11TH ANNIVERSARY ISSUE .«# sm • : ; . - . . -p3i«s^ - • ; : J ) . ; i V • • • ^ | j ^ - : = | ; ' „ • • • , " • . ff^T^J^^I J | | | . I" f' •'j | ^ • • • ; : * * :̂ î =: i*f4fei-i*.«SS/I^;| S.1 JisSiEriEgii*, f-.feKl ^ FRANK KAISER, SNOWSTORM OVER KEY WEST, PART V, PG. 28 GUEST WRITERS: PHILIP BURTON, MEMORIES OF DYLAN THOMAS, PART 1, PG. 42 SHEL SILVERSTE1N, PG.. 71 J ) - i Page 2 — April 1987 — Solares Hill Don't Head North Without Them! ...footprints 610 Duval Street Old Town Where the Locals meet! Quality is our highest regard. BREAKFAST & LUNCH * 7:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. SATURDAY BRUNCH 11:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. SUNDAY BRUNCH 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Closed Thursdays 7031/2 DUVAL STREET 296-4811 FROM THE EDITOR Hello, Welcome to our 11th anniversary issue. We've had the very good fortune to have the flawless Philip Burton grace this issue with two articles: a book review and the first of a three part series on his recollections of Dylan Thomas. The photos that will accompany this series were generously provided to us by famed photographer Rollie McKenna. Shel Silverstein returns to us for a most welcome second time as well. Egregariously and lamentably missing from this issue are two of our varsity players: • Bill Westray and George Murphy. Bill is still away and George's computer devoured his article at deadline, but next THE REAL ESTATE C 0 M P A N Y •OF KEY WEST INO JAMES A. BLUM Lie. Real Estate Broker WILLIAM C. flALPIN Lie. Real Estate Broker 1100 DUVAL ST. • KEY WEST, FL 33040 E (305)296-0011 Ms month I trust these gentlemen will be with us again. However, Frank Kaiser continues his excellent series on cocaine, and critic Vaughn Gibson launches a stout defense of controversial impressario Parvan Bakardjeiv. Richard Watherwax is in top form and is nicely complimented by Glenna Moore. There are other nice moments in this issue and I trust you will enjoy them. With the opening of the Truman Annex Presidential Gates, a whole new era is upon Key West. Pritam Singh has made a covenant with the people of Key West to perform a sensitive and community-oriented build-out and I wish him well in his mammoth undertaking. And, in a move that proves how sound he can be, he will marry the lovely Annie Johnston in the near future here in Key West. An auspicious April for Pritam! La Concha had the grandest of • reopenings this past month. A special touch was flowers dropped from a hovering helicopter. See you next month. Our cover artist this month is Michael Palmer. His work, including the art used for the cover, is for sale at the Gingerbread Gallery, 910 Duval Street. . Letter to the Editor My first and hopefully last exposure to your publication came with the March edition. First impression was one gets what one pays for but after reading the editorial I 'changed my opinion, realizing if it became necessary I would be willing to pay you rather than having to read such garbage. It's also obvious why you won't print letters from readers. Sincerely, H.C. Kilpatrick Solares Hill is a community newspaper published every month on the slopes of Solares Hill, Key West's highest point, by Solares Hill Company, #4 Key Lime Square, Key West, Florida 33040 Editor ...Bill Huckcl Editorial Consultant : Bill Westray Art Direction Walt Hyla Staff Photographer Richard Walherwax Typeset by Apple Laser Writer With a little help from our friends... Solares Hill Company, Incorporated ©Solares Hill Inc. 1986 Our mailing address: #4 Key Lime Square Key West, Florida 33040 Phone Number 294-3602 In Marathon call 872-2915 THIS IS OUR SUBSCRIPTION FORM Save your cover! Send us a postcard with your subscription. Here is $15.00 for ray subscription to 11 issues of SOLARES HILL NAM'" ADDRESS CITY .-STATE Solares Hill — April 1987 — Page 3 Around the World on a Piano Lyle Weaver's Magic Carpet by Bud Jacobson He hails from a small town in southern Iowa — Tabor — and never took a piano lesson in his life. But he's got a thousand tunes at his fingertips. With a natural-born swinging talent on the ivories (as they used to say), Lyle Weaver has seen the world several times Over and, along the way, made hundreds of friends and a few pennies to boot. These days in Key West, you can catch Lyle during the dinner hour at Dickie's on Grinnell Street (Bobby Nesbitt entertains the night owl shift after 9 PM), but back in 1932, when Lyle got out of high school, you would have caught him on the roadto Omaha, a few miles south of Tabor, where paid employment lured him in the depth of the Great Depression. "I went right to work playing piano in a downtown barroom in Omaha. Tunes like "Ja-Da," and "I Can't Give You Anything But Love, Baby" were the hot favorites. The piano man, as he is known in the trade, is always the key figure in small outfits so he was the top banana in a group called "The Melody Weavers." Lyle smiles when he says that. "That doesn't sound very imaginative but in those days names like The Grateful Dead Playing to a full house for the U.S.O. and Led Zeppelin would more likely get you thrown out and we needed work." He moved from there to New Orleans where he joined a studio band, in the late 1930s, at radio station WWL (still going strong) and it was there he came down severely ill with tuberculosis and landed on his back in a hospital for a spell. Around that time, President Roosevelt ordered the draft as the war in Europe kept creeping closer. In spite of his wishes to get in uniform, the TB prevented that and "it was very frustrating to be a civilian." Lyle got his strength back living in the uplands of New Mexico and then headed to San Francisco where he grabbed a riveting Announcing . . . a shipping center for you! Packy the Shipper Packing & Shipping Center Bring your out-of-town packages to our conven- ient location, We ship any package for you, one professionally packed by us or one you have packed. Your package is delivered in 3. DAYS OR LESS any- where in the country. Your package is insured for safe delivery (1st $100 valuation) at NO CHARGE. Pro Photo 335 Duval Street - Duval Walk 294-9331 p of Key West, Inc. "The Real Estate Company tor Key West." ' SALES'& MANAGEMENT SEASONAL & YEARLY RENTALS DONALD C. MATHIEU Licensed Real Estate Broker m Realtor OPEN SATURDAYS & SUNDAYS (305)294-3600,296-7766 P.O. BOX 1737 • 400 STMONTON STREET KEY WEST, FLORIDA 33041 I Page 4 — April 1987 — Solares Hill onene 626 Duval Street Gtzoissaajts job in an aircraft factory. Shortly after that, one of his pals in the music business called him saying they "were looking for a good man with a piano" for a U.S.O. group. "That's me," said Lyle brightly and quit his job inside an hour, passed an FBI check and was on a Greyhound bus roaring toward Reno, Nevada, and his future. From then on, for over 20 years, it was Lyle Weaver on the road with the USO, around the world, through a couple wars. High adventure. "We played the stateside bases first, in groups with guys like Ray Bolger and Little Jack Little, going from Seattle to Miami and then to Pittsburgh in 1942 and that's where we got the word we were going overseas. "We crossed the pond in a convoy, landed in England and did tours of bases there and on D-Day plus 40 we were the first USO group to go up to the front lines." His group played five shows daily, many of them in the mud and rain and within «asy hearing distance of the guns and bombs, inside shooting distance of the Germans, sleeping in haylofts and old barns, on the ground, wherever. The USO entertainment groups, he explained, consisted of an M.C. who was a stand-up comic, a gal singer, a gal dancer, a novelty act and the piano man. Transport was supplied by the Army in unpadded trucks whenever they could hitch a ride, open air. "One of the outstanding performers I met over there was Marion McPaitland, wife of the trumpet player, Jimmy McPartland, and we got together again in New York at the Hickory House." They were seven weeks at the front before they got leave to Paris and "that's still my favorite city." No rest for the wicked,' however, and after V-E day, Weaver's bunch and other USO groups were shuffled off to the Pacific. Shows for the Marines and Army on the beaches at Saipan and Guam; shows for the Navy on the decks of battleships and aircraft carriers. Some of those shows, after V-.1 day, he said, "we played in front of 10,000 to 15,000 troops. It was great and they loved us.11;..,-.. But that war, too, came to an end. "A successful end, you could say, and we all came back to civilian life. What a change!" "The niftiest casual clothes in the Keys . . . " THE MIAMI HERALD "A trendy shop . . . " TIME MAGAZINE - "One of America's most exciting retail environments an absolute must for your visit." ENGLAND'S BBC TELEVISION Fast Buck Freddies 500.DuvaLStreet_«.Open AQ rJ Solares Hill — April 1987 — Page 5 f] i , ^ - - • • • \ 1 LOOK TO THE SKY! HEAVENLY BODY KITES ANNOUNCES THE 11TH AN N UAL KEY WEST KITE FESTIVAL FREE! OPEN TO THE PUBLIC, NOON MAY 3, SMATHERS BEACH PRIZES $100 CASH PRIZE BEST COLOR SLIDE! $50 GIFT CERTIFICATE FROM HEAVENLY BODY KITES FOR: YOUNGEST KITE FLYER/OLDEST KITE FLYER/ BEST HANDMADE KITE/LONGEST FLYING KITE/PERSON FROM FURTHEST POINT FROM KEY WEST/ BEST KiTE PERFORMANCE SPONSORED BY HBK IN CONJUNCTION WITH CONCH REPUBLIC CELEBRATION '87 HEAVENLY BODY KITES, YOUR LOCAL KITE SHOP 409 GREENE ST. OLD TOWN i Page 6— April 1987 — Solares Hill OR: Tto As. X "SAY f\sf A$ -2" 2>o W X L.IKB 72) TtHrtK OKl Of IT AS 7 JTSTILL 7THNK \oO SftDOCb It was in Chicago in the late 1940s where Lyle was doing the piano stint for Bob McGrew's society band at the Drake Hotel, on Michigan Avenue, when a wealthy Chicago woman with strong connections in the entertainment game and hotel business, leased the Casa Marina in Key West. "Well, winter was coming and I'd heard about Key West. Mrs. Barnes, that was her name, hired a staff from the Morrison Hotel, waiters, busboys, etc., and we all moved to Key West. Bill Ryan, the late bail bondsman, was the service chief at the Casa; a fun loving person, he was." While at the Casa Marina in those years, stars like Xavier Cugat, Oleg Cassini, some of the reigning tennis pros of the year would show up for the winter season and there was also, for the enjoyment of the guests, an Arthur Murray Dance Studio. "Well," Lyle said musing, "the dance studio wasn't doing too well — they weren't selling many lessons. "Then one day the gal who was part of their evening dance act was out in the ocean swimming off the hotel's pier when she lost the top of her bathing suit. "A lot of the men used to play cards in the bathhouse and the word got around about the topless swimmer. A crowd gathered, and then more people. She finally walked out of the water and from then on Lyle at Dickie's the dance lessons picked up amazingly." After the Casa, and in another season, Lyle went to work at the Bamboo Room, on Smith Lane (now Appelrouth). "It was owned by George Curry and Carlos Gelrich and was the only air- conditioned bar in town; also the nicest -- good atmosphere, good clientele. Solares Hill — April 1987—.Page7 11 Storewide Sale GH Audio Video Components During April Bring in this ad and Save up to • 4 0 %OFF 1 i i i i 1 I i I 1 1 I I 1 I I L WftWi<\ "Polk Audio's Remarkable Monitors Deliver Incredible Sound/Affordable Price" "At their price, they're simply a steal" Audiogram Magazine i I The Speaker Specialists fe AUDIO VIDEO INTERNATIONAL INC. 1435 Kennedy Drive/Luani Plaza JO1- , Celebrate the sensations from our J collection of the world's most casual, comfortable, terrific clothing for men. j Sense it. j Open 7 days a week. 617 Duval Street 294-1570 294-4018 "I met Tennessee there, and Frankie. Every night of the week they'd go to the movie at the Strand, when Iggy owned it. No matter what was playing, they were there every night and then they'd come into the Bamboo. We got to be good friends." It was about that time when a bar down Duval Street, the Cabana Club, owned by Curry, Gelrich and Harry Goldberg, would raffle off a live goat, a rooster, or something on weekends; competition was fierce between the bars downtown. "One night, they promoted a raffle of a live horse. They somehow got the horse in the door and just as the raffle started, the horse fell over dead. "I think instead of a horse, that night, the owners gave away a lot of drinks on the house." , Lyle was the pianist when David Wolkowsky opened the restaurant at the Pier House, then leased by Tony Sweet, and called Tony's Fish Market. David had 's -*tam nlaying oiano later when l & t h ' Sands, in a big fantastic wooden building at the end of Simonton. "One night, a few years ago, Leonard Bernstein was in town and came over to the Sands — he and David were friends. "Leonard draped himself over the piano, stretched out and sang Bessie Smith blues for everybody. Of course, he had to keep telling me what chords to play — he was the leader even when he camped it up." On another night at the Sands, a couple of young busboys were listening from the kitchen and one of them told the other, "that's Leonard Bernstein at the piano." "G*wan, that ain't Leonard Bernstein," said the skeptical kid, "if it was he'd play 'Why O, Why 0, Why O,Did IEverLeave Ohio.' " . ; Weaver heard what the kid said and turned to Leonard. "You know I never play my own stuff, Lyle; you play it," said the great one. Weaver broke into a chorus of the song ^fte' kid turned to then other, saying, "Oh sure, I knew that was Leonard Bernstein playing piano." When lower Duval used to be the home for strippers and B-girls, and prowling sailors, the Mardi Gras, at Front and Duval, called in piano tuner Loriano Moreno because the gals on the runway were griping that the piano was sour. "He tuned the piano and then asked for payment from the bartender," Lyle said, "but the bartender said, 'that's not the way it works -- you send us a bill.' "Moreno shrugged and walked back to the piano and untuned it, right then." Lyle's piano playing has been heard in 65 countries — an interesting life for a guy who never took a lesson in his life. \ *»**-* t\CM\J ,VV»'*J \ • I j<&»to&*&*>S*t?4«*"--' Page 8 — April 1987 — Solares Hill Report From The Ashrams: Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh by William Schlicht Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, now a headline, network, news personality because he is being held by authorities in North Carolina, began his climb toward New Age spiritual leadership as guru of an ashram in Poona, India. Thousands of people, particularly young people, from all over the world went to the ashram to find enlightenment, a new way of life, and to solve their problems. And many of them did just that. Many of them whose lives had been empty, blank, or useless found a new purpose in living, a place where they felt they belonged. There can be no doubt that many of his followers, some of whom had been terribly unhappy, even suicidal, and some who had been drug abusers, who simply couldn't fit into their own societies, found a home in the Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh Ashram. The ashram was a haven where they were able for the first time to live productive lives under the spiritual guidance of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh. I visited the Poona Ashram, which is located less than one hundred miles from Bombay, for an extended period in 1980. As a clinical psychologist and psychotherapist I was very interested in what I had heard about the amazing therapy methods,"particularly in groups^which were practiced at the ashram. I was extremely:: impressed, both by what I found there, and as a result of my participation in two therapy groups led by Western trained therapists who were spiritually inspired by the Bhagwan. In fact, I think it might be fair to say that at the time Rajneesh had one of the most effective group therapy centers anywhere in the world. It is not easy to say exactly what benefit I derived from being in those groups in Poona, but I have looked again at a journal I kept during that period and this has helped. Like all therapeutic gains, these are things that need to be learned more than once, insights which need to be repeated over and over and over again. I was really quite ill at the time with diarrhea, nausea, and weakness, but, acting on sudden impulse, I decided not to ask for any special consideration due to my physical condition. A very significant realization followed: I recognized that most of the time in the past when I had asked for and received special consideration, it wasn't a good thing after all. Afterward I always had the lingering feeling I was copping out and was forced to see myself as someone who was weak, not up to the level of the others — not a good feeling at all! Then there was the experience brought about, I am convinced, by group therapy at the ashram, of becoming aware of my own anxiety arising over the silliest things. One morning I realized I was getting frantic, really anxious because I was in a hurry and couldn't find my toothpaste. It dawned on me then how ridiculous the whole thing was ^ and. then I understood how often an anxiety respofrsc-i-SiSQ,habitual that we are not even aware that it T r happening. When psychotherapists say that some behavior is unconscious, this is actually what they mean. The effective group therapy at the Bhagwan's ashram allowed me to see clearly what was happening. It sometimes takes a drastic interruption in our usual routine, a confrontation we couldn't ordinarily experience to permit these breakthroughs to occur. There was one other thing that I got out of being in group therapy in Poona, which was that I began to breathe fully instead of the shallow, inhibited breathing which I did before. What a wonderful feeling of being alive, healthy, and full of energy comes from such a simple change. But we in American society hardly ever take the time to be conscious of our own breathing. In the ashram groups, paying attention to breathing and breathing fully was something which was stressed constantly. Not everything about the ashram impressed this observer favorably; perhaps the most unsettling aspect of the place was evidence of extremely strong peer pressure as if to say, "You had better conform or watch out!" I saw clearly that many ashramites really did worship the Bhagwan and were convinced of his divinity. There was also a slight but noticeable manifestation of a vaguely fascist influence in some parts of the ashram. I had ample opportunity to talk with Indians and fellow Westerners living in Solares Hill — April 1987 — Page 9 MTALL SfEC/ALS QUALITY ACTIVE SPORTSWEAR FOR SUN & SURF REASONABLE RENTAL RATES MISTRAL • FANATIC SEATREND • ANGULO HAWAII F2 • WINDSURFING HAWAII 294-4255 NEW LOCATION!! 719 DUVAL ST. A LA CARTE LTD. JJfe Size Bunnies and Giant Easier Eggs Have Arrived! Each over a pound of the finest European milk chocolate. Just a sample of the marvelous treats you will find in our Easter Gift Baskets ... The most festively decorated anywhere! Call or visit us and we'll custom design a basket just for you. An unforgettable gift for children and adults as well. 812 Southard Street Keq West, Florida 33040 294-4496 • 296-0496 TOYS, GIOCHI, SPIELZEUGE JUGUETES, JOUETS TOYS & GAMES WITH INTERNATIONAL APPEAL 11 KEY LIME SQUARE 294-7776 FREE GIFT WRAPPING«WE SHIP-PARKING IN REAR Unity of tlie Keys Presentation Shirley Calkins Smith, evolutionary tutor, minister, rebirther, and registered Lilydale medium and psychic, will present a free, open to the public presentation on "Moving to Superconsciousness" at Unity of the Keys, 3424 Duck Avenue, on May 7, from 7-9 PM. Love offering will be accepted for Unity. t j W I N D S U ~ R ~ F I N G Page 12 — April 1987 — Solares Hill Solares Hill — April 1987 — Page 13 fl ANGELC'S WE COOK'EMD 4 and refreshments put out in the rooms for arriving guests. That bothered rne some because while there certainly was accommodation for wealthy visitors, nothing was available for budget travelers. I inquired specifically about the possibility of camping and was told that it was not permitted; this despite the fact that the ashram includes countless acres of land which is not presently being used for any other purpose. The cost of many of the programs at the ashram was another clear indication that they are intended for people with plenty of money; some of the courses cost as much as seven thousand five hundred dollars and only lasted a little longer than three months. No mention was made of the availability of scholarship assistance for those unable to pay such huge fees. The signs of great wealth were visible everywhere; parked near the airstrip I observed four airplanes of what looked to be DC-3 class, along with four other smaller two engine aircraft. The ashram also maintains a fleet of the familiar yellow school buses to provide transportation for those who live and work within the community; the size of the fleet, however, would be the envy of many of our larger school systems. I left the ashram, after spending only one day, feeling profoundly discouraged by what I had seen. And as I traveled on, it became clear that the relations which existed between the Rajneesh group and their neighbors were deteriorating rapidly. At one place I observed obscene graffiti insulting the Bhagwan which had been painted on the walls of some old disused farm buildings. I stopped on the way to talk with one of the Rajneesh neighbors, who had no association whatsever with the ashram. This individual informed me that property taxes had unfairly and unreasonably quadrupled within a one year period, that local citizens not a part of the ashram were constantly harrassed by the ashram peace (police) officers, and that the school in their town had been changed so drastically that they no longer felt they could send their children there. As I continued to talk about the ashram GIFTS & SOUVENIRS 505 Greene 294-4486 EVERYTHING FOR YOUR PARTY NEEDS "IF WE DON'T HAVE IT WE WILL GEJ IT FOR YOU" a BALLOONS t GIFTS e PINATAS e PARTY,1 SUPPLIES « REMOTE CONTROL BOATS ® BOTANICA and to experience feelings of letdown and dismay over the undesirable changes which had taken place, I remembered a video presentation of the Bhagwan which I had watched while waiting for the bus tour to begin. Rajneesh was being interviewed by a television news reporter and defending the activities of the ashram in connection with bringing to Rajneeshpuram a large number of homeless, derelict individuals to offer them a new way of life, a chance to begin again. Critics of the Bhagwan had charged that the so-called charitable effort was simply an attempt to bring in people who would vote the way Bhagwan wanted them to, in an upcoming election. This is a plausible view since voting in Oregon elections calls for only minimal residency requirements. In this television interview, it seemed to me that Rajneesh was acting more like a political leader intent on outtalking and outsmarting a political opponent than an enlightened spiritual leader. Seeing the Bhagwan in this way I found to be more disenchanting than anything else I had observed in the ashram. OFF PARTY SUPPLES WITH THIS COU PON New in Key West the shop everybody is talking about irHegl Trading Co iii iiiii ii^iiii fH l Tradin i ii^iii 802 Duval Street 10%v° "get acquainted" discount with this ad, thru 5/1/87 Now with serious felony charges facing Rajneesh and several of his followers, charges including the planning-of-violent acts and taking human life, what is the state of the ashram? Certainly the inevitable comparisons with Jonestown will be made, though I do not believe those comparisons are justified. But I do think that we are fortunate indeed that the authorities intervened before things got entirely out of hand, before there was widespread violence at Rajneeshpuram. It seems evident now that the Bhagwan was corrupted by his own power and his sense of importance. And in a very real sense he was- also corrupted and betrayed by his disciples. There is evidence that the Bhagwan reached a point of grandiosity where the capacity of his judgement would have to be brought into question. For ' example, in a brochure produced for a Mahaparinirvana Day Celebration, there is advertized the "Rajneesh Bible" based upon the Bhagwan's morning discourses. And yet, despite all that has happened, and I fully expect some indictments and some guilty verdicts to be brought in, we should not lose sight of the fact that Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh has made a noteworthy contribution toward the growth of spirituality in the modern age. Countless contemporary philosophers would surely agree that in the Bhagwan's talks and writings there is much to be found, which must be considered as genuine enlightenment. And undoubtedly great numbers of people have been helped to live better lives under the influence of this JOURNAL OF MARITIME HERITAGE A PUBLICATION OF THE ATLANTIC ALLIANCE FOR MARITIME HERITAGE CONSERVATION Announcing a publication of national-international scope — launched from Key West, the Florida Keys. A dedicated crew from Key West and the Keys, the inspiration of our own rich maritime heritage, have inseribeif the first volume of an enduring 'log* of.oup-rnSritune world. SEAFARERS Journal is a new, quality offering for every- one who wants to know about, and help conserve our maritime heritage. Many members of our production team, many contribu- tors, sponsors and advertisers, many of the contents of our Premier Issue rightly have root in Key West and the Florida Keys. We believe in SEAFARERS Journal. — R. Duncan Mathewson HI, Publisher — Wendy Tucker, Mamginfi E&tur — Ron Harrison, Ait Director — jeanette E. Bottoms, Pnxiuairm Manager — Michael Lewis, VarJumg Editor JjTYOUfi COPY Use this order form to order youri now* Seafarers will also be available at choice locations thm-out the Keys. 1 ORDER FORM 1 $ 17.00 Per Softbound Edition I Post Paid I $28.50 Per Hardbound Edition Post Paid I Special Discounts for Large Orders . Mail to : 'SEAFARERS, BOX 1528, KW, FL 33041 controversial figure and in some small way I myself have benefited and must, for that reason, regret even more the tragic transformation of the guru and his ashram from a force for good to a force for evil. Perhaps all this can only lead us once again to the perennial question of whether paradise can exist on earth, or will the inhabitants of paradise inevitably come into conflict with the rest of us, the larger community, who have vastly different visions of paradise? It seems as if Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh has shown us once again that if paradise can exist on earth it can only do so for a very limited span of time. 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We're the largest, most intriguing place in Key West . . . and working hard to keep it that way . . . being a legend isn't easy! 520 Front St. Key West 296-3343 Open 7 days We ship EVERY BLOOMING THING NURSERY Nursery - Retail & Wholesale Landscaping • Maintenance • Design Wholesale Import/Export Specializing in Flowering Tropicals and Exotics Orchids and Bromeliads - Spring Specials - • Quality Soil Bromeliads • Strawberry Plants Now Open 626 Fleming 296-1420 10 AM-6 PM 7 Days Open Soon 310 Duval Commodore Porter Gardens Free Delivery in Key West Page 1 4 _ April 1987 — Solares Hill Solares Hill — April 1987 — Page 15 HAMMOCKS ATOCHA COINS ISLAND JEWELRY HANDPAINTED CLOTHING ORIGINAL DESIGNS TO FRAME OR WEAR LAND'S END VILLAGE 12-8 PM THE WATER SPORT PEOPLE For all of your water sport needs SCUBA DIVING BOARD SAILING • RENTALS • RETAIL • 508 South Street •296-4546 unieoRii INC (305) 294-0388 Leda Naomi Andrews Andrea Renee Weitz ANTIQUES & COLLECTIBLES Open Daily 11-6 Except Sunday Featuring Costume & Old Silver Sterling Silver, Glassware, Guatamalan Folk Art and Much More 515 FLEMING STREET, KEY WEST. FL 33040 GREEN PARROT BAR Wednesdays through Sundays, 8:00 until . . . GOOD TIME CHARLIE plays your favorite requests. LADIES' NIGHT Every Wednesday and Sunday HAPPY HOURS 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. and 4:00 to 7:00 p.m. everyday. At the Corner of Southard and Whitehead Streets in Old Town Key West Beans by Chris Gantry • Two dirt-poor women, migrant farm workers, had already picked twenty bushels of beans by eleven o'clock. The farmer paid them sixty cents a bushel. Mavis was bursting with energy. She'd eaten a good breakfast of fatback and fried dough. Hatina, however, was suffering. She'd stayed up late the previous night drinking gin. They took their lunch break at 12:30. Mavis sat beneath a large shade tree, while Hatina stood off to one side throwing La Creperie Steak Seafood Wine / Beer 124DUVALST. 