​In recognition of the vital role that our merchants and seamen play in Key West’s history, culture and economy, Mayor Teri Johnston and the City Commission proclaimed May 22nd Maritime Day during this week’s meeting.
In times of war and peace, the American Merchant Marine has been dedicated to the orderly flow of goods and materials to and from the shores of our nation.

May 22nd marks the anniversary of the day the SS Savannah sailed from U.S. shores in 1819 to Liverpool on the first successful crossing of the Atlantic by a ship using steam propulsion.

“Each year on this day,” reads the proclamation, “men and women from all our United States currently serving in the American Merchant Marine are honored, along with those who served with such dedication and valor and those many seamen who lost their lives in our wars and conflict.”

Propeller Club Port of Key West President Ron Demes accepted the proclamation on behalf of the Propeller Club and the Maritime Historical Society.

Key West each year pays homage to the 250,000 merchant mariners who served in WWII, 6500 of whom lost their lives. Hundreds were prisoners of war. Over 800 ships were sunk or severely damaged.
On May 22nd, said Demes, members of the Propellor Club will lay a wreath on the sea in honor of the lives lost.

​The Gardens Hotel owner Kate Miano presented the Key West Police Mounted Unit with a check for over $3,000 -- funds raised in the May Derby Day fundraiser at the hotel.

Miano has hosted this annual fundraiser since 2017. Each year she has generously donated to the Mounted Unit after hosting the event that coincides with the Kentucky Derby.
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The Mounted Unit is one of the most popular units of the Key West Police Department. These equestrian officers provide a daily presence that is particularly beneficial downtown and with crowds. 

ISLAMORADA, FL – On Saturday, Monroe County Mayor Pro Tem Holly Merrill Raschein and Veterans Affairs Director Cathy Crane presented 100-year-old Captain Richard “Dick” Barnes, U.S. Navy, retired, a Mayor’s Proclamation at his birthday celebration with his family. His 100th birthday was Wednesday, May 10.
 
“Monroe County wishes to honor Captain Barnes on his 100th birthday with deepest gratitude for his service to our country and our Monroe County community,” said Merrill Raschein.  “He truly defines why his era will always be known as the ‘Greatest Generation’.”
 
Soon after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Barnes applied to the United States Navy Aviator Program in 1942, and after his return from the war, Barnes served actively and in the Naval Reserve for almost 40 years.
 
He was a Torpedo Bomber Pilot during World War II, an Officer-In-Charge Test Pilot during the Korean War, and concluded his career as the Commanding Officer of the Naval Air Reserve at Naval Air Station Jacksonville.
 
Barnes and his family moved to Plantation Key in August 1960, two weeks before Hurricane Donna hit. Locally, he owned Venetian Shores Fishing Center for 27 years, was a member of the Florida Keys Electric Cooperative Board of Directors, was in the Upper Keys Rotary Club, and was a founder and former commodore of the Upper Keys Sailing Club.
 
As an active diver, a true highlight of his was when he raised and displayed several treasures, including a 3-ton, 22-foot-tall anchor, from the El Leary wreck of the Spanish Galleons.
 
“He has lived a life characterized by devotion to his family, friends, hard work, honesty, humility, sacrifice, and honor, influencing countless people through his service to his community and country,” said Crane.

Retiring City Manager Patti McLauchlin was recently honored by the College of the Florida Keys with one of its most distinguished awards: The President’s Award. The award was presented by College President and CEO Dr. Jonathan Gueverra during the May 5th graduation ceremony at the Tennessee Williams Fine Arts Center.
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The President’s Award is in recognition of McLauchlin’s extraordinary service and commitment to the college and the community.

“This is truly an honor,” said McLauchlin. “I’m proud and humbled by this recognition.”

McLauchlin, who retires in July, has served with the City for 43 years, beginning as a dispatcher and working up through management until she was appointed City Manager in July of 2021. She is the first woman to hold the title of City Manager of Key West.

McLauchlin started her education at what is now known as the College of the Florida Keys with an associate’s degree. She earned her bachelor’s degree from Barry University in Miami.

Her commitment to the community includes membership in the Rotary Club and the Key West Chamber of Commerce. She serves on many local boards of directors as well as participating in numerous professional organizations.
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The President’s Award tops off a career of devoted public service. McLauchlin received the Zonta Club of Key West Award for Public Service, the True Grit Award from Womankind of Key West and the Women of Integrity Award for public service from Samuel’s House.

