Depress ctrl and + keys together to increase text size; depress ctrl and – keys together to reduce

The day before yesterday, I saw a Monroe County Sheriff cruiser drive up and park next to the dog park at Higgs Beach. A female deputy got out of the cruiser and began talking to the numerous homeless people hanging out there. Some were sitting in chairs they had brought to the park, others were lying or sitting on towels or blankets. Some were sleeping. They were not causing any commotion that I saw, or heard. I stayed away.

But yesterday afternoon, being in the vicinity, I stopped and talked with the homeless people. Here’s what I was told.

The female deputy told them all to leave, they could not stay in the park, they were camping. And, they were affecting the tourists. The deputy wrote them all up, gave one homeless woman a verbal trespass warning. That woman goes by Karen Jo, as I recall her saying.

One man said he told the deputy he didn’t have to answer any of her questions, nor did he have to leave. He wasn’t breaking any law. He was on public property. He has as much right to be there as anyone else. He gave her a course in constitutional law. The deputy seemed flustered, got into her cruiser, and left.

Karen Jo said she used to stay at KOTS at night, the city’s homeless shelter on Stock Island, but she was banned from there by the new manager, named Richard, because she wouldn’t fuck him any more. She had been having sex with him for some time, she said, and when she told him she didn’t want to do it any more, he banned her from KOTS, for life.

Interestingly, yesterday morning, I was up the way with Kari Dangler, who also was banned from KOTS for life, but by Randi Cohen Brown, Executive Director of Southern Assistance Homeless League (SHAL), which has a contract with the city to run KOTS. Kari says she was banned, because she had reported to the Post Master General that Randi had given a KOTS monitor named Debbie orders to open all uncollected homeless people’s mail, and empty the contents and shred it, but Kari had seen money not being shredded, but set aside.

While we sat outside Big John’s pizza, in the K-MART shopping center yesterday morning, Kari pointed to a woman walking our way, and said the woman was Randi Cohen Brown. Brown walked right past us, without saying anything. About 30 minutes later, Kari and I were sitting in the Winn-Dixie cafe, and Brown came in and walked right by us, without saying anything. Something must have been in the wind :-).

Kari and moi, at Higgs Beach

So, back to Higgs Beach yesterday afternoon.

After leaving the dog park and the homeless people, wondering how that female deputy might have tried to save the tourists from that terrible homeless man, Jesus, if he and his throngs had been in the park that day, I went over the the far end of Higgs Beach, where Kari and I had agreed to meet.

We had a nice time watching two wild mama hens fluff up their feathers for their baby chicks to hide under, and we had fun sharing a blue berry muffin with the baby chicks.

By and by, Kari said she needed to use the toilet, so she walked up past Salute Restaurant to the public bathrooms.

On returning, Kari said the party being readied on the beach had fenced off the bathrooms, and no one on the beach, who had not paid to be in the party, was being allowed into the bathrooms. So, she had gone into Salute to use its bathroom. She had to do No. 2, bad, so it probably would not have worked out well for her to have, say, messed in her pants, or squatted on the beach and done her business.

I said, hmmm, I think I need to check that out myself. So, up to the party scene I went. Yep, it was fenced off at Salute, a long line of people waiting to pay and get into the forming party. So, I walked around Salute and came to the parking area, and found fencing there, too. I walked through a hole in the fence, as a civilian security guard said I could not do that. I said the bathrooms are public, I need to pee, I’m going to pee.

Right before I reached the bathrooms, a female deputy got in my way - a different deputy from the day before at the dog park. I told her I needed to pee, and was going to use the public bathroom. She said I could not do that. I said I most certainly could, it was a public bathroom, and it could not be closed off by a private party. I said, there were people on the beach, who were not going to the party, who had every right to use the public bathroom.

The deputy disagreed. I saw a male deputy, said I would discuss it with him. The female deputy followed me. Same outcome. I said, this is nuts. You can’t close a public bathroom because of a private party on a public beach. The deputies said they could. I said, well, I bet Heather, Sylvia, David, George and Danny will find that interesting. That was the first names of the five county commissioners. I said, I bet they, the deputies, had not imagined I knew the commissioners’ names.

