Upper Keys Weekly 21-0114

KEY WEST / MARATHON / UPPER KEYS WEEKLY / JANUARY 14, 2021

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Who’s ready to fly to Mars?

AUXILIARY ASSISTS Supporting Air Station Miami drills | P. 16

VACCINE ROLLOUT Next dosage delivery unknown | P. 7

STATE SESH STARTS

Mooney enters freshman year | P. 20

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KEY WEST / MARATHON / UPPER KEYS WEEKLY / JANUARY 14, 2021

MAKING MY COMMUNITY STRONGER ONE HOME & ONE STEP AT A TIME

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KEY WEST / MARATHON / UPPER KEYS WEEKLY / JANUARY 14, 2021

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KEY WEST / MARATHON / UPPER KEYS WEEKLY / JANUARY 14, 2021

NUMBER OF THE WEEK

56

9709 Overseas Hwy. Marathon, FL 33050 Office: 305.743.0844 www.keysweekly.com

London’s Centre for Mathematical Modelling of Infectious Diseases says the new coronavirus strain (VOC201212-01) is 56% more contagious than other COVID-19 strains. The good news is that it is no more lethal than the original strain. At last count, there were 22 cases of the variant found in Florida.

Publisher

Jason Koler jason@keysweekly.com

Publishing Partner

Britt Myers britt@keysweekly.com

Marahon Editor

Sara Matthis sara@keysweekly.com

CHOOSING SIDES Most Florida Republicans vote to oppose election

Upper Keys Editor

Jim McCarthy jim@keysweekly.com

Key West Editor

Mandy Miles mandy@keysweekly.com

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Se habla español

THE MARATHON WEEKLY (ISSN 1944-0812) IS PUBLISHED WEEKLY FOR $125 PER YEAR

BY WEEKLY NEWSPAPERS, INC., 9709 OVERSEAS HIGHWAY, MARATHON FL 33050. APPLICATION TO MAIL AT PERIODICALS POSTAGE RATES IS PENDING AT FORT LAUDERDALE FL AND ADDITIONAL MAILING OFFICES. All stories, photos, and graphics are copyrighted materials.

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News Deadline

Tuesday Noon

Advertising Deadline Tuesday 2 p.m.

MANDY MILES

I

mandy@keysweekly.com

n a move that surprised few, most of Florida’s Republican lawmakers — including U.S. Rep. Carlos Gimenez, whose district includes the Florida Keys — voted to support President Trump’s election challenges in one or more states.

Gimenez objected to the certification of the election results in Arizona and Pennsylvania.

The vote that ultimately confirmed the election of Joe Biden as president occurred in the pre-dawn hours of Jan. 7, some 12 hours after a pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol on the afternoon of Jan. 6, following a heated speech in which the president repeatedly claimed voter fraud had stolen the election from him.

The newly elected Gimenez, who campaigned as a moderate opposed to extremism and partisanship, is among 13 Florida Republicans who voted against the election certification.

In a prepared statement released after the Jan. 7 electoral vote, Gimenez said, “After keeping an open mind, letting the arguments play out on the House floor, and weighing their merits, I objected to the certification of electors from states I believe violated (the U.S. Constitution) after their state-level executive officials bypassed electoral statutes passed by their state legislatures.

“Though I acknowledge my objections to these particular slates of electors would never have changed the outcome of the election, it is my duty as a member of Congress to exercise Congressional oversight powers in order to support and defend the Constitution of the United States.

“Congressional objections to slates of electors happen often, such as the certifications of the 2000, 2004 and 2016 elections. In the past, members U.S. Congressman have used the Carlos Gimenez election certification process to highlight voter irregularities, with House Democrats voting against certification of President George W. Bush’s win in Ohio in the 2004 election as an example.

“This election has highlighted the need for many states across the country to undergo important electoral reforms to ensure elections at all levels are fair, secure, transparent and efficient. Florida serves as a shining model for how Florida Sen. elections should Rick Scott be run, drawing from the lessons learned from the 2000 presidential election. It is my hope that this Congress, along with local and state-level election officials, do more to strengthen our electoral process and maintain voters’ faith in our democratic system.”

Gimenez, who was endorsed by and has played golf with President Trump, was far from alone in siding with the president by opposing the certification of Biden’s election.

In total, 13 of the 15 Florida Republicans who voted on the matter voted against Biden’s election after the mob uprising: Sen. Rick Scott; U.S. Reps. Kat Cammack of Gainesville, Mario Diaz-Balart of Miami, Byron Donalds of Naples, Neal Dunn

of Panama City, Matt Gaetz of Fort Walton Beach, Gimenez of MiamiDade and the Keys, Scott Franklin of Lakeland, Brian Mast of Palm City, Bill Posey of Rockledge, John Rutherford of Jacksonville, Greg Steube of Sarasota and Daniel Webster of Clermont.

The delegation’s other Republicans, Rep. Mike Waltz of St. Johns County and Sen. Marco Rubio, did not vote against any of the states’ electors.

Vice President Mike Pence, a majority of Senate Republicans and all Democrats in Congress ultimately rejected the challenges and certified the election.

Later in the week, on Jan. 11, Gimenez voted against the resolution calling on Vice President Mike Pence to trigger the 25th amendment.

“Congress should be holding thorough investigations into the insurrection on Capitol Hill by domestic terrorists,” Gimenez said in a prepared statement. “I cannot earnestly support a non-binding resolution that would have no effect in getting us closer to the truth or help heal our nation. Vice President Mike Pence has already informed Speaker Pelosi he will not invoke the 25th amendment, rendering this resolution useless and highlighting an intent to plunge this Congress into petulant political bickering. We must stop the political charades and do the work that needs to be done to get the whole truth through the proper process. Facts matter and are worth the patience.”

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KEY WEST / MARATHON / UPPER KEYS WEEKLY / JANUARY 14, 2021

The Keyettes

The Women’s Auxiliary of the Marathon Shrine Club Schedule of Events 2021

January 23

GARAGE SALE

MARBLE HALL (NEXT TO THE POST OFFICE) KEY COLONY BEACH 10:00AM TO 3:00PM This truly is a fabulous sale including: Casino Items (Felts, Chips, Tableware), teacups, linens, hurricane globes, floral bouquets, batteryoperated candles, "real" candles, paper goods, disposable wine glasses, gold, lavender, fuschia round tablecloths 70" to 120", white round and rectangular tablecloths and much more. All at very reasonable prices!

January 28

GAME DAY

KIRK OF THE KEYS, 8877 OVERSEAS HIGHWAY, MARATHON 12:30PM TO 3:00PM Bridge, Dominoes, Fish, Mahjong, whatever your game! $20/person Lunch and Dessert

February 6

SWEETHEART DINNER DANCE

FLORIDA KEYS COUNTRY CLUB, 4000 SOMBRERO BLVD, MARATHON 6:00PM TO 10:00PM Rick and Dayna Lieder, Musicians Buffet • Cash Bar • Desserts by the Keyette $50/person FOR TICKETS AND INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT Sally Flagg 305-743-2073 or sallyrflagg@gmail.com

ALL PROCEEDS BENEFIT THE SHRINERS HOSPITALS

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KEY WEST / MARATHON / UPPER KEYS WEEKLY / JANUARY 14, 2021

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KEY WEST / MARATHON / UPPER KEYS WEEKLY / JANUARY 14, 2021

AWAITING MORE COVID VACCINES Next delivery unknown for Monroe County JIM McCARTHY

jim@keysweekly.com

V

Free rapid tests available in Key West Keys Area Health Education Centers (AHEC) will be administering free rapid COVID-19 tests to Key West residents and employees of Key West-registered businesses.

The $171,000 provided to AHEC by the City of Key West is a portion of the $1.3 million reimbursement from Monroe County for pandemic expenses.

Michael Cunningham, AHEC executive director, said the 3,000 tests have arrived and began being deployed on Jan. 12. Free rapid testing is crucial for anyone who has been exposed and cannot afford to wait for a swab test.

In order to find the locations for the tests, visit www.keysahec. org and click on “Key West Rapid Tests.” Appointments are strongly encouraged.

— Contributed

accinations continued through the last weekend in Monroe County as 1,300 Moderna doses recently obtained by the health department were administered to health care workers and the elderly who had appointments.

Demand for the vaccine remains high with limited supply, and when more will arrive is unknown, said Monroe County’s health officer Bob Eadie.

Sheriff’s deputies, fire rescue members and teachers continue to wait their turn — as do many 65 and older, who continue to inquire when they can get the shot.

Leaders from Monroe County government, emergency management and health care convened on the morning of Jan. 11 for their first COVID-19 coordinating call of the year.

Vaccines dominated the discussion, as Eadie said all doses were used besides a few the health department was trying to hold for fire rescue in Key West and Monroe County.

Eadie said he had not received any notification of more vaccines coming to Monroe County this week.

“Given that, we don’t have vaccines to give to anybody,” he said. “Our effort is somewhat at halt.”

A little more than 2,250 residents in Monroe County have been vaccinated, according to the latest data from the health department. Calls and emails from the public have inundated the local health department since the initial vaccine rollout. A website and phone number created by the state’s emergency management division that would allow the public to set appointments isn’t ready just yet, Eadie told leaders. But it could be online by the

end of the week.

“We have been promised by the state director of emergency management sometime this week … no later than Thursday,” he said.

Lower Keys Medical Center (LKMC) CEO David Clay said the first vaccines were administered to frontline staff.

The hospital fell short on the number needed, however, as it tries to secure more to vaccinate the remaining staff.

James Muro, emergency manager at Baptist Health South Florida, said it has supply to assist frontline workers and health care staff in the county.

“We do have available dosing for 1A and 1B (groups), not for the public,” Muro said. “Supply is something that’s not a problem for us as it is for the county right now.”

Among frontline workers awaiting vaccines are fire rescues in Marathon, Islamorada and Key Largo. Also waiting are the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office, airport workers and teachers.

Superintendent of Schools Theresa Axford said the district is interested in getting teachers vaccinated as soon as possible so students can return to school full time sometime this semester.

“We’re hoping for that,” she said.

An assisted living facility in Key West is also awaiting vaccinations.

“We’re all getting a little impatient and want shots in arms,” Monroe County Mayor Michelle Coldiron said.

“We do have plans in place for using the vaccines we have. We are not storing them. We’re in anticipation and ready-to-go mode.”

Vaccine demand-versus-supply issues are also being seen in Miami Dade-County, according to mayor Daniella Levine Cava. On Jan. 10, Cava said Miami-Dade received additional vaccines. A limited number of appointments for seniors 65 and older were made available on Jan. 11. Vaccinations in Miami-Dade are by appointment only. Walk-ups won’t be accepted.

Fifty new COVID-19 cases in Monroe County were reported to the health department on Jan. 13. In all, 4,787 cases have been reported since the initial outbreak in March 2020.

LKMC had three patients with COVID-19. Baptist Health South Florida, which runs Fishermen’s and Mariners hospitals, reported none.

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KEY WEST / MARATHON / UPPER KEYS WEEKLY / JANUARY 14, 2021

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KEY WEST / MARATHON / UPPER KEYS WEEKLY / JANUARY 14, 2021 Exhibit “A” Exhibit “A”

TO MEMBERS OF FLORIDA KEYS ELECTRIC COOPERATIVE ASSOC., INC. TO MEMBERS OF FLORIDA KEYS ELECTRIC COOPERATIVE ASSOC., INC. NOTICE OF ELECTION OF TWO DIRECTORS NOTICE OF ELECTION OF TWO DIRECTORS The Board of Directors of Florida Keys Electric Cooperative Association, Inc. (FKEC) has set The of Directors of Florida Electric (FKEC) has set theBoard following date for the DistrictKeys Elections for Cooperative two positionsAssociation, on the BoardInc. of Directors: the following date for the District Elections for two positions on the Board of Directors:

District 1 District March19, 2021 March 9, 2021 District 2 District March29, 2021 March 9, 2021

Key Largo area northeast of the section line common to Sections 6 and 7, TWP-62S, Key Largo area northeast of the Subdivision section line common to Sections 6 and 7, on TWP-62S, R. 39E, southerly of Mandalay - Dade/Monroe County Line U.S. 1 R. 39E, southerly of Mandalay Subdivision (including Ocean Reef) to Mile Marker 97.7 - Dade/Monroe County Line on U.S. 1 (including Ocean Reef) to Mile Marker 97.7 Tavernier area southeast of the section line as established southerly of Mandalay Tavernier area the section Subdivision andsoutheast northeast of Snake Creekline as established southerly of Mandalay Subdivision and northeast of Snake Creek

The incumbent directors of the two districts have decided to stand for re-election. In the event only one qualified member from adirectors district for position is so nominated, member shall be declared The incumbent of each the two districts have decided that to stand for re-election.

In the elected. event only one qualified member from a district for each position is so nominated, that member shall be declared elected.

Elections may be conducted on the designated election date, by mail ballot and/or by electronic means. The notice of election and election ballot and informational materials be ballot mailedand/or to each every member or Elections may bethe conducted on the designated election date, shall by mail byand electronic means.residing The notice days prior election date.and All every ballotsmember returned by mailor business in election the district notand lessinformational than fifteen (15) ofdoing election and the ballot materials shalltobethe mailed to each residing must be received by the Cooperative or the Cooperative’s contracted third-party election management provider no doing business in the district not less than fifteen (15) days prior to the election date. All ballots returned by mail laterbe than one day to the officialorelection date. must received byprior the Cooperative the Cooperative’s contracted third-party election management provider no later than one day prior to the official election date.

Directors elected at the district elections shall serve for a period of three years, and will take office at the first regular or special meeting to be held on or aftershall Saturday, April 17, 2021.

Directors elected at the district elections serve for a period of three years, and will take office at the first regular or special meeting to be held on or after Saturday, April 17, 2021.

Members interested in becoming candidates and placing their names in nomination for membership on the Board of Directors are hereby notified of the qualifications and election procedures prescribed by the Bylaws of Florida Keys Members interested in becoming candidates and placing their names in nomination for membership on the Board of Electric Cooperative Association, Inc. Directors are hereby notified of the qualifications and election procedures prescribed by the Bylaws of Florida Keys Electric Cooperative Association, A candidate for director must be aInc. member of FKEC and bona fide resident of the district he/she represents and

have 12 months residency in the area served by the Cooperative. The candidate must not be a minor. No candidate Amay candidate must be of FKEC and bona fide resident of the district he/she represents and in a competing enterprise or a business in any for waydirector be employed byaormember have a substantial financial interest have 12 months residency in the area Cooperative. notoffice be a minor.

No candidate selling electric energy or supplies to served FKEC; by or the be the incumbentThe for candidate an electivemust public in connection with may in any way or becompensation employed by is or paid. have a substantial financial interest in a competing enterprise or a business which a salary selling electric energy or supplies to FKEC; or be the incumbent for an elective public office in connection with which a salary or compensation is paid.

Candidates must submit a nominating petition with fifteen (15) or more signatures of members residing in the voting district no less than forty-five (45) days prior to the date of the district election specified above. Nominating petitions Candidates a nominating petition with (15)January or more25, signatures of petitions membersfor residing voting onfifteen Monday, 2021, and Districtin2 the must be for District 1must mustsubmit be received

by FKEC

by Noon district no less than forty-five days prior to the 25, date2021. of the(Please district allow election specified above. of Nominating petitions received

by FKEC

by Noon (45) on Monday, January time for verification signatures). for District 1 must be received by FKEC by Noon on Monday, January 25, 2021, and petitions for District 2 must be received

by FKEC

by Noon Monday, Januaryfrom 25, 2021.

(Please allow time for verification of signatures).

Nomination petition formsonmay be obtained the FKEC Tavernier Headquarters.

A copy of the FKEC bylaws may be obtained from FKEC offices.

Nomination petition forms may be obtained from the FKEC Tavernier Headquarters. A copy of the FKEC bylaws may be FKEC publicity offices. prior to the election date.

The election willobtained be given from widespread

The election will be given widespread publicity prior to the election date.

By Order of the Board of Directors Florida Keys Electric Cooperative Association, Inc.

By Order of the Board of Directors Florida Keys Electric Cooperative Association, Inc.

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KEY WEST / MARATHON / UPPER KEYS WEEKLY / JANUARY 14, 2021

KEY WEST OCCUPANCY Dec. 27, 2020: 87% (2019: 94%) Dec. 28, 2020: 93% (2019: 94%) Dec. 29, 2020: 96% (2019: 96%) Dec. 30, 2020: 93% (2019: 96%) Dec. 31, 2020: 96% (2019: 96%) Jan. 1, 2021: 95% (2019: 95%) Jan. 2, 2021: 86% (2019: 88%)

HOLIDAY HOTEL OCCUPANCY BETTER THAN EXPECTED MANDY MILES

mandy@keysweekly.com

D

espite dire predictions of huge declines in holiday hotel reservations, Key West and the Florida Keys fared quite well over the holiday week between Christmas and the new year.

When Key West Mayor Teri Johnston announced a 10 p.m. curfew for the new year weekend, officials from the county’s lodging association predicted a dismal weekend with occupancy as low as 40 to 50%.

But visitor reports compiled by Smith Travel Research for the Monroe County Tourist Development Council for the week of Dec. 27 through Jan. 2 show occupancy rates that were very comparable to the same week last year.

Key West hotels, from Dec. 28 to Jan. 1 saw occupancy rates of 93% to 96%, which were about the same — or within a percentage point — of last year.

Occupancy rates in the rest of the Florida Keys, at the start of the holiday week, were 3 to 8 percentage points lower than the same dates last year.

From Dec. 27-31, 2020, hotels outside Key West were 80% to 93% full. In 2019, hotels and other lodging properties outside Key West reported 95% to 96% occupancy from Dec. 27-31, 2019.

But the end of this year’s holiday week, Jan. 1 and 2, 2021, hotel occupancy outside Key West actually surpassed 2019 figures by 4 and 8 percentage points.

The figures to the right show occupancy rates for Key West and the rest of the Florida Keys for the week of Dec. 27-Jan. 2:

FLORIDA KEYS OCCUPANCY (EXCLUDING KEY WEST) Dec. 27, 2020: 81% (2019: 96%) Dec. 28, 2020: 88% (2019: 96%) Dec. 29, 2020: 92% (2019: 96%) Dec. 30, 2020: 89% (2019: 95%) Dec. 31, 2020: 93% (2019: 96%) Jan. 1, 2021: 90% (2019: 87%) Jan. 2, 2021: 83% (2019: 76%)

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KEY WEST / MARATHON / UPPER KEYS WEEKLY / JANUARY 14, 2021

HOW WAS HELL WEEK? Locals have a name for it — Hell Week. It’s the seven days between Christmas and the New Year when the Florida Keys welcome visitors in record numbers. For workers in the food and beverage industry, or hospitality, it’s a grueling seven days.

Traffic is thick and grocery stores are mobbed. In 2020, though, the annual influx of visitors was a welcome and needed shot in the arm for the Keys economy. Keys Weekly reached out to various business leaders in the community to see how it went: “Many of our members reported a strong Hell Week when compared to previous years. The main difference, of course, is a lot of last-minute bookings for the lodging industry, which is par for the course during the pandemic.

One thing that was welcome was that many of our visitors in vacation rentals elected to stay for two weeks instead of one week. That’s great. We are attributing the reason to the fact that most kids are still in virtual school; the families didn’t have to rush back home.”

— Daniel Samess, CEO, Marathon Chamber of Commerce

“This was our first opportunity to sell out the entire property, including the 27 suites that are new, to fill all 161 rooms. It worked out great. Overall, it was good to see the amount of people traveling down here for warm, decent weather. We were very pleased with Hell Week.”

