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Key West THE NEWSPAPER December 11, 2009 Page www.kwtn.com
KEY WEST THE NEWSPAPER • DECEMBER 11, 2009
GOOD NEWS
Will the DOE Revoke the
License of the Teacher Who Local Students
Can Spend Next
Struck a KWHS Student?
SUPERINTENDENT HAS REFERRED Summer Abroad
by Rhonda
Linseman-Saunders
The file of the Key West
High School (KWHS) teacher
who struck a student in the
mouth last month has been sent
to the Department of Education
(DOE) State Licensing Board in
Tallahassee for review.
Monroe County School
District (MCSD) Superintendent Joe Burke said it typically
takes several weeks for the DOE
to review and make a decision.
The DOE could revoke Julia
Parmer’s license to teach in
Florida.
Superintendent Burke
said there are a range of offenses
THE PARMER CASE TO THE
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION TO
DETERMINE IF THE TEACHER’S
CERTIFICATION WILL BE PULLED
that obligate the district to send
for licensure review. “We would
always do so for this kind of
offense,” he said.
Parmer was suspended
for 10 days after she swung a
sports bag containing sporting
equipment at a student’s face,
striking him in the mouth and
splitting open his lip. KWHS
Principal Welsh told parents at
a SAC meeting that the teacher
lost her temper and swung the
bag at the student, ruling out
rumors that the attack was
accidental. Welsh announced
the suspension but made no
mention of DOE involvement
at that time.
The 10-day suspension
without pay and the referral to
the state for review was reportedly the maximum allowable
See TEACHER, page 5
Experiment in International Living (EIL) is accepting Monroe County’s sophomores and juniors for its summer 2010 programs. Students will participate in EIL’s widely acclaimed cross
cultural educational program that provides up to five weeks in
the summer with host families in 27 different countries in Europe,
Asia, Oceana, Africa and Central and South America.
“We have partnered with Monroe County for the last three
years and sent 41 student ambassadors abroad. These student
ambassadors are wildly enthusiastic about the value of this unique
experience,” said John Meislin, national director of EIL. Meislin
will be in Monroe county high schools next week to speak with
interested students and their parents.
“Now we want to expand and we hope to send up to 30
students abroad next summer. All students who will be completing their sophomore or junior years next May are eligible to
apply,” Meislin added.
See TRAVEL, page 8
PAGE ONE COMMENTARY
Commissioners Craft “Trick” Sightseeing Law
and Then Vote “No” and Then Vote “Yes”
WHATEVER HAPPENED TO CONCEPT
OF “LEVEL PLAYING FIELD”?
by Dennis Reeves Cooper
Last month, we published
a page one commentary asking
this question about the new
sightseeing ordinance currently
being crafted: Will the mayor
and city commissioners try to
be fair to potential competitors
of Historic Tours of America
(HTA)— or will they concoct
a “trick” ordinance designed
to continue to protect the monopoly position HTA has had
here for decades?
You might think that there
are eight million reasons that
our city officials might want to
bend over backwards to try to
be fair. If you have been paying
any attention at all, you know
that, earlier this year, we the
taxpayers had to pay out $8
million to settle a 13-year-old
lawsuit that was filed after corrupt city officials illegally forced
Duck Tours Seafari out of the
sightseeing business.
The Ducks operation, officials said, violated the city’s exclusive sightseeing agreement
with HTA. HTA is the parent
company of the Conch Tour
Trains and Old Town Trolleys.
See TROLLEYS, page 6
THE ISLAND’S OLDEST INDEPENDENT WEEKLY NEWSPAPER
www.kwtn.com
Key West THE NEWSPAPER December 11, 2009 Page BITCHIN’ PARADISE
Paris, je t’aime
by Kimberley Denney
I love Paris every moment. Every moment of the
year. I love Paris. Why oh why
do I love Paris? (Cole Porter)
Oh why oh why don’t I
love Paris? My first visit was
three or four years ago, on the
heels of a bad breakup. I impulsively decided to book a trip in
two weeks time, in February, by
myself. I was probably the only
person who didn’t sleep on that
overnight flight. I wrote in my
journal, watched movies, drank
glasses and glasses (ok, plastic
cups) of red wine, and kept
asking myself, “What the hell
are you doing? You are going
to Paris by yourself! You don’t
know anyone and haven’t stud-
ied the language for at least 15
years! What are you thinking?”
There was such a thrill in those
thoughts. I was going to Paris
by myself on a whim!
That trip changed everything for me. I made friends. I
got by on my very, very basic
French. Someone stopped me on
the Champs Elysees and asked
me for directions in French.
Did I actually look French? A
handsome young man invited
me on a day trip to Montmartre. One rainy night I sat in a
brasserie long after closing,
sharing a bottle of wine alone
with my server, who couldn’t
speak English and who could
barely understand my French.
It was just so...so...Parisian and
so simple and so beyond my
expectations. That’s how I fell
in love with Paris.
Since then every trip to
Paris is memorable for its own
reasons. Every trip is different.
On one visit, at dinner, I met
some Parisians who rolled
cigarettes for me and we sang
Edith Piaf songs together. On
another, I met some Parisians
at dinner who invited me to a
club with them. We had bottle
service, which in Paris consists
of a bottle of vodka and a pitcher
of caramel. It was so good! We
danced and had a great time.
But at the end of the evening
one of the guys disappeared.
We couldn’t leave. I found out
he was off buying drugs. Holy
lord, what are the drug laws in
a foreign country? All I could
think about was the movie
Brokedown Palace. I had no
idea where I was, and couldn’t
catch a cab for blocks and blocks
and blocks. And blocks. But still,
I made it home. I survived a
precarious situation in a foreign
country!
My visit last month was
different for many reasons. It
was my longest. I traveled with
my sister, who had never been
there. We rented an apartment.
And my new French tutor tried
as best she could to prepare me
See KIMBERLEY, page 4
www.kwtn.com
news briefs
Animal Expo at Dog
Park Sunday
Key West’s popular dog park at Higgs Beach (opposite the
White Street Pier) will be the venue for the FKSPCA’s Fourth
Annual Animal Expo on Sunday, December 13th, from 1:00 until
4:00 p.m. Admission is free. Dogs will have their chance to shine
in a pet parade with prizes for best costume, best trick, best kisser
and more, judged by local celebrities. Santa will be on hand for
photographs with the pooches and the FKSPCA will have some
great holiday gift ideas, too, plus a bake sale with yummy treats
for people and their four-legged friends.
Other participants include local veterinarians, pet stores,
wildlife rescue, pet sitters and more. Refreshments will be available, including hot dogs (of course!) provided by Centennial
Bank, drinks from Pepsi-Cola, and popcorn.
Holiday Variety Show
The People’s Theater of Key West will hold it’s Holiday
Variety Show on Saturday, December 12th in The Crystal Room
at LaTeDa. Doors open at 6p.m. Local celebrities and actors
will be singing, dancing and performing to raise money for
the grass-roots theater company. Tickets are only $10 and are
available in advance by calling (305) 294-6813. Please visit their
website at www.peoplestheaterofkeywest.com to find out more
about the group.
Music Room Students
Will Rock San Carlos
Get in the Holiday Spirit! For a fun filled family event come
join Robin Kaplan’s Music Room Students this Sunday, Dec.13th
at 6:30 p.m. at the San Carlos Institute for their annual Free
Christmas Concert. “Rockin Holiday Rock” celebrate’s the fusion
of rock musical style’s from Pop Rock to Electronica featuring
musical arrangements of Mannheim Steamroller, Trans-Siberian
Orchestra, U-2, Mariah Carey, Madonnaand more. Accompanying the 40 talented students are local favorites Skipper Kripitz
and Joe Dallas. This is a great family event at the San Carlos
Institute, 516 Duval St. Key West. Happy Holidays!
