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AAA predicts 7.1 million Floridians will travel 50 miles or more from home between Saturday, Dec. 21 and Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2025. That’s 220,000 more travelers than the previous record high, set last year. Nationwide, AAA expects 3 million more travelers than last year. An estimated 119.3 million Americans will travel 50 miles or more. 7.1M

KEY WEST: UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT

City officials select Brian Barroso as city manager

Imandy@keysweekly.com

t took only one round of voting for Brian Barroso to earn four of the seven votes needed to be selected as Key West’s next city manager.

The city commission cast votes from among five finalists at its Dec. 12 meeting. Commissioners Lissette Carey, Donie Lee, Aaron Castillo and Mayor Dee Dee Henriquez supported Barroso. Commissioner Monica Haskell voted for Mark Sohaney. Commissioner Sam Kaufman voted for Rod Delostrinos and commissioner Mary Lou Hoover voted for Steve McAlearny.

City staff are now negotiating a contract with Barroso, who grew up in Key West. In recent years, he was living in Charlotte, North Carolina, but indicated in his application that he was eager to move back to the island.

Barroso’s twin brother Jason Barroso is the city’s fire marshal and a division chief at the fire department.

At the Dec. 12 meeting, the five finalists — Barroso, Delostrinos, Sohaney, McAlearny and James Brownlee — were not invited to speak or answer questions. Barroso also was not asked to make any comments once the votes were cast.

Kaufman, in keeping with tradition, then called for a confirmation vote to enable the entire commission to cast votes in support of Barroso to show a united front that is committed to working together for the good of the community.

Barroso is a graduate of Key West High School and works as a banker. Before moving to North Carolina, he had served on several local boards, including the governor-appointed board of the Florida Keys Aqueduct Authority.

“I thrive in high-pressure and fastpaced situations, striving for positive results by applying my leadership and management abilities,” Barroso wrote in his cover letter. “Further, I possess expertise in finance and acumen for maximizing performance and inspiring colleagues.”

The need for a new city manager was prompted by the commission’s 4-3 vote in June to fire city manager Al Childress without cause despite opposition from dozens of residents, who filled city hall to speak in support of him. Kaufman and Mary Lou Hoover, along with then-mayor Teri Johnston, voted in support of Childress.

In other city news

After a lengthy discussion, the commission voted 4-3 to declare its intent to seek the maximum number of building permit allocations from the state of Florida, which distributes such permits given the Florida Keys’ designation as an Area of Critical State Concern. Given the fragility of the Keys

and its vulnerability to hurricanes, requiring evacuations, the state has long limited development in the island chain and doled out building permits every 10 years or so.

Monroe County and the other Keys municipalities are currently formalizing their requests for the next round of permit allocations, also known as ROGOs, for Rate of Growth Ordinance, which restricts development.

A group of Keys residents known as the ROGO Coalition have been speaking at public meetings in recent months, opposing new development and urging officials to conduct detailed analysis of how many permits are actually needed rather than simply asking for as many as they can get.

Lee voted in favor of requesting the maximum number of building permits. “But let me be clear,” Lee told the Keys Weekly. “My vote was not to build new McMansions, or more vacation rentals or more second and third homes. I want every permit we get to be restricted to affordable, workforce housing. That’s it.”

Lee said he wants the city to have enough permits to cover any potential takings lawsuits, which could arise if property owners bought a lot thinking they could build on it, and then learn they couldn’t get a permit to do so. Unlike Monroe County, where more than 2,000 vacant lots could be the subject of potential takings cases, Key West only has 84 vacant lots, Lee said.

“I want us to have enough permits to avoid any takings lawsuits, and then use however many are left only on affordable and workforce housing. And yes, we need to update and amend our land development regulations to close loopholes and ensure that those building permits aren’t approved to be used for anything other than the housing we actually need,” Lee told the Keys Weekly.

Kaufman initially wanted to postpone the decision of how many permits to request until January, but his motion failed.

Ultimately, the resolution to request the maximum number of permits passed with Lee, Castillo, Hoover and Henriquez in favor. Commissioners Kaufman, Carey and Haskell opposed.

City commissioners on Dec. 12 voted to hire Key West native Brian Barroso as the next city manager. MANDY MILES/Keys Weekly

MANDY MILES

Merry Christmas and happy holidays from the Keys Weekly’s family to yours. Photographer Nick Doll continued his holiday tradition this year by shooting holiday pet portraits to raise money for the Florida Keys SPCA. NICK DOLL PHOTOGRAPHY/Contributed

JIM McCARTHY jim@keysweekly.com

TALLAHASSEE OFFICIALS NOT IN FAVOR OF COUNTY’S REQUEST FOR MORE RESIDENTIAL BUILDING PERMITS

State wants some allocations to go to Islamorada and Marathon

State officials appear unwilling to give more residential building permits to Monroe County and municipalities in the Florida Keys until all remaining allocations are expended.

Not only that, Tallahassee is urging the county give some of their allocations to two local municipalities facing more of a need.

County officials expressed their displeasure with the state’s recent “bombshell” during a Dec. 11 meeting in Key Largo. They also say they aren’t in favor of giving out their allocations to other governments as it could open the county to liability.

A letter issued to top state officials in October acknowledged the county commission’s support to request 220 residential building permit allocations; 100 for the county and 40 each for Key West, Marathon and Islamorada. The additional permits for single-family homes wouldn’t affect the county’s 24-hour storm evacuation timeframe, per state models. The decision to award the 220 permits falls under the Administration Commission, which is chaired by Gov. Ron DeSantis and composed of his cabinet members.

“Our request was very specific to match the modeling they (the state) had already done to be able to say ‘Yes, per your model this shows 24 hours … no need to change the statute,’” county Planning Director Emily Schemper told commissioners during a presentation.

Before county commissioners convened for a Dec. 11 meeting, the state informed county staff they wouldn’t approve 220 units unless all the remaining allocations are doled out to applicants. Schemper told commissioners the state also wanted the county to give a portion of its remaining market rate allocations to Marathon and Islamorada. Both municipalities only have a few allocations left to give out. Marathon has 53 applicants who could potentially request one of the 12 remaining allocations through administrative relief.

“Staff was very clear with them (the state) that they would not support something like this because of the long-term liability that the county has,” Schemper said. “We’ve been looking ahead, planning for this and have tried to be strategic.”

County staff recommended commissioners institute a moratorium on any new applications for a market rate residential building permit. They also recommended the county pause on awarding any more ROGO allocations.

Schemper said that would give the county time to process amendments that would stretch the county’s ROGO allocations, 108 market rate and 144 administrative relief, beyond 2026. The county would still be able to issue affordable housing and the early evacuation units to applicants.

Some commissioners, however, weren’t in favor of approving a moratorium during the Dec. 11 meeting.

“I’m not going to make a knee-jerk decision on the future of Monroe County, even if those demands are coming from Tallahassee by people I’m convinced don’t understand the complexity of these issues,” said Commissioner David Rice.

Rice said even considering a moratorium next week is “too soon.”

“This is bizarre, folks,” he said.

Commissioner Holly Raschein also expressed her opposition to approving a moratorium during the meeting.

“I feel like there’s so many moving parts that we need a minute. And I think staff need a minute,” Raschein said.

Commissioners verbally agreed to at least review a proposed moratorium at the Dec. 19 meeting in Marathon.

Commissioner Michelle Lincoln said she gets “heartburn” when hearing the word “moratorium” and asked how many applicants could be affected by one. Schemper said there’s a ROGO application deadline coming up on Jan. 13, 2025. The county planning commission would then award the top 15 applications based on a points system. Those applicants would be able to pick up their permits in March or April.

Schemper said handing out building permits in February could be placed on hold, if commissioners wanted to institute a moratorium. Shillinger said the moratorium would set up a scheme that would protect the county in the “worst-case scenario” if Tallahassee doesn’t plan on giving the county more allocations.

“This is an ‘Oh, heck’ moment,” Monroe County Attorney Bob Shillinger said regarding the state’s recent comments.

Commissioner Craig Cates acknowledged support for a moratorium.

“What staff is recommending, I think, is very good, very important … get us past all this and let’s think this out very clearly,” Cates said. “They (the state) want to (know) how we’re going to use these ROGOs, how many do we need — not how many do we want — to get through this. It’s going to

take some time to figure this out for the citizens of Monroe County.”

In November 2023, FloridaCommerce (formerly the Florida Department of Commerce) gave Monroe County a list of options for hurricane evacuation plans, all tied to the possibility of adding perhaps 3,550, or up to nearly 8,000, rate-ofgrowth-ordinance (ROGO) allocations to the Keys. FloridaCommerce sought input from the county, which then conducted a series of surveys to gather input from residents. Monroe County also began to inventory vacant parcels which could be developed into a single-family residence.

“Over these months, staff and we have put in hundreds, if not thousands, of hours developing a package of information to help us make a responsible decision about future growth in Monroe County,” said Rice.

Along with a moratorium proposal, county commissioners will consider a resolution on Dec. 19 requesting additional residential building permits beyond the 220. It would require approval from state legislators to modify the statutes governing the Florida Keys as an Area of Critical State Concern.

“The most important thing is having our discussion next week and coming up with a proposal to go forward for the legislative session, whether we have confidence that we’ll be successful or not,” said Monroe County Mayor Jim Scholl. “That’s what we were asked to do. That’s what we’ve done and I think we should stick to it.”

Marathon passed a resolution on Dec. 10 requesting changes to the laws governing the Florida Keys as an Area of Critical State Concern to increase the required hurricane evacuation clearance time for permanent residents from 24 to 26 hours. Such a move would position the Keys for more rate residential building permits — potentially more than 3,550. At its Dec. 12 meeting, the Key West City Commission voted 4-3 for a resolution requesting the maximum amount of building permit allocations from the state based on 2023 hurricane evacuation clearance times. Islamorada voted 3-2 requesting an additional 200 building permits during its Dec. 10 meeting.

Schooner America 2.0 wins top prize

WELCOME TO A WARM WINTER WONDERLAND LIGHTED BOATS BRIGHTEN THE BIGHT

Holiday festival transforms Key West’s Coffee Butler Amphitheater

The weather is anything but frightful, but the Waterfront Winter Wonderland is delightful at Coffee Butler Amphitheater at Key West’s Truman Waterfront. Visit waterfrontwinterwonderland.com for a complete schedule and tickets. LARRY BLACKBURN/Keys Weekly

The Coffee Butler Amphitheater at the Truman Waterfront has been transformed into a Waterfront Winter Wonderland for the holidays. Presented in part by Rams Head Presents and We’ve Got the Keys, the festival offers holiday magic for all ages from 4 to 10 p.m. each day, including an ice skating rink, a giant slide and Ferris wheel, a petting zoo, pony rides, carousel

swings, a children’s Christmas train, live and DJ music, visits with Santa and other Christmas characters, larger-than-life inflatable snow globes, daily “snow” flurries, sparkling holiday lights, food and artisan vendors, holiday markets and more. Tickets and daily scheduling information are available at waterfrontwinterwonderland.com.

— Contributed

MANDY MILES mandy@keysweekly.com

For the 33rd year, the Schooner Wharf Bar brightened Key West Harbor with its annual Lighted Boat Parade. Vessels of all shapes and sizes cruised through the harbor and past the judges’ stand at Schooner Wharf, while crowds lined the harborwalk and live music by local musicians and schoolchildren filled the air.

The only ice was in cocktails, but the mood, as always, was merry and bright.

From top: SV Schooner America 2.0 takes first place in the 33rd annual Schooner Wharf Bar Lighted Boat Parade. CAROL TEDESCO/KeyWestHolidayFest.com

A collection of brightly lit, peace, love, happiness and ‘One Human Family’themed Cruisin’ Tiki boats are among the top 10 winners in this year’s Schooner Wharf Bar Lighted Boat Parade.

Illuminated palm trees at the Key West Historic Seaport frame a U.S. Coast Guard Station Key West vessel as it takes a turn through the harbor during the 33rd annual Schooner Wharf Bar Lighted Boat Parade on Dec. 14.

Winners of this year’s Lighted Boat Parade:

1. America 2.0

2. Izzy Rose

3. U.S. Coast Guard

4. Salty Bottom 5. Cruisin’ Tikis 6. Danger 7. Abbey Joy

8. Havana Moon

9. Argo Navis

10. Caribbean Fury

11. Sandie Cat

12. Party Cat

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Limited regular menu also available on Christmas Eve & Christmas Day SLOW ROASTED GOOSE with homemade stu ng, foie gras & plums, natural gravy & 6 traditional sides, or PRIME RIB encrusted with fresh herbs and Hawaiian pink salt served with black tru e au jus

COLLEGE CONFERS 45 DIPLOMAS AT FALL COMMENCEMENT

Graduates earned bachelor’s, associate degrees, career certificates

The College of the Florida Keys held its 69th commencement exercises for the fall class of 2024 on Dec. 12 in the Tennessee Williams Theatre on the Key West campus. Forty-five graduates donned blue and orange graduation attire to receive their diplomas for bachelor’s degrees, associate degrees and certificates.

Melody Tuschel, who earned a bachelor’s degree in applied science in supervision and management, opened the ceremony with the student address. Clayton Lopez, a retired Key West city commissioner, gave the keynote address to the class.

PROUD TO BE SERVING THE FLORIDA KEYS COMMUNITY, THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT.

HAPPIEST OF HOLIDAYS FROM OUR FAMILY TO YOURS!

1. College of the Florida Keys’ Fall Class of 2024 at the Key West campus. CONTRIBUTED

2. Charlene Jackson celebrates her associate degree in nursing.

3. Student speaker Melody Tuschel leads the class in moving their tassels to the left as a symbol of graduation.

Graduates receiving the associate degree in nursing recited the Florence Nightingale Nursing Oath, a tradition in which graduate nurses dedicate themselves to their new profession. Upon passing the national nursing licensure exam, each will become a registered nurse. CFK’s 2024 exam pass rate is 97.67%.

The full commencement ceremony is at facebook.com/TheCollegeoftheFloridaKeys.

CFK’s spring semester begins Jan. 10. The college will be closed for the holidays Dec. 17 through Jan. 2. Information about academic programs, steps to become a student, and ways to pay for college is at CFK.edu/FutureStudents.

PORCELAIN, CERAMIC, NATURAL STONE, 40 COLORS OF GROUT IN STOCK, POOL TILE, PAVERS, COPING, THINSET, SILLS AND MORE

ALEX RICKERT alex@keysweekly.com

RESTORATION BLUEPRINT NEARS THE FINISH LINE

Overhaul of sanctuary regulations in final review stages – with questions still to answer

With the release of an environmental impact statement and management plan reflecting the highly-anticipated Restoration Blueprint for the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary (FKNMS), the Florida Keys are just months away from a comprehensive revision of the rules protecting the island chain’s delicate waters.

Made available to the public on the morning of Dec. 13, the document marks the culmination of more than a decade of work by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) staff and stakeholder partners, beginning in 2011 with a troubling condition report signaling the decline of several elements throughout the sanctuary.

Robust public comment periods with more than 80,000 submissions throughout 2019 and 2022, followed by a review period by a litany of enforcement, management and advisory agencies, have led to the final rule set to be published in mid-January. From there, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis will have 45 days to review the proposed regulations with, as former Sanctuary Superintendent Sarah Fangman put it, “a sledgehammer or scalpel,” deciding whether to accept or reject them in full, or veto individual items affecting state waters.

A presentation from FKNMS policy analyst Beth Dieveney to the virtually-gathered FKNMS Sanctuary Advisory Council (SAC) on Dec. 13 outlined major talking points of the final rule, including a plan to expand sanctuary boundaries by roughly 20% – primarily extending the area’s Atlantic edge and pushing south and west beyond the Dry Tortugas.