— Michael Weber, general manager, Fairfield Inn and Suites, Marathon

“From Dec. 26 through Jan. 2 we were sold out every day. Our occupancy rates are strong, though the rate may be weaker.

All things considered, I’m thrilled with that; the hotel industry is going to survive.

Most of our customers are from the drivedown market, many who are rebooking to the Keys to avoid Miami. The Keys are the perfect spot because of all the outdoor activities.”

— Jill Campbell, Hampton Inn, Marathon

“We looked like we were almost at 100% capacity moving into the Christmas holiday. Then it kind of tapered off just a little bit and boosted back up again for the New Year’s Eve holiday.

We are getting a lot of drive-down traffic from other parts of the state and cars from the northeast. People are getting in their cars, and that’s their confidence level that they don’t have to be in an airplane or on a bus. So far, we are probably the most fortunate key because we are the easiest to be accessed.”

— Elizabeth Moscynski, president of the Key Largo Chamber of Commerce

“We made the best of it. Generally I think things went well. We are continuing to be respectful of existing circumstances while doing business. Our staff and talent have been supportive and are making it all work.”

— Michael Ingram, owner of Aqua Nightclub and the Aquaplex compound, Key West

“It was our busiest period since reopening in June.

Was great to see our guests following the safety guidelines necessary for visiting our tours and attractions.

We are in a bit of a lull at the moment, as one would anticipate after the holiday.”

— Clinton Curry, director of Key West operations for Historic Tours of America

“It was a pleasant surprise to see small glimpses of normality during Christmas week. I just wish it would have ended in the same manner as it started.

What happened on New Year’s Eve was avoidable and unnecessary in my opinion. Curfews don’t work. They create issues; they don’t fix them. But that was then. Here we are starting 2021. We’re eager to see what this year has in store for all of us. We are Key West and we will survive.”

— Bill Lay, Key West restaurant owner

“Everyone was very, very busy. For business it was great. We’re hearing it didn’t match 2019 between Christmas and New Year’s, but it was very good. We are seeing people are willing to be out and travel.”

— Judy Hull, executive director of the Islamorada Chamber of Commerce

“Fury has continued to operate at significantly reduced capacities in an effort to provide safe social distancing. I’m pretty su re we’re the only (watersports) company still doing that. Our captains, crew and customers have really appreciated that.”

— Scott Saunders, owner of Fury Water Adventures, Key West

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KEY WEST / MARATHON / UPPER KEYS WEEKLY / JANUARY 14, 2021

STATUTE TRIGGERS UNEMPLOYMENT TAX HIKE

DID YOU GET $600?

SARA MATTHIS

sara@keysweekly.com

H

appy New Year, here are some higher taxes. Beginning in January, Florida business owners will pay a higher unemployment tax rate that was triggered by a state statute enacted in 2010. Where some business owners used to pay about $7 per employee (or 0.1% on the first $7,000 in wages), now they will pay about $21 per employee per year (0.29% on the first $7,000 in wages).

Rates are determined by employer history, and some pay much higher taxes.

Since the pandemic began, Florida has paid out almost $20 billion in unemployment costs for about 5 million state residents. The majority of that bill was paid for with funds from federal programs, and Florida kicked in about $4 billion. Florida’s unemployment fund currently has about $800 million in the bank. However, it is necessary, said Bill Herrle with the National Federation of Small Business.

“Business owners are the sole payers into the unemployment system, so they have a strong stake in making sure we continue to pay benefits, and we don’t get into a very high debt that will cause rates to go up even higher,” Herrle said.

During the recession of 2008, Florida had to borrow $2.7 billion to pay unemployment claims. Currently, 20 states and the U.S. Virgin Islands have taken out more than $41 billion in federal loans as of Nov. 17 to replenish state employment funds.

Funding requests from California, New York, and Texas amount to almost 75% of the total.

‘SECOND DRAW’ OF PPP STARTS NOW

Businesses can apply for more funds SARA MATTHIS

sara@keysweekly.com

T

he second round of Payroll Protection Program (PPP) is rolling out this week. The PPP, approved by Congress in late December, provides for $284 billion in new loans. The latest round of loans — called the “second draw” — comes five months after the first two rounds of funding ended.

This time, however, applicants are being prioritized, much as COVID-19 vaccines are going to frontline professionals and the elderly. Starting on Jan. 13, lending institutions whose customers are minority-owned or economically disadvantaged will go first. Within a few days, possibly the following week, the applications will be open to all business owners who meet the following criteria: • 300 or fewer employees; • Experienced a 25% drop in gross revenue between the second quarter of 2019 and the second quarter of 2020; • Spent the full amount of the first loan on allowed expenses.

There are other details, said Keys Federal Credit Union CEO Maggie Sayer, but overall the process is less of a “race” than the other funding cycles, where the funds were gobbled up in record time, often by large corporations.

“Before, we uploaded the loan application and if everything was correct, we were issued a Small Business Administration loan number,” Sayer said. “The whole process has changed, as well as the platform. Before the SBA provides a loan application, they do some of the verification first. We don’t know how long this is going to take.”

Bankers are telling their clients that if they received funding in the first two rounds, they should apply for forgiveness to speed up the chances of a second draw.

One other notable difference, Sayer said, is that some restaurants can qualify for larger loans because the multiplier on the monthly payroll amount is higher — 3.5% instead of 2.5%.

Bankers are telling their clients that if they received funding in the first two rounds, they should apply for forgiveness to speed up the chances of a second draw.

IRS says it may come in form of tax rebate SARA MATTHIS

sara@keysweekly.com

C

olor us green for surprise. On Jan. 12, several major news outlets, including Forbes and the Sun Sentinel, reported that instead of receiving $600 stimulus automated payments into bank accounts or a check in the mail, some citizens will instead receive a tax rebate.

“Any eligible individual who did not receive the full amount of the recovery rebate as an advance payment, also known as an Economic Impact Payment, can claim the Recovery Rebate Credit on a 2020 Form 1040 or Form 1040-SR,” reads a statement on the IRS website.

According to the Sun Sentinel, citizens who have yet to receive the $600 stimulus money, which passed a congressional vote on Dec. 21, are unlikely to receive the cold hard cash. They will, however, be eligible for a tax refund on 2020 taxes in that amount or be able to deduct it from money owed the IRS when next they file taxes.

The Treasury Department said the $600 stimulus money has already gone out to 80% of eligible Americans via mail, direct deposit, or reloading of EIP (Economic Impact Payment) debit cards. The IRS has until Jan. 15 to complete the fund distribution.

Recipients can check the status of their payment by visiting the IRS website at irs.gov/coronavirus/get-my-payment. The portal requires a social security number, home address and zip code. The information is updated daily and citizens are urged to continue to check back.

13

KEY WEST / MARATHON / UPPER KEYS WEEKLY / JANUARY 14, 2021

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14

KEY WEST / MARATHON / UPPER KEYS WEEKLY / JANUARY 14, 2021

MANDY MILES

mandy@keysweekly.com

BACKING THE BLUE

CARAVAN THANKS KEY WEST’S PROTECTORS

F

riday’s flag-drenched caravan through Key West included vintage military vehicles, motorcycles, trucks — and a trailer full of bagpipers.

Longtime Key West resident Capt. Larry Gross said he started five months ago planning the Back the Blue & First Responders caravan to thank the city’s police, firefighters and first responders.

The event underwent a series of changes as Gross navigated the city’s COVID-related halt to special event permits. What started as a more traditional parade became a vehicle caravan that required no street closures or police traffic controls, Gross said.

“It was absolutely nonpolitical,” Gross said, emphasizing that the event had been planned long before — and had nothing at all to do with — the uprising that had erupted two days earlier in Washington, D.C. “I told my people from the start, ‘No Trump flags, no Biden flags.”

The Back the Blue & First Responders caravan was held Friday, Jan. 8 to thank Key West’s police, fire and EMTs. Grand Marshal Rose Carmichael, 93, is the mother of retired NYPD Police Lt. James Carmichael, who now lives in Key West.

A pipe-and-drum corps of retired police officers played aboard a flatbed trailer.

And after the caravan, two of its participants — Heather Rockwood and Police Sgt. Chad Hermes, both of Illinois — got married. Organizer Larry Gross said the event was planned five months ago, and was intended to be ‘entirely nonpolitical.’

Instead of marching as they typically do in parades, a dozen or so bagpipers and drummers with the Coastal Carolina Shields performed aboard a flatbed trailer.

“The guys told me they’d never played on a moving trailer before, but they were fantastic,” Gross said.

“They’re a group of retired law enforcement guys in South Carolina.”

The caravan mustered at noon Jan. 8 in the Sears parking lot, proceeded down North Roosevelt Boulevard and Truman Avenue to Duval Street. Grand Marshal Rose Carmichael, 93, is the mother of retired NYPD Police Lt. James Carmichael, who now lives in Key West.

After the caravan, Gross officiated a wedding at Viva Saloon for two of its participants — Heather Rockwood and police Sgt. Chad Hermes from Illinois.

15

KEY WEST / MARATHON / UPPER KEYS WEEKLY / JANUARY 14, 2021

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KEY WEST / MARATHON / UPPER KEYS WEEKLY / JANUARY 14, 2021

JUST A DRILL COAST GUARD AUXILIARY ASSISTS AIR STATION MIAMI WITH WATER OPS 1

F

our members of the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary’s Flotilla 13-8 left the dock on the morning of Jan. 12 to support drills performed by the Coast Guard’s Air Station Miami off the shores of Islamorada. A Eurocopter MH-65 Dolphin helicopter first arrived on scene as Coast Guard members performed various rescue drills. With David Gross at the helm of a patrol boat, auxiliary members provided perimeter support through the duration of the drill, which saw members jumping into the water.

Flying in next was an HC-144 Ocean Sentry, a twin-engine turboprop used by the Coast Guard, to perform package drops. With the drop of a flare, the aircraft threw a large orange container, large yellow bags and message bottles.

Auxiliary members retrieved the dropped items and brought them back to the Coast Guard station in Islamorada. The drills lasted just over an hour. Serving the Upper Keys from Key Largo to Long Key, Flotilla 13-8 is one of the more active fleets within the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary. Not only do they provide support to Coast Guard air stations, but they also provide boater safety education and perform vessel safety checks.

— Weekly staff report

2 3 6 7

3. Gilbarty and Latham successfully retrieve the orange crate.

4. A Coast Guard member descends from a helicopter to perform a rescue drill.

5. Coast Guard auxiliary member Jim Doran shares a “good morning” with a Coast Guard vessel.

JIM McCARTHY/Keys Weekly

4

5

1. A Coast Guard aircraft flies over the water near the auxiliary’s patrol boat as it prepares to drop a large orange crate.

2. Auxiliary member David Gross drives over to the orange crate following a successful drop by Coast Guard members aboard the HC-144 Ocean Sentry, a twin-engine turboprop.

6. Coast Guard Auxiliary Patrol members prepare to assist and support Air Station Miami with drills on the morning of Jan. 12 off the Islamorada shores near Snake Creek.

Pictured from left are David Gross, longtime auxiliary member; John Gilbarty, Flotilla 13-8 commander; Glenn Latham, trainee; and Jim Doran, 5-year auxiliary member.

7. Gilbarty and Latham converse as Air Station Miami’s helicopter performs a rescue drill behind them.

17

KEY WEST / MARATHON / UPPER KEYS WEEKLY / JANUARY 14, 2021

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KEY WEST / MARATHON / UPPER KEYS WEEKLY / JANUARY 14, 2021

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19

KEY WEST / MARATHON / UPPER KEYS WEEKLY / JANUARY 14, 2021 A 56-foot Prestige cabin vessel, named ‘N Our Way,’ out of Aventura, experienced a mechanical failure as smoke and fire moved quickly throughout the boat. CONTRIBUTED

The mobile home detectives visited Thursday morning to interview a person of interest in a string of burglaries. A shot rang out from inside, drawing the SWAT team to eventually enter. They found 28-year-old Travis Less Lewanski dead when they gained entry. CONTRIBUTED

SWAT ENTERS KEY LARGO MOBILE HOME, FINDS BURGLARY SUSPECT DEAD JIM McCARTHY

jim@keysweekly.com

A

report of a burglary suspect barricaded inside a mobile home in Key Largo on Jan. 7 ended some two hours later after members of Monroe County’s SWAT team entered to find a 28-yearold man dead.

At about 10:15 a.m., detectives with the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office visited the vacant mobile home located behind the Coral Financial Jewelry Pawn & Guns shop, MM 102, looking to make contact with a person of interest in a reported burglary. Following a knock on the door by detectives, a single gunshot rang out from inside the trailer, blowing out a window close to where they stood.

A call for additional units followed with several law enforcement agencies responding. A perimeter was organized to contain the area, with Lime and Mahogany drives closed off to traffic. Surrounding homes and properties were evacuated.

An attempt to negotiate with the individual, later identified as Travis Lee Lewanski, of Key Largo, ensued through a call to his cellphone, a bullhorn and a PA system.

“At no time did we have contact with him inside,” Sheriff Rick Ramsay said.

The SWAT team deployed CS gas, a tear gas-like substance, using a 12-gauge shotgun in an effort to draw the individual out. SWAT members then used a flash bang and gained entry to the trailer to find Lewanski dead.

Ramsay said it appears the bullet that Lewanski used to take his own life was the same round that exited the window when detectives made their initial contact.

No other people were located in the trailer.

Detectives say they went to visit the trailer to interview Lewanski about the recent burglary and theft of approximately $6,000 in silver coins and a lesser amount of ammunition from another residence in Key Largo.

“It’s a sad day whenever anyone loses their life in this manner, but I’m thankful no citizens or law enforcement officers were injured today,” Ramsay said. “Our thoughts and prayers go out to this individual’s family and I thank my staff for their professionalism and care in handling this situation.”

Florida Highway Patrol, Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation officers and Border Patrol were also on scene. No injuries to deputies and officers were reported. The incident remains under investigation. Autopsy results are pending.

LARGE BOAT CATCHES FIRE OFF ISLAMORADA Two from Canada escape blaze JIM McCARTHY

jim@keysweekly.com

N

o injuries were reported after a vessel caught fire a half-mile offshore on the oceanside of Snake Creek near Islamorada on the afternoon of Jan. 7.

Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation officers and the U.S. Coast Guard responded around 1:15 p.m. to what was a boat engulfed in fire. According to FWC, the 56-foot Prestige cabin vessel, named “N Our Way,” out of Aventura, experienced a mechanical failure as smoke and fire quickly followed.

Two people on board from Canada were able to escape by jumping on the vessel’s small inflatable dinghy that was tied behind it. Towboat was also on scene and was able to secure a line to the vessel and tow it to a shallow water flat to keep it from drifting out to sea. The vessel continued to burn itself out before being removed from the waters on the afternoon of Jan. 8 by Towboat.

20

KEY WEST / MARATHON / UPPER KEYS WEEKLY / JANUARY 14, 2021 JIM McCARTHY

jim@keysweekly.com

Islamorada resident Jim Mooney is sworn in as the Florida House’s District 120 representative. CONTRIBUTED

ENTER FRESHMAN YEAR MOONEY GETS ASSIGNMENTS, EYES CRITICAL KEYS FUNDING

N

ew state Rep. Jim Mooney prepares to put on a suit as some of his first committee meetings in Tallahassee get underway on Jan. 13. A busy day is in store, with back-to-back gatherings among his fellow legislators.

“I think I’m getting used to the whole process,” Mooney said before his day began. “It’s fast-paced.”

Following a victory on Election Night, the Islamorada native dug in on the new job as representative for the Florida Keys and a section of MiamiDade county in the state legislature.

He’s met the likes of House Speaker Chris Sprowls and was sworn into office with other colleagues who won their races. He joined U.S. Rep. Carlos Gimenez and Islamorada Mayor Buddy Pinder in Islamorada recently for a tour on the bayside with Florida Bay Forever.

He’s also received his committee assignments for the 2021 legislative year. Mooney sits on the Environment, Agriculture & Flooding Subcommittee and the Infrastructure & Tourism Appropriations Subcommittee, which both met for the first time on Jan. 13.

Mooney is also a member of the Early Learning & Elementary Education Sub-

committee, which is set to meet Jan. 14.

“Certainly, I think these are some committees that I fit well in,” said Mooney, who’s a former Coral Shores High School teacher and Islamorada council member. “I look at some of the members on these committees and there are some really good people.”

Mooney also sits on the subcommittees of finance and facilities, state affairs and post-secondary education and lifelong learning.

A 60-day legislative session is officially set to start March 2. Much of the talk will surround an economic slowdown from COVID-19 and budget reductions that are more than likely.

On Jan. 13, House Ways and Means Committee members received word of an anticipated billion-dollar shortfall in revenue.

“I heard that there are some municipalities (in the state) that are just not going to ask for an appropriation. They’re not asking for anything.

That’s an odd thing because I think you should ask. I think there’s room for appropriations,” Mooney said.

Mooney said Monroe County can’t see another cut this year, especially after seeing some $10 million slashed last year for the island chain.

“We need to somehow get back on track,” he said. “I’m not sure the state will give us $10 million, but my goal is to get something back, at least Stewardship fund money.”

Mooney alludes to the Florida Keys Stewardship Act, which was passed by the Florida State Legislature and signed into law in 2016 to protect nearshore waters and lands critical to the area’s delicate ecosystem. Around $5 million was allocated in 2016.

While initially seeking $20 million in 2020, the Keys received $10 million after Gov. Ron DeSantis slashed $1 billion in programs due to challenges associated with COVID-19. In all, more than $34 million for the Stewardship Act the past four years went to support water quality projects and land acquisition.

Going into his freshman year, Mooney will look to lean on the expertise of former state Rep. Holly Raschein, who served the Keys the past eight years. He’ll also look to see his colleague in the Florida Senate, Sen. Ana Maria Rodriguez. She was a former state rep who was elected in November to represent the Keys and Miami-Dade.

“She (Rodriguez) has the experience on this side. And now she’s over there (the Florida Senate), and we’re going to need that for sure,” Mooney said.

The Capitol remains closed to the public due to the ongoing coronavirus.

With continued uncertainty over a reopening to the public, a Keys tradition that sees a contingent of leaders from different sectors traveling to Tallahassee will go virtual this year. Mooney said the idea of a virtual Florida Keys Day this year came from Jonathan Gueverra, president of the College of the Florida Keys.

“I love it because we don’t want to break the tradition,” he said. “Everybody’s all in so far. It doesn’t hurt to have the Keys up in Tally. It shows unity and strength in numbers. Hopefully things will come back to normal and we can have another Florida Keys Day. But I think ultimately keeping it alive virtually would be better than not doing it at all.”

21

KEY WEST / MARATHON / UPPER KEYS WEEKLY / JANUARY 14, 2021

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22

KEY WEST / MARATHON / UPPER KEYS WEEKLY / JANUARY 14, 2021

MANDY MILES

mandy@keysweekly.com

NEW YEAR BRINGS NEW LAWS

FLORIDA’S DONE WITH DOG RACING

As of Dec. 31, 2020, dog racing for gambling purposes is illegal in Florida. WIKIPEDIA/Contributed

T

he new year will bring a handful of new laws to the Sunshine State, where legislators passed 200 or so new bills during their session that ended in March 2020.

Most of those became law in July or October, but a few others — including the popular end to dog racing in Florida — were implemented on Dec. 31 or Jan. 1.

Here’s a look at some of the new rules: AMENDMENT 13 - DOG RACING REACHES FINISH LINE As of Jan. 1, it is illegal in Florida to bet on any races involving live greyhounds or other dogs. Nearly 70% of Florida voters approved the ban, known as Amendment 13, in 2018.