Key West THE NEWSPAPER December 11, 2009 Page www.kwtn.com
Key West THE NEWSPAPER December 11, 2009 Page Kimberley
FROM page 1
to not sound like an American
idiot. A week before takeoff I
discovered my friend Carla, a
fellow Key Wester, would be in
Paris at the same time.
Carla and I thought it
would be a smashing idea to
do a Hemingway bar tour of
Paris. I’m still trying to piece
together that tour by way of
our text messages, but this
much we can put together for
sure: we started out at a nonHemingway haunt. We had a
few glasses of vin rouge, and vin
blanc, and mapped our way to
the first stop on the tour, Brasserie Lipp, and then we moved
on to Les Deux Magots.
Les Deux Magots is one
of the most well-known former
watering holes of Hemingway,
as well as other members of the
so-called Lost Generation, such
as Gertrude Stein, Simone de
Bovoir, Jean-Paul Sartre, Oscar
Wilde and Pablo Picasso. We
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had un verre de vin there. As
we sat outside, and in what
could only be considered foreshadowing of events to come,
we watched as a boy of about
six fell off his Razor scooter and
onto his face. Of course it was
not funny until the boy got up
and scooted away, and because
the parents walking in front of
him were oblivious to the fall,
which made it funnier. That,
and the wine.
So off we trot to the brass
ring of our Hemingway tour:
Bar Hemingway at the Ritz Hotel. The drinks are 30 euro each
(approximately $45), but what
did we care? We are Key Westers doing a proper Hemingway
pilgrimage in Paris! Under our
feet are cobblestone streets that
date back centuries. Our eyes
are glued to divine window
dressings in stores such as Dior
and LaCroix. As we fix our
gazes forward (or so I think),
out of the corner of my eye I
see a woman to my left falling
in Bionic Man slow motion
onto that gorgeous cobblestone
street. Falling flat. Flat on her
face. Carla? Carla? She’s not
moving. All I can think of is,
how in the hell am I going to
explain this to the ambulance
driver, or in the emergency
room? I don’t even know what
French 911 is! Thank God I have
my tutor’s cellphone number...
or do I? Carla? Carla?
In true French fashion,
two men run across the street,
grab Carla by the elbows, and
gently lift her to an upright position. I notice one of these men
only has one good arm, as the
other is obviously injured and
affixed by velcro to his midsection. I swoon, Carla shakes it
off, we look at each other, burst
out laughing, she makes me
promise not to mention this to
anyone, and we keep laughing until we reach our French
Mecca: the Ritz Paris, and the
Hemingway Bar. Which is really, really small.
We are greeted with cucumber water, marcona almonds, and homemade potato
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Key West’s Largest Exotic Night Club
Key West THE NEWSPAPER December 11, 2009 Page www.kwtn.com
Kimberley
SAO Reviewing Parmer Case
FROM page 4
chips. I can’t tell you what our
first round was, except mine
was some kind of martini within
a martini. The drinks were beautiful, delicious, and we swore
we’d have just one round, except Carla only received her ice
pack towards the end of those
first drinks (did I mention the
fist-sized bruise developing on
her right cheek?) so we had to
stay for another. I do remember
that next I ordered a French 75.
It was one of the best drinks I’ve
ever had in my life (and if your
bar makes one, please, and I
mean PLEASE email me).
Time’s a wastin’ and we
have to get to Harry’s New
York Bar. Only there do we realize that perhaps the server at
Bar Hemingway only charged
us for one round of drinks?
Did they like us, pity us, or
just forget to add that second
round to the tab? We didn’t care,
because we had a surly New
York bartender, hot dogs, and
champagne placed in front of
us. Best hot dogs I think either
of us has ever tasted. And the
champagne? Never a better
combination.
This should have wrapped
up our evening with a nice pretty bow, but instead our last stop
was Willi’s Wine Bar, which has
no connection to Hemingway
whatsoever. Except maybe for
the fact that perhaps we already
had more than enough to drink
to call it a night. But hey, when in
Paris...suck up all the wine you
can, because it will never taste
better until you return.
Au revoir, Paris. Until
next year.
kimberley@kwtn.com
FROM page 1
consequence.
“My understanding is that
Dr. Burke is bound by collective
bargaining/union procedures
and this is the process he had to
follow before he can bring it to
the board,” school board member Steve Pribramsky said.
Policy change is also under way and will be brought before the school board in January.
Psychological testing after such
an incident may be part of that
change. Pribramsky said that in
discussion with Dr. Burke, he
learned that this is the policy in
the Miami-Dade school district
before a teacher is returned to
the classroom, pending review
by the DOE.
“Miami-Dade has a list of
psychiatrists that both management and the union agree upon
using. We are going to get the
list and see if Ms. Parmer will
agree to an evaluation at our
expense,” Pribramsky said. “I
think it is some modicum of
progress. It will take some time
working with the MCSD policy
and Dr. Burke but I really feel
we can get this right— it is too
important not to.”
Superintendent Burke
said a recommendation regarding fitness to return review is
likely. Parmer ’s suspension
without pay concludes today,
Friday, December 11.
The Key West Police
Department has reportedly
referred the case to the State
Attorney’s Office to determine
if criminal charges will be filed
against Parmer.
www.kwtn.com
Key West THE NEWSPAPER December 11, 2009 Page New Trolley Ordinance: What
Happened to the Idea of a
Level Playing Field?
FROM page 1
After a decade-long legal
battle, the Third District Court
of Appeal ruled that Key West’s
exclusive franchise agreement
with HTA did, indeed, give that
company a monopoly and, therefore, violated the state anti-trust
law. And in 2005, a jury found
that city officials had, indeed,
illegally forced the Ducks out
of business and that the city had
to pay the Ducks’ stockholders
$13.5 million in damages.
City officials appealed but,
then, last March, settled out of
court and agreed to pay the
Ducks’ stockholders $8 million
in damages.
Two months later, last
May, representatives of Bostonbased CityView Trolleys sent the
mayor and city commissioners
letters announcing their plans
to start a sightseeing operation
here to compete with HTA. It just
so happens that HTA competes
with CityView in Boston.
Well, the first thing that
happened after CityView asked
for a license to go into business
here was— nothing! City offi-
cials simply ignored CityView’s
request. And when the mayor
and commissioners finally got
around to considering a new
sightseeing ordinance— six
months after CityView’s initial
request— the intent of the commission seemed to be to craft a
law that would guarantee the
failure of any new sightseeing
operation here— in essence, perpetuating HTA’s monopoly.
Here are just of few of the
more egregious provisions of
the new sightseeing ordinance
introduced for first reading at
the city commission meeting
last week. For the record, HTA
officials say they have no problem with competition— as long
as the competitors do not get a
more favorable deal than their
deal with the city.
See if you think the commission was trying to provide a
level playing field for CityView
and HTA:
• The new law requires
that City view pay $5000 for an
application fee. HTA has never
paid an application fee.
• HTA has always received
a 20-year franchise agreement.
The new law gives CityView
only a 5-year agreement.
• The franchise agreement
being offered to CityView gives
the city manager the right to limit
the number of tours CityView
can run in a day. He has no authority to regulate the number
of tours HTA can run.
• The franchise agreement
being offered to CityView gives
the city manager the authority
to approve CityView’s sightseeing routes and where CityView
trolleys can stop. He has no
such authority concerning HTA
routes and stops.
• The franchise agreement
being offered to CityView has
nine provisions under which
that company can be held in
default. The HTA agreement has
no such provisions.
• CityView is being required to provide a plan to minimize noise and traffic. HTA has
never been required to provide
such a plan.
• Under the new law,
the city manager can restrict
CityView from certain streets.
He has no such authority over
HTA.
• CityView is required to
cap the number of vehicles. HTA
has no such restriction.
• CityView is required to
submit an annual audit of books.
HTA is not,
CONTINUED on next page
Key West THE NEWSPAPER December 11, 2009 Page www.kwtn.com
Weekley Voted No and Then
He Voted Yes
FROM previous page
• Both CityView and HTA
are required to pay the city a
percentage of their income. But
if CityView pays late, the new
law requires that company to
pay the highest late fee allowed
by law. HTA does not have to
pay late fees.
