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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.

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SEND ADDRESS CHANGES TO THE KEYS WEEKLY, 9709 OVERSEAS HIGHWAY, MARATHON FL 33050 $41 MILLION Renovation of the two-mile Old Seven Mile Bridge in Marathon is complete following its closure in 2016. In total, the 30-year restoration and maintenance plan was budgeted at $77 million, $41 million of which was spent during initial repairs. Nicknamed “Old Seven,” the bridge was built as part of railroad magnate Henry Flagler’s Florida Keys Over-Sea Railroad that was completed in January 1912, connecting the Keys with each other and mainland Florida for the first time.

ALEX RICKERT

alex@keysweekly.com VIPs, elected officials and community partners spill onto the renovated Old Seven Mile Bridge shortly after a ribbon cutting on Jan. 12. The morning marked most attendees’ first opportunity to stand on the new bridge deck while still being able to touch the original railing repurposed from Flager’s Railway. See page 14. BARRY GAUKEL/Keys Weekly

CITY COUNCIL GRAPPLES WITH WOFSEY’S REPLACEMENT, TERM LENGTHS

Vacant seat to be addressed in special call meeting

Rev. Larry White, second from left, delivers remarks commemorating the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. after receiving the Marathon City Council’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service proclamation. ALEX RICKERT/Keys Weekly

In the wake of councilman Trevor Wofsey’s resignation, the Marathon City Council discussed plans to appoint an interim council member and attended to the unforeseen resignation’s impact on potential changes to council term limits.

According to the city’s charter, the council has until Feb. 4 to choose a replacement for Wofsey, who resigned on Jan. 7 following a domestic battery arrest.

In an address to his fellow council members, councilman Steve Cook expressed concern that a nominee was seemingly pre-selected to fill Wofsey’s seat. Cook then urged the council to take time to consider the nominees in a special call meeting to avoid any public impressions of impropriety.

“There is a difference between the coconut telegraph and violating Sunshine Law,” said Cook. Citing instances in which he had allegedly learned of several appointments or city hirings prior to official votes or confirmation, Cook said he was upset not by the selections themselves, but the manner in which he had learned of the predetermined proceedings.

“However we decide to do this selection process, I think we are obliged to follow the policies and procedures that we have set forth legally to install an official in the city and never have the citizens think that (these rules) don’t matter,” he said.

Councilman Luis Gonzalez also expressed concern regarding messages he received since news of the vacancy broke. “We are in an unfortunate situation, and we have to deal with this matter,” said Gonzalez. “No matter who we end up selecting, there will be folks who like that person and folks who don’t. I know that we are a much better community than what has been displayed to me this week, either by phone call, by email or by text.”

After a brief discussion, the council agreed to address the vacancy in a special call meeting on Monday, Jan. 24 at 12 p.m. at Marathon City Hall. Candidates who submit their names for consideration will be required to submit an application to fill the seat.

As the unexpected vacancy comes in the midst of a potential change to city council term limits, the council also voted to alter the proposed city charter amendment extending city council term lengths from three to four years. According to the city’s current charter, since the balance of Wofsey’s term is greater than 81 days, the council member appointed to fill Wofsey’s seat will serve until November 2022, when a total of four vacant council seats will be up for election.

Intending to avoid such a large turnover in a single election in the future, City Attorney Steve Williams proposed changes in order to maintain election cycles in which only two or three of the five council seats would be available at any one time.

Under Williams’ changes, at the next regularly scheduled election, the person receiving the fewest number of votes but still winning one of the four vacant seats will serve a shorter term to preserve the 3-2 election cycles. If the charter amendment is approved by council, and subsequently by voters at the August 2022 primary election, the three highest vote-getters in the November 2022 general election would serve from 2022 to 2026, while the fourth highest would serve a twoyear term – expiring in tandem with Gonzalez’s term in 2024.

Williams’ proposed changes would allow for similarly altered elections following unexpected vacancies in the future.

As this was the first time such significant changes were added to the proposed amendment, the new ordinance will be heard again in its entirety at February’s regularly scheduled city council meeting.

