyers Division William S. Meador Award. The award is given each year to a young attorney who distinguishes themselves by their commitment to our community through charitable and civil service. The award was established in 2005 to honor the legacy left by William Meador of practicing law with integrity, sincerity and courtesy while recognizing his commitment of giving back to the community. The 2021-2022 Escambia-Santa Rosa Bar Foundation officers and directors were elected by the membership at the banquet. Newly elected officers are Shekka Drayton, president; D. Steve Traylor, Jr., vice president; and John "Buz" Windham, secretary/ treasurer. New and returning directors are Sheldon Bernau, Jeremy Branning, Jodi Dubose, Stephen Echsner, Cameron

Townes Gore, Kristin Haul, Garrett LaBorde, Heather Lindsay, Patrick Martin, Adrianna Spain and Warren Todd. The Escambia-Santa Rosa Bar Association is a nonprofit voluntary organization for attorneys and judges in Escambia and Santa Rosa Counties in Florida. The association has approximately 700 members. Its mission is to provide outstanding service to its members, assist them in serving the profession and the community, make the association indispensable to the bench and bar and preserve and promote the twocounty area as a unique place to practice law in a culture of camaraderie, collegiality, competence and mutual trust. For more information, visit esrba.com.

INWEEKLY TIES Since July 1999, Inweekly has received one of our most popular columns, "News of the Weird," from Andrews McMeel Universal, the largest newspaper syndication company in the world. On July 7, John McMeel, the company's founder, died at his home in Kansas City, Mo. He was 85. While a salesman for another newspaper syndication company in New York, McMeel partnered in the late 1960s with Jim Andrews, the managing editor of The National Catholic Reporter in Kansas City to form Universal Press Syndicate, the predecessor to the current company. They discovered Garry Trudeau, creator of "Doonesbury," while he was drawing a cartoon strip for The Yale Daily News. The strip went into syndication in 1970 and changed the face of cartoon pages around the country. Universal later launched Bill Watterson, the graphic designer who created "Calvin and Hobbes," and Gary Larson, creator of "The Far Side." Chuck Shepherd created "News of the Weird" in 1988, which quickly became a regular feature for alt-weeklies around the country. He retired in July 2017, and the editors of Andrews McMeel Universal have taken over the column.

By Rick Outzen

A Klansman wrote much of Pensacola's history and thereby shaped how generations viewed the town. His stories were retold and used as sources by the media and other writers for decades. His collection became the foundation for T.T. Wentworth Jr. Florida State Museum, located in downtown Pensacola. But few knew of Theodore Thomas Wentworth Jr.'s KKK past when Earle Bowden, PNJ publisher and chairman of the Historic Pensacola Preservation, dedicated the museum to him at the old Pensacola City Hall in March 1988 thanks to a $1.4 million grant from Gov. Bob Martinez. In his dedication speech, Bowden said the people of Pensacola owed a lot to Wentworth—"He amassed the city's fortune from the past, those tangible reminders that illustrate life here as it evolved through the centuries." In 1920, Wentworth, who owned a bicycle shop, was elected the youngest county commissioner in Florida, serving one term. He later was elected county tax collector in 1928 and served until 1940. According to the daily newspaper's archives, he co-founded the Pensacola Historical Society in 1933. He opened his first museum in 1937 in the home of Dorothy Walton, wife of a signer of the Declaration of Independence. According to the PNJ, he wrote more than 150 historical sketches and made over 160 speeches on the history for WCOA radio. He later moved his collection to a museum in Ensley in 1957. "Mr. Tom" then created the T.T. Wentworth Jr. Historical Foundation to fund the museum, publish pamphlets and reprint other historical publications. In the 1960s, the PNJ editorial board nicknamed him "Mr. History." When Wentworth died in July 1989, Gov. Martinez said, "By working to preserve the city's heritage, he made sure future residents will always know the importance of its past." However, the history, contributions and lives of Blacks and other aspects of the community were excluded—"influencing a terrorist culture against inclusion and were very much for uplifting an environment of hate and disparity," as the Community Advisory Group wrote in its public statement in the recent report on Wentworth and the Klan. UWF history professor Dr. Jamin Wells 010 1

led the review of the T.T. Wentworth collection and authored the report. He pointed out that Wentworth became a historian while he was a KKK member. "He started to write history as a Klansman," Wells told Inweekly. "He was given directions by an editor of the national Klan's magazine on how to write history. He started collecting and sharing historical artifacts while he was in the Klan. And that use of history to shape a town, that was formed during his Klan experience." He added, "His radio addresses from the 1930s, we have transcripts for all of them. Those are the foundational documents for how Pensacola tells its story. And different storytellers have come and picked that up in different ways."

New Eyes on Mr. Tom

Tom Garner abruptly changed the Wentworth narrative last summer. The local historian exposed "Mr. History's" Klan connections in a letter to the Pensacola City Council calling for the removal of the "Our Confederate Dead" monument in Lee Square (Inweekly, "Who Gets to Tell the Story," 7/23/20), identifying Wentworth as the "Exalted Cyclops, Escambia Klan number 57, Invisible Empire, Knights of the Ku Klux Klan" during the 1920s. The reaction from the University of West Florida Historic Trust was swift. In a statement, UWF wrote, "The Trust is actively investigating the appropriate process and approvals required to rename the T.T. Wentworth Jr. Florida State Museum." The university followed through with its commitment, and the Wentworth name was removed at the end of June and it was renamed the "Pensacola Museum of History at the University of West Florida." The UWF Historic Trust also commissioned Dr. Wells to digitalize the KKK materials and make them available to the public. Wells recruited a community advisory group to discuss the documents, research findings and ways to evaluate and share this history and its legacies. Wells released his preliminary report, "Pensacola's Ku Klux Klan and T.T. Wentworth Jr.," on July 8. A total of 265 documents related to the 1920s Pensacola KKK were identified in the five-month targeted resurvey of the UWF Historic Trust Archive. Except for published Klan documents, 232 documents and photo-

graphs have been digitized and are available via the UWF Digital Archive. According to Wells, the collection offers the most detailed view of a Florida Klan in the 1920s, giving researchers a peek into the inner workings of a local Klan and how it related to the state organization. The 1920s Klan, also known as the Second Klan, grew in popularity by pitching the Klan's white supremacist, nativist, secret Protestant fraternalism as the solution to local problems, which typically included offenses such as adultery, domestic abuse, nonsupport, any violation of Prohibition or crossing the color-line in any way. The Klan's enforcement of locally defined morality included not only African Americans but also Catholics, Jews, immigrants and people deemed to be "immoral." The collection included a ledger documenting the Pensacola Ku Klux Klan's membership and activities between 1922 and 1925. Wells said the membership analysis is "still ongoing, and that needs to be fleshed out." "A lot of people joined and what's weird is that a lot of people left the organization as well," he told Inweekly. "This is the decade of Babbitt; this was the joiners. And so a lot of people joined and then a lot of people left. And so then we didn't publish a list of names of people who were named because I didn't think that was fair unless we know who stayed and who didn't."

Front-Row Seat

In the public statement included with the report, the Community Advisory Group discussed what it was like to have a frontrow seat to Wells' exploration and analysis of the Klan documents and to understand the strategies and tactics used by Klan members to "wield social, cultural, religious, political and economic power over others." The advisory group included Garner, Teniadé Broughton, Jewel Cannada-Wynn, Cheryl Howard, Dr. Darlene Mosley, Robin Reshard, Scott Satterwhite, Juanita Scott, Joe Vinson, Adrianne Walker, Sharon Yancey and Dr. Marion Williams. The group admitted its members didn't always agree. "As challenging as it was—and is—to view this collection, we had to look to hold ourselves accountable to the public and to give objective insight and constructive feedback

to Dr. Wells," the advisory group said. "To be sure, while we all agreed that this information should be made public in the interest of research, history, observation, analysis, and education, we did not all agree on what to share or even how to express the content and context of the information." The group continued, "That is what makes this report so very critical. Our discussions were robust, our opinions and insights were diverse and all of it was needed and necessary." The group didn't ascribe the whole of racism, racist attitudes and white supremacy to Wentworth or the Klan but wrote, "While Wentworth did not lead all of those to the proverbial waters of hate, he did put out a welcome mat and invited all who fit into his idea of an ideal American—white, Protestant, nativeborn men. And many came and waded in those waters, picnicked on the sands or provided a ride to the shores."