• Just in case the friendly
relationship with the city doesn’t
work out, the franchise agreement being offered to CityView
requires officials of that company
to waive a trial by jury. No such
waiver is required for HTA.
But all this might be moot.
After the first reading of the new
law last week, the city commission voted to reject it by a vote
of 4-3. Voting yes was Mayor
Craig Cates and Commissioners Terry Johnston and Barry
Gibson. Commissioner Jimmy
Weekley initially voted no, but
immediately after that vote, he
asked for another vote— and this
time he voted yes, clearing the
way for another reading and vote
at a special commission meeting
scheduled for December 15. We
asked Weekley this week why he
initially voted no and then voted
yes on the second vote.
“I wanted to give CityView
a chance for a second reading,”
he said.
We have no idea what
might happen if the city commission votes down the proposed
ordinance on second reading,
or if CityView officials opt not
to accept the final version of
the franchise agreement offered
to them.
Maybe the CityView people with just give up and go
home. Or maybe there will be a
lawsuit to get the courts involved
again.
All we are doing here is
reporting to you the game that
some commissioners seem to
be playing. You can decide if
you think they are being fair or
not— or if they are just setting
up the city (and the taxpayers)
for another big-money payout
in the future.
Stay tuned.
www.kwtn.com
Key West THE NEWSPAPER December 11, 2009 Page Program Offers Opportunities for
Local High Schoolers to Travel
Abroad Next Summer
FROM previous page 1
Since inception, 25 students from Key West High
School participated, Coral
Shores sent 12, and 4 have gone
from Marathon High School.
Depending on the destination,
each participating student pays
an all inclusive fee ranging from
$4,000 to $8,000. “Some financial aid is available and grants
are also available for students
participating in the Take Stock
in Children program. Local organizations or individuals are
also encouraged to sponsor students by making contributions
to the Monroe County Education Foundation,” according
to Jim Hall, Foundation board
member. “Sponsors should
contact me.”
Australia, Spain, Costa
Rica, Italy, Morocco, France,
Thailand, New Zealand, South
Africa, Brazil, China, Mexico,
Navajo Nation, Botswana,
Chile, Ecuador, Japan, Turkey,
Belize, and Poland are among
the destinations chosen by
Monroe County students the
last three years.
EIL began this program 77
years ago and has sent 70,000
students abroad. Students may
focus on various interests such
as community service, language
studies, ecology, travel, arts and
many others choices.
The National Director of
the EIL program, John Meislin,
will be in the Keys to meet with
interested parents and students
next week. He will be available
at Key West High School on
Dec. 15, Marathon High Dec.
16, and Coral Shores on Dec.
17. “We expect to accept about
1000 students from all over
the U.S. for our summer 2009
program,” he said.
For further information,
students, parents and contributors may contact Jim Hall
at 305 293 1546 or Jim.Hall@
KeysSchools.com
www.kwtn.com
letters
Violence at
KWHS
I have just read your
commentary regarding the Key
West High School teacher striking the student. My husband
and I were appalled when we
first read about it last week.
We are astounded by the stand
that Superintendent Burke has
taken. Sounds like this teacher
might have an out of control
temper. Amazing that the superintendent has not heard of
it before.
Teaching is not a profession to go into with such a
problem. If the teachers and
the staff of the schools do not
protect the children then who
do we have to be the compassionate watch dog. No matter
what prompted this flare of
anger, it is inexcusable. It does
not take a rocket scientist to
know that this situation could
happen again.
We are still in shock over
the badly handled cruelty of
a child last year where the
teacher’s aide is still around
children— scarey truth. How
could that have been allowed
to happen? It seems the schools
are set up for the protection of
the workers, administraters and
teachers and the students must
fend for themselves. What kind
of message is this sending to
the children who know about
this—that children have no
rights. Florida public schools
don’t seem to have much going
for them by the sound of Welsh’s
comments.
Thanks for your reporting— please follow up— if they
are allowed to get away with
this— it will never cease.
Hurray for Pribramsky
and Griffiths— May they keep
their focus clear with full speed
ahead.
Rita Folger
Key West
Key West THE NEWSPAPER December 11, 2009 Page www.kwtn.com
Key West THE NEWSPAPER December 11, 2009 Page 10
rhonda
It’s Holiday Time,
Practically
by Rhonda Linseman-Saunders
In my holiday stocking, I hope to get Osteo BiFlex tablets. Hey, that’s a treat— name brand pills cost
twice as much as generic glucosamine/chondtroitin
supplements. I’m only 34 and my knees sound crunchy
when I bend my legs. There’s just no other way to
describe it. And I hope the pills fix it because I want
to start tap dancing again. Or maybe the tap dancing,
itself, will fix my crunchy knees.
I’d also like some Tums in my stocking. The
smoothie kind, cocoa & creme. I’d like a reusable
purse-size antacid container in my stocking and a
big tub of refills wrapped under the tree.
Also under the tree, I’d be thrilled to find a bag
of coffee. Oh, and a twelve-pack of paper towels. I go
through paper towels like, well, like the mother in a
household of seven.
I can be a little too practical. This becomes more
apparent to me around the holidays when I get the
bad kind of anxious about gifts— both giving and
getting. It’s not that I don’t appreciate people who
are kind enough to put me on their shopping lists;
it’s that I hate the idea of people wasting money on
crap I won’t use and don’t have room for.
It’s the thought that counts. I get that. But it’s
not the thought that’s crappy; it’s the wasteful crap
that’s crappy.
If they’re not going to get me something I can
use and if they flatly refuse to scratch me off the list,
I’d rather gift-givers donate to the Holiday Diaper
Drive (see page 25) or give ten bucks to the American
Cancer Society, or to a local teacher’s classroom fund,
and tell me about it. The thought will thrill me.
Speaking of teachers, they are maxed out on
trinkets, too. When I taught, I especially appreciated
sincere notes, or $5 gift certificates for places like
Kmart, where I’d use them for classroom stuff anyway.
Oh, and wine. I got a bottle of wine from a student,
once. That was perfectly uncrappy.
I have only a couple trinket exceptions. Trinkets
from my own kids are one of them. These are precious,
and painfully hard to come by as children move on to
the Land of Me, populated by teenagers focused on
gettin’ theirs and little else. It’s normal, I know. But
that doesn’t make it less heartbreaking when it happens to your own. It makes me cherish things like the
cinnamon scented ornament on the tree, painstakingly
shaped and hand-painted by my teenage first born
when he was in second grade.
When I unpack that ornament every year, I
take a big whiff and get a vision of him in his puffy
little snowsuit (two sizes too big— it’s only practical
to get more than one winter out of a suit), his blond
mop of hair pushed back by faux fur earmuffs, gloves
crusted with frozen snot, making his way to the snow
fort he’d been working on with the neighbor kid on
a snow day.
I guess those holiday whiffing memories will
be a little different for my final, southernmost baby.
But every bit as precious.
Another trinket exception I have is the gaudy
glass crucifix I got from my grandmother the year
before she died. Nobody will ever be more practical
than she was— that’s why I rest easy knowing she
got a steal on it, probably at Family Dollar.
I don’t quite know what to do with the crucifix,
but I know I want it around. It must confuse guests
who know damned well I don’t practice a religion. But
it represents something I do practice— remembering
where I came from.
Rhonda@kwtn.com
WHAT’S YOUR OPINION?
Send Us a Letter to the Editor
TheBluePaper@kwtn.com
rick boettger
The Final Word
My last column gave you Gravitas Whiplash
as I careened from the trivial joy of Parrothead lanyard-bashing to the super-scary scenario of nuclear
holocaust. This week we’ll settle down into a more
comfortable middle ground, which is actually a dangerous place for a writer to tread. Conch Tour trains
and parking meters on the beach—ohmygawd, what
remains to be said? Haven’t they been beaten into the
ground by now?