The amendment adds the following language to the state’s constitution: “After Dec. 31, 2020, a person authorized to conduct gaming or pari-mutuel operations may not race greyhounds or any member of the canis familiaris subspecies in connection with any wager for money or any other thing of value in this state, and persons in this state may not wager money or any other thing of value on the outcome of a live dog race occurring in this state.”

“...persons in this state may not wager money or any other thing of value on the outcome of a live dog race occurring in this state.”

— excerpt from Amendment 13, banning dog races in Florida

HOUSE BILL 1005 - VOTING SYSTEMS Another unanimous approval involves the state’s election system and voting equipment. The new law “allows supervisors of elections and county canvassing boards to use automated tabulating equipment not part of the voting system to conduct both machine and manual recounts,” according to a report by ABC Action News. “The policy will also require accuracy-testing for voting systems at least 25 days before the start of early voting in the state.” This is a correction to the current law in which systems are tested after canvassing of vote-by-mail ballots has started in certain instances.

HOUSE BILL 37 - PASSING SCHOOL BUSES GETS PRICEY State lawmakers voted unanimously to double fines for drivers who illegally pass school buses during the loading and unloading of children. Drivers who fail to stop will be fined $200 rather than $100. Drivers who pass a bus on the side children enter and exit will now be fined $400 instead of $200.

Florida lawmakers voted unanimously to increase fines for drivers who pass school buses that are loading or unloading children. The increase took effect Jan. 1. WHITNEY HOFFMAN/ Pixabay

CS/SB 292 - INSURANCE CLAIMS: The new law requires an insurance carrier to provide the insured with a “loss run” statement within 15 days after receiving a request, according to ABC Action News. The statements are a report generated by an insurance carrier showing the claims history of an insured.

The new policy also forbids carriers from charging a fee for preparing or providing the reports.

HB 7009 - NO PRIVATE GAIN FOR PUBLIC EMPLOYEES HB 7009 is the formal legislation that puts Amendment 12 into action. The law, which took effect Dec. 31, lays the legal foundation for the 2018 Amendment 12 ballot initiative that aimed to prevent public employees and public officials from “abusing their positions in order to obtain a ‘disproportionate benefit’ for themselves or other specified persons or entities.”

Additional provisions of the amendment take effect in 2022 and will prohibit public officials from getting paid to lobby during their term in office and for six years after leaving office.

Former Florida Keys State Rep. Holly Raschein recently accepted a lobbying position with AshBritt Environmental, well before the 2022 deadline that would have forced her to wait six years to become a lobbyist.

MINIMUM WAGE WORKERS GET A RAISE — OF 9 CENTS PER HOUR The state’s minimum wage increased by nine cents an hour on Jan. 1 to $8.65.

Workers who earn tips now receive at least $5.63 an hour. The rates are tied to a 2004 constitutional amendment that requires the state to increase pay to help offset cost-of-living expenses.

A much larger minimum wage increase — to $10 an hour — is expected in September 2021 as a result of the voter-approved Amendment 2, which passed in November.

The wage will continue to increase incrementally each year until reaching $15 in 2026. After that, the minimum wage will be adjusted annually based on increases to the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earn-

23

KEY WEST / MARATHON / UPPER KEYS WEEKLY / JANUARY 14, 2021

FLORIDA LEGISLATORS GEAR UP FOR SESSION

Coronavirus bills filed JIM McCARTHY

jim@keysweekly.com

S

tate legislators returned to Tallahassee on Jan. 11 for the first week of committee meetings.

With revenues down and a vaccine rollout underway, an ongoing coronavirus pandemic will be on the minds of senators and representatives as they gear up for legislative session, which begins March 2.

Legislators are convening for five weeks of committee meetings as a few bills were recently filed. Here are a few notable proposals filed in the House and Senate.

HOUSE BILL 7 and SENATE BILL 72 Legislation would provide several COVID-19-related liability protections for businesses, educational institutions, government entities, religious organizations and other entities. Under the bill, a covered entity that makes a good faith effort to substantially comply with applicable COVID-19 guidance is immune from civil liability from a COVID-19-related civil action. The bill also provides that for any COVID19-related civil action against a covered entity, a plaintiff must clearly plead his or her complaint and submit a physician's affidavit confirming the physician's belief that the plaintiff's COVID19-related injury occurred because of the defendant's conduct. They must also prove, by clear and convincing evidence, that the defendant was negligent in applying COVID-19 protective measures. The bill's liability protections do not apply to a health care provider, such as a hospital, nursing home, assisted living facility or other health care-related entity. The bill provides a one-year statute of limitations for COVID-19-related claims. For a plaintiff whose cause of action has already accrued, the one-year period does not begin to run until the bill becomes effective. The bill is sponsored by Rep. Lawrence McClure, a Republican who represents Hillsborough County, and state Sen. Jeff Brandes, a Republican who represents Pinellas County.

HOUSE BILL 9 Legislation would prohibit a person from knowingly and willfully making a false or misleading statement or disseminating false or misleading information regarding the availability of, or access to, a vaccine for COVID-19 or any other pandemic disease in marketing or advertising materials; on a website, social media platform,

or other media; or by telephone, text message, mail, or e-mail, for the purpose of obtaining another's personal identification information or money or other valuable consideration. A first offense is a third-degree felony, and a second or subsequent offense is a second-degree felony. The bill authorizes the Florida attorney general to initiate a civil action for an injunction, restraining order, or other appropriate relief. This authority allows the attorney general to shut down websites or other media platforms disseminating false information about a vaccine for COVID-19 or any other pandemic disease, when done with fraudulent intent. The bill is sponsored by Rep. Ardian Zika, a Republican who represents Pasco County.

SENATE BILL 426 The bill proposed by state Republican Sen. Jim Boyd will be watched closely by officials in Key West, especially after voters in November approved changes to the city’s charter that would require significant reductions to the number, size and capacity of cruise ships visiting the Southernmost City. Boyd’s legislation would not allow a local government to restrict or regulate seaports in the state, including the regulating or restricting of a vessel’s type or size, source or type of cargo. “Allowing each local government in which a Florida seaport is located to impose its own requirements on the maritime commerce conducted in that port could result in abrupt changes in vessel traffic, frustrating the multiyear planning process for all Florida seaports and the assumptions and forecasts underlying federal and state financing of port improvement projects,” the bill states. No related bill has been filed in the House yet.

SENATE BILL 44 Sponsored by state Republican Sen. Tom Wright, of Brevard and Volusia counties, the bill would expand the authorized uses of drones by law enforcement agencies, by a state agency or political subdivision, or by certified fire department personnel for specified purposes.

HOUSE BILL 75 Sponsored by state Rep. Michael Greico, a Democrat, legislation would require school districts to make feminine hygiene products available, at no charge, in female restroom facilities of public school buildings.

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STD U J OL S

CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR SELLER

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124 DORSETT

We measure our success by helping families achieve their real estate dreams! Having the privilege to work with families each and every day is what motivates and inspires us!!! We put our best foot forward and are so humbled to see our hard work pay off! We are so excited to continue to serve MORE families this year as The Ashkarian/Ardis Team network continues to expand across The Keys! SO PROUD OF Our TEAM FAMILY! We know how to find that buyer and get the deal that you deserve.

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24

KEY WEST / MARATHON / UPPER KEYS WEEKLY / JANUARY 14, 2021

MARATHON TO ADOPT HYBRID CODE ENFORCEMENT MODEL COUNCIL ELECTS TO HAVE A BOARD AND A MAGISTRATE SARA MATTHIS sara@keysweekly.com

M

arathon councilmen Mark Senmartin and Steve Cook found themselves on the same side of an issue on Jan. 12. Neither wanted to replace the city’s current process that has a special magistrate overseeing code enforcement cases.

“Is the system broken right now?”

Cook asked of City Manager George Garrett.

“No, it’s not,” said Garrett.

“Then, by all means, let’s not fix it,” said Cook.

But Councilmen John Bartus, Dan Zieg and Mayor Luis Gonzalez voted in favor of a hybrid model. It would still use the special magistrate, but would also re-form the code board — the same system Marathon used before hiring a special magistrate — with seven local members. Zieg proposed a trial period of one year.

“Between 80 and 90 percent of our cases are solved before they ever get to the magistrate,” said Zieg, “so kudos to our staff. The hybrid would be an answer to the requests of citizens who I have spoken to who want the code board.”

City attorney Steve Williams has been tasked with crafting the ordinance for a hybrid code enforcement model. The ordinance will outline how cases would be allocated between the two options; it’s likely to be the choice of the property owner in violation.

The council rejected a proposed trash law outright. As written, trash cans would not be allowed on the street until 6 p.m. the day before pickup, through the day designated for pickup.

“This is horrible, ridiculous,” said Senmartin of the law. “Talk about government overreach.”

The council has acknowledged that loose trash cans that overstay their welcome on the city’s right of way usually belong to vacation rental homes, specifically on Sombrero Beach Road. The challenge, Williams said, was writing a law to address that but, for legal reasons, has to encompass all homes, not just vacation rentals.

“I feel like I’m on a cooking show.

I have to make lasagna without using

noodles, tomato sauce or cheese,” Williams said. “I have to find a way to address the true source of the problem but by the same token I can’t use those words.”

The council did not adopt the ordinance and is going back to the drawing board. Senmartin suggested the cans be printed with addresses so the offenders can be cited by either the sheriff’s office (obstruction of a roadway) or code officers (property standards).

The council also rejected the low bid for an expansion of the City of Marathon’s park department building at Marathon Community Park. The bid for the 1,000-square-foot addition came in at $388,000 for extra office space and occasional use by children attending camp functions in inclement weather.

Public Works Director Carlos Solis said contractors are in high demand right now and building supplies are hard to get, likely the reason for the big price tag.

“This seems insane,” said Cook.

“There has to be alternatives. I’m sure (the park department) needs it, they are desperate for space and a real office. But can’t we do something temporary to make it through the summer?”

The job will be put out to bid again.

IN OTHER NEWS: • The city rejected a bid from two homeowners on Grassy Key to manage a city-owned piece of conservation property adjacent to their home that they would fence for their own private use. Council directed staff to work with the homeowners to either buy the property for fair market value and deed restrict it as a conservation area, or assume management of the property but keep it open for public use.

• The City of Marathon will finish permits that are already under way on the old software and start new applications on the new software. The city is also identifying contractors who are willing to test the system before holding a class for the general public.

• The council heard a report about the state of Rotary Children’s Park, a joint project between the City of Marathon and Marathon’s Rotary Club. The club offered to provide volunteer labor if the city could provide some materials to replace aging equipment and structures.

A rendering of the Founders Park Pedestrian Bridge. The project will be discussed at council’s Jan. 14 meeting. CONTRIBUTED

JIM McCARTHY jim@keysweekly.com

DISCUSSION SET FOR PEDESTRIAN BRIDGE PROJECT

A

5-plus hour meeting of Islamorada Village Council last month prevented discussion about the Florida Department of Transportation’s pedestrian bridge project near Founders Park. As a result, the dais’ first meeting of 2021 will kick off with an update on the project that’s currently in the final design phases.

A newly-seated council sought information and answers to some questions on FDOT’s pedestrian bridge project during a Nov. 19 meeting. Specifically, the dais wanted costs incurred by the village if they elected to halt the project altogether, so long as FDOT would agree.

In addition, council sought information and expense for a potential referendum, as well as FDOT project timetables and communications the former dais had as the project proceeded.

Councilman Henry Rosenthal said a referendum would apply “much needed transparency with respect to this decision for the people of Islamorada.”

In the lead-up to the council’s Dec. 17 meeting, council members were provided with a wealth of information by staff on the project’s history from its inception to its current status. But no discussion ensued as council wasn’t able to reach the topic due to a meeting that lasted well past 10 p.m.

Rosenthal and council agreed to move the topic to the council’s first 2021 meeting, set for Thursday, Jan. 14 at 5:30 p.m, to give the public an opportunity to speak.

“The major thing is transparency. I heard it over and over, ‘We’re not being fair to a lot of people,’” Rosenthal said.

Bridge construction isn’t the only facet of FDOT’s $4.68 million project. Realigning the Florida Keys Overseas Highway Trail, widening the shoulders and constructing wall barriers will also take place.

Concrete sidewalk will be installed along Old Highway, as there’s no pedestrian connection from the bridge site to Treasure Village Montessori.

Chevron pavement markings will be added to replace plastic poles on Old Highway between East Ridge Drive and South Drive.

Before a discussion on the pedestrian bridge, a presentation will be given regarding the Florida Keys Mosquito Control District/Oxitec Mosquito Project by representatives of both agencies. Village staff members will be recognized for service for five, 10, 15 and 20 years. The committee members and staff members being acknowledged will not be in physical attendance at the meeting.

Only council members and essential staff members required to conduct the meetings will be at the council chambers inside the Founders Park Community Center.

The general public is invited to virtually attend and otherwise participate in council meetings using Zoom. More information is at islamorada.fl.us.

25

KEY WEST / MARATHON / UPPER KEYS WEEKLY / JANUARY 14, 2021

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KEY WEST / MARATHON / UPPER KEYS WEEKLY / JANUARY 14, 2021 The Marathon Community Theatre proudly presents:

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KEY WEST / MARATHON / UPPER KEYS WEEKLY / JANUARY 14, 2021 A common eider was seen swimming off of Key West in recent weeks. KEVIN CHRISTMAN/Contributed

VEXED BY A DUCK

MARK HEDDEN ... is a photographer, writer, and semi-professional birdwatcher. He has lived in Key West for more than 25 years and may no longer be employable in the real world. He is also executive director of the Florida Keys Audubon Society.

I

hate chasing birds. And I hate getting up early.

And, closing out my third decade living in the Keys, I don’t much like the cold. So it took some doing to get myself out the door the other morning, the coldest day of the year.

But I was vexed — vexed by a duck. Specifically a sea duck called a common eider, the kind of bird you’re not supposed to see in these parts.

It’s not that I hate looking at birds – I’m a semiprofessional birdwatcher; it’s kind of what I do. But in overly simplified terms, I like to head out with a pair of binoculars to see what I can see. Chasing, in birding terms, is heading out to find an individual bird, usually a rarity. And as much as I love seeing rarities, I hate defining my day as a success or failure depending on whether or not I saw a specific bird.

But this eider had gotten into my brain. I couldn’t let it go.

Eiders are cold-water birds. They spend the summers up in the Arctic, breeding and feeding around rocky islands. They need open water to survive, and usually winter in large groups just far enough south to avoid frozen oceans.

But apparently one will, on occasion, get a wild urge and set out for shorelines incognita. Sightings dot the eastern seaboard, occurring less frequently the farther you get from Canada.

In 2018, I saw one as I was heading into the marina on Stock Island. It was sitting on a mudflat in the last light of day, and I almost passed it by. I turned the boat around, took a few dozen pictures, and triple-checked the Sibley’s field guide because it was so out of place.

Most ducks’ bills, let’s face it, are pretty goofy looking. Eiders, though, have these broad, sturdy, aquiline bills – Romanesque, really – that lend them a kind of dignity. And they’re big, as far as ducks go, the biggest duck in the Northern Hemisphere, almost half the size of a pelican.

After I saw the eider I motored into the marina with the warm glow of having found a rare bird without chasing it.

A common eider had been seen at the Dry Tortugas in 1967, so I figured I had the second-southernmost sighting of a Common Eider on record, which was nice. But then someone pointed out to me that the Dry Tortugas are actually north of Key West and Stock Island by 4.33 miles. So it turned out I indeed had the southernmost sighting of a common eider on record and all the glory that entailed. (I’ll never forget the accompanying ticker tape parade, the flyover by the Blue Angels or the ceremony and laudatory speeches that followed.)

A few weeks back, I got a message and a couple of iPhone photos from Amanda Powell, who asked, “Do you think this is an

WILD THINGS immature eider?” She’d seen it while jogging at Truman Waterfront.

Amanda is a biologist who occasionally works with the Avian Research and Conservation Institute. She knows her stuff. And yes, yes it was an eider, and was in fact the new southernmost record for a common eider.

The glory was all hers now.

I thought, huh, I should go see that bird, but then got caught up in the vortex that is the holiday season, even during a global pandemic.

A few days before Christmas I got a message from Janet Snell, a friend from my days as host of the pub quiz at Mary Ellen’s. Did I know there was a common eider down by the Danger Charters docks? Then, a few days later, another message from Janet asking if I knew there’s a common eider down by the Danger Charters docks right now?

I dropped everything, grabbed my binoculars and camera, and started imagining the really nice photo I would get of this bird. Then I spent three hours walking the shoreline between the Danger docks and the Galleon, not seeing a common eider.

The day after Christmas, a birder named Kevin Christman posted that he’d gone looking for the bird a few times down at the same docks, but then on a hunch, he had gone over to Higgs Beach and saw it there, swimming just off (former Vice President Cheney’s first name) Dock.

Which is why I got up early and braved the cold the next day.

The bird was not at Higgs when I arrived, so I worked around the edge of the island on my bike, scanning, making my way to the water’s edge whenever possible, searching all the way down to the ferry terminal.

It was one of those magical Key West mornings, when you keep running into people you know — Daniel from the Roost, Ashley and Arlo from the Literary Seminar, Richard from Blue Heaven, Thomas Sweets from Key West Wildlife Rescue, out with a giant net, trying to find an injured pelican someone had reported.

Or it would have been one of those magical mornings if I wasn’t dogged by that feeling of abject failure that comes with not finding the bird I was chasing. I went chasing the next two mornings after that. And then another morning later on. And I will probably go again, even though no one has seen the thing in weeks.

There’s nothing worse than being vexed by a duck.

28

KEY WEST / MARATHON / UPPER KEYS WEEKLY / JANUARY 14, 2021

Despite significant delays, sidewalk cams are expected to be operational at five Duval Street intersections in the next 60 days or so, says Doug Bradshaw, Key West’s port and marina services director. Photos by LARRY BLACKBURN/Keys Weekly

NO EYES IN THE SKY KEY WEST’S SIDEWALK CAMERAS STILL ABSENT FROM DUVAL MANDY MILES

mandy@keysweekly.com

I

t’s been two years, and the city of Key West is still struggling to get sidewalk cameras installed and operational along Duval Street.

Recent local debates about mask compliance, social distancing and anticipated New Year crowds — coupled with national events at the U.S. Capitol — have highlighted the usefulness of such cameras to monitor crowds, identify suspects, prevent and solve crimes.

“We didn’t use any surveillance cameras on Duval Street over New Year’s Eve for the curfew because they’re not operational yet,” Assistant City Manager Patti McLauchlin told Keys Weekly on Jan. 11. “We’ve had some hurdles and, in all honesty, we were about to fire the contractor, but I’m told things are now progressing.”

The Duval Street cameras are probably 60 days from completion, Doug Bradshaw, the city’s director of ports and marina services, said on Jan. 11.

Bradshaw added that there are now cameras in use at Mallory Square and the Outer Mole cruise ship pier, but they’re currently “on a temporary workstation to be sure they’re working properly.”

The port areas were the top priority for cameras because the U.S. Coast Guard has cited the city multiple times for not having “active monitoring” capabilities as part of its port security plan.

When discussions of the port camera requirements started two years ago, officials also decided to include cameras along Duval Street at the intersections of Greene, Caroline, Eaton and Petronia streets.

City and police officials aren’t interested in invading anyone’s privacy, but in preventing and solving crimes and protecting the public, McLauchlin told Keys Weekly in October 2019, when she expected the cameras to be operational in time for Fantasy Fest, New Year’s Eve and other events of 2020.

