Thursday, December 13, 2012

The Rotary Club putting up holiday ornaments is just one of many things the local Rotary Club does in the community. Though the lights didn’t go up this year, they will be back as soon as the club works through some issues with Keys Energy, issues coincidentally, that Marathon and other areas don’t have with the Florida Keys Electric Coop, an agency that actually supports community-wide efforts.

The Lower Keys Rotary Club also sponsors the annual July 4 fireworks celebration and has for many years. It also hosts the Super Bowl Sunday party at Watson Field and sponsors a yearly golf tournament, the latter of which pays for scholarships every year for Take Stock in Children students.
Rotary also co-sponsors the annual Kids Bridge Fishing Tournament at Old Wooden Bridge Fish Camp, the annual Light up Lower Keys holiday lighting contest, the annual Paddleboat Pursuit in Pine Channel.

The club’s primary mission is to contribute, through Rotary International toward the world-wide eradication of polio. And we’re almost there. The percentage of the world where vaccines have yet to be administered is in the low single-digits. The local club’s secondary mission is to finance college scholarships for deserving students through the Take Stock in Children program. The club has sponsored more than 40 four-year scholarships in its existence, with a membership that has dwindled over the years to about 30 people.

The club also contributes to local youth programs, sponsors scholarships to SeaCamp, lends a helping hand to those in need.

So we are a lot more than just holiday ornaments on US 1. In fact, for such a small group, we are darned proud of what we give back to this community and the service we perform. Every member of the club can hold their head high as they live the Rotary motto of “Service Before Self.” And you too can be a part of one of the most community-oriented organizations in the Lower Keys. All you need to bring is a willingness to help others and be proud of the effort.
The cost is low, the reward is great. Contact a local Rotary member and become part of one of the greatest organizations that nobody knows anything about in the Lower Keys.

I would like to be a sponsor on the Bahia Honda Web Cam and I have a volunteer diver to clean the lens. I personally enjoy looking at the cam. Please contact me at Century 21 Schwartz Realty, Linda Ward 305-395-1446.

AARP has become nothing more than a glorified insurance broker.

Some very stoned brains are posting on legalization pot. For instance, the person who thinks if it’s legalized that will take the fun out of it, not to mention the crime rate will drop.

Let’s just decriminalize everything. That would sure as hell take the fun out of murder and rape I guess. And the crime rate? Well that would drop to almost zero.

[Name That Cocoon] Hmmmm, maybe a 2 liter of Sprite?

[Name That Cocoon]To the person who posted the cocoon picture – it’s really the chrysalis of a monarch butterfly. The gold rim’s purpose is still a mystery. 

A woman has the last word in any argument. Anything a man says after that is the beginning of a new argument.

[Climate Change not real because polar ice caps on Mars are melting] Someone wanted to know, in eloquent terms,  why that argument was dismissed. My non-eloquent answer is that it was a stupid comparison.

[Biodegradables or Not] The company I work for often drives sheet piling at garbage landfill sites to eventually convert these old “bury our waste in the ground” places to new transfer stations which sort and take the garbage elsewhere, burn plants or wherever. We often have to dig holes because the sheets hit something and won’t go down until the obstacle is removed. Of course when we have to dig, we are digging up decades of old buried garbage. What I’ve observed time and time again is that there’s no difference between using a paper or plastic bag from the grocery store. They’re disintegrated.

The paper bags are sort of an oozy thing, the plastic bags are tiny bits of something–not plastic bags. Same for most of the stuff we all toss out. A couple things that do stand out in my workplace observance of non-biodegradables are Pampers or whatever brand you buy, they are mostly intact, still stinky and are not falling apart.

But by far the least decomposed item in a landfill is a rolled or folded newspaper. I can unroll a buried newspaper from the 1930’s and read every page as if it just came off the press. Just an observation from a digger, I’m not a scientist or politician.

The Bahia Honda webcam is fun, educational and great for home-bounds. It is time for me to vent (thanks Ed).  Most of you don’t even live here but you put your two cents in without even doing your research. You all should wish that pea soup is the only thing you are swimming in down here.

Cats and rats. Oh, some of the old timers remember the rats and the signs on the bulletin boards that said “Got rats, need a cat”. Today most homes have rats, if it be in the attic or the rafters under the house. There are rats everywhere. But we live in a County that protects rats. Almost every house came with a cat.  Cats don’t solve the whole rat problem but you will, one day,  see what its like without them.