A sanctuary expansion to include Pulley Ridge, considered in the most recent Restoration Blueprint draft in order to implement a no-anchor area, is not a component of the final rule, as the no-anchor provision was already implemented by the International Maritime Organization in June 2023, Dieveney said.

Recent crises demanding rapid responses, such as the 2023 heat wave that triggered mass coral bleaching throughout the Keys, have shaped updated emergency regulation procedures, allowing temporary regulations in designated categories to remain in place for 180 days with an additional 186-day extension.

Cruise ships will be prohibited from all discharges other than cooling water within sanctuary boundaries, and attracting or feeding fish, includ-

ing sharks, from boats or while diving, will be banned. Dieveney said sanctuary officials would “consider” grandfathering in existing eco-tour and fish-feeding operations, but that the rule won’t apply to traditional uses of chum and bait while fishing.

Boats entering Sanctuary Preservation Areas, restoration areas and conservation areas are prohibited from anchoring and will be required to use mooring buoys provided by NOAA after a twoyear planning and installation period, with special large-vessel buoys required for vessels from 65 to 100 feet.

Sanctuary Preservation Areas at French Reef off Key Largo and Rock Key off Key West will be eliminated, while two new zones will protect patch reefs at Turtle Rocks in the Upper Keys and Turtle Shoals in the Middle Keys. Zones at Key Largo Dry Rocks and Grecian Rocks will be combined, while zones at Carysfort Reef, Alligator Reef and Sombrero Key will have their boundaries modified to protect reef habitats. Fifteen Wildlife Management Areas (WMAs), established to protect nearshore habitats and specific species, will undergo sizing or regulatory changes, some with reductions to provide greater access following public comment, and 20 new WMAs will be added.

Exceptions for catch-and-release fishing inside SPAs will be eliminated, and sanctuary officials will stop issuing bait fish permits over the next three years, Dieveney said.

The final rule will also include designated habitat restoration areas undergoing active coral restoration, protected by a 200-yard buffer, and 11 designated coral nursery restoration areas to protect underwater nursery structures and their corals.

“No one got everything, but everyone got something,” Matt Brookhart, NOAA’s eastern regional director for national marine sanctuaries, told the council. “We think we’ve landed in the Goldilocks zone of ‘just right,’ balancing a range of voices.”

“I don’t think it’s an exaggeration or stress to say that this has probably been the most collaborative process in the history of the Florida Keys,” John Armor, NOAA’s director of national marine sanctuaries, told the Weekly by phone Friday morning.

“From improving water quality to collaborating on an artificial reef pilot program, Monroe County has made great strides and investments

The full complement of mooring buoys is in use on a clear day at Sombrero Key Sanctuary Preservation Area (SPA) off Marathon. Restoration Blueprint will require use of a mooring buoy in all SPAs. DANIEL EIDSMOE/ Contributed

in partnership with FWC and NOAA,” said Monroe County Commissioner Holly Raschein said in a press release. “I’m excited to see the Restoration Blueprint reach the finish line, and look forward to working with all the agencies and our residents to fight for the Keys’ future for years to come.”

FWC tension carries over

While Friday’s reveal was met with nearuniversal celebration from council members, questions posed to sanctuary officials immediately raised the subject of regulatory concerns voiced by FWC officials this fall.

A letter sent from FWC chairman Rodney Barreto to newly-installed Sanctuary Superintendent Matt Stout on Nov. 5 took aim at a change to regulatory language within the Restoration Blueprint, criticizing a provision that would only allow the Florida governor to veto fisheries regulations in state waters.

“While FKNMS has consistently stated that it does not intend to circumvent FWC’s authority over fisheries regulations in state waters … (this change) is contrary to how fisheries regulatory authority is set up in the State of Florida,” Barreto wrote.

A proposed expansion of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary will add roughly 20% to the sanctuary’s total area. NOAA/Contributed

The letter went on to list 10 “essential” remaining items of disagreement between FWC and sanctuary officials, including: allowance of drift fishing and trolling operations in certain Sanctuary Preservation and Conservation Areas, continued allowance of catch-and-release fishing by trolling in other SPAs, continued issuance of bait fishing permits and support for Monroe County’s newlydeveloped Habitat Support Plan and installation of artificial reefs.

However, as noted by charter captain Greg Eklund, none of the targeted items had been changed in the final rule. Both Stout and SAC Chair Ben Daughtry attributed the omission to the timing of the letter in relation to the environmental impact statement’s issuance, but pledged to meet with state officials the following week to work through outstanding issues.

“It seems to me like there’s some issues between the state and the sanctuary that really should have been worked out before this was released,” Eklund replied.

Further pushed on whether he believed sanctuary and state officials could find common ground on fishing regulations inside SPAs and baitfish permits, Stout replied that “the federal statute we have to follow requires that we manage for conservation.”

“We do take the input, of course, of our state partners and all of our partners and users in the management,” he added. “But when the facts show that we have a primary purpose of conservation, those are the actions we do take.”

“I hear what you’re saying about how the (environmental impact statement) was already kind of put in play relative to when you received the letter,” said FWC federal fisheries section leader CJ Sweetman. “But this information has been common

knowledge in working with our sanctuary partners throughout the entire process. So nothing in that letter should have been a surprise in any capacity.”

Adaptive management is key

While applauding Friday’s milestone, sanctuary staff and advisory members continually stressed a theme of adaptive management for marine regulations moving forward.

Before her departure, Fangman openly admitted to the council that while the Restoration Blueprint represents a massive leap forward for conservation, a comprehensive Keyswide overhaul of sanctuary regulations, requiring more than a decade of refinement and review, was trying to “do too much at once.”

Armor and Stout reiterated those concerns Friday morning, reinforcing the need for working groups that could provide timely and targeted responses to everchanging issues within the sanctuary.

“We have to have systems in place where we can work to adapt in close to real time,” Armor said, praising the precedent set by NOAA, FWC and other partners in responding to 2023’s coral bleaching epidemic. “That’s kind of a model that I think we need to start doing better at. That’s a much more discrete, focused process that we were able to get through quickly.”

“I think that’s a great way to be more nimble and responsive, and show that we can work collaboratively on all the issues that face us here in the Florida Keys,” Stout said.

For more information on Restoration Blueprint’s final draft, scan the QR code:

STUDENTS THRIVING IN STEM & CAREER TECHNICAL TRAINING

School board chair asks about bus cameras

www.keysweekly.com

Monroe County school board members were briefed on science technology engineering and mathematics (STEM) and career technical education (CTE) programs during a Dec. 10 meeting at Coral Shores High School.

Donna Tedesco, district STEM coordinator, described how the nonprofit Monroe County Education Foundation supports STEM programs and teachers in the district. One successful program is the NOAA Ocean Guardian Schools, which makes a commitment to the protection and conservation of its local watersheds, the world’s ocean, and special ocean areas, like national marine sanctuaries. Plantation Key School, Key Largo School, Treasure Village Montessori and Ocean Studies Charter School are NOAA Ocean Guardian Schools. This program has multiple partners, as diverse as the United Way and Key West Tropical Forest and Botanical Garden. Activities such as planning, creating and maintaining rainwater filtration gardens involve students in all the elements of STEM.

Caroline Bleske, CTE coordinator for the district, detailed the many areas of study and certification at the district schools. Digital literacy courses start in fifth grade. Each area of study includes three or more classes and results in nationally-recognized and specialized certifications. Students leave these programs qualified to enter technical jobs.

The most common question from the public about these programs is, “Why is that program offered at that school, but not at my school?” The answers are simply teachers and space. It’s challenging to get people who can teach construction or marine mechanics to take time off from those jobs to

work as a teacher. And there simply isn’t space at each school for all programs.

The district’s CTE program participation averages about 23% across the district. CTE classes are electives, so students opt into them. The number of enrolled students is up from 19% two years ago.

School bus cameras

Mindy Conn, board chair, asked the district staff if they looked into school bus cameras to discourage drivers from passing stopped buses. These cameras are controversial and school districts around the state are re-evaluating their installation and contracts.

Contractors for these systems typically keep a portion of the fines generated or get paid per reported infraction. Polk County school officials expressed concern that their contract for school bus cameras violates state law, per The Ledger. The Tampa Bay Times reported that the citations haven’t served as much of a deterrent. The costs for maintenance and licensing over the long course haven’t been developed.

Patrick Lefere, district executive director of operations and planning said, “Our outstanding law enforcement partners are watching school traffic very closely to ensure the safety of our students and staff. From the start of school in August through mid-November, the sheriff’s office has made 215 traffic stops and Key West Police have issued 111 citations in and around school zones and bus stops.”

The school board also viewed preliminary architectural plans for the renovation of Reynolds School in Key West. Founded in 1927, Reynolds School served as one of the first elementary schools in the Florida Keys and is included on the City of Key West historic registry. This renovation allows the district to vacate the administrative headquarters at Trumbo Point so that site can become affordable workforce housing. Through a public-private partnership, the district will develop 150 affordable housing units at its Trumbo Road property at no cost to taxpayers.

WARMING UP

Cold-stunned Kemp’s ridley turtles flown from New England for rehab and release

Staff at the Turtle Hospital in Marathon tend to 20 cold-stunned Kemp’s ridley sea turtles that were flown from the New England Aquarium to Marathon to warm up and be rehabilitated for eventual release. ANDY NEWMAN/Florida Keys News Bureau

Turtle Hospital manager Bette Zirkelbach unloads a banana box with a cold-stunned Kemps Ridley sea turtle that was flown from the New England Aquarium to Marathon. ANDY NEWMAN/Florida Keys News Bureau

Twenty critically endangered Kemp's ridley sea turtles arrived in Marathon on Dec. 12 to warm up and receive treatment after suffering "cold stunning" in the waters off New England.

Found stranded as a result of the condition, the turtles were rescued and subsequently flown to Florida Keys Marathon International Airport, arriving Thursday afternoon in banana boxes from a temporary holding center at the New England Aquarium.

“We have these critically endangered Kemp’s ridley sea turtles to warm up here in the Florida Keys, just like the visitors come to the Florida Keys to do,” said Turtle Hospital manager Bette Zirkelbach. “Weather moves in, the cold water and cold air, these poor little turtles get trapped by the shape of Cape Cod.”

"Cold stunning" is a hypothermic reaction that occurs when sea turtles are exposed to cold water for a prolonged time. It typically causes them to stop eating and swimming, Zirkelbach said.

“Sea turtles are ectothermic,” she said. “What that means is they take on the temperature of the air and the water surrounding them. Anything below 50 degrees Fahrenheit can become a mortality event for a sea turtle.”

Zirkelbach said the rescue, transportation to the Keys, rehabilitation and release is a result of many entities and people.

“It's a massive effort combined with many organizations that rescue these turtles right at the site,” she said. “There's an incredible organization, ‘Turtles Fly Too,’ where volunteer pilots fly these turtles down to warmer places.”

The pilots donate their aircraft, fuel and time.

“Turtles Fly Too” dedicated the Dec. 12 rescue mission to the legacy of Bonnie Freeman — lost to acute lymphoblastic leukemia at age 12 — and her family, who founded Stop Children’s Cancer together after Bonnie’s diagnosis.

Kemp's ridley sea turtles are the most endangered of turtle species, Zirkelbach said. The “cold-stunned” turtles that are critically ill will be tested to discover whether they have pneumonia, infections or other ailments, with their treatment and rehabilitation period determined by test results.

“At the Turtle Hospital in the Florida Keys, we are lucky that it's already warm here, so not only will we warm them up, but we're gonna deal with all the things that happen from those cold temperatures,” she said.

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FLORIDA KEYS’ ONLY CATHOLIC HIGH SCHOOL OPENS JAN. 6

Basilica School of St. Mary Star of the Sea dedicates new building

MANDY MILES mandy@keysweekly.com

For the first time in nearly 40 years, Key West has a Catholic high school housed in its own building, complete with a stateof-the-art science lab, student lounge, lockers and an adaptable classroom that can be separated with a movable wall to split it into two separate rooms, or combine it for larger group learning.

The Basilica School of St. Mary Star of the Sea on Dec. 13 celebrated the dedication of its high school building on the campus of the existing pre-K-8 school that has been shaping young minds for more than a century. The high school is housed in the school’s former auditorium building, which is now unrecognizable, and will officially open to students when they return to class on Jan. 6.

Although the school has been accepting ninth, 10th and 11th graders for a few years now, the high school building was only recently completed, thanks to a capital campaign that raised about $7.5 million.

“By restoring Catholic education in Key West, we will have the opportunity to realize the words of Saint Paul and bring fulfillment in our students’ formation of the whole child — spirit, mind, and body,” states the school’s website. “Catholic education from start to finish will be available to the children of the Lower Florida Keys.”

The dedication ceremony on Dec. 13 featured a visit from Archbishop Thomas G. Wenski from the Archdiocese of Miami.

Basilica School principal Robert Wright thanked the benefactors who made the school a reality.

1. The Basilica School of St. Mary Star of the Sea celebrated the completion of its new high school building with a dedication ceremony on Dec. 13, making it the only Catholic high school in the Florida Keys. MANDY MILES/Keys Weekly

2. Robert Wright, principal of the Basilica School, speaks to the crowd of students, donors, parishioners and parents during the Dec. 13 dedication of the new high school building.

3. Father John Baker, who retired as pastor this summer, receives special thanks for his support of the high school building project.

“Parents and students, particularly our juniors and sophomores and their families, you placed your faith in this vision and courageously stepped into the waters with me, with only a promise of a school to come. While a building provides a space for learning, it is the students and faculty who make it a school. To our dedicated teachers and staff, your yes to Catholic education goes far beyond teaching reading and math. You are laboring in the vineyard of souls, shaping hearts and minds for eternity. One day in heaven, I believe you will see just how profoundly you have impacted the lives of these young people.”

HOT HOMEMEALS,DELIVERY

Cooking with Love continues 4 decades of care & seeks sponsors

MANDY MILES

mandy@keysweekly.com

Saturday mornings in Key West bring yard sales and youth soccer games, bloody Mary brunches, boat trips or binge-watching Hulu in a hungover fog.

But for more than 200 residents, most of them elderly, Saturday mornings mean a knock at the door and special delivery. They may take a little longer to answer — they have to find their glasses, scoop up their little dog and lower the TV volume.

Waiting patiently on the porch outside, a smiling volunteer hands them a hot meal.

This isn’t Door Dash or Uber Eats. It’s Cooking with Love, and for nearly 40 years, its volunteer cooks, servers and drivers have been delivering hot meals every Saturday to elderly and disabled residents.

The volunteers start their Saturdays even earlier, in the large kitchen at Metropolitan Community Church, which was rebuilt years ago with this program in mind.

The church on Petronia Street started Cooking with Love in 1996.

“Back then, a group of us from here at MCC had been helping with Saturday meals for the homeless at St. Mary’s when Dorothy Sherman ran the food pantry and meal program there,” said Joan Higgs, a registered nurse, MCC leader and all-around good person. “But since there were already programs in place to feed the homeless, we wanted to find the underserved population in our community and provide a nutritionally excellent meal for them at least once a week.”

They’ve been doing just that for nearly four decades.

“A lot of our senior citizens can no longer drive to the grocery store, and if they live alone, they don’t feel like cooking for just one person, so Cooking with Love ensures they receive a hot, healthy meal once a week,” Higgs said in 2021, when Cooking with Love was adjusting to COVID restrictions, but still delivering its Saturday meals.

deliver 250 hot meals on a recent Saturday morning, as part of the hotel’s sponsorship of Cooking with Love, a mission of Metropolitan Community Church. MANDY MILES/ Keys Weekly

That day, Higgs was dishing out 200 helpings of pasta, stuffed chicken breasts, mixed vegetables and fresh pineapple.