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The Florida keys Celtic festival would like to thank everyone for the best year ever. Please support our local community sponsors! 2022 Sponsors

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Leprechaun Sponsors 7 Mile Grill Aquarium Encounters Centennial Bank Dolphin Research Center First State Bank Franks Customs Island Tire Marathon Boat Yard Mothner-Hiller Coldwell Banker Royal Furniture Specialty Hardware Sweet Savannah’s Tewes Mortgage Attorney Thomas D. Wright Winn Dixie

Contributors Phil & Grace Bailey Father Stephan Braddock Bailey & Marilou Dotson Captain Hooks Mark & Pam Herman Gary & Carol Kramer KQC Inc. Cleaning Lindholm Roofing Marathon Lady Richard McKean George & Sandy Mezinis Rev. Dr. Margaret Pendergast The Skin Institute St. Columba Knitting & Crocheting Group West Marine A Special Thank you to: The City of Marathon The City of Marathon Parks Department The Monroe County Sheriff’s Dept. The MHS Drama Club The MHS Interact Club Germaine Main The FKCF Committee St. Joseph's Episcopal Church Larry Benvenuti Ganine Giorgione Derleth

JIM McCARTHY

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HOUSE SEAT SEES INCUMBENT, PLUS THREE CHALLENGERS

Florida State Rep. Jim Mooney ventured from the Southernmost district to Tallahassee for the start of a 60-day legislative session on Jan. 11. Mooney enters the second year of his twoyear term that’s up for election, which three other candidates and he will vie for this November.

Mooney, a Republican from Islamorada, secured a primary victory in summer 2020. Months later, he went on to beat Key West Democrat Clint Barras in the November general election.

The win brought big shoes to fill, with Holly Raschein terming out following eight consecutive years representing the Florida Keys and south Miami-Dade. Entering year two, Mooney will look to move appropriations to the finish line. They include funds for the Key West Glass Crusher, coral restoration at Mote Marine Laboratory and vessel pumpout in Monroe County, to name a few.

He’s proposing a bill that would allow certain coastal communities to establish a pilot program to regulate single-use plastics. Mooney is also working through an anchoring bill with state Sen. Ana Maria Rodriguez and Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation that would provide 100 mooring sites within a mile of Key West Bight City Dock.

As for the 2022 election, Mooney told the Keys Weekly that his focus remains on the 19 appropriation requests and six bills he’s looking to get passed through the state legislature this session.

On the Republican side, Big Pine Key resident Robert Allen filed paperwork in December to challenge Mooney. A primary would take place Aug. 23.

“I’m going to do the job I was elected to do and let the chips fall where they fall,” Mooney said. “I think my actions, what I did last year and what I do this year, will speak for me.”

Alongside Rodriguez, Mooney was able to secure full funding for the Florida Keys Stewardship Act for the first time since it became law in 2016. The two legislators have bills in each chamber that ask for recurring funds for the program, which supports water quality projects and the purchase of land.

He was against language within an ap-

NEW YEAR, ANOTHER ROUND OF ELECTIONS

Republican State Rep. Jim Mooney. Democratic candidate Daniel Horton-Diaz. Democratic candidate Adam Gentle.

proved transportation bill that overturned Key West’s vote to limit the number and size of cruise ships coming to port. That vote of approval by state legislators last session — and Gov. Ron DeSantis’ signature of the bill — drew anti-corruption lawyer Adam Gentle to enter the race for House District 120.

A Democrat with a residence address on Big Coppitt Key, Gentle withdrew his bid for Florida’s 25th Congressional District and filed his paperwork for the House race on Jan. 4.

In explaining his decision, Gentle said in a release that lawmakers in Washington, D.C. weren’t the only ones ignoring the people. Legislators in Florida were doing the same. Gentle alludes to the Key West vote that was overturned some six months later by state legislators.

“Rather than represent our community’s interests in Tallahassee, Republican lawmakers have been rubbing elbows with special interests and have silenced their vote on local issues,” Gentle said. “As an anti-corruption lawyer, I have spent my legal career investigating and rooting out corruption, and I’ll go head-to-head with the corrupt players in Florida politics.”

