Good Morning Florida Keys

This below has festered and roiled in me since Open Mic at Sippin’ Internet Cafe Sunday night before last — Father’s Day. It keeps demanding air, so I’m going to let it breathe. I was raised by Southern Baptists, and was married to one, which perhaps adds to the intrigue.

Sloan for mayor, political advertisement approved and paid for by Sloan Bashinsky

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SLAM POETRY
 
Who, yes who? Please tell me who invented the rule that poetry must be written down ahead of time, or anytime? Yes, please tell me who? Just who invented that really stupid fucking rule, and I’ll show you someone who doesn’t know a fucking thing about poetry. Not a fucking thing.
 
I’ll show you someone who wrote a poem saying he was not a written word poet, and then he read the poem he had written down about not being a written word poet. And then he told someone who’d had hundreds of poems erupt out of him, who’d said a poem he had not written down, coming out of the blue as he spoke it, wasn’t a poem.
 
And it was too long, about three minutes so far, and he’d have to stop saying his poem that had not finished coming to him from out of the blue, and the poem stopped coming, it died, and he never learned how it ended, what it would tell him, maybe something important, maybe for him, maybe for the world, but it died, because it wasn’t poetry, and it was too long.
 
Killed by a person who had written maybe three poems in his entire life, one of which was he wasn’t a written word poet. Killed by a Southern Baptist just after the poet had said the refrain yet again,
 
“Today is father’s day, I didn’t hear from my daughters today,”
 
Then added,
 
“Today also is the Summer Solstice, one of the highest holy days on this planet, the coming of the dark . . .”
 
Then the Southern Baptist, right on cue, stepped in and stopped what was coming to the poet from out of the blue, a freaking slam of written word poetry the Southern Baptist had invited with his poem slamming written word poetry — dark coitus interruption itself a poem.
 
To be fair and honest, the Southern Baptist only is interested in performance poetry, which seems to value the acting over the poetry, and money prizes for winning, the kind of poetry the poem from out of the blue he stopped was slamming to fucking hell and back, or maybe just to hell, where it just might belong.
 
Right, this isn’t a poem, it doesn’t rhyme or have pentameter, and isn’t cast into verse according to rules someone who didn’t know a fucking thing about poetry, either, invented. Right, this is simply a cosmic joke. So why aren’t you laughing your fucking ass off? Maybe because you aren’t a poet. Maybe because you’re a Southern Baptist.

Today’s Key West Citizen contains the a letter to the editor from Sanda Downs that I included in the Muntiny on the Bounty, Key West post a while back, all of which I later felt might be what led Key West Mayor Morgan to telll me that he and his wife will see me in court for my having slandered her.

Sandy told me the other day that she wonders why Morgan has not threatened to sue her, too? Now I wonder if he will threaten to sue the Citizen for publishing Sandy’s letter?
 
Along these lines is a second email from the fellow whose email I published in yesterday’s ”Another Request for Investigation” post, commenting on Christina suing me:
 
“Just a few additional comments. Libel is not a simple tort. Like malicious prosecution, there are many parts and defenses to it. As you probably know, but has gone unmentioned, is that people can not be sued for opinion, what we call freedom of speech. It is kind of like puffery in advertising, but the reverse.

“For instance calling someone a jerk, or even a criminal, is free speech or opinion. Or, saying a store has terrible customer service, etc. However, being specific, such as saying someone is a jerk because they steal money from children or is a criminal because he or she was convicted of a specific criminal offense, if untrue would constitute a cause of action for libel.

“And of course truth is a complete defense. In my case, even if what was said was true (though it was not), can still be an invasion of privacy.

“Which brings us to another burden our dear mayor would have. It is called malice. In my case, I am a private figure and I don’t have to prove malice. In the case of the mayor, he is a public figure. Even if someone wanted to argue his wife is not a public figure, the mayor and the Citizen have certainly made her a public figure. Thus in any libel case they would have to prove malice. (I won’t get into the details of this legal standard, which you probably already know.) This is an extremely difficult burden of proof.
 
“I really think our mayor is just full of hot air, like he is about so many other things.”
 
Someone told me, Sloan, yesterday that Morgan and Randy Acevedo have reputations of being bullies, huffing and puffing, threatening, accusing. I suppose time will tell if Morgan is just huffing and puffing.
 
Meanwhile, I wonder what Morgan’s wife thinks about all of this, as I’ve not heard from her. I wonder if Morgan advised Christina to go the the School Board and/or its lawyer andthe State Attorney and tell them all she knows. And I wonder if Morgan spoke with a lawyer before he treatended me with a defamation lawsuit.
 
It’s hard to imagine any lawyer in the Keys, who isn’t wondering why Christina has not come forward on her own and told everything she knows. She’s the Assistant Principal of Key West High School. It’s said she gave Monique Acevedo the okay to get involved in 9th grade activities.

Christina owes it  to the 9th graders, to the rest of the students at Key West High School, to students throughout our county school system, to those children’s parents, and to the citizens of this county, to say all that she knows about this truly regrettable situation. This duty supersedes Christina’s personal interests and any duty she feels she owes to her husband and/or the Acevedos.

I doubt Sandy Downs and I are the only people who feel this way. In fact, I know we are not. A number of people have told me that Christina’s silence bother’s them. That’s why I suggested in yesterday’s post that State Attorney Dennis Ward convene a grand jury along the lines of what Jim Hendrick had explained to me:
 
”One other thought on this subject:  unlike its federal counterpart, a Florida state grand jury isn’t limited in the scope of its investigation.   It may investigate matters of public interest, and issue reports thereon, that do not result in issuance of an indictment.”

Such a grand was convened last year, or maybe the year before, to investigate the waste water situation at Stock Island, and came back with a scathing rebuke of various players in that game.

Christina and Mogan, along with other school offficials and even the School Board members themselves, could be subpoenaed before such a grand jury, to tell what all they know, said and did, or don’t know, didn’t say and didn’t do. Maybe that’s the only sure way to leave no stone left unturned, for the sake of our children, our schools, and our community.
 
