Southernmost Mannequins

PAGE ONE COMMENTARY
TOURISTS HAVE MIXED
OPINIONS ABOUT BEING FORCED
TO INCLUDE SOUTHERNMOST
ART IN THEIR VACATION PHOTO

by Rhonda Linseman

I love Key West, but thank
your gods that the fate of the
world doesn’t depend on our
ability to make a decision. Imagine
if we were really in charge
of something of substance?
Collectively, we make really
interesting choices, don’t we?

Consider our “Art in
Public Places” 60-day test-run
of “New Friends” at the Southernmost
Point Park. While most
of us can appreciate the work
of a renowned sculptor like J.
Seward Johnson, those seven
stiffies have spawned a lot of
controversy.

Assistant City Manager Likely To Be Arrested

Avael May Skate
INVESTIGATORS SAY THAT AVAEL
COERCED JONES TO ILLEGALLY
SIGN CO FOR NEW RESTAURANT.
BUT CAN THEY PROVE IT?

by Dennis Reeves Cooper

After a four-month investigation, officials from the State
Department of Business & Professional Regulation (DBPR) appear
to be ready to seek an a warrant for the arrest of Assistant
City Manager John Jones, charging him with illegally signing
a temporary Certificate of Occupancy (CO) for the new Rum
Barrel Restaurant in February 2006.

Jones signed the CO after Joe April, who was then the City’s
Chief Building Official, refused to sign off on the restaurant’s
new construction because, he said, the building did not yet meet
fire and safety codes.

Hometown PAC To Stage Priorities Forum

Next Tuesday evening, April 24, Key West’s HOMETOWN!
Political Action Committee will present a “priorities forum” at
the Tropic Cinema. Six community leaders will present their ideas
on priorities to be considered by the City’s elected officials.

The Cinema will open for refreshments at 5:30pm and the
program will start at 6. Seating is limited.

This is HOMETOWN!’s third meeting during this election
cycle to provide residents and homeowners with information
about potential candidates and issues. In October, Key West voters
will vote on a Mayor, three City Commissioners and three
Utility Board members.

SPECIAL REPORT

Key West Police Have
New Tool To Help Find
Missing Children

When an eight-year-old
boy went missing earlier this
month, the Key West Police
Department went into high
gear, using every resource
available in the search, including
enacting an A Child Is
Missing Alert.

“This alert system is
great, and I think for us it’s
actually more productive than
an Amber Alert given the fact
that we live on an island without
superhighways and alert
message signs, where Amber
Alerts are typically posted,”
SPECIAL REPORT
said Detective Diane Lipinski.

OPINION

Why Is Julio Stonewalling
Investigators?

by Dennis Reeves Cooper

Mayor Morgan McPherson has had enough of
City Manager Julio Avael, and it is no secret that he
wants him gone— even though Julio only has about
nine months remaining on his transitional contract. It
is also no secret that is Julio is arrested as a result of
his alleged coercion of Assistant City Manager John
Jones to illegally sign a Certificate of Occupancy for
the new Rum Barrel Restaurant last year (see story
on page 1), McPherson will probably call for Avael’s
firing “with cause”. That would mean that the Commission
would not have to buy him out.

So far, investigators seem to have the evidence
they need to arrest Jones; but they may not yet have the
evidence to arrest Avael. Even so, we learned this week
that Avael is not cooperating with the investigators.
We hear that he has refused to make any statement
under oath. That, in itself, seems very suspicious.

Let’s watch together and see if the Mayor and
Commissioners are going to let him get away with
that strategy. If he did nothing wrong, why won’t he
talk to investigators under oath?

 

ON THE SONNY SIDE:

The Key West Chicken T-Rex

by Charles “Sonny” McCoy

There has been an astonishing new discovery
in paleontology that should bring a new respect for
the Key West Chicken. A team of fossil hunters unearthed
a Tyrannosaurus Rex that had been buried
underneath 60 feet of cliff side rock in Hell Creek,
Montana for 66 million years. And because this dinosaur
had been entombed in sandstone for all this
time, some of its bones contained protein that had
not been contaminated.

Sanctimony For Columbine

by Hal O’Boyle

"How we burned in the prison camps later
thinking: What would things have been like if every
Security Operative, when he went out at night to make
an arrest, had been uncertain whether he would return
alive?”— Aleksandr Isaevich Solzshenitsyn

Michael Moore’s bomb throwing documentary
“Bowling for Columbine” is powerful, thought provoking,
funny, disturbing, manipulative, self-serving,
sanctimonious, dishonest, moving, heartbreaking and
infuriating. To appreciate the experience you must keep
in mind that Michael Moore, although motivated by a
genuine desire to make the world a better place, is full
of shit. Just as full of it as the sitting ducks he targets
in his film. Moore takes on the question of guns and
violence with scant regard for intellectual honesty,
disciplined argument or ethical journalism.

Here Comes Danceworks 5

Celebrate the beauty of
movement with the CoffeeMill Dance
Studio’s 5th Annual
Spring Concert on Sunday, May
6, at 4pm.

Held at the Tennessee
Williams Performing Arts
Center, Danceworks V features
new choreography performed
by faculty, students and visiting
artists, including New York City
dancer Denis Hyland, former
Ballet Florida‘s Mary Kay Lee
and Brazen Hussies’ Carolyn
Cooper, Christine Marguerite,
Kyla Piscopink and Leigh
Pujado.

Instructors and student
dancers of all ages come together
in a grand presentation
of ballet, jazz, tap, modern and
traditional African. Don’t miss
this awe-inspiring opportunity
to experience the joy of dance.

Tickets are on sale now at
www.keystix.com for $10, $15
and $20. For more information,
call (305) 296-9982, email coffeemilldance@aol.com or visit
www.coffeemilldance.com.

 

Ridenour Report

Nappy Headed Hos Band
Debuts At Willie T’s.
Jack Nasty Band Fired At Twisted Dish

by Valerie Ridenour

If you’re a Barry Cuda fan
(and who isn’t?) you’d better
find him this week. He’ll be
off to France , where he owns
a home, for three weeks. He
is at Willie T’s Saturday afternoon
where he’ll introduce the
Nappy Headed Ho’s Band . He
and I agree that Don Imus’s
punishment went too far, but
that the lesson needed to be
learned that we need civility in
our lives with rap and hip hop
getting totally out of hand, and
that attacking the innocent is a
no no. We’ll miss you, Cuda!
You too, Imus!

Flying the American Flag— Part 3

What do I need to know
to fly the American Flag
proudly and properly?
Part 3
of 3 Parts

by Michael Barnes

Proper respect for our
flag is covered in Section 8 of
Title 4, Chapter 1 of the United
States Code. No disrespect
should be shown to the flag of
the United States of America .
The flag should not be dipped
to any person or thing. Regimental
colors, State flags, and
organization or institutional
flags are to be dipped as a mark
of honor.