Originally from Michigan, Gentle studied at Columbia University in New York and attended George Washington Law School. He previously lived in Los Angeles, working with charitable organizations like The Young Americans, which promotes “understanding and goodwill among people throughout the world” through the performing arts.

Gentle said he’s running to fight for local business owners, veterans, the environment and anyone trying to get ahead.

Also running on the Democratic side is the former House District 120 and State Senate 39 candidate Daniel Horton-Diaz. The former district chief of staff to former U.S. Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell filed his paperwork on Jan. 5.

A resident of Cutler Bay, Horton-Diaz lost in a 2020 Democratic primary in the Senate District 39 race to Rep. Javier Fernandez. Horton-Diaz secured 41% of the vote with Fernandez garnering 59%. However, HortonDiaz secured 55% of the vote in Monroe County.

He lost in a 2016 House race to Republican Rep. Holly Raschein. He secured 43% while Raschein garnered 57% of the votes.

Going into his third run for office, Horton-Diaz feels confident between the connections he’s made in the district with voters. And he said he’s willing to do the work like he did in 2016 when he knocked on thousands of doors.

“In 2020, I had to figure out how I could reach people. What I ended up doing was drafting a letter to all the voters in the Keys who voted in the House District race in 2016 and still lived in Keys,” he said. “I had 8,000 envelopes, hand signed and stamped. That is one of the reasons I did well in Keys even though I wasn’t able to get out in the Keys. It’s important for me that people know I care. This is not about grabbing power.”

Gentle and Horton-Diaz will vie to appear on the ballot under the Democratic line in an Aug. 23 primary.

The election comes as the legislature redraws districts from which Florida voters elect their state representatives, state senators and members of the U.S. House. It’s done after each decennial census to adjust for uneven growth in different parts of the state.

Per census data, Florida’s population increased from 18.8 million in 2010 to 21.5 million in 2020. Average number of people in each congressional district rose by 769,000, while the number of people in each of the 120 state House districts went up by almost 180,000. While House redistricting plans would adjust the district’s boundaries, it’ll still cover the Keys and south Miami-Dade.

Catching up with Marathon High School’s clubs and athletes

CLARE MERRYMAN

www.keysweekly.com

The MHS Interact Club. Front row, from left: Michelle James, Joseph Cabrera, Casey Hovart, Leonard Volchek, Dante Senmartin, Fisher Sayer-Coleman, Lilian Guo. Second row: Caroleena Doering, Billy Martin, Sawyer Bisson, Keona Gerwig, Charles Vaughn, Molly Prince. Third row: Giancarlos Prieto, Nory Maradiaga, Rylan Chapa, Christine Brandenburg, Amanda Beal, Dainely Gomez Perez, Cindy Wu, Riley McDonald. Fourth row: Sarah Kratzert, Raymond Paul, Aaron Dolton, Trinity Jacox, Jack Hovart, Sara Bernal, Kylie McDaniel. CLARE MERRYMAN/Keys Weekly

Interact Club

The Interact Club stands for International Action. They participate in community service events every month and work closely with the Marathon Rotary Club to support the community.

The club of 30 students meets at lunch in club sponsor and teacher Michelle James' classroom to brainstorm ideas, events and ways to better support the community.

The club is headed by two-term president Leo Volchek with the assistance of vice president Dante Senmartin, secretary Joseph Cabrera, and treasurer Rylan Chapa.

With the bright minds of all these students put together, they spread the idea to their peers within the school that community service can be rewarding.

“You gain so many connections and involvement with important people in the community,” said Chapa. “I would definitely recommend joining.”

“We have volunteered at weddings, beach clean ups, and now the Celtic festival,” said James. “We are always in need of more volunteers and are looking for new members for our club. Leo Volchek, our president, is really good at recruiting new friends who become members. He will literally walk around school and encourage students to come to the next meeting and become part of the crew.”

Being a part of the Interact Club can be very beneficial. Besides teaching you leadership and responsibility skills, you are able to connect with other Rotarians worldwide. There are also several scholarship opportunities, and aids for all those who give back.