294-7677 OPEN 7 DAYS LUNGH 11:30 to 2:30 DINNER 7:00 to 10:30 FRENCH CHEF/OWNER TIM PICKING Luani Plaza The Key West Optician Ph. 294-7411 Hours: M-T-W-F 9 tc 5:30: Thursday I to 9 dirt clods at a dead cornstalk. "Ya know . . . beans'll protect ya:if they like ya," said Hatina without looking at Mavis. "They'll give ya1 money if ya1 ask 'em for it." "Beans! . . . Give me money," yelled Mavis out over the hot fields. "That's it," squealed Hatina, "ask 'em again." This time Mavis screamed loudly. "Beans . . . send me money." Hatina clapped and laughed. "Ya'told them beans, didn't ya1 . . . yer so brave, Mavis." Mavis stood up, cupped her hands over her mouth and threw her head back. "Beans . . . gimme the money," she bellowed like a large animal. Hatina went wild. "O-o-o-h, ya cocky,, brazen thing," she shrilled. "Ya know, I think they really like ya." By four in the afternoon, the women had picked fifty-one bushels of beans under the July sun. They knew better than to slack off because the farmer always came about this time to check on the day's work, "Mavis," said Hatina from over in the next row. "I want that big, black, naugahide living room suite with the matching end tables down in Stuben's window." "How much," said Mavis. "Six hundred bucks." Mavis reached into the bosom of her tattered farm dress and pulled out a thick roll of cash. Peeling off six one-hundred dollar bills, she handed them over to a wide-eyed Hatina. Suddenly, she pulled back her hand. "Wait," she said, "here . . . take an extra four hundred and go for the suede." • JEWELERS/PAWN BROKERS OVER 50 YEARS Uncle Sam's Pawn Sltop MONEY LOANED BUY AND SELL ANYTHING OF VALUE BARGAINS ON UNREEDEMED PLEDGES Telephone 296-3003 608 Duval Street Key West, FL 33040 • Best Wishes On Your 11th Anniversary LOCALLY OWNED A OPERATED BY John and mary jean tmlth . Quality Carpet Cleaning John The Butler 296-8083 ScotchgarrJ Toes by Chris Gantry Gabriel was fascinated with her own toes. As a teenager, she had spent countless hours painting them with different colored nail polishes. When she was scolded by her mother for wearing open-toed shoes all the time, Gabriel would wail and scream until she finally got her way. Even in the winter, she wore her sandals in the snow. As Gabriel grew older, she took to tying ribbons and delicate chains on her toes. She had special names for each one. Congratulations to Bill Huckel and Solares Hill on Your 11th Anniversary CURRY & SONS PRINTING MONROE OFFICE SUPPLY Ali Your Office & Business Needs Side by Side at 909 Fleming Street (Near Margaret) 296-8781 mo? GIRL FRIDAY PROFESSIONAL TYPING, WORD PROCESSING AND SECRETARIAL SERVICE **************************** 296-9878 *********************** 444 WHITEHEAD ST. Convenient Location Next to New Post Office SAME DAY SERVICE IN BY NOON—OUT BY 5:00 P.M. Stop by for Free Estimate—No Obligation RELIABLE-CONFIDENTIAL NOTARY PUBLIC-COPY MACHINE The big toe on her left foot she named Pappy Chicken and the index toe next to it was Bunny Boop. Next was Conky and. then Gismo and finally Baby Tinlsy. The names of the toes on her right foot were equally as colorful. Through long, concentrated practice, Gabriel learned to manipulate each toe independently of the other. They became as flexible as her fingers and very strong. By the time she was twenty-seven years old, her feet resembled the hands of a large man. Because the shapes of her feet were changing so drastically, it was becoming difficult for Gabriel to wear sandals anymore. She had to have specially built shoes made that resembled leather gloves with the ends cut off. Eventually Gabriel started using her feet for almost everything—cooking, sewing, dressing herself, household chores, etc. Her unused hands began to shrivel and resemble feet. A young man fell in love with Gabriel and begged her to marry him. Gabriel's mother pleaded with her to change her foot habits or the marriage would never work. Gabriel tried to comply and forced her large hand-like feet into regular shoes again, but the pain it caused her was unbearable. The day of the wedding, the church was packed with friends and relatives. At the sound of the first notes of the wedding march, an argument broke out in trie back of the church between Gabriel and her father. All the wellwishers strained around in their seats to see what was going on. "You can't do it . . . are you crazy?" yelled her father in an urgent whisper. "Daddy, it's my wedding . . . I'll do WHEN YOU THINK OF INTERIORS THINK OF Residential • Commercial Industrial REPRESENTING OVER 60 COMPANIES IN FABRICS AND WALL COVERINGS COMPLETE LINE MINI-BLINDS AND VERTICALS Lamps - Bedspreads - Draperies Slip Cov'ers • Cushions "One Of The Largest^Seleetions Of Fabrics In The Keys" 294-9600 500 SImonton Street you credit for your success. "̂ Southeast kWBank Key West Banking Center 422 Front Street (305) 294-4601 TH525 Member FDIC Key West Gonch Wlutfceid jack Jewelry GeniusTM FRONTw g K ORIGINAL DESIGNS hand crafted in Key West 111DUV&L 294-7092 Openevai^day 10-4 • VIS/VMC.AMEX r April 1Q87 — Snlares Hill V\;;.^'f":;:v--~-J 55 PROPERTIES THROUGHOUT THE FLORIDA KEYS • 14 Acre Private Island With Causeway, Zoned (SR), Capped Seawall, Prepaid Water, Sombrero Beach Blvd. to Spoonbill Cswy. • Historic Conch House in "Old Town Key West"/Certified Historic Structure, Circa 1873, 312 Williams Street, Key West • Luxury Waterfront Home, 3 Bedroom-S'/s Bath, With Pool and Decking, in Key Haven, 5 Cypress Terrace, Key West • 21 Unit Oceanfront Condominium on 2.7 Acres, Valid Builder Permit, No Impact Fees, Cocoplum Beach, Marathon • 34 One Acre Single Family Lots on Big Pine Key, (Some Being Offered Absolute), Key Deer Boulevard, Big Pine Key • 3 Luxury Condominiums With Ocean View, Each Unit Includes a Jacuzzi, 1800 Atlantic Boulevard • Waterfront Lot on Corner of Harbor Entrance on Plantation Key Colony With Boat Slip & Dock, Coconut Palm Boulevard • House Trailer on Waterfront Lot With Family Room Addition and Fenced-ln Yard, 32 Beach Drive, Bay Point Trailer Park • 2 Waterfront Lots, 143 & 145 Key Haven Road, Key West • Modular Home (Absolute), 3 Bedroom - 2 Bath, 1300 Sq. Ft. of Living Space, Erec- ted on Buyers Lot Anywhere in The Keys • Secluded Waterfront Lot Overlooking No Name Key, 75 Ft. On Bogie Channel, Lot 29, Coral Way, Big Pine Key • Spec House on Water, 2 Bedroom - 2 Bath, 1100 Sq. Ft., Lot 20, Block 3, Black- beard Road, Little Torch Key • U.S. 1 Commercial Frontage, 183/4 Acres, North Side of U.S. 1 on Cudjoe Key • Waterfront Home (New Construction), 2 Bedroom - 2 Bath, 1000 Sq. Ft., Niles Road, Summerland Key • Vacant Lot 133x150 Ft., Lot " N " Niles Road, Summerland Key • 3 Story Luxury Gulf-front Home, 4 Bedroom - 4 Bath, 4000 plus Sq. Ft., 14 - 16 Bayshore Drive, Ramrod Key • 31 Ft. Bertram Sportfisherman - Fully Outfitted For Fishing Terms: Cash, Cashier's Check, 10% Buyer's Premium 7 P.M. SATURDAY, APRIL 11th CALL m com umtnum TO BE HELD AT THE CASA MARINA BALLROOM 1500 Reynolds Street Key West I what I want to." Coming down the aisle was Gabriel, but nobody saw her head. That's because she was walking upside-down and backwards on her foot-like hands. Her nervous, embarrassed father had his left arm looped around Gabriel's right ankle. Gabriel carried a large bouquet of flowers tightly gripped between Pappy Chicken and Bunny Boop. Bullets by Chris Gantry Bullets pounded into and around the shallow trench that PVT. Kip Clackman lay cringing in. He'd had this grand illusion of war that had quickly disappeared when the first mortar shell exploded less than fifty feet from him, showering him with shrapnel and dirt. Now Kip was deathly afraid. His terrified face and limbs shook spasmodically. He was only a hair's breadth from the bullets slamming over his head. Kip had been a carpet salesman before enlisting in the Army. Years of boredom plied Kip's overfantasizing mind with visions of heroism and daring exploits. He joined the service to make them come true. Kip was gurgling and shrieking in short hysterical bursts. Bullets were ploughing in from all angles. He prayed to be once again selling carpet in some little Alabama town on a warm spring day, eating his lunch outside on the hood of his car. Rapid machine gun fire gouged huge holes in the embankment. Kip screamed pathetically. He remembered his sister, Blume. He'd stolen the shells she'd collected one summer on a Florida beach and gave them to Senise, a town tramp, who gave him free sex, when he /was sixteen, in the Marmaduke Hotel. "Blum-m-m-m-m-m-e," he howled over the thunder of bullets. Kip was on the verge of heart failure when suddenly there was dead silence. Off Solares Hill — April 1987 — Page 17 in the distance, he heard people singing. Kip spun around, looking out over the top of the trench. Coming straight at him, in a horizontal line, were about fifty Oriental men. They all wore little white lace frocks. Ribbons were in their hair, and they wore cute pink sock& with black saddle shoes. They carried daisies in their hands, and they. skipped, singing nonsense rhymes. ' Kip, still shaking violently, laughed in a frenzied vibrato. The Oriental men tiptoed up to the trench, looking at Kip with giant, innocent eyes. Some of them sucked their thumbs and shyly stared at the ground. One of the braver ones got down on his knees and smiled adoringly at Kip. Timidly, he held out his hand, speaking in a high voice. "You wanna turn pway bally wit uz . . . pweaze." The others giggled. Overjoyed that the gunfire had stopped, Kip leaned out of the trench, taking the hands of two of the Oriental men. They all skipped off together, laughing and kicking a little red ball. The Army shipped PVT. Kip Clackman home in a body bag in the same clothes he'd been wearing when they found him in the trench ~ a white lace frock, pink socks and saddle shoes, and ribbons in his hair, clutching some crumpled daisies. there is no better tax shelter than What if you don't have an y O l l T 1 J K A I Individual Retirement Account? Will Social Security be enough to support you in retirement? Even with a corporate retirement plan? And what if you don't have a self-directed IRA — one that allows you the flexibility to diversify your investments? Will bank CDs alone provide sufficient income to support your retirement? To eliminate the "what ifs" of IRA investing today, call us. We'll be glad to explain how our self-directed Individual Retirement Account can save you taxes every year and. maximize your ability to retire without you ever having to ask "what if again. RAYMOND.IAMES& ASSOCIATES. INC Member New York Stock Exchange SIPC (305)294-9575 Perry's Plaza 3706-H N. Roosevelt Blvd. Key West,-Florida 33040 Inside Florida (800)826-7401 Outside Florida (800)^26-7,401 The Sunglass Shop In Searstown "The Professionals" For Great Looking Sunglasses In An Endless Variety of Designs & Lens and Frame Colors OFF ANY SUNGLASSES With This Ad On Any Sunglasses Regularly S25 or More (Sale Glasses Excluded. Offer Expires 4/23/87) Save Up To 40% We Service What. We Sell 3326.N.Roosevelt Blvd. 294-5503 Hrs. Mon.-Fri. 9-5; Sat. 10-2 '=; •*> I Page 18 — April 1987— Solares Hill MONROE COUNTY'S OLDEST INDEPENDENT COMMERCIAL BANK FLORIDA KEYS FIRST STATE BANK MAIN OFFICE LOCATED AT: 12O1 SIMONTON ST., PH. 296-8535 BRANCH OFFICES LOCATED AT: M M 97.7 KEY LARGO • NAS. BOCA CHICA 3230 N. ROOSEVELT « most serene natural beauty. f j intheKeyDeerNationalWildlrfeRefuge a Mr M / ^ & ^ "on ' t miSB "1IS JW - i ^ f ) ^ ^ ^ unique experience! W/i/J 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. f ' Z i i ' j f W5 W person ($40 for 4 or more) I j f f f Equipped Canoes & Lunch * f t j r f for more information write W t f a P.O. Box 62, Big Pine Key, FL 33043 W Call 305-872-2620 Key West, the "Havana Special,11 and Dylan Thomas by Albert Perez Key West was a delightful experience of discovery in the early 1930s, when, for me, the island city was the setting for the essence of Dylan Thomas' poem, "Fern Hill": Now as I was young and easy under the apple boughs • About the lilting house and happy as the grass was green, The night above the dingle starry, r 9 ten, n Our 6th Vear of Creatiue, Original; Danceujear s Costumes Sportswear § Lingerie Sujimujear If Vou Don't See It - WE'LL MAKE IT! 415 GREENE ST./K1NO PLflZfl 296-7326 Time let me hail and climb Golden in the heydays of his eyes ... The poet's exuberance had a pastoral setting; mine had Key West in the railroad days And nothing I cared, at my sky blue trades, that time allows In all his tuneful turnings so few and such morning songs Before the children green and golden Follow him out of grace. Key West lacked somthing forever gone and irreplaceable when its 100-mile transmarine link to the mainland no longer resounded to the "Havana Special." Thereafter, the mangroves were lorn and formidable, the streets deprived. Of course, my senses had responsed to other stimuli, but none had approached the sights and sounds of the iron horse that ran over the sea. Oh as I was young and easy in the mercy of his means, Time held me green and dying Though I sang in my chains like the sea. Automobiles had no drivers — a car was a fantastic contraption with a will of its own. Pirulis were pointed lollipops sold off Solares Hill — April 1987 — Page 23 a collection of line ^contemporary women's clothing - ncxl to the Foaarty House 296-7284" Locomotive #431 on Trumbo Point a cart by Gregorio Vandez. Coast artillerymen wore compaign hats and puttees as they shuffled to Sousa. City Hall was red bricks and a staircase entrance of filagreed iron. Perinkee's compressed air hose startled most anyone but those who were amused by it. The open ice truck had big cakes of burlap-covered ice and men standing on rear running boards snapping the bell rope. Crip Lastres sang "Spanish limes and I got 'em sweet!" Fishermen sold their catch of the day door-to-door, a mess of crawfish selling for a quarter. And the towered bell in the cemetery tolled for fires and whenever a fireman died. The Strand theatre had big, bright pictures that moved and talked — a fantastic recreation of life on a grand scale, made to order. In them were: Will Rogers, a cowlick on his forehead; Gable and Beery, who flew biplanes and traded punches; and Ginger and Fred, who danced the continental. When the Strand burned, the projectionist's young son died in the fire. The cadence of the locomotive and the deep blast of the steamship were omnipresent, for these emanated from Trumbo Point, where Key Westers went to SWEET ^MISCHIEF Glamorous Ways To Make Trouble Our Specialties: 6 Exotic-Swimwear & Beach Coverups 9 Enticing Lingerie 9 Accessories by Whiting & Davis . 9 Custom Designs a Breath-taking Selections for Evening . . . and Afterward 335DUVAL • DUVALWALK 296-0777 Page 24 — April 1987 — Solares Hill i i ' V » i » The Oldest Newstaiid in Key West LValfadares (5 Son Featuring A Selection of Over 3000 Paperbacks NEW YORK TIMES - WALL STREET JOURNAL OUT OF TOWN NEWSPAPERS PAPERBACKS - MAGAZINES 1200 Duval Street PARASAILING & WATER SKIING Charter Fishing Watersled Rides Snorkeling & Tubing Windsurfing Glass Bottom Boat THE INSURED PROFESSIONALS U.S.C.G. LICENSED Capt Rich Wetter Capt. Bob Bailey Capt R. G. Ewing 1st Mate Mike Davis HOURS: Daily 10:00 A.M. To Dusk TiyOur Sunset Flights 2 focations . . . * " Smattiers Beach Higgs Beach, 296-2554 Free transportation anywhere in Key West. Sunset Water Sports Inc. WHEN ROCK FEVER STRIKES ... CALL 1107 N. Roosevelt Blvd. Key Plaza Shopping Ctr. 2 9 4 " 9 5 3 1 Key West, Florida 33040 MON-FRI 9:00-5:30; SAT 9:00-3:00 look at trains, ships, and travelers. There, the station was a splash of Flagler yellow on a sea of turqoise, and the trains were the muted umbers and blacks of a solid vitality.* Seven Mile Bridge Those umber coach cars with the elongated white lettering proclaiming that they were of the Florida East Coast, Flagler System, somehow seemed incongruous in Key West; yet, there they were, solid, exciting and important. Where did they come from, and how did they get here? I arrived at Trumbo just in time for the Special's locomotive to greet me with its relaxed power, clanging away as it pulled into the sunny incongruity of Key West. It spilled a trail of water and stressed the rails as it ground to a halt at the far end of the pier, where its big driving wheels assumed a poised dynamic to its steaming boiler and 27 YEARS IN KEY WEST B CLEANERS AND LAUNDRY 1OO1 Truman Avenue Telephone! 294-1818 ITALIAN & FRENCH CUISINE / SEAFOOD SPECIALTIES OPEN 6-12 MIDNIGHT DAILY / HAPPY HOURS 6-8 • 524 DUVAL OLD TOWN KEY WEST" 294-7863 stoked firebox. The S.S. "Florida," flying the checkered ensign of the P&O, lay hard by the Special to board its passengers. Later, with the glowing light of the setting sun and the strange sound that voices take on in the isolation of open water, I studied the train as it pulled out of the pier, the locomotive spinning its drivers as it gained traction. I felt the sensation of moving with the train briefly, and averted my eyes to see what would become of this vision as it moved in space and time. When I looked again, the train had diminished, and soon the distant vegetation swallowed the exposed vestibule of the last car and the lingering smoke vanished in the fading light. When Key West declared itself bankrupt and went on relief, I joined the exodus. Detail of installations on Long Key Viaduct It was morning and, as I boarded the train, I carried a cage with a canary in it. The train was next to another, and in- between were loaded luggage wagons. Yardmen pried open wheel journal boxes and inspected them. Redcaps hustled. As the birdcage amused the passengers, my father remarked that a vagrant had been 4. Island City HOUSE "A Unique Place to Stay" 411 WILLIAM STREET , (IN OLD KEY WEST) 294-5702 Solares Hill — April 1987 — Page 25 SorQ Cook PROPERTY MANAGEMENT 8c " ^ A L E i A Personal Finn With A Proven Track Record Specializing In Full-Servfce Management Seasonal & Yearly Rentals The "Havana Special" recently crushed by a train. The railroad embankment that led from Trumbo formed the enclosure of Garrison Bight. The engine pulled its train across this with the rhythmic stuccato of pounding cylinders and its whistle deep and plaintive — poignant sounds that transcended their island outpost setting. The Special spoke of on Long Viaduct romance, and appealed to the spirit as it crossed Roosevelt Boulevard, penetrated the mangrove marsh to Stock Island, and gained the straight iron up the Keys, wi^h their stench of rotting seaweed and every gradation of hue from green to violet embracing the shoreline. The engineer sped on the stretches of Approaching Pigeon Key THE MAN IN THE GREY FLANNEL* SWEAT SUIT *Poetic license - It's really Russell Athletic Fleece. The best made. They outfit 27 of the 28 NFL teams- and we outfit you! ACCOUNTING AND TAX SERVICES For Businesses and Individuals Processed Professionally, Efficiently, and Timely Servicing Key West, Marathon and the Lower Keys George Swimmer Phone: 745-2787 CHEAP ROOMS Day Week Month TV-AC Off-Street Parking The TILTON HILTON 511 ANGELA ST, 294-8697 O O K I ••£> S C H O O Maggie Webster 2941211 Solares Hill — April 1987 — Page 27 Page 26 —.April 1987 — Solares Hill Passenger transfer at Trumbo Salvation Army taps. The railroad company ordered its repair crews out of the Keys. ewtf 0/ abandoned passenger pier at Trumbo The citizens of Key West started a petition to keep the railroad; however, to the F.E.C., the disaster was an opportune out. Mail pick-up at Pigeon Key "Gov. Cobb" at Trumbo by passenger/customs pier land and crept on the bridges. Mangrove islands accented the horizon and lush vegetation nestled a flagstop station whose official Fiagler yellow with white trim and maroon base combination leapt out against the green. The train-watchers on its platforms were back-dropped by the yellow verticles of the station walls' moulded seams. The bridges, which were just wide enough for the track, had no guardrails. Bridge-mounted utility beams with their turquoise glass insulators and strung wires were the only evidence of the long bridge under the train, As these projections went slowly over the beautiful blue-green menace of the ocean, the effect was that of gliding over the depths below with the precarious sway and steady beat of the rails. Windows and mosquito screens were raised and the coach became one with the seascape panorama. The butcher smiled as he appeared in the aisle with a tray full of goodies, among which were glass pistols filled with tiny balls of candy. When the wingwalls of the abutment went under, the train had crossed the bridge, but the camaraderie of the crossing stayed with the passengers. Not long after my return to Key West, the rieon sign of the Sociedad de Cuba on Duval Street swung in the rain as the Labor The passenger pier at Trumbo Point Day hurricane slammed into Matecumbe. The next day, the tracks at Islamorada stood up in a surreal twist of ties and steel. A string of coach cars lay on their sides. Below their elongated white lettering that said Florida East Coast, most of the windows were smashed. Volunteer workers wore gas masks to avoid the stench of rotting corpses. Bloated bodies of WWI veterans, many of whom had converged on Washington to form the "Bonus Army" in 1932, were burned in funeral pyres amid salvoes of National Guard salutes and Roadbed washouts (the bridges were unscathed) in the upper Keys were enough for the company, in receivership, to abandon its line south of Florida City. The clean-up and beautification efforts of the F.E.R.A., the depression-era agency that undertook the revitalization of Key West, had prompted the F.E.C. to give its passenger station a fresh coat of paint for the 1935-36 winter season, but the Flagler yellow no longer greeted the clear bell and clanking drivers of locomotives, and the tracks at Trumbo lost their sheen to rust and weeds. Tommy Bennett's rhumba combo no longer serenaded "Havana Special" passengers and Pedro Aguilar closed his pier kiosk. The access road to Trumbo that, angled off Caroline Street led to silence. Nothing I cared, in the lamb white days, that time would take me Up to the swallow thronged loft by the shadow of my hand, In the moon that is always rising, Nor that riding to sleep I should hear him fly with the high fields And wake to the farm forever fled from the childless land. Artists Vanish During Flying Saucer Sighting (UPl) Key West —While crowds of onlookers watched a UFO hover been "taken away to do creative design work fortheresidentsof the also disappeared with the flying saucer. ' • - r i U Tnum. several local.artists vanished from a nearby building, constellation Pleiades." April 1st, marked the alignment of the Parvan Bakardjiev, of theTennessee Williams Fine ArtsCenter ,n The ten people were all Earth, Moon, Mare and cbincidentally, the Pleiades. and the Monroe County Fine Arts Council, said that in addition tc' " " " " ' t those who may now be in another galaxy are: Brian returning the Design Groupies to Key West, he hoped the spacs•:--f--.eniiant». Sharon French visitors will decide tostay for the'Festival of the Galaxies,'schedulei —" r u = nosidn Group has alway vui •!.»., ..-:st — wnneuuvYm, leaaurvjnuver in Old Town, several local artists vanished from a nearby building, apparently whisked away by the spacecraft. The ten people were all in creative positions with Solares Hilt Design Group, and apparently working late into the evening when the UFO appeared. Witnesses to the sighting told reporters they saw people climbing aboard the spaceship from the second floor windows, along a narrow runway attached to the craft. Police confirm discovering an unusual note n the Design Group studios afterwards, but refused to say whether they considered it to be genuine, or merely an April Fools prank. The note claimed that the artists had Weather been uu\Biici-u, constellation Pleiades." April 1st, mareeu ure. ~.e Earth, Moon, Mare and cbincidenlally, the Pleiades. Amongst those who may now be in another galaxy are: Brian White (Business Manager and Creative Consultant). Sharon French (Typecrafter), Ron Baeza (Top Illustrator), John McArthur (Map and M™toi Maker), and Larry Meilleur (Typographic " '-^-^ " ~-* t " Kn m outer White (Business KUUIOKBI «. (Typecrafter), Ron Uaeza (Top Illustrator), John MCAnuui (.-. Model Maker), and Larry Meilleur (Typographic Sculptor). The other artists believed to be in outer space are: Wendy Waterline (the creator of Conch Flash), Rick Englert (Multi- talented), and Jeffrey C. Justice (Winner of the Precision Rubylith Award). Two Creative Directors, Bob Beckwith and J.T. Thompson, i Ti KEY WEST (UPD — The quiet darkness in Old Town was disrupted early this rnornr ing by the appearance of an unidentified flying object. Within moments, hundreds of curious neighbors and by- • standers watched as the glow- ing, metalic ship abruptly rose above t reetop level and streaked away into the night sky. Police dispatchers say the first call came in shortly past midnight, when an intoxicated individual reported sighting the landing of the Zeppelin Hindenburg, near the corner of Margaret and Fleming Streets. No patrol units were dispatched at that time. Min- utes later, another call came in, followed by a deluge of calls to Key West Police. The first patrolman to arrive on the scene was Ptl. Billy Klubb. "1 pulled into the laundromat on Fleming and there it was . . . hovering, oh, twelve to fifteen feet off the ground, right next to the Per- kins and Son Chandlery . . . yeah, that's the ticket." Klubb describes the vehicle as "about 20 feet across and shaped like two huge soup howls put to- gether. It was silvery and seemed not to be spinning at all, just hovering there with a hum. It kinda sounded like that hum made by a blender turned on low . . . like chop or grate." Patrolman Klubb went on to report "red glow- ing orbs on the edge of the soup bowls, and a glowing orange stripe across the top half that kinda looked like windows to the inside." Within minutes, all of Mar- garet Street, from Southard to Eaton, was filled with awes- truck neighbors in robes and pajamas, all watching the shiny spacecraft. "We just were staring at it, nobody felt threatened by it . . . we just couldn't believe our eyes," said Klubb. "It seemed to be hovering next to the windows o" ^ e - o n d floo. The glow the night with a fast streak of tn&attheNav.lA Station in Boca Ch.ca, a representative of the U.b. the barnstorming biplane toed at Key West Int«na- tional Airport. When asked "Well, nobody nab * i 'V~" answerforthiskindofthmg. Mayor Tom Sawyer when contacted this mommgatCity Hall commented, Key wesi is a legendary tropical patadi- se . . . I can see why visitors may come from millions of lightyears away. I'm onlysorry they left so quickly . . . there's a substantial penalty for early withdrawal, FSLIC." Wilhelmina Harvey, reached at her home this morning, added, "I'm sure they were lovely aliens, just lovely. I hope they will come back again soon." Local entrepreneur Frank Romano said, "I'm absolutely convinced that the space visitors represent a techno- logically and culturally advanced society. Clearly they came here to obtain our qual ity Key West Aloe products." Solares Hill Publisher Bill Huckel, who was one of the witnesses to the sighting, told this reporter, "I cannot tell a lie . . . it was REALLY there! 