Sloan for mayor, political advertisement approved and paid for by Sloan Bashinsky

(State Attorney Dennis Ward)

Received several verbal encouraging replies to yesterday’s Political Will, Key West post, in which I reported being thanked by Mayor Morgan McPherson for giving him money by slandering his wife, and they would  see me in court.
 
I also received two emails, the first from Jim Hendrick:  ”One other thought on this subject:  unlike its federal counterpart, a Florida state grand jury isn’t limited in the scope of its investigation.   It may investigate matters of public interest, and issue reports thereon, that do not result in issuance of an indictment.”
 
The second email came from a fellow who is gearing up to sue Key West Citizen and some other prominent people for libel, which just might have some factual basis, based on what he told me about his case in a separate email:
 
“I agree with you, I do not see any cause of action for defamation in what you have written. It is more mild than alot of the comments people wrote on articles in the Citizen on the subject. You were more reporting what other people said. Asking questions is not defamation.

“He is in an even weaker position because you are running for mayor and he is the mayor.

“As the plaintif the burden of proof is on them and how could they ever prove she did nothing wrong? This is not like having to prove that one incident or thing happened, but having to prove a long line of things. They would need access to and produce all sorts of school district documents. (What fun that would be.)

“More importantly, as you said, they open themselves to discovery. I love depositions, interrogatories, demands for production of
documents, etc. They are subject to cross examination on the stand, and other fun things.

“I wonder how they could even afford an attorney? You don’t have to worry about that, though, I would never recommend going pro se in an actual trial. But everything up to that point I would and could do, as could you. They would have to pay an attorney every step of the way, unless they get some bubba deal. But why would an attorney give them a deal, even if they won, they can’t get anything out of you, and who even says the jury would award them anything. I have seen b.s. major cases where a party wins and the jury gives them $1.

“It is $300 just to file. I wonder what developer Morgan will have to get that from?!”
 
 
I have two corrections.
 
First, although I am not rich, I have some assets, so if the McPhersons prevail in court and are awarded more than nominal damages, they could get something out of me.
 
Second, Christina does not have to prove she did nothing wrong. All she has to prove is that I libeled (not slandered, slander is spoken) her in what I wrote and published. That is, I intentionally published something false that impunged her character, either directly or by inuendo.
 
I have accused Christina of no wrongdoing. I don’t know if she did anything wrong. What I asked for, what Sandy Downs asked for, and what quite a few people have told me they feel is appropriate, is that Christina be subjected to the same scrutiny as other people in the school system who had dealings with Monique Acevedo are receiving.
 
Given the close friendship of Christina’s husband, Morgan, to Monique’s husband, Randy; given that Morgan proudly told a more than slightly astounded audience at Bottlecap Lounge in Key West a couple of weeks ago that his wife would be the new Principal at Key West High School, appointed by Randy; given the fact that Monique apparently (from all I have read in the press and heard around town) gained access to the 9th grade at Key West High School through Christina, and not through the Principal John Welsh, who became a whistleblower of sorts, which cannot be said of Christina, I’d say any reasonable person in the Keys is wondering why Christina seems to be the only person involved with Monique in the school situation, who has not been investigated?
 
The only reason I can think of, perhaps it’s not a good reason, but it’s what comes to me, is Christina is the wife of the Mayor of Key West, who has powerful friends working behind the scenes. Maybe the only person we can fully rely on to investigate Christina’s role, if any, in what Randy and Monique Acevedo are accused of doing, is State Attorney Dennis Ward, whose office gained indictments of and is now prosecuting both Acevedos.
 
Sloan for mayor, policital advertisement, approved and paid for by Sloan Bashinsky

I heard from a reliable source yesterday that our city commissioners are reluctant to sponsor a resolution calling for the designation of a nude beach in Key West. I was told the commissioners prefer for a private citizen or citizens collect enough petitions to get the City Commission to put a referendum about nude beaches on the ballot for the public to decide it. I was told the commissioners are reluctant to make the decision on a nude beach themselves because of the public reaction they expect to get.

I told Richard Mason some time before he spoke to the Key West Chamber of Commerce last week about nude beach economics and other nude beach issues that I felt the city commissioners who had told me that they favor a nude beach might duck the issue. Key West Mayor Morgan McPherson has been quoted in the press as saying he opposes a nude beach for Key West.
 
If you elect me Mayor, I will sponsor a resolution before the City Commission, asking for the designation of a nude beach in Key West. I will not duck. I will not pass the buck. I will put it to the city commissioners who have told me they favor a nude beach: Clayton Lopez, Teri Johnston, Mark Rossi and Barry Gibson, or maybe just to three of them, if Clayton decides not to run again or runs and is not reelected.
 
I understand these commissioners’ reluctance: they have businesses in Key West, and Barry has a family; they fear a bubba backlash that hurts their businesses and perhaps threatens their and their love one’s safety. Alas, if they let that prevent them from being independent commissioners, they should resign. They were not elected to bend to pressure. They were elected to do what they felt is best for Key West. Not what someone else felt, but what they felt is best.
 
I have been told several times by people I respect that, as it starts to look more and more like I might be elected, pressure will be brought to bear on me. It will get dirty. More than one person told me my life will be at risk. One person told me I might be killed and it made to look like I did myself in.
 
I started coming to the Keys with my family in 1956. My father bought a home on Lower Matecumbe Key in 1963, which he kept until 2001. I’ve heard a lot of stories about how things are done in the Keys. As has anyone who lives there. Let me give a recent personal example.
 
When I went to City Hall yesterday to get copies of the two proposals made by developers for Truman Waterfront, I passed Mayor Morgan McPherson coming out of the building. He thanked me for giving him money. When I looked puzzled, he said for slandering his wife; they will see me in court. Then he turned and left the building.
 
I supposed Morgan had in mind the Mutiny on the Bounty, Key West post (June 19), which contained Sandy Downs’ request to the five School Board Members, the State Attorney, and the Governor to investigate Morgan’s wife, Christina, with respect to her dealings with and oversight of Monique Acevedo at Key West High School, where Christina is Assistant Principal. Everyone in the school system who had dealings with Monique, but Christina, seems to be getting close scrutiny in their dealings with Monique. Sandy’s request for investigation, with which I agreed, seemed reasonable under the circumstances. It does not look to my lawyer eye like defamation. It looks like prudence in a very, very serious situation.