Wow, Wow,Wow

Robin Reshard told Inweekly it was "amazing to be amongst the professional and community members who all have the same goal to uncover the truth and share the truth no matter how somebody felt." She said, "The members said, 'We're going to love you, but we're going to love you through this.' That did my heart good. So even when I was challenged by something, or I was challenging something, everybody just listened, and we were all trying to be heard. They all listened and helped us get through it." Reshard added, "My hat's off to Jamin (Wells) for pulling that group together; all of us grouped together, it was a beautiful thing. It was heavy on my heart and my mind for 10 months." When asked to explain the heaviness, she said, "It was painful to see the information, but having the group around to help each other through, I think that was really powerful. So to see such ugly things in our history and actions, and attitudes in our history, was made palatable by having those people to go along with you, so you didn't have to digest it by yourself." Reshard has collected dozens of oral histories in Pensacola's Black community. She said reviewing the Wentworth collection gave the stories she had heard "wings." "What they were saying was already inweekly.net

front yard the last time I something. It already had character, and saw him, telling stories. depth, and breadth, but it gave wings," she And I thought, 'Man, gosh, shared. "So it said listen, what I've been tellhow cool is this? T.T. Wening you is true, and here is our experience tworth, Mr. History.' And about the aftermath of that because it didn't then to have that newspago away just because the second KKK was no per article drop, I was, "Boy, longer visible, and the actions didn't go away, who the devil are you?'" so it gave wings so that those stories could The article was the fly and never be forgotten." one published by the She added, "Their experiences didn't daily newspaper regarding need validating, so I don't want to say that, Garner's letter to the city but it gave tangible evidence to them." council. Yancey admitted, Reshard believes Wentworth's history is "I'm still working on it, to an example of what happens when someone tell you the truth, but we'll perpetuates "a particular narrative that holds get there." a community, a culture, a people, an organiShe added, "How do zation or whatever down that it almost either you reconcile those two negates other people's stories because of the people? It's total cogniabsence of it." tive dissonance. I really go "What it does is when you hear stories back to stages of grief. I like this, that becomes the narrative in a way if we don't be careful, and I think in a way it's what Wentworth did, unfortunately very successfully," she said. "It's been done really well, and we are reaping those unfortunate repercussions of that narrative today because we have not up until this point got to experience the fullness of who people are." Reshard continued, "The Wentworth collection unearthed, if you will, is the intentional narrative of defining people, whether it's by culture, race, color, Purchase Order for T.T. Wentworth, Jr. from N.B. Forrest, July 28, 1927 religion, ethnicity, whatever that is." think the family is re-entering the first phase of shock because of the report. And then I'm somewhere in the middle, in the angry phase." Yancey was shocked to read about WentSharon Yancey, a minister living in Atlanta, worth's Klan connection when the PNJ article represented the Wentworth family on the advicame out in July 2020. sory group. Her mother's sister, Helen, married "I think I'm the only one (in the family) Wentworth's eldest son, Warren. Yancey has that was not aware of it, frankly," she said. "It been president of the T.T. Wentworth Jr. Founwas known, and it was hiding in plain sight, but dation for over 20 years. no one talked about it. So I went into a state "Since I came into the world, it was Aunt of freefall when the article first came out." Helen and Uncle Warren," she told Inweekly in She continued, "I went, 'Are you kidding a telephone interview. "My mother was born me?' I've been the president of this foundation in Pensacola, married a U.S. military guy, and for 20-something years. And I didn't know, and I grew up abroad all over the world. When my if I had known, I wouldn't have been since I'm a dad decided to retire, we moved permanently minister, and that is antithetical for everything to Pensacola when I was in the seventh grade." I stand for. Mostly, I would have sat down with Yancey saw the elder Wentworth at family my Aunt Helen and said, 'What?'" functions. She shared, "He started becoming Yancey said the advisory group experimore part of the extended family when his wife ence was "almost healing to have that many Rosabel died, and Aunt Helen and Uncle Warpeople, that diverse, that invested in the ren were the only ones living in Pensacola." story that we didn't even really truly know Her aunt and uncle brought him to family about when we began to first meet." gatherings. She remembered seeing Wen"I think everybody was tenuous around tworth when she drove from Atlanta to fix me, in particular. That first meeting was, Thanksgiving dinner for the family. 'How's the family feeling; how's the family do"It's where the food was, so that's where ing,' and then really pushing back," she shared. T.T. was," she said. "And he was standing in the "And I said, 'Fine. The family's fine. The family

The Real Wentworth Legacy

July 29, 2021

Photograph of Klan at funeral service, ca. 1924-1927 / Images and documents Courtesy of UWF Historic Trust

is resolved to take the high road on this, and everybody's fine. So don't worry about the family; let's get this done.'" Yancey developed three "wonderful" relationships during the review process with Howard of the African American Historical Society, Reshard and Garner. "You would think that the family would have a problem with Tom, but no," she said. "The emotions about the Klan thing that appears in the paper overnight one summer July morning—there's a lot of feelings about that for the family, but we've worked through that. We decided this is the process we're going to pursue, and if we do this well, this could be the real legacy of the Wentworth family." Yancey continued, "And I think that the family's reaction has been surprising but medicinal, if you will. It just calmed a lot of waters from the start. I mostly gave history when I could, filled in gaps when I could, but I just let them go with it. And it was a wonderful process; it really was. It was intense." When Wentworth's name was taken off the museum on June 30, she said it was a "very hard day" for the family, putting them back into the grief process. Later, the family had a meeting about Dr. Wells' report with Lynne Robertson that lasted three and a half hours. "She was with T.T. the day they started moving things out of the old museum and has been a trusted board member for years," Yancey said. "The family identified three things that they really wanted to investigate further." She continued, "They really were adamant that the report needed more work, that the excavation needed to go deeper."

Next Steps

Wells said his team was "really cautious" not to overstep its interpretation of Wentworth's documents. "What's clear from my summary reading of the history he wrote, his interpretive labels, the way he framed up Pensacola and what he collected having spent six months in those

archives, there are clear gaps," he said. "And so it's really imperative that we start to tell some of these other stories." In the report, he listed several next steps, including identifying and collecting community memories, oral histories and other historical evidence about Wentworth, the Second Klan and their legacy. He wants to conduct additional archival research, including at the archives of the Archdiocese of Mobile and other relevant repositories, and complete a broader analysis of the Pensacola Ku Klux Klan and its long-term impacts on the region. Looking ahead, Wells recommended a comprehensive evaluation of the T.T. Wentworth Jr. Collection's inclusivity and how representative it is of the diverse communities that constitute Northwest Florida's past and present. He would like the museum to focus collection and preservation efforts to fill identified gaps in the archive. Wells also suggested ongoing and varied public engagement opportunities for sharing and discussing this history and its impact and a commitment to funding, project development and management equity with stakeholder institutions and community experts on projects related to the history and history-making of the greater Pensacola region. Reshard's recommendation was simple. "Read the report out loud to yourself. Read the report out loud to your children. Read the report out loud to your family, to your organizations, to your churches with an open mind and an open heart," she advised. "It is so important that you don't come in with some preconceived bias about that was then or romanticizing Pensacola wasn't as bad as some other folks or other places," she said. "Just read it with an open mind and look at the evidence." "We think the report is just the tip of the iceberg, but, at least, we've started," said Yancey. "We hope this will help heal Pensacola." {in} The report and KKK materials can be found at bit.ly/2TujiDC.

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WEEK OF JULY 29-AUGUST 4

Arts & Entertainment art, film, music, stage, books and other signs of civilization...

Fresh Location, Vintage Finds By Savannah Evanoff

Cody Potter, Dallas Patterson and Adam Ynfante / Photo Courtesy of Garden Street Vintage

Cody Potter can't come to the phone right now. Why? He is out thrifting, explains Dallas Patterson matter-of-factly. Frankly, this is par for the course when it comes to Potter, Patterson and Adam Ynfante, the co-owners of Garden Street Vintage. The hunt hooks you. "Once you start going and you're finding these things, you're like, 'Whoa, I just found a Stone Cold Steve Austin T-shirt,' or, 'I found this Nike shirt that Will Smith wore on 'Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,'" Patterson said. "You're like, 'Man, this is really cool,' and then it almost gets addicting to be honest. Like, you can't stop. Literally, every day, I wake up and I think about, 'I gotta go find something cool thing.' If one of us is at home, one of the other ones is out digging." It's how they met. The three of them have collected for 10-plus years and were all selling their finds when they crossed paths three-and-a-half years ago. They decided to host what they suspect might've been the first vintage clothing and sneaker event in Pensacola. The event revealed their customer base. "It brought a lot of people there that don't necessarily want to spend a ton of July 29, 2021

money on clothes or don't want to wear the same thing that everyone else has," Patterson said. "That's what sparked it, too, because after that, we're like, 'Man, we're making pretty good money off this stuff, and we're bringing it to Pensacola and letting these kids get the opportunity to buy this stuff.'" There are many bigger stores that buy, sell and trade vintage clothing, such as Vintage by Round Two in L.A. "They have a TV show about it, and a lot of kids watch that and are like, 'Man, I wish I could go all the way to L.A. to do this,' or, 'I can go to New York to do this,'" Patterson said. "We're like, 'Dude, how about we bring that same thing to Pensacola?'" They planned to open a shop together pre-COVID-19 but almost gave up because of the pandemic—until they participated in ThriftCon in Atlanta, Ga., this past year. They have also done markets with the Pensacola Vintage Collective. "We would get some people asking us every time, 'Where's your store located?'" Patterson said. "And we're like, 'Oh, we actually don't have one.' We all sat down after ThriftCon and we're like, 'Let's open a store. These people want it. This is what we want to do. This is what we're passionate about.'"