On Dec. 15, the menu included baked mahi mahi with sauce, stewed tomatoes, macaroni and cheese and cookies from Key West Cakes.

On that day, the volunteers included a crew from Parrot Key Hotel and Villas, which regularly sponsors meals for Cooking with Love. Danny Flynn, the hotel’s food and beverage director, got the business involved two years ago and new general manager Horatio Callaggio has supported the efforts as well. The hotel pays for the food and then provides volunteers to package and deliver it.

It’s a sponsorship program Higgs and Cooking with Love manager John Eller are hoping other businesses will emulate.

“Our hope for 2025 is to have a local hotel or restaurant donate and prepare one meal a month,” Higgs said, adding that the business can prepare the meal in their own commercial kitchens, or use the one at MCC. They can serve it up on the property and the volunteer drivers will pick up the meals from wherever they’re made. “We’re flexible and will work with whatever process works best for them. All we ask is that they include a protein, a starch and a vegetable.”

Fresh fruits and dessert are also very appreciated. It costs less than $2,000 to fund 250 meals a week, so financial donations are also gratefully accepted.

To become a sponsor or cosponsor, or a volunteer, contact Eller at jeller611@outlook.com.

Volunteers from Parrot Key Hotel & Villas serve and

FAUSTO'S CHRISTMAS MENU

TURKEY DINNER

SERVES 8-10 PEOPLE

10-12 lb Oven Roasted Plainville

All-Natural Turkey

1/2 pan Mashed Potatoes

1 qt. Turkey Gravy

1/2 pan Green Bean Amandine

1/2 pan Sweet Potato Casserole

1 pint Cranberry Orange Relish

1/2 pan Traditional Bread Stuffing

$179.99 + tax

Turkey (only) $89.99

Whole Spiral Ham $7.99 per pound

CUBAN PORK DINNER

SERVES 4-6 PEOPLE

1/3 pan pork

1/3 pan yellow rice

1/3 pan black beans

1/3 pan plantains

Cuban bread

$59.99 + tax

SERVES 8-10 PEOPLE

1/2 pan pork

1/2 pan yellow rice

1/2 pan black beans

1/2 pan plantains

Cuban bread

$99.99 + tax

PLACE YOUR ORDER AT THE DELI COUNTER BY THURSDAY, DECEMBER 19. PICK UP ORDERS BY 5PM TUESDAY, DECEMBER 24.

MANDY MILES

drops stuff, breaks things and falls down more than any adult should. She’s married to a saintly — and handy — fisherman, and has been stringing words together in Key West since 1998.

MILES TO GO CHRISTMAS MAGIC — SOME ASSEMBLY REQUIRED

My mom made Christmas magical. Still does. And my dad has always given her all the credit — picking and decorating the perfect tree, buying, hiding, then wrapping all our gifts, always in two different kinds of wrapping paper to distinguish mine from my brother, Kevin’s.

Santa would always tell us in the note he left next to the empty plate of cookies we’d put out for him whose gifts were in the “Santa” paper and whose were in the “Snowman” paper.

Dad always installed the tree in its stand and strung the lights, happy to let Mom, Kevin and me paw through the boxes of glass balls, homemade decorations and the brass angel ornaments that had our names and birth year engraved on them. Dad also strung the outdoor lights — though not happily. (He’s not a fan of heights or ladders.)

And it was always Dad’s job to go downstairs first on Christmas morning “to make sure Santa had come” (and to start the coffee and get the camera ready).

But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Christmas used to start around Halloween, when the Sears Christmas catalog, the “Wish Book” would arrive in the mail, its glossy pages showing my brother and me everything we didn’t know we wanted, but suddenly couldn’t live without. The toy section was always in the same place, easy to find, right behind those white order-form pages in the middle of the book, where catalog shoppers wrote down the item numbers, sizes and colors of the products they were ordering.

Kevin and I would pore over the catalog, each armed with a pen to circle the items we wanted for Christmas and mark them with an M or a K (lest mom think that I had wanted a Millennium Falcon and Kevin wanted a stroller for his baby dolls.)

“By the time you two finished with that catalog, everything in the toy section was circled,” my mom recalled the other night.

But we still had more than a month until Christmas, and Mom’s no dummy. She’d leave the catalog lying around for a week or two. Kevin and I would thumb through it a few more times to be sure we hadn’t missed something crucial.

But by late November, when it was time to draft our official Christmas lists for Santa, the catalog was nowhere to be found.

“You had to write your lists without consulting the catalog, so Santa would know what you wanted most,” Mom said.

Her strategy worked flawlessly — most of the time.

All bets were off when Cabbage Patch Kids hit the market in 1982. I was 6.

“You, Mindy and Jenny didn’t decide you wanted them until about four days before Christmas,” my mom said, referring to my best friend, Mindy. Yep, Mindy and Mandy, best friends, and we were freakin’ adorable, and our friend Jenny Staley, who lived down the street. “So the three moms all went in three different directions and looked everywhere for those dolls that were sold out everywhere.

“Thank God, John Staley (Jenny’s dad) was a Braniff pilot who had a flight to London,” she said. “He ended up picking up three of the dolls over there for you girls.”

I hadn’t known until the other night — 42 years later — that my Cabbage Patch Kid, Tyler Bo, was imported from England.

I also hadn’t known that my mom used to hide our Christmas gifts in the trunk of her car, or that my dad was still a bit traumatized by the “some-assembly-required” nature of my toy kitchen set.

“Oh my God, that thing was a nightmare,” he said the other night as my mom agreed, laughing.

“It was all made of thin metal with sharp edges, tab A, slot B,” my dad said, joining the phone call.

“There were sharp corners, small pieces, so many choking hazards,” my mom said.

“There’s no way that thing would pass safety inspections today. But no one knew any better back then. You survived. Kids survived back then. And you loved that kitchen set.”

I did love it. I still remember the fake rubber hamburgers, sandwiches and fried eggs that I would “cook” and serve.

In fact, I’ve loved every Christmas. Every year.

Countdowns were conducted on construction paper chains and Advent calendars with little windows to open each morning for four weeks. There was a Christmas concert at school, carols on the radio, packages arriving in the mail from aunts, uncles and grandparents. The boxes of decorations marked “Christmas” came up from the basement and revealed the treasures we had forgotten since last year — the snow-flecked candles, the nativity scene, the cheap plastic

Santa and sleigh that my mom had been trying to toss forever, but that Kevin and I adored. (She still hasn’t gotten rid of it.)

Our names were written in glitter on our stockings. Christmas cookies sat on trays on the dining room table and a snow-flecked wreath was on our front door. Dad always read “’Twas the Night Before Christmas” right before bed on Christmas Eve, when sleep seemed nearly impossible. And then there was the cardinal rule that we were NOT to wake mom and dad until 7 a.m.

We hadn’t known they’d been up till 4, assembling my kitchen set, dollhouse or Kevin’s Millennium Falcon. But by the time we opened them on Christmas morning, they looked just as good as they did in the Sears Wish Book — even if Mom and Dad looked a little tired.

Strawberry Shortcake dolls were huge in the early ’80s.

Mandy Miles (then Mandy Bolen), age 4, gets a new record player for Christmas in Overland Park, Kansas.

Mandy and big brother, Kevin, always saved their stockings for last.

SHIPWRECK REVEALS MORE THAN EXPECTED BEE GEES MUSIC HEADLINES

How a sunken slave ship showed a long-submerged portion of Florida

WYATT SAMUELSON

www.keysweekly.com

In the year 1700, the Henrietta Marie, a British slave ship, sank 35 miles off the coast of what is now Key West at New Ground Reef, near the Marquesa Keys.

When it sank, the ship was carrying 191 enslaved people, plus the crew and trade goods. There were no survivors, and the wreck remained undiscovered for 270 years. It was found in 1972 by divers working for Mel Fisher’s Treasure Salvors Inc., who were in search of the treasure of the Spanish galleon Nuestra Senora de Atocha. (They would find the Atocha’s $400 million treasure 13 years later.)

Corey Malcom, formerly the director of archaeology at the Mel Fisher Maritime Museum and now the lead historian for the Florida Keys History Center at the Monroe County Library, led an expedition from 2001 to 2003 to find and recover parts of the Henrietta Marie, such as cannons, segments of the wooden hull and what amounted to thousands of artifacts, including the heartbreaking reality of bilboes, or shackles, used to bind the wrists and ankles of the human cargo. Malcom’s work uncovered not just the ship’s story, but also a new understanding of the submerged lands of Florida, revealing geological features that redefined the historical understanding of the state’s size and shape.

Speaking recently at the Florida Keys National Wildlife Refuges Nature Center in Big Pine to an audience of history buffs, Malcom presented his team’s discoveries. He detailed the history of the Henrietta Marie, put in context the transatlantic slave trade and discussed the broader implications of the findings.

“We kept finding these magnetic anomalies with our magnetometers — devices used to scour the ocean for magnetic disturbances to locate shipwrecks, plane crashes and geological features on the ocean floor,” Malcom explained. “We were so excited, saying to ourselves, ‘These are definitely remnants from the Henrietta Marie.’”

What he and his team actually uncovered beneath layers of sand were wood fragments, tree stumps, pine cones and charred wood — evidence of long-ago forest fires in the area. These findings were surprising, as such materials seemed out of place so far

a marine archaeologist and lead historian at the Florida History Center at the Monroe County Library,

from the coast. These items, Malcom explained, weren’t yet fossilized and the pine cones found still smelled like pine once they were taken back to the boat.

The explanation: 8,500 years ago, Florida’s coastline extended much farther than previously believed.

Through extensive research, Malcom concluded that over millennia, rising sea levels had inundated this ancient land, burying it under 50 feet of water and reshaping the coastline.

Following the presentation, attendees asked Malcolm about other shipwrecks his team had uncovered, the value of the commodities aboard the Henrietta Marie and the potential for evidence of human activity in the submerged area.

“Our work at New Ground is no longer ongoing, so we are not trying to determine if there was ancient human activity there,” he said. “Someday, someone else might pick up where we left off, though.”

While heading up the archaeology department at the Mel Fisher Maritime Museum, Malcom helped design a museum exhibit around the Henrietta Marie, its artifacts, shackles and the impacts of the transatlantic slave trade.

To honor the hardships endured by the enslaved people aboard the Henrietta Marie, the Association of Black Scuba Divers in 1992 installed a one-ton monument at the site of the wreck. Its inscription reads: “In memory and recognition of the courage, pain, and suffering of enslaved African people. ‘Speak her name and gently touch the souls of our ancestors.’”

BIRTHDAY BASH

Locals celebrate ‘75 & Stayin’ Alive’ in disco style

Eight Key Westers celebrated their 75th birthdays in style on Dec. 17. The iconic music of the Bee Gees, performed by tribute band Stayin’ Alive, filled the San Carlos Institute, where more than 200 guests showed just how deep was their love.

The ‘75 Stayin’ Alive’ celebrants — George Fernandez, Kate Miano, Gail Lima, Gary McDonald, Diane May, Michael Shields, Alejandro Pascual and Judy Buxton — refused to accept birthday gifts, but encouraged guests to make contributions to a variety of local charities, including Michelle’s Foundation, Sister Season Fund, Samuel’s House, Wesley House Family Services, SOS Foundation and Queer Keys Community Center.

— Keys Weekly staff report

Corey Malcom,

speaks to history buffs about submerged Florida. WYATT SAMUELSON/Keys Weekly

A group birthday bash for six Key Westers featured a concert by a Bee Gees tribute band at the San Carlos Institute on Dec. 17, along with plenty of food, drinks and disco attire. LARRY BLACKBURN/Keys Weekly

COME ON ‘INN’ FOR HOLIDAY CHEER THE STUDIOS KICKS OFF 2025

Trolley tours visit historic Key West guesthouses

On Dec. 6 and 13, the annual Holiday Historic Inn Tours showcased the architecture and history of some of Key West’s most charming properties. Participants traveled to each participating inn via the Old

4 bold new exhibits open Jan. 2

The Studios of Key West, 533 Eaton St., will open four new exhibits on Thursday, Jan. 2 from 6 to 8 p.m. Featuring live pigeons, evocative photography, whimsical paintings and striking sculptural works, the lineup highlights artists Duke Riley, Jeffrey Cardenas, Mena Ganey and a shared exhibition by Pamela Kostmayer and Jane Beck. The exhibits will be on view Jan. 2-30.

Sanger Gallery — ‘Trading with the Enemy’ by Duke Riley

What if pigeons could challenge the way we think about borders, history and politics? In 2013, Duke Riley did just that. Celebrated for turning maritime history and urban folklore into modern narratives, artist Riley trained a flock of pigeons to smuggle cameras and Cuban cigars across the 90-mile stretch from Havana to Key West. Through this audacious project, “Trading with the Enemy,” Riley turned these unassuming birds into symbols of resistance, sparking conversations about surveillance, smuggling and Key West’s longstanding unique relationship with Cuba.

At the center of the exhibit is Riley’s original pigeon loft, made from found materials and stocked with live pigeons. The artist housed 50 pigeons there in 2013. “The birds were either ‘smugglers’ carrying contraband or ‘documentarians’ wearing customized cameras,” Riley recalls. “Eleven pigeons successfully completed their mission. One documentarian landed on a yacht and quickly became the subject of conversation.”

the vibrancy, complexity and fragility of underwater worlds, celebrating their role in supporting marine life while prompting reflection on the urgent need for their conservation.

A longtime Key West resident and seasoned sailor, Cardenas blends art and environmental advocacy with a poetic lens.

Painting by Mena Ganey. CONTRIBUTED

XOJ Gallery — “Object Permanence” by Mena Ganey

Town Trolley, while enjoying food, drinks and holiday decor at each stop. The Dec. 6 destinations included the Hemingway Social Club at Papa’s Pilar Distillery, the Lighthouse Hotel, Wicker Guesthouse and the Gardens Hotel. The Dec. 13 tours featured Key West Butterfly & Nature Conservatory, the Mansion on the Sea, Island City House and The Mermaid & The Alligator. — Contributed

In addition to the live installation, the exhibit includes video of the pigeons’ historic flights, painted portraits of the individual pigeons on repurposed Key West roof tiles, and related works that delve deeper into the themes of migration, ingenuity and exchange. Its resonance has only grown in recent years, with the continued U.S. embargo, and the historic exodus of millions of Cubans in the post-pandemic era.

Zabar Project Gallery — “On the Reef” by Jeffrey Cardenas With “On the Reef,” Jeffrey Cardenas takes viewers through the stunning coral reef ecosystems of the Caribbean, Polynesia and beyond. His photography reveals

Mena Ganey’s “Object Permanence” explores nostalgia, identity and perception through vibrant and whimsical works. Known for her eclectic, pop-infused style, Ganey’s paintings blend neon colors, playful humor and bizarre but endearing characters to reflect on the absurdities of life and the stories we carry. Drawing on personal reflection, Ganey examines how our histories shape what we see and feel, infusing each piece with a mix of charm, chaos and thought-provoking detail.

Zabar Lobby Gallery — “Parallels” by Pamela Kostmayer & Jane Beck

Wood and glass meet in “Parallels,” a poetic conversation between material and form. Pamela Kostmayer’s sculptures, crafted from Dade County pine, vintage wood and metal, mark a shift toward dynamic, three-dimensional works that invite exploration from all angles. Jane Beck’s fused glass creations celebrate light, texture and transformation. Together, the two artists highlight intriguing intersections in their processes, offering viewers a captivating dialogue of craft and creativity.