If Christina sues me for defamation, a jury will decide in a public trial whether or not I willfully wrote lies about her that impugned her character. During trial, she and Morgan, and perhaps others, will be subjected to exacting and piercing cross-examination. Before trial, she and Morgan will be subjected to similar examination on deposition, after all of her and Morgan’s emails and cell phone and land line records have been sifted through with a fine-tooth comb. I will be similarly cross-examined before the jury, and I will testify along the lines of what you just read above. If the jury finds me guilty of defamation, then so be it.
 
Meanwhile, consider that for the past week, my right hip has been going in and out.

Then consider the dream I had in a nap about two hours before I saw Morgan at City Hall yesterday: I am hit hard from the right side by two very large football players who look a lot like Morgan, who once played football for Coach Bobby Bowden at Florida State.
 
Maybe we got to court sooner than Morgan anticipated. God’s court.
 
Sloan for mayor, political advertisement approved and paid for by Sloan Bashinsky

As I read Greg Greggerson’s critique of my character, relationship with God and qualifications for office yesterday morning, I wondered if he had been provoked by what I had said the night before at the City Commission meeting, and if he had stayed up much of the night writing what he emailed to me at 4:34 a.m. yeterday morning, according to my inbox.
 
What I said at the commission meeting was Beachside development built by the Spottswoods had not turned out nearly as well for them as they had predicted. Now they want the City to let them and their business partners develop Truman Waterfront, which they propose to finance by getting the City, with voter approval, to float a revenue bond backed in part by Tourist Development Council bed tax funds, and in part by operating revenues at the developed Truman Waterfront. A rosy picture, the City will come out great, Robert Spottswood repeatedly promised the City Commission (Commissioner Gibson absent from the meeting) and Mayor McPherson. When I spoke, I said the Spottswoods and their partners are not at risk in their proposal, whereas the other proposal presented the night before put the developer and his family completely at risk, for only their own money will be used to develop Truman Waterfront. I said the Spottswoods and their partners should be required to guarantee the revenue bond being repaid, by putting their own personal assets up as collateral. I was the only person at the meeting who suggested the Spottswoods and their partners be at risk in developing what Mayor McPherson has repeatedly called Key West’s Crown Jewel.
 
Todd German and Jim Hendrick complimented me for how I responded yesterday to Greg Greggerson’s criticism. Then two emails (below) came in from Sandy Downs.
 
Political advertisement, approved and paid for by Sloan Bashinsky
 
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Dear Greg,I repeat a portion of your letter:

24. Everyone else that is running, is WAY more qualified for the position (Mayor of Key West. Have you ever held a public office?

*****************

I ask you to be specific, what “WAY more” qualifications do the other candidates have?

Please elaborate. Because, Mayor Morgan ran a daycare and was a “minister”, (though he denies talking to God or angels, so I do not know what type of a minister he is….though I suspect which “type”…) and I believe his daycare has shut down.

Which one of these make Mayor McPherson qualified?

Or is it that he has “friends” in high places and they drink together before one critically injures a girl, and no one knew the “friend” was too drunk to drive? Is his ability to discern and make good judgements what charm you, or the names of his “friends” and their powerful positions?

Or is it the fact he wants a water park in the Keys where we continuously have water shortages and where we haven’t taken care of the water already here that surrounds us? Are his priorities and plans what you admire?

Or is it the involvement with Cortex and their dreams and aspirations of taking school property for 1/3 of it’s value, and making millions off of it? Or do you admire the contributions Cortex made to him through his church? Is this what makes him qualified, that his office is self-serving for he and his friends? Or is it how they “used” the church for refuge to conceal their activities like Monique did when she hid the goods at her father’s church in NC? Is this why you think he is “wise”?

Or is it that he “beats on” Norma Jean and the Bahama Village residents regularly and publicly to humiliate them and every black person in this town besides Clayton Lopez? Is his racial persecution what excites you?

Or is it that he is loyal to his friends when they “rape” the children of their education funds? Is his loyalty what you admire? Do you wish you had a friend like that, that would stick by you while you abuse children?

Or….is it that he is “untouchable” surrounded by friends that protect him, not surrounded by angels like Sloan is, but mere mortal friends who will allow no one to come near him or question him? Do you think he is a “Superhero”?

I know very little about the other candidate, Cates, but you did include them both in your summation of “qualified”, so I await your response on how you have figured your equation…and please elaborate with an equal 25 points for the other candidates like the 25 points you made against Sloan.

Thank you,
Sandra Downs
 
PS, In regards to your closing question in #24 of your “points”…has Sloan ever held public office… I think you know the answer to that. His office is Sippin’ Internet Cafe and yes it is always “public.”
 

Sandy to Sloan: 

“4. You throw god and religion on every single person you meet, while at the same time trying to push the idea of free thinking. Nobody wants to hear your religious bull shit, if they did, they would go to a churchwhere someone has actually put in the work to be in deservance of an audience to preach to.”

Dear Sloan, I am provoked to write in response to the above sent to you by greg. I’ll not capitalize his name, since he didn’t bother to capitalize God’s.

It is perplexing to me how this man you do not know is so obsessed with you and filled with hatred towards you. What have you said or done to harm him? What have you done to harm anyone, besides tell the truth about things that no one dares say? Is it your words that are like swords to him and is it your words that make him so fearful of you?

From greg to you:

“25. You are a fucking nutcase, and I think a safer place for you, instead of the mayors office, could be a loony bin, where at least you wont hurt yourself, and the rest of the outside world wont have to suffer through your abuses.”

he (again no capital letter for greg in “he”) goes on to say you are:

“Moments away from snapping all together, and maybe deciding this world isnt worth it anymore, possibly trying to take a few lives with you.  Give it up, stop with all the bull shit, and causing a bunch of damn trouble.”

I, myself being well read in the Bible would like to say in response to greg’s demand that “you must put in “work” to be in deservance of an audience to preach to”,…..that God plainly says to preach His word to everyone you meet on day #1 of being a Christian! No “work” is required.

Sloan, you certainly have done that..preach from day #1…and to everyone’s dismay, you continued to do so while losing your family and friends for having done so…just like the Bible says you will.

