Good Morning Florida Keys

Keys school district woes solution – lots more estrogen

Wednesday, February 29th, 2012

There is another The People’s Special Prosecutor vs. Key West Tree Nazis post today at goodmorningkeywest.com, which includes speculation on how State Attorney Dennis Ward and his opponents in this year’s State Attorney race will deal with the Key West Tree Nazis. Meanwhile, more Keystone Cops activity from the School District:
From: Todd German
Sent: Tuesday, February 28, 2012 10:40 AM
To: ‘jennifer.cleaver@keysschools.com’; Cali Roberts; bartleyhs@hotmail.com
Cc: Wayne LaRue Smith (wsmith@thesmithlawfirm.org); Todd German; ‘victorb99@gmail.com’
Subject: Academica Statement

STATEMENT FROMKEY WEST COLLEGIATE SCHOOL BOARD

It is with pleasure that the Board Of the Key West Collegiate School announces that we have established a relationship with Academica, one of the nation’s largest and most successful charter school service and support organizations.

Academica works with many of the highest regarded charter schools in the State of Florida. Our board has spent time with them working through the challenges we face and they literally blew us away with their in-depth knowledge, expertise in this arena, and genuine desire to help.

It is common knowledge that the Collegiate School has been struggling. The Board has been working diligently to find a viable solution to ensure not only our survival, but long-term success. We have no doubts that working with Academica provides that solution.

We are already quite familiar with Academica managed schools as Doral, Mater and Somerset schools travel with frequency to Monroe for sporting events. These are among the most academically successful schools, not only in the state, but literally in the country. As a fact, Academica serves the largest number of high-performing schools of any charter school management organization in Florida.

Their personnel,help support schools, who literally have thousands of children on their waiting lists, and they have a particular expertise with school turn-arounds, taking schools that are under-performing for one reason or another, and making them champions.

Academica’s involvement is effective immediately. Please join us in welcoming this outstanding organization to our school, one that is going to help us achieve the dreams we all imagined when conceiving the Key West Collegiate School.

Todd German

President, Key West Collegiate School

I replied:

Hi, Todd, others

After what Carol King recently wrote to me re transferring her son, the KWHS gay-bashing victim, to the charter high school:

Here’s an update for you. I met with the principal on Friday at the charter school. Unfortunately, my son cannot transfer there because they do not have all the classes he needs to graduate. The classes are all AP or Honors and English III is not even offered.

Looks to me using “Collegiate” in the charter high school’s name is misleading, false advertising, etc., and should be removed from the name until the school deserves that title.

I can’t really tell from this “news release” what will be the charter high school’s and Academica’s actual relationship. Who will be calling the shots? What will Academica be paid?

Another question:

Can tax payer funds legally be used to pay a private company to operate a public school in a taxpayer-funded school district?

Who pays for Academica in the three mainland schools mentioned?

On that:

“We are already quite familiar with Academica managed schools as Doral, Mater and Somerset schools travel with frequency to Monroe for sporting events.”

I never heard of Academica before receiving your email, and I doubt more than a few people in the Keys are familiar with it, or with those three schools.

I told you maybe a month ago, perhaps a solution, not just for the charter high school, but for this entire school district, is to privatize it, not unlike prisons are being privatized. You said you didn’t like that analogy, but it fits.

You said private companies are profit-motivated and do not put up with the kind of mismanagement we have seen in this school district, the end of which is nowhere in sight. I agreed.

You often have expressed to me distress over the way this school district operates.

Sloan

Todd called me later yesterday, en route to attend a School Board meeting in Marathon. When he asked if I was planning to be there, I said no. He said he was going up to receive some kind of award, and he was interested in a few items on the agenda, including discussion of the search for a new Superintendent of Schools, which the Board will be allowed to hire and control starting the first of next year due to year before last’s referendum, in which the voters did away with the Superintendent being elected, in favor of the Superintendent being hired by the Board.

I told Todd I had a question, which was: Suppose he was a good Superintendent of Schools in Lake City Florida, or in Des Moines, Iowa, or in San Antonio Texas. Would he, after being fully apprised of what is going on down here in our school district, want to take the job? Add to that, would he want to take the job for $100,000 to $135,000 a year, which was the salary range mentioned in a recent article in The Citizen, in the most expensive county to live in Florida? Todd said he would not be interested in the job.

I said the School Board should tell applicants for the Superintendent’s job the whole story, it would be unconscionable for the School Board not to practice full disclosure during the interviewing process. Otherwise there would be serious problems, if an applicant was hired and came down here and then learned what really was going on. Todd said, whenever he interviews people looking for work, he tries to run them off, to see what they are made of. I said that was good, and would he tell all of that to the School Board during citizen comments? He said he could not do that, which got me a bit upset. I said, damn, then I would have to go up there to say it during citizen comments.

I wasn’t feeling good all day, and the last thing I wanted to do was attend a School Board meeting and sit in those really uncomfortable chairs for a long time and listen to what I had come to dread listening to at School Board meetings. But I went up there anyway, and during citizen comments, borrowing from School Board and Superintendent of Schools candidate Larry Murray, who spoke before me, I told them of Todd’s and my earlier conversation and said they had zip chance of hiring a “pick-of-the-litter” Superintendent, if they told applicants what really is going on down here in the most expensive county in Florida to live. I said it would be unconscionable not to fully disclose what they knew about this school district to all candidates, and if they did that, they would get a “runt of the litter.”

I also told them, if they contract to build a new school (Horace O’Bryant – HOB) using a Federal Stimulus Package Loan, which required completion by a certain time, and there are huge penalties for not completing on time (about $20 million huge), then they have no leverage over the contractor. They are a sitting duck, a dead duck, when change orders come in. The contractor can wait them out, and they pay the change orders. I said Steve Pribramsky (a former School Board member) warned them about that and they ignored him. I said I had spoken with Steve about the HOB change order recently, and he was very unhappy about it. A recent $400,000 + change order, which just got paid by the School District.

You won’t find any of that in The Citizen report today of yesterday’s School Board meeting, which I left in disgust after the HOB architect spoke during citizen comments and then was cut off because of the 3-minute rule. He had come down from the Tampa area because the School District was claiming he was supposed to work for about one-half of what he said the contract provided for him to be paid. Mind you, this is easily the most important and biggest money item going in the School District. The architect’s item was last on the agenda, and the School Board attorney had advised the Board they could not discuss it in public.

When the architect was cut off after 3 minutes, he said he had a long drive and a plane to catch in Miami, and he would have to change his travel plans. I said, out of order, “Unconscionable.” Then I said, “Rinky Dink.” I saw nods of agreement from a few women present. Then, the School Board agreed to move the architect’s item foward, to the first “action item.” Then I said, “I can’t take any more,” and I left.

When Todd called me later, he said the lawyer told the School Board they could not publicly discuss the architect’s fee dispute. Todd was not happy about that. He is not happy about lots of things going on in the School District. When he told me while he was driving up there that he had been asked by School Board member Duncan Matthewson, whose term expires this year, to be his appointee on the Superintendant search committee, I said not to get involved in that. Todd is involved in so many committees, and has a full-time job with a bank, it’s a wonder he has time to eat and sleep. Although perhaps he would try to run off Superintendent applicants, and perhaps that would save problems down the road.

I had driven up to the School Board meeting thinking I also would tell the Board the next Superintendent should be a woman, and she should be hired from within the School District, or at least from within the Keys. However, I spaced that out during citizen comments. Driving home, I thought if I had promoted bringing in a woman Superintendent after what I had said about pick of the litter and runt, and after what I had said about HOB, it would have felt out of kilter to me. And, I would not have had enough time to do it justice. It does look to me, though, that this school district suffers serious testosterone poisoning and needs lots of estrogen.

Sloan Bashinsky

keysmyhome@hotmail.com

Posted in Today's FlaKey Drivel | No Comments »

The People’s Special Prosecutor rumbles Key West City Clerk’s Office

Tuesday, February 28th, 2012

The People’s Special Prosecutor

Before getting into the latest Key West Tree Gestapo business today, this brief email exchange yesterday with School Board and Superintendent of Schools candidate Larry Murray, re yesterday’s our gang comedy vs. mickey mouse club school district competitions post:

Sloan:

My Laurel and Hardy jibe was not directed at you in any way. It was intended as a generic observation about the School District, School Board, Superintendent, CFO and all of the clowns that occupy the Henriquez Building, something of the gang that couldn’t shoot straight. If they organized a firing squad, it would stand in a circle.

Missed you at today’s meeting regarding the Superintendent search and the various procedures involved. Will comment later. Suffice it to say, I am very pleased that the School Board finally is launching a search.

Larry

Larry Murray

Fiscal Watchdog and Citizen Advocate

Candidate

Monroe County School Board

District 3

(305) 827-3087

Hi, Larry.

I knew it wasn’t jibed at me, I was in need of comic relief; and it is a fine mess.I don’t think the Superintendent search is nearly as important as having a School Board with steel in their spines, real sharp knives, and utter lack of concern for what other people think about them.Might be the School Board needs to take over and run the School District, and not even have a Superintendent.I didn’t remember there was a superintendent search meeting today, was busy with other fun stuff I imagine will be covered in tomorrow’s fire circle.

Sloan

In a nap dream yesterday, I dreamt of picking up three men in my car. Then, the dream wandered off to other places. Then, I dreamt again of picking the tree men up and this time I asked the one who got into the front passenger’s seat, who they were? “Priests,” he said. I said I was glad to have them. I awoke, knew those were Melchizedek priests and wondered what was coming in that I needed need that kind of “back up”?

Then, I got a phone call that led to my having to drive down to Key West to pay someone’s rent for this week in a homeless shelter, and instead of going to the ATM, I decided to take my checkbook and pay my water and power bills at the main offices of the Aqueduct Authority and Keys Energy Services. Reaching Lower Sugarloaf Key, I received a call from The People’s Special Prosecutor. She said she was at the City Clerk’s Office and they were not letting her file her Appeal from the Tree Commission hearing to the City Commission, which Appeal was featured in yesterday’s Trial Brief from ThePeople’s Special Prosecutor against Key West post.

Sandy said they told her she had to file her Appeal to the Code (Special) Magistrate. She said Assistant Attorney Ronald Ramsingh got involved, and was, as she described it, behaving about like he rabid rottweillered at the Tree Commission meeting. I thought to myself, “Maybe I will get to see if the Florida Bar Association is a real Bar Association, or just a pretend Bar Association.” You find that out when you see how State Bar Associations handle serious complaints filed against wayward lawyers.

Sandy slowed Ramsingh and the Clerk’s Office down a city ordinance that said appeals from Article VI Tree Commission fines are made to the City Commission. Sandy said she whipped out her cell phone and started video-taping the proceedings and Ramsingh said she could not do that and she said it was a public place and she was doing it. Ramsingh left and after a while came back and around a corner, where he could not be viedoes, handed one of the Clerk’s staff a document saying Sandy would have to pay $1,000 to file an appeal to the City Commission.

I said I had my checkbook with me, I was headed to Key West and would be there shortly, and I would pay the filing fee for the Appeal. I said that because I knew Sandy could not afford the filing fee, and because time was of the essence, the time for filing the Appeal was almost up, and those three Melchizedek priests and a heap worse would take me to the woodshed if I did not pay it. I told Sandy it looked like extortion to me, since the $1,000 fee was for appeals by larger developments to the City Commission and Sandy wasn’t even a developer. But they had prosecuted her under Article VI, which only applies to large developments, so if she was to appeal to the City Commission, in crazy way she had to pay the fee large developments paid.

On arriving at the temporary City Hall on Flagler Avenue, I met with Sandy in the office of the lady who looks after the city commissioners. Sandy said she finally had been able to persuade the secretary to take copies of her Appeal and give them to the city commissioners and mayor, after Ramsingh had told her not to take the copies. Sandy showed me the city ordinance which required the $1,000 filing fee. It indeed had to do with appeals concerning large developments and Article VI, which the Tree Commission has been using for some time to extort heapum dinero out of private homeowners in Key West. Article VI is also the ordinance under which Sandy was fined $5,000 at the last Tree Commission meeting, as described in her Appeal document.

We walked a few feet to the the Clerk’s Office, and I had some chatter with the ladies there, whom I know somewhat from all the times I went in there mostly around three runs for mayor of Key West. I wrote out the $1,000 check and gave it to Sue. I should have asked for a copy, but my checkbook is the carbon copy kind, and I have that as a receipt, as well as the receipt Sue gave me. Sue said, yes, if the City Commission did not agree to hear Sandy’s Appeal, I would get my $1,000 back. Sue accepted Sandy’s Appeal document and stamped it in, and stamped Sandy’s copy.

Then, I asked where to file an appeal to the Code (Special) Magistrate from a Tree Commission hearing? Nobody seemed to know, so a phone call was made, and I was sent a few doors down to Code Enforcement. No one knew there, and I was sent a few more doors down to the Tree Commission office, which also houses other offices. No one from the Tree Commission was there, and a phone call was made by a woman who was there and I was told appeals to the Code (Special) Magistrate were filed at the Clerk’s Office.

I went back to the Clerk’s Office and told the ladies there were two appeals being filed, one to the City Commission, and a cya appeal to the Magistrate, in case the City Commission did not hear Sandy’s Appeal. I explained all lines of appeal were being preserved, so Sandy could wend her way to the Circuit Court, and even to the District Court of Appeals, from either the City Commission or the Magistrate. Sandy gave them her second Appeal document, for the Magistrate, and they stamped it in and gave her a stamped copy. There was no fee for filing that Appeal.

I told Sandy later, this is how it goes when the Devil is your adversary, using people to do the dirty work. Every step of the way is a struggle, nothing is predictable, and you just have to take care of each thing as it happens, and then the next thing as it happens, and so on, until there is nothing else left for you to do. Then, it is between the other people and God, the State Attorney, or whatever.

