Published Tuesdays and Fridays. Letters to the editor with pictures. Since 0202.
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[Shhh!] Feds quietly reconsider protected status for endangered Florida Key deer. “Down-listing the Key deer to threatened is beyond absurd,” said Tom Wilmers, a deer biologist who retired from the National Key Deer Refuge after nearly 30 years. “Their habitat is horrible. They’ve been hit by a hurricane. There was the horrible situation with those screwworms. And now you’re going to talk about down-listing them? What is better than it was 25 years ago? Nothing.” Link |
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| [Artist Should Be Farmers] What makes me laugh, are artists. They get fools to spend millions on stupid useless statues or other forms of “art” when they could get a real job growing food to feed the starving over breeders on this rock. Who’s right? You answer that one. |
 [Dead Vessels] From Sanctuary Advisory Committee minutes regarding removing vessels from Irma:
• Local private contractors are now more involved in the recovery of vessels. Other contractors were involved in the initial removal. |
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| [Restaurant Review] I went to Boondocks Tuesday evening February 6th. Although the food is pretty good, I’ve never been a big fan because they are definitely a tourist trap. They use all the familiar gimmicks to drain your wallet; i.e., on Sunday they offer 50 cent wings all day. Great, except then they soak you on pitchers of beer. On Tuesday they charged me $5.75 for a draft of Amber Bock. Amber Bock is not an expensive craft beer. It is grocery store beer, a little over a dollar a bottle. I’m used to paying up to $4 for a cheap beer in the Keys, but nearly $6 for Amber Bock is thievery. Be careful if/when if you visit, they will bait you with a fairly priced item then gouge you on the back end. Don’t assume prices will be in the normal range. ~deanhguy@hotmail.com |
Get your Valentine roses at Winn Dixie. Link |
| The Blue Paper is the only investigative journalism in the Keys, and the only “newspaper” (online only) that tells it like the evidence demonstrates. For example, they had terrific coverage of the death in custody of tourist Charles Eimers, including two videos of the incident and a video of the deposition of a KW police officer where he directly denied what showed clearly on the videos. Because they investigate and report in detail, they don’t, for example, have FKAA paid advertising like two other news sources that immediately come to mind.
The Blue Paper will reluctantly shut down on March 1st unless they can gather enough paid subscribers, since they can’t keep working at a loss. If they shut down, the only news you will read will be press releases from the deceivers, with some reporter’s name shown as author. I used Paypal to make a monthly donation because I did not like the suggested donation site. The last issue is excellent, by the way. Check it out and please subscribe at http://thebluepaper.com/ |
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| [Flood Lights] My neighbor who just rents the place out has installed about twelve 100 watt equivalent lights around his house. As we in the Keys know, if lights are there, the tenants will turn them on. They light up the inside of my house like daylight. I even spoke with him about it but got no response-and his electrician was no help- he installed bulbs too big for the fixtures making matters worse. I may put a couple of 500 watt floods aimed at his bedroom window and have them triggered when lights are on around his place. This is getting ridiculous. Light pollution is becoming a major concern, and my neighbor is adding to it big time. Check out darksky.org |
Where do astronauts hang out? |
| Starman driving Tesla in space after successful Heavy Falcon Launch SpaceX. Video |
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| Managing stress after a hurricane. Link |
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| [Boat Damage] Hurricane Irma damaged or destroyed 50,000 vessels with about $500,000,000 in recreational boat damage. |
 [Childcare] United Way of the Florida Keys received a $23,100 grant from the Ocean Reef Community Foundation for their ‘Success by 6’ program to fund childcare subsidies for low-income preschool students in the Key Largo area.
The average cost for full-time childcare in the Keys is over $600 per month. The “Success by 6” program, funded by the Ocean Reef Community Foundation, allows the United Way of the Florida Keys to offset this cost through a partnership with the Early Learning Coalition by providing childcare stipends for families who cannot afford to pay full rates for quality childcare. |
| Wow, I got gas today for $1.69. Not that kind, I ate a taco! |
[Toilet Seats] Is it true that all public rest rooms now have to remove the toilet seat so there is no contest about leaving it up or down in unisex heads? |
| Dry Tortugas National Park Artists in Residence – deadline! $2000 + Events + Home on an Island + etc. Link |
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| [What To Do When Leaving] Sometimes I wonder if my mind is still there. Like when the electric power goes off in the Keys and pops back on again, all my electronics seem to turn on by themselves. If I leave for vacation or happen to be a snowbird, I might wind up with an electric bill that would scare me! Best is to turn off all the unimportant breakers, empty the fridge, and freezer, and just keep a night light burning. Any other suggestions? |
They’re back! The Man o’ War is to be avoided when in or near the water. They may wash up on the beaches and are still capable of giving the unwary person a very, very nasty sting. I have heard the sting described as being like whipped with a red hot wire, agonizing and lasts for a long time. Be careful out there. |
| The Konk News posts some hard-ass stuff on our President. I wonder if they are commies and love Obama? |
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| [Boating Safety Class] The US Coast Guard Auxiliary, Flotilla 13-03, Big Pine Key, is offering a Boating Skills and Seamanship course February 27, 2018 thru March 15, 2018. It is a three week program Tue-Thu, Mon-Wed, Mon-Thu from 7:00 to 9:30 P.M. It will be held at the Big Pine Key United Methodist Church (Fellowship Hall), 280 Key Deer Blvd, Big Pine Key.
The cost of the program is $55 per person (materials included) or $80 for two people with shared materials. Topics include: Which Boat is for You, Required Boat Equipment, Operator Responsibilities, Rules of the Road, Handling Your Boat, Highway Signs, Orientation to Nautical Charts, Weather, A Look at the Coast Guard Auxiliary, Navigational Tools & Techniques, Navigation Exercise, Trailering, Boating Safety, Your Boat’s Radio, Florida Law, Hands on Knot Tying, and a guest speaker from the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. For more information, visit our web site and select “Boating Safety Classes” |
His accident, though painful, was really funny. |
| [Diesel Emissions] There is an interesting documentary about the Volkswagen diesel emission scandal on Netflix called “Dirty Money” that tells all and how they tried to fool the EPA and the rest of the world. You can’t really make this stuff up and have it believable, but VW did it for real and so did other European car makers. |
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| Let us never negotiate out of fear; but let us never fear to negotiate. ~John F. Kennedy |
If you’re praying for deer you’re not reading your bible correctly. |
| It’s hard to stay mad at George W. Bush even though he started WWIII. Bush is just a likeable god ol’ boy who just didn’t know any better. |
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| Does the Konk News only show pictures of the ugly people in Key West or are there no good looking humans walking around there? |
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| [“Cracked Corn Kills Deer”] Will it do Chickens too? |
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