​The Ashbritt Foundation today made a generous donation to the K9 Relief Fund of Key West. County Commissioner Holly Raschein, on behalf of Ashbritt, presented Chief Sean Brandenburg with a check for $16,000.

The fund was founded by philanthropists Becca and Tom Ahrensfeld to support the working dogs of the Key West Police Department. Since there is no retirement plan for police dogs, this fund helps the officers with the expenses of owning a dog after it retires.

“We are thrilled to accept this generous donation on behalf of the K9 Relief Fund,” said Chief Brandenburg. “And we are grateful to the Ahrensfelds for their amazing support of our K9 Unit. As a former handler myself, I can attest to the importance of caring for these dogs when they retire.”

K-9 officers are a vital part of the department, assisting with suspect pursuits, narcotics investigations and more. A canine has the ability to smell over 100,000 times stronger than a human, so a properly trained police dog can save a department some 600 to 1000 man-hours every year. The dogs face dangers just like their human counterparts including potential gunshot risks or other injuries, and life-threatening exposure to fentanyl and other dangerous substances.

There is no retirement plan for police dogs although they can, in retirement, experience a variety of health issues including separation anxiety or post-traumatic stress disorder. A full 100 percent of a retired dog’s expenses fall on the handler. That includes all food, medication, and vet bills.

The current City of Key West dogs are Jigsaw, a German shepherd born in Slovakia on December 17, 2017 and handled by Officer Tommy Anglin; Mango, a yellow Labrador retriever born in Mexico and handled by Sgt. Jesse Hammers; and Dexter, a German shepherd born in Florida in 2014 and handled by Officer Matt Hansell.

The fund is managed by the Community Foundation of the Florida Keys. For more information, check out their website at cffk.org/K9.

MONROE COUNTY, FL – Monroe County Fire Rescue (MCFR) Deputy Chief RL Colina attended the Executive Fire Officer program at the National Fire Academy (NFA) in Emmitsburg, MD, in April. While attending the program, he was honored to be selected to deliver the flags of fallen firefighters who lost their lives last year to the National Fire Academy Chapel in preparation for the official National Fallen Firefighters Memorial ceremony that took place May 6-7.
 
“It was an extremely humbling moment in my 26 years as a firefighter," said Colina. "As a member of Monroe County Fire Rescue, it was an honor to be selected for such an important ceremonial process for our fallen Brothers and Sisters. We shall never forget!"
 
MCFR Captain Cassy Cane was also in attendance at the ceremony. She was at the National Fire Academy as a SAFER grant review board panelist. 

May 15, 2023 – (KEY WEST, FL).  On May 31, the Key West Art & Historical Society will open its latest exhibition, “Sushi in the Shoe: Celebrating 25 Years of New Year’s Eve Drop” that will showcase many of the iconic dresses designed and worn by world renowned drag queen Sushi, also known as Gary Marion.  The exhibition will also contain a sampling of accompanying jewelry, shoes, portraits, and global coverage of the annual event.  The Society welcomes the public to a special reception on May 31 from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at the Key West Museum of Art & History, 281 Front Street, to mark the exhibit opening and to help kick off Pride Month.

For a quarter of a century, Sushi starred in the Bourbon Street Pub’s New Year’s Eve festivities—a warm weather takeoff on New York City’s Times Square ball drop—that is styled the Red Shoe Drop.  Each December 31, wearing an extravagant self-designed and hand-sewn gown, Sushi balanced in a woman’s sparkly red heeled shoe constructed of fiberglass and glitter high above Duval Street, exciting the thousands of partygoers below.  Seconds before midnight, the red shoe containing Sushi was lowered from Bourbon Street’s second-story balcony as the clock neared midnight.  The New Year’s Eve Red Shoe Drop became so well-known that it has been featured numerous times on national and international New Year’s Eve television programs such as CNN.

“The shoe drop started twenty-five years ago.  OMG, it’s been a wild ride,” says Marion.  “Joey Schroeder approached me and said, ‘I am building a red high heel shoe and I want you to sit in it!’  At the time he asked, I was the janitor at the Bourbon Street Complex cleaning toilets seven days a week.  I also did a drag show there once a week.  I said, ‘Of course, darling, sounds fabulous.’  I never knew that it would become as iconic as it did.”

