November 21, 2013 Issue of KONK Life

Transcription

KEY NEWS
november 21-27
Published Weekly
Vol. 3 No. 46
PUBLISHER
Guy deBoer
EDITOR|DESIGN
Dawn deBoer
NEWS EDITOR
Ralph Morrow
NEWS WRITER
John Guerra
PHOTOGRAPHERS
Larry E. Blackburn, Ralph De Palma
EDITORIAL CONSULTANT
Connie Gilbert
CONTRIBUTORS
Guy deBoer Key News
Rick Boettger The Big Story
Louis Petrone Key West Lou
Christina Oxenberg Local Observation
Mark Howell Howlings
ian Brockway Tropic Sprockets
Steve Calderwood Wining the Keys
Kimberley Denney Bitchin’ Paradise
Scott McCarthy The Gadabout
Jenessa Berger Get Your Wellness
Paul Menta Now We’re Cookin’
JT Thompson Hot Dish
Morgan Kidwell Kids Korner
ADVERTISING 305.296.1630
Marc Hollander|305.619.4414
[email protected]
Advertising Deadline Every Friday
PRINT-READY advertising materials due by
Friday every week for next issue of KONK Life.
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CIRCULATION
Kavon Desilus ASSISTANT
William Rainer ASSISTANT
KONK Life is published weekly by
KONK Broadcasting Network in Key West,
Florida. Editorial materials may not be reproduced
without written permission from the network.
KONK Broadcasting Network
Key West, Florida
(305) 296-1630 Office
www.konklife.com
Considering Obamacare?
Local business owner gives tips
JOHN L. GUERRA
NEWS WRITER
Decision is either, or
Erik deBoer of Manley-deBoer Lumber and
Marquesa Hotel found unexpected issues when
weighing the benefits of Affordable Care Act,
a.k.a. Obamacare, for his employees.
“Some of the things I found out were very
surprising,” deBoer told KONK Life. “When I
hear other people talking about Obamacare, I’m
not sure people really understand the issues.”
deBoer, whose brother Guy publishes KONK
Life, spoke only of what he saw as drawbacks and
benefits of the plan and not about the flammable
politics surrounding the issue. According to
deBoer, the new health care regime has more
problems than the failure of Healthcare.gov
to handle the barrage of online applications.
“My great worry about Obamacare is that it
won’t greatly increase the number of people who
are insured, but it will significantly raise the rates
of people who do have insurance,” he said.
Employers and employees must decide
whether to continue with company health
insurance or move to Obamacare. e ACA lets
workers go to the health insurance marketplace
via online exchanges. By keying in one’s name,
age and income, one is presented with various
levels of insurance, prices and government
subsidies to help pay the premiums for which
one signs up.
n AME FIRST FEMALE PASTOR page 10
“If your employer offers health insurance, than
you are allowed to go to the exchanges and seek
an insurer and insurance policy that best meets
your needs, or you can keep your employer’s
insurance,” deBoer said. “When you do go to the
exchange, if you currently have insurance through
your employer, the first step is to determine
which insurance plans offered through the
exchange best meet your needs and budget.
en if your employer offers you insurance, how
does that plan compare to what you selected
through the exchange. Some employers provide
health insurance as a benefit, but today it’s so
expensive most employees pay a portion, and
an employee can choose to participate with
the employer’s health insurance depending how
much the employer is covering.
Subsidies for Obamacare only
“With Obamacare, if an employer offers
health care, the employer must pay 50 percent
and the employee pays 50 percent. Or you can go
out into the private health insurance market place
— separate from Obamacare — like you used to
be able to, but you can’t shop for that same health
insurance on the exchanges under Obamacare.
e primary reason appears to me to be is the
Obamacare exchanges offer subsidies,” deBoer
said. “But if your employer offers you health
insurance, the new law excludes employees from
| Continued on page 10
www.konklife.com 3
KEY NEWS
UPFRONT
KEY HAPPENINGS
Hunger, homelessness awareness
gets national attention in Keys
Mayor Craig Cates and City
Commissioner Jimmy Weekley
sponsored a proclamation to raise
awareness of the problem of hunger
in our community and nation. e
proclamation set aside the week of
November 16 as National Hunger
and Homelessness Awareness Week.
e proclamation states there are
many reasons people go hungry in
our community, including the lack
of affordable housing for very lowincome residents. In Monroe
County, effective organizations, including dozens of not-for-profit and
public agency members of the Monroe County Homeless Services Continuum of Care, are committed to
sheltering and providing supportive
services, meals and food supplies to
people experiencing hunger and
homelessness. Awareness of these
difficulties that neighbors share
| RALPH MORROW
Happy Warriors Key West property owners Evan Corns, left, and
Bob Lieb, right, flank U.S. Congressman Joe Garcia.
Key West congressman
looking at ‘longer picture’
at flood insurance
RALPH MORROW
NEWS EDITOR
Joe Garcia has heard the story as have
many of his constituents. And the U.S.
congressman who lives in Key West
hopes to do something about it.
e story goes that a man had
purchased a one-story home so that his
wife, who is wheelchair-bound, wouldn’t
have to worry about steps. e house is
valued at $168,000. His recent flood
insurance bill comes to $43,000 a year.
“I want to get FEMA to come down
here and see what can be done,” the
congressman said. He recognizes the cost
of flood insurance to be at the top of the
N O V E M B E R 21-24
Chalk artists transform
Truman Waterfront
list of concerns from the people who live
in his 26th district, which stretches from
parts of Miami-Dade County to Key
West.
He said he’s in contact with FEMA
and wants to be in the district when they
visit. Recently, he has been in Washington, D.C., tending to congressional
matters.
e main flood bill now being
discussed in Congress calls for a four-year
postponement of rate increases.
“Postponing makes no sense,” Garcia
told Konk Life. “Realtors must still
disclose” the down-the-road increase,
November 21-24, Key West Art In
Public Places Board presents ChalkFest
2013, to take place along promenade
adjacent to USCGC Ingham Museum
at the Truman Waterfront.
10 a.m. to 6 p.m. each day, the public experiences performance art in
Mayor Craig Cates, left, and
Commissioner Jimmy Weekley
present the National Hunger
and Homelessness Awareness
Week proclamation to Jeanette
McLernon, administrator
of Monroe County Homeless
Services Continuum-of-Care.
encourages support of care
providers in the community.
HAPPENINGS| Continued page 27
Monroe County Sheriff’s Office
Group of German police were in the Florida Keys recently touring
the Sheriff’s Office headquarters and main jail. Groups from the
Bomb Squad, shown here, Marine Unit Traffic Enforcement and
SWAT team set up in the parking lot to show some of its police
equipment and talk about policing in the states and the Keys.
progress as local and visiting artists use
chalk to transform the walkway into a
series of individual artworks.
Specialty chalks provided by AIPP
to professional and non-professional
artists who work both individually and
in teams in blocked-off sections of the
4 www.konklife.com
promenade. Artists begin creating their
works ursday, November 21, and
must finish by noon Saturday at which
time judging begins followed by awards
ceremony at 2 p.m. Viewing continues
through Sunday, November 24.
THE KEY WEST FILM FESTIVAL
LARRY BLACKBURN | photographer
John Waters, left
“I Am Divine” director, Jeffery Schwartz
Mariel Hemingway, center
n MORE Photographs, page 29
www.konklife.com 5
Boys’ basketball
KWHS adds games,
changes times
Key West High School has added a pair
of boys basketball games for the season and
announced time changes for other games.
• Coach Tony McDowell’s Conchs will open
the season with a Varsity game against
Southridge High at 1 p.m., Friday, November 22, followed by a Junior Varsity game at
3:30 p.m. • Saturday, December 7, the
school has added a home game against
Florida Christian at a time to be determined. • December 20 home game against
Ida Baker will be played at 7:30 p.m.
• December 28, the Conchs will face Whitman-Hanson High School at 7 p.m. at
Bobby Menendez Gymnasium. • Key West
has added a home game against East Lee 6
p.m. Saturday, January 4.
Girls’ basketball
SPORTS
With new last name,
Sargent leads Conchs
• Girls basketball team’s game Friday,
January 17, against Florida Christian
will now be a 7:30 p.m. home game. • e
team has also added a 5 p.m. home game
against Hebrew Academy on ursday,
January 23. • e season closer, January 25,
against Southridge, at Menendez, will be at
1 p.m.
Boys’ soccer
• Today’s boys soccer game against Miami
Country Day will be played at 1 p.m. at
Tommy Roberts Memorial Stadium. • As
Doral Academy and Key West switched
dates, the Conchs will play Doral at 5:30
p.m., December 11, at Key West.
Girls’ soccer
• Doral Academy and Key West girls soccer
have switched dates with Doral playing at
Key West at 3:30 p.m., December 11.
Miss Geico is Top Gun
With CSM going to the pits with engine
trouble, Miss Geico, driven by Marc Granet
with Scott Begovich at the throttle, took the
Superboat Unlimited class and Top Gun
honors as the 33rd World Superboat Championships wound up Sunday in Key West.
e final day was marred when the engine
of Spirit of Qatar in Turbine caught fire and
5 Brothers in Super Stock flipped. While the
latter boat is named for a Key West grocery,
it is driven by Chris Schoenbohm of
Orlando and throttled by Ryan Beckley
of Bradenton. Both were uninjured,
according to race officials.
| RALPH MORROW
Key West High girls basketball player KaNeya Sargent has plenty of support with her parents,
Kennith and Kesha Sargent, her grandmother, Camilla Brown, and her two sisters and two brothers,
including 2-year-old Ke’Lijah.
RALPH MORROW
NEWS EDITOR
Last high school basketball
season, KaNeya Mims went back
and forth from the Key West High
Junior Varsity and Varsity.
is year, she wants to be known
as KaNeya Sargent. In the girls
opener on November 11, the new
name worked to perfection. e
sophomore repeatedly stole the ball
at midcourt from a Carrollton
player’s hands, dribbled to the
basket and laid it in for most
of her team-leading 23 points.
at helped give Shonta McLeod
6 www.konklife.com
her first coaching victory as the Lady
Conchs won their opener, 60-11.
After visiting Barbara Goleman
postponed Friday’s game, Key West
was scheduled to play another home
game on Monday against Monroe
County rival Marathon.
MARK HOWELL’S
T H E B IG S T O R Y
SCHOOL SECRETS
t is not easy to get the Monroe
County School District to comply with Florida’s Sunshine Law. I
have spent weeks and too much
cash prying a test sample of emails
between just two people, Christina
McPherson to the HR director
Ramon Hawkins, during the
period she received the now
much-publicized $10,000 raise
that the Board had not approved.
I have read these 93 emails and
shall report the dark secrets I
found burrowing in the bowels
of the District’s business.
I frankly don’t give a damn
about Christina’s raise. She probably deserves it, and District I
believes its saving a bunch of my
tax dollars in having her do an
extra job for a relatively small
increment, instead of hiring
someone new. What got me
involved was the district’s holding
up schools’ watchdog Larry
Murray for $550 up to $4,400
to see their email records
regarding the raise decision.
