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According to the Associated Press, Florida’s population has surpassed 23 million residents for the first time. The state Demographic Estimating Conference said the state had 23,002,597 residents — the third-most populous state in the U.S.
KEY WEST SEEKS A LINE OF CREDIT TO FUND BIG PROJECTS 23M
Voters to decide in November whether to approve $226M in bonds
MANDY MILES
mandy@keysweekly.com
Key West needs smoother roads, flooding solutions, a new community pool, a new fire station, a better Bayview Park and an enhanced amphitheater.
But it will need voters’ approval in November to pay for these and other major projects with a longterm financing option that would resemble a $226 million line of credit in the form of general obligation bonds.
The city need not use the entire amount, but will have access to the money as needed for specific projects that must be approved individually by a super-majority of the seven-member city commission. The city has 30 years to repay — with interest — any bond money it spends on projects. The repayment will come from city revenues, grant money and yes, perhaps property taxes, but will be spread out over 30 years.
But, Commissioner Mary Lou Hoover pointed out, the bonds will enable the city to complete a project more quickly rather than spreading it out over several years while awaiting the next year’s budget and funding. Such delays increase the cost of projects as prices inevitably rise.
For Key West voters, the November general election ballot will include four separate questions, each one pertaining to a different category of projects that can be funded with bond money: a.) parks, recreation and cultural facilities; b.) transportation, road and parking projects; c.) police, fire and public safety investments; d.) flooding, storm and climate change adaptation projects.
The wording of each question is identical, except for the category and the total monetary amount available for projects in that category.
At a July 18 meeting, the commission lowered the total amount of “credit” it will ask voters to approve, from $300 million to $226 million. Commissioners will spend the next few months answering questions about the bond referendums and explaining how the funding, which is common in cities and counties, works.
Commissioner Sam Kaufman suggested the reductions in each of the four funding categories, lowering the total from $300 million to $226 million, with the hope it will be more palatable to voters.
After more than two hours of discussion, a majority of commissioners decided to ask voters to approve: $50 million for parks, recreation and cultural projects; $51 million for transportation, roads and parking; $60 million for police, fire and public safety projects and $65 million for flooding mitigation and climate change adaptation, for a total of $226 million.
Commissioners Lissette Carey and Billy Wardlow voted against all four items, with Carey having repeatedly expressed her opposition to such a large dollar amount.
“I don’t know why we’d ask the public to approve $300 million all at once when we can do referendums for individual bonds to pay for individual projects each year,” Carey said.
Kaufman repeatedly pointed out the projects – such as paving of streets, a new fire station on Flagler Avenue, and the replacement of the Martin Luther King community pool
QMitch celebrates in style after a Bubbas win for Best Drag Queen. See page 21 for this year’s winners and pages 24 and 25 for photos from the 2024 Bubba Awards. MARK HEDDEN/Keys Weekly
– that have been postponed year after year due to budget shortfalls.
“I don’t want to sit through another budget cycle where there’s no money for these projects,” Kaufman said.
Mayor Teri Johnston and commissioners Jimmy Weekley and Hoover favored asking voters to approve the full $300 million in bonds, but ultimately agreed to the reduced amounts.
“We keep saying we’re going to spend $300 million, but we’re not,” Johnston said. “This is like having an American Express Black Card. You have a credit limit, but you’re not going to run it up to the limit, and you only pay back and pay interest on the amount you spend. If we don’t approve this, I think we’re selling residents short and getting cold feet on this way too soon.”
She emphasized that the voters have a right to decide.
“And I think we’re saying this incorrectly,” Johnston said. “We’re not talking about spending, spending, spending. We’re investing this money, over 30 years, in the community. We need critical infrastructure projects for flooding and climate change. We need to fix our roads and only have enough money in the budget each year for four blocks. For the amount of money we’re charging visitors here, we’re getting a little ragged. We need a facelift.”
Weekley agreed, adding that asking the voters was the definition of democracy. “I think we owe the voters the opportunity to give their opinion on this issue.”
Hoover was also in favor of the full $300 million in bonds, pointing out the constant flooding issues endured by residents in her district and the exorbitant cost to solve those problems.
MANDY MILES mandy@keysweekly.com
WHAT’S THE LATEST WITH THE CITY MANAGER?
The coming month will bring discussions & decisions
At a contentious meeting one month ago, four Key West city commissioners voted to fire City Manager Al Childress. The same meeting saw commissioners Sam Kaufman and Mary Lou Hoover call for a special meeting on Aug. 26 to consider rehiring Childress.
The date of that special meeting is noteworthy, as it occurs six days after the Aug. 20 primary election, which will put a new mayor and at least two new city commissioners on the dais.
Incoming Mayor Dee Dee Henriquez and commissioner Donie Lee ran unopposed for their new seats, and the District 1 commission race, with just two candidates running — Monica Haskell and Ben Hennington — will be decided in the primary. The District 6 race, with three candidates — Aaron Castillo, Thaddeus Cohen and Marci Rose — will be decided on Nov. 5 unless one of those three captures more than 50% of the vote on Aug. 20.
Kaufman, Hoover and Lissette Carey are the only three current lawmakers who will remain on the dais. Carey was among the four who voted to fire Childress, so Kaufman and Hoover are hoping two of the new officials will join them in voting to rehire him.
Wait, not so fast
Before that special meeting takes place, the commission meets for its regular session on Aug. 8, when a specific section of the city code could slow down a potential rehiring, although opinions are mixed about the repercussions.
Section 2-143 of the Key West Code of Ordinances specifies the process for selecting a new city manager, and states, “Any contract between the City and its City Manager shall include a minimum of 6 months’ notice of non-renewal, resignation or retirement in order to allow for sufficient planning purposes.”
It further states that within a month of determining the need for a new city manager, “the city commission shall: Revise, if necessary, the job description and minimum qualifications; approve an application form; establish an area of search for potential candidates and if necessary establish timelines for advertising the position, conducting interviews and selecting a manager.”
City Attorney Ron Ramsingh told the Keys Weekly on July 18 that a city commissioner “will sponsor a resolution for the Aug. 8 meeting as per that ordinance in order to set the process and expectations for the search.”
Kaufman, when asked last week about Section 2-143, said he doesn’t think it applies in this case because Childress’ contract was terminated. It was not a case of “non-renewal, resignation or retirement” as outlined in the code.
“I don’t think that section restricts the new commission from rehiring Al Childress,” Kaufman said. “I’m certainly open to discussion about what the new commission wants to do, but to engage in another lengthy search process with a consultant and interviews may not be in the best interest of the city.
“I’m more curious about why this outgoing commission is making this decision at what will be the very last meeting for most of those who voted to fire Mr. Childress,” Kaufman added. “The new commission will have full authority to decide how it wants to hire a city manager.”
So much for easing into their new positions and taking some time to get their feet wet. The new mayor and commissioners will face daunting decisions at their very first meeting on Aug. 26. Stay tuned.
INSURANCE RATE HIKE HEADS TO A HEARING
Keys advocacy group to oppose proposed increases
JIM McCARTHY jim@keysweekly.com
Officials with Citizens Property Insurance Corporation will outline what they say is the need for a double-digit rate hike on policyholders in the Florida Keys and across the state who renew their coverage in 2025, during an upcoming public hearing in Tallahassee.
On the other side, representatives with Fair Insurance Rates in Monroe, or FIRM, plan to attend the hearing on Thursday, Aug. 1 at the state capital’s Knott Building to push back against the hike.
“Citizens is not just the insurer of last resort for Monroe County, it is in most cases our only option,” reads a letter by FIRM.
State insurance regulators recently announced the hearing for Citizens’ rate filings, which detail average increases of 14% for personal lines policies for homeowners, condo unit owners, dwellings and mobile homes. The nine-member Citizens board of governors unanimously approved the rate hikes during a June 19 meeting.
Once the public hearing concludes next month, the state Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR) will decide whether to approve or deny Citizens’ request. If the request is granted, the new rates would take effect when people renew their policies in 2025.
Roughly 20,000 homes, duplexes, condo units and commercial properties in the Keys are covered through Citizens for storm damage. Those policies vary in coverage, for wind-only damage from hurricanes and tropical storms to coverage for various perils.
Per Citizens’ latest rate filings, wind-only homeowner policies could see an average increase of 16.6%. State law caps base rate hikes for primary owners to 14%. There’s no cap on secondary homeowners, however, meaning their rate hikes could be higher — upward of 50% excluding coverage changes and surcharges.
Wind-only coverage for condominium unit owners in Monroe County would increase by 20.9%.
Mel Montagne, FIRM president, will be attending a public hearing on Thursday, Aug. 1 in Tallahassee to oppose Citizens Property Insurance Corporation’s proposed rate hikes on Monroe County policyholders. CONTRIBUTED
Condominiums are treated the same as commercial policies and have a higher rate cap.
Mel Montagne, FIRM president, will be joined at the Aug. 1 public hearing by FIRM vice president Joe Walsh. Montagne told Keys Weekly they plan to discuss the catastrophe models, reinsurance and getting Citizens back to insuring wind-only policies.
Citizens Insurance provides coverage to property owners who are in good faith and can’t obtain a policy through the private market. Citizens Insurance is required by law to charge rates sufficient to fund liabilities, all while complying with the glide path which caps rate increases at 14% in 2025.
Officials with Citizens Insurance say Citizens’ premium rates remain “well below” other private insurance companies providing coverage.
“This has been taken into account in developing the proposed capped rate indications,” Citizens stated in June.
But FIRM wants no Citizens rate increase for residents of Monroe County, who, since 2003, have contributed nearly $900 million in premiums over claims.
“Monroe County residents consistently shoulder the burden of fraud and Citizens’ inconsistencies in addressing these circumstances for the rest of the state,” FIRM’s letter reads.
Citizens’ $1 million coverage limit has caused many homes in Monroe County to be dropped from Citizens’ rolls with no other option, FIRM added.
Those who can’t attend the Aug. 1 public hearing in person can submit comments on the rate requests to the state insurance regulation office by 5 p.m. on Aug. 15. A link for public comment will be posted to OIR’s webpage.