I asked Sandy to write an account of her trip to City Hall, “Just the facts,” I said. She told me later that she had another visit with the felony prosecutor in the State Attorney’s Office about all of this.

On returning home, I found this email from a dear old Higgs Beach beach bum amigo – a live in his van person whose opinon of the city government is, simply and often stated, the best part of them ran down their father’s leg. He is a Vietnam combat vet, a retired fireman, a retired businessman, and a disabled Vet. Another target of the Key West Nazis.

Viva Sandra Downs
Viva
Viva.

Daffy Rico Duck

He tends to sign off as Daffy Duck when he is especially irked with something about the city. Rico, of course, is Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act …

Here is Sandy’s report about her joyous time at City Hall yesterday:

Sloan, I will tell you what went on in the city Clerk’s office before you arrived today. But first, what led up to it.

The time limit for the Tree Commission to render its findings is 10 days. On the 10th day, I had heard nothing from anyone regarding the status of the Hearing from Feb. 13th. For 10 days after the Tree Commission Hearing, we waited while the City “worked on the tape”. The tape I would have a Court reporter transcribe from, for my Appeal. On the 10th day, I got a phone call from the Clerk of Court saying, “the City had given no reason, nor excuse” for what she was about to tell me. “Ms Downs, I have been told by the City, the tape WILL NEVER be made available to the public”. As I said, I was with the felony prosecutor for the State Attorney at the time.

We all debated then whether they would have to rehear the entire Feb. 13th Hearing, because there was no record of it, and nothing could be transcribed from, in violation of the City’s own ordinances.

On the 11th day which was Friday, after the expiration for the Tree Commission to reduce it’s findings to writing and issue an Order, I received a fax at 4:00 PM which said it had been faxed the day prior and was sworn to by Paul Williams, new Urban Forester. I received a certified letter the day after on Saturday, also sworn to having been mailed on Thursday, but the postmark was Friday. The Tree Commission missed its deadline. Because of this, and my only knowledge the Hearing was going to “count”, being given to me at closing time on a Friday, I could not appeal until Monday today, which I did. During all this time, I never thought about Paul Williams signing that Order.

I worked on my appeal which you posted this morning. Ron Ramsingh was ready, he waited for me to come in. He had already told Sue to not take my appeal and to tell me it was too late. Sorry. So, Sue said she would not allow me to enter my appeal. She would NOT take it, nor log it in.

(Since when does a clerk decide what she will or will not log in ? Last I checked, it is up to “who gets it” to make that decision if it is valid or not. Sue’s job is to take my document, stamp it and give me a copy of the stamped page. That’s it Sue. Since when were you declared Judge? )

So after wrangling with Sue in front of a witness I brought, she still refusing to allow me to submit my appeal, I threatened to call the police. Then Ron Ramsingh appeared from hiding and stood fast with Sue, until I showed him I had a right to appeal. Ramsingh said he would not allow me to appeal to the City Commission, and I had to appeal to the General Magistrate who Ramsingh apparently is sure is “in his pocket.” I showed Ramsingh a bunch of documents and told him I could ONLY appeal to the City Commission per these rules I showed him. He then said, “OK, it’s $1000 dollars.” I said I would video tape him saying that and pulled out a video recorder. Ramsingh said he would not permit me to tape him, and I said it was a public place and I was going to record him saying this. He ran away. Which again, left me with Sue. Ramsingh gave her some documents from around the corner and Sue presented them to me and said to pay the $1000 per the rules found in the appeals of the large scale development projects like Truman Annex….specifically mentioned in the Articles they are prosecuting me under is Truman Annex. Parrot Key may be a large scale project, but now I am beginning to wonder if it even qualifies. Yet private little homeowners are being violated and tried and fined and have to appeal under Truman Annex rules.

Well, Sloan that is when you came, and I’ll let you tell the rest, because some of it, you made me wait outside for because I was so livid. Of course I didn’t mention trying to hand-deliver the Commissioners copies and Sue locking the door on me. But all in all, I got everyone delivered, with your help in a lot of the deliveries. And to think I have to go back there again soon. Oh Lord.

Sandy Downs

Another email from Sandy last night:

Sloan, Sec. 90-431 (1) b. 10 days to file after the date of “the order”. My orders are dated Feb. 24th.

BUT, the Tree commission WAS LATE in filing their Order. SEE BELOW: Article VI Sec. 110-294. The Tree Commission had 10 days to give me their order, but they didn’t fax or mail the Order until the 11th day at 4:00 PM. They missed their deadline. Also, the order is signed by Paul Williams, who has no authority to sign Orders of the Tree Commission, just like he has no authority to sign tree removal permits. These must be signed by the Chair of the Tree Commission. So what is going on here…………again??????? Chair Neils Weise does not want his name on an Order he has to swear was sent the day prior to the actual day that’s what is going on, which is perjury or something I am sure. Paul had NO authority to sign an Order, yet he told me he was MADE to do it. It appears, I have yet to receive an official Order with the Chair’s signature on it for which I can actually appeal. ( And Paul was made to commit crimes so Chair Neils Weise wouldn’t have to ….ain’t that nice of Weise? )

Sec. 90-431. – Procedures for rendering decisions.

In considering and acting upon appeals of final decisions of the planning board, the historic architectural review commission, or the tree commission, as well as final orders and questions of interpretation and enforcement of the land development regulations and the building codes by the city planner and the chief building official, the following procedures shall be observed:

(1)

Procedure and time limitation for appeal.

a.

An appeal to the city commission or the special magistrate, as the case may be, shall be taken on or before the tenth day, counted consecutively, after the date of the order by the planning board or the historic architectural review commission to which the appeal is directed.

b.

An appeal to the board of adjustment shall be taken on or before the tenth day, counted consecutively, after the date of the order or the administrative action of the tree commission, chief building official or the city planner.

c.

When the order or other administrative action has been mailed to the party, the party may add three (3) days to the prescribed time period for appeal. The original and one copy of the notice of appeal, together with all the documents, plans, papers or other materials constituting the record upon which the action appealed from was taken, shall be filed with the city clerk who shall provide copies thereof to the presiding officer of the city commission, the board of adjustment or the special magistrate, as appropriate, and to the city manager and city attorney. Appeals not so filed shall be deemed waived.

(2)

Date of hearing for appeals. Hearings of appeals by the city commission as well as the board of adjustment or special magistrate shall be held at the next regularly scheduled meeting of the city commission, board of adjustment or special magistrate, as the case may be, after the filing of the notice of appeal, unless the parties mutually agree to another date.

From Article VI:

Sec. 110-294. – Notice of tree commission’s final decision.

When a person found to be in violation of this article by the tree commission opts not to enter into a compliance settlement agreement, the tree commission shall provide written notice of its final decision and its intention to forward the case to the code enforcement special master. Notice shall be provided either by hand or by mail, return receipt requested, within ten days of the hearing.

(Ord. No. 97-10, § 1(3-14.11(C)(4)(b)), 7-3-1997)

My thoughts:

Based on what Sandy provided, the Tree Commission did not timely comply with the notice provisions of Article VI, and the notice was not signed by the proper person. Thus, there is nothing for Sandy to appeal, because her Star Chamber conviction and fine were waived by the City via its own bumbling Gestapo. The Tree Commission and the City cannot proceed against Sandy/her tree company without committing yet another felony. Where I practiced law, serious felonies garner prison time. Furthermore, it appears purjury occurred, which also is a prison offense where I practiced law, but perhaps committing purjury and other felonies is saintly in Florida.

So far, I have seen nothing nice about Herr Weise. He still reminds me of Adolph Eichman, and his rabid rottweiler Ramsing still reminds me of a rabid rottweiler which should be put down, and what does that say about their keepers in City Hall? Ahem, the City Attorney, the City Manager, the six City Commissioners and the Mayor, all of whom have received everything I have published on re the Tree Commission, and it appears they have done nothing but encourage what their Tree Gestapo are doing to private homeowners and tree companies they employ to take care of trees on their own private property.

I also have copied all of my posts re the Tree Commission to State Attorney Dennis Ward. He will get this one and all future posts re Tree Commission.

Sloan Bashinsky

keysmyhome@hotmail.com

Posted in Today's FlaKey Drivel | No Comments »

Florida Keys blackboard jungle competitions: our gang comedy vs. mickey mouse club

Monday, February 27th, 2012

There is a Special Prosecutor’s Trial Brief and “a sign from above” for State Attorney Dennis Ward to prosecute The City of Key West underlings and upperlings for extortion through the Tree Commisson in Today’s Cock-a-doodle-doo at goodmorningfloridakeys.com today. Meanwhile, from the recent blackboard jungle competitions …

Date: Sun, 26 Feb 2012 13:51:32 -0800
From: citizenlarry007@yahoo.com
Subject: Re: school district broke beyond repair?
To: keysmyhome@hotmail.com
CC: steven@pribramskyzuelch.com

Sloan:

As Laurel said to Hardy: “Well, this is a fine mess you have gotten us into!”

Who cares other than lawyers if the financial mess in the School District is misfeasance or malfeasance? The simple fact of the matter is, as Steve Pribramsky argues, that the financial operations reek of incompetence. I have said that for two years on the Audit and Finance Committee. Whatever criminality and venality existed during the Acevedo regime has been more than replaced by gross incompetence by, as Steve notes, horribly overpaid functionaries. When Monique was running amok, no one noticed all of the incompetence around her.

As your snowbird friend aptly concludes, if the CFO goes, then, too, must the Superintendent follow. The buck stops at the top and the ultimate responsibility rests there. I can think of no better reason for why the District must launch a search for a new Superintendent and a new CFO. The current tandem has demonstrated that they are not up to the task. To expect different results next year with the same people doing the work is insanity. It is not going to happen. This is not the first year that Jara and Kinneer have been in charge, but it should be the last year.

I wholly agree with Steve that John Dick is a voice in the wilderness. No other Board member has said diddley squat about the Auditor General’s report. What will it take to raise the ire of the passive Board? The Board sits there meeting after meeting looking like the faces on Mt. Rushmore and they say about the same. I refer to the Board as “Winken, Blinken and Nod” or perhaps the three monkeys who “see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil”. They provide no direction, no oversight. Apparently, the current Board, John as an exception, views their responsibility as rubber stamping whatever the Superintendent likes. John has called for heads to roll. Will the other Board members join him?

Perhaps the opinion that nothing will change until the state takes over is accurate. The Board lacks the internal will to make change, principally in personnel. Maybe what we need is the boys from Tallahassee to come in and impose change upon us.

Larry

Larry Murray

Fiscal Watchdog and Citizen Advocate

Candidate

Monroe County School Board

District 3

(305) 827-3087

My rejoinder, copied to Steve:

Hi, Larry.

Gratefully, I can’t take any credit for this fine mess, which I think runs a heap deeper and longer in time than the Superintendent and CFO.

Probably much of the blame can be laid on the School Board not having any say so over who the Superintendent would be, meaning much of the blame can be laid on the voters through Randy Acevedo being elected, and on two Florida Governors for Randy’s successive replacements after he was indicted and removed from office by the first Governor.

The School Board will lose that excuse when it is able to hire its own Superintendent early next year. Meanwhile, the Board has a Superintendent it can’t make do anything he doesn’t want to do, or stop doing anything he doesn’t want to stop doing, because he answers to the second Governor, not to the School Board.

Beyond that fine mess, right, there is an entrenched, perhaps genetic indigenous SNAFU virus that seems to own this school district. Maybe two John Dick clones on the School Board, to give John a majority, will lead to the extermination of the virus. But then, maybe the virus is like AIDS and is not vulnerable to extermination by humans, since its evolutionary (some say it was made in a US military lab) mission is to exterminate humans.

The problem I have with the State coming in and taking over this fine mess is the State is married to the FCAT, which is another kind of terminal virus. Perhaps a more practical and more humane solution is to close the schools altogether, repeal the county education taxes, lay off (fire) all school district employees, and let students take those online courses Key West High School already pioneered and proved get students passing grades and graduation certificates. Although graduation to what might be a bit uncertain. Let the State pay for the online courses, of course.

Imagine the reduction in traffic on US 1 week day mornings and afternoons, with no kids being driven to and from school by parents and school buses. Maybe the school buses could be hauled out to sea and sunk as artificial reefs. Probably wouldn’t hear any more about gay-bashing at KWHS, either. Let parents who want to keep sending their kids to a school building, to be taught by humans, pay for it. They have to pay for babysitting in other situations, don’t they? And they won’t be paying local school taxes, will they? Oh, how could I forget? Real property owners pay local school taxes. All other parents send their children to school for free, don’t they?

If I were a school teacher in the Keys, paid as good as I am, working less days, less weeks even, than most people I know, I would be darn anxious to see the schools not be closed and my job not be terminated. I would be doing all I could to make this school district better. But I am not a teacher. I would be run out of my class on a rail by parents within a week or two of telling their kids about things they never will hear about at home, in church, on television, or in any book in the school library, or by their friends. Education has a somewhat different meaning to me than what it means to mainstream.

Meanwhile, I got into it again earlier today with the mom of the gay boy who was bashed at Key West High School, and maybe I will publish that, along with this loony toon you egged outta me, in tomorrow’s harangue. Thanks for keeping the printing press from gathering much rust. I’m not going to tell you about a nap dream I had today, which scared the living hell out of me because it left me wondering if I’m going to be made to run for the School Board this year, my sentiments about that irrelevant. Hopefully, I just imagined that might be what the dream meant.