Quora Fluker, 9, of Stock Island, admires holiday ornaments in the Key West Butterfly and Nature Conservatory gift shop during the 2024 Holiday Historic Inn Tours on Dec. 13. Photos courtesy of KeyWestHolidayFest.com

Left: The Southernmost Mansion on the Sea welcomes visitors as part of the Holiday Historic Inn Tours. Right: An Old Town Trolley takes festive revelers to the four featured stops on the Dec. 13 Holiday Historic Inn Tour.

Revelers gather for a group photo in the decorated courtyard of the Island City House, one of four destinations featured in the 2024 Holiday Historic Inn Tours.

KEY WEST TO HOLD MEMORIAL SERVICE FOR HOMELESS

West

Dec.

Ceremony occurs Dec. 20, longest night of the year

Key West Mayor Dee Dee Henriquez and the city commission proclaimed Dec. 20 as National Homeless Persons Memorial Day during the December commission meeting.

For the past 26 years, the community has gathered to remember the men, women and children who have died while homeless in Monroe County, joining the nation in setting aside the first day of winter, and the longest night of the year, to remember the people who died without shelter.

On Friday, Dec. 20 at 3 p.m., the Florida Keys Outreach Coalition (FKOC), Monroe County Homeless Services Continuum-of-Care and Monroe County Social Services will commemorate the occasion

with a memorial service and interment at the Key West Cemetery.

The service takes place at FKOC’s cemetery vault. Enter at the main gate near the sexton’s office and ushers will guide attendees. Rain location is Peace Covenant Presbyterian Church, 2610 Flagler Ave.

Diana Flenard, president of the Continuum-of-Care, accepted the proclamation along with Scott Pridgen and Carolyn Woodhead.

“As most of us know, most people in this county are just one paycheck away from homelessness,” Flenard said, encouraging the community to attend the remembrance on Dec. 20.

“The spirit of the holiday season of goodwill toward all provides an opportunity for the affirmation and renewal regarding our commitment to end homelessness,” the proclamation states.

DANTE’S DONATES $15K TO AUTISM SOCIETY OF THE KEYS

Money came from Halos & Horns event in October

KEY WEST BUSINESS GUILD SUPPORTS LGBTQ STUDENTS

$5K grant helps KWHS Gay Straight Alliance

The Key West Business Guild recently awarded $5,000 to the Gay Straight Alliance at Key West High School. The organization serves as a resource for youth, fostering a safe environment where students can gather, support one another, discuss mat-

— Contributed ters related to sexual orientation and gender identity, and challenge homophobia and transphobia. The grant is presented in collaboration with the Community Foundation of the Florida Keys.

Contributed

Key

officials proclaim

20 as National Homeless Persons Memorial Day at the Dec. 12 city commission meeting. From left: Commissioners Mary Lou Hoover and Monica Haskell, Vice Mayor Lissette Carey, Mayor Dee Dee Henriquez, Diana Flenard, Scott Pridgen, Carolyn Woodhead and Commissioners Sam Kaufman, Donie Lee and Aaron Castillo. CONTRIBUTED

From left, Dale Darmante and Chris Leahy of Dante’s Pool Bar & Restaurant in Key West donate $15,540 to the Autism Society of the Keys’ representatives Hope Haley and Jill Campbell. CONTRIBUTED

From left: Alan Beaubien, president emeritus of the Key West Business Guild (KWBG); Key West High School assistant principal Dave Perkins; Gay Straight Alliance (GSA) historian Gabby Davila; teacher and GSA faculty advisor Kaitlin LeBlanc; Rob Dougherty, executive director of KWBG; and Fritzie Estimond, associate director of KWBG. CONTRIBUTED

From December 9th, 2024 until December 31st ,

*Restrictions may apply. Subject to credit approval. Everyone who lives or works in the Florida Keys can join Keys Federal Credit Union. Offer valid through 12/31/2024. Subject to credit approval. NCUA insured.

HAPPY HOUR

MONDAY-SATURDAY 4PM-6PM

... 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.

I’ve been trying for a while to figure out my problem with laughing gulls.

It’s not something I’ve been analyzing on an everyday basis, like my inability to train a dog, or my maladroitness at making high-quality small talk, but it pops up in my mind every once in a while. Particularly when I’m looking at a laughing gull. It resurfaced the other day while I was riding my bike around the island looking for some avian excitement. I cruised along Rest Beach, did an out-and-back on the White Street Pier, scofflawed my way under the walk-your-bike overhang at West Martello, and softpedaled past Salute, where a small crew was freshening up the mural on the fence. Sometimes you can get shorebirds in the smoothed-out sand of the littoral zone down near (Former-Vice-President-Cheney’sfirst-name) Dock, so I walked my bike out there. Nothing. Until I looked down and saw a midsized posse of laughing gulls standing in the sand, staring off in about nine different directions. Ugh, I thought. And then wondered, why always the ugh?

Arguably, as a birdwatcher, I should appreciate all birds. I don’t have to love them all equally – everyone has their favorites. But every bird species is the result of eons of evolution. Every bird species has worked out its niche in the natural world, and sometimes in the unnatural world, and that should be appreciated.

Honestly, I think of it as a personal failing. If I were a more appreciative, more perceptive naturalist I would find a personal avenue of appreciation for the laughing gulls. The fact that they are one of the most ubiquitous birds on the east coast should not make me think less of them. A big population means they are good at making their way in the world. If the only thing that perks your interest in birds (or anything else) is its rarity, you don’t love the bird (or the thing) so much as you love its statistic. You’re like one of those music snobs you knew in high school who only liked a band when no one else liked it.

Birders who are really into gulls are called laridophiles. And while I am no laridophile, I am certainly no laridophobe. I have a big appreciation/fondness for gulls both large and small – Bonaparte’s gulls, herring gulls, lesser black-backed gulls, even ring-billed gulls. One of the better mornings of my life was a decade or two ago when I was out birding with a guy named Gerard Phillips and we found one of the first slaty-backed gulls ever seen in the lower 48 states. (I knew it was a weird gull not normally seen around here; he knew immediately what species it was.)

I think my issues with laughing gulls fall into two categories. First, from a purely aesthetic standpoint, they’re boring. They start life a lackluster, scuffed-shoe brown, then molt through various permutations of mismatched gray until they hit adulthood, looking not unreminiscent of a car someone started restoring, but gave up on, leaving mismatched shades of Bondo and primer. Granted, as adults, in peak breeding season, they can look pretty snazzy, with a dark gray mantle, a black head, a sporty white broken eye ring, and a bill that can be entirely deep red, or just black and lined a deep red at the edges, like lipstick. But in the non-breeding season they revert back to a paler gray and a patchy piebald head.

And it’s not just that. Laughing gulls are arguably really good at almost everything they do. After being nearly wiped out in the early 1900s due to egg collecting and the hat-making trade, legal protections have helped them come back to over half a million breeding pairs on the east coast, the Gulf and Caribbean.

Laughing gulls are also amazingly strong and precise flyers, able to hold their own in 6-knot winds. They just do everything with no panache or elan. They make everything look so … unremarkable.

Also – and this second category of my issues may be the biggest part – laughing gulls are assholes. I’ve given a whole PowerPoint presentation about this. But the short version is, they steal from and harass other birds when they don’t need to. Laughing gulls are pretty omnivorous, and insanely flexible in their diet. I could fill the rest of this column just listing the categories of food they can ingest and digest with no problem. So they are never lacking for sustenance.

When a brown pelican dives into the water and comes up with a gular pouch of fish, they need to sit for a few seconds to let the water drain out the sides of their mouth before swallowing. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen a laughing gull swoop in, land on top of the

MY PROBLEM WITH LAUGHING GULLS

brown pelican’s head, and then pry the pelican’s bill open with their shorter, more chisellike bill, so they can steal fish from the pelican’s mouth.

I’ve also seen them do very similar acts of kleptoparasitism to white ibis.

It’s just so unnecessary. And sure, maybe it is inapt and arguably insane to judge an animal’s behavior by fussy human moral codes, but come on. Not cool.

I am not arguing against their right to exist or anything. They no doubt fill a number of necessary ecological niches that help keep the natural world from falling into imbalance more than it already is. I just want them to do better.

My friend Matt Talbot is a serious home brewer. I am wowed and impressed by how good he is at it, how experimental he can get, how great it all tastes. (This is not just because he gives the beer to his friends for free.) The only hitch I see in his beer-making giddyup is the labels he puts on his bottles: Laughing Gull Brewing. I forgive him for this, despite having shared my opinions about the shortcomings of laughing gulls more than a few times.

I texted him when I started this column, asked him to make a defense of the laughing gulls, to show me what I might be missing. He texted back pretty quickly.

“I like that they are unassuming, not flashy or looking to draw attention, but they have those smart eyes. They’re patient, observant and clever beach snack thieves. I’ve watched them stalk from a distance and wait for some shoobies to leave a bag of chips unattended, then literally open the bag and help themselves,” he texted. (Shoobies is somewhat pejorative slang for day trippers at the Jersey Shore.)

“They’re not laughing with us, they’re mockingly laughing at us and they’re right to,” he said.

Laughing gulls as agents of chaos — I may actually be able to warm to that theory.

A laughing gull steals a fish from a brown pelican in Key West. MARK HEDDEN/Keys Weekly

MARK HEDDEN

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 winter solstice is upon us. With the darkest part of the year comes the reminder that the light always returns in the infinite cycle. During the solstice and the days surrounding it, we wrestle with our place in the grand scheme of things, dance with the seeming futility of it all, lament the limited influence we have, and start to remember that we are both miraculous and mundane. The light returns.

During this winter solstice and the days preceding it, the sun forms a 90-degree square to Neptune, which portends a dissolution of self-awareness and a struggle to find purpose. Allow yourself to ask the great question “Who am I?” and let the answer be intuitive rather than definitive. At the same time, Venus is forming a 120-degree trine to Jupiter, which calls for big love and graceful joy. Under this sky, wide-open hearts will bring about blissful strokes of luck and abundant growth. Revel in all of your relationships and love to excess. The existential troubles of sun-Neptune are concurrent with the expansive heart of Venus-Neptune as the light returns in the darkness. And we always choose how to participate.

Here are your horoscopes for the sun square Neptune and Venus trine Jupiter. Read for your rising and sun signs.

SAGITTARIUS

Nov. 22 - Dec. 21

As Sag season draws to a close, you may feel a bit confused about how your sense of self fits in with the dynamics of home and family. Who are you in the fold? Explore the question but have faith in the order of things. Tap into your most familiar neighbors and siblings and let an important partner expand their presence in order to enjoy the bounty that is available to you.

CAPRICORN

Dec. 22 - Jan. 19

On Saturday, the solstice takes place and the sun moves into Capricorn. We all get to see you more clearly and celebrate the season of your birth. While it might be hard to find your place in your local community right now, Capricorn season will bring you back to center. Take the time to love the things you surround yourself with and joy in your daily tasks. There are blessings there.

AQUARIUS

Jan. 20 - Feb. 18

You are in a time of loving yourself. Taking great personal joy in your own creative projects helps that self-love to grow. Dive in headfirst and don’t be afraid to keep it to yourself. Financial issues may be causing some confusion in clearly seeing who your supportive people are, but trust your intuition above all else. You are held by the community even if you can’t see it.

PISCES

Feb. 19 - March 20

Your work life has been very much in the spotlight and it may feel as though you’ve lost your sense of self in the hubbub. The confusion will pass, but hold on to the lesson that you can trust yourself even when you can’t clearly see the pattern. Love your alone time and find your joy at home right now because those benefits will seep into the rest of your life.

Aries

March 21 - April 19

There is a challenge present between great lessons that are expanding your awareness and deep spiritual lessons that you are finding in your solitude. They are connected in some way, and you have the task of integrating them. Follow your instinct rather than your intellect. Your friends and your familiar community are offering you big support. Accept it and flourish.

TAURUS

April 20 - May 20

You may clearly know what projects and people you want to invest in, but it seems a bit unclear as to who will support you in your endeavors. Despite the conundrum, follow your intuition and participate in your calling. Your work life is filled with love and purpose, and the value is expansive. Enjoy your successes right now.

GEMINI

May 21 - June 20

Now that Mercury has turned direct, your footing should be feeling a bit more solid. Tread carefully as your eyes adjust. Your work and partnership may seem a bit fuzzy even though they’re front and center. Tap into your faith as you seek clarity here. There is also a great love in learning new things and inner joy that you find in yourself. Good fortune shines on your growing self-awareness.

CANCER

June 21 - July 22

Love grows in the sharing of resources with other people, and it supports the expansive solitude that you are experiencing. Being alone right now has benefits that you might not yet see. There might be some confusion as to what actions to take in order to make the next move. You might not even be able to see the goal. However, trust your gut rather than relying on your mind.

LEO

July 23 - Aug. 22

You are in a particularly creative period, yet it is probably difficult to decipher how to share your creative projects with a like-minded community of makers. In whom do you invest your energy? Don’t think, just do. Your intuition is your greatest leader now, despite the struggle. The love from an important partner and the joy of your supporters are providing a powerful bolster. Let them hold you.

THE LIGHT RETURNS

VIRGO

Aug. 23 - Sept. 22

Your toil is paying off in spades right now, Virgo. Finding love in your daily tasks and allowing the bounty to expand in your work life is readily available. Enjoy it at this time and carry the feeling forward. While you are experiencing a lot of time at home and maybe struggling with some confusion with a partner, there is a spiritual growth taking place that you should trust.

LIBRA

Sept. 23 - Oct. 23

Your creative spark is taking you into worlds unknown. Let the joy you experience in your creative outlets expand your horizons, and enjoy the journey without focusing on the destination. You may be finding yourself in a community without really knowing what to do to fully participate in the routines. That’s fine. Showing up is the most important part. Trust that you’re there for a reason.

SCORPIO

Oct. 23 - Nov. 21

Your values are front and center. It might be hard to decipher what to spend money on and what to receive money for, particularly when it comes to your own creative output. Tap into what you truly value and follow your instincts. Your home and the resources you share with other people are bursting with love and luck, so use these blessings freely when you find yourself stuck.

TEENS TAKE OUT THE TRASH TO SAVE THE MANGROVES

Somerset Island Prep students remove 16K pounds of garbage

Students from Somerset Island Prep, a charter high school in Key West, haul tires, mini-fridges and more than 16,000 pounds of trash and plastic out of the mangroves near the Key Haven boat ramp. ROBIN BRUNDAGE/Contributed

ROBIN BRUNDAGE www.keysweekly.com

More than 25 high school students from Somerset Island Prep (SIP) helped remove 16,467 pounds of garbage from the mangroves near the Key Haven Boat ramp, next to Beach Weekend Marina on Stock Island.

Ocean Aid 360 and Reef Relief organized the mangrove cleanup. The two nonprofits are focused on healing and protecting the coral reef and other local marine ecosystems, while educating others about their importance.

The current state of and threats to the marine environment motivates students like Somerset senior Emely Sotelo, who said her generation believes that such efforts are crucial for local communities.

Teacher Maddie Opalsky, who organized the event, advocates for community service among her students, who were joined in the cleanup by volunteers from Naval Air Station Key West.

“It is integral for people to come together to better our community,” Opalsky said. “These students are learning that service is impactful. They’re working with others from the community and engaging with people who aren’t in the same social circles by uniting to accomplish a common goal.”

She added that the goal was to clean as much of the mangroves surrounding the boat ramp as possible, “no matter the amount of trash, or the effort it took.”

“One student, Kanaan PaillouxPaturno, saw a 6-foot mini refrigerator dumped way back in the thick of the mangroves,” Opalsky said. “He had to dig it out of the mucky sediment, but he never quit and managed to wiggle it free. And I was so proud to watch two other students work with him to create a path to bring it out of the mangroves.

“As a teacher, nothing is better than getting to witness my students become involved and engaged through service to impact the world around them,” she said.