ELECT MARGARET ROMERO SUPERVISOR OF ELECTIONS
• KEY WEST FIRE FIGHTER LOCAL 1424 UNION
• MIRNA AND DENNIS WARD
Margaret has the INTEGRITY, HONESTY, TRANSPARENCY and COMPETENCY to be our next Supervisor of Elections.
Mirna and Dennis Ward wholeheartedly support MARGARET ROMERO as the Republican Candidate for MONROE COUNTY SUPERVISOR OF ELECTIONS!
• JOHN DICK
I, John Dick, endorse Margaret as the best person for SUPERVISOR OF ELECTIONS. She is a no nonsense person, tells the whole truth, and will not bend the rules for anyone. Her proven honesty, openness, and professional business skills assure that the office will continue to run with integrity and impartiality.
PAPAS IN PARADISE
Hemingway fest combines literature and laughs
A71-year-old white-bearded Florida man won the 2024 Hemingway LookAlike Contest, a highlight of Key West’s annual Hemingway Days festival that ended July 21, which was the 125th anniversary of Ernest Hemingway’s birth.
David “Bat” Masterson, a retired Monroe County Trauma Star pilot from Daytona Beach, triumphed over 121 other entrants in the threeround contest that concluded Saturday night at Sloppy Joe’s. The bar was a frequent hangout for renowned author Ernest Hemingway, who lived and wrote in Key West for most of the 1930s.
“Like Hemingway, I have a thirst for life and a quest for adventure,” said Masterson, who earned the victory on his 10th attempt. “I like to fly and ride motorcycles and jump out of airplanes and that sort of stuff. Hemingway also was a very adventurous man, and I admire him for that.”
Many look-alike contestants wore casual sportsman’s garb or thick fisherman’s sweaters, attempting to emulate the rugged “Papa” persona that Hemingway adopted in his later years.
In the rowdy crowd at Sloppy Joe’s was celebrity chef Paula Deen, whose husband Michael Groover won a look-alike title in 2018.
Hemingway Days salutes the vigorous Key West lifestyle and literary talent of the author who wrote classics including “For Whom the Bell Tolls” and “To Have and Have Not” during his years on the island. The look-alike contest raises money for Key West scholarships.
Festival events also included a quirky “Running of the Bulls” spoof, readings and presentations, and the Key West Marlin Tournament that recalls Hemingway’s passion for Florida Keys fishing.
— Contributed
Key West’s annual Hemingway Days takes place July 16-21, featuring literary readings, along with the legendary Look-Alike Contest and a spoof of the Running of the Bulls in Pamplona, Spain. Photos by LARRY BLACKBURN and ANDY NEWMAN
COUNTY SEEKS STATE GRANTS FOR RESILIENCE PROJECTS
Four new firefighters join Monroe County Fire Rescue
GWEN FILOSA gwen@keysweekly.com
How will Monroe County pay the exponential costs of raising roads and other projects to help the Keys stand up to routine flooding?
By bringing home one state and federal grant at a time, amid competition from other cities and counties also grappling with sea-level rise and living under the threat of hurricanes.
Monroe County has secured more than $200 million in federal and state awards for Florida Keys resilience projects.
Since the start of the state’s Resilient Florida program in 2021, Monroe County has been awarded $45.2 million for projects like the Stillwright Point road elevation design, Twin Lakes road elevation and stormwater project, Harry Harris Park resilience redesign, road elevation projects in Winston Waterways, Conch Key and Big Coppitt and shoreline adaptations on Long Key and Duck Key.
County staff also brought home $12.2 million in state funding for a project in the Sands neighborhood on Big Pine Key.
But all of these funds took a decade of work from county workers to obtain. Nothing indicates the Resilient funding will be scrapped any time soon, but the amount of state money available from the program isn’t growing.
“The amount of funding the state is putting into this program is diminishing,” county consultant Erin Deady told the BOCC. “The first two years of the program it was close to half a billion dollars. The third year it was down to $300 million dollars.”
This year, Resilient Florida’s funding is down to $125 million, she said.
That funding source would be reauthorized next in the Legislature session 2025.
So far, Monroe County has received more than $57 million from the state.
“These grant awards represent the culmination of a decade of planning work by county staff,” said Rhonda Haag, the Monroe County chief resilience officer. “Additional awards may be more challenging due to limited funding and increased competition.”
But staff continues to submit applications to Resilient Florida, a program signed into law by the state in 2021 to make available grants to counties, municipalities and special districts for projects to protect coastlines and shores –Florida’s natural defenses against sea-level rise.
At the Monroe County Board of County Commissioners last week at the Marathon Government Center, county staff shared details on three grant applications, each due by Sept. 1.
The Stillwright Point subdivision in Key Largo experiences prolonged flooding of its roads due to seasonal king tides and other events. MONROE COUNTY/Contributed
Stillwright Point road adaptation in Key Largo
Design and permitting for road elevation in the Stillwright Point neighborhood in Key Largo is already underway and funded by grants. The county says they expect to finish the project in March 2025.
But staff wants to apply for construction funding for 50 percent of the $40 million cost. “A federal match for 50 percent has already been identified and is on reserve for the project,” said county spokeswoman Kristen Livengood.
Sands neighborhood on Big Pine Key
The design and permits for the project are complete and the county secured $8.1 million in grant funding. Staff will apply for the additional $12.2 million from Resilient Florida. An award may be pending because the county applied for one last year.
Planning grant for sea-level projections
Staff wants to apply for a planning grant in response to new sea-level rise projections signed into law this year. They want to develop
Evan Hernandez, a firefighter/EMT from Miami, receives his official Monroe County Fire Rescue Badge at the July 17 BOCC meeting in Marathon. KRISTEN LIVENGOOD/Monroe County
a conceptual design and determine estimated costs for projects other than road fixes. Keys municipalities will be included.
“This ultimate project list would provide grant opportunities for future years,” Livengood said.
The next BOCC meeting is set for 9 a.m. Aug. 21 at the Harvey Government Center in Key West.
Four new firefighters join county Monroe County Fire Chief Jim Callahan swore in four new firefighters to Monroe County Fire Rescue (MCFR) at the BOCC meeting. The firefighters took oaths to support and uphold MCFR’s mission and were given their official badges by members of their families.
Three are graduates of the “Hotshots” program, a free firefighting and first responder training for Monroe County residents who qualify and agree to volunteer for three years or work as a firefighter anywhere in the Keys.
The new firefighters are:
• Evan Hernandez, a firefighter/EMT from Miami, received the Fire and EMT certifications at Miami Dade College. “There’s a lot that I am excited for, now that I am with MCFR.,” he said. “One of them is being part of the fire service brotherhood.”
• Victor Pugliese, a firefighter/EM from Miami and Hotshots graduate, received EMT certification from the American Medical Academy. “It wasn’t a second thought to come and work for Monroe County,” he said. “I have heard nothing but great things about this department.”
• Jesus Acosta, firefighter/PM, from Miami and Hotshots graduate, received EMT certification from the American Medical Academy, and wants to move up the ranks and eventually join the Trauma Star air ambulance program.
• Chad Rodriguez, a firefighter/EMT from Key West and Hotshots graduate, received EMT certification from the College of the Florida Keys, and comes from a long line of firefighters.
MICROBURST, NOT TORNADO, RIPS THROUGH ISLAMORADA COMMUNITY
Trees topple onto homes, cars during short but intense storm
JIM McCARTHY jim@keysweekly.com
One would have concluded a tornado touched down around MM 89 by the sound of the wind and view of the destruction left in and around the Indian Mound community in Islamorada.
The surprising sequence of events occurred during the late night hours of July 21, when residents in the neighborhood, located on Plantation Key, were awakened to the sounds of wicked winds and a strong downpour around 11 p.m. on Sunday. When the storm passed, residents opened their doors to see all sorts of destruction. Large limbs were down, power lines dangled and garbage cans, mailboxes, outdoor furniture and other debris lined the street. A trampoline was sent into the trees.
Power was cut to hundreds of residents for several hours until it was restored by Florida Keys Electric Cooperative crews during the early hours of Monday morning.
Jon Rizzo, warning coordination meteorologist with the National Weather Service out of Key West, said the activity wasn’t a tornado as many initially thought. Rizzo said damage assessments suggest it was a wet microburst, or a localized column of sinking air within a thunderstorm roughly 2.5 miles in diameter. Wind from microbursts can reach 100 mph or higher — equivalent to an EF-1 tornado.
From the damage he’s seen from Iroquois, Sioux and Navajo streets via photographs and videos, Rizzo said the winds within the microburst ranged anywhere between 60 and 85 mph.
“These events are rare in the Florida Keys, but not unprecedented,” Rizzo told Keys Weekly. “There wasn’t an impact to the whole length of Plantation Key. It was generally over an area 1 mile wide. During microbursts, the rise in wind is fast. It’s literally a matter of seconds.”
Rizzo said the radar didn’t show any deep rotation in the storm system that would suggest it was a tornado.
In some of the hardest-hit sections on Iroquois and Sioux streets, residents and their friendly neighbors continued the cleanup on Monday morning.
No injuries were reported from the wild weather, per Islamorada Fire
and
Chief Terry Abel and Village Manager Rob Cole. A response to clear roads and conduct safety checks began during the early overnight hours and into Monday afternoon, Cole said.
“Assessment efforts have included personnel from fire, building and code and public works departments,” Cole said.
Property owners in the affected areas of Indian Mound are advised
yard was getting rain,” Bertelli said.
The wind soon picked up, and at the height of the storm a gumbo limbo fell into his patio.
“By 11:30 it was done. I couldn’t go out the front door; the trees blocked access to the front door,” he said.
Residents and yard maintenance crews showed up quickly to help with the damage, working with chainsaws and excavators throughout the night and into the next morning.
“This was worse than Irma (for our neighborhood); we had more damage for sure,” said Bertelli. “It was super concentrated.”
A resident on Ojibway Street said everything started flying everywhere. A screen cage over her raised pool is completely gone, said Debbie (who requested her last name not be used).
“All our furniture was over here, the furniture from our neighbor’s was over here, the furniture was over there. The BBQ ended up in the pool, just like my neighbor over there whose upstairs chair ended up in our pool,” she said.
More about a microburst
Per the National Weather Service, it all starts with the development of a thunderstorm and the water droplets/ hailstones being suspended within an updraft.
to place compact vegetative debris in standard yard waste containers, with larger debris placed roadside for pickup by the village, Cole added.