Sloan

Noticed these comments at goodmorningfloridakeys.com:
caroljking2002@yahoo.com
Submitted on
2012/02/16 at 8:32 pm
Sloan sent me an email questioning my son’s newly dyed pink hair. I dyed it for him a week after the incident at the high school. He requested it as a way to stand up for himself. Apparently, the school and School Board have nothing better to do than to talk about my son’s hair. Perhaps I should shave his head? Or should I tell him that he needs to dye his hair back so that he won’t get bullied?
I’ve never been so disgusted with a school system in my life and I’ve lived in Oklahoma.

caroljking2002@yahoo.com
Submitted on
2012/02/17 at 9:41 am
My son is still at Key West High School because that’s what HE wants for now. As for his hair, again I liken it to the “She must have deserved it because of what she was wearing” excuse for rape. All the bullying happened BEFORE he chose to dye his hair. Maybe I should tell him to hide being gay here in the town of “diversity”. Maybe I should tell that now that his hair has been dyed, he’s “asking for it”.
He thanks everyone for their support as do I. However, WE do not cut and run when someone else thinks we should. If Cary choose to stay at KWHS, that’s his decision. That decision DOES NOT give anyone the right to harass him regardless of his hair color.
As far as I’m concerned this matter is closed. If it happens again, instead of contacting the administration or the paper, I’ll contact an attorney.
?
caroljking2002@yahoo.com

tiftoo@gmail.com
Submitted on
2012/02/18 at 5:59 am
Decades ago, I was introduced to this philosophy of Rabbi Hillel:
If I am not for myself, who will be for me? But if I am only for myself, what am I? And if not now, WHEN?
Obviously, Mr. Bashinsky is clueless and not the ally in a fight for civil rights I thought he might be. To suggest that we are irresponsible and that Cary should not take a stand is ludicrous, especially in supposedly tolerant Key West. As usual, people here aren’t what they seem, and couldn’t care less about anyone except themselves. Key West is still stuck in the “Me” decade, something that the rest of us saw pass quickly thirty years ago on the West Coast.
Mark D. Firestone
?
tiftoo@gmail.com

caroljking2002@yahoo.com
Submitted on
2012/02/18 at 7:27 am
Sloan:
Again, I thank you for your original post bringing this issue to light. However, I draw the line at suddenly castigating me and questioning my parenting skills solely because my son chose to dye his hair AFTER he was bullied as an attempt to stand up for himself. My son is nearly 18. He has to learn to make decisions for himself. If he was younger, there would be no question as to what he would be doing.
Further, DO NOT make assumptions or assertions about Mark or myself based on a couple of emails. Neither I nor my son are “dominated” by Mark. In fact, my son told me the other day that he knew he was gay in middle school. That was long before I ever met Mark.
As I have said ad nauseum, my purpose in writing that letter to editor was to bring what I think is a problem to the forefront, not only for my son but for other kids at KWHS. That is still my purpose. I am standing up for ALL kids who are bullied.
?
caroljking2002@yahoo.com

caroljking2002@yahoo.com
Submitted on
2012/02/25 at 4:43 pm
Here’s an update for you. I met with the principal on Friday at the charter school. Unfortunately, my son cannot transfer there because they do not have all the classes he needs to graduate. The classes are all AP or Honors and English III is not even offered.
?

I replied to the website:

Apologies, only just a little while ago saw your and Mark’s additional comments to goodmorningfloridakeys.com. I don’t get tickers for new comments from subscribers, and only if I actually go into the comments part of the website do I see their new comments.

Sorry to hear Cary will not go to school somewhere else. You took a long time checking with the Charter high school. Doesn‘t indicate you were worried about him. I hope Cary is left alone at KWHS, as Cary, you and Mark surely hope that, too.

I don’t care what color Cary’s hair is. But when you write to me that he is just an ordinary boy who just also happens to be gay, who doesn’t draw attention to himself, he doesn’t do things like paint his nails or wear make up, and you “forgot”, as you wrote later, to tell me Cary had recently dyed his hair pink as a way of standing up for himself, well, all of a sudden I wonder what else might be in play you “forgot” to tell me, and I wonder what Cary could have done that would have drawn more attention to himself and gotten into the gay-basher’s faces?

Not that dying his hair pink even before the gay-bashing began would have justified even a molecule of what those kids did to Cary, and what that substitute teacher stood by and let happen, and how the school administration kept not dealing with it. As I recall, I am the one who told you more than once to go to the State Attorney and the ACLU. As I recall, I am the one who called for the responsible administrators, including the principal, to be FIRED.

You told me you took your other son out of KWHS, when you feared for his safety, and you are home-schooling him. I could take that to mean you do not fear, never did fear for Cary’s safety at KWHS. Well, I feared for his safety there as soon as I saw your letter to the editor in the Citizen, and I feared for his safety every time I went after the School District and that school and the School Board over it in posts to my websites and the Coconut Telegraph of bigpinekey.com. I feared for his safety because I know what kind of scum live in the Keys, who live by their own rules and don’t give a tinker’s damn for society’s rules.

I agree, Cary needs to start making his own decisions. Did you let him do that when you wrote your letter to the editor which put him squarely in the headlights? Did you tell Cary to write his own letter to the editor and send it in, or to write it to go in with yours? I have not heard a peep from Cary even yet. Only from you and Mark, who went rabid over my civil rights stance. I did not see Mark challenge the gay-bashers to meet with him behind closed doors at KWHS, which I did twice.

You and Mark can stick your Sloan isn’t for civil rights where the sun doesn’t shine. I don’t see either of you doing anything for anyone’s civil rights, other than Cary’s. I beat that drum ongoing across the board in the Keys, and elsewhere. I told you a number of times how to enforce Cary’s civil rights and you chose to try to negotiate with the Keys version of the KKK instead, which baffled me because you are a Conch and know what it is like down here in the Keys. You never will get them to change on this point, because they are seriously prejudiced against homosexuality. It is about the same as being in their genes.

And, you are right, it is disgusting. As is the Superintendent of Schools not intervening and kicking ass. And the School Board not intervening and kicking the Superintendent’s ass, and the principal’s ass. And the gay Key West police chief not launching an investigation, since it happened on his beat and watch. What Cary proved, sadly, is One Human Family is nothing more than window dressing in Key West, something the City Commission went along with to appease and attract gays because gays tend to be affluent, and we all know down here just how important money is to Key West. Maybe it goes back to the pirate, smuggling and shipwrecking era, Key West’s love of money about which I have written plenty lately re the city’s Tree Nazis.

FYI, the Key West Business Guild, which started out as a gay business organization and most of its members are gay today, sent a hard copy letter signed by the Guild members, I was told by one of the Guild’s officers who is not gay, to Key West High School saying they are aware of what happened and are watching. Hard copies were mailed to the Superintendent and the School Board members. I learned of this maybe ten days ago. So far, the Guild is waiting to hear back from the recipients. Looks to me the recipients have given their reply.

I told this Guild officer just a few minutes ago on the telephone, if I were on the School Board, as soon as I got wind of this I would have called Bill Becker and told him I was going to be on US 1 Radio with him the next morning, and what about. I told this Guild officer, every School Board member should have done that.

Sloan

keysmyhome@hotmail.com

Posted in Today's FlaKey Drivel | No Comments »

School District – broke beyond repair?

Sunday, February 26th, 2012

There is a how to stop the Key West Tree Commies post in Today’s Cock-a-doodle doo at goodmorningkeywest.com today. Meanwhile …

Reply to the school district part of yesterday’s State Mental School District audit from a retired accountant snowbird friend, who once worked for the IRS.

Sloan,
I read your post and the Citizen article. It appears there is no malfeasance here and maybe a small amount of misfeasance. I was on an elected school board in suburban Philadelphia for eight years and they paid their CFO in 1997 more than our guy is getting today. It seems to me that you have to give him another year to improve the accuracy of expenditure classification. However, I agree there should be no more misfeasance. And, if the Board decides to dump the CFO, they should also not select Jara if he is a candidate to be the Super since he bears responsibility as well. Again, it appears to me that there was no hanky panky like there was four years ago.

I replied:

I agree, doesn’t look like malfeasance, more like our gang comedy or keystone cops, but the taxpayer pays for it.

Here is The Citizen article, to which I provided a link in yesterday‘s post:

School audit shows recurring issues
Preliminary state report cites accounting and reporting deficiencies
BY GWEN FILOSA Citizen Staff

gfilosa@keysnews.com
The Monroe County School District continues to fall short in basic financial accounting and reporting, according to a preliminary report by the state auditor general.
Received by the School District on Wednesday, and released Friday, the audit of fiscal year 2011 reflects the same theme as the audit conducted the prior year:
Improvements needed in “controls” over food service and day care collections, gasoline use, and in properly reporting on financial statements.
“Sloppy work and sloppy controls,” said School Board Chairman John Dick, who faulted administrative staff for failing to install proper accounting. “It shows, still, a severe lack of financial accounting. This should have been corrected by now. It means we don’t have the right people in place.”
Dick said that he hopes Superintendent Jesus Jara knows that the audit findings indicate that “heads have got to roll on this.”
Jara said he wasn’t pleased with the preliminary audit, namely the repetition of issues from years prior.
“There are repetitive findings that we need to have the initiative to address so they won’t show up again next year,” said Jara. “We need accountability.”
The district has 30 days in which to respond to the auditor general. Jara said Friday that he disagrees with at least three of the 18 findings of concern, including the audit’s questioning of $160,000 in costs to a federal Child Nutrition Cluster program.
The district erred in reporting property under capital leases as $3.2 million, the auditor found. That amount included assets that were no longer under capital lease, and was off by $1 million.
Other costs were erroneously included in capital assets, the audit said.
The district reported food revenues of $1.2 million for the 2010-11 fiscal year from its 16 schools. But instead of using the point-of-sale computer system to record the revenue by student payment “state” — such as reduced price or free — and type of meals, revenues were posted to the general ledger from bank deposits.
From July 2010 through June 2011, the district did not prepare records that compared bank deposits to amounts reported in the point-of-sale system.
“Without timely reconciliations performed by district personnel, there is increased risk that errors or fraud, should they occur, may not be detected timely,” the audit noted.
Similar problems were reported in the prior year’s audit.
Cash collections from after-school day care and adult education programs also drew concern from the auditor.
Poinciana Elementary collected after-school day care fees of $251,808 for the 2010-11 fiscal year, while Gerald Adams Elementary collected $93,524. At each school, only one employee had control over the collections, a risky way of handling the money if an error or fraud were to occur, the auditor said.
Almost $14,000 in fees from the cosmetology adult education program were wrongly deposited in the district’s school internal accounts, contrary to the state’s guidelines that they be accounted for as general fund revenue.
Accountability had its failings, too, according to the audit. The district bought 1,848 laptop computers, 766 tablet computers and other related equipment and software between 2005 and 2008, for a total of more than $3.5 million. But the items were never included in the district’s personal property records nor in annual physical inventories.
District personnel told the state that was because the equipment was bought through a capital lease instead of a direct purchase.
The district is required by law to maintain adequate records of furniture, fixtures and equipment, including motor vehicles as “tangible personal property” and conduct an annual inventory.
The district did report assets of furniture, fixtures and equipment worth $18.9 million, $7.8 million in motor vehicles and $3.9 million in computer software and audio/visual materials.
“Does anybody know how much money we have?” Dick said. “This should have been corrected by now. It’s past the time.”

++++++++++++++++++++++++

Also yesterday from a “retired” member of the School Board, who was aligned with School Board Chairman John Dick against what was generally viewed as an irresponsible “gang of three”, which included Andy Griffiths, now running for his 6^th term on the School Board.

From: steven@pribramskyzuelch.com
To: keysmyhome@hotmail.com
Subject: RE: School District and Keys Energy audits
Date: Sat, 25 Feb 2012 21:38:12 +0000

Sloan, sorry I didn’t get back to you sooner, it has been a very busy tax season for us. I don’t have a lot to say about the HOB construction other than I had wanted to know, prior to my vote approving the funding, who we could sue if something got screwed up. I got into my most heated discussion with a construction consultant named Bruce Halleck who kept telling me nothing was going to go wrong and what a great team we had. Frankly I got quite frustrated and I pressed Dr. Burke, and the others as I did not buy any of Halleck’s BS. Unfortunately Andy Griffiths cut me off and I never got an answer to my question. Hindsight is 20-20 I guess. Shocking that Smith Martin praised and thanked the overseers at the last Board meeting. I would have asked them all who their E&O carriers are so we could put them on notice of a forthcoming claim.

I am writing to express my disgust at the school district’s audit results. I did not get a chance to hear John Dick on the radio but I kept saying (when I saw on the Board mostly after the financial scandal) that if you have the same people doing the same jobs and expect different results, you have just defined insanity. I don’t care whether we added Dr. Burke, Dr. Jara or Michael Kinner, there was not going to be substantial progress until the whole financial department was replaced.

In my opinion, that is a group of grossly over-paid bureaucrats who complain about how over worked they are because they don’t understand modern accounting practices. I am not surprised by the results but I am terribly disappointed that not much has really changed or been fixed when it comes to simple day to day accounting and financial reporting functions.

Lastly, I can only wonder when one of the other four Board members are going to get some guts and help John Dick demand changes. I either see these guys a sleep at the table or so politically calculating that they refuse to stand up for the taxpayers and feed the public a bunch of big words (generally used in the wrong context) or political mumbo jumbo while all the while undermining what John Dick is trying to do, which is stand up for the taxpayers so our kids can get their money’s worth out of our education system. Sorry to go on here, I guess these issues hit a hot button with me and brought to mind some prior frustrations I had when I was on the Board. Good luck and have a good weekend

Steve

I found myself thinking last night, if I were John Dick and was again left being “the minority report” with no power, I would resign from the School Board. As I wrote in yesterday’s post, if John does not get two allies on the School Board, there is nothing he can do to change what needs to be changed. He learned that when he had Steve on the School Board with him. In my opinion, someone with clout needs to run against Andy Griffiths and beat him. I know Andy, I like him, but he just doesn’t have it in him to be the cold-blooded fiscal assassin this school system needs on its School Board. With as much as perhaps another $7 million in spending cuts required to balance the fiscal year budget beginning July 1, it may well be the State needs to take over this school system altogether because it is beyond fiscal repair locally.