Remember, last week I asked
what I thought might be embarrassing questions of our city’s planning department about the setback
at the new West Marine. I spoke
to the honcho in charge within
minutes, and he backed up his
cogent explanation with accurate
documents, for free via email, that
same afternoon. at led me to
trust their professional integrity,
and I accepted their decision.
e opposite with the school
district. Simple salary schedules
and emails are withheld, Public
Record Requests (PRR) are not
acknowledged, and people like
Larry and board member Ed
Davidson are castigated openly
at board meetings as “wanting to
hear themselves talk on the radio”
for their important requests about
HOB’s billing issues and Superintendent Mark Porter’s one-man
raise decisions. e Board, instead
of wanting to address serious
issues, tried to make the questions
I
go away by telling Porter to charge
money to people like me and Larry
who simply want to see the
information that We the People
own, as required by strict laws.
Larry was told that the expense
was due to having to apply over
100 “exceptions” to the Sunshine
Law. It would take a highly paid
professional hours to go over
every email, redacting everything
exceptionable. But this was a a
smokescreen. e exceptions are
overwhelmingly to protect law
enforcement officers, or people
with AIDS or other health secrets.
School district information is
actually held to an especially high
standard of transparency.
I knew the “exceptions” would
barely apply to the District emails
Larry wanted, so I put it to the
test. I made a PRR for the cheapest
portion, just $25 for, supposedly,
“93” emails. ere were minor
delays in getting a response, but
once I paid, I got a CD less than
a week later.
e first problem was, the CD
was unreadable. I spent over $100
on my computer guru’s trying to
crack it, but it contained only
empty sub-directories. Undeterred,
I asked for PDF printouts.
Happily, I got those within an
hour, and pored through them
over a long lunch.
Exactly as I thought. No incriminating information, and only
a single redaction, with an incorrect statutory citation. Basically,
working in Admin in the District
is boring, if their emails are any
RICK
HOWLINGS
Back in our own schooldays, the
ohn Waters, 67, the cult film
expansion of frozen water was an
director of transgressive hits
such as “Hairspray” (not to mention “Hag accepted fact taken account but never
fully explained.
in a Black Leather Jacket” and the unreHere’s why: Most liquids shrink when
leased “Reckless Eyeballs” of 1985) was in
cooled at a fixed pressure because the
town last week to give his one-man standup routine, “is Filthy World,” as part of molecules move slower and are less able
to overcome the intermolecular forces
the Key West Film Festival.
attracting them closer to each other.
Its about a hilarious No Smoking
Water is one of the few exceptions
theatrical trailer t he made for Landmark
eaters back in the early 1980s. Instruct- to this. When liquid water is cooled, it
contracts as expected until about four
ing audiences not to smoke during the
degrees Celsius. After that, it expands
movie, he keeps puffing away on a cigaslightly until it reaches the freezing point,
rette. is was totally ad libbed and never
then it expands by approximately
copyrighted and so it went viral, playing
9 percent.
along at many Midnight Movies.
is has its origin in the structure of
Waters actually gave up smoking years
the water molecule, which has a strong
ago. “I used to smoke five packs of King
tendency to form a network of hydrogen
Kools a day,” he told us. “But it’s now
been 3,958 days since I’ve had a cigarette.” bonds where each hydrogen atom is in a
line between two oxygen atoms. Once the
Asked why he has always made a fetish
of wearing impeccably polished shoes at all ice structure is completely hydrogen
times (last week was no exception), Waters bonded, these bonds force the crystalline
structure to be very open, creexplained that it’s “in case of
ating extra open space in the
spontaneous combustion,” the
ice.
phenomenon when a person
“Get? Got it? Good.”
will burst into flames and burn
(Danny Kaye in “e Court
to ash, invariably leaving an
Jester”)
empty pair of shoes.
Another phenomenon
*****
known to obsess Waters is a
very odd ball called Stephen
Tennant, who was the basis of
Quote for the Week:
leading characters in both
MARK
HOWELL
Evelyn Waugh’s “Brideshead
“On the Great Plains, our
Revisited” and once described
bison were the source of life
by Sir Osbert Sitwell as “England’s last
and culture for unknown thousands of
professional beauty.”
aboriginal Americans that depended on
Upon his return from globe-trotting
them for generations beyond counting.
with Mrs. Cary Grant (heiress Barbara
“Up until the ‘ghost dance’ generation
Hutton), Tennant decided it was time for
— the one that kissed the old life goodbye
society to come to him and so he hit the
to face an enemy future — the tribes that
sack big time, retiring to his bed for the
had dominated the grasslands for 8,000
remaining 17 years of his life, growing
years would fight battles over the bison
ever more portly and surrounded by his
hunting grounds, would eat bison, dress
jewelry and Elvis Presley post cards as
in bison, imitate and talk to bison and
he received the rich and famous.
die for and by the sacred bison.
He died peacefully in bed in his 81st
“All gone.”
year.
*****
— William Least Heat Moon,
of English, Irish and Osage ancestry,
Why does frozen water expand?
on the fate of our native bison two
“at’s a good question,” says our
centuries ago.
son Rafe, a physics PhD who’s now
head engineer in a computer company
in SiliconValley.
n
J
BOETTGER
COLUMNIST
www.konklife.com 7
COMMUNITY NEWS
Symphony wins cheers
from 1,000 kids
by C.S. GILBERT
e South Florida Symphony, born in Key West in
1998, kicked its annual educational contribution to the
school system up several notches yesterday morning.
e two-pronged program was enjoyed — and that
may be an understatement — by almost 1,000 Lower
Keys first through fifth graders at the Tennessee
Williams eater.
“It was awesome!” said fourth grader Donatonie
Philipe on her way out of the lobby and back to Gerald
Adams School, next to the theater. Youngsters from
other schools were bused in for the 9:45 a.m. and 10:45
a.m. teaching concerts; previously, professional teaching
musicians who —in costume and aided by slides
projected on the huge screen above the orchestra—
| C.S.GILBERT
A group of Keys children get up close and
personal with a double bass before the program
by the South Florida Symphony Orchestra.
”taught” this remarkable music class with the orchestra.
e teacher/musicians visited each school ahead of time
to prepare the children for the live audio-visual
performance.
Adams teaching assistant Serena Scott, helping to
herd the students outside, paused long enough to
comment, “It was nice, very well-informed.”
Lessons taught via Florida history and geography
stressed care of the environment, doing one’s very best
and being kind to each other; the program was titled
“Glorious Days” and featured explorer Ponce de Leon,
18th century environmentalist and artist William
Bartrum and hotel and railroad magnate Henry
Morrison Flagler. e slide show, which included
myriad images of seascapes, the Everglades, building
the railroad and even the convivial interior of a club car
on the railroad, ended with Flagler’s face superimposed
on the moon.
e original music by William Kern was commissioned especially for this educational program,
8 www.konklife.com
KEY BUSINESS
IN KEYWEST
THEATER
ONSTAGE
‘Cock’
Week of November 18 for two weeks
nPREVIEWING
ey West Fringe eater presents
“Cock” directed by Murphy Davis.
When a gay man takes a break from his boyfriend,
K
the last thing he expects is to meet and fall in love
with the woman of his dreams. Filled with guilt and
indecision, he decides there is only one way to
straighten out the situation.
Xast includes Michael Castellano, Dave Bootle,
Nicole Nurenberg, and Mike Mulligan. Provocative
title refers to the resemblance between the characters
in the play’s love triangle and roosters preparing for a
cockfight.
“Cock” shows for two weeks only. Tickets are
available now. Performances are Wednesday-Saturday,
December 4-7 and December 11-14. Evening performances at 8 p.m.; Saturday matinee (December
14) is at 2 p.m. Venue is e Studios of Key West,
600 White St. Tickets $35, ($60 opening night and
reception) and may be purchased through e Studios, www.tskw.org, (305) 296-0458 or Keystix at
www.Keystix.com, (305) 295-7676. TSKW members
advance tickets, $30, by calling TSKW.
Key West Fringe is a nonprofit theater using
theater arts to entertain, educate and enrich the
community with programs like Shakespeare in
| CYNTHIA KEMENY
Michael Castellano and Dave Bootle, (L-R)
School, Fringe Benefits: classic short plays and main
stage productions.
Fringe is supported by Florida Keys Council of the
Arts, Monroe County Tourist Development Council,
Dogwood Foundation, Keys Energy, Small Chef at
Large and private donors.
INFO
www.KeyWestFringe.org
www.konklife.com 9
Coming
Soon!
NEWS SPORTS NEWS SPORTS NEWS
OBAMACARE
| Continued from page 3
getting a subsidy.”
Uneven pricing for health
policies
Church hires its first female pastor
JOHN L. GUERRA
NEWS WRITER
Cornish Memorial AME Zion
Church, founded by a freed slave who
cut his own tendons so he couldn’t be
resold into bondage, has hired its first
first female pastor.
“It’s a milestone for the church,” said
Key West City Commissioner Clayton
Lopez Sunday. “I look at it as another
point of history to add to Cornish’s
story.”
e Rev. Rochelle M. Pearson,
formally of St. James AME Zion Church
in Kissimmee, arrived at Cornish in
June and is in a temporary home until
the church finishes repairing where
she’’ll live while posted here.
“It won’t be too long before we get
the Pastor’s home in shape so we can
fully welcome the Rev. Pearson to Key
West,” Lopez said.
Cornish AME at 702 Whitehead St.
celebrates its 149th anniversary Sunday,
November 24. e church has been the
central organizing sphere for political
activism and civil rights struggles of
black Key Westers over the years. It was
founded by Sandy Cornish, a freed slave
who became one of the richest men in
Key West after launching a successful
Super Boats
ANDY NEWMAN | Florida Keys News Bureau
A rescue diver leaps from helicopter
after the 5 Brothers Grocery Superboat Stock boat rolled over during
Sunday’s final day of the 33rd Key
West World Championship. Driver
and throttleman were unharmed,
race officials said.
MISS GEICO
Snowy Mountain Brewery took first
e new law does not apply policy
pricesevenly; whereas employees who
get health insurance at work pay the
same as other employees, deBoer
found.
“is uncovered a basic unfairness
that I’ve been wrestling with,” he said.
“e exchanges price health insurance
policies based on your age. Health insurance for young people is cheaper,
and for the old it’s quite expensive.
“In traditional company plans, the
insurance companies average out the
age of your employees, so it’s the same
price per person; it’s the same if you
are 22 years old or 62 years old,”
deBoer said.
e costs also vary by county,
he said. Dade County residents pay
much less than Monroe County
residents.
Employees: Pre-tax dollars
The Rev. Rochelle M. Pearson
farm and produce store. When three
white men considered taking him to the
slave market, he used a knife to wound
himself, including cutting off his own
fingers. His ploy worked; he would no
longer make a good worker, and the
men lost interest.
Cornish also loved to preach and
after founding his church often took
the podium to deliver sermons. Pearson
now has that honor.
“She is a wonderful woman of God
who brings a strong spirit and a spiritfilled message,” Lopez told KONK Life.
in all three races, including the doubledistance race Sunday to take the World
Championship of Superboat Vee. Black
Pearl did likewise in Manufacturer P3.
Also claiming World Championships
were Twisted Metal Motorsports, Superboat Extreme; Spirit of Qatar still
racked up enough points to defeat
Miss Mary Mac for the Turbine title;
WHM Motorsports placed second all
three days, but came away with the Superboat championship; Talbot Excavating took two firsts and a second, good
enough for the Superboat Stock title’
Crafty Chicken won the Manufacturer
P4 championship.
Next year’s 34th edition scheduled
for Key West, November 2-9.
