CRESTVIEW — On Tuesday and Wednesday, snow flurries could fall as far south as the coastline and even out over the Gulf of Mexico, said John Purdy, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.

With the unusual weather pattern, travel problems are expected, he said. Tree limbs and power lines could be downed, power outages are possible. Roads and bridges could be iced over. In the north, a mix of rain, freezing rain and ice pellets is expected all day Tuesday. By evening that could become sleet and snow.  In the south toward the coast, rainfall is expected most of the day with potential snowfall after midnight into Wednesday morning.

The expected snowstorm this week has resulted in the following notices:

UTILITIES

•Choctawhatchee Electrical Cooperative has additional linemen on standby due to experiencing some sleet and ice in their service area. The company's entire operations group is ready to be called into action, if necessary. The Energy Control Center will monitor conditions throughout the night and calling in crews if needed. On Wednesday morning, CHELCO had eight outages (mostly caused by ice and downed tree limbs) affecting approximately 100 members; however, overnight approximately 2,200 CHELCO members were without power at some point. “The weather made restoration really slow,”Vice President of Engineering Matthew Avery said. “Everything was wet, cold and icy; however, this morning things are going pretty well.”

•The following Gulf Power offices are closed Wednesday: Crestview, Pensacola, Milton, Niceville, and DeFuniak Springs. Panama City and Chipley offices open Wednesday at noon. All office hours are subject to change based on weather conditions.

As of 10 a.m., 6,500 Gulf Power customers had no power and crews continue to work safely to finish restoration from Pensacola to Panama City. The company started seeing power outages yesterday around 1 p.m. Since then, a total of 41,845 customers have lost power. As of 7 a.m. Wednesday, Gulf Power crews had restored power to 35,000 of those customers.

line crews  increased their staffing into the night Tuesday, as well as on Wednesday morning. A Gulf Power spokesman said freezing rain and sleet can build up on tree limbs, which then break and fall onto power lines. If you come across a downed power line, assume that it is live and call 911, as well as Gulf Power, at 1-800-487-6937. If there is an outage, customers can help Gulf Power restore power by turning off their heating systems until power is restored. Once power is back on, customers should wait a few minutes before turning their heating system on. The company requests that customers wait 10 to 15 minutes after their power is restored before turning their heat back on, as it helps them manage the service load so they can bring all customers back on line as quickly as possible. Customers with questions may call Gulf Power customer service representatives at 1-800-225-5797.

Customers can view an online outage map by computer, smartphone or tablet on MyGulfPower.com to report or check on an outage. They also can check their power usage on MyGulfPower.com by logging into their account. Customers can create an account online or call the Customer Care Center and a representative will help.

GROCERY STORES, TUESDAY EVENING STATUS

•Publix is closing earlier than its usual 10 p.m. It was open as of 5:30 p.m. and closure will depend on news from corporate.

•Thrifty Foods closes at its usual time of 8:30 p.m.

•Wal-Mart isn't closing, as of 5 p.m. Tuesday.

•Winn-Dixie is closing at its usual 10 p.m. time.

GOVERNMENT, COMMUNITY, HEALTH

•Crestview City Hall will remain closed Wednesday, Jan. 29.

•Crestview Public Library  is closed Wednesday as well.

•Okaloosa Board of County Commissioners’ government offices close at 3 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 28 and are scheduled to reopen at 8 a.m.on Thursday, Jan. 30.

•The Florida Department of Health in Okaloosa County closes at 3 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 28 and will reopen Thursday, Jan. 30. Clients who need to reschedule or cancel appointments should call (850) 833-9240.

•Escambia and Santa Rosa County and Circuit Courts will be closed Tuesday and Wednesday, as well as Santa Rosa and Escambia Department of Children and Families offices. The DCF offices are expected to reopen Jan. 30.

•Northwest Florida Water Management District Crestview and Milton offices are closed until Thursday morning.

•Okaloosa County Supervisor of Elections Offices in Crestview and Fort Walton Beach closed at 2 p.m.  Jan. 28 and will re-open at 8 a.m. Jan. 30. For more information, email Supervisor of Elections Paul Lux.

MILITARY

•Eglin Air Force Base's Installation Commander has ordered that non-mission critical military and civilian personnel be released at 2 p.m. today. As of 11:30 a.m. today, Eglin will reopen for normal business at noon Jan. 29.   All military and civilian personnel should report for duty at noon Wednesday or at the start of their normally scheduled duty period thereafter.

