Fifty seven years ago today. July 2, 1961. A sad day.
Ernest Hemingway committed suicide. At his then home in Sun Valley, Idaho.
One of the greats in the annals of literary history. A favorite son of Key West.
Hemingway’s father Dr. Clarence Hemingway committed suicide many years earlier. Hemingway said at the time: “I’ll probably go the same way.”
A quiet evening last night. A drink at the Chart Room and grocery shopping at Publix. The refrigerator was empty again.
BOB returns. The Bum Farto saga continued.
Authorities did not initially pay attention to drug dealing in Key West. Farto and friends became aware. He and some Bubba friends decided to make some easy money.
Farto fixed up El Jefe and his personal appearance. What he was doing became open and notorious. El Jefe was lime green to begin and carried a sign with El Jefe on it. Farto added a bright gold eagle to the hood, together with reflective glass and two sawed off shotguns.
He uniformed himself. He wore a shocking pink uniform, rose colored glasses, and a generous helping of gold jewelry.
Farto was on the way! His new career took off! Drug dealer!
Ssles and deliveries were made from El Jefe. The drugs secreted in McDonald lunch bags and pizza boxes.
Dealing drugs did not interfere with Farto continuing his regular job as Fire Chief.
The operation expanded. Thirty some odd fellow Key West citizens became involved. None, including Farto, were Mafia types. They merely happened upon an easy way to make money and said why not. Never seriously considering the consequences.
Federal authorities became aware. No one sure how. The flamboyant manner in which Farto was doing business? Someone squealed? The answer not known.
There was a massive arrest by authorities. Thirty in all. Farto included. Referred to as the Big Bubba Bust.
The timing had one inconvenient factor. Key West’s primary bail bondsman was among those arrested. The only other bondsman was out of town on vacation.
Who was going to bail these good citizens of Key West out of jail?
The bonding company Bankers Casualty Insurance Company became involved. Probably because they did not want to lose all the money they could make bonding thirty good and true men out of jail. The Company arranged for the release of the bondsman who in turn bailed out the remaining 29 defendants.
The best is yet to come.
To be continued…..
ICE is going to become well known to the American people. Some have begun referring to ICE as Trump’s private army. A scary thought.
My immediate concern is where are the babies and girls? Yesterday, photos of some of the girls were shown. Where are they? Where are the babies? What is going on? Time to open the doors and let the media and public in. I fear something bad has occurred.
On this day in 1964, President Lyndon Johnson signed into law the Civil Rights Act. A monumental moment!
Color would no longer be an issue. Did not work out that way. Things are better. However, race still an issue in our country. Trump I suspect a racist.
We have a long way to go.
On this day in 1881, President James Garfield was shot. He died some 80 days later. His doctors killed him, not the assassin who shot him.
A few yeas ago, I wrote a KONK Life column on the topic. I asked Sloan this morning to dig it out. If she finds it, I plan on running the column as tomorrow’s blog adding only a brief introduction.
The moment of truth is upon us. The truth re Trump’s use of tariffs to enhance the U.S. economically.
Yesterday, Canada began adding new tariffs totaling $12.6 billion on U.S. products. China begins friday when it will add new tariffs totaling $34 billion. U.S. soybean farmers are going to be hit big time. China’s tariffs are being imposed on the same day the U.S. is adding $34 billion on Chinese goods.
Harley-Davidson has already said it is moving a significant number of its production lines out of the U.S. because of the tariffs. Nine thousand jobs will be gone.
General Motors and Polaris warned in recent days that they may have to take certain of their businesses overseas.
The largest U.S. nail manufacturer, Mid-Continental Nail, announced it has laid off 60 employees already because of the tariffs. The Company further advised that if something is not done to correct the situation, it will be out of business by Labor Day.
Helicopter assisted escapes from jails becoming commonplace. Forty nine since 1971. Thirty successful, nineteen failed.
Yesterday at a jail outside Paris, Redoine Fain successfully escaped. A stolen helicopter landed inside jail walls, picked up Fain, and were up and away in less than a minute.
Since 1971, seven movies, a number of TV shows, and several books have been written re the “art” of jail helicopter escapes.
Tonight, one of my Key West favorites. Aqua’s Dueling Bartenders. I find it relaxing to sit, have a couple of drinks, and sing along with the bartenders.
Enjoy your day!