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Anonymous Letters to the Editor with Pictures. Published Daily by Noon Since 2002. No Saturday Edition
 [Ringneck doves] When I moved into my current place in Big Pine in 2002, the area was populated by very many ring-neck doves. A few years ago, I noticed mourning doves in the mix. Now it seems the Ringneck doves are gone and Mourning doves have taken over. What’s up with that? |
| Who needs coffee in the morning when you’ve got the Coconut Telegraph? It’s the best thing since sliced butter and rum! |
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| For a complete copy of the TDC’s report on Cuba travel email research@fla-keys.com |
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 [“Land Development“] Yesterday’s photo does not show ‘scraping away’ of the land cover. It shows deposit of the fill dug out of the canals used to bring the near sea level land up to its current elevation. |
| Canada has suffered two deadly attacks from terrorists in the last couple of weeks. Surprise, surprise, they were both Muslims! There would be more peace in the world without Islam. |
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| [“The way we were”] The Conch Salad Man, Frank Bing, was a very big black man who carried a little .32 in his bank deposit bag as he peddled his bicycle through old town with a five gallon bucket of conch salad perched on the front shouting, “Conch salad man!” His conch salad was so hot it would burn your face off. I think the hot was to kill bacteria because Frank didn’t refrigerate his conch. He’d get it fresh and chop it up with bell peppers and onions and plenty of hot peppers and hot sauce. In those days you could buy a string of five conchs, already cleaned, for a buck or two from the little black boys that plied the streets of old town. When the fruit was in season they’d also sell you clumps of Spanish limes they’d steal from the big trees around the island. It wasn’t unusual to see kids climbing our tree snatching fruit.
I remember when Ed Swift gave Frank a nice step van that his Shell Warehouse no longer needed. The sides were cut away so it could carry more shells and more easily access them, but the roof was left on as protection from the rain. It was a good truck, I drove it a few times. Swift registered it for Frank and gave him the title. A week later Frank gave the truck back because he said it needed brakes. |
 Cudjoe’s trash mountain has been spewing out so much leachate with all the rain we had lately that the fresh water swamp ponds that the plentiful Key deer and other critters depend on in the surrounding wildlife refuge has turned yellow-orange. See the photo with cattails in orange water. No, it is not tannin from leaves. Yellow-orange water floods right across the roadway into the refuge. We all drove through the stream. It nauseates even us pollution-hardened construction workers. DEP has known for years about the leachate-saturated ground in the area, but decided to permit shallow sewage plant effluent disposal wells there anyway. The wells are only cased to 90 feet where they discharge into very porous rock with visible tunnels leading away. Where do you think the more buoyant fresh water will go- up or down? What effect would you expect that to have on the landfill leachate that lingers atop the salty tidal ground water? Does this sound like “protecting the environment?” Drip gas at the fuel dock or damage some seagrass running aground on a bad boating day and the environmental cops are all over you and your accident, but another government agency can intentionally do irreparable environmental harm and they are even facilitated. It disgusts. |
| [“The way we were”] Cow Key Marina. I think the owner’s name was Jack. We got thrown out of there one night–twice. The first time was because one of us didn’t have a shirt so we went back to my van and Big Ed took the camper’s curtains and made himself sort of a Samurai-looking shirt. It would have worked if we hadn’t reentered through the window. There were plywood sheets instead of glass covering one side and the channel side. We could have pulled our second entrance off if the floor wasn’t so tilted. On tumbling over the wall one of us went rolling towards the channel and under some people’s table creating quite a commotion that drew unwanted attention in the crowded bar and Jack threw us out again. He was really pissed this time.