Sloan Bashinsky

keysmyhome@hotmail.com

Posted in Today's FlaKey Drivel | 4 Comments »

State Mental School District audit

Saturday, February 25th, 2012

Keys Energy Services gets indicted today in the ongoing Grand Jury proceeding in Key West, which you can read all about by going to goodmorningkeywest.com and opening the Today’s Cock-a-Doodle Do file. Meanwhile, you can read The Citizen’s – keysnews.com – response to the State’s audit coming down hard on the School District. Or, and, you can read a more unrestrained response, starting with this from School Board and Superintendent of Schools candidate Larry Murray.

Date: Fri, 24 Feb 2012 18:21:22 -0800
From: citizenlarry007@yahoo.com
Subject: State Auditor’s Report–Your Commentary
To: john.dick@keysschools.com
CC: skessler@kesslerlegal.com; keysmyhome@hotmail.com; gfilosa@keysnews.com; skinney@keynoter.com

John: [Chairman of the School Board]

I listened with great interest today to your commentary about the State Auditor’s report on Live at Five with Ezra Marcus. You certainly spoke very forcefully and made your opinions crystal clear.

I was particularly taken by your insistence that District staff, whoever it may be, be held accountable for the myriad of financial problems identified by the State Auditor. I wholly concur with your observation that personnel changes must be made, that “heads must roll”. The District has a history of not holding people accountable and your promise that that must change is welcome and encouraging.

I expect that you will follow through with the pressure that you plan to place on Superintendent Jara to make all the necessary personnel changes. It would be tragic if what you said today appeared to be just so much bluff and bluster, posturing if you will.

I plan to closely monitor your activities in this regard and expect that you will do everything within your power to hold accountable those responsible for the District’s financial failures. June 30 is not that far away and that is the date by which decisions must be made for employees on annual appointment. Per your commentary, I expect that a number of people currently employed will not be on the School District payroll as of July 1.

As you determine your plans, permit me to offer the following. The dismal financial report prepared by the State Auditor is an assessment of the proficiency of the District’s Chief Financial Officer. Michael Kinneer is the first CFO in District history and is handsomely paid, $124,000 per year. That is a princely sum for someone who is not doing the job. I believe, and the State Auditor’s report verifies, that Kinneer is not up to the task and should be the first person replaced. It was not that long ago that Harry Truman used to say “The buck stops here.” It would be most unfortunate for the axe to be wielded on some low-ranking underlings while those at the top skate free.

Bear in mind as you evaluate the CFO’s performance what Superintendent Jara said at the November meeting of the Audit and Finance Committee: “Michael and I are joined at the hip.” I interpret that to mean that the Superintendent stands by and takes full responsibility for his subordinate’s actions. His statement made it very clear to me that should he continue as Superintendent, Michael Kinneer will continue as CFO. Is that an acceptable scenario for you?

I believe that you suggested to Ezra Marcus your acceptance of a definition of insanity. That is, doing the same thing over and over again while expecting different results. I do not know how it is possible for the District to correct its financial woes so long as the same people are in the same positions doing the same thing. That is why, among other reasons, I strongly urged you recently to insist that the District hire a professional, competent and skilled Purchasing Agent.

There are a great many highly paid individuals in the Henriquez Building including the Finance Department who simply are not performing to their salaries. I would not feel quite so bad about the bloated salaries if the people were doing outstanding work. But, as the State Auditor’s report clearly demonstrates, what the District is receiving is hardly outstanding performance.

Also, as you try to get to the bottom of this situation, bear in mind that the Board hired an “assistant”, an Internal Auditor to help it plumb the depths and recesses of the District’s finances. Again, the Internal Auditor is another highly paid functionary, $120,000 per year. I ask you: What did the Internal Audtior do to prevent the continuing financial difficulties that beset the District?

I made a Public Records Request for copies of all of the routine audits conducted by the Internal Auditor in 2011. What did I receive back? Nothing. No routine audits were conducted during the year.

The Internal Auditor is supposed to be the Board’s eyes and ears when it comes to District financial practices and yet the Board was blindsided by the State Auditor’s report. As you assess responsibility for this debacle, I strongly urge you to take a close look at the performance or lack thereof of the Internal Auditor.

The Audit and Finance Committee has worked very hard the last two years to promote improved financial practices by the District. Unfortunately, the CFO and others have been largely uncooperative and have done their best to undermine the initiatives of the AFC. From the Superintendent down, promises have been made and then routinely ignored. At present, the AFC is spinning its wheels at best. Unless there are some significant changes in the Administration as you suggest and promise, that unproductive wheel-spinning will continue. Without the cooperation of the Administration and the Internal Auditor who works more and more for the Administration, the AFC is impotent.

John, I stand by to assist you in any way that I can to clean up the mess on Trumbo Road. You went to the voters and asked them to give the School District another $9.5 million, the .5 mil referendum. Do you not think that the voters deserve to have that money spent intelligently and wisely? I certainly believe so and expect that you do. Now is the time to work together.

Larry

Larry Murray

Fiscal Watchdog and Citizen Advocate

Candidate

Monroe County School Board

District 3

(305) 827-3087

From: keysmyhome@hotmail.com
To: citizenlarry0007@yahoo.com; john.dick@keysschools.com
CC: skessler@kesslerlegal.com; gfilosa@keysnews.com; skinney@keynoter.com
Subject: Well, hell! State Auditor’s Report–Your Commentary
Date: Fri, 24 Feb 2012 22:02:32 -0500

Hi, Larry and others …

I suppose no one who attended only a few School Board and Audit & Finance Committee meetings is surprised by the State’s report, about which I knew nothing until maybe 2 hours ago, when someone called me about the US 1 Radio interview after it was long over. I was told by this person that [School Board member] Andy Griffiths had gotten wind of the State’s report and had said he didn’t want to see it because he knew it would be bad. I laughed, said, “Andy never wants to see anything bad.” Now he is running again, for his sixth stint on the School Board. All the bragging he and Superintendent Jara have been doing lately in the press about how good the Schools are performing, maybe the Griffiths Rule should be changed to “Praise in public, forget everything else.” John, you and Steve Pribramsky learned in spades that not even two dedicated board members can make the drastic – or would draconian work better? – interventions needed to straighten an obviously insane school operation. Does this still somewhat new School Board have the spine to do what has never been done before? Do you stand alone, John? Will two of the other four bring out the brass knuckles and sharp knives and actually do something? Time will tell. Meanwhile, if you have been following the varieties of insanity I have had the great misfortune to publish in the past few months, some about school system insanity, some about other pockets and enclaves of insanity scattered throughout the Keys, but especially concentrated in Key West, the Capitol of the State Mental, you might just say what the hell and throw in the towel because everyone knows there is no known cure for insanity. On that point, I offer myself as the State Mental’s Exhibit 1. I’m serious. It affirmatively appears insanity is genetic in the Florida Keys. I realized that years ago, which had a great deal with why I never wanted to get elected in six runs for office in the Asteroid Belt. Who would want to be an elected official in the State Mental? There were other reasons I never wanted to get elected, but that one was plenty of reason alone. I see there now are 4 lunatics running for Duncan Matthewson’s seat on the School Board, and it won’t surprise me to see even more filings for that seat. So far, Andy Griffiths has no opposition. A 5-termer, in the face of this INDICTMENT from the State, he feels he has the qualifications to run again? Of course he thinks that. This is the State Mental!!! For the same reason, Larry, you want to be on the School Board, as do the other 3 candidates for Duncan’s seat. I ass-u-me Duncan finally saw the insanity for what it is and will not run for re-election this year. If so, bravo to you, Duncan!

Sloan

keysmyhome@hotmail.com

?

Posted in Today's FlaKey Drivel | No Comments »

Will the real Keys Energy Services please stand up?

Saturday, February 25th, 2012

Received this yesterday from Barry Barroso, member of the Utility Board of Key West, aka Keys Energy Services, in repy to the Keys Energy parts of the recent two praise reports, two more Tree Nazis indictments, Florida Keys post. Lynne is Lynne Tejeda, CEO of Keys Energy Services.

To: keysmyhome@hotmail.com
Subject: Re: FYI – Keys Energy power lines in Key West city trees
From: cerlowkeypl@aol.com
Date: Fri, 24 Feb 2012 06:15:55 -0500

Lynne, Is this accurate? If so, then we need to address it. If not, then we should try to educate the public on what is our policy. Should Mr. Eden be advising us on these legal matters? Why are we not posturing as a business? It appears to me that our approach to legal matters is wait and see, then hire an expert in the field! This issue is not going away. I know what I want to do.

Barry L. Barroso Jr.

Certified Lower Keys Plumbing Inc.
1014 White St.
Key West, Fl. 33040
305-296-5959/ fax: 305-294-2462

From: keysmyhome@hotmail.com
To: cerlowkeypl@aol.com
CC: lou.hernandez@keysenergy.com; peter.batty@keysenergy.com; charlie.bradford@keysenergy.com; mona.clark@keysenergy.com; barry.barroso@keysenergy.com; lynne.tejeda@keysenergy.com; janesjunglework@gmail.com
Subject: RE: FYI – Keys Energy power lines in Key West city trees
Date: Fri, 24 Feb 2012 10:18:44 -0500

Hi, Barry. Thanks for responding.

Posturing and policy? Should not Keys Energy Services abide by the law regardless of how Key West feels about it? Or is Key West the owner and boss of Keys Energy Services?

I still await clarification from you re my Freedom of Information Request: What is the true corporate nature of Keys Energy Services, and what independent government agency, if any, regulates and oversights it?

Sandy Downs (Janesjunglework.com), owner and manager of Tarzan Tree Care, Inc., told me she met for 4 hours yesterday with the felony division of the State Attorney’s office. She said, among the topics for which that division showed keen interest and concern, one was Keys Energy Services not trimming trees away from its power lines in Old Town Key West. Sandy told me Keys Energy Services trims trees away from power lines elsewhere in Key West and throughout the rest of its terroritory up to Marathon.

I am pretty sure corporate board members of private companies or public utilities can be prosecuted criminally for not trying to stop their corporation from breaking the law, after they have become aware of the law-breaking and do nothing to try to stop it. I am pretty sure they also can be prosecuted civilly for personal injuries or death caused by the law-breaking, after they become aware of and do nothing to try to stop it.

All Keys Energy Utility Board members now are apprised of the law-breaking, as are you, Lynne. As CEO, you have the same exposure.

Please, Lynne, foward this email to Board member Charles Bradshaw, to make sure his copy reaches him, as you did for me after what I emailed to all of you yesterday was returned by his email server.
Thanks,

Sloan

She wrote back: I had used Charles instead of Charlie in his email address.

To: keysmyhome@hotmail.com
Subject: Re: FYI – Keys Energy power lines in Key West city trees
From: cerlowkeypl@aol.com
Date: Fri, 24 Feb 2012 10:39:49 -0500

Sloan, Maybe you and Sandy should address the board with the concerns that you have stated. I am sure we will provide you with an explanation. If you want to schedule a meeting with Keys Energy let us know and we will accommodate you. Thanks for being active.

Barry L. Barroso Jr.Certified Lower Keys Plumbing Inc.
1014 White St.
Key West, Fl. 33040
305-296-5959/ fax: 305-294-2462

From: sloan bashinsky <keysmyhome@hotmail.com>
To: cerlowkeypl <cerlowkeypl@aol.com>
Cc: lou.hernandez <lou.hernandez@keysenergy.com>; peter.batty <peter.batty@keysenergy.com>; charlie.bradford <charlie.bradford@keysenergy.com>; mona.clark <mona.clark@keysenergy.com>; barry.barroso <barry.barroso@keysenergy.com>; lynne.tejeda <lynne.tejeda@keysenergy.com>; Sandy Riddle <janesjunglework@gmail.com>
Sent: Fri, Feb 24, 2012 11:44 am
Subject: RE: FYI – Keys Energy power lines in Key West city trees

Barry, I did address Keys Energy Services’ Board members, and its CEO Lynne Tejeda, with my concerns, via two prior emails couched, if you wished, as Freedom of Information Act Requests. Please stop posturing and either you, or another Board member, or Lynne, answer my questions already stated via return email.

The public is entitled to know the true corporate nature of Keys Energy Services: Who owns/runs it, and what independent government agency, if any, regulates and oversights it? And why Keys Energy Services is not trimming trees away from its power lines in Old Town Key West, as required by law?

These are very simple questions any of Board Member, and CEO Lynne, should be able to answer in writing without even thinking about it, given your upper echelon positions with Keys Energy Services. The only reasons I can imagine not already receiving your individual and/or collective answers is the privilege against self-incrimination provided by the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution and/or you are you worried about queering the extend-power-to No Name Key case if you answer my questions. My questions, Barry, not Sandy’s.

Maybe it was not inadverdent that I spelled territory, terroritory, in my next previous email to you.

I am copying all of this to State Attorney Dennis Ward, Tim O’Hara at The Citizen, Sean Kinney at the Keynoter, Dennis Reeves Cooper at Key West the Newspaper, Bill Becker at US 1 Radio, and Mat Gardi at nakedconch.com and KONK Radio.

Sloan

To: keysmyhome@hotmail.com
Subject: Re: FYI – Keys Energy power lines in Key West city trees
From: cerlowkeypl@aol.com
Date: Fri, 24 Feb 2012 12:20:20 -0500

Sloan, Give me some time to look into the matter. I will find out and get back to you. Thanks for your input.