Well, ha-ha, now is when I go for Master Columnist status by trying to add enough pizazz to worn-out
topics that my readers will somehow find themselves
dragged along, wondering in awe at the end, “How
did wily old Rick get me to spend ten minutes of my
life on that hash??”
Here’s how: I LOVE THE CONCH TOUR
TRAINS THAT DRIVE BY MY HOUSE 20 TIMES A
DAY. They are so marvelously perfect that the only way
they could conceivably be improved is with good old
free-enterprise competition. That is, I’D BE HAPPY TO
HAVE EVEN MORE NEW TOUR VEHICLES DRIVE
BY MY HOUSE EVERY DAY.
As far as I have read, no one has made quite that
argument before. First, I have yet to find someone
who is truly bonkers over the soft spiel we repeatedly hear. That is, at first blush when it comes up, it
seems we’re socially expected to kvetch about it at
See BOETTGER page 24
Key West
Key
T H E
N E W S P A P E R
Key West The Newspaper is published every
Friday, all year 'round, 52 weeks a year.
Free distribution weekly: 9,000
News tips and letters to the editor are welcome.
Editorial and advertising office:
422 Fleming Street
Mail: P.O. Box 567, Key West FL 33041
Phone: (305) 292-2108. Fax: (305) 292-1882.
E-mail: TheBluePaper@kwtn.com
Website: kwtn.com
Subscriptions: $40 for six months
Editor/Publisher Dennis Reeves Cooper, Ph.D.
Associate Editor Rhonda Linseman-Saunders
Photography Richard Watherwax
Art Director Art Winstanley
Contributors Michael Barnes, Hal O’Boyle,
Barbara Bowers,Kimberley Denney,
Harry Skevington, Rick Boettger,
Ken Davis
Key West THE NEWSPAPER December 11, 2009 Page 11
www.kwtn.com
ENTERTAINMENT • EATING & DRINKING • NIGHTLIFE • ATTRACTIONS • EVENTS • ARTS • SHOPPING • MAP
Fiona Molloy
at Finnegan’s
Suenalo Heads Big
Music Weekend at Parrot
FIONA MOLLOY will be
entertaining at Finnegan’s
Wake tonight and tomorrow
night, Friday and Saturday,
December 11-12.
Chad Bradford at
Cowboy Bill’s
THE MICHAEL DIXON BAND, top photo, kicks off the weekend at
the Green Parrot with a “soundcheck” at 5:30 this afternoon, Friday,
December 11. Then, SUENALO, center photo, the big 10-piece AfroLatin-funk-jam band from Miami takes over with shows on both Friday and Saturday nughts, starting at 10. On Sunday aftrnoon,JIMMY
SWEETWATER the amazing washboard-harmonica virtuoso, does the
CHAD BRADFORD and the Damn Band are back at Cowboy Sunday afternoon “soundcheck” at 5:30.
Bill’s tonight and tomorrow night, Friday and Saturday, December 11-12, starting at 10.
www.kwtn.com
Key West THE NEWSPAPER December 11, 2009 Page 12
more entertainment
more entertainment
Killer Dudes
at Big ‘Uns
THE KILLER DUDES are at Big ‘Uns, 218 Duval Street, right in
the middle of all the action. Showtimes: 8 ‘til 11:30, Wednesday
through Saturday.
George Victory
at Schooner Wharf
GEORGE VICTORY and the
Observant Lion Band will be
at the Schooner Wharf Bar
tonight and tomorrow night,
Friday and Saturday, December 11-12, 7 til’ midnight.
Wednesdays at the
BottleCap Lounge
Are Kool and Jazzy
Bassist Lonnie Jacobson leads the “Kool and Jazzy
Band at the BottleCap Lounge on Wednesdays, starting
at 8:30. Vocalist Peter Diamond, guitarist Tim McAlpine
and Matt Watson on drums.
www.kwtn.com
more entertainment
A Weekend of Music at the
Hogfish Bar & Grill
TERRY CASSIDY, left, will be at the Hogfish Bar & Grill on Stock Island tonight, Friday, December
11. BO FODOR, center photo, moves in on Saturday night. And BARRY CUDA rolls his piano in
on Sunday night. Showtime every night is 6 ‘til 10.
Key West THE NEWSPAPER December 11, 2009 Page 13
Key West THE NEWSPAPER December 11, 2009 Page 14
www.kwtn.com
www.kwtn.com
Key West THE NEWSPAPER December 11, 2009 Page 15
www.kwtn.com
Key West THE NEWSPAPER December 11, 2009 Page 16
MUSIC on the rock
Live Music on the Island
KEY WEST IS FAMOUS FOR ITS LIVE
MUSIC. HERE’S A LISTING OF SOME
OF THE TOP MUSIC VENUES IN THE
SOUTHERNMOST CITY
EDITOR’S NOTE: Music
schedules are subject to change
without notice. To be included
in this listing, venues may email
music schedules to entertainment@kwtn.com by end of day
Monday.
Big Uns Sports Bar Right
in the middle of the action at 218
and Jazzy” music on Wednesdays,
featuring crooner Peter Diamond
and friends, starting at 8:30
The Bull One of Duval
Street’s last open-air bars— actually
three bars: The Bull on the first floor,
the Whistle on the second floor
Duval Street.The Killer Dudes and the clothing-optional Garden
playWednesday through Saturday of Eden on the roof. Live music all
day and late into the night.
8 ‘til 11:30.
BottleCap Lounge One
of the oldest and most famous
watering holes on the island. A
block off Duval at 1128 Simonton
Street. Raven is back on Thursday
nights, starting at 10. Live “Kool
THE BULL
CAPT. TONY’S SALOON
Capt. Tony’s Saloon A
Key West landmark at 428 Greene
Street, just off Duval. Since the
1850s, the building has been an ice
house, a telegraph station, a cigar
factory, a bordello and a series of
CONTINUED on next page
Key West THE NEWSPAPER December 11, 2009 Page 17
www.kwtn.com
Behind Bars
RICHARD WATHERWAX
BARTENDER OF
THE WEEK
ED is a bartender at Rick’s.
His specialty drink is a Key
Lime Colada.
Tell us who your favorite
drink server is:
TheBluePaper@kwtn.com
music on the rock
FROM previous page
bars, including the original Sloppy
Joe’s. This is where Hemingway
drank 1933-37. The legendary
Capt. Tony Tarrecino, a charterboat
captain and a former gunrunner,
bought the place in 1958. Tony was
the Mayor of Key West 1989-1991.
Live music every day from noon.
The Carl Peachey Band is the house
band and they’re on stage Friday
and Saturday, starting at 9. Sunday
night: Gary Hempsey from 8:30.
Cowboy Bill’s Honky
Tonk Saloon Duval Street’s only
Country Bar. 610 Duval Street. Live
music. Ladies drink free Wednesdays 9-11. Sports venue, too. Come
BIKINI BULL RIDING
AT COWBOY BILL’S
ride the bull. Music this weekend:
Chad Bradford and the Damn Band
will be on the main stage tonight
and tomorrow night, Friday and
Saturday, December 11-12, starting at 10.
El Alamo is the newest live
music venue on the island. Located
on Charles Street, just across Duval
FINNEGAN’S WAKE
from Sloppy Joe’s. Live music all
Finnegan’s Wake An auweekend.
thenic Irish Pub, off the beaten path
at 320 Grinnell Street. Fiona Molloy
entertains tonight and tomorrow
night, Friday and Saturday, December 11-12.
Gardens Hotel Sunday,
December 6, Jazz in the Garden,
5 ‘til 7:30, featuring Libby York,
Gordy Michaels and Greg Sergo.