"We've just been collecting this stuff for a long time, and we've seen the rise in popularity of vintage clothing and apparel from superstars wearing it and just getting into modern culture," Ynfante added. "It's something that we've been passionate about for a while. So we wanted to bring something new to Pensacola that hasn't been brought before—or at least on the level that we're trying to do it." The co-owners have all had a taste for vintage clothing since they were young. "I was a poor kid, and I would just go to thrift stores and try to find cool clothing or stuff that I thought was cool, and then that spiraled into collecting cassette tapes and wrestling T-shirts and band T-shirts," Ynfante said. "Next thing I know, I have a house full of T-shirts." Patterson can relate. "My dad passed away when I was young, so we didn't have a lot of money growing up, and I remember every weekend, we'd go to thrift stores and flea markets and pretty much all my clothes were always hand-me-downs, so I would look for the coolest thing I could find, like in the best shape to wear," Patterson said. When he got his first job while in high school, Patterson got into sneakers. "To be honest, I watched a lot of 'Fresh Prince of Bel-Air' when I was growing up, and I was obsessed with the way Will Smith dressed," Patterson said. "I loved the Jordans and the Nike stuff." Both have always known they wanted to work in fashion, though they weren't certain in what capacity. "I was probably about 18, 19 (when) my uncle asked me what I wanted to do," Ynfante said. "I was like, 'Own a thrift store.' I mean, this is a step up, in my opinion. This is a boutique now doing the same thing that I was passionate about then. This has always been something I've wanted to do. I just didn't realize until about three years ago that I could make it happen … we're doing it." Patterson admits it's hard to part with the inventory. "Trust me, we have that problem," Patterson said. "But the great thing about the business that we're in is everything is already somewhat used or pre-owned or pre-loved. We could keep stuff and wear it for a couple months and then the value is still there … Once you have a house full of T-shirts and your garage is full of clothes and you go over to (Ynfante's) house and one of the bedrooms is dedicated to nothing but clothing and same with (Potter's) house, you're just like, 'I have enough T-shirts. I can let a few of these go.'"

They look from estate sales to garage sales to buyouts to the wall of a business. "It's all out there somewhere; it's just waiting to be found," Ynfante said. They will go to extreme lengths to find these items so they don't get discarded, Patterson said. Vintage apparel has sentimental value, he said. "Whenever I see a wrestling T-shirt, it sparks that memory of me being a kid waiting for Friday night to happen so I could watch wrestling that night or somebody seeing a band T-shirt and saying, 'Oh, man, that's my dad's favorite band,' or, 'My dad took me to this concert,'" Patterson said. "We travel out of the state every couple of months … I don't wanna give up too many of the secrets, but we've done all those things—buyouts, go to people's houses. We've even put ourselves in some sketchy situations going in some people's house, like, 'We probably shouldn't be here right now, but I really want to see shirts.'" Garden Street Vintage's new location will carry unisex apparel, sneakers and hats— namely T-shirts, crewnecks and outerwear. Think vintage Levi's, Americana, flannels and streetwear from the 1980s, 1990s and Y2K. But it won't include just anything—everything is handpicked, Ynfante said. "We curate it really well," Ynfante said. "We're not just going to grab something just because it was made in 1990. It has to have good subject matter. It's gotta be something that people can appreciate." And the prices will range, he added. "If you have $10 to your name, you want to get a cool shirt," Ynfante said. "Anyone can walk in there. We're gonna have stuff from $10 to thousands of dollars in value. It's gonna be really cool." The name of the shop originates from its location on Jefferson Street (visible from Garden Street, though not on it) but also to honor Pensacola, where they plan to stay, Patterson said. "Downtown Pensacola means a lot to all of us," Patterson said. "We've always spent a lot of time down there. It's where we got to get our start. Everyone that's not even from Pensacola, they will know where we're at, and the people that are from Pensacola will know we're honoring them like, 'OK, cool. This is Pensacola's vintage shop.' It's not just ours; it's not just mine, Adam's and Cody's. It's everyone's." {in} GARDEN STREET VINTAGE Opening Soon at 100 S. Jefferson St.

instagram.com/gardenstreetvtg

a&e happenings traffic issues via the Pensacola Beach Traffic Hotline at (850) 595-0862 or by emailing traffic@myescambia.com, offered by the Escambia County Transportation and Traffic Operations Division.

SUPPORT CHORAL SOCIETY OF PENSACOLA The Choral Society of Pensacola

is hoping to close its fiscal year, which ends July 31, with a success after a rough 16 months with performances and fundraising events canceled due to COVID. Help support the nonprofit by calling Kelly Ryan at (850) 484-1806 to donate over the phone, online through PayPal or on Facebook at facebook.com/choralsocietyofpensacola, or by mailing a check to 1000 College Blvd. Rm. 803, Pensacola, FL 32504.

"FRIEND OF FOO" APPLICATIONS NOW OPEN The Foo Foo Festival Com-

ARTS & CULTURE

PUPALOOZA WITH PENSACOLA HUMANE SOCIETY Pupalooza 2021 is

Saturday, July 31, from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. with adoptable pets, natural and healthy dog food products, and more at Ever'man Cooperative Grocery & Café at 1000 E. Nine Mile Road.

WAYS TO GET TO PENSACOLA BEACH

The Pensacola Bay Bridge is now open, which is perfect timing for beach season. Escambia County reminds eager beachgoers of the various ways to get to the beach. Live Pensacola Beach traffic video and beach conditions are available at myescambia.com.

ECAT BUS Escambia County Area Transit discontinued service for the Route 61 detour across the Garcon Point Bridge with the Pensacola Bay Bridge opening. Normal schedules for Route 61 and Route 64 Beach Jumper will restart. Note the following schedules: REGULAR SERVICE: •Routes: 1, 2, 32, 44, 47, 48, 50, 51, 52, 55, 57, 58, 59X, 60, 61 and 64 Beach Jumper MODIFIED ROUTES: •Route 31, 43, and 63: Runs Monday-Saturday, every two hours (Saturday Schedule) •Route 45: Runs Monday-Saturday, only every hour, 6 a.m.-5 p.m. UWF TROLLEY: •(Summer Schedule) UWF Express Service runs Monday–Saturday

GRAPHIC NOVELS

Schedules are located on goecat.com and the ECAT Ride guide.

FREE TROLLEY SERVICE The Santa Rosa

Island Authority (SRIA) will have free openair trolley service along Pensacola Beach. The service runs Monday-Sunday, 4 p.m.midnight, through Labor Day weekend.

FERRY Pensacola Bay Cruises Ferry Service offers daily service, seven days a week, between Downtown Pensacola and Pensacola Beach. Ferry trips last approximately 50 minutes, and all-day free parking is available at each of the departure sites. DRIVE, BIKE OR WALK OVER THE BOB SIKES BRIDGE When you drive over the

Bob Sikes Bridge to Pensacola Beach, there is an electronic toll in place. Cash and coins are no longer collected in person. The county encourages motorists to plan ahead and use electronic toll collection devices (i.e. SunPass, E-Pass, Annual Pass, NC Quick Pass, Peach Pass, E-ZPass), tolling apps (i.e. PayTollo) or TOLL-BY-PLATE from SunPass.

PENSACOLA BEACH TRAFFIC HOTLINE Residents and visitors can report beach

POSTER COMPETITION FOR 2021 GREAT GULFCOAST ARTS FESTIVAL IS NOW OPEN The Great Gulfcoast Arts

Festival is accepting submissions to its 2020 poster design competition through Aug. 6. The winning artist receives a $1,000 cash award. The winning design will be featured on posters, T-shirts and other GGAF promotional items for the festival. Posters have become a regional collector's item. GGAF is a three-day juried art show that draws more than 200 of the nation's best painters, potters, sculptors, jewelers, graphic artists, craftsmen and other artists. This year's event takes place Nov. 5-7 in Seville Square and Bartram Park. Competing artists can find the complete list of rules and requirements at ggaf. org/poster. Entries need to be mailed or delivered to Duncan McCall Advertising, 4400 Bayou Blvd., Ste. 11, Pensacola, FL 32503. For more information or to contact GGAF, visit ggaf.org.

NONPROFITS + FUNDRAISERS

Photo Courtesy of First City Arts Center

CALL TO ARTISTS

mittee is now accepting applications from nonprofit and for-profit entities who are interested in playing a part in this year's events as a "Friend of Foo." Nonprofits in the Pensacola area who recently applied and did not receive a grant for this year's festival but would still like to participate, or local for-profit businesses such as hoteliers, restaurants and bars who are interested in participating and benefitting, are encouraged to apply. To review the application process, visit foofoofest.com. "Friend of Foo'' participants will receive local, regional and national visibility during the 12-day event via the festival's regional marketing campaign. When applying, entrants should be prepared to provide the name and title of their prospective event; the date, time and location for the event; its respective category; and details and imagery to support the concept. The deadline to submit to be a "Friend of Foo" is Friday, Oct. 1, by noon. The Pensacola Foo Foo Festival will take place Nov. 4-15, 2021.