Volunteers participating in Ocean Aid 360’s various cleanup events throughout the Keys have collected an estimated 400,000 pounds of trash, most of which was flimsy plastic and empty water bottles, said Danielle Dawley, vice president and co-founder of Ocean Aid.

For more information or to volunteer, contact Dawley at danielle@oceanaid360.org or visit oceanaid360.org.

Robin Brundage is a student and aspiring journalist at Somerset Island Prep, a charter high school in Key West.

JEAN PAUL PERFORMS AND PAINTS THE ISLAND’S MUSIC

local artist and musician Jean Paul. RAY WEST/ Keys Weekly

This column usually centers on music, local musicians and the occasional weightier subject. The music scene, however, wouldn’t be complete without other facets that complete the complex tapestry that is our community. If you’ve spent any time listening to live music in this town you have likely run across the art of Jean Paul, also known as Willy Jean Paul, according to his email address. His style of light, color and distinctive-looking musicians adorns countless walls, guitars, shirts and jackets.

Jean Paul was born and raised in Port au Prince, Haiti and migrated to the U.S. in 1974. His passion for art and music comes from his mother, a fashion designer and opera singer, and his father, a cabinet maker and accordion player. Though his first love is cooking, Jean Paul started painting when he was 25. Having moved to Key West in 2013, he has worked continually as both painter and a musician. Though predominantly a percussion player, he also plays guitar and sings in English, Creole, Spanish and French.

Jean Paul considers his art modernistic and impressionistic, combining mixed media and fresco techniques. He has always

... a professional musician, singer, actor and executive director of the Key West Music Awards, is known to sacrifice his comfort for that of his cat.

been inspired by salsa, jazz and classical musicians, and his paintings often include drummers, horn players, keyboardists and various stringed instrument players. Some characters recur and some appear in just one or two paintings. Key West and the animals that share the island with us often accompany the musicians all encased in vibrant colors.

After arriving in America, Jean Paul divided his time between Brooklyn and Los Angeles. Having seen his share of the more troubled sides of these towns, he embraced Key West and its arts community. “I love Key West. The music community is so vibrant and such an important part of this island,” he said. “It keeps the town in a spiritual vibe that is great for creating.” And painting the music seemed like the most natural way to express his appreciation.

Jean Paul also appreciates, perhaps more than most, the safety of our community, coming from, and having lived in, places where that security is no guarantee. “I can walk down the street at night and feel safe. No one bothers me; in fact people are quite friendly. And the music is always in the air. That has not been so everywhere I’ve lived.”

Jean Paul’s work is on display at Kaya Island Eats, with its entrance on Angela Street, a few steps off Duval, and at the Key West Art Center, 301 Front St. He is a regular at the Artisan Markets at Higgs Beach, Truman Waterfront and Boondocks on Ramrod Key. A guitar painted by Jean Paul will be available for silent auction at this year’s Key West Music Awards.

Contact Jean Paul directly at Willyjeanpaul56@gmail.com.

RAY WEST

‘Music is life and love and painting the music helps bring the spirit of a festive life to people,’ says

This year, let our holiday loan be the answer to your

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WELCOMING NEW PATIENTS

Dr. Christopher Forsee, DMD is seamlessly taking the reins from the iconic “Barefoot Dentist,” Dr. Troxel, where the laid-back vibe extends even to the choice of footwear. Dr. Forsee delivers personalized comprehensive dental care tailored to your needs. Whether it's routine maintenance or advanced procedures, trust Dr. Forsee to rejuvenate your smile with meticulous precision and compassionate care.

RUN, DEER

Runners take to the road on Dec. 14 for A Positive Step’s 16th annual Rudolph Red Nosed 5K Run. Proceeds from the event, which started and ended at the Southernmost Beach Café, support the nonprofit’s Idle Hands Summer Youth Employment Program and the Southernmost Fatherhood Initiative. CAROL TEDESCO/APSMC.org

and Curtis Rangel. JULIE DOE/Contributed

MANDY MILES

mandy@keysweekly.com

Hundreds of runners showed their holiday spirit — and stamina — at the 16th annual Rudolph Red-Nosed 5K Run, presented by the nonprofit A Positive Step of Monroe County.

Proceeds from the race, which was cosponsored by the Southernmost Runners Club, benefit A Positive Step’s summer jobs program for local teens as well as its Southernmost Fatherhood Initiative.

Prizes were awarded for best costumes, as runners were encouraged to wear their favorite holiday pajamas, red noses, antlers or other festive dress. But the warm weather often means that Santa hats get abandoned after the first mile or so.

More information about A Positive Step is at APSMC.org.

PROMOTING CONCH PRIDE SINCE

Rosco, 4, rides in style to the finish line of the 16th Annual A Positive Step 5K Rudolph Red Nose Run on Saturday, pushed by Allison Plumadore of Key West. Proceeds from the run, which is organized by APSMC in partnership with the Key West Southernmost Runners Club, support the APSMC Idle Hands Summer Youth Employment Program and the Southernmost Fatherhood Initiative. CAROL TEDESCO/APSMC.org

Family owned and operated by Nikki, Tiffany, Cathy & Damien

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A COMEDY by LARRY SHUE

“one comic surprise after another ” — THE NEW YORKER DEC. 18, 2024 - JAN. 11, 2025

Directed by Joe Kinosian

Starring David Black, Annie Miners, Cassidy Timms, Brian Robinson, Thomas Masat, Chase Taylor and Iain Wilcox

& Single Show

Bearded Lady is representing some solid 5K action. From left: Brian Stewart, Brian Doe, John Cally

LOOK YOUNGER & FEEL BETTER

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A CENTURY OF SWINGS — AND SLICES

Key West Golf Course opened in 1924 & hosts 45K rounds a year

In 1923, the City of Key West recognized the need to provide a quality activity to the community and designated 150 acres of undeveloped property on Stock Island to be used as a public golf course. The property was mostly coral rock, which required the use of dynamite to clear the land and then re-surface it to build a foundation for a quality golf course. The course was designed by Langford & Moreau, architects from Chicago, and the Key West Golf Course opened in 1924. Now, 100 years later, tens of thousands of golfers of all ages have played and continue to play the course.

In 1994, Gwenn Smith bought the golf course lease with the city and undertook a massive renovation to restore the fairways, sand traps, course pathways and putting greens. The Smith family also rebuilt

the clubhouse, built a new driving range, installed an irrigation system that uses treated wastewater discharge, installed a salt-tolerant grass and established an ongoing program to maintain golf carts for the convenience of golfers.

The family hired professional staff and certified golf pros. Each spring, the course offers a golf school for children to learn the fundamentals along with the etiquette of the game, and then allows those students to play for free throughout the year when accompanied by an adult. The Smith family also supports and contributes to various local athletic programs.

Several men’s and women’s groups meet on a weekly basis to play golf. Some 45,000 rounds of golf are played each year at the

West Golf Course. — Contributed

KEY WEST AIRPORT HITS HOLIDAY HIGH

1.3M passengers have used EYW so far this year

The year 2024 is among Key West International Airport’s best when it comes to performance and number of passengers served, according to the most recent data.

For November, EYW saw an increase of 12,924 passengers compared to November 2023, or 430 more passengers per day. So far this year, 1,306,043 passengers have used the airport. The final 2024 passenger tally will not be available until January.

“We are very pleased with these numbers, which show just an overall phenomenal job by my staff and everyone at the airport,” Richard Strickland, the county’s executive director of airports, said at the Dec. 11 county commission meeting.

Consistent monthly increases in passenger numbers were seen throughout 2024, with a 10%

increase over 2023, as of November.

Stay tuned for the airport end-of-the-year update for a look back and ahead to 2025.

Holiday travel

December kicks off the Florida Keys’ high travel season with an increase in passengers from now through March. AAA expects air travel to set a new record this holiday season with 7.85 million passengers flying. That number surpasses the previous record of 7.5 million air travelers last year.

The busiest travel days for this holiday season are expected to be Dec. 23 and Dec. 31, according to a travel poll by Talker Research.

Officials say arrival at the airport two hours ahead of flight time is appropriate, both for parking purposes and the screening process. Check EYW’s social media pages for updates regarding parking lot capacity at the airport and be ready with a Plan B to get to the airport on time if parking lots are full.

Key

The Key West Golf Course recently reached the centennial milestone, having opened in 1924. CONTRIBUTED

Members of the Smith family celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Key West Golf Course during their annual Christmas party. Back row, from left: Bart Smith, William ‘Bill’ Smith, Al Smith and Chris Johnson. Front row, from left: Audrey, Alivia and Gwenn Smith, Josh Johnson, Leslie Smith Johnson, Paulina Smith and Kristin Smith. CONTRIBUTED

Passengers approach the security checkpoint at Key West International Airport, which is decorated for the holidays. CONTRIBUTED

2024

IN A CONCH SHELL

Another year for the history books

And just like that, next week it’s Christmas. It’s the time of year when I reflect on what has and has not transpired over the last 12 months.

Usually, I wait until my final column of the year before considering the year’s events. I thought I’d get started a little early in case I have more to say than I think I do. It might turn out that I have less to say than I think, but that rarely proves to be the case. It is also the time of year to express gratitude and acknowledge those things that bring joy. I have an entire red velvet Santa sack full of reasons to be thankful. For starters, I’m grateful to have created a life where I can spend a lot of time writing, which is awesome because writing is my happy place. It is the one place and time when I know I am exactly where I’m supposed to be.

I’m thankful that I get to do what I love nearly every single day – thank you, Michelle Bertelli, for two decades of unconditional love and support for my obsession. I’m thankful, too, for spending the last 20 years, a third of my life, with you, you amazing, loving partner.

Now, last year, about this time, I wrote about some big things I was expecting to accomplish. A few of them never quite materialized. For one, I hoped to create a little popup museum. At some point in the future, it might still happen. The other big thing I thought would happen was the release of Volume 3 of my “Florida Keys History with Brad Bertelli” book series. I came close with this one. The good news is that by the time the New Year rolls around, the manuscript will be out of my hands and off to my editor. How long that process will take depends on his schedule. However, a few weeks after its return, I’ll be blowing a conch shell to celebrate its release. Blowing a conch shell will be fitting, as I talk a lot about conch in the new book. “A Conch Tale” is one of the new chapters.

As every year tends to do, 2024 also came with a few surprises. The micro-burst (quasi-tornado) that blew through our neighborhood in July came as an unexpected, fiveminute surprise. We lost a bunch of trees, and one fell on the patio roof. While we all

could have done without that event, it again proved how much these island communities come together when big things happen. It is one of the reasons I’m thankful to have called the Florida Keys home for the last 23 years.

The biggest surprise, and probably the year’s highlight, was being invited to Ketchum, Idaho, to speak at the Community Library’s Ernest Hemingway Seminar. Not only was I asked to give the closing keynote, but I was also asked to talk about piracy, Prohibition, and rum-running in the Florida Keys. It was a fun talk, and I went well over my allotted 60-minute slot. It was a broad topic and I had a lot to say. While on the subject, I thought it would be criminal not to bring up the history of the rumrunner, the classic Florida Keys cocktail invented in the 1970s about 5.2 miles from where I am currently sitting.

In Volume 3, the invention of the rumrunner by a bartender named Tiki John at a little Windley Key resort called Holiday Isle appears in a chapter called “A Jimmy Buffett Tribute.” I’m excited about the new book. It’s a little longer, a little different and filled with what I think are some of my best stories yet — and heaps and gobs of local history. What is always exciting, especially these last few years, is watching how the path I’m wandering down continues to unfold. Each year, it has led to new and unexpected experiences. In 2024, a few of life’s bread crumbs were left on said path, and they may lead to

things I’ll be writing about and talking about in 2025. The thing about bread crumbs is that sometimes life’s ducks waddle along and gobble them up, and not because you did anything wrong or because you wandered off in some direction you weren’t meant to go, but because sometimes life’s ducks just waddle up and gobble them down.

FLORIDA KEYS HISTORY WITH BRAD BERTELLI

Brad is a local historian, author, speaker and Honorary Conch who loves sharing the history of the Florida Keys.

There is one bread crumb in particular that I’m hoping doesn’t get gobbled up, passed and forgotten. Months and months ago, I was asked to add my historical two cents in a teaser/pilot filmed for a television show. My fingers are totally crossed that those damn ducks don’t get to that bread crumb before it is given the chance to reach its hopeful conclusion.

I was right to start the last column of the year a week early. There is more I want to reflect on about 2024 and more I want to say about what looks to be an interesting year to come. In the meantime, I hope everyone is safe and merry, and looking forward to the festivities that are celebrated this time of year. I know I am.

BRAD BERTELLI/ Contributed

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Coalition opposes thousands of new ROGOs

Dear Editor,

All year, scare tactics about possible “takings” liability and its cost to taxpayers have been used as the excuse to request more residential building allocations (ROGOs) from the state. It’s obvious now this is about greed and development, not protecting residents’ safety and quality of life.

In the county’s survey, 84% of respondents said they want either no more ROGOs or only a few hundred more. Yet the Keys governments seem to be on their way to requesting a total of 3,550 new ROGOs. This is the same number received in 2012, when it was announced that after they were issued, the Keys would be “built out.” The additional 3,550 ROGOs have already been approved by Marathon and Key West. This week County Mayor Jim Scholl said he supports that number. Islamorada has approved a number on a similar scale. This is our local governments broadcasting that a handful of developers and many millions in profits are valued far more than residents.

Marathon and Islamorada are seeking to issue far more ROGOs than the minimum numbers that would avoid takings liability. Marathon and Islamorada have done insufficient analysis of how many new ROGOs are needed, and Key West literally has done no analysis at all.

More ROGOs require an amendment of state statute to increase the 24-hour hurricane evacuation time limit for permanent residents of the Keys, with its obvious safety risks, especially in light of the increasing trend of rapid intensification of storms. Thousands more ROGOs means more overdevelopment of the Keys and the resulting traffic, environmental and quality of life impacts.

On Thursday, Dec. 19, at 10 a.m., the Monroe County Board of County Commissioners will meet at the Marathon Government Center to finalize the request for new ROGOs from the state. Please attend that meeting and tell the commissioners to listen to the residents and join us in opposing 3,550 more ROGOs for the Keys.

Sincerely,

Florida Keys ROGO Coalition FKRC.org

REEL RECS

Staff from your Monroe County Public Library recommend some of their favorites from the collection.

What: “The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher: The Murder At Road Hill House” (2011)

Why: If you are a fan of historical true crime, you may have read or heard of Kate Summerscale’s 2008 book, “The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher.” It was the story of the 1860 death of a 3-year-old boy in an English country home. A Scotland Yard detective, Mr. Whicher, arrives on the scene when local police are unable to determine who killed the boy. The case, as Summerscale recounted, helped set the patterns of police investigations and crime fiction as we still know them today. In 2011, the BBC made four films about Mr. Whicher, with the first based directly on Summerscale’s book. Starring Paddy Considine as the dour but dedicated detective, this is atmospheric British crime drama at its best.

Where: This TV movie, and its three sequels, are available on Kanopy, the library’s streaming app.

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.

SHELF HELP

Staff from your Monroe County Public Library recommend some of their favorites from the collection.

What: “Slouch” by Christina Wyman

Why: Full Disclosure: I totally judge books by their covers, and this book was no exception. When it appeared on our cart for new juvenile fiction, the young blonde on the cover caught my attention.

Immediately, I became invested in Stevie Crumb’s frustrations and challenges of being a tall teen girl in the Big Apple. Her parents struggle to make ends meet. Her older brother is a “basketball star” and gets more than a fair share of attention. Men make creepy comments on the train. Her relationship with her childhood best friend is changing.

