Key West Weekly 22-1013

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NUMBER OF THE WEEK ON THE COVER

16Florida gas prices took an unexpected turn higher last week.

After sinking to a 2022 low of $3.17 per gallon on Oct. 5, the state average shot up 16 cents per gallon over the course of four days, in what became the largest weekly increase since June. Florida drivers are now paying an average price of $3.33 per gallon.

Waterfront Playhouse opens its season with Jimmy Buffett’s ‘Escape to Margaritaville’ Oct. 20 through Nov. 12.

KEY WEST OFFICIALS HEAR POST-STORM KUDOS & CRITICISM

SOME IRKED BY INITIAL COUNTY DECISION ON OPENING SHELTER AT HIGH SCHOOL

MANDY MILES

mandy@keysweekly.com

Key West’s Oct. 6 commission meeting started with com pliments about community cooperation in the wake of Hurricane Ian, but ended with ques tions, concerns and criticisms.

Randy Sterling, director of the Key West Housing Authority re ceived significant praise for his quick response in addressing the 94 public housing units in Bahama Village that were affected, 80 of them signifi cantly. Many residents of the Robert Gabriel Apartments lost most of their belongings, along with refrig erators and hot water heaters in the floodwaters.

Sterling thanked the commis sion for their praise, and added, “It’s been a rough week for the housing authority. But I think I found every refrigerator of every size between Key West and Key Largo, so by the Monday after the storm, each of our units had some type of refrigera tion.” Before the appliances were secured, Sterling ensured that each apartment was provided coolers and ice, and helped set up meal and food distributions in the neighbor hood.

Commissioner Sam Kaufman was the first to bring up a seem ing disconnect between city offi cials, who repeatedly asked that a shelter be opened in Key West for liveaboard residents and homeless people, and the county Emergency Management officials, who repeat edly denied that request.

“We need a shelter for tropical storms and Category 1 hurricanes,” Kaufman said. “The fact that the county denied and delayed having

that shelter opened at Key West High School — that can never hap pen again. I’m very concerned about this. If the county is going to neglect its duties, then we need our own policy. I’d like a formal response from the county.”

Key West City Manager Patti McLauchlin assured the commis sioners, “We did advocate strongly for days for a shelter.” She added that she is meeting this week with County Administrator Roman Gas tesi to review some of those policies.

Commissioner Greg Davila thanked County Commissioners Jim Scholl and Craig Cates for “do ing their part on our behalf. But it seems there’s an issue with how things are structured.”

Shannon Weiner, Monroe Coun ty’s director of emergency manage ment, said during one of the county wide coordination calls that opening shelters is not part of the standard operating procedure ahead of an approaching tropical storm.

Key West High School ultimately opened as a shelter, and housed 118 people during the winds, rain and significant flooding of Ian.

Greg Barroso, Key West’s direc tor of emergency management, told the commissioners that a total of 366 units throughout Key West had been affected, mostly by flooding. The city established a needs-assess ment hotline that will continue to operate through this week.

Multiple Key West residents spoke at the end of the meeting, and while many praised the city’s police and fire departments, Mar garet Romero, Rick Haskins and Lis sette Cuervo Carey questioned the city’s lack of communication during and right after the storm. Commis sioner Greg Davila then echoed his own frustration.

“There seemed to be a lack of planning and coordination,” Romero said. “This is not a staff complaint. It seemed things could have been done better higher up.”

Molly Ross and Jed Dodds on a flooded Rose Street in Key West. MARK HEDDEN/Keys Weekly

Haskins told the commis sioners, “Riviera Drive. Jamaica. Sunrise. Rose. All those streets and many others were sig nificantly flooded and I haven’t heard them mentioned once here tonight. I heard more from Instagram and Facebook than I did from you during the storm. There was a lot of good that happened, but we need better communication.”

Haskins suggested city of ficials use Facebook Live and a mass text alert system.

Carey, who is running for the District 4 city commission seat, told the current com missioners, “By the time you finish the needs assessment, those needs have changed. We have to respond quicker. I’ve heard that areas such as Riviera Drive, Rose Street and others are more affluent areas, and that renters should have renters insurance. People can’t even afford their rent, much less renters’ insurance.”

Kaufman and Mayor Teri Johnston responded to the public’s comments by point ing out that it’s easy to criticize when you’re not in the seat making minute-by-minute deci sions.

“This was a prediction that was wrong, or that changed, so we had to pivot,” Kaufman said. “You can’t start pointing fingers. We’re all on the same team.”

Davila then said, “There is a lot of frustration out there, and I was one of those frus trated people. Our staff did a great job. I think the issue is our warning system was off. A lot has to do with the informa tion we were given. Perhaps we need to educate people on how the county’s emergency operations center works, who controls it and how much input the city has.”

Commissioner Jimmy Weekley, who had already planned to be on vacation when the storm approached, lightened the mood by saying, “I felt like Senator Ted Cruz run ning from a disaster.”

Weekley and Commission er Mary Lou Hoover suggested the city use this storm to critique itself and its response, and learn lessons.

AFFORDABLE HOUSING MORE AFFORDABLE

$4M FROM LAND AUTHORITY WILL SUBSIDIZE HOME OWNERSHIP

The Lofts at Bahama VIllage will include 98 rental apartments and 28 affordable home ownership units. CONTRIBUTED

MANDY MILES

The sale price of the 28 or so homes that will be for sale to Key Westers who meet the income guidelines and qualify for affordable housing has gone down to more affordable levels.

The 98 rental apartments and 28 ownership townhomes, known as The Lofts at Bahama Village, are destined for the final 3.2 acres of land at Truman Waterfront, which the Navy gave to the city about 20 years ago.

But the purchase price of $667,000 for a two-bedroom home gave many people sticker shock — and raised concerns about the af fordability of an affordable housing neighborhood.

The Lofts’ developers offered repeated reassurances that the purchase price would be lowered.

The city’s code includes an affordable housing and income formula that prevents owned homes from being affordable, Scott Pridgen told the Keys Weekly back in August. Pridgen is executive di rector of AH Monroe, which is part of The Lofts development team.

City officials have changed the code and its formula, bringing

the cost of a two-bedroom owned home down to about $390,000. Pridgen said his goal was always to get that price down to $345,000 to $415,000.

In order to lower the purchase price, the city of Key West has requested $4.8 million from the Monroe County Land Authority, City Manager Patti McLauchlin told the Bahama Village Redevelopment Advisory Committee on Oct. 3.

That $4.8 million will provide subsidies that will lower the cost of a two-bedroom house by $276,750, bringing the purchase price down from $667,000 to about $390,000. The infusion of money from the land authority will make up the difference between the lower sale price and the cost to the developer to build the homes, Pridgen said in August.

“Once we get approval from the land authority, which we don’t expect will be a problem, we’ll continue moving forward on this,” McLauchlin said.

Developers of The Lofts hope to break ground in six or seven months. At that point, they will begin accepting formal applications for the rental and home ownership units.

JIMMY BUFFETT’S

‘ESCAPE TO MARGARITAVILLE’

OPENS WATERFRONT SEASON

MUSICAL FEATURES SINGER’S CLASSIC TUNES & MARGARITAS AT INTERMISSION

Waterfront

Playhouse on Mallory Square opens its 84th season on Thursday, Oct. 20 with Jimmy Buf fett’s “Escape to Margaritaville.”

This madcap love story, with an erupting volcano, tap-dancing zombies and Buffett clas sics like “Cheeseburger in Paradise,” “Margari taville,” and “Son of a Son of a Sailor” will fill the air on Mallory Square. The book is by Emmy Award winner Greg Garcia (“My Name is Earl” and ”Raising Hope”) and Emmy Award nominee Mike O’Malley (“Shameless”). The show will also feature a margarita bar onstage during inter mission.

USA Today calls it “A little slice of paradise” and Entertainment Weekly says, “It will knock your flip flops off.”

THE CAST

Jordan Thomas Burnett makes his Water front Playhouse debut. Burnett is a New Jersey native and holds a bachelor’s degree in theater performance. He trained under Tony award winner Michelle Pawk. He has also performed regionally in “Something Rotten,” “Mamma Mia,” “Camelot” and “Addams Family Musical.” Burnett will spend the holidays performing at the MGM Beau Rivage Resort in “Finding Christ mas,” a Broadway-style musical variety show.

Jillian Todd moved to Key West in Septem ber 2021 to perform on the Waterfront stage just after graduating from the State University of New York at Geneseo. She was last seen on this stage playing Elsa in the Junior production of “Frozen.” Todd has been involved in theater since elementary school. She spent her high school summers performing in summer stock shows with Potsdam Music Theater in her home town of Potsdam, New York. You can also find her during the day playing her guitar and singing at some of Key West’s favorite local venues.

Tyler Gallaher is a New York-based actor/ singer and comedic improviser who is making his debut at Waterfront Playhouse. Gallaher has appeared in and worked with many region al theaters across the country. Most recently, he was in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, working at The Jackson Hole Playhouse, performing in clas sic westerns such as “Paint Your Wagon.”

Allyson McCormick is originally from Fred ericksburg, Virginia. Her regional credits include “The Christmas Tree Ship” with Bluegate Mu sicals, and three seasons as a lead entertainer at Tweetsie Railroad in Blowing Rock, North

Carolina. She has also appeared in regional productions of “Always, Patsy Cline,” “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever,” and “Nevermore: The Imaginary Life and Mysterious Death of Edgar Allan Poe.”

Olivia White began her career at the American Musical and Dramatic Academy. Since then she has performed aboard Celebrity Cruises and has played Florinda in “Into the Woods,” and Celie in “The Color Purple.”

Ray West is a professional flutist, guitarist and executive director of the Key West Music Awards and writes a column about the local music scene for the Keys Weekly Newspaper. After more than 12 years on the music circuit, West has turned his attention back to his first love; theater.

Mathias Maloff last appeared in the two-man comedy “A Life in the Theatre” at the Waterfront Playhouse. He was seen in numer ous productions last season including: “Clue” and “Something Rotten!”

Ervin Tumm is in his third season at the Waterfront Playhouse, performing this season in “Escape To Margaritaville,” “Rock of Ages” and “Kinky Boots.”

Sarah McKinney is making her Waterfront Playhouse debut — and on her first visit to Key West. Her previous leading credits include: “We Will Rock You,” “A Chorus Line,” “Shrek,” “Foot loose,” “The Who’s Tommy” and as Sandy in “Grease.”

Andie Rose grew up in the Keys and en rolled in every Keys Kids production during her school years. She was Dream Clara in the “Nut cracker” and Violet Beauregard in “Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.” After earning a degree in theater at Eckerd College, she lived in St. Petersburg for four more years before moving back to Big Pine to join the Waterfront Playhouse. You may catch her playing bass with her dad, Brian Roberts, around the Keys.

John Swann makes his debut on the Wa terfront stage, and is a veteran of community theater on the Eastern Shore of Maryland for many years.

Barbara Mundy appeared last season as Mrs. Phelps in “Matilda,” Mrs. Peacock in ”Clue,” and was part of the Waterfront’s radio play series performing in 14 broadcasts. Recently she played Robert the Doll in The Studios of Key West’s 24-hour play event and was Helen in Bob Bowersox’s new play, “Flowers on the Moon.”

Iain Wilcox was born and raised in Key West, where he developed a fanatical passion for the arts. He is an actor, writer, athlete and musician.

The show is directed by Tom Thayer, managing artistic director; designed by Michael Boyer; choreographed by Carolyn Cooper; lighting by Kim Hansen; musical direction by Roberta Jacyshyn and stage managed by An drew Theede.

JIMMY BUFFETT’S ‘ESCAPE TO MARGARITAVILLE’ WATERFRONT PLAYHOUSE

Preview show Wednesday, Oct. 19. Opening night Thursday Oct. 20 followed by with after-party

Oct. 20 - Nov. 12, Tuesday-Saturday at 8 p.m., 2 p.m. matinee on Saturday, Oct. 29.

Tickets waterfrontplayhouse.org. or 305-294-5015

Jillian Todd and Jordan Thomas Burnett star in Jimmy Buffett’s ‘Escape to Margaritaville’ at Waterfront Playhouse Oct. 20 through Nov. 12. LARRY BLACKBURN/Keys Weekly

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FACTS FROM THE TAX COLLECTOR

Sam Steele OCTOBER

2022 property tax bills

305.295.5000

be mailed out October 31.

As of October 1, a 10% penalty has been added to all unpaid local business tax receipts.

All properties that are rented for six months or less MUST have a tourist development tax account.

As a reminder, online platforms (Airbnb, VRBO, etc.) DO NOT remit the 5% tourist development tax to our office. It is the homeowner's responsibility to ensure the tax is remitted.

All rental properties must also pay a local business tax regardless of how long they are being rented.

• The lobby and drive-thru at the Harvey Government Center will be temporarily closed for renovations from 10/12-10/25. All registration and title services will be processed at the Key West Driver License Office in Searstown Shopping Plaza.

• The Big Pine Key location will be open from 9:00-3:00 on the following dates: - Tuesday 10/11-Friday 10/14 - Monday 10/17-Friday 10/21 - Monday 10/24-Thursday 10/27

us on for more important tax information.

FLOOD VICTIMS IN THE KEYS NOW ELIGIBLE FOR FEMA FUNDS DRY TORTUGAS REOPENS TO VISITORS AFTER HURRICANE IAN

APPLY FOR HELP

Monroe County was included in the state’s emergency declaration orders the week of Hurricane Ian, but was not deemed eligible for Indi vidual Assistance until Oct. 11.

Key West Mayor Teri Johnston alerted the Keys Weekly on Oct. 11 that the eligibility had been ap proved for Individual Assistance.

BEACHES OPEN, CAMPGROUND & FORT REMAIN CLOSED

U.S. Rep. Carlos Gimenez visits Key West immediately following Hurricane Ian to confirm that the island city suf fered damage from storm surge flood ing.

Whenthe floodwaters of Hurricane Ian receded from Key West by Sept. 30, more than 400 Key West households had to haul their drenched lives and living rooms to the curb. Warped, wooden furni ture, mattresses soaked in saltwa ter and irreparable appliances still line the streets of several Key West neighborhoods that bore the brunt of Ian’s storm surge.

But as of Oct. 11, flood vic tims in the Florida Keys are finally eligible for financial assistance from FEMA. Those affected by Hurricane Ian in the Florida Keys can apply for FEMA help at DisasterAssistance. gov or by calling 1-800-621-3362.

For the first two weeks follow ing Hurricane Ian, Monroe County was not included in the list of Florida counties eligible for what’s known as Individual Assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The county and the city of Key West were immediately eligible for FEMA’s Public Assistance, which provides funds to help communities recover in terms of debris removal and infrastructure repairs.

The Individual Assistance program provides federal funding to help homeowners and renters offset the costs of their damages and losses in counties that are designated under a major disaster declaration.

“Individual Assistance may help pay for temporary housing, emer gency home repairs, uninsured and underinsured shortfalls for personal property losses, medical, dental and funeral expenses caused directly by a declared disaster,” states a de scription of FEMA assistance pro grams provided to the Keys Weekly by Nicole Rapanos, legislative direc tor for U.S. Rep. Carlos Gimenez.

Gimenez supported Monroe County’s application for Individual Assistance from the federal govern ment. The congressman visited Key West immediately following Hur ricane Ian, on Friday, Sept. 30. He met with officials at Key West’s city hall before touring several flooddamaged neighborhoods. Gimenez confirmed that Key West abso lutely had suffered damage from the storm surge as Ian churned in the Gulf to the west of Key West. He told local officials that he had sent letters to the federal government and to the president on behalf of the Florida Keys.

“From the beginning, I’ve fought hard for the people in Monroe County hit the hardest by Hurricane Ian,” Gimenez said on Oct. 11. “After weeks of advocacy on behalf of Keys residents from my office, the entire Florida delegation, Governor De Santis, and our local FEMA officials, today Monroe County is eligible for FEMA’s individual assistance, in ad dition to the Category A designation for debris removal. This is a huge win for Monroe County as recovery efforts continue.”

Florida Keys residents are quick to acknowledge that Key West’s damage does not compare to the devastation wrought on the state’s west coast. But for families with 3 feet of drenched drywall and no usable furniture, the costs can be crippling.