NEW HOURS AT PENSACOLA MUSEUM OF ART PMA is now open from

10 a.m.-4 p.m. on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday and noon-4 p.m. on Sunday. For tickets and information, visit pensacolamuseum.org.

DRAG SHOWS AT DOLCE AND GELATO Head to Dolce and Gelato, located at 2050 N. 12th Ave., for regular drag shows. For more information, visit facebook.com/dolcegelatopensacola.

SNOW WHITE AND THE PRINCE AT PLT Pensacola Little Theatre presents

"Snow White and the Prince," a Treehouse musical that puts a new spin on a classic fairytale. Show dates are 7:30 p.m. Fridays, July 30 and Aug. 6 and 13; 7:30 p.m. Saturdays, July 31 and Aug. 7 and 14; 2:30 p.m. Sundays, Aug. 1, 8 and 15. Two Thursday performances will be 7:30 p.m. Aug. 5 and 12, where tickets are half price. Tickets are $9$33 with $2 discounts for students, military

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a&e happenings and seniors 65 and older. For more information, visit pensacolalittletheatre.com.

FUNNY FEMALES OF THE GULF COAST Enjoy a night of female comedians at Dolce & Gelato, located at 2050 N. 12th Ave., from 7-10 p.m. Friday, July 30. Names include Tam Taylor and Alicia SimmonsMiracle. Cost is $10. For more information, visit facebook.com/dolcegelatopensacola.

MOVIE NIGHT WITH BIKE PENSACOLA Join Bike Pensacola for an evening

of short films all about bicycles and the cycling lifestyle on Saturday, July 31, at 6:30 p.m. at Waterboyz, located at 380 N. Ninth Ave. The lineup of films will take you riding in both city and country, and you'll be able to meet some amazing and inspiring people along the way. Dinner, beverages and snacks available for purchase at Waterboyz Cafe Single Fin.

ART SHOWCASE FROM KLUSLIM AND DIZZY ARTS KluSlim and Dizzy Arts

presents KluLess Volume Two, a showcase of fine and performing arts, Sunday, Aug. 1, at 7 p.m. at Rodeo Rock Pensacola, located at 3810 W. Navy Blvd. Admission is $10 at the door and $15 for those under 21. Performances by Kuh-Lee-Uh, Bones and MyBrothaVan with live art and music from Pattysauces. For more information, visit facebook.com/thedizzyarts.

CHORAL SOCIETY OF PENSACOLA AUDITIONS FOR 86TH SEASON All

singers 18 and older are invited to audition for The Choral Society of Pensacola, a community of volunteer singers, as they prepare for their 86th season, their first with Artistic Director Peter Steenblik. Auditions are set for Aug. 2-4 from 5-9 p.m. in the Ashmore Fine Arts Center at Pensacola State College, 1000 College Blvd. In-person auditions are by appointment only. Singers may also submit recorded auditions. The deadline is Aug. 4, and the instructions for recording and submitting auditions will be posted soon on the Choral Society website. In either case, in-person or recorded, the audition process is brief and informal, and no preparation is necessary.

However, singers must register online at choralsocietyofpensacola.org/auditions. Dr. Steenblik has planned four major concerts for 2021-2022. The season will open in October with a program of American music performed with chamber orchestra. The major work is "Frostiana," Randall Thompson's classic setting of seven poems by Robert Frost, including "The Road Not Taken" and "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening." In December, the Choral Society will present "Her Christmas," seasonal music by women composers, and in February, "Stage and Screen," songs from musical theatre and film. The season will conclude in May with a concert showcasing "Triptych," a contemporary work by Tarik O'Regan in an arrangement for chorus and eight percussionists. In addition to the four concerts, the season offers opportunities to participate in a Veterans Day concert with Pensacola Opera Chorus, in a performance of Craig Hella Johnson's oratorio "Considering Matthew Shepard" with the University of West Florida Singers and in the Society's annual holiday sing-along. Rehearsals will take place Monday evenings at 7 p.m. on the PSC campus and will begin on Aug. 16 with a season kick-off event.

PENSACOLA CHILDREN'S CHORUS AUDITIONS Pensacola Children's Chorus

auditions will be held Saturday, Aug. 7, and are open to students entering grades one-12. PCC's season runs September-May with the aim of producing three fully staged, costumed and choreographed mainstage concerts—"Christmas on the Coast," "One World Many Voices" and "Showtime." However, these larger-thanlife performances reinforce more than vocal ability. Throughout the season, students are immersed in personal and social growth designed to equip singers with the tools to succeed beyond the rehearsal hall and stage. Interested families need to register for an audition time by visiting pensacolasings. org. Middle and high school singers should be prepared to learn a brief choreographed section to assess movement and learning style. All ability levels welcome. No prior

experience or training is required. PCC is located in the Margaret Moore Nickelsen Center, 46 E. Chase St., on the campus of First Presbyterian Church in beautiful downtown Pensacola. For more information about the Pensacola Children's Chorus, please call (850) 434-7760 or visit pensacolachildrenschorus.com.

End of Century will be on view at the Pensacola Museum of Art until Oct. 10. Visitors can learn more about the exhibition, sign up for additional programming opportunities and purchase tickets through pensacolamuseum.org.

WHAT'S SHOWING AT PENSACOLA CINEMA ART "Queen Bees" will be

is "Serendipity," a collective show featuring potter Tammy Caspersen and photographer Suzanne Tuzzeo. The show promises bold color and unique finds and twists with a fun, carefree feel and is on view starting July 3 at Blue Morning Gallery, located at 21 S. Palafox. Visit bluemorninggallery.com for more information.

showing at 1 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, Aug. 13 and 14, at Pensacola Cinema Art. More information, including links to virtual screenings, is available at pensacolacinemaart.com. All tickets are $8. Reserve your seats by emailing jpncinema@gmail.com or texting (863) 446-7300. PCA is located at 220 W. Garden St.

"A DEAD RECKONING: NAVIGATING CONTEMPORARY CERAMICS" EXHIBIT AT PENSACOLA MUSEUM OF ART "A Dead Reckoning: Navigating

Contemporary Ceramics" is now on view at Pensacola Museum of Art, which asks viewers, "Where is the field of American ceramic art going?" For more information, visit pensacolamuseum.org.

"END OF CENTURY" EXHIBIT AT PENSACOLA MUSEUM OF ART End

of Century, an art exhibit featuring Art Nouveau glassware and works on paper, is a new exhibit at the Pensacola Museum of Art. This special exhibit includes items from the museum collection as well as the collection of local art supporter and educator Dr. Patrick M. Rowe. Dr. Rowe received his Ph.D. in Art History at Florida State University in 1989 and taught art history at the University of West Florida and Pensacola State College until his retirement in 2010. He has served on the Pensacola Museum of Art Board and on the PMA Collections Committee and has acted as a dedicated supporter and resource for museum staff throughout the years. In 1988, Rowe began taking an interest in 18th and early 20th century printmaking, which led to his impressive collection of works from the time period, many of which are showcased in End of Century.

NEW EXHIBIT AT BLUE MORNING GALLERY The current Spotlight on Art

SCRIPTEASERS WITH PENSACOLA LITTLE THEATRE Scripteasers, Studio

400's and Pensacola Little Theatre's Script Reading Club invites you to monthly script readings at PLT, 400 S. Jefferson St. Want to bring your scripts for the group to read and discuss? Contact Pensacola Little Theatre to get in queue. The group reads prospective scripts for future seasons as well as new scripts that need a table read before the next edit. Not a playwright but love to read out loud? This is your easy, fun theatre night. Fascinated by the play selection process? Sit in for a listen and usually a lot of laughs. Visit facebook.com/pensacolalittletheatre for more information and the latest dates.

SEVILLE HAUNTED TOURS Seville

Quarter's haunted tours offer a different look at Pensacola's history as guides weave tales of ghosts, debauchery, murder, mayhem, paranormal activities, history and more. Choose your experience from three ongoing tours—Seville Haunted Luncheon and Ghost Tour, 11 a.m. every third Tuesday of the month; Seville Haunted Gallery Night Tours, 7 p.m. every third Friday of the month; Seville Sunday FunDay Haunted Tours, 4 p.m. last Sunday of each month. Tickets are available at pensacolaghostevents.com.

OPEN MIC AT THE GORDON Show off your talents on the second Thursday of every month at The Gordon's Open Mic

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a&e happenings showcase from 7-10 p.m. Admission is free. The Gordon is located at 306 N. DeVilliers St. Visit thegordon.org for more information.

STAND-UP COMEDY AT THE REX THEATRE Visit The REX Theatre every

Friday at 8 p.m. for national stand-up acts. Tickets are $26-$35 at the door. For more information, visit rexpensacola.com.

COMEDY MAGIC SHOW AT THE REX THEATRE Comedy magician Tom Coverly,

known as "The Illusionist," performs Saturday nights at The Rex Theatre, located at 18 N. Palafox. Shows start at 7 p.m. Tickets are $10-$35. For more information, visit rexpensacola.com.