Recounting the events
Sioux Street resident Brad Bertelli, whose front porch was struck by a tree, said the thunder and lightning started around 11 o’clock.
“It was raining and I was happy our
“Sometimes an updraft is so strong it suspends large amounts of these droplets and hailstones in the upper portions of the thunderstorm. There are many factors that can lead to evaporational cooling (sinking air) and therefore weakening of the updraft. Once this occurs, it is no longer capable of holding the large core of rain/ hail up in the thunderstorm. As a result, the core plummets to the ground. As it hits the ground, it spreads out in all directions. The location in which the microburst first hits the ground experiences the highest winds and greatest damage.”
A decorative hammerhead shark had its face ripped off from the storm event. TIFFANY DUONG/Keys Weekly
A microburst event on the night of July 21 damaged this Sioux Street residence. JIM McCARTHY/Keys Weekly
Crews
neighbors respond to a downed tree at a Sioux Street residence on July 22, after a microburst event the night before ripped through the Islamorada community of Indian Mound. JIM McCARTHY/Keys Weekly
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ART GAUTHIER
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
KEY WEST RESTAURANTS
Depreciation, and Amortization) standard, rather than the EBIT (Earnings Before Interest and Taxes) standard is critical and allows us to buy equipment, expand our dining rooms or open new locations. Restoring the EBITDA standard for deductibility means I can invest in my businesses and repay loans more effectively. Without this restoration, my tax burdens could increase by up to 30%, severely limiting my ability to make improvements and grow.
The bill also allows for 100% bonus depreciation for equipment purchases, a provision that is invaluable to restaurant operators. From kitchen ovens to catering vehicles, the ability to immediately deduct the cost of new capital assets encourages growth and efficiency. Without provisions like this, I am at a standstill and cannot grow.
kept everybody working. Servers became painters; cooks became construction renovators and everyone stayed employed until we saw signs of light again.
But the financial burdens have only increased over time, as we are continually pummeled with high labor, rent and insurance costs; supply chain disruptions; inflationary food and equipment expenses; and skyrocketing credit card processing fees.
The restaurant industry runs on razor-thin margins, as low as 3%. So we rely heavily on customer traffic and volume to make ends meet. We also rely heavily on a tax structure that offers much-needed relief to businesses like mine and those of families across the nation. That is why I am asking U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio and the rest of our Florida congressional delegation to pass the Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act, known as House Bill 7024.
Restaurant operators often rely on debt financing to ensure we have the necessary cash flow for payroll, rent and other operating expenses. Business interest deductibility based on the EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes,
Importantly, the bill also includes provisions that enhance the Child Tax Credit (CTC). This increase is particularly impactful for lower-income families with multiple children, offering an automatic inflation adjustment and expanded refundability. As an employer to more than 100 Floridians, supporting families is very important to me and our economy.
Our community, known for its vibrant culture and unique dining experiences, relies heavily on the success of local restaurants to drive tourism and economic growth. But things are tighter than ever, and we are just one hurricane away from the drop in customer traffic that could close our doors permanently.
The tax relief bill is not a cureall, but it is certainly a shot in the arm that can keep us going. I urge Senator Rubio and our congressional delegation to pass this important legislation.
To read the full text of the bill, along with an analysis of its impacts, visit congress.gov/ bill/118th-congress/housebill/7024.
— Bill Lay, owner and managing member of La Trattoria, Catered Affairs and Virgilio’s in Key West
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FURRY LITTLE FRIENDS
Critter Litters helps orphaned raccoons and opossums in Big Pine
JEN ALEXANDER www.keysweekly.com
In the Florida Keys, some residents find raccoons and opossums to be a bothersome presence. People complain about the animals' disruptive raids on garbage cans, their threatening hisses and the fear of contracting rabies. But for those who cherish life in the Keys and its special, irreplaceable ecosystem, these creatures are vital to maintaining a healthy balance, as are all the other creatures that make the Florida Keys their home.
Tracy Garcia, along with her board of directors, has opened up a special place where these animals can thrive. Critter Litters, whose operation began as a commercial venture but has since transformed into a nonprofit, a rehabilitation facility and finally a sanctuary, now provides safe refuges for neonatal abandoned and neglected small mammals like raccoons, opossums, squirrels and bunnies.
“Our goal is to rescue, rehabilitate and eventually release the animals back into the wild,” said Garcia. “We get calls from the SPCA, animal control, or people just know of us because of word of mouth or because they have heard of us on Nextdoor or Facebook.”
As of May 1, Garcia has had a heartwarming success story, rescuing, rehabilitating and releasing 28 small mammals back into their natural habitat. Some of these animals even arrived from well-meaning individuals who initially thought they could handle the responsibility of an exotic pet, but ultimately had a change of heart.
“It’s sad when we learn about people poisoning or shooting these precious animals,” Garcia said. “They can just call us and we will gladly come get them. These animals are a part of our environment. … Just like the endangered Key Deer, humans are their biggest threat.”
It's important to remember that for operations like Critter Litters, keeping certain wildlife in Florida requires a special permit. The FWC website clarifies that a Class III permit is necessary for a surprising variety of animals. This category encompasses both native and non-native species, including everything from brightly colored exotic birds (parrots, parakeets and finches) to curious
small mammals (foxes, skunks, raccoons and lemurs). The list also extends to a wide range of reptiles (snakes, lizards, turtles, tortoises and iguanas) and all amphibian species (frogs, salamanders, etc.).
“Raccoons and opossums are very different animals," Garcia said. “Racoons are very loving as babies and have over 25 different vocal sounds; it’s pretty fascinating, actually. They like to be held and snuggled, whereas opossums could really care less. We definitely give the raccoon babies a lot of love and attention, but as they get older we have to ‘wild them up’ so that they won’t just approach humans after we release them.”
Neonatal raccoons are bottle-fed and given “lots of love,” Garcia said. After this phase, they are moved into groups with other babies for socialization, eventually making their way to outdoor cages.
“I teach them how to hunt, I teach them how to swim, I teach them how to catch fish and we will even go get crabs and teach them how to catch the crabs,” Garcia said. “It’s pretty much a full-time job around here as some of the babies eat every few hours. When we feel they are ready, it’s time to release them. We never release a single raccoon; it’s a death sentence to release them alone, so we always release them as a group. This way they have the best chance for survival. Opossums, on the other hand, are more solo creatures, so we can release them by themselves.”
With a dedicated teaching career, Garcia still manages to make time for the Critter Litters sanctuary, and is always seeking compassionate volunteers to lend a helping hand. For those who share her passion and want to contribute to her cause, she has an Amazon wish list filled with essential items.
“Most people think that the state or government funds rehabbers," said Garcia. “That’s just not true. Everything is out of pocket. We depend upon donations and fundraising events to support our animals.”
For more information, visit facebook.com/CritterLittersBPK or email critterlittersbpk@gmail. com. To donate to Critter Litters’ Amazon wish list, scan the QR code:
Critter Litters founder Tracy Garcia holds a rescued juvenile raccoon. JEN ALEXANDER/Keys Weekly
Volunteer Lexi Fels helps bottle-feed a baby raccoon.
MARK HEDDEN
... is a photographer, writer, and semi-professional birdwatcher. He has lived in Key West for more than 25 years and may no longer be employable in the real world. He is also executive director of the Florida Keys Audubon Society.
Science cannot always explain what a bird is up to.
This came to mind the other day when I walked down the nature trail next to the 1800 Atlantic condos and made my way out to the beach. It was a calm day, hardly any wind and hardly any wildlife to be seen. I lifted my binoculars and scanned the sargassum, finally latching onto a blackbellied plover, a mid-sized shorebird that fed for a while, then stood and eyed me warily. Or at least I think it was a wary look. Blackbellied plovers are visual feeders and have big eyes that open wide, giving them a look that seems constantly both startled and borderline offended. Though maybe I was reading into it.
Black-bellied plovers are about the size of a dove, but with long legs and a pretty stubby bill for a shorebird.
A lot of shorebirds feed with sewing machine-like motions, stepping slowly and probing the ground with their bills. Black-bellied plovers tend to alternately stand still or speed walk like a character out of Benny Hill. They feed primarily on worms, bivalves and crustaceans, and like the Spanish Inquisition, their chief weapon is surprise, sneaking up and snagging their prey while it is still unsuspecting. (I have now used up my quota for the week of allowable references to British comedy shows on PBS in the 1980s.)
Black-bellied plovers breed in the tundra of the high arctic. They are only supposed to winter down here.
Seeing a black-bellied plover here in the summer isn’t exactly rare, but it is curious. Unfortunately there isn’t much in the scientific literature, or at least not in anything I can find, about why one would be here when it should be thousands of miles away in totally different climates and habitats. This might have a lot to do with the fact that the number of birds that decline to migrate is so statistically insignificant that it would probably be impossible to get research grants and other kinds of funding to do it. Who does research on birds that aren’t where they are supposed to be? How would you even do it?
The black-bellied part of the name comes from the fact that their belly plumage in the breeding season turns – you guessed it – black. Their topside in that molt is white flecked with black, which gives them a similar visual vibe to the Sno-Caps chocolate nonpareils that you get at the movies.
PLOVERS, BEACHES AND BEING OUT OF PLACE
The species is also found in the Old World, and is called the grey plover there, because they don’t know how to properly spell the word gray, and because they decided to name the bird after how it looked in their non-breeding plumage.
There’s a debate in bird world whether plover rhymes with lover or clover, but I tend to say it both ways, just to keep things lively. It’s an odd word, “plover.” It derives from the Old French word “plovier,” which in turn derives from the Latin word “pluvia,” meaning rain. It’s unclear if plovers were thought to predict rain, to like rain, to gather in the rain, to be easily caught in the rain, or to sing in the rain. But as the author of “The Dictionary of American Bird Names” Ernest A. Choate once said, “None of these holds water.” (The best jokes are buried in 226-page texts about nomenclature.) As another etymologist put it, there is “no rational connection between the plover and the rain.”
Whatever the deal is, the name stuck.