The female deputy invited me to take it up with the five, especially Heather, in whose voting district Higgs Beach lies. I said indeed I will do that, and I am a journalist, and I will be writing about it on the morrow. Have at it, the deputies and. And, I’m a lawyer, I said, and I know what they are doing is illegal.

Now it’s getting interesting. The deputies are losing their patience. And I’m talking loud and am not budging. I’m not obeying their commands that I leave the premises. The lady deputy says, if I had not made an argument of it, she would have told me to use the bathroom. I say, if she had done that, there might not have been an argument, and I was going to use the bathroom now.

She said it’s a Rotary event, that’s why the park is closed to the public, who do not pay to enter. I said I’d like to see the Rotary’s permit to close the park. She said the Rotary representative was over there, she pointed him out. I said, fine, I want to talk with him, but first I’m going to pee, which I did.

So, now the Rotary rep is there with me and the the deputies. He says this is a Rotary event, as if that means Godalmighty is holding it. I say, so what? He can’t close the public bathrooms to all but people who pay to be at the Rotary party. He says he has a permit from the city to close the park and the bathrooms. I say he does not, because it’s a county park, and the city could not give him that permit. He says he also has a permit from the county. I say, let me see it. He says he has it in his vehicle, he will go get it. I say, good, I want to see it.

He comes back with a letter on county government letterhead, signed by a woman named Collins, as I recall, giving the Rotary permission to use Higgs Beach for the party. The Rotary man says the letter gives them “full access” to use the beach, and permission to close the public bathrooms to all but people who pay to get into the party. I say, the letter does not mention the bathrooms, or full access. He says county people gave him permission. They told him he could do it. I say, he and the Rotary are breaking the law.

The deputies have had all they can stand. I’m still having at it. I ask them, what? They are going to arrest me? They are going to take me to jail? They are going to pull their guns and shoot me? I say they are breaking the law, maybe I should make a citizen’s arrest.

I look at their names on their uniforms. I find a piece of payer in my wallet, to write down their names. The lady deputy says to write down their names. I say I need a place to put the paper, so I can write on it. I walk over to a pickup truck and place the paper on the hood so I can write down their names. The lady deputy says, now I’m defacing something else. I tell her, she needs to go back to school and learn what defacing is.

She walks me out to the road, which now is fenced off from the parking area. She asks how I got in? I say I walked in, there was an opening in the fence. I leave, head back to where Kari is, tell her what happened.

There are people on the beach, not going to the party. If they have to pee or poop, what do they do? Where do they do it? On the beach?

Kari and I leave, headed over toward the dog park. I tell the homeless people that the bathrooms are closed for the Rotary party, which the homeless people need to know, to be able to make other arrangements and not be caught in an emergency. I know exactly where they will relieve themselves. On the far city side of the park, past the tower that has a beacon that guides airplanes into the airport.

I called Sylvia Murphy, the Key Largo county commissioner, who is a good friend, and whose phone number I have in my cell phone directory. But I get her voicemail. Sylvia returned my call later, and I did not hear the ring. She left a voicemail. I returned her call, and got her voicemail. So, we did not talk.

It wasnt’ just the people on the Salute part of Higgs Beach, who might have needed to use those public bathrooms. There is another part of Higgs Beach, toward White Street Pier. There were the people on the pier. There were the people at Rest Beach, on the other side of White Street pier. There were the people in the dog park, with their dogs. There were the people at Indigenous Park, across White Street from the dog park. The nearest other public bathrooms were over a mile away, at Smathers Beach. There were lots of people in the area, who were not paying to get into the Rotary party. Closing the public bathrooms was the dumbest thing I had seen in a long time.

I can’t find the piece of paper, on which I defaced the pick up truck and wrote down the deputies’ names. Probably best; it wasn’t their bright idea to close the public bathrooms. They were just following orders to deface Higgs Beach with human waste.