MANDY MILES

Dry

Tortugas National Park took a direct hit from Hurricane Ian on Sept. 27 as it passed about 70 miles of Key West, where the park includes the historic Civil War-era Fort Jefferson, a lighthouse, parade grounds around the fort, beaches and usually pristine water for off shore fishing and snorkeling from the beach.

Calling the damage significant, but not catastrophic, park officials on Oct. 10 reopened parts of the park to visitors and the ferry that brings them.

“The park welcomed visitors arriving via the ferry this morning for the first time since Sept. 25,” National Park Service posted on its Facebook page on Oct. 10. “Park staff and the incident management team are working hard to reopen the interior of Fort Jefferson and campground as soon as possible.”

Engineers inspected the stormdamaged dock on Garden Key and deemed it safe to partially reopen, states a report from the National Park Service.

“Fort Jefferson remains closed beyond the fort entrance and visi tor center while emergency stabili zation continues, but the beaches are open, and the waters around the fort are accessible for snorkel ing,” states a news release from the park service. “The docks remain closed to private vessels and the park is closed to camping.

“While marine waters in the park continue to be open, boaters are advised that both Garden and Loggerhead keys remain closed indefinitely to private vessels due to damage to the visitor courtesy slips and docks.

“Dry Tortugas National Park closed on Sept. 26 in advance of Hurricane Ian, which passed directly over the park on the night of Sept. 27-28 with sustained winds of 120 mph. Garden Key and Fort Jefferson were the first areas in the United States impacted by the storm. The National Park Service’s Eastern Incident Management team is assisting Dry Tortugas National Park staff with storm cleanup and emergency assessments of the fort’s damaged infrastructure,” states the park service report.

For more information about Dry Tortugas National Park, visit nps.gov/drto or follow the park on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Aerial photo of main dock on Garden Key, post-Hurricane Ian. NATIONAL PARK SERVICE/Contributed

Lighthouse at Loggerhead Key, postHurricane Ian.

BEHIND THE SCENES OF A FANTASY FEST FLOAT

CROWD FAVORITE DANIEL BITNAR SHARES AN INSIDER’S VIEW

Theannual Bud Light Fantasy Fest pa rade doesn’t roll down Duval Street until Saturday, Oct. 29, but if you’re Daniel Bitnar, costume creator and magic-maker extraordinaire, you’ve been getting your ducks and sequins lined up for a full calendar year. Keys Weekly recently caught up with Bitnar for some insider Q&As.

What year did you first enter the parade and how did it all come about? It all started around 2003/2004. I was living in Fort Lauderdale and my then-boyfriend, now-husband Michael Soddy was living in Key West. A friend asked if I was coming down for Fantasy Fest and I said, ‘What’s that?’ Michael said, ‘Oh, it’s crowded, it’s a nightmare – and I’m working.’ I said, ‘I want to see it.’ So I arrived and thought it was amazing, fascinating.

I moved down in 2006 and my first job was at the Pilot House, where I worked with Virginia Wark for 10 years. It was Virginia who pushed me. She said, ‘Daniel, you have to do costumes, you have to do Pretenders in Paradise, you have to do the Parade.’ I said, ‘Virginia, I don’t know if I’m up for that.’ The first year was 2010 and I built this costume called Solaris, God of All Predators. I won Pretenders in Paradise first place, and placed in the Headdress Ball as well. The next year for the Aquatic Afrolic theme I made this huge octopus costume – Poseidon, God of the Sea, and won Pretenders in Paradise again.”

Was there anything in your pre-Key West life that prepared you for this? I studied Indus trial Design in Venezuela, where I was born, and did a master’s degree in Florence, Italy. When I returned to Caracas, I started working in the highend shoe industry and also as a Miss Venezuela pageant image consultant. But as far as actual costume manufacturing and head-to-toe presen tation, I’m completely self-taught; I’ve never taken any classes in sewing, hair or makeup.

What are your five most crucial materials for costume making? Fabric, the right vision of what I’m going to make for each person, glue gun, zip ties and sewing machine.

How do you select participants for your teams? My groups have always been small because I make the costumes for everyone, and it takes me a year to make them. As soon as the next year’s theme is announced, I start the research, plotting the costumes, and thinking about who will be just right for each character. This year’s team is my husband, Michael; our local friend Sandy Guy; Gary Horne from Atlanta, Geor

gia; new Key Westers Keith Grigsby and Roger Helsler; and my niece Cristina Dzialo if she can make it here from Orlando.”

Any hard and fast rules or practices that you abide by? On my team, when we are on parade, no one drinks, and no one does drugs. Everyone can do what they want after the parade, but my philosophy is that we represent Key West, and we have to give our best — walk with pag eantry, show off with a smile — and every year it comes out beautifully.

Any favorite Fantasy Fest side stories? One year after the parade, we were in our archangel costumes and were walking home via Elizabeth Street, very narrow. The week before there’d been a big spread about me in the Miami Herald. A car comes towards us from the opposite direction … honks; flashes its lights. Then it stops; the door flies open and a woman runs towards us scream ing, ‘There you are! There you are! I’ve been look ing for you!’ … Then her husband gets out of the car and says, ‘She saw you in the paper, fell in love with your work, and made me drive her down to see you.’ For a moment it was scary and then it was like, ‘Oh my God, someone drove down from Miami just to see my costumes.’

Any budgeting wisdom to share? My yearly goal is to not exceed $200 total. I recycle a lot. We have a friend from Wisconsin who sends two box es of beautiful fabrics every year; she’ll send man nequins, anything she thinks I can use. There’s a second-hand store in Ft. Lauderdale where I can buy gowns for as little as $4 and I’ll collect all the beading from the gowns. I can spend a little and make it look like a million dollars.

What motivates you to create each year?

It’s joy; it’s happiness; it’s like fireworks in my head and a wonderful therapy. Sometimes I look up and 12 hours have passed without me realizing it. The biggest reward for me is when I create some thing and hear oohs and aahs and see people’s expressions of amazement and delight.

1. Daniel Bitnar, supported by Dan Soddy, cen ter, and Gary Horne, right, portrayed Atlas for the A-Conch-Alypse-themed Fantasy Fest 2012. CAROL TEDESCO/FantasyFest.com

2. As the Dove of Peace for Fantasy Fest 2017, Daniel Bitnar’s costume included articulating wings with a full 14-foot span.

3. Master of pageantry Daniel Bitnar has been creat ing Key West Fantasy Fest magic since 2010.

Fantasy Fest 2022 is presented in part by the Monroe County Tourist Development Council. More information and a parade application form are at FantasyFest.com/Parade.

CASH PRIZES AWARDED FOR BEST

HOMES

Decorate

your digs to win big. The Key West Chamber of Commerce Fantasy Façade contest offers fantastically decorated Key West homes and busi nesses the opportunity to compete for cash prizes and glory.

Think ghoulish and think this year’s “Cult Classics & Cartoon Chaos” Fantasy Fest theme. The final day to enter is Oct. 17. Judging takes place on Monday, Oct. 24.

For a full calendar of events, schedule updates and Fantasy Façade registration, visit Fantasyfest.com. Fantasy Fest 2022 is pre sented in part by the Monroe County Tourist Development Council.

—

FANTASY FACADES CONTEST DEADLINE IS OCT. 17 NAME THE 2023 FANTASY FEST THEME

WINNER RECEIVES A GRANDSTAND SEAT FOR THE PARADE

It’s

time for clever cats and sagacious souls far and wide to put on their thinking caps and submit their Key West Fantasy Fest theme ideas for 2023.

The winning theme composer and a guest will find themselves fabulously seated in the 2023 Bud Light Fantasy Fest parade grandstand among the parade judges and organizers.

(Helpful hint: 2023 marks the 200-year an niversary of the establishment of both Monroe County and Key West’s first naval base, so think Bicentennial.)

In the case of duplicate winning submis sions, a drawing will determine one winner. Some past year’s Fantasy Fest themes include: “Secrets of the Zodiac Revealed (2001),” “Habi tat for Insanity (2010),” and “Time Travel Unrav els (2017).”

Email submissions to info@FantasyFest. com; deadline to enter is Friday, Oct. 14. The 2023 theme will be announced the day after the 2022 Fantasy Fest parade.

Wicker Guesthouse in Key West is always a can’t-miss contestant in the Fantasy Facade contest that chal lenges local businesses to decorate for Fantasy Fest. CAROL TEDESCO/FantasyFest.com

Two of Fantasy Fest’s founders, Tony Falcone, left, and the late Joe Liszka, right, perch atop a mammoth, hydraulically operated float in 2009’s ‘Villains, Vixens and Vampires’-themed Fantasy Fest parade. CAROL TEDESCO/FantasyFest.com

1

WARREN HAYNES & GOV’T MULE PLAY KEY WEST OCT. 18

Thelast time Warren Haynes set foot in Key West he was barely 20 years old.

The Asheville, North Carolina na tive began playing guitar at age 12, and not long after, the music industry began to take notice, with some realizing a rare prodigy was walking among the mortals. By 1980 Haynes began touring with David Allen Coe, who spent various seasons on Big Pine Key, writing music and burnishing his outlaw persona in local bars around the Keys.

During that time Haynes vaguely recalls playing a bar in Key West following a recording session at a local studio with Coe and Gregg Allman. Allman, of course, was at the height of his fame, freshly divorced from Cher and riding the success of the Allman Brothers’ third studio album, “Eat a Peach.”

“I started playing with David as a kid and didn’t really know much about him or his lifestyle,” Haynes said. “But he was living in Big Pine Key and he had a warehouse in Key West. So I came down several times and rehearsed and actually played a free show on the loading docks at his warehouse facing Duval Street. Surprisingly, Gregg Allman sat in with us that day and played a few songs. And that was the first time I ever played with Gregg Allman. I met him prior to that in the recording studio with Dickey Betts, which blew my mind at that time.”

Forty-two years later, Warren Haynes, along with his band Gov’t Mule, will return to Key West for a show on Tuesday, Oct. 18 at the Coffee Butler Amphitheater. But this time he arrives as a Grammy winner and eight-time nominee, span ning stints with Gov’t Mule, The Allman Brothers Band, the Grateful Dead and various solo projects and collaborations with just about every cel ebrated musician worthy of his artistry — names like Dave Matthews, Carlos Santana, Phil Lesh and countless others.

Today, many acclaimed music critics consider Haynes one of the greatest live music perform ers to ever hold a guitar, while most consider an opportunity to join Haynes on stage to be a rite of passage. He is a practitioner of the Gibson Les Paul ’58 guitar. Fittingly, many attribute Haynes’ affinity for Gibson guitars to the influence of the late Duane Allman, who alongside names like B.B. King and Elmore James, had a profound impact on him as a teen.

Yet as far as music legends go, Haynes is an enigma. For decades, fans have tried to pigeon hole his style into a single genre, whether it be

rock, blues, bluegrass, jam band or even country. Not long after leaving Coe and joining the Night hawks, Haynes co-wrote “Two of a Kind, Workin’ on a Full House,” which Garth Brooks released on the album “No Fences” and carried the song to No. 1 on Billboard for nearly five months. However, Haynes is more commonly accepted as an artist blending blues, Southern rock and jam band.

As Key West awaits the arrival of Haynes and Gov’t Mule, the Keys Weekly caught up with Haynes on tour, covering everything from his time with the Allman Brothers to who among the younger generation will be able to carry the torch as the next guitar heroes. Below are some ex cerpts from our interview.

For the full interview, search “The Florida Keys Weekly Podcast” on any major podcast provider or visit keysweekly.com for the entire recording of our interview.

KW: You play across so many genres from rock, bluegrass and blues, but for those in Key West who might not know about Gov’t Mule, how do you describe the band and your sound as it has progressed over the past three decades?

WH: Let’s start by saying in 1994 Gov’t Mule was started as a side project to the Allman Broth ers. Myself and Allen Woody had been a member since 1989 and we decided to do something for fun. We had no idea it would take off and become a major band, but things kind of caught fire and here we are all of these years later. In the begin ning our influences were Jimmy Hendrix and Cream and bands that were a power trio. We were a trio and we felt that no one was doing the improvisational rock trio thing and we wanted to bring that back. With each record we brought more of our influences in, like rock, blues, jazz, soul, reggae and even some country. But we take a jazz philosophy to our music, meaning moment by moment creating songs differently on a nightly basis. If you hear a song tonight and then a week from now, it won’t be the same version.

KW: When the best guitarists talk about their influences, names like B.B. King and others are constantly brought up, but your name is com monly referenced in those conversations. To be considered one of the greatest guitarists ever, has

that ever really settled in with you or do you have time to stop and appreciate what that means at this stage of your career?

WH: It’s hard for someone to gauge the way other people feel about their music. I think about the people I grew up listening to and the impact they had on me. And if I can have one 1/1000th of that impact on a young guitar player, that’s incred ible. So when I think about my heroes, I spent hundreds of hours studying what they did, and that influence has stayed with me all of my life. It’s an amazing thing to look at young musicians right now and a lot of the music they are listening to and learning from, because many of them are the same we studied as a kid. Which brings us to Gov ernment Mule, because there are a lot of 14-yearold kids showing up to our shows and discovering us, but they are also discovering Led Zeppelin or Pink Floyd or Hendrix or the Allman Brothers and that music is having the same impact on them as it did for us because it’s timeless music. So the moral of the story is, we all strive to make timeless music because I think that’s what’s most impor tant. You don’t follow the trends of the day, you try to make music people will like 50 years from now, so you do what’s in your heart.

KW: It’s pretty well documented that you picked up a guitar at age 12 and the rest is history, as they say. But do you remember that actual mo ment you picked up the guitar and thought ‘I love this. This is what I’m going to do?’

WH: The first time I picked up a guitar at all I was 11 and even then I had thoughts like kids have, but usually six months later you move on as a kid. But for whatever reason it remained entic ing to me and I never wanted to stop. I do remem ber somewhere around 14 acknowledging if I stick with it, I could be good at this and then playing in front of a live crowd, it was immediately addict ing and stimulating with no negative side effects. I was immediately hooked. So once I experienced that, I was like, yeah, this is what I want to do, so I started playing bars and clubs at age 14.

For the full interview listen on any podcast app by searching “Florida Keys Weekly Podcast” or visit keysweekly.com.

Tickets are still available, but going fast for Warren Haynes and Gov’t Mule, along with Old Crow Medicine Show at The Key West Amphitheater on Oct. 18. Visit thekeywestamp.com.

BE LIKE MIKE

Honoring a community icon by paying it forward

Forthe month of Octo ber, the Keys Weekly Newspapers are part nering with United Way of Collier and the Keys to re member and honor the life of Mike Forster. A business owner and community advocate, Forster led the effort to feed the Florida Keys in the days following Hurricane Irma and throughout the COVID pan demic. He served on various boards, including the United Way, and went on mission trips to Uganda to serve the hundreds of children living in orphanages.

An Islamorada councilman and Monroe County commis sioner, Forster passed away on Sept. 6, 2021 at the age of 61 following a battle with COVID. Forster’s good will and gener osity have inspired many Keys residents to carry on the spirit of giving and kindness to the island chain and those in need. In continuing the legacy of Forster, United Way of Collier & the Keys and the Keys Weekly Newspapers are highlighting some of the folks in the island chain that continue to pay it forward to help their neigh bors. The community is invited to spend the week leading up to Forster’s birthday, Oct.17-21, to promote good will and gen erosity through random acts of kindness and sharing to social media and other channels as #BeLikeMike. Visit UWCollier Keys.org/BeLikeMike to learn more about the various ways to get involved.

THIS WEEK’S ‘BE LIKE MIKE’ FEATURES LISA MILETTI

Lisa Miletti exemplifies Mike Forster’s community spirit and willingness to help people in need every day. But those traits were never more apparent than in the days following Hur ricane Irma in late 2017 and in the early days of the COVID pandemic in March 2020. As a Lower Keys resident Miletti stepped up and pitched in, helping people find clothes, mattresses and linens after the hurricane, and helped provide a ton of food after the hurri cane and during the pandemic, when people were out of work with no income.

What inspires you to give back to the community? I know what it’s like to need a little help.