People’s Choice Awards. Vote here

[Name That Cocoon] The Monarch Butterfly has a green and gold cocoon.

Council may open new area to boating near Ft. Zach. Link

[No Global Warming] Now, instead of dismissing this with insults, tell me how human use of fossil fuel is causing planets to warm up.  Not just earth is warmer, so please explain. Link

Will the poster who was able to score 4 ounces of high quality weed for only $500 please post the source. Thank you.

Ex-candidates say actions retaliatory. Sheriff’s Sgt. Jake Brady, who ran against sheriff-elect and current Col. Rick Ramsay in the Republican primary last summer, is the target of a new internal affairs investigation and has been transferred away from the Marathon sector after 23 years on the post. Link

[Big Pine Christmas Lights] The Lower Keys Rotary has been putting the lights on the poles for going on two decades. We don’t solicit community support for that. We pay for it, we supply the manpower. Keys Energy does nothing to help except allow us to use the poles and every great once in a while allow us a discount on labor. The club was required by Keys Energy to upgrade the electrical connections to GFI outlets. There had never been an issue with outlets tripping prior to that change. Now, the high humidity will trip the outlet and Keys Energy isn’t willing to use the bucket truck or their people to hit the switch. And the club doesn’t have the manpower to reset the switch every few days on the number of ornaments we have. So for this year, until we can try to work something out with Keys Energy, the ornaments are down.

With a little extra manpower, we may be able to keep up with the demand to reset the switch when necessary, so if you have a good ladder, can climb it, and have some time to monitor the lights, lend a hand.

More to come on the many reasons Rotary exists other than hanging holiday ornaments.

[Bon Voyage] On this date in 1577, Sir Francis Drake left England on a three-year voyage around the world that didn’t end well. While on a Hawaiian vacation the natives killed him once they realized he was not a god as they had thought during his previous visit.

IKC  joke or truth–it is sick.

No words for this one!

Leave it up to a Republican to turn a discussion about plastic bags into a political issue. For heavens sake, folks, get out more often. 

Don’t forget the Lower Keys Lighted Boat Parade Saturday, Dec. 18 Bulletin Board 

[Honor Among Thieves] I am confident that the idea of a possible kickback would never in a million years occur to any local government official angling for some local BP payouts.

[Name That Cocoon] Maybe, I think it’s an old favorite. Do the enclosed pictures look familiar.

[Dogs] I don’t enjoy the people that drive to my island so their dogs can go off leash and poop everywhere. There is a leash law in this County and verbal command does not get it. We do have a dog park!

People who say I’m hard to shop for don’t know where to buy beer.

[Sandy Benefit] Do you think anybody will throw a benefit for the Keys after we get hammered by The Big One?

[BP Money to Pay for Sewers] No Way. The BOCC will buy, sue, defend, litigate then sanitize and sink another useless ship in 300 feet of water.

State to put temporary bounty on pythons. Link

eBay has all kinds police badges for sale.  You can be any kind of cop you want.

“On the highline my thoughts are simple and clear,” says pioneering rock climber, BASE jumper, and wing suit flyer Dean Potter. “Fundamental needs shine through the mental clutter. I focus completely on my breath, my connection with the line, and making it safely to the other side.” This highline was set up on the summit of Cathedra lPeak, in Yosemite National Park, at an elevation of 10,911 feet. Though Potter is untethered, he is in control. “I’ve always been a ‘free soloist.’ Whatever I do, I long to be untethered and free,” notes Potter. “I am completely confident with my ability to catch the line if I were to fall. I’ve practiced this catch move successfully for the past 19 years.”

The world will end in 8 days on December 21, the Winter Solstice. no I’m really starting to get worried!

[Honor Among Thieves] I am confident that the idea of a possible kickback would never in a million years occur to any local government official angling for some local BP payouts.

Don’t have a spoon?

[Legal weed] I wish they would make weed legal so all the smokers would just shut up, go away and get stupid some place not near me.

My Holiday workout plan.

Stop illegal burning. Its sickens people and can start a fire. Stop dumping your garbage, here and there. We do have garbage pick up! When you start in about being a local, it’s a bunch of crap. Most of you are new locals and don’t even know where you are.  The Keys have a wonderful history. And you don’t even care. When someone with knowledge posts a truth, you’re in denial, asleep or brain dead or what? 