Another time he got sick of people playing his upright piano. He didn’t like rock and roll. I went in one afternoon and it was gone. I asked him where it was. He simply said, “Overboard.” It was at the bottom the channel. He rolled it out the bar and slid it down his tilting dock into Cow Key Channel. Another time we heard this very loud bang and everyone jumped! In comes Frank with a smoking .45 hanging down from one hand. A guy asked, “What just happened?” Frank, “I shot the monkey.” Up until that moment he had a monkey in a large homemade cage that no one liked, it was totally crazy, noisy and vicious. Not any more. |
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| For Sale: 19 Ft. Center Console Fishing Boat, has 90 HP Yamaha motor, heavy duty aluminum trailer, includes Garmin depth/fish finder, radio, Garmin GPS, Portable live well, Bimini top. Quick sale $2,995. Call Randy at Classified Ads > Boats |
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 Does anyone know the whereabouts of owner of the sailboat High Seas anchored in Newfound Harbor? |
| [“The way we were”] Cow Key Marina. I bought my first boat there. It was in the short channel on the side of the bar. I was on an errand for my girl friend to find a place to live–a real place. We were living in a defunct gas station (Caravillio’s) on Eaton Street and washing in a shower I rigged over the sink that drained into the sink in the former tiny men’s room. It wasn’t the best of setups. We pooled all our money and I went off on my motorcycle in search of a place. As soon as I saw the for sale sign on the 19′ plywood boat complete with a cabin I had to have it. It just called my name! I went in the bar and asked how much and I had just enough so I bought it. It had a 50 hp mercury outboard. I had never been on a boat in my life and the guys at the bar told me how to navigate the channel so I would get to the ocean. I’ll never forget that ride. It was a beautiful summer day, the sea was flat and I was high. I’ve never felt as much excitement since that ride. I had a truly heavenly experience. I made it to KW and bumped my way through the docks where the Galleon Resort is now. I found a spot that wasn’t too conspicuous and tied up. I kept the boat there for over a year without paying a cent. Never once did I do any maintenance on the boat or motor. I thought they were like cars and you didn’t have to do anything. When I got back to the gas station with my exciting news of how I bought a boat instead of an apartment, my girl friend went ballistic and I remember, as well as the neighbors do, her chasing me down Eaton Street, beating me with the handle of a broom. |
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| [“The way we were”] At 5 Star Restaurant you could get a gallon of milk, loaf of great Cuban bread, a gram of coke or a $10 bag of decent weed! Nothing like one stop shopping. A poster ask about the police. They were much friendlier back then. The homeless had cheap rooming houses to drink in. They could work because the jobs were not taken by third world illegals or eastern Europeans. Mosquito control was spotty at best, but kept the Yankee riff raff to a minimum. Fishing boats that supplied real fresh local seafood were docked at the Bight. Taxis would move you for under $10 and Record Rogues could get you any obscure album you ever wanted. Jesus I really think I am going to start shopping new Orleans for work and a apt! This whole thread just made me realize Key West really has Died! And without a big ass wake even. |
 The miracle of green energy. |
| [“The way we were”] I’ll wager the person who posted the question of what was it like here in the old days must be surprised at the overwhelming response he got. |
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| Satellite view of your house toolbar. Link |
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 Because most McDonald’s customers can’t say four words without being out of breath. |
| In the old days there were no cops. You could go a hundred miles an hour up US1. I know I used to do it. I would be late getting home. You knew you were late. The sun rises up US1. Today I wonder what was I thinking. You’re late. A few minutes isn’t going to make that go away. You had to slow down in Stock Island and at the Circle K in Big Coppitt. Everything changed and sucked when they built a jail 20 times the size we needed. Now everyone goes to jail. In the old days they only had 30 cells and you really had to do something to end up there. I swear you could kill somebody on Saturday, and if you promised to show up in court on Monday you were good to go. |
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| For Sale. Aluminum ladder rack for pickup truck. It was custom made & came from a 1989 Jeep Comanche. $100. Doug. Classified Ads > Tools |
 An easy way to get rid of stink bugs. (Ed: An astute reader said the link didn’t work from yesterday’s post. Try this one.) Video |
| [“Today’s memory”] Everyone told me not to go to the Boca Chica Bar because it was a notorious knife and gun club. Well, of course, I had to go. I didn’t bring the misses on this one, just me. It was hard not going there. It was on the way home and they never closed. I went in and asked for a beer and a shot of tequila. The bartender brings me something that looks like a shot, but it’s not tequila. I mention it to him and he looks me in the eye and says, ” Kid that’s a buchi. You either drink that or you don’t get the shot and beer because, kid, you aint sleeping here.” I’m thinking he must have known I was drunk. That was my introduction to Cuban coffee. Haven’t left it alone since. Thank God for Cuba. You just got to love the Keys. They’re still here, you just have to look deeper now. It’s a ‘state of mind’. Think of that David Allan Coe song. Think about how many good times I’ve wasted having good times. |