But IF greg REQUIRES “work”..then I must say I BELIEVE YOU HAVE “worked”. You have been homeless and lived amongst the vagrants. You have given all that you have away. You have counseled the addicts, helped the hopeless, and fed the poor. THAT counts as “work”..in the Bible.

You have been educated in colleges and achieved diplomas to go along with it. You were proclaimed a counselor for our worldly laws and labeled a “lawyer”. That must be what greg alludes to as counting as “work” in the “greg world”. But Sloan, none of that matters to greg. I presume he demands you be schooled by the “authorities” IN Biblical studies in order to be worthy to utter God’s name to others!

You Sloan, abandoned everything in THIS world and everyone who went with it…to do God’s will…THAT counts in God’s world. I believe you have PUT IN the “work” required to talk about God. And, there’s no mention in the Bible of a “diploma” you need to have from a University to declare you fit to be a minister. Those are man’s rules. Jesus didn’t have a diploma, or put in “work” as required by greg. Jesus ….let me say it one more time….Jesus. Can you hear me Jesus? greg thinks you did not deserve an audience…
 
Sloan, what “audience” have you held down in shackles and chains and demanded they adhere to your beliefs? None that I know of. You only try, each and every day, to remind people that God exists, that He speaks to each of us and has a job for each of us to do. You remind everyone that God’s work is not likely to win us friends or reap us economic rewards.  You give examples of how you suffer if you do not follow God’s will. You tell everyone that IF they listen.. God WILL speak to them. Is this what scares greg? Does he NOT want to be reminded of that?

WHY IS IT…. that people “accept God” when they are dying, in jail, or huddled in a bathtub with a mattress over their head while a tornado rips their house apart? Is it maybe because that’s the only time they allow “God” into their lives? Is it because it takes something like THAT to convince us we ARE mortal and really NOT in control of ANYTHING…..  except OUR “responses” to life…in other words, how we react to what has been done to us or others, or what we do with opportunities that come to us….do we love, share, forgive, etc….or do we hate and destroy?

Sloan, YOU have been a lone crusader for Jesus on the streets and amongst your readers…for those that don’t go to a church, read the Bible, etc…you are the link to “What will they do for their soul?” You don’t have a building and you don’t take people’s money. Your pulpit is not spectacular and your church is not “comfy”. You demand loyalty to morals that we know should be adhered to…you complain of BIG things that people do…steal, bribe, kill, destroy those below them in the power chain, etc. You don’t talk about trivial things. Does this scare greg?

It seems to me that the one that might decide life isn’t worth it anymore and take a few people with him as he goes is ……..greg. I feel his hatred,…and it is real. he HATES…..he HATES that you speak of angels, that you try to win people over to do the right thing. he accuses you of stirring up trouble…for whom is he afraid? And Sloan, if you are what he said,…then why is he afraid? According to greg, you matter not.

Well, Sloan, that’s all I have to say for right now. greg will surely get God’s attention with what he wrote, and greg should be AFRAID. You have warned us all over and over again HOW it is to cross God, and dear greg may be bent over cowering soon I fear.

Sandy Downs ….Dear God, Have mercy on us all.

Some recent fan mail below. He doesn’t know me as well as he says he does, if he thinks I’m reluctant to post slams of me, if they are on topic. I wonder if he’s seen the new page I just added to the menu at goodmorningkeywest.com – A CRAZY PERSON’S BIBLE? If not, maybe it will make him feel even more secure in his assesment, which is shared by many people in Key West and elsewhere. Interesting timing, being accused of being crazy, at the same time I accuse myself of it. Some would that’s poetry. The text of the ”Bible” is reproduced in full last below. 
 
Sloan for mayor, political advertisement, approved and paid for by Sloan Bashinsky
 
 

Sloan For Mayor!!!!! ( I Think Not)?

From:	greg greggerson (gegggy@gmail.com)
Sent:	Thu 6/25/09 4:34 AM
To:	keysmyhome@hotmail.com

Sloan,

Here is a list of reasons why you will most certainly NOT win mayor election.
 
1. You are the most self righteous person, I think, that may exist on the entire planet.
2. You walk around with this pompous attitude, like you are the “chosen one”, as if you carry the blood of christ.
3. You have no clue what manners are, you cough at people without covering your mouth, you cut people off and swear at them, mid sentence as if what they are saying is meaningless, and you act as if you and
     your channel to the “Angels” is the only thread left holding this world together.
4. You throw god and religion on every single person you meet, while at the same time trying to push the idea of free thinking.  Nobody wants to hear your religious bull shit, if they did, they would go to a church
     where someone has actually put in the work to be in deservance of an audience to preach to.
5. Your ideas are radical, and beyond any comprehension to normal people, not because they are unique and creative, but because it’s just fucking nuts. Nobody gets elected into office on the basis that they were
    “instructed to by god” surely not if they told anyone about this.
6. You scratch your nuts in public, with complete disregard for who could be watching.
7. Nobody is ever right except for you, even when you are wrong.
8. I doubt anyone on this earth has ever heard you apologize for anything, probably because in your self righteous mind, you have never been in the wrong.
9. You stir up shit where there isn’t even a turd or a bad smell.  The man on the bike was obviously neglegent.  Thats the only possible reason for why he was struck.  Maybe the car was speeding.  But ther no
     way it was going so fast that Mr. Clemens made a GOOD decision to enter the intersection because the car was far enough away.  With all due respect, Mr. Clemens is responsible for the accident.  No other
     way about it.  No conspiracy theories or people hiding things.  Clemens entered an intersection which had oncoming traffic, had he not, he would not have been struck.  And if the “Angels” are telling you    
     things in your dreams about that, then you need to wake the fuck up.
10.  The bicyclist you were blogging about was at fault.  He went through a red light.  Thats against the law.  The police officer may have been a dick, but had the bike rider not broken the law, he would not have
       been in a position to be a victim of the officers bad mood.  No matter what the “Angels” say.
11. You give off the impression that you would love to start a cult.  And possibly re-write religion all together.  Thats the scary kind of crazy.
12. You are an attention starved maniac, who will do or say anything, in order to get a public platform, or even 1 single person to listen to your bull shit. 
13. Everything to you is somehow related to your “dreams”.  Some things that happen in this world, just happen, they don’t have a god damn thing to do with you.
14. You sure do have an awfully nasty mouth for a man of such religious standing.  A man of god who is visited nightly by angels, would probably not go around using words like, Fuck, Shit, and Bitch.  And
      definitely would have no part of the phrase, God Damn/ God Damn it.  All of which you abuse on a regular basis. 
15. I guess your routine is to sit at an Internet Cafe most of everyday.  Thats real smart campaigning.  Reaching the masses!
16.  All the people you would appeal to, are likely to not vote anyways, and if they do vote and vote for you, they are probably crazier than your psychotic ass.
17. It is apparent that you believe you are the link between all of humanity and the Lord above.  Please, say that outloud a few times.  Sound a little cukoo?
18. Your hard wiring, didnt get hard wired.
19. You have nothing but sailboat fuel in that arrogant head of yours, if you think people believe in you.  Its all a facade, seriously  WAKE UP, your dreaming.
20. Your just a fucking jerk and an asshole to everyone.  Everybody you have ever met has most likely been offended by you at some point or another.
21. You have weird obsessions.  Just fucking weird.  People are sick of hearing about “Aphrodite” and the topless incident.  It happened, get over it.  It was not an act of god, happening specifically for Sloan
      Bashinsky.  It was just two naked titties, attached to a free spirited woman.  So stop telling us all about her, as if she is your godess, given to you by Jesus himself.
22. If god wanted you to be mayor, according to you, you would be mayor by now, but your not, what do you think that means, what is god telling you?
23. You are in love with yourself, and truly believe you are on this earth, to carry out missions from god.  Again, say that out loud a few times.
24. Everyone else that is running, is WAY more qualified for the position.  Have you ever held a public office?
25. You are a fucking nutcase, and I think a safer place for you, instead of the mayors office, could be a loony bin, where at least you wont hurt yourself, and the rest of the outside world wont have to suffer
      through your abuses.
                 