[email protected]
“Another big thing that’s not
talked about very much: On the
exchange, you buy insurance with
after-tax dollars, but employer health
insurance is bought with pre-tax
dollars.”
Health insurance premiums are
deducted from employee pay before
taxes, so the employee only pays tax
on the rest of his pay. It represents a
small savings for the worker, but
nationwide it means billions of
dollars in savings.
It also means one has to work
longer to earn enough to pay the
Obamacare monthly premium.
“If you have a policy that costs
$300 a month, you have to earn
$360, so your after-tax is $300
and you can buy the insurance,”
deBoer said.
After weighing the pros and
cons of the ACA, deBoer said he’ll
continue to offer health insurance
to his employees.
“We’ll keep the company plan for
at least one more year,” he said.
deBoer reveals an unexpected
surprise. e Healthcare.gov website,
reportedly failing millions of Americans trying to sign on to it, “In my
experience the website worked just
fine,” he said.
INSURANCE
10 www.konklife.com
which will make selling homes a
difficult project.
e congressman also noted that
the Republican chairman of the
House Committee on Financial Services (Jeb Hensarling) doesn’t believe
government should be involved in insurance.
e committee was to meet January 19, for a hearing entitled “Implementation of the Biggert-Waters
Flood Insurance Act of 2012: Protecting Taxpayers and Homeowners.”
Garcia said he is looking “at the
longer picture,” perhaps averaging the
flood insurance cost over 30 years and
applying a reasonable deductible. He
also noted that Floridians pay in four
times more than comes back.
Like all members of Congress,
who run for election every two years,
Garcia is already looking toward the
election of 2014.
“I’m the main target of the
Republican Party,” said the first-term
Democrat. He said four people,
all from the mainland, are lined up
by the GOP to run against him.
SARGENT
e team is scheduled for three
more home games, Friday against
Ransom Everglades; Saturday against
Palmer Trinity and Tuesday, November 26, against Gulliver Prep, before
its first away game, November 27, at
Florida Christian.
In the opener, Nicole Konhaeuser
Lopez came off the bench and scored
12 points. Starters Tanisha Multy
scored 10 points, Brooke Marsden 7,
Ryann Appleby 6 and Saria Smith 2.
“KaNeya improved a lot over the
summer,” McLeod said of Sargent.
“If I can get her to shoot more, play
defense and be more aggressive . . . .”
McLeod said she wants Multy, who
tied the school record with 32 points
in a game a season ago, to play more
defense and be a ball handler.
“I want her to be our top leader.”
Appleby “is in real good shape,”
said McLeod of the school’s top
volleyball player. “She’s aggressive on
rebounds and her defense will help
us win more games.”
Marsden will count for 3-point
shooting, rebounding and defense,
while Smith, a sophomore, will be
aggressive on the boards, said her
coach.
[email protected]
KEYWEST
LOU
LOCAL
OBSERVATION
GET YOUR FINGER
OUT OF MY ASS!
JUSTICE
n L E G A L I T I E S W I T H Louis Petrone
BUSINESS
SPOTLIGHT
Butterflies go wild!
Key West Butterfly and Nature
Conservatory, 1316 Duval St.,
observe a pair of flamingos and their
behavior as well as more than 60
species of live butterflies in the
facility’s climate-controlled, 5,000square-foot glass-enclosed tropical
butterfly habitat.
One of only three major butterfly
facilities in Florida, the conservatory
houses other butterfly-friendly birds
including paradise tanagers, honey
creepers, a wide variety of colorful
finches and Chinese button quail in
a rainforest environment of flowering
plants, ponds and exotic trees.
Learn about butterflies’ role in the
natural environment and view fine
butterfly artwork in an on-site gallery.
e two flamingos, a male and
female, were bred in Toronto and
“migrated” to Key West after their
breeder worked closely with conservatory founders Sam Trophia and
George Fernandez to ensure that the
birds would acclimate to their new
home.
Coincidentally, since the species
is associated with love and romance,
the prized wading birds were born
on Valentine’s Day 2012.
A public contest to name the two
flamingos launched in October.
Name “ballots” can be submitted
either in person at the conservatory
or on its Facebook page:www.facebook.com/eKeyWestButterflyAndNatureConservatory.
e winning names are to be
announced at the end of this month!
For details, visit the Facebook page
or www.keywestbutterfly.com
INFO
www.keywestbutterfly.com
merica . . . home of the brave . . . land of the free.
Many freedoms guaranteed. One is freedom from
abuses of police power.
A year ago, I wrote a column, “Abuse of Power.” It had to do with
a three-year-old boy who had recently been toilet trained. He had to
go. He pulled his pants down in his grandmother’s driveway and
peed. e boy and his mother lived with the grandmother who
owned the home. A police officer observed the event. He issued the
mother a ticket for her son’s peeing in public. e fine was $2,500.
e national media picked up the event, and the next day the
community’s Chief of Police showed up at the grandmother’s home
and withdrew the charge. e story a clear example of abuse of
police power.
Now comes David Eckert’s story. Abusive,
stupid, gross, dehumanizing. e title of this
article represents a small portion of the
dilemma Eckert found himself in. e abuse
described in the title occurred not one time,
but twice. And included other even worse
abuses.
You may find it difficult to believe what
LOU
I
am
about to share with you. Not in the
PETRONE
United States, you will say. Yes, it did happen
COLUMNIST
in the United States.
e place is Deming, New Mexico. e date January 2, 2013.
Eckert was leaving a Walmart parking lot. He rolled through the
stop sign for vehicles leaving the parking lot. A police detective saw
the incident. He went over to a police car and told the officer. He
also told the officer he thought the driver was a methane user.
e uniformed police officer in the car pulled Eckert over. Asked
for his driver’s license, registration and proof of insurance. So far the
stop was normal. However, instead of asking for these items through
the window while Eckert was seated in the car, the police officer first
had him get out.
e police officer described the standing Eckert as having an
erect posture, kept his legs together and clenched his buttocks. e
police officer decided Eckert was carrying drugs in his ass.
He called for Leo. Leo is a police dog purportedly trained to sniff
out drugs. Leo was brought to the scene. It is claimed in the Police
Department paperwork that Leo reacted when he smelled the
driver’s seat. No drugs were discovered in the car.
Eckert was arrested. Allegedly for carrying drugs in his anus.
ere was no video of any portion of the event. Additionally, Leo’s
reliability is in question. He had made three errors in previous
arrests where no drugs were actually found. He had not been
recertified as required by law.
A prosecutor obtained a search warrant from a judge. e
warrant permitted a search of Eckert “ . . . to include but not limited
to his anal cavity.”
A
love true crime shows. When I settled
down to watch another episode of “e
Bride Wore Blood” and the narrator said
“some of this material might be disturbing
to some viewers,” I thought, “It bloody well
better be disturbing, ha ha!”
Here on the paradisiacal coral rock island
that is Key West we have three times the
amount of crime than in the rest of the
country. Shocking statistics reveal there are
three times the aggravated assaults and three
times the amount of rapes, almost all of
which are perpetrated on tourists, around
4 a.m. as they wobble and weave their
inebriated selves back to their hotel rooms.
For the repeat offender predator these easy
pickings are irresistible.
But crime is not restricted to the night or
to the obvious miscreants. Recently I went
to a doctor to ask for sleeping pills, and he
told me to go and buy myself a bottle of
synthetic pee so as to pass a certain test
which would otherwise reveal my recent run
in with a joint. I had inhaled that one single
time, I explained to the doctor, because it
can help me sleep. Obediently I did buy a
bottle of “Urine Luck” but I have, as of yet,
been too timorous to go through with what
can only be felonious. While I enjoy visiting
the local Federal Penitentiary as a teacher,
I’m not so curious to become an inmate.
Florida has a long and florid history, so
complex that today the state shaped like a
gun is ballistic with contradictions. So,
while Florida feeds tourists to the crocodilian predators, and bars its citizens from any
access to legally produced pharmaceuticals,
gun toting is warmly and enthusiastically
encouraged.
When my good friend Biggy Rat, musician/mariner/and teller of tales, invited me
to the local gun range naturally I said yes
please. A couple of islands north we met up
I
CHRISTINA
OXENBERG
LEiGH VOGEL photo
www.konklife.com 11
Scuplture Key West, November 29 reception
Open-air show debuts
Seventeen contemporary sculptures
enhance landscapes and seascapes in
and around a Civil War-era fort and
Atlantic Ocean beach during the 18th
annual Sculpture Key West.
December 8 to March 23, open-air
show spotlights the talent of national
and local sculptors on the subtropical
island known for its lively arts com-
munity.
Prior to the main oceanside event,
“Under 25” show debuts 6 p.m.
Friday, November 29, with a reception
at Key West Pottery, 929 Truman
Avenue. Curated show features the
work of five young emerging artists
whose images influence from feminism to fun in the sun.
Sunday, December 1, “Under 25”
exhibit viewed at Coast, 6404 Front
St., Stock Island.
Sculptures in main exhibition on
the grounds of West Martello Tower
and surrounding Higgs Beach on Atlantic Boulevard near White Street.
Exhibition opens with “meet the
artists” 5-8 p.m. Sunday, December 8.
Artists from eight states represented, showcasing work in traditional
and experimental media. Some sculptures constructed onsite; some incorporate native materials such as local
plant life.
Featured installations include
larger-than-human Palm Goddess created with palm fronds and Florida
Keys vegetation, a floating shark and
organic forms incorporating LED
lights that invite consideration ofmass
and gravity, a vine fabricated out of
steel tubing that twists across the
ground and fences of West Martello
and glowing abstractions of the
human form carved out of white indigenous stone.
View Sculpture Key West at West
Martello, 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily.
Admission free.
12 www.konklife.com
PRESIDENT JOHN F KENNEDY
N O V E M B E R 2 2, 1 9 6 3
Remembrances
Were Lee Harvey
Oswald and Jack Ruby
together in Key West?
n by Mark Howell and Tim Gratz
ometime in 1976, an aide to Sen. Richard
Schweiker of Pennsylvania entered the senator’s office and told him he had a phone call from Key
West. Schweiker was a member of the Senate Select
Subcommittee on Intelligence that was investigating
CIA abuses. Schweiker and Sen. Gary Hart of Colorado
were concentrating on the Kennedy assassination.
e man from Key West told Sen. Schweiker he had
information on the Kennedy case that might be helpful.
Sen. Schweiker sent his chief investigator, Gaeton
Fonzi, to Key West to investigate the man’s story. Fonzi
was the man who first found out the leader of the
Alpha 6 exile group and claimed he’d seen his
CIA officer meeting with Lee Harvey Oswald in Dallas.
at report opened up an entirely new avenue of the
Kennedy investigation.
In 1991, Fonzi, who died in 2012, wrote a book
about his work called “e Last Investigation.” Chapter
7 was called “Searching for Ghosts in Key West.” It tells
of how Fonzi drove to Key West in 1976 to check out
the Key West International Airport — “a cinder-block
structure the size of a small city post office” — and to
talk to George Faraldo, the airport manager.
It was Faraldo who had called Sen. Schweiker’s office
with the claim he had seen both Oswald, Kennedy’s apparent assassin, and Jack Ruby, the assassin’s known
killer, together at the airport in the summer of 1963.