Green Parrot Bar A Key
West landmark since 1890. A favorite of locals and visitors alike. But
even regulars were mystified when,
in May 2000, Playboy magazine
named the Parrot one of the 24 Best
Bars in America. We don’t make this
stuff up. Located on Whitehead at
Southard, just a block off Duval, this
CONTINUED on next page
EL ALAMO BAR
Gerd Rube ente
through Saturd
www.kwtn.com
Key West THE NEWSPAPER December 11, 2009 Page 18
music on the rock
FROM previous page
GREEN PARROT
is the home of great drinks and bad
art— and one of the top venues for
live music on the island. Music this
weekend: The popular Michael
Dixon Band does the “sound
check” this afternoon, Friday,
December 11, at 5:30. Then, the big
10-member band Suenalo moves
in for shows on both Friday and
Saturday nights, starting at 10. On
Sunday, washboard-harmonica
virtuoso Jimmy Sweetwater does
the 5:30 “sound check.”
Hog’s Breath Saloon
Another top music venue here. Live
music every day from 1pm. Duval
and Front Street.
Hogfish Bar & Grill Funky
waterfront venue on Stock Island.
Maybe the best hogfish sandwich
in the world! Live music this weekend: Tonight, Friday, December 11,
Terry Cassidy is on stage 6 ‘til 10.
Bo Fodor is in the house Saturay
night, 6 ‘til 10, and Barry Cuda
rolls his piano in on Sunday night,
6 ‘til 10.
Rick’s and Durty Harry’s
208 Duval Street. Live music every
night.
Rum Barrel A popular restaurant, bar and music venue at the
corner of Front and Simonton.
Schooner Wharf Bar
Another top music venue. Famous
mostly-outdoor bar located right
on the water at Key West’s Historic
Seaport at the foot of William Street.
“This must be the center of the
universe,” wrote newsman Charles
Kurault. Voted Best Locals Bar six
years in a row. The irreverent Michael McCloud is on stage every
afternoon except Tuesday, noon ‘til
5. This weekend: George Victory
and the Observant Lion Band will
be on stage tonight and tomorrow
night, Friday and Saturday, December 11-12, 7 ‘til midnight. Best
viewing here for the lighted boat
parade, Saturday at 8pm. And there
will be a Calypso Latin party 6 ‘til
11 sunday night.
Sloppy Joe’s One of the
most famous bars in the world. This
was Hemingway’s favorite bar in
the 1930s. Right in the heart of the
Duval Street action. Live music
every day from noon ‘til late. This
weekend, the Rumor Mill will be
on the big stage every night 10,
through Sunday.
Sunset Pier at the Ocean
Key House, Zero Duval. Talk about
a waterfront venue! the pier sticks
right out into the harbor. Live music
most nights. Robert Albury entertauns at happy hour this afternoon,
Friday, December 11, starting at 5.
on Wednesday evening, December
16, Cory Heydon returns to the
Sunset Pier for a special one-night
appearance. Showtime is 8pm.
The Keys Popular piano
bar at 1114 Duval Street. Live music
seven days 5pm ‘til 2am.
Willie T’s This is a classic open-air Duval Street Bar.
ertains Wednesday
day, starting at 7.
www.kwtn.com
music on the rock
Cory Heydon at
Sunset Pier
CORY HEYDON returns to the Sunset Pier Wednesday night,
December 16, for a special one-night appearance. Showtime is
8pm.
Key West THE NEWSPAPER December 11, 2009 Page 19
www.kwtn.com
Key West THE NEWSPAPER December 11, 2009 Page 20
film
What’s on at the Tropic
by Phil Mann
Okay, sport fans, your
time has come. For the first time
in living memory, the Tropic is
opening two new sports movie
in one week. Awesome. Suit
up and leave the sports bars
behind, I’d say. These are both
football movies, America’s
favorite!
Except, darn it, we’re talking about armor-less football
--rugby and soccer, so you’ll
have to expand your horizons
somewhat. But the timeless,
sport-transcending subjects
remain the same.
INVICTUS is the latest
from that most American of
directors, Clint Eastwood, but
the setting is South Africa in
1995, just as Nelson Mandela
(Morgan Freeman) is elected
as the first President in the
now apartheid-free country.
Looking for a healing symbol
that might unite the nation, he
seizes on the Springboks, the
national rugby team beloved
by whites and despised by
blacks when it was a symbol of
white supremacy. But if he can
make it a symbol of triumphant
unity.....
The key is the Afrikaner
team captain Francois Pienaar
(Matt Damon). He must be
converted to the cause, and,
more difficult, to make it work
against the hated, and usually victorious, New Zealand
squad, for the World Cup. It’s
a down-under donnybrook,
with the spirit of a new nation
hanging in the balance.
It’s all a true story. When
I told a local South African
friend the movie was coming,
he went teary, telling how he
had sat rapt at the TV as the
final match unfolded.
Did I say “irresistible?”
You don’t have to be South
African to be captivated.
THE DAMNED UNITED is not so uplifting. Another
INVICTUS
true story, this one based on
the legendary downfall of a
storied soccer manager. When
Brian Clough (Michael Sheen)
moved up from successfully
manging a minor league team
to the same job at top level
United Leeds, he went from being a victorious leader to being
a one man wrecking crew. His
brief tenure at United is still
infamously known to UK fans
as “the 44-days.”
Sheen, whose last two
roles have been as the TV interviewer David Frost (Frost/
Nixon) and Prime Minister
Tony Blair (The Queen) again
manages to marvelously inhabit his role.
Don’t worry that the
movie’s sport is soccer, says
Salon.com, “If you simply start
watching it without prejudice
you’ll have a ridiculously good
time.”
35 SHOTS OF RUM has
nothing to do with sport. Rather
it is one of those small gems
that can make French films
such treasures. From director
Claire Denis (Chocolat), it’s the
story of Lionel, a French-African metro train driver and his
college-student daughter Josephine, who share an apartment.
The movie takes us into a world
of middle class housing and life
that is worlds apart from the elegance that so often dominates
French filmmaking.
Lionel and Josephine lead
a comfortable middle-class existence, but life is not simple,
as each attempts to develop a
relationship outside the home,
leading to tension within. The
pacing is French, but this is a
film to savor, with fully-developed, fascinating characters.
You’ll be sorry to see them fade
away just because the movie
is over.
Rounding out the feature
film program are continuing
runs of the DiNiro vehicle
EVERYBODY’S FINE, and
the incredibly popular PIRATE
RADIO, going into its fourth
rocking week.
And there are three
Christmas treats to celebrate
the season.
-- Each afternoon all week
long, there’s a special matinee
of Disney’s new animated A
CHRISTMAS CAROL.
-- On Sunday only, at
1:00pm, you can catch an encore performance of the classic
NUTCRACKER performed
at the Mariinsky Theater in
Russia.
-- On Monday evening,
the weekly classic movie is the
romantic comedy CHRISTMAS IN CONNECTICUT
(1945) starring Barbara Stanwyck and Sydney Greenstreet.
Fa, la, la, and get ready for
Fantastic Mr. Fox and Precious,
both coming for the holiday
season.
Full info and schedules at
TropicCinema.com
Comments, please, to
pmann99@gmail.com
Key West THE NEWSPAPER December 11, 2009 Page 21
www.kwtn.com
music
Rare Instruments
Featured in Symphony’s
Master Concert No. 1
A Stradivarius violin,
two Wagner tubas, and a bass
trumpet will join the 93-piece
Key West Symphony Orchestra
when it opens its new season on
December 15 and 16 at the Tennessee Williams Theatre with
their highly anticipated Master
Concert No.1.
Playing the prestigious
and coveted Stradivarius violin
is guest soloist Cho-Liang Lin,
who The New York Times calls
“dazzling.” Lin has spent a
lifetime performing as a guest
soloist with the world’s most
distinguished symphonies.
“When I was offered the opportunity to play one of my favorite
concertos on an island in warm
and sunny Key West in December, I gave an enthusiastic yes,”
Lin shared recently.