According to “100 Birds And How They Got Their Names,” medieval bestiaries ascribed plovers the ability to look a sick man in the eye and predict whether he was going to live or going to die. If the man was going to die the plover would simply turn away. If he was going to live the plover would somehow grab his infirmity and fly toward the sun to burn it up.
This notion also turns out not validated by any form of scientific research.
Black-bellied plovers are considered a species of least concern because they breed in remote areas, generally out of the range of hu-
man development. They tend to breed within 100 yards of where they nested the previous season. They usually start breeding in mid-May.
Black-bellied plovers are sexually monomorphic. Like a lot of shorebirds, they don’t really build nests so much as scrape out a little divot in the ground. They’re a little fancier than some shorebirds in that they will often line their scrape with lichen or moss.
They lay one clutch of three to four eggs a year. It takes about a month to incubate the eggs, and a little over a month for the chicks to learn to fly. The chicks are precocial, and can walk a day or two after hatching. The females tend to stick around for about 12 days, then leave the males to do the rest of the feeding and rearing.
I’m pretty sure the bird I was seeing on the beach had not just arrived. It didn’t have the crisply defined molt of a just-hatched juvenile. It didn’t have the migrant bird feel, and after two months of rearing young, it would have had to have gone all out to get to the Keys in mid-July.
I’d guess the bird had been here over the winter and didn’t migrate north. Maybe it was unhealthy when all the other plovers flew north. Maybe the genetic clockworks that tell a bird when it should migrate didn’t kick in. Maybe its hormones were screwed up. Black-bellied plovers don’t start to breed until they are 2 or 3 years old, so maybe it was on the avian equivalent of rumspringa or a walkabout. Maybe, like a lot of us, it came to visit and decided life was pretty good, so why leave?
A black-bellied plover seen recently in Key West. MARK HEDDEN/Keys Weekly
HERE ARE THE 2024 BUBBAS WINNERS!
FOOD & DRINK
Best Key Lime Pie
BLUE HEAVEN
Best Cuban Sandwich
SANDY’S CAFE
Best International Restaurant
BENIHANA
Best Cup of Co ee
CUBAN COFFEE QUEEN
Best Breakfast
GOLDMAN’S DELI
Best Brunch
HOT TIN ROOF
Best Lunch
HOGFISH BAR & GRILL
Best Bar
GREEN PARROT
Best Gay Bar
22&CO
Best Wine Selection
LA TRATTORIA
Best Beer Selection
BEARDED LADY
Best Mojito
PEPE’S CAFE
Best Bloody Mary
TWO FRIENDS PATIO
RESTAURANT
Best Margarita
PEPE’S CAFE
Best Martini
VIRGILIO’S
Best Bartender
MICAELA ELECHKO
GREEN PARROT
Best Waterfront Dining
LATITUDES
Best Pizza
ROOSTICA
Best Seafood
THE DOCKS RESTAURANT
+ RAW BAR
Best Steak
PRIME STEAKHOUSE
Best Taco
GARBO’S GRILL @ HANK’S
Best Food Truck
GARBO’S GRILL @ HANK’S
Best Dessert Spot
BETTER THAN SEX
Best Ice Cream / Gelato
FLAMINGO CROSSING
Best Conch Chowder
CONCH REPUBLIC
SEAFOOD CO.
Best Wings
BIG CHEEZEES PUB AND GRUB
Best Smoothie
SMOOTHIE SHUTTLE
Best BBQ
EATON GOOD
Best Sushi
MISOHAPPY SUSHI AND THAI
Best Raw Bar/Oysters
HALF SHELL RAW BAR
Best Ceviche
THE DOCKS RESTAURANT + RAW BAR
Best Hamburger
MOONDOG CAFE & BAKERY
Best Late-Night Spot
MARY ELLEN’S BAR & RESTAURANT
Best Catering Company
CATERED AFFAIRS OF KEY WEST
Best Organic Health Food
THE CAFE
Best Bar or Restaurant Restroom
TAVERN N TOWN
Best Happy Hour
BOAT HOUSE BAR & GRILL
Best Service & Sta
LA TRATTORIA
Best Overall Restaurant
A&B LOBSTER HOUSE
OUR COMMUNITY
Best Place to Take the Kids
KEY WEST BUTTERFLY & NATURE CONSERVATORY
Best Event/Local Festival
KEY WEST SONGWRITERS FESTIVAL
Best Tourist Attraction
THE HEMINGWAY HOME AND MUSEUM
Best Local Celebrity
QMITCH
Best Teacher / Professor / School
Admin
ALI FERGUSON - POINCIANA
Best Nonprofit Organization
FLORIDA KEYS SPCA
Best Elected O cial
SAM STEELE
MONROE COUNTY TAX COLLECTOR
Best Local Musician
CAFFEINE CARL
Best Local Band
MARSHALL MORLOCK BAND
Best Local DJ
DJ SANARIS
Best In Drag
QMITCH
Best Artist
LUCY HAWK
Best Thespian/Performing Artist
ERIN MCKENNA
Best Volunteer/Community Activist
CHRIS SHULTZ
Best Live Music Venue
GREEN PARROT BAR
Best Performing Arts Venue
KEY WEST THEATER
Best Art Gallery or Studio
THE STUDIOS OF KEY WEST
THE BUSINESSES
Best Accounting Firm
OROPEZA & PARKS
Best Law Firm
OROPEZA STONES & CARDENAS
Best Charter Fishing Captain or Guide
ROUGH SHOT CHARTERS
CAPTAIN DJ BARRIOS
Best Furniture Store
ROYAL FURNITURE & DESIGN
Best Dive Shop
DIVERS DIRECT
Best Bait & Tackle Shop
KEY WEST MARINE HARDWARE
LOS CUBANITOS
Best Watersports Company
FURY WATER ADVENTURES
Best Marina
THE PERRY HOTEL & MARINA
Best Customer Service
STRUNK ACE HARDWARE
Best Resort/Hotel
THE PERRY HOTEL & MARINA
Best Grocery Store
FAUSTO’S FOOD PALACE
Best Contractor
CHARLEY TOPPINO & SONS
Best Photographer
NICK DOLL PHOTOGRAPHY
Best Doctor
DR. MELANIE YOUSCHAK
Best Veterinarian
KEYS ANIMAL CARE CENTER
Best Realtor
BASCOM GROOMS
Best Real Estate O ce
BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY HOMESERVICES
KNIGHT & GARDNER REALTY
Best Bank or Credit Union
FIRST STATE BANK
OF THE FLORIDA KEYS
Best Jewelry Store
JEFF’S GEMS & NAUTICAL DESIGNS
Best Car Dealer
KEYS AUTO CENTER
Best Bed & Breakfast/Guesthouse
THE GARDENS HOTEL
Best Chiropractor
SOUTHERNMOST SPORTS
CHIROPRACTIC - DR. MICHAEL STERN
Best Dentist
DR. HECTOR GUZMAN
Best Florist
LOVE IN BLOOM FLORIST
Best Insurance Company
THE PORTER ALLEN COMPANY
Best Liquor Store
TIPSY ROOSTER LIQUOR STORE & BAR
Best Local Retailer
KIRBY’S CLOSET
Best Fitness Center/Gym
FYT
Best Nail Salon
LEE NAILS
Best Spa
OCEAN WELLNESS SPA & SALON
Best Hair Salon
SALTY ROOTS
Best Barber
BEARDS & BREWS
BARBERSHOP & BAR
Best Summer Camp
REEF RELIEF
Best Family-Owned Business
FAUSTO’S FOOD PALACE
Best Overall Business
MIAMI SUBS
Best Oceanfront Dining in KeyWest
2024 BUBBA AWARDS MARK ANOTHER BANNER YEAR
Community celebrates the Key West People’s Choice Awards
That’s a wrap. The 2024 Bubbas: Key West People’s Choice Awards celebrated its 11th year on July 20, honoring 91 local businesses, people and nonprofits for their commitment and contributions to the Key West community.
Presented by the Key West Weekly and hosted by owners Britt Myers and Jason Koler, the awards gala featured jokes, toasts, roasts, a hit comedy routine by Tom Dustin of Comedy Key West, a live musical performance by Mike Stack and Nick Norman and a hilarious interactive audience survey conducted in real time. Supervisor of Elections Joyce Griffin even joined the hijinks on stage, jokingly questioning the “election integrity” of the Bubbas that saw Tax Collector Sam Steele voted Best Elected Official.
More than a quarter-million votes were cast in the nomination and final voting phases of the awards that truly are the people’s choice.
As always, the Key West Theater donated the venue, and 100% of all ticket sales benefited Wesley House Family Services, which takes care of foster and adoptive kids as well as Keys families.
In its 11 years of awards, the Bubbas have raised more than a quarter-million dollars for local charities.
Stay tuned for more photos in next week’s Key West Weekly, and see them all plus a complete list of 2024 Bubbas winners at keysweekly.com.
Photos by MARK HEDDEN/Keys Weekly
The Bubbas July 20 award show at Key West Theater included plenty of political jabs at local — and thankfully thick-skinned — candidates. It featured a musical performance by Mike Stack and Nick Norman and a hilarious comedy bit by Tom Dustin from Comedy Key West.
But no Bubbas event would be complete with the ever-popular Top 10 List.
In case you missed it that night, here is the 11th annual edition of…
YOU MIGHT BE A BUBBA IF…
10. You recently masterminded the firing of a city manager.
9. Someone with the last name Barrios has either put you in jail, gotten you out of jail or was in jail with you.
8. You still pay the same price for a “daily paper” that only comes out twice a week.
7. You’ve been referring to Dee Dee as “the mayor” since she was the tax collector.
6. Your family tree is shaped like a tickle stick.
5. After Niles Sales and Service was sold, you had to go back to smuggling to support your kid’s little league team.
4. You are radically vocal about “shopping local,” but have your own table at Outback.
3. Your uncle, cousin or biological father is in the hit documentary “Cocaine Cowboys.”
2. Your business lost more money after the TDC audits than it did during COVID.
1. Lower Keys Medical Center owes YOU money.
6810 FRONT STREET | STOCK ISLAND
5620 MACDONALD AVENUE | KEY WEST
TAKE ME HOME?