That fun aside, amigo Jerry Weinstock, M.D., Psychiatry, replied to yesterday’s memories, dreams and reflections – Key West and beyond post at goodmorningkeywest.com:

Sloan: I missed that picture bursting into the restaurant topless
good for Mark Howell and Tom Tuell -and your great girlfriend -Aphrodite.
Mark is really missed and Solares Hill —hubris filled republicans cannot stand
truth and logic -let alone rationality…. I hope you save that poem—some parts transcendent !!
You may vibrate to this -you probably heard it —-“Roman stoic philosopher Seneca the Younger (commented ):
that religion is regarded by the common people as true , by the wise as false, and the rulers as useful,,”

How right to the point —the Romans were no dummies..
About the commercial fishing —-HORRIFIC —the chamber of commerce -how can we classify those nitwits-always on the wrong side of reality.. REGARDS-Jerry

I replied:

Hi, Jerry - I showed Kari what you wrote to me yesterday, and said how wonderful it is that a seasoned psychiatrist unabashedly speaks his mind in public places; not what you expect from that profession :-). Kari agreed.

I kept Aphrodite’s photo for years, had a copy stuck on an oriental screen in my trailer; perhaps I put it somewhere safe when I packed to move back to Key West. Would take me some digging to try to find it, wherever it might be. It was said to be the most sought after photo in Key West for a while following her crashing the Call to Candidates, right in the middle of political newcomer Craig Cates’ first political speech ever.

That poem,
Oh, that poem
many times afterward
wished I
it had never come -
like a millstone round my neck,
a jealous mistress,
no greater wrath has there
than a woman scorned,
I surrendered
knowing
there was no other way -
Aieee!!!
She was three …

I am a man.

I said,
I am a man!

What means it,
being a man?

A man is a warrior:
he lives by a code of honor,
his word is reliable,
his actions confirm his words,
his commitment is holiness,
his enemies are welcome at his hearth,
he fears but moves forward,
he cries and gets up again,
he hates but forgives,
he loves and let’s go,
he doubts but trusts God,
he’s a good friend,
he seeks resolutions,
he demands nothing,
he risks everything,
he regrets his mistakes,
he seeks to make amends,
he puts others’ welfare first,
he accepts apologies truly made,
he expects nothing back,
he lives ready to die,
he laughs when he “should” scream,
he screams when he “should” laugh,
he sings just because,
he shrugs off insults,
he learns from misfortune,
he cusses God for making him,
he wishes he was done,
he loves children and animals,
he relishes a woman’s scent,
he smiles when he’s content,
he knows God’s his master,
he walks in rainbows,
his garden is the world,
his way is nature,
he loves fishing,
his wife is his soul,
his food is life,
his pay is whatever he receives.
Yep, he’s crazy.

A calling to serve carries its own wisdom,
which legitimates both the calling and the serving
so that the two are one:
Only the one called to serve
can know this wisdom,
and for some who are called
the knowing comes easily,
while for others the knowing is a fiery baptism.
Each calling is different,
and while some callings can be declined,
others cannot,
and those whose calling is without repentance
know they are in it for the duration of the calling,
and while others may try to persuade them out of it,
the calling for ones such as these always prevails;
thus is it advised to all called for keeps
that they view their calling as a blessing
even when it seems at times to be a curse,
and that they try to reconcile the loss of their captain status
and allow the Spirit of God to man the helm of their ship
and be glad and willing crew members thereon,
knowing that all sailing ships of souls
need a crew as well as a captain
to maintain and navigate the ship through
seas of many tones, depths and flavors;
so consider each league sailed
as part of the overall journey
going to where the captain deigns to go
by using whatever winds and sea currents available
to navigate the ship to the experiences
this ship and crew need to have
in order to fulfill their calling and its wisdom
revealed by the journey of many leagues,
many known only to the ship and its crew,
all of whom come to know,
some sooner than others,
that once conscripted
there is no safe jumping ship.

Jerry wrote:

Hi Sloan; Kari sounds just great—thank her for me—;
Psychiatry encourages free speech-that is
what I understood and always will.——Kind regards !! Jerry
(If you can find the picture fine but don’t knock yourself out -you have a full plate)

Here, again, is the first of the three millstone around my neck poems:

I know what it is to love fully,
have my heart broken by death
and by loved ones’ rejections,
Over and over again,
So I can love even more.

I know what it is to be engulfed in pain,
Awash in evil,
Terrified, enraged, despaired,
Believing God has again forsaken me,
Then be given the truth
that again makes me free.