1.The public is entitled to know the true corporate nature of Keys Energy Services: Who owns/runs it, and what independent government agency, if any, regulates and oversights it?

2.And why Keys Energy Services is not trimming trees away from its power lines in Old Town Key West, as required by law?

Barry L. Barroso Jr.Certified Lower Keys Plumbing Inc.
1014 White St.
Key West, Fl. 33040
305-296-5959/ fax: 305-294-2462

From: keysmyhome@hotmail.com
To: lou.hernandez@keysenergy.com; peter.batty@keysenergy.com; charlie.bradford@keysenergy.com; mona.clark@keysenergy.com; barry.barroso@keysenergy.com; lynne.tejeda@keysenergy.com
Subject: Keys Energy enabling statute begs the questions I posed
Date: Fri, 24 Feb 2012 14:03:46 -0500

Hi, Lynne. Thanks for sending the Florida Legislature’s enabling statute for the Utility Board of the City of Key West, aka Keys Energy Services, if I read the enabling statute correctly?

Looks like the Key West Utility Board, aka Keys Energy Services, was created to replace an older utility board/electric company owned and operated by Key West, if I read the enabling statute correctly?

Looks to me like the second incarnation is independent of the City of Key West in most but not all respects, if I read the enabling statute correctly?

That partially answers part of my first question, but not my other questions, all as fed back to me in this email below from Barry Barroso. [see Barry's email above.]

Thanks,

Sloan

From: keysmyhome@hotmail.com
To: lou.hernandez@keysenergy.com; peter.batty@keysenergy.com; charles.bradford@keysenergy.com; mona.clark@keysenergy.com; barry.barroso@keysenergy.com; lynne.tejeda@keysenergy.com
Subject: RE: Keys Energy enabling statute begs the questions I posed
Date: Fri, 24 Feb 2012 15:00:27 -0500

Board members, Lynne:

My recent emails with you prompted this below from Sandy Riddle (Downs). Toward the end, she raises the Mayor’s Revolving Loan Fund from Keys Energy Services. What is that about? If you wish, also treat that as a Freedom of Information Act request.

Thanks,

Sloan Bashinsky

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Sloan, Please forward this to Keys Energy Board members, if you will, and to any other person or entity who needs to read it. Sandy

To Whom this Concerns,

When my son died in May of 2005, a lawsuit was filed and Keys Energy named a defendant. I was deposed by Keys Energy and my attorney Marc Ginsberg attended the deposition. We told Keys Energy the row of palms on City property directly under their power lines had caused my son’s death according to the experts we hired. The palm trees were tangled in the power lines adjacent to where my son was and the palm frond on the tree he was on touched the palm frond under the lines and my son was electrocuted. The palms under the power lines had been trimmed the day prior and an unexplained blackout had occurred in Key West exactly the time the trimming of those palms under the power lines took place. The lines were “nicked” evidently and Keys Energy took no action to replace those lines or find the cause of the blackout. When my son died, within hours Keys Energy had taken those lines down, replaced them and destroyed the original lines. At the deposition Keys Energy blamed me for my son’s death and tried to say it was my negligence, not theirs that had caused my son to die. They tried to “go places” in that deposition that caused my attorney to be so outraged, he stood up and almost went over the table with his fists.

Keys Energy claimed at the time they were a public utility company with limits of $100,000.00 they could be sued for. For months, I told my attorney I would spend every penny of the settlement from the others named that had already paid into the escrow fund, to go after Keys Energy to make them comply with tree trimming throughout the City of Key West. My attorney said I would be spending millions to fight them for $100,000 and he wanted no part of it. I told him it wasn’t about the money, it was about their arrogant posture that they didn’t care if someone died because the most it would cost them and/or their insurance company was a pitiful $100,000.00. Keys Energy took the row of palms down that had caused my son’s death and in so doing conceded they were a hazard, yet left identical situations all over Key West….rows of palms in power lines. I gave the pictures to the State Attorney yesterday that were taken last month to show that Keys Energy still allows life threatening situations to remain all the while they know the certain and grave consequences which will be caused by their failure to correct these situations. A failure they willingly condone and refuse to correct or take action to remedy.

Keys Energy voluntarily gave a couple thousand dollars as their settlement in my son’s case, trying to classify it as a “nuisance case”…so they could go on with business as usual….leave emergency situations unattended to and bully anyone who tried to make them comply with federal regulations. Keys Energy knew in 2005 that their refusal to clear lines had caused death and injuries repeatedly throughout the City of Key West. One of their elected board members [Charles Bradford] sits on the editorial board of the Citizen. Nothing is written negatively about Keys Energy in the Citizen, and they make sure it never will. Editor Tom Tuell has at all times refused to print anything about their negligence. Tom Tuell also has known for 2 years about the illegal actions of Cynthia Snell and the Tree Commission but at all times shooed me off and refused to write about it even when his reporters wanted to. Tom Tuell tells them I am not credible, or crazy or whatever, to persuade them to not write about issues I bring to them. Even when I give them concrete evidence to support what I tell them. Nothing, not a peep of it goes in the Citizen.

Since 2005, Keys Energy has blatantly refused to correct this grave situation, and continued their support of line clearance interference by the City of Key West who profits from Keys Energy’s profits. Profits are gained by electing to NOT do line clearing in accordance to federal regulations. Profits so generously and without explanation that are shared with the City of Key West who is said to own Keys Energy on the Keys Energy website, which Keys Energy explains away as untrue even though it still says this on their website. Keys Energy has a 5 member elected Board which they say is why they classify themselves as not being privately owned anymore. The 5 member elected Board eliminates the Public Utility Commission from having oversight of Keys Energy. The Board of Keys Energy is carefully composed of people who will go along with whatever Keys Energy business as usual is. Are they admitting their posture is just a “posture” and not active? Are they admitting their Board is not overseeing Keys Energy? Are they admitting this elected Board does nothing more than just intimidate people who complain about Keys Energy? Are they admitting their Board was created for the sole purpose of eliminating REAL oversight? It seems apparent that the Board does not have oversight either, when they go to Lynn Tejeda as to what to do. The Board knows what to do, call in the Feds to rein in Keys Energy because they won’t or can’t do it.

Everyone in the City of Key West refused to rein in the Tree Commission and Cynthia Snell who was acting without any authority while they illegally obtained millions of dollars from homeowners in a racketeering enterprise. The City Manager is required to sit on the Tree Commission Board, but elected to negate that duty so as to relieve him from liability if they got caught. He is wrong to assume he is not a party to the criminal actions just because he didn’t actively participate in it. He allowed it to go on by his negligence of not sitting on the Commission as required in their ordinances that he do. His refusal to meet his duty allowed the criminal enterprise free rein to operate, while he could then claim he had no idea it was going on.

The exact same thing is happening in Keys Energy. The Board neglected to provide oversight and to require the UVM [Utility Vegetation Management] to be compliant with federal regulations. It is their responsibility to fulfill their duties and to be educated as to this enormous responsibility of that elected position. What were they doing at their Board meetings, discussing how to increase rates and profits? Isn’t the #1 responsibility to provide SAFE and EFFICIENT electricity? Isn’t it their responsibility to understand safety of electricity? The Board members ignorance is unacceptable. The money given to the City of Key West by Keys Energy every year is unexplained and maybe illegal, I have learned. The Mayor’s Revolving Loan Fund from Keys Energy …what is THIS? And why does the Mayor have a loan fund? Is Keys Energy the City Mayor’s bank?

Criminal on the part of the Board of Keys Energy in refusing to fulfill their official duties. Refusing to fulfill your official duties is misconduct and eliminates your ability to claim immunity in lawsuits. BEWARE negligent officials, Keys Energy elected Board, Jim Scholl. BEWARE Tom Tuell and the Citizen who participates in the cover ups.

Who do these people answer to, who tells them what to say and do? Clearly they are not in charge.

Sandy Downs

Subject: RE: Keys Energy enabling statute begs the questions I posed
Date: Fri, 24 Feb 2012 15:24:08 -0500
From: Lynne.Tejeda@KeysEnergy.com
To: keysmyhome@hotmail.com

Sloan,

KEYS does not fund a Mayor’s Revolving Loan Fund. I have no knowledge of such a fund; therefore I cannot provide any information.

The annual contribution to the City of Key West is specifically prescribed by formula in the Utility’s Bond Resolution which is attached.

From: keysmyhome@hotmail.com
To: lynne.tejeda@keysenergy.com
Subject: RE: Keys Energy enabling statute begs the questions I posed
Date: Fri, 24 Feb 2012 15:37:31 -0500

Sandy says the Mayor’s Revolving Loan Fund is mentioned on Keys Energy’s website. The contribution to Key West appears to be connected with a revenue bond and some prior Resolution and obligation? Was the second amending Resolution to repay a Keys Energy debt to Key West? Does Keys Energy and Key West have some sort of revenue-sharing agreement? Is there a 3rd-grader explanation, is what I’m asking? Thanks.

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I, Sloan, later learned Utility Board member Mona Clark’s cirriculum vitae shows she is on many boards and belongs to many organizations. One is the Mayor’s Revolving Loan Fund, which is a City of Key West thing and appears to have no relationship with Keys Energy Services. Nor does Mona’s (or the other Board members or Lynne Tejeda’s) cirriculum vitae have any relationship to their being able to answer simple questions they should be able to answer off the top of their heads.

Re the simple explanation of the bundle Keys Energy Services remits to Key West annually, Sandy sent me this:

Date: Fri, 24 Feb 2012 20:30:44 -0500
Subject: Keys energy
From: janesjunglework@gmail.com
To: keysmyhome@hotmail.com

Several days ago I went online and saw the Keys Energy website the generous annual gifts from the percentage of Keys Energy’s profits given to the City of Key West in appreciation of its role in creating Keys Energy; a half a million dollars per year. Today this is gone from the Keys Energy website, or else hidden somewhere I cannot find.

Now the website says the amount going to Key West is $834,000, and the explanation given is Keys Energy owes it to Key West for a debt.

Barry Barroso, an elected Board Member, replying to what you had sent to the Keys Energy Board and Lynne Tejeda, asked for explanation from Keys Energy, and asked if their attorney should be involved while answering your questions. Barry’s son, Julio, is the webmaster who operates the Keys Energy website, and now the generous contributions to the city cannot be found. Viola! More disappearing evidence in Key West!

Keys Energy, please tell me where I can find what was on your website 2 days ago, before Sloan got onto you?

Sandy Downs

And she also sent this:

Date: Fri, 24 Feb 2012 16:52:13 -0500
Subject: decent people
From: janesjunglework@gmail.com
To: keysmyhome@hotmail.comAll decent, fair, and honest people will thank us for what we are doing. We are trying to stop another person from being hurt by negligence in clearing utility lines. And we are trying to allow Keys Energy an opportunity to correct this problem before the Feds come in and make them do it along with paying millions and millions in fines. Anyone on the Board of Keys Energy or any employee of Keys Energy who does NOT APPRECIATE us for bringing this critical matter to their attention, obviously is a person who didn’t want it brought to “anyone’s attention”. Everyone at Keys Energy is being separated by their “reactions”………

now, for God to judge, and possibly State Attorney Dennis Ward or a Court at the Federal Level to prosecute.

Sandy Downs

What negligence? On purpose Keys Energy Services does not clear Old Town trees from its power lines, while Keys Energy Services clears trees from powerlines throughout the rest of its territory in the Keys. This proves Keys Energy Services is not independent of the City of Key West. By law, all Keys Energy Services Board members are required to live in Key West. Keys Energy Services still is the city’s utility company, despite the legal and other smoke and mirrors bandied about. Keys Energy Services’ Board members and CEO are personally responsible for the utility’s power lines being in the city’s trees, because the buck stops with them, and because they went along with their utility’s power lines being in Old Town trees, knowing they had a fiduciary duty to do all they could to protect the public from electrocution. That is why they did not answer my simple questions.

Sloan Bashinsky

keysmyhome@hotmail.com

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recording of last Key West Tree Commission meeting destroyed

Friday, February 24th, 2012

The People’s Special Prosecutor

Here is the next installment from The People’s Special Prosecutor against the City of Key West. New players are introduced today. I added a few supportive comments in [ ] inside of what Sandy wrote, and a few comments at the end.

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Poof! It disappeared … Magic acts by Key West officials

Like a magician with the dove…..it’s gone. All of my hopes to publish it and distribute it, gone…… the City has done away with the recording of the Tree Commission Hearing dated February 13, 2012.

Sloan told me to report every detail of what happens daily, so there is a record. But it is so trivial to what is happening. This is what is happening.

There is organized crime in the Keys and it involves City officials, attorneys and Judges. Here is what I learned today. Cynthia Snell (Domenech-Coogle) made sure fines were so high at the hearings that payment plans would have to be made with her. When they came to pay their plan she might suggest a much smaller amount which she then may have pocketed. Her properties apparently are in trusts she believes protects her from lawsuits and forfeiture. The Tree Commission at the last hearing where the tape is now destroyed ordered a person to hire Cynthia for a year to watch the tree they trimmed the roots on as part of their “settlement agreement” even though she has no credentials different from many others.

THE BIG ONE, grasping for air I write this………..Judge Audlin ruled against Radim Havlicek knowing the Tree Commission had no authority over private property of St. Mary’s and said basically he didn’t care, someone had to protect trees. For Judge Audlin’s part in furthering this organized crime and extortion and racketeering, he should be sent to jail NOW. He had NO right to rule against someone without the law behind the violation. Judge Audlin ordered Radim Havlicek to pay the organized crime unit $10,000 while knowing they had no authority to even violate Radim….and Judge Audlin allowed this organized crime unit to continue operating. He is now a part of it. He could have stopped it all then 4 years ago, but HE DIDN”T!!!! Judge Audlin, I take you as NO PRISONER today. The blood of the last 4 years of organized crime is now ON YOUR HANDS.