Cho-Liang Lin has played
Samuel Barber’s Concerto for
Violin and Orchestra throughout the world including Asia,
Europe, Canada, the US, and
most recently Spain. “It is a
beautiful piece. I was listening recently to Barber’s cello
concerto. That is a thornier
piece to understand, but the
violin concerto is so self-evident,” explained Lin in a recent
interview with KWSO. “It has
such lovely melodies—it is as
beautiful as Barber’s writing
gets. And then it grows into a
tour de force for the solo violin
and the orchestra – it is quite
the roller coaster ride!”
The Stradivarius violin
that Lin will be playing on
December 15th and 16th once
belonged to Efram Zimbalist,
a premiere concert violinist and
President of the Curtis Institute
of Music, where Samuel Barber
attended school. “It is a beautiful instrument with such a regal
CHO-LIANG LIN
and aristocratic sound. And it
brings me within six degrees
of separation from Samuel
Barber,” Lin jokes.
The Key West Symphony
Orchestra’s performance of
Master Concert No 1 will also
feature rare instruments for the
demanding and revolutionary
composition Le Sacre du Printemps by Igor Stravinsky.
Le Sacre du Printemps, or
The Rite of Spring, is arguably
one of the greatest compositions of the twentieth century.
This revolutionary composition
made its debut in 1913 as a ballet and shocked audiences with
its intensely rhythmic score
and primitive pagan Russian
storyline. Its premiere was so
shocking in fact, that it created
one of music history’s greatest
scandals when fistfights in the
aisles quickly deteriorated into
an audience riot.
“What makes this piece
particularly exciting for us is
our use of the bass trumpet
and two Wagner tubas,” says
Sebrina Maria Alfonso, KWSO
Music Director and Symphony Conductor. “Very few
orchestras play with either of
these instruments, and we are
bringing them in especially for
Stravinsky composition.”
The bass trumpet, which
was first developed during the
1820s in Germany, is a type of
low trumpet. The Wagner tubas,
which were originally created
in the 1850s, are actually quite
rare and combine the elements
of both the horn and the tuba.
“This is such an exciting
opportunity,” concludes Alfonso. “To bring this extraordinary
music, the rare instruments, a
world renowned guest soloist
all in one concert with a 93-piece
orchestra on stage will truly be
a thrilling night of symphonic
music.”
Tickets are available for
the December 15 and 16 performance at the Tennessee Williams Theatre. Patrons can purchase online at www.keystix.
com or by calling the box office
at 305-295-7676. Subscriptions
and single tickets for all three
Master Concert performances
are still available.
Key West THE NEWSPAPER December 11, 2009 Page 22
www.kwtn.com
THEATRE
Twelve Angry Men
Opens Season at
Waterfront Playhouse
Before there was “Law and Order” or “CSI” there was
“Twelve Angry Men.” Written in 1954 by Reginald Rose, it was
first a teleplay for the CBS Studio One television series. Rose was
inspired by his experience of serving on a jury, where he was stuck
by how difficult it was to bring twelve divergent personalities
into agreement. In 1957, Sidney Lumet directed Henry Fonda
and an all-star cast in a film adaptation that was nominated for
three Academy Awards, including Best Picture.
“Twelve Angry Men” launches Waterfront Playhouse’s
70th season, opening next Thursday, December 17, and runs
through January 9.
Ticket info 294-5015 or www.WaterfrontPlayhouse.org.
Christmas Survival
Guide Continues
at Red Barn
Beginning to feel the pinch of holiday stress? Have your silver
bells turned to car horns and cell phones and that ever growing
unease that perhaps time really is running out!! Let the Red Barn
Theatre arm you with the “How To” basics of surviving holiday
stress with its charming new musical, A Christmas Survival
Guide, running through January 2nd at the Red Barn Theatre,
located at 319 Duval Street. This sassy yet classy holiday musical takes a slightly mischievous look at the holidays with its
unconventional arrangements of holiday songs that often take
on a hilarious life of their own.
Ticket info: 296-9911 or www.redbarntheatre.com
Key West THE NEWSPAPER December 11, 2009 Page 23
www.kwtn.com
Boettger
FROM page 10
parties. But when we mull it
over, train noise drops off of
the radar of even minor Life
Issues. On noise alone, we have
airplane landings, which cause
us non-lip-readers to automatically pause our conversations
for 11 seconds; illegally bored
out mo-peds, which encourage plots of revenge involving
monofilament; Harleys, which
ought to sprinkle some of their
famous spending money on our
streets for the privilege of roaring down them; delivery trucks
and giant 4X4 pickups with
their monster engines; and even
the average car, which makes
more noise accelerating to 20
mph coming off the stop sign
than any tour train performer.
Heck, the three wee-hours
drunken conversations and
four neighborhood screechy
catfights have bothered me
more in our 30 months on
Olivia than the roughly 17,000
tour trains. Sure, there must be
a few people living close up
on the street across from a flat
wall that acoustically magnifies the spiels. But for most of
us, the problem ranks with all
the damn bougainvillea petals littering our pool and the
ring-neck doves’ loud sunrise
cooing.
I confess to bursting with
pride as they pass by. I live in
a town anointed as worthy by
Cruise Ships, on a top-10%
street especially selected for
its Key Westiness. I feel like
leaping up on my porch railing,
shouting “Yee haw, all you sad
fish-belly-white northerners.
You poor suckers get a few days
or a week here, while I wake up
every warm sunny morning for
the rest of my life with these
bougies, banana trees, and frangiapani.” Relax—I only THINK
about it so far, and have told
Cynthia to have me committed
the day I actually crack.
Second Tour Train point:
I don’t see this as Greg Wythe
and Mick Barnes against Ed
Swift and the City Commission.
This was pig-headed stupidity
versus lawful free enterprise.
Some of the new-train-denying
arguments were delirious. For
example, “We’ve got enough
tour trains, and HTA is a
fine employer and generous
community benefactor.” True
enough, but you could say the
same and more about Sloppy
Joe’s and Commissioner Rossi’s
bars: fine employers, generous to local charities, and who
needs more than two bars on
that block? Heck, you could go
further, and point out extra bars
encourage more public drunkenness, so a 300-foot rule would
be a natural test of whether an
86’d drunk could stagger that
far for his next beer.
But, hello, listen to the
wise City Attorney and remember the Ducks fiasco. You can’t
limit bars, pizza joints, jewelry
stores, or anything else, especially tour trains, just because
you and your central-planning sympathizers think we
have enough. That’s the way
it worked in the Soviet Union.
It’s illegal here, for many good
reasons. If you’re in a hurry to
get through Old Town, take
Truman or Eaton. I’m glad if
delivery trucks avoid my street
because the trains serve as a
kind of speed bump here. And
let us all be grateful we have
somehow stopped those giant
tour buses from parking with
their engines spewing noise
and diesel fumes for hours on
end, which I have found plaguing other resort communities
like ours.
Speaking of resort communities like ours, I have not
found a single one in all my
travels with parking meters on
its beach. Please, anyone who
has, report it in, so I feel our
town at least splits the Cheap
Cheeziness Award. This is such
a no-brainer that even a brief
Citizens’ Voice blurb said it
all: “Did [the $37,000 from the
meters] include the cost of a
meter checker [and] the person
collecting the money? . . . [T]he
profit may not be worth the
ill will to visitors and locals.”
You’re right, I bet it doesn’t,
especially including a pro-rated
portion of the salary of the
incoming Parking Czar, hired
specifically to deal with thorny
issues like this.
Worse, the meters tempt
quarters-poor families to park
on the other side and dash
across, which leads logically
to having more expensive police enforcing that no-parking
or jaywalking law, and even
more long-standing badwill
about the especial venality of
Our Beach Town compared
with any other. In short: they
are visual pollution, financially insignificant, dangerous,
divisive, a distraction for our
police services, and terrible
for our image. And that’s The
Final Word.
