As my dad would say back in olden times, âLord willing and the creek donât rise,â by the time youâre reading this Iâll be sitting on my front porch behind the picket fence and telling tall tales about what itâs like out there in the big world of âMerica.
Two weeks ago, Ranger Ed and I hitched a ride in the dark-thirty to the airport and climbed aboard the 7:03 a.m. Delta flight to Atlanta. We spent 12 days in the Atlanta suburbs, flew back into Key West on Monday, grabbed a shower, called the AC repair guy, petted the Cat 5s, then turned around and drove to Miami on Monday evening. Ranger Ed had some routine sinus surgery at University of Miami and we were back on the Rock on Wednesday night.
Flying out of Key West last week was a bit like crawling out of a cave, blinking in the sunshine and wishing I could scurry to safety.
The last time I left the island (other than three day trips to Miami for health care stuff and a couple junkets to Stock Island) was in August 2019, when I headed to Atlanta for a week to kid-sit with the grandson. Twenty months. Mary, Joseph and the Wee Donkey. Thatâs a long time on the rock.
Early on in the COVID shutdown last March, April and May, being isolated on the island was a lark. The weather was its