At first, Stevie keeps it all bottled up and occasionally has her many feelings bubble over. People around her are seemingly blind to what she is enduring and don’t understand her outbursts. Fortunately, Stevie discovers the new debate team at school, and she learns to find and use her voice. By the end, I was proud of Stevie and how she handled things with her family, her friends, her adults, and strangers. And I felt like I learned something from her journey.

Where: You can borrow this as a print book from the Monroe County Public Library.

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: Cindy Scofield, library associate, Key Largo Library.

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.

Double the love, double the joy. Meet Chicklet & Milton. Chicklet, 3, and Milton, 8, didn’t know each other before arriving at the FKSPCA, but now they’re an inseparable duo. These two sweethearts bonded here and would love nothing more than to stay together.

Meet Bella, a 6-year-old Chihuahua mix with a heart as big as her love for treats. This sweet girl is all about snuggling and stealing your heart with her gentle, easygoing nature. She doesn’t ask for much — just a cozy spot to cuddle and a human to call her own.

All Christmas wants this year is a home for the holidays. This 4-year-old all-black cat is sweet, affectionate and dreaming of a cozy spot to call his own.

HELP KEEP KEY WEST CLEAN

JOIN A 1- HOUR CLEANUP FRIDAY MORNINGS

Ploggers meet at Bayview Park on Dec. 12 for the post-holiday parade cleanup, hosted each year by Realty One Group. In one hour, 47 volunteers picked up 168 pounds of trash, 11 pounds of recycling and 2 gallons of cigarette butts. Special thanks to Realty One Group for providing refreshments for all the volunteers. The Dec. 20 cleanup will be on the inbound side of U.S. 1 across from Chico’s Cantina. Thank you to everyone who helps keep Key West beautiful. CONTRIBUTED

One hour a week makes a huge difference, and volunteers are welcome every Friday and some Saturday mornings, from 8 to 9 a.m., when the Key West Ploggers clean up a designated area of the island.

Gloves, pickers, buckets, vests, hand sanitizer and a parking pass are provided to all volunteers.

A troubling number of cigarette butts and plastic bags have been included in recent hauls. Please remember your reusable bags when shopping so we can keep the plastic off the streets, parking lots and, most importantly, out of the water. And dispose of cigarette butts in any receptacle rather than the street or sidewalk, as from there, they easily end up in the ocean.

The city of Key West and its residents ask everyone to do their part to help keep Key West beautiful. With simple steps like making sure you bag your trash before putting it in your Waste Management trash cans or Dumpsters, and making sure the lids on Dumpsters are closed, will keep a lot of trash from blowing into the streets. Call Waste Management at 305-296-8297 for any furniture items left on the city right of way.

Please pick up around your home or apartment complex. Every piece of trash picked up is one less that may end up in the ocean that surrounds and sustains our island community. It is not just the large items you can see easily when you are walking, but the smaller items such as bottle caps and cigarette butts that are collected by the volunteers that make the biggest difference.

It takes committed community involvement to keep Key West beautiful and we are making progress with every cleanup event and every spot that’s adopted. Call Dorian Patton at 305-809-3782 to find out how your business, nonprofit or club can help.

— Contributed

Join a one-hour Friday morning cleanup. All events are from 8 to 9 a.m. unless otherwise noted.

Dec. 20: U.S. 1 between both entrances to College Road. Meet along the bike path across U.S. 1 from Chico’s Cantina just past Maloney Avenue. Hosted by Chico’s Cantina. Dec. 27: Downtown streets. Meet at Fleming and Duval. Hosted by Kilwins on Duval.

Dunlop is a 2-year-old all-grey rabbit as soft and sweet as he looks. Dunlop is a gentle little guy who’s ready to hop into your heart and home.

CONNECTIONS PROJECT SHOWCASES KEYS ART & CULTURE

The Connections Project is the centerpiece of a series of pop-up events to showcase the arts and culture of the Florida Keys starting Jan. 8 through April. Visit keysarts.com for more information. CONTRIBUTED

Event series launches Jan. 8 and runs through April

Visual art and music by top Florida Keys talents take center stage during the Connections Project: a Mosaic of the Keys 2025, a series of popup events for cultural enthusiasts that begins Wednesday, Jan. 8, and continues through April.

Each event will feature a mosaic mural composed of nearly 100 small canvases decorated by Florida Keys artists, paired with performances by local musicians.

Presented annually by the Florida Keys Council of the Arts, the project is designed to connect people with members of the Keys’ arts community.

“The Connections Project 2025 will be a fabulous blend of what we’ve done in past years with some fresh ideas for this season,” said Elizabeth Young, executive director of the Arts Council. “Attendees can expect the usual high quality of creative expression, along with a surprise or two that adds to the fun.”

The series’ Jan. 8 grand opening reception is set for 5:30 p.m. at Berkshire Hathaway in Marathon, 9141 Overseas Hwy., in conjunction with a Marathon Chamber of Commerce gathering. Subsequent pop-up events are planned from Key Largo to Key West at venues including galleries and cultural spaces, open-air art shows and other locations that support local creativity.

A mosaic mural will be unveiled at every event, with each featuring a collection of colorful 6- by 8-inch canvases. The small canvases typically include works in oils, watercolor, photography, collage, mixed media, quilting, beadwork and more, depending on the individual artist’s whim and talent.

A calendar of times and locations is at keysarts.com/artist_connections/Mosaic/Mosaic3.html.

At each event, attendees who donate $100 to the arts council can select and take home a small canvas of their choice. The donations go to the council’s grants for artists living and working in the island chain.

More information is at keysarts. com.

— Contributed

HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS PRESENT HOLIDAY LIGHT SHOW

Custom House Museum becomes giant canvas for screening

Key West’s iconic Custom House Museum, home of the Key West Art & Historical Society, serves as the giant canvas for a holiday light show presented by Key West High School students during the society’s Holiday Concert & Bazaar on Dec. 13. The open-air celebration, which included live music and handmade creations by local artisans, is part of Key West Holiday Fest. For a full schedule, visit KeyWestHolidayFest.com. CONTRIBUTED

Carrying multiple exclusive retail lines. Plus a selection of unique & carefully curated

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MONDAY - WEDNESDAY 11- 4

THURSDAY - SATURDAY 11- 6

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TRY ’N’ FIND

Words that remind us of winter reading are hidden in this puzzle. Some words are hidden backward, and some letters are used twice. See if you can find:

BASKETBALL, BLETCHLEY, BOOKS, BREAK, COMMUNICATE, GRAPHIC, HIJAB, KIDS, LIBRARY, NOVEL, OJIBWE, QUIET, READING, REPORTER, SCIENTIST, SNUGGLE, WARM, WINTER.

Founded by Betty Debnam

Winter Reading Awaits!

Mini Fact: Audiobooks help readers develop language skills and focus. Try one out this winter break!

The winter break from school gives readers a chance to snuggle up with a good book. Find a quiet spot and a blanket, and dive into a story.

•With the U.S. presidential election just completed, the importance of journalism couldn’t be more clear. Author Hannah Holzer, an editor at the Sacramento Bee, guides readers who want to become journalists with “Kid Reporter Field Guide.”

•Max Brallier, author of “The Last Kids on Earth” books, has teamed up with illustrator Brian Churilla for “The Last Kids on Earth: The Graphic Novel.” Join Jack Sullivan as he and his friends try to get rid of Blarg the monster.

•Bletchley Park in England was home to code-breakers during World War II. In “The Bletchley Riddle,” authors Ruta Sepetys and Steve Sheinkin tell the story of Jacob and Lizzie, siblings whose mother has disappeared from the park. Can they crack the code to find her?

•Author Dawn Quigley of the Turtle Mountain Band of Ojibwe shares a story of Ariel and Tomah, who face personal and community challenges in their intertribal housing in the city. “Red Bird Danced” is powerfully written in verse.

• “Behind My Doors: The Story of the World’s Oldest Library” invites readers to explore Al-Qarawiyyin Library, founded in 859 A.D. in Fez, Morocco, by a Muslim woman. The story, by Hena Khan and illustrated by Nabila Adani, is told from the library’s perspective.

•Author Ann Clare LeZotte introduces readers to Effie, a deaf girl living with her older sister and their dad, in “Deer Run Home.” Effie’s life isn’t easy, as she struggles to communicate with her dad and others, but she discovers new “family” in her friends. The book is based on a true court case.

• “We Are Big Time” by Hena Khan is based on the true story of a girls’ basketball team in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Aliya, a Muslim girl, moves from Florida to Wisconsin and works with her team as they become more skilled — even as they run down the court wearing hijabs! Illustrated by Safiya Zerrougui.

•If you’ve ever felt like you just couldn’t do anything right, you’ll sympathize with the main character in the graphic novel “Mendel the Mess-Up” by Terry La Ban. But when Mendel gets a chance to be a hero, he takes it!

RESOURCES

•All scientists were once kids. In “The Next Scientist: The Unexpected Beginnings and Unwritten Future of the World’s Great Scientists,” author Kate Messner makes the case that the scientists of the future might be sitting right next to you, eating at your dinner table — they might even include you!

An expanding population of invasive Indian house crows is ravaging wildlife and poultry farms in eastern Kenya. Introduced to the country in the late 1890s, the birds quickly adapted to their new environment and now number more than a million. “They are now predating (preying) on our indigenous species, targeting nests, eggs, chicks and even adult birds,” Kirao Lennox at the conservation group A Rocha Kenya said. Conservation groups have begun using a specific poison called starlicide to target the crows while minimizing harm to other species.

“The Lost Library” by Rebecca Stead and Wendy Mass

STAR-STUDDED

Athletes showed up & showed out in 2024 | Year in Review

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Whether you’re building a large commercial building, FDOT bridge, or a customdesigned home, we have concrete mix designs for every project. Thanks to decades of experience, our team can create custom mixes with high-quality additives for specific project needs. We offer the largest variety of materials and operate the only FDOT-certified ready-mix plants in the Florida Keys. Call us for all ready-mix concrete, block, aggregate, rebar and bagged good needs.

A YEAR OF GREATS

Keys athletes did not disappoint in 2024

It was a big year in Keys sports. Many things happened in the past 365 days, some evoking great joy and some devastating sorrow. Each year brings new and varied talent, and since January, athletes and coaches proved to be adept in a multitude of ways, setting records, earning titles and representing the Keys with pride. Here we look back at the 24 most memorable moments in Keys sports in 2024.

LADIES LIFT THE BAR

Girls weightlifting has been a bright spot in Keys sports since the first Monroe County program opened in Marathon less than a decade ago. In the 2015-2016 season, Fins coach Jessie Schubert took Rachel TorresBrown to states and brought home a silver medal. Each year since, the sport grows in numbers and the athletes stack on the plates, making for one of the most prolific sports in the Keys as far as hardware goes. Now, all three schools have girls weightlifting, and the popularity is on the rise. Last year, in addition to Marathon’s Justice Lee winning dual titles, Jennille Arias of Coral Shores won secondand sixth-place medals, and Ella Dunn and Sierra Earnhardt joined Lee as Dolphin podium members. Dunn won fifth place while Earnhardt won a bronze at states.

Jennille Arias. CONTRIBUTED

LEE BRINGS HOME STATE GOLD

Marathon strongwoman Justice Lee Isom set her goals high last year, then methodically did everything it took to reach them. As a sophomore, she went undefeated in her weight class in girls weightlifting, clinching double gold medals at districts and regionals, then topping her own bests at states to bring home dual gold medals at the FHSAA state championships. Though Coral Shores’ Julian Juvier did it in 2023, Lee is currently the only female Keys athlete to win two gold medals in a single season.

Senior Justice Lee shows off her hardware in her return to MHS.

ALEX RICKERT/Keys Weekly

fled to the Keys from the frozen mountains of Pennsylvania hours after graduating from college and never looked back. She is a second-generation coach and educator, and has taught in the public school system for over 25 years. She and her husband met at a beginning teacher meeting in 1997 and have three children born and raised in Monroe County. In her free time, McDonald loves flea markets, historical fiction and long runs in the heat.

sean mcdonald

grew up in Miami and moved to the Keys in 1997. He has spent the last 25 years teaching physical education and coaching virtually every sport for Florida Keys kids ages 4 to 18. If you are reading this and live or lived in the Florida Keys, he has probably taught, coached, or coached against someone you know.

Marathon - Alex Rickert alex@keysweekly.com

Upper Keys - Jim McCarthy jim@keysweekly.com

Key West - Mandy Miles mandy@keysweekly.com

The Keys Weekly Sports Wrap is proud to be the only locally-owned publication providing prep sports coverage from Key Largo to Key West. Together with our writers and photographers, we are committed to providing a comprehensive overview of the world of Keys sports with photography that allows our readers to immerse themselves in game action.

Publisher / Jason Koler jason@keysweekly.com

Publishing Partner / Britt Myers britt@keysweekly.com

Managing Editor / Alex Rickert alex@keysweekly.com

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Business Development

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Se habla español THE MARATHON WEEKLY (ISSN 1944-0812) IS PUBLISHED WEEKLY FOR $125 PER YEAR BY WEEKLY NEWSPAPERS, INC., 9709 OVERSEAS HIGHWAY, MARATHON FL 33050. APPLICATION TO MAIL AT PERIODICALS POSTAGE RATES IS PENDING AT FORT LAUDERDALE FL AND ADDITIONAL MAILING OFFICES.

All stories, photos, and graphics are copyrighted materials. 9709 Overseas Hwy. Marathon, FL 33050 Office: 305.743.0844 www.keysweekly.com

CONCHS MAKE IT 15 STRAIGHT

Key West’s wrestling program continued its tradition of success by winning its 15th consecutive district championship. The Conchs crowned eight district champions and sent multiple wrestlers to the state meet. Senior Ralph Riche returned with a fifth-place medal, his second in two years. He will continue his wrestling career at St. Thomas University.

ON THE COVER

For small schools in a 100-mile island chain, Keys athletes made plenty of noise in the state’s upper echelon. Top: AJ Putetti. Second row, from left:

Dylan Ziels, Niks-Davis Suharevskis, Caylaa Makimaa. Third row: Anthony Lariz, Vance Bursa, Layne Smith, Brooke Mandozzi. Fourth row: Ralph Riche, Justice Lee, Ali Wheatley. Photos by Barry Gaukel, Doug Finger, Mark Hedden, Jim McCarthy and contributed images.

KEY WEST LOSES HOMETOWN HERO

One of the greatest losses of 2024 was the tragic death of Key West basketball coach Dexter Butler. Butler left a legacy as a player, teacher, coach and mentor on countless student athletes. His positivity and energy was infectious and he lived his life with the epitome of Conch Pride. Butler’s impact on the entire community was a positive one, and a scholarship was created in his name.

Top: Dexter Butler taught at Horace O’Bryant School and coached KWHS basketball. MONROE COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT/Contributed) Bottom: Hundreds gather on March 3, 2024, for a candlelight vigil in memory of teacher and coach Dexter Butler. FLOYD JENKINS/contributed

tracy mcdonald

MARSHALL CROWNED SPEED KING; LEE OWNS THROWS

Marathon’s Mikail “Jay” Marshall broke the 100- and 200-meter school records at Marathon and beat all of his Monroe County competitors on the track in 2024. Teammates Fabbianho Louis Jeune and Mason Buxton broke the school records in triple jump and javelin, respectively. Mikkel Ross set a school record in the 3,200-meter run, and Cami Wrinn did the same in the 400 hurdles. In the field events, Daysi Williams cleared the bar for a new record in high jump and strongwoman Justice Lee dominated the throwing events. She set records in javelin, shot put and discus and brought home a fourth-place medal in shot put at the state meet.