There are 100 reasons more.  Too many to list, but what it all comes down to……  You are a fucking lunatic.  Moments away from snapping all together, and maybe deciding this world isnt worth it anymore, possibly trying to take a few lives with you.  Nobody feels bad for you, because you claim that you are haunted by “Angels”, because frankly, the only one that believes that, is you.  Are you ON drugs, or OFF your meds?  You claim to naturally have hallucinations, and that is fucking scary.  Really I think your plate is pretty full already.  How can you manage to be mayor of Key West, when at the same time you have Sloanville to run, where you are President, Treasurer, Secretary Of State, and also its lone citizen.  Give it up, stop with all the bull shit, and causing a bunch of damn trouble.  Save your money, you will not be elected.  There are not enough damn weirdos down here to put you in office.  So get out of the fucking way, stop being so detrimental to progress, and let some real down to earth people get back to work, running this great city, where people like you are allowed, without bother, to peacefully co-exist, with people who were not “chosen by god”, but are just normal fucking people.
 
This is not slander it is MY opinion, and I am entitled to it, although I am pretty sure a large number of folks would agree.  Also I have sent this to your e-mail, which I found on a public site.  It has been shared between you and me.  There are no legal attachments though, and whatever you choose to do with it is up to you, freeing me of any legal repricutions.  BUT……………….
Ill bet you dont post this!
 
Paid for and approved by ANYBODY EXCEPT SLOAN FUCKING BASHINSKY FOR MAYOR.  That crazy, insane, bastard.
 

A CRAZY PERSON’S BIBLE 
 
The other night a woman suggested in a dream that I write a book about my life. I replied that I had written many books about my life, each was one of a kind. I realized that didn’t satisfy her, she said it again. Not a long book, a summary. I awoke, clueless. I was publishing vigorously, nearly daily, to my website. Had been for over two years. My life was being recorded there, too. I didn’t want to write another story of my life. Yet the dream nagged, and then I realized two days after the dream, after asking for clarity, that it was to be a collection of poems I had saved, either in print or through memory. Only a few of hundreds of poems that had started bursting out of me, starting in 1991, at age 49. Some truly stunning verses, most of which I put into little anonymous books and saddle-stitch pamphlets and gave away by the hundreds. Nay, by the thousands. Then, in 1995, I mostly stopped publishing my poetry, my being somewhat conceited, as it seemed to come through and from beyond me; I was just the vehicle. The rush of verses then slowed down, but did not stop altogether. The poems included here plot a journey I never heard or read of except in my own personal experiences, in spirit and on this world. Today, the two are inseparable: I live in both realms at the same time, awake and asleep. I sometimes describe myself as a donkey lured by a carrot and driven by a stick, headed to where he knows not. He has no choice but to head to wherever it is, because the consequences of revolt have proven over and over again to be most unpleasant. You don’t want to know just how unpleasant it sometimes was following a revolt. You don’t want to know. Be darn glad this doesn’t happen to you. Be darn glad.

“The Mockingbird”

I happened upon a mockingbird
singing its fool head off –
I asked it how and why it sang?
But all it did was look ahead,
all it did was sing.
It never turned to see if I was watching,
or listened for money jingling in my pockets,
or asked if I liked its music,
or expected a recording contract –
It was too busy singing
to pay any attention to me.
Thus did I learn
the greast sin of all
is to kill a mockingbird.
(1992)

“Black Diamond, Yellow Rose”

Black Diamond, Yellow Rose,
Odd couple until inside I see,
Black Diamond feeds Yellow Rose,
Yellow Rose loves Black Diamond,
Will and Heart,
Heart and Will,
Black Diamond, Yellow Rose
(1993)

“Rainbow Fusion”

Black is white,
White is black,
When they fuse,
Rainbows bloom.
(1993)

“Rainbows” (fragment of original poem)
Rainbows know no master.
Fueld by Father Sun
They touch Misty Earth
Only Heaven knows where.
Rainbows are more shiny than silver
and more brilliant than gold,
More valuable than diamonds
and more precious than perarls.
Rainbows paint heavens beautiful,
Make angels sing.
Rainbows are you, and me,
Full spectrums of Infinity
blazing across Eternity.
Rainbows are now.
(1993)