What’s the most enjoyable part about helping your com munity and neighbors? See ing everyone come together and turn a little bit of good into a lot of good!

What kind of impact did Mike Forster have on your life or your community? We shared a love for food and feeding. His efforts during COVID will be remembered for a lifetime.

PAY IT FORWARD DURING ‘BE LIKE MIKE’ WEEK

FLORIDA KEYS HONOR THE LATE MIKE

Theinaugural “Be Like Mike” Day in the Florida Keys will be Friday, Oct. 21. Beloved Monroe County commissioner and restaura teur “Mangrove” Mike Forster was a member of the United Way of Collier and the Keys’ local advisory board at the time of his death from CO VID-19. UWCK staff and board members want this day to be a way to honor Forster’s untir ing commitment to making life better for Keys residents.

“Residents from Key West to Key Largo knew and loved Mike. This is a way for all of us to continue his spirit of behind-the-scenes small ges tures of good will throughout our community. We want to keep his legacy going through this annual event encouraging people to give back however they can,” said Leah Stockton, Keys Area President, United Way of Collier and the Keys.

The community is encour aged to spend the week leading up to Oct. 21 promot ing good will and generosity through random acts of kind ness, and then sharing their

good deeds on social media with the hashtag #BeLike Mike. Monday, Oct. 17, will be all about helping children; Tuesday, October 18, will encourage people to clean the ocean or bay; Wednesday, Oct. 19, will focus on aiding animals; and Thursday, Oct. 20, is designated for thank ing first responders, military members, and veterans.

On Friday, Oct. 21, along with partners Burton Memo rial Church in Tavernier, Keys Area Interdenominational Resource in Marathon, and Star of the Sea Foundation in Key West, the “Be Like Mike” week will culminate in UWCK collecting non-perishable food to distribute Keyswide. Community members are encouraged to drop off food donations between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. at these loca tions. The donations made in Forster’s name will honor his biggest contribution to our community: feeding the Keys in times of need.

More details are at Key sUnitedWay.org/BeLikeMike/ and on Facebook.

KEY WEST RESORT THANKS FIRST RESPONDERS

BUSKING FOR A LIVING

RAY WEST

Whenmany of us think of street musicians, we think of the more unfortunate side of homelessness. The reasons people end up where they do is beyond the scope of this column, but the reasons they play music while they’re there is not.

Contrary to popular belief, not all who wander are lost. Of course there is the aspect of mental illness and addiction attached to performing on the street, but there are other players out there as well.

Sometimes you might see a group of younger people and a guitar or two among them with a cup out on the sidewalk. Not only is this reminiscent of several peri ods in our history (with different clothes and hair, they could’ve been hippies). But there is also a complex social construct happen ing. The music not only bonds them, but when it’s encouraged, praised and acknowledged, it brings forth talent, drive, desire and passion from a young artist. It also provides a sense of com munity to a group that’s search ing for something. As we all are.

There is another aspect of street performing: Art. Writing songs, finding your voice, your words and your perspective are all part of a lifelong process. One way to do that is to make yourself subject to the world through ano nymity. You take it all in, the chil dren looking at you with wonder, the folks from different genera

tions thinking you need a job and some discipline, drunk people either laughing at you, sing ing with you or sometimes yelling at you for no apparent reason. You get everything this world has to offer as far as people and their dispo sitions. And you invite them in, invite them to look at you, pass their judgment, ignore you, smile or scowl, give you a dollar or try to take one.

CASA MARINA DONATES LUNCH & DINNER FOR 2 DAYS

... a professional musician, singer, actor and execu tive director of the Key West Music Awards, is known to sacrifice his comfort for that of his cat.

Some of us are prepping for the next move. I myself have busked for hundreds of hours for a plethora of reasons. When I first came to Key West I was not pre pared to play three to four hours of popular music. I needed time to hone my skills, my presenta tion, my song choices. I needed to thicken my skin for the bad nights and rejections. It all requires a few semesters in the school of hard knocks.

Lance Taylor, a highly re spected singer/songwriter here in Key West, explains “I really loved busking. I was a novice at the time, so the benefit of playing five to seven hours a day, improving as a musician and singer is still a big part of how I approach what I do today.”

He, like many others, has gone from street musician to pro fessional singer/songwriter and performer.

He goes on to say, “I learned a lot about people being on the street. I learned to do ‘my thing’ and to let that attract whoever liked it.”

The city of Key West requires a license to play music on the street. It involves some paper work, and of course a licens ing fee. Performers on Mallory Square also are licensed after an audition process. With this in mind, you can see that there is more there than meets the eye. So if you’ve got a little extra, drop a bit in the hat.

CONTRIBUTED

Casa

Marina Key West, 1500 Reynolds St., hosted lunch and dinner for local police officers, firefighters and EMTs on Cot. 3 and 4, which were First Responder Appreciation Days.

The events included a free lunch and dinner each day with capacity for 150 attendees at each event.

All City of Key West and Mon roe County fire, police and rescue workers were invited and many turned out for the event. Resort management and team members

from both Casa Marina and The Reach Key West hosted the event.

“It’s important to us to show our first responders our sincere appreciation and thanks for all they do for our community all year long, and especially during a crisis like Hurricane Ian,” said John Trovato, complex managing director. “As the largest employer in Key West, we step forward to offer care and as sistance to our community when ever possible, and to recognize the efforts of those who keep us safe.”

— Contributed

A young Lance Taylor sharpens his skills the old-school way, busking.

Key West police officers enjoy a free meal at the Casa Marina Resort, which provided lunch and dinner for two days for First Responders Appreciation Days.

Members of the Key West Fire Department take part in a free meal at the Casa Marina Resort for First Responders Appreciation Days

and

We’ve

all heard — and seen — how anything goes in Key West during Fantasy Fest. And while some city officials are hellbent on changing the rules to eliminate painted boobs, it hasn’t hap pened yet. Each year brings out some of the best costumes we’ve ever seen — and some of the worst. (Hey guys: A single tube sock is not a costume.)

So as the creative folks put the finishing touches on their hot-glue creations, we figured we’d offer a few ex amples of what NOT to wear during Key West’s Fantasy Fest. We bring you our…

10. Your custom-made Jeffrey Dahmer onesie.

9. The “Booty Inspector” T-shirt that you found extremely funny 20 years ago, back when phrases like “booty inspector” were tolerated. As it turns out, neither the shirt nor the phrase was ever really funny, except to your cousin Barry, who still thinks his “I groomed for this” T-shirt is the ultimate icebreaker.

FANTASY

8. Jorts (jean shorts) that reveal your hemorrhoid issue. (This is now prohibited … see # 5).

7. Anything that alludes to you being Irish. Because you’re probably not.

6. Any shirt that Robert Keith Packer has worn. Ever. (Google it.)

5. Garments revealing the “scrotum, buttocks, or boobies.” All real terms uttered during recent Key West city commission discussions about nudity at Fantasy Fest.

4. Bleached eyebrows. This needs to stop.

3. Kanye West’s “White Lives Matter” shirt.

2. Anything to do with Westboro Baptist Church.

1. Your vintage #34 Herschel Walker jersey.

All

COME WORSHIP WITH

ENGLISH SERVICE

Sunday Bible Study 10am (on site)

Service 11am (on site) & Service 6pm (on site)

Wednesday Bible Study 7:30pm (on site)

Minister Rodrigue Aleandre Cell 305.296.3331

KREYOL SEVIS

Dimanch Klas Biblik 7:30pm (on site)

Adorasyon 8:30pm (on site)

Madi Klas Biblik 7:30pm (on site)

Minis Rodrigue Aleandre Cell 305.296.3331

SERVICIO ESPAÑOL

Servicio de adoración dominical a las 5pm (en el sitio)

Estudio bíblico del jueves a las 7pm (en el sitio)

Ministro Pedro Ruiz Celda 347.430.2263

1700 VON PHISTER ST, KEY WEST

‘‘For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.’’

‘‘The churches of Christ greet you.’’ Romans 16:16 NKJV

... is a photogra pher, 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 Audu bon Society.

RIDING OUT THE STORM

Iwas

out at the end of White Street Pier, trying to figure out how to use a GoPro in burst mode, when the feeder bands were hitting. The waves were slamming straight into the end of the pier, as they usually do in heavy weather, and creating volcanic explosions of white foam that people of an adventurous nature like to get blasted by. Everyone out there was getting knocked around – even people just trying to take pictures a few feet back from the full brunt of it – and we were all pretty much blinded by the wind and the salt water. Between the waves hitting all you could hear was laughter.

I didn’t end up getting any great shots, but I got a couple I liked. One was of my friend DJ in a blue tutu ensemble, a small figure about to be subsumed by a massive wall of froth. Another is of DJ and his friend Emma in matching vrksasana/tree poses as the water curls up behind them.

I’d seen a couple laughing gulls and royal terns sliding by overhead, local birds that never seem both ered by much of anything, the kind I’ve seen flying in the worst of storms. But the brown pelican caught my eye as I was leaving. It was out in the zone between the pier and West Martello, which was something of a no-man’s land during the storm. The bird mostly sat there, rocking on the waves, but then would get up occasionally, and fly slowly forward on an upwind reach. And then it would plop down into the water quickly and without warning and from not much of a height. I think it was feeding, but pelicans find their prey by sight, usually from a much greater height, and the water was all whitecaps and churn, so I’m not sure what kind of success it was having, and whether the limited results were worth the heightened risk.

The bird seemed so alone out there in all that chaos, but the shore, a place of greater safety, was just a short, downwind ride away. I hoped it would head that way before the storm got much worse.

Birds generally know how to survive in rough weather. Not always — Hurricane Maria killed off more than half the popula tion of the already critically endangered Puerto Rican parrot — but most of the time. It is thought that most birds just retreat to the interiors of trees and bushes and other places out of the wind. But it is an understudied subject, largely because as severe weather events take place, scientists are generally not out with clipboards collecting data, but instead seeking safety like every one else. New technologies in recent years have provided some insight, though.

Birds, it seems, have two basic strategies for surviving storms: ride it out, or don’t be there.

Avoiding an area is a strategy generally taken up by migrat ing birds. When they feel the atmospheric pressure drop and the winds come, it seems they will often just pause their migration un til the storm passes and weather conditions are favorable again.

Ornithologists at Clemson University published a paper in 2019 using data from GPS transmitters attached with backpacklike harnesses to 32 brown pelicans from multiple colonies.

They tracked them through a series of three hurricanes. They found that the pelicans tended to heavily limit their movements

and take shelter on barrier islands and in estuaries, where wave action is usually diminished.

The folks at the Avian Research and Conservation Institute, based out of Gainesville, found similar results tracking six reddish egrets through Hurricane Irma in 2017 – the birds retreated to sites such as barrier islands and to inland ponds, generally taking shelter in the dense mangrove habitats.

Researchers at the College of William & Mary have had more varied and dramatic results satellite tracking whimbrels – largish shorebirds and long-distance migrants who will often fly thousands of miles nonstop over the ocean. One was tracked flying south from Hudson Bay, then off the Eastern Seaboard, and then directly into the northwest quadrant of a Category 3 storm, disappearing at first, but then reappearing 48 hours later in the Bahamas. Another tracked whimbrel encountered a storm off Nova Scotia and flew within it for 27 hours, surviving winds up to 90 mph before being redeposited on the continent on Cape Cod. A third whimbrel flew into a storm, but did not survive.

It’s been known for a long time that storms will also push birds ahead or along with them. In the aftermath of hurricanes that veered inland, tropical pelagic species such as magnificent frigatebirds and sooty terns have regularly been reported in small numbers as far away from the Caribbean as Wisconsin, Minnesota, Colorado and Ontario.

Sailors at sea during hurricanes have often reported seeing large flocks of birds trapped in the eyes of the storms. But in recent years scientists have witnessed the phenomenon using weather radar. As of yet they can’t detect numbers or species, but the tech nology may eventually get there.

In 2005, Hurricane Wilma, after it was done flooding Key West, went on to entrap a large flock of chimney swifts farther up the Eastern Seaboard, carrying many of them over to Western Europe. The flock was so large that in the years following, the chimney swift population in the province of Quebec was thought to be only half what it was before the storm.

When I got home from the pier the other night, there was a flock of about two dozen mourning doves sitting quietly on the back deck in the lee of our fence. I thought, all right guys, let’s ride this out together. But when I looked out an hour later, they were all gone.

I’m just going to assume they went somewhere safe.

A brown pelican off Higgs Beach in the early part of Hurricane Ian. MARK HEDDEN/Keys Weekly

MARK HEDDEN

SPORTS & MORE

SAVE THE DATE

Thursday, Oct. 13

• Reef Relief hosts cleanup at Little Hamaca Park in Key West. 4 to 6 p.m.

Saturday, Oct. 15

... a veteran sports columnist, says the only sport he doesn’t follow is cricket. That leaves plenty of others to fill his time.

There were times I thought Aaron Judge would never make it to 62 home runs. Then I heard from a friend who texted that she, a New York Yankees fan, was crying along with Judge’s mother. Yes, Judge had hit 62.

I, too, was happy for Judge’s ac complishment. I was also happy for the kid who caught the ball.

Can you imagine what that ball is worth? A collection company has of fered $2 million for it. That’s incred ible. The last I heard, the kid hadn’t decided what to do with the ball. Maybe he’s waiting for a better offer. I know what I’d do. And it wouldn’t take me long to decide. Just give me the money, and $2 million would be plenty, thank you.

Judge has had a meteoric rise. He was born in Linden, California on April 26, 1992, and was adopted the next day by Patty and Wayne Judge without ever connecting with his natural parents. He also has an older adopted brother, John.

Aaron was a three-sport high school athlete in California and ac cepted the only scholarship offer he received – to Fresno State, where he became a baseball star and was drafted 32nd by the Yankees in 2012. He quickly made his way up through the team’s farm system, playing in 27 games for the Yankees in 2016 and homering in his first Major League game. The next year he was Rookie of the Year and runner-up for Most Valuable Player as he hit 52 home runs for New York. And now, he has become the American League home run champion, surpassing Roger Maris by one.

Years ago, in 1962 probably, I was at a gathering for what was called the Professional Athlete of the Year. It was sponsored by the Hickok Co. in Rochester, New York and along with the Pro Athlete of the Year (Maris), there were several top athletes in attendance.

Yes, I met Maris. I was there as a sports writer for the Rochester Times-Union. He was there because he had hit 61 home runs. It was a different era. Even with his acclaim,

Roger Maris in a 1960 issue of Baseball Digest. WIKIPEDIA/Contributed

he was rarely interviewed. And, as I discovered, he was very shy.

Also, from what I’ve read, he was not very well liked. As Yankees, Maris, whose father changed the family’s surname from Maras, and Mickey Mantle hit homer after hom er in 1961, in search of Babe Ruth’s record 60. Commissioner Ford Frick said that anyone who broke Ruth’s record would have to do so within 154 games. For the 1961 season, two teams had been added to the American League and the season, which had been 154 games, was extended to 162, which is what it is now.

Maris hit 59 home runs within 154 games, causing many fans to discard him as the record- holder.

That group also included Mantle fans. Mantle was racing to 60 along with Maris, but was injured in early September and finished with 54 home runs. Maris, 27, was named the American League’s Most Valu able Player in both 1960 and 1961.

Maris, who had played previ ously for Cleveland and Kansas City, was with New York from 1960 through 1966 and two more sea sons with St. Louis before retiring. He had a career total of 275 home runs.

Maris grew up in North Dakota.

As a football player at Bishop Stan ley High in Fargo, in one game, he scored two touchdowns returning a kickoff, two more on a punt and one on a pass interception. The total of five is said to still be a prep record. In 1983, he developed non-Hodg kin’s lymphoma. Two years later, he died at the age of 51.

• The native plant nursery at the Key West Tropical Forest & Botanical Garden will hold its monthly native plant sale from 9 a.m. to noon on College Road, Stock Island.

Tuesday, Oct. 18

• Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary Advisory Council Meeting, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Isla Bella Resort in Marathon.

• Warren Haynes & Government Mule performs with Old Crow Medicine Show at The Coffee Butler Amphitheater. Visit thekeywestamp. com for tickets.