1 couldn't believe my eyes! All 1 could remember thinking was, 'What is the Design Group up to now?'" i The location is the conm m „ Miens Attracted by Creative Projects (UPl) Key West — For seven Pier House to Mr. JimmyBuifett, years the Design Group has been with hundreds of other clients, providing Key West businesses locally and nationally, with tnp-quality, effective designs. Nobody knows just what <•—•TKrtt;,ll.rpSS()r(}veat project the aliens had in mind •' t-fiiiwii the DesignlS aasss-JS Pleiadian spacecraft VVtndacpun.he Page 28 — April 1987 — Sbr&resfHiH- - Snowstorm Over Key West, Part V . . . Cocaine and Kids: How Drugs Affect Key West High School Today by Frank Kaiser John Welsh, 39, loves kids. Especially kids with problems. Good thing. His job as Dean of Students at Key West High School deals with little else. If you're one of KWHS's 1,350 students and you get into trouble, you're going to cross paths with Welsh. Guaranteed. So I'm sitting in Welsh's office to interview him on student drug abuse as part of a Solares Hill investigation. The place is pandemonium. Students rush in and out for Welsh's signature on discipline slips and such (and get this: his office has three doors to accommodate the traffic), while co- worker aM program manager Connie Fahey hovers and darts like a sleek fire extinguisher, putting out problems before they ignite into disaster. Phones ring; a walkie-talkie's hollow voice screams; Principal Clarence Phillips paces, second in line to a student doing her best to explain her tardiness to the Dean. Through it all, Welsh remains cool. He actually enjoys all this! This guy is good. He's got style. He's got rapport and more. The tardy 15-year- old looks at his steel blue eyes and melts. "I really needed you to get into trouble again," Welsh says with a smile. They both laugh. Welsh is muscular, yet quick; he's full of energy, sweetened with humor. Street- smart, his first teaching job was at a tough reform school, the New Jersey State School for Boys. He's learned to handle chaos well. Pictures and posters cover his office walls, the posters spelling out exact rules, regulations and consequences. You do this; you get that. No hedging, no exceptions. No nonsense. One sign posted here -- and in every room in the high school — shouts out in bright red letters: BE AWARE... THAT WE DON'T WANT YOU TO WASTE YOUR LIFE WITH DRUGS. IF YOU HAVE A PROBLEM AND WANT HELP WE WILL HELP YOU FIND THAT HELP. IF YOU ARE FOUND WITH DRUGS ON CAMPUS YOU WILL BE ARRESTED AND RECOMMENDED FOR EXPULSION BY THE MONROE COUNTY SCHOOLBOARD PLEASE, DON'T BRING DRUGS TO SCHOOL $olares,Hiir — April 1987 — Page 29 •iv^% faf&jmfc- • 24 Hour Restaurant With Full Bar • Live Jazz by "Small Mystery" on Sinbad's Patio 7 Nights 7 PM-1 AM • Live Disco 7 Nights 'Mixed Crowd at Backstreet 10 PM-4 AM • 2 for 1 Well Drinks 7 Days 10 PM-12 AM • Eggs Benedict • Sandwiches • $1.99 Breakfast THEDAWNMfc OP THE AGE 0 * COMPUTERS COMPUTER CLASSES WORD PROCESSING COMPUTER LEASE TIME PAYROLL SERVICE BOOKKEEPING & ACCOUNTING ASSOCIATED LEGAL SERVICES SYSTEMS DESIGN WELCOME TO KEY WEST'S FIRST FULL SERVICE COMPUTER CENTER COMPUCON SERVICES, INC. #6 KEY LIME SQUARE FOR FURTHER INFO. PLEASE CALL 294-3118 *,; "Do you mean that?" I ask. "We do," Welsh replies. "Expulsion is mandatory." He's again eaten up in the- swirl of activity. By this time I've talked with maybe 20 people at KWHS about drugs - teachers, students, counselors at the high school, counselors at Mental Health and at Health and Rehabilitation Services (HRS), too. And it all reminds me of the old joke about blind men explaining an elephant, each feeling and "seeing" only his own little section. One clear, bright image does emerge, however: drug use on campus is less than ever. "You should have been here in the 70s," everyone says. MARIJUANA VILLE Drugs were constant Key West news in the late 1960s and all through the 1970s. A police officer was quoted in the September 22, 1968, issue of the Key West Citizen saying " ... drugs flow into the Keys by land, sea and air. The drug traffic takes every conceivable route into Key West." By the mid-'70s, then-detective Larry Rodriguez estimated that in the previous five years, sales of marijuana in Key West had tripled. Prices were dropping, pushers were everywhere. In 1976, monies from illegal drugs affected most everyone in town -- city higher-ups included - there was so much of it. It was during that year that former fire chief Bum Farto skipped town shortly after his conviction for drug dealing, never to be Northern Italian Cuisine 615 Duval Street, Key West 294-6565 heard from again. By 1980, Sheriff Freeman had "more marijuana than many Colombian plantation owners" sitting outside his office. Our community made national news as an estimated $21 million in marijuana — 1,294 bales of the stuff ~ overflowed from the sheriffs evidence room into 16 locked and sagging rental trucks below. The high school, of course, reflected the community. Everyone I spoke with at KWHS who had been there through the 1970s speaks of that grim time as World War II veterans speak of Iwo Jima. Today, according to most, high school drug use is a shadow of its former self. Still, as we shall see, that shadow is dark, dense and, occasionally, bleak. SIC'EM, LUCY . \ .; .'.., The school bell rings; suddenly Welsh's office clears. "Closing the campus and introducing the dogs have really cramped the style of those kids wanting to get high here," Welsh states. "Last year there'd be 40 or 50 every day who'd go off and get high or stoned and never return from lunch." Closed campus? Dogs? This year, to "help the students make right choices at lunch," all the kids — with the exception of exempted seniors -- eat lunch on campus. In fact, from 7:40 to 3:10, students are expected to stay on campus as if there were steel bars on all windows and doors. While the administration sees positive results — including more student interrelating and far FROM YOUR FRIENDS AT WEST PROVISION (WHOLESALE - RETAIL) SERRANO BUFFET HAMS BOLO HAMS BONE-IN SMOKED HAMS WHOLE PIGS FOR ROASTING FRESH PORK HAMS BUTTERBALL TURKEYS LAMB: LEGS, RACKS, LOINS also STANDING RIB ROAST PHEASANT ® QUAIL o DUCK ROASTING CHICKEN e GOOSE . Plus complete line of groceries far every day! • 804 White Street, Key West 296-9051 HOURS: MONDAY-FRIDAY 8 TO 4 o SATURDAY 8 TO 2 Vegetarians unite over our Tofu Chimichangas! ELLORO UERDE A G O U R M E T M E X I C A N RESTAURANT Incredible Salsas Frescos Serious Soups & Salads Tacos, Burritos, Nachos Authentic & Affordable Specials Open Mon-Sat, 11 am-1 Opm Dining Room or Takeout 4 0 4 S o u t h a r d / 2 9 6 - 7 2 9 8 Page 30 — April 1987 — Sotar«s Hill less on-campus drug trafficking -"- most students resent this restriction. "Why," they ask, "must we suffer the consequences for the acts of maybe 100 kids who do drugs?" The dogs, named Lucy and Ethel, are far less controversial, especially considering that last year KWHS featured in-school cops on patrol. These black Labs are cute and friendly. (At the beginning of the year there was a third Labrador retriever contracted, named Energy. It was, its trainer agreed, the slowest mutt ever encountered and was soon retired.) And they work! These dogs do, indeed, sniff out drugs. They've found the stuff in unassigned lockers, buried on the campus grounds, stashed in trees, in the parking lot. The students are now believers. Enough marijuana has been found, Welsh feels, to make the kids paranoid about bringing anything illegal to school. Students may be wary but many still use. The drugs of choice: alcohol and marijuana, although cocaine -- especially crack — has become a most serious problem. "If we suspect that a kid's using, I call the parents," Welsh explains. "Usually they tell" me that they also have suspected drug use but were unwilling to make a confrontation. Most kids' first reaction is to deny it anyway. When it comes down to it, talking with the kid is often the best way to help." EDUCATION THROUGH PEER GROUPS Drug education at KWHS has been very limited until this year. Now the state mandates "Life Skills" classes in which drugs are discussed and students develop skills to say no. Shelia Rodgers Borden is the Life Skills Coordinator on campus, and part of her job is helping kids make responsible decisions. She treats many different student problems through both individual counseling and group therapy. "We get the students involved with a group of their peers," Borden says. "Teens respond to each other better and quicker than they will to an adult telling them about drugs. It's very easy for these kids to get any drug they want; we show what these drugs do to the human body and mind. By 'drugs,' I mean alcohol and nicotine as well." Dean Welsh doesn't think a problem as serious as drug abuse can be solved in a classroom situation. "You may get out some information, some handouts, lists of drugs and their effects. A lot of kids are interested in that. But if I'm aware of a drug user, I ask the parents for permission to get the kid into one of Shelia's groups for therapy." When that's not enough Welsh brings in ex-addicts who have straightened their lives out, kids who are four or five years older, out of school and on their way to being successful. Often that works. In hard cases where kids are getting into serious trouble over drugs and often building a juvenile record, the school tries to get parents to agree to a drug and alcohol rehabilitation program. Problem is, most parents don't have the money for in-patient treatment. It can cost $8,000 to $10,000 for the minimum period of 30 days in a treatment center. And even if they can come up with the money, there's no in-patient facility for adolescents in Monroe County. THE SEVEN DEADLIES - UPDATED When I was in high school some 30 years ago, the top seven discipline problems in public school were: talking, chewing gum, making noise, running in the halls, getting out of turn in line, wearing improper clothes, and not putting paper in wastebaskets. .' A recent survey lists the big seven as: drug abuse, alcohol abuse, pregnancy, suicide, rape, robbery, and assault. So it's little wonder that I took a deep, apprehensive breath before marching through the gates of Key West High School on my way to learn about drug use here. And, talk of culture shock, the day I spoke with Shelia Borden, they were ripping her office apart to make room for a child-care center for the children of the 15 to 20 eligible day students. "There will probably be more," Shelia explained. "Some of the students haven't delivered yet." But outside of recognizing problems we wouldn't look at in the 1950s, high school is still high school. I'll bet that if someone had bottled "Fragrance of High School Hallway between Classes," "Essence of Food Fight," or "Scent of Locker Room with Jock Itch and Gym Shoes" back then and put it in a time capsule, they'd find the exact same smells today at KWHS. The stinging scent of post-exam and pre-date anxiety will remain static throughout the centuries. The odors open memory's door. widest. ' r *T* *fe *r *F Key West High School has much to be 4 » I Our 9th Banner Year Featuring New American Cuisine Fresh Local Seafood HOURS Serving 'til 2 am • 900-904 DUVAL • 296 proud of. Scholastically no slouch (49 percent of the class of '86 went on to college), the school's true colors fly with extra-curricular activities. KWHS's choirs are nationally known. Where else will you find retarded and emotionally handicapped kids singing side by side with 50 Conchettes and the captain of the football team? Seeing and hearing them is magical. How else can you explain Joe Wilt's getting those kids all starting and ending on the same note at the same time? There's an excellent band as well. And don't forget the state championship baseball team - basketball and soccer teams that do well — not to mention the girls' softball, basketball and volley ball teams which add further luster to the school's spirit. But, like any other high school today, there's also the dark, drug side. Nationally, about 70 percent of all high school graduates have used illegal drugs by the tirnethey graduate; add the drug alcohol and you add another 15 to 20 percent. About 20 percent have tried cocaine and perhaps six percent use so:called hard drugs regularly. HORROR STORIES , Here in Key West, kids with drug problems tend to be from a one-parent family, usually a mother who must work. The problem's more criticalwith freshmen, especially those registering late. Says Linda Bird, KWHS ninth-grade counselor, "A lot of freshmen come in with drug habits. Those at highest risk for drug abuse, run- away, suicide and all, are the kids new to the community, registering late." This is no small matter. Of this year's 450 freshmen, 150 entered after school started. Bird explains: "Many of these kids are horror stories! They have run away from Mom to live with Dad5 run away-from Dad to live with Mom, been sexually abused and now live with an aunt, been physically abused and live with grandmother. Some come in straight from a detox center." All this and more is normal, according to Bird, Integrity. Reliability. Experience. CIGNA Aulo • Life • Home • Business THE PORTER-ALLEN COMPANY Key Largo 451-1980 Marathon 743-9008 Key West 294-2542 David W. Freeman, C.P.C.U. William A Freeman, Jr. William A Freeman III, C.I.C. INSURANCE SINCE 1891 FREE GIFT WRAPPING WITH PURCHASE Sqlares Hill — April 1987 — Page 31 for 13- and 14-year-old late-registering ..freshman kids. Ralph Freer, sophomore counselor (each grade level has a guidance counselor who stays with the class through eacli of theftjur" grades), sees KWHS serving a~ unique and itinerant class of-kids. "We have the military kids in and out, we have the children of seasonal fishermen from the Carolinas and Texas wintering here, kids from very affluent families attend KWHS from November through March — plus the kids drifting in and out, their mothers looking for work and housing here at the end of the road." Freer continues, "In such a transient environment, in a place where you may not even know the kid next door, drugs have a better chance of taking hold." Freer, 43, is counselor to 300 tenth graders. He's affable and open and makes for a great "uncle." Since many of his charges seek help and advice about drugs, Freer speaks with authority when he says, "Kids use drugs first to experiment. Dansk. Because Great Dining Means More Than Great Food. Set your table with Dansk at savings of up to 60% on discontinued patterns, seconds, and limited editions. Distinctive designs for dining, cooking, entertaining, and giftgiving. We ship UPS. Checks, MasterCard, Visa. Open 7 days. Now In Key West Dansk Factory Outlet • Key West, FL 400 Duvai Street, in the heart of Old Town (305)294-0151 Page 32 — April 1987 -— Selare&Hill Enjoy asailing adventure aboard U.S;-Cteast Guard inspected Scliooner Machael & Ebenezer COME ABOARD AT LANDS END MARINA FORA CRUISE YOU'LL LONG REMEMBER. SAIL ON THIS 65' MAINE COASfiNG-SGHQQNER. JOIN THE CREW ON D E C K . v TAKE A SPELL AT THE WHEEL . . . OR JUST RELAX UNDER THE SUN. 'Day Sail: 12:00 Noon to 3:00 P.M. Sunset Cruise: 5:00 P.M. to 8:00 P.M. Day Sail-$20...Sunset Cruise-$25...Senior Citizens-20% Off...Children half price. Bring your own lunch or pick up a box lunch from the RAW BAR right a1 the waterfront. Coffee, tea or soft drinks onboard. Sunset Cruise_r... wine S cheese The RacHsetSf Ebenejer is available for private charter. Write or telephone DIRIGO CRUISEST39 Waterside Lane, Clinton, CT 06413 or telephone 1-800-845-5520... or come to the ship al LANDS END MARINA for information. Fine Dining THE QUEENS THBLE ;'•. ' • • ' • ; • • ; • . • • • : • ' " i ) l N N E R . : ; : ' : : . , : ' ; ' : "}Z • / 6:00 p.m. to 10:30 p.rri. '••'• ' • ' • • ^ ; ; V r : - L U N C H , . • ; ; " • : :::•:•• : : > : : Noon'til 2:30 p.m. 7:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Cocktails in the popular WEST INDIES LOUNGE Noon'til? AT THE SANTA MARIA MOTEL (305)296-5678 ' 1401 SIMONSTON ST. KEY WEST, FLORIDA "... the best motel restaurant in town, The Queen's Table," -N.Y. Times (Jan. 31,1982) There's a lot of peer pressure here, especially with the girls. And if the kid has low self-esteem and maybe isn't getting any attention at home, drug use meets a need not otherwise met. Drugs can make you feel good, can help you forget your problems. Of course there are diminishing returns. But you don't know that when you start using. "Some use drugs and alcohol to become part of a group. Some do it to rebel. Some to enhance what they're already doing, feeling -- falsely ~ that drugs make them a better baseball or football player." Freer shrugs, then continues. "Kids here are under a lot of pressure. Academically, standards are getting higher all the time. It's hard being a kid today. Some simply can't cope and drop out and get into drugs full time." During the 1985-86 school year, of 1138 students, 79 dropped out of school. Forty-three boys, 36 girls. Dean Welsh figures 40 percent of those left because of serious drug problems. THE DUVAL STREET GANG Freer calls one group of student drug users "Duval Street Students." These are kids roaming the streets, truants who spend much of their time high on Duval Street. Says Welsh of these students: "Often my first clue to kids heavy into drugs comes from truancy reports. The Key West police could set up a sub-office here with the kids they constantly find on the streets." Truant students will tell police that they're tourists. Of course, the cops know better and bring students back to Walsh's office every day, ONE-STOP SHOPPING FOR ALL YOUR .HARDWARE AND BUILDING MATERIALS SERVING KEY WEST SINCE 1939 SYRUNK LUMBER YARD, ING* ACE HARDWARE FREI DELIVERY KEY HUES? TO BIG PINE KEY 296-9091 Mon.-Fri. 7 AM - 5 PM 20 Simonton St. Sat. 7 AM - noon everything for the gardener fertilizers - insecticides — seeds , mulch ~ - potting soil decorative clay, ceramic & plastic pots TORO — The Green Machine 1319 William Street 296-5212 Monday - Saturday 8 ant - 5 pm I many of the kids high on drugs. What happens to them? "The second time they're caught, we get HRS involved," explains Welsh. "It begins to get very formal when they meet with the kid and his parents and point out that the next step is for the truant to go before Judge Helip. Gomez and explain why he doesn't want to obey the law. Most kids buy out at that point." The dean helps break up a fight outside his office between two girls over a common boyfriend. Then he continues, "Sometimes when I go out with my wife at night I could take student attendance at bars downtown. I'm there on my own private time but some assume that I'm taking names. Others walk right up and boldly ask to buy us drinks!" However, most of the under-age students head for the door. Welsh believes they get in with either false I.D. or lack of careful door checks. • "ROCK CITY" LOSERS ' Crack cocaine, unheard of just one year ago, now causes students more and faster grief than any drug before it. (For a closer look at this drug, what it is and how it hurts, see "Portrait of a Pearle Junkie," Solares Hill, February, 1987.) The drug, inexpensive and extremely addictive, has created a panic among high school administrators nationwide/ It can be deadly. Most KWHS kids think of crack users as losers. "They'll sit right here," Welsh relates;;"arid rtell! me thai sd-arid-sb is, a crack monster and 'lives' out at Pearle Trailer Park. They call it 'Rock City;' Cuban kids call it Aluminito.' "— Page 33 ] t "Once a kid gets wrapped up. in coke, we" lose. They're on the streets in no time. I've lost seven or eight so far this year to crack," Welsh says sadly.....He-tells of one student who last...yearearn"ed high grades along with .praise "for his •athletic feats. Then, in the fall, he got hooked on crack cocaine, was suspended for bizarre behavior, got into trouble supporting his addiction with burglaries -- and now he's gone. Disappeared,' "It seems like you lose them overnight, that stuff works so fast," Welsh says. "Kids will tell me, 'Hey, this one's getting into crack. Help him!' You've got to bring so much pressure on the kid that he thinks, 'I must really be screwing up. Look at all these people telling me that.' We'll even show Mm where to go to talk to other addicts, kids who have been high for years. Sometimes that helps." 70 POUNDS AND NEAR DEATH Often it doesn't. Across town in the Professional Building, Sherrisse Noelle and Debbie Dell know too well what hapens to kids once John Welsh loses track of them. Noelle and Dell are probation officers for HRS's Children, Youth and Family Counseling Service. They deal with adolescents in trouble with the law, kids arrested for repeated burglaries, that kind of thing. Ninety-five percent of these kids are crack cocaine addicts. Sometimes the teenagers come off the street weighing 70 or 80 pounds, near death. "It's scary," Noelle says. "The way the system works, the kids WHEN YOU NEED ITNOW~.THINK~. MINUTE PHOTO • OPEN 7 DAYS A WEEK 8 AM TO 6 PM - SUNDAY TIL 6 PM • COLOR PRINTS FROM 110,126,35MM & DISK IN 60 MINUTES • FULL COLOR ENLARGEMENTS (ONE DAY SERVICE) • PASSPORT PHOTOGRAPHY IN MINUTES •COLOR SLIDES DONE ON LOCATION • •ASK ABOUT OUR DOUBLE PRINT SPECIAL - CLIP THIS COUPON - $2.00 OFF PROCESSING WITH THIS AD OPEN 8-6 MON-FRI SAT 9-5 SUN 10-5 296-2670 1601 N. ROOSEVELT BLVD. 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S4B Single Dues/1-Year, • S72 Single /2-Years or 2 pers . (Same Address OI.'LV) ISLAND a CLUR I O N A L The Private Lifestyle. Leisure and Tiavel Club ««j HiH —Anril 1Q87— P J W 37 Page 34 — April 1987 — Sdlares Hill have to commit a crime before anything substantial can be done to help them. By :then it can be too late." Keep in mind, this is Key West we're talking about; these 70-pound junkies are Key West kids, often from middle and upper class families. ' - Although these dedicated ladies have worked with cocaine addicts as young as 11, most of these kids get into heavy drugs at about 14. Then there are truancy problems and petty thievery. "There is a lot of denial with parents," says Noelle. "Parents should wonder when their jobless kid comes home with $300 in his pocket." Kids on the way to becoming junkies usually start stealing from their parents to support their addiction. "I had one kid who wore a different expensive watch each time I saw him," Noelle says. "When I asked the mother, she said that he picked up key limes and sold them." By age 16 the kid usually has dropped out of school; supporting his habit has become a full-time preoccupation. At this age he gets into his first serious trouble with the law, usually by getting caught committing a burglary. After a detention hearing to determine if the adolescent is dangerous to the community or himself -- and perhaps should be sent to the detention center in Miami — the kid is arraigned before Judge Gomez. Once there's an adjudicatory hearing and final disposition (sentencing), Noelle and Dell's department gets into the act. Usually OLDTOWNJ Yes, the remodeling is complete and we're moved in — ready and waiting to serve you. Whatever your banking needs, we'd like to take care of them personally. and You're Invited... to stop by, and say hello and fill out an entry blank- you could win one of our great... Grand Opening Gifts We've purchased some exciting gift certificates from our new neighbors and we'll be giving them away at our Grand Opening Celebration. You could win a gift certificate from... Rick's Cafe & Bar • Key West Pool & Spa • Neptune Designs • Moe's Barber & Style Shop • Crimson Ark Creations, Inc. • Peaches of Key West • Red Barn Theatre • Flower Basket • Complements • Lizard Licks Soft Sculptures • Turtle Walk • Fast Buck Freddie's • Spare Change • Mrs. Schepp Candy Store • Ramona's Shirt Put On • Bay Trading Co. • The Dancing Pelican • Key Kiothes • The Buttery • The Queen's Table Canaille's Restaurant • The Quay Restaurant • Cafe Exiles • Bagatelle • Louie's Backyard • Logun's Lobster House THE MRRINE BRNK OF MONROE COUNTY . From Key Largo to Key West and now at.. 701 Whitehead St., Old Town, Key West FOIC ANDHOoMl100°/o F R E E C H E C K I N G the delinquent is.sentenced to three months of "community control," during which time he must tell HRS of his every move and undergo weekly urinalyses. "We also do a drug evaluation to determine if the child should be sent to treatment," they say. Unfortunately, drug treatment means sending the boy -- and their clients are usually male -- to Miami, maybe farther. Monroe County desperately needs a drug and alcohol treatment center for adolescents. Most experts agree that addiction is a family disease, that treating only the addict is often non-productive. Miami, 157 miles northeast of Key West, is too far away for Key West families to get involved. But many are sent, anyway, to Dade and Broward drug treatment centers, the 30-day tab paid by Medicaid. "They return all gung ho about staying straight," says Dell. "They really want to, but when they go back into the environment they left -- the peer pressure, family problems and all ~ they're soon back out on the streets using." "We get very involved trying to help these kids," says Noelle. "We drive them around to look for jobs, to get them back in school if possible; we get to know their parents." But the three months' supervision is up all too soon. Debbie Dell has had only one kid stay straight after returning from treatment; he left town. And Sherrisse Noelle's experience is little better: one boy of more than a score who stopped smoking crack. He substituted alcohol. Both counselors agree that, until Monroe County gets an in-patient treatment program, more juvenile drug counseling, an effective employment program for the young, a teen center where kids can safely hang out during the day and an alternative education program, there isn't a lot of hope for our teenage crack addicts. "What we're seeing now are kids who start using drugs at 12; they go on down the road ending up in the adult criminal system," says Noelle. "As they go, they get angrier and more sociopathic than ever. The prison system then finishes the job." JIMMY CAGNEY SYNDROME Alternative Education is for those kids who won't or can't stay in a regular school setting. With Alternative Ed, they can show up at 11 and work until 2 or whatever, and still - with effort ~ get an equivalent high school degree. Until recently Alternative Ed was contracted to the Marine Institute of Deerfield Beach. Dean Welsh misses it. "If I had a behavioral problem, a kid with a chip on his shoulder — the Jimmy Cagney syndrome, I call it - I'd send him to the Marine Institute. It was geared for action and certain kids loved it. But they got shifted around all the time ~ from the Navy base to a building at the Catholic school, to this place and that. The people who ran the program finally got fed up, packed up and And the teen center? The day I first saw Welsh, students were passing a petition for signatures calling for the reopening of the old teen center located near the airport exit on South Roosevelt. It looks like they may get it. The teen center, originally called the 505 Solares Hill — April 1987 — Page 35 Dine on the Ocean a t SOUTH BEACH ALL YOU CAN EAT DINNER BUFFET 5-9 PM INCLUDES LOCAL FISH • BABY BACK RIBS ROAST CHICKEN • ROAST PORK • ROAST BEEF CONCH CHOWDER • CONCH FRITTERS 5 HOT VEGETABLES FEATURING ALL YOU CAN EAT STEAMED SHRIMP Bacon Home Fries Grits Chipped Beef Gravy Biscuits Fresh Fruit Mix Coffee FULL SALAD BAR A N D DESSERT BAR VARIOUS FRESH BREADS COFFEE/TEA OR SODAS ONLY $11.95 EARLY BIRD SPECIAL S9.95 • 5-6 PM DAILY — BREAKFAST BUFFET Scrambled Eggs French Toast Corned Beef Hash Blueberry Muffins Prunes Orange Juice $5.74 Sausage Hot Cakes Baked Apples Sausage Gravy Rolls Pineapple Chunks Tea BREAKFAST BUFFET: 8-11 AM Mon.-Sat. • 8-2 PM Sun. OPEN 6 AM - 9 PM DAILY WE ALSO SERVE LUNCH 1405 Duval Street We accept VISA, MasterCard 294-2 727 Page 36 — April 1987 — Solares Hill Trnrfitionnf 74' Schooner Capacity 44 Passengers U.S. Const fiunrrC Inspected &> Ccrtificrf Salting ~ Trips - CnfC for "Infoimnfiofi Sunset Cruise 5 to 7 ptn - $ 15.00 Available for Cfinrtcr Avijtime A & B Lobster HOILSC Dock. 700 Front St. 296-WOLF Teen Club, was built years ago in a project spearheaded by then-Clerk of the Criminal Court, Louis Carbonell. The county, which owns the property, gave Carbonell a 30-year lease at a dollar a year. The building, 30 feet wide by 130 feet long, was perfect for teen dances and get-togethers; 500 members used to gather on Saturday nights. Then, according to Carbonell, allowing 18-year-olds to drink legally "hurt plenty. Finally the kids started fooling around with this damn dope ~ excuse the expression — and now the building's not used much." An organization called Lower Florida Keys Youth Club intends to change all that. According to Charlette Ure, member of the board and spokesperson, "Mr. Carbonell will give back the lease to the county so that we can reopen the building as a full-time teen center." As soon as they receive final County Commission approval, LFKYC will reopen the building for dances, craft programs, and activities for all ages. They plan to get rid of the psychodelically-painted interior, replace it with a disco look. A skating rink will be installed outside. As Ure says, "Hopefully this will attract those kids who say that there's no place to go and nothing to do but drugs." A DRUG-FREE ENVIRONMENT? Some time ago, I spoke about the student drug problem with Leon Fowler, a teacher at Horace O'Bryant middle school and, for the last two years, president of United Teachers of Monroe. Fowler is probably in closer touch with our county's 480 teachers than anyone. "We've got to learn that kids can't see the future," Fowler told me. "They care only about now. So you can't scare them. You've got to educate them, give them the skills to say no and fools to feel good about themselves. And you've got to start in kindergarten. Then, when the time comes, they will resist peer pressures to use illegal drugs. They'll know better." Of course, he's right. Just this January the Monroe County School Board agreed to a sweeping proposal which would train kids beginning in kindergarten to say no to alcohol and drugs. The Board has committed all Monroe County schools to becoming drug-free and plans to coordinate community resources to overcome ding and alcohol abuse among students. Coordination is certainly one key. I've found many good and dedicated people working on drug problems in the dark. They lack information about other agencies and services which could augment, even multiply their efforts toward illegal drug prevention and control. To pull everyone's hard work together would make all our lives easier and, indeed, closer to the dream of a drug-free school system. Next: A look at Delphos Alcoholic and Drug Treatment Center and an open meeting of Narcotics Anonymous. If you have constructive suggestions for these articles, please call 294-1429. F.K. There's rumor of perfection... I . ' • - I . • ' , • • - r/..'