Free Republic

Someone should check this retiring Federal Judge's freezer for a bag of cash .... Probation for three Felony Counts to an attorney guilty of conspiracy, witness tampering and obstruction of justice ???? Bribery suspects met at nudist pool bar - 02/09/2007 BY TIMOTHY O'HARA Citizen Staff KEY WEST -- Prosecutors on Thursday showed to a jury surveillance video and photographs of meetings between an indicted former county attorney and their star witness, including one at a popular clothing-optional resort's pool bar. Former County Attorney Jim Hendrick met political consultant Randy Hilliard at Atlantic Shores Resort on July 11, 2003 --...

WGAY-TV, America's first free-to-air terrestrial TV station aimed at LGBT audiences, will launch in Key West, Florida at midnight on January 1, 2007. The station plans to expand nationally on cable, and will be carried on cable in Key West from launch. "Our goal is to offer a variety of free programming both online and through local cable affiliates that will appeal to the diverse gay and lesbian population," said Jason Sherwood, the station's co-founder and general manager. The channel will be available in Key West on UHF channel 41.

Drag performances banned at Goombay Fest BY BECKY IANNOTTA AND CHERYL SMITHCitizen Staff KEY WEST — Goombay Festival has banned drag queens from performing on the main stage at this year's two-day event, which begins tonight. Organizers on Thursday said the shows were getting too racy for the family-oriented event that kicks off the more bawdy Fantasy Fest. A tearful Horace Billups, whose stage name is B.J. Safari, said that after a half-dozen years as emcee on the main entertainment stage, he was told he can perform as a man, but not as a woman during the festival in Bahama...

During the annual Gay Days in Orlando earlier this summer, the Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau bought a billboard to entice travelers to head south. Fort Lauderdale has emerged as a hot spot for gay-friendly travel, a market so lucrative that state tourism marketer Visit Florida recently created a task force to explore how to better cater to gay travelers, who are estimated to have $641 billion in purchasing power this year. "We rolled out what we call the rainbow carpet a couple of years ago, and we've seen a lot of green success," said Nicki Grossman, president...

The caretakers of Ernest Hemingway's Key West home want a federal judge to intervene in their dispute with the U.S. Department of Agriculture over the six-toed cats that roam the property. More than 50 descendants of a multi-toed cat the novelist received as a gift in 1935 wander the grounds of the home, where Hemingway lived for more than 10 years. The Ernest Hemingway Home and Museum disputes the USDA's claim that it is an "exhibitor" of cats and needs to have a USDA Animal Welfare License, according to a complaint filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Miami. "What...

KEY WEST, Fla. -- A man wearing a purple women's bathing suit and carrying a flare gun was arrested after he told a bartender he was going to "get rid of all the dirt bags in Key West," authorities said. The bartender, who was not identified, was working in the downstairs bar of The Bull and Whistle, a popular Key West watering hole located on Duval Street. "She reported she had seen a man, later identified as Anderson, dancing in the street showing tourists his private parts, and asking people for money when they took his picture," the news release...

KEY WEST, Fla. - A man wearing a purple women's bathing suit and carrying a flare gun was arrested after he told a bartender he was going to "get rid of all the dirt bags in Key West," authorities said. Jeffrey C. Anderson, 55, was charged with carrying a concealed firearm Monday after he brandished the flare gun, which was under a skirt he was wearing, Key West police spokeswoman Christie Phillips said. The bartender, who was not identified, was working in the downstairs bar of The Bull and Whistle, a popular Key West watering hole located on Duval Street....

KEY WEST, Fla. — A 13-year-old boater was arrested Monday after authorities said he hit and killed a 6-year-old snorkeler, then sped away. The 6-year-old was snorkeling off Key West with his father and a sibling next to their 22-foot motorboat when he was struck, said Lt. Steve Acton of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. An 18-foot skiff sped over the boy, then crashed into his father's vessel, causing it to sink. The driver paused momentarily before taking off, Acton said. Authorities found the skiff tied to a dock at a home and arrested the 13-year-old driver. He...

Suarez case tough to prosecute BY CHRIS TITTEL Citizen Staff KEY WEST - There was no evidence to send former Public Works Superintendent Gilbert Suarez to jail or force him to pay back thousands of dollars detectives suspect he stole from parking meters over a four-year period, prosecutors said Thursday. After Suarez reached a plea agreement with the State Attorney's Office, Circuit Court Judge Mark Jones sentenced him on Monday to five years probation on grand theft charges for stealing change from parking meters on May 15, 2005. Suarez, 44, also was sentenced to two years probation on drug charges...

PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii (NNS) -- Los Angeles-class nuclear-powered attack submarine USS Key West (SSN 722) returned from a six-month Western Pacific deployment to its homeport of Pearl Harbor Nov. 10. According to Capt. Kenneth Sault, Key West’s commanding officer, the deployment was successful thanks to his crew. “It was a long deployment, but we got a lot of good things done," he said. "We’re happy to be home.” Sault said his crew worked hard and in return got a chance to visit a few excellent ports. “We went to Australia and participated in Talisman Sabre for about a month," he...