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| [“The way we were”] I do not remember El Siboney ever being on Duval St. I believe that you may be thinking of El Cacique. |
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 No offense to Phil Goodman, but he looks just like Dakota Fred from TV’s Gold Rush! |
| [“The Ole Days”] My husband proposed to me at the old Buccaneer in Marathon. Then was diagnosed with C by Dr. Papsidero. Then passed in Fishermen’s. All are gone but Fishermen’s. |
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| FTR is right again. The surge in EVD-68 occurred in mid September. Proof that it was caused by illegal immigration from central America. Or then again the start of Fall. No it definitely was the changing of the foliage in the north east. I hear Iowa is now overrun with central American children. |
 This rain sucks, but a real storm would be a real bummer. October to the end of November is the Caribbean ‘cane season. We need a stiff wind and hard rain to rinse all the sewer dust off everything and especially out of the air. Think of it as Mother Nature giving us a bath before the beautiful Fall weather arrives |
| [“The way we were”] Remember Spaghetti Eddies? It was a restaurant right in the middle of an old residential neighborhood on Elizabeth Street. It was a great hippy hangout with very cheap food and a nice atmosphere. |
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| BPK has undergone many changes in the Florida Keys’ history. Link |
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 Nice 1970 aerial shot of Big Pine Key yesterday. The view of the canals shows development west of Ship’s WayNice 1970 aerial shot of Big Pine Key yesterday. The view of the canals shows development west of Ship’s Way. |
| [“The way we were”] One of my best memories is when Marion Stevens told me the story about how she threw Pritam Singh out of her gallery tree house during his days as a dirtbag shell diver. She was quite mortified when he came back with too much cash in his pockets. She may have been a nut, but she and Wilhelmina were KW icons in their day. |
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| Someone was mad that the Editor posts anti Catholic stuff. The poster would like nothing better than to sweep the Church’s transgressions under the rug like in the past. If the truth hurts–change the cause. |
 I think Rick Scott looks more like “Bat Boy” from the Weekly World News. |
| [“Big pharma price gouging”] The poor to middle class diabetics have to choose between dying without their insulin, or dying without shelter. The price of one vial of insulin locally is $125. Link |
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| Am I the only one who thinks that 99% of those South Florida themed mystery novels are pretty lame? |
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 How long a minute is depends on what side of a bathroom door you’re on. |
| That shiny new facility in Holly Springs is busy making Flucelvax. It’s the first animal cell-cultured flu vaccine to be approved by the FDA. Link |
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| Catholic Church is against Gay people when so many of it’s priests are child molesters. Not only the Catholic Church but every religion has kiddy lovers. It has been that way for 3000 years. It’s very popular with the religious set. |
 [Net Neutrality] Don’t let them charge you based on how much bandwidth you use. ISPs want to charge you like they do with cable TV. It will end the internet as we want it and you’ll be paying over a hundred dollars a month for it. It will end all new internet ideas because the little guy won’t be able to be found on the internet. The big companies will be all you can find through Google and other search media. |
| Deer FTR even your weak excuses are wrong, as your own words show. You state that Gov. Scott was waiting because Gov. Crist had violated uses by having a fan on the stage, and that he was merely waiting for this to be settled. Next you claim that right before the debate Gov Crist placed the fan on the stage. This of course means that along with his other qualities he is able to predict the future. Knowing before hand that the fan was going to appear. The truth, as explained by Gov. Scott’s people was that they did not know what time the debate was to start. In reality I believe Gov Scott was hiding in his trailer hoping that Gov Crist wouldn’t show up. I know that this might be hard for you to do, but please, even though facts often confuse you, you can’t change them just because you want to. We should not be surprised that this would come from someone who was so unconcerned with his own job that he never went to a union meeting after the first one that he attended. So please keep jumping to conclusions, and spinning out drivel — we all need comic relief. |
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| [Big Pine Key Forum on Topix] Forums and message boards for Big Pine Key, FL. Link |
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 [“The way we were”] Mosquito control didn’t work. The oil they sprayed used to put a smear on cars and boats. I had a cabin on Big Pine and the mosquitoes were so thick I couldn’t go out to pee. I had to use a jar. The cops were either crooked or clueless. I carried a smelly bag of sea weed I just found on the beach past a cop and he wished me a good morning. There was very little tourist money to go around. Most money came from people restoring old houses. That was big business then. Shrimping was the really big business. I remember seeing a hundred shrimp boats in KW bight during a big storm once. |
| Why are there guards at the War Memorial? There have only been guards at the National War Memorial for about eight years, what prompted their presence? Video |