FIND A FRIEND AT THE FLORIDA KEYS SPCA
The Keys Weekly family loves animals as much as our friends at the Florida Keys SPCA do, and we’re honored each week to showcase some “furever” friends that are ready, waiting and available for adoption at the organization’s Key West campus.
From cats and dogs to Guinea
pigs, hamsters, rabbits, reptiles and birds, the perfect addition to your family is waiting for you. The SPCA’s knowledgeable staff will help with advice and care tips while working to ensure a good fit between each pet and its people.
The SPCA’s Golden Paw program also provides special assistance with vet bills and medications for special-needs and older animals that require a little extra TLC.
Check these pages each week for just a few of the animals waiting for a home and see them all at fkspca.org.
Maizie is our 11-year-old purring queen from the Golden Paw program. She loves long naps and pets, with purrs as loud as a boat engine, and her adoption fee is waived.
Meet Waddles, our 9-year-old resident at the Key West campus. As part of our Golden Paw program, his adoption fee is waived. He’s full of personality and needs a special home where he can be the only dog.
Meet Crepe, the enchanting cat with a split personality. One moment, she’s lavishing you with affection; the next, she’s ignoring you entirely. Her unpredictable nature adds a touch of Key West magic to every interaction.
Cricket is our 10-year-old blind and deaf dreamer. She might get startled, but let her sniff you first, and she’ll purr away. Cricket dreams of grand adventures, endless catnip fields and a special home.
Hey there, animal lovers! Babbs is a 3-year-old rabbit looking for a cozy home. She loves hopping around, nibbling on veggies and snuggling.
KEYS COUPLE’S DAUGHTER TRAINS TO BE NAVY CHAPLAIN
Kelsey Fauser’s parents live on Sugarloaf Key
Navy Lt. j.g. Kelsey Fauser, whose parents live on Sugarloaf Key, is training at Naval Chaplaincy School to serve as a chaplain for America’s seafaring warfighters.
Fauser graduated from Coe College in 2017 and the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago in 2021. She joined the Navy less than one year ago.
“I joined the Navy because I couldn’t shake this feeling to go and serve,” said Fauser. “My grandfather also served in the Marines, so that sense of service is part of who I am and I listened to that call.”
More than 800 Navy chaplains from more than 100 faith groups, including Christian, Jewish, Muslim and Buddhist, serve in the Navy Chaplain Corps. After seven weeks of training at Naval Chaplaincy School and Center at Naval Station Newport, Rhode Island, the chaplains embark on their mission to provide support and guidance to sailors, Marines and Coast Guardsmen at sea and on shore.
“In conversations about national defense, you hear about great power competition and competition among peers and near-peers,” said Capt. Charles Varsogea, chaplain and commanding officer of the Naval Chaplaincy School. “The people of the U.S. Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard have no peers. Part of what makes them peerless defenders of the Constitution is their determination to do so with body, mind and spirit. No nation on earth can replicate the fighting spirit of our sea services. The graduates of our Basic Leadership
Course are trained, developed and inspired to give our seagoing warfighters the strength of spirit necessary to complete their missions with honor.”
Chaplains and religious program specialists (RP) play a critical role in helping the Department of the Navy achieve and maintain a ready force through the delivery of professional religious ministry and compassionate pastoral care. Chaplains and RPs are embedded within commands operating at sea and ashore to ensure 24/7 availability. They provide a source of comfort and refuge that enables service members and their families to practice and grow in their faith and to face personal and professional challenges.
In the basic leadership course, Navy chaplains learn to tailor religious ministry to life in the sea services, said Varsogea. They also learn to facilitate the free exercise of religion for people of faiths other than their own. They learn service specific ways to care for all people and they learn how and when to render their best military advice.
“My proudest moment in the Navy was being selected to become an active duty chaplain,” Fauser said. “Being in the Navy means showing up for those who serve and making sure they know there is someone supporting them at all times.”
Navy Lt. j.g. Kelsey Fauser. CONTRIBUTED
CHRIS McNULTY
is an astrologer, wanderer, bartender and advocate for queer justice. He is a loquacious Gemini with a cozy Cancer rising. Find him at hearthandheraldastrology.com
The sun entered Leo in the wee hours of the morning July 22, and we’ve officially left the “protectyour-feelings” era in favor of a “show-’em-whatcha-got” period. Leo season is all about expressing oneself, bringing one’s creative core to the forefront, and determining purpose for oneself and each other.
Right after entering its home sign of Leo, the sun immediately opposed Pluto on July 23, which starts this Leo season off with an intense, shadowy quality. There is a need to confront our compulsions and insecurities in order to really let our creative selves loose. It’s like hitting the therapist’s office before going to your headlining gig at the Green Parrot. Check in with your motivations for a bit, but don’t get stuck there. Leo season is for free energy. Today, Mercury enters its home sign of Virgo. The next three weeks is the best time of year to communicate your detailed plans, to organize your mental space and to get practical about your agenda. When Mercury is in Virgo, we are able to get clear about how our planning now will lead to our ultimate goals later. Focus is the key word.
Here are your horoscopes for the sun-Pluto opposition and Mercury entering Virgo. Read for your rising and sun signs.
LEO
July 23 - Aug. 22
Happy happy Leo season, you bright ball of light! Before you embark on your joyful rainbow tour of a birthday season, take some time this week to confront your relationship baggage. Whether you have a partner or not, there is something about the “other” that needs attention. A moment in the dark will
allow for an even brighter party. It’s also time to start getting serious about financial planning. So, set a budget for the brouhaha.
VIRGO
Aug. 23 - Sept. 22
As you enter into a period of quiet and self-reflection, appreciate your need for retreat. In order to really soak up the benefits of isolation, take some time to consider your regular habits, particularly the ones that are either compulsive or avoidant. You also have an opportunity to express yourself very clearly and to think very practically about yourself. Use the clarity.
LIBRA
Sept. 23 - Oct. 23
Leo season is a very social time for you, Libra. This year, the season kicks off with a fairly intense awareness that social time with friends is time away from your personal creative work. Let the mutual exclusion empower rather than frustrate you. Keep your focus where you are. As you let the party ride on, you also have the opportunity for deep reflection. Can you balance both?
SCORPIO
Oct. 23 - Nov. 21
It’s time to focus on work. Whether you spend more time at work or you focus on what you need to change in your career, it is high time to shine a light on your place in the public realm. Your home life might loom large and dark as you make these choices. Acknowledge the weight, but keep your eyes on the prize. Friends will be really helpful if you seek advice.
SAGITTARIUS
Nov. 22 - Dec. 21
Is there a major trip awaiting you? Whether it is an actual vacation or a change in perspective, it is the season to open your horizons up to new ways of seeing the world. There is a heaviness in your familiar surroundings though, so make sure you’re not running away from
something that needs your attention. It is also a great time to make practical plans for your work life.
CAPRICORN
Dec. 22 - Jan. 19
If you could create a collective movement to change something, what would it be? Perhaps you don’t actually have to create anything; it is usually enough to find people already doing it. It is the season for you to find where you will invest your time, talent, and/or money. Be sure you don’t overlook your own needs, though. A new course of study will also serve you well now.
AQUARIUS
Jan. 20 - Feb. 18
Who is your “other?” Is there one person who holds a mirror to you, or is it an entire crew of people in your life. Everyone needs a counterpoint, and it is a great time to get clear on who or what yours is. Don’t get down on yourself in the process, however. Reflecting on relationships ought to be empowering rather than depressing. Think clearly on what you have a stake in.
PISCES
Feb. 19 - March 20
Pull up your sleeves and get your hands dirty. It is high time to focus on how you use your labor on a regular basis. Are you working for other people without actually supporting yourself in the process? Are you spinning your wheels or finding traction? Celebrate your ability to get things done, and make sure your work is working for you. Communicate practically with a loved one.
ARIES
March 21 - April 19
Focus on the things that bring you joy right now. Yes, there are things that you enjoy with other people, but what are the things you do that you find personal happiness in, without anyone even knowing. Be careful not to be suspicious of your support network while you
CHECK IN, TURN OUT
focus on yourself. How do you use your labor in the most practical ways? Can you change your habits?
TAURUS
April 20 - May 20
Home is where the heart is, and home is where your focus is. Family and your private sanctuary are coming into view, and they deserve your time. Work may be looming heavily in the background, but you know what to prioritize. Whether or not writing is something you do, for the next three weeks you will have unique creative writing capacities. Take advantage!
GEMINI
May 21 - June 20
Communicating with your family is going to be a major theme these coming weeks. For some, this is natural; for others, incredibly difficult. Wherever you land on this spectrum, surrender to the inevitability and truly give it your best. Also, as you celebrate your community they will celebrate you. Let your light shine in the places that you find familiar, and see what happens.
CANCER
June 21 - July 22
Yes, Cancer season is over and you have another year ahead of you. Pay attention to your finances and what you need for security in order to start the year off right. There may be some powerful influences seeking your time and energy, but be sure to meet your own needs before investing in any other opportunities. You have a unique power to communicate clearly now. Share your thoughts.
PROMOTING CONCH PRIDE SINCE
Family owned and operated by Nikki, Tiffany, Cathy & Damien
SHARKS: THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE BITTEN
The year was 1975. I had just turned 10 when the Steven Spielberg classic “Jaws” came out. On a hot summer day, I sat in a dark, air-conditioned movie theater while the terrifying fish swam back and forth across the screen. I had a bucket of popcorn dripping with butter between my legs.
Suffice it to say, the film stayed with me long after the credits rolled. For the rest of the summer, I was afraid of the water. I would not wade into the ocean or jump in the waves at the beach. I still swam in backyard pools but was always a little nervous for a second or two when I jumped in. Once or twice, even the bathroom shower made me shake a little. I remember standing in the shower, warm jets of water hitting my head and dripping off my cheeks. I remember staring down at the shower drain and imagining a killer shark breaking up through the little silver cover. Stupid, right?
I had not yet read the Peter Benchley novel on which the production was based. Most people who saw the film had not. Benchley’s seminal tale pricked a fearful nerve in the collective conscience that demonized the species as a whole to a worldwide audience. While writing a great story, he portrayed the toothy fish as a cold-blooded killer, and it became some of the most dangerous shark fiction ever written. According to him, if he knew what the book would do, he never would have written it. When I moved to the Keys in 2001 and started snorkeling around the coral reefs, I felt
a sharky tug of apprehension in the back of my mind. It was absolutely irrational, but a dorsal fin pierced the surface of my subconscious.