- LAS PALMAS ORIGINAL L INVENTIVE CUISINE Dinner Nightly 6 P.M. - 12 Reservations Please. 1029 Southard at Frances/294-7991 KEY WEST BAR & GRILL 11 AM -2 AM DELICIOUS HOMEMADE FOOD - -Jto mwfnom finihomo qqaixi. 1970 N. Roosevelt I >UVALc?»UARE 4 COMMERCIAL • RESIDENTIAL •CDMPT EX :\f*$h. « VI U N I Q U E 20,000&,Ft.RETAiL AREA Prestigious shopping space in historic "Old Town" Conch-style store fronts in the Bahamian/ Victorian tradition Exclusive off-street parking Various array of upscale shops and boutiques INDIVIDUAL 1&2 STORY ToVVNHOMES Separate residential enclave . • r—i Private covered parking and pool 1075 DUVAL ST. KEY WEST (305)294-4233/(305)294-2205 James Garcia or Linda Koger Page 38 — April 1987 — Solares Hill COMMUNITY^ * * * * * *******i,ii!3 DESIGNS Fine Furniture and Cabinetry William Palmer ' 126 TRUMAN AVENUE KLIY WEST, FLORIDA 33040 RES (305)294-5811 AT CLCiTHE-S,. RUBBISH 507 SOUTHARD ST. KEY WEST THE QUALITY AND SERVICE YOU EXPECT QOUTH:ARD STREET P K O, 294-H118 294-8419 1 Wholesale Retail -X Serf What •1()(i Southard St. Key West, F l . ,!.I(M() JEWELERS NOW OPEN \RT Display of original photographs by Richard W atherwax entitled "Women of All. Ages" and i' intings by Taylor Stevens, through April 20 at The Sanctuary, corner of Simonton & Southard Monday thru Saturday, Noon till 10 PM. Zhe ?ur Zaitot Mobile GroominsSalon Ml Breed Grooming M Your Door Licensed & Insured Carolic Lambrighl 194-3T EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES I • Florida Keys Community College Departmen1 " rj Continuing Education: Basic Rescuer Marathon, April 11, 6-9 PM Commercial Diving Overview Key West, April 19-25, M-F 6-10 PM Sat. & Sun. 8AM-6 PM Students must be scuba certified. For info on registration and fees call 296-9081 original designs for women 610 Duvat Street Qid Town I. •m- ata 335 Duval (Duval Walk) 294-1243^ M/V INSTIGATOR Special sunset cruise parties, full and half day trips, Tortu^as Trips, and extended private charters aboard our luNiirious 4V Gulfstar Motor Yacht. Ocean Key House Marina922 Truman Avc. 305 2c)6-O0(X) 305 2')4 23.W Alterations • Taiiorini 10 Key Lime Square'' Key West KariS. Hjerpa Bette Mortimora HOURS Mon. 10-5 Thurs. 10- Tues. 10-5 Fri. 10-6 Wed. 10-5 Sat. 10-1 294-1334 April Community Events FAMILY FUN • Monroe County Free Family Films, 700 Fleming Street, Wednesdays 7 PM. April Schedule: April 1 Kind Hearts & Coronets April 8 Horse's Mouth April 15 Lavender Hill Mob April 22 Detective Story April 29 Oliver Children's films at the Library, Saturdays, 10 AM: April 4 Tom Thumb; The Ugly Duckling April 11 A Special Trade; Miquel April 18 Year of the Mountain Goat; Playful Pandas April 25 Madeline; Raccoon • Walt Disney's 101 Dalmations, Big Pine Methodist Church Youth Center, Key Deer Blvd., MM 30.5, Big Pine. Benefit Big Pine Cooperative Pre- School & Kindergarten. Sunday, April 5, 3:45 PM. COMMUNITY INTEREST • Lower Keys Property Owners Association installation dinner, April 6, 6-7 PM Cocktails; 1 PM Covered Dish Supper. Commissioner Gene Lytton, speaker. • County Commission Meeting, April 7, 9 AM, Courtroom B, Key West. Lower Keys Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors' Meeting, 7:30 AM, April 8, Chamber Office, Big Pine Key. • Monroe County Planning Commission, April 16, 10 AM, DAV Buidling, Marathon. • Lower Keys Chamber TDC Advisory Committee meeting, 7:30 PM, Chamber Office, Big Pine Key. • Deadline for Tourist Development Council agenda for May 6 TDC meeting, April 22. • Lower Keys Chamber of Commerce monthly General Membership meeting, 7:30 PM, April 23, Lower Keys Property Owners Association Building, Big Pine Key. THEATRE • Key West High School Conchettes at Tennesee Williams Fine-Arts Center, Thurs., Fri. & Sat. April 2 thru 4. "Dancing Around The World," 8 PM. • Pagliaci Thurs. thru Sun., April 16-19, at Tennesee Williams Fine Arts Center. Thurs. 4/16 7:30 PM; other three nights 8:00 curtain. The Dresser opens April 1st thru April 26 at The Red Barn Theatre. 8:30 curtain. Call 296-9911 for tickets. • Bobby Nesbitt in concert at The Waterfront Playhouse, April 3. Call 294-5015 for info. • A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum opens April 20 thru May 3 at the Waterfront Playhouse. 8:30 curtain; call 294-5015 for tickets. • Pirates of Penzance held over indefinitely at Jan McArt's Cabaret Theatre. Call 296-2120 for tickets. mam liiiiiii, HARD CANDY EMPORIUM 913 DUVAL Vintage-Clothes Cards - Gifts ™ ™ ^ ^ Clothes Cards - Gifts FOO<- • 1987 Vol. I, No. 1 The Official'Publication Of The Conch Republic Celebration Key West and the Florida Keys April 1987 FREE Conch Republic Celebrates Fifth Birthday Island Republic Seeks Admission To United Nations Conch Republic Prime Minister Tom Sawyer, who doubles as Mayor of Key West, has called upon the United Nations to accept his tiny country's "voice of goodwill and good humor" in its discussions of world affairs. Sawyer's remarks were included in a letter to UN Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar seeking membership for the Conch Republic in the international organization Sawyer said in his letter that Conch Republic membership will be "particularly beneficial... by adding to the General Assembly's deliberations a voice of goodwill and good humor which has not been overly prevalent among members in some years." The Conch Republic declared its independence in April, 1982, to protest a U.S. Border Patrol roadblock on U.S.I Con'tonpg.2. Community Sponsorship Triples for Conch Republic Celebration Sponsor support for the Conch Republic Celebration, still a young event by Key West standards, has increased 300% over last year, with businesses ranging from Marathon to Key West. "It is extremely gratifying to receive this kind.of local support from the business community," Festival Director Michael Whalton stated. "This increase reinforces my belief that the Conch Republic Celebration can and will grow into a major Florida happening." Whallon added, "Without financial backing from the private sector, this celebration, featuring major events over five days, just wouldn't be possibLe. Visitor tax revenues are available only for advertising and promotion. You have to produce a first rate event to bring these visitors back to our area. Private sponsorship makes it possible to create a quality product and we Con't on pg. 4 KEY WEST -- Dignitaries will gather to celebrate the Fifth Anniversary of the Conch Republic in Key West and the Florida Keys, April 25 through May 3. Pictured above during last year's festivities are (left to right) First Prime Minister Dennis Wardlow, Admiral Wilhelmina Harvey, and Claude Valdez. (Photo by Jeffrey Cardenas) Key West & Florida Keys Host Major Festival KEY WEST, FLORIDA KEYS - In late April and early May the loyal citizens of Key West and the Florida Keys will celebrate the fifth birthday of their Conch Republic, the gutsy Island Nation that seceded from the United States in 1982 after a feud over a Border Patrol road block. FISHING FOR CONCH? -- This young lady is competing in Basic Training, one of the events that appeals to the maverick streak of the Conch, survivor. (Photo by Jeffrey Cardenas) Conchs to Invade Tallahassee in April Five years ago brave men and women gave up their lunch hour to announce their independence, raise their flag, and apply for foreign aid. In the true spirit of the Conch Republic the events of the five day anniversary celebration will be spread out over a 10 Can't an pg-U Florida Keys and Key West residents will take Tallahassee by storm April 22 and 23 for "Conch Day" at the capital. Conch commandos will deliver Conch Militia draft notices to the legislators, tourism officials, cabinet members and Governor Bob Martinez. A seven-foot Key Lime pie and gallons of conch chowder with Cuban bread will be served at the House office portico on .Thursday, April 23. Legislators will also receive souvenirs from the Keys. "We are going to extend a most gracious invitation for all to come down and participate in 'Basic Training' during the Conch Republic Celebration," announced Michael Whalton, coordinator of Conch Day. "We'll show them just how tough Conchs are." Legislators will be invited to a reception in .Tallahassee. Wednesday, April 22, 'hosted by Representative Ron Saundcrs and the Florida Keys Federation of Chambers of Commerce, the coordinating organization of Conch Day. , "The Federation feels Conch Day is a very good way to bring the Florida Keys to the attention of the legislators, to let them know what we have to offer here and what our unique circumstances arc," stated Sandra Barrett, President of the Federation of Chambers. "There are many new people in Tallahassee this year ac every level and we want to acquaint them with the Keys. Our natural resources here have received a great deal of attention. It is now time to focus on the people and the business community of Monroe County." Special arrangements for air transportation have been provided by Piedmont Airlines, Official Airlines of the Conch Republic Celebration. Page 2 The Conch Republic News April 1987 April 1987 The Conch Republic News Page 3 FM 107 - Miller Lite Bed Race, Parade Open Celebration Blessing of Bicycles to Join Bed Race OVER FIFTY BEDS are expected to parade and compete in the FM 107- Miller Lite Bed Race to begin 10 AM on Saturday, April 25. (Photo courtesy of FM-107) In the Conch Republic it's traditional for the inhabitants to prove their man and womanhood with a race that exhibits the ingenuity and creativity that has made Key West famous. This annual ritual takes place on a sunny day during the anniversary of the secession of the Conch Republic from the United States. It's been five years since that fateful day when the citizens of the Keys rebelled against the border patrol and set up their own unique government. In memory, the Conch Flag will fly proudly in the warm, tropical breezes, local citizens will stand proud, and they'll line the streets as their best young men and women compete in "The Conch Republic Fifth Anniversary FM-107 Miller Lite Bed Race." A parade of beds will kick off the festivities. Fifty beds are expected to enter from the local community, including entrants from hotels, restaurants, bars, hospitals, and public service organizations. Bed racing is an unusual sport, appealing to those with a taste for adventure, a sense of the ridiculous, and, most definitely, the ability to laugh, particularly at one's self. The beds will consist of a mattress, wheels, and five "Conchs," four to push the bed and one to ride it. If the past is any indication of the future, entrants are long on creatively and a little bit short on construction. A bed must not only look good, it must ride well... and stay intact until the finish. The traditional FM-107 Miller Lite Bed Race and Ambassadors' Parade is now in its fifth year. Participants gear up on Friday, April 24, as Rick's Cafe hosts the Bed Racers' Captains' Party, a time to learn the rules of the road, have a little fun, and check out the competition. On Saturday morning, April 25, at 10:00 AM, bed racers and their entries line up at Duval and Fleming Streets as the craziest parade in this hemisphere' gels under way. The parade will be led by the first Prime Minister, Dennis Wardlow; followed by various Conch ambassadors and dignitaries in the gaily decorated Conch Tour Train. The bed race will immediately follow the parade. Sponsored by FM-107, Miller Lite, Emma's at The Reach, with airfare provided by PBA Airlines, the bed race runs on an elapsed time basis with cash, prizes, and trophies awarded in several categories, including speed and decoration. For details and entry forms, contact FM 107, 527 Southard Street, Key West, FL. 33040, or call (305)296-7511. The Conch Republic News The Official Publication of the Conch Republic Celebration P.O. Box 230 Key West, Florida 33041 (305) 294-4440 Michael Whalton, Minister of Special Events Photography by Jeffrey Cardenas Typesetting by Christine Naughton Layout by Walt Hyla Special assistance from Tica Walley, Rae Coates, Rita Brown, and Ann Dickinson. Special thanks to Solares Hill Publications and Universal Press. The Conch Republic Celebration 1987 is produced by the Key West Tourist Development Association with special assistance from the Monroe County Tourist Development Council. ANIMAL CRUISER -- Conchs of all ages will bedeck their cruisers for the annual Blessing of the Bicycle Fleet and Parade to be held this year in conjunction with the Bed Parade, Saturday, April 25, on Key West's Duval Street. (Photo by Jeffrey Cardenas) The island Republic's most popular Everyone is invited to bring your form of transportation, the bicycle, will decorated wheels to participate in the be honored at the Blessing of the Bicycle Fleet held this year in conjunction with the FM-107 - Miller Lite Bed Parade and Race on April 25,1987. The bicycle fleet and the beds will be blessed at the beginning of the parade which begins at 10 AM at the corner of Duval and Fleming Streets. parade and enter the decorating competitions. There will be several categories and lots of prizes. Minister of Fun and Games Tica Walley and the Conch Republic Celebration office will be coordinating this event. For further information call 294-4440. United Nations Co n't fron pg. 1 just north of the Florida Keys, the chain of vacation islands that joined in the secession. Pledging to uphold the UN charier and support the world body's principles, Sawyer's letter pointed out that "foremost among individual freedoms recognized in the Conch Republic is the 'freedom to enjoy life to its utmost.'" "It is indeed unfortunate," he wrote, "that some UN members seem to have disregarded this freedom in their national priorities, but we believe it is well worth representing as a global goal for people everywhere." Sawyer invited the Secretary-General to discuss world problems "over a piece of Key lime pie — our national gourmet specialty -- and a cup of coffee." General Assembly members have not yet been polled for reaction to the Conch Republic's UN application. Sawyer said it is only coincidental that "our application is being submitted six weeks before the Conch Republic Celebration April 25-May 3, commemorating the fifth anniversary of the Conch Republic's founding as an "indenendent nation." Ill I I ( I I I ( I I i CONCH REPUBLIC CELEBRATION thanks Avis Rent A Caj Inn-la Conch Inn a The Official Airli^^mmMc^^miic Celebration Pier House The Reach for thier contributions to special promotions I I X I I ( \ I I Bud Light Marathon Offshore Challenge Set for April 25 , FULL THROTTLE -- The Bud Light Marathon Offshore Challenge is scheduled for April 25. The race course incorporates both the old and new Seven Mile Bridges. Last year's Open Division was won by Willie Falcon, driving Team Seahawk (20). ' (Photo by Stuart Newman Associates) Offshore racing aficionados will have an excellent opportunity to view their favorite competitors when throttles are slammed forward for the 11 AM start of the 1987 edition of the Bud Light Marathon Offshore Challenge on Saturday, April 25. The nationally-sanctioned APBA (American Power Boat Association) race takes the high speed boats close to the old Seven Mile Bridge and there's no admission charge to view the action, "Last year was our first race and it was a tremendous success," Scott Curry, Commodore of the sponsoring Conch Republic Offshore Power Boat Race Association (CROPBRA), said, adding that this year's Challenge would be video taped by Innovative Productions, Inc., for a nationally syndicated broadcast. "The racers, crews, and their families really enjoyed themselves and we attracted thousands of people to view the action." The 149-mile race (for classes Super, Open and Modified) will take boats around the course four times. Six different classes of boats — Superboat, Open, Modified, Pro-stock, Stock A and B -- plan to compete. Race headquarters are at Sombrero Resort and wet pits are at Faro Blanco Marine Resort. Sponsors besides CROPBRA include Greater Marathon Chamber of Commerce, Marine Bank, Marathon Hotel/Motel Association, and the Monroe County Tourist Development Council. The first race of the national offshore circuit is one of numerous events scheduled during the fifth anniversary of the founding of the Conch Republic. For additional race information, contact the Marathon 5417. Chamber at (305) 743- Vhe Official CONCH REPUBLIC CELEBRATION T-Shirts Designed by Frank Motta ©TDA 1986 I Designed by Susie Gardner ©TDA 1987 Available at Voila, Paradise, Shell Warehouse, Pier House Market, The Reach, and other discriminating . jfc.Jfe.JS j t r i ( I I 1 REPUBLIC CELEBRATION 1987 Sponsored by Major Sponsors FM 107 Radio Pier House The Reach Greater Key West Chamber of Commerce Conch Republic Rum, Vodka and Gin Key West Hotel/Motel Association Piedmont Airlines The Official Airline of the Conch Republic Celebration Avis Rent A Car * * * * Mallory Market Holiday Inn La Concha Hotel Resort Burger King of Key West Ocean Key House Marriott's Casa Marina Fast Buck Freddie's Telecommunications, Inc. Pelican Landing Club Barnett Bank of the Keys Key West Kite Company Econolodge Blue Marlin Motel Key West Sandal Gingerbread Gallery Heron House Goldentex Days Inn of Key West Blair Building Hilton Haven Motel Key West Insurance Inc. Inn at the Wharf Gulfview Motel Budget Rent-A-Car Conch Tour Train Old Town Trolley Doyle Bush Photography Claire Restaurant Schooner Wolf The Conch Republic Celebration is coordinated by the Key West Tourist Development Association with the assistance of the Monroe County Tourist Development Council. I I 1 I I I I I I I I I I I 1 Page 4 The Conch Republic News April 1987 Key West Fishing Tourney Kicks Off During Celebration The official opening of the Fishing Tournament will take place in conjunction with the Conch Republic Celebration on Friday, May 1, and Saturday, May 2. . Anglers wishing to enter this tournament within a tournament must register by 8 AM on May 1. Fishing begins Friday and Saturday at 8:30 AM, with lines out of the water by 3:30. Weigh-in must be completed by 5:30. Weigh stations will be at Garrison Bight Marina and Oceanside Marina. Entry fee is S50 per boat, which allows up to six anglers. Anglers may change the second day, but the committee boat must be notified. Fish caught in this two-day kick-off tourney can also be entered in the Key West Fishing Tournament. Trophies and S500 cash will be awarded for the largest billfish, tarpon (minimum weight of 50 pounds), barracuda tmittimitrn 16 pounds), and dolphin. Prizes worth'tuindreds of .dollars will be awarded for the largest wahoo, shark (minimum 75 pounds), permit, .and grouper. "We've added a new prize this year to encourage more participation," announced Capt. Mark Jones, Chairman of the Kick- off Tournament. "S100 cash will be awarded for the largest GRUNT_ -- excluding margate." Trophies will be awarded for the most tarpon, billfish, and barracuda released. All trophies and prizes will be presented at an awards ceremony Saturday, May 2. Rules and registration forms will be available at all marinas and most motels in the Key West area. For more information, call Rim Pearce at (305) 294- 6098, or Art Barton at 294-4676. Second Annual Marathon to Key West Regatta to Draw- Many Florida Yachtsmen April 1987 The Conch Republic News Page 5 Marathon and Key West Sailing Clubs predict a large turnout for the Second Annual Marathon to Key West Regatta held again this year in conjunction with the Conch Republic Celebration. "Last year over 65 boats and 350 sailing enthusiasts from the southeast Florida coast, Key Largo to Key West, participated," organizers stated. "Response was just great last year. The participants enjoyed the regatta and the off-the-wall happenings of the Celebration." The race, fully handicapped, is open to monqhulls and multihulls over 20 feet in length. The skippers can choose either racing or cruising divisions. A skippers' meeting and get-together will kick off the activities Friday night, May 1, at Sombrero Marina's Dockside Lounge in Marathon, The race begins Saturday morning at 9 AM off Boot Key in the Marathon Harbor.. The earlier finishers should be arriving in Key West sometime around 3 PM. Plans are being finalized for a post-race party in Key West, so participants should check local newspapers for time and location. Interested sailors can write Marathon Sailing Club, P.O. Box 3292, Marathon Shores, FL, 33052, for further information. Entry forms can also be obtained at the Marathon Chamber of Commerce and the Key West Chamber of Commerce. CLASSIFIEDS WANTED: In honor of the independent spirit of the Conch Republic, a sleight of hand appears in this publication. Identify this and call 294-4440. The first caller will receive a Celebration souvenir. WANTED: Kazoo playing waiters. Apply to Sheila Sands at The Reach. Must have own kazoo and be prepared to march. Triples Co n't from pg. 1 » appreciate the support." Sponsorships range from $1000 to $100. Major sponsors include Joe Russo at FM 107 Radio, founder of the Conch Republic Bed Race and Parade, Pier House, and the Greater Key West Chamber of Commerce, all of whom were original perpetuators of the anniversary. The Reach, who last year spawned the "Conch Republic Marching Kazoo Band and Color Guard," and the Key West Hotel/Motel Association are again major sponsors. Avis Rent A Car, Piedmont Airlines — The Official Airlines of the Conch Republic Celebration, and Conch Republic Rum, Vodka, and Gin join the group of major supporters for the first time this year. Other sponsors include Burger King of Key West, Mallory Market, Holiday Inn's La Concha Resort Hotel, Ocean Key House, and Fast Buck Freddie's. Telecommunications, Inc., Barnctt Bank of the Keys, Key West Kite Company, Pelican Landing, Econolodgc, and Marriott's Casa Marina are also sponsoring the event. Additional sponsors arc Key West Sandal, Gingerbread Gallery, Heron House, Days Inn of Key West, Blair Building, Hilton Haven Motel, Key West Insurance Inc., Inn at the Wharf, Gulfvicw Motel, Goldentcx, Richard C. Walker, MD, Monroe County Glass & Mirror, Hemingway Home and Museum, Great American Title & Mortgage, The Stuffed Pig in Marathon, Budget Rcnt-A-Car, La Te Da, Conch Tour Train, Old Town Trolley, Doyle Bush Photography, Claire Restaurant, and Schooner Wolf. Conch Tour Train - 294-5161 The Conch Rep with a couple of natives. Old Town Trolley -296-6688 There is only one way to see The Conch Republic... the Conch Tour Train and Old Town Trolley. They can show you like no one else can. So why not see the best of Key West with some of the natives. This is a Burger King BURGER 2120 N. Roosevelt Boulevard Key West I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I Border Pass Bumper Stickers y \ 1 y ^ Available at Airwaves, Paradise, Shell Warehouse, and other discriminating stores in Key West. I] ALL SIZES AVAILABLE AT HEAVENLY BODY KITES 409 GREENE ST. Page 6 Conchs to Sell "Bills" of Rights Auction Ambassadorships The Conch Republic News April 1987 In honor of the 20OLh anniversary of the U.S. Constitution, the Greater Key West Chamber of Commerce will host the Conch Republic Constitutional Convention and Ambassadors Reception on Thursday, April 30. In keeping with true Conch individuality, the Conch Republic will draft its own Constitution, complete with a unique Bill of Rights. As would be typical of an emerging Island Nation, the "Bills" can be bought. Although suggestions of graft might be ventured, citizens will be allowed to bid to become Ambassadors and Ministers of the Conch Republic. Prime Minister Tom Sawyer will be on hand to present a proclamation to each successful bidder naming them an official of the Conch Republic. For more information, contact the Greater Key West Chamber of Commerce, 402 Wall Street, Key West, FL, 33040, or call (305) 294-2587. Pier House Hosts Wreckers Pgrty--Pirates and[Plunder April 1987 The Conch Republic News Page 7 HOMING WAV JULY , 1987 For information, write to Hemingway Days Fesival, P.O. Box 4045, Key West, FL 33041, or call (305) 294-4440. PIRATES AND PLL'NDKR -- Admiral ol tin- Conch Republic Fleet, WillieJmlna Harvey, and other dignitaries found they were not safe from pirates' dastardly deeds during the Wreckers Party nt the Pier House. This year's party will begin at 7:30 on the Pier House beach, Friday, May 1. (Photo by Jeffrey Cardenas) In the late 1800's Key West was the wealthiest city per capita in the United S W PM. And in the tradition of the Pier House, there will be an abundance of they p p d House, there will be an abundance of the States. Wrecking cargo ships upon the finest food and drink, live entertainment reef was a way of lif d th C h A GREAT PLACE TO MEET OPEN DAILY TILL 2 AM WITH A NEW MENU FEATURING NEW AMERICAN CUISINE AND LOCAL SEAFOOD AT THE BAR VINTAGE TUNES ON THE JUKE BOX. INEXPENSIVE COCKTAILS AND LATE NITE MENU TILL 2 AM ' V900-9Q4 DUVAL • 296-5558 p p reef was a way of life and the Conch Republic homes were filled with the finest goods, foods, and wines. Neighbors gathered in celebrations of abundance. Today, in the tradition of these forefathers, the Pier House Resort is Minister of Mu inviting the public to attend a party of Junkanoo band, pirates and plunder during their Wreckers For more information call the party on the beach, Friday, May 1, at 7:30 House, (305) 294-9541, Ext. 521. and music. The beach will be adorned with a buffet of treasures from land and sea. Live pirates will perform from the tall ship Schooner Wolf, And Coffee Butler, the Minister of Music, will perform with his Pier Let s "Decorate TH€ CONCH REPUBLIC! Free Installation of Your Window Treatment thru June 30th with this Ad. INTERIORS 1023 WHITE ST. 296-7636 Victoria %ousfi - Decorator Secrecy Surrounds "We Try Harder" Basic Training KEY WEST -- One of the,m6st talked about and popular events of the Conch Republic Celebration last year was "Basic Training," originally created by Michael Whalton, Minister of Special Events, and •11111 Hillilli^B;!^ j "AM I READY FOR THIS?" -- IJ e c oni i n g a member of the Conch Republ ic Army requ i r e s intelligence and proper "attitude." Completing Avis Rent A Car's Basic Training means you have both. Conch logic. (Photo by Jeffrey Cardenas) Tice Walley, Minister of Fun and Games. This scries of tasks, designed to appeal to the "maverick streak of the Conch survivor," was a riotous afternoon of sun, fun, and frolic. Avis Rent A Car is sponsoring this year's "We Try Harder" Basic Training. Plans are underway for a challenging program for this year's flock of eager new Militia candidates. Organizers will not, however, disclose any of the details of the ONE, TWO, THREE, FOUR -- Basic Training for the Conch Republic Army is one of the activities for this year's Celebration. Draftees will train on a wacky obstacle course PM, Saturday, May 2. (Photo by Jeffrey Cardenas) many scheduled beginning at 1 basic training exercises so that all entrants can participate on an equal basis. They did verify that volunteers from the U.S. Navy will be on hand to supervise, which might indicate some of the tasks will be tougher. Marriou's Casa Marina Resort will again host some of the Basic Training events. Other locations throughout Key West will also be utilized. An exciting new feature has been added to this year's Basic Training. Teams can also participate, which should heighten the spirit of competition. Teams and individuals can register ahead of time this year at a special booth during the FM-107 - Miller Lite Bed Race and Parade, April 25, beginning at 10 AM. The .basic format will be similar to last year. Those individuals and teams aspiring to be members of the Conch Republic Militia must complete a series of tasks before receiving their Conch Commando Certificates. For more information, cail Conch Republic Celebration Headquarters, (305) 294-4440. KEY WEST'S NEWEST RESORT MOTEL LOCATION: Key West is the southernmost island in the continental United States. Vacationers have unlimited opportunities for fishing, diving, snorkel- ing, sightseeing and shopping, or just plain relaxing. Centrally located, INN at the WHARF is 5 minutes from the airport, tennis courts, golf courses and Old Town. Fishing and diving boats are located within walking distance from the motel. Old Town Trolley Tours pick up at our front door. 100 ROOMS SWIMMING POOL POOLSIDEBAR TROLLEY STOP GALL T O L L FREE: IN FLORIDA, 1-800-843-5888 OUTSIDE FL, 1-800-225-6178 2400 ROOSEVELT BLVD. KEY WEST, FL 33040 Page 8 The Conch Republic News April 1987 .