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| Memories of a time past in the lower Keys. No traffic. The skies were truly blue. There was so much sea life. The Mariner was a 5 star restaurant and gorgeous. Pitts meat market. The original Sea Horse Campground with its exotic plantings. All types of trees from the Caribbean. Ernie’s Island Women with its thick Bimini bread. Key West with Tennesse Williams driving around, or the songs of Jimmy Buffet radiating through the streets. And no one knew they were poor. |
 [Conspiracy Man] This has to be the most compelling and best (clear) video footage of UFO’s and actual Alien beings ever caught. My favorite scene is when a news report is televising a report on Russia’s president about top secret UFO and Alien dealings, and suddenly the transmission goes silent and the news reporter acts suspiciously nervous. Wake up Sheeple! Video |
| Newbies: Those that cannot mind their own business and freak over nonconforming houses being built or anything else that doesn’t fit the way things were where they used to live. |
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| FTR said that it was Crist that made Scott look stupid. Point Crist. |
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 [Swimming Pool with Sewer Money] This morning, Marathon City Councilman Cinque lamented to Bill Becker that Marathon is getting $17 million for sewer infrastructure but has nowhere to spend it since their system is complete. Instead, he wants to convince the Governor to allow Marathon to use the designated sewer money, which was from the $50 million state grant, for a new pool in Marathon. Everyone agrees that Marathon really needs a pool for its residents and local athletes who now must make a long commute to train, but is using sewer money wise while there is inadequate funding, per the County Commission, to install an efficient, reliable and environmentally superior system in the Cudjoe Regional Wastewater System (CRWS)? If this plan goes through, CRWS will be stuck with shallow injection wells and a pressure system with over 1,500 grinder pumps because there is no more money, while money designated for sewers will go to a deep swimming pool. Maybe our representatives should ask the Governor to spend some of the $17 million on the CRWS and then Marathon can use some of the infrastructure tax it receives, which is far surpassing initial revenue estimates, for a pool. |
| [“The way we were”] Advanced Auto was Winn Dixie, Champs was Woolworth’s, Key Plaza had Zayres, Pantry Pride and J. Byrons with Scotty’s, mini golf and Ho Jo’s across the street. Ho Jo’s was the only place on the whole Island of Key West where you could get something to eat after 9pm in 1974. |
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| These photographs are absolutely incredible! Many of them are from the Civil War era and early 1900’s. Link |
 [“The way we were”] It’s a good thing we’re writing all these memories because we’ll all be gone in a few years. |
| South Miami Commissioner’s propose seceding from Florida because of rising sea levels that threaten the Southern half of the State! No global warming eh? Link |
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| Remember the old No Name Key where you could dump bodies? “I’m so mad, I’m burning my Florida Mom action figure in protest!” ~Bryan Cranston |
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 [Climate Change] John Coleman, who co-founded the Weather Channel, shocked academics by insisting the theory of man-made climate change was no longer scientifically credible. Instead, what ‘little evidence’ there is for rising global temperatures points to a ‘natural phenomenon’ within a developing eco-system. In an open letter attacking the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, he wrote: “The ocean is not rising significantly. “The polar ice is increasing, not melting away. Polar Bears are increasing in number. “Heat waves have actually diminished, not increased. There is not an uptick in the number or strength of storms (in fact storms are diminishing). “I have studied this topic seriously for years. It has become a political and environment agenda item, but the science is not valid.” Link |
| [“Cudjoe architectural critic”] Yes, have money will build. You sound foolish and petty complaining about people with more money than you. Boo hoo. You should have tried harder in your life, set yourself up a little better. Live and let live. And that means to let other people live their lives on their own property. If you don’t like it, move; and get some anger counseling. |
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| [Correction] “I worked for the Dad with Barbara on weekends” Not my Dad. The place changed once the son took over. Someone may pick up on this error. |
 The next meeting of our computer club is coming up this Saturday, October 25, 10 am at the senior center. Hope to see you there. Events |
| [“Nasty storm for Halloween”] Great, then all the body paint will legally wash off and we can run around totally naked and shake. |
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| How funny. Obama gets Eric Holder, who happens to be black and who the Republicans hate, to stay on as Attorney General until Congress approves Obama’s next replacement appointee (which the Republicans, acting true to form, will never do). The GOP must be going nuts over this. |
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| How many republicans does it take to change a light bulb? None, they’d rather sit in the dark and blame Obama. |
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| Charlie Crist is a really slick talker, perhaps on par with Obama, but his slickness does the people of Florida a grave disservice. Please remember that Charlie has held public office in Florida for nearly all of his professional life. He is a professional politician. He did not leave public office until when he was Governor and he quit even trying to repair Florida’s then wracked economy to seek the US Senate. There are no term limits in the Senate.