“Over the Rainbow”

There is no somewhere over the rainbow,
Nor pot of gold at the end –
There is only the rainbow.
(1993)
 
“God’s Gifts”

God’s gifts are not for sale, but are given freely to angels, saints, sinners, devils and fools alike, because all are God’s children.
(1993)
 
“Crooked Hose”

He is but a crooked hose through which living water flows, first to straighten him out, then to water a few other birds of the air and some lilies of the field.”
(1994)
“The Poet”

He is the paper, the ink his blood, the pen his soul, and the poet is God.”
(1994)

“Rules”

Who invented the rule that poetry must rhyme, have pentameter, be cast into verse? Yes, who invented that really silly rule? Surely it wasn’t the maker of the first stone — otherwise there’d be no stone to break all the rules!
(1994)

“The Pearl”

He feels deep beauty in the dark pool from which his writings flow. She clings to him like fine silk, percious oil. She feels solid, compressed, like . . . a black pearl growing from inside out, ever larger with each stroke of his pen, pushing her precious waters over her banks into his dreams and life.
(1994)

“Rosa Mystica”

Rosa Mystica,
Sweet Mystery,
Bride of Christ,
Living Water
without which
God is dead
and there are no rainbows.
(1994)

“Sacred Prism”

Earth,
The sacred prism
through which souls are refracted
into their elemental parts,
Purified in Holy Fire,
The one-forged
and sent on their way
to not even God knows where,
Simply because they are all
Unique Emanations of God,
Evolving . . .
(1994)

“Tree of Life”

The Tree of Life grows not
on the battleground of good and evil,
But in a quiet meadow
beneath a beautiful rainbow
that knows not right or wrong.
(1994)

“Mission Nearly Impossible”

Only fools rush in
where angels fear to tread,
But if there were no fools,
Who’d lead the angels?
(1994)

“Initiation”

Angels walk beside you
and call you their brother,
Even as you curse the heavens
for making you one who wields the lightning.
Be kind to your brothers and sisters,
But take no prisoners –
Kill them all in my name,
As I have killed you,
So you and they might life.
(1995)

“Love and Truth”

Love with out truth is weak,
Truth without love is harsh,
Two side of the same coin,
They live together,
Or die.
(1995)

“Paradise”

All fig leaves burn
All ugly seen
All pain loved
All truth beauty
All people one
All time now
(2000)

“Heavy Wait”

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, engraged, 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.
(2001)

“I AM A MAN”

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.
(2003)
 
“SHANGHAIED”
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 after they are conscripted
there is no safe jumping ship.
(2004)
 
“Slam Poetry”
 
I don’t like it.
(2009, 2008, 2007, 2006 . . . 1994)
 
I sensed from the beginning that the verses coming through me were something I essentially would live, and that often scared the hell out of me. The same sinking sensation arose with wacky novels that fell out of me, which actually were poems but I called them novels because they were mostly prose. Jolting experiences, snap endings, surprise, suspense and cosmic jokes seem very important to God, perhaps to keep God awake and interested; and perhaps to keep me a bit loose, so I’m easier to work with and change, which I’m not when I’m all comfy and sure of myself. Then, it sometimes takes a sledgehammer to get my attention. Or dynamite. Or an earthquake. You get the drift. When awake, I see whatever happens to me as a poem or part of one. From that I can only conclude that God is a poet, and from the way my life goes, I can only further conclude that God is crazy and the only way for me to truly love God is to be crazy, too.
 
Sloan Bashinsky
24 June 2009, Key West, Florida

When Richard Mason met yesterday with the Key West Chamber of Commerce about nude beaches, one of the Chamber members, a successful real estate developer, said he once had looked into buying a condominium project that overlooked Haulover and adjacent beaches near Miami. He said Haulover was packed with people and the adjacent beaches were in sparse use. Richard told him Haulover is like that every day, and the adjacent beaches are like that every day, too.
 
Another Chamber member, the President perhaps, after hearing all that Richard had to say about nude beaches and the impact they have on the nearby economy, said this is a no-brainer. We spent $8,000,000 on the Vandenberg, and a nude beach will bring a lot more people and money. And, I add, a nude beach won’t cost hardly anything, like maybe $500 for signs saying “Nude bathers ahead” and a couple of snow fences for side screens.
 
I have a sneaky feeling, after what I’ve seen go on so far with what Mayor Morgan McPherson keeps calling “the Crown Jewel of Key West,” the Truman Waterfront land given to the City by the Navy several years ago as “an economic conveyance,” which so far has gone absolutely nowhere, will not come anywhere close to giving a nude beach a run for the money. Not anywhere close. Not that we don’t need to try to develop Truman Waterfront, we do, but it’s going to cost a lot of money.
 
The way things look so far, the City (taxpayers) is either going to get very little money back, relative to the value of the property: the proposal offered at the City Commission meeting last night by a Miami-based developer with considerable experience and success developing and operating marinas, with the developer taking all of the dollar risk. Or the City (taxpayers) is going to have to take a huge dollar risk to try to develop the property itself, using a team of local developers to build it who have never built or run a marina, and who will have nothing at risk and will make out like bandits — a you pay, we play deal if ever there was one: the proposal being considered by the City Commission tonight.
 
I told the Miami developer and his associates after last night’s City Commission meeting that maybe the reason his proposal, somewhat described in this morning’s Key West Citizen, was only for the waterfront portion of the Truman property, while the local developers’ proposal was for the waterfront and a lot of the other Truman property, might be because the local developers are bubbas and maybe were clandestinely encouraged to make a different proposal than the Miami developer was invited to make.
 
The Miami developer is the managing partner of a 100-plus-lawyer law firm, with offices in Miami, Tallahassee and Washington, D.C. His family is behind the proposal he made, their money is at risk. He told the City Commission that he could give them a proposal covering more of the Truman Waterfront property, which would generate more revenue for the City than his first proposal and still would be at his development group’s risk. Even so, I see no way for even that proposal to give a nude beach a run for its money. No way.
 
