Close to Christmas
The City of Key West’s annual
Christmas Tree lighting ceremony will
take place at Bayview Park this Monday,
November 26, at 6pm. Santa and Mrs. Claus are flying in from the North Pole to
attend this event.
****
The City of Key West’s annual Holiday
Parade is set for Saturday, December
1rst. Start time is 7pm.
Local Stylist Soaring To Top of Fashion Biz
Last July we reported on local 21-
year-old fashionista, Jennifer Potter. We
predicted that she was “on the edge of
the big time” in the fashion industry, but
we had no idea how very near the edge
she was. This week we had a chance to
catch up with the busy young designer
and learned that she has taken the leap
and is soaring higher by the minute.
Jennifer is a fifth-generation conch.
She grew up in Key West and rarely left
the comfort of the island and the docks
at the city marina’s Charter Boat Row
where her parents owned and operated
the charter boat “Cha-Cha.” But
everybody knew there was something
different about this kid—something
special that would eventually pull this
driven young woman with an old soul away from home.
The Know-Nothing Hurricane Forecasters Strike Again
by Dennis Reeves Cooper
We cannot allow the end of hurricane season
to come and go without taking another shot at the
know-nothing hurricane forecasters. Back in June, they
were telling us— again— that this year’s hurricane
season was going to be “above normal,” with 13 to
17 named storms predicted. And we noted last June
that they seem to make the same predictions every
year. And sometimes they’re right and sometimes
they’re wrong.
They were certainly right in 2004 when four
major hurricanes slammed Florida. And they were
right in 2005, the most active hurricane season in recorded
history— a season that included the infamous
Hurricane Wilma.
…have the
early gig at Sloppy Joe’s today,
Friday, November 23, noon ‘til
4:45.
Checking in and
out with God, Lucifer, and Sloan
It was about 7pm after I’d
spent many hours working on
deadline for the paper. I was
crabby, but needed a few things
from the grocery store. Instead
of heading into town, I went to
the Big Pine Winn Dixie. I do
this occasionally when I want
to feel like I’m up north or
when I have day-old makeup
and deodorant melting off my
body and don’t want to run into
anyone I know.
I had my kids with me.
And anybody who has children
understands what that
means— you go in for a halfgallon
of organic reduced fat
milk and come out with seven
bags of gimmicky sugar cereals
in packages strategically
designed around the latest Pixar
or DreamWorks kids’ movie.
Airport History and Its Future
Key West International Airport is scheduled for
some long overdue improvements. This airport has
enough history to really excite any flying enthusiast
and if you’re a citizen of this tiny island in the Gulf
Stream and some kind of a history buff, then this
landing strip is a treasure trove of history.
At one time,
Pan American Airways was the largest international
carrier in the world and the fact that it grew so large,
but failed to maintain a domestic route system, was
probably a major cause of its demise but history will
record that the birth of this great airline began on
this Island.
RAVEN entertains at the
BottleCap Lounge every
Thursday
evening from 9.
Turkey is a word plump with paradox for Americans.
A turkey can be the culinary focus at a grateful
celebration or a luckless loser. Turkey is an ambiguous
word that draws powerful positive and negative images.
Its origin is no less ambiguous, stemming from
either the Native American firkee, for the wild bird,
or from the Asian Indian word for peacock, tuka.
As the traditional main course of our modern
holiday feasts, turkey probably doesn’t go back to the
Pilgrims. Contemporary reports of the first Thanksgiving
in 1621 are unclear on whether the Pilgrims
shared turkey with their Wampanoag guests. To
prepare for the big meal, the settlers sent “four men
fowling.” The four brought back a good haul, but the
colonists called all hunted fowl turkeys, including
ducks, geese and quail. They may have shot a few
gobblers, but maybe not.
At the Parrot
ALBERT CASTIGLIA, left,
returns to the Green Parrot
tonight
and tomorrow night, Friday and
Saturday, November 23-24,
starting at 10.
But wait, that’s
not all! He and is band will be
in
the house for special 5:30
“sound checks” on both
afternoons.
On
Sunday and Monday, PAPA
MALI brings Southern Fried
Soul
and Blunted Delta Blues to the
Parrot, starting at 10— with
5:30
“soundchecks” both
afternoons.
kwtn-test 
Page One Commentary
November 26, 2007 — kwtnThe Neary Gun Story Continues:
KWPD Back-Pedals; Charges Collapse
HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?
WAS IT MIND-NUMBING
INCOMPETENCE OR DECEITFUL CONSPIRACY?
by Dennis Reeves Cooper
We told you so! Two
weeks ago, we told you that
the allegation that Key West
Police Officer Tom Neary had
been carrying a stolen gun
was bogus. That allegation,
which was leaked to Key West
Citizen reporter Tim O’Hara by
an anonymous source at the
Key West Police Department
(KWPD), was the topic of two
front page stories in the Citizen on November 2 and 3.
O’Hara reported that a
computer check on Neary’s
personal Smith & Wesson .357
Magnum by KWPD investigators
indicated that the gun had
been stolen in Arizona in 1978.
Citizen reporter Traci Rork reported
the same allegation on
the following day.
Read the rest of this entry »