ATHLETE

OF THE WEEK

CAMI WRINN

9th grade Girls Weightlifting

Cami Wrinn, a freshman at Marathon, is a first-year member of the girls weightlifting team. She is also heavily involved in the school's theater productions, has impressive grades as a dual enrollment student with FKCC, and looks forward to joining the track team in the spring.

Wrinn said weightlifting is the first sport she has ever participated in. “One day my friends and I decided to go to a practice,” said Wrinn. “We loved it, and we joined the team. This is a decision that I would not go back on.”

While her decision to join the team was made in a split second, Cami said she needed no convincing from others. “I really just wanted to take control of my life. I have always thought of myself as lazy and uncoordinated and I am working towards proving myself wrong.”

Wrinn shows up to practice every day not only to become better for the team, but also better for herself. “Part of being a great athlete is knowing that I can never cheat myself out.”

When asked what makes her important to the team, Cami said, “I like to think that I help create a good environment in the weight room. I always deliver a positive attitude and work on encouraging my peers no matter how they did. I follow coach Schubert's example and ask positive follow-up questions after a meet or practice. Coach Schubert makes being a part of the team so fun, and that’s why it brings so many girls together.

“Coach Schubert really cares about the well-being of his students and his athletes. He treats students like they are actual people; he doesn't just brush off what we have to say. He takes your other commitments into consideration. He understands and follows up, which is a really important factor in creating bonds with your team members. It leaves us wanting to come back.”

Expect to see big things from Wrinn in the future, as she plans on continuing with the team until she graduates.

Boys Varsity

MHS vs. Somerset Silver Palms Jan. 11 Score: 6-0 loss

Girls Varsity

MHS vs. Somerset

Silver Palms

Jan. 11

Score: 4-0 loss “Considering the fact that we had zero subs due to COVID and previous injuries, we showed real improvement,” said team captain Riley McDonald. “The last time we played Somerset Silver Palms, the game ended due to a mercy rule. We are looking forward to our game on Jan. 14 against Florida Christian and we are expecting good results.”

Girls

Jan. 10

The following stats are from top-ranked MHS weightlifters from each weight class against other lifters in the district

WEIGHTLIFTING

Rylan Chapa- Bench: 100, Clean & Jerk: 125, Total: 225, 1st place

Allie Brabanec- Bench: 100, Clean & Jerk: 115, Total: 215, 2nd place

Clare Merryman- Bench: 100, Clean & Jerk: 115, Total: 215, 1st place

Kayla Sipe- Bench: 75, Clean & Jerk: 95, Total: 170, 2nd place

Nicole Merryman- Bench: 105, Clean & Jerk: 115, Total: 220, 3rd place

Sarah Kratzert- Bench: 115, Clean & Jerk: 115, Total: 230, 2nd place

Yasmary Santos- Bench: 125, Clean & Jerk: 140, Total: 265, 2nd place

BASKETBALL

Boys Varsity

MHS vs Horeb Christian

Jan. 10

Score: 58-27 loss

“We lost to Horeb Christian in our last game 58-27. Even though we lost by 31, there were definite improvements,” said head coach Kevin Freeman. “We had the fewest turnovers we’ve had all year and the most shots taken. We took good shots, they just didn’t fall.”

3 4 1 2

5

CALLING IT EVEN

Marathon girls soccer reaches 0-0 tie with Coral Shores

Ahard-fought battle ended in a draw as the Marathon girls varsity soccer team played host to Coral Shores on Jan. 6. Both sides had plenty of opportunities, but as time expired both teams posted shutouts in a 0-0 tie.

The Dolphins will visit Divine Savior and Florida Christian before returning home to face Somerset Academy on Wednesday, Jan. 19.

