Letters to the editor with pictures since 0202. Published on Big Pine Key’s garbage days, Tuesdays and Fridays.
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 Islamorada is getting a pedestrian bridge over U.S. 1. Here’s when construction will begin. Construction on a pedestrian bridge over U.S. 1 in Islamorada is scheduled to begin in November 2019, which state and local officials hope will help the flow of traffic on the highway during busy public events at Founders Park. Link |
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| [“Long lost brother”] That is just about the best story I’ve ever read on the CT. I’m old and would love to find a new sibling at this time in my life. I finally have the time for others. |
The Amish getting ready for Mini-season, or, “Hans, did you remember to bring the water skis?” That sure looks like a mechanical engine on the back of that skiff. I thought they were against mechanical stuff. |
| Diving Death] The anticipated Coast Guard Investigative Services report into the scuba diving death of famed Canadian filmmaker Rob Stewart off Islamorada last year won’t be released to the public for at least six months. Link |
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| [Debbie Halama, Commission Candidate, Has a Question] I have a question about the sliver of Marathon that is part of the lower Keys and not the City. Do you know when this happened? I know lines can be redrawn after a census, but I can not find a time frame if, or when, this happened. I hear from lower Keys people that this was gerrymandering but cannot find a date to when the separation happened. |
 I filed a complaint online a couple of months ago about a commercial earth moving operation on South St in Big Pine Key. It is at the location of what was horse stables on South St across from the ball park. I don’t mind horses in the Refuge but his earth moving operation is very loud and the big trucks and earth movers are too noisy for this quiet area. This racket has been going on for over seven months. I haven’t complained until recently because I mistakenly thought it was hurricane related cleanup noise. My neighbor has also complained, but yet they continue and code enforcement ignores us and does nothing. Please let me know what my next step should be as my complaints are being ignored. |
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| [Trick Dog] Watch this famous pup set world record for most tricks performed in a minute. Hero the dog has made international headlines for his skills before, but his most recent stunt takes the cake. Video |
How many of these Florida-based films and TV shows have you seen? Ricou Browning is a Florida-based film maker who got his start in the film industry in an uncredited role as the gill man in “Creature from the Black Lagoon.” Link |
| [Cataracts] There are millions of blind people around the world who are unable to see the gorgeous world before them – but this organization is restoring their sight with a simple, minutes-long surgery. The Himalayan Cataract Project is a nonprofit that has been performing free cataract surgeries across Asia and Africa since the 1990’s. The two ophthalmologists who started the project say that they were inspired to pursue the initiative after they saw firsthand how debilitating blindness can be – and how easy it is to cure. Link |
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| “American Idol” finalist Jax defends Fourth of July White House performance. Link |
[“Tile-setters from Hell”] Just a follow up picture. I have confirmed I will have to pull up the entire flooring! |
| [Shooting Of The Week] Deadly shooting at Maryland newspaper. Five people were killed. Video |
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 [Affordable Housing] For decades prior to Hurricane Irma, there has been a scarcity of affordable housing in the Keys due very simply to limited supply and high demand. Already faced with the highest cost of living in Florida, that situation was intensified by Hurricane Irma when so many homes were heavily damaged or destroyed. The hardest hit areas were those in the very neighborhoods of the Lower and Middle Keys where service and hourly workers could afford to live. The majority of those displaced are teachers, police officers, servers, cashiers, firefighters, and the like – the very people who make the Keys what it is.