The first time I saw a real shark was thrilling. I had seen nurse sharks swimming by or resting on the bottom, but nurse sharks do not have that classic shark design. My first experience with one of the big fish that looks like a sleek predator at the top of the food chain was with a Caribbean reef shark. It is not the biggest shark, and this one was about 5 feet long, but the fish swished its tail back and forth and swam low and slow over the shallow coral reef like a boss.
I posted about sharks on my Facebook group, Florida Keys History with Brad Bertelli, last week, and controversy erupted. It was a big picture to post, not for its clarity or resolution but for the rows of shark fins left out to dry on wooden tables. Back in the 1920s, Big Pine Key made a name for itself when it became home to the Hydenoil Products Company. Hydenoil was based out of New York and arrived on the island circa 1923.
The plant is said to have been located where Bogie Channel flows between Big Pine and No Name Key. A Miami News article, dated Nov. 16, 1930 and headlined “Shark Industry is Lusty One,” described aspects of the operation. According to the writer Cecil R. Warren, who interviewed the company’s Florida representative Mr. Eddy, Hydenoil planned to establish shark processing plants up and down the Florida coastline.
By 1930, the Big Pine plant had processed 20,000 sharks, including sawfish. Some 6,000 sharks had gone through the plant the previous summer. According to Eddy, nearly every
part of the shark was used: “Hide for leather, liver for oils, fins for delicacies highly enjoyed by the Chinese, white meat for food, eyes and teeth for bead, buttons, and jewelry, bone for ornaments (sharks have cartilage, not bones), and dark meat and residue for chicken meal and fertilizer.”
After posting the image of the shark fins drying on the wooden tables, fishermen called for the practice to be brought back. Hunt down the sharks. Get them out of the water because the sharks were taking nearly every fish being reeled back to the boat. “It’s an epidemic.”
No one likes hearing from the IRS. However, sometimes you have to pay the tax man. In most parts of the world, the tax man refers to an agency demanding their dues. For fishermen in the Florida Keys, the tax man comes dressed in a form-fitting sharkskin suit. Some fishermen, at least locally, are complaining about having to compete with sharks for the fish they have hooked.
The problem is threefold for the fishermen because you can’t blame a shark for being a shark. First, the sound of the boat’s motor churning through the water is a beacon. Second, when a fish is hooked, it wriggles and thrashes in the water in an attempt to break the line or the hook, and those are precisely the kinds of vibrations that alert sharks to the presence of vulnerable prey. Also, a fish biting a hook and struggling to free itself releases blood into the water.
According to NOAA, worldwide about one in four species of sharks and rays is threatened with extinction. Locally, the small-toothed sawfish is a species of critical concern, but it is not the only one. Apex predators, sharks play an essential role in the balance of the ecosystems where they live. Remove them from the equation, and the imbalance will begin to compound.
Sure, no one is saying cull them all, just enough of them to make it easier to reel a fish back to the boat. If you remove the inconvenience factor, live sharks contribute mightily to Florida’s economy. Based on a 2016 study, recreational divers and snorkelers seeking shark encounters brought $221 million into the Florida economy. The sale of shark fins nationwide brought in $1.03 million, making it clear that a live shark is worth more to the Florida economy than a dead one.
Playing the part of devil’s advocate, perhaps one of the reasons there has been more competition between fishermen and sharks is the pressure being put on the fisheries by commercial and recreational fishermen.
Brad is a local historian, author, speaker and Honorary Conch who loves sharing the history of the Florida Keys.
FLORIDA KEYS HISTORY WITH BRAD BERTELLI
Shark fins drying on tables at Big Pine Key circa 1940. STETSON KENNEDY COLLECTION/Florida Keys History Center
LOOKING FOR A PULSE
These corals could invade Keys waters
Tis the University of Florida, IFAS Monroe County Extension Florida Sea Grant Agent. Shelly is a marine biologist and provides sciencebased education about coastal environments.
here is the potential for a new aquatic invader in the waters surrounding the Florida Keys. Pulse corals are bright-colored soft corals that are very popular in the saltwater aquarium trade. Common native soft corals in the U.S. are sea fans, sea whips and sea pens. The pulse corals can be identified apart from our native soft corals because the polyps are much larger and the polyps are constantly opening and closing to feed in a pulsing rhythm.
Like the invasive lionfish, pulse corals are also native to the Red Sea and the Indo-Pacific Ocean. Since the temperatures in the Florida Keys are like their native range, there is good reason to believe if they arrive, they could be very successful at spreading rapidly if not controlled at once. Pulse corals were introduced illegally in Venezuela 20 years ago and the invasion there has devastated thousands of acres of coral reef and seagrass meadows.
In the past two years, another species has been found in northern Cuba and Puerto Rico. Pulse corals can smother coral reefs and seagrasses because they grow rapidly and have no known native predators.
Since the early 2000s, there have been numerous outbreaks of pulse corals in both the Pacific and Caribbean. The suspected causes of these outbreaks include intentional releases by marine aquarists, illegal aquaculture activities where they were likely grown in the wild to be sold in the aquarium trade, fragments of soft corals attaching to boats, ships and fishing gear, and possibly spread via ship ballast water.
Due to their asexual reproduction, removal is difficult without fragmenting and accidentally spreading these octocorals to new areas to colonize. As of 2024, invasive soft corals have been identified in Venezuela, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii (2020), Cuba (2022) and Puerto Rico (2023). These soft corals are very popular in the saltwater
There have been numerous outbreaks of pulse corals in both the Pacific and Caribbean. DIEGO DELSO/Contributed
aquarium trade where they are known by the common names “Pulsing Xenia” and “Pom-Pom Xenia.” This is such a popular saltwater aquarium soft coral because it grows rapidly, can handle a wide range of poor water quality conditions and is easily fragmented and sold online to other aquarists with a high price range for colorful specimens. Soft corals are soft and flexible compared to the hard stony corals that build coral reefs. Soft corals may also be called gorgonians from Greek mythology and the Gorgon Medusa, who had a head of writhing snakes. They are also called octo-corals because each individual polyp has eight symmetrical feathery tentacles. Hard corals like brain corals, star corals and pillar coral are distinguished by having six tentacles and secrete a hard calcium carbonate skeleton that creates the three-dimensional structure of a coral reef.
As we have seen with the invasive lionfish, aquatic invaders are very difficult to eradicate if they are allowed to become established. This is why we are looking for scuba divers and snorkelers to keep an eye out and report it if found. If you see it, please do not touch it, since small fragments easily break off and float away to regrow in new areas. Please send all reports to the U.S. Geological Survey Nonindigenous Aquatic Species “report a sighting” tool at https://nas.er.usgs. gov/SightingReport.aspx or to the Atlantic and Gulf Rapid Reef Assessment (AGRRA) Unomia Learning Exchange portal. Both of these sites have maps to drop a pin with latitude and longitude information and a place to upload photos.
The Monroe County Extension is working closely with both of these partners, and you can always call our office at 305-292-4501 or email monroe@ifas.ufl.edu with reports.
SWIMMERS TO CIRCLE LIGHTHOUSE OFF UPPER KEYS
8-mile race raises money to restore Alligator Reef Lighthouse
Nearly 500 solo and relay-team openocean swimmers are to attempt to complete the 11th annual Swim for Alligator Lighthouse, a unique endurance challenge slated for Saturday, Sept. 7, in Atlantic Ocean waters off Islamorada.
Individuals and two-, three- and four-person teams must conquer the 8-mile round trip course to the historic lighthouse and back in less than eight hours. To compete as an individual, a participant must first show proof of completing a prior 1,650-meter or 1-mile swim in 45 minutes or less. All swimmers must have a support kayaker.
Sanctioned by the World Open Water Swimming Association, the event features an in-water start and beach finish at the host hotel, Amara Cay Resort at MM 80.5 oceanside in Islamorada.
Early-bird check-in and packet pickup is set for 4-7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 5, at Amara Cay. An informal meet-up social is planned for 6 to 9 p.m. at Florida Keys Brewing Co., 81611 Old Highway. Partici-
pants also can check in Friday, Sept. 6, from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. at Amara Cay.
Saturday’s wave starts for swimmers begin by 7:45 a.m. All swimmers must exit the water by 3:30 p.m. An awards ceremony with dinner is scheduled at 7 p.m.
Entry fee is $250 per person for solo swimmers. Fees are $240 per person for twoperson teams, $230 per person for three-person teams and $220 per swimmer on fourperson relay teams. All swimmers must provide their safety kayaker information to race officials. Online registration is available and the field will be capped at 490 swimmers, according to race officials.
The annual challenge is a fundraising effort for the Islamorada-based Friends of the Pool Inc., a nonprofit group that in 2021 was granted ownership of Alligator Reef Lighthouse under the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act. The group intends to restore the 151-year-old beacon for $5 million to $6 million. More information is at swimalligatorlight.com.
— Contributed
Swimmers escorted by kayakers circle Alligator Reef Lighthouse during the 2023 Swim for Alligator Lighthouse open-water challenge off Islamorada. BOB CARE/Florida Keys News Bureau
YO HO HO
businesses, Papa’s Pilar and Key West’s First Legal Rum Distillery. CONTRIBUTED
First-ever Rum Fest Key West set for Aug. 14-18
Fans of rum, fabled as seafarers’ favorite libation, can savor on-the-water events, unique rum experiences, seminars and tastings, a concert and more during the inaugural Rum Fest Key West in the historic seaport city. Set for Wednesday through Sunday, Aug. 14-18, the festival incorporates a commemoration of National Rum Day on Friday, Aug. 16.
Scheduled events showcase Key West’s distilleries, landmarks and marine environment — as well as the rum-running heritage that helped shape the island city during the 1920-1933 Prohibition era.
The festival begins Wednesday evening, Aug. 14, with a tour of Key West’s First Legal Rum Distillery, 105 Simonton St., followed by a live music sunset sail with the distillery team on a spacious Fury Key West catamaran.