Aha! I gotcha’! If you
www.kwtn.com
Key West THE NEWSPAPER December 11, 2009 Page 24
Boettger
FROM page 10
are reading these words, I
somehow seduced you into
reading 974 MORE words on
two battered topics you probably made your mind up on
a year ago. I feel like Stephen
Colbert shouting Hurray for
me! Seriously, I try hard to make
whatever I write interesting.
Content, whether wise or foolish, means nothing, if a writer
cannot somehow beguile his
reader’s eyes into following
each sentence down the page.
And every one of you, dear
Readers, is the final authority
on whether I accomplish this
goal. So far, you have been
kind to me, and I hope to be
worthy of your roving eyes into
the future.
For sticking it out, I’ll
reward you with a brand-new
topic to kvetch about. Orange
plastic construction fencing!
They’ve just put up a football-field’s length of it around
the Harris School. In an area
too fussy for white roofs or
hurricane-proof windows,
we’ve created a vivid eyesore.
The garish, sagging plastic
highlights the shame of our
cheaply-sold historic landmark. Thinking of the School
as a big pimple on the nose of
our civic honor, it’s as though
we have now squeezed it until
it is bright shiny red.
“It’s the law!” someone
will say, and of course, there is
some silly law somewhere, the
same one that has kept orange
fencing in front of an ordinary
house on Angela St for over five
years, though it looks no different from hundreds of other
houses in Key West undergoing
modest repairs. It’s a law that
serves no sensible purpose at
Harris School, unless it is to
add to our city’s cheap and
tawdry air, as with the beach
parking meters.
Laws like this make me
sweat when I support government health care. Is my
wonderful VA Clinic a weird
exception? Our governments
do such uncaring and foolish
things to us. Look at the huge
ugly extension to the Federal
Building on Simonton. A nerve
the government pinches every
day for me is the bizarre form
of the foreclosure notices. It
just gives the name of one of
the defaulters in many forms
followed by “et al,” as though
they’re economizing on space,
only to go on with legal descriptions that then run as
long as three full columns. But
without giving the address!
That’s optional, and only added
about a third of the time. Each
ad then must repeat the same
Americans with Disabilities
Act notice.
I cringe with fear for the
government health service I
advocate every time I see the
minds of bureaucrats who write
laws forcing orange fencing in
the Historic District and such
an inconceivably stupid way to
notice foreclosures. Every time
I bike by Harris School now, my
inner Tea Bagger yearns to be
free. If you see me sporting a
crew cut and crying in public,
don’t blame Glenn Beck. Blame
the foreclosure notices, beach
meters, and—aack!—orange
fencing.
Key West THE NEWSPAPER December 11, 2009 Page 25
www.kwtn.com
health
Spa Card Launch Party
Benefits Healthy Start
The Florida Keys Healthy
Start Coalition is pleased to introduce Spa Cards to Key West!
The Gardens Hotel will host
the launch party for the Spa
Card promotion on Sunday,
December 13th in conjunction
with their weekly jazz evening
from 5 – 7:30 p.m.
With the New Year
around the corner, many
people resolve to make lifestyle
changes to improve their health
and fitness. In 2010, “Pamper
Yourself” spa cards will be sold
by the Coalition to help people
make those changes while also
benefiting the health of moms
and babies in the Keys. The
Spa Card promotion offers
discounts to 12 different health
and wellness services in Key
West. Massage, chiropractic,
acupuncture, reflexology, yoga,
fitness, eyelash enhancement,
nutrition, and skin care are
among the services available
with the discount card.
Why buy a card, besides
the fun of being pampered? All
proceeds from the sale of the
cards goes toward the goal of
ensuring every baby in Monroe
County has the opportunity to
have a healthy start in life. Last
year Healthy Start served more
than 750 families in Monroe
County, providing education, support and resources to
pregnant women and infants.
Healthy Start services are available free of charge, regardless
of income, and include home
visiting, childbirth education,
nutritional counseling, stress
management, parenting skills,
breastfeeding support, and
help accessing financial assistance for pregnancy costs
and infant care. “Supporting healthy moms supports
healthy babies. That’s why
part of my practice focuses
on prenatal massage. The Spa
Card is a great way to promote
your own health and the health
of our community’s next generation,” said Jill McFadgen, a
licensed massage therapist and
participating Spa Card service
provider.
Here’s how it works: customers can buy a card for $25,
$50 or $100, which entitles them
to choose, respectively, two,
five, or all 12 of the discounted
services, during 2010. The
minimum discount for each
service is $20. “We wanted to
continue the theme of the successful Spa Day fundraiser we
have done for the past several
years, while simplifying the
program and allowing people
to enjoy the services for more
than just one day per year,”
said executive director Arianna
Nesbitt. “The cards offer a great
value for people who want to
try something new or get a
deal on a service they already
enjoy. The customer receives a
discount and moms and babies
get help that is increasingly
needed in the Keys.”
The launch party at The
Gardens Hotel will feature jazz
artists Libby York, Gordy Michaels and Greg Sergo, as well
as complimentary appetizers
provided by Michael’s Restaurant and organic wine tasting
by Premier Beverage. Spa card
service providers will be on
hand to provide information
on their services. Spa cards will
be available at the event, at Key
West Bank throughout the year,
and at www.keyshealthystart.
org. For more information, call
FKHSC at 305-293-8424.
Holiday Diaper Drive
This holiday season there are many families in need
of diapers. Lower Keys Medical Center is partnering with
Florida Keys Healthy Start Coalition in a Diaper Drive for
needy families. Any brand, any size of unopened diapers
will be accepted at the Labor and Delivery unit on the second
floor of the hospital, any time of day. For more information
call 293-8424.
www.kwtn.com
Key West THE NEWSPAPER December 11, 2009 Page 26
the community
If your club or organization has something
special happening, let us know:
• community@kwtn.com
• PO box 567, Key West FL 33041
• Fax 305-292-1882
To help us help you, try to get the
information to us by noon on Tuesday before
Friday publication.
HELP THE AMERICAN
LEGION HELP WOUNDED
SOLDIERS OVERSEAS--For the
month of December, The American
Legion Post 28 on 5610 College
Road is looking for donations in the
way of flip flops and Pajama bottoms, to be given to our wounded
serving over seas. Flip flop sizes
needed are 10 to 14. Pajama bottoms L to 2XL. No red P.J.s please.
Please drop off items between 11am
and 9pm. These items will be sent
to needing hospitals overseas. For
further info call the Post at (305)
294-7117 or Liz at (305) 296-9923.
MEMBERSHIP DRIVE
PARTY FOR TROPICAL GARDEN & BOTANICAL FOREST-Will Soto and the Key West Tropical
Forest & Botanical Garden will
host a membership drive party on
Sun., Dec. 13 from 5-7 and the Key
West Tropical Forest & Botanical
Garden, 5210 College Road, Stock
Island. Come out and enjoy music,
food, drinks, and door prizes. More
info: (305) 296-1504.
PTKW HOLIDAY VARIETY SHOW--The People’s
Theater of Key West will hold it’s
Holiday Variety Show on Sat., Dec.
12 in The Crystal Room at LaTeDa.
Doors open at 6pm. Local celebrities and actors will be singing,
dancing and performing to raise
money for the grass-roots theater
company. There will be a 50/50
raffle drawing as well as a live
auction and a silent auction with
donations from the community
and local artists including Fran
Decker, Rick Worth, Janis Childs
and Michael Haskins. Tickets are
$10, available in advance by calling
(305) 294-6813. Visit www.peoplestheaterofkeywest.com to find out
more about the group.
PUBLIC CRB MEETING-The City of Key West Citizen
Review Board will meet Mon.,
Dec. 14, at 6pm in the Old City
Hall, 510 Greene Street, Key West
(conference room). Visit the CRB
department website at www.
keywestcity.com for viewing the
case files or call Executive Director
Stephen Muffler at (305) 809-3887
for more information. This is a
public meeting and all are welcome
to attend.