There’s also the pesky little trouble with the 2.3 acres of toxic waste (PBCs) just announced in yesterday’s citizen, right in the center, it seems, of the Truman Waterfront property. Very attractive. No way do I believe the City just got wind of this. Nor am I convinced that’s all the toxic waste buried out there. Who’d even want to be near there even after it’s “cleaned up?” Shouldn’t warning signs already be up out there?
 
Has the Miami developer been told about the toxic waste at Truman Waterfront? You can bet the conch farm that the local developers know about it, and I can’t help but wonder if that has something to do with their proposal, which puts all the risk on the City.
 
What risk to the City is there in a nude beach at the east end of Smathers, other than maybe some disgruntled locals who are offended by nudity, even though they will never go anywhere near a nude beach – or so they say.
 
Sloan for mayor, political advertisement approved and paid for by Sloan Bashinsky

Today’s Key West Citizen features a front-page article by Mandy Bolen, accompanied by photo, about dangerous toxic waste right in the heart of what Mayor Morgan McPherson has named “Key West’s Crown Jewel.” 2.8 acres of PBCs, right in the middle of where open green space was planned. Now the struggle, who gets to get rid of it? The Navy, which put it there to begin with, or the City?
 
Some time ago, I wrote about attending a public meeting called by Mayor Morgan McPherson to air out ideas about Key West’s Crown Jewel. We met in the Eco-Discovery Center. Afterward, Diane Burledsen introduced me to a woman who claimed there was a lot of serious toxic waste in the Crown Jewel. She said she had first discovered it when she cleaned houses in Truman Annex and found herself reacting to it. She told her clients about it, and they sold their homes and moved away. She said she felt the same symptoms in the Eco Discovery Center, that she had felt at Truman Annex. Some people I spoke with about her said she was crazy, a rabble rouser; I should forget about it.
 
I then wrote in a post that the angels who pick on me agreed with her: there was something very bad in the ground at the Crown Jewel, and nothing should be done there until it was all found and cleaned up. I questioned the wisdom of putting an elder care facility there, people whose immune systems are not as strong as younger people enjoy. I questioned the Bahama Conch Community Land Trust’s plans to extend Bahama Village into the Crown Jewel, until it was proven to be safe. I got a lot of funny looks about that post. But then, I tend to get funny looks when I say angels tell me things nobody else knows about, or wants to know about; or they know about it and don’t want other people to know.
 
The Navy may or may not have known what was in the ground when it deeded the Crown Jewel to the City several years ago. The pollution is said to have occurred during World War II. Maybe good records were kept, maybe not. Maybe the right had knew what the left hand was doing, maybe not. Whatever, the Crown Jewel is a bit tarnished, and now begins, I suppose, another tug-of-war over whose going to take care of the cleanup. Maybe another question is: Who wants to spend much time around on the Crown Jewel even after it’s cleaned up? Can’t say it appeals to me, and not just because of what’s there now. What else might be there also bothers me.
 
At the very least, the City owes it to the public to put signs in bold view, saying this area used to be a toxic waste dump and people should proceed at their own risk.
 
Sloan for mayor, political advertisement, approved and paid for by Sloan Bashinsky

If today’s photo doesn’t come through, depending on your computer software, you may be able to see Sandy Downs’ latest mischief at the bottom of the “Campaign Art Ads,  Sandy Downs version” file in the homepage menu of goodmorningkeywest.com. Meanwhile and related .  .  .
 
The Editorial in yesterday morning’s Key West Citizen contained a plea for us not to take a bubbas againsnt non-bubbas approach to the school system difficulty.
 
Yesterday’s front-page article by Solares Hill Editor Mark Howell seemed to me to lay the school trouble load right on top of the bubbas (and bubbettes), and that’s where it looks to me like it needs to be laid, because bubbas and bubbettes created the trouble. And then other bubbas (and bubbettes) either circled the wagons around the perpetrators, or they laid low instead of speaking out, saying it made them sick, they wanted to throw up. Thus was it left to outsiders, non-bubbas, people like School Board members Steve Pibramsky and John Dick, and State Attorney Dennis Ward and activist Sandy Downs to bring the perpetrators to task. Bravo, Mark Howell! Bravo!
 
Moving sideways, this morning’s Citizen features a front-page article by Adam Linhardt. captioned: CRB to pick officers. Somewhere in the article is said the CRB (Ciizen Police Review Board) was structured to avoid politicizing, by four CRB members being picked by the City Commission and the remaining three picked by those four. Oh?
 
I well remember a city commission meeting a few years back, when Todd German was still Chairman of the CRB. He was the first Chair and had done a terrific job. He very much wanted an applicant for an empty seat on the CRB to be given by the City Commission to a black minister who had somewhat recently moved to Bahama Village from out of state. Todd wanted this man in the seat for two reasons: first, the vacant seat had been created by a black Bahama Village CRB member resigning from the CRB, after she didn’t make it to CRB meetings regularly; second, the black minister had been deeply involved in the formation of CRBs in two northern cities, and he was familiar with what CRBs do.
 
City Commissioner Harry Bethel wanted a young white conch fellow he had known a long time, maybe since he was born, to get the vacant CRB seat. This applicant did not live in Bahama Village. He was unable to answer questions from city commissioners about the CRB that he should have been able to answer. When the vote was taken, it was a tie. When it was taken again, then Mayor Jimmy Weekley changed his vote without explanation and voted for Harry’s candidate and broke the tie.
 
The look on Todd German’s face was shock and disbelief. It was so clearly bubba-rigged that there was no point in even saying it. Even so, I went straight to the black minister, whom I had only just seen for the first time that night, and told him it was rigged and that I hoped he would not give up. He was very angry, said he would never come before the City Commission again. I said I hoped he would talk with God about that.
 
A day or so later I went by Jimmy’s office in City Hall to see him about what he had done. He wasn’t there, so I told his Executive Assistant to tell him for me that he had done something that caused me to run against him, to win; he had injected race into the CRB selection. That was Jimmy’s last term in office, as Mayor. Morgan McPherson beat him that fall, and again two years later. This time around. As for Harry Bethels bubba boy, he turned out to be a weak CRB member and ended up resigning.
 