>•• tS! I I as; April 1987 The. Conch Republic News Page 9 History of the Conch Republic Each April the residents of the Conch Republic, driven by their uncompromising spirit and love for a party, commemorate the Florida Keys' secession from the United States in 1982. This may have appeared to be a folly to some (which is true), but sprang from serious circumstances (which is also true). Without warning on April 18, 1982, the U.S. Border Patrol set up a road block at the head of the Florida Keys on the only highway access. Each vehicle leaving the Keys was stopped and searched and all passengers were asked to prove U.S. citizenship. Visitors we're delayed for hours and traffic was backed up for miles. The purpose was to find illegal aliens and drug movement. The result was rapid national media attention, immediately making the Florida Keys and Key West a most unattractive travel destination. Southbound traffic on U.S. 1 was virtually non-existent; hotel rooms, bars, restaurants, charter boats and art galleries were empty. Conchs Appeal To Federal Judge In the meantime, officials in Key West and the Keys were becoming'frustrated. On the morning of April 19, Dennis Wardtow, then mayor Of Kay West,-sent telegrams to dozens of state and federal officials demanding an explanation.- He received not one response. A group of officials and businessmen appeared before a federal judge in Miami to plead their case. He ruled the checkpoint could still stand. Returning home with no success, the defeated but determined and innovative Conchs planned their next move. Key West and the Florida Keys would secede from the United States and establish The Conch Republic. Within 24 hours border passes and temporary visas were printed, T-shirts appeared with official emblems, the Brown Pelican was .designated the official bird and the Hibiscus the official flower. Cabinet members were appointed and scribes penned a declaration of independence. Valueless Conch currency, minted in 1972 for the 150th anniversary of Key West, was retrieved from safe- keeping and circulated. . , • If We're Not Equal, We'll Get Out So, during lunch hour on Friday, April 22,. 1982, Prime Minister Dennis Wardlow Taised the official flag and read from, the Cortch Republic Declaration of Independence, -_'•'We the people of Key West are called Conchs ... I proclaim that Key'West shall be known as the Conch Republic, and as the flag of our new republic is raised, I hereby state to Washington ... we secede from the United States. We've raised our Hag, given notice, and named our new government... If we arc not equal, we'll get out. It's as simple as that... We're Conchs and we've had enough. We're happy to secede today with some humor. But there's some anger, too. Big trouble has started in much smaller places than this." The founding fathers, Dennis Wardlow, Dennis Bitner, Edwin 0. Swift, John Magliola, Townsend Kicffer, and William Smith, then promptly applied for foreign aid. Not long after the secession the roadblock was removed, but the spirit of the Conch Republic had been established. Each year the bravery and creative survival instincts of the founding fathers are commemorated during the Conch Republic Celebration. This year, typical of the Conch Republic style, the events and revelry span 10 days, from April 25 through May 3. 1 I I I I I I I I Conch Republic Military Ball At Fort Reach Letters to the Editor Whether you choose militia fatigues, apparel depicting your favorite Conch Republic personality, beachwear, fishing gear or just "zany threads," you'll fit right in at the Conch Republic Military Ball at The Reach on Saturday, May 2. Grand or grubby, you will see it all. The Reach, located at 1422 Simonton Street, will be converted to "Fort Reach" to defend the Conch Republic's eastern shore. The festivities will begin at 9 PM with live music, real Conch food on the beach, and some promised wild surprises. The Reach's infamous "Conch Republic Marching Kazoo Band and Color Guard" will strut and perform for the party-goers. Costumes are not required, but handsome prizes will be awarded. Call The Reach at 294-5000 for more information. Too thee Editecr: Dont u pholks hav no prof reederz? Eye wood lik two apli four thee werk. Eye hav leeft thee uther payper coz itz hav it oun phoneticks. Prce serve thee konk lilricher Ernest Kowfclt Sir, May we take the time to thank the many .residents and visitors who donated their hard earned dollars to help get our sisters out of the freezer. It made our journey south so worthwhile, especially the offer so graciously made by your Republic Army Chief to use Christmas Tree Island to form a Leper Colony. Signed The Little Sisters of Hoboken c/o Mt. St. Helens KEY WEST . . . where tht world's greatest sunset and romance . . . go hand in hand with sunrise and some of the world's iftateit sports fishing. The perfect setting for the serious fisher- man and water enthusiast and the whole family! 915 Eisenhower Drive Key West, Florida 33040 For reservations and information call: (305)296-7583 COMPLETE FISHING CLUB AMENITIES • Midway to Gulf and Ocean Fishing • MET Weigh Station • 200 feet alongside dockage with water and 110/ 220 volts • 8 back-in slips for boats to 35' • Walk-in Freezer • Ramps and fuel close by • Fishing Guides available • Fish Cleaning Station LEISURE AMENITIES • Sparkling Freshwater Pool • Sun-bathing Deck • Cook out Facilities • Private Poolside Gazebo Bar • Tennis Courts (within walking distance) COMPLETE DIVING AMENITIES • Lessons • Equipment • Diving and Snorkeling Trips • All available next door at the Pro Dive Shop AREA AMENITIES • Conch Tour Train • The Hemingway House • Live Theaters • Quaint Shops and Art Galleries • Celebrated Restaurants • The Audubon House • Flipper's Dolphin Shows • Moped, Bicycle, and Car Rentals LOOK TO THE SKY! HEAVENLY BODY KITES ANNOUNCES THE 11TH ANNUAL KEY WEST KITE FESTIVAL FREE! OPEN TO THE PUBLIC, NOON MAY 3, SMATHERS BEACH PRIZES $100 CASH PRIZE BEST COLOR SLIDE! «-;n riFT rFRTIFICATE FROM HEAVENLY BODY KITES FOR: YOUNGEST KITE FLYER/OLDEST KITE FLYER/ BEST HANDMADE^KITE/LONGEST FLYING KITE/PERSON FROM FURTHEST POINT FROM KEY WEST/ BEST KITE PERFORMANCE SPONSORED BY HBK IN CONJUNCTION WITH CONCH REPUBLIC CELEBRATION '87 HEAVENLY BODY KITES, YOUR LOCAL KITE SHOP 409 GREENE ST. OLD TOWN iJ'l l'aye 10 The Conch Republic News April 1987 KEY WEST CONSISTENTLY . . . 'Uhe (SSesti I I 1 I I I I I t^s^ CONCH REPUBLIC CELEBRATION Flags These limited edition flags are dark blue, light blue, yellow, and white with design visible on both sides. Available through Conch Republic Celebration Headquarters, 294-4440. TRANSFUSION? -- There are many types during Conch Republic Celebration and this Conch Commando seems ready and willing. Basic Training, sponsored this year by Avis Rent A Car, will be held Saturday, May 2, beginning at 1 PM. (Photo by Jeffrey Cardenas) KEY WEST AQUARIUM • PARADISE • OLD FISHERMAN'S CAFE • SPONGE MARKET S H E L ^ A R ^ JUICE BAR • BIRD IN HAND • THE CONCH STORE AN 4 ^ • GIFTS FROM AROUND THE WORLD. • LOCAL KEY WEST ART, GIFTS & CURIOS. PET A SHARK! AT THE AQUARIUM. JOIN US . . . FOR THE SUNSET CELEBRATION. ATT MALLORY April 1987 The Conch Republic News Page 11 Kites Fly in 11th Annual Festival rOOK TO THE SKY -- Heavenly Body Kites will give away 100 kites at the 11th Annual Kite festival from 11 AM to 3 PM on Key West's nathers. Beach, Sunday, May 3. (Photo by Jeffrey v irdenas) FAMILY EVENT -- Prime Minister of tlie Conch Republic and Mayor of Key West, Tom Sawyer, and his son, Steven, participate in the Kite Festival during this island nation's birthday. (Photo by- Jeffrey Cardenas) The skies will again fill with color and movement when hundreds of kites calch Lhe wind in the Heavenly Body Kites' 11th Annual KiLe Festival at Key West's Smathers Beach Sunday, May 3. Spectacular kites will dip and soar through the sky as Greg Lavelle, better known as the Key West Kiteman, and many avid kitefliers from all over the longest kite flying, best kite performance, country participate in this popular event. The first 100 children to arrive at the kite festival will receive free kites donated by Heavenly Body Kites. Fifty dollar gift certificates will be presented to the youngest kiteflier, the oldest kiteflier, best hand-made kite, and the kiteflier coming the greatest distance. This free family event is scheduled from 11 AM to 3 PM. For more information, contact Heavenly Body Kites, 409 Greene Street, Key West, FL, 3304O, or call (305) 296-2535. CLASSIFIEDS WANTED: Help us find the first child born into the Conch Republic after April 23, 12 PM, 1982. Call 294-4440. WANTED: Looking for a few good sailors. Apply Wilhelmina Harvey, Admiral of the Conch Republic Navy, P.O. Box 230, Key West. (Remember the Aloe. Signed, Sister. ) BUM FARTO - CALL HOME. WANT TO PAINT THE TOWN RED? Send color samples to HARC c/o City Hall. WANTED: Permanent residence in Conch Republic. Money once no object. Baby Doc Duvailier, c/o any Swiss Bank. Also has pretty wife with own jewels available for Founders Functions. FOR SALE: Ambassadorships for sale. Also a few votes for Bills of Rights. Call Greater Key West Chamber of Commerce 294-2587. ATTENTION: Flagship Wolf challenges Rachel and Ebenezer. It's Schooner than you think. WANTED: Recruits to defend the Conch Republic. Back to Basics. Training for our army. Call 294-4440. ATTENTION: Race you to Bed or Bed you to Race. FM 107-Miller Lite wheeling 'em in. Call 296-7511. Festival Con't fron pg. 1 day period, and reach from Tallahassee to the southern tip of Florida. Festival Director Michael Whalton stated, "Planning this celebration is always fun. We have created an event with compassionate local roots that also has a great deal of appeal to the visitor." The first observance will be "Conch Day" in Tallahassee, April 22 and 23. Beginning April 25, a variety of events is planned in Key West and the Florida Keys to appeal to many interests — a bed race, boat race, fishing tournament, sea battle, basic training for the militia, constitutional convention, sailing regatta, wreckers party, military ball, kite festival, windsurfing regatta, and blessing of the bicycle fleet. The final activities wind up on Sunday, May 3, at Key West's Smathers Beach. The Conch Republic Celebration is coordinated by the Key West Tourist Development Association with the assistance of the Monroe County Tourist Development Council. For a Conch Republic accommodations guide, call toll free U.S. 1-800-FLA- KEYS. Crime Report Inconvenient Theft The headquarters of the Conch Republic Army was broken into late yesterday and every toilet pedestal was removed from the premises. When investigating this hideous theft, officials said, "We have nothing to go on." Case Solved A rash of bonfires that broke out on Christmas Tree Island last week was the subject of a report to the Conch Republic governors at a special meeting early yesterday. Police officials stated it was, "Just a case of someone arson around." Sunset Uninterrupted A 500 pound female visitor fell at Mallory Square last evening and rocked herself to sleep trying to get up. "If it wasn't for the fact she had pierced ears, we would have missed sunset," one eye witness stated. GEMPALACE The Cruise Ship Jewelers JEWELRY DISCOUNT CENTER 400 FRONT ST. • KEY WEST, FL • U.S.A. 296-GEMS • 296-GOLD 130 Duval Street • Old Town • Key West, FL 33040 Goldentex House 296-GOLD • 296-GEMS Page 12 Solares Hill — April 1987 — Page 39 I. - . Conch Republic Celebration Schedule of Events Saturday April 25 10 AM -- FM 107 Conch Republic Anniversary Bed Race & Parade and Blessing of the Bicycles and Parade . 11 AM — Marathon Offshore Challenge Powerboat Race Thursday April 30 5 PM -- Conch Republic Constitutional Convention and Ambassadors Reception Friday May 1 8:30 AM -- Key West Fishing Tournament Conch Republic Kick- Off 6:00 PM - Battle of the Tall Ships and Arrival of Dignitaries 6:00 PM - Marathon to Key West Regatta - Skippers Meeting .._ 7:00 PM -- Tribute to the Conch W p Q f J l P r P p n n r f Republic "Founding Fathers" H.C4U1C1 AVCpui t 7:30 PM -- Wreckers Party at Pier House Saturday May 2 8:00 AM -- Marathon to Key West Sailboat Race 8:30 AM --Second Day of Conch Republic Fishing Tournament 1:00 PM - Basic Training for the Conch Republic Army 3:00 PM — First Sailboats arrive in Key West 6:00 PM - Party for Marathon to Key West Racers 7:00 PM - Awards Party for Key West - Conch Republic Tournament 9:00 PM - Military Ball at The Reach The Conch Republic News April 1987 in Harbor, Founders SEA BATTLE -- Conch Republic Flagship Schooner Wolf will battle the Rachel and Ebenezer in Key West Harbor, Friday) May 1, at 6 PM. Cannons and water balloons ready. (Photo by Jeffrey Cardenas) KEY WEST -- Only in the Conch Republic can you see the Admiral of the Conch Fleet, Wilhclmina Harvey, Prime Minister Tom Sawyer, and many members of his cabinet arrive at Mallory Dock aboard two of the finest schooners afloat on the seven seas. The official flagship of this island nation, the Schooner Wolf, will sail across the sunset and do ritual battle once more with the Rachel and Ebenezer at 6 PM, Friday, May 1. Each ship will have its own flotilla of smaller vessels complete with pirates. The Battle of the Tall Ships will be a cacophony of cannons, music, swords and water balloons, an event not to be missed at the junction of the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico. Immediately following the tall ship battle the Founding Fathers of the Conch Republic will be honored in Mallory Square. Sunday May 3 11:00 AM - Heavenly Body Kites 10th Annual Kite Festival Noon — Conch Republic Crossing Windsurfing Regatta The fairest weather in North America always prevails in the Conch Republic. Sunny today, gentle Southeasterly breezes. FOUNDING FATHERS -- The Founding Fathers of the Conch Republic «ill be honored in I\J,alIory Square just following the Battle of the Tallships, Friday, May 1. Pictured at last year's Tribute are (left to right) Prime Minister Tom Sawyer, Founder John Magliola, First Prime Minister Dennis Wardiow, Founder Townsend Keiffer (behind Wardlow), Admiral of the Conch Republic Navy Wilhelmina Harvey (and former Mayor of Monroe County), and Founder Ed Swift. (Photo by Jeffrey Cardenas) The Official Publication Of The * CONCH REPUBLIC CELEBRATION April 25-May 3,1987 P.O. Box 230, Key West, FI. 33041 (305) 294-4440 ETIN: BOARD ; A - 4 4 0 ' •••• Piano Building Pinsetting Restringing fiction Regulation ;:• Tuning loston • Key West fjpVe Move Pianos . f. Insured 1900 Southard St. f 2 9 4 - 9 1 4 1 julia pischke Uslam ineedH^work 527 Fleming Si. • Key "West, FL 33040 - (305) ? mo. 9TO .urnurras- SPRING BABY BOOM Available baby Parakeets Lovebirds, Conures and one African Grey Hand Raising is our Specialty 517 Fleming Street Key West • 296-9890 TOEDANCSNGPELICAN 515 DUVAL STREET KEY VE5T, FLORIDA 03040 . 305 294-5408 Ui lUSUAL Tl 1INGS FROM AROUND!* IE WORLD TCYS. GIFTS,, KEY WC3T SOL'VCN.nS, CARDS, ETC Fourteen Karat Jewelry Sales and Service Dale Copeland, Jeweler "Jewelry Repair-While You Wuit" Ufam not save ymt money - we don't deserve vour business. 40 ft. uulk from Duval is worth the difference... jpEaton Street Key West, FL 33041 (305)294-4583 S P E C I A L E V E N T S " 296-6013 ~—--, GARY CENTONZ: IMASTER PLUMBE1 _;L_i. £\==.i_I iuiJiJi 24 Azalea Drive GARY'S PLUMBING Key West. Florida 3304C_ Annual Plant Ramble, Key West Garden Club, Joe Allen Garden Center, So. Roosevelt Blvd., April 16 & 17. All plants for sale; browse and enjoy.' • Conch Republic Celebration begins April 25 through May 3. See special pull-out section in issue. ^ Spici; Beauty Pageant; girls from ages born to 15 and over eligible. Sunday, April feiciana Elementary School. For information e Tree, 294-9209. Irst Annual Radio Auction, Live on JS-FM, 104.7. To benefit Lower Keys of Commerce, Tuesday & Wednesday, |tr14 & 15, 2 PM till 6 PM. To donate call 411 For more info call 872-9403. ?uzzy's Shoe Repair & Tailoring BIAUZING IN FOOTWEAR AND ALTERATION OF CLOTHES R. Walton Owner M/2Petronia Street ween Elizabeth & Simonton Hours 9 AM til ? THE PINK VAC f S 4LES • SUPPLIES ' REPAIRS \ KIRBY • HOOVER - ELECTROLUX EUREKA - PREMIER - RAINBOW 1 WHITES' "WEST. Western Union U.P.S. - Air Express DAWN TREADER 38'Sailing Vessel 294-8557 Personal Charters Hour • Day • Week • Night EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES • Florida Keys Community College Department of Continuing Education: Investigating for Retirement Key West, April 1, 7-10 PM. Emergency Childbirth Key West, April 8, 1-5 PM Mutual Funds Key West, April 8, 7-10 PM Checkbook Accounting Key West, April 9, 7-10 PM Understanding Options Key West, April 15, 7-10 PM info on registration and fees call 296-9081. 111 SIB Your Personal Service Center PRIVATE MAIL BOXES PACKAGING PRINTED NECESSITIES 819 Peacock Plaza (Searstown) Key West. Florida 33040 (305) 294-9952 MONEY ORDERS ADVERTISING SPECIALTIES TONY VILLOCH FREE ESTIMATE * IONAL SHUTTER REPAIR H DEVR!fS TEL. BOAtS Of the Florida Keys "THE INFLATABLE EXPERTS1 1361 Overseas Hwy. • Marathon, Florida 33050 Call • 743-7085 Key Way Discount Beverage 1101 Eaton St. Key West 294-5480 Monday - Saturday 9:30- 7:00' Sunday" 12:00-5:00 Best Prices In Town Packy is here! We'H ship eco \ PS or kaUy BAA. pro Phot 335 Duval St Duval Walk 294-9331 Packy the Shipper Page 40 — April 1987 — Solares Hill GOURMET FOODS TOGO — HEAT & SERVE — Chicken Cordon Bleu Stuffed Pork Chops Marinated Pork (Lechon) Beef or Chicken Ka-Bobs .Marinated Chicken (Fricasse) Meat Balls Stuffed Eggplants or Zucchini Ham Salad Chicken Salad Macaroni & Bean Salad Macaroni & Veggie Salad — Low Cal Foods — PA»R€W«PS MEATS 916 KENNEDY DRIVE e 296-9732 FOR YOUR 1987 PARTIES We make custom Party Platters Strictly homemade fresh salads CALL IN YOUR ORDEK 296-9732 We Do Not Imitate Anyone "We Do It Our Way!" Book Review American Tropic by David A. Kaufelt (Poseidon Press: $17.95, 463 PP-) by Philip Burton This novel is set in Florida and the Caribbean and covers 350 years, 1512- 1961. It tells a powerful and compelling story of generations descended from three oddly assorted young people who were saved from the Inquisition and taken to the New World: a Jew who was still in a catatonic state from seeing his father, mother and sister burned at the stake, an actress who had been accused of witchcraft, and a well-born Spaniard who had been condemned for reading a Spanish translation of the Bible. They meet on their ship of escape, La Nao, one of three commanded by Ponce de Leon, and their common plight draws them together. The action shifts between Cuba and mainland Florida, and is firmly grounded in history. Several well-known figures play vital parts in the narrative, notably the formidable Andrew Jackson and the ambitious Julia Tuttle, and there are fascinating glimpses of the life of Indian tribes. The outstanding strength of the writing is in its delineation of a long gallery of memorable characters, all of them clearly individualized. Chief among them are some exceptionally strong-willed but very attractive women,»starting with the actress, Floridita; it is they who dominate the story.' There are so many inter-related characters that I would have welcomed a genealogical table; it would have to have been given a double-page. Much of the story takes place in Pensacola under its successive occupations by Spain, England, and the United States. Then there is the founding and development of Miami, followed by that of South Beach, which was made necessary because of the strictly guarded anti-semitism of Miami. The Cuban part of the story ends with the Castro revolution. The family names which occur throughout are Levi, from the fair- haired Jewish boy in the original trio, and de Cordoba, from the young hidalgo. It is a usual temptation for the author of such a work as this, which requires a great BEST WISHES ON YOUR 11th ANNIVERSARY IKEYWEST ISLAND! Solares Hill — April 1987 — Page 41 PICK UP YOUR N.Y. TIMES AND WALL ST. JOURNAL HERE DAILY. K S T NEVU - USED - RARE BOOKS FOR READERS & COLLECTORS WE HAVE A LARGE SELECTION OF UNIQUE GREETING CARDS AND POSTCARDS WE'LL ORDER ANY BOOK SPECIAL ORDERS GIVEN SPECIAL ATTENTION THE STORE IN KEY WEST Open 7 Days Mon-Sat 10 AM to 8 PM Sun. 11 AM to 6 PM WE BUY BOOKS. WE ARE ALWAYS INTERESTED IN PURCHASING FINE LIBRARIES 513 Fleming Street * 294-2904 deal of study and research, to be so obsessed by some of his findings that he feeis he must share them with his readers, though they are not vital to the story he is telling. Thus he came upon an Indian legend about three black doves which would come to destroy the Indian world; the general significance of this is obvious but to particularize it seems to me unnecessary and far-fetched. And there's a Foreword on John Cabot's discovery of Florida in 1498 which I could have done without. For me it would have been much more preferable to extend the story to 1971, or even better still, to 1981. I became so taken with the characters that I felt cheated when I had to leave the last two young de Cordobas, Victor and Paloma, as they w'ere starting a new life in Florida, having escaped from Castro's Cuba. (I have just learned that there was originally a Sixth Part, but the author was persuaded to cut it out because the book would have- been too long for commercial purposes.) But there still is a good shape to the novel as it stands, for it begins and ends with an escape from tyranny, the first from the Inquisition and the last from Communist Cuba. To sum up, I was absorbed by this book. There is such variety and vividness in the characters and their actions that I feared the author's imagination and inventiveness would run dry before the end; they didn't. 0Dfries. £aulh.m£.nk 535 Salon e -—-o- -O- -t»- O> «W - V - -V -U- U«. -O-. Solares Hill — April 1987 — Page 43 MAV/i 917 Sinreonton St. 294-3002 ALL THE TIME HUNDREDS OF TITLES AVAILABLE AT 500 RENTAL - VCR RENTALS- FREE MEMBERSHIP - BEST SELECTION BEST PRICE - BEST OF ALL, NO GIMMICKS WE'RE NOT CRAZY, WE'RE REASONABLE 10AM-11 PM FRI.-SAT. 10 AM-MIDNIGHT UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT not knowing that I had been warned that he might do so in the hope of getting an advance payment on a contract he had no intention of fulfilling. For my part, by this time I had boundless admiration for his poetry and longed to work with him. He sat across a large table from me and we engaged in an amiable but searching conversation. At last I asked, "How do you pronounce your name?" After a smiling moment he said, "In Wales they call me 'Dullan,' in London they call me 'Dillan,' but my intimate friends call me 'Shit Face."' That was the beginning of a very pleasant and rewarding friendship. In May of the following year, 1947, I produced and directed his radio program, Return Journey. It was a return to Swansea, his birthplace, in search of the boy and adolescent he had been. I went with him on his search. The centre of the town he had known was no more. It had been wiped out by German bombs. In the program he would list the names of more than fifty stores* etc. which were now only names in his memory. He took me, of course, to the house where he had been born; it was in a row overlooking the town and Swansea Bay. His father had been the English Master in the very good Swansea Grammar School. One of the places I remembered visiting with him was an old secondhand bookstore; it was on the second floor to get to which we had to climb stairs. In the program, in which he was to be his own Narrator, he described himself, in the third person, as being at eighteen "... above medium height. Above medium height for i\ ;6FIsher's gold show a treasure to behold" MEL FISHER'S Treasure ^ Exhibit ;-j & ; ' Authentic Treasure Gift Shop WHAT YOU WILL SEE • Certified 1715 Mounted Silver Coins - S290 each • 18-K Gold Toothpicks, $90 to $95 each AND MORE . . . • Certified Gold Chains from the Margarita • Gold and Silver Coins • Various Artifacts • Musket & Cannon Balls • T-Shirts • Treasure Hunting Book FREE ADMISSION TO THE GIFT SHOP 200 Greene Street, Key West, FL 33040 - (305) 296-9936 Admission: $5 / Children $1 " "$LOO"55SC6UNT on admission to exhibit8 with this coupon Wales, I mean; he's five foot six and a half. Thick blubber lips; snub nose; curly mousebrown hair; one front tooth broken after playing a game called Cats and Dogs, in the Mermaid, Mumbles; speaks rather fancy; truculent; plausible; a bit of a shower- off;, plus-fours and no breakfast, you know; ... a bombastic adolescent provincial Bohemian with a thick-knotted artist's tie made out of his sister's scarf ... a gabbling, ambitious, mock-tough, pretentious young man." Fourteen years later he was clearly recognizable. The payment for the projected program would depend upon its length, and so, of course, would the advance payment. Dylan said it would be at least an hour. I was determined not to be one of the suckers caught by his specious promises; much to his dismay I insisted on a preliminary estimate of" 30 minutes. When the hand- written script finally arrived I timed it to be 25 minutes; it had to be 29 1/2 minutes. The program was broadcast from the Cardiff Studios, and Dylan came to stay with me for some days before we started rehearsals so that we could finalize the script. I had been told that his alcoholic addiction at that time was to "Irish Porter." I got in a case of it. My memory is that he didn't touch it; he was too happily engaged in working on the script. I pointed out that it was too short and that he had omitted two important aspects of his youthful years, girls and books. "All right," he said, "you do one and I'll do the other." He didn't know that I had something of a gift for pastiche; I had written a whole script in the style of J.M. Synge. "Choose," I replied. "Girls, of course," he said. I remembered the secondhand bookstore, and I wrote a scene in which an old preacher, who was looking on a Saturday morning for a sermon for the following day, described the boy who seemed to be using the store as.a library; he was well-known to the preacher and the owner of the store. The live broadcast was a big success and the recording of it was broadcast several times. It was amply reviewed in the press. One of the notices — I think it was in the Spectator — made particular mention of the scene in the bookshop. I understand that Dylan often spoke of this with great amusement; I don't know how he embellished it but I'm sure he did. When Return Journey was published in the volume, Quite Early One Morning — and this was after Dylan's death — I insisted that the scene in the bookstore be omitted. The editor was a good friend of mine, Aneirin Talfan Davies, and he agreed somewhat reluctantly. I think he was disappointed not to include the footnote he had written about the scene. Almost thirty years after the first broadcast of Return Journey, when Paul Ferris was writing his biography of Dylan Thomas, he listened to a recording of the broadcast and followed it with the published text. He was puzzled by the discrepancy; I think it was Aneirin who enlightened him. I felt I owned it to Dylan that the words in his books should be wholly his. Page 44 — April 1987 — Solares Hill the Sanctuary A Healing Centre An Association of Licensed Therapists and practitioners providing the entire spectrum of Massage Therapies, Rebirthing, Reiki & Guided Imagery, Quest presenters, as well as weeklq programs \r\ Yoga and Meditation, create a learning center for personal growth A Hew Age Cafe Fresh Vegetable JuiceBar, • Vegetarian Lasagna, Qarden Salads, Jamaican Chili, Miracle Muffins, Herbal Teas and Zinger Sangria, Three Sisters Pie and a Mtjriad of Vegetarian Delights. Purified Water and Loving Care used in all preparation- A Gallert| April I-April 20 The Serious Side of Richard U/atherw/ax A Photographic Exhibit "Women of All Ages" and HevJ Age Expressionism bq Gloria Taijlor Stevens Keij lA/est-born artist TheSanctuanj A Light in the New Age 530 Simonton St. / Keij West Healing Centre: 294-7104 Cafe: 294-6553, Mon - Sat 12 - 10, Sunday Brunch April Schedule of Events at The Sanctuary A New Age Cafe, Gallery and Healing Centre WEEKLY OPEN CLASSES Mondays - Personal Growth, 7-9 PM, $5.00 Course in Miracles, 6-7 PM, Donation Tuesdays - Beginning Yoga, 7-8 PM, S5.00 Wednesdays - Intermediate Yoga, 7-8 PM, S5.00 Guided Imagery and Meditation, 8:30-9:30 PM, Donation Thursdays - Videos on Spiritual Life, 7:30-9:30 PM, Donation Fridays - Introduction to Rebirthing, 7-8 PM, Donation SPECIAL EVENTS AND WORKSHOPS Friday Nights ~ Live Music ~ 8 PM-10 PM - Free David Lightman, Keith Ricks, Maggie Becker, Matthew Jampol and Others CAFE Featuring Natural, Fresh Foods Daily Monday-Saturday, Noon-10 PM inter arts T H E K E Y C O L L E C T I O N IMPNOYEM W001- W ? 