Through Oct. 27

• “Bum Farto - The Musical” is performed live at San Carlos Institute Theater, 516 Duval St., Key West. Visit bumfartothemusical.com.

Oct. 20-Nov. 12

• “Jimmy Buffett’s Escape to Margaritaville – The Musical” at the Waterfront Playhouse is a madcap love story, with an erupting volcano, tapdancing zombies and classic Buffett songs. Visit waterfrontplayhouse.org.

Oct. 21 & 22

• Key West Goombay Festival in Bahama Village, celebrating Bahama and Caribbean food, music, culture, crafts and entertainment. Starts at 10 a.m. and fills Petronia Street, starting at Duval Street.

Oct. 21-30

• Key West celebrates Fantasy Fest with the theme “Cult Classics and Cartoon Chaos.” Visit fantasyfest.com for an event schedule and de tails.

Friday, Oct. 21

• The Royal Coronation Ball crowns Fantasy Fest’s 2022 King and Queen, 6 to 9:30 p.m. at the Coffee Butler Amphitheater. Benefits AH Monroe.

Saturday, Oct. 22

• Smallest Parade in the Universe, an official Fantasy Fest event, benefits MARC, 7 p.m. at The Studios of Key West. All miniature floats will be auctioned after the parade. The theme is “Cult Classics and Cartoon Chaos.”

Friday, Oct. 28

• The Fantasy Fest Street Fair is now the Fantasy Market at the Truman Waterfront Park, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. To learn more about hav ing a booth, visit https://tinyurl.com/FantasyMar ket2022 or email Sean@dailyplan-it.net.

By: Tracy and Sean McDonald

Team

Marathon

Coral

Marathon

Coral

Coral

Marathon

Date

Coral Shores, Sophomore Quarterback

Sophomore quarterback Yemcel Moreno has been gaining attention on the football field this season for all the right reasons. On Oct. 7, he ran for 93 yards on just six carries for the Hurricanes in the Battle of the Keys, scoring three touchdowns in the ‘Canes big win. Moreno worked his way up the depth chart to become the team’s number one signal caller, earning the role with a fiercely competitive attitude and relentless work ethic. Coach Ed Holly describes Moreno as “unbelievably competitive. He works hard in practice and he pays attention to the little things.” It is the dedication to things like footwork and timing that set him apart in his gameplay, and as Holly puts it, “He’s quickly becoming the leader of the team.” Moreno leads with his actions and does so in a positive manner, which is why he is this week’s Keys Weekly Athlete of the Week.

– Ed Holly, Coral Shores head football coach.

“Yemcel has a great attitude. He gets better every week and thrives on competition.”

By: Tracy and Sean McDonald

CROSS COUNTRY COUNTS DOWN TO DISTRICTS

FOOTBALL CORAL SHORES MARATHON

RESULTS - MARATHON HOME MEET, OCT. 4

BOYS

It

was a very busy week for Monroe County runners, as teams put on the finishing touches in prepara tion for districts on Oct. 18 and 20. Despite slow starts to the season and a mid-season swamping – compliments of Hurricane Ian – all three teams have been improving and look to peak just in time for postseason racing.

Marathon hosted a cross country race on Oct. 4 and experienced success on its home course. The Dolphins’ Vance Bursa won the event, crossing the line more than two minutes before second-place finisher Colbin Hill of Key West. Coral Shores runner Robert Temkin came in third place, followed by Dolphins Jakub Bursa, Antonin Bursa and Dillon Shelar. Marathon won the boys race with an average time of 19:16, putting it in a solid position for district competition later this month. Coral Shores edged out Key West for second place, with just one second dividing the two teams’ average times and a one-point difference in their final scores.

The girls race was a bit closer than the boys, with Marathon’s Mikkel Ross outkicking Key West’s Caylaa Makimaa for a six-second margin of victory. Coral Shores runner Kai Guth was a mere tenth of a second behind Makimaa for a third-place finish. Marathon won the girls race with an overall average time of 24:15, fol lowed by Key West in second and Coral Shores in third place.

On Oct. 7, Coral Shores and Marathon’s middle school girls traveled to Larry & Penny Thompson Park to run at the 305 Classic. Dolphin girls coach Darby Sheehan was very excited to bring most of her girls to compete in a designated middle school division. Well over half of the Lady Fins are in middle school, and the six Sheehan brought to the 305 Classic made it unde niable that Marathon’s cross country prowess is not going away any time soon, cruising to a team win at the event.

The girls ran the middle school distance of 2.1 miles, and when the results were in, Marathon took four of the race’s top 10 places. Marathon’s Madelyn Thornton won the entire event in 14:37, averaging less than seven minutes per mile. Dolphins Sara Robin son, Maeve Merryman and Rebecca Merryman took third, seventh and 10th place, respectively, with Rilynn Richards and Ryleigh Garcia rounding out Marathon’s finishers.

Sheehan was delighted not only with her team’s performance, but with the opportunity to compete against their age-appropriate peers. “They have run all season in only varsity high school meets and have been biting at the heels of older girls and teams,” she said. “These girls are definitely ones to keep an eye on as they transition into high school. They are going to do big things!”

On the varsity side of the 305 Classic, the Hurri canes went the full 5K distance and posted some great results. Simon Gutierrez was the top finisher for the ’Canes, running 18:51 and capturing 15th overall in his race. Robert Temkin and Alaric Rodriguez rounded out the top three for Coral Shores. The first Lady Cane to cross the line was Kai Guth in 24:28, followed by Jenna Mandozzi and Kacelyn Hollis.

On Oct. 8, Key West hosted its first home cross country meet since 2017. The Conchs’ home course is the Robert E. Price Memorial Cross Country Course at the Key West Golf Club, named for their longtime coach who mapped out the course more than 15 years ago. In attendance were Key West, Sugarloaf School and Basilica School. Key West’s Colbin Hill was the overall winner in 18:49, followed by fellow Conchs Daniel Roy and Jerven Louis. In fourth place was Sawyer Hill, Colbin’s younger brother, who ran the hilly, grassy 3.1-mile course in 21:59 – not too shabby for a student not yet in high school. Coach Mark Coleman said his team’s conditioning “is all com ing together” just in time for districts on Oct. 18.

Finishing first for the girls was Caylaa Maki maa in 22 minutes, nearly a minute faster than she ran earlier in the week on Marathon’s fastpaced flat course. She was followed by Naima Thomas in second and Gianna Marchant in third. Girls coach Keara McGraw was very happy with the performance of her team, noting that they have all improved tremendously this season and are running their best when it is most crucial. She said her girls’ battle cry all week was “48 hills,” a nod to the number of inclines on the tough twoloop course. Hill training is hard to come by in the flat Florida Keys, but McGraw and Coleman have been creative this season, adding bridges and Fort Zach runs to their teams’ repertoire in order to prepare.

Basilica School brought three runners to their future home course. Sawyer Hill was first among the school’s middle school runners, followed by Owen Wright and George Clarke.

Sugarloaf brought more than a dozen run ners, led by Gilbert Chase, whose 25:26 time was good for first place in the younger division. Brady Wright and David Temple took second and third.

1

Vaclav Bursa MHS 16:20

2 Colbin Hill KW 18:21

3 Robert Temkin CS 19:08

4 Jakub Bursa MHS 19:38

5 Antonin Bursa MHS 19:39

6 Dillon Shelar MHS 19:40

7 Jerven Louis KW 20:23

8 Alaric Rodriguez CS 20:34

9 Jace Jackson CS 20:52

10 Daniel Roy KW 20:57

11 Mason Buxton MHS 21:06

12 Jamie Cary CS 22:23

13 Reed Benning KW 23:06

14 Nathan Shugarman CS 23:13

15 Owen Fisher KW 23:18

16 Dale Bittner KW 23:54

17 Aaron Suprynowicz KW 24:27

18 Allan Taylor MHS 24:48

19 Lochlain James CS 24:53

20 Danny Merryman MHS 25:33

21 Ambrose Sanchez CS 26:24

22 Kellan Bourbeau CS 27:21

23 Enzo Blaco CS 30:14

GIRLS

1 Mikkel Ross MHS 22:44

2 Caylaa Makimaa KW 22:50

3 Kai Guth CS 22:50

4 Ella Dunn MHS 23:48

5 Laira Anaya KW 23:57

6 Rain Banks MHS 24:21

7 Sara Robinson MHS 25:10

8 Ava Merryman MHS 25:14

9 Ailee Briggs MHS 25:18

Maeve Merryman MHS 25:20

11 Naima Thomas KW 25:50

12 Rebecca Merryman MHS 26:50

13 Shilo Yeider MHS 27:21

14 Gianna Marchant MHS 27:36

Jenna Mandozzi CS 28:57

Nicole Merryman MHS 30:35

Tinashay Cunningham MHS 30:38

Valeria Juarez KW 31:25

Kacelyn Hollis CS 31:59

Cami Wrinn MHS 33:11

Deanna Gumarova-Mercier KW 34:11

Jessie Lidell CS 36:34

Briana Nodal KW 38:18

Zoe Basham KW 41:37

Olivia Wilson CS 50:39

Jillian Callum was the first girl to cross the line for the Sharks in 30:19, followed by Berkely Tripp, Harper Reeves and Hannah Andreas. Coach Alex Smyth was happy to have a solid showing so close to home as his runners prepare for the Ju nior Orange Bowl race on Friday, Oct. 13 at Larry and Penny Thompson Park. The race will be a 2.1mile course taken on by middle school runners across south Florida.

Aaron Suprynowicz runs for Key West at the Marathon meet.

FIRST PLACE

CONGRATS!

The 3RD ANNUAL IGFA PERMIT INVITATIONAL was held on September 20-23, 2022. IGFA is a long-time champion of flats and fly fishing and is a valuable partner to LKGA and our community.

We congratulate the following on their great achievement. Permit is the most di cult game fish in the world to catch and the pinnacle of the fishing industry. The Florida Keys is fortunate to have this world class Permit fishery which brings significant value to our ecosystem, economy, and cultural heritage.

The tournament had strong participation from LKGA's guide and angler member ship. We look forward to continuing this most important partnership with IGFA and look forward to the next IGFA Permit Invitational!

SECOND PLACE

THIRD PLACE

Peter L. Vey – Summoning the Light

February 18th,

Peter Vey is establishing his place as a Regionalist painter with thick palette strokes and Abstract Expressionist & Impressionist techniques. Joining the historic American Scene painters like Winslow Homer, Grant Wood, John Steuart Curry, Reginald Marsh, and Thomas Hart Benton, Vey strikes a fresh approach to tropics.

the Mangrove, 20 x 16,

on Linen

After a classical education in art history at Duke University, he returned his parents and grandparents Florida where he now lives and paints. A love of the landscape and foliage in and around the tropicsespecially, The Florida Keys & Key West has inspired a poetic journal of canvases of Peter’s vision ever since. His unique view, fresh colors, and mastery of painting technique result in works remarkable for their sense of place. The ambiance in Peter’s paintings is like the atmosphere in which he creates them, echoing the vibrant light of the sun drenched tropics. Vey’s palette knife technique is unusual in that he sculpts in a painterly manner rather than decorating with the thick lush colors of the southern latitudes. His works exude lush oral details, formal architectural patterns, and intricate almost abstract owery geometric forms. Peter has created what is simply a satisfying visual statement.

TAKE ME HOME?

FIND A FRIEND AT THE FLORIDA KEYS SPCA

TheKeys Weekly family loves animals as much as our friends at the Florida Keys SPCA do, and we’re hon ored each week to showcase some “furever” friends that are ready, waiting and available for adop tion at the organization’s Key West campus.

From cats and dogs to Guinea pigs, hamsters, rabbits, reptiles and birds, the perfect addition to your family is waiting for you. The SPCA’s knowledgeable staff will help with advice and care tips while working to ensure a good fit between each pet and its people.

The SPCA’s Golden Paw pro gram also provides special assis tance with vet bills and medications for special-needs and older animals that require a little extra TLC. Check these pages each week for just a few of the animals wait ing for a home and see them all at fkspca.org.

Danielle is a 2-year-old female pit bull mix. She loves snuggles, toys and may even do well with a doggy companion. She will need a patient home willing to go at her pace in new environments, but will gain confidence once she trusts you.

Bunnie is a 6-year-old female Ameri can rabbit. She’s an outgoing bun who loves her greens, tossing her toys and time running around the pen.

Arlo is a 5-year-old male domestic shorthair. He’s independent but af fectionate. He loves his scratches, wet food and watching the world go by out the windows.

Potato Chip is a 3-year-old male domes tic shorthair. He’s a super sweet, cuddly kitty who would love an affectionate home. He is FIV+, so if there’s another cat in the home, it would be best if they were also FIV+. But he loves his kitty friends and tons of lap time.

Kendra is a 3-year-old female mastiff mix. She adapts to routines well, likes her independence and loves affection once she gets to know you. She would do best in a home with no other ani mals and will need a smart family that can work with her needs.

SHAKE YOUR MONEY MAKERS

KeyWest does its part every October to “save the tatas” for Breast Cancer Aware ness Month. One of the island’s signature fundraising events is Womankind’s BraZaar bra auction.

The event pairs the creativity of Key Westers who make the bras with the cool confidence of the women who model them for the live auction.

“This year was amazing,” said Cali Roberts, executive director of Womankind. “We raised approxi

mately $65,000, which is a record. A couple approached me after the show and gave me a $25,000 dona tion. Thanks to the Fowlers, who own property here and said they’re able to spend more time in Key West and are happy to be a part of our com munity. We’re so grateful to them and everyone else who supports our efforts to provide mammograms to uninsured women.”

Local personality Erin McKenna emceed the show with Chase Hurst, “who’s actually our finance director,” Roberts said. “They were fantas tic. And everyone loved seeing the ‘Golden Girls’ in their bras, which raised about $3,400.”

Dozens of women pledged after the show to either create a bra or model one next year, Roberts said. “If I had a dollar for everyone who said that, I’d never have to do another fundraiser in my life. But this one was fantastic. We’re so appreciative and it just felt great to be back in the social izing and fundraising realm again.”

Miles

WomanKind’s BraZaar bra auction combines irreverent humor and the indomitable spirit of women, who create and model artistic bras to be auctioned off so Woman kind, Key West’s women’s health center, can provide mammograms. LARRY BLACK BURN/Keys Weekly

JANICE GARY

is a writer, dog mama and author of the awardwinning memoir, “Short Leash.” Her lifelong love of the Keys led her to living local on the rock with her husband and their dog, Ozzy, the Canine Tornado. janicegary.com

PAWS IN PARADISE

WHEN A HOUSE COMES WITH A CAT

We dog people like to say Key West is a

dog town, but that’s not exactly true. It’s a fine town for dogs, but in re ality, cats own the place. If you think otherwise, either you’re not walking your dogs often enough or you just plain don’t know Key West cats.

Granted, it’s compli cated, because cats are cats and Key West is Key West. You know what I mean. Complicat ed and quirky. One human family with cats.

Throughout the island, cat food and water bowls are set out on steps, curbs and sidewalks. Cats live under cars. On porches. In yards. Some are friendly. Some are not. Some are feral. Some aren’t. And some, it turns out, are a little of both.

Cats end up on the streets for many rea sons. As a community with a large popula tion of transient residents, people come and go. Some of them leave their pets behind and many of those pets are cats. It’s a big reason some end up homeless. Or with a home, but not an owner.

“In Key West,” my friend Colette ex plained, “some cats come with the house.”

We were sitting under an umbrella at Simonton Beach. At first, I didn’t quite understand. Did the cat convey like the light fixtures? That couldn’t be. It wasn’t.

Years ago, when she moved into her new home in Bahama Village, she noticed a cat hanging out in the yard. The next day, it was still there. She left out bowls of food and water, but soon, the former renter, who got the kitty at the SPCA, showed up to claim his cat. He took it home. But he kept coming back. One day, he came over with a bag of cat food and said, “I give up. He’s yours.” So she kept it.

I knew Colette was a dog person, so the cat acquisition surprised me.

“If you inherit a Key West cat,” she ex plained, “you have to keep it. If you don’t, it’s bad luck.” Bad luck? She shrugged. “It’s a Key West thing.”