CONCHS DAZZLE ON THE DIAMOND

Key West is synonymous with excellence on the diamond, and 2024 was no outlier. Five Conchs signed to play at the collegiate level: Anthony Lariz, University of Central Florida; Felix Ong, University of Florida; Jacob Burnham, Boston College; Hunter White, Inspiration Academy; and Steel Mientkiewicz, Georgia Highlands College. The Conchs fought to the regional semifinals after one of the toughest schedules in high school baseball in the country.

Left: The Key West Conchs earn their 15th straight district wrestling championship. Right: Ralph Riche, left, and coach Chaz Jimenez revel in Riche’s fifth-place medal at states. Photos contributed.

TRACK RECORDS FALL AT KEY WEST HIGH

Conchs broke records on the track and in field events in 2024. Grace Andrew set a record in the 400 hurdles for the Lady Conchs. On the boys side, Suharevskis Niks-Davis claimed a pair of school records – the first in 400 intermediate hurdles and the second in pole vault, in which he won a bronze medal at states. Jean Louis broke the shot put record by more than 3 feet, and Peyton Zubieta and Shane Lavallee both broke the record in javelin, with Zubieta’s longest toss taking over the No. 1 spot in the history books.

Grace Andrew. MARK HEDDEN/Keys Weekly

Mikail ‘Jay’ Marshall. BARRY GAUKEL/Keys Weekly

Clockwise from top: Hunter White, Jacob Burnham, Felix Ong, Steel Mientkiewicz. MARK HEDDEN/Keys Weekly

CORAL SHORES BASEBALL SENDS TWO TO THE NEXT LEVEL

The Hurricanes had a strong season on the diamond, winning 10 games, including an all-out pitching duel with Marathon. The team made it all the way to the FHSAA 3A District 16 semifinals. Two athletes, Zeke Myers and Grayden Ross, signed to continue their careers at the next level. Myers was recruited by Freed-Hardeman University and Ross signed his letter of intent with Columbia International University.

Zeke Myers & Grayden Ross. JOY SMITH/Keys Weekly

Key West’s competitive cheer squad earned a trip to states after a strong showing at regionals. CONTRIBUTED

KEYS’ ONLY COMPETITIVE CHEER SQUAD REPRESENTS AT STATES

Coach Ariana Corsi and the Key West competitive cheer team hit their moves at regionals to secure an at-large bid to the state championship meet in Lakeland. The Lady Conchs placed seventh in the small, non-tumbling division with a difficult performance they perfected throughout the season. Though all three public high schools have cheerleading squads, only Key West has an FHSAA-sanctioned competition team which goes head-to-head against other squads as they are judged in areas such as stunting, choreography and crowd appeal.

UPPER KEYS LEGEND UNRETIRES HIS WHISTLE

When Coral Shores found itself without a baseball coach last spring, it didn’t take long to find a perfect fit for the job. Tony Hammon has been a fixture in Upper Keys sports since 1972, when he became Coral Shores’ second-ever baseball coach. In 1974, he started Island Christian School and the following year started sports there as well. Hammon coached baseball, football, basketball and soccer at some point or another in his long career, hanging up his whistle six years ago for what he thought would be a quiet retirement. That is, until 2024, when his community needed him to fill a role for which he was uniquely qualified. Hammon will continue on as an assistant coach this season, explaining that “It’s a lot harder to run a practice at 75 than it is in your 20s.”

Tony Hammon. DOUG FINGER/Keys Weekly

CONCH LACROSSE DOES A 180

After winning just two games one season earlier, Conchs head coach Alberto Piceno and the Key West boys lacrosse team turned things around. The team finished the season 11-4, winning over 60% of their faceoffs and scoring 137 goals in 2024. Senior standout Mack Hill signed on to further his career at Quincy University.

After leading his team to an 11-4 finish, senior star Mack Hill will continue his career at Quincy University. MARK HEDDEN/Keys Weekly

FINS CLAIM FIRST CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIP

According to head coach Joey Gonzalez, the Marathon Dolphins entered the South Florida Baseball Conference roughly 17 years ago, when Miami Country Day School founded it. The conference is composed of eight to 10 non-recruiting teams across South Florida, and prior to the 2024 season, Marathon had made it to the finals four other times, though a title eluded them. The fifth time was a charm for Gonzalez and the Dolphins, as they finally won the conference cup after an impressive 18-6 season which culminated in pitcher Dylan Ziels signing to Palm Beach State after a stellar high school career at Marathon.

The 2024 Marathon Dolphins finally broke through a formidable barrier to end their season as conference champions. CONTRIBUTED

ROSS EARNS HONORS PAIRING ATHLETICS WITH ACADEMICS

Mikkel Ross was one of Marathon’s most decorated athletes, making state appearances in cross country, weightlifting and track and field. But Ross’ prowess did not end with her athletic gifts; she excelled in the classroom, too. Ross was selected as one of just 24 student-athletes across the state to be awarded with the Florida Dairy Farmers Academic All-State Team, a prestigious recognition program run in tandem with the FHSAA. Ross is the fifth Marathon athlete in four years to earn the award.

Mikkel Ross. BARRY GAUKEL/Keys Weekly

TOMMY ROBERTS GETS REVAMP

BASILICA ADDS VARSITY PROGRAMS

2024 marked the first year since Island Christian School closed its doors that the Keys had four varsity teams in a sport. After successful junior varsity campaigns at Basilica School with their volleyball and basketball programs, the Mariners added a fourth Monroe County team to girls volleyball and boys basketball, with plans in the works for more as the school expands.

The Basilica School Mariners celebrate an earned point against Key West in early September. MAICEY MALGRAT/Keys Weekly

Opened in 1955, Key West’s football stadium went unnamed until it found a worthy namesake. In 1988, after the passing of the beloved principal Tommy Roberts, the field had its moniker. Roberts taught and coached at Key West High for over 30 years, finally landing his dream job as principal but tragically passing away in his first year at the helm. Key West High athletics historian Judd Wise called Roberts “infectiously positive and the dream administrator” due to Roberts’ dedication to the job. The stadium, long in need of refurbishment, got just that, reopening in 2024 with new bleachers capable of seating 3,100 loyal fans as well as new locker rooms, grass, goalposts and a training facility. The press box and concession stand are now expansive and state-ofthe-art, giving the Conchs a home stadium they can be proud of.

Then: Tommy Roberts Memorial Stadium takes shape in 1955. DON PINDER/Contributed

HURRICANES CLINCH FIFC TITLE

Coral Shores football had one of the greatest seasons in school history, winning eight games and securing the Florida Independent Football Conference. Senior AJ Putetti crossed into the end zone 22 times, the most in the Keys in 2024, and accumulated 1,973 all-purpose yards, 1,288 of which were on the ground. The seniorladen squad also managed to stretch the Hurricanes’ Battle of the Keys total win margin to 30-25 in their favor.

Coral Shores senior AJ Putetti racked up 1,973 yards under the lights this fall.

DOUG FINGER/Keys Weekly

HOLLY NAMED TO ELITE ROSTER

Coral Shores’ gridiron great Eddie Holly earned one of the most prestigious honors bestowed upon a high school football player when he was selected to the Florida Athletic Coaches Association (FACA) All-Star Team. Holly was chosen for his stellar performance on the field in 2024 and became only the second Monroe County player in history to take the field in the FACA All-Star Game, which was held in the Villages. Players need to be nominated by their region, then are voted on to make the cut. Holly racked up 134 total tackles in 2024, 22 of which were for a loss.

Eddie Holly. DOUG FINGER/Keys Weekly

| Now: The revamped stadium reopened in 2024. CONTRIBUTED

FIGHTING CONCHS CLAIM PLAYOFF VICTORY

After a pair of early-season losses, the Conchs found themselves in an uphill battle to make it to the FHSAA 3A playoffs, but that’s just what they did. Key West surpassed several milestones on their trek toward the postseason, including win number 400 for the program and number 70 for head coach Johnny Hughes. The Fighting Conchs won their first playoff game since 1995 and ended with an 8-4 record, their best in a decade. Senior Jaden Fox had 21 touchdowns, leading the Conchs with 1,731 rushing yards and scoring an incredible 132 points for Key West, while fellow senior Jayden Gist reeled in five interceptions in 2024.

Jayden Gist, left, and Jaden Fox. MAICEY MALGRAT/Keys Weekly

MARATHON MAKES WAVES IN RURAL DIVISION

Marathon moved to the 1A Rural classification in 2024 and would have made the playoffs had a pair of storms not pared down the bracketing. Senior Fabbianho Louis Jeune racked up 1,131 yards and found himself second in Rural in field goals made and total points scored. He was third in total kicking points and extra points. The volleyball team also benefited from the reclassification, making it to the district championship match in their first season playing in the new division.

Marathon’s volleyball team made their mark in the rural classification, earning a trip to the district championship. BARRY GAUKEL/Keys Weekly

LADY ’CANES GO ON A RAMPAGE

Coral Shores’ volleyball team had a standout season, finishing 12-2 in 2024. The team was without a coach during the preseason, but once Jarrod Mandozzi picked up the reins, they did not lose a single match in August or September, going on an 11-game win streak that did not end until the ’Canes faced larger Key West in early October.

The Lady Hurricanes brought home nothing but Ws in August and September, ripping off an 11-game win streak to start the season. CONTRIBUTED

In just his first year in the sport, Aaron Lykins made it all the way to states after claiming district gold in diving. DOUG FINGER/ Keys Weekly

’CANES’ DREAM TEAM MAKES STATE APPEARANCE

Coral Shores sent five aquatic athletes to the state competition this season. Layne Smith, Abbie Sargent, Allegra Fucaraccio and Sofia Figueredo worked together to form a formidable relay team, while Aaron Lykins represented the Hurricanes in the 1-meter diving competition.

Allegra Fucaraccio and Olivia Figueredo formed the Hurri-

fearsome foursome that earned a shot at the state meet. DOUG FINGER/Keys Weekly

MARATHON CROSS COUNTRY EXTENDS STREAK

In 15 years as Marathon’s head cross country coach, Jim Murphy has transformed the school’s program into one of the best in the state. In 2024, Marathon’s boys and girls teams both qualified for the state championships – the seventh consecutive appearance for the girls and 10th for the boys. Murphy announced recently that he is stepping down from the position, marking the end of an era at Marathon High School.

Caylaa Makimaa, left, and Naima Thomas are Key West’s first duo to individually qualify for the state meet in a single year. CONTRIBUTED

KEY WEST CROSS COUNTRY MAKES A STATEMENT

In the past few seasons, Key West’s girls cross country team has been steadily improving, much to the credit of head coach Keara McGraw and a solid core of dedicated athletes willing to go the extra mile to reach a goal. This season, two athletes earned an at-large bid to the state meet for the first time in school history. Caylaa Makimaa and Naima Thomas represented the Conchs in Tallahassee, finishing their senior season at the highest level and reaching their preseason goals.

BURSA RUNS DOWN A DREAM

Dolphin distance specialist Vance Bursa already had multiple years of state appearances, a state medal and a 7 Mile Bridge Run win prior to toeing the line at the FHSA 1A State Cross Country Championships in November, where he claimed ninth place and a PR of 16:05 – just six seconds off Jonathan Pitchford’s school record set in 2018. But he didn’t stop there; Bursa was invited to the Garmin Nationals in Alabama, where he competed against the best 18-and-under runners in the nation. There, he finished in the top 100, crossing in 15:46, making him the fastest Dolphin on land.

Layne Smith, left, Abbie Sargent,

canes’

Under the leadership of coach Jim Murphy, pictured in black, small-town teams from Marathon have earned their stripes at the state level in cross country. RICK MACKENZIE/Contributed

Vance Bursa takes a trip to the podium after a ninthplace finish at states. RICK MACKENZIE/Contributed

ALMANAC | Dec. 26

On this day: In 1776, a er staging a surprise a ack, George Washington and the Con nental Army scored a major upset victory over the Bri sh in the Ba le of Trenton.

In The Bleachers

News of the Weird

A Laysan albatro named Wisdom, who lives at the Midway Ato Na onal Wildlife Refuge, laid what experts believe to be her 60th e recently, her rst in four years. Wisdom is 74 years old, the A ociated Pre reported on Dec. 6. Laysan albatro es mate for life; Wisdom’s mate, Akeakamai, has not b n s n for several years, and Wisdom started ste ing out with another male. “We are op mis c that the e wi hatch,” said Jonathan Pli ner, supervisory wildlife biologist at the refuge. E s typica y incubate for about two months.

Adam

Brevity

In 1966, the pan-African holiday Kwanz , founded by profe or Maulana Karenga, was celebrated for the rst me.

FACT

Despite its impact in the Colonies, the Ba le of Trenton was fought by rela vely sma numbers on both sides -- an es mated 2,400 Con nental Army soldiers defeated the 1,500-strong Bri sh/He ian ga ison.

Adam Brevity

Nancy

NOTICE OF PUBLIC MEETING

MONROE COUNTY

CONTRACTORS EXAMINING

BOARD

MONROE COUNTY, FLORIDA

Notice is Hereby Given To Whom it may concern, that on Tuesday, January 14, 2025 the Monroe County Contractors Examining Board (CEB) will hold a scheduled meeting at the Marathon Government Center, 2798 Overseas Highway, Second Floor, BOCC Room, Marathon, Florida scheduled to commence at 9:30 A.M. This meeting is to hear the following: any person(s) to come before the board; any reports from Monroe County Assistant Attorney; any reports from Monroe County Building Official; any reports from Staff.

The Monroe County Contractors Examining Board (“CEB”) will review Certificate of Competency Trade applications and the Industry Input Section. All public participation in this meeting may be conducted via Communication Media Technology (“CMT”) using Zoom Webinar platform, during the scheduled meeting. Meeting Agenda and Zoom Webinar information is available 7 days prior to meeting date on the Monroe County Web Calendar and the Contractors Examining Board webpage: www.monroecounty-fl.gov

PURSUANT TO FLORIDA

STATUTE SECTION 286.0105, be advised that, if a person decides to appeal the decision made by the Contractors’ Examining Board with respect to any matter considered at today’s hearing, that person will need a record of the proceedings, and that, for such purpose, he or she may need to ensure that a verbatim record of the proceedings is made, which record includes the testimony and evidence upon which the appeal is to be based.

ADA ASSISTANCE: If you are a person with a disability who needs special recommendations in order to participate in this proceeding, please contact the County Administrator's Office, by phoning (305) 292-4441,

between the hours of 8:30

a.m. - 5:00 p.m., no later than five (5) calendar days prior to the scheduled meeting; if you are hearing or voice impaired, call “711”.