Charlie was so involved with the Republican Party, that he sought the Vice Presidents job during the 2008 campaign. Then he was pro-life and pro-family, pro-death penalty, and pro NRA. Nonetheless Republicans rejected his bid for the Vice Presidency.
One must wonder if Florida might have been spared being one of the states that were hurt the worst in the recession if Charlie had spent less time seeking higher office and devoted his attention to the business of being Florida’s Governor. Perhaps you’re wondering what Charlie did in the 4 intervening years. He went to work with what I believe to be one of the nation’s most notorious personal injury law firms. Morgan and Morgan. During the last debate he even spoke glowingly of his boss, John Morgan. Perhaps you might wonder what Charlie did for Morgan and Morgan. As best as I can determine he did not try or negotiate a single case. He was a “rainmaker”. That’s a legal industry term for a person whose job it is to find clients. Some would call it an ambulance chaser. John Morgan bragged that Charlie has made millions for him, according to Morgan, Charlie even sucked in BP as a client. Imagine that, Charlie Crist who claims to be an environmentalist, sucking in BP as a client. But it’s big money. Morgan has said: “The guy walks down any aisle of Publix and passes out five business cards. Those people call.” Charlie even became a TV huckster, a pitchman for the firm, he did at least two TV commercials for them. You can see them here Link In one of the commercials he uses a backdrop of his public offices as a sales pitch. Personally, I find it disgraceful that Crist would use his public office to promote any private enterprise, especially a law firm. I believe that Charlie will do anything and say anything to get what he wants. Now he lusts to be governor again. Who can say what deals he has made with Morgan and Morgan? What does Morgan expect in return for his relationship with Charlie? A Governor has much influence on the legal system. There already is testimony that Charlie accepted gifts and favors from Scott Rothstein, a lawyer and a very wealthy con man, in exchange for judicial appointments. In some ways Charlie reminds me of a remora, a sucker fish that latches onto a bigger fish and feeds from its spillage. Please keep in mind that one of the single biggest contributors to Democrat causes are lawyers. Why? Because Democrats refuse to pass tort reform legislation. That legislation would result in a decrease in your insurance premiums. If you’re interested in learning a little more about Charlie’s boss, Morgan and Morgan, check these out: Link Link Link The list of complaints goes on and on. Deer Friends, we do not need a slick talking lawyer back in the Governor’s office, we all know that Crist screwed it up royally before. We need a straight talking business man, Rick Scott |
While he was Florida’s Governor, he chose to abandon the office and devoted his energy to seeking election to the Senate. He was rejected by Republicans, in his bid to be a US Senator, his polling numbers were abysmal, it would have been impossible for him to win the primary doe US Senate against Marco Rubio. So, hungry Charlie morphed into an Independent for the general election. He lost, and lost big. So, he then had been rejected by Republicans, Independents, and Democrats. So he became a Democrat in an effort to take back the job that he had quit when the going got tough. The Governor’s office.