She and her partner named it “TC” for “The Cat,” which stayed outdoors, only com ing in when her partner was in the house. They both continued to care for TC until he met his untimely end under a termite tent.

That’s a Key West thing, too.

On the other side of Old Town, Sue and her husband discovered they inherited a cat when they moved into their new home and found a big blue Russian in the yard.

The next-door neighbors explained it belonged to the former owners who couldn’t take the cat where they were going. Before leaving, the owners made the neighbors promise they would take care of it if the new owners wouldn’t.

Sue had a beagle, but as “Misha” was an outdoor cat, it wasn’t a problem with her or her dog. Misha took over the front porch and ruled the roost for many years until he began wandering farther and farther. Even tually, he was hit by a car.

When a cat ventures outdoors, there is always the risk that it may run into danger. In our conversation about Key West cats, Tammy Fox of the FKSPCA emphasized that the safest situation for a cat is living indoors. Outdoor cats run the risk of getting hit by cars, attacked by animals, eating poison or being somewhere they shouldn’t — like under a termite tent. Even if a cat stays out doors on the property, they can be bullied out of their yard by feral cats who want to take over the territory. Many people don’t realize there is a difference between feral cats and “outdoor cats.” Ferals live outdoors but are basically wild animals that have no experience with people and no desire to be with them. Most are fiercely territorial. I call them “gangsta cats.”

The FKSPCA has a robust trap, spay and neuter plan that helps keep down the feral population. If you’ve ever seen a cat with a clipped ear, you’ll know it’s a feral that has been fixed and returned to the streets. “It’s inhumane to try and domesticate feral cats,” Fox said. “Fixing and releasing them is the best way to manage the population.”

Outdoor cats are more diverse. Some are pets that live indoors but also roam around during the day. Others are yard cats, which stay on the property. Or they are “block cats,” which own a section of street and are often taken care of by several neigh bors. Many are strays that may have been pets at one time, but have spent time on the streets and like it there.

If you feed them and gently get to know these cats, they might decide to hang out with you. They may even allow you to take them indoors at night and snuggle with you.

Both Sue and Colette continued to help cats after their “inherited cats” passed on. In Colette’s case, two more kitties showed up soon after TC died. Sue also found herself unexpectedly caring for cats when a neigh bor at her old place called and pleaded for her to help rehome three cats that had shown up in the yard of her former home.

After getting the cats to the shelter, Sue and her husband ended up adopting one of the kittens, a bright orange cutie named “Sunkist.” Once again, she had taken on a cat that came with her home, even though she no longer lived there.

So, now you know. Cats come with houses here. If you don’t believe me, try asking someone who has lived in Key West for a while and moved a time or two. The last person I asked said her house came with five cats. And yes, she kept them all.

Because in a small town like this, we all have a responsibility to take care of each other. After all, we’re one human family. With cats.

Misha the cat enjoying the porch she owns. SUE FOWLER/Contributed

Sunkist came with a Bahama Village house. JANICE GARY/Keys Weekly

FRIDAY,

SATURDAY,

FIND FLOW WITH FAITH

CHRIS McNULTY

is an astrologer, wanderer, bartender and advocate for queer justice. He is a loquacious Gemini with a cozy Cancer rising. Find him at hearthandheraldastrology.com

Fresh off the heels of Mercury turning direct and slingshotting us into higher octane thinking, we are all collectively getting ready for another retro grade period that only happens every two years. Active and ag gressive Mars is slowing down to turn retrograde on Oct. 30, and it is doing so in a 90-degree square to wa tery, dreamy Neptune. When these planets engage each other, it is time to fight for our highest ideals, find flow with faith in the best outcomes, and use our energy to dream big. If we don’t, we risk spinning our wheels in nauseating frustration. We’re in the beginning of a 7-month journey work ing out these themes.

Here are your Mars-square-Nep tune horoscopes. Read for your rising and sun signs.

LIBRA

Sept. 23 - Oct. 23

What would be your greatest adven ture, Libra? Would it be a trip to a foreign land, a course that expands your mind, or a lofty career path that will take you places you couldn’t have hitherto imagined? Now is the time to start infusing the way you use your labor with greater purpose so as to prepare for your future explora tions. Make your current toils count, because every one of your actions is connected to a greater collective purpose.

SCORPIO

Oct. 24 - Nov. 21

It looks like it is time to consolidate your debts, be they financial or social. We all carry obligations to each other, but it is important to maintain a level of manageable control of your responsibilities. Let your creative pur suits be your guide, because they are what will help you to prioritize what is

good for you within the context of the greater good. Follow your creative dreams to get a handle on your shared investments.

SAGITTARIUS

Nov. 22 - Dec. 21

Relationships are about to get pretty heated, Sag. It’s like love is being tossed in a pressure cooker and your partner in creating the love will either be burned up or made into something hella tasty. This crucible is a space for testing the mettle of your relationship’s staying power. A necessary guide in this process will be really dreaming into what home means for you.

CAPRICORN

Dec. 22 - Jan. 19

Well Cap, you are about to be working A LOT, which you are no stranger to. How does your work feed into your dream of creat ing a community of familiars, though? What is the endgame of all the sweat and toil that you put out there on the daily? Imagine what it would feel like to be in flow with your local environment, because that will infuse your labor with purpose.

AQUARIUS

Jan. 20 - Feb. 18

It is high time to start getting real about what allows you to feel good and inventing something out of it. This could mean throw ing yourself into your creative pursuits, finding a healthy ener getic outlet like dance or theater, or even literally conceiving a child. Follow your passion. While you are seeking this out, let your dream of a well-funded and well-furnished life guide your creative hand. Don’t starve for creative fulfillment.

PISCES

Feb. 19 - March 20

The domestic life can get a bad rap in our get-up-and-go culture,

but methinks it is the perfect time for you to be focusing your energy on your home and family. Who are we without our family connections, whether blood or chosen? Making and protecting home is the reason for all great pursuits. As you will your home into existence, consider who you want to be in your most optimal form. That image will be your beacon.

ARIES

March 21 - April 19

Communication is a key issue for you, Aries. How are you getting your point across? On a deeper level, how are you communicat ing with the living world around you? Communication does not just occur between us humans, but it is the subtle interactions we are having all the time. Pay attention to the messages you are putting out. Be your ideal self when you are alone, and your messaging will follow suit.

TAURUS

April 20 - May 20

Get ready for a serious infusion of energy into building your resources, Taurus. An influx of money, a boon of material sup port, even emotional help are all possibilities. The crux of the matter is determining what you value, and the method for receiv ing is creating an image of your perfect allies. People are ready to help, but you have to have faith first.

GEMINI

May 21 - June 21

Alrighty Gem, it is time to do some serious self-work. What ever you need to do meditate, exercise, eat well, create a man ageable schedule, sleep more now is the time to energize your own well-being. If it all seems too much, think about your work and your reputation. What is your dream for your public persona?

Normally I would advise against focusing on what others think, but at this time public opinion is your fairy godmother.

CANCER

June 22 - July 22

Get your snorkel gear ready be cause it is deep diving time. Your unconscious wellness is just as important as your conscious well ness, if not more so. By defini tion, we cannot see our unconscious, but we can certainly feel it. Pay attention to your reac tions and tune into your dream states – try to tap into your instincts and guide them. What dream adventures would you partake in if you could get out of the rut of your uncon scious cycles?

LEO

July 23 - Aug. 22

Your network of support is seri ously getting activated, and it is up to you to allow your hopes and dreams to be held by other people. Let go of some control and have faith in your friends. However, don’t have blind faith, but intentional faith. What are your ideal investments and what are the ideal entanglements you want to get yourself into? Let those guide your agreements.

VIRGO

Aug. 23 - Sept. 22

Your work life is about to get re ally active, Virgo, and it is a great time to invest your own energy into your career. Are you going to set out on your own, go for a promotion, or move into a different path? Something big is coming, and the best way to make your decisions is to decide how you want your main rela tionship to look. You can focus on a partnership at work or your relationship with a loved one, but let your ideal relationship deter mine how you invest your will at work.

ECO-DISCOVERY CENTER SEEKS VOLUNTEERS

CURTAIN SOON RISES ON REDESIGNED EXHIBIT SPACE

Florida Keys Eco-Discovery Center (EDC) has reimagined its 6,000-square feet of marine exhibits and the curtain is about to rise on the $1 million renovation project. When the EDC reopens along the Truman Waterfront in November, visitors will dive into the reef with immersive digital interactives, audio, and tactile objects, while “paddling” through the mangroves and learning about creatures that call this unique environ ment home. The renovation also includes an extensive maritime heritage section focusing on the history of ship wrecks in the Keys.

Local residents can help Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary protect, restore and inspire others to connect with our unique marine resources by volunteering to serve one four-hour shift per week. “Before closing for COVID, and then the renovation, we had a vibrant corps of volunteers who inspired locals and visitors alike,” said Emily Kovacs, EDC director. “Just as we have rebuilt the center, it’s time to rebuild that corps of dedicated docents who can give back to their community by volunteering at one of the few, free attractions in Key West.”

Volunteers must be age 16 or older for most posi tions, and are required to pass a background check including fingerprints.

For more information on volunteering, email Eliza beth.Trueblood@noaa.gov.

The coral reef exhibit at the Florida Keys Eco-Discovery Center.

COSTA GOES ‘PRO’ TO HONOR JOSE WEJEBE

FISHING LEGEND’S GUIDING PRINCIPLES ARE ALIVE AND WELL IN THE KEYS

up to us to teach our kids how to take care of what we have.”

Twelveyears after the launch of their frame celebrating a legend of the fish ing community gone too soon, one of Costa Sunglasses’ best options for anglers is getting some ultimate upgrades.

In honor of Florida Keys angler Jose We jebe, Costa Sunglasses launched new Jose PRO sunglasses in its fall 2022 collection. Building from the original Jose frame launched in 2010, the 2022 model includes several upgrades de signed to ensure a comfortable experience dur ing prolonged fishing trips – dedicated sweat channels, side shields to block out excess light and fully adjustable nose pads, to name a few.

“What an admirable legacy left behind. You can’t help but be inspired when you think about Jose. You hear it in countless testimo nies of his life,” said John Acosta, Costa’s vice president of marketing. “It’s a privilege to carry on his legacy and to continue honoring the role Jose played in the angling community – break ing barriers and inspiring others to do the same.”

Along with the release of the new sun glasses, Costa released a short film on YouTube titled “Open Waters | Costa Films presents Jose PRO,” which details the massive impact that Jose had on the Florida Keys and the fishing community before his passing in 2012.

“A lot of the younger generation don’t know who he was, because he’s been gone for 10 years now,” said Krissy Wejebe, Jose’s daughter. “But I’m a firm believer that true leg ends never die. I think Costa doing this, even so long afterwards, is a testament to that.”

Jose Wejebe’s passion for life on the water inspired thousands of fishers and boaters. Per haps best known for the ESPN TV shows “Span ish Fly” and “Vida Del Mar,” Jose would travel to

CONTRIBUTED

learn different fishing techniques and knowl edge, and then share this knowledge with fel low fishermen in the Florida Keys community. But he was “not just a fisherman but more of a ‘waterman,’” said Krissy, “because he didn’t just fish. He dove, he did underwater photography, he was a dolphin trainer at Miami Seaquarium, he was a tropical fish collector, a kiteboarder, he did everything in our waters.

“I think what really made him different from other anglers, and something that would be amazing to see more of, is that he was a fisherman who got wet. His background in animal training really gave him a leg up in that he understood how these fish behaved on their own. How did they eat? … He would spend the time underwater and really watch for those things, and then apply them to fishing.”

Jose also saw the importance of protecting the oceans and conserving these resources for the future. “He was always that captain, if he saw a water bottle floating, he’d stop the boat and pick it up,” said Krissy. “What does it take to pass that knowledge to the next generation? It’s

Jose also made time to work for several different charities, including the Make A Wish Foundation, the Redbone Fishing Tournament and Big Brothers and Big Sisters. Now, that legacy of charity continues through the non profit Jose Wejebe Memorial Foundation, with his daughter as the executive director. The organization works with individuals served by Make A Wish, the Outdoor Dream Foundation, the VA Hospital of Miami and Wesley House, bringing them out to experience not only the thrill and fun of a day on the water, but also the education that comes from making a connec tion with nature.

In celebration of the new sunglass frames and Jose’s legacy, Costa announced an ad ditional donation to the foundation, further cementing a longstanding partnership.

The foundation worked to help the Keys recover from the devastation of Hurricane Irma, cleaning up more than 300,000 pounds of debris, and is currently helping to bring relief to victims of Hurricane Ian, with several teams already sent to assess critical needs in the af fected communities.

The foundation’s next move is starting an angler mentorship program. “We’re teaching the next generation of anglers, ‘this is how you fish,’” said Krissy. “The right way to release a bonefish, using circle hooks versus J hooks, how to rig up ballyhoo … taking all that educa tion from guides who have been doing it for 30 years and passing it down to the next genera tion.”

Whether it’s for nostalgia, to learn from a legendary fisherman, or to share the show with kids, “Spanish Fly” is now available on several streaming platforms including Amazon Prime. In addition to the Jose PRO sunglasses, Costa also has new Spanish Fly apparel to continue spreading the legacy of Spanish Fly and Jose’s work. For more on the new frames and the We jebe family’s charitable work, visit costadelmar. com or josewejebememorialfoundation.org.

Built with upgrades over the original Jose frame launched in 2010, the Jose PRO frame debuted in Costa’s Fall 2022 collection. COSTA

Krissy Wejebe, left, pictured with her father Jose in 2011, has taken up the fishing legend’s mantle as she leads the Jose Wejebe Memorial Foundation.

FEATURED

TREKKING INTO THE FLORIDA KEYS

Runners set to take their mark for annual Key Largo Bridge Run

JIM McCARTHY jim@keysweekly.com

Motorists traversing U.S. 1 into the Florida Keys capture a breathtaking glimpse of the island life as they pass over Jewfish Creek Bridge in Key Largo. Resorts looking out at the bayside waters where boats come and go sit on one side, while the oceanside brings nothing but pure natural beauty.

It’s an instantaneous breath of relief for vacationers and a continu ous “wow” factor for locals coming back home from the mainland. For runners in this year’s Key Largo Bridge Run, the breaths of salt air and the sights from the bridge un derneath the morning sun will be one to remember.

Hundreds of runners and walk ers from the Keys and beyond will take their mark for the 12th annual First State Bank Key Largo Bridge Run on Saturday, Nov. 12. The 5K event gives participants the chance to run or walk the final part of the 18-Mile Stretch that serves as the gateway to the Keys. The course not only brings picturesque views, but it’s also flat, with one big chal lenging bridge overlooking Florida Bay and Barnes Sound.

Bridge runners will take to the start line around 7:30 a.m. from the access road leading to Gilbert’s Resort. From there, they’ll set out on the course that takes them onto Jewfish Creek Bridge. Runners will turn around and head back over the bridge and return to the access

road leading to Gilbert’s where they will reunite with friends and family and enjoy music, drinks and food. The race will end around 9:30 a.m.

Organizer of the event, Henry Menendez, of HNO Productions, has been gearing up for the race’s return for many months. The run returned in 2021 after it was canceled in 2020 due to COVID. Menendez said there’s plenty of excitement as runners sign up for this year’s race.

“We continue to strive to pro mote health and well-being within our community and all over the world,” Menendez said. “In addition, we encourage everyone to take a moment and enjoy the sights from the top of the bridge while admir ing one of the most spectacular views of our beautiful island.”

Awards will be presented to the top three male and female finish ers, overall masters male and fe male, as well as to the top three of different age groups. Race T-shirts will be given to the first 500 partici pants who register. All participants will receive a medal upon comple tion of their respective race event.

The night before the race, par ticipants are invited to a pasta party dinner at Doc’s Diner, MM 99, bay side. A pre-party is being planned for Nov. 10 as well as a post-party after the race. More details will be released as those plans become finalized.

For more information, visit runsignup.com/Race/FL/KeyLargo/ KeyLargoBridgeRun.

STOP WAITING

BOSS

BRAD BERTELLI

is an author, speaker, Florida Keys historian and Honorary Conch. His latest book, “Florida Keys History with Brad Bertelli, Volume 1,” shares fasci nating glimpses into the rich and sometimes sur prising histories of the Florida Keys.