I know what it is to doubt,
Be lost and wandering
time and time again,
Then be rescued yet again
and my faith grows deeper.

I know what it is to blindly trust,
Then be destroyed by betrayal
time and time again,
Until I trust only God.

I know what it is to have much
and be completely of this world,
Then have it all taken away
and be in the world but not of it.

I know what it is to fail in this world,
And fail and fail and fail:
The world’s greatest failure,
I can serve only God.

I know what it is to give
and give and give and give;
I cannot stop giving
because giving is receiving.

I know what it is to explain God
time after time after time again.
Something demands I keep explaining:
Maybe someone will listen,
Maybe me.

Also yesterday, some frolic under Alexy Symington’s article in the most recent Friday edition of Key West the Newspaper (thebluepaper.com). I had the frolic. When Kari read my comment this morning, at Burger King, she said she was trying really hard not to laugh.

9 Responses to “Ground Zero”

1. 

   mdkhuggins says:

   March 27, 2015 at 9:05 am

   Alex, your article took my breath away. Wonderful layout of the issues. Fla gov’s take on “climate” change reminds me of “Alice’s” conversation with “Humpty Dumpty”:
   ‘When I use a word,’ Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, ‘it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.’

   ‘The question is,’ said Alice, ‘whether you can make words mean so many different things.’

   ‘The question is,’ said Humpty Dumpty, ‘which is to be master — that’s all.’

   Your article, Alex, goes a long way toward stripping the clothes off Florida’s Presumed Emperor’s jabberwocky, thanks.

   Reply
2. 

   Rick Boettger says:

   March 27, 2015 at 9:12 am

   The “nuisance flooding” phrase is so outrageous I had to look it up. It’s there! I think, though, that Scott did not himself say it: rather, state officials are forced to use it because of Scott’s ban on climate change, sea level rise, global warming. So it comes to the same thing. Scott may not have said it, but forces the people who work for him to do so.

   Reply
3. 

   John Donnelly says:

   March 28, 2015 at 2:32 am

   Alex,

   Your intelligence, tenacity and passion are qualities that I admire and respect. Your sincerity and authenticity provide examples of conduct, which are molding our world and cosmos into a better place.

   Please allow me to share the following with you.

   GeoEngineering Watch: “When prominent “scientists” from governments and universities are caught lying again and again about issues as dire as climate change, is it any wonder there are a great many people that have lost all trust in the so called “experts”? Is it any wonder why many people are now skeptical of any information that is put out by such questionable sources? In addition to the often false and misleading information being dispensed from many “scientists”, there seems to be a level of arrogance, self worship, and mutual admiration that is at times shocking”.

   Four prominent British scientists were caught, as they attempted to perpetrate a scientific fraud in support of global warming and man-made climate change. Their scientific misconduct discredited the research and findings supporting their theories. Their claims were invalidated.

   Dr. Eric Karlstrom, Professor Emeritus of Geography at California State University said: “Global warming is a phony science that was concocted to justify implementation of an international political agenda. This pseudo-science is the centerpiece of a phony environmental political agenda…”.

   As you know, there are a plethora of credentialed Doctors and Scientists who are not in agreement with your theory. I guess we could get into a duel of battling experts, however, that would undermine your position.

   Science has been politicized. Unfortunately, we’ve arrived at a point where funded ideologies determine “what is truth”.

   Gov. Rick Scott is my friend. After a previous governor and attorney general were willing to go along with the execution of a man they knew to be innocent, Gov. Scott stepped in and put a stop to this attempted murder.

   As this injustice was being worked, he appointed a new Secretary of Prisons who allowed this innocent inmate to speak with the woman who had raised him by phone, uninterrupted, from the warden’s office, the night before this woman died.

   Alex, you are a brilliant and compassionate man. I wish I had more of your traits and characteristics. I am drawn to your spirit. Your voice is powerful and persuasive. Please make room in your life for people that you don’t agree with. There is a lot that we all can learn.