OPEN MIC COMEDY AT BIG TOP BREWERY Try out some new jokes or enjoy

some homegrown talent every Monday at 7 p.m. for Open Mic Comedy at Big Top Brewery, located at 21 W. Romano St. Everyone gets five minutes depending the number of sign-ups. Registration begins at 6:30 p.m.

NEW CLASSES AT MIXON MAGIC PERFORMING ARTS Mixon Magic Per-

of Jim Crow," a traveling exhibition from the New York Historical Society Museum & Library with additions from the African American Heritage Society of Pensacola, is now on view at Artel Gallery. To learn more about it, visit africanamericanheritagesociety.org. Artel Gallery is located at 223 S. Palafox.

CRAFT CLASSES AT STUDIO SOUTH ON NINE MILE Learn a new craft or meet

guest Seether, will be performing at The Wharf Amphitheatre on Friday, July 23. Tickets are available at ticketmaster.com.

LIVE MUSIC AT THE 5 BARREL Mike V will be playing from 7-10 p.m. Saturday, July 24, and Blue Levee Band will be playing 7-10 p.m. Friday, July 30. The 5 Barrel is located at 121 S. Palafox.

up with other makers at Studio South. Tuesday is Knit Night 4-7 p.m., and Sit & Stitch is Saturdays 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Both classes are free. For a full calendar of events, visit studiosouthon9mileroad.com. Studio South is located at 955 E. Nine Mile Road.

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CLASSES AND WORKSHOPS AT FIRST CITY ART First City Art Center offers a wide

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range of classes and workshops for artists of all levels. Classes include glass blowing, ceramics, painting and drawing, kiln-forming, stained glass and more. For a complete list of classes and times, visit firstcityart.org.

LIVE MUSIC

Singer-songwriter Kade Scott will be performing at Dolce & Gelato, located at 2050 N. 12th Ave., from 5-7 p.m. Saturday, July 31. For more information, visit facebook. com/dolcegelatopensacola.

Rock Ensemble will perform two iconic albums, Led Zeppelin's "IV" and Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon," at Pensacola Bay Center, located at 201 E. Gregory St., at 8 p.m. Saturday, July 31. Tickets are $25-$118. For more information, visit pensacolabaycenter.com.

BANDS ON THE BEACH Bands on the Beach is back. The free concert series features shows each Tuesday night, from 7-9 p.m., from April to October at the Gulfside Pavilion at Casino Beach. UPCOMING DATES: •Aug. 3: Cristi Dee's Bad Juju •Aug. 10: Slight Return Band

JAZZ JAM AT THE 5 BARREL The next Jazz Jam is 6:30-8:30 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 4, at The 5 Barrel Brewery & Taproom, 121 S. Palafox. Donations are accepted as admission. For more information, visit jazzpensacola.com.

BLUES ON THE BAY The Blues on the

guest Martina McBride, will perform at The Wharf Amphitheatre, located at 23101 Canal Road in Orange Beach, on Friday, Aug. 6 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets start at $49. For more information, visit ticketnetwork.com.

forming Arts (MMPA), a boutique performing arts studio located at 1010 N. 12th Ave., Ste. 238, will be offering a limited class schedule this fall. MMPA offers professional dance, fitness and "Mommy and Me" instruction for all ages and skill levels with weekly classes including, but not limited to, Creative Movement, Ballet/Jazz Combo, Broadway, Tap, Showstoppers, Acting and Voice. Classes will be provided for children as young as 2 years old (with a parent or guardian) through adult. MMPA is dedicated to the safety and well-being of all students and families and has implemented protocols based on guidance from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Masks are required for entry into the building and studio. More information about Mixon Magic Performing Arts can be found at mixonmagic.com, by contacting hello@mixonmagic.com or emily@mixonmagic.com or by calling (850) 221-7438.

Gary's Brewery & Biergarten, 208 Newman Ave., at 6 p.m. Saturday, July 31. For more information, visit facebook.com/garysbrew.

BLACK CITIZENSHIP IN THE AGE OF JIM CROW "Black Citizenship in the Age

3 DOORS DOWN AT WHARF AMPHITHEATRE 3 Doors Down, with special

Bay free concert series continues at Community Maritime Park, located at 351 W. Cedar St. Concerts are 6 p.m. on select Sunday evenings. Bring your coolers and lawn chairs and take a spot in front of the Hunter Amphitheater. Last two dates are Aug. 8 with Astronauts and Aug. 29 with Modern Eldorados.

JASON TREUMAN AT GARY'S BREWERY Jason Treuman will be performing at

ALABAMA AND MARTINA MCBRIDE AT THE WHARF Alabama, with special

LAGUNA'S SUMMER CONCERT SERIES: BOAT UP CONCERT Laguna's

last summer concert is Friday, Aug. 6, with Jessie Ritter from 3-6 p.m. and Johnny Hayes & The Loveseats at 8 p.m. Boat up to Laguna's for this free concert.

THE TREES AT DOLCE AND GELATO

The Trees are back at Dolce and Gelato, located at 2050 12th Ave., 5-8 p.m. Friday, Aug. 6. For more information, visit facebook.com/dolcegelatopensacola.

GOLDEN SOUL DYNASTY PRESENTS HIP HOP COLLECTIVE Hear local artists

such as Jahsidiq, Rashawn Stallworth, Wyatt Coleman and more at Dolce & Gelato, located at 2050 12th Ave., on Saturday, Aug. 7, from 8-11 p.m. Cost is $5. For more information, visit facebook.com/dolcegelatopensacola.

LIVE MUSIC AT RED FISH BLUE FISH PENSACOLA BEACH Head to Red Fish

Blue Fish for live performances from local bands Fridays and Saturdays all day. For musician lineups, visit facebook.com/redfishbluefishpensacolabeach.

SAXOPHONIST JIM ANDREWS AT ALICE'S RESTAURANT Saxophonist

Jim Andrews will be performing at Alice's Restaurant, located at 1504 W. Intendencia St., on the first Friday of every month from 6-9:30 p.m.

CURT BOL JAZZ QUARTET Visit Five Sisters Blues Café, located at 421 W. Belmont St., Sundays from 11 a.m.-3 p.m. and listen to Curt Bol Jazz Quartet. Visit curtbolband.com for more information.

OPEN JAM AT ARTEL GALLERY Artel

Gallery is open from 5-7 p.m. Wednesdays and Saturdays for open jam with Pensacola Folk Music Society. Feel free to visit and listen to music. Artel Gallery is located at 223 S. Palafox.

KARAOKE AT MUGS AND JUGS Sing

your heart out Sundays at Mugs & Jugs, 12080 Scenic Highway, or just enjoy drinks friends with $4 Smirnoff and $6.50 domestic pitcher drink deals from 7 p.m.-3 a.m. For more information, visit facebook.com/mugsjugs.

LIVE MUSIC AT HUB STACEY'S Sit back with good food and live music at Hub Stacey's, located at 312 E. Government St. For a full calendar of bands, check hubstaceys.com. MONDAY NIGHT BLUES AT SEVILLE QUARTER Seville Quarter and the Blues

Society of Northwest Florida bring the "Blues" back to the Seville Quarter Entertainment District, located at 130 E. Government St. every Monday night in End O' the

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TUESDAY NIGHT JAZZ AT SEVILLE QUARTER Enjoy smooth jazz with Me-

lodious Allen and The Funk Heads every Tuesday night at Lili Marlene's in Seville Quarter, located at 130 E. Government St. Show starts at 6:30 p.m. Visit sevillequarter.com for more information.

FITNESS + RECREATION

HARLEM GLOBETROTTERS The worldfamous Harlem Globetrotters are bringing their Spread Game Tour to Pensacola at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 3, at Pensacola Bay Center, located at 201 E. Gregory St. Tickets are $29-$117.50. For more information, visit pensacolabaycenter.com.

DEADMAN'S ISLAND KAYAK (AND WALKING) TOUR Learn about the

unique history and ecology of Deadman's Island through a kayak and walking tour from 9:30 a.m.-noon on Thursday, Aug. 12. The event is open to the public, but RSVPs are required. Email ngrinnan@uwf.edu to reserve your spot. The tour is free, but cash donations are appreciated. Visit flpublicarchaeology.org/nwrc for more information.

WEEKLY FRIDAY DANCE Get moving every Friday night with a dance sponsored by the Fraternal Order of Eagles. Enjoy food from 6-7 p.m. Dancing is from 7-10 p.m. A variety of bands and music provide the tunes. Cost of admission is $6. Dances are located at 105 Kenmore Ave. in Pensacola. For more information, call (850) 476-5696. PENSACOLA FERRY SERVICE RETURNS The Pensacola Bay Cruises Ferry Service is now re-open with daily service, seven days a week, between Downtown Pensacola and Pensacola Beach. Ferry trips last approximately 50 minutes, and all-day free parking is available at each of the departure sites. Tickets are $26 roundtrip for adults; $20 roundtrip for military, disabled persons and students; and $15 roundtrip for children 3-15. Children 2 and under ride for free. A locals card may be purchased for additional discounts. The ferry service operation schedule is available on pensacolabaycruise.com.