— Alex Rickert

1. Marathon junior Aliyah Gonzalez (1) on a breakaway.

2. Goalkeeper Justice Lee Isom (0) keeps the Marathon shutout intact.

3. Marathon’s Rain Banks (11) creates a little room to get the ball.

4. Lady Fin forward Reese Elwell (12) races the Hurricanes’ Carlie Stanley (2) to the ball.

5. Marathon sophomore Rain Banks (11) is surrounded by Hurricanes.

6. The Dolphins’ midfielder Jordan MacDonald (13) brings the ball up field.

Photos by Barry Gaukel. See more game photos at www.shadypalmphotography.com

6

1 2

3

4

COURT BATTLE

The Marathon Dolphins girls middle school basketball team traveled up the island chain for a game against the Plantation Key Panthers on Jan. 6. The scoring went back and forth throughout the game inside the PKS gym, but coming out on top were the Dolphins, 24-21. The PKS boys and girls teams will head to Marathon for games on Tuesday, Jan. 18 beginning at 5 p.m. — Jim McCarthy

1. Players go up for the opening tip of the girls basketball game.

2. PKS and Marathon players scramble for possession of the basketball.

3. PKS players work to move the basketball up the court as Marathon’s Sara Robinson (1) closes in.

4. Marathon’s Ava Merryman (3) and Aivy Nguyen (23) work to secure a lost ball.

Photos by Doug Finger.

COUNTY MOVES TO SETTLE SHARE IN $26.5 BILLION OPIOID LAWSUIT

CASE WITH PURDUE PHARMA/ SACKLER FAMILY STILL PENDING

Monroe County has moved to settle its part in a nationwide class-action lawsuit against distributors and a manufacturer of opioid pain pills. According to the December 2021 county commissioner meeting’s agenda paperwork, though the overall amount of the settlement is still being finalized, the current figure is approximately $26.5 billion. Of that amount, Monroe County would receive $206,000 annually, while the Keys’ five municipalities will get a total of $22,000 annually, over a period of about 17.5 years.

“On balance, the proposed settlement is a good deal for Monroe County,” said assistant county attorney Cynthia Hall. “It will provide approximately $206,000 per year to the county, and another $22,000 collectively to the five municipalities, over a period of 17.5 years, for use on substance abuse abatement. Monroe County would receive a slightly higher share than its pro rata share based on population.”

Another lawsuit that the county has against three other opioid manufacturers, including the Sackler family’s Purdue Pharma — which made the highly addictive pill OxyContin — is still pending. That suit has been complicated by the fact that the three manufacturers have declared bankruptcy, Hall told Keys Weekly.

This news comes on the heels of recent nationwide headlines that declared the opioid epidemic led to the highest annual rate of drug-abuse death rates ever.

“In the 12-month period that ended in April, more than 100,000 Americans died of overdoses,” a Nov. 17, 2021, New York Times article said. “The figure marks the first time the number of overdose deaths in the United States has exceeded 100,000 a year, more than the toll of car crashes and gun fatalities combined. … The vast majority (was) caused by synthetic opioids.”

Florida and Monroe County are not immune to this trend. According to paperwork submitted by the county to receive a grant for its jail drug abuse treatment program, “Monroe County (has) drug abuse rates higher than both the state and national averages. The Drug Enforcement Agency noted in their 2019 Opioid Report that from 2006 to 2012 there were 30,791,325 prescription pain pills, enough for 60 pills per person per year, supplied to Monroe County.”

Opioid pain pills are highly addictive, and they contributed to a nationwide high death-by-drugabuse rate in 2021. CONTRIBUTED

Attorney Hall explained that around 2018, the county decided to file a complaint — along with other cities, counties and states nationwide — against pain pill manufacturers and distributors after considering the effect the opioid epidemic had with its employees.

“We were talking about the expenditure of Monroe County’s health plan to treat opioid addictions, the amount of dollars and staff time necessary to treat people who were suffering from opioid problems, including the expenditure for Narcan,” said Hall.

Narcan, the brand name for naloxone, is a nasal spray that can treat a narcotic overdose.

Hall emphasized that any money received from a settlement would not be an attempt to get money back that the county had already paid out of pocket to help opioid users. “Instead, it would be forward-facing dollars available for treatment programs, forward-looking things as opposed for things that happened in the past,” she said.

Once the settlement money is received, Hall said, the county would also like to arrange talks among the municipalities to make sure the money is split equitably for drug treatment programs within the Keys, since the county is getting the lion’s share of the settlement in the area.