Attractions on Thursday, Aug. 15, include a cocktail cruise to one of Key West’s offshore sandbars, a pool party featuring reggae and rum, a Lower Keys bar crawl via trolley and a cocktail contest for local mixologists. Capping the day is a four-course dinner with rum pairings at the Hemingway Social Club at the Hemingway Rum Co./Papa’s Pilar Distillery, 201 Simonton St. National Rum Day celebrations planned for Friday, Aug. 16, include
the Key Lime Bicycle and Rum Tour, a sandbar cocktail cruise and a cigar-rolling and rum experience at the Rodriguez Cigar Factory, 113 Fitzpatrick St. Headlining the night is a concert by multi-platinum “trop rock” singer/songwriter Jesse Rice at the Key West Theater, 512 Eaton St., followed by an after-party.
The festival’s highlight is the Grand Tasting at the Hemingway Rum Co., set for Saturday, Aug. 17, featuring more than 30 rum brands for attendees to sample. Rums will include leading brands such as Pussers and Bacardi, arti san offerings such as Marsh House Rum and Down Island, and awardwinning local favorites Papa’s Pilar Rum and Key West First Legal Rum.
The event begins at 6 p.m. for VIP ticket holders and 7:30 p.m. for general admission. Activities include an opportunity to meet the brands’ distillers and owners, a rum cake competition, live music and a raffle to win an autographed Kenny Chesney guitar.
During the day Saturday, rum-o-philes can expand their knowledge of their favorite spirit during four seminars at the Perry Hotel & Marina, 7001 Shrimp Road on Stock Island. Seminars will be taught by local and national rum experts and will include cocktails and small plates.
FLORIDA KEYS WEEKLY PODCAST OF THE WEEK
The rum-focused revelry concludes Sunday, Aug. 18, after a brunch and farewell event that features the famous spirit.
More information is at rumfestkeywest.com. — Contributed
The inaugural Rum Fest Key West Aug. 14-18 will feature dozens of rums, including those from two local
MUSICIAN TIM WILLIAMS ON HIS COUNTING CROWS TRIBUTE SHOW AUG. 12 AT THE KEY WEST THEATER
Musician Tim Williams joined Keys Weekly digital editor Gwen Filosa on the Key West Side Tracks podcast for a deep dive on one of the most endearing and enduring albums of the past half century: August and Everything After by Counting Crows.
A Monroe County library card now comes with free music — and downloads — through the Freegal music streaming service. The platform offers 18 million songs from 200 genres — and is ad-free. CONTRIBUTED
LIBRARY OFFERS FREE MUSIC STREAMING
18 million songs in 200 genres now available
The Monroe County Public Library has added a music streaming service, allowing card holders unlimited streaming from a collection of 18 million songs in more than 200 genres of music.
Anyone with a Monroe County Public Library card can now log onto Freegal, either through a browser or the Freegal app, which is available for iPhones, Android and Kindle Fire. In addition to the ad-free streaming, cardholders can also download three songs each week, create and share playlists and more.
“The library system is enthusiastic to bring Freegal Music+ to our patrons in Monroe County,” said Michael Nelson, acting director of libraries. “The service offers a great opportunity to discover new music and build your own playlists of favorites from multiple genres including rock, R&B, classical, jazz and pop.”
REEL RECS
Staff from your Monroe County Public Library recommend some of their favorites from the collection.
What: Victory (1981)
SHELF HELP
Staff from your Monroe County Public Library recommend some of their favorites from the collection.
To log in, go to keyslibraries.freegal music.com.
The library also offers an extensive collection of e-books, e-audiobooks and streaming video through the Libby and Kanopy apps, as well as online courses with LinkedIn Learning and Mango Languages and business and legal forms through Law Depot.
Any resident or property owner in Monroe County, as well as anyone with a military ID, can get a library card.
To sign up, visit your local branch in Key West, Big Pine Key, Marathon, Islamorada or Key Largo. You can also sign up online to get started right away – you’ll just need to visit the library within 90 days. For more information, go to keyslibraries.org/library-cards.
If you have questions, stop by or call your local branch or email info@keyslibraries.org. — Contributed
Why: Imagine a movie directed by two-time Oscar winner John Huston, the man behind classics like “The Treasure of the Sierra Madre,” “Key Largo” and “The African Queen.” Imagine a cast that includes Max von Sydow and Michael Caine and – because this is a movie about soccer – Pelé. Now imagine that the person who receives top billing is … Sylvester Stallone. This movie exists. It is called “Victory.”
This is not a great or even a good movie. It is a movie so gloriously dumb that people remember it for decades after a single viewing. It’s set in a World War II Nazi prison camp and the plot revolves around a soccer game between the German national team and Allied POWs. The game is to be held in Paris for some reason, giving the Allied prisoners an opportunity to try to escape. Caine is a former England soccer player and Pelé is passed off as a Trinidadian, while von Sydow is the German officer who dreams up the event. Stallone is an American with no clue about how to play soccer but he’s the star so he has to be involved, obviously.
Where: This film is available on Kanopy, the library’s streaming service.
How: You can browse and request DVDs online by logging in to your account at keyslibraries.org. To view our collection of streaming movies and TV, go to kanopy.com/keyslibraries and set up an account with your library card. If you don’t have a card, you can visit your local branch or register online to get one. Questions? info@keyslibraries. org.
Recommended by: Nancy Klingener, community affairs manager.
See previous Reel Recs at keyslibraries.org/reel-recs.
What: “Cue the Sun: The Invention of Reality TV”
Why: Engaging and exhaustively researched, Pulitzer Prizewinner Emily Nussbaum’s history of reality television makes the subject far more interesting than any particular reality show normally ever is, which is a compliment to her talent and curiosity. In fact, “Cue the Sun,” is anything but vapid. Though many of the subjects and programs considered are inarguably insipid and cringeworthy, Nussbaum’s narrative turns out to be a perceptive look into modern American history, ending with the rise of “The Apprentice” and its ubiquitous host, and the subsequent political movement that followed. It’s also a deep dive into the ego of humanity itself, where now a life that’s not being recorded seems almost archaic and pointless, the roots of social media and endless videos springing out directly from the belly of reality television.
Where: You can get this as a print book, e-book and e-audiobook from the Monroe County Public Library system.
How: You can request books, including e-books and e-audiobooks, online by logging in to your account at keyslibraries.org. If you don’t have a card, you can visit your local branch or register online to get one. Questions? info@ keyslibraries.org
Recommended by: Michael Nelson, acting director of libraries
See previous recommendations at keyslibraries.org/shelf-help.
NEW MURALS TRANSFORM HISTORIC CIGAR FACTORY
Cigar box & sunset murals brighten Staples Avenue
Top: A new mural of a cigar box is reminiscent of the building’s history as a cigar factory. Bottom: A Key West sunset now adorns the longest side of the building at 2010 Staples Ave. GREG MANKIS DESIGN/Contributed
MANDY MILES
mandy@keysweekly.com
Boxy and bland in all-over beige, the hulking historic building at 2010 Staples Ave. wasn’t much of a headturner.
Built around 1912, the 7,000-square-foot building housed the Martinez Havana Cigar Factory, then was part of Tampa’s Santaella Company, another cigar manufacturer.
Today, the building houses A/C Secured Storage, its interior lined with self-storage units of varying size, containing Christmas decorations and the accumulated belongings of island residents with limited living space.
But passersby on Staples Avenue are now being reminded of the building’s history, as two new murals brighten the property and the neighborhood around it, with a third in the works.
Artist Greg Mankis has spent the past two months or so on an
FIRE BURNS 2 BOATS AT STOCK ISLAND MARINA
No injuries reported; both vessels were in dry-rack storage
elevated lift, carefully spraying color onto the previously drab edifice.
Mankis recently completed a giant cigar box on one end of the building, near the business office, echoing the philosophy of A/C Secured Storage, whose Facebook page states, “Remember when times were simpler, days were longer and all your best stuff could fit inside of a cigar box? Today’s world may be more complicated, but the solution for your storage needs just got easier.”
The longest side of the building, facing Staples Avenue, now features a Key West sunset scene, and he is beginning work on the third side.
Mankis is a Fort Lauderdalebased artist who transforms private, public and commercial spaces through “site-specific art concepts, mural paintings and wall art installations,” states his website at gregmankis.com, where details and photos of the project are available. Find him on Instagram as well @g_mank.
No injuries were reported in a fire the night of July 22 at Robbie’s of Key West Marina on Stock Island. The fire started at about 9:30 p.m. and was extinguished around 1:20 a.m. Two vessels were involved – a 23- to 25-foot center console and a larger 40-foot-plus vessel – and both were heavily
damaged. The fire was contained to the dry rack storage area (landbased operation). Other boats were saved. Monroe County Fire Rescue Stations 8, 9 and 10 and airport fire rescue responded along with the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office. The state fire marshal is investigating. MONROE COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE/ Contributed
KEYS CORAL GROUPS GET PROACTIVE IN BEATING THE HEAT
More funding, more emergency systems & more protocols
After last year’s coral calamities, the Florida Keys scientific and restoration community is again bracing for the heat.
This year, they’re more prepared.
“Last year we were caught a bit by surprise and had to react quickly,” said Mission: Iconic Reefs (MIR) co-lead Jennifer Moore. “But we learned a great deal and are much more prepared this year. Our program is simultaneously a restoration project and a research project. From the beginning, our intention was to create new knowledge and put it into practice in the field.”
In mid-July 2023, amid an intense marine heat wave, people began reporting signs of distress and death in various marine species. Many corals bleached and died. The Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary (FKNMS) and coral practitioners throughout the Keys launched emergency efforts to move corals from nurseries in the ocean to deeper waters and/or holding tanks at Florida Institute of Oceanography’s Keys Marine Laboratory (KML) in Layton.
MIR partner Reef Renewal USA found that temporary deep water nurseries kept twice as many corals alive compared to inshore, shallow sites. On shore, KML’s 60 seawater tanks served as a triage station for more than 5,000 corals until it was safe for them to return to the waters in fall 2023. Both solutions proved vital to salvage efforts.
This year, NOAA already confirmed a fourth global coral bleaching event in April, and Keys coral caretakers are preparing.
In late June, the government agency took emergency steps to facilitate moving corals deeper in the ocean – should the need arise again. Building off Reef Renewal’s 2023 success, NOAA proposed three emergency nursery sites throughout the Keys.