Fonzi thought there might be something to this incredible claim because the FBI had connected Ruby to
a gun-smuggling operation in the Florida Keys. e investigator ended up spending a week here.
He got to know Faraldo, “a thin, swarthy man in his
50s” and liked him. Faraldo was soft-spoken, he appeared honest and appeared consistently normal.
S
Alton Weakley
I was a freshman in high school. I was
heading to an afternoon class, following
PE, when a friend told me that Kennedy
was shot. There were two brothers at the
school named Kennedy, and my first
thought was why someone would shoot a
school kid. Then as we went into class, we
were told President Kennedy had been
shot in Dallas. Later we were told he had
died.
Vicki Gordon
I was in school at Gulf Park College and
another student came running down the
hall announcing JFK had been shot and
acting almost happy about it. I asked why
and she said she didn’t really like him as
her parents were Republicans. I remember
saying “a man, our president, has been
shot . . . does it matter what party he belongs to?”
David Paul Horan
I was walking to class at the University
of Florida near the gator pond and a VW
bug was on the lawn with the radio blasting. Nobody could believe it was happening.
Adele Gerbracht
I was in fourth grade when President
Kennedy was shot, living in Los Angeles. I
clearly remember a school employee coming into the classroom advising our teacher
of the shooting. As young kids, we thought
there was a monster lose and were scared
and confused. Another story — my older
brother, who also lived in LA, was a member of an outlaw motorcycle gang at the
time (he later left that lifestyle and became
a lawyer) and was repeatedly stopped and
questioned by police for days afterwards.
Dave Bevins
The day Kennedy was shot I had just
turned seven and my only interests in life
were my red wagon, figuring baseball averages and looking for pop bottles to turn
in for candy. My 3 older sisters were discussing the event with a seriousness I had
never known from them, as usually they
were plotting against their pesky younger
brother. I knew from the tone of their
voices and unusual maturity something in
the world was different; something happened that affected everyone.
I
asked the younger brother question, who
was this Kennedy fellow and what happened that now we are all washing dinner
dishes together and looking at each other
with uncertainty of life.
My sisters answered in unison, "You don't
know who Kennedy is?" Later that week I
began reading newspapers. Radio became more than Beach Boys music. Walter Cronkite became my evening friend.
Never again would I not know the answer.
[email protected]
www.konklife.com 13
President John Fitzgerald
Kennedy in Key West
PART I
n by Mark Howell and C.S. Gilbert
here are a number of Florida Keys connections to President John F. Kennedy and to
the suppositions of conspiracies surrounding his assassination 50 years ago. Since the writers of this commemorative collection are Keys residents, those
connections resonate. But above all the sightings, suspicions and speculations are the two times JFK actually
visited Key West—the only sitting president, other of
course than honorary Key Wester Harry Truman, who
established his Little White House there, to do so.
e first Kennedy presidential visit was on Sunday,
March 26, 1961, very soon after his January inauguration, to meet with British Prime Minister Harold
Macmillan in a show of solidarity over a situation in
Laos that could bring the world dangerously close to
WW II.
As reported in the Key West Citizen, the initial
meeting was almost jovial. “Glad to see you!” said
Kennedy at Naval Air Station Key West on Boca Chica
Key, extending his hand when the British prime minister, 24 years his senior, came down the steps of his
British jet, which had flown to the Southernmost City
from Trinidad.
“How long have you been waiting?” Macmillan
asked as they shook hands.
Not long, Kennedy assured him. “We just got here.”
In fact Kennedy had arrived only eight minutes earlier,
at 10:46 a.m., in Air Force One, a black-nosed Boeing
707. He had flown from Palm Beach, his winter home;
reportedly Palm Beach had in fact been the preferred
site for the meeting. At the last minute, however, it was
decided that an international conference at a major
naval base such as Key West would send a stronger message to combat the aggressive threats of the U.S.S.R.
Kennedy and Macmillan met that day in 1961—in a
time that almost seems nostalgic in 2013—as the “Big
Two” of the western world. ey sat down together in a
second floor conference room at the Naval Administration Building, next door to Truman’s Little White
House, in Truman Annex. With genuine cordiality, the
two leaders came to an absolute agreement to call on
Russia to accept a ceasefire in Laos, an embattled nation 8,000 miles from Key West whose fight against
Communism, in retrospect particularly significantly,
immediately preceded the United States’ involvement
in Vietnam.
Cuba, too, was a point of universal concern. Entry
to the meeting place involved driving eight miles from
the Boca Chica runway to Old Town Key West, past
Cuban anti-Communist demonstrators carrying signs
reading, for example, “Mr. President—Help Cuba, the
T
SHORTANSWERS
RESTAURANTREVIEW
JEFF JOHNSON n PAULA FORMAN
Fly, Baby, Fly
Dear Short Answers: What’s the right
age to lay your foot down and kick the
kids out of the house? My husband and
I want our home back!!!
Long Suffering Mom
Dear LSM: In our experience, adult
children living with parents has as many
negatives as positives, so you just
might be doing your
kids a favor by kicking them out of the
nest. ere is no
right age, but anything over 21 seems
okay to us.
J&P
have refused to let me stay at the house.
So if I want to go, I have to pay for a
hotel. Since they are being so difficult,
should I leave them alone and let the
chips fall where they may? If they have
an accident, I will feel terrible. What do
you suggest? Trying to Be Helpful
Dear Helpful: is is a very tough one.
Try one more time. Tell them you really
would like to spend time with them …
and be at the beach. Perhaps bring a
friend as a buffer and you can assess
their capabilities. Promise FUN not
surveillance.
Keep it simple
Dear Short Answers: I accidentally sent
a dinner party invitation to a husband
and wife who I haven’t seen in several
months. It was only after I had sent the
invitation that I found out the husband
had died about two months ago. e
wife has not responded to my invitation, and I’m wondering whether I
should call her to apologize (which will
only reinforce my insensitivity) or just
ignore the matter altogether.
Meant No Harm
Dear MHH: Write another note —
or an email saying you were unaware
of her loss, but that you hope she will
join you at the dinner party.
Firefly Owner/chef Michael Price,
waitress Cristina and Chef du
Cuisine Russ Ferstle (left to right)
Get your Southern
food fix on
irefly is the go to place in
Key West to get your
Southern food fix on. Chef Michael
Price and his Chef du Cuisine Russ
Dear Short Answers: My best friend,
Ferstle create dishes that will trigger
Matt, is madly in love with another
your fondest food memories. e first
man who just happens to still be
bite of their fried chicken reminded
married to a woman. Matt tells
me of the smell of my grandmother’s
everyone how much they are in love
home cooking. e combination of a
with each other and how this was a
thin crispy crust and juicy meat was
“match made in heaven,” etc. etc. etc.
the best I’ve ever tasted.
e new boyfriend has asked me
Named after those fireflies we all
(confidentially) to please tell Matt that
remember coming out in the evening
he’s not ready for love and definitely not
while sitting on the back porch, this
ready for a gay commitment. I feel
chef-driven Southern restaurant is all
caught in the middle. I know I should
Dear Short Answers:
about the food. Owner and Chef
stay out of their relationship, but
I’m a 56-year-old gay man. What’s the
Michael Price uses only prime meat,
knowing what I know, I also want to
youngest boyfriend I can get before
butchered onsite, and buys all his
keep Matt from getting hurt too badly.
people start talking about it behind
food staples direct from known
What should I do?
my back? Looking Around
sources.
Matt’s BF
Dear Looking: We think 10 years is
“You will not find a can opener in
Dear MFF: Tell your friend that you
the legal limit unless you are casting
the kitchen,” he boasted with a grin.
will not be the go-between. ere are
for a son.
“We make everything from scratch,
about 9,000 scenarios that might occur
and that’s why our price points are
as a result of such cowardice. None of
Life is complicated. “Short Answers” isn’t. Send a
lower than some of the other
question about whatever is bothering you to
them are good.
restaurants in town.”
[email protected]
Sausage is made in-house; all the
or go to www.shortanswers.net and a psychologist
and sociologist will answer. A selection of the best
sauces are created onsite, including
questions will be printed every week in KonkLife.
the roux for the gumbo, which takes
Dear Short Answers: My parents are in
eight hours to make.
Jeff
Johnson
received
his
Ph.D.
in
psychology
from
their 90s and getting to the point where
New York University. He has worked as a psycholoe appetizer menu ranges from
they truly need to be watched very
gist for New York State, New York City and federal
government.
He
also
taught
at
the
graduate
level.
down-home
favorites like fried green
carefully. Nothing bad has happened
Along with Paula Forman, he wrote “The Hourglass
tomatoes
and
homemade pork rinds
but … it might at any time. Every year,
Solution: A Boomer’s Guide to the Rest of Your Life”
published 2009. He is a graduate of Williams College
to unique innovations like boiled
they spend two weeks at a beach house
and lives in Key West. Paula Forman worked as a
peanut hummus with charred
professional “trend spotter” with high-profile clients.
in the family for generations. is year
More recently she taught sociology at New York City
jalapenos and a delicious deviled egg
I told them I am going to come with
University. Currently she lives and writes in Hudson,
cornbread
puree with crispy ham.
N.Y.
them. ey were quite annoyed and
eir macaroni and cheese was light
and creamy with flavors that melt in
SHORTANSWERS SHORTANSWERS
your mouth.
14 www.konklife.com
Speak for yourself,
John
Toll roads
Old Story
F
Firefly’s supper menu includes the
Southern classic dishes of gumbo and
fried chicken with collard greens as
well as a flat iron steak with charred
brussels sprouts and features a
vegetarian plate of butternut squash
steak with buckwheat polenta.
eir daily brunch menu offers
the traditional chicken and waffles,
a country benedict, shrimp and grits
and “go make me a sandwich” with
fresh made egg bread. Barbecue,
burgers, catch of the day and salads
are also available from the extensive
brunch menu.
For those dessert hounds out there,
Firefly has a full time pastry chef.
Chef Jordan Keeton creates a key lime
cake that is light as a feather. Other
menu items include a classic pecan
pie, red velvet cupcake and a cobbler
or brown betty of the week.
Michael’s partner Tricia Coyne
won the Capstone Award from the
International Culinary School for the
restaurant concept of Firefly. e
design includes four distinct areas of
the restaurant: a small first floor bar
with colorful reclaimed wood and
inside seating, some first floor
outdoor tables, a spacious nicely
appointed second floor dining area
and a comfortable outside porch.
Interesting and unique pictures
line the walls, which at first glance
look like flowers but upon closer
inspection turn out to be forks and
spoons!
INFO
Firefly, 223 Petronia, (305) 849-0114
Firefly, 223 Petronia St. 10 a.m.-10 p.m.
seven days a week. Brunch.10 a.m.-2 p.m.;
drinks and snacks at the bar, 2–6 p.m.
Supper 6–10 p.m. Reservations can be
made through Open Table,
fireflykeywest.com, or the restaurant.