Homosexual party sunk by Wilma? Fantasy Fest had been reset for Wednesday, but 'debauchery' could be canceled -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted: October 24, 2005 8:25 p.m. Eastern © 2005 WorldNetDaily.com Historic Customs House in Key West, Fla., stands behind remains of Hilton pier torn apart by Hurricane Wilma (photo: Key West Citizen) Despite the attempt to dodge the impact of Hurricane Wilma by changing the dates for the annual Fantasy Fest, the storm has deluged any hopes for the homosexual debauchery party this week, and could force a complete cancellation. "We know Fantasy Fest is on everyone's mind," City Commissioner Bill Verge...

Hurricane postpones another homosexual party Theme for Florida Keys Fantasy Fest: 'Freaks, Geeks, and Goddesses' Wild costumes and plenty of exposed skin are common at the annual Fantasy Fest in Key West, Fla. For the second time this year, an Atlantic hurricane is forcing the postponement of a popular homosexual event filled with "unthinkable debauchery." The annual Fantasy Fest in Key West, Fla., had been slated to kick off today, but the threat of Hurricane Wilma is putting a damper on the festivities, delaying events until after the storm passes. "We've never had a hurricane interfere with Fantasy Fest, at...

The press was blindsided again. As Hurricane Rita barreled toward Key West, television news executives were unprepared to deal with the lamentable divide this storm would undoubtedly reveal between gay America and straight America. You'd think the media would have learned their lesson. After Katrina, the press corps waited a full two days after the storm hit before it was able to report that one of America's poorest and blackest cities was full of poor and black people. Surely, this time around the Fourth Estate would hit the ground running with up-to-the-minute exposes on the "Other" Other America and trenchant-yet-lachrymose...

Need help - a friend of mine(student pilot) was involved in a plane crash yesterday. They crashed in the Gulf of Mexico close to key west(not the family that crashed in the swamp). I think everyone was ok but I can't find any news. Are there any South Florida freepers who have any info/links about this. Thanks in advance!

Duck Tours case begins BY TIMOTHY O'HARA Citizen Staff KEY WEST — A jury is being asked whether the city of Key West ran Duck Tours Seafari out of business in 1995 or the business ran out of money and failed. Opening arguments started Thursday in the case Duck Tours v. the City of Key West and the city's largest lease holder, Historic Tours of America, operators of the Old Town Trolleys and Conch Tour Trains. Duck Tours attorneys claim the company's owner, John Murphy, was an entrepreneur who received the proper business licenses, but was run out of business...

BY TIMOTHY O'HARA Citizen Staff KEY WEST — The City Commission is set to approve a proclamation Tuesday night that would list the chicken as the "official bird of Key West." Organizers of Chicken Fest, the Market Share company, approached Mayor Jimmy Weekley with the idea and he agreed, the mayor said. "Old Town roosters woke Ernest Hemingway to his writing duties on many a groggy morn," the proclamation reads. "The beautiful Key West avian ambassadors are a delight to the island city's visitors and our residents .... Local legends Mel Fisher, Richard Heyman and Count von Cosel all had...

On New Year's Eve 2003, the Panamanian-flag tanker Pedoulas, carrying 90,000 tonnes of crude oil was ordered to anchor off the coast of Sydney, Australia, because police and security officials feared it could be attacked by terrorists in Sydney Harbor... ...police had been monitoring the movements of a group of Islamic men...believed to be targeting two sites... ...The attack on the tanker Limburg in Yemen in October 2002 showed how vulnerable tankers are to suicide attacks by small boats. ...In an interview with the Associated Press in December 2002, FBI Director Robert Mueller said "there have been any number of...

KEY WEST, Fla., Oct. 17 - As night falls on Duval Street, dazed tourists stumble from bar to bar, taking in decked-out drag queens, comely strippers and other entertainments considerably more outrageous. In the dark corners of some of Key West's gay clubs, things go on that, even here, most people do not talk about in public. It takes a lot to shock people in Key West. If you come to town, the thinking goes, you may as well forget about prudishness and propriety. And yet the southernmost city in the contiguous United States, long considered beyond the reach of...

The National Weather Service has just issued a Tornado Watch for most of south Florida until at least 8:00 Friday morning. Hurricane City is streaming live coverage at http://hurricanecity.com/live.ram -- their coverage includes reports from The Weather Channel, from observers on the ground, plus streamed reports from local Miami television stations.

Rosie O'Donnell expresses herself on Duval Street BY CHRIS TITTEL Citizen Staff Writer KEY WEST — "How much damage can he do?" The haunting question has been clipped from a news magazine and plastered alongside pictures of President George W. Bush, a cutout of the color-coded homeland security advisory system and photos of a newborn baby. Out of chaos comes order, as the viewer steps back from the smear of random bits of graffiti to discover a very clear, direct and serious personal message. "He is the most divisive president we've ever had," the artist asserts, "and I think he...