[Sandy bent my ear for about half hour last night just telling me about the Havilichek case. I anticipate you will hear more about it and, if it is as Sandy says, you might wish you had never heard of Judge Audlin.]

Again, the tape of the last Tree Commission meeting has been destroyed by the City of Key West. The Hearing that would have gotten Assistant City Attorney Ron Ramsingh disbarred and made the City liable for all sorts of unethical and illegal conduct in a public hearing is gone, destroyed by the City of Key West. How do I know it was destroyed? Because they confirmed “yes” twice to me and to all those in attendance that the Hearing was being taped! At the hearing under oath and sworn in I asked twice if the Hearing was being taped and they said Yes. I asked for them to make sure and they did, and said Yes again it was being taped.

[I heard Sandy ask them twice, and someone said, yes, it was being recorded.]

The morning after the Hearing, the City took the computer that held the CD of the hearing from Lindsey who makes the Tree Commission meeting tapes for the public, burning the disc from her original she gets after the Hearing. When her CD was returned it was empty. She was shocked it was empty when she got her computer back, and said she was going back to (the scene of the crime) where the Tree Commission Hearings are held on Greene Street in Old City Hall…and she would make another CD from the main station there. She would call me when she got my copy burned and I could pick it up for $1.00 from the City Clerk. Days passed and the City Clerk’s office told me they “were still working on the CD”.

Today while meeting with the felony division of the State Attorney’s Office [for 4 hours, Sandy told me there was considerable interest in the Tree Commission's behavior and and Keys Energy Services being ordered not to trim trees back from power lines], I got a call from Cheri Smith [the City Clerk] and she told me they had been informed by the City that the tape “would never be made available to the public.” She said they offered her no explanation, excuse or reason, other than it would “Never be available.” Later today, Sloan called the Clerk’s office and they [Sue] told him that the hard drive was empty on the computer that records the meeting. How many meetings have taken place there, and this is possibly the first time no recording is made? There was a recording…they confirmed it was recording Feb 13th twice.

It is against the law to not record this type of a meeting. City Manager Jim Scholl has the duty to make sure the meeting is recorded. What happened, Jim Scholl, is this not an important enough duty to you? Did you delegate this one out too, and it didn’t get done? It is on your head now. Read Article VI, Sec.110-286 Mr. Scholl.: AS provided by the annual budget, the CITY MANAGER shall provide appropriate staff to enable the Tree Commission to fulfill its duties and SHALL CAUSE THE MINUTES OF ALL MEETINGS TO BE RECORDED TRANSCRIBED IN SUMMARY from the Tree Commission for its approval. The City Attorney shall serve as legal counsel to the Tree Commission in all matters.

The Hearing where the tape was destroyed was the Salem Witch Hunt. Ramsingh would not allow me to produce evidence, call witnesses, put on my defense, have closing arguments last as required by the City ordinances, etc. Ramsingh also made up a new rule in that Hearing, because he said the Tree Commissioners were “shortchanging themselves in fines” if they didn’t adapt this rule that made dead limbs count as much as live limbs at $150.00 per caliper inch. “From here on” said Ramsingh, “we will not differentiate dead limbs from live limbs, because we are shortchanging ourselves.” The meeting culminated with me being escorted out by the police.

I had so hoped to put the whole audio out to the public, and it was supposed to be available to the public within 24 hours of the Hearing by clicking on an icon on the City website…..but all of that is gone…gone ….gone……And now we only have eyewitnesses and testimony of those who attended the last Hearings on the agenda…mine.

I am sure it swelled the City’s minds when they had to make a choice whether to destroy the tape, erase the original, tamper with evidence, and commit felonies…or to give the evidence to the State which would bring down the whole RICO organization, pave the way for lawsuits from the citizens the Tree Commission has taken money from…….and land Ramsingh and a lot of City officials in the pen. They must have weighed, what’s one felony to avoid 10?…. Destroy the tape! With Judge Audlin in their pocket, it’ll all be OK. Well, State Attorney Dennis Ward, add another name to your RICO file: Audlin.

Sandra Downs

If I, Sloan, were Jim Scholl, Mayor Cates or any of the six city commissioners, or City Attorney Shawn Smith, I would be livid that there is no recording of that Tree Commission meeting for the public to hear. I would be so livid that I would call a press conference and invite reporters from The Citizen, the Keynoter and Key West the Newspaper, which is back in operation as of last Friday. I would be on US 1 Radio with Bill Becker. I would do that because it is the right thing to do, and to keep me from being accused of driving the perps’ get-away-car!

Sandy told me that when she went to see Mayor Cates about the terrorism maybe a month ago, he kept telling her, “Sue the City!” So she did what he told her to do.

Sloan Bashinsky

keysmyhome@hotmail.com

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Florida Keys post office tampers with The People’s Special Prosecutor’s mail

Thursday, February 23rd, 2012

I told The People’s Special Prosecutor yesterday that this story from her you are about to read was really funny, and really terrible. About as bubbette justice as you could hope to find in the Keys. Read it and see for yourself.

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The People’s Special Prosecutor

Melody Henry has been my mail carrier for 4 years. She waves and smiles when she sees me, and used to bring my dog treats. Behind my back, she was going through my mail and pulling out the most important pieces addressed to me personally and to my company, and putting her stamp on them:

MOVED LEFT NO ADDRESS
UNABLE TO FORWARD
RETURN TO SENDER

The Summerland Key Postmaster Barb, confirmed yesterday this was Melody’s stamp. I wondered if someone stole Melody’s stamp and used it to return my mail, each piece carefully selected, approximately 1 piece per week that I have documents of: from Oct. 14, 2011 to February 1, 2012.

For example, in October my insurance company called me and asked where I had moved? I said I had not. They said, “Hmm, this was returned to us marked that you had moved and left no forwarding address.” My insurance had almost been cancelled because of this, which insures all my business trucks and big equipment!

I complained to Melody and she said a substitute must have done this and not to worry, she was back now. Then it happened again and I spoke to Melody again, as did others in my home. She said there was a snafu at the Post Office and she would fix it.

Then it happened again, and I went into the Summerland Key Post Office and asked if someone had maliciously put in a change of address for me or my company that I was unaware of…..they searched and came up empty handed. No such address change had been submitted. I told them then, I didn’t think it had, because I still get all my mail except for a few select and important pieces seem to always go missing. They told me it wouldn’t happen again.

Other examples.

I got a call from Miami Children’s Hospital. They tried to send some medical information to me regarding my son, his test results and new prescription information. The mail the hospital addressed to me personally was returned and stamped “Moved, left no forward address.” I told the hosptial indeed I had not moved and to resend it, and then call when they did so I could look for it. The doctor called me personally when he found out I did not get my mail, to let me know the dosage would be changed. This now was unacceptable. Melody had claimed there was a problem with someone returning Tarzan mail thinking Tarzan had moved. But this was addressed to me personally from a hospital! I sent one of my family members back to the Post Office in Summerland and complained again.

During this ordeal, I had called a few customers of mine and got pretty ugly because the promised check hadn’t shown up after weeks of waiting. They promised they had mailed it. All of a sudden a month later it would be in my mailbox, a month after it was sent to me.

A box from International Society of Arboriculture containing my employee Paul’s arborist certificate, which is required to do mangrove work for DEP, also went missing; though ISA confirmed it was mailed. Several weeks later, when no one was home, someone came in the house and placed the certificate on the kitchen table, but the contents of the package from ISA with gifts and his test scores were never found.

My mail carrier Melody wears gloves every time she is seen delivering my mail.

I was sent a letter from Monroe County Assistant Attorney Lisa Grainger with my company’s renewed business license, which Lisa had incorrectly made inactive without talking with me. I was told this by Monroe County employees. That letter was returned to Monroe County, and I only found out about it and not having an active business license for my tree company when I went in and applied for a permit to do tree work in the county. They knew I did not know my company had been made inactive by Lisa Grainger, because they got the letter back from the Post Office and they gave it to me.

After much ado, Lisa Grainger was forced to make my license active having had no reason to inactivate it in the first place. But this envelope was the first I had seen with my own eyes which had the mark of my own mail carrier confirmed by her Postmaster which said:

MOVED LEFT NO ADDRESS
UNABLE TO FORWARD
RETURN TO SENDER

Today, Postmaster Barb tried these 3 excuses Melody had offered:

Melody said someone must have written on the envelopes “Return to Sender” and put them in the mailbox so she picked them up and returned them. I told the Postmaster Barb, these envelopes had no markings on them whatsoever, had never landed in my mailbox in the first place, and only had Melody’s sticker on them.

Then Postmaster Barb said, someone must have put in a change of address. I said, “We already checked, and that was NOT done…and also I received all my other mail both addressed to me and to my business. If a change of address had been filled out there would be a record of it, and I would have received no mail whatsoever.

Then Postmaster Barb said Melody said, Tarzan’s was moving and so Melody returned my mail because she didn’t think I wanted it!!!! I told the Postmaster Tarzan’s never moved and furthermore, Melody would have no legal right to just assume I didn’t want my mail. As a matter of fact, if the house was sitting blatant empty, she still is required to deliver the mail that is addressed to it. She can’t under any circumstance decide what mail she will and will not deliver without written orders from the recipient or homeowner which is submitted to the Post Office and is required to alter delivery.

They had no excuse for my personal mail of importance also getting selectively returned.

Postmaster Barb conceded it was of no use trying to explain away what Melody had done. Barb told me to make a complaint with the US Postal Inspector General, because she had no authority to do any investigation herself. I had already done that, said I wanted to talk with someone. She gave me a number. I called it, got someone who said I needed to call another number. I called it and was routed back to the person who had given me the number. After I went through that same routine for a while, she tried to get a person on the other number and had the same results I had, and was then as upset and bewildered as me that she could not get someone to answer. I will now make another online complaint to the Inspector General. This time I know who tampered with my mail and have proof.

I had heard Mimi McCoy, daughter of Merilee McCoy, worked at the Key West Post Office, and wondered if she had anything to do with this? I had met Mimi when she sat on the Tree Commission Board as a commissioner. She and Cynthia Snell (Domenech Coogle) had attended events all over the State together and are really good buddies and have a profound dislike of me. Cynthia having got caught black-balling me from City bids, and Mimi unhappy that I said her mother would be upset that they were illegally extorting money from citizens. Mimi almost threw herself over the dais trying to get to me. She looked like she was going to burst into flames, accused me of being a tree killer and wanting to remove every tree from Key West, just because I removed a small ficus tree growing on the sidewalk and in the fence! Today I found indeed, Mimi McCoy, now Mimi Trantham (unsure of spelling), works at the main Post Office in Key West on Whitehead and Eaton. I had remembered submitting a bid to do tree work there when they were asking for bids and never getting a call returned about my bid. I vaguely remember someone telling me Mimi had to approve the winning bid. So I assumed correctly I would not get it.

When Merilee McCoy showed up at a Tree Commission Hearing shortly prior to her death, she was more condemning of them than I was. She told them they should all be ashamed of what they were doing to citizens and what they had done to her Tree Commission. Why Mimi pretended her mother would approve of her sitting on the Tree Commission her mother was outraged about is a matter for a psychiatrist to evaluate.

Tomorrow I meet with the State Attorney investigator. What Melody and the Summerland Key Post Office did to my mail is one of the matters I will bring to his attention because I want the State Attorney’s Office to find out if there is a connection between Mimi McCoy Tranthram and Melody Henry tampering with my mail. Otherwise, Sloan keeps telling me mail tampering is a Federal felony and to take it up with the U.S. Postmaster General and the U.S Department of Justice. Sloan keeps telling me the State Attorney’s job here is to investigate and prosecute the $5,000,000 and growing extortion, public corruption, witness tampering, destruction of evidence, obstruction of justice, and Florida RICO Act violations committed by the Tree Commission, City staff, Assistant City Attorney Ron Ramsingh, and Key West City officials for letting it go on, and then trying to cover it up, after being apprised by me of it.

After sending the above to and speaking with Sloan again, I called Postmaster Barb back and asked if perhaps there was another number she could give me to call so I could make a complaint to a real person instead of by internet, because Melody is still delivering my mail and I want this investigation to start immediately. I then told Postmaster Barb about the letter that was sent by US mail appearing on my dining table inside my home when no one was home. Postmaster Barb said, “Oh my, someone IS TAMPERING with your mail!” I said , “Yeah Barb, it’s YOUR employee!” I couldn’t believe how much she sounded like Dori in Finding Nemo….42 Wallabee Way, Sydney. She then sounded a little angry and told me to call Consumer Affairs and file my complaint with them.”

Melody Henry, Postmaster Barb, Mimi “McCoy”, Assistant County Attorney Lisa Grainger and the City of Key West officials….that’s the take no prisoners for today.

Sandy Downs

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On a planet I habitated before landing here in the Asteroid Belt, one and the same as the State Mental, it was the local postmaster’s job to deal with wayward postal employees, instead of aiding and abetting. It was city and county managements’ job to deal with wayward government employees, instead of aiding and abetting. It was the District Attorney and the US Attorney’s job to prosecute criminals, including aiders and abettors. That was before I knew about The High Court, where all of this Tree Nazi business is being tried. Everyone involved is on trial there, including local and federal law enforcement, Sandy and me.