PENSACOLA PARKRUN The Pensacola Rec Plex North parkrun is 7:30 a.m. Saturdays. The weekly timed 5K run or walk takes place at the University of West Florida and is open to everyone, regardless of fitness level. For more information, visit facebook.com/rpnparkrun or email recplexnorth@parkrun.com. BREATHE AND READ AT BODACIOUS BOOKSTORE AND CAFÉ Recenter

yourself at this monthly event at Bodacious Bookstore and Café, with an instructor-led beginner yoga class and a group book discussion at 9 a.m. on the first Saturday of every month. Bodacious Bookstore and Café is located at 110 Intendencia St. For more information, visit bodaciousbookstore.com. July 29, 2021

WFPL MOLINO TRACK CHALLENGE

Put on your walking shoes and join the walking challenge at the Molino library. Just visit Molino's track, turn on your favorite fitness tracker app to log your progress, dial up your tunes or an audiobook and start walking. When you finish, come into the library and log your progress with staff on our track challenge board. The top walker in this program will win The Coldest Water Bottle. The Molino Branch Library is located at 6450-A Highway 95A. For more information, visit mywfpl.com.

BLUE WAHOOS GAMES It's the 2021

season for the Pensacola Blue Wahoos. Stadium capacity limits are expected to be implemented to ensure fan safety during the 2021 season and will be announced leading up to the season. For tickets and more information, visit bluewahoos.com. UPCOMING HOME GAMES: Blue Wahoos vs. Mississippi •6:35 p.m. July 27-30 •6:05 p.m. July 31 •4 p.m. Aug. 1

RELEASE & RENEW AT FITNESS IMPACT TRAINING At 8:15 a.m. on Mon-

days, Wednesdays and Fridays, release into a yin yoga flow centered around low-stress training for high-stress individuals. The focus will be on the basics of breath and openness in the shoulders, hips and spine. For more info, go to mindandmetta.online. Cost is $12 per class, and the location is 375 N. Ninth Ave., Ste. B. Limited space available. Ask about membership pricing.

GULF COAST BREWERY RUN Thurs-

days at 6 p.m., join Pensacola Runners Association for a 5K fun run. Enjoy a free beer after the run and complimentary games such as cornhole, ping pong and more. Gulf Coast Brewery is located at 500 E. Heinberg St. For more information, visit facebook.com/gulfcoastbrewery.

BEER GARDEN YOGA Join Coastal County Brewing Company Saturdays at 9 a.m. for the new Yoga in the Garden Series. Classes will be led by Tara Taylor, a highly experienced instructor from Breathe Pensacola. All skill levels are welcome. Cost is $10 and includes a pint of beer after the class. Coastal County Brewing Company is located at 3041 E. Olive Road. For more information, visit facebook.com/coastalcounty. SOUL FLOW YOGA AT BEAUTIFUL YOU STUDIO Every Tuesday at 7 a.m., flow

and vibe with some soulful music to start the day. This hour-long class will center around engaging the core through smooth yet strong yoga sequences. Cost is $10 per class or $99 for an unlimited 30-day pass. Located at 513 W. Intendencia St. For more info, go to mindandmetta.online.

YOGA CLASSES AT EVER'MAN Beginner Yoga with John is 10 a.m. Thursdays, 4:30 p.m. Tuesdays and 12:15 p.m. Wednesdays. 17

a&e happenings Funky Yoga Flow is 6 p.m. Tuesdays. And Vinyasa Yoga Flow is 6 p.m. Thursdays. All classes at Ever'man, 327 W. Garden St. For a full calendar of events, visit everman.org.

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. On Saturday, Jan. 30, volunteers will be at Philip A. Payne Bridge. Supplies will be provided, but volunteers are welcome to bring their own. For locations, visit oceanhourfl.com.

FOOD + DRINKS

THIRD COAST SEAFOOD COOKING CLASS Join Bodacious chefs to learn the

tips and tricks to prepare the perfect Gulf Coast seafood dinner on Thursday, July 29, at 6 p.m. Cost is $65. Bodacious is located at 407-D S. Palafox. To register, visit bodaciousshops.com.

PAINT & SIP AT BODACIOUS Visit

Bodacious, located at 407-D S. Palafox, at 6 p.m. Friday, July 30, for an evening of drinking and painting. Tickets are $40 and can be purchased at bodaciousshops.com.

GREAT SOUTHERN SUMMER RESTAURANT WEEK From Aug. 2-8, enjoy

three courses for $33 starting at 5 p.m. nightly at Great Southern Restaurants including The Fish House, Jackson's Steak-

house, Five Sisters Blues Café and Angelena's. For more information and menus, visit greatsouthernrestaurants.com.

BACK TO SCHOOL COFFEE WITH A COP Meet local school resource officers

from the Pensacola Police Department while enjoying a sweet treat from 1-4 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 4, at Dolce and Gelato, 2050 N. 12th Ave. Visit facebook.com/dolcegelatopensacola for more information.

ATLAS BEVERAGE CLASS: BIG TOP BREWING CO. The next installment of

Atlas Beverage Classes will feature Big Top Brewing Co. on Thursday, Aug. 5, with two classes at 5 and 7 p.m. Classes are $25 and include one tasting of each featured beverage. Seating is limited and reservations are required. Make yours by calling (850) 2870200 or emailing taylor@goodgrits.com.

COUPLES COOKS: COOL FOODS FOR A HOT SUMMER NIGHT Learn to cook

summer ceviche, corn and black bean salad, the ultimate Cuban sandwich and more with Pensacola Cooks' Couples Cook 7-9 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 7, at Pensacola Cooks Kitchen, located at 3624 Barrancas Ave. Cost is $70 per couple. For more information, visit facebook.com/pensacolacooks.

HENNY PENNY SOUL LIVE COOKING SESSIONS Tune into the Henny Penny

Facebook page to meet local chefs to learn more about cooking skills while also discussing food and culture. Dates are TBA. For more information, visit facebook.com/ hennypennyspatisserie.

BURGERS AND BORDEAUX AT UNION PUBLIC HOUSE Every Tuesday night, enjoy

a specialty burger and a glass of Bordeaux for $18 at Union Public House, located at 309 S. Reus St. For more information, visit facebook.com/unionpensacola.

WEEKNIGHT HAPPY HOUR Every

weeknight before 6 p.m. at The 5 Barrel, get $1 off all The 5 Barrel pints, $2 wine by the glass and half off hummus plates when you buy a pint of beer. Visit the5barrel.com for more information.

TABLETOP TUESDAYS AT THE 5 BARREL Join The 5 Barrel for a special Tabletop Tuesday event at 6 p.m. every Tuesday in March. A wide variety of games ranging from the classic chess to the crowdfavorite Catan will be available. Players are welcome to bring their own games.

ARAGON WINE TASTINGS Wine

tastings at Aragon Wine Market are back every Thursday from 5-7 p.m. in store at 27 S. Ninth Ave. For more information, visit aragonwinemarket.com.

THURSDAY TRIVIA NIGHT AT THE 5 BARREL Gather a group for a weekly

Thursday Trivia Night Thursdays from 7-9 p.m. at The 5 Barrel. There will be prizes for every round and select drafts for $3. Find out more at facebook.com/the5barrel.

THURSDAY BIERGARTEN TRIVIA NIGHT Gary's Brewery Trivia Night is back

by popular demand. Thursdays from 7-9 p.m., test your trivia skills with a glass of beer or wine. Arrive early to grab a spot. Gary's Brewery is located at 208 Newman Ave. For more information, visit facebook.com/garysbrew.

PALAFOX MARKET Palafox Market is

back at its regular location in MLK Jr. Plaza. In a carefully planned, phased reopening, Palafox Market has launched with about half its regular vendors, showcasing food, farm produce and products geared toward safety and sanitation such as handmade soaps and face masks. For more information, visit facebook.com/downtownpensacola.

EVER'MARKET AT NINE MILE ROAD Visit Ever'Man at 1000 E. Nine Mile Road on the fourth Saturday of each month for the Ever'Market with food, music, giveaways, activities and more. Visit everman. org for more information.

200 SOUTH SMALL BUSINESS SATURDAY Every first Saturday of the month,

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a&e happenings the businesses at 200 South will host Small Business Saturday to show support for local businesses. Bring a receipt from a purchase from any other downtown business and receive 10% off your bill at Graffiti Pizza, World of Beer, Taco Agave and Blend Lounge.

PENSACOLA POSITIVITY'S SUNDAY MARKETS Sunday Markets on Palafox

Street happen each Sunday from 10 a.m.- 3 p.m. in MLK Plaza on Palafox. Local makers, growers and creators gather each under the oak trees to sell their goods to the community. Interested vendors can request an application by emailing requeaskmikellah@ gmail.com. For more information, visit facebook.com/palafoxmarkets.

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.

PENSACOLA POP-UP FARMERS MARKET Check out fresh and organic

produce, milk, eggs, meat, fresh-baked bread, mushrooms, lumber, grits, cornmeal, pies and plants Saturdays from 9 a.m.-1 p.m. at East Hill Market, located at 1216 N. Ninth Ave. For a list of vendors, visit facebook.com/easthillmarket.