4 56 6 ^?un4A(?r Qff WVAL) Len Chetkin: Looking Ahead by Carol Shaughnessy At the corner of Duval and Eaton Streets, surrounded but not dwarfed by huge rolls of varicolored carpet and stacks of plastic- wrapped mattresses, can be found an authentic Renaissance man. While Len Chetkin refers to himself as being 'on the fringes' of many professions, his varied talents and thirst for new experiences proclaim him much more than a mere dabbler. The tall, whitehaired owner of Key West's Carpet and Casuals, Chetkin has also been a shoe salesman ... pool hustler ... bass player and singer with a trio ... published author ... high-ranking amateur tennis player. He's not content, however, to rest on his laurels. The vibrant energy that contributed to his success in the aforementioned occupations is now taking him in new directions — he's looking ahead toward lecturing on self-esteem, and toward finishing a second book. Chetkin's current book, which hit the stands in December of 1985, is titled Guess sure to take advantage of their TUESDAY PRIME RIB SPECIAL for only \ $9.95. On THURSDAY stop by for their ALL YOU CAN EAT FISH FRY for) $7.95. If a more casual atmosphere is to your liking, The Raw Bar, openj from 11 A.M. - 5 P.M. is the ideal solution. '> Harbour Lights Restaurant is located overlooking the water at Garri- J son Bight Causeway, phone 294-9343 for reservations. Dinner is served j from 6 P.M. - 10:30 P.M. and the Lounge offers Happy Hour from 3 P." " - 6 P.M. Enjoy the "Best of Key West" by experiencing a meal soon the Harbour Lights Restaurant. THE REAL ESTATE CO. OF KEY WEST, INC.! JAMES BLUM & WILLIAM HALPIN - OWNERS Are you bewildered by the maze of real estate firms that offer their services in this area? They all offer what they call total, professional real estate services, but your only concern is simply buying or selling a home and you need help. THE REAL ESTATE CO. OF KEY WEST is a firm you can look to for the kind of help you need. They are located at 1100 Duval St. in Key West, phone 296-0011, and they invite you to call on them at any time. They are familiar with this area so if you are looking for a new home, they can find one that suits you. They'll help you evaluate the condi- tion of the house to be sure you're getting what you're paying for. And they can assist with a financing package to make the purchase affordable to you, despite high interest rates. If you are selling, they'll find you a buyer quickly with a minimum of inconvenience to you. The personnel at The Real Estate Co. of Key West are highly trained in the real estate field but they also pride themsel- ves on simply being of service. We recommend you call upon them for any real estate needs. They can help. Ask for the owners, Jim Blum and Bill Halpin, licensed real estate brokers. You'll be served directly by them, ARNOLD'S TOWING SERVICE RICKY ARNOLD - OWNER Write down these phone numbers and put them in your glove compart- ment: 296-3832 (or 294-6123 nights & weekends) You now have the phone MnTr^ri f ™ l l a 5 t e 5 t a n d m o s t r e l i a b l e towing service in this area, AR- NOLD'S TOWING SERVICE. They offer 24-hour service by radio-dispatched Ught and heavy-duty wreckers capable qf handling most any towing job. They tow anywhere, anytime, and that's a service we all need once in a while. Their employees are courteous and helpful and their charges are reasonable. So put their phone number in your glove compartment so that you re ready for any breakdowns. We cannot recommend a better towing service in the area. LOOE KEY DIVE CENTER AT LOOE REEF RESORT Everyone knows for scuba lessons, equipment and./ supplies, LOOE KEY DIVE CENTER, located on Ramrod/ Key at MM 27.5, phone 872-2215, has an excellent; . reputation among divers for their full line of top quality. diving equipment and for complete SCUBA certification by fully accredited! scuba instructors. By the way, they furnish ALL scuba equipment needed j to become a certified diver. Be sure to ask about their daily dive trips; aboard their 40' dive boat with 2 glass bottom panels. Looe Key is a nation- \ al marine sanctuary for your diving enjoyment. u At the Looe Key Reef Resort visit the Reef Room and The Tiki j , tsar, a restaurant and lounge offering an extensive menu for your dining ;>Jj pleasure. Pam and Joe Glenn thank their many customers and invite resi-# dents and visitors to stop by and see all they have to offer. . • 10 A TOUCH OF GLASS STAINED GLASS OVERLAY OF THE GLADES &.KEYS A TOUCH OF GLASS offers the unique craft of designer glass - /.that is - transforming clear, solid glass into beautiful, functional pieces V. of art - to the Keys community. These professional craftsmen are trained f personally by Paul Salgado, the owner, in the art of stained glass overlay. '< Unlike conventional stained glass, stained glass overlay uses a patented, j fade-resistant film and solid lead which the artist carefully bonds to both \ sides of any fiat glass surface. This makes the piece extremely durable 'and eliminates the problems of leakage, sagging and complicated mainte- nance. In fact, each creation of A Touch Of Glass is FULLY GUARANTEED I for the life of the structure. Designs can be created to complement any decor and are applicable ) to entryways, windows, sliding and shower doors, skylights and mirrors, ^ just to name a few. For added convenience, the designers will come to i^your home so that existing glass does not need to be removed. If non-color- e d designer glass is preferred, A Touch Of Glass also provides the finest ;. beveled, carved and etched glass. We highly suggest, a call or visit to A Touch Of Glass for a free , estimate. They are located in the artistic colony of Cauley Square at 22400 ; Old Dixie Hwy., just S. of Cutler Ridge and N. of Homestead, phone 257- CONNIE'S CONCH CONNECTION CONNIE'S CONCH CONNECTION, located at 3850 N. Roose- velt Blvd. in Key West, phone 296-0512, cordially invites you ' to stop in and browse through their unique selection of gifts. l i Their selection is quite varied, reasonably priced, and includes natural shell and coral jewelry, printed T-shirts, sundries, etc. You'll find the staff friendly and eager to help you select beverage items you'll need for that party you're planning are sold here.S Use their convenient drive-thru as your one-stop shopping place for party j beverages and mixers. If i t is wine you want, ISLAND LIQUORS has an extensive selection^ featuring a full line of domestic, imported, and estate bottled wines and{] are always happy to suggest the suitable drink for the occasion. All of the popular brands of liquors are kept in stock as well your favorite beer or malt liquor. On that rare occasion that what youG want is not in stock, ISLAND LIQUORS will gladly special order it for you.i] It is not an easy job to properly select the right types and brands of liquors1,1 on the market today, but through much study and careful evaluation thisfi store always seems to have just what one wants. The owners, Stacy HarnishV and Bill Spottswood and the manager, Monda Harnish, invite you to stopj b y ^ p o n l , . • _ • • - • - - - - . - - . • - . • . . . • . . • . , . - . • . • . • . • . • . . . , . Page 58 — April 1987 — Solares Hill 1AII0K ORTHOPEDIC FOOTBED SANDALS Haunted by the High Price of European Sandals? / EXPERIENCE OUR QUALITY, ( $2§95 COMFORT & SAVINGS • Visa • MC • Amex OPEN 7 DAYS 605 WHiTEHEAD ST. MoiiSat: 10-5«Sunday: 10-2 294-2627 •mrm •inmniiizeiininja TflPE flPE — For The Selection You Deserve — RECORDS & TAPES* COMPACT DISCS BLANK TAPES •STEREO NEEDLES SPECIAL ORDERS DAILY! 296-6655 924-B KENNEDY DRIVE SHOPPING CENTER (ACROSS FROM ZAYRES) nmniUiuiiijHiiire \ 4J7 Greene St. Across from Captain Tonys 294-2098 NQWKAWmNG BULK GRAIN @mf NUTS At low Prices Roasted • Fr«th Ground C4SHfWS$I.50/V, Wiff T i With Temorri With Thit Ad PEANUT BUTTER .99 ft. With Ihh Ad PISTACHIO NUTS $ j f . 1 0 j i i "URGE SELECTION OMFRTSH GROUND" $ GOURMET COFFEES 20 % Discount Cord For All Locals BUSINESS DIGEST! Ads Sold And Placed Dy Sunset Media^^Scrvicns^Jnc^y NO. 1 SUB STATION -Where do people go in Key West when they want the i rbest subs? They go to NO. 1 SUB STATION, located at j 11103 Key Plaza Shopping Center in Key West, phone 294-7827. The subs! ^prepared by this friendly shop have fresher meats, tangier cheeses, their; J rolls fresher and their fixings crisper than anywhere else. They make a j i specialty of submarine sandwiches, so their subs are exceptional and a \ (nice change of pace from seafood. And their prices are rightl Stop in today. Fine natural foods are available at INSIDEOUT Natural Food & Body- Sjcare, located at 529 Southard (at Simonton) in Key West, phone 296-2393. J QThey are open Mon. - Sat., 10:00 - 6:00 P.M. This natural food store has j 5a selection of pure whole foods (package or bulk), Macrobiotic foods, Herbs j rtand Spices, Natural Vitamins, Skin & Body Products, Newage Music & Medi- j Station tapes, Books and Magazines, as well as their distinctive Crystal Collec- \ Stion! ' i INSIDEOUT, serving Key West for over 7 years, thanks their many \ ^customers. RICJFSCAFE TH1 GROCERS There are many grocery stares in Key West but THE GROCERS, located!) 1220 - 1/2 Simonton St., phone 294-6312, offers selection, service andj jjfair prices. They are open Mon. - Fri. from 9 A.M. - 8 P.M., Sat. 4 SunJ mom. 11 A.M. - 6:30 P.M. No matter what you need - meats, canned goods,^ jidairy products, fruits, picnic supplies or paper products - it's here! Theyp 5alsD have a DELI with meats and cheeses. Deli- meats are available fiomx | i / 2 lb. and up and DELI SANDWICHES are made to order. Bill snd MichaelC Jinvite you to be sure and stop by! vSSSSSSSSSS Outdoor Dining on our Tropical Deck Breakfast, Brunch, and Lunch, 8 AM 'til 2 PM An Island Favorite for the Past 11 Years Bring in this ad for a Free Mimosa with Breakfast or Brunch Closed Wednesday DD • • ] "The place for a friend to stay" 1015 Fleming Street, Key West, Fl 33040 296-6868 Solares Hill — April 1987 — Page 59 Just My Opinion by Gil Ryder - The Land Use Plan (LUP hereafter) is still with us, still imperfect, and still controversial. A Blue Ribbon Panel has been appointed to study and possibly correct the errors and evils inherent in the LUP. Unfortunately, the Blue Ribbon Panel (BRP hereafter) is also imperfect and controversial. An LUP has been mandated by the state. The intent and purpose of such LUP is to protect the environment and, at the same time, let development continue. A very difficult, but not impossible goal. Quite a number of interested and knowledgeable Keys residents believe that the BRP is heavily weighted with members who are in favor of heavy development. Obviously, heavy development (Colossal Condos, De trop Destination resorts, etc.) and protecting the environment are not really compatible activities. There can never really be any compromise between those in favor of heavy development and those in favor of environmental protection. If the BRP is heavily weighted in favor of heavy development, then those BRP members favoring heavy development will ride roughshod over the environmentalist members. Citizens believing in environmental protection won't approve of the roughshod ride, but their disapproval will avail them nothing. After all, the majority of the voters in the last election voted heavily in favor of heavy development when they elected our three new County Commissioners. Some of those voters may argue that they did not vote for heavy development — they f only voted against Republicans. Actually, that's what they thought they were doing when, in fact, although unknowingly, they were voting in favor of heavy development. The greater part of the majority of voters voting against the environment had to know what they were doing. The three newly elected Commissioners were open and above board throughout their campaigns. People are funny. Last November they elected a pro-development Commission. Now, during last February and March, some of those same people are complaining bitterly about "Bed & Breakfast" deals in private homes. That's like voting in favor of nuclear war and then complaining about a kid in the neighborhood firing a cap pistol. Now there's much discussion about how B&B should be handled" in the LUP. We will never have an LUP that pleases everyone until and unless we are ready, willing, and able either to rid ourselves of the hypocritical words from Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, "AH men are created equal," or else live up to the philosophy of that phrase. The phrase also appears in the Declaration of Independence. The Gettysburg Address is one of the finest orations in history and the Declaration of Independence is a fine, rousing patriotic document, but neither of these great writings is either the law of the land or part of our Constitution. These writings are, rather, the stuff that dreams are made of, in the same category as the poem by Emma Lazarus that appears on the Statue of Liberty. . Now, if we could all agree that we are not governed by oratory, poetry, or patriotic declarations, perhaps we could do something sensible with the LUP and/or zoning matters in general. We must agree that while we are all Americans with rather clearly spelled-out Con't on pg. 62 Along the Lower Keys by Bill Becker Just after dawn on the morning of March 27, Bill Grimes was out for his regular bicycle ride from his home in Port Pine Heights, Big Pine's northernmost subdivision. Twelve hours earlier he had been among the standing-room-only crowd when the Monroe County Commission voted 4-1 to approve the Cross Big Pine Key Access Road. Subsequently, by a 5-0 vote, the commission agreed to proceed with a biological assessment of the road's potential impact on the endangered Key Deer. Impact... Key Deer. Along Key Deer Boulevard, Grimes looked to the edge of the road and saw a deer that had just been hit by a vehicle. The doe was still alive, although both rear legs were broken, her pelvis was crushed and vital organs lay on the ground. She was only days away from giving birth to twin fawns. The staff at Bush Animal Clinic worked heroically — performing a caesarian delivery, even attempting heart massage and mouth-to-mouth resuscitation — without success. . Whoever hit the deer must have been going considerably faster than the 30 mph speed limit. They didn't stay around to see the damage. The incident brutally points out the bottom line apparent from the public hearing on the access road: Men and Key Deer are not in a stable coexistence on Big Pine Key. Big Pine Key will continue to grow. Traffic will continue to increase, both on the highway and on all of the island's secondary roads. A building moratorium on Big Pine, triggered by unacceptable levels of traffic on the highway, would be difficult Bill Becker is News Director for US-1 Radio (104.7 FM) to rationalize since the highway traffic will increase at a substantially higher rate regardless of a local moratorium. Port Pine Heights alone has more than four hundred vacant, buildable lots. That means considerably more traffic on Key Deer Boulevard through the heart of the Key Deer Refuge. The 30 mph speed limit is seldom honored and infrequently enforced. A Sheriffs deputy recently issued nearly two dozen speeding tickets in the space of a few hours ~ and those were only for cars going more than 50. Estimates of the Key Deer population size are understandably difficult to establish and compare, as counting techniques have been refined over the years. But most indicators point to a decline in the herd. Once thought to number over 400 in the 1970s, the deer population is now estimated at fewer than 300. Lt. Larry Lawrence of the Florida Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission feels that Key Deer mortality is exceeding the birth rate, and that points to eventual extinction for any species. While the population may be declining, road kills-are up. Forty-seven last year, compared to the average of 41 over the last six years. The majority — 62% -- died on the highway. Where was the biological impact study when FDOT raised the speed limit to 55 mph on the rural stretch of highway on Big Pine ~ from St. Peter's Church to Spanish Harbor Bridge? Key Deer researcher Dr. W.D. Klimstra indicates (in a memo to the BPK Civic Association)"... the necessity for corridors to enhance north/south movement (of the deer)." Yet these corridors across the highway continue to be lost to development with hardly a wimper of protest from those same government agencies who have zealously protested the 25-mph access road. Witness: the new Coca-Cola plant on Big Pine. Just another brick in the wall. Where is the federal government's commitment to this endangered species in terms of educating the resident and transient public in the fragility of this animal's existence? Publishing a pamphlet just won't do it. Buying vacant pineland acreage is fine, but if there are eventually no more deer, what's the difference? It's conceivable that we could have a national Co n't on pg. 62 Page 60 — April 1987 — Solares Hill : Coupon Coupon Coupon Coupon Coupon Coupon Coupon Mermaid Restaurant Mexican and Seafood r [ Free Bean Dip Chips & Salsa i Open7AMTues. -Sun. M.M. 30 1/2 Big Pine Key 872-9821 Coupon Coupon Coupon Coupon Coupon Coupon Coupon '• Raymond Estate Name 'Address Phone I am interested in: "We Love the Lower Keys Mall to: Raymond Real Estate P.O. Box 913 Big Pins Key, FL 33043 HOMES. LAND AND COMMERCIAL PROPERTY SEASONAL RENTALS MM 30.5, Oceanside, P.O Box 913 Biq Pine Key, FL 33043 • 305/872-9116 B & R PATIO SHOP Phone: 872-4011 Direct From Factory P.V.C. & Fiberglass Wicker Furniture OpeniO AM-5 PM W e ShiP AnVwhere 7 D a y s 31 M.M. RUTH LEACH, Pres. Big Pine Key, FL 33043 Edie's Hallmark Shop Candy by Blum's of San Francisco 3 Stained glass and paintings by local artists And always that unusual gift MAJOR CREDIT ^ P CARDS ACCEPTED Open 7 Days . Turn at light to BPK Shopping Center - next to Winn-Dixie Skeeier's MARINE REPAIR INBOARD * OUTBOARD * I/O STAMAS YACHTS MERCRUfSER ATLANTIC DAVITS SALES & SERVICE SERVICE CALLS ARE OUR SPECIALTY BIG PINE KEY (305) 872-9040 M.M. 30.5 GULFSIDE ON U S - 1 - Bit, Unisex Creative Hairstyling For Men and Women L'Oreai • Nexus Erica - Diann - Pat - Rose - Wanda- 14K GOLD JEWELRY WALK-INS WELCOME Monday thru Saturday M.M. 30 • Big Pine Key • 872-2145 17 Marci Roque Greg Hardman Steven L. Bond We Wire Flowers KEY WEST FLORIST BIG PINE KEY Avenue A &1stStreet. No2 Rt. 1 Box 693-B Big Pine Key, FL 33043 Phone: 305 872-4054 SAMANTHA'S NEEDLE WORK & FABRIC & CRAFT SUPPUES NOTIONS ARTSUPPUES 9 AM-4 PM Tuesday-Saturday M.M. 30.5 - Marshall Building - Big Pine Kay 305-872-2235 16 BIG PINE KEY BJ6 PlNL 5JAOPPtNupen late wktidsU I 4* J*t%J*V%3 Big Pine Key O ^ FREE small cheese pizza with purchase § g of any large pizza valued at $10.00 or more "a O COUPON COUPON COUPON COUPON 2 YOUR AD COULD BE HERE 8 i Keys Office 'Equipment SALES • SERVICE : ^ LEASING • SUPPLIES t^aia MON.-FRI. 9AM-.5PM Serving the Florida Keys 872-4117 MARSHALL BLDG. • BIG PINE» MM 30.5 TEC Big Pine Key, Gulf Side, Right Fork at Light 2 miles, follow signs. No. end of Watson Blvd. "A Nice Place . . . if You can Find it." CROOK & CROOK, INC. MARINE EQUIPMENT! BAIT & TACKLE MON-THURS 7 AM-7 PM j MARINE HARDWARE FRI-SAT7 AM-9 PM , DIVING GEAR SUN 7 AM-5 PM 14K GOLD JEWELRY [ VISA ° MASTERCARD 8 7 2 " 2 3 2 4 BIG PINE KEY MM 31 Big Pine Travel Agency TRA VEL IS OUR BUSINESS - OUR ONLY BUSINESS! MM 30 3/4 Corner US-1 and County Road Big Pine Key (Going East, 2nd Left Past Traffic Light) Tel. 872-4440 12 DIP Nf DELI FROZEN YOGURT A NICE PLACE TO EAT MM 30 1/2 BIG PINE KEY, FLORIDA 872-303011:00 am to 10:00 pm Monday thru Saturday Closed Tuesday 11:00 am to 8:00 pm Sunday Under New Management Since July *8 Page 62 — April 1987 — Solares Hill WHAT'S HAPPENING IN THE LOWER KEYS Con'tfrompg.59 equal rights in political and religious matters, we are also a people of widely diverse cultural backgrounds and, thus, not socially equal. Our particular culture and social status depends not on money but, rather, on our family background and lifestyle, and the neighborhood in which we grew up. The Harvard graduate and the grade school drop-out are not likely to become social equals (although it could happened), and they seldom live in the same neighborhood or attend the same house parties: The Harvard Grad is not necessarily a better person than the drop-out. He may actually be worse morally, physically, and spiritually; but the Harvard Grad and the drop-out are still not the same and, in general, would not desire to be in each other's company r- or neighborhood. The Harvard Grad and the drop-out are probably extreme examples of cultural differences. There are many grades or classifications of cultural differences. If we accept that premise, then we must also accept that, in spite of oratory, declarations, and poetry, there are classes of people in America. Once we have accepted as fact that we are not a classless society, we will have simplified the procedure for establishing residential zoning as follows: HRC (High Class Residential) permitted uses: minimum plot one acre; single family homes only; any building dripline must be at least 25 feet from any lot line; no light, either interior or exterior, shall intrude upon neighboring properties or public roadway; no sound above x-number of decibels shall pass beyond lot lines; no building or part thereof shall exceed a height of 35 feet above grade of lot̂ No business of any kind, whether agricultural, manufacturing, piscatorial, educational, literary, or any type of commercial activity shall be conducted either in a building or on the land. No money-making activity of any kind by any family member or guest thereof shall be permitted on the premises, other than activities either by family members, their guests, servants, or contractors engaged in exterior and interior maintenance and/or repairs. HCR would have the strictest zoning, followed in descending order by: Upper Middle Class, Residential (UMCR); Middle Class, Residential (MCR); Lower Middle Class, Residential (LMCR); and, at the bottom of the list, Low Class, Residential and Business (LCRB) -- no building restrictions, no restrictions on activities — openly recognized and honestly admitted to be a slum area. Restrictions would descend on a graduated scale from the highest point (HRC) to the lowest (LCRB). Such zoning would be absolutely fair because it would permit each person or family to -settle in an area with zoning restrictions, or lack of restrictions, most nearly suitable to the recognized culture of the individual or family involved. From utter snob to utter slob, we would all have the opportunity to live among and enjoy the company of those of our own culture. After establishing five (5) different residential zones, it should not be too difficult for the Commissioners to figure out which zone(s) will permit Bed & Breakfast arrangements. Rather obviously, it would not be HCR arid, for sanitary, health, and general safety reasons, it would not be LCRB. That leaves three zones to argue about concerning B&B. Maybe B&B belongs in all three or, possibly, not in any. All the foregoing is a little bit tongue-in- cheek, but not entirely so. Read it over a second time and see if you don't agree that there is at least a germ of common sense buried in all those words. B Solares Hill — April 1987 — Page 63 Con'tfrompg.59 wildlife refuge named after an extinct species. Where is the County's plan for the Big Pine Area of Critical County Concern? Declared specifically in the Land Use Plan to address the Key Deer problem, the ACCC plan was to have been completed in August of last year. To date, there have been two public meetings to discuss it. Dog leash laws are on the books, yet we continue to hear horror stories of deer being killed by dogs. Maybe there needs to be more stringent punishment for leash-law and speeding violations throughout the range of the deer. And now FDOT plans to fund a "corridor study" of Big Pine Key as part of the State's Five-year Transportation Plan. They propose a four-lane Big Pine in 1995, and this study will determine the possibility of putting the two additional lanes to the north or south of the current right-of-way. Sort of like .the north/south separation on Key Largo. No kidding. Anyone who thinks the access road is a big issue fails to put the situation into perspective. We're in for a highly controversial situation that could make Marathon's four-lane hassle look like a backyard stickball argument. My prediction? The new highway on Big Pine will have to be elevated on pilings -- essentially a two-lane bridge^ over the present highway ~ possibly for the full length of the island. The upper level, with on/off ramps, would accommodate two-way high-speed transient traffic. The ground level would once again become a low-speed collector of local traffic ... and a way for the deer to cross more safely. You read it here first. If the human and Key Deer populations are to coexist — with the needs of both accommodated — it will require the total, combined effort of government agencies and local residents. Obstruction is not the answer ... cooperation is. Big city got you down? It's just a short drive through Paradise to the . - Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner - - Specials Every Day - - Cozy Tropical Atmosphere - - Beer, Wine - GOING FISHING? We'll pack your lunch and cook your catch! Open 7 Days, 7 AM-2 PM, 5 PM-10 PM MM 25 745-3446 Summerland Key INC. BENDER- TANIS ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW IN REAL ESTATE. Sales * Rental ® Management MARC HINES.BROKER 605 Simonton St. Offshore • Bottom • Wreck Fishing Scuba & Snorkeling to the Looe Key Sanctuary \ LET THE GALLEY GRILL COOK YOUR CATCH CALL 745-3692 LOCATED AT Summerland Chevron Station MM 25 (Next to Galley Grill) •0 j Cohen Returns for Popular Unity Workshops by Frank Kaiser Alan Cohen, noted author, columnist, and lecturer, will lead two workshops at Unity of the Keys on April 14 and 15 at 7:30 PM. He will be joined by pianist Charley Thweatt. Cohen's best-selling books include The Dragon Doesn't Live Here Anymore, Rising in Love, and The Healing of the Planet Earth. The workshops will focus on self- acceptance, renewing relationships and "finding the courage to follow the path with heart." The work/play/loveshops — different each evening — will include group participation, song, laughter, guided meditation, and "sharing our magnificence." Last year, 80 people attended Cohen's workshop here. Given on a love-offering basis, the workshops will be held at Unity Church, 3424 Duck Avenue, Key West. For information call 296-5888. ATTN: Lap Swimmers The Key West Department of Community Services is announcing additional hours for early morning lap swimmers. Starting April 1 the Community Pool will be open from 8 to 10 AM for lap swimming only. These lap hours will be in effect weekdays, Monday through Friday. The Community Pool is located at 300 Cathrine Street and is open to the public 7 days a week, 10 AM to 6 PM. For more information, phone 292-8248. Job Fair At FKCC Florida Keys Community College will be presenting the annual Job Fair Wednesday, April 8, from 2:00-7:00 PM at the Tennessee Williams Fine Arts Center. Graduates of FKCC, continuing students, and members of the general public are invited to attend. Employers, military representatives, .and Job Service of Florida personnel will be on hand to provide career information, and to interview for job openings on the spot. The FKCC RAVE program staff will be oh hand to provide help in resume development, interview skills, and job search strategies. Linda Underwood of RAVE will provide part-time job opening listings in the area, and information on summer job openings nationwide. For additional information, contact Trish Ginsburg in Student Services at 296-9081, Ext. 263. sppoui pue V13HVA H3NH03) NVM1H10III# N03H3X11H A l l i a HSrDVNVPM XMVXSISSV 3AV SH3OVNVW/SH3NM0 'HXMS 39HVW tf NOQHOO >po4$ ug Mogsj so>|ig sso^g / & S1V1N3H NO XNflODSId 1VOO1 ® ® S3Mia MSN1N3H 3M 3H0xs O aaMMO ATWOOI I9 33H0xs xNawxHvaaa aioAoie aaMMO ATWOOI nnoA dOHS 3HI9 3H1 Page 64 — April 1987 — Solares Hill Footnote by Robert M. Vogel Most of my adult life was in the company of professors so I know that footnotes are usually of more interest to their authors than to anyone else. But footnotes will out and I have one, called to mind by the salvaging of a World War II torpedo-bomber from 35 feet of water a few miles west of Key West in late February. The finders guessed that it had been on a training flight. In 1943 I was a wide-eyed Naval Reserve ensign, whimsically assigned by BuPers as the commanding officer of the YP 433. This dreadnought was really a Gloucester trawler painted gray, given three 20 mm guns and a dozen depth charges, then sent to Miami where we docked at Pier 3, convenient to several bars on Biscayne Boulevard. We were told our purpose was to reassure the civilian population but that effect was unlikely. When we had stopped at Norfolk on our way from New England the sailor who took our lines exclaimed, "You came from Boston in that!" People along the east coast of Florida those days knew a lot about German