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The Beast, coda: Trial of the Beast
Feature Story
[Published in The Blue Paper newspaper on October 4, 2013.]
The Beast, coda: Trial of the Beast
This is a sequel to the three-part story:
The story up to now: Five years ago this week, a 3-year old girl was attacked (Facing the Beast) with a tree saw on William Street by a troubled eccentric neighbor (Face of the Beast). Fortuitously, a passing bicyclist disrupted the assault, and the attacker entered “the system” (Caged Beast).
When we last looked in on Christopher Cornelius Farrell he had been shipped back to Key West from the South Florida Evaluation & Treatment Center on the mainland. He’d been declared competent to stand trial, and his trial had been scheduled for just after his 50th birthday, during the week of May 27, 2013. Did I mention he had dismissed his public defenders and was preparing to defend himself? Seriously? Yep.
I had been off the Rock during the “can we go to trial?” hearing so I had not witnessed it (the only hearing I missed over the 5 years). I’m told that Judge Wayne Miller tried hard to talk him out of defending himself, but to no avail. Nevertheless, he (more…)
Pickleball: A Fierce Sport for the Laid Back
front page article by David Lybrand
[Published in Key West Citizen's Solares Hill on July 1, 2012.]
Pickleball: A Fierce Sport for the Laid Back
In Key West it’s not unusual for a story to dribble out in bits and pieces. That’s what happened when somebody saw details of the upcoming Higgs Beach park renovation. They saw that a tennis court was being removed and two pickleball courts were being added. An outcry arose:“We can ‘t trade one of our 6 courts for such foolishness!”
Before we discuss what the pickleball foolishness is all about, let’s (more…)
In defense of Norma Jean
front page article (submitted as untitled Letter to Editor)
[Published in Key West The Newspaper on March 2, 2012.]
In defense of Norma Jean
There was a glaring error in your front page article “From the Very Beginning, the Real Purpose of the BCCLT was to Provide Norma Jean Sawyer with a Hefty Income”. The glaring error is that her income only came up to the “$90,000 per year” level that you mentioned for a very brief time (less than six months) at the very end of the Bahama Conch Community Land Trust’s run. People seem to assume she has made that much all along, but nothing could be further from the truth.
For well over TEN YEARS Norma worked for a pittance, running the BCCLT out of her bedroom and living in what many Key Westers would consider poverty. (more…)
We’re All Gonna Die
Key West Reactor front page article (under slightly different headline)
[Published in Key West The Newspaper on November 18, 2011.]
We’re All Gonna Die
In the last century, the seas around our island have risen 9 inches. In the rest of this century, if no change happens, the seas will rise over three FEET around us – could be as high as seven feet! Needless to say, the Keys as we know them will cease to exist. This is a fact. There is no global conspiracy of liberal scientists making this up to get more funding (or whatever other nefarious political reason Beck or Rush can dream up). Sometime in the not-distant future all of our real estate value will disappear.
But that’s NOT the biggest thing we must worry about! We need to worry about DYING. No joke. (more…)
I’ve-Been-Moved-out
front page article by David Lybrand
[Published in Key West Citizen's Solares Hill on April 11, 2010.]
From I’ve-Been-Moved to I’ve-Been-Moved-out
For years I’ve had a rehearsed quip ready for when a chat takes a suitable twist. “I can list all of my life’s full-time jobs with 9 letters: DAD, SAM (as in Uncle Sam) and IBM.” I’d explain how I had worked full time when not in school at my dad’s bike shop until I went into the Army at 18. Afterward, IBM hired me a year before I graduated from college, where I worked ever since.
I fully expected to continue using that quip into retirement and for the rest of my life. But this last week it all became obsolete. The company once nicknamed “I’ve Been Moved” due to frequent job-related transfers for its loyal employees, has branded me with their new slogan: “I’ve Been Moved-out”. So before long I’ll have to add more letters to “DAD SAM IBM” to reflect whatever else I end up doing until I actually can retire. (more…)
In Defense of a Neighborhood
Feature article by David Lybrand
[Published in Key West Citizen's Solares Hill on March 14, 2008.]
In Defense of a Neighborhood
Why do some of the people of Key West hold such bad feelings about a single neighborhood within our fair city?
You rarely hear ill words about 1800 Atlantic or Roosevelt Annex or Key West Beach Club, each of which fully walls off a segment of the waterfront from the public. Resorts like the Casa Marina, the Reach, the Hyatt expect you to pay to enjoy their piece of the waterfront, and few complain. But the Truman Annex neighborhood., which only loosely constrains access, is bashed regularly.
Is this an exaggeration? Look at last week’s City Commission meeting comments, read or spoken into the public record. They state that those who live in the Truman Annex neighborhood: (more…)