The defendants in this lawsuit include three national distributors: Amerisource Bergen Corporation, which is partnered with Walgreens, among other entities; McKesson, which is partnered with CVS, among others; and Cardinal Health, which is partnered with CVS, among others. One manufacturer is also included in this suit: Johnson & Johnson, through its parent company Janssen.

Monroe County is also involved in another multi-district lawsuit, which is still tangled up in court due to the fact that the three defendants have all declared bankruptcy: manufacturers Purdue Pharma, Insys and Mallinckrodt.

According to Reuters.com, a federal judge threw out a $4.5 billion settlement that legally shielded members of the Sackler family — who own Purdue Pharma — from future opioid lawsuits. In national news coverage, the Sackler family name has become synonymous with their product OxyContin, a pain pill that added fuel to the fire of the epidemic.

“There cannot be two forms of justice – one for ordinary Americans and a different one for billionaires,” Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson said in a Dec. 17, 2021, Reuters.com article, in response to the settlement being thrown out. “I’m prepared to take this fight all the way to the Supreme Court, if necessary, to ensure true accountability for the Sackler family.”

Monroe County Sheriff Rick Ramsey and his staff have borne witness to the local wreckage of the opioid epidemic. He pointed out doctors have over-prescribed opioid pain pills to patients, who would then become addicted.

Ramsay expressed concern that users of opioids see Narcan as a safety net and therefore feel more comfortable abusing drugs. He pointed out that Narcan is available over the counter in CVS and said that addicts often use in pairs. They make a deadly pact to use their drug of choice one at a time. If one person looks like they are overdosing, the other person will revive them with Narcan.

“It encourages people to use drugs at higher volumes,” Ramsay explained. “Last year, we had a couple in a trailer with three kids. In a garbage trailer. They had Narcan, and they had the same pact. But they were so high, one passed out while the other overdosed. The husband died.”

Ellen Westbrook holds a weakened brown pelican before it was transported to the Key West Wildlife Center. MARK HEDDEN/Keys Weekly

... 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.

ELLEN AND THE PELICAN

MARK HEDDEN

Ellen Westbrook and I were riding our bikes around the edge of Old Town, along the water, counting every damn bird we saw – every mockingbird, every gull, every dove. Because it was the 122nd annual Christmas Bird Count and you don’t mess with tradition. This was the second year we’d done the CBC by bike, but it surely made sense, what with COVID and traffic and parking. Also, it was just easier to see and hear things while we were moving. Also, it was fun. At the boat ramp at Truman Waterfront I scanned the pilings and piers, hoping to catch sight of some black skimmers. Ellen started eyeing a particular brown pelican.

Ellen does a lot for the Florida Keys Audubon Society, but she also does a lot for the Key West Wildlife Center, the folks who help sick and injured birds any way they can. She knows a pelican that isn’t quite right when she sees it.

The bird sat on the edge of the gray seawall. Ellen leaned her bike on its kickstand, and walked up to it. It did not fly away, which was a sign. It did turn and snap at her, which she knew was coming and easily dodged. Pelicans have sharp hooks on the ends of their bills. If you don’t know what you are doing you could get hurt, or worse, you could hurt the bird. But Ellen has grabbed pelicans a few thousand times.

She reached for the bird, it snapped again, she deftly dodged again. The snapping sounded like a large pair of chopsticks clacking. After several cycles, she gently wrapped hand around the bird’s bill and held it. It was like the kids’ game of Got Your Nose, only it worked. The pelican flapped some, but couldn’t go anywhere.

I called Tom Sweets from Key West Wildlife Center, who said he’d be there as soon as possible. So I sat down next to Ellen and the pelican and she told me about working with them at the clinic.

“The ones that come in like this – it’s their first migration. He is a pristine bird. There’s no cuts or scabs on his feet. His feathers are all perfect. They get this far and they just don’t have the energy to fish,” she said. “I could tell from over there that he wasn’t right. The way his head was. The way he was resting.”

“I don’t think he has a big parasite load. Otherwise I’d be covered with them by now. They don’t live on people. I mean, in 10 or 12 hours, they’re all dead,” she said. Then she looked at the bird.

“We’re just gonna sit here quietly and wait for somebody to come pick you up. You’re a beautiful bird. The very fact that I can just reach down and get you means that you are not working right,” she said.