FAMILY STORY TIME AT MOLINO BRANCH LIBRARY Family story time has returned to the Molino Branch Library. Join in for exciting stories, songs and movement at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, July 28. This program is suggested for children ages 2-5 years and their caregivers but is open to everyone. The Molino Library is located at 6450-A Highway 95A.

FAMILY STORY TIME AT CENTURY BRANCH LIBRARY Family story time has

returned to the Century Branch Library. This program is suggested for children ages 2-5 years and their caregivers but is open to everyone. Times are 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, July 28. Century Branch Library is located at 7991 N. Century Blvd.

BABY STORY TIME AND FAMILY STORY TIME AT TRYON BRANCH LIBRARY Baby story time has returned to

Tryon Branch Library. Join the library for stories, songs and rhymes. This program is suggested for babies' ages 0-2 years and their caregivers but is open to everyone. Times are 10:30 a.m. Tuesdays, July 20 and 27. Family story time is 10:30 a.m. Thursdays, July 22 and 29, and is suggested for children 2-5 years. Tryon Branch Library is located at 1200 Langley Ave.

STORY WALKS This summer, the West

Sunday Funday is back at Garden & Grain with DJ Hdycvt and drink specials. Safety guidelines will be in place. Visit facebook. com/perfectplainbrewingco for more information. Garden and Grain is located behind Perfect Plain Brewing Co. at 50 E. Garden St.

Florida Public Libraries will be hosting several story walks. Come down to the lawns at the Pensacola Library, Tryon Branch Library or Molino Branch Library and walk a story with your family. Several books will be on rotating display between the branches for your family to read and hop, skip and jump between the pages as you play pretend. The original story walk project was created by Anne Ferguson of Montpelier, Vt., and developed in collaboration with the Vermont Bicycle and Pedestrian Coalition and the Kellogg-Hubbard Library. *Availability of story walks will be dependent on the weather. Visit mywfpl.com for more information.

TWILIGHT THREE-COURSE SPECIAL

OUTDOOR MUSICAL BUSY BOARD

UPTOWN PENSACOLA MARKET

Check out local vendors of art, produce and other local treasures every Saturday at 7201 N. Ninth Ave. from 9 a.m.-3 p.m. For more information, visit facebook.com/uptownmarketpensacola.

SUNDAY VIBES IN THE GARDEN

The District's Twilight Three-Course special is back Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays from 4:30-6 p.m. Guests enjoy three courses for $35 per person. Diners must be seated by 6 p.m. for offer to be vailed. To make a reservation, call 332-5224 or online at districtstreaks.com. The District is located at 123 E. Government St.

KID-FRIENDLY

UWF HISTORIC TRUST CHILDREN'S MUSEUM NEW HOURS The UWF His-

toric Trust has announced that after a year of being closed, the Pensacola Children's Museum is now open without restrictions. The museum will be open on TuesdaysThursdays only from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. The museum plans to return to regular operations by August 2021 with a new exhibit and updated programming. Visit historicpensacola.org for more information. July 29, 2021

Stop by Pensacola Public Library and let the kids play their hearts out on the outdoor musical busy board. Ever had the kids pull out the pots and pans and play garage band in the kitchen? Well, they still have the kitchen band, but it's outside. Check out a pair of flip flop drumsticks from the circulation desk and go to town as a family. Visit mywfpl.com for more information.

PET PARTNERS AND READ WITH A DOG While you miss being able to read to

the library's favorite Pet Partner therapy dogs, West Florida Public Libraries is presenting virtual story time with several of our local Pet Partner teams through May. For more information, visit mywfpl.com.

for more listings visit inweekly.net 19

Studer Community Institute’s

Early Learning Calendar August

Our passion and purpose is to make sure that every child in our community has the best chance for a great start at being ready for kindergarten.

S Shape of the month:

Square

M Color of the month:

Pink

Read a story related to physical activity. Imitate the motion that characters are doing in the book.

Encourage your child to do a simple exercise. Count aloud with each movement.

Read a story of your choice. Afterward, come up with a silly song about the story.

Take your child to the park for free play.

Count it Out! Play a game of leapfrog. Measure how far your child goes.

Playtime

Playing is probably what your child looks forward to the most. Through running, jumping, or even kicking a ball, your child is increasing their gross motor skills. The Studer Community Institute is a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.

020 2

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GET YOUR FREE BUILDING BLOCKS MAGAZINE WHAT IS BUILDING BLOCKS?

GET YOUR FREE COPIES Bodacious 407 S. Palafox St.

The SCI early learning parenting magazine, “Building Blocks,” is now available. Thanks to our partners at Arc Gateway’s Pollak Industries, the magazine will be included in our Brain Bags for new mothers.

SCI Building 220 W. Garden St.

Bodacious Bookstore & Cafe 110 E. Intendencia St. City Community Centers Pensacola

Become a drop site for Building Blocks Email: snickinson@studeri.org

Help fund early learning Win a 2-year lease on a Kia Sorento!

A suggested donation of $100 enters you for your chance to win a 2-year lease on a Kia Sorento!

“We wanna see ya in a Kia!”

TO ENTER: https://LightUpLearning.cbo.io Only 200 tickets are up for grabs.

All proceeds beneﬁt the Early Learning Programs:

Brain Bag Program • Family Outreach Program • The Basics Pensacola

Winner will be drawn Oct. 21 at the Light Up Learning event. The winner is chosen at random. The Studer Community Institute is a 501(c)(3) public charity (EIN 47-5657008) and is registered with the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services to solicit contributions (Registration #CH48388.) Donors can deduct contributions under Internal Revenue Code section 170. A copy of the official registration and financial information may be obtained from the division of consumer services by calling toll-free (800-435-7352) within the state. Registration does not imply endorsement, approval, or recommendation by the state. No purchase is necessary to enter.

Courtesy of Jessica Lee’s Pensacola Kia Autosport

Receive FREE help to enroll and find the best VPK provider for your family.

Register your 4-year-old today for Voluntary Prekindergarten enrollment. Registration deadlines are determined by each provider.

The Early Learning Coalitions in Escambia and Santa Rosa counties: Escambia County ...................................(850) 741-8304 Milton office ............................................(850) 983-5313 Gulf Breeze office ...................................(850) 916-5422

Shannon Nickinson Director of Early Learning snickinson@studeri.org (850) 525-2116

studeri.org

Reginald T. Dogan Project Manager rdogan@studeri.org (850) 529-6485

220 W. Garden St. #506 I Pensacola, FL 32502 The Studer Community Institute is a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.

July 29, 2021

free will astrology WEEK OF JULY 29 ARIES (MARCH 21-APRIL 19): What does it mean to feel real? Some people have a hard time doing that. They have such false ideas about who they are that they rarely feel real. Others are so distracted by trivial longings that they never have the luxury of settling into the exquisite at-home-ness of feeling real. For those fortunate enough to regularly experience this treasured blessing, feeling real isn't a vague concept. It's a vivid sensation of being conscious in one's body. When we feel real, we respond spontaneously, enjoy playing and exult in the privilege of being alive. After studying your astrological potentials, Aries, I suspect that you now have an enhanced capacity to feel real. TAURUS (APRIL 20-MAY 20): When she was a child, author Valerie Andrews visited her secret sanctuary at sunset every day for seven years. She lay on the ground among birch trees and aromatic privet plants, feeling "the steady rhythmic heartbeat of the earth" as she basked in the fading light. I'd love for you to enjoy the revitalizing power of such a shrine. The decisions you have to make will become clear as you commune with what Andrews calls "a rootlike umbilicus to the dark core of the land." Do you know of such a place? If not, I suggest you find or create one. GEMINI (MAY 21-JUNE 20): I suspect

that your immediate future will be a patchwork of evocative fragments. You may be both annoyed and entertained by a series of flashing attractions, or an array of pretty baubles, or a hubbub of tasks that all seem at least mildly worth doing. Chances are good that they will ultimately knit together into a crazy-quilt unity; they will weave into a pattern that makes unexpected sense. In the spirit of the spicy variety, I offer three quotes that may not seem useful to you yet, but will soon. 1. "Isn't it possible that to desire a thing, to truly desire it, is a form of having it?"—Galway Kinnell 2. "It is not half so important to know as to feel."—Rachel Carson 3. "Like all explorers, we are drawn to discover what's out there without knowing yet if we have the courage to face it."—Pema Chödrön

By Rob Brezsny

CANCER (JUNE 21-JULY 22): A Tumblr blogger named Cece writes, "The fact that you can soak bread in sugar, eggs, cinnamon and vanilla, then butter a pan and fry said bread to make a meal is really liberating." I agree. And I share this with you in the hope of encouraging you to indulge in other commonplace actions that will make you feel spacious and uninhibited. You're in a phase of your astrological cycle when you'll thrive on doing day-to-day details that excite your lust for life. Enjoying the little things to the utmost will be an excellent strategy for success. LEO (JULY 23-AUG. 22): Leo poet Renée Ashley articulates a perspective I recommend you adopt. She writes, "I'm drawn to what flutters nebulously at the edges, at the corner of my eye—just outside my certain sight. I want to share in what I am routinely denied or only suspect exists. I long for a glimpse of what is beginning to occur." With her thoughts as inspiration, I advise you to be hungry for what you don't know and haven't perceived. Expand your curiosity so that it becomes wildly insatiable in its quest to uncover budding questions and raw truths at the peripheries of your awareness. VIRGO (AUG. 23-SEPT. 22): "There are

many things in your heart you can never tell to another person," declared Virgo actor Greta Garbo (1905–1990). "It is not right that you should tell them," she concluded. "You cheapen yourself, the inside of yourself, when you tell them." I presume Greta was being melodramatic. My attitude is the opposite of hers. If you find allies who listen well and who respect your vulnerability, you should relish telling them the secrets of your heart. To do so enriches you, deepens you, and adds soulful new meanings to your primary mysteries. The coming weeks will be a favorable time to seek this wise pleasure in abundance.