The camera system will allow designated city users to monitor people and activities at each location in real time, using either a laptop or a mobile phone. The footage can also be stored, archived and reviewed later to help with criminal investigations as well as traffic monitoring during special events.

The city solicited bids in 2018, seeking a contractor to install and maintain the camera system.

Officials twice dismissed all responses, saying they did not meet the requirements. The city then hired a consultant to help rewrite the bid specifications.

The Fort Myers-based Integrated Fire Safety & Security Systems was ultimately chosen as the contractor. The city approved a $398,000 contract with IFSS, surprising and frustrating Jordan Smith, who has owned and operated the Key West-based Broadwave internet solutions provider for nearly a decade.

Smith and Broadwave submitted a bid for the camera project.

“Our bid was within a few hundred dollars of the other national companies,” Smith said on Jan. 13.

“The bid from IFSS was $200,000 lower than all the others. Wouldn’t that make you think that perhaps they’re missing something? And now, here we are, two years later, with no Duval Street cameras. They have one person working in Key West. We’re based here. We have a dozen people working here.

“What’s more, when IFSS started working on cameras at the port, they had the audacity to use our cables, our power and to mount their equipment on our infrastructure at a location that we lease from one of our commercial clients,” Smith said, urging the city to completely rewrite and reissue the bid. “We could have that system up and running 90 days from when we signed the contract.

Something’s not right.”

Keys Weekly contacted IFSS president Justin Peterson for an update on the cameras and was told that any information about the project must come from the city.

29

KEY WEST / MARATHON / UPPER KEYS WEEKLY / JANUARY 14, 2021

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KEY WEST / MARATHON / UPPER KEYS WEEKLY / JANUARY 14, 2021

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KEY WEST / MARATHON / UPPER KEYS WEEKLY / JANUARY 14, 2021

CHARLOTTE TWINE www.keysweekly.com

NO PLACE LIKE HOME KEYS NATIVE’S FAVORITE ARTWORK ON DISPLAY AT OCEAN SOTHEBY’S GALLERY

L

ast week, artist Taylor Hale showed a visitor around his solo exhibition at Ocean Sotheby’s in Islamorada. The space is white and light-filled, and his large, stark, vibrant turquoise oil paintings of the Florida Keys sky brightened the room further.

He pointed out a rendition of a mangrove tree called “Mother,” an ode to family. “I just became a father,” he said.

At that moment, two women, longtime friends of Hale’s family, entered the gallery.

“Taylor, how’s the baby?” one of them asked.

“Oh, the girls are at home,” he replied, smiling. “You run into somebody everywhere in this town,” he said to his visitor.

The hometown boy is back. And he comes bearing gifts, the fruits of his labor for the past year. Having booked this exhibition in February 2020, he worked on it from his home in St. Augustine throughout quarantine, minimalist oil paintings depicting his favorite subjects from the Keys: sky, water and mangroves, stripped of any objects that might be seen in typical local landscapes. Not a boat or lobster buoy in sight.

“Growing up down here, this is what you see. Cloud formations. You do see pelicans and palm trees, but for me, this is what’s awesome.

I’d think about this when I was up there in New England,” he said, mentioning that he went to the Rhode Island School of Design. “Sometimes you take things for granted when you’re around them all the time. I was driving around in Provincetown, and I heard ‘Margaritaville’ and I was like, ‘I’m homesick.’ Sometimes you have to go away to miss what you had.”

Hale attended Key Largo School and graduated from Coral Shores High School in 2003. As a child, he would naturally gravitate to staring at paintings by his great-great-grandfather, respected artist Joseph Lindon Smith, and wonder how they were made. At Coral Shores, he took drawing, painting and ceramics classes with teacher Brenda Bush.

“He holed up in my storage room, staring at canvases and pieces of artworks with introspect; dissecting, manipulating and creating. I let him,” Bush recalled in a text to Keys

Taylor Hale paints one of his many pieces. At Coral Shores, he took drawing, painting and ceramics classes with teacher Brenda Bush. CHARLOTTE TWINE/Keys Weekly

Weekly. “There was never any doubt in my mind that ‘Tay-Tay’ was going places in the art world; it was just a matter of when, where and how many mediums. I am super proud of Taylor.”

Bush encouraged him to enter an art contest, and he won the grand prize of $2,000, which just happened to be the exact tuition of a summer semester at Ringling College of Art & Design in Sarasota. “I went up there, and it opened my eyes,” he said. “I didn’t know what I wanted to do, and it opened the idea of pursuing art as a career.”

During his time at Coral Shores, he also had an internship with local artist John David Hawver. “During that time, he was the first intern out of four. I wish he was the last, because he was the best,” Hawver said with a laugh. “He had just been to Ringling. I knew he had plans to be a serious artist. He really wanted to be an artist. It was obvious.”

“He was great,” Hale said of his time with Hawver. “He’s a painter of a similar subject matter. He paints large Keys landscapes. And he taught me how to stretch my first canvas. It was towards the end of the internship. He gave it to me, and he said, ‘Always paint big.’ That was an early influence. Looking back on it, I can’t help but see the influence in my work. Same subject matter, different style.”

Hale had an equally formative time at RISD. He was especially influenced by a semester in Florence, Italy, and fell in love with the Italian Renaissance painters. He loves the city so much that he and his wife, Kelly, even named their baby girl Florence.

After graduation, Hale tried for a time to make a living as a portraitist in New England but found himself frustrated by that medium’s constraints and pulled back toward home. “I think in the middle of winter — I was in New Hampshire — I just came back to the Keys and

then this came out,” he said, pointing at his large canvas of a sky. “This was always in there.”

Hale eventually settled in St. Augustine with Kelly, and he gradually sold more and more paintings. He found that he didn’t need to work as a server in the restaurant industry as many days a week. He was slowly becoming a fulltime artist. When the pandemic came and he booked the Ocean Sotheby’s exhibition, he was ready to focus.

“COVID was hard. But for me it was, ‘I’m having a baby. I’m not going into the restaurant.’ This is what I did during lockdown. Other people had problems during lockdown. I did not. There was nothing to deter me from painting. I saw it as a residency.”

And Maria Perez, office manager at Ocean Sotheby’s Realty and curator of their exhibitions, is glad he did. “With Taylor, I’m just so excited because he’s part of the community. I love that he’s bringing his art to the community,” she said. “We sold two pieces already, and everyone is so excited. I’ve received many phone calls. It has been very well received.”

For now, Taylor, Kelly and seven-week-old Florence are enjoying their visit to the Keys. The future is bright. And he has plans to do a series of paintings of another famous Keys landscape, the glow of a sunset. But there’s one subject he’ll never top: his daughter. “She’s definitely my best artwork so far.”

Taylor Hale’s paintings will be showing at Roberto Russell Galleries at Ocean Sotheby’s International Realty through February, located at 81888 Overseas Highway, bayside. Open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday to Friday, and by appointment on weekends by calling 305-712-8888 and asking for Maria.

KEY WEST / MARATHON / UPPER KEYS WEEKLY / JANUARY 14, 2021

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KEY WEST / MARATHON / UPPER KEYS WEEKLY / JANUARY 14, 2021

Mainstreaming

WHAT TO DO THIS WEEK

Here is a little help with your laundry, your reading and your funnybone.

Everyone is all ‘wait till 2021 gets here’ and ‘kick 2020 in the rear-view mirror,’ right? How’s that working out?

TOP 10 SIGNS YOUR 2021 IS ALREADY OFF TO A BAD START 10. In spite of calls for more diversity in NFL coaching hires, the same guy who blew a 25-point lead in the Super Bowl is now the defensive coordinator for the Dallas Cowboys.

6. The University of Alabama found a way to make college football boring.

9. The Cleveland Browns won a playoff game — officially signifying the 6th Seal in the book of Revelation.

4. The song “Gloria” is forever tainted.

8. A group of people “defending democracy and freedom” seemingly had no problem following a guy in a “Camp Auschwitz” hoodie.

7. McDonalds reintroduced the McRib — officially signifying the 7th Seal in the book of Revelation.

5. China is taking over the Bahamas and absolutely no one is paying attention.

BUY | ECO-SOAP If you’ve been wondering how to reduce, reuse and recycle those big plastic jugs of laundry detergent, we got you fam.

Tru Earth Eco-Strips are pre-measured pieces of liquidless laundry detergent that users toss in the wash. It’s a low-sudsing formula that even works in high-efficiency machines. A year’s supply (384 loads) costs $150, but the company also sells smaller trial packs for as little as $8. Visit www.tru.earth.

READ | THE SENTINEL Despite the nasty shock of seeing another author’s name added to Lee Child’s in the most recent installment of the Jack Reacher series, it holds up pretty well. In “The Sentinel,” Lee Child teams up with his real-life younger brother Andrew Child (both are pseudonyms, by the way) to tell an elegant story of revenge and redemption true to the series. Available on the Libby smart phone app for free.

3. O-Zone from the hit movies “Breakin" and “Breakin’ 2 Electric Boogaloo” passed away on Jan 13.

2. The same U.S. citizens who receive the biggest breaks on taxes also get to break in COVID-19 vaccine lines.

1. The cast from “Duck Dynasty” and that dude from Jamiroquai were able to infiltrate our nation’s Capitol.

LISTEN | MICHELLE WOLF Launch the Michelle Wolf channel on Pandora, and you’ll get a great variety of female comics with differing but hilarious takes on life, dating, sex and more. Apart from the sardonic Wolf, you’ll randomly get Rachel Feinstein, Ali Wong, Jen Kirkman, Kathleen Madigan, Lisa Landry, Whitney Cummings, Wanda Sykes, Liz Miele among others.

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KEY WEST / MARATHON / UPPER KEYS WEEKLY / JANUARY 14, 2021

MILES TO GO

MANDY MILES

MY HOLIDAY UNDOING

“Finished,” I said brightly.

“Packed up, put away. Look at me, being all productive on a chilly Sunday.”

I was talking to Stan on the couch behind me, but still looking at our naked Christmas tree, having officially “undecked” our halls.

I stood proudly, hands on my hips, perhaps excessively proud of this very minor accomplishment. Then Stan spoke.

“Hey, Martha Stewart, you missed one,” he said wryly, after barely glancing at the tree.

“Dammit,” I replied. “I did not. Where? I looked at the thing 14 times. I got ’em all.”

“OK, your call,” Stan said, turning back to whatever football game was admittedly more interesting than the ongoing conversation.

“Are you being serious?

You’re screwing with me. You just wanna see how long I’ll paw through the Christmas tree looking for nonexistent ornaments. Show me where; which one is — wait, found it!”

I exclaimed, again with more celebration than the situation deserved.

Holding the small candy cane ornament, I looked over at the three Rubbermaid bins that hold our holiday decorations. They were all packed, sealed and stacked neatly, awaiting Stan’s next trip to the laundry room storage space.

“Eh…,” I said, having completely lost interest in my project. “I can live without it. You? It didn’t come from anyone we know, did it?”

It hadn’t. Thus it was jettisoned from our lives forever.

This is how the holidays typically end at our house. We control our ornament population through attrition — and

drops stuff, breaks things and falls down more than any adult should.

She’s married to a saintly — and handy — fisherman, and has been stringing words together in Key West since 1998.

careless oversight on my part.

I meticulously undress the Christmas tree a week or so into the new year, sending each ornament into its tissuepaper slumber for another 11 months.

Then, without fail, Stan spots a stowaway ornament (or two) while hauling the tree to the curb. Actually, wait, that prior statement is a lie. I do very few things “meticulously.”

In fact, my Christmas disassembly occurs haphazardly at best.

But still … how does this happen, and every freakin’ year?

I really did look at the damn drying-out tree 14 times, searching its boughs for stray glass bulbs, blownglass baubles, hand painted treasures from Stan’s mom, or the “Our First Christmas” ornament my mom gave us when we got married in 2010. (And no, I would never part with any of those, no matter how packed away everything was.

Geez, I’m not an animal.)

I had indeed checked the tree repeatedly. And there were no empty cavities in those ancient Christmas ball boxes. You know the ones, with their clear plastic covers either shredded or long gone, and the slide-out inserts that look like plastic cupcake tins.

They always contain a few errant pine needles from Christmas past, plus some crudely bent paper clips or other improvised hooks made from little rings of tied ribbon, or, in our household, fishing line.

Ah, the detritus of holiday decor. It’s always a bit depressing to undo it all.

But it’s great to have the living room back together — and I’m sure I’ll stop stepping on stray pine needles sometime before Fourth of July.

WHAT TO BELIEVE…

Discernment and common sense in the Misinformation Age

T

here are those who believe the Earth is flat. There are those who believe the moon landing was a hoax. People think that naturally occurring contrails from high flying aircraft are “chemtrails,” intended to do everything from control the weather to manipulate or poison the population. And let’s not forget the 5G and microchips-in-vaccines conspiracies popular last year. There is a metric crap-ton of bad information out there (alternative facts, if you will), easily disseminated through social media.

Let’s start with the mac-daddy, the genesis of a lot of today’s alternative facts: the Birther theory. Barack Obama was actually born in Kenya and was a secret Muslim sent to infiltrate the highest echelons of U.S. government. If true, someone would have had to possess the amazing foresight to place a false birth announcement in the Honolulu Star Bulletin in August 1961 to set up the back story and create the illusion that there really was a Barack H. Obama born in Hawaii — just because they were plotting ahead to take over the government in 2008.

People believe many crazy things.

Take, for example, the QAnon conspiracy theory. Q followers actually believe that there is a Deep State made up of a cabal of Satan-worshipping cannibalistic pedophiles who run a global sex-trafficking ring. Members of this cabal include top Democrats and some Republicans in Washington, D.C., as well as Bill and Hillary Clinton, and Hollywood elites like Tom Hanks. Of course, we can’t forget the evil bogeyman of the left — George Soros. He is the alleged billionaire financier of this cabal.

According to Q, President Donald Trump is the only one fighting the cabal, and a day of reckoning known as The Storm is still coming. Traitorous Democrats, Republicans, government officials, the mainstream media and those evil Hollywood elites will be exposed, rounded up and shipped to Guantanamo. There, they will be tried and executed. It sounds totally insane.

Yet I know people who really believe this.

The conspiracy theories get even worse. Trump attorney L. Lin Wood has made incredible — and incredulous — claims that have millions of people actually believing that the 2020 presidential election was rigged. (Fact check: there is not a shred of evidence proving any of his claims.) Wood actually claimed that Trump won with 70% of the vote, and that a secret cabal of international communists, Chinese

intelligence and Republican officials conspired to steal the election from Trump. Wood tweeted that Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts was involved in the JOHN death of Justice BARTUS Antonin Scalia, and suggested that Robis a City of Maraerts is also a child thon counciltrafficker. man. He also is Perhaps crazia musician who est of all is Wood’s performs around assertion that Vice town. For more see johnbartus.

President Mike com Pence and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell would be arrested and possibly face execution by firing squad for treason for failing to overturn the election. He also accused Pence of being a child molester. The really scary part, as if this isn’t bad enough, is that Wood is far from the only one out there who is spreading this stuff.

Now let’s combine everything from Birther-ism to racism, anti-Semitism, and white supremacy. Add in a heaping helping of people who feel their country has been taken from them.

Season with encouraging words from the occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Stir it up in a huge resonant social media echo chamber. What could possibly go wrong?

Last week’s storming of the U.S. Capitol was an attack on our American democracy. It was an insurrectionist attempt to overturn the results of a free and fair election — an election that was ratified by Democratic and Republican officials in all 50 states. Five people, including a Capitol police officer, died as a result of the tragic events of that day. Our nation was very fortunate that some of these so-called “Patriots” — equipped with zip-ties, firearms, and explosives — didn’t get their hands on any legislators. Almost certainly, more blood would have been spilled.

Believe what you will, but let’s not mince words: those who stormed the citadel of our Democracy are not patriots — they’re insurrectionists and domestic terrorists.

Catch John Wednesdays at Herbie’s, Thursdays at Sparky’s Landing, Fridays on Facebook Live for the Social Distancing Concerts, and Saturday night at the Key Colony Inn. Music available wherever you get your streaming. www.facebook. com/john.bartus

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KEY WEST / MARATHON / UPPER KEYS WEEKLY / JANUARY 14, 2021

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KEY WEST / MARATHON / UPPER KEYS WEEKLY / JANUARY 14, 2021

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KEY WEST / MARATHON / UPPER KEYS WEEKLY / JANUARY 14, 2021

Parker Konrath celebrates following St. Thomas Aquinas’ 31-21 victory over Edgewater, of Orlando, for the Class 7A title at Florida State University’s Doak Campbell Stadium on Dec. 19. CONTRIBUTED

Parker Konrath, pictured center, during his peewee years. KEYS WEEKLY FILE PHOTO

Marathon native Parker Konrath recently finished his junior season as a state champion with St. Thomas Aquinas in Fort Lauderdale. Konrath plays defensive end for the Raiders.

CONTRIBUTED

TAKING TALENTS TO THE NEXT LEVEL Marathon native wins state championship in football JIM McCARTHY

jim@keysweekly.com

M

arathon native and St. Thomas Aquinas High School junior Parker Konrath recalls the moment he and his teammates became state champions following a 31-21 victory over Orlando’s Edgewater High School on Dec. 19, 2020 at Doak Walker Stadium in Tallahassee.

“There’s no words. It was unbelievable,” Konrath said. “I’ve never really experienced anything like that. If you would have told me two years ago, ‘Hey, you’re going to win a state cham-

pionship.’ I would say you’re crazy.”

Konrath’s passion for football has taken him from the fields of Marathon during the peewee years to the high school gridiron under the Friday night lights against some of Florida’s top football talents. The 6-foot-1-inch, 225-pound junior plays defensive end and tight end for the Raiders. He’s under the tutelage of ex-NFL stars turned coaches, like Hall of Fame defensive end Jason Taylor, who currently serves as defensive coordinator for the team.

“It’s a great football school. But you really got to grow up. It’s not just about playing football,” he said. “It teaches how to compete and want something.”

Attending Marathon High School until his sophomore year, he ventured north to attend St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Fort Lauderdale.

Konrath said his passion for football kicked into gear during his freshman year, when the training became more intense and the workouts were nearly every day.

Today, he’s a state champion who’s ready to show his athleticism and talent come next season as a senior. He attributes his growth and success to his mom, Teresa, and his old coach, Luis.

“I would get hurt pretty often. My mom would always be there and coach would always help me up,” he said. “My mom would always boost me and tell me to go for the best.”

With a win against Edgewater in

the state championship, the Raiders finished the season 8-1.

Konrath said the team had some top-level talent, between new recruits and returning players.

“We started the season real late. Everybody started way ahead of us,” he said. “We didn’t start workouts until September. With the hard work we put in, there was nothing less to expect.”

Konrath said he particularly enjoyed playing at Florida State University for the state championship and wearing a gold medal following the team’s victory.

“There’s nothing like it,” he said.

Going into next season as a senior, Konrath is looking to have a bigger and better role as a leader. While he’s looking to attend a school in Florida once he graduates, Konrath said he’ll be happy going to a college that presents him with a good opportunity.

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KEY WEST / MARATHON / UPPER KEYS WEEKLY / JANUARY 14, 2021

4 1 2

GIRLS SOCCER ‘WORKING HARD TO GET BETTER’ Florida Christian wins 1-0

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he Marathon girls’ soccer team hosted Florida Christian on the afternoon of Jan. 11. The 1-4 Patriots managed to score one goal to beat Marathon 1-0. Head coach Kelly Cruz said, “We are working hard every day to get better.” This was the Lady Fins’ last home game.

The team is on the road for the next four games.

— Weekly staff report BARRY GAUKEL/Keys Weekly For more game photos visit www.ShadyPalmPhotography.com 1. Marathon’s Rain Banks (11) is on the attack.