•Hurlburt Field: All civilian employees and military members, except those in mission critical positions required to provide essential services, are excused from duty Jan. 29. Hurlburt Field will not be open to normal business until 12 p.m., Jan 30.  All civilian employees and military members are expected to report for their normally scheduled duty shift after 12 p.m., Jan 30.

Personnel are encouraged to monitor the weather and stay in touch with their leadership. Updates will be posted at the Hurlburt Field Facebook page.

SCHOOLS

•Okaloosa County schools will be closed Jan. 28 and 29.

•Northwest Florida State College canceled all day and evening classes and closed administrative offices at all locations Jan. 28. All classes will resume and all locations and offices will resume usual hours Jan. 30.

EVENTS

•The Be Scam Smart Operation S.A.F.E. Workshops for senior citizens are canceled and will be rescheduled. One was 10-11:30 a.m. Jan. 28 in Milton; the other was from 10-11:30 a.m. Jan. 29 at Warriors Hall in Crestview.

•The Thursday groundbreaking for the Alerio multi-family vacation condominiums being built on U.S. Highway 98 in Miramar Beach has been postponed until the end of February.

•The Natural Resource Damage Assessment public meeting scheduled Jan. 28 in Pensacola is canceled and will be rescheduled. The Deepwater Horizon NRDA Trustees will still host the Jan. 28 public meeting at Hilton Garden Inn, 1101 US Highway 231, Panama City, to solicit public comment on the Draft Programmatic and Phase III Early Restoration Plan and Draft Early Restoration Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement. It begins with an open house at 6 p.m. CST, with business at 6:30.

The public comment period on the Draft Phase III ERP/PEIS has been extended from Feb. 4 through Feb. 19. Visit www.gulfspillrestoration.noaa.gov to download an electronic copy of the plan and submit comments online. For more on the State of Florida’s oil spill recovery efforts visit www.deepwaterhorizonflorida.com.

GROUPS AND ORGANIZATIONS

•The Crestview Area Chamber of Commerce will be closed Tuesday and Wednesday.

•Escambia, Santa Rosa and Okaloosa County Boys & Girls Clubs are closed Jan. 28 and 29, and will re-open in accordance with local school districts.

•Common Ground Community Garden has moved its bi-monthly meeting to noon, Feb. 4 at the Convergence Coffeehouse in Crestview. You can visit their Facebook page for group information.

Any more information received by the News Bulletin will be listed here. If you have information on other closures, email it, with times and dates involved.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Area notices due to inclement weather tomorrow and Wednesday

CRESTVIEW — Losing a home and receiving an outpouring of generosity is difficult to process, Ritchie Golden says.

"We're just overwhelmed right now," he says. "It's hard to be really grateful when it's not all sunk in yet."

Golden; his wife, Tammy; their pregnant daughter, Jewelie Bellew; paraplegic adult daughter, April Hutchinson; and their 10-year-old granddaughter, Trinity Cassell, have received plenty of help since Wednesday. That was when a morning fire forced them from their Mount Olive Estates home into sub-freezing temperatures and consumed most of their belongings.

Community response

The American Red Cross' Crestview branch relocated the family to the Hampton Inn, where Tammy Golden works. She said her employer will allow the family to stay there beyond Monday's Red Cross housing voucher expiration as they seek a new home.

"I can't say how grateful I am to them," she said.

Northwood Arts and Sciences Academy, her granddaughter's school, gave Trinity jackets and shoes, which Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office Deputy Michael Jacobs, the school's resource officer, delivered to the hotel.

"That was really awesome of him," Trinity said.

Every donation helps since everything the family had is gone.

"We lost everything. We have nothing," Tammy Golden said. "… A modular home like that is going to go up in no time. Everybody is safe and my two dogs are safe and we're counting our blessings there. But it's still a shock that everything's gone."

Two other residents, Ritchie Golden's son and grandson, both named Ritchie, were visiting out-of-town relatives when the fire occurred, and also lost most of their belongings.

"If I had thought about it, I would've grabbed the baby's stuff," Bellew said. She recently received gifts of baby clothes and supplies.

'We watched it burn'

The Goldens believe the 4:20 a.m. blaze started with an electrical mishap. Tammy credited Hutchinson for calling out when she noticed the fire. The home's fire alarm didn't sound until after the family evacuated, Ritchie Golden said.