NOTICE:  It shall be the responsibility of each Respondent or other person addressing the Board to have an interpreter if the party is not able to understand or speak the English language. Rick Griffin, Building Official/ Board Secretary Jamie Gross, Senior Contractor Licensing Coordinator – CEB Board Monroe County Building Department Publish: December 26, 2024 The Weekly Newspapers

NOTICE OF REQUEST FOR COMPETITIVE SOLICITATIONS NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that on Tuesday, February 11, 2025, at 3:00 P.M., the Monroe County Purchasing Office will receive and open sealed responses for the following: Key Largo Transfer Station New Storage Building Monroe County, Florida Pursuant to F.S. § 50.0211(3) (a), all published competitive solicitation notices can be viewed at: www. floridapublicnotices.com, a searchable Statewide repository for all published legal notices. Requirements for submission and the selection criteria may be requested from the County’s electronic bidding platform at https://monroecounty-fl. bonfirehub.com OR www. monroecounty-fl.gov/ BonfireBids. The Public Record is available upon request. Monroe County Purchasing Department receives bids via the Bonfire electronic bidding platform. Please do not email, mail or attempt to deliver in person any sealed bids. Emailed/ mailed/physically delivered bids/proposals/responses WILL NOT be accepted. The Monroe County Purchasing

Department hereby directs that bids be submitted via the Bonfire electronic bidding platform at https:// monroecounty-fl.bonfirehub. com, no later than 3:00 P.M., on Tuesday, February 11, 2025. There is no cost to the bidder to use the Bonfire platform. Please do not submit your confidential financial information as part of your proposal. There are separate uploads for each set of documents, including confidential financial information. All proposals will be made public on the platform after an intended decision or 30 days, whichever is earlier, unless the bids/proposals are rejected in accordance with F.S. 119.071. If your proposal document includes financial information, that information will not be considered confidential and will be available and viewable to the public in accordance with public records law. In the event of a discrepancy between the bid amount on the Proposal Form and the bid amount entered in Bonfire, the bid amount listed in the “Proposal Form” provided by Monroe County in the RFP is the amount that will be utilized by the County when considering the bid proposal. The County reserves the right to waive any proposal/bid irregularity. The bid opening for this solicitation will be held virtually, via the internet, at 3:00 P.M., on Tuesday, February 11, 2025. You may call in by phone or internet using the following: Join Zoom Meeting https://mcbocc.zoom.

us/j/4509326156

Meeting ID: 4509326156

One tap mobile:

+16465189805,,4509326156# US (New York) +16699006833,,4509326156# US (San Jose)

Dial by your location: +1 646 518 9805 US (New York) +1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose) Publish: December 26, 2024 The Weekly Newspapers

Effective December 4, 2024 Barbara Socha, M.D. is no longer practicing with Baptist Health Primary Care at the following location: 91550 Overseas Highway, Suite 215 Tavernier, FL 33070.

Patients who wish to receive copies of their medical records may log into our patient portal at myBaptistHealth.net, call 305-434-3205 or fax 786-260-0512 to request a records release.

Publish: December 5, 12, 19 & 26, 2024 The Weekly Newspapers

NOTICE OF REQUEST FOR COMPETITIVE SOLICITATIONS NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that on Tuesday, February 11, 2025, at 1:00 P.M., the Monroe County Purchasing Office will receive and open sealed responses for the following: Long Key Transfer Station New Storage Building Monroe County, Florida Pursuant to F.S. § 50.0211(3) (a), all published competitive solicitation notices can be viewed at: www. floridapublicnotices.com, a searchable Statewide repository for all published legal notices. Requirements for submission and the selection criteria may be requested from the County’s electronic bidding platform at bonfirehub.comhttps://monroecounty-fl. OR www. monroecounty-fl.gov/ BonfireBids. The Public Record is available upon request. Monroe County Purchasing Department receives bids via the Bonfire electronic bidding platform. Please do not email, mail or attempt to deliver in person any sealed bids. Emailed/ mailed/physically delivered bids/proposals/responses WILL NOT be accepted. The Monroe County Purchasing Department hereby directs that bids be submitted via the Bonfire electronic bidding platform at https:// monroecounty-fl.bonfirehub. com, no later than 1:00 P.M., on Tuesday, February 11, 2025. There is no cost to the bidder to use the Bonfire platform. Please do not submit your confidential financial information as part of your proposal. There are separate uploads for each set of documents, including confidential financial information. All proposals will be made public on the platform after an intended decision or 30 days, whichever is earlier, unless the bids/proposals are rejected in accordance with F.S. 119.071. If your proposal document includes financial information, that information will not be considered confidential and will be available and viewable to the public in accordance with public records law. In the event of a discrepancy between the bid amount on the Proposal Form and the bid amount entered in Bonfire, the bid amount listed in the “Proposal Form” provided by Monroe County in the RFP is the amount that will be utilized by the County when considering the bid proposal. The County reserves the right to waive any proposal/bid irregularity.

The bid opening for this solicitation will be held virtually, via the internet, at 1:00 P.M., on Tuesday, February 11, 2025. You may call in by phone or internet using the following: Join Zoom Meeting https://mcbocc.zoom. us/j/4509326156

Meeting ID: 4509326156

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Dial by your location:

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Publish: December 26, 2024

The Weekly Newspapers

NOTICE OF REQUEST FOR COMPETITIVE SOLICITATIONS NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that on Tuesday, February 11, 2025, at 10:00 A.M., the Monroe County Purchasing Office will receive and open sealed responses for the following:

Cudjoe Key Transfer Station New Storage Building Monroe County, Florida Pursuant to F.S. § 50.0211(3) (a), all published competitive solicitation notices can be viewed at: www. floridapublicnotices.com, a searchable Statewide repository for all published legal notices. Requirements for submission and the selection criteria may be requested from the County’s electronic bidding platform at bonfirehub.comhttps://monroecounty-fl. OR www. monroecounty-fl.gov/ BonfireBids. The Public Record is available upon request. Monroe County Purchasing Department receives bids via the Bonfire electronic bidding platform. Please do not email, mail or attempt to deliver in person any sealed bids. Emailed/ mailed/physically delivered bids/proposals/responses WILL NOT be accepted. The Monroe County Purchasing Department hereby directs that bids be submitted via the Bonfire electronic bidding platform at https:// monroecounty-fl.bonfirehub. com, no later than 10:00A.M. on Tuesday, February 11, 2025. There is no cost to the bidder to use the Bonfire platform. Please do not submit your confidential financial information as part of your proposal. There are separate uploads for each set of documents, including confidential financial information. All proposals will be made public on the platform after an intended decision or 30 days, whichever is earlier, unless the bids/proposals are rejected in accordance with F.S. 119.071. If your proposal document includes financial information, that information will not be considered confidential and will be available and viewable to the public in accordance with public records law. In the event of a discrepancy between the bid amount on the Proposal Form and the bid amount entered in Bonfire, the bid amount listed in the “Proposal Form” provided by Monroe County in the RFP is the amount that will be utilized by the County when considering the bid proposal. The County reserves the right to waive any proposal/bid irregularity. The bid opening for this solicitation will be held virtually, via the internet, at 10:00 A.M., on Tuesday, February 11, 2025. You may call in by phone or internet using the following: Join Zoom Meeting https://mcbocc.zoom. us/j/4509326156

Meeting ID: 4509326156

One tap mobile: +16465189805,,4509326156# US (New York) +16699006833,,4509326156# US (San Jose)

Dial by your location: +1 646 518 9805 US (New York) +1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose)

Publish: December 26, 2024

The Weekly Newspapers

AUTOS ALL YEARS! Junk or Used Cars, Vans, Trucks. Runs or Not.$CASH 305-332-0483

AUTOS FOR SALE

1964 Ford Galaxy, 427 Big Block, 5-speed, located in Key Largo. $49,000 954445-6647

EMPLOYMENT

Office Assistant needed in the Upper Keys, MM 80. Mon-Sat $20/hour. Must have own transportation. Call Patti 305-393-4433

Secretary/ Receptionist needed in Key Largo, MM104. Full-time, M-F, must have customer service experience. Call 305-916-5645 or Email admin@bluehorizonfl.com

Hiring: Lead Gutter

Installer - EXPERIENCE

REQUIRED – valid Driver’s License - must be comfortable with heights - located in Tavernier. To apply, please call or text Jay 305-587-1581.

Marathon Yacht Club is hiring a part-time line cook. Private club, friendly atmosphere. Flexible lunch/dinner shifts available Tuesday – Sunday. Must provide photo ID, social security card or passport, and checking account. Call 305743-6739 to schedule an interview or email office@ marathonyachtclub.com.

Marathon Yacht Club is hiring part-time servers and bartenders. Private club, friendly atmosphere, guaranteed gratuities. Flexible lunch/dinner shifts available Tuesday – Sunday. Must provide photo ID, social security card or passport, and checking account. Call 305743-6739 to schedule an interview or email office@ marathonyachtclub.com.

Night Monitor – FREE Private Room in exchange for overnight availability at our Assisted Living Facility. 5 nights on, 5 nights off 10pm-8am plus weekly stipend, Drug & background screen required. www.westcare. com/join-our-team/

The Housing Authority of the City of Key West now hiring the following positions: Administrative Asst. to Executive Director, Resident Care Supervisor with min. 3 yrs. experience of an LPN, Maintenance Mechanic (Maintenance Worker. To apply, please contact Human Resources at: martinezm@kwha.org or 305-296-5621. Applications are available at the Administrative Office located at 1400 Kennedy Dr., Key West, FL 33040 or online at www. kwha.org - EOE & Drug Free Work Place. This opportunity is covered under Section 3 of the HUD Act of 1968

Serve/Bartend on the ocean! The Cabana Club, an ocean front private swim club is seeking a customer service-oriented Server/Bartender. Serve on pool deck, beach and/ or bar lounge. Open year round, 9:30am7pm daily. Full time/ Part time. Small friendly staff. Above average hourly wage plus tips. Apply in person at 425 E. Ocean Dr. Key Colony Beach or call 404-2193359 and ask for Dave.

PLACE YOUR CLASSIFIED AD FOR ONLY $25/WEEK FOR UP TO 5 LINES OF COPY. CALL 305-743-0844 TODAY!

HOBBIES/COLLECT.

PRIVATE COLLECTOR

WANTS Rolex, Dive Watches and Pilot Watches. Old Model Military Clocks & Watches. Call 305-743-4578

HOUSING FOR RENT

2 BR / 1 BA unfurnished apartment for rent in Key Largo. $1,500/ month includes utilities. F/L/S Please Text: 786559-5494 or Email: apmz57@yahoo.com

Studio with Queen size bed available in Marathon. Furnished, kitchen, dining, newly renovated. No pets. $1,299 + utilities F/L/S 305-610-8002

2 BR/2BA unfurn. apt. for rent in Key Largo. W/D $1,600/monthall utilities included. F/L/S 305-504-1757 RENTED IN LESS THAN ONE MONTH!!!

FOR SALE 2018 40’ Phaeton X5H, Factory ordered, 450hp Cummins, Diesel Pusher 10kw w/Onan Generator, 39k miles, 4 Slides, 4 TVs. Loaded with extras. Can be seen by appointment in Marathon, FL. Asking $225,000. Call or text Jerry at 305-664-1286 Email: LC1082@comcast.net

STORAGE AVAIL.

Gated

LIVE IN PARADISE AND SEE DOLPHINS PLAY EVERYDAY!

DOLPHIN RESEARCH CENTER is a fun, environmentally friendly non-profit 501(c)(3) Corporation specializing in education, research, and rescue of marine mammals.

We have the following openings available. Please scan the QR code to visit the careers page on our website.

FACILITIES MAINTENANCE APPRENTICE

(Full-Time, Permanent)

STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

(Full-Time, Part-Time, Permanent)

POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCHER

(The position is for one year initially, with a possibility of renewal contingent on performance and mutual satisfaction.)

DRC seeks to provide for the well-being of its employees by offering a competitive total package. DRC currently offers a 401k retirement plan, medical benefits, HSA account, paid holidays, vacation, sick and an employee assistance program. DRC also provides life and disability insurance at no cost to the employee.

COME JOIN THE FAMILY!

Email your resume and a DRC application to drc-hr@dolphins.org. EOE

DOLPHIN RESEARCH CENTER

58901 O/S Hwy - Grassy Key, FL

Teaching... Learning... Caring

SYSTEMS ANALYST HARDWARE

Starting pay rate for this position, depending on qualifications and experience: $102,164 - $105,024/annually

For more information, including job duties and required qualifications, and to apply for the job, please visit their website at www.KeysEnergy.com. KEYS is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

KEYS promotes a Drug-Free Workplace.

Certain service members, veterans, the spouses and family members of service members and veterans, receive preference and priority in employment, and are encouraged to apply for positions being filled.

AUTO DIESEL VEHICLE TECHNICIAN

Starting

KEYS is

KEYS

Certain

The Moorings Village is seeking friendly, self motivated, team players for the position:

FRONT DESK

Competitive salary and great bene ts. Previous hospitality experience required. Weekends are a must. Job Types: Full-time

Please email your resume to Sara@MooringsVillage.com or call the reception o ce at 305.664.4708

Hospital

Keys Energy Services, in Key West, Florida, is accepting applications for the following position in its Engineering Department:

APPRENTICE AUTO MECHANIC

Starting

For more information, including job duties and required qualifications, and to apply for the job, please visit their website at www.KeysEnergy.com.

KEYS is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

KEYS promotes a Drug-Free Workplace.

resume to: turtlehospital@turtlehospital.org

Certain service members, veterans, the spouses and family members of service members and veterans, receive preference and priority in employment, and are encouraged to apply for positions being filled.

JOIN A HIGHLY EFFECTIVE NONPROFIT HELPING PEOPLE COPE AND CHANGE FOR 52 YEARS!

We provide Mental Health and Substance Use Treatment Programs to the Florida Keys community while valuing and rewarding our employees.

KEY LARGO

Lead Certified Recovery Peer Support Specialist Peer Support Specialist Advocate (PT, FT)

KEY WEST

Case Manager (Adult, Child)

Prevention Specialist (HIV & Children)

MARATHON

Care Coordinator (PT)

Driver – PT (CDL not required)

RN/Licensed Practical Nurse (FT/PT) Advocate (PT)

Prevention Specialist

*Behavioral Health Technicians – 3 shifts (FT/PT)

*Support Worker (Assisted Living, PT)

*Night Monitor (Assisted Living - Free Housing)

*No experience required for this position. Will train. A caring heart & helpful hands necessary.

Background and drug screen req. EEOC/DFWP COMPETITIVE

EXCEPTIONAL BENEFITS!!! Apply at guidancecarecenter.org

Search Employment/Portal/Location/zip THE GUIDANCE/CARE CENTER, Inc.

OPENINGS AVAILABLE

PHYSICIAN PRACTICE OPENINGS

- Medical Assistant 1, Upper Keys Internal Medicine, $5k Bonus

- Physician Assistant 1-Surgical, Ortho, Tavernier, $5k Bonus

- Advanced Practice Provider (APRN-PA-C), BHMG Multispecialty, Marathon, $5k Bonus

- Medical Assistant 2, General Surgery, Upper Keys, $5k Bonus

MIAMI CANCER INSTITUTE KEY WEST

- Advanced Practice Provider (APRN/PA-C), Medical Oncology Key West-MCI, $5k Bonus

- Patient Access Associate 2, Operation Support Key West-MCI, $1K Bonus

- Medical Assistant 1, Medical Oncology Key West -MCI, $5k Bonus

- Registered Nurse, Chemotherapy Infusion, Fl Keys-MCI, $15k Bonus

- Clinical Pharmacist, Key West-MCI, $5k Bonus

- Radiation Therapist, Key West-MCI, $12k Bonus

TAVERNIER MARINERS HOSPITAL

- Cook, Dietary

- Group Exercise Instructor, Mariners Wellness Center

- Mechanic 3, Facility Operations

- Radiology Technologist 1, Imaging-MRI, $40k Bonus

- Environmental Health & Safety Specialist, Emergency Preparedness

- MC Multi-Modality Imaging Tech 1, (Mammo & X Ray), Radiology, $50k Bonus

- MC Multi-Modality Imaging Tech 1, (X Ray & CT), Radiology, $50k Bonus

- MC Multi-Modality Imaging Tech 1, Radiology, $25k Bonus

- Patient Access Associate 1, Gastro, Tavernier, $1k Bonus

- Registered Nurse Utilization Review, Case Management, Part Time, Weekend Days

MARATHON FISHERMEN’S COMMUNITY HOSPITAL

- ED Team Coordinator 1, Emergency Department

- Experience Advisor, Patient Experience

- MC Multi-Modality Imaging Tech 1, (CT & X Ray) Radiology, $50k Bonus

- Radiology Technologist 1, Radiology, $40k Bonus

- Registered Nurse, Post Anesthesia Care Unit, $15k Bonus

- MC Multi-Modality Imaging Tech 1, (Mammo & X Ray) Radiology, $50k Bonus

- Pool RN, Emergency Department, PD