2. Marathon’s Sara Stroma (6) battles with Florida Christian defenders.

3. Lady Fin Allison Paskiewicz (5) goes head to head with Patriot Ester Jones (8).

4. Marathon goalie Justice Isom makes a save.

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KEY WEST / MARATHON / UPPER KEYS WEEKLY / JANUARY 14, 2021

HIGH SCHOOL HOOPS

Key West narrowly defeats Coral Shores

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1

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ey West’s Conchs, with a 1-5 record, traveled on Jan. 8 to the other end of the island chain for a non-conference game against Coral Shores’ Hurricanes, who are 4-3 this season.

The game was tied 18-all at the half and was 36-35 heading into the fourth quarter.

Key West sank a shot in the final secords to put the game out of reach and won 56-49.

— Weekly staff report BARRY GAUKEL/Keys Weekly More game photos are available at ShadyPalmPhotography.com.

1. Both teams position for a rebound.

2. Key West’s Corey Vanderhoof (15) takes a shot.

3. The Conchs’ Jonibek Mushinov (33) passes the ball up to Kervens Nelson (1).

4. Junior Camren Watson (21) lays one in for Key West.

5. Key West Senior Malik Hunter (11) is challenged by Coral Shores’ Isaac Holmes (33).

5

6

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6. Conch Jonibek Mushinov (33) goes up to block a Coral Shores shot.

7. With just seconds remaining, a Key West basket puts the game out of reach.

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KEY WEST / MARATHON / UPPER KEYS WEEKLY / JANUARY 14, 2021

ATHLETE

BRIEFLY Marathon Elks Club hosting fish fry On Saturday, Jan. 16, the Marathon Elks Club is hosting a fish fry that is open to the public, beginning at 6:30 p.m. Diners can eat in or take out. The club is located at 8239 Overseas Hwy. in Marathon.

OF THE WEEK

ADRIAN CRUZ Basketball Freshman

What do you enjoy most about being on the basketball team? I enjoy it because it is really fun, intense and fast paced. It keeps me occupied while having a good time with friends.

How long have you been playing on the team? My dad helped get me into the sport when I was only 7 years old. In sixth grade, I joined the MHS team, and then this year as a freshman I was recruited to join the varsity team.

Describe one of your best moments in athletics. Every time I play in a game is my best moment. I just have a love for basketball, and nothing can beat that.

Coach Freeman says … “Try your best,” before each game and it reminds us all to go out on the court and try our hardest to win every game.

Marathon High School’s Alex Perez and teammates warm up before game time.

CLARE MERRYMAN/Keys Weekly

FIRST WIN OF THE SEASON MHS on a winning path CLARE MERRYMAN www.keysweekly.com

O

n Jan. 4, Marathon High School’s boys varsity basketball team went head to head with the Warriors of Westwood Christian in Miami. “The entire game was very close,” said head coach Kevin Freeman. The Dolphins remained down two points for the majority of the game, up until the final quarter.

Marathon came out on top with a score of 50-44.

“The game went well past an hour,” Freeman said.

All 14 of the team members contributed, Freeman said. Two players stood out, however. Sophomore Alex Perez helped his team to victory by scoring the final game-winning points.

“We were down one point with a minute left. I grabbed a rebound and ran upcourt, until I was fouled. I took two free throws and made both, and we won the game by six points,” Perez said.

First-year varsity player and freshman Adrian Cruz had a big game, too. He made all seven shots he took, including three threepoint baskets and four from inside the arc, earning him an impressive 17 points.

Several of the team players said dealing with COVID-19 restrictions hasn't made the season any easier. New rules include the elimination of the jump ball at the game’s beginning, and a mandated mask policy for players warming up or on the bench.

The pandemic curtailed the team’s season last year.

“This really stopped us from getting the extra practice we needed,” said sophomore Oscar Garcia. “Luckily, my teammates and I have been determined to turn this season around, and have been spending several hours both at practice, and out of practice at the Marathon Rec Center running plays and practicing our shots.

Defensive player Michael Tate is optimistic. “If we try to work together as a team and fill a few of our missing gaps in a game, we will be sure to have a season full of wins,” Tate said.

Detectives seek help in vandalism cases The Monroe County Sheriff’s Office is asking for the public’s help in solving multiple cases in which swastikas were spraypainted on public roads and private property this month, from Stock Island to Key Largo.

“I will not tolerate this symbol of hate and intolerance to be perpetuated by vandals in this community,” said Sheriff Rick Ramsay.

“I am on the record with residents who know how I feel about graffiti in general, but to use such a symbol of malevolence makes these cases even more troubling.”

The suspect is described as a white man in his mid to late 20s who appears to have short brown hair with a receding hairline. He has a slightly heavier build, with a somewhat protruding stomach.

He was wearing Under Armor shoes.

Cases were reported on Stock Island, Little Torch Key, Ramrod Key, Long Key and Key Largo. In every instance, the vandalism occurred near Trump signs.

Anyone with any information about these incidents is asked to call Lower Keys Detectives Boyd Williams or John Gabay at 305-292-7060 or email them at bwilliams@keysso.net or jgabay@ keysso.net, Middle Keys Detective Matthew O’Neill at 305-289-2430 or email him at moneill@keysso. net or Upper Keys Detectives at 305-853-3211. Those who wish to remain anonymous can call Crime Stoppers at 866-471-8477 or submit online at www.floridakeyscrimestoppers.com.

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KEY WEST / MARATHON / UPPER KEYS WEEKLY / JANUARY 14, 2021

FOUR RULES FOR THE BLUE HOLE Officials remind visitors of the rules Don’t use aerial or submerged drones to get a picture of the wildlife at the Blue Hole on Big Pine Key. KRISTIE KILLAM/Contributed

ISLAND LEARNING

Pigeon Key hosts Sunday lunch-andlearn programs SARA MATTHIS

sara@keysweekly.com

“L

ast Sunday we had a mix of locals and visitors come to Pigeon Key to learn about shark biology,” Casey Howley-Brigham, Pigeon Key’s education director told the Keys Weekly. Already, two more seminars are on the calendar and more are planned, she said.

On Sunday, Jan. 17, participants will learn about squid and dissection and on Sunday, Jan. 24, the course will cover reef fish identification and a fishing clinic.

The adventure begins at 11:30 when guests check in at the visitor’s center at 2010 Overseas Highway in Marathon (near Faro Blanco Resort). At noon, guests take the ferry to Pigeon Key, the historic island located near the center of the 7 Mile Bridge. The program runs from 12:30 to 1:30, Visitors for the education then there’s a break for lunch. The seminars should bring a waprogramming resumes at 2 p.m. ter bottle, lunch and snacks and lasts until about 2:30 p.m. for the visit to the island.

The ferry doesn’t leave until Guests can also bring snorkel 3:30 p.m., giving guests an hour to gear to explore the water explore. around the island. (Note: “Our goal of the optional there is no lifeguard on duty.) events — like the walking history tour — is for you and your group to do what you please. You can bring your snorkel gear, swim off the beach or explore our on-island museum,” Howley-Brigham said.

Participants will wear masks.

The cost for the program is $20 for adults and $15 for children. Locals receive a $5 discount. Reservations are required to attend; call 860-961-1982 or email at Casey@PigeonKey.net. Those with reservations must cancel 24 hours prior in order to receive a refund. The event is weather dependent (due to the ferry ride) and if cancellation is necessary, guests will be notified by 10 a.m. and ticket costs refunded.

More information is at pigeonkey.net

B

ig Pine Key’s Blue Hole is a wonderful place to get outside and appreciate nature, but there are some things you just can't do there.

“We hate having to put up individual signs that say don't do this or that,” said Kristie Killam of the Florida Keys National Wildlife Refuges Complex. “There are so many specifics and it takes away from the natural beauty of the area.

We do ask visitors and residents to consider that there are thousands and thousands of visitors to Blue Hole every year, and that it may not appear that your individual actions would have much impact; when multiplied by thousands of individuals, wildlife disturbance can have real and critical impacts to the creatures that live there.”

For the safety of people, and so experts can provide protections for the wildlife from human disturbance, some activities are illegal, here are several and the reasons: 1. Please do not ever feed the alligators: It is critically important for them to never associate people with food. When they lose their natural fear of people, they can become a danger. A nuisance alligator is not relocated, it is euthanized; it is unfortunately that simple.

2. Please do not disturb wildlife: Blue Hole is their home, they need their space to rest and feed, or raise their young without disturbance. For this reason it is illegal to use aerial drones or submerged drones to film the alligators and other wildlife. No motorized toy boats, or other motorized floating/ submersible vessels are allowed.

No swimming, snorkeling, diving or fishing is allowed. Please do not walk beyond the area closed signs. While your individual actions might seem insignificant, there are thousands of visitors each year and the cumulative impact is significant.

3. Practice ethical wildlife photography and viewing. Keep your distance. Use binoculars or telephoto lenses to get close. While it is legal to play a particular bird sound to attract a bird, please use only on a limited basis as these recordings can often attract predators or disturb the bird from its normal activities. In short, if you see the bird is focused on you, and not doing its normal behavior, you are too close; please back off and allow them their space.

4. Please don't feed the Key deer or other wildlife. This is not only important here at Blue Hole, but throughout the National Key Deer Refuge. Feeding causes Key deer to lose their natural caution around people. The food itself can be harmful; they are wild animals and they have plenty of natural food. Giving food alters their behavior; while most of us love and adore them, there are a few bad characters who mean them harm. When they trust people, it can put them in harm’s way. Feeding stations at a residence or feeding from roadways cause them to hang out or cross hazardous roads. We lose more than 100 Key deer each year to road mortality; while not all of this can be attributed directly to being fed, we know the practice certainly causes them to hang out alongside and near roads.

Help Key deer remain wild and healthy; please don’t feed them.

Pretty much all of the rules and regulations described above apply in all areas of the Florida Keys National Wildlife Refuges. For more information, please contact park ranger Killam at Kristie_killam@fws.gov, and follow Refuge updates on the website and Facebook page: www.fws. gov/refuge/National_Key_Deer_Refuge/ and facebook.com/floridakeysrefuges.

– Contributed

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KEY WEST / MARATHON / UPPER KEYS WEEKLY / JANUARY 14, 2021

OBITUARY

Phyllis E. Billard (Larish)

LOCAL RECEIVES PRESTIGIOUS AVIATION AWARD Marathon’s Ed Waldorf is presented the Wright Brothers Master Pilot Award in late December during the Christmas party for the local chapter of the Experimental Aircraft Association. The award is the most prestigious presented by the Federal Aviation Administration, and only pilots with at least 50 years of experience — and demonstrating professionalism, skill and expertise — are eligible. Only 6,500 Americans have been honored with this designation since the recognition began in 2003.

Don Casto, representing the FAA, presented Waldorf with the plaque. TONY DAIUTO/ Contributed

Phillis E. Billard passed away Dec. 27, 2020, at the age of 93. She was born on May 11, 1927, in Blooming Grove, Pennsylvania and spent the majority of her adult life in Rochester, New York and Key Colony Beach, Florida.

Her daughter, Patti, said, “She was my best friend for 59 years.

I've never loved anyone as much as I loved her and I've never been loved as much as she loved me.

“She's been my teacher, my mentor, my chef, my baker, my interior decorator, my business partner, my painter, my wallpaper hanger, my landscaper, my golf coach, my bowling coach, and my fishermom (who could gaff a fish from the 3 Mile Bridge).

“She taught me how to be a lady, and at the same time, how to compete with the boys. My Mom never let me down. She was always there for me with a big smile, a fabulous outfit, and a cup of homemade hot chocolate. She was the epitome of elegance and grace.

“She was an avid golfer and won her Club Championship for over a decade. She had the remarkable accomplishment in her lifetime of 11 hole-in-ones.

“She was smart, extremely generous, incredibly thoughtful, and always made a setting at our table for a stranger or person in need.

She loved to dance, and loved to be with her sisters and brothers. They would laugh and giggle so much that they would wet their pants.

She was the happiest being together with them.

“My heart aches. I will miss her terribly. She was truly ‘the wind beneath my wings.’”

Arrangements have been entrusted to Thomas Funeral Chapels in Rochester, New York.

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KEY WEST / MARATHON / UPPER KEYS WEEKLY / JANUARY 14, 2021

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KEY WEST / MARATHON / UPPER KEYS WEEKLY / JANUARY 14, 2021

The beginning of a new growing season. This was my first sunflower seed to break ground and what it grew into. There is nothing more enjoyable than watching a little seed grow into something so amazing! JO-ANNA MARY/Contributed

Lucia Novo on a new adventure for Family Marine Science Day on Sundays at Pigeon Key. MARI NOVO/ Contributed

For the new year, the BTW boutique fitness studio got some new gear and a reorganization. BTW offers 1-on-1 and small group coaching sessions.

CHRIS MERRELL/Contributed

Looking up and looking forward. The Milky Way from Marathon. DANIEL EIDSMOE/Contributed

Kicking off the New Year by kicking back at Florida Keys Brewing Company to the awesome sounds of The Barstool Sailor. Outdoors and out of this world. BARBARA OVERTON/ Contributed

On the way to the mainland to take care of Mom’s house, we were reminded why we moved back here to retire. SALLY LIPSKY/contributed

What a rad rockin’ dude in Marathon. New colors for a new year. JESSE KOBLENTZ/Love & Light Photography

TIFFANY DUONG

tiffany@keysweekly.com

O

ur theme for JANUARY is FRESH STARTS. January always brings new year’s resolutions, fresh hopes, lots of workout gear purchased with the best intentions, and clearing of bad juju and holiday ham. Send us your favorite interpretation of a fresh start, whether that’s a new haircut, a snapshot of you at the gym, a new pet, or your first day back at work. We’re kicking 2020 way outta here and celebrating all the good things that 2021 has to offer us.

Photos, captions and photo credit can be emailed to tiffany@keysweekly.com.

Rules, schmules: • All photos must be original work and feature something or someone related to the Keys.

• Photos can be images that have been published before.

• No third party may own or control any materials the photo contains, and the photo must not infringe upon the trademark, copyright, moral rights, intellectual rights, or rights of privacy of any entity or person.

• Any person agrees, by submitting photos, that photos submitted can be used by the Keys Weekly for any and all purposes, including but not limited to advertising, charity work, sales, future editorial, print in the newspapers or online or on social media posts on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and any other social media platforms as may come about.

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KEY WEST / MARATHON / UPPER KEYS WEEKLY / JANUARY 14, 2021

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KEY WEST / MARATHON / UPPER KEYS WEEKLY / JANUARY 14, 2021

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STOCKING STUFFER

The owners and staff of Marathon Lumber found a fun and creative way to support Keys Area Interdenominational Resources (KAIR) over the holiday season. The business urged customers to put $1 in the stocking and then added $1,000 to the tally. KAIR supports residents in the Middle Keys who are in crisis with social resources, a closet and a food pantry. CONTRIBUTED

CONGRATULATIONS To our BUYERS & SELLERS. We hope you enjoy your new homes.

Karen represented the Buyers & Sellers of: 25 7th Street, Key Colony Beach, FL 33051 A member of the franchise system of BHH Affiliates, LLC

Karen Raspe, PA | 305.393.9010 | karenraspe@bellsouth.net

MOOSE MERRIMENT

In mid-December, the Marathon Moose Lodge played Santa for 23 children from seven local families. The locals meet at the lodge first for a meal and arts and crafts. Afterward, the families set off to Kmart for a shopping expedition. The excursion is made possible with the support of the lodge, Kmart, volunteers and the Dolphin Research Center, Publix, Winn-Dixie, Skipjack Resort, the Shriners, Dunkin Donuts and Marathon Lumber. CONTRIBUTED

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CAMPING & CLEANING The Boy Scout Troop 901 of Marathon finished the year by camping and cleaning at Crane Point Museum. In addition to some recreation, the troop cleaned the natural preserve of flotsam and jetsam. To learn more about the scouts, call Scoutmaster Arjen Holdinga at 305394-4699. CONTRIBUTED

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KEY WEST / MARATHON / UPPER KEYS WEEKLY / JANUARY 14, 2021

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Jody & Lynn represented the Buyers of: 211 S. Anglers Drive, Marathon, FL 33050 A member of the franchise system of BHH Affiliates, LLC

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KEY WEST / MARATHON / UPPER KEYS WEEKLY / JANUARY 14, 2021

MARK HEDDEN

www.keysweekly.com

THE ART OF DUKE RILEY

Booze, plastic, pigeons and trespassing

t was windy on Boca Chica Beach and Florida Keys cold. A dark row of clouds looked as if it wanted to make good on a threat, and a man with keys hanging out of his maybe-too-short shorts told us the fighter jets weren’t flying that day, but, he continued, if you pointed a camera at the air base there was a good chance the MPs would come out and want to have a serious conversation.

We walked on a bit and I found myself apologizing to Duke Riley for the lack of trash.

Boca Chica Beach has traditionally been a wonderland of trash, not so much from the local litterati but from the offshore shipping lanes. Weird, unfamiliar bottles, bags and whatnot. I once found a hermit crab living in the cap of a shampoo bottle cap there.

Another time there was a can of Glade air freshener with all the writing, except the logo, in Arabic. There used to be a whole section of fence decorated with all the unmatched shoes that had washed up – a sort of vernacular collective art installation.

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KEY WEST / MARATHON / UPPER KEYS WEEKLY / JANUARY 14, 2021

But now there was hardly anything, detrituswise, and since Riley's current medium was trash – specifically plastic trash found on beaches – I felt I had oversold the place.

Riley, one of the artists-in-residence at The Studios of Key West this month, seemed less bothered than content to look. He’d brought a whole suitcase full of trash with him from New York. Anything we found would be a bonus. What he really wanted, he said, was the right piece of rope.

Riley had been making re-imagined seafarer crafts – scrimshaw pieces, cases of fishing lures, the intricately decorated octagonal boxes called sailors’ valentines. He was carving the scrimshaw onto items like painted dishwashing soap bottles and squirt guns.

“The old scrimshaw that you'd see on whales’ teeth would normally depict sea captains and ship owners and people like that. I'm doing pictures of lobbyists and CEOs from the plastic and petroleum industries, and the different politicians who are working with them. People who are against things like plastic bag bans,” Riley said.

“The whalers and ship owners back then, they were the most prominent people in society.

And whether they were aware of it or not, they almost completely decimated an entire, not just species, but (several genera) of animals,” he said, During the summer Riley made some lures out of plastic tampon applicators, went out fishing, and caught a depressingly impressive number of fluke.

I first learned about Riley a couple years ago from a video in which he attached tiny cameras to homing pigeons and released them in Havana to fly back to Stock Island. It’s a very jarring video, possibly seizure-inducing, a spastic zoetrope with lots of wind sounds and thumping wingbeats. At first you get this pigeon’s-eye view of iconic Havana – rooftops, old cars, baseball diamonds, boulevards, fountains, other pigeons.

Then there’s quite a bit of ocean. Then the bird lands in the rigging of a party boat on a sunset cruise. Someone wonders aloud about the bird.

Someone says it looks like the bird is carrying a tiny bomb. “Margaritaville” plays from a tinny speaker.

The bird takes off again. More water. Sand Key Light. Marinas. Stock Island rooftops. Then finally the inside of a pigeon coop, where a kind of calm takes over. You see other pigeons wearing tiny packs, fellow travelers who had just made the same flight carrying contraband cigars. There is a lot of cooing.

The project, called “Trading With The Enemy,” was a deconstruction of distance and geography, a critique and a challenge of illegality and cultural barriers, as well as an homage to Key West and its history of smuggling.