“This is a boy. The male beaks are about two inches longer than the female. And he looks newly hatched. Every feather is just perfect. He’s not all scarred up like an adult would be. Remember “The Velveteen Rabbit”? He’s not all torn up yet. The pieces aren’t falling off. His webbing is just uncut and perfect. You don’t see that in an adult.

“We feed them and offer them fish in the clinic. Once they start eating well and getting a little more active, we take them out to the aviary, to the pool room with other pelicans their same age. We put all the juveniles together. And then they eat communally. They get to this room where they can fly. Tom watches over them. And when they’re all flying really well, he’ll take four to six of ’em at once and release them as a group. He might be with us a month. I don’t know.

“The pelicans we get here, some of them are banded, and all the bands are from South Carolina. So we think that this group that we get here in the winter summers in South Carolina,” she said.

“We get calls all the time from people saying they see a pelican and he’s got monofilament trailing from around his feet or around his wing. As long as they can fly and get away from us we’ll never catch him. Tom will come down and try to bait them in. But until it interferes with their ability to feed themselves we can’t get them. Once we get them, we can get the hooks out and staple up whatever tears they have. We got one last week that had monofilament wrapped tightly around the wing, to the point where it was interfering with circulation. We were worried it would lose the wing, but Peggy (Koontz) massages it several times a day and it seems to be coming back. It seems to be moving a little more normally. So we think he’s gonna survive this,” she said.

While we were sitting there, a police car passed and didn’t give a second glance at the woman holding the pelican by the bill. Ellen told me she’d come across another sick pelican a few weeks prior while walking the dog. She’d carried it a mile back to the car, and of all the people she passed, none of them said a word to the woman holding the four-foot-tall bird.

“When they’re weak they don’t struggle. A normal bird would not let this happen. We can tell they’re getting better when you pull them out of their crates to tube-feed them and they fight on the way out of the crate, they fight the feeding tube, they fight going back into the crate. And you’re like, ‘Good! You’re feeling like a normal bird. That’s what you should be doing.’ This guy? Look at him. He’s too weak, too weak to fish,” she said.

We could see Tom pulling up in his pickup. Ellen gathered the pelican and held it like a plush toy she’d won at the carnival. After Tom loaded him in a crate to take back to the clinic we added it to the list, got on our bikes, and went off to count more birds.

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30375 Quail Roost Trail Big Pine Key Rebate Program for Residential Solar Window Tinting up to $200 Credit on bill for FKEC Members!

JANUARY 21-23

HAWKS CAY RESORT DUCK KEY, FLORIDA

FRIDAY 1PM-5:30PM | SATURDAY 10AM-5:30PM | SUNDAY 10AM-3PM

PRESENTED BY FLORIDA KEYS PREMIER BOAT SHOW

ISLANDBOATSHOW.COM

SEAFARER REALTY GRAND OPENING JANUARY 27TH 5-7PM

225 W SEAVIEW CIRCLE | DUCK KEY

Ready for paradise? This perfect, updated, turnkey home is waiting for you! Beautiful open water views, all new furniture, low maintenance, completely fenced yard and plenty of room for all your toys and a pool with extensive storage. MLS 598706 | $935,000

1998 OVERSEAS HIGHWAY | MARATHON

Beautiful 3rd floor condo with Gulf and marina views from the kitchen, covered patio and from the main bedroom too! With a spacious 1,650sqft, 3/2 floor plan, there is plenty of room to entertain guests and still have privacy. MLS 593737 | $599,000

2264 OVERSEAS HIGHWAY | MARATHON

Built in 2018, turnkey waterfront development comprised of eight single family houses currently licensed as weekly vacation rentals, each with four bedrooms and three full bathrooms, built to current windstorm standards. Each home is designed for guests to enjoy their own private pool, laundry, outdoor grill area, covered parking and balconies. MLS 598993 | $9,975,000

Alexia Mann, GRI

Broker/Owner 305-209-5166 11400 Overseas Hwy, Ste 105 Marathon Alexia@SeafarerRealty.com www.SeafarerRealty.com