DIANE
JOHNSON
COLUMNIST
GUILD TOYS FOR TOTS MIXER
16 www.konklife.com
GUILD TOYS FOR TOTS MIXER
www.konklife.com 17
november 21-27
Smokin’ Tuna
Scott Kirby
Hog’s Breath
John Nemeth
18 www.konklife.com
FUNTIMES
Smokin’ Tuna Saloon
4 Charles St., off 200 block
Duval, (305) 517-6350
n
Thursday 1121
Rusty Lemmon 6pm
Singer-songwriter
Caffeine Carl & Friends 9:30pm
Sunday 1124
Rusty Lemmon 9pm
Monday 1125
Caffeine Carl & Nick Norman
9:30pm
Monday 1125-28
Scott Kirby 6pm
Key West troubadour/songwriter
returns from summer tour
Tuesday 1126
Rusty Lemmon & Chad Burtch
9:30pm
Smokin’ Tuna
Nick Norman
Schooner Wharf Bar
202 Williams St., (305) 292-3302
www.schoonerwharf.com
n
Thursday 1121
Cool Duo 7-Midnight
Friday-Saturday 1122-23
Biscuit Miller & the Mix
7-Midnight
Recorded with Sonny Rogers
“They Call Me Cat Daddy,” which
wound up a Sonny Handy Award
winner for best new artist. After
that he played with Mojo Buford
(Muddy Waters) and Lady Blue
(Ike and Tina Turner).
Sunday 1124
Marty Stonley & Friend
6:30-11pm
Monday 1125
Cool and the Shades 7-11pm
Tuesday 1126
Raven Cooper 7-11pm
Wednesday 1127
Tom Taylor 7-11pm
Schooner Wharf
Chicago’s Biscuit Miller
Hog’s Breath Saloon
400 Front St., (305) 296-4222
n
Monday-Sunday 1125-1201
Chris Thomas 5:30-9:30pm
Mid-shift outdoor stage
Versatile New York native singer
with music degrees from William
Patterson University and New
York University. Thomas has
played with Gary U.S. Bonds and
the Roundhouse Rockers, Bums
in the Park, Groove and Nikki
Armstrong and the Whole Lotta
Blues Band.
Smokin’ Tuna
www.konklife.com 19
Caffeine Carl
FUNTIMES
mous live performances perpetually flooring audiences in every
city they visit with mix of soulful
indie rock, R&B and funk. The Big
Easy septet aren’t letting up and
once they return from India this
week, they come to the Ocean
Key Resort Sunset Pier, SundayMonday, December 8-9. It’s been
a landmark summer for The Revivalists with festival sets at Bonnaroo, Governor’s Ball, Hangout,
Mountain Jam, High Sierra, Ride
Fest, Gathering of the Vibes and
Voodoo Music + Arts Fest. Soulful
21st century southern pop sound
lit up the Flambeaux stage at
Voodoo 2013 in their hometown.
VIP advanced/$15; VIP day of
show/$20. Tickets at Sunset Pier
Bar or online, www.keystix.com
Hog’s Breath
John Nemeth
Hog’s Breath Saloon
400 Front St., (305) 296-4222
n
Bluesman John Nemeth
10pm-2am/Late-night gig
Nemeth’s “Love Me Tonight”
debuted at No. 10 on Billboard
Blues Chart. This marks an
auspicious start for the singer/
harmonica player’s followup to his
2007 debut.
Ocean Key Resort’s
Sunset Pier
Zero Duval St., (305) 296-7701
n
Sunday-Monday 1208-09
The Revivalists 8pm
Incessantly on tour and magnani-
McConnell’s Irish Pub
900 Duval St., (949) 777-6616
www.SouthernMostIrish.com
n
Monday Night Football
Tuesdays Fiona Malloy
(Irish&American folk) 8-11pm
Wednesdays
Bobby Enloe 9pm-1am
Thursdays
Trivia 7-9pm
Bobby Enroe 9pm-1am
Fridays
Love Lane Gang 8pm-Midnight
Saturdays
Tom Taylor (Acoustic Classics)
8pm-Midnight
Sundays
River & Tiger on the patio
4-7pm
Ocean Key Resort’s Sunset Pier
The Revivalists
20 www.konklife.com
SMART RIDE
www.konklife.com 21
TROPIC SPROCKETS
n I N R E V I E W W IT H
Ian Brockway
Key West Film Festival
ariety is the order of the day
with diverse characters and
far flung locations. First, Jeffrey Schwarz’s
“I Am Divine” was shown with standup
routines by famed cinematic barista of
bad taste John Waters who proved to be
just as surrealistic and slimy-sweet as ever.
John Waters is an organic auteur of scandal and emotion, a glib and witty maestro
with an Oscar Wilde touch. Waters is a
rare thing running directly from the well
of William Castle who stands alone in
today’s age of empty sensation and CGI.
Monsters and creatures from space are
not his bag. Waters is concerned with
eccentricity, individuality and the courage
it takes to shock and be offensive.
Jeffrey Schwarz’s documentary is about
the comedian Divine (Harris Glenn
Milstead) and his progression from
shocking underground comic actor to
mainstream success story until his
untimely death (some say due to heart
problems from excess weight and binge
eating). e documentary is affectionate,
comprehensive and bittersweet. As a
whole it makes a fitting tribute to a
wonderful charismatic and privately
churning person, gone all too soon. e
film is irreverent and sweetly subversive
in all the right places. As Divine’s mother
says proudly, “my son loved his cake.”
How could you not love that line!
Divine was teased as a young boy in
school for being fat and effeminate. He
learned to channel his hurt into outlandish tirades against late 1960s suburbia. He met Waters and started in movies,
dressing in drag as a parody of a BBW
femme fatale of filth and evil.
is is a singular documentary that
highlights Divine’s life with character and
grace. Fittingly the story shines like silver
tinsel on an artificial Christmas Tree.
Next, “Sal” directed by actor James
Franco is an existential study on a day
in the life of Sal Mineo who achieved
absolute fame and cult status with “A
Rebel Without a Cause” and “Exodus.”
Sal is a notoriously misunderstood Hollywood star who worked for total authen-
V
ticity and heart in his roles. Because of
his openness about being gay coupled by
his murder, delivered by a gory stabbing,
Mineo was thought to be a seedy and
perverse man. In reality, nothing could be
further from the truth. “Sal” reveals
Mineo as is optimistic, warm, energetic
and a bit naive about e System, jaded
and bent to wear him down.
Actor Val Lauren gives a poignant and
facially detailed performance of this kind
man and Franco’s camera is unflinchingly
closeup, hyper-intense and almost Warholesque in showing day-to-day details of
the man haunted by his shade of a once
cute boy, the heart throb in Technicolor.
Interestingly, the actor Val Lauren also
appears in Travis Mathews’ episodic
“Interior Leather Bar” (co-directed by
Franco) an experimental film using the so
called “lost” footage of William Friedkin’s
“Cruisin’” as a beginning.
Rather than a story, the film is a sociological study of what makes moviegoers
feel uncomfortable about watching gay
couples onscreen. e film retains a definite Warhol screen test flavor. e camera
follows Lauren like an obsessed fan and
the actor goes through considerable
awkwardness and discomfort as he considers various intimacies of porn. e
highlight of this Mapplethorpic poster
film in miniature is Lauren’s goggle-eyed
gasp of astonishment with a tincture of
fear as he watches such slurping and
sucking. e real trick of the film is that
it makes the bondage of sex not all that
shocking while Matthews’ cruisin camera
appears nostalgic and almost quaint.
Aside from Lauren’s laughable dancing
(a deliberate statement of uneasiness in
itself) the film makes for heady stuff.
If a 1970s leather bar is not your
scene, there was some kitsch and horror
to be found in “Escape from Tomorrow”
about demons in Disneyworld. Director
Randy Moore has a crisply compelling
black-and-white vision and his scenes of
forced happiness and cheer echo a David
Lynch pin of Lars von Trier. But by midway, the striking eeriness that seems so
refreshing goes south into a “Westworld”
of “Soylent Green” and we find ourselves
in pedestrian territory. e glaring scenes
of forced good nature are creepy enough
22 www.konklife.com
INCONCERT
Season debuts
n I N R E V I E W W I T H Harry Schroeder
he South Florida Symphony, formerly Key West Symphony,
under the baton of Sebrina Maria Alfonso, gave its first concert
of the season at the Tennessee Williams eater last Friday night. e
evening began with Elgar’s “Introduction and Allegro for Strings” scored
for string quartet and string orchestra and featuring the symphony’s excellent core group, the Blue Door Quartet. ere followed Samuel Barber’s
Cello Concerto with Clancy Newman as the soloist. e program concluded with Schubert’s Ninth Symphony.
In the Elgar, the Blue Door group was doing double duty: Whitney
LaGrange, its leader, was once again concertmaster of the symphony at
large; Luis Casal, second violin, was also principal second; Paula Cho,
violist to the quartet, was principal viola; Arthur Cook again led his cellists.
Double roles required them to play together as a group at one moment,
and at the next to move outward as leaders of their respective sections.
ey did this flawlessly.
As for the string section as a whole, I’ve heard them play more precisely
together than they did on this piece. But that kind of precision is best
achieved on music of simpler tonality: it is far easier to get that on a scalewise passage of Mozart’s than on music like Barber’s, with its frequently,
and often unpredictably, shifting tonal centers. Toward the end of this
piece, the writing becomes more conventionally diatonic — there is a long
passage which consists essentially of fragments of the major scale —and the
strings came together nicely in full concentrated eloquence.
I’ve been a fan of Clancy
Newman’s since his appearances at
the Impromptu Concerts in a cellopiano duo. Here, playing the Barber, he had much more difficult
music in front of him, and he lived
up splendidly to all of its many demands, giving it everything one
could ask for from a cellist.
Years ago I wrote of Mr. Newman that, “Listening to him, one
understands what is meant by
‘drawing’ a sound out of an instrument. As a result, the best parts of
the concert were the slow movements. is was
especially true
here, where the Barber second
movement was one of those spellbinding musical experiences where
everything comes together — a
lovely melody, beautifully played, with a strong but never overdone support
from the orchestra — and creates an emotional experience which will stay
with the audience for a long time.
After the intensity of the Barber piece, listening to the Schubert
symphony, with its familiar opening theme, was like relaxing with an old
friend. Frequently, to be sure, a very energetic old friend — there was some
quite rousing playing in this piece, particularly from the full and excellent
T
ISLAND
EVENT
Hog Trot your turkey off!
Saturday, November 30
Run off that turkey at the 20th Annual Hog’s Breath 5K Hog Trot,
Saturday November 30. Race starts 8 a.m. Online registration
until November 27 at hogsbreath.com or register at the Hog’s
Breath Saloon, 400 Front St. Race package pick up at the
Hog’s Breath Saloon 5-7 p.m. Friday ,November 29, and
7a.m. Saturday, November 30. Free t-shirt for first 300
entries; after race raffle with great prizes. Proceeds benefit
Southernmost Runners Club and Key West Running Program.
INFO
(305) 296-4222
www.konklife.com 23
LOCAL NEWS &
OPINION
RICK BOETTGER
window into their souls. Oddly, there were only 30 distinct emails. e other 63 were all exact copies of those
30, as many as five of a single one.
e only suspicious email was, unguardedly, labeled
“Confidential Information Enclosed . . . “No Junior
Detective badge required here. It was Christina thanking Ramon for having sent her something, but whatever he sent her was not in the body of her email. So,
thinking, “Ah HAH! is is easy. My next column is
writing itself already.”
I zipped out a new PRR for that single “Confidential” email from Ramon to Christina. But lo and behold, in less than an hour they sent it to me, with its
vital attachments. It was simply the contract containing
the famous raise. Oh, maybe there is a question about
the date it’s signed or not, but to me, the big news is
the school district’s acting like the planning department. Is it just me, or is the Sunshine Law warming our
public servants’ hearts and minds here?