Each year, the extravagant dress worn by Marion was kept secret until he maneuvered into the red shoe high above the crowd.  Eager to astonish the crowd, Marion spent months leading up to the drop poring through fashion magazines to find inspiration for each elaborate dress.  No two are alike.  They range in color, style, material, and accessories.  Once the drop concluded, Marion placed the dresses, wigs, and jewelry into storage.  This exhibition will bring together several of the original gowns along with short narratives about the dresses’ origins and material source.
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“Sushi in the Shoe: Celebrating 25 Years of the New Year’s Eve Drop” runs until July 2, 2023, in the Bryan Gallery and is sponsored by the Florida Department of State, Division of Arts & Culture and The Helmerich Trust.  For more information, call Cori Convertito at 305-295-6616 x 507 or [email protected].  Your Museums.  Your Community.  It Takes an Island.

​KEY WEST, FL -- The U.S. Navy commissioned its newest Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Lenah Sutcliffe Higbee (DDG 123), May 13 in Key West, Florida.
 
Guest speaker Rear Adm. Cynthia Kuehner, Commander, Naval Medical Forces Support Command and Director of the U.S. Navy Nurse Corps wished the Corps happy 115th birthday and reflected on its being one of the “greatest enhancements to the fighting strength of our Navy over the past 247 years of its rich history” and celebrating the legacy of Lenah Sutcliffe Higbee.
 
“I and the nearly 4,000 active and reserve professionals represent will forever feel connected to this moment in history and words cannot fully express our gratitude for our presence and representation,” said Kuehner. “In honoring her selfless service we ensure that the permanence of her spirit is breathed into every space and crevice of this magnificent vessel as she comes to life.”
 
“The story of Lenah Higbee is the story of past, present and future Navy nurses and the undeniable, inseparable role of the Navy nurse in defense of our nation,” she continued.
 
“Our Navy, and in particular, our surface fleet, sends a strong signal that we remain committed to our values. Values that we share with our allies and partners around the world,” said Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro. “We will continue to put forth every effort to ensure freedom, stability, security, of sea lanes around the world. Today with the commissioning of the USS Higbee we add one more highly visible extremely capable warship to our Fleet.”
 
“It is fitting we commission this ship this week, which is National Nurses week, and particularly this day, the 13th of May. On this day our Navy Nurse Corps was established creating the institution that is the lifeblood of Navy Medicine,” said Admiral Mike Gilday, Chief of Naval Operations. "Somebody once said, save a life and you’re a hero. Save a hundred lives, you’re a nurse.”
 
Guest speakers for the event also included the Honorable Donald Norcross, U.S. Representative, New Jersey’s 1st District and member of the House Armed Services Committee; the Honorable Teri Johnston, mayor of Key West; and Ms. Kari Wilkinson, president of Huntington Ingalls Industries-Ingalls Shipbuilding division.
 
The ship’s sponsors are Ms. Louisa O. Dixon, former Commissioner of Public Safety for the State of Mississippi under former Governor Ray Mabus; Ms. Virginia Thompson Munford, former Chair of Mississippi Bar Committees; and Ms. Rolanda Pickett Wilson, former Special Advisor for Education and Intergovernmental Relations under former Governor Ray Mabus.
 
During the ceremony, USS Lenah Sutcliffe Higbee’s commanding officer Cmdr. Douglas Brayton, reported the ship ready to Capt. Courtney M. Minetree, commodore, Destroyer Squadron 21, and all three sponsors gave the traditional order to “Man our ship and bring her to life!”
 
“If there’s anything I want us all to take away from the commissioning of this ship is that we all have the ability to make a difference and make an impact. Whether you are the first group of 20 female nurses in the Navy, a new Sailor to the service, or someone just wanting to see what a ship commissioning is,” said Brayton. “We all have the ability and choice to make a difference."
 
The future USS Lenah Sutcliffe Higbee, honors Navy Nurse Lenah Sutcliffe Higbee. Lenah Sutcliffe Higbee was the first woman to receive the Navy Cross while still living. Higbee joined the Navy in October 1908 as part of “The Sacred Twenty,” the first group of women forming the Navy Nurse Corps. She became the second superintendent of the Navy Nurse Corps in January 1911, holding the position for 11 years. Higbee served in the Navy for 14 years, leading the Nurse Corps through World War I and the 1918 influenza pandemic.
 
Lenah Sutcliffe Higbee’s example is part of the Navy’s heritage - 247 years of standing the watch to protect the homeland, preserve freedom of the seas, and defend our way of life.
 