It took four years to plan the project and train the birds. Afterward there was a gallery

show, whose centerpiece was the mobile coop where the pigeons had lived, built out of old slatted shutters and abandoned restaurant signs.

The walls of the gallery were covered with frames full of the tiny packs used to hold the cameras and cigars, handmade out of old bra straps, with the birds’ names (Sloppy Joe Russell, Luis Buñuel, Admiral Finbar, Whitey Bulger…) stitched into them. There were also concept drawings and illustrated rosters listing which birds flew with cigars and which flew with cameras. And there were memorials as well, painted on old tin roof tiles, to the birds lost in training, or on the flight from Cuba, or to eye disease.

Looking over Riley’s other projects, one starts to pick up on themes: islands, cities, abandoned places, community events, booze, forgotten histories, trespassing, pigeons, tattoos, idiomatic visual art forms, a willingness to crack a joke, a penchant for transgressive and extralegal acts.

For his project “After the Battle of Brooklyn,” Riley built a wooden submarine, dubbed the Acorn, based on plans for the Turtle, a vessel deployed by George Washington during the Revolutionary War in an attempt to blow up British warships in New York Harbor. (It was unsuccessful.)

Riley and two friends launched the Acorn and were confronted by machine gun-wielding police after coming within 200 yards of the Queen Mary 2, earning him several hours of questioning, a stint on the no-fly list, and a still-open FBI file.

“I was definitely not aiming to get caught,” said Riley. “I distinctly was trying not to get caught because I wanted to prove that I could use this technology from 1776 to basically subvert all of the technology that was laid in place during the post-9/11, Homeland Security, Patriot Act era.”

It was the tides that did him in, he said.

“The Dead Horse Inn” was a “temporary bar installation under a Queens overpass on the site of a historic shantytown that was razed in the 1930s to slake city planner Robert Moses’ endless thirst for urban development. Drinks cost a nickel and, according to the New York Times, no

change was given. (His later project “Rotgut” was an illegal speakeasy in an old Brooklyn tattoo parlor.)

For “La Esquina Fría” Riley installed a synthetic ice skating rink, complete with 200 pairs of skates, near the Malecón in Havana. The rink was open to the public, and was supposed to close after a few weeks, but was used for over a year.

For “Fly By Night” he attached small LED lights to the legs of trained pigeons and released them for nightly performances from a boat docked in the Brooklyn Navy Yard. He revamped the project two years later for “Fly By Night (London)."

“Non-Essential Consultants, Inc.” was a recent “three-channel video installation” which Artnet News reviewed under the headline, “Artist Duke Riley Definitely Did Not Infest the Trump Hotel with Bed Bugs. No, Really, He Definitely Didn’t.”

There is great documentation of all of this, and other projects, at dukeriley.info.

At one point I asked him if he thought he could do the kind of work he did if he was a person of color.

"I suppose any time you're doing anything in this country, that question is relevant, even if it's not illegal. I think if I popped out of a submarine and somebody was pointing a machine gun at me and I was brown, it might've gone differently.

Absolutely," he said.

"I think it's important to always push boundaries and that the boundaries of the law are often fluid. If you aren't pushing hard one way, then you will get pushed back hard the other way. I think maybe, as a person of privilege, it's my responsibility to think about how that boundary is constantly shifting," he added.

On the beach, I kept finding pieces of rope and asking if they would work for whatever he wanted to do with them. He kept shaking his head no.

When I saw something that looked like, but was not, an old pregnancy test, I asked if he’d ever found one of those.

“A few,” he said. “Mostly negative.”

Finally he found a piece of rope he liked.

He pulled it out of the sand and held it up for a second, before lacing it through his belt loops to hold up his shorts.

Then he went back to looking for more trash on a surprisingly clean beach.

Left page: Duke Riley in his workspace at The Studios of Key West. MARK HEDDEN/Keys Weekly Top: Scrimshaw plastic bottles

by Duke Riley. MARK HEDDEN/ Keys Weekly Bottom: A scrimshaw squirt gun by Duke Riley. MARK HEDDEN/Keys Weekly

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KEY WEST / MARATHON / UPPER KEYS WEEKLY / JANUARY 14, 2021

CONGRATULATIONS

STUDENT OF THE WEEK

BRIEFLY

To our BUYERS & SELLERS. We hope you enjoy your new homes.

Trish & Kathryn represented the Sellers of: 20790 W. 1st Avenue, Cudjoe Key, FL 33042 A member of the franchise system of BHH Affiliates, LLC

Trish Hintze Kathryn Rummery www.KeysRealEstate.com 305.923.9976 305.731.9579 trish@paradiseinthekeys.com kathryn@keysrealestate.com

COMMERCE CORNER

T

he Keys Weekly is proud to partner with Key Largo’s Ocean Studies Charter School in choosing “The Student of the Week.” Recipients are chosen on qualifications including academic standing, athletics, outstanding achievements, community involvement, individuality and more fortitude. We thank our future leaders and Ocean Studies for allowing us to share in a weekly dose of school pride and for giving us a glimpse into their world.

LILY CARR THIRD GRADE

Automotive Tire and Service Center Tire Kingdom is a full service automotive center. Besides tires, the service center also does brakes, alignments, maintenance services as well as oil changes, front end repair and air conditioning.

“Our key to success is our people. We only sell customers what they need and follow strict guidelines for recommended services,” said Rick Vargas. “We have fair prices and employ local residents. We want to be part of the community and will always back up our work.”

Location: 12300 Overseas Highway Phone: 305-289-9992 Website: www.tirekingdom.com Email: m6947@tirekingdom.com

Who is your all-time favorite teacher and why? Ms. Sabrah because she’s nice. She helps me a lot with your work.

What is your favorite subject and why? I like to read books.

What is the best rule at school?

Being kind so people don’t get their feelings hurt.

What’s your favorite food for lunch?

My favorite food is french fries with ketchup.

What do you want to be when you grow up? I want to be a doctor so I can help people.

What is one favorite way you like to spend your spare time? I like to read up in my room. I like to play with my friends.

Will you make the Keys your permanent home in the future? Why or why not? Yes, I like there’s a beach right next to us so we can go into the water. And it’s hot and not cold.

Curative opens location at Bernstein Park In addition to Founders Park in Islamorada, Curative is now offering free COVID-19 testing at Bernstein Park in Stock Island from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., with more than 500 tests per day available to the public. Curative offers an oral-fluid swab testing — an alternative method to nasopharyngeal swabs in testing for COVID-19. The observed and directed self-collected oral fluid swab involves having the person cough first, which releases virus from the upper and lower respiratory tract. The patient then swabs the inside of their cheeks and the roof of their mouths.

Results are sent to patients via SMS text or email. Testing is currently available by walk-up or make an appointment at www. curative.com.

KCB resumes concerts in Sunset Park The Key Colony Beach Community Association will be having free, socially distanced concerts every Sunday from 4 to 6 p.m. beginning on Feb. 14 with John Bartus. The public is welcome to bring chairs and or blankets and refreshments. Parking is limited, and guests are encouraged to walk, bike or carpool.

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KEY WEST / MARATHON / UPPER KEYS WEEKLY / JANUARY 14, 2021

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58

KEY WEST / MARATHON / UPPER KEYS WEEKLY / JANUARY 14, 2021

• CLASSIFIEDS, PUBLIC & LEGAL NOTICES • LEGAL NOTICES FICTITIOUS NAME NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the undersigned, desiring to engage in business under the fictitious name of CYS Asset Management located at 24 Dockside Lane, Key Largo, FL 33037, intends to register said name with the Florida Department of State, Tallahassee, Florida.

By: Harbour Trading Co., Inc. Publish: January 14, 2021 The Weekly Newspapers NOTICE OF INTENT TO TOEXCHANGE COUNTY PROPERTY NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN PURSUANT TO F.S. 125.37 that the Board of County Commissioners of Monroe County, Florida shall meet on January 20, 2021, at 9:00 a.m. at the Marathon Government Center, 2798 Overseas Highway, Marathon, Florida, or as soon thereafter as may be heard to consider the adoption of a resolution authorizing the exchange of a portion of real property owned by Monroe County, Florida, located at 3251 Overseas Highway, Marathon, Florida (Parcel A) for real property owned by Fishermen’s Health, Inc., located at 2855 Overseas Highway, Marathon, Florida (Parcel B). The purpose of the exchange is to provide for better health care and facilities for the citizens of Monroe County and to provide for additional office space for Constitutional Officers and County Departments.

Due to COVID precautions, the public can participate in the meeting via the Zoom platform by: Telephone: Dial (646) 518-9805 or (669) 900-6833. When prompted, enter the Webinar ID# 913 1016 8691 followed by the # key, then *9 to be recognized by the host when item is called.

Video Conference via Zoom link: http://monroecounty-fl. gov/BoccMeetingJan20.

When prompted, enter your email address and name. When the item is called, select the “Raised Hand” feature that appears at the bottom of the screen to be recognized by the host.

To report problems with the broadcast or participation in the Zoom webinar, please call (305) 872-8831.

COUNTY PROPERTY (Parcel A) The County property is the current Marathon branch library, which has a street address of 3251 Overseas Highway, Marathon, Florida and a portion of the parcel with ID number of 00102310-000000.

The County intends to convey a portion of that property (Parcel A) that has a legal description as follows: A parcel of land lying in Section 9, Township 66 South, Range 32 East, Marathon, Monroe County, State of Florida, and being more particularly described by metes and bounds as follows, to-wit: Commencing at the intersection of the Northeasterly right of way line of 30th Street, also known as Marathon Avenue, according to the recorded plat of Sombrero Subdivision No. 6, as recorded in Plat Book 2 at Page 93 of the Public Records of Monroe County, Florida and the Southeasterly right of way line of U.S. Highway No. 1, also known as Overseas Highway, said point also being the Northwest corner of Lot B1, according to said plat of Sombrero Subdivision No. 6, thence N73°53'03"E along the Southeasterly right of way line

305.743.0844

LEGAL NOTICES

LEGAL NOTICES

LEGAL NOTICES

LEGAL NOTICES

LEGAL NOTICES

LEGAL NOTICES

of said U.S. Highway No. 1 for a distance of 352.00 feet to the Point of Beginning of the parcel of land hereinafter described; thence N73°53'03"E continuing along the said Southeasterly right of way line of U.S. Highway No. 1 for a distance of 108.00 feet to the Northwest corner of the lands described in Official Records Book 2862, at Page 1081 of the Public Records of Monroe County, Florida; thence S16°06'57"E along the Southwesterly boundary line of the said lands described in Official Records Book 2862, at Page 1081 of the Public Records of Monroe County, Florida, for a distance of 400.00 feet to the Southwest corner of the said lands described in Official Records Book 2862, at Page 1081 of the Public Records of Monroe County, Florida; thence N73°53'03"E along the Southeasterly boundary line of the said lands described in Official Records Book 2862, at Page 1081 of the Public Records of Monroe County, Florida, for a distance of 100.00 feet to the Southeast corner of the said lands described in Official Records Book 2862, at Page 1081 of the Public Records of Monroe County, Florida; thence S16°06'57"E along the Southwesterly boundary line of the said lands described in Official Records Book 2862, at Page 1081 of the Public Records of Monroe County, Florida, for a distance of 115.00 feet to the Southwest corner of the said lands described in Official Records Book 2862, at Page 1081 of the Public Records of Monroe County, Florida; thence S73°53'03"W for a distance of 197.00 feet to a point; thence N16°06'57"W for a distance of 160.50 feet to a point; thence N61°06'57"W for a distance of 28.28 feet to a point; thence N16°06'57"W for a distance of 137.00 feet to a point; thence N73°53'03"E for a distance of 20.00 feet to a point; thence N16°06'57"W for a distance of 98.00 feet to a point; thence S73°53'03"W for a distance of 13.50 feet to a point; thence N16°06'57"W for a distance of 67.50 feet to a point; thence N73°53'03"E for a distance of 2.50 feet to a point; thence N16°06'57"W for a distance of 32.00 feet back to the Point of Beginning. Said parcel of land contains 65,658.25 Square Feet or 1.51 Acres, more or less.

THE FISHERMEN’S HEALTH, INC. PROPERTY (Parcel B) The Fishermen’s Health, Inc. property is located at 2855 Overseas Highway, Marathon, Florida and has a parcel ID number of 00321730-000000.

The legal description is as follows: Lots A-4, B-4 and D-14, of SOMBRERO SUBDIVISION NO. 6, according to the Plat thereof as recorded in Plat Book 2, Page 93, of the Public Records of Monroe County, Florida.

TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF PROPOSED EXCHANGE The County and Fishermen’s Health, Inc. agree to convey to each other title to their respective parcels by good and sufficient deeds, free and clear of all liens and encumbrances, except that Parcel B will be encumbered by a restrictive covenant prohibiting the County or any successors in interest from developing or utilizing Parcel B for medical offices or medical related uses for a period of 15 years.

Fishermen’s Health, Inc. will pay off a sewer assessment lien on Parcel B in the amount of $7,981.82. Fishermen’s Health, Inc. will pay any and all documentary stamp fees required to be paid on both

properties. The closing shall take place on the latter of thirty (30) days after the end of the 120 day inspection period or after the County has completed its new library and vacated Parcel A, unless extended in writing by the parties. The closing on each property is contingent on simultaneous closing on the other property.

Both properties are being conveyed “as is” with respect to physical condition.

Copies of the proposed Resolution and supporting documentation may be obtained from the County Attorney’s Office, 1111 12th Street, Suite 408, Key West, FL 33040 or online at: http:// monroecountyfl.iqm2.com/ Citizens/Detail_Meeting. aspx?ID=1131 ADA ASSISTANCE: If you are a person with a disability who needs special accommodations to participate, contact (305) 292-4441, between the hours of 8:30a.m. – 5:00p.m., prior to the scheduled meeting; if you are hearing or voice-impaired, call “711”.

Dated at Key West, Florida, this 30th day of December, 2020.

KEVIN MADOK, Clerk of the Circuit Court and ex officio Clerk of the Board of County Commissioners of Monroe County, Florida Publish: January 7 & 14, 2021 The Weekly Newspapers

Any person who may be entitled to take an elective share must file such election WITHIN THE TIME REQUIRED BY LAW, which is on or before the earlier of the date that is 6 months after the date of service of a copy of the Notice of Administration on the surviving spouse, or an attorney in fact or a guardian of the property of the surviving spouse, or the date that is 2 years after the date of the decedent’s death.

Personal Representative: MICHAEL J. GEDDES 5706 Revere Drive Olmsted, OH 44070 Attorney for Petitioner: RICHARD C. MILLS III, ESQ. Fla. Bar No. 1003321 BOGIN, MUNNS & MUNNS, P.A. 2700 NW 43rd Street, Suite C Gainesville, FL 32606 Phone: (352) 332-7688 Fax: (352) 332-7692 rmills@boginmunns.com Publish: January 14 & 21, 2021 The Weekly Newspapers

IN THE CIRCUIT COURT FOR MONROE COUNTY, FLORIDA PROBATE DIVISION FILE NO. 20-CP-000307-K IN RE: ESTATE OF CHRISTOPHER HEMANN, Deceased.

NOTICE TO CREDITORS The administration of the estate of Christopher Hemann, deceased, whose date of death was November 3, 2020, is pending in the Circuit Court for Monroe County, Florida, Probate Division, the address of which is 500 Whitehead Street, Key West, Florida 33040. The names and addresses of the personal representative and the personal representative’s attorney are set forth below.

All creditors of the decedent and other persons having claims or demands against decedent’s estate on whom a copy of this notice is required to be served must file their claims with this court ON OR BEFORE THE LATER OF 3 MONTHS AFTER THE DATE OF THE FIRST PUBLICATION OF THIS NOTICE OR 30 DAYS AFTER THE DATE OF SERVICE OF A COPY OF THIS NOTICE ON THEM. All other creditors of the decedent and other persons having claims or demands against decedent’s estate must file their claims with this court WITHIN 3 MONTHS AFTER THE DATE OF THE FIRST PUBLICATION OF THIS NOTICE. ALL CLAIMS NOT FILED WITHIN THE TIME PERIODS SET FORTH IN FLORIDA STATUTES SECTION 733.702 WILL BE FOREVER BARRED. NOTWITHSTANDING THE TIME PERIODS SET FORTH ABOVE, ANY CLAIM FILED TWO (2) YEARS OR MORE AFTER THE DECEDENT’S DATE OF DEATH IS BARRED. The date of first publication of this notice is: January 14, 2021.

Personal Representative: Teresa Hemann 243 Richard Street Rochester, New York 14607 Attorney for Personal Representative: Maylene Abad Florida Bar Number: 0054399 MAYLENE ABAD LAW OFFICES 207 Key Deer Boulevard Ste. B13 BIG PINE KEY, FL 33043 Telephone: (305) 922-2367 E-Mail: maylene@maesq.com Secondary E-Mail: may6995@ aol.com Publish: January 14 & 21, 2021 The Weekly Newspapers

be served, must file their claims with this court ON OR BEFORE THE LATER OF 3 MONTHS AFTER THE TIME OF THE FIRST PUBLICATION OF THIS NOTICE OR 30 DAYS AFTER THE DATE OF SERVICE OF A COPY OF THIS NOTICE ON THEM. All other creditors of the decedent and other persons having claims or demands against decedent’s estate must file their claims with this court WITHIN 3 MONTHS AFTER THE DATE OF THE FIRST PUBLICATION OF THIS NOTICE. ALL CLAIMS NOT FILED WITHIN THE TIME PERIODS SET FORTH IN FLORIDA STATUTES SECTION 733.702 WILL BE FOREVER BARRED. NOTWITHSTANDING THE TIME PERIOD SET FORTH ABOVE, ANY CLAIM FILED TWO (2) YEARS OR MORE AFTER THE DECEDENT’S DATE OF DEATH IS BARRED. The date of first publication of this notice is: January 14, 2021.

Signed on this 20 day of November, 2020.

Personal Representative: CHLOE CEBEK 19 Erwin Avenue Massena, New York 13662 Personal Representative: DAPHNE CEBEK AITKEN 230 E. 11th Street, Apt. 1 New York, New York 10003 Attorney for Personal Representatives: YOSHIMI O. SMITH, ESQ. Florida Bar No. 905151 Beller Smith P.L. 2101 NW Corporate Blvd., Suite 316 Boca Raton, Florida 33431 Telephone: 561-994-4316 Email: ysmith@bellersmith.com Secondary Email: kayla@ bellersmith.com Publish: January 14 & 21, 2021 The Weekly Newspapers

CLAIM FILED TWO (2) YEARS OR MORE AFTER THE DECEDENT’S DATE OF DEATH IS BARRED. The date of first publication of this notice is: January 14, 2021.

Personal Representative: KAREN SYLVESTER 413 Hand Avenue, #11 Cape May Court House, NJ 08210 Attorney for Personal Representative: Urban J. W. Patterson, Esq. Email: ujwplaw@gmail.com Secondary Email: ujwplawfirm@ yahoo.com Florida Bar Number: 382035 Urban J. W. Patterson, P.A. P.O. Box 783 Islamorada, FL 33036 Telephone: 305-664-5065 Publish: January 14 & 21, 2021 The Weekly Newspapers

IN THE CIRCUIT COURT FOR MONROE COUNTY, FLORIDA PROBATE DIVISION FILE NO.: 44-2019-CP-0065 IN RE: ESTATE OF MONETTE R. TRAICHAL, Deceased.

NOTICE OF ADMINISTRATION The administration of the Estate of MONETTE R. TRAICHAL, Deceased, Probate Case No. 2019-CP-0065 is pending in the Circuit Court for Monroe County, Probate Division, the address of which is 3117 Overseas Highway, Marathon, FL 33050. The estate is intestate.