So maybe I won’t be filing that string of mandamus
actions, lawsuits to enforce compliance, which I
thought would be necessary. Shucks. Out of my new
job, and have to keep writing columns on other stuff.
n
“Co-stars” were representatives of the string, woodwind, brass and percussion sections—who contrasted
how their mouthpieces sounded first alone, much to
the delight of the audience, and then attached to their
instruments. Short, illustrative pieces by each group of
instruments followed. e entire orchestra, of course,
appeared in the supporting roles.
Locally the program is a collaboration between the orchestra, with the support of symphony education angel
Marilynn Weber, the Florida Keys Council of the Arts
and the Monroe County school district, council Executive Director Liz Young said.
“is morning we had students from HOB, Gerald
Adams, Sigsbee, Big Pine Academy, Sugarloaf and e
Basilica School. Joy and Donna also worked at Poinciana Elementary – those students will come to TWT
in January,” said Young.
“It was phenomenal — touching and splendidly performed,” said Dennis Caltagirone, a council board
member. “Masterfully done!” agreed his wife, Lee. Both
are retired performing arts teachers from Fernando
County, currently living in Key Largo.
e South Florida Symphony performs a totally different program, “A Soul Unfettered” at TWT: Elgar’s
“Introduction and Allegro for Strings,” Barber’s “Cello
Concerto, Opus 22” with soloist Clancy Newman and
Schubert’s “Symphony No. 9, “e Great.” Tickets
available at Keystix.com
INFO
Keystix.com
n
COMMUNITY NEWS
SYMPHONY
sponsored by the Florida Department of Cultural Affairs as part of the Viva 500! anniversary celebration.
Staffed by ARTZ Out Loud, the state is sending 15
teachers, all classically trained musicians, to travel
statewide presenting the program with different musicians. Yesterday’s mini-concert “starred,” in addition to
Maestra Sebrina Alfonso, Joy Myers on piano and
Donna Wissinger on flute. eir quick-change costumes ranged from Spanish explorer to a man and
woman in 1912 formal attire, celebrating the Flagler
railroad’s inaugural trip from Jacksonville to Key West.
INCONCERT
SOUTH FLORIDA SYMPHONY
| C.S.GILBERT
Executive directors Jacqueline Lorber and Liz
Young of the symphony and arts council introduce yesterday’s program for young students.
brass section. ere were other strengths: tutti passages
followed dramatically by sudden breaks; a very precise
unison from Mr. Cook’s seven cellos; generally fine
playing from all the winds; simple harmonies orches24 www.konklife.com
trated by the blending of exactly the right instrumental
sounds. e great virtue of this performance was, in a
nice contrast to the often jagged phrasings of the Barber piece, the time feel which Sebrina’s conducting
achieved here: she kept the rhythmic flow going virtually throughout the four movements, giving it a kind of
glide, relaxed and easy, but irresistible. is made that
piece an excellent way to end the evening.
ere were two hitches in the concert’s presentation:
the Elgar was delayed because of a mixup at the lodging
of one of the musicians, and the Schubert was interrupted for several minutes when the lights went out.
Sebrina handled both problems with urbanity; in the
Schubert, when the lights came back on, she simply
went back to a logical place in the score and proceeded.
Key West audiences are used to this sort of thing: the
operative answer to all such difficulties is, remember
where you live.
INFO
www.southfloridasymphony.com
n
LOWER KEYS
FESTIVAL
2014 Inaugural Celtic
Festival, Marathon
Some of the most celebrated Celtic musical
masters are featured at the inaugural Florida Keys
Celtic Festival, Friday-Saturday, January 10-11,
2014. e music fest is scheduled 4-9 p.m. Friday
and 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday at the Marathon
Community Park, Mile Marker/MM 49.
A diverse entertainment lineup is planned for
the family-friendly event. According to organizers, standout performers include Scottish headliner
Albannach, international super-group
Rathkeltair, West of Galway and Marcille Wallis
& Friends with the Tampa Bay Treblemaker
Dancers. Also a reunion appearance of Celtic
rock pioneers Clan na Gael that was 20 years in
the making.
e two-day event features bagpipes and
drums of St. Andrew’s Pipe Band of Miami and
sheep-herding demos from well-trained herding
canine breeds of Florida’s Asher-Dell Farm.
Celtic merchandise, food and beverage booths
and children’s activities round out the weekend’s
offerings. Weekend-long admission is $25 adults
in advance or $30 at the gate. Attendees receive
entry wristbands to be worn throughout the festival. Children age 12 and under admitted free
with a paid adult.
INFO
www.celticheritageproductions.com/keys.htm
TROPIC CINEMA
WINING
THEKEYS
IAN BROCKWAY
and they would make Diane Arbus proud. Why the need for black-eyed
demons, blood and androids? e sight of tourists funneled in as zombies
to the Happiest Place on Earth is enough.
ere are two fine documentaries also. “Let the Fire Burn” focuses on
the racially charged Move fire in West Philadelphia during 1985. e
tragedy was an inexcusable fiasco and 600 neighborhood homes were
scorched and lost. As disturbing as this film is, it is necessary and relevant
through the awareness it produces upon us — lest we forget.
“El Yaque, Pueblo de Campeones” by Javier Chuecos is a stirring and
heartfelt study on the sport of windsurfing that focuses on four masters:
Cheo, Campello, Yoli and Gollito. e film is especially adept at illustrating the drive to succeed combined with the ritual of faith in the country of
Venezuela, despite the fact that the nation gives pitiful support to these
star athletes.
If you crave more mainstream fare, Matt Dillion has a solid outing in
“Sunlight Jr.” playing a five o’clock shadowed man in a wheelchair who
tries to keep his male equilibrium intact despite some dingy horizons as a
hopeful father on Medicaid.
Less strong yet with some artful flairs is the Wonderland-is “e Truth
about Emanuelle.” Part David Lynch with a bit of the cult film “Heathers”
thrown in, this suburban cobbler of the macabre is all over the place and
fades into kitsch pretty fast with a creepy plastic doll that (yes indeed)
changes expression. Although Jennifer Biel is no method actor, the Stepford Wife art direction does evoke some campy if anemic chills.
And with some favorites like Paul Haggis Mariel Hemingway and
Terry George appearing, this festival is nothing short of a psychological
yet ultimately visual voyage, highlighting the educational and epic power
of film to change our assumptions and enrich our human scope.
Once again, the Key West Film Festival creates a broad canvas.
n
LOWER KEYS ART SCENE
ON BIG PINE KEY
Lower Keys Island Art Festival
Art lovers and holiday shoppers can search for one-of-a-kind
artisan gifts in a balmy subtropical setting at two companion art
events 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, December 14, on Big Pine Key.
Celebrate the holiday season with live music and creative offerings
at the Big Pine & Lower Keys Island Art Festival. e annual
open-air fair is on the wooded grounds of Lower Keys Chamber of
Commerce, 31020 Overseas Highway on Big Pine Key at Mile
Marker/MM 31 oceanside. Booths offer gifts and craft items from
handmade jewelry to pottery and more. Items to be raffled
throughout the day. Family-friendly fair feature local entertainers,
food and beverages. Admission and parking free. Attendees
requested not to bring picnic baskets or coolers. • Close by at Out
of the Blue Gallery, 29842 Overseas Highway, MM 30 oceanside,
Big Pine’s artists in Paradise Gallery stages its annual open-air art
and craft show, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., from batik and fabric art to oils
and watercolors, photography, sculpture, even gyotaku or fish
printing. Holiday baked goods available for sale to benefit the
gallery’s programs.
How the IRS makes fine wine
ep. Believe it or not, occasionally, even though they
don’t mean to, the IRS can have a positive
effect. Really, they didn’t mean to.
So, what the hell is this all about? We
recently had a gentleman by the name of
Pete Seghesio in town. Now, if you’re a
fan of Zinfandel, and you should be, you
should definitely be a fan of Pete. I have
been one for years.
Seghesio Family Vineyards is world
renowned for its Sonoma Zins. In fact,
over the past 10 years, one of its Zins has
appeared in the Wine Spectator’s Top 100
Wines of the Year six times. And, in ‘08,
its ‘07 Sonoma County Zin was No. 10
on the list. But what the Seghesio Family
Vineyards is really all about is family.
e Seghesios are the second oldest
winemaking family in Sonoma County.
It all started in 1886, when Edouardo
Seghesio immigrated to Sonoma from
Piedmonte, Italy, and took a job at Italian
Swiss Colony as a winemaker where he
remained for 16 years. But, at the same
time, he wanted to start his own winery
and, in 1895, he and his new bride
bought their first home and planted their
first vineyard — Home Ranch vineyard
(cute name) with Zin. But the one thing
you have to keep in mind was that at that
time, Zinfandel was considered a grape
suitable only for jug wines, which was
what Edouardo was making at Italian
Swiss Colony.
en six months before Prohibition
was enacted, the Seghesios bought
Italian Swiss Colony and its 1,100-acre
vineyards. Not the best timing in world.
But the company survives by diversifying
the land into 1/3 pears, 1/3 prunes, and
1/3 grapes (plus some slightly questionable grape/wine sales during the ban;
creative marketing!) en, in ‘42 the
company started buying vineyards again
and, by 1961, was responsible for 50 percent of red grape production in Sonoma
County. But remember, this was still jug
quality and most of it sold to the likes of
Krug, Martini and Almaden.
Y
Finally, in 1982, Seghesio created its
first wine under the family’s name, but
this was still a jug wine for all intents and
purposes. At this time, Pete Sr. and
Arthur were running the winery and
still believed in getting as many grapes
as possible from each vine, not the best
viticulture for good wine.
en, by ‘87, Pete Jr. was taking an
active role in the winery and was a
panelist at a winemaking convention
where he met a man by the name of Phil
Freeze (not sure on the spelling of his
name) who was advocating ruthless
trimming of buds so that grape clusters
could not touch each other, plus other
techniques.
Well, to say this didn’t sit well with
Pete’s dad and uncle would be a major
understatement. But by this time Pete Jr.
and his nephew Ted were pretty much
running the place, so they organized for
Pete Sr. and Arthur to go on important
sales trips across the country to get them
away while they were pruning,
In 1995, the kids finally took over the
business and found that what they had
wasn’t worth a whole lot, as jug wines
were going out of style, and they believed
the future was in the old vine Zinfandel
vines which they had.
ere was one other thing they
inherited a $4 million bill from Uncle
Sam for back taxes.
STEVE
CALDERWOOD
To receive Smokin’ Vines, a listing of all food
and booze events in the Keys, send name and
email to [email protected]
INFO lowerkeyschamber.com, artistsinparadise.com
W I N E A B I T, Y O U ‘ L L F E E L B E T T E R
www.konklife.com 25
KEY HAPPENINGS
PRESIDENT JOHN FITZERALD KENNEDY
JFK
Curly cactus sports pink fruit
Key West Garden Club,
November 23-24
Plants&art sale
Key West Garden Club holds its annual
Fall Plant and Art Sale at West Martello
Tower, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday-Sunday, November 23-24. Admission and
parking free. Drought and pest resistant
native plants and flowering exotics,
propagated in the plant nursery, sell at
near wholesale prices. Vendors have fruit
trees, bamboo, crotons, bananas and orchids. Artisans offer holiday shopping.