"We got everybody out, but the light by the back door was on fire," Tammy Golden said. "My husband took a fire extinguisher and tried to put it out."

Ritchie Golden said they saw "a glow near the roof" while evacuating and realized the fire spread to the attic.

"We watched it burn before the (Dorcas Volunteer Fire Department) got there," he said. "The firemen were digging out photo albums and slinging them outside."

The temperature outside was 27 degrees Fahrenheit, causing firefighters' water to freeze.

"We had ice all over everything," Dorcas fire Chief John Polinsky said. "The fire hydrant we used sent spray all over the trees and stuff. They were covered in ice."

After the fire, Tammy Golden said she clings to her faith as the community rallies to support her family.

"Everybody's helping us already but we've helped people, too, so this just shows that God watches out for you," Golden said.

"We want to thank the community for all their prayers."

HOW TO HELP

Drop off donations at the Dorcas Volunteer Fire Department, 4418 Poverty Creek Road or the Hampton Inn, 3709 S. Ferdon Blvd., Crestview. 

Here are family member’s clothing and shoe sizes.

Ritch:

Pants: 34/34

Shirts: XL

Shoes: 12-13

Ritchie: (adult son)

Pants: 32/34

Shirts: L

Shoes: 12

“Baby” Ritchie – 3 years old

Tammy:

Pants: 7

Shirts: Medium

Shoes: 11

Jewelie Bellew: (seven and a half months pregnant; having a boy)

Maternity clothes: L

Shoes: 8.5

April Hutchinson: (paraplegic)

Pants: 0-1

Shirts: Medium

Shoes (doesn’t wear shoes)

Trinity Cassell– age 10

Pants: 12

Shirts: Medium

Shoes: 4

Other: “Girly girl,” loves hair ties, accessories, purses

Email News Bulletin Staff Writer Brian Hughes, follow him on Twitter or call 850-682-6524.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Crestview family 'overwhelmed' by community's generosity following fire

CRESTVIEW — Jolene Parker Patterson laid her infant son, Joshua Devin Kroll II, to rest in 2005.

Since then, family members have placed several items — a small marble bench, floral arrangements, angel figurines and shepherd's hooks —  at Joshua's Old Bethel Cemetery gravesite. Some items weren't cheap, but all were sentimental, and they recently went missing.

Patterson, who visits her son's grave monthly with family members, says the thefts compound her grief. 

"It's very hurtful to those that have lost someone," she said. "We have no other way to give them anything. This is our human way of expressing that."

Two miniature Precious Moments angels particularly hold sentimental value for Patterson. Kroll was 2 months old when he succumbed to sudden infant death syndrome. A family member placed the two angels on his grave shortly after he died.  

"I would really like to have those back," Patterson said.

Joyce Parker, Jolene's grandmother, said she was devastated after learning a Christmas-themed synthetic floral arrangement went missing.

"I was heartbroken because it was all for him," she said.

Parker, 64, said she spent $50 on the flower arrangement — a significant amount for someone on a fixed income.

Christopher Patterson, Jolene's husband, said the thefts baffle him.

"I just don't get it … how someone could do something like that," he said. "It's not just about the monetary value. The value is sentimental."

The incident at Kroll's grave isn't isolated. Last month, resident Tyler Peaden said thieves stole Christmas decorations from his daughter, Alana's, private grave near Old Bethel Cemetery.

The thefts concern Parker, but haven't deterred her from giving gifts to her great-grandson.

She also hopes those responsible will be caught.

"God knows who did this, and he will deal with them in the end," she said.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Desecration of child's grave 'hurtful'; God 'will deal with (thieves)'

CRESTVIEW — From Crestview to Deerland is about 10 miles. It's a tad less than 10 miles to Mossy Head, and slightly less than 10 miles more to DeFuniak Springs.

Going the other way, it's a little more than 10 miles west to Holt, nearly 10 miles more to Harold and another 10 to Milton.

Coincidence? Not at all.

Though Northwest Florida was founded and explored as early as the 16th century, it wasn't until the railroad's advent that the places we call home were developed.

Email News Bulletin Staff Writer Brian Hughes, follow him on Twitter or call 850-682-6524.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: SPECIAL REPORT: Why 10 miles separate many NWF communities

CRESTVIEW — Dogwood Garden Club members Carol Strom and Thea Duhaime spent Tuesday performing some winter clean-up at the Blue Star Memorial marker on U.S. Highway 90.   