FRUITFUL LIFE

Pliny

W. Reasoner moved with his family from Illinois to Florida in 1881. He was 17 years old. The Reasoners settled in Mana tee County, and Pliny spent the rest of his life studying the local flora.

For a time, he worked for the U.S. Depart ment of Agriculture, researching Florida’s tropical horticulture.

Reasoner died from yellow fever on Sept. 17, 1888. He was only 25. His written account, “His tory of the Pineapple,” which appeared in the June 26, 1907 edition of The Deland Florida, named Ben Baker as the one he considered the first pineapple farmer in the Florida Keys. Reasoner re ported: “So near as we can learn, the culture of the pineapple in Florida was first begun, at least to any extent, by Mr. Benjamin Baker of Key West, who, about the year 1860, procured slips from Havana and planted out a small patch, as an experiment, on Plantation Key. Between this time and 1870, pineapple growing was attempted successfully on many of the adjoining keys.”

Benjamin Baker was born on Green Turtle Cay, Abacos, in 1818. Family records indicate that while he was an intelligent man, he could not read or write. His father, however, helped him to develop considerable skills. Not only could Ben build a fine schooner by hand, but he had the nautical prowess to be the master at the helm. While Baker was still living on Green Turtle Cay, he married Catherine S. Albury, a Bahamian born on Eleuthera.

It was a fruitful marriage that delivered 11 children. After the third child’s arrival, sometime between 1847 and 1848, the growing family left the Bahamas, sailed across the Straits of Florida and into the harbor at Key West. By 1850, Ben had established the Baker Wrecking Company and himself as a Florida wrecker. The Baker family lived in a two-story house on the corner of Caroline Street and Whitehead Street.

Wrecking was not Baker’s only job. As Pliny Reasoner had written, Baker was also a pineapple farmer. In addi tion to Baker’s Plantation Key pineapple patch, Baker and his sons had cleared land on Key Largo, in the area of what would be identified today as Mile Marker 97. At the Key Largo site, Baker also built a home and operated his wreck ing business, at least part-time, from the Key Largo anchor age. According to the 1870 U.S. census, Captain Ben Baker was recorded as one of the 61 people living on the island.

The year 1870 saw the first official U.S. post office open on Key Largo, and Ben Baker filed the petition. He indicated

that the post office would serve 17 families. It was not called the Key Largo Post Office, but the Cayo Largo Post Office, and Ben Baker served as the postmaster. Mail service was discontinued at Cayo Largo on Oct. 10, 1871. While Baker’s postal endeavor was short-lived, his work as a wrecker and a pineapple farmer was not.

Baker was considered one of the most successful wreck ers to have ever worked on the Florida Reef. During the 1860s and 1870s, he was the “King of the Florida Wreckers.” Between 1862 and 1880, Baker was involved in 41 salvage operations; he was the wreck master 15 times. When asked by family members about how he happened to find so many wrecks, Captain Baker would say, “We wreckers can smell ’em.”

Jefferson B. Browne’s 1912 book, “Key West, The Old and The New” described Captain Baker as “tall, gaunt, shrill-voiced, hooknosed and hawk-eyed, he was master-wrecker at nearly every wreck upon the Reef.” What Browne did not mention were Baker’s horticultural endeavors. Because Baker was the captain of the 13-ton two-masted schooner Rapid (which he may or may not have built by hand), he was able to forgo hiring a shipping com pany to deliver his pineapples to East Coast markets. He did the job himself.

During some of those pine apple runs from the Keys to New York, Baker witnessed the construc tion of New York’s Brooklyn Bridge (1869-1883) across the East River. When he was back home, in the Keys, and sitting around the dinner table, he sometimes entertained his grandchildren by telling stories about the great suspension bridge. The building of the Brooklyn Bridge might have been one of the stories grandpa Ben told on that night in July 1889, at about 7 p.m., when he began to feel ill. Four hours later, at 71, Captain Ben Baker, King of the Florida Wreckers, was dead for unknown reasons.

Upon passing, his sons broke down a skiff and reas sembled the yellow pine boards into a coffin. They lined the box with brown fabric from a bolt used to make the Baker family’s underwear. The coffin was readied, and the captain’s body was placed inside. After the last nail was pounded into its cover, the coffin was carried out and set aboard the Rap id. The sails were raised but the winds were light, and rather than risk an extended trip to Key West so that he could be buried in the city cemetery, the Baker boys turned the ship around and returned to Key Largo where the captain was buried on the family homestead.

The Key Largo resort Baker’s Cay, at MM 97, is named for Captain Ben Baker.

Capt. Ben Baker. MONROE COUNTY LIBRARY COLLEC TION/Contributed

LEGAL NOTICES

PUBLIC MEETING NOTICE

Florida Keys Council of the Arts

Notice of Upcoming Meetings

The Florida Keys Council of the Arts will hold the following meetings via Communications Media Technology using a ZOOM webinar platform. The access points to view the meeting or for members of the public to provide public input will be: JOIN ZOOM via the Zoom app and use each meeting ID and password listed.

Meetings are open to the public, and all are invited to attend. Questions, or to RSVP, please email Liz Young at director@keysarts.com

Art in Public Places Committee

Meeting Oct. 18, 2022 at 12:00 PM Eastern Time

Join Zoom Meeting Meeting ID: 898 6282 3393 Passcode: 266200

Board of Directors Meeting & Membership Committee Meeting

Oct. 20, 2022 at 04:00 PM Eastern Time

Join Zoom Meeting Meeting ID: 812 8239 1380 Passcode: 030307

Publish: October 13, 2022

The Weekly Newspapers

NOTICE OF REQUEST FOR COMPETITVE SOLICITATIONS

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that

on Monday, October 31, 2022 @ 3 pm, the Key West Harry S. Truman Foundation will receive and open sealed responses for the following: DOWNSPOUT EXTENSIONS

Pursuant to 20.h.sc.900.167.

Invitation to bid, specifications, and digital drawings, can be given upon email request at: rachel.katzenberger@ kwtrumanfoundation.org.

Sealed bids will be received at the office of the: Key West Harry S. Truman Foundation, 201 Front Street, Suite 101, Key West, Florida

LEGAL NOTICES

33040, no later than October 31, 2022, at 3 pm.

Proposed Contract Documents may be examined in person at the office of the Architect: Bender & Associates Architects, P.A., 410 Angela Street, Key West, Florida 33040.

Publish: October 13, 2022

The Weekly Newspapers

STATE OF SOUTH CAROLINA

COUNTY OF DARLINGTON

IN THE MATTER OF: THE INTERVIVOS TRUST OF HELEN M. STABA (NOW DECEASED)

TO: MARGARET AILEEN STABA, Beneficiary and Daughter of Helen M. Staba

YOU ARE HEREBY NOTIFIED of the death of Helen M. Staba and that your claim as beneficiary should be presented in writing, along with proof of identification, to The Conner Law Firm, ATTN: Michelle Greenawalt, 906 W. Carolina Avenue, Hartsville, SC 29550, by April 6, 2023.

The Conner Law Firm, P.C. 906 W. Carolina Avenue Hartsville, SC 29550

Phone: (843) 332-1678

Fax: (843) 332-1904

Publish: October 6, 13 & 20, 2022

The Weekly Newspapers

IN THE CIRCUIT COURT FOR MONROE COUNTY, FLORIDA PROBATE DIVISION FILE NO.: 22-CP-85-M DIVISION: MIDDLE KEYS IN RE: ESTATE OF ELIZABETH G. COTTLE Deceased.

NOTICE TO CREDITORS

The administration of the estate of Elizabeth G. Cottle, deceased, whose date of death was June 13, 2021, is pending in the Circuit Court for MONROE County, Florida, Probate Division,

LEGAL NOTICES

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: October 13, 2022.

Personal Representative: Richard E. Warner 12221 Overseas Highway Marathon, Florida 33050 Attorney for Personal Representative: Richard E. Warner

Attorney 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: October 13 & 20, 2022

The Weekly Newspapers

NOTICE OF KEY LARGO FIRE RESCUE AND EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES DISTRICT MILLAGE ELECTION ON NOVEMBER 8, 2022

On November 8, 2022, the Key Largo Fire Rescue and Emergency Medical Services District will issue a referendum to the voters seeking approval to increase the maximum millage rate in order to cover future costs of provid ing high-quality fire-rescue and emergency medical services to the residents of Key Largo.

The District Board of Commissioners wishes to make clear to Key Largo voters that the Board does not intend to levy annual millage at the maximum rate permitted under the proposed increase and remains committed to its longstanding policy of providing high quality firefight ing, rescue, and emergency medical services in the most cost-effective manner. The District has adopted a five-year operating plan that contem plates a millage rate less than the proposed maximum of 2.00 mills, however also understands the importance of long term planning. The following is the official ballot:

INCREASED MAXIMUM MILLAGE RATE FOR KEY LARGO FIRE RESCUE AND EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES:

The Key Largo Fire & EMS District may not levy ad valorem taxes exceeding 1.00 mill without voter approval. The District seeks to increase its maximum millage rate to cover future costs of providing high-quality fire-rescue and emergency medical services to the residents of Key Largo.

Shall the maximum millage rate of the District be revised to 2.00 mills, to fund the continued provision of fire rescue and emergency medical services to Key Largo residents?

YES

LEGAL NOTICES

IN THE CIRCUIT COURT FOR MONROE COUNTY, FLORIDA

PROBATE DIVISION

FILE NO.: 22-CP-000279-K

IN RE: ESTATE OF STUART C. WOODS Deceased.

NOTICE TO CREDITORS

The administration of the estate of Stuart C. Woods, deceased, whose date of death was July 22, 2022, 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 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: October 13, 2022.

Personal Representative: Jeanmarie Woods 910 Watson Street Key West, FL 33040

Attorney for Personal Representative: Tasha K. Dickinson Florida Bar No. 0122836 Day Pitney, LLP 250 Australian Avenue South, Suite 1504 West Palm Beach, Florida 33401 Telephone: (561) 803-3515 E-mail: tdickinson@daypitney. com

Publish: October 13 & 20, 2022

The Weekly Newspapers

IN THE CIRCUIT COURT FOR MONROE COUNTY, FLORIDA PROBATE DIVISION FILE NO.: 44-2022-CP-000254A001-KW

IN RE: ESTATE OF BOYD K. HICKMAN Deceased.

NOTICE TO CREDITORS

The administration of the estate of BOYD K. HICKMAN, deceased, whose date of death was April 12, 2022, is pending in the Circuit Court for Monroe County, Florida, Probate Division, the address of which is 500 Whitehead St., 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 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.

LEGAL NOTICES

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: October 13, 2022. Signed on this 10th day of October, 2022.

Personal Representative:

THOMAS F. HUDGINS 2800 DAVIS BLVD., STE. 203 NAPLES, FL 34104 Attorney for Personal Representative: THOMAS F. HUDGINS Florida Bar No. 970565 THOMAS F. HUDGINS, PLLC 2800 DAVIS BLVD., STE. 203 NAPLES, FL 34104

Telephone: (239) 263-7660

Email: TED@NAPLESTAX.COM

Secondary Email: SERVICE@ NAPLESTAX.COM Publish: October 13 & 20, 2022 The Weekly Newspapers

IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE SIXTEENTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT, IN AND FOR MONROE COUNTY, FLORIDA CASE NO.: 2022-DR-626-K DIVISION: FAMILY

IN RE: THE MARRIAGE OF: SLAVENA MOMCHILOVA, Petitioner, and, BRYAN KELEMEN, Respondent.

NOTICE OF ACTION FOR DISSOLUTION OF MARRIAGE (NO CHILD OR FINANCIAL SUPPORT)

TO: Bryan Kelemen

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 Slavena Momchilova, whose address is 607 Eaton Street, Key West, FL 33040 on or before October 31, 2022, 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: September 22, 2022 Kevin Madok, CPA Clerk of the Circuit Court Monroe County, Florida

By: Marissa Lockwood

Deputy Clerk Publish: September 29, October 6, 13 & 20, 2022

The Weekly Newspapers

LEGAL NOTICES

CAMPBELL, JACK A JENSEN AND RUTH L JENSEN, ANN LOUISE MINI, CHARLOTTE PIRNIA, ANN F MACGOWEN AND SUSAN A MACGOWEN, BARBARA D COMPSON, AMIR ESFANDYARI, JOAN C MANTAS, AND ALL OTHER UNKNOWN PARTIES CLAIMING INTERESTS

BY, THROUGH, UNDER, AND AGAINST THE PARTIES HEREIN NAMED, WHETHER SAID UNKNOWN PARTIES MAY CLAIM AN INTEREST AS SPOUSES, HEIRS, DEVISEES, GRANTEES, ASSIGNEES, LIENORS, CREDITORS, TRUSTEES, OR OTHER CLAIMANTS Defendant(s).

AMENDED NOTICE OF ACTION

TO: Joan C Mantas & Nicolas T. Mantas, the unknown spouses, heirs, devisees, grantees, assignees, lienors, creditors, trustees of Joan C Mantas & Nicolas T. Mantas, and all persons claiming by, through, under or against Joan C Mantas & Nicolas T. Mantas or otherwise claim to have any right title, or interest in any of the properties described in COUNT XIV of the Complaint, and all unknown persons, if alive, and if dead, and if not known to be dead or alive, their unknown spouses, heirs, devisees, grantees, assignees, lienors, creditors, trustees or other persons claiming by, through, under or against any unknown person who is known to be dead or otherwise claim to have any right title, or interest in any of the properties described below.

YOU ARE NOTIFIED that an action to foreclose liens on the following properties in Monroe County, Florida more particularly described as follows:

An undivided 1/260th interest as a tenant in common with other owners in the Resort Facility (1 Time Share Interest), according to the Time-Sharing Plan thereof, recorded in the Official Records Book 942, Page 653 through 723, of the Public Records of Monroe County, Florida (Plan).

Together with the right to occupy, pursuant to Plan, Unit 401, during Unit Week 21. has been filed against you and you are required to serve a copy of your written defenses, if any, to it on Jonathan J. Coto, the plaintiff’s attorney whose address is Coto Law Firm, P.A. 1390 S. Dixie Highway, Suite 1108, Coral Gables, Florida 33146, on or before November 7, 2022, and file the original with the clerk of this court either before service on the plaintiff’s attorney or immediately thereafter; otherwise a default will be entered against you for the relief demanded in the complaint or petition.

DATED on September 26, 2022

KEVIN MADOK, CPA

As Clerk of the Court By: Shonta McLeod As Deputy Clerk Publish: October 6 & 13, 2022 The Weekly Newspapers

TO: William Stafford, the unknown spouses, heirs, devisees, grantees, assignees, lienors, creditors, trustees of William Stafford, and all persons claiming by, through, under or against William Stafford or otherwise claim to have any right title, or interest in any of the properties described in COUNT I, II, III & IV of the Complaint, and all unknown persons, if alive, and if dead, and if not known to be dead or alive, their unknown spouses, heirs, devisees, grantees, assignees, lienors, creditors, trustees or other persons claiming by, through, under or against any unknown person who is known to be dead or otherwise claim to have any right title, or interest in any of the properties described below.

YOU ARE NOTIFIED that an action to foreclose liens on the following properties in Monroe County, Florida more particularly described as follows:

Condominium Unit 105, Unit Weeks 36 and 37, of THE BANYAN TREE OF KEY WEST, together with an undivided interest in the common elements, according to the Declaration of Condominium thereof, recorded in Official Records Book 872, Page 1654, as amended from time to time, of the Public Records on Monroe County, Florida

An undivided 1/260th interest as a tenant in common with other owners in the Resort Facility (1 Time Share Interest), according to the Time-Sharing Plan thereof, recorded in the Official Records Book 942, Page 653, of the Public Records of Monroe County, Florida (Plan). Together with the right to occupy, pursuant to the Plan, Unit 405, during Unit Week 35.

An Undivided 1/416th interest as a tenant in common with other owners in the Resort Facility (1 Time Share Interest), according to the Time-Sharing Plan thereof, recorded in Official Records Book 988, Pages 1510 through 1580, of the Public records of Monroe County, Florida (Plan). Together with the right to occupy, pursuant to the Plan, Unit 503, during Unit Week 35.

