Friday, April 28, 2017

Shortly after, Haney submitted a complaint seeking a restraining order on Bashinsky for alleged libel, invasion of privacy and cyberstalking for missives posted on his blog about their interactions.

That case was heard on March 31 by Judge Bonnie Helms, who has yet to issue her ruling.

Haney filed a libel suit against Girard seeking monetary damages for a message Girard sent to Bashinsky that was subsequently published on his blog.

The message discussed the saga between Bashinsky and Haney, with Girard implying that Haney chose Bashinsky to help because his family is well established in Alabama and he could receive inheritance in the coming years.

“How disgusting to prey on an older man — a man who spends his life focusing on his community — an older man with no income living on the street!” Girard wrote. “Because he may someday, inherit a large sum of money!? Money!? How pitiful!! If that is what this is — and it does look that way — it is truly disgusting.”

At Wednesday’s hearing, Girard said it was a personal message to Bashinsky and she would’ve been “much more diplomatic” if she had known he would publish it. The letter was taken down at her request in less than a day, Girard said.

The message was clearly a personal opinion and there was plenty of cautionary language to certify that stance, Girard argued.

“I laid out the facts as they were known to me,” she said. “I understand the plaintiff doesn’t like my opinion but she can’t use the justice system to attack my free speech.”

Reading the statement was “a shock” and the words were clearly defamatory, Haney argued.

“That’s very hard to imagine that she didn’t intend (it) to be defamatory,” she said. “Her free speech ends at the end of her nose when it violates my rights.”

Before dismissing the suit with prejudice (meaning permanently dismissed), Koenig said libel cases involve the balance between first amendment rights and a person’s right not to be defamed and acknowledged the words must’ve been hurtful to read for Haney.

“It is clear that those words are being issued and written as an opinion,” Koenig said. “Hurtful and painful as they are, they are not actionable.”

While also a libel suit, the Deer Eds’ hearing centered mostly on whether their website should be considered media and if they have the right to pre-suit notice as other media entities are given for a chance to issue a correction.

Categorized as a “community diary” by Gorman attorney Lee Rohe, the website features mostly anonymous comments submitted by readers and moderated by Deer Ed.

One of those submissions stated Haney was “krazzey” (sic) and alleged she exploits people for monetary gain.

Although the message wasn’t written by the Deer Ed family, Haney said they edited and published false statements.

The site should not be protected as a traditional media source because they don’t take part in traditional media practices such as sourcing and verification, Haney said.

“He doesn’t operate with accountability, he doesn’t operate with transparency,” she said of deer Ed. “At no time would this website meet (the) criteria for typical journalistic standards.”

Rohe argued that Haney’s pleadings were “very vague” and not proper under court rules. He also cited several cases that would cover the website as a media source.

Koenig ended the hearing without issuing a ruling, telling both parties he needed to look closer at the rules governing pre-suit notice.
sunge@keysnews.com

Think about it, the County Commissioner that is responsible for serving the needs of the citizens who live from Big Coppit to a tiny, tiny slice of land in Marathon (that’s another story), is the long-term incumbent. In the last election cycle primary, that Commish was defeated in 5 of the 7 precincts that make up the district.  But our commissioners are elected county wide. So the Commish won because of votes garnered outside of the Commish’s district. The citizens who voted in the Commish’s district made it clear — they wanted him gone!  I suspect that not many folks on BPK are thrilled with the idea of having a gated community here.

During aforementioned election cycle, that Commish’s campaign contributions doubled over the previous election cycle.  The lion’s share of the donations came from big buck contributors. Many, if not most, of the donations came from special interests.  Special interests like real estate (surprise surprise) and many who do business with the County.  Look, a commissioner taking campaign contributions from entities that do business with the county is probably legal; the same goes for any special interest donor. But you’d be wise to view it with deep skepticism. You’ve got to ask yourself if the donor is really interested in good governance, or is the donor interested in self-interest.

The tacky reality is that the longer a politician holds office, the more campaign contributions he or she will receive.  Special interests will come bubbling up like swamp gas.  The more campaign money a candidate has, the more likely the candidate is to win.

We need term limits here in Monroe for all of our elected policy making boards.  About three quarters of all Americans agree on that.  Do your part, please take a few moments and email the Bug Board, urge them to term limit themselves.

Phil Goodman is the Chair, he’s leading the charge for term limits.  Please urge him on.  pgoodman@keysmosquito.org

Baby ocelot. Aaaawww

Since last week when the white strobe started our bedroom looked like a 70s disco, so we were also concerned. We did some phone research and ended up talking to an extremely nice lady at the Communications Office of the County Sheriff who, when we described the problem, seemed to know exactly what to do. We told her the location of the tower and she said she would contact the owner/operator to get it fixed.

Here’s the deal as per her explanation: The towers have a dual lighting system – bright white for daytime and red or lowered intensity for night. An ambient light sensor connected to a controller computer board causes the two light systems to switch at dawn and dusk. When the board goes bad it defaults to the bright setting. That has happened before and will happen again. When notified, a crew goes out to put in a new board. And likely to my wife’s call and the e-mail of the CT person to the responsible party directly (which they acknowledged as per his/her post), the affair got fixed in a few days. We can all sleep with the red lights on.

As relative full-time new-comers to the Keys we wander why there’s such overall negativity among the residents? Tuesday’s CT posts contain several references to the bright strobe lights, but instead of asking or working to solve the problem, some of the posts include dead-end statements like:

1) “What’s with the strobe light on the tower by the Road Prison? Was that turned on to piss us off and disturb our tranquility!”

2) “I don’t know what to do? Is this another make-work project to keep useless people employed?”

Do people in the Keys start blaming government or whomever when their shoes come untied? Come on! There are too few of us here to not work together intelligently. In the tower strobe light example all it took was for one or two people to send an e-mail and make a phone call.

Yeah! The tower strobe is fixed!

I’ll tell you what’s wrong with society. No one drinks from the skulls of their enemies anymore!

[Deer Convicted of Trespass] Does anyone know how to reach someone. A Key Deer got locked inside the gates at the Road Prison when it was shut down. Poor thing was standing at the gate wanting out.

[Men’s Room Critters] I found one of these in my underwear after I picked up a woman from a Ramrod watering hole. What is it, and should I see a doctor?

[Crabbing in the Keys] A snowbird asked me where the best spot to go crabbing is in the Keys. I told him in any bar restroom!

[Bugs] We just got a new kitchen and when we pulled out all the old cabinets the dirt and bugs under them were unreal. It pays to seal the cabinets to the floor and walls with silicone caulk; also seal any wall openings. We live in a jungle remember?

[Warning Labels] I’m not saying kill all the stupid people. I’m saying remove the warning labels on products and the problem will sort itself out.

Reservations are coming in for the trip to the Redland International Orchid Festival on Friday, May 19. You can pay at the meeting, or send your $35 check, made out to KWOS, to Marie Geranian, 111 Star Lane, Key West FL 33040. For more info see:  Full Menu > Ongoing Events

I wonder how many people wearing bald eagle t-shirts realize the EPA is why the bald eagle isn’t extinct?

My first babysitter.