Submarines; they had seen the burning hulks of torpedoed merchantmen drifting north on the Gulf Stream. If these were to be our prey we were as inadequate in equipment as in personnel and appearance. Anyone could see that we had no radar, and the full truth was that we had no sonar either. As a matter of fact, while we were patrolling one night off Palm Beach an armed freighter, mistaking our silhouette for a U-boat, fired his deck gun at us. We turned on every light and fled. It was the ultimate embarrassment. Fortunately a time for pride would come. It started the day two airplane mechanics 1 We finally got sonar but that is another footnote. unexpectedly reported for temporary duty aboard. Because we never had a chance to feel superior to anyone they raised our spirits immediately when they admitted they were petrified by the idea of going to sea. Next day they delighted us by getting very sick. (After forty-four years I cannot remember whether our reluctant passengers were Army or Navy. I'll say Army and in the rest of this note will be specific about some details as if I had total recall. I shall be sketchy about others; I know nothing about flying. If any reader can be more accurate he can write his own footnote.) Our orders were to proceed to Bimini Harbour. There we would take in tow a shallow draft barge, about 15 by 20, equipped with an outboard motor. Then we would proceed to Nassau to take aboard a fisherman familiar with the waters around Andros Island. (The barge and the fisherman-pilot had been engaged by the intelligence office the Navy maintained in Nassau. The two guys who manned that office, a lieutenant and a warrant officer, without doubt had the best duty in the Armed Services.) So four days after departure from Miami we were off the northeast coast of Andros. The fisherman stood at the bow, his left hand pressing his jaw because the poor fellow had an awful toothache, his right arm pointing aft courses for the helmsman in the pilothouse to take us safely through a maze of monster coral heads. Finally we could go no closer to shore without grounding. We dropped our hook. On the beach a few hundred feet away sat a single, engine, single seat training plane. Its desperate student pilot had put it down expertly on a narrow strip of sand. It was one of eighteen planes manned by eighteen student pilots that had taken off from their training base in mid-Florida on an exercise in instrument flying. The instructions, which were to remain sealed Classical Guitarist Takes Us To The Planets by Kathleen Elgin Matthew Jampol led his audience gently but firmly on a journey from the Renaissance Pavanas to the Planetary Rhythms of Outer Space, and back through Cloudland to the tempo of modern America. Jampol began his intimate concert with the controlled tempo of Mateo Cartasi's "Moderato", the guitar's rich, warm tones fitting the classical reception rooms of the Casa Gato. Slipping gently into the Gaspar Sonz Pavanas, filled with the substance and depth of classical guitar, Jampol then brought us back to now, evoking the sounds of America today with his own composition, Rhapsody. The rather somber mood piece Lagrima by Francesco Tarrega, its dramatic harmonies suspended tantalizingly by Mr. _ Jampol's mastery of the romantic guitar, preceded the launch into outer space with Planetary Rhythms. Written for Penny Mollot and the Key West Dance Theater, it integrates the dance with his music. A few words of commentary, anecdotes and background speeded the count-down to our launch. NASA had supplied Mr. Jampol with tapes of sounds recorded from the Moon, Mars, and Venus, as well as from a stationary satellite. Integrating the taped sounds and musical interpretation, we lifted from final count- down into space with the haunting, ethereal signals from the Moon; Jampol took off from there with his guitar interpretation of those sounds, orbiting toward Mars, meeting the planet, hearing the NASA sounds interwoven with the suspended melodies of his guitar, then silently moving on towards our rendezvous with a stationary satellite, giving us an acute awareness of the reaches of space and the depth of classical guitar music. The second part of his performance was until each plane was aloft, were flawed, When gas ran low and the pilots opened the canopies which had been blackened for the exercise, most of them had no idea where they were. Planes were scattered on several islands in the Bahamas, the Keys, and the southern mainland. It is my memory that no lives were lost although I have always wondered what happened to the fellow who wrote the problem. Three planes had made it back to base but it was widely believed that their pilots had cheated. The mechanics, with the help of our crew, reduced the plane to fuselage, wing, motor, and propellors. They ferried the pieces to the YP where the parts were lifted to the deck with our boom. Our Bahamian guided us out next day and we took him back to Nassau. Next we went to a postcard beach on the west side of North Bimini. No coral heads here, but on the beach an identical airplane, looking jaunty and confident as if it belonged there. Its parts were added to our load, the barge returned to its owner, and we set a course for Miami. When you put an airplane, even a small one, on a boat, even a fair size trawler, there is a lot of airplane and not much boat. The helmsman couldn't see a thing. He steered as directed by a watch officer shouting from atop the wheelhouse. That is the way we came through the jetties at Government Cut, a gray hull piled high with an aeronautical junkyard. Cars screeched to a halt along the causeway to Miami Beach. Some drivers hopped out for a better view of the strange sight. A few snapped pictures, probably courting arrest for photographing military action the Military preferred to keep a military secret. That was the YP 433's proudest day, the only time it ever attracted anyone's attention, but the only person in a position to savor it was that fellow up on the wheelhouse. 2 I did. 1 SoJares Hill — April 1987 — Page 65 filled with "Jampol Only." His Cloudland, with bursts of musical color, seemed to hint of space again, but with more familiar sounds and themes, vibrant with the emotions and feelings of earthly beings. His last, Concerto for Solo Guitar, "in the tradition," had a strong, insistent theme, a denominator of traditional Spanish guitar with free overtones of today. This work showed the heady influence of his surroundings in America and, I believe, a sense of Key West freedom. The combination of exciting composition and innovative technique involved his audience in a most stimulating evening of music. & & MONROE COUNTY HEALTH DEPARTMENT AIDS EDUCATION PROJECT • Counseling • Testing • Information • • Education • Referral • Sonia Green (305) 294-8302 . . . . Dan Geshrick, M.P.H. Virginia Vaupel, Health Educator 901-BDuval Street Women's Workshop Held by Lynn Burton On March 21, a workshop, co- sponsored by the Lower Keys and Key West Branch of the American Association of University Women (AAUW) and the Florida Keys Community College, was held at FKCC. The workshop was organized to share information from a national AAUW conference held last fall. In October, 1985, local AAUW president Lois Krill, vice-president Lou Tarkenton, and member Elizabeth Thorn were awarded travelship money to attend the AAUW workshop "Equity by 2000; Meeting the Nairobi Challenge" held in Washington, DC. This workshop covered the issues that had been addressed during the U.N. Decade for Women, 1975-1985. During the Decade, three international conferences were held, the last in 1985 in Nairobi, Kenya. The travel money was granted through the AAUW National Education Fund, the philanthropic arm of AAUW, with the understanding that the participants would disseminate information to the local community. In opening remarks at the workshop in Key West, Trish Ginsburg, of the RAVE program at FKCC and the coordinator of the workshop, welcomed the participants and thanked them for coming. Lois Krill then played excerpts from tapes of speeches given at the Washington, DC conference. Next, Jane O'Reilly, who covered the Nairobi conference for Time magazine, told of 'two' Nairobi conferences; one of the over 2000 government delegates and the other of the over 13,000 representatives from the varying non-governmental organizations from all over the world. Jeri England, Education Director for NAS, and AAUW member, presented a certificate from AAUW to Trish Ginsburg in recognition of her program of community •«£" ' sum** Rosemary Harold, Key West Bureau Chief, Miami Herald, addresses the woman and Media discussion group: (left to right) Jane O'Reilly, writer and founding Editor of Ms. magazine; Susan Grey, Assistant News Director, WKIZ and WFYN radio; Amy Hernandez, Sales Manager, WKIZ and WFYN radio. awareness for women's work. Pat Bonner, personnel director of the Casa Marina Resort, and Trudi Motta, Director of Marion Glass Domestic Abuse Center, addressed the group briefly. After these opening remarks, the participants divided into four groups to discuss education and employment, health and the family, women and the media, and legislative issues. Each group was led in discussion by a panel of professional women from the Key West area. International concerns of women were discussed, but there was a focus on local problems. After a lunch break, everyone listened as representatives from each group presented a review of what their group had discussed and issues they thought should be addressed locally. An agenda was established stating specific things that the group, who adopted the name of Keys Women for Action, would do. These included getting a representative on the affordable housing committee, holding a news conference on the outcome of the workshop, working to have the commission on the status of women reinstated at the county level and initiated at the city level, making known their support for preferred arrests in family violence cases, and establishing a women's support group, or center, in Key West. To put the agenda into action, a committee consisting of Amy Hernandez, Kathy Snyder, Lois Krill, Lynn Langdale, and headed by Trish Ginsburg was appointed. It's Lily Ball Time -- The Easter Seal Dinner Dance of the Year The Seventeenth Annual Lily Ball will be held this year at the.Casa Marina Hotel on Saturday, May 9, with cocktails at 7 PM, dinner at 8 PM, and dancing to the music of Nolan Drudge at 9 PM. Tickets are $35 each person and reservations for this popular charity gala may be made by sending your check to the Center of Hope, P.O. Box 2097, Key West, Because this is such a popular event early reservations are advised since seating is limited. The reservations deadline is May 1. Tickets will not be mailed; but there will be a guest list at the door. Nolan Drudge and the Sound of Brass is well known to Key Westers who love to dance. It will be a treat to have him back on the island for this special evening. All funds collected from advertising in the Lily Ball program, tickets for the dinner dance and money raised from the annual raffle and auction go to the upkeep of the Center of Hope. Local businesses have been very supportive and are greatly appreciated. The Lily Ball is sponsored each year by the Easter Seal Society of the Florida Keys, which operates the Center of Hope on Junior College Road, Stock Island. It has been serving Monroe County since 1949. It is an out-patient treatment facility providing physical therapy, speech therapy, hearing services, including audiological evaluation and hearing aid selection and repair, in addition to equipment loans. The Center of Hope depends entirely upon local support. Please join us at the Lily Ball and make your contribution to this most worthwhile community service. If you cannot attend, a contribution by check made out to the Center of Hope would be gratefully appreciated. If you have any questions, please call 294-1089. Thank you, Key Westers — we need your support. Page 66 — April 1987 — Solares Hill Two Bones to Pick by V.K. Gibson i. The March issue of Florida Keys Magazine featured an article by Ellen Sugarman on Parvan Bakardjiev, the County's new "Arts Czar." Ms. Sugarman is a fine writer and this piece was neatly executed. But I think it's fairly safe to say this wasn't a bouquet of roses to Parvan. Indeed, I'm informed that copies of the article were sent by his detractors to all County Commissioners, and anyone else who has any clout in determining how local cultural monies are spent. I recall attending the Arts Council meeting held in Marathon, when the Search Committee discussed with their fellows their recommendations for the new Executive Director. A good number of highly qualified applicants had applied for the job. Most were "nuts & bolts" people who would have run the Council in more or less conventional fashion: passing along information, reaching out for funds which would be re-apportioned to county arts groups, building ties with national agencies and fellow councils, etc. Parvan's application rose to the top. The Search Committee was captivated by him. His concept of an International Festival sounded wonderfully exciting, a bold direction for our fledgling Arts Council. At the time I assumed that these "no- nonsense" people had gone to the trouble of checking out Mr. Bakardjiev's credentials from all directions. I still have no reason to doubt this. Now we hear things like this: "Parvan is a wild man; he is obnoxious; a dictator; he's unreliable; his reputation isn't as sterling as people originally thought ..." So forth and so on. When Parvan took over the council I warned that he would have to deal with the "often bizarre" personalities who occupy positions of power in Key West. And, in truth, it seems that Parvan himself is a bit, shall we say, "distinctive." Well, so what? I don't know of any important impressario in the history of the performing arts who was not considered "an offensive, autocratic prima donna." Keep in mind that Parvan has his share of admirers, people who consider him brilliant and charming. It depends upon whom you talk to. I'm indifferent to the problems or virtues of Parvan's personality. He's worked long enough in his business to know whether or not his manner is an asset. If he prefers to hire totally devoted employees who have no opinions of their own, fine. (As long as I don't have to work for him!) As for his reputation for offending important art patrons, we are not Palm Beach and it may be appropriate to startle some of our rich art patrons into thinking on a larger scale. And what about his being the Director of Tennessee Williams Fine Arts Center? If there's a legal conflict something should be done about it. Otherwise, if he's doing a good job, leave him alone. (Actually, if he hired a fleet of industrial helicopters to drop the Theatre into the Gulf it wouldn't bother me.) The big question we have to answer, in fact the only question worth asking, is: "Can he pull off the Festival and build it into a healthy entity which will survive his departure?" And the best way to answer that is to investigate what he's achieved in the past. Presumably that's already been done exhaustively (by the Council Search Committee). I call for their evidence (not Parvan's promo pieces) to be presented publicly and in full. Until that happens charges will continue to be flung back and forth. There is one thing about Paryan.-which— bothers me: his relative lack of involvement with local arts groups and individuals, except when he relates to them as possible resources for his Festival of Continents. I know that he believes the Festival will have a great "coattail" effect on the local art scene. Perhaps he's right. This aspect of Parvan's philosophy reminds me of the "Horse, Birds, and Oats" theory of support. It goes like this: The horse (in this case the Festival) eats the oats; what he doesn't digest passes through the beast's system and is eventually left where the birds) the individual artists, performers, etc.) can find their share. The idea of the Festival sometimes resembles, in my imagination, the great alien spaceship which descended in the movie Strange Encounters, How grandiose, how splendid, that soaring chandelier! Yet, there's something disquieting about having a bejeweled behemoth coming to squat on this tiny island: Celebrities flying in on their Learstars, being whisked from place to place in limousines, with great care taken that no one mixes with the locals — except for the rich and famous locals. Sadly, we do not have a choice between the "old" Key West and the "new." The past is lost. And if we must suffer newcomers, let it be to the likes of a Pavarotti, rather than the predators who are gnawing away at Key West as if it were a pork chop. Class has a certain saving grace when everything else is lost. Perhaps it's a good idea for Parvan to summon one of his superstar friends and put on a gilt-edge, super-deluxe fundraiser for the Festival, something which will knock this place on its ear. I'm keeping the faith, but others would be reassured to see that there's more to Mr. Bakardjiev than wind blowing down the canyons of his ego. n. There's a lively and healthy debate going on about special circumstances at the Key West Art & Historical Society. Recently the Society sent out an announcement of their annual membership meeting, which will be held on Tuesday, April 7, when the membership will elect five new Directors. Included with a list of the nominees were announcements for proposed changes in the by-laws, changes which would add more Board members to the Nominating Committee and give ultimate approval of the slate to the Board. The meaning of these proposed changes is obvious: The Directors are unhappy with the performance of their current Nominating Committee. The slate: Becky Bever; Craig Biondi; Kate Moldawer; Sue Sellers; Peter F. Wanger. (Five nominees for five slots. Nominations will also be accepted from the floor.) On the surface this list sounds excellent, a selection of dedicated community leaders. So what's the problem? During the last two years the Martello Board has shifted the course of the Society toward a greater emphasis upon the historical concerns of the organization. For this reason they combed the nation, looking for a new Executive Director having impeccable credentials as a cultural administrator and with a particularly strong focus upon historical interests. In due course Susan Olsen was chosen over many top applicants and was brought to Key West. She was told: "Make this into a first- rate operation, with history first and social events second." The Board is naturally intent upon adding to its number new members who offer professional and academic expertise in the historical realm. (This is especially important because Sharon Wells' term of service will be over in a year.) It's well- known around town that the Board specifically urged that Park Ranger and historian Cullen Chambers be included on the slate. His skills would be of value (to give only one example) in cataloging the Museum(s) collections. The Board also strongly urged the Nominating Committee to choose • accountant Rose Chibbarro's replacement so that she could begin training this person. This was neglected also. I've heard that Susan Olsen is not especially strong in the arts, and the Committee was astute in its choice of artist Craig Biondi for the slate. He's bright, well-educated, and is a proven hard worker for the cultural well-being of Key West. An excellent choice. The Committee has made a third excellent nomination. That is Kate Moldawer. Her profession as a publicist represents a superior asset which should be honored with a seat on the Board. The other nominees are fine individuals. But the important thing to remember is that they occupy spots on the slate which might have more wisely been allotted to persons with academic and/or professional credentials in the areas of history, business, and the arts. I think the drift is clear here. The Martello Board numbers fifteen, and already has a majority of enthusiastic members with general skills: social/party/fundraising and so forth. What we need now are specific assets. There's a likelihood that historian Cullen Chambers will be a write-in candidate during the April 7th election. Considering the circumstances, it would be hard to think of a more qualified nominee. . I urge members to vote for Craig Biondi, Peter F. Wanger, Cullen Chambers, and Kate Moldawer. The remaining place can be well-filled by either of the two other candidates. When several more Board seats open up in the future we can hope they'll be filled with people from the spheres of Solares Hill — April 1987 — Page 67 business, history, and the arts. The current debate-over jh^upcoiriing election at Art & Historical is anlSxltepfeei the Democratic process at work. Knowing John Tosi, I expect that all opinions will be given open expression on election night. $OMEWH£RE UP THE KEYS ON A BACK ROAD... Opinion by Gil Ryder Everyone should, by now, be aware that there is a move afoot to alter, somewhat drastically, the state sales tax. Part of the proposed change includes taxing services, including the professional, such as medical and hospital costs, legal fees, and real estate transactions arranged by a broker or broker's agent for a fee. That is, in my opinion, an unsound, even immoral proposal. Concerning tax on medical services: who would pay the tax on such services and/or materials in cases covered by Medicare or other insurance programs? Would the patients, who have been paying premiums for insurance and Medicare Part B (yes, the senior citizens do pay for it — every month) and/or private or group insurance pay out of pocket, or would it be part of the medical bill to be paid by the insurance company and/or Medicare. (Many, if not most, senior citizens carry both Medicare Part B and private supplementary policies.) If it is paid by private insurance or Medicare, wouldn't this carry a penalty in the guise of higher premiums? Will the proposed change include taxing over-the-counter and/or prescribed medicines? Would the inclusion of medical services and medicines cause those in tight financial circumstances to postpone seeing the doctor or buying medicine until the medical problem was beyond repair? Will people be dying younger or quicker because of the tax change? Is a 5% increase in the already outrageous medical costs too small to worry about? Just consider how many old people must treat glaucoma every day for the rest of their lives with prescribed eye drops at just a little under $40 per ounce. Is a 5% tax on that a negligible item? Is there any medicine so cheap that a 5% tax will be unimportant? Obviously, the proposed tax on medical costs will add to the problems of those who are already poor and cause those who are not yet poor to join that category pretty quickly when severe and/or lasting illness strikes the family. Why tax legal fees? When you're facing legal problems, you can't ignore them, and most folks can't solve those problems without hiring an attorney — hardly a luxury or a frivolous expenditure. People in need of legal services have enough trouble and financial hardship without paying an additional 5% for the dubious privilege of being locked into a miserable situation. In our present litigious society, the only ones who profit are the lawyers. They won't pay the tax on legal services; you will. Of course, it all evens up a bit when the lawyer or someone in his family needs medical service or when he or she buys a different house. • That brings us to a third ridiculous item — tax on real estate transactions. Housing costs are already as outrageous as medical costs even though malpractice suits are not involved. Why on earth should our government do anything that can make a bad situation worse? Local governments, trying to find ways and means to entice someone to provide affordable housing for our young working people, cannot even find someone to define the term. In spite of that, we have a proposal to create still higher housing costs! Let it be clearly understood that the public is not composed entirely of idiots and that, by and large, most of us are very well aware that the rapid increase in population is bound to be causing an even more rapid increase in cost of government and, therefore, we do understand that we will have to pay more in taxes to support the extra services required by the larger population. The powers that be should really give a great deal more thought to the matter in order to be certain that necessary taxes are raised in a fair and equitable manner, rather than instituting some slapdash procedure that will so obviously seriously damage the financial well being of so many who are already struggling against an economic tide. If necessary, change the 5% to 6%, but don't tax the medical, legal, and real estate services. Medical and housing costs are already exhorbitant, and legal costs not far behind. (Ask a doctor.) If you want to strike a blow for justice, cut out this column and mail it to: Hon. Ron Saunders, State Rep. 516 Southard Street Key West, FL 33040 OR 17 House Office Building Tallahassee, FL 32399 For the price of a postage stamp, you just might make a difference. Page 68 — April 1987 — Solares Hill EMERGENCIES Ambulance 296-2401 or 911 Fire 296-2828 or 911 HELPLINE/Latch Key Program 296-HELP, 294-LINE Missing Children 1-800-342-0821 Poison Control (24 hours) . . . 1-800-282-3171 Police 911 or 294-2511 Rape Victim Advocacy Program 294-5531 x4766 Sheriff 296-2424 EDUCATION Adult Education 294-5212 Child Find (FDLRS) 296-7541 Downtown Center, FKCC 294-8481 Exceptional Student Education 296-754L Florida Keys Community College.-296=9081 Monroe CquRty SchGolsvrTT.. 296-6523 Parenting Skills Classes 296-5911 RECREATION Boy Scouts 745-3987 City of Key West Recreation Dept.. . 294-3721 Girl Scouts 745-3737 Monroe County Public Library. . . . . 294-8488 CHILD ABUSE Child Abuse Office, FKMH.. 294-5531 Child Protective Services, HRS 294-9513' Child Protection Team, FKMH 294-5531 Coalition Against Child Abuse 294-5531 Guardian Ad-Litem 296-7518 Parenting Classes, FKMH 294-5531 Parents Anonymous . . . 296-HELP, 294-LINE Puppet Show 294-5531 Reporting, HRS . . . 1-800-342-9152, 294-1050 Volunteer Child Advocacy Team . . . 294-5531 ily and Health Services NAVY Counseling & Assistance Center 292-2533 Family Advocacy . 296-2461 Navy Alcohol Safety Action Program ...292-2555 Navy Family Service Center 292-3152 Navy Relief 292-2196 DAY CARE See Yellow Pages listing for day nurseries and child care. SOCIAL SERVICES Big Brothers & Big Sisters 294-9891 Commodity-Food Bank 294-8468 r-€orfifriunity Control 294-1059 Developmental Services 294-1059 Domestic Abuse Shelter 296-HELP, 294-LINE Juvenile Alternative Services Program 296-7465 Monroe County Food Bank 294-8468 Monroe County Social Services 294-8468 HEALTH A!-Anon ..% . . . . .296-6616, '••• Ala-Teen Alcoholics Anonymous Alliance for the Mentally 111... Blind Services 1-800 Chemical Dependency CJnit, Delphos Childbirth Educ/Midwifery •',':'., Easter Seal Family Planning Hello Baby Helping Hand Stroke Club Hospice 294-5531 296-6616 296-8654 294-5237 '•342-1828 294-5531 294-4536 294-1089 294-1021 294-5531 294-5531 8812 Improved Pregnancy Outcome 294-1021 LaLeche Foundation 745-2274 LaMaze 294-1068, 294-4218 MARC House - Detox 743-6551 Mental Health Care Center 294-5237 Monroe County Health Dept 294-1021 Narcotics Anonymous 296-7999 Nutrition Program 294-J.Q2J- Ostorny Support Classes - . .^ , , •.;•;:29B-8659 Oyereatere-Anonymous 294-5183 '"Pregnancy Aid & Counseling 296-7337 (lp Front/Drug Information .. 