Sloan Bashinsky

keysmyhome@hotmail.com

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two praise reports, two more Tree Nazis indictments – Florida Keys

Wednesday, February 22nd, 2012

Seven Mile Bridge

First today, a rave review of a local amigo’s first novel, followed by an article in The Citizen today about a super star volunteer teacher in our school district, who, I imagine, is bi-lingual, since he was born in Columbia. Then, two more indictments from The People’s Special Prosecutor against the Key West Tree Nazis, who seem to be gaining recruits…

Al Morgan, alleged civilian hanging out in Marathon vicinity

The Baby Phoenix, allegedly written by a civilian, is a spooker spy Arab terrorist intrigue set in the Arab realm and in America during the Soviet inversion of Vietnam, which is Afghanistan. It purports to have been written by Al Morgan, who is my duplicate bridge partner about six months of the year, when he lives in his home in Marathon, Florida Keys with his lovely wife Alice and their love slobber mutt Bailey. The rest of the time, Al, Alice and Bailey live, they claim, yes Bailey is fluent in human and golden retriever, near Boston, Mass, where Al claims he once attended M.I.T. and majored in chemical engineering and minored in mechanical engineering.

All of which finds credible evidence in this rather interesting and sometimes amusing and sometimes not amusing tale. As does Al’s claim of having gone to work at Oak Ridge on something he won’t tell me, in pursuit of his Masters at M.I.T. – some kind of top secret Uncle Sam-MIT exchange program, is all I can make out, lend credence to his experience to write such a tale as The Baby Phoenix, a miniature and perhaps a bit more diabolical version of the American Phoenix missle. Actually, a Stinger kinda shoulder-launcher missile with lots more smarts.

From Oak Ridge, Al claims he returned to M.I.T. and finished his Masters and taught, and then he took his PhD and taught and helped one of his M.I.T. professor’s earn a chair, or maybe Al earned the chair but the professor ended up sitting it it. Then, Al claims, he went into private industry with a Mass-based company, sort of rhymes with Company, and designed factories in America, South America and elsewhere overseas. A great legend, if you are a spook spy freak, which I sort of must be given how many spook spy novels I have read. Along the way, it slipped out a few times in our senior babbling that Al did some inventing that led to patents, which led to perhaps more than some wampum headed his way. Like I said, what a great legend!

I had no clue Al was a pastured spook until I read The Baby Phoenix. Ain’t no way a wannabe spook could write such a tale, is my spook spy novel lover ignorant opinion. Of course, Al denies his spook spy past, not terribly covertly revealed in the tale, and pretends to be his legend, which is fun to bat around at the old folks’ bridge game every Thursday afternoon, six months a year. Al’s a pretty darn good bridge player, too. Pretty darn better than this wannabe bridge ace not.

I suppose the character in the tale I most enjoyed meeting was a goatherd in Western Pakistan, whose most immediate philosophy was it was his job, not the neighboring wild dogs’, to eat his goats, and he was mighty glad to end up with a CIA-provided M-16, or something equally vicious, with several loaded clips to share with the wolves.

About one-fourth of the way into the tale the action slows a bit and the chemical and mechanical engineering takes front seat. But only to set the stage for the pace quickening and the tale weaving and juking, and, well, why tell the story when the point of my writing this review is to get you to buy The Baby Phoenix and learn how a Saudi terrorist prince got a hold of it, and more than just one of it, and set out to drive the airline companies and intelligence agencies of Israel, America and a few other easily-irritated countries, such as France and Saudi Arabia, a bit more than wankers, as the intrigue races toward a finale you might think was invented by Mozart and not by an alleged M.I.T. graduate, if you probably didn’t know better.

All to set up the sequel, and the sequel’s sequel, both soon to be hot off the press, according to Al. You do not want to read the sequel before you read the genesis of this evolving spook spy Arab terrorist thriller saga.

You can get The Baby Phoenix in either hard copy or Kindle at Amazon.com. 505 pages, the print was large enough for this sight and otherwise challenged senior to read with eye-glasses and not get a head-ache or eye-strain.

Sloan Bashinsky
Little Torch Key

Volunteer teacher wins state award

BY GWEN FILOSA Citizen Staff

Personality is the key to reaching kids in the classroom, according to veteran teacher Ernie Bernal.“You can be a genius but if you don’t know how to get it across to kids, you’re worthless,” said Bernal. “I don’t consider myself brilliant but I’m pretty smart. I can teach anything to anybody.”Pardon his candor. But this is his field, having taught science for 35 years in Miami-Dade County before retiring, but not stopping. Bernal volunteers a couple times a week at Key Largo School, where he just recently dissected an earthworm to second-graders’ acclaim.

“I’ve only had one job, and that’s a teaching job,” said Bernal, recognized this month as one of Florida’s Outstanding School Volunteers, representing Monroe County. “I’m a teacher’s teacher.”

Bernal, 65, of Key Largo, isn’t speaking from bravado. He has the chops, the credentials, the accolades, and the rock star-type following from Upper Keys second-graders to prove his points.

The kids crave his science lessons, which include some seriously cool show-and-tell items from his skeleton collection.

“I have a human hip,” Bernal said. There are also monkey skulls, dog skulls and a miniature horse — stillborn — kept in a jar.

The state award goes to volunteers who demonstrate dedication to quality education, the state Department of Education said this week. Bernal appeared at the Feb. 14 School Board meeting, where he treated the panel to this piece of advice about classroom discipline:

“When we reprimand a student, that’s not the best moment for the student,” said Bernal. “The best time to get to a student is the second time. We call it the second interview. That’s when the student recognizes you didn’t forget the first time. It makes the student recognize we really do care about them.”

Superintendent Jesus Jara introduced Bernal, quoting from the mini-profile that the state recognized.

“His unique methods of transferring scientific knowledge makes the students treat him like a rock star when he enters the classroom,” the profile said. “He has also been very helpful to our teachers by demonstrating excellent teaching strategies.”

For the past seven years, Bernal has hosted a hayride for the kids, deploying his own tractor and trailer. He makes a stop in a hardwood hammock, where he and his best friend, Fish and Wildlife Officer Erik Steinmetz, teach about the native plants of the Florida Keys.

Born in Colombia, Bernal grew up in Miami, the oldest of four children, to a veterinarian/scientist father and a stay at home mom. The family moved to Connecticut when Bernal was a teen, and later to New Jersey and then Louisiana. By that time, Bernal had graduated high school and college with a degree in biology.

“I could not care less about an award that I got,” Bernal said during an interview Tuesday. “What matters to me is I can use it as a platform. And that matters to me.”

The classroom can include the type of spontaneity that kids call “fun,” but the teacher always must be in control, said Bernal.

“I call it ‘chaos under control,’” said Bernal. “You must set the tone and you must say, OK, this is the way this is going to go.”

If the class won’t participate — that is, listen quietly — Bernal said he walks out.

“I taught middle school,” he said. “As long as you’re fair, they want that structure. They thrive for it. If a teacher has to warn them 50 times before he does anything, that’s a crock. That doesn’t work.”

Bernal volunteers in all five of the Key Largo School’s second-grade classes, including the one run by his wife, Myriam Bernal, a former teacher of the year in Monroe County.

It’s the family business: Their daughter, Westray Corradine, teaches fourth grade at a private school in Miami.

Bernal said his wife needs only tell her students that “Mr. Bernal” won’t be coming in to teach if they don’t straighten up to get their attention.

When that consequence is aired, said Bernal, “You can hear pins drop.”

Bernal jokes that volunteering is quite pleasant, “knowing I can go out anytime I want,” but earnestly says that he gets more out of it than the kids do.

“But they don’t know that,” he said. “I still have something to offer to the kids.”

As for his own childhood schooling, Bernal employs that same candor.

“I was a juvenile delinquent,” said Bernal, who added that the only college that would take him was a tiny private school in Alabama. “That’s because my father had pull. I was stealing cars, breaking into people’s homes.”

But when that college threatened to kick him out in the first year, Bernal had a moment of clarity.

“I turned around, became an excellent student,” he said. “I let that be my teacher. I learned from what I did wrong and I didn’t want anyone else to waste all that time. That’s why I care about kids so much. I don’t want them to go through what I did.”

Bernal, who boats, fishes and camps, also still runs a farm in North Florida. He sold the cattle recently, but still has some chickens.

But it’s the teaching, the kids, he mainly cares about.

His father, the older Ernesto Bernal, sets quite the standard.

“He is 93 years old and he still studies at 2 a.m.,” said Bernal.

gfilosa@keysnews.com

Sandy Downs

Maybe ten days ago, The People’s Special Prosecutor to be, that role as yet unbeknown to her, described a dream she’d had the night before. God sent her to a place somewhere between Heaven and Hell. There were a lot of people there. About 1/3 were on God’s side, about 2/3s were on the Devil’s side. Sandy very much did not want to be there, and asked God how she could leave? She then was seized to start saying to indivividuals, “In Jesus’ name!” The ones sided with the Devil changed form and looked horrible and went to Hell. The ones sided with God did okay. I told her to grab her best hold and to keep the dream ever in mind.She sent this yesterday on the Key West Tree Nazis:

Hello from Purgatory

I began my day after the President Day Holiday with following up on all kinds of dealings with agencies which I have contacted about the grave and dire situation we currently have in the Keys, an organization of criminal enterprise. I don’t know who all the players are, and maybe I will never know. I think eventually they will be exposed when someone faces jail and is not the kingpin, and turns State evidence. There is $5,000,000 hidden in the Planning Department commingled with other funds so they never will be sorted out, which puts the whole lot of money up for grabs by the Government if they get charged with RICO violations. If State Attorney Dennis Ward ignores this, I will be surprised, though my phone calls to his office asking for an appointment with him, so far have not been answered. If Dennis Ward does not think this is a matter he is interested in investigating, I will be disappointed because he ran for office to erase public corruption and make government transparent. Dennis Ward said if he could prove intent in this case, he would go after it. Well, the recording of the Tree Commission meeting on Monday proves intent, but the recording is missing so far. The City says they are still “working on it.” Refusing to tell me how they are “working on it” or if they will ever make this tape available, I am left to believe either it is being edited or has been destroyed. Sloan says missing evidence proves intent just the same; and if the tape is missing or turns up edited, that should make Dennis Ward all the more interested. Each day Dennis Ward waits to investigate is one more day those involved have time to destroy, hide, and alter evidence. Attention please State Attorney: Time is of the essence! With each day that passes, as in the Acevedo case, more people are involved, and more people are made to decide if they will be a part of the corruption, or want to lose their City job instead. Many once innocent people will then have to make this unfair choice. Either way they lose, because Dennis Ward couldn’t keep Cathy Reitzel from being fired for turning informant.

Apparently this is not isolated to just City corruption and employees therein being involved. Someone from the post office has been going through my mail and marking the important mail: “unable to deliver, moved left no forwarding address”. I finally got hold of one of these pieces of mail and today I find, the person who has done this works at the post office. Their stamp is affixed to the returned mail. The person appears to be my mail carrier, as it is her stamp on my returned mail, according to the Summerland Key Postmaster. Perhaps someone stole her stamp and is using it without hre knowledge? I made a report to the Sheriff’s Office, yet was told they didn’t need the evidence to accompany my report, because they will forward my complaint to someone else and then that person will need the evidence. If they don’t have the evidence, how will my complaint be taken seriously? I hope the deputy is correct, and the evidence will later be asked for by the appropriate person.

The Tree Commission meeting tape, (now missing or being “worked on”), which proves intent is recorded from the Hearing dated February 13, 2012. The City of KeyWest website says that hearing is available for download but the download is empty of anything but the calendar date. When I questioned Angela in the Clerk Office today about it being advertised as being available within 24 hours of the public hearing taking place, Angela said “Where is that on our website?” So I told her where it could be found and also told her that information was signed by Smith…whom I thought at the time was Shawn Smith just glancing at it, but the previous paragraph refers the signature back to Cheri Smith who heads up her department. The Clerk’s office can’t tell me why this tape is unavailable even though, it says to click on the icon to hear it. Angela in the Clerk’s Office told me the Tree Commission voted to no longer video tape their Hearings about a year ago…and tried to make the point that the city page only promises videos to be available within 24 hours. I asked then why don’t you stop advertising the Tree Commission Hearings on the site as being available? She made me actually print out and fax the site info to her with the icon by the Tree Commission hearings to confirm to her the information on their own website. So I did…print and fax this to her. She was trying to explain to me that since the Tree Commission opted to no longer video their Hearings, then I should not expect to be able to hear them as the website advertised. I suppose the Tree Commission wants to keep these Hearings from the public because they have damning evidence on them, and now Angela is trying to explain why they legally can withhold them from the public because videos are promised, but not audios? Again, what the (*%$- ????) So I requested all the CD copies from the Hearings from Jan 2005 to present including the February 13 hearing which is missing. The same lady Angela who told me she couldn’t “take money from me without returning goods” now tells me she needs a retainer for the CD’s from January 2005 till present. Angela told me she couldn’t take money without returning goods last Friday when I tried to prepay for 2 copies of the Tree Commission Hearing tape that is missing. I tried to prepay so when it was ready, I could have any of my staff go pick it up for me. I wrote to Angela about all these inconsistencies….videos are available from public Hearings but not audios of a particular Hearing I want, which is advertised that it is available….money can’t be taken without returning goods in one instance then the next they want a deposit…. I have to prove what ‘s on her website to her by faxing her the website info and her inquiry why I always bring Shawn Smith into the situation (when illegal things are going on)…for which I reply, “Because he is the City attorney!!!”

Late today, I spoke with Bob Shillinger County Attorney. [I had called Bob and he had asked me to have Sandy contact him.] He said he would send a note to Shawn Smith immediately advising him the City of Key West may be “exposed” to any lawsuit involving Keys Energy not clearing lines in accordance to federal requirements which so far has caused 2 shock injuries and 1 death. The reason is: the City of Key West is reported as having bought Keys Energy, but by placing an elected Board of 5 over it, it then becomes some type of a public utility. As a public utility, if there are any rebates they are supposed to go to the public consumers. Yet each year, the profit percentage rebate belonging to the consumers is given to the City of Key West as a gift. The profit given to the City of Key West is found in Keys Energy online financial records and is approximately $500,000 per year. Because the City of Key West employees in the Urban Forestry Department have prevented the Keys Energy contracted Asplundh line clearing crew from doing their work in Key West which saves money for Keys Energy yet exposes anyone in Key West to electrical shocks, it appears the effort to stop line trimming crews from trimming guarantees less money will be spent on line clearing which leaves Key West more profit. In all instances, Key West profits from lines being unsafe in Key West.