The name and address of the Personal Representative, who was appointed by the court on November 26, 2019, and the Personal Representative’s attorney, are set forth below.

Any interested persons on whom a copy of the Notice of Administration is served and who challenges the qualifications of the personal representative, the venue, or the jurisdiction of the court, must file an objection with the court in the manner provided in the Florida Probate Rules and WITHIN THE TIME REQUIRED

BY LAW, which is on or before the date that is 3 months after the date of service of a copy of the Notice of Administration on that person, or those objections are forever barred.

Any person who may be entitled to exempt property under Section 732.402, Florida Statutes, will be deemed to have waived their rights to claim that property as exempt property unless a petition for determination of exempt property is filed by such persons or on their behalf WITHIN THE TIME REQUIRED BY LAW, which is on or before the later of the date that is 4 months after the date of service of a copy of the Notice of Administration on such person or the date that is 40 days after the date of termination of any proceeding involving the construction, admission to probate, or validity of the will or involving any other matter affecting any part of the exempt property.

IN THE CIRCUIT COURT FOR MONROE COUNTY, FLORIDA PROBATE DIVISION FILE NO. 20-CP-000293-K IN RE: ESTATE OF REGLA DE LA CARIDAD RODRIGUEZ, Deceased.

NOTICE TO CREDITORS The administration of the estate of REGLA DE LA CARIDAD RODRIGUEZ, deceased, whose date of death was September 21, 2020, is pending in the Circuit Court for Monroe County, Florida, Probate Division, the address of which is 500 Whitehead Street, Key West, FL 33040. The names and addresses of the personal representative and the personal representative’s attorney are set forth below.

All creditors of the decedent and other persons having claims or demands against decedent’s estate on whom a copy of this notice is required to be served must file their claims with this court ON OR BEFORE THE LATER OF 3 MONTHS AFTER THE DATE OF THE FIRST PUBLICATION OF THIS NOTICE OR 30 DAYS AFTER THE DATE OF SERVICE OF A COPY OF THIS NOTICE ON THEM. All other creditors of the decedent and other persons having claims or demands against decedent’s estate must file their claims with this court WITHIN 3 MONTHS AFTER THE DATE OF THE FIRST PUBLICATION OF THIS NOTICE. ALL CLAIMS NOT FILED WITHIN THE TIME PERIODS SET FORTH IN FLORIDA STATUTES SECTION 733.702 WILL BE FOREVER BARRED. NOTWITHSTANDING THE TIME PERIODS SET FORTH ABOVE, ANY CLAIM FILED TWO (2) YEARS OR MORE AFTER THE DECEDENT’S DATE OF DEATH IS BARRED. The date of first publication of this notice is: January 14, 2021.

Personal Representative: Barbara Creme 2750 Pierce St. Apt 12 Hollywood, FL 33020 (954) 326-0628 Attorney for Personal Representative: Alain E. Roman, Esq. The Law Office of Alain Roman, PLLC Florida Bar No. 119796 8180 NW 36th Street, Suite 224 Doral, FL 33166 Phone: (305) 489-1415 alain@alainromanlaw.com Publish: January 14 & 21, 2021 The Weekly Newspapers

IN THE CIRCUIT COURT FOR MONROE COUNTY, FLORIDA PROBATE DIVISION FILE NO.: 20-CP-000121-P IN RE: ESTATE OF JOAN CHRISTINA OLITSKI, a/k/a KRISTINA OLITSKI Deceased.

NOTICE TO CREDITORS The administration of the estate of JOAN CHRISTINA OLITSKI, also known as KRISTINA OLITSKI, deceased, whose date of death was October 2, 2020; File Number 20-CP-000121-P, is pending in the Circuit Court for Monroe County, Florida, Probate Division, the address of which is 88820 Overseas Highway, Plantation Key, FL 33070. The names and addresses of the personal representatives and the personal representatives’ attorney are set forth below.

All creditors of the decedent and other persons having claims or demands against decedent’s estate, on whom a copy of this notice is required to

IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE SIXTEENTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT IN AND FOR MONROE COUNTY, FLORIDA PROBATE DIVISION FILE NO.: 2020-CP-131-P IN RE: ESTATE OF DAVID PIERCE BUCKWALTER, SR. Deceased.

NOTICE TO CREDITORS The administration of the estate of DAVID PIERCE BUCKWALTER, SR., deceased, whose date of death was November 21, 2020, is pending in the Circuit Court for Monroe County, Florida, Probate Division, the address of which is 88820 Overseas Highway, Plantation Key, FL 33070. The names and addresses of the personal representative and the personal representative’s attorney are set forth below.

All creditors of the decedent and other persons having claims or demands against decedent’s estate on whom a copy of this notice is required to be served must file their claims with this court ON OR BEFORE THE LATER OF 3 MONTHS AFTER THE TIME OF THE FIRST PUBLICATION OF THIS NOTICE OR 30 DAYS AFTER THE DATE OF SERVICE OF A COPY OF THIS NOTICE ON THEM. All other creditors of the decedent and other persons having claims or demands against decedent’s estate must file their claims with this court WITHIN 3 MONTHS AFTER THE DATE OF THE FIRST PUBLICATION OF THIS NOTICE. ALL CLAIMS NOT FILED WITHIN THE TIME PERIODS SET FORTH IN SECTION 733.702 OF THE FLORIDA PROBATE CODE WILL BE FOREVER BARRED. NOTWITHSTANDING THE TIME PERIOD SET FORTH ABOVE, ANY

IN THE CIRCUIT COURT FOR MONROE COUNTY, FLORIDA PROBATE DIVISION FILE NO.: 21-CP-01-M DIVISION: MIDDLE KEYS IN RE: ESTATE OF JUNE OLGA SCHWARTZ, Deceased.

NOTICE TO CREDITORS The administration of the estate of June Olga Schwartz, deceased, whose date of death was September 17, 2020, is pending in the Circuit Court for MONROE County, Florida, Probate Division, the address of which is 3117 Overseas Highway, Marathon, Florida 33050. The names and addresses of the personal representative and the personal representative’s attorney are set forth below.

All creditors of the decedent and other persons having claims or demands against decedent’s estate on whom a copy of this notice is required to be served must file their claims with this court ON OR BEFORE THE LATER OF 3 MONTHS AFTER THE TIME OF THE FIRST PUBLICATION OF THIS NOTICE OR 30 DAYS AFTER THE DATE OF SERVICE OF A COPY OF THIS NOTICE ON THEM. All other creditors of the decedent and other persons having claims or demands against decedent’s estate must file their claims with this court WITHIN 3 MONTHS AFTER THE DATE OF THE FIRST PUBLICATION OF THIS NOTICE. ALL CLAIMS NOT FILED WITHIN THE TIME PERIODS SET FORTH IN FLORIDA STATUTES SECTION 733.702 WILL BE FOREVER BARRED. NOTWITHSTANDING THE TIME PERIODS SET FORTH ABOVE, ANY CLAIM FILED TWO (2) YEARS OR MORE AFTER THE DECEDENT’S DATE OF DEATH IS BARRED. The date of first publication of this notice is: January 14, 2021.

Personal Representative: Randi F. Newbery 3330 Crossings Court #205 Bonita Springs, FL 34134 Attorney for Personal Representative: RICHARD E. WARNER Attorney for Rose Jacilla Florida Bar Number: 283134 RICHARD E. WARNER, P.A. 12221 Overseas Highway MARATHON, FL 33050 Telephone: (305) 743-6022 Fax: (305) 743-6216 E-mail: richard@rewarnerlaw. com Secondary E-Mail: pamela2@ rewarnerlaw.com Publish: January 14 & 21, 2021 The Weekly Newspapers IN THE CIRCUIT COURT FOR MONROE COUNTY,

59

KEY WEST / MARATHON / UPPER KEYS WEEKLY / JANUARY 14, 2021

• CLASSIFIEDS, PUBLIC & LEGAL NOTICES • LEGAL NOTICES

LEGAL NOTICES

FLORIDA PROBATE DIVISION FILE NO. 20-CP-304-K IN RE: ESTATE OF EDWARD M GRIMM, Deceased.

NOTICE TO CREDITORS The administration of the estate of Edward M. Grimm, deceased, whose date of death was September 4, 2019, is pending in the Circuit Court for Monroe County, Florida, Probate Division, the address of which is 500 Whitehead Street, Key West, FL 33040. The names and addresses of the personal representative and the personal representative’s attorney are set forth below.

All creditors of the decedent and other persons having claims or demands against decedent’s estate on whom a copy of this notice is required to be served must file their claims with this court ON OR BEFORE THE LATER OF 3 MONTHS AFTER THE DATE OF THE FIRST PUBLICATION OF THIS NOTICE OR 30 DAYS AFTER THE DATE OF SERVICE OF A COPY OF THIS NOTICE ON THEM. All other creditors of the decedent and other persons having claims or demands against decedent’s estate must file their claims with this court WITHIN 3 MONTHS AFTER THE DATE OF THE FIRST PUBLICATION OF THIS NOTICE. ALL CLAIMS NOT FILED WITHIN THE TIME PERIODS SET FORTH IN FLORIDA STATUTES SECTION 733.702 WILL BE FOREVER BARRED. NOTWITHSTANDING THE TIME PERIODS SET FORTH ABOVE, ANY CLAIM FILED TWO (2) YEARS OR MORE AFTER THE DECEDENT’S DATE OF DEATH IS BARRED. The date of first publication of this notice is: January 14, 2021.

Personal Representative: David C. Grimm 7774 Tartan Hills Drive Dublin, OH 43017 Attorney for Personal Representative: Douglas E. Hoover, Esq. Fla. Bar No. 177535 6660 N. High Street 2E Worthington, OH 43085-2537 Telephone: 614-436-1001 Email: diggerhoov@aol.com Publish: January 14 & 21, 2021 The Weekly Newspapers

divided: NONE Copies of all court documents in this case, including orders, are available at the Clerk of the Circuit Court’s office. You may review these documents upon request.

You must keep the Clerk of the Circuit Court’s office notified of your current address.

(You may file Designation of Current Mailing and E-Mail Address, Florida Supreme Court Approved Family Law Form 12.915.) Future papers in this lawsuit will be mailed or e-mailed to the address(es) on record at the clerk’s office.

WARNING: Rule 12.285, Florida Family Law Rules of Procedure, requires certain automatic disclosure of documents and information. Failure to comply can result in sanctions, including dismissal or striking of pleadings.

Dated this 22nd day of December, 2020 Kevin Madok, CPA Clerk of the Circuit Court Monroe County, Florida By: Riza Tabag Deputy Clerk Publish: December 31, 2020 and January 7, 14 & 21, 2021 The Weekly Newspapers

IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE 16TH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT, IN AND FOR MONROE COUNTY, FLORIDA Case No.: 2020-DR-795-K Division: Family ELCANA ANILUS, Petitioner, and JEAN GEORGE DANY HOE, Respondent.

NOTICE OF ACTION FOR DISSOLUTION OF MARRIAGE (NO CHILD OR FINANCIAL SUPPORT) TO: Jean George Dany Hoe Last Known Address: YOU ARE NOTIFIED that an action for dissolution of marriage has been filed against you and that you are required to serve a copy of your written defenses, if any, to it on Elcana Anilus, whose address is 6500 Maloney Avenue, Lot 16, Key West, FL 33040, on or before January 31, 2021, and file the original with the clerk of this Court at 500 Whitehead Street, Key West, FL 33040, before service on Petitioner or immediately thereafter. If you fail to do so, a default may be entered against you for the relief demanded in the petition.

The action is asking the court to decide how the following real or personal property should be

IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE 16TH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT, IN AND FOR MONROE COUNTY, FLORIDA Case No.: 21-DR-2-K Division: Family JENNIFER LLAGOSTERA, Petitioner, and MARIO C. STEPHENS, II, Respondent.

NOTICE OF ACTION FOR DISSOLUTION OF MARRIAGE TO: Mario C. Stephens, II Last Known Address: Unknown YOU ARE NOTIFIED that an action for Dissolution of Marriage has been filed against you and that you are required to serve a copy of your written defenses, if any, to it on Jennifer Llagostera, whose address is 2307 Seidenberg Avenue, Key West, FL 33040, on or before February 15, 2021, and file the original with the clerk of this Court at 500 Whitehead Street, Key West, FL 33040, before service on Petitioner or immediately thereafter. If you fail to do so, a default may be entered against you for the relief demanded in the petition.

The action is asking the court to decide how the following real or personal property should be divided: NONE Copies of all court documents in this case, including orders, are available at the Clerk of the Circuit Court’s office. You may review these documents upon request.

You must keep the Clerk of the Circuit Court’s office notified of your current address.

(You may file Designation of Current Mailing and E-Mail Address, Florida Supreme Court Approved Family Law Form 12.915.) Future papers in this lawsuit will be mailed or e-mailed to the address(es) on record at the clerk’s office.

WARNING: Rule 12.285, Florida Family Law Rules of Procedure, requires certain automatic disclosure of documents and information. Failure to comply can result in sanctions, including dismissal or striking of pleadings.

Dated: 1/5/2021 Kevin Madok, CPA Clerk of the Circuit Court Monroe County, Florida By: Riza Tabag Deputy Clerk Publish: January 14, 21 & 28 and

LEGAL NOTICES February 4, 2021 The Weekly Newspapers IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE SIXTEENTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT, IN AND FOR MONROE COUNTY, FLORIDA Case No.: 20-CA-208-P NEPTUNE ATLANTIC BOAT LIFTS, LLC, a Florida limited liability company, Plaintiff, v.

CARLOS MICHAEL AGUERA, individually and as Co-Trustee of the Carlos and Ana Aguera Revocable Trust Dated February 6, 2019, and ANA C. AGUERA, as Co-Trustee of the Carlos and Ana Aguera Revocable Trust Dated February 6, 2019, Defendants.

NOTICE OF ACTION TO: Carlos Michael Aguera, as Co-Trustee of The Carlos and Ana Aguera Revocable Trust Dated February 6, 2019 20221 SW 48th Place Southwest Ranches, FL 33332 Last Known Address YOU ARE NOTIFIED that an action to foreclose a claim of lien on the below described real property in Monroe County, Florida has been filed against you: Lot 33, Port Antigua Plat No. 1, according to the Plat thereof, Recorded in Plat Book 6, Page(s) 13, of the Public Records of Monroe County, Florida Parcel ID 00394486-003300 You are required to serve a copy of your written defenses, if any, to the Complaint on Plaintiff’s attorneys, John. W. Annesser, Esq., Annesser Armenteros, PLLC, 2525 Ponce De Leon Blvd., Suite 625, Coral Gables, Florida 33134, (786) 600-7446, service@ aa-firm.com, jannesser@aafirm.com, mconkey@aa.firm. com and lconley@aa-firm. com, on or before January 18, 2021, and file the original with the Clerk of this Court either before service on Plaintiff’s attorneys or immediately thereafter, otherwise a default will be entered against you for the relief demanded in the Complaint or petition.

DATED on December 11, 2020.

Kevin Madok, CPA, Clerk As Clerk of the Court By: Riza Tabag As Deputy Clerk Publish: December 24 & 31, 2020 and January 7 & 14, 2021 The Weekly Newspapers IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE SIXTEENTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT, IN AND FOR MONROE COUNTY, FLORIDA Case No.: 20-CA-208-P NEPTUNE ATLANTIC BOAT LIFTS, LLC, a Florida limited liability company, Plaintiff, v.

CARLOS MICHAEL AGUERA, individually and as Co-Trustee of the Carlos and Ana Aguera Revocable Trust Dated February 6, 2019, and ANA C. AGUERA, as Co-Trustee of the Carlos and Ana Aguera Revocable Trust Dated February 6, 2019, Defendants.

NOTICE OF ACTION TO: Carlos Michael Aguera, Individually 20221 SW 48th Place Southwest Ranches, FL 33332 Last Known Address YOU ARE NOTIFIED that an action to foreclose a claim of lien on the below described real property in Monroe County, Florida has been filed against you: Lot 33, Port Antigua Plat No. 1,

305.743.0844

LEGAL NOTICES

AUTOS WANTED

EMPLOYMENT

EMPLOYMENT

according to the Plat thereof, Recorded in Plat Book 6, Page(s) 13, of the Public Records of Monroe County, Florida Parcel ID 00394486-003300 You are required to serve a copy of your written defenses, if any, to the Complaint on Plaintiff’s attorneys, John. W. Annesser, Esq., Annesser Armenteros, PLLC, 2525 Ponce De Leon Blvd., Suite 625, Coral Gables, Florida 33134, (786) 600-7446, service@ aa-firm.com, jannesser@aafirm.com, mconkey@aa.firm. com and lconley@aa-firm. com, on or before January 18, 2021, and file the original with the Clerk of this Court either before service on Plaintiff’s attorneys or immediately thereafter, otherwise a default will be entered against you for the relief demanded in the Complaint or petition.

DATED on December 11, 2020.

Kevin Madok, CPA, Clerk As Clerk of the Court By: Riza Tabag As Deputy Clerk Publish: December 24 & 31, 2020 and January 7 & 14, 2021 The Weekly Newspapers

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IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE SIXTEENTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT, IN AND FOR MONROE COUNTY, FLORIDA Case No.: 20-CA-208-P NEPTUNE ATLANTIC BOAT LIFTS, LLC, a Florida limited liability company, Plaintiff, v.

CARLOS MICHAEL AGUERA, individually and as Co-Trustee of the Carlos and Ana Aguera Revocable Trust Dated February 6, 2019, and ANA C. AGUERA, as Co-Trustee of the Carlos and Ana Aguera Revocable Trust Dated February 6, 2019, Defendants.

NOTICE OF ACTION TO: Ana C. Aguera, as CoTrustee of the Carlos and Ana Aguera Revocable Trust Dated February 6, 2019 20221 SW 48th Place Southwest Ranches, FL 33332 Last Known Address YOU ARE NOTIFIED that an action to foreclose a claim of lien on the below described real property in Monroe County, Florida has been filed against you: Lot 33, Port Antigua Plat No. 1, according to the Plat thereof, Recorded in Plat Book 6, Page(s) 13, of the Public Records of Monroe County, Florida Parcel ID 00394486-003300 You are required to serve a copy of your written defenses, if any, to the Complaint on Plaintiff’s attorneys, John. W. Annesser, Esq., Annesser Armenteros, PLLC, 2525 Ponce De Leon Blvd., Suite 625, Coral Gables, Florida 33134, (786) 600-7446, service@ aa-firm.com, jannesser@aafirm.com, mconkey@aa.firm. com and lconley@aa-firm. com, on or before January 18, 2021, and file the original with the Clerk of this Court either before service on Plaintiff’s attorneys or immediately thereafter, otherwise a default will be entered against you for the relief demanded in the Complaint or petition.

DATED on December 11, 2020.

Kevin Madok, CPA, Clerk As Clerk of the Court By: Riza Tabag As Deputy Clerk Publish: December 24 & 31, 2020 and January 7 & 14, 2021 The Weekly Newspapers

AUTOS FOR SALE 1997 Cadillac Sedan Deville for sale. Pampered FL car, only 83K miles, in great condition.

Located in Marathon. $2,750 305-904-4151 Place your Car For Sale ad here. Only $25.00/ week for up to five lines of copy. Call 305-743-0844 today and Sell Your Car! 2001 XK8 Jaguar Red Convertible. 74k miles.

Excellent condition.

Located in Upper Keys. $6,000 Call 305-766-6804 SOLD IN LESS THAN TWO WEEKS!!

BOATS FOR SALE 1999 World Cat 27' with twin 175 Suzuki motors.

