Conch Republic Annexes Abandoned Keys Bridge Reached by 15 Cubans

The AP ^ | Friday, January 13, 2006

[kristinn]

KEY WEST -- The mock Conch Republic on Friday ``annexed'' an abandoned bridge in the Florida Keys that the federal government ruled was not U.S. territory when 15 Cubans landed there last week.

Members of the republic, established in 1982 by disgruntled Florida Keys residents as a tongue-in-cheek protest over U.S. Border Patrol checkpoints, planted flags along the section of the bridge where the Cubans landed and said they hoped to use it for affordable housing.

Self-appointed Republic of Conch Secretary General Peter Anderson said he planned to offer 50-foot sections of the structure to those who want to build eco-friendly ``bridge-shacks.''

``Since the federal government decided in its infinite wisdom that the old Seven Mile Bridge is not territory of the United States, the Conch Republic is very interested,'' Anderson said.

Anderson -- who authorizes Conch Republic birth certificates to all babies born in the Keys -- said the group met no resistance.

``They chose not to defend it,'' he said.

SNIP

[vrwc0915]

sweet

[TFFKAMM]

Conch Republic site

More about "micronations" like the Conch Republic here

[doggieboy]

Oh look at me everyone. I'm a nation.

[Navy Patriot]

Oh look at me everyone. I'm a nation.

Only one more step up and you're a Sovereign.

[oyez]

How Gay is that?

[tet68]

How Gay is that?

At least he didn't want to show you his peninsula.

[rodguy911]

Some of the politicos in the Keys bring up affordable housing whenever they are running or want to look good for something. Truth is very little of it ever gets built. And by the time it does get built so many long term Keys people have moved out, it's almost anticlimactic.

We have an 11 mile road on upper key largo with thousands of acres that are nothing but swamp, mangroves, yet high and dry land. Very buildable, but it has endangered rats, mice, trees, crocs and more important stuff than affordable housing.
So it just sits off the tax rolls year after year. And those who make less than 75-80 thousand per household leave the keys in droves every year.
Its a great placed to live as long as you don't have to work and are independently wealthy.

[livius]

Well, it's good that somebody did it. I was so disgusted that we sent these people back. Why is Bush keeping BJ's policies re Cuba in place?

[mhx]

They should have said they were Mexicans.

[Cacique]

Why is Bush keeping BJ's policies re Cuba in place?

How else is he going to show that he's tough on illegal immigration?

[skinkinthegrass]

Ambassador from Conch Republic ....Processing Fee U$10,000.00**

..has a nice ring to it. :))

[AuH2ORepublican]

Since the Coast Guard said that the "unconnected" bridge in the Florida Keys wasn't part of the U.S. when those 15 Cuban refugees reached it, a group of tongue-in-cheek Keys separatists are claiming the land. I hope they have their day in court so that the Bush administration has to admit that it was wrong.

[livius]

It was definitely wrong. I still want to know why Bush has never overturned Bill's pro-Castro policy on Cuban refugees.

[traviskicks]

lol, I like the people that did this. Hopefully, they are proAmerican and anticastro.

[VeniVidiVici]

I want to say the deal was cut long ago and has something to do with sending Haitian refugees back but not Cuban.

I hate to say it, but I think it is due to a PC decision along those lines.

[Hank Rearden]

I still want to know why Bush has never overturned Bill's pro-Castro policy on Cuban refugees.

Because the Bushes are just another pack of Big Stupid Government-loving professional politicians, and they scratch each others' backs.

[DoNotDivide]

Do they tax their citizens on global income? How does one get citizenship and a passport?

[American Quilter]

Bravo, Republic of Conch!

[Redleg Duke]

Do you have your own zip code?

Ted Kennedy is so fat that not only does he have his own zip code, but little liberals orbit him as their home planet!