   Love, Blessings & Respect…

   Reply
   • 

     Jerome Grapel says:

     March 28, 2015 at 12:06 pm

     John, Whatever “phony environmental political agenda” may be involved in whatever malfeasance that has occurred on the climate change side of this debate is microscopic compared to the vested interests involved in denying climate change.

     Reply
4. 

   John Donnelly says:

   March 28, 2015 at 8:23 am

   Alex,

   Your intelligence, tenacity and passion are qualities that I admire and respect. Your sincerity and authenticity provide examples of conduct, which are molding our world and cosmos into a better place.

   Please allow me to share the following with you.

   GeoEngineering Watch: “When prominent “scientists” from governments and universities are caught lying again and again about issues as dire as climate change, is it any wonder there are a great many people that have lost all trust in the so called “experts”? Is it any wonder why many people are now skeptical of any information that is put out by such questionable sources? In addition to the often false and misleading information being dispensed from many “scientists”, there seems to be a level of arrogance, self worship, and mutual admiration that is at times shocking”.

   Four prominent British scientists were caught, as they attempted to perpetrate a scientific fraud in support of global warming and man-made climate change. Their scientific misconduct discredited the research and findings supporting their theories. Their claims were invalidated.

   Dr. Eric Karlstrom, Professor Emeritus of Geography at California State University said: “Global warming is a phony science that was concocted to justify implementation of an international political agenda. This pseudo-science is the centerpiece of a phony environmental political agenda…”.

   As you know, there are a plethora of credentialed Doctors and Scientists who are not in agreement with your theory. I guess we could get into a duel of battling experts, however, that would undermine your position.

   Science has been politicized. Unfortunately, we’ve arrived at a point where funded ideologies determine “what is truth”.

   Gov. Rick Scott is my friend. After a previous governor and attorney general were willing to go along with the execution of a man they knew to be innocent, Gov. Scott stepped in and put a stop to this attempted murder.

   As this injustice was being worked, he appointed a new Secretary of Prisons who allowed this innocent inmate to speak with the woman who had raised him by phone, uninterrupted, from the warden’s office, the night before this woman died.

   Alex, you are a brilliant and compassionate man. I wish I had more of your traits and characteristics. I am drawn to your spirit. Your voice is powerful and persuasive. Please make room in your life for people that you don’t agree with. There is a lot that we all can learn.

   Love, Blessings & Respect…

   Reply
5. 

   John Donnelly says:

   March 28, 2015 at 6:55 pm

   Jerome,

   Unfortunately and Unnecessarily, its turned into a high skates game. Science is not founded on guesses and political muscle to get the outcomes wanted.

   The handling of this matter has catapulted us further from the truth.

   I don’t like people going out of their way to lie to me. Do the work. Prove your position with certainty and clarity, so that it can be transparently replicated.

   As usual, I’m grateful Alex brought it up. Your perceptions and ideas are invaluable. Thank you.

   Blessings & Respect

   Reply
6. 

   Sloan Bashinsky says:

   March 28, 2015 at 9:55 pm

   Hard to imagine any real progress being made, if it affects corporate profits and/or funding for scientific research provided by big business, big military, big government …

   I wonder two things about climate change (global warming):

   First, how much is due to human beings, and how much is due to the planet perhaps going though a natural warming cycle?

   Second, regardless of what is the cause of global warming, does anyone in this discussion actually think humanity will, or can, do anything about it?

   I don’t see anyone I know, for example, giving up his/her car or truck, for a bicycle. I don’t see any cigarette smoker I know giving that up. I don’t see oil companies changing their spots. Nor chemical companies. Nor agribusinesses. Nor armies, navies or air forces.

   I always thought, if seas rise, the thing to do would be to move to higher ground, instead of trying to fight the rising water. Yet here in the Florida Keys,the view is to stay and build higher, raise the roads, etc.

   Then there is my age factor. I’m 72. I just can’t get exited about one-half of Key West, for example, being under water in 50 years. I see plenty of things in Key West crying for immediate attention, and not getting it. Such as, 6000 affordable rental units are needed.

   I imagine Mother Nature would be delighted for climate change to defoliate the human population on this planet. Perhaps she’s in on the global warming. Perhaps she’s defending herself from human beings in a sneaky way.