Publish:

2022

ALL CLAIMS NOT FILED WITHIN THE TIME PERIODS SET FORTH IN FLORIDA STATUTES SECTION 733.702 WILL BE FOREVER BARRED.

IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE SIXTEENTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT OF THE STATE OF FLORIDA IN AND FOR MONROE COUNTY CASE NO. 20-CA-000044-K THE BANYAN TREE OF KEY WEST CONDOMINIUM AND OWNERS’ ASSOCIATION, INC., a Florida CORPORATION, Plaintiff, v. WILLIAM STAFFORD, JEFFREY

IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE SIXTEENTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT OF THE STATE OF FLORIDA IN AND FOR MONROE COUNTY CASE NO. 20-CA-000044-K THE BANYAN TREE OF KEY WEST CONDOMINIUM AND OWNERS’ ASSOCIATION, INC., a Florida CORPORATION, Plaintiff, v. WILLIAM STAFFORD, JEFFREY CAMPBELL, JACK A JENSEN AND RUTH L JENSEN, ANN LOUISE MINI, CHARLOTTE PIRNIA, ANN F MACGOWEN AND SUSAN A MACGOWEN, BARBARA D COMPSON, AMIR ESFANDYARI, JOAN C MANTAS, AND ALL OTHER UNKNOWN PARTIES CLAIMING INTERESTS BY, THROUGH, UNDER, AND AGAINST THE PARTIES HEREIN NAMED, WHETHER SAID UNKNOWN PARTIES MAY CLAIM AN INTEREST AS SPOUSES, HEIRS, DEVISEES, GRANTEES, ASSIGNEES, LIENORS, CREDITORS, TRUSTEES, OR OTHER CLAIMANTS Defendant(s).

Unit 38 in Condominium Parcel Number 105, of the BANYAN TREE OF KEY WEST CONDOMINIUM, together with an undivided interest in the common elements appurtenant thereto, according the Declaration of Condominium thereof recorded in Official Record Book 872 at page 1654 Public Records of Monroe County, FL, together with any amendments thereto. has been filed against you and you are required to serve a copy of your written defenses, if any, to it on Jonathan J. Coto, the plaintiff’s attorney whose address is Coto Law Firm, P.A. 1390 S. Dixie Highway, Suite 1108, Coral Gables, Florida 33146, on or before November 7, 2022, and file the original with the clerk of this court either before service on the plaintiff’s attorney or immediately thereafter; otherwise a default will be entered against you for the relief demanded in the complaint or petition.

DATED on September 26, 2022 KEVIN MADOK, CPA As Clerk of the Court

By: Shonta McLeod

As Deputy Clerk

Publish: October 6 & 13, 2022

The Weekly Newspapers

IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE SIXTEENTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT OF THE STATE OF FLORIDA IN AND FOR MONROE COUNTY

CASE NO. 20-CA-000045-K THE BANYAN TREE OF KEY WEST CONDOMINIUM AND OWNERS’ ASSOCIATION, INC., a Florida CORPORATION, Plaintiff, v. WARFIELD M LEWIS, GARY MONTGOMERY AND DR. L. FOLGER WHICKER, BENJAMIN D BARNETT AND JOHN D BARNETT, SUSAN MACGOWEN AND PAULA T. DOWNS, RUSSELL L KERNS

AND SHARON E KERNS, STEVEN C HINTON, DAVID HOPS AND CHRISTINE HOPS, TIMESHARE TRADE INS, LLC C/O SPENCE WILLIS, RORY N HORTON, JUDITH A BEETERIDGE, MELANIE SCHELL, MEREDITH PEACE, JAMES E BRADY AND JANET T MAASBRADY, KENNETH R GILBERT AND RITA G GORMAN, AMIR ESFANDYARI, AND ALL OTHER UNKNOWN PARTIES CLAIMING

INTERESTS BY, THROUGH, UNDER, AND AGAINST THE PARTIES

HEREIN NAMED, WHETHER SAID UNKNOWN PARTIES MAY CLAIM AN INTEREST AS SPOUSES, HEIRS, DEVISEES, GRANTEES, ASSIGNEES, LIENORS, CREDITORS,TRUSTEES, OR OTHER CLAIMANTS Defendant(s).

NOTICE OF ACTION

TO: Judith A. Betteridge, the unknown spouses, heirs, devisees, grantees, assignees, lienors, creditors, trustees of Judith A. Betteridge, and all persons claiming by, through, under or against Judith A. Betteridge or otherwise claim to have any right title, or interest in any of the properties described in COUNT X of the Complaint, and all unknown persons, if alive, and if dead, and if not known to be dead or alive, their unknown spouses, heirs, devisees, grantees, assignees, lienors, creditors, trustees or other persons claiming by, through, under or against any unknown person who is known to be dead or otherwise claim to have any right title, or interest in any of the properties described below.

YOU ARE NOTIFIED that an action to foreclose liens on the following properties in Monroe County, Florida more particularly described as follows:

An Undivided 1/416th interest of THE BANYAN TREE OF KEY WEST CONDOMINIUMS as a tenant in common with other owners in the Resort Facility (1 Time Share Interest), according to the Time Sharing Plan thereof, recorded in Official Records Book 988, Pages 1510 through 1580, of the Public records of Monroe County, Florida (Plan). Together with the right to occupy, pursuant to the plan, Unit 507, during week 33. has been filed against you and you are required to serve a copy of your written defenses, if any, to it on Jonathan J. Coto, the plaintiff’s attorney whose address is Coto Law Firm, P.A. 1390 S. Dixie Highway, Suite 1108, Coral Gables, Florida 33146, on or before November 7, 2022, and file the original with the clerk of this court either before service on the plaintiff’s attorney or immediately thereafter; otherwise a default will be entered against you for the relief demanded in the complaint or petition.

DATED on September 26, 2022 KEVIN MADOK, CPA

As Clerk of the Court

By: Shonta McLeod As Deputy Clerk Publish: October 6 & 13, 2022

The Weekly Newspapers

IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE SIXTEENTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT OF THE STATE OF FLORIDA IN AND FOR MONROE COUNTY CASE NO. 20-CA-000045-K

THE BANYAN TREE OF KEY WEST CONDOMINIUM AND OWNERS’ ASSOCIATION, INC., a Florida CORPORATION, Plaintiff, v. WARFIELD M LEWIS, GARY MONTGOMERY AND DR. L. FOLGER WHICKER, BENJAMIN D BARNETT AND JOHN D BARNETT, SUSAN MACGOWEN AND PAULA T. DOWNS, RUSSELL L KERNS AND SHARON E KERNS, STEVEN C HINTON, DAVID HOPS AND CHRISTINE HOPS, TIMESHARE TRADE INS, LLC C/O SPENCE WILLIS, RORY N HORTON, JUDITH A BEETERIDGE, MELANIE SCHELL, MEREDITH PEACE, JAMES E BRADY AND JANET T MAASBRADY, KENNETH R GILBERT AND RITA G GORMAN, AMIR ESFANDYARI, AND ALL OTHER UNKNOWN PARTIES CLAIMING

INTERESTS BY, THROUGH, UNDER, AND AGAINST THE PARTIES HEREIN NAMED, WHETHER SAID UNKNOWN PARTIES MAY CLAIM AN INTEREST AS SPOUSES, HEIRS, DEVISEES, GRANTEES, ASSIGNEES, LIENORS, CREDITORS,TRUSTEES, OR OTHER CLAIMANTS Defendant(s).

NOTICE OF ACTION

TO: Meredith Peace, the unknown spouses, heirs, devisees, grantees, assignees, lienors, creditors, trustees of Meredith Peace, and all persons claiming by, through, under or against Meredith Peace or otherwise claim to have any right title, or interest in any of the properties described in COUNT XII of the Complaint, and all unknown persons, if alive, and if dead, and if not known to be dead or alive, their unknown spouses, heirs, devisees, grantees, assignees, lienors, creditors, trustees or other persons claiming by, through, under or against any unknown person who is known to be dead or otherwise claim to have any right title, or interest in any of the properties described below.

YOU ARE NOTIFIED that an action to foreclose liens on the following properties in Monroe County, Florida more particularly described as follows:

An Undivided 1/416th interest as a tenant in common with other owners in the Resort Facility (1 Time Share Interest), according to the Time-Sharing Plan thereof, recorded in Official Records Book 988, Pages 1510 through 1580, of the Public records of Monroe County, Florida (Plan). Together with the right to occupy, pursuant to the plan, Unit 503, during week 41. has been filed against you and you are required to serve a copy of your written defenses, if any, to it on Jonathan J. Coto, the plaintiff’s attorney whose address is Coto Law Firm, P.A. 1390 S. Dixie Highway, Suite 1108, Coral Gables, Florida 33146, on or before November 7, 2022, and file the original with the clerk of this court either before service on the plaintiff’s attorney or immediately thereafter; otherwise a default will be entered against you for the relief demanded in the complaint or petition.

DATED on September 26, 2022 KEVIN MADOK, CPA

As Clerk of the Court

By: Shonta McLeod As Deputy Clerk Publish: October 6 & 13, 2022

The Weekly Newspapers

IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE SIXTEENTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT OF THE STATE OF FLORIDA IN AND FOR MONROE COUNTY CASE NO. 20-CA-000045-K THE BANYAN TREE OF KEY WEST CONDOMINIUM AND OWNERS’ ASSOCIATION, INC., a Florida CORPORATION, Plaintiff, v.

WARFIELD M LEWIS, GARY MONTGOMERY AND DR. L. FOLGER WHICKER, BENJAMIN D BARNETT AND JOHN D BARNETT, SUSAN MACGOWEN AND PAULA T. DOWNS, RUSSELL L KERNS AND SHARON E KERNS, STEVEN C HINTON, DAVID HOPS AND CHRISTINE HOPS, TIMESHARE TRADE INS, LLC C/O SPENCE WILLIS, RORY N HORTON, JUDITH A BEETERIDGE, MELANIE SCHELL, MEREDITH PEACE, JAMES E BRADY AND JANET T MAASBRADY, KENNETH R GILBERT AND RITA G GORMAN, AMIR ESFANDYARI, AND ALL OTHER UNKNOWN PARTIES CLAIMING INTERESTS BY, THROUGH, UNDER, AND AGAINST THE PARTIES HEREIN NAMED, WHETHER SAID UNKNOWN PARTIES MAY CLAIM AN INTEREST AS SPOUSES, HEIRS, DEVISEES, GRANTEES, ASSIGNEES, LIENORS, CREDITORS,TRUSTEES, OR OTHER CLAIMANTS Defendant(s).

NOTICE OF ACTION TO: Melanie Schell, the unknown spouses, heirs, devisees,

LEGAL NOTICES LEGAL NOTICES

grantees, assignees, lienors, creditors, trustees of Melanie Schell, and all persons claiming by, through, under or against Melanie Schell or otherwise claim to have any right title, or interest in any of the properties described in COUNT XI of the Complaint, and all unknown persons, if alive, and if dead, and if not known to be dead or alive, their unknown spouses, heirs, devisees, grantees, assignees, lienors, creditors, trustees or other persons claiming by, through, under or against any unknown person who is known to be dead or otherwise claim to have any right title, or interest in any of the properties described below.

YOU ARE NOTIFIED that an action to foreclose liens on the following properties in Monroe County, Florida more particularly described as follows: An undivided 1/104th interest as a tenant in common with other owners in the Resort Facility (1 Time Share Interest), according to the Time-Sharing Plan thereof, recorded in Official Records Book 1047, Pages 1785 through 1856, of the Public Records of Monroe County, Florida (Plan). Together with the right to occupy, pursuant to the Plan, Unit 701, during Unit Week 50. has been filed against you and you are required to serve a copy of your written defenses, if any, to it on Jonathan J. Coto, the plaintiff’s attorney whose address is Coto Law Firm, P.A. 1390 S. Dixie Highway, Suite 1108, Coral Gables, Florida 33146, on or before November 7, 2022, and file the original with the clerk of this court either before service on the plaintiff’s attorney or immediately thereafter; otherwise a default will be entered against you for the relief demanded in the complaint or petition.

DATED on September 26, 2022 KEVIN MADOK, CPA As Clerk of the Court By: Shonta McLeod As Deputy Clerk Publish: October 6 & 13, 2022

The Weekly Newspapers

IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE SIXTEENTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT OF THE STATE OF FLORIDA IN AND FOR MONROE COUNTY CASE NO. 20-CA-000045-K THE BANYAN TREE OF KEY WEST CONDOMINIUM AND OWNERS’ ASSOCIATION, INC., a Florida CORPORATION, Plaintiff, v. WARFIELD M LEWIS, GARY MONTGOMERY AND DR. L. FOLGER WHICKER, BENJAMIN D BARNETT AND JOHN D BARNETT, SUSAN MACGOWEN AND PAULA T. DOWNS, RUSSELL L KERNS AND SHARON E KERNS, STEVEN C HINTON, DAVID HOPS AND CHRISTINE HOPS, TIMESHARE TRADE INS, LLC C/O SPENCE WILLIS, RORY N HORTON, JUDITH A BEETERIDGE, MELANIE SCHELL, MEREDITH PEACE, JAMES E BRADY AND JANET T MAASBRADY, KENNETH R GILBERT AND RITA G GORMAN, AMIR ESFANDYARI, AND ALL OTHER UNKNOWN PARTIES CLAIMING INTERESTS BY, THROUGH, UNDER, AND AGAINST THE PARTIES HEREIN NAMED, WHETHER SAID UNKNOWN PARTIES MAY CLAIM AN INTEREST AS SPOUSES, HEIRS, DEVISEES, GRANTEES, ASSIGNEES, LIENORS, CREDITORS,TRUSTEES, OR OTHER CLAIMANTS Defendant(s).

AMENDED NOTICE OF ACTION TO: Rory N Horton, the unknown spouses, heirs, devisees, grantees, assignees, lienors, creditors, trustees of Rory N Horton, and all persons claiming by, through, under or against Rory N Horton or otherwise claim to have any right title, or interest in any of the properties described in COUNT IX of the Complaint, and all unknown persons, if alive, and if dead, and if not known to be dead or alive, their unknown spouses, heirs, devisees, grantees, assignees,

lienors, creditors, trustees or other persons claiming by, through, under or against any unknown person who is known to be dead or otherwise claim to have any right title, or interest in any of the properties described below.

YOU ARE NOTIFIED that an action to foreclose liens on the following properties in Monroe County, Florida more particularly described as follows:

An Undivided 1/416th interest as a tenant in common with other owners in the Resort Facility (1 Time Share Interest), according to the Time-Sharing Plan thereof, recorded in Official Records Book 988, Pages 1510 through 1580, of the Public records of Monroe County, Florida (Plan). Together with the right to occupy, pursuant to the plan, Unit 506, during week 34. has been filed against you and you are required to serve a copy of your written defenses, if any, to it on Jonathan J. Coto, the plaintiff’s attorney whose address is Coto Law Firm, P.A. 1390 S. Dixie Highway, Suite 1108, Coral Gables, Florida 33146, on or before November 7, 2022, and file the original with the clerk of this court either before service on the plaintiff’s attorney or immediately thereafter; otherwise a default will be entered against you for the relief demanded in the complaint or petition.

DATED on September 26, 2022

KEVIN MADOK, CPA

As Clerk of the Court

By: Shonta McLeod

As Deputy Clerk Publish: October 6 & 13, 2022

The Weekly Newspapers

IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE SIXTEENTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT OF THE STATE OF FLORIDA

IN AND FOR MONROE COUNTY

CASE NO. 20-CA-000045-K THE BANYAN TREE OF KEY WEST CONDOMINIUM AND OWNERS’ ASSOCIATION, INC., a Florida CORPORATION, Plaintiff, v. WARFIELD M LEWIS, GARY MONTGOMERY AND DR. L. FOLGER WHICKER, BENJAMIN D BARNETT AND JOHN D BARNETT, SUSAN MACGOWEN AND PAULA T. DOWNS, RUSSELL L KERNS AND SHARON E KERNS, STEVEN C HINTON, DAVID HOPS AND CHRISTINE HOPS, TIMESHARE TRADE INS, LLC C/O SPENCE WILLIS, RORY N HORTON, JUDITH A BEETERIDGE, MELANIE SCHELL, MEREDITH PEACE, JAMES E BRADY AND JANET T MAASBRADY, KENNETH R GILBERT AND RITA G GORMAN, AMIR ESFANDYARI, AND ALL OTHER UNKNOWN PARTIES CLAIMING INTERESTS BY, THROUGH, UNDER, AND AGAINST THE PARTIES HEREIN NAMED, WHETHER SAID UNKNOWN PARTIES MAY CLAIM AN INTEREST AS SPOUSES, HEIRS, DEVISEES, GRANTEES, ASSIGNEES, LIENORS, CREDITORS,TRUSTEES, OR OTHER CLAIMANTS

Defendant(s).