1-800-432-8255 Well Baby/Medicaid Clinic 294-1021 W.I.C. (Women, Infants & Children) 294-1021 MISCELLANEOUS Adoptions 294-9513 Birth Certificates 294-1021 Family Resource Center, FKMH 294-5531 Foster Homes: Information & Licensing 294-9513 . Legal Services 294-4641 x358 National Switchboard for Runaways 1-800-621-4000 Red Cross 296-3651 Salvation Army 294-5611 Single Parent Hotline 1-800-638-9675 Victim Witness Assistance Program 294-5165 Welcome Home Ministries 296-2366 Zonta 296-4357 Vietnam VcLs of Key West.. 294-9802 AIDS Education Projcci 294-8302 Hand Painted Porcelain Pieces and Tiles by See at 916 Kennedy Dr. Key West, R. 305-296-9732 FREE ANTIQUARIAN BOOK SEARCH 1028 TRUMAN AVENUE KEY WEST, FLORIDA 33040 LOUI G. FRANKE, D.D.S. PEWODONTIST (GUM SPECIALIST) FULL TIME IN KEY WEST 3263 Flagler Avenue 296-2074 Wednesday Through Saturday Hours by Appointment #«« &&$:• llyliil ^^^^^m^^^^^^^^gf m^^^^^^^^^^P^^^^^^j^TOi^iS^' T S ^ / R 0 M ADDICTION THE RECOVERY OF TRUST T ' W r e c k e d «=l»ionshipS. Treatment abU"? to <"»<• "> '°ve, to have, to be y o u I o v e 294-553i Ext 3505 ms THE ALCOHOL AND DRUG TREATMENT CENTER Traditional Chinese Medical Therapy THEODORE BERLIN, C.A. Acupuncturist Florida State Certified "815-A.LJpited Street Key West ' - - - , _ 294-0559 Acupuncturels - Recommended by The World Health Organization Asthma, Arthritis, Bronchitis, Bursitis, Diabetes, Gastro-lntestina! Problems, Hypertension (HBP) Low Back Pain, Migraine, Paralysis, Pre-Menstrual Syndrome, Post-Operative Pain, Sinus, Skin Prob- lems (Ezcema, Uticaria, Herpes, Shingles, Ulcers, Etc.) Sciatica, Stroke, Stop Smoking, Drug With- drawal, Weight Loss, Etc. My childhood dream war to live in a home that looked out on the open sea ... . Solares Hill — April 1987 — Page 69 Bargains! For fishermen, swimmers, divers, sunbathers, nature lovers! " ^ '"••• AT MILE MARKER 28 • New canal homes 595,000 & up • Oceanfront homes 5139,000, $219,000 & up • Canal lots $16,500 & up • Oceanfront lots S25.000 to 5148,000 • Island lots & homes - go by boat! • Two business building, w/ 4 acres for your home & saddlehorses 5299,000 good mortgage • 2 small motels side by side, oceanfront & overseas highway frontage $299,000 & 5499,000 BETTY M. BROTHERS REAL ESTATE, INC BETTY M. REIN, LICENSED REAL ESTATE BROKER P.O. BOX 456, U.S. 1 MM. 28, LITTLE TORCH KEY, FL 33043 PHONE 294-0513,745-3815,872-9845,872-2054,872-3676,745-1796,or 294-3594 Write or phone for Free Computer List and Free Maps! In Dinner 5-10:30 PM Take-out Wednesday-Monday Available Serving Fine Mexican Cuisine a Friendly Atmosphere Specializing in Fajitas, Chile Rellenos, Seafood Enchiladas, Beer, Wine A SOUTHWESTERN CAFE 632 OLIVIA STREET (Corner of E l i zabe th St.) TELEPHONE 294-8212 The finest selection of I table and floor lamps, track I lighting, calling fixtures, yard lighting, outdoor fixtures & chandeliers In the Florida Keys. LIGHTING 1025 WHITE ST. 294-7916 EMERGENCY CARE! N E W PRICING SYSTEM . . . SMALL EMERGENCY - SMALL FEE Our charges are based on the emergency care actually provided, rather than on a standard fee. NOW, IF YOU HAVE A SMALL EMERGENCY, YOU WILL ALSO HAVE A SMALLER FEE. The next time a member of your family needs emergency care, from an earache or soar throat to more complex problems . . . call your physician immediately. In the event that you are unable to reach him or her, come directly to our Emergency Department. Your not-for-profit, nationally accredited Community Hospital Florida Keys Memorial Hospital 5900 Junior College Road 294-5531 • PO1NT-OF-SAIE INTERFACE •USER FRIENDLY SOFTWARE • RESTAURANT/HOTEL SYSTEMS/SCANNING • SINGLE & MULTI-USER SYSTEMS • COMPUTER PAPER AND SUPPLIES • LEASING I RENTALS • SERVICE CONTRACTS AVAILABLE VOLPIAN CASH REGISTER and COMPUTER COMPANY KEY WEST TO KEY LARGO 10 SUPPORT SPECIALISTS - MILE MARKER NO. 1 296-6698 At Old Town Medical, the key is caring. Doctors Larry Siegel (M.D.J and John J. Jonikas fD.O.J share a special commitment to both top quality medical care and quality of life for the people of Key West. That's why their clinic provides: • state-of-the-art medi- cal equipment • parking at the rear of the buildingin convenient Old Town • handicap access • first class medical expertise in everything from general medicine to alcohoi and drug dependency treatment to highly specialized kidney disorders • the Key West Kidney Center and • 24 hour on-call ^ availability. Call for an appointment today. CENTEROLD TOWN MEDICAL j % !m 520 Southard St. 296-8593 Page 70 — April 1987.— Solares Hill Mexican Food & Cocktails Open 12-12 Monday-Sunday Jumbo Margaritas Indoor & Outdoor Dining 509 Vz Duval • 294-9215 WATERFRONT CAMPGROUND & TRAILER PARK IN DOWNTOWN KEY WEST ar.w.iwALK rurun IOWNAIIKAUMONS- MOBIU HUML APARIMLNI. I:UIIAW HINIAIS TEN I V.AN MOTOR HUM[ ;. IHAII tH SUES. • FU11 HOOKUPS HOT SHOW!US DUMP STAIION OLD TOWN BICYCLE RtNTALS 223 ELIZABETH ST., (305) 294-5723 RESERVATIONS WELCOME ITALIAN SPECIALTIES . ^ SIDEWA1J< CAFE I SELECTION OF BEER & WINE I Sun:-Sat: 11 AM to 10PM • SunMim, 11 AMto5PM liMmmiHwaaiH'LiiaMimHHia ail W Ttil DD&tfQmE if- AGAIN. . . With this Coupon each individual in your party is entitled to a regular price dinner for only: $8.95 EACH DINNER IVANHOE DUVAL STREET #7. KEY LIME SQUARE ; MISS LEMON'S TEAROOM ESSEX, CT., KEY WEST, FL $ Solares Hill — April 1987 — Page GULP I drank the water Gulped it down -EeJi it guggle inside my mouth TherT^ok^ciown my throat As usual ^^ Into my belly But then down Down further Not the usual way But down through my legs Yes my left leg And out through a hole in my big toe No kidding. A hole in my toe That I got from that gravel Out the hole in that toe Out the hole in my sneaker Making that big puddle on the ground No 1 did notl It happened just the way I said. YOU'LL NEVER BE KING You'll never be king, said the queen to the prince, If you keep on misplacing your crown, And you twirl your scepter just like a baton And you walk through the halls upside down. He'll never be king, said the duke to the earl, For he plays with his toes on the throne, And he wiggles and giggles and rolls in the mud And he likes to go walking alone. Oh I shall be king, said the prince to himself, And my people shall all learn to sing And play in the sand, and walk on their hands And have as much fun as their kingl Page 72 — April 1987 — Soiares Hill A First Time Visit: A New.Englander Drops in on Key West by Arthur S. Harris, Jr. I studied the Hertz map of highways slashing through Miami, then pulled out of the rental car lot near Miami International Airport for the drive to Key West. The clutter of bait and tackle shops, fast-food pit stops, and cinder block restaurants on Route 1 leading down to "the Southernmost City" didn't raise my spirits. Key West, I'd heard, had gone to the dogs — or to pot. It was cutesy and touristy now, gentrified, with T-shirts garishly displayed, cruise ship passengers with point and shoot cameras strolling streets once lurchingly navigated by sailors, gun- runners, and grizzled charter captains leaving Sloppy Joe's Bar after rummy hand wrestling. Greedy land developers with condos and resort hotels had moved in en masse driving much of the indigenous population — especially Bahamians - north. Oh, the disparaging tales I heard up in New England: guest houses "taken over by gays," fern bars replacing salty, nautical hangouts, and literary types forming an incestuous subculture. No wonder the first chapter of Alison Lurie's novel Foreign Affairs appeared in Shenandoah, for weren't its editor and Lurie both snowbirds who spent four months a year in Key West? My cynical view might have been confirmed if, after crossing the last bridge on US Highway 1 and entering the island, I'd followed Route 1 into town — past the Holiday Inn Motel, the Sears complex, muffler shops and name-brand fast food establishments: McDonald's, Pizza Hut, Kentucky Fried Chicken. Some fluky notion (perhaps a sign reading Beach?) caused me to turn left, so I approached Key West gently on its southern edge. South Roosevelt Boulevard skirted the Atlantic. No tacky gift shops or boat rentals separated my Mitsubishi from the surf. (Unaccustomed to air conditioning, I didn't discover my rental car came equipped with "air" until the day before I turned it back in at MIA.) Soon a yellow-sand beach with evenly spaced palm trees appeared ahead. Off shore were wind surfers and, farther out, speedboats towing para gliders. I'd heard Key West's beaches were miniscule, and here was expansive, sun-drenched Smathers Beach with plenty of free parking on both sides of the road plus enough space on the beach to avoid the few boom boxes. (How come one never hears Vivaldi coming out of twin speakers powered by 8 "C" cells?) What's more, this beach of fine grain sand wasn't lined with galvanized-roof drink and eat stands plastered with cigarette poster ads. Instead, RV's with propane gas cylanders were neatly parked along the beachfront. A non-alcoholic banana "daquiri" (milk, banana, ice cream) took care of my thirst, but I'd have to watch calories: my belly blubber was out of place on this beach populated by young, tanned, and thin bodies and a scattering of heavier RV types seated on the plastic webbing of folding aluminum chairs. So far Key West skewed toward the young. Maybe I'd have to change my view of Florida as a state for the bifocal set. . „ , i A low tide splashy "swim through seaweed before casing downtown Key West as the afternoon waned. I had to be' on Mallory Dock at sunset, right? A Key West ritual. But first a drive around town, classical music on my car's FM, a public broadcasting station from Fort Myers. All right, I admit it: there were some tacky parts as I drove back and forth on the rectangular grid of streets getting my bearings: T-shirt emporiums with tasteless displays encroaching onto the sidewalks, a bikini shop with bikini-clad mannequins outside (talk about grossl), as well as upscale boutiques where, I assumed, local dwellings had been razed to make way for sandal shops, Dansk kitchenware, ice cream and frozen yogurt stores. Plenty of downtown kitsch. Grazing vacationers popping in and out of souvenir shops — the sort of tourists one sees on Acapulco's main drag, the Costera, bordered by high-rise hotels. But look: there wasn't a high rise'hotel in sight. Apparently the tallest building in town was the venerable (if 1925 qualifies) Hotel La Concha whose rooftop bar overlooked this coral rock at the end of the road from six stories high. Later I discovered that the one-time landmark had decayed, then closed. Now, $20-million later, it had recently opened as Holiday Inn La Concha Resort Hotel. It was now original Pepto-Bismol pink. Yes, pricey new hotels anchored both ends of Duval Street, but they were stubby affairs, not multi-storied, sun-blocking hotels of Miami Beach or San Juan's Conanco strip, the sort of hotels where, returning from the beach anxious to shower away sea salt, you stand-in the lobby interminably, eyes fixed on lighted numbers above two elevators as they move down in fits and starts from the 28th floor. I'm not naive enough to assume these two relatively new Key West hotels were welcomed by one and all. Surely they replaced local buildings or piers and now blocked views of the sea. But on Mallory Dock that evening, with a guitar player, fishers with their lines in the water, and two women from Sweden who seemed incredulous that only four months previously I had seen daily gifts of flowers placed on the sidewalk spot where Prime Minister Olof Palmo was assassinated in Stockholm (this is the jet age), I did my touristy thing: watched the sun go down on the horizon. In the foreground: sunset cruises with PA systems, bars, music - well, yes, a jarring note but perhaps Key West was now, for better or worse, for richer or poorer, a resort with only vestiges of "the sultry, sinful seaport" where "sailors once raised hell" and gun-runners and shrimpers gave the place its character, as Philip Caputo put it a few days later during a talk at Florida Keys Community College. Ensconced in a sterile motel, air- conditioning sealing me off from noise and humidity, I wondered why in a place with so many guest houses behind picket fences and lush greenery, I had chosen such a hostlery. Was I too concerned with safe parking for my car and its tape deck? That day's Key West Citizen carried half a dozen stories of thefts around town. In retrospect, I might have taken a clue from Mad magazine: What, me worry? My home base is Boston, the car theft capital of the 50 states! Also in next visit department, I'd stay at a white wooden guest house with lots of gingerbread, porches, balconies, and a shaded patio with white metal tables and chairs and maybe a resident Siamese cat or two. Lying in my antiseptic box, looking over a map of Key West, I decided to forego yet another cliche - I would not take the conch train the next day. Instead I'd walk everywhere except to Smathers Beach. * * * * * Breakfast at The Deli - lots of locals with cups of coffee, smoking. Too smoky for me. I left in a hurry to stroll. I peered over a picket fence to see a young couple in cut-offs and T-shirts laying down polyurethane on the pine floor of a white wooden house which had obviously just changed owners again, falling now - at a handsome price, no doubt — into the hands of young rehabbers. Easy to identify with them as we were once young rehabbers. Well, let's be honest: wife Phyllis was the contractor, designer, foreperson; I the one careful not to get sawdust on my glen plaid suit before hitting the corporation in the morning - but that's a story for another time. I was surprised — no, astonished - at the amount of historic preservation, at the many clapboard houses with National Register plaques, block after block, some for sale. Later, matching up real estate transfer prices listed in the daily paper with actual properties, I confirmed that Key West was not for me unless I were to win the Massachusetts megabucks lottery. Then I wouldn't mind having a little cottage in Old Town and flying down, as Harry S. Truman did, to soak up sun, sand, and sea and maybe even mix it up a bit with the local literati. After all, that's what had brought me here: the Fifth Annual Key West Literary Seminar moderated by William Robertson, The Miami Herald's book editor. All my life I've forsaken ballplayers for writers. Oh, I did have a nice chat with Mets first baseman Keith Hernandez in Barbados in December - bright fellow, history buff and 411, but I figure ball players with hefty salaries and product endorsements get along fine without me. - When do we ever see a writer on TV pitching instant coffee, denture cleansers, or an American Express card? No, writers - even the best of them— seem to live from grant to fellowship, a Yaddo session here, an honorarium there. Even a book advance comes With built-in anxiety: a certain number of words must be delivered on time. No, call me your English major type who's always liked hanging around writers -- at bookstore autograph sessions, college appearances, and at seminars such as this l four-day event in Key West where I'd see Thomas McGuane, Joy Williams, Thomas Sanchez, and other Key West luminaries. At seminars and receptions there'd be discussions about Hemingway, DosPassos, Tennessee Williams. Gossip too: Why had Philip Caputo sold his big pink house? And after three books about men — unrelentingly about men — would Caputo respond to the challenge of a Miami Herald writer who doubted he could flesh out a fully- dimensional female character? Would Indian Country, which takes place in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, break the patter of Caputo's tough books? Caputo thinks so. . There is seldom agreement-at such seminars. For everyone who thinks Ernest Hemingway was this century's great American novelist, there are others (Caputo included) who think he was "a blue-ribbon jerk," over-rated. To Caputo a real writer was Joseph Conrad. More disagreement: Caputo felt that environment had little influence on a writer. If so, his logic went, he should have done his best work in a villa overlooking Rome. Instead he wrote "fractured dribble there," doing better in a Beirut hotel room with a view of an air shaft, and with occasional plane strafings overhead. No way was he buying the mystical relationship between locale and writer, the idea that places like Sausalito, Sante Fe, SoHo, or Key West were more conducive to writing than, say, Cedar Rapids. Not so, said Alison Lurie. She feels that a writer changes in a different environment (a sub-theme of her Pulitzer Prize novel Foreign Affairs). A new place gives one another chance at life! "You may even become another person." So the blending of writer and new place resembles the first meeting of any two people, up in the air, full of surprise. A new environment can get into one's writing in. subtle ways, affecting style, viewpoint. These pronouncements came from the stage of the Tennessee Williams Fine Arts Center on Stock Island, but I enjoyed more meeting both these writers informally. What opposites! The slender, pale Lurie with a little hat and strap shoes whom I met over the guacamole the first night, and Caputo, the ex-Marine lieutenant, tan from several days fishing, who writes of a man cutting out the hearts of his two dead comrades (Horn of Africa). Could these two Pulitzer Prize winners possibly enjoy each other's books? Or company? I wish I could have another shot at meeting Alison Lurie for the first time. Afraid I blew it. Like to take it from the top again. You see, I'd been impressed by'two novels which resemble each other: Lurie's Foreign Affairs and Anne Tyler's The Accidental Tourist. In both novels mismatched couples who've nothing in common' somehow make it together: opposites attract, an old theme. Obsessed with this thought, I launched into a little monologue (with Lurie looking over my shoulder, probably thinking - "When's Boatwright coming to my rescue?") only to smart a few days later while re-reading her novel Real People. In it she mentions "the peculiar manner of most people when meeting a writer for the first time." Some "make sensitive and perceptive remarks which they have prepared beforehand." Oh, wow, that hurt. She'd caught me in my Literary Groupie mode, mesmerized by the mere presence of A'Living Author. I was less intimidated by Philip Caputo — funny because I've always gotten along better with women than men, especially tough/heroic/battle-scarred men like Caputo. I'm one of those effete intellectual snobs whom Vice President Agnew railed against, a reader of Barbara Pym and "Anita Brookner novels, although on the basis of A Rumor of War and Horn of Africa, I'd say Caputo is one hell of a fine writer. Although Caputo has obviously soured on Key West, and only seems to come nowadays for the sea and tidal flats and off- shore islands, others pondered what has attracted writers to Key West — and such opposites too: the macho Hemingway and his followers, as well as Tennessee Williams and his. Or that three-piece suiter from Hartford, insurance executive and poet Wallace Stevens who apparently let loose away from New England. Nowadays there were fast-lane folks like Jim Harrison, and Tom McGuane, whose •last novel mightily disappointed me, but then Hemingway had his off days too, 'eh? Recent laudatory reviews of William Wright's Lillian Hellman: The Image, the Woman were displayed in bookstores around town. Wright told Rosemary Harold of The Miami Herald that the "presence of authors draws other authors." But I also like seminar director Lynn Kaufelt's theory that Key West offers writers a second childhood: biking, fishing, swimming, they can "relive the fantasy of being a kid." Kaufelt, whose book Key West Writers and Their Houses (Pineapple Press, Englewood, Florida) I pressed into Caputo's hands so he'd autograph one of the pages devoted to the big Pink House he no longer owns ("To Arthur, Philip Caputo), seemed to be everywhere: now concerned with the sound when soft-voiced Maria V. Cosindas explicated in an unmistakable Boston accent some uneven slides of hers, at the stage pointing to her • watch when a seminar was running late, and at evening receptions at The Reach Hotel or the East Martello Museum seeing, along with Monica Haskell, that things went well. In between sessions I caught rays on Smathers Beach, looked at clever USA Today headlines in newspaper dispensers there (COLD SNAPS USA BACK INTO WINTER), and tried hard not to appear a voyeur when the only topless woman on the beach rubbed white suntan cream onto her firm breasts. I liked the Key West mix of seedy locals, svelte gays in tank tops, retired English professors who wouldn't be caught dead with Less Than Zero or Another Roadside Attraction but were re-reading Edith Wharton, and yes, those good midwestern locksmiths and retired police chiefs with wives whom I chatted up while in line at an RV drink stand, working the conversation around to my own private poll. Good -.- Soiares Hill — Anril 19S7 — Pnae 75 Soiares Hill — April 1987 — Page 73 Republicans, were they? What did they think of Reagan nowadays? Results of the Harris Poll: disillusionment. I had the feeling Reagan couldn't carry Kansas today. Oh, yes, there is a surface gloss to today's Key West. My only acquaintance with the old place is the 1941 WPA A Guide to Key West with its black and white photos and an assertion that "the greater part of the island city water front is occupied by Government property ..." Well, now, isn't that something that's changed for the better through the years? And if a Boston developer and Key West honchos ever get together, more valuable acres may become available to the public -- surely an improvement over the old days when services dominated the island. Oh, there were little disappointments: the smallness of the Red Barn Theatre so I couldn't see Beyond Therapy; the booming bar radio at the Exile, but overall I liked the laid-back atmosphere: nobody hassled me at beach or bar. As I drove the rental car north, the air conditioning blasting away, I knew I'd be back again, next time having morning coffee on a shady guest house patio of crushed stone while reading of snowstorms lashing my native New England. ELIMINATE THE WORRY OF WHAT IS IN YOUR WATER! INSTALL AN N.S.A. BACTERtOSTATiC WATER FILTER TODAY! PINK VAC 1102 WHITE ST. 294-8563 > • » « » • * « > •*•-*--+•••+• •»-»•••••»•••••- I * * * » • • • - » - » • » - • • - • » • • - * - • KEY WEST TOWEL COMPANY (305)294-9695 703 VA DUVAL STREET KEY WEST, FL 33040 Page 74 — April 1987 — Solares Hill 10% Off On Discovery Toys! Invite an Educational Consultant from Discovery Toys into your home. She'll demonstrate quality educational toys, books and games for your friends and family. Call for more information. Lynda Driver 296-7386 or 294-3602 Key West Employment Service A Full Service Company Handling: Restaurant -Hotel/Motel • Clerical Temporary Management Data Processing • Construction Recruitment & National Placement 508 Southard St. 294-6301 Nature's Way: : Apri l ' s Answers by Alice Terry Finally, and fully, spring is here. The days are longer, the light is different, the mangos and avocados are in bloom, and all of nature seems burgeoning with the promise of good things to come. -Now is the time to prune the crotons, hibiscus, and poinsettias. Feed generously after pruning is finished. It is a good time, also, to start cuttings of many plants, so make use of some of the pruned material for that purpose. Ten to twelve inch long poinsettia cuttings may be rooted in sharp builders sand with soluble plant food. Calliandra, the powder-puff shrub, may be air-layered for larger plants in a hurry, or start from cuttings. You may also air-layer crotons, hibiscus, and other shrubs and trees at this time. This is a good time to apply mulch, and one of the most accessible is that of grass clippings that have been allowed to stand long enough to look as though they were dried-out or yellowish. Plants showing brand-new growth will need plant food now. Feed your citrus, ixoras, hibiscus, jasmines, palms, lawns, and pentas. Fertilize the avocados at this time. Bulbs to plant in April in Key West are caladium, tuberose, achimenes, ginger, dahlia, canna, crinum, and zephyranthes. Fertilize your amaryllis after flowering for good blooms next year, and divide and replant the bulbs at this time, if crowded. One resource book advises that pickle juice mixed with water and poured over the foliage of gardenias will take care of any sooty mold that is visible. Let me know if this works well, please. It makes sense, for the gardenias will respond to the acidic properties of the juice. Seeds to plant right now are sweet- alyssum, China-aster, balsam, late cosmos, cypress-vine, gaillardia, globe-amaranth, hollyhock, marigold, morning-glory, torenia and zinnia. How many of these will actually make it through our heated summer weather is problematical, but it is always worth a try, especially for those of us who remember summertimes filled with the sight and fragrance of "northern" flowers. I have noticed an abundance of flowering "bedding" plants in local nurseries: marigolds, petunias, geraniums, and so on. These can provide a "quick-fix" answer for those craving their very own growing remembrances of other times and other places. Two separate sets of friends recently lost their prized palms to the lethal yellowing disease. Alarmed, I contacted our local Florida Agricultural Agent, Janet Bunch, for information on this still-with-us scourge. I learned that the lethal yellowing plague is indeed still present in Key West. It is carried on the mouth of a certain flying insect, and there is really nothing that can be done to totally cure diseased trees. The best that can be hoped for is to put the disease into a state of remission. This can be accomplished through a series of injections. If you are concerned about your palm trees, call the Extension Service for' further information, which it will be happy to supply. The number to call is 296-9796. I am a bit puzzled over the local lack of interest in awards for excellence in the fields of gardening and landscape architecture. There is an emphasis, here on awards for architectural projects involving new design or renovation. However, without appropriate and interesting landscaping these buildings would be like jewels without proper settings. Let us look around and praise, in a public manner, the outstanding garden areas in town. Included should be not only the public grounds, but private areas, large and small, as well. I think that an important use of native plants might be one suitable criterion in judging, but I am not a purist in the matter and favor showy exotics for color and special interest. There are many creative ways to address our local problems in insufficient space, intense summer heat, and the vagaries of the tropical rainfall. The visible plantings facing the streets are but a portent of the more private oases of greenery and color. I have become increasingly aware of the growing interest in singling out, for public recognition, the special, noteworthy gardens of our region. The beginning of this year the Tree Commission initiated an award called The Golden Leaf Award in appreciation for efforts in helping preserve the natural beauty of the island. Call the Tree Commission at City Hall if you think of a good recipient for this award. Let's get started now, and not wait until next year's "season." Please take note that the Key West Botanical Garden, located on Jr. College Road, by the Monroe County Offices on Stock Island, will be formally reopened on the afternoon of April 12. Festivities will take place from 3 to 6 PM. Featured will be words from visiting speakers, refreshments, and tours of the area. The Garden can be reached easily by bus or auto. See you all there. I LAST FLIGHT OUT ORIGINAL HATfDSCREENED DESIGNS 710 DUVAL/OLD TOWTi Best Wishes to Solares Hill on its 11th Anniversary from the Casa Marina Hotel THE CASA MARINA .Marriott*' Key Weat Resort Solares Hill — April 1987 — Page 75 PROFESSIONAL OFFICES AVAILABLE For LEASE A very special property has now become available in Key West, across from the Monroe County Courthouse and the US Post Office, at 501 Whitehead Street (US 1, Mile Marker Zero). This Classic Key West Commercial Structure has just undergone a thorough National Register Certified Historic Rehabilitation. . Leases are available for the 1,250 square foot Upper Suite as well as the 1,150 square foot Ground Level Suite . . .both have 3 offices and reception area. They can be combined, if needed. The rehabilitation included all new plumbing and electric, a HVAC system that exceeds Florida Energy Code Standards, prewiring for TV, Phone and Intercom. Limited parking also available. Quality has been built in . . . the property needs to be seen tobe fully appreciated. Realtor participation is invited and a finder's fee will be paid. The property is owner-managed, and can be viewed by appointment only. Contact Paul Mikolay at (305) 294-5343. hope/tile^ *of Key West, Inc. Key West's Premier Full Service Real Estate Company DONALD C. MATHIEU Licensed Real Estate Broker OPEN SATURDAYS & SUNDAYS (305) 294-3600,296-7766 P.O. BOX 1737 • 400 SIMONTON STREET KEY WEST, FLORIDA 33041 Porsche Design - Jones - Bo He - Mikll - Oakley - Laura Biagiotti - Ted Lapidus - 5 5" 3 3 V) c: MENTION THIS AD & GET $10.00 OFF ALL RAY BAN SUNGLASSES! 30 Styles To Choose From Including ALL Colors of Wayfares 335 Duval Street Now at 2 locations to serve you better 301 Front Street c:o CD - 4 c 3 o co CD CO c: 3 CO Q) CO CO cts Revo - Novelty - Foster Grant - Mountain Shades - Clip-ons - Punk • Serengetti - Page 16 — April 1987 — Solares Hill Roberta S. Fine and Michael L. Browning Announce Their Association in the Law Firm of Browning, Fine & Associates, P.A. With Offices Located at 402 Appelrouth Lane Suite 10 Key West, Florida 33040 Criminal and Commercial Litigation Corporate • Juvenile Law Dissolution of Marriage • Family Law < Real Estate Probate 305-294-0548

1987-04 Solares Hill Newspaper, Vol. 15 No. 4, April 1987

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Florida Keys History Center

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