To fund installation of the anchors for these zones, FKNMS turned to the community. Marine Preservation Society of
the Florida Keys (MPS) and the Ocean Reef Conservation Association stepped up to meet the challenge.
“The collaborative funding demonstrates just how much the local community cares and can work towards solving our complex challenges,” said MPS vice chairman Kurt Tidd.
On land, KML has similarly been preparing since last year’s corals left the building for this year’s heat.
“Last year, we definitely needed more landside capacity for the corals. Restoration groups were forced to crowd seawater tables in an effort to remove as many genotypes as possible from their offshore nurseries during the bleaching event,” said Emily Becker, senior biological scientist and seawater systems manager.
Every possible table that could house corals was full. In response and in preparation, KML is expanding its seawater system capacity, securing money to build a fourth system with an additional 20 to 24 seawater tables. The buildout will start this summer and is expected to be completed by the end of 2025.
For this summer, KML hosted a preparation and orientation workshop for all restoration partners. Becker reviewed many lessons from last year’s heat emergency:
• Regulatory agencies need a well-articulated emergency management plan.
• Trigger points and criteria need to be defined, as well as what actions follow (genetic banking, moving select trees to deeper water, evacuating selected critical corals to land-based facilities).
• Have permits in place and sites prepped.
• React before corals are severely stressed.
• Don’t overload land-based tables.
KML has already purchased support supplies ahead of bleach events, so it can stand at the ready. This includes everything from coral food to improved tank pumps to algae-eating animals for the tanks.
MARINE PRESERVATION SOCIETY/Contributed
“All of these items were purchased based on what we learned we needed after last year’s bleaching event,” Becker said.
KML also added remote alarm systems into all its seawater tables to detect temperature spikes and water flow interruptions. It also installed a new backup generator capable of powering the entire KML property, including all seawater systems, for seven to 10 days. These backups and alarms increase KML’s ability to serve as a safe haven for corals, said KML director and coral biologist Cynthia Lewis.
Finally, it is actively seeking funding for its regional oceanographic center in the Keys, a new multipurpose facility to serve the academic, research and restoration communities in the decades to come, Lewis said.
“Since the rescue of 2023, every effort has been made to prepare for a 2024 marine heating event,” said MPS volunteer director Sara Rankin. “Our coral practitioners should be lauded for collaboration and cooperation.”
But she added, “Moving corals to deep water or to land-based facilities for the summer is not a long-term solution. They are a short-term solution to preserve genetic lines from extinction. The bigger question we ask is what is the long-term plan for the corals and the various restoration programs.”
The Marine Preservation Society was founded to respond realtime to emergent marine situations. Their board is made of locals who are dedicated to the local reefs.
Seven Ways Your Social Med ia Habits
Make You a Target for Ident it y Theft
By Firs t Horizon Bank
Think ident it y theft can’t happen to you?
Think again.
I n 2022, 15 4 m illion A mer icans fell vict i m to ident it y
thef t, accordi ng to Javeli n St rateg y’s 2023 Ident it y
Fraud St udy Ident it y th ieves made of f with $20 billion,
though there is a silver lining, as that amount represents
a 15% decrease f rom the previous st udy 1
social media If you reg ula rly check i n on I nst ag ram or
Ti kTok, you could u n k nowi ngly be put t i ng you rself at
r isk for ident it y thef t Before loggi ng on, t a ke a look at
the social media habits that can ma ke you a potent ial t a rget and steps you can t a ke to help protect you rself.
1 Cl ic ki ng Unfa mil ia r Links
I n the ever- evolvi ng landscape of social media, the r isk of falli ng prey to soph ist icated
on a li n k without ver if yi ng its authent icit y Scam mers a re bet ter than ever at reeli ng us i n usi ng what looks
i ntelligence (A I).
Bewa re of emails that appea r to come f rom social net works li ke Met a (for merly Facebook) or X (for merly
upd ate you r password. Click i ng on u n k now n li n ks i n suspicious messages can lead to downloading malwa re to you r computer or mobile device that allows an ident it y th ief to steal i nfor mat ion Be su re to ver if y the sender’s authent icit y, scr ut i n ize the message for any inconsistencies, and hover over links to check for matching U R Ls, ensuring they star t with “ht t ps” for securit y
Tu r n i ng on t wo -fa ct or aut he nt icat ion (2FA) for you r so cial media is a sma r t move to prevent scams It creates a second li ne of defense agai nst I D thef t by requi r i ng you to log i n with a u n ique code that you receive via text or email Also, be sure to regularly adjust you r pr ivacy set t i ngs to keep you r personal det ails u nder w raps and keep up with browser extensions and secu r it y apps that can help double - check the li n ks you come across If you th i n k you’ve been t a rgeted by an email ph ish i ng scam, repor t the message to you r email prov ide r You ca n also re p or t t he me ssage a s spa m a nd /or block the sender’s add ress
2 Us i ng We a k Pa s sword s
St rong pa ssword s ca n be a good defe n sive
b a r r ie r a g a i n s t id e n t it y t h ie ve s C o n sid e r u p d a t i n g yo u r s o c i a l m e d i a p a s s wo r d s t o i n cl u d e le t te r s , n u m b e r s , s p e c i a l c h a r a c te r s , o r ac r o ny m s t o m a ke t he m ha rde r t o g ue ss
It’s also wise to avoid usi ng these same social media passwords for you r email, ban k accou nt, credit ca rd , or
Using the same password across multiple channels – even
if it’s u n ique – can ma ke it even easier for an ident it y th ief to hack thei r way i nto mult iple accou nts
I f you s t r u g g le t o r e m e mb e r mu lt iple p a s s wo r d s , con side r u si ng a se cu re d pa ssword m a n age r l i ke
Dashlane Password Manager or 1Password Tools like these allow you to create st rong passwords for ever y site you visit, without having to com mit them all to memor y 3 . O ve r sha r i ng
Social media makes people feel connected, but when it comes to sharing personal informat ion,
i nfor mat ion T hat can i nclude th i ngs li ke you r:
Physical add ress
Phone nu mber Email
Place of work
From there, they may be able to get you r d r iver’s license nu mber and Social Secu r it y nu mber – givi ng them all the infor mation they need to set up a f raudulent credit ca rd accou nt or ma ke of f with you r t ax ref u nd
It’s impor tant to educate yourself on social engineeri ng, i n wh ich ident it y th ieves of ten t r y to t r ick you i nto sha r i ng you r personal i nfor mat ion Be wa r y of social media quizzes and games – they may seem f u n, but they of ten collect a su r pr isi ng amou nt of personal d at a u nde r t he g u ise of ha r m le ss e nt e r t ai n me nt To help protect you rself, be su re to mai nt ai n you r pr ivacy set t i ngs so that on ly f r iends or cer t ai n g roups can view you r posts ( public posts a re a no -no). By givi ng away
increase your v ulnerabilit y to identit y thef t Steer clear! 4 Us i ng Geoloc a t ion Tags
Geolocat ion t ags essent ially tell you r f r iends and followers where you a re at any given t i me
If you snap a photo at home and post it to one of you r social media accou nts, the t ag may list you r act ual add ress as the locat ion, versus just the cit y
T he level of det ail is what ident it y th ieves a re cou nt i ng on to steal you r personal i nfor mat ion To keep you r home add ress pr ivate, adjust the locat ion ser vices set t i ngs on you r social media accou nts before you post Facebook, Twit ter and I nst ag ram all allow you to t u r n locat ion d at a of f so you r home sweet home isn’t comprom ised Also, be awa re of new platfor ms and upd ates to exist i ng ones, as set t i ngs and feat u res can change, requi r i ng a reg ula r check to mai nt ai n you r pr ivacy
5 Checki ng In Eve r y whe re You G o Usi ng geot ags i n social posts can potent ially
to check i n when you’re hangi ng out with f r iends or t raveli ng, r ig ht? Not so fast Check i ng i n at the places you f requent most of ten – li ke the ban k, you r job, or the gy m – gives ident it y th ieves a wi ndow i nto you r
personal life If a cybercr im i nal k nows where you ban k, for example, and they’re able to get you r home add ress or other personal i nfor mat ion, they could use it
You may also want to th i n k t wice about t aggi ng people
If a th ief is able to see who’s on you r f r iends list or gai n access to thei r accou nt, they m ig ht be able to use that
Also, t aggi ng others can i nadver tently expose you r net work and personal i nfor mat ion
6 Sha r i ng Your Bi r t hday
Accept i ng bi r thd ay wishes th roug h social media puts you i n the spotlig ht for the d ay, but there may be an u n i ntended consequence if an ident it y th ief m isuses that i nfor mat ion
Consider this: 59% of adults in the U S use their birthdays and names to create online passwords 2 By shari ng you r bi r thd ay, you could be givi ng th ieves a f ree pass to access you r ban k or email accou nt, especially if you’re usi ng the same password for mult iple logi ns
Here’s another t ip: Watch out for social media memes that a re bi r thd ay-focused – those social engi neer i ng scams we ment ioned ea rlier For example, you m ig ht come across a meme ent itled , “W hat k i nd of cat a re you?” on Facebook (Alt: Met a) To get you r results, you have to sha re you r bi r th month and d ay i n the com ments It’s a silly, m i ndless way to have a lit tle f u n on li ne T he t rouble is that ident it y th ieves can use
passwords or dig up other personal i nfor mat ion for potent ial t a rgets
7. Be i ng Fr ie nd s W i t h Eve r yone
Hav i ng a la rge social me d ia net work is great – if you act ually k now the people you’re con necting with However, it could get you into t rouble if you’re accepting invites f rom ever yone without taking
up fa ke social media accou nts T hese accou nts can act as a lau nch i ng poi nt for ph ish i ng scams or f raud at tempts T he next t i me you get a f r iend request f rom someone you don’t k now, you may want to th i n k t wice before accept i ng
Un for t u n at ely, ide nt it y t hef t isn’t goi ng away St ay v ig ilant! T he more proact ive you a re about keepi ng you r i nfor mat ion safe, the bet ter
To learn more about the secur it y processes we have i n place for your protect ion, contact Fi rst Hor i zon or 305 - 80 8 -2223.