   Perhaps ETs like global warming. Perhaps they are helping it along, because they want this planet for themselves after it is warmer and more suitable for them than its current temperatures.

   Perhaps human beings are slated for extermination by powers that be, which oversee such operations, and global warming part of the human exit strategy.

   I imagine only the discovery of a cheap new form of energy, perhaps cold fusion, perhaps conversion of dark matter, readily available to all (fat chance), will lead to human beings not mining this planet for energy, and not filling the atmosphere with chemicals.

   Another solution is a lot less human beings. Oh, I already said that :-).

   Reply
7. 

   Alex Symington says:

   March 28, 2015 at 11:30 pm

   John,
   Did you read my essay? Rick Scott is simply caught up in something bigger than all of us. He is trapped in the hyper-capitalist matrix that we all are victim to. As for the science, when 95% of any group agree on ANYTHING, I’m going to side with them over the remaining 5% of contrarians. Sorry about that. I’m glad Rick Scott stepped up and prevented an innocents execution, but that doesn’t alter other behavior of his that is negative or harmful.

   I’ll repeat Professor Oreskes’ point, when the overwhelming majority of scientists agree (97%) “there is no debate, and by entering the semantics of a debate, you’ve already lost.”

   BTW:
   http://www.tampabay.com/news/publicsafety/crime/gov-rick-scott-signs-bill-to-speed-up-executions-in-florida/2126764

   http://fcir.org/2014/02/17/rick-scott-now-holds-record-for-most-state-executions-in-first-term-chavez-florida-most-exonerated/

   http://fcir.org/2015/03/08/in-florida-officials-ban-term-climate-change/

   Reply
8. 

   John Donnelly says:

   March 29, 2015 at 2:15 am

   Alex,

   You address the compelling issues of our day. Without your keeping our feet to the fire, our spiraling drift towards where others will take us, would go unchecked and unexamined.

   Rarely, if ever, have I mentioned my involvement with Gov. Scott. Given the serious nature of my exchanges with him, which resulted in a resolution sparing an innocent man from being murdered by the state, my opinion of Gov. Scott is favorable.

   I am trained as a scientist. I’m thoroughly acquainted with the scientific method. Throughout this process accurate and valid standards of measurements, free of bias and self-fulfilling analysis, along with transparent experiments producing reliable results, all carried out in a controlled environment free from all contaminants, factors and variables that could alter or influence the outcome of the hypothesis being evaluated; is an absolute requirement, if you are to with certainty verify the accumulated data. Absent any of these ingredients, the hypotheses//theory remain just that, an unproven hypothesis and an unproven theory.

   It is a simple, clear, clean and an irrefutable method designed to prove and establish a fact (truth), as it relates to an issue being studied.

   Global warming and man-made climate change are theories that have not met this standard.

   That does not mean it is not occurring. It means that it has not been proven as a fact (truth).

   Perhaps the training I received as a scientist, is no longer required to validate a position that is being presented as scientifically proven, accurate and true.

   High-jacking this invaluable tool (scientific method) by any entity to push a political agenda, ideology or the basis upon which we proceed as a nation, is a treachery capable of destroying the world.

   I’ve attempted to secure, study and research the ‘Actual Data’ accrued by several scientists claiming to have prove their propositions (Global warming–man-made climates change). It was easier to make the Department of Corrections release an inmate that they wanted to kill, then cooperatively work with these alleged men/women of science.

   Authentic science and scientists do not behave this way. They do not form political alliances with groups that expect and are willing to purchase a specific result. That is much more than a hoax, fraud or junk science. It is a criminal conspiracy serving their own self-interests, at the expense of destroyed nations, cultures and societies.

   I am a Conservationist and Environmentalist. If we don’t have verifiable and irrefutable scientific findings, from which we can draw reliable data to develop public policy, our decisions and actions will be corrupted by the highest bidder. Those influencing the decisions made in DC will thrive as our quality of live deteriorates.

   Again Alex, without your courageous involvement and advocacy, we would not be having this discussion. Thank you.

   Blessings & Respect

sloanbashinsky@outlook.com

I write essays and poetry, because they jump out of me, and there is nothing I can do about it, but do their bidding.

moi, at Salute Restaurant, circa 2009