Lost a high-tech car key? How to replace it for hundreds less. Link

I believe that is the Kommon Kondum Kookoon, aka the KKK.

[Name That Cocoon] The pupa hanging off flower pot looks like that of the Monarch butterfly.

[Moose’s No Smoking Bingo] If the whole place was smoke free I join. We need another bar on the Key. There is a shortage. But it seems the dinosaurs who run the place are locked in the past. 

Nira Tocco has a beautiful new listing in Doctor’s Arm. Video tour

There is a rather pedantic commenter on this site that loves to use the word sophomoric to belittle other contributors .I would ascertain from the  writing style that this erudite individual thinks highly of himself and is possibly a teacher.  Just a wild sophomoric guess from a mere mortal.

Bahia Honda webcam. I like it and would like to help keep it running. If necessary I could pay to host it, if some techie would handle the actual connections. If anyone in authority wants to keep this running please let me know how I can help. ~Ed at island@bigpinekey.com

Finger foods for Holiday entertaining. Link

AARP is a rip-off. They sell insurance making you think it’s theirs and you’re getting a bargain, but it isn’t and you don’t. They sell your account to United Healthcare. They also make you buy their magazine, getting another sixteen dollars from you, or they won’t sell you insurance. 

[Climate Change] Don’t waste your time trying to prove climate change to deniers. It’s interesting how the term climate change is now being use in place of Global Warming. Haven’t you noticed.

There has always been climate change. I don’t think anyone would dispute that. It gets cold, then it gets warm–climate change. Global Warming–the earth heats up and we all die. There is a difference. The sky is not falling…changing, but not falling. 

[Captain Doom and Gloom]  The concept of “one human family” seems to go beyond altruism at the individual level (a learned, vice inborn trait). It embraced humanity as a wider family/community of which each one of us is a co-equal partner/member. The problem with that notion is that it goes counter to greed, competition and envy, all part and parcel of the upward mobility concept…without which capitalism cannot survive. So it is back to the Eat or Be Eaten, Survival of the Fittest. Those who believe in their pink bubbles are the first to be eaten. It has always been: dog eat dog. The preachers and politicos who would have it otherwise live in a bubble world. Problem is, women believe it with all their hearts and hang onto such notions for dear life. Men who succumb to such notions abandon the community/dog pack to become noble sheep, and that is the start of the end for that species.

“Filling out the form the County sent you to give them a sewer pump easement” So what will the junta do if we do not fill it out, banish us from Keysville, USA? These brain dead morons we are paying to do our bidding better wake up to the fact they work for us! 

A major media conference was held with top Republican advisors to review exactly why they did so poorly in this year’s elections. Amazingly, there was almost 100% consensus as to why they lost.

It boiled down to a certain type of voter we had and many actually named a person. He is well known on the CT as FTR.

This character is a very angry white man who admitted he was angry often spewing attacks at anyone who disagreed with him. He even attacked moderate Republicans as RINOs. It is believed he actually drove Republicans away from voting.

It is well known that minorities shied away from voting for Romney. FTR broke the record for posting about racism. While, he didn’t write anything racist, his obsession with the subject made many Independents wonder.

FTR’s mantra was “my way or the highway”, uncompromising on any issue. This was exactly what the vast majority of voters hated about Congress.

FTR bragged about his belief in the Tea Party. Obviously, they hurt the Republicans.

Their real concern about FTR now is his continuing excessive anger at a time when Republicans are attempting to move in a new direction. Their conclusion is, if FTR would just shut up, maybe the party could expand its base.

FTR at the end of the Coconut Telegraph is like having a turdwich for dessert.

From the Right

 (Ed: FTR is indisposed and will be back with us in a few days)

NO NAME KEY

I attended some of the afternoon session of yesterday’s county commission meeting in Marathon, because settlement of the No Name Key declaratory judgment lawsuit the county had filed was on the printed agenda.

