Sex Scandal Surfaces

In Sheriff’s Race

2005 INVESTIGATIVE REPORT: BIG PINE WOMAN SAID PERYAM HAD LONG-RUNNING AFFAIR WITH HER YOUNG DAUGHTER. SHE SAID SHE CAUGHT THEM “IN THE ACT” IN HER HOUSE SHE ALSO COMPLAINED THAT DEPUTIES HARASSED HER FAMILY

by Dennis Reeves Cooper

In September of 2005, Diana “Dee” Kelley of Big Pine Key, then 43, complained to the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) that Capt. Bob Peryam was having an ongoing sexual affair with her 21-year-old daughter, Courtney. She also complained that she and her family were being harassed by Sheriff’s deputies. Kelley’s allegations were included in a MCSO investigative report released to Key West the Newspaper (KWTN) this week.

Peryam, a 27-year veteran of the MCSO, is a candidate for Sheriff.

On September 30, 2005, Undersheriff Rick Ramsay and MCSO General Counsel Mark Willis met with private investigator Scott Daniels. Ramsay told Daniels that he had spoken to Kelley by phone and she told him that she had caught Peryam and her daughter “in a sexual act” in her home.

Another source told KWTN that Kelley had initially contacted Deputy Chris Scott, who had referred the matter to Ramsey.

Lawyers Want Crippled Woman

Out of Courtroom

KWTN Team Report

Nadia Bowman, pictured at left, has been the star witness in Louie LaTorre’s high-profile trial this week in Judge Luis Garcia’s courtroom— although she probably will not even take the stand to testify.

LaTorre, 60, the former Monroe County Community Services Director, is accused of almost killing Bowman in a head-on drunken driving crash in April 2006. He was driving southbound on the wrong side of U.S. 1 at 2am when the crash occurred.

Nadia has attended the trial every day, sitting right up front where the jurors can get a good look at her crippled and scarred body and face. Defense lawyers have repeatedly protested to Judge Garcia, but to no avail.

GUEST COMMENTARY

Another Side Of the Clara Fernandez Story

A CONTINUING CONFLICT BETWEEN TWO BROTHERS

by William Hart

EDITOR’S NOTE: This commentary is in response to last week’s page one commentary headlined “Elder Abuse Hits Home: The Clara Fernandez Story. For more than 30 years, William Hart has been life partner of Al Fernandez, the brother of Raul. Al and Raul are Clara Fernandez’ s sons.

It is indeed a sad affair when the current situation requires a Guardian, Law Firm and a CPA to figure out where the roughly $3,000,000 estate that Raul claims the Fernandez family once had ended up.

According to last week’s article, it accuses Don Yates- Guardian, Cara Higgins-Attorney and Judge Audlin of being engaged in a conspiracy to bilk Clara out of what is left of her estate. Either they are indeed engaged in a conspiracy, or Yates and Higgins, with the assistance of Chris Zuelch, Clara’s CPA, are trying to figure out why the once wealthy Fernandez family can no longer afford to live in the once, paid for home in Key Haven.

Assembly Required

It’s the Pits

by Rhonda Linseman-Saunders

In order to avoid projects that are in glaring need of attention, my husband and I sometimes create reasons we can’t get started on them until something else of great importance is accomplished first. Come on, you know you do it, too.

For example, last weekend, in addition to the usual trek to the summit of Mount Laundry, we knew we needed to get the baby’s crib put together, as a minimum goal. And it isn’t one of those simple single purpose cribs that are used merely as a safe place for the baby to sleep.

No, it’s the one that serves 24 different purposes throughout the lifespan of the child. It’s like one of those Transformer toys. Initially it’s a crib/dresser/ changer all-in-one combo that coverts to a child’s day bed, then converts later to a single bed, then finally morphs into a Ferrari when he turns sixteen. The point is that we knew it would take a couple of hours and that we’d have to read the manual, so it took some time to psych ourselves up to the task.