Thanks to the generosity of our many Irma Relief Fund donors, UWFK is one of the first organizations to step forward in support of building new affordable housing in the hard hit neighborhood of The Avenues in Big Pine. Link |
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| [Politics] 545 vs. 300,000,000 people. Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign against them. Have you ever wondered, if both the Democrats and the Republicans are against deficits, Why do we have deficits? Link |
Driving to the Keys for the Fourth of July? Here are 7 ways to avoid a traffic nightmare. Link |
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| [Catch 22] The more affordable housing they build, the more people will move here creating more need for more affordable housing. |
[Blood Pressure App] No need for those awful blood pressure sleeves any longer just download an app from the iStore or Google Play on your smartphone. I spent a lot of time in a hospital recently and was able to compare the app’s results with the hospital’s machine results and they were always the same. It works! There are tons of these free apps. I use the free Blood Pressure Pro. It’s so easy and reliable I’ll never go back to the old way. |
| [Books] The novel that asks, ‘what went wrong with mankind?’ Richard Powers’s climate-themed epic, The Overstory, embraces a dark optimism about the fate of humanity. Link |
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| Mystery disease could wipe out pillar coral. The relentless spread of a coral disease not yet identified imperils brain corals and other reef-building corals. Efforts to halt the virulent pathogen that attacks about half the coral species found in South Florida are ongoing but few results have generated cause for optimism. Link |
The Big Pine & Lower Keys Rotary’s fireworks show will be held July 3, 2018 at Big Pine Community Park. Video |
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| Canal funding, road closures up for action. Four canal systems in Islamorada could get a restoration boost following approval of a countywide grant of $49.2 million from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.Of that, Islamorada could receive up to $6.8 million from Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service. Link |
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 [Ring Around The Collar] The commercial was for Wisk Detergent, and claimed it not only got OUT ring around the collar, but prevented it from coming back. Well, I don’t know if that’s true or not, because I refuse to buy that stuff anymore. $16.00 for a 50-ounce bottle of the stuff? I don’t think so. Link |
| [Good Will Ambassador] My recent trip to L.A. was a cultural shock for someone living on this small island for most of his life. I bought a bicycle to get around because they drive so fast out there and don’t pay too much attention to the rules of the road. The first few days I said hello to everyone I encountered. Some would look at me with blank expressions until they realized that I didn’t have an ulterior motive. Then they would snap out of it and say hello too. Most would smile. Some would beam with delight. Riding a bike on the sidewalk is against the law, but I wasn’t about to ride it on the streets with all those hellcats out there. When coming from behind pedestrians I would slow then say, “Excuse me.” They inevitably would gush with apologies and quickly move aside even though I was in the wrong. They all had foreign accents, Mexican, Chinese, Iranian and probably didn’t know our laws. I don’t think many Americans live in L.A. any longer. I stopped saying hello after about a week. |
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| [Traveling the States] My recent travels via small highways from Florida, through 9 states into the Midwest have given me a renewed hope for America. The small towns appear vibrant, rather than run down. There are new businesses, painted store fronts, and a “pride in ownership” reminiscent of times past. Political bickering has long been a roadblock to getting big things done in the US but a grassroots movement getting few headlines could yet herald a new American age of change. Link |
 [Contaminated Link] The small post that appears under the Bourbon story pertaining to the Paul McCartney video with James Corden in Tues June 26th edition is a contaminated link. I went to it to view the video and all kinds of warnings popped up from Microsoft stating that it was a dangerous virus and that it was trying to obtain banking records as well. I couldn’t get out of it unless I shut down my PC. Please delete this piece asap so others do not go there. I know it’s hard to verify the safety of stuff you receive but maybe there should not be any links attached to any of the postings? Just a warning and thought for all of our protection. Take care, seriously. Video
(Ed: Thanks for the heads-up, but there is nothing wrong with the link. I try all links. You are probably using Microsoft Edge as your browser and most things Microsoft don’t work so well. Try Chrome or Firefox instead.) |
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| [“Animated movies voice-overs”] Really? This is what’s keeping you up at night? Sad. If I were you I think I’d stay focused on more important issues. |
[Painless Needle] Looking to mosquitoes for a way to develop painless microneedles. Research finds four keys to piercing skin without hurting. Link |
| [No Name Electric] A while ago someone on the Telegraph asked if the Beth Ramsey-Vickery running for the Keys Energy Board was the same person who was behind the electrification of No Name Key. Well, she is indeed the one who bought a house out there knowing there was no utility provided power and proceeded to destroy the fabric of the community, setting neighbor against neighbor in her quest to satisfy her selfish desires. Every one of those horribly ugly concrete poles on No Name should have her photo on it. ~tryin2findit@aol.com |
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