COWBOY BILL’S THIRD
ANNUAL HOLIDAY HAYRIDE
AND LIGHT TOUR--Come tour
Key West’s best holiday decorations while relaxing on an old
style hayride Tuesl, Dec. 15. All the
proceeds from this event benefit
“Just 4 Kids”, a local charity that
purchases toys for children in need.
Tickets cost $25 plus an unwrapped
toy. The tour meets at Cowboy Bill’s
Reloaded, 430 Greene Street at 6:30
and includes refreshment stops
along the way at Shanna Key Pub,
Charlie’s Place, and Cowboy Bill’s.
Tickets are limited so stop at 618
Duval Street or call (305) 295-8219
to reserve your spot.
HOLIDAY FUNDRAISER
TO BENEFIT BROOKE PAZO
& MARQUES BUTLER MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP FUNDS-Dec. 11, 8pm at Conch Town, 3340
N. Roosevelt Blvd. 50/50 raffle,
karaoke, food & drinks. Please
bring a new unwrapped toy for
donation to Toys for Tots.
AQUA IDOL FOR WESLEY HOUSE--Aqua Idol, the
Piners: KWTN Now at
the Flea Market
If you live on Big Pine Key, you can now pick up
a copy of Key West The Newspaper at booth A17 at the
Big Pine Key Flea Market.
amazing ongoing musical event
at Aqua Night Club, 711 Duval,
will benefit Wesley House Family Services every Tuesday night
through Dec. 22, starting at 6:30
pm. Fabulous local luminaries
have agreed to donate their time
and talent to the cause, including
Key West’s new first lady Cheryl
Cates, Nina Robinson-Crooks,
Brian Creager, Sarah GoodwinNguyen, Tim Dahms, Brandy Canales and Michelle Simmons. This
hilarious, fun-filled event is hosted
by performer extraordinaire Randy
Thompson and features a witty
rotating trio of judges including
Tony Konrath, Queen of Fantasy
Fest Vicki Gordon, Lynda Frechette
and Mary Falconer. Every dollar
raised goes directly to Wesley
House for its Children’s Gift Fund.
More info or to sign up, email mary.
falconer@wesleyhouse.org or call
809-5000 ext. 228.
PET FOOD PANTRY-Co-sponsored by the FKSPCA
and Xena Fund, is now open at
the Salvation Army, 1920 Flagler
Avenue, to help people in need
feed their pets. Call (305) 294-5611
for hours and information.
PTKW WORDCRAFT
WORKSHOP--The People’s Theater of Key West will offer its popular Wordcraft Workshop, Sundays,
6-8pm at the Gato building, 1100
Simonton Street. Anyone who
enjoys writing, acting, reading or
wants to get involved with theater
is encouraged to attend regardless
of experience. The workshop is
offered on a donation basis. Visit
www.peoplestheaterofkeywest.
com or email newtheater@rocketmail.com for more information.
POKENO--Come out and
play pokeno and enjoy the fun and
fellowship with family and friends
every Thurs. at 8pm at the Elks
Club, 1107 Whitehead St. Everyone
is welcome.
FLORIDA KEYS SPCA
6/60 PROGRAM--Offers free
adoptions of cats and dogs over six
years of age to people sixty years
CONTINUED on next page
Key West THE NEWSPAPER December 11, 2009 Page 27
www.kwtn.com
the community
FROM previous page
and older. All animals are spayed
or neutered, microchipped and
up to date with shots. Call (305)
294-4857.
FKSPCA FREE PIT-FIX- Free spay/neuter for pit bulls/
mixes at their monthly spay/neuter clinics. Call (305) 294-4857 for
information.
KEY WEST CHESS CLUB-Meets Tuesdays and Wednesdays at
7pm at the Sippin’ Internet Cafe, 424
Eaton Street, near Tropic Cinema.
All skills levels welcome. Chess
boards provided.
HISTORICAL BIKE TOUR
TO BENEFIT LOCAL YOUTH
SPORT PROGRAM--Something
different! 10am-noon every Sat.
and Sun. beginning at the hurricane
monument at MM 81.6. The tour
is six miles, bring your own bike
or contact Back Country Cowboy
at (305) 517-4177 or backcountrycowboy.com. The tour is free but
donations will be taken for the
Islamorada Wrestling Club. More
info: (305) 879-0390 and islamoradabike.com.
HEALTHY AGING
CLASSES OFFERED BY KEYS
AHEC--Enhance Fitness ClassNew class at Keys Senior Plaza
in Key West and runs Mondays,
Wednesdays, and Fridays from
2-3pm. Living Healthy WorkshopsNew class at Keys Senior Plaza
from 1-3:30pm. Also, the Living
Healthy program The classes are
for adults 55 and greater. Info: (305)
743-7111x206. Free.
FREE GUIDED TOURS OF
OLDEST HOUSE MUSUEM-Old Island Restoration Foundation
is offering free guided tours of the
Key West Oldest House Museum
to school groups, organizations,
locals, and guests who would like
to enjoy the museum, grounds, &
lush tropical garden. 322 Duval
St. (305) 294-9501. Open daily
10am-4pm.
VOLUNTEERS NEEDED
AT KEY WEST TROPICAL FOREST & BOTANICAL GARDEN’S
VISITOR CENTER--Become a
greeter and use your talents to help
the garden grow. Two 3-hour shifts
per day available to do your part
to help Key West’s original “green
team.” If you can’t commit to a regular schedule but are interested in
helping as a fill-in, that would also
be appreciated. Training provided.
More info: (305) 296-1504.
KEY WEST TOASTMASTERS CLUB--Club’s focus is to
involve Keys people from all different walks, in the art of speaking
successfully, listening attentively,
and developing a range of business/leadership skills, which then
helps in ALL daily interactions
business and personal (job inter-
views, presentations, etc...). Please
join us as a guest! Meeting place is
Keys Federal Credit Union, Peary
Court (off Palm Ave., Key West).
Meetings are 2nd & 4th Tuesday
of each month, from noon-1pm
sharp. Info: (305) 295-7501.
USS MOHAWK NEEDS
VOLUNTEERS--The most interesting volunteer work in Key West
is at the USS Mohawk Memorial
Museum on the water at the foot
of Southard St. at the Truman
Waterfront. Very flexible, 3-hour
or more schedules. Many jobs
available. Meet interesting people
from all over the world. More info:
(305) 896-3600. USSMohawk@
bellsouth.net.
GLEE ONLINE CARPOOL WEBSITE--www.carpoolworld.com/keysglee. Save gas,
money, and the environment by
registering for this FREE service.
Log on to check it out.
FREE BEREAVEMENT
GROUP--An open, ongoing group
is being led by Elissa BishopBecker, M.Ed, LPC, NCC, DCC,
an expert in the field of grief and
loss. The group meets on the 2nd
and 4th Tues. of each month from
7:30-9pm at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Key West, 801
Georgia St. More inf: (305) 407-7676
or www.griefcounselors.org.
GIVE THE GIFT OF LIFE-To find out when the bloodmobile
will be at a location near you, call
your Community Blood Center at
(305) 294-7668.
REEF RELIEF--Join Reef
Relief for only $15 and get many
membership perks in addition to
helping raise awareness about protecting coral reefs. www.reefrelief.
org or (305) 294-3100.
DONATIONS NEEDED
AT ST. MARY’S STAR OF THE
SEA OUTREACH MISSION-Please deliver any unused food
and other basic survival items to
the mission location at 5640 MacDonald Avenue on Stock Island,
Monday through Friday, 10am5pm. The mission serves needy
families in the Key West area and
assists over 1,000 people per month.
Info: (305) 292-3013.
HOST FAMILIES NEEDED
FOR EXCHANGE STUDENTS-Share your home and change the
world. More info: 1-866-493-8872
or www.yfu-usa.org.
FLORIDA KEYS DRAGON
BOAT CLUB--meets every Sun. at
6pm. See www.floridakeysdragonboat.com Info: (305) 304-5100.
Key West THE NEWSPAPER December 11, 2009 Page 28
www.kwtn.com