Mario Lot

Goes On Trial Monday

Mario Lot, 36, a former coach at Key West High School who is charged with stealing more than $100,000 from his fiancee’s 18-year-old son’s trust fund, goes on trial here Monday in Mark Jones’ courtroom. Lot had a 13-year relationship with Allison Mayer, a local singer known on stage as “Baby T,” the founding member of the Fabulous Spectrelles. Mayer was married to Jim Mayer, one of the owners of Sloppy Joe’s Bar until his death in 1991. The couple’s son, Cole, was born in 1988. After Mayer died, a sizable trust fund was set up for Cole, which he could access when turned 18. He turned 18 in 2006.

According to the arrest affidavit, Lot would ask Cole to sign blank checks, telling him that he needed the money to pay household expenses. Cole told police that that he always signed the checks because he trusted Lot and he had no reason to believe that he might be stealing from him.

Guest Bartenders

CITY ATTORNEY SHAWN SMITH, left, and MAYOR MORGAN McPHERSON helped raise $1300 for 10-year-old Frankie Arencibia at the Lazy Gecko Tuesday night. Frankie was recently diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma and will require extensive treatment over the next few months.

OPINION

If you’re new in town and you’re wondering what the Conch Republic Celebration is all about, here’s the short explanation. Back in the early 1980s, some say that illegal drugs were flowing into the Florida Keys rather freely. And, some say, that from the Keys, the drugs were being transported rather freely up U.S. 1 to the rest of the nation.

In fact, the importation of drugs into the Keys and the transportation of drugs out of the Keys became so flagrant (allegedly), that, in April 1982, the United States Border Patrol actually set up a checkpoint on the Overseas Highway and began to search cars coming out of the Keys.

On The Sonny Side

The Legacy of Van Gogh

by Charles “Sonny” McCoy

My childhood was spent in a family of artists and I was exposed to works of art not only by my grandfather, uncles and other members of the art colony of Key West and Cuba, but there was always talk of the great artists of the world. One of those artists was Vincent Van Gogh and when I went to the University and began to be exposed to all these works of art, Van Gogh’s artistic interpretation of everyday scenes began a deeper understanding and appreciation of this artist.

One of his paintings in 1880 entitled ‘ Starlight over the Rhone’ is an abstraction of color and harmony and is an example of how this artist saw things in a night sky that most of us more sane mortals usually miss. It might be of help to those readers that are not familiar with the eccentricity of Van Gogh’s life to remember that this was the artist that cut off one of his ears to demonstrate his love for a prostitute.

Creeping Fascism

at a Dead Run in Airports 

by Hal O'Boyle

It is much easier not to notice the advance of fascism in America if you never travel through a major airport. It’s impossible to ignore, however, if you do.

A recent round trip in and out of the U.S. reminded me that most of the mechanisms for a fascist police state are securely in place. They run with the efficiency, common sense, and compassion you would expect from the sponsor of crack outfits like the IRS, BATF, and FEMA.

The TSA agent was checking passports and boarding passes. She was sarcastic, condescending, and passively hostile to passengers from whom she demanded documents arranged for her convenience. There was no strip search or arrest. But the idea of Strip Search and Arrest hovered over her like a guardian angel.

KWHS Jazz Band

Will Be Featured at Jazz-Nite Dinner Party on May 4

Dozens of musicians will jazz-it-up like never before when the Key West High School Jazz Band performs with the Paradise Big Band, The Sugarloaf Middle School Band, The Crizby Jazz Trio and many fabulous singers including Marjorie Paul-Shook, Carmen Rodriguez, Bruce Moore, Bobby Nesbitt, Maj Johnson, Joe Dallas and Melody Cooper.

This jazz themed dinner party is on Sunday, May 4th from 6 to 9 PM at Mangoe’s Upstairs, located at 700 Duval Street. Tickets for the JAZZ-NITE dinner are limited so get them early at MacArthur Music, 906 Kennedy Drive or at the KW High School main office (cash or check only, please). The entry price is $40 per person which includes a delicious buffet dinner generously provided by Mangoes.

Call 304-1027 for information about the May 4th jazz-nite event which will surely be a big-band and dance lover’s night out!