“He wasn’t an oddball.” In fact, he
was “very intelligent, a college graduate
… Well-known in the community, a generally respected man whose wife sings in
the church choir.”
Faraldo had been manager of the airport since it was named Meacham Field
back in 1946. He told Fonzi that in the
summer of 1965, a group of young people had hung out in the airport terminal
all day and most of the night, waiting for
an Aerovia Q plane to take them to
Cuba.
Dressed in dungarees or olive-drab
fatigues, they said they were part of Fair
Play for Cuba
Committee to help cut the sugarcane
crop in Cuba.
Fonzi writes that Faraldo “pointed
out exactly where Ruby was standing
most of the time. Faraldo appeared too
sure of what he was saying that I could
almost see images of the two still standing there.”
He recalled that Oswald was the only
one of the group to keep circulating,
“chatting briefly with various clusters.”
At one point, said Faraldo, Oswald
approached Ruby and talked to him
briefly. Ruby did not mingle with the
group but spent most of the time standing next to the doorway that led to the
plane boarding area. Faraldo chatted
with members of the group through the
day, but not Oswald or Ruby.
Oswald joined the group in boarding
the plane when it finally arrived that
night. Faraldo did not see Ruby get on
and did not know if he had. But he did
film the group with a movie camera he
used as a stringer for WTJ-TV in Miami.
In his investigation while in Key
West, Fonzi spoke with a woman who
worked the ticket counter for National
Airlines at Key West in the early 1960s.
She said she did remember a group going
to Cuba to cut sugarcane. en Fonzi
contacted news director Ralph Rennick
at WTVJ who remembered Faraldo and
the story about Oswald and Ruby but
could find no trace of the film.
At Monroe County Library, Betty
Bruce could find no mention in the
archives of any visit by Fair Play for
Cuba members. Key West news photographer Don Pinder’s negatives from the
early 1960s
had all been lost in a hurricane.
At the end of Fonzi’s visit, Faraldo
mentioned a photo lab that he’d built at
the back of his machine shop. Fonzi
asked to see it. He was amazed to discover sophisticated electronic and photographic gear “well over $100,000 worth
of top-notch equipment” plus the housing of an aerial reconnaissance camera.
Fonzi asked Faraldo what the equipment was for. He replied that he had
flown over Cuba and photographed the
Russian missiles there long before President Kennedy announced their existence. For whom was he working, Fonzi
asked. Faraldo said he’d been told he was
working for the U.S. Information
Agency.
Could it have really been the CIA?
“Yes,” said Faraldo. “I would think so.”
After the Cuban Missile Crisis, which
required Faraldo under orders from
Washington to build a tower at
Meacham Field as quickly as possible —
achieved with the help of the owner of a
local lumber yard, working around the
clock, just in time for the 14-day Missile
Crisis in October 1962 — Faraldo’s
heart troubles began that would afflict
him the rest of his life.
Another injury he incurred in 1962
was from a beating he took at José Marti
Airport in Havana.
Faraldo had gone on a fishing trip to
Cuba but took a photographer along,
Jack Burke, a Key West sports editor
now living in North Carolina. In 2003,
George told the authors of this book that
in the third day in Cuba “we fished in
various places and some of the time the
guides took us to some illegal spots. I
took pictures of these places, but George
didn’t know I did. He went to houses at
night and spoke to the people in Spanish. I said to him, ‘do what you have to
do.’ “
At the airport in Havana, Faraldo was
taken to a room by Cuban
customs officers and interrogated.
“He was let go two days later,” said
26 www.konklife.com
Burke.
In 1976, Faraldo told Fonzi he was
beaten while incarcerated.
“I flew back to Miami alone,” continued Burke. I gave my film to Ralph Rennick, who developed it and broadcast
some of the photos on WTVJ.
“After the assassination, George told
me he’d seen Oswald and Ruby at the
airport. I have never told that to another
soul except George’s wife Norma. I never
told my wife what I was doing.”
Fonzi ended his chapter on the Faraldo story thusly:
“It’s a beautiful ride from Key West
back to Miami over a long, lonesome
stretch of the Overseas Highway, the big
sky a clear deep blue, the ocean vista of
white caps on one side, on the other the
bay a crystal expanse of glistening serenity. But I couldn’t appreciate the scenery
as I drove back because my mind was a
jumble of confusion about what I had
experienced over the previous several
days. I wanted to believe Faraldo because
he was intelligent and credible, and I like
him. And didn’t a few others remember
that group at the airport? Besides, why
would he be lying? Why would he tell
such a story and go out of his way to
bring it to Schweiker’s attention? I remember conflicting questions racing
through my mind as I drove back to
Miami. I also remember feeling something I didn’t want to believe I felt: the
sensation of a lingering sting along the
side of my cheek, as if someone had just
slapped me across the face.”
We, ourselves, are more confident
that Faraldo was a truth-teller than Fonzi
apparently was. We interviewed his
widow for a report published in 2003 on
what Faraldo saw. Norma Faraldo, who
died since then, advised us he repeated
the story to his dying day. ere is little
question he believed it himself. It is always, of course, possible he misidentified
one or more of the principals, but we
think it more likely than not that, for a
few hours in1963, Lee Harvey Oswald
was in Key West with the man who,
several months later, would kill him.”
n
KEY HAPPENINGS
Other Saturday events
include a Key West Montessori
Charter School bake sale and a
kid’s creativity area for any
children who wish to chalk.
More information, contact
Michael Shields,(305) 394-3804;
email, [email protected]
INFO
www.artinpublicplaceskw.com
WINING
THE KEYS
STEVE CALDERWOOD
Key West ChalkFest,
November 23-24
Pictured here, last year’s
firstplace artist, Truman
Adams, consults preliminary
sketches as he puts finishing touches on his work.
N O V E M B E R 21-24
A listing of ChalkFest 2013
artists registered to date includes
last year’s first,- second- and
third- place winners: Sarasotabased Truman Adams and Stig
Lindow and Key West-based
artist Rick Worth; Eddie Bricker,
Angela Byarlay, Andrea Celani,
Alexandra Durso, Antoinette
Jude Golden, Elio Hinds,
Amanda Johnson, Marlene
Koenig, Alisa Mealor, Victoria
Stambolis O’Neal, Nzingah Oniwosan, Kate Peachey, Suzanne
Pereira, Jack Hackett, Ronda Rinald, Jane Rohrschneider, Mark
Christopher Straiton, Peter
Weitling; 7th and 8th grade students from Key West Montessori
Charter School.
Bring a picnic and experience
performance art as it unfolds.
ChalkFest is sponsored in
part by Ibis Bay Beach Resort
and is a pet-friendly event. Bring
your four-legged friend or meet
a new one; adoptable critters
from Florida Keys SPCA visit
ChalkFest Saturday morning.
As they were fighting assessment, they were putting away
contingency funds to pay the
bill. When they finally settled
with the IRS, for about 10 cents
on the dollar, they found they
had a lot of cash to use to modernize the business and went on
a fine wine binge.
And a very fine wine binge
it’s been. Tuesday evening at
Grand Vin, Pete held a tasting of
his wines and, Lord, they were
delicious — every one of them.
We started out with the whites
— an Arneis and a white blend
called Costiera. Arneis is a white
grape indigenous to Piedmonte;
the Costiera is a blend of Pinot
Grigio and Vermentino. Both of
these wines are crisp and refreshing with bright acidity and
fruitiness. If you have ever read
this column before, you know
what I think of Pinot Grigio, but
the addition of 20 percent
Vermentino just boosted flavors.
en we got serious and
started to hit the reds. Seghesio
is known for its Zins, but it does
a lot with the native Italian varietals as well. e first wine was a
Barbera that was just outstanding. It was surprisingly rich for a
varietal that’s normally medium
bodied and bing cherries. Awesome. We then had the Sonoma
Zin, and it was another winner,
spicy and full of black raspberries. Next was the Sonoma Old
Vine Zin, and it was the same
but with a whole new layer of
complexity. And finally we had
the Home Ranch Vineyard Zin,
and it was up to another tier,
adding more oaky richness.
e next day I got a chance
to taste the Omaggio, a SuperSonoman blend of Cabernet
and Sangiovese. (I say SuperSonoman because the Cab/
Sangiovese blend in Tuscany is
called a Super-Tuscan, and I’m
just trying to be cute. I’ll quit
doing that now. Sorry.)
ey just are all worth seeking out and available all over
town now. So keep an eye out.
Finally, a couple of years ago,
Pete and Ted and the rest of the
family decided to sell the winery
so it could be better capitalized
in this world of major corporations such as Constellation,
Bronco, Treasury and Gallo.
ey chose Crimson Wine
Group for the purchase, and
most of the family has stayed on
in their positions. It’s worth noting that Crimson Wine Group’s
other wineries are Pine Ridge,
Archery Summit and Chamisal
— all outstanding fine wine
makers. ey’re in very good
company. anks IRS. n
1207
Triathlon tests
1,000 athletes expected in the
fourth Key West Triathlon
(Saturday) December 7.
Swim the waters of Atlantic
Ocean, bike a portion of the
Florida Keys’ scenic Overseas
Highway and run a fast, flat
course beside the Atlantic.
Presented by Key West’s
TRIKW LLC. Olympic-distance and shorter sprint-distance triathlons scheduled.
Weekend events kick off with
race packet pickup and expo
noon-9 p.m. Friday, December 6, at Higgs Beach on Atlantic Avenue, headquarters
for race and activities. Sanctioned by USA Triathlon.
INFO www.trikw.com
www.konklife.com 27
PRESIDENT JOHN F KENNEDY
PART I
Hungary of the Americas”—a reference to the eastern
European nation invaded by the U.S.S.R. in 1956. Once
in Truman Annex, the world leaders met in a conference
room that had a view out over the Florida Straits directly
toward Castro’s Soviet-supported island nation.
By 3:30 p.m., the meeting was over. (e luncheon
menu was shrimp salad, sherbet and coffee at the Little
White House.) As reported in the Citizen, Macmillan
joked to Kennedy that if his plane, en route back to Port
of Spain, Trinidad for the continuation of a Caribbean
tour, were shot down, e U.S. would have an excuse to
invade Cuba. In another aside to the meeting, Harold
Evans, the British equivalent of Press Secretary Pierre
Salinger, noted that he and the British newsmen (and in
1961 they were most certainly all men) accompanying
Macmillan were “flabbergasted” by the informality of
Kennedy during the lunch break, according to Bruce
Rothwell of the London Daily Mail. Evans later reported
that he was even more astonished to hear from Macmillan that the only thing keeping his headaches away was
regular sex. Another aside: Evans became editor of e
London Times, then ironically became even better
known as the husband of Tina Brown, the first British
editor of e New Yorker.
JFK’s second visit to Key West took place Monday,
Nov. 26, 1962 and was even more momentous than the
first. At 3:35 p.m. the President arrived at Boca Chica
on Air Force One. is time he had flown to the naval air
station from the Homestead Air Force Base, where the
delegation picked up Rear Admiral R.Y. McElroy, host
of the President’s two-hour visit of military facilities in
Key West. Also on board were Florida Governor Farris
Bryant, U.S. Representative Dante Fascell, plus all the
fore-star admirals and generals in the Pentagon, including Adm. George Anderson, Gen. Curtis LeMay and
Gen. Maxwell Taylor.