With the obvious danger to the public, you would think it be of paramount importance that trees on public sidewalks, roads, parks, etc. be cut back from wires, but…..there is half a million dollars involved here that the City gets in return for leaving its trees to electrocute people. The veil between Keys Energy and the City of Key West is broken.

Half a million here, 5 million there….. RICO.

Sandy Downs

I told Sandy yesterday, the Key West Tree Nazis are the city’s version of the School District’s Acevedo scandal, except far worse. Later, she copied me with this, which she had told me the recipient had requested from her:

Date: Wed, 22 Feb 2012 00:16:46 -0500
Subject: from Sandy
From: janesjunglework@gmail.com
To: ron.saunders@myfloridahouse.gov
CC: keysmyhome@hotmail.comDear Representative Saunders,

I received information from Keys Energy regarding their line clearance plan (UVM) which is required by law that they have. It is unacceptable! Minimum clearance standards were required by laws passed in 2003 following the great Northeastern blackout which was caused by untrimmed trees in Ohio. Lawmakers recognized that utility companies were saving money by not clearing their utility lines, which resulted in this blackout causing 5 states to have no electricity for a week and millions and millions of dollars to resolve, so they stepped in and said, “No more!” Line clearance standards were then adapted and made a requirement by law and each utility company had to present their Utility Vegetation Management Plan each year to be in compliance. These UVM’s had to assure that the utility companies would always be in compliance; and their UVM plans described how they would meet compliances at all times. Would they trim excessively and only trim every 4 years, or would they trim minimally and trim each year, etc.?

Line clearance standards are set by IEEE and adopted by NERC. But NERC only regulates the great transmission lines, and leaves the smaller in state transmission and distribution lines for the Public Utilities Commission to regulate. The IEEE standards are complex and only an electrical engineer can figure them out. The IEEE is 10 or more pages long in guidelines and mathematical formulas to interpret. ANSI (American National Standards Institute) deciphered them and came up with easy standards to understand based on IEEE; and OSHA adapted these as well as other governmental organizations. ANSI lays out MINIMUM STANDARDS. It is up to cities and municipalities if they wish to adapt more rigorous standards than those set by ANSI. The utility companies must have a UVM plan that will always keep them in compliance with minimum standards set by ANSI. The guidelines set by the federal government was and IS the minimum. Each state had to take into consideration grow season, heat index, Hurricane zones, etc. At NO time even during a Hurricane with 20% line sag from electric load, heat and wind elements, etc. is any line supposed to be within 6 inches of a tree limb, EVER, even in a Hurricane!

Minimum standards set by ANSI also involve tree placement and clearances. In all instances no line is allowed to be within 4 feet of a tree and uninsulated lines require a clearance of 14.7 feet. In Hurricane conditions, or otherwise, any tree that is within falling distance of the power lines that could fall onto power lines is to be topped or removed. Any tree interfering with power lines that can’t possibly be trimmed so as to provide clearances required by law, is to be removed. Utility companies were able to adapt more stringent guidelines which would eliminate the need to trim every year because of costs involved. OSHA says nothing should ever be within 10 feet of any electrical line. Some trees grow very quickly and obviously the utility companies can’t afford to trim each month, so utility companies generally adapted rules that they would cut back enough so they didn’t have to cut again for 4 years. To meet the 4 feet clearance of the low voltage lines, utility lines then needed to be cleared to 10 feet so that they would not run afoul of the law prior to their next trimming….always being outside the 4 feet clearance requirement. Even language was passed by law that no one could interfere with these utility line clearance crews. No homeowner or municipality could interfere, no matter what condition their trees were left in.

Uninsulated lines can conduct electricity through nearby trees and that electricity from those trees can affect other trees touching them. Electricity can arc and also electricity can stray. Electricity always seeks the ground. Trees are targets for electricity. Having said this, in areas where electricity is in demand in hot steamy months, the line sag can be 20% or more. Take into consideration Hurricane areas as well, ANSI says in no instance shall a tree ever come within 6 inches of an insulated electric line. Some websites are easier to understand than others, but this is the basics I have seen announced in OSHA, on electric companies websites, etc. Most of the time these websites are explaining to customers why their trees have to be trimmed away from the lines, no matter how ugly they may look after trimming, they have to be trimmed like this to avoid possible electrocution. In one instance a homeowner refused to allow the utility company to trim, and when it caused an outage, the utility company was fined $1,000,000.00 for refusing to correct a situation they knew existed.

The problem I am writing you about, is that Keys Energy avoided oversight of the Public Utilities Commission by electing a 5 member Board to oversee them. Of course Keys Energy had something to do with whom ran for these positions. This Board makes it impossible for the Public Utilities Commission to take complaints against Keys Energy for failing to meet any minimum requirements of line clearing as described above. In fact, it seems they are avoiding oversight altogether.

The City of Key West planted rows of palms directly under the power lines on the section of Roosevelt Blvd. going into Old Town Key West and these palms have now reached a mature enough height so they are now IN the power lines and will never be loose of the power lines from here on out. There are trees tangled in power lines in Key West on Whitehead Street by the Courthouse and the famous Green Parrot Bar which is one of the most traveled areas of Key West by tourists and locals. By the beach, the City planted rows of palms again under power lines which now are completely up in the wires. Bahama Village and all over Old Town the trees in wires are a serious problem with grave consequences. This condition is unacceptable.

City of Key West employee Cynthia Snell, formerly head of Urban Landscape interfered with the Asplundh crew each time they tried to trim the trees from the lines into compliance, telling them they could not trim the trees in a way that would meet federal guidelines because the City of Key West evidently didn’t want the “ugly” utility lines exposed to tourists and didn’t want their trees trimmed in a way that would expose the lines. There is also the possibility the City of Key West sent Cynthia Snell to stop the trimming so Keys Energy didn’t incur these costs; because the City of Key West receives a percentage of profits each year from Keys Energy, which the City bought in earlier years and is on the Keys Energy website as still owning. I wrote to Sen. Nelson and his office forwarded my complaint to the Public Service Commission whom Senator Nelson apparently believed had jurisdiction over Keys Energy. But the Public Service Commission wrote back and said they have no jurisdiction. They also concluded this may be a criminal matter of interfering with line clearance crews. The Public Service Commission has no jurisdiction. The Public Utilities Commission has no jurisdiction. NERC has no jurisdiction. It seems no one has jurisdiction over Keys Energy. Has a loophole occurred which voids oversight of Keys Energy? They have abided by NO federal regulations whatsoever, and no one can rein them back in? This is a criminal matter now, that no one will make Keys Energy keep their lines in compliance with federal guidelines….but now the criminal matter involves not only Keys Energy, but all those who say they have no jurisdiction and can find no one who does.

The City of Key West directly interfered with line clearing crews which is a federal violation, and then the City of Key West receives a “gift” from Keys Energy each year from profits. Instead of the profits going to the consumer, the profits are given to Key West. So in minimizing the cost of line clearing, the City of Key West benefits and gets more money. The veil that the City of Key West and Keys Energy have been so adamant in drawing between them is lifted and their connection is completely exposed. On Keys Energy website it says the City of Key West bought them. They have never been sold. The elected Board prevents oversight form the Public Utilities Commission, yet in no way does it eliminate Keys Energy’s responsibility to comply with federal guidelines of clearance set by IEEE and adapted by ANSI. Yet there is no one who claims they are able to make Keys Energy comply? So we are left to get electroctuted by this “glitch?” UNACCEPTABLE. The City of Key West employee who told Asplundh they could not trim was empowered by the City of Key West to do this, and they have taken no action to correct this, even though I have written to them and called them repeatedly. They WILL NOT take action until someone makes them. As far as interfering with line clearance, Senator Nelson and the Public Service Commission has said they do not deal with criminal matters. So they leave it up to me, a citizen, to sort out?!!! I have no power over Keys Energy. Yet everyone tosses this problem back to me, an ordinary citizen who can get no government cooperation to correct this grave problem.

This is criminal on the part of any government agency who has been made aware of this problem, and tosses it back to me without any answer or solution. I am a citizen. I have no authority. I have no power. I am begging you to help me. Who is Keys Energy…are they public or private? Do they answer to anyone? Why does the City get half a million a year from them as a gift? Why isn’t that money distributed amongst the consumers? Why are they allowed to run afoul of the federal laws regarding trimming when 1 has died and 2 injured badly because of it? What happens to the person who interfered with utility line clearing crews and the City that allowed her to do it? Who is able to bring Keys Energy into compliance with federal regulations? Keys Energy will not address my complaint.

Please help me before someone else dies…

Sandy Downs

The death was Sandy’s son Preston Hartman, and the two who survived were her husband Nick and one of their company’s tree trimmers. All three were trimming trees for clients in Key West.

Sloan Bashinsky

keysmyhome@hotmail.com

Posted in Today's FlaKey Drivel | No Comments »

2 praise reports, 2 indictments – Florida Keys

Wednesday, February 22nd, 2012

Seven Mile Bridge

First today, a rave review of a local author’s first novel, followed by an article in The Citizen today about a super star volunteer teacher in our school district, who, I imagine, is bi-lingual, since he was born in Columbia. Then, two more indictments from The People’s Special Prosecutor against the Key West Tree Nazis, who seem to be gaining recruits…

Al Morgan, alleged civilian hanging out in Marathon vicinity

The Baby Phoenix, allegedly written by a civilian, is a spooker spy Arab terrorist intrigue set in the Arab realm and in America during the Soviet inversion of Vietnam, which is Afghanistan, purports to have been written by Al Morgan, who is my duplicate bridge partner about six months of the year, when he lives in his home in Marathon, Florida Keys with his lovely wife Alice and their love slobber mutt Bailey. The rest of the time, Al, Alice and Bailey live, they claim, yes Bailey is fluent in human and golden retriever, near Boston, Mass, where Al claims he once attended M.I.T. and majored in chemical engineering and minored in mechanical engineering.

All of which finds credible evidence in this rather interesting and sometimes amusing and sometimes not amusing tale. As does Al’s claim of having gone to work at Oak Ridge on something he won’t tell me, in pursuit of his Masters at M.I.T. – some kind of top secret Uncle Sam-MIT exchange program, is all I can make out, lend credence to his experience to write such a tale as The Baby Phoenix, a miniature and perhaps a bit more diabolical version of the American Phoenix missle. Actually, a Stinger kinda shoulder-launcher missile with lots more smarts.

From Oak Ridge, Al claims he returned to M.I.T. and finished his Masters and taught, and then he took his PhD and taught and helped one of his M.I.T. professor’s earn a chair, or maybe Al earned the chair but the professor ended up sitting it it. Then, Al claims, he went into private industry with a Mass-based company, sort of rhymes with Company, and designed factories in America, South America and elsewhere overseas. A great legend, if you are a spook spy freak, which I sort of must be given how many spook spy novels I have read. Along the way, it slipped out a few times in our senior babbling that Al did some inventing that led to patents, which led to perhaps more than some wampum headed his way. Like I said, what a great legend!

I had no clue Al was a pastured spook until I read The Baby Phoenix. Ain’t no way a wannabe spook could write such a tale, is my spook spy novel lover ignorant opinion. Of course, Al denies his spook spy past, not terribly covertly revealed in the tale, and pretends to be his legend, which is fun to bat around at the old folks’ bridge game every Thursday afternoon, six months a year. Al’s a pretty darn good bridge player, too. Pretty darn better than this wannabe bridge ace not.

I suppose the character in the tale I most enjoyed meeting was a goatherd in Western Pakistan, whose most immediate philosophy was it was his job, not the neighboring wild dogs’, to eat his goats, and he was mighty glad to end up with a CIA-provided M-16, or something equally vicious, with several loaded clips to share with the wolves.

About one-fourth of the way into the tale the action slows a bit and the chemical and mechanical engineering takes front seat. But only to set the stage for the pace quickening and the tale weaving and juking, and, well, why tell the story when the point of my writing this review is to get you to buy The Baby Phoenix and learn how a Saudi terrorist prince got a hold of it, and more than just one of it, and set out to drive the airline companies and intelligence agencies of Israel, America and a few other easily-irritated countries, such as France and Saudi Arabia, a bit more than wankers, as the intrigue races toward a finale you might think was invented by Mozart and not by an alleged M.I.T. graduate, if you probably didn’t know better.

All to set up the sequel, and the sequel’s sequel, both soon to be hot off the press, according to Al. You do not want to read the sequel before you read the genesis of this evolving spook spy Arab terrorist thriller saga.

You can get The Baby Phoenix in either hard copy or Kindle at Amazon.com. 505 pages, the print was large enough for this sight and otherwise challenged senior to read with eye-glasses and not get a head-ache or eye-strain.

Sloan Bashinsky
Little Torch Key

Volunteer teacher wins state award

BY GWEN FILOSA Citizen Staff

Personality is the key to reaching kids in the classroom, according to veteran teacher Ernie Bernal.

“You can be a genius but if you don’t know how to get it across to kids, you’re worthless,” said Bernal. “I don’t consider myself brilliant but I’m pretty smart. I can teach anything to anybody.”

Pardon his candor.

But this is his field, having taught science for 35 years in Miami-Dade County before retiring, but not stopping. Bernal volunteers a couple times a week at Key Largo School, where he just recently dissected an earthworm to second-graders’ acclaim.