LIBRA (SEPT. 23-OCT. 22): Now is a fantastic time to seek out effervescent socializing and convivial gatherings and festive celebrations. If you surround yourself with lively people, you'll absorb the exact influences you need. May I suggest you host a fun event? If you do, you could send out invitations that

include the following allures—"At my get-together, the featured flavors will be strawberry chocolate and impossibly delicious. There'll be magic vibrations and mysterious moodenhancers. Liberating conversations will be strongly encouraged. Unpredictable revelations will be honored. If possible, please unload your fears and anxieties in a random parking lot before arriving."

SCORPIO (OCT. 23-NOV. 21): Scorpio

author Andrew Sean Greer writes, "As the Japanese will tell you, one can train a rose to grow through anything, to grow through a nautilus even, but it must be done with tenderness." I think that's a vivid metaphor for one of your chief tasks in the coming weeks, Scorpio: how to carefully nurture delicate, beautiful things as you coax them to ripen in ways that will bring out their sturdiness and resilience. I believe you now have an extra capacity for wielding love to help things bloom.

SAGITTARIUS (NOV. 22-DEC. 21): Suggested experiments to try soon—1. Remember a past moment when you were touched with the sudden realization that you and a person you'd recently met were destined to fall in love. 2. Remember a past moment when you kissed someone for the first time. 3. Remember a past moment when someone told you they loved you for the first time or when you told someone you loved them for the first time. 4. Allow the feelings from the first three experiments to permeate your life for five days. See through the eyes of the person you were during those previous breakthroughs. Treat the whole world as expansively and expectantly as you did during those times. CAPRICORN (DEC. 22-JAN. 19):

Capricorn poet Kenneth Rexroth was shirtless as he strolled along a rural road. To his delightful amazement, a fritillary butterfly landed on his shoulder, fluttered away, landed again, fluttered away—performed this dance numerous times. Nothing like this had ever happened to him. Later he wrote, "I feel my flesh / Has suddenly become sweet / With a metamorphosis / Kept secret

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even from myself." In the coming days, I'm expecting at least one comparable experience for you. Here's your homework—What sweet metamorphoses may be underway within you—perhaps not yet having reached your conscious awareness?

AQUARIUS (JAN. 20-FEB. 18): "Each time we don't say what we want to say, we're dying." Aquarian artist and singer Yoko Ono said that. I will add a further nuance: Each time we're not aware of the feeling or experience or situation we want, we're dying. And these will be key themes now that you've entered the "I KNOW WHAT I WANT AND I KNOW HOW TO ASK FOR IT" phase of your cycle. The most healing and vivifying thing you can do during the next six weeks is to be precise about your desires. PISCES (FEB. 19-MARCH 20): In 1829, Piscean author Victor Hugo began work on his novel, "The Hunchback of Notre Dame." He had other projects, though, and by September 1830, he had made scant progress on "Hunchback." Growing impatient, his publisher demanded that he finish the manuscript by February 1831. In response, Hugo virtually barricaded himself in his room to compel himself to meet the deadline. He even locked his clothes in a closet to prevent himself from going out. For the next five months, he wore only a gray shawl as he toiled nonstop. His stratagem worked! I recommend you consider trying a somewhat less rigorous trick to enforce your self-discipline in the coming weeks. There's no need to barricade yourself in your fortress. But I hope you will have fun taking stringent measures. THIS WEEK'S HOMEWORK: Send descriptions of your wildly hopeful dreams for the future. newsletter@freewillastrology.com

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news of the weird CREME DE LA WEIRD An arrest warrant was issued July 8 in Little Rock, Arkansas, for Brian Dale Reams, 32, in connection with several incidents where he allegedly approached women and asked if he could touch their feet—with a curious twist, KATV reported. In Conway, Arkansas, a woman said a man with no arms followed her into a Walmart last September, telling her she had pretty feet and asking if she liked having people touch them. Later he began harassing her on Facebook. In June, a second woman said a man matching the same description (but wearing a face mask with "Brian" written on it) followed her around the same Walmart and wondered if she'd let him give her a foot massage. He apparently didn't explain how that might work. A third woman identified Reams after viewing screenshots of his Facebook account; he approached her in a Kroger store. AWESOME! Delray Beach, Florida, has a new addition to its fleet of police vehicles: an ice cream truck. Police Chief Javaro Sims told WPBF-TV that he's been thinking about getting an ice cream truck for some time. "We must continue to find ways to break down those invisible barriers we continue to deal with on a daily basis within our communities," Sims said. He hopes the public will grab some free ice cream and stay for some conversation, getting to know the officers and building relationships. BRIGHT IDEAS California Highway Patrol officers were called to a spot on I-80 near the Nevada border on July 15 because of a car on fire, SFGate reported. When they got there, they discovered a man yelling about "the bears," Officer Carlos Perez said. After talking with him, they determined that the man had set his car on fire to ward off bears. "Listen, we have bears in the area," Perez said, "but there were no bears nearby. ... You can't light a fire on the hood of your vehicle to 'keep the bears away.'" •Jimmy Jennings of Lafayette, Louisiana, doesn't like being stuck in traffic. But on July 9, as he sat in a jam on the Atchafalaya Basin Bridge, he was struck with a dubious notion: He would jump off the interstate bridge into the river below. "When I hit the water, my shoulder went up, I kind of hurt my shoulder, but I started swimming," Jennings said, according to WABC-TV. "I couldn't get back to the bank because the current was way too strong. I thought I was going to die, but God saved me." Eventually, Jennings found his way to land, where he rode around on an ATV for a while—only to discover he was on an island. Finally, he found a boat and was met by police, who charged him with criminal mischief and trespassing. Jennings later admitted on Facebook that his leap of faith was a bad idea. BUT WHY? A Reno, Nevada, woman was charged on July 14 in a break-in incident

By the Editors at Andrews McMeel

at a dental practice where she worked, the New York Daily News reported. Laurel Eich allegedly broke into the practice in May and stole $23,000 worth of checks and cash. In the course of the investigation, Eich also admitted to extracting 13 teeth from a sedated patient after using anesthetic discarded by the practice—even though she is not licensed to perform such procedures. Eich was charged with multiple felonies, including performing surgery on another without a license. SMOOTH REACTION When Fort Worth, Texas, code compliance officers arrived at a home at around 8:30 a.m. on July 16 to issue a violation for too-high grass, the homeowner did not answer the door. But when mowers hired by the city showed up and started cutting the grass, the person inside began shooting at them, KDFW-TV reported. The police officers who had accompanied the compliance team took cover and waited for backup; the person inside continued shooting until SWAT units arrived and shot tear gas into the home. The shooter was taken into custody at about 1 p.m.; the citation was his seventh in two years. "Being shot at for trying to make the community look better?" said Fort Worth officer Jimmy Pollozani. "That just proves the dangers of this job." The man was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. SAY WHAT? The Guardian reported on July 19 about a phenomenon among American preschoolers called the Peppa Effect. The hypothesis is that children who watched a lot of "Peppa Pig" during the pandemic lockdown have developed British accents and started using British terms like "mummy" (mommy), "give it a go" (try it) and "satnav" (GPS). Wall Street Journal reporter Preetika Rana tweeted that her niece "had an American accent before the pandemic. Now she has a posh English accent." One responder agreed: "And for Christmas I had to put out a freaking mince pie for Father Christmas, or, as we call him here in the States, Santa Claus." LEAST COMPETENT CRIMINAL Robert Perez, 53, was pulled over in Iowa City, Iowa, on July 15 for erratically driving a stolen Kawasaki motorcycle, The Smoking Gun reported. He told police that he had borrowed the bike from "a fellow meth user," but he couldn't provide the name or address of that friend. Perez admitted that he had injected meth five hours earlier; while in police custody, he was caught Googling "how long meth stays in your system after initial consumption," Officer Daniel Boesen said. Investigators obtained a blood sample from Perez and sent it to the crime lab; he was booked for theft, DUI and driving with a suspended license. From Andrews McMeel Syndication News Of The Weird © 2021 Andrews McMeel

Send your weird news items to WeirdNewsTips@amuniversal.com July 29, 2021

Independent News | July 29, 2021 | inweekly.net