Among those greeting the august delegation on their
arrival was Key West Mayor C.B. Harvey, who was
widely quoted as saying that the nationally-publicized
tour would do “a world of good” for Key West. His confidence could only have been strengthened by the arrival,
on a second plane, of Salinger and 75 members of the
White House press corps. e Navy ordered 30 extra
typewriters to accommodate them. Local law enforcement was enlisted by the Secret Service to protect the
President and his party; answering the call were Monroe
County Sheriff John M. Spottswood, Key West Police
Chief George G. Gomez and the Keys’ FBI agent, Ralph
Jensen, plus Marvin W. Smoot of U.S. Navy Intelligence.
ere appears to be no fly in the ointment of this meeting. Yet a mystery has appeared. A manifest of local officials invited to the naval air station to greet the President
and his delegation remains in the historical archives of
the Key West branch of the Monroe County Library. On
that typed list is scribbled, in pencil, one additional
name: Diosdada. Diosdada was at the time Key West’s
only customs officer, identified in print as “a tough guy
SMART RIDE
28 www.konklife.com
KEY WEST L O U
LOUIS PETRONE
e police took Eckert to a local hospital
to have his anus searched for drugs. e
doctor at the hospital refused to do it. He
thought the police were crazy and the procedure unethical.
Deming is small town America. One
hospital apparently. Eckert was taken by
the police to a hospital in an adjoining
community. e doctors in this community apparently saw nothing wrong and
proceeded to initiate the search.
us far the only person who has
shown sense is the doctor in the first hospital who said in effect to get out of here.
Now begins the abuse scenario. Eckert’s
stomach was first X-rayed. No drugs discovered. A doctor then digitally examined
Eckert’s anus. e polite way of saying he
stuck his finger up Eckert’s ass. No drugs
discovered again. He then performed a second digital exam. No drugs again. e police were directing the event.
e next procedure decided upon was
that Eckert be given an enema. is was
done in the presence of hospital staff and
police. e doctor and police watched Eckert defecate. His stool was examined. No
drugs.
e police were not satisfied. Eckert
was given two more enemas. Defecation
again in front of the doctor and police.
Each time no drugs were found. Eckert’s
stomach was again X-rayed. No drugs. It
gets worse.
At this point Eckert was given a
colonoscopy. Many of us have had one to
check for cancer and other bowel problems. Per the procedure, Eckert was sedated, a tube and camera went up his
rectum, into his colon and large intestine.
No drugs seen or discovered.
All of the above procedures, which took
place in the second hospital, are substantiated by the hospital records. e anal
probing in the hospital took in excess of
12 hours.
Besides the abuse involved, there are
two technical items that come into play.
First, a search warrant must be executed in
the county it is granted. is one was not.
e second hospital was in an adjoining
county. e second is that the search warrant set forth that it expired at 10 p.m.
e colonoscopy was performed at 1 a.m.
Abuse can take many forms. e doctor
in the second hospital who did the probing
sent Eckert a bill for $6,000.
A person does not have to be a Supreme
Court judge or have any legal background
to know something was wrong here. Eck-
ert has filed a lawsuit in federal court seeking damages. He sued the police department, the police officer, prosecutor, second
hospital and doctors and staff at the second hospital who participated. He has an
excellent lawsuit. It has the propensity for
a big dollar award. is type of conduct
will not and should not be tolerated in the
United States. e United States is not a
banana republic. e activity here smells
of actions which occur in totalitarian
countries.
Police abuses do occur. I sense with increasing frequency. e reason why is the
American people have permitted their legislators and courts to eat away at basic
rights over the years. Especially since 9/11.
Police feel empowered to do what they
want. ey expect the courts to back them
up, which they generally do. Search warrants are a problem. ey are signed by
judges who do not pay as much attention
to the contents of a supporting affidavit as
they should or did in the past.
Eckert’s case and other similar abuses
represent an erosion of basic American liberties. People must recognize that abuses
are happening. And, where possible, express their disagreement and disgust with
such conduct. Otherwise what happened
to Eckert could happen to you. Do not
think it could not.
LOCAL
OBSERVATION
CHRISTINA OXENBERG
at the Big Coppitt Gun Range.
Biggy had a bagful of pistols, Wild
West-style revolvers, riffles and boxes of
ammo. With protective glasses and noise
blocking headgear, Biggy had to show me
exactly how to hold these contraptions and
aim and fire at a poster several feet away
down our lane inside the shooting gallery.
I was surprised at just how heavy they
were to handle, and then the blasted kickback which renders the armament difficult
to control. Despite these setbacks, it turns
out I’m a good shot.
After all the true crime shows I’ve imbibed on, perhaps it’s time to join the flow
and buy myself a cute little 9mm. If only
to brandish at the doctor’s office so as to
get that prescription for sleeping pills. And
then, who knows, perhaps I’ll take over the
world.
P.S.: Catch the genius sound of Xperimento at e Green Parrot this weekend.
See you on the dance floor!
n
www.konklife.com 29
THE KEY WEST FILM FESTIVAL
T HE
OUTBACK
GADABOUT
HE SAID, SHE SAID
Dear Bitch and Gad: My wife complains
I tip servers too much. She feels 10-15
percent is overly generous since the employer should be paying employees. Help.
Gay Said . . . I don’t want to sound unpleasant, but tell the cheap bitch to move
to France. Case closed. is must be only
the tip (pun intended) of the iceberg. You
should have compromised
on finances before you
married, but since you
didn’t, let me straighten
this out for you both.
First of alI, I’m assuming
that you can afford to go
out. If this is not the case,
stay home. Now, I think if
she were satisfied in life,
then she wouldn’t beef
about the tipping. Case in
point: I went out with this guy who complained that I tipped too much. He was
European (quelle surprise!) but it was
more of a control issue. My response was
that it was my money and if he EVER
paid the check then he could choose the
tip. at put an end to that. Au revoir
mon douche.
I believe that the issue is larger than
ON THE SCENE
tipping. at’s just a symptom. Maybe
you should just go out without her. Are
you attractive?
She Said . . . ere is no such thing as
tipping too much! I’m assuming you are
tipping on good service and not in an
obvious attempt to get laid by your server,
and thus insulting your wife to her face.
You are obviously in on the
secret: really, good tippers
get treated extra special
when they are return customers. We will slip your
order in before someone
else’s, laugh at your jokes
and make you feel like a
rock star. Because you recognize that a few extra dollars
goes a LONG way in our
book. We think you’ve been
on our side of the bar or table before.
Next time, let your wife do the tipping.
Give her the chance to receive the rock
star treatment, and she’ll change her tune.
Hopefully, I’ll be seeing you at my bar!
Send us your questions because we know
everything. [email protected]
BitchinParadise.net
COMMUNITY
SPOTLIGHT
What’s New!
Holiday fest showcases
the southernmost spirit
Key West Holiday Fest, November
27 to New Year’s Eve, includes festivities at Key West Bight Marina,
historic heart of the island’s seaport
commerce and afterdark tours of
decorated bed-and-breakfast inns.
n Harbor Walk of Lights
Events begin anksgiving Eve with
ceremonial illuminating of the Key
West Harbor Walk of Lights,
stretching along the harbor area
from Greene to Grinnell streets, 6
p.m. Wednesday, November 27.
Nautical holiday displays and island-style decorations add seasonal
sparkle to the waterfront landscape,
as are food and drinks, gift possibilities and watersport options by area
emporiums.
n Innkeepers’ holiday tours
JFK
PART I | Continued from page 27
now (2003) retired in San Diego with alleged connections to the CIA.” He shows
up in further investigation into the CIA’s
alleged activities in the Keys.
In his Key West speech, Kennedy
thanked the Navy, Air Force and Marine
fliers whose reconnaissance flights over
Cuba during the missile crisis “played the
most important and the most critical part
. . . in the most dangerous days that
America has faced since the end of World
War II.” He then toured anti-aircraft missile sites at the base. A motorcade of a
dozen automobiles led by a Lincoln Continental, borrowed from a Miami dealership bearing the President, traveled
quickly from the air station to the Presidential Gates on Whitehead Street/ceremonial entrance to NAS Key West and on
to the Little White House. Enroute on
Duval Street, the fast-moving motorcade
was greeted by crowds of onlookers and
flag wavers. Yet the mood was reportedly
somber. Living 90 miles from a potentially aggressive enemy can do that. At
sunset, Kennedy and his party snapped to
attention at the lowering of the colors.
en he was gone.
It was against this congenial background that Key West with the rest of the
world faced the inconceivable, shocking
news of the assassination on November
22, 1963, and shooting on November 24
of prime suspect Lee Harvey Oswald by
mob enforcer and later FBI-informant
Jack Ruby. With Oswald, many believe,
died the possibility of learning the truth
about the assassination. It is against that
background the island city birthed a commendable tradition of investigative journalism which led to the conspiracy
theorist reporting alive and well in Key
West today. — Mark Howell, C.S. Gilbert
30 www.konklife.com
Explore Key West’s historic inns,
decorated for the holidays, during
tours by the Key West Innkeepers
Association on two consecutive
Fridays, December 6 and December
13. Participants view multiple inns
each evening, sampling goodies and
libations at each stop.
n Pet photos with Santa
Even pets can catch the holiday
spirit Friday, December 13, during
a pet photo session with Santa 5-8
p.m. beside the harbor walk Christmas tree at the foot of William
Street. Admission free and $10
photo charge benefits Boys & Girls
Club of Key West.
n Holiday concert
Admission free for a 6-8 p.m.
concert Saturday, December 21, at
Greene and Elizabeth streets’ plaza
on the Harbor Walk. Classical violin and Celtic fiddle compositions
of favorite seasonal tunes performed
by Violins in Motion, South Florida
and international students.
n Holiday parades
e island city’s hometown holiday
parade Saturday, December 7, the
annual Schooner Wharf Bar &
Galley Lighted Boat Parade on
Saturday, December 14, and
holiday-themed classic car show
the following day. Harbor Walk
of Lights on display through
December 31.
INFO
www.keywestchristmas.org
www.keywestholidayfest.com
Boat parades light up!
• Sunday, December 8, 6 p.m.
(sunset) Key Colony Beach
Lighted Boat Parade (Marathon
Area). Applaud lit boats of the
Middle Keys during Key Colony
Beach Boat Parade. Open to all
boats, parade set to start at the
7th Street canal and wind its way
through canals on the west side of
the city, ending in canal between
11th and 12th streets. Best viewing includes Sadowski Causeway
at mile marker 53.5 and the dock
area behind city hall and the post
office. Afterparty with awards for
captains and crews at Key Colony
Inn, 700 E. Ocean Drive, with
free buffet and cash bar.
(305) 743-7214; kcbca.org
• Saturday, December, 14, 8 p.m.
Schooner Wharf Bar & Galley
Lighted Boat Parade. Festively
decorated kayaks, fishing craft
and schooners glitterKey West’s
Historic Seaport during 23rd annual Schooner Wharf Bar Lighted
Boat Parade. Gerald Adams Elementary School Steel Your Heart
Band kicks off festivities at 6 p.m.
followed by family band, e Doerfels. Spectators view participating vessels from resorts, bars and
restaurants around Historic
Seaport. (305) 292-3302;
www.schoonerwharf.com

November 21, 2013 Issue of KONK Life

Transcription

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