I believe it is very important that we have a Bahama Village resident on the CRB. Even more important, I believe that member should, if at all possible, be of African descent. Blacks need representation on the CRB. And they need a CRB representative who has the time and diligence to do the job correctly. We do not need any more CRB members who are not up to the task.
The CRB was strongly resisted by the Key West Police Department and the police union, and by the Key West City Commission and Mayor Weekley. They fought it tooth and nail, which led to me believe all the more that we needed a CRB in Key West. The voters seemed to think so, too, approving the CRB by a pretty good margin in a referendum.
 
When I ran for Mayor the following year and was interviewed by the police union, all they seemed interested in was getting as much for police officers as possible. Thus more for the union, whom the police officers pay dues. When the interview ended, I said I had a question for them. Already I had told them I used to practice law and had had plenty of dealings with law enforcement. My question was: What did they think was more important: Police officers getting more benefits, or police officers knowing and living by the same laws they swore to enforce? Their response wasn’t exactly encouraging from my perspective, and I didn’t expect to get their endorsement. Jimmy Weekley got it, perhaps because he had opposed the CRB.
 
Right now the CRB is trying to get a court to give it standing to subpoena a Key West police officer to explain to the CRB what appears to be a bald-faced lie made by the police officer in obtaining a warrant to get someone arrested. This is a very serious matter that potentially puts every CRB member who is behind this court case in the crosshairs of police officers who favor backing the blue line no matter what, over living their oath to uphold and protect. That’s right, we have a bubba system in the police department, too.
 
We have bubba systems everywhere in Key West (and the Keys), and while people like Mark Howell, Steve Pibramsky, John Dick Dennis Ward, Sandy Downs or me might speak out and take action on it from time to time, it’s going to take bubbas and bubbettes who don’t like being smeared by what other bubbas and bubbettes do, to really do something about it.
 
Sloan for mayor, political advertisement approved and paid for by Sloan Bashinsky

I ran into Aphrodite a couple of days ago. I’d heard she was back in town and had checked in at Sippin’ Internet Cafe looking for me. Just so happened I had some campaign T-shirts in the basket of my bicycle and gave her one just as City Commissioner Teri Johnston and some of her women friends came by, and they got T-shirts, too. As some of you may recall, on the front of my walking billboard is Sandy Down’s prank about my physique, typical politician B.S.

On this bare subject also are email exchanges with Richard Mason, who will be in Key West this week at the request of the Chamber of Commerce, which asked its member Todd German to get Richard’s phone number from me, so he could invite him down.

Sloan:

Over the past 20 years I have seen anti-nudity laws being introduced in Florida. At both the city, county and state level, all written and promoted by religious groups on the religious right.

In my experience opposing these proposed laws, I learned much about these so called Christians.  The one thing I learned is they trained people to lie in their testimony at hearings before the deferent government bodies.

What I have also learned from all this is that the different groups of Christens using different names for various denominations, e.g., Catholic, Baptist and, etc., are, that they are just different marketing groups appealing to marketing segments.

That fact that some of these marketing groups use hate as a motivator as well as fear, flies in the face of what Jesus preached.

However, the mainline marketing groups will not denounce them or publicly correct them.  That fact makes their failure worse that the original false language of the perpetrators of false doctrine.

None of them will pass the smell test if they had to meet the demands of the “Truth in Advertising” laws.

Richard

Morning, Richard.
 
I’m glad to hear from my friend Todd German that you are coming down here next week to speak with the Chamber of Commerce and perhaps the Citizen Editorial Board. Because you are an elder, because you are a Korean War veteran, because you have yourself served on and are still active in the Chamber of Commerce where you live, because you are deeply religious in a personal way (from what I’ve seen in our correspondence), because you are about as American as anyone I imagine I will ever come across, and because of your vast experience with what I call nude beaches, I believe you are the right person to speak to the various facets of that subject.
 
It is human nature to slant, twist and even lie about issues that concern us the most. And beyond that, even to go ballistic, verbally and even physically. Fortunately, not everyone falls into the polemic, but many do. What is needed is a level presentation and question and answer time between you and local leaders interested in what is best for Key West and Monroe County, even if it doesn’t please a segment of our people.
 
I encourage you to keep most of your focus on what you are about and trying to achieve down here.
 
I’m hoping the interview with the Chamber of Commerce, and with the Citizen Editorial Board, if you get to see them, too, will be amicable, even jocular; mutual interest in helping Key West and the Keys. I will be surprised if it isn’t. You have much to show and tell that supports nude beaches down here.
 
Some things that come to my mind are how it goes at Haulover and other nude beaches you have experienced. How those beaches are regulated and maintained. What kind of traffic they experience. What kind of people go there and where did they come from to get there. What else do they do while they are in the vicinity. What do they talk  about. How many are there on an average weekday and weekend day.
 
I don’t feel, or I hope it won’t be, that the people interviewing you will be interested in the religious issues. If they are, you will have to deal with it, hopefully briefly.
 
Like everywhere else, we have a down economy. That’s a big concern. We want to increase our attraction to visitors, American and non-American. Like everywhere else, we are concerned about personal safety. We want to know a nude beach will not encourage lawlessness and problems. And we want to know who is going to regulate and keep up a nude beach, hopefully at not much additional cost to our local governments.
 
Hope this helps.
 
Sloan

When people come at me about what the Bible says and contort the issue as being against Christian values, I usually answer it thusly and move on.

In the United States, our Constitution guarantees us the separation of church and state.

Then I hand them a sheet, quoting the current Pope.  When he was a Cardinal, he was assigned the task of reviewing canon law on the issue of nudity.  This was because in Italy, people were starting to attend the beaches topfree and in the nude.  Northern Europeans on Holiday, who were in the majority and mostly Catholic, were visiting the Italian beaches and not wearing clothing.

To quote in partial:

“There are circumstances in which nakedness is not immodest….”

“The human body is not in itself shameful, nor for the same reason are not sensual reactions, and human sensuality in general.”………

“Shamelessness, (just like shame and modesty) is a function of the interior of the person”……..

The Pope is a pretty high authority and I will let his statement speak for itself and move on.

Thank you for your advice. I appreciate your interest.

Also, thank you for giving my phone number to Todd German.

Richard

Sloan for mayor, political advertisement, approved and paid for by Sloan Bashinsky