The marker, located west of Crestview near the city limits, was jointly sponsored by the Dogwood Garden Club and the former Crestview Garden Club and dedicated in April 1968.   

Blue Star Memorial markers honor all men and women who serve, have served and will serve in the United States military.

"On a sad, disappointing note, someone shot the memorial sign with a pellet gun and broke the rock planter," Duhaime said. "This means more work for the ladies this spring!"

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Garden club members spruce up patriotic highway marker

CRESTVIEW — A morning fire forced a Mount Olive Estates family of five from their home into sub-freezing temperatures and consumed most of their belongings except the clothes they were wearing.

"We lost everything. We have nothing," Tammy Golden said. "It was just awful."

Golden, her husband Ritchie, 10-year-old granddaughter Trinity Cassell, pregnant daughter Jewelie Bellew, and paraplegic daughter April Hutchinson safely evacuated the home.

Ritchie's adult son and 3-year-old grandson, who also live in the home, were out of town when the fire broke out at 4:20 a.m.

The Crestview branch of the American Red Cross relocated the family to the Hampton Inn hotel, where Tammy Golden works.

She said her employer will allow the family to stay at hotel beyond Monday's Red Cross housing expiration as they look for a new home.

"We want to thank the community for all their prayers," Golden said.

Read the full story in Saturday's News Bulletin.

Want to help?

Here are family member’s clothing and shoe sizes.

Ritch:

Pants: 34/34

Shirts: XL

Shoes: 12-13

Ritchie: (adult son)

Pants: 32/34

Shirts: L

Shoes: 12

“Baby” Ritchie – 3 years old

Tammy:

Pants: 7

Shirts: Medium

Shoes: 11

Jewelie Bellew: (seven and a half months pregnant; having a boy)

Maternity clothes: L

Shoes: 8.5

April Hutchinson: (paraplegic)

Pants: 0-1

Shirts: Medium

Shoes (doesn’t wear shoes)

Trinity Cassell– age 10

Pants: 12

Shirts: Medium

Shoes: 4

Other: “Girly girl,” loves hair ties, accessories, purses

Email News Bulletin Staff Writer Brian Hughes, follow him on Twitter or call 850-682-6524.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Help needed for survivors of Wednesday morning fire

Film historians often rank 1939 the best year in filmmaking. That year's classics always rank in the top 10 lists of the best.

Among them are "Gone With The Wind," "The Wizard of Oz," the original "Stagecoach," "Wuthering Heights" and others.

How could so many classic films be made in one year? Judy DeBolt shares facts about 1939's films during the First Tuesday series.

 “The Films of 1939: 75th Anniversary and Still the Best Ever” begins with popcorn and Coke served at 10 a.m. Feb. 4 at the Crestview Public Library.  The presentation begins at 10:30 a.m.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Classic films take focus in February

CRESTVIEW —  Inspiring others could help overcome toxic trends in the African American community, the Rev. Edwin Stallworth, of Sixth Avenue Baptist Church in Florala, Ala., says.  

  "… We have digressed in many ways … with the prison system, teenage pregnancies, high school drop-outs, and black-on-black crime" he said during Saturday's Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. celebration. "We need to inspire individuals, who would go back to their homes and communities and inspire others."

Watch video from the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration in Crestview >>

See 10 photos from the celebration>>

Recognizing King's legacy, as an estimated 30 residents had in last weekend's parade, raises awareness about the importance of African Americans' advancement, he said. 

Such a simple act, with positive reinforcement of goals and values, can make all the difference, Stallworth said.

"It's about respect," longtime Crestview resident Jerry Lewis said during the event, presented by the Concerned Citizens Group of Crestview and the Carver-Hill Memorial and Historical Society. "If you don't demonstrate respect, you can't expect your children to."

Jerry's granddaughter, J.R. Lewis — who sang "Lift Every Voice" and "We Shall Overcome" during the celebration — said she fears her peers don't fully grasp the significance of King's achievement.

"I honestly don't think (younger generations) fully realize the importance of it … I think it's important that they learn," she said.

Contact News Bulletin Staff Writer Matthew Brown at 850-682-6524 or matthewb@crestviewbulletin.com. Follow him on Twitter @cnbMatthew.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: 'It's about respect': Residents explore ways to continue King's legacy (VIDEO/PHOTOS)