AMENDED NOTICE OF ACTION

TO: Paula T Downs, the unknown spouses, heirs, devisees, grantees, assignees, lienors, creditors, trustees of Paula T Downs, and all persons claiming by, through, under or against Paula T Downs or otherwise claim to have any right title, or interest in any of the properties described in COUNT IV of the Complaint, and all unknown persons, if alive, and if dead, and if not known to be dead or alive, their unknown spouses, heirs, devisees, grantees, assignees, lienors, creditors, trustees or other persons claiming by, through, under or against any unknown person who is known to be dead or otherwise claim to have any right title, or interest in any of the properties described below.

YOU ARE NOTIFIED that an action to foreclose liens on the following properties in Monroe County, Florida more particularly described as follows:

Condominium Unit No. 508 of Unit Week 24, of BANYAN TREE OF KEY WEST, CONDOMINIUM, together with an undivided interest in common elements, according to the Declaration thereof, as recorded in Official Records Book 988, at Page 1510, of the Public Records of MONROE County, Florida. has been filed against you and you are required to serve a copy of your written defenses, if any, to it on Jonathan J. Coto, the plaintiff’s attorney whose address is Coto Law Firm, P.A. 1390 S. Dixie Highway, Suite 1108, Coral Gables, Florida 33146, on or before November 7, 2022, and file the original with the clerk of this court either before service on the plaintiff’s attorney or immediately thereafter; otherwise a default will be entered against you for the relief demanded in the complaint or petition.

DATED on September 26, 2022

KEVIN MADOK, CPA

As Clerk of the Court

By: Shonta McLeod

As Deputy Clerk

Publish: October 6 & 13, 2022

The Weekly Newspapers

AUTOS WANTED

ALL YEARS! Junk or Used. Cars - Vans - TrucksRunning or Not. $CASH$ 305-332-0483

BOATS FOR SALE

FOR SALE: 2007 Cobia - 19 ft, with T-top, 115hp Yamaha. No trailer. Located in Marathon. $9,900 Text 305-743-6098

BOAT SLIPS & TRAILER STORAGE

Boat Trailer Spaces Available. $100 per week. Boat dockage available $100 per weeWk. Easy access to the Atlantic and lighthouse. Boat length 32’ or less! Dockage is eighty feet long with good depth for boats. Phone 336-408-8140 or 336-287-3345.

EMPLOYMENT

Dolphins Plus Marine Mammal Responder is hiring an overnight Security Guard- responsibilities include but are not limited to observing marine mammals to ensure quality care, the ability to follow written instructions, and follow protocol and procedures as directed. Candidates must be able to lift 50 lbs and must be able to stay awake and alert for a 13 and a 1/2 hour shift (5:30pm7am). DPMMR is a drug-free workplace. To apply, please send your resume to nancyc@dpmmr.org.

Frank's Grill in Marathon now hiring servers. Evening and daytime. Call Joanna at 305-731-8346

Immediate positions available at the Grassy Key Marina. Under new ownership and looking for smiling faces. Full-time or parttime available. Pay rates are commensurate with experience but we are willing to interview those with no experience who have an interest in working in a marina environment. Please call Randall Glass to schedule an interview at 305-465-1491.

Help Wanted- experienced or will train- full time- benefitsElectrical Work with well established company in business since 1998- Marathon. Email to am.companies@gmail. com or call 305-393-0971.

Marathon Yacht Club is hiring a part-time bartender/ server. $12/hr + Guaranteed tip pool, employee meals, private club & friendly atmosphere. Saturday evenings required, some week nights. Call 305-7436739 to schedule an interview.

Pancho's Fuel Dock in Marathon is looking for a part-time cashier Thu/Fri/Sat. Please call 305-743-2281.

NOW HIRING - Full Time Seafood Packers/Graders. Competitive Wage. Apply in person at Keys Fisheries Fish House, 3390 Gulfview Ave, Marathon. EOE DFWP

CDL Drivers needed. Must have a clean record & drug free. We are offering competitive wages. Please apply in person at Discount Rock & Sand, 10500 Aviation Blvd, Unit 2, Marathon

City of Marathon Current Job Openings: Utilities Maintenance, Recreation Specialist, Right of Way Technician, Parttime Marina Custodian/ Maintenance and Marina Tech/Pump Out Captain. Full Benefits. EOE Please see City website for details www.ci.marathon.fl.us

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

Immediate openings for experienced plumbers and helpers (with or without experience - we will train the right person). Must have a valid driver's license & clean driving record. Please apply in person at 10700 5th Avenue Gulf, Marathon or email resume to: eerpinc@gmail.com

NOW HIRING: Sweet Savannah's is now hiring for multiple positions: Cashiermust be 16 yrs or older, Fulltime Baker & Part-time Baker's Assistant. Stop by for an application at 8919 Overseas Highway, Marathon or email: info@sweetsavannahs.com

The Housing Authority of the City of Key West now hiring the following positions: Maintenance Mechanic (Maintenance Worker), Med Tech, Protective Service Aide, Resident Activities Coordinator. To apply, please contact Human Resources at: martinezm@ kwha.org or 305-296-5621. Applications are available at the Administrative Office located at 1400 Kennedy Dr., Key West, FL 33040 or online at www.kwha.orgEOE & Drug Free Work Place. This opportunity is covered under Section 3 of the HUD Act of 1968.

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 425 E. Ocean Dr. Key Colony Beach or call 404219-3359 and ask for Dave.

Place your Employment ad here! Up to 5 lines of copy for only $25.00/week. Call 305-743-0844 today and find your needed staff!

HOBBIES/COLLECT.

PRIVATE COLLECTOR WANTS Rolex, Dive Watches and Pilot Watches. Old Model Military Clocks & Watches. Call 305-743-4578

HOUSING FOR RENT LONG TERM

Las Brisa - 2BR/2BA Unfurnished, great view, W/D, covered parking. Tennis, Swimming Pool & BBQ on property. Across from Smather’s Beach, Key West. $3,900/month + util. F/L/S Owner/Agent Douglas Miller 305-747-1700

STUDIO APT FOR RENT - Furnished Studio Apt w/ patio, like new, W/D, off street parking. Key West. $2,300/month including util. F/L/S Owner/Agent Douglas Miller 305-747-1700

Key Largo - 2BR/2BA Spacious Doublewide, 1400 sq ft modular on canal w/40’ dock, direct ocean access. Very nice community $3200/month 786-258-3127

For Rent in Marathon. Room with balcony, private entrance, and bathroom. Kitchen and laundry privileges. Utilities included. Ask for Dianna at 305-9239181. $1,200 monthly. First and last req. No pets. RENTED IN LESS THAN ONE WEEK!

HOME FOR SALE

For Sale By Owner. 3BR/2BA Older Conch House - built in 1950 - ground levelMarathon/Grassy Key. By appointment only. No Realtors. $475,000 305-395-0806

MISC. FOR SALE

FOR SALE - Lifesize Bronze Mermaid Table w/ Six Chairs. Must see - located in Marathon. $5,000.00 305-923-9181

FOR SALE

1981 35’ Viking Sport Fisher

Double Decker with Twin Cat 3208’s and a Generator.

Rebuilt in 2021, Stateroom, Head, Shower, Galley with Full Refrigerator, Air Fryer Oven, Freezer, Ice Machine, Air Conditioning. Over $75,000 invested. Transferable Slip in Marathon. Asking $59,000. 970-618-6737

NOW HIRING

PRIVATE ESTATE HOUSEMAN

Islamorada | Full Time | $25.00 +/hr

Must have previous houseman or related experience, valid US DL and SSN. Must be able to pass background checks and be a self-starter who can follow directions

ESTAMOS CONTRATANDO

Tiempo completo, mantenimiento de exterior en casa privada. Localizada en Islamorada, a $25.00+/hr. experiencia previa requerida o similar. Licencia valida en EE.UU. y numero de Seguro social. Capaz de pasar verificacion de antecedents y prueba de droga. Emprendedor motivado capaz de seguir instruciones.

Email resume & references to Lnz777@aol.com or mail to: Resume, c/o Post Net, 88005 Overseas Hwy, Suite 10, Box #162, Islamorada, FL 33036

Marathon.

marketing or related field. 3

degree and/or equivalent

of

digital assets, such as text, graphics or multimedia

for search engine optimization (SEO) or for display and usability on internet-connected

to: Upper Crust Pizza Inc.

Raisa Carolina Gonzalez, 3740 Overseas Highway

Marathon, Florida

SENIOR ACCOUNTANT

WESLEY HOUSE FAMILY SERVICES is looking for an experienced SENIOR ACCOUNTANT with at least ve years of experience with heavy emphasis on bookkeeping and computer skills in our Key West of ce. Responsibilities include maintaining and reporting on the agency’s grant contracts, payroll, accounts payable and other duties under direct supervision of the Controller. Bachelor’s degree in accounting or business preferred and/or demonstrated experience in the eld. Salary range $55,000-$70,000, commensurate with experience, plus an excellent bene t package. Additional information about the position and the agency can be found at www.wesleyhouse.org. Interested candidates can email resume to HR@wesleyhouse.org. Wesley House Family Services is an equal opportunity employer and drug free workplace.

Keys Energy Services, in Key West, is accepting applications for the following position in its Customer Services Department:

CUSTOMER SERVICES REPRESENTATIVE I

Starting pay rate for this position, depending on qualifications and experience: $19.82/hr. - $22.20/hr.

For more information, including job duties and required qualifications, and to apply for the job, please visit their website at www.KeysEnergy.com.

KEYS is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

KEYS promotes a Drug-Free Workplace.

Certain service members, veterans, the spouses and family members of service members and veterans, receive preference and priority in employment, and are encouraged to apply for positions being filled.

Keys Energy Services, in Key West, is accepting applications for the following position in its Fleets & Facilities Section:

APPRENTICE MAINTENANCE PERSON

Starting pay rate for this position, depending on qualifications and experience: $22.48/hr. - $25.17/hr.

For more information, including job duties and required qualifications, and to apply for the job, please visit their website at www.KeysEnergy.com.

KEYS is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

KEYS promotes a Drug-Free Workplace.

Certain service members, veterans, the spouses and family members of service members and veterans, receive preference and priority in employment, and are encouraged to apply for positions being filled.

Keys Energy Services, in Key West, is accepting applications for the following position in its Transmission & Distribution Department:

TREE TRIMMER

Starting pay rate for this position, depending on qualifications and experience: $25.04/hr. - $28.04/hr.

For more information, including job duties and required qualifications, and to apply for the job, please visit their website at www.KeysEnergy.com.

KEYS is an Equal Opportunity Employer. KEYS promotes a Drug-Free Workplace.

Certain service members, veterans, the spouses and family members of service members and veterans, receive preference and priority in employment, and are encouraged to apply for positions being filled.

Keys Energy Services, in Key West, is accepting applications for the following position in its Fleets & Facilities Section:

AUTO DIESEL VEHICLE TECHNICIAN

Starting pay rate for this position, depending on qualifications and experience: $27.17/hr. - $30.43/hr.

For more information, including job duties and required qualifications, and to apply for the job, please visit their website at www.KeysEnergy.com.

KEYS is an Equal Opportunity Employer. KEYS promotes a Drug-Free Workplace. Certain service members, veterans, the spouses and family members of service members and veterans, receive preference and priority in employment, and are encouraged to apply for positions being filled.

SUNSET GRILLE IS LOOKING FOR A FRONT OF HOUSE MANAGER

The Front of House Manager plans and directs all day to day restaurant operations. Maintains high standards of food, service, health and safety; ensures the efficient and profitable business performance of the restaurant and the optimal utilization of staff and resources.

• Perform opening and closing duties in accordance with established policies and procedures.

• Oversee and support front of house supervisors

• Oversee overall maintenance of the restaurant and property

• Coordinate restaurant operations to include daily schedules and identifying recruiting needs

• Responsible for ensuring guest satisfaction and quality guest experience

• Maintain employee records

• Oversee training and identify training needs

• Responsible for new hire onboarding and orientation

• Conduct staff meetings when necessary

• Monitor labor and operational costs

• Identify and estimate food and beverage supply requirements/needs and ensure inventory needs are met

• Perform other duties as assigned

Apply in person 7 Knights Key Blvd, Marathon. No phone calls please.

DUI

OPEN POSITIONS

TAVERNIER MARINERS HOSPITAL

- Cook, $5,000 Bonus

- Environmental Tech, $5,000 Bonus

- Manager Medical Staff

- Medical Technologist, $15,000 Bonus

- Hyperbaric Tech

- Nurse Supervisor

- Monitor Technician, Cardiac Telemetry

- Multi-Modality Imag Tech, $9,000 Bonus

- Patient Experience Advocate, Patient Experience

- Pool Physical Therapist

- Registered Nurse, Emergency Department, $20,000 Bonus

- Registered Nurse, Multispecialty Acute Care Ctr, $20,000 Bonus

- Registered Nurse, Surgery, $20,000 Bonus

- Registered Respiratory Therapist, $15,000 Bonus

MARATHON FISHERMEN’S

COMMUNITY HOSPITAL

- Cook $5,000 Bonus

- Dietitian $5,000 Bonus - ED Team Coordinator

- Floor Technician $5,000 Bonus

- Medical Technologist, $15,000 Bonus - Nurse Supervisor - Multi-Modality Imag Tech, $9,000 Bonus - Patient Experience Advocate - Phlebotomist, $10,000 Bonus - Pool Physical Therapist

- Registered Nurse, Emergency Department, $20,000 Bonus

- Registered Nurse, Multispecialty Acute Care, $20,000 Bonus - Registered Nurse, $20,000 Bonus - Security Of cer - Supervisor Laboratory, $15,000 Bonus - Surgical Technologist

PHYSICIAN PRACTICE - TAVERNIER

- Advance Practice Provider (Physician Assistant)

- Nurse Practitioner

- Physician Practice Patient Rep, $1,000 Bonus - Medical Assistant, $3,000 Bonus

APPLY AND LEARN MORE

WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANT OPERATOR

LOCATION: CUDJOE KEY & DUCK KEY

The Turtle Hospital in

EEO, VPE, ADA, DFW

Volunteer

School

Benefits

TIME / FULL TIME OPPORTUNITIES

SCHEDULES

TEMPORARY ENGINEER

AGENT

COOK

SERVER

SPA TERRE AT OCEAN KEY:

TECHNICIAN

MASSAGE THERAPIST

WE ARE EXCITED TO OFFER

EMPLOYEE HOUSING OPPORTUNITIES

OLD TOWN!

SCAN TO VIEW JOB OPENINGS. APPLY TODAY!

DOLPHIN RESEARCH CENTER

Key Resort and Spa is EOE.

MAKE A DIFFERENCE

Pigeon Key is seeking dedicated professionals seeking to make a positive impact in their community. Those individuals who wish to work on a uniquely beautiful island , while promoting our cultural history and preserving the natural Keys environment are encouraged to apply. Competitive wages based on ability and experience. Applicants will be subject to criminal background check and drug screening.

Positions include: Trolley Operator (CDL licensing course provided for qualified applicant) Tour Guides, Sales Associates, Customer Relations Reps, Maintenance, Rental Associates and more.

Application online at pigeonkey.net - under the Staff icon. Or apply in person at the Pigeon Key Gift Shop, 2010 Overseas Hwy, Marathon, FL. Questions and completed applications can be emailed to pigeonkey@aol.com

KEY LARGO

KEY WEST

MARATHON