Runs good.

Dual stations. Located on Duck Key. $47,000 OBO 305-481-1316 1997 Grady White 209 Escape 21’ center console.

New custom T-top, new rub rails. Brand new electronics and switches.

2 stroke Mercury outboard. $15,000 OBO Located in Marathon.

Call 305-481-1463 Place your Boat For Sale ad here. Only $25.00/ week for up to five lines of copy. Call 305-743-0844 today and Sell Your Boat!

BOAT LIFTS DECO 10,000 lb Boat Lift For Sale. Complete except motors & control. Located in Marathon. First $500.00 takes it. 339-832-0485 EMPLOYMENT Bookkeeper needed in Marathon. Full or parttime. Must be familiar with QuickBooks & Quicken.

Call Bob Brayman 305-395-0478 Carpenter, Laborer, Helper and Project Manager needed in Upper Keys. Must pass background check, have valid driver's license and transportation.

Call 305-852-3002 City of Marathon - Job O p e n i n g : Street Maintenance.

EOE, FULL BENEFITS www.ci.marathon.fl.us

CEI Inspector needed in Marathon, FL. Fulltime position. Must have high school diploma or equivalent and valid driver’s license. Relevant construction experience is a plus. Email resume to: Pom.Chakkaphak@wsp. com Serve/Bartend on the ocean FT/PT Ocean front private swim club is seeking customer service oriented Server/ Bartender. Serve on pool deck, beach and/or bar lounge. Open year round, 10am-7pm daily.

Full time/Part time.

Small friendly staff. Above average hourly wage plus tips. Apply in person at Cabana Club, 425 E. Ocean Dr. Key Colony Beach or call April (305) 393-0631.

Boat rental company in Marathon needs mechanic with knowledge of outboard motors Call 305-481-7006 Come Join Our Family and Have Fun At Work!

Hiring: Host, Hostess & Servers - Full &/or parttime. AM & PM Shifts.

Apply in person at Castaway Restaurant, end of 15th Street, Oceanside, Marathon or email: lobstercrawl@gmail.com.

Place your Employment ad here. Only $25.00/week for up to five lines of copy.

Call 305-743-0844 today and get the job filled!

PRIVATE COLLECTOR WANTS Rolex, Dive Watches and Pilot Watches. Old Model Military Clocks & Watches.

Call 305-743-4578 HOUSING FOR RENT 2BR/2BA Large Apt. 10826 5th Avenue Gulf, Marathon. $1,850/month plus utilities.

F/L/S. Taking applications.

Call (305) 394-4545 HARRY HARRIS PARK, MM93, 3BR/2BA, Central Air, No Pets, Long Term Lease. $1,800/mo F/L/S Call 786-493-7829 Key Largo Open Water Large 1BR/1BA Fully furnished.

Dockage available. $2,000/month includes utilities.

305-801-3157 Place your Home For Rent ad here. Only $25.00/week for up to five lines of copy. Call 305-743-0844 today and rent your house!

Trailer For Rent 1BR/1BA 28' trailer w/slide-out. $1,200/month F/L/$600 security. Includes parking, Wi-Fi, Direct TV, water & garbage, you pay electric. No pets. No smoking.

Background check required. Come in person to view property Monday-Friday 8am5pm. 2525 Overseas Hwy, Marathon, FL 33050 RENTED IN LESS THAN THREE WEEKS!!!

Bridge Operator position available in the Snake Creek Drawbridge, located in Islamorada.

Paid training will be provided.

Payrate: $10.50/hr. Email resume to jschultz@ fdi.team or call Jeff Schultz at 708-214-0311.

HIRED TWO NEW EMPLOYEES thanks to advertising in the Keys Weekly Newspapers!!

Long-term, 2BR/2BA Condo in Key Colony Beach.

Furnished, screened patio, includes water, sewer, basic cable and ocean accessibility. $2,000/ month Call 716-913-3576 RENTED IN LESS THAN TWO WEEKS!!!

Looking for a daycare teacher. Will get trained and certified through the daycare if needed.

Mon-Fri Full time position avail. Contact Banana Cabana Academy at banana.cabana@att. net with resume or call 305-745-1400 to schedule an interview.

HIRED IN LESS THAN ONE MONTH!!

Place your Miscellaneous

MISC. FOR SALE Items For Sale here.

Only $25.00/week for up to five lines of copy.

Call 305-743-0844 today!

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KEY WEST / MARATHON / UPPER KEYS WEEKLY / JANUARY 14, 2021

• CLASSIFIEDS, PUBLIC & LEGAL NOTICES 305.743.0844 • CLASSIFIEDS, PUBLIC & LEGAL NOTICES • •305.743.0844 MISC. FOR SALE

SERVICES OFFERED

YARD SALES

30" Maytag double-door refrigerator w/bottom drawer freezer $600.00.

30" Samsung Electric Range $300.00. Located in Marathon. 419-506-0246 SOLD IN LESS THAN ONE WEEK!!!

Marine Canvas / Costumes / Dress Making / Alterations.

Located in Key West. Contact Anne 504-453-4776 Email: ashwindy99@gmail. com

Garage Sale Saturday, Jan. 23,2021 from 10am to 3pm at Marble Hall (next to the Post Office) on Key Colony Beach.

Place your Miscellaneous

Items For Sale here.

Only $25.00/week for up to five lines of copy.

Call 305-743-0844 today!

OFFICE SPACE Beautiful Office Space available for rent now on US1 in Tavernier @MM92.

Call 305-394-0530

Have a service someone needs? Place your ad here for only $25.00/week for up to five lines of copy.

Call 305-743-0844 today!

VENDORS WANTED Nautical vendors wanted for show Feb. 20 & 21 at Beall's parking lot in Marathon.

Sponsored by Masonic Lodge. Call 603-455-6106

Place your Yard Sale ad here. Only $25.00/week for up to five lines of copy.

Call 305-743-0844 today and get your stuff sold!

NOW HIRING

FULL TIME CONSTRUCTION WORKERS Superintendents, carpenters, painters and laborers

TOP DOLLAR FOR THE RIGHT INDIVIDUALS START TOMORROW Apply in person, Dooley Construction MM 88.5 Oceanside

CoCo’s General Store

NOW HIRING: Full-time & Part-time Deli and/or Retail Sales.

Must be available on weekends.

Apply in person at 50 Coco Plum Drive, Marathon 305-743-7743

Dynasty Marine Associates, Inc.

OPEN POSITIONS: I

in Marathon

full -time Educational Program Guide /Gift Shop Sales. Public speaking & retail sales experience helpful. 3 Send resume to:

Mariner’s Hospital - Tavernier: Pool Physical Therapist, Physical Therapy, Per-Diem, Shift Varies Clinical Partner 1, Multispec Acute Care Ctr, FT, 7P-7:30A Licensed Electrician, Facility Operations, FT, 8A-4:30P Medical Technologist 2, Laboratory, FT, Shift Varies Multi-Modality Imaging Tech, Ultrasound, FT, 7:30A-4P Registered Nurse, Emergency Department, PT, 7P-7:30A

www.dynastymarine.net Located in the Florida Keys, is a highly-respected supplier of Caribbean marine life to public aquariums and zoos throughout the world.

QUALIFIED DIVER

Dynasty Marine Associates, Inc. in Marathon, Florida is currently seeking a qualified DIVER to fill a new full time position. This is an excellent opportunity to grow with an existing business in an interesting field. The job requires hard work and long hours - approximately 50-60 hours per week. Individuals must be willing to accept diving in low visibility, cold water and rough conditions. A successful applicant should have at least 100 logged dives and knowledge of marine life is preferred. Compensation is dependent on experience with performance based incentive program. Benefits package including vacation, sick days, holidays and 401K PSP retirement plan. Please send cover letter and resume to sales@dynastymarine.net for consideration. No phone calls please.

Sr Phlebotomist, Laboratory, FT, Shift Varies Sr Phlebotomist, Laboratory, Per-Diem, Shift Varies Security Officer 2, Security/Safety, FT, Shift Varies

NOW HIRING! Part Time Maintenance Housekeepers for Saturday and some Sunday Call 305-587-0359 to apply.

Fishermen’s Community Hospital – Marathon: Biomedical Technician 2, Bio-Medical Engineering, FT, 8A-4:30P First Cook, Dietary, Part Time, Shift Varies Medical Technologist 2, Laboratory-Administration, FT, 6A-6:30P Up To $10,000 Sign-On Bonus Multi-Modality Imaging Tech, Radiology, FT, 8A-4:30P Radiology Technologist 1, Radiology-Diagnostic, Per-Diem, Shift Varies Security Officer 2, Security/Safety, Per-Diem, Shift Varies

786-243-8507 Apply at careers.baptisthealth.net

Royal Furniture in Marathon and Key West is looking for a motivated, hardworking store manager.

COMPETITIVE PAY & BENEFITS AVAILABLE FLORIDA KEYS DIESEL - MARATHON

NOW HIRING: Diesel Technician position available.

Competitive compensation package. Experience in the marine field preferred but not necessary. Experience with Caterpillar and Cummins Marine Engines a plus.

Diesel Mechanic Assistant position available.

Looking for a motivated candidate willing to learn a new trade or expand current skills. Company willing to train.

Qualified applicants please call 305-289-2070 or email resume to neil@allkeysdiesel.com . Drug Free and valid Drivers License a must.

The Turtle Hospital is looking for a full-time Office Supervisor who will organize and coordinate gift shop office administration and program tours. An energetic, well organized, flexible professional to enjoy the administrative challenges of supporting an office of diverse people. Pay commensurate with experience.

Send resume to: turtlehospitalmarathon@gmail.com

Call Christopher: 305-481-1790

www.RoyalFurnitureAndDesign.com

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KEY WEST / MARATHON / UPPER KEYS WEEKLY / JANUARY 14, 2021

• CLASSIFIEDS, PUBLIC && LEGAL NOTICES • • 305.743.0844 • CLASSIFIEDS, PUBLIC LEGAL NOTICES 305.743.0844 The Guidance/Care Center, Inc. a division of

“Uplifting the human spirit since 1973”

THE GUIDANCE/CARE CENTER, Inc.

NOW HIRING RESTAURANT HOST SERVERS BARTENDERS FOOD RUNNER PUBLIC AREA ATTENDANT LAUNDRY ATTENDANT ROOM ATTENDANTS BELLMEN LINE COOK SOUS CHEF BAKER APPLY AT: bungalowskeylargo.com/careers

Bungalows Key Largo is an EOE

IS HIRING! KEY LARGO

Case Manager (Children) Client Advocate

KEY WEST

Prevention Specialist Case Manager (Forensic, Adult) Substance Abuse Counselor Behavioral Health Counselor (Children) Behavioral Health Therapist (Adult) FL LCSW,LMHC, LMFT Crisis Counselor

MARATHON

Behavioral Health Counselor Behavioral Health Therapist (Children) RNs and LPNs (3 shifts) (PT/FT & per diem) Engagement Specialist (Suicide Prevention) Peer Support Specialist Drop In Technician (PT) *Assisted Living Direct Care Worker (PT/FT) *Behavioral Health Technicians (3 shifts) (PT/FT & per diem) *Night Monitor (FREE HOUSING!!!!) *No experience necessary. Will train.

A caring heart & helpful hands required.

Ability to work some evening or weekend shifts a plus.

If you’ve wanted to get into the medical field but don’t have the education, this is the job for you!

Background and drug screen req.

GREAT BENEFITS! Check out all available positions at: www.westcare.com EEOC/DFWP

RETAIL MANAGER

Position immediately available for an energetic store manager.

Retail experience required, supermarket experience a plus. Duties include managing inventory, hiring, training and scheduling of store associates, facility maintenance and other duties as assigned. Reports to the General Manager. Salary based on experience. Competitive salary and benefits. Applicants must complete company application form found on-line at www.faustos.com.

Applicants may also apply in person at Fausto’s Food Palace.

1105 White Street, Key West.

DOLPHIN RESEARCH CENTER 58901 O/S Hwy - Grassy Key, FL Teaching... Learning... Caring Do you love dolphins, being outdoors and taking photographs?

We have the job for you! Dolphin Research Center has full-time openings for Visual Communications Staff Members (Permanent & Seasonal opportunities available). Applicants should be familiar with digital photography/videography. Benefits include medical, life, disability insurance, 401(k), paid vacation, sick & holidays.

Job description available at www.dolphins.org. E-mail cover letter, DRC application and your resume to drc-hr@dolphins.org. EOE

MARATHON GARBAGE SERVICE We are now hiring for the following positions:

Diesel Mechanic Truck Helpers CDL Drivers Applicants must apply in person to be considered.

4290 Overseas Hwy, Marathon

SCHOOL BUS DRIVERS NEEDED! Monroe County School District

Salary $17.15 – $24.15/hour Key West, Sugarloaf, Marathon and Upper Keys (4 work locations) No Experience Required, Benefits, CDL Training Provided – work as a Bus Aide while training, Full Time or Flexible, Part Time Hours - 6 to 9 am or 1 or 2 to 5 pm Apply online: www.keysschools.com

NOW HIRING

Marathon, Big Pine Key & Stock Island Locations $15 per hour to start FT Employees are eligible to participate in our health, dental, vision, Life Insurance. PTO and Profit Sharing is available to every member of our team (conditions apply).

HOW TO APPLY: Go to mytomthumb.com or call Cleveland (786) 295-5307.

Royal Furniture in Marathon and Key West is looking for motivated, hardworking people to join our sales team.

COMPETITIVE PAY & BENEFITS AVAILABLE Call Christopher: 305-481-1790

www.RoyalFurnitureAndDesign.com

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KEY WEST / MARATHON / UPPER KEYS WEEKLY / JANUARY 14, 2021

WINDLEY POINT CONDOMINIUM PROJECT COMPLETE

Families are moving into Habitat for Humanity of the

H

abitat for Humanity of the Upper Keys recently received its temporary certificate of occupancy for 16 new affordable housing units for its Windley Point Condominium project at 84771 Overseas Highway in Islamorada.

Families have begun moving into their new homes. The project is completed, with full certification of occupancy on the horizon.

“What an incredible way for these families to start the new year, in a new home,” said Lindsay Fast, executive director of Habitat Upper Keys.

“There are so many people who contributed to this project. We could not have done it without the support of local government, our donors and partners. A most heartfelt thank you to each and every one of them.”

The list of partners and contributors include Monroe County, the Village of Islamorada, CBT Construction, LaRocco Enterprise, Lindholm Roofing, Ken Gentes Electric, Dixie Aluminum, David Cox Plumbing, Forest Tek Lumber, Keys Engineering, Massey-Richards Surveying & Mapping, Rodz Plumbing and Beachhouse Gardens.

The 16-unit project was developed on land contributed by Monroe County and leased from the Village of Islamorada. The units are each twobedroom, two-and-a-half bathroom, two-story townhomes of approximately 1,160 square feet.

Half of the units are designated for ownership and half are available for rent. Each unit features tile floors, quartz countertops, solid wood cabinets, hurricane impact windows and doors, two outdoor patios, brand-new appliances and covered parking for two vehicles.

Prospective homeowners have been working under partnership agreements for a substantial period of time and are now moving into their new homes. Applications for the rental units are currently being accepted, and two units are currently available for homeownership. Visit www.habitatupperkeys.org for more information and to get an application.

Habitat for Humanity of the Upper Keys, a nonprofit organization, is the local affiliate of Habitat for Humanity International, serving Key Largo, Tavernier and Islamorada in the Florida Keys.

— Contributed

Kathleen Denis’ scene ‘Out and About’ is up for raffle to raise funds for Our Place in Paradise. CONTRIBUTED

TIFFANY DUONG

tiffany@keysweekly.com

GET YOUR TICKETS! Raffle benefiting local art studio on ‘til Jan. 29

O

ur Place in Paradise, a nonprofit community art studio and gallery in Tavernier, is welcoming the new year with an art raffle and sale.

The space first opened its doors to the community in 2017. Billed as a “unique place for art in the Florida Keys,” the studio/gallery truly operates in both realms. Classes for beginners and workshops for experts create an open learning environment. Media vary from painting to glass to pottery. There are even art summer camps for kids, and community events such as the opening of the Connections Project traveling mosaic mural. On top of that, the gallery showcases many local artists of all types and serves as their voice to the community.

While COVID-19 shutdowns kept the studio quieter than normal, studio owners Joanne Kolb and Liza Moore, stubborn optimists and community supporters, remain hopeful for what’s to come.

To kickstart a new year, artist-in-residence Kathleen Denis donated her original oil painting “Out and About” for raffle to raise funds for Our Place in Paradise. The whimsical piece depicts what could only be labeled a perfect, typical day in paradise, with palm trees, sunshine and scooter rides.

Raffle proceeds will help the nonprofit studio and gallery continue with their mission of supporting art, the community and the kids.

Raffle tickets are $15 each or four for $50. The drawing will occur on Jan. 29. Purchases can be made by calling 305-916-5828 or by stopping by the gallery in person.

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KEY WEST / MARATHON / UPPER KEYS WEEKLY / JANUARY 14, 2021

LET’S DO BUSINESS - 305.743.0844 MARATHON • KEY COLONY OWNERS

START EARNING 305 3902315

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y’s www.KeysSlidingGlassDoorRepair.com And Sliding Glass Door Repair Roller Maintenance Track Maintenance Door Alignment Security Pins Safety Locks Handles

Petersen Repair & Maintenance • Flooring • Inside Trim Work • Door Replacement • Landscaping • Fencing

• Plastering & Stucco • Masonry & Spalling Repair • Waterproof & Roof Painting • Interior & Exterior Painting • Parking Lot Striping

Karen Raspe

Realtor 305-393-9010 karenraspe@bellsouth.net

SP# 4434, 4435, 4436, 4437, 4438. 4439. 4448, 4449, 4450, 4451

Charlie Petersen 920-371-3107 | PetersenRepair@yahoo.com

FRESH FLORIDA LOBSTERS FROM

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We Also Repair & Replace Patio Door Screens

RESIDENTIAL & COMMERCIAL Windows • Doors

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THE NICHOLS CREW DIRECT TO YOU

Authorized Dealer

305-743-7800

Sales & Installation • Tub & Shower Enclosures Safety & Tempered Glass • Mirror & Mirror Walls Plexi-Glass & Lexan

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LIVE CALL FOR PRICE $11/TAIL

STONE CRABS ON REQUEST

GENERAL CONTRACTORS & ENGINEERS

When It Rains It Pours!

Need 7” Gutters? We have 6” & 7” Seamless • Copper Specialists

Key West 305-292-2666

MARATHON

305-743-0506

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Appliance and Air Conditioning

Sales - Service - Installation 1700 N. Roosevelt Blvd #2, Key West 305-294-0090 • www.kolhages.com

Sewer Connections 305

872-1876

• New Construction • Remodeling • Irrigation

Floor & Wall Tiles Porcelain/Planks Marble Carpets Quartz & Granite Countertops

305

Rachellynnes94@gmail.com 305.393.3076

SALES

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296-BLUE

• Heavy Equipment • Solar Lic## RF11067168

SPALLING EXPERTS

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NOW HIRING!

289-3019

QUICK & RELIABLE OPEN WATER MARINE SERVICES JARED FRANK

OWNER

(305) 289-1551 towboatusmarathon.com

305-394-5530 bnbfishing@comcast.net 3900 Overseas Hwy, Marathon FL 33050

Lic# ENG II 305E

Butch and Barbara Hewlett

2728 North Roosevelt Blvd.

Overseas Market Key West

Proud member of:

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KEY WEST / MARATHON / UPPER KEYS WEEKLY / JANUARY 14, 2021

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