A Canadian by birth, Higbee completed her formal nursing training at the New York Postgraduate Hospital in 1899 and that same year married retired U.S. Marine Corps Lieutenant Colonel John Henley Higbee. Higbee worked in private practice following her marriage. Higbee’s husband passed in April 1908 and she advanced her nursing career by completing a postgraduate course at Fordham Hospital in New York City.
 
On May 13, 1908, Congress passed legislation allowing for the establishment of Navy Nurse Corps - the equivalent of the Army Nurse Corps established in 1901. The Navy required members of its Nurse Corps to be unmarried and between the age of 22 and 44. The 36-year-old and widowed Higbee joined 19 other females to make up this first group of female Navy Nurses known as the “Sacred Twenty.”
 
Higbee became Chief Nurse at Norfolk Naval Hospital in 1909 and the second Superintendent of the Corps in 1911. Higbee led the Nurse Corps through not only World War I, but the Spanish Influenza epidemic. Higbee was one of four Navy Nurses to be awarded the Navy Cross in 1920, however, the other three were victims of the flu and honored posthumously. Higbee retired from the Navy in 1922.
 
Arleigh Burke-class destroyers are the backbone of the U.S. Navy’s surface fleet. These highly capable, multi-mission ships conduct a variety of operations, from peacetime presence to national security providing a wide range of warfighting capabilities in multi-threat air, surface and subsurface.

KEY WEST, FL – Monroe County’s Bertha Street and First Street Roadway and Drainage Improvement Project was recently completed in partnership with the City of Key West. The County’s work scope included drainage installation, roadway reconstruction, and rehabilitation. The City of Key West’s scope included sidewalks, crosswalks, landscaping cutouts, signage, traffic control, harmonization with private properties, and installing new water meters for the Florida Keys Aqueduct Authority.
 
“The project was challenging but successful due to the coordination and collaboration of the stakeholders, and a special thanks to the business owners and homeowners for their patience throughout the extended construction process,” said Monroe County Engineering Services Project Manager Debra London. “A drive down Bertha and First is a new experience with raised ADA-accessible sidewalks and new curbs and gutters. It is quite a different experience than just a few years ago.”
 
Bertha Street was connected to the City of Key West’s existing Dennis Street pump station, and the First Street gravity drainage system was upgraded to prevent saltwater road flooding during king tide events. The County has begun a drainage study to plan for the future addition of a pump station to the First Street system to counteract the increasing impacts of sea-level rise and king tides.
 
“The recent improvements should provide relief from the periodic ‘sunny day’ king tide flooding that residents have experienced in the past, but heavy rain occurring during an extreme king tide event may take a bit longer to drain fully,” said Monroe County Director of Engineering Judy Clarke.

​MONROE COUNTY, FL – Monroe County and Monroe County’s yard waste contractor will offer free compost (nutrient-rich black dirt) to unincorporated Monroe County residents and cities of Marathon, Key Colony Beach, Islamorada, and Layton residents at the County’s three transfer stations on the first Saturday of each month from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. or until it is gone. Residents can fill one 32-gallon trash can or six 5-gallon buckets with compost. Proof of residency is required in the form of a driver’s license, utility bill, tax bill, etc. Residents are limited to one pick-up per household. You must bring your own shovel and be able to load the containers on your own or bring someone to assist you.
 
Monroe County’s transfer station locations:

• Cudjoe Key, MM 21.5, Blimp Rd.
• Long Key, MM 68
• Key Largo, 1100 County Rd. 905

 
“This program has been incredibly popular with our residents,” said Monroe County Solid Waste Director Cheryl Sullivan. “This is a great way to spruce up your backyard with compost generated here in Monroe County.”
 
The compost is vegetation picked up on yard waste day throughout Monroe County and brought to the mainland. On the mainland, the vegetation goes through a breakdown process to turn the yard waste into compost given away at the transfer stations.
 
FUN FACTS ABOUT THE COMPOST PROCESS:

• Old Castle, the processing center, has 50 acres in Glades County to process yard waste vegetation, which is one of several locations throughout the United States.

• It takes one ton of yard waste to produce one cubic yard of compost.
• Last year, Monroe County Transfer Stations received 27,563 tons of vegetation from throughout the County.
• Approximately three million bags of soil products are produced from Monroe County vegetation and distributed from Vero Beach to Key West and throughout the Caribbean.