During citizen comments, I reminded Commissioners Neugent, Carruthers and Murphy, that in that very same room I had told them not to file the dec action, which the pro-electrification homeowners on NNK wanted the county to file for them at the expense of all county taxpayers. I reminded those three commissioners that I had told them to sit tight and let the pro-electrification homeowners hire a lawyer and spend their money, if that was what they wanted to do, to file a dec action, and if that happened, then the county could defend it. I reminded those three commissioners that when they voted to file the dec action, the pro-electrification NNK homeowners were thrilled and cheered loudly, and Commissioner Carruthers told them that their cheering might be pre-mature, they might not like the outcome of the dec action. I reminded those three commissioners that after some time had passed, the pro-electrification NNK homeowners had come to rue the county filing the dec action, perhaps because anti-electrification NNK homeowner Alica Putney had intervened in the dec action and now the case could not be dismissed by the county without Alicia’s okay. I told all five commissioners that after Brad and Beth (Vickry) bought their home on NNK, they took Alicia out to dinner and wined and dined her, and then told her what they planned to do on NNK, and Alicia told them over her dead body. I told the three commissioners that this entire mess (the lawsuit) was their doing, and Alicia would fight until her last breath, they could count on it.

By the time is was all said and done, it looked to me that what at least three commissioners, George Neugent, David Rice and Danny Kohlage, want to see happen is the county amends its comprehensive plan to allow the county to permit NNK homeowners to tie into the Keys Energy Services lines already installed on NNK without the county’s permission, after the pro-electrification NNK homeowners paid Keys Energy to run the lines out there and agreed to pay Keys for the cost of removing the lines and poles if the county won the dec action, and also to pay Keys all of its legal costs in that event. By the time it was all said and done, it looked to me that Alicia Putney had only just begun to fight, but what that is about I ain’t saying and will let Alicia say it when she is ready to say it. 

What I will say is, I agree with Commissioner Sylvia Murphy. Everyone living on NNK moved out there knowing the island was totally off the grid: no public power, water or sewerage. Their homes were built using building permits issued by the county for homes that were designed to be off the grid entirely. They have yet to produce one shred of evidence that they ever were told by the county that they would have public power, water or sewerage out there. Yet they holler about discrimination, equal protection, yaddy yaddy yah. I asked some of the pro-electrfication NNKer’s lawyer, Bart Smith, whom I know somewhat, when they came to him about the case, did he mention to them contributory negligence, assumption of the risk, walking out in front of a bus on US 1, which they saw coming, and then hollering about being run over by the bus? Bart said he did not mention any of that to them. Maybe they didn’t teach any of that in the law school Bart attended. Or maybe he wanted them to pay him a nice fee and he maybe rightly figured they would not pay him a nice fee if he told them they had screwed themselves and had nobody to blame for it but themselves, which Commissioner Murphy made crystal clear in her pointed comments yesterday, while Commissioner Neugent, now serving as County Mayor, made it crystal clear yesterday that he is all the way in the pro-electrification NNK homeowners’ pockets. He got so out of hand on point, that I jumped him from the audience, and he told the deputy on duty to evict me from the meeting if I did that again. I was reminded of when County Mayor Mario DiGennaro had the deputy on duty evict Kay Thacker for giving him and the rest of the commissioners a thumbs down motion on something they decided, after he had told her to shut up. I wanted to give George a somewhat different hand sign yesterday, but I didn’t because I wanted to see how it would play out for NNK.

To make the brew even more interesting, No Name Key and Big Pine Key are in a county sub-district all by their lonesome, and development on one key impacts development rights on the other key. It was my understanding before yesterday, that if one new building permit was issued on No Name Key, that would extinguish seven building permits on Big Pine Key. The reason for that, No Name Key is more environmentally sensitive than Big Pine Key, and building permits on No Name Key cost a lot more environmental credits than building permits on Big Pine, where vacant lot owners stand in a long line, sometimes for many years, waiting on a building permit for a new home. Alicia Putney told me yesterday, if one new home is built on No Name Key, that building permit will extinguish somewhere between 5-10 building permits on Big Pine Key, depending on the size of the lots involved. And if four new home building permits are issued on No Name Key, that will stop any new home building permits from being issued on Big Pine for 20 years. I said, if that happened, George Neugent would not be able to go to his county commissioner’s office on Big Pine Key. He would be shot on sight by Big Pine Key people.

George did not look well, yesterday. When I arrived at the meeting, I had to look at him several times on the dais, before I was sure it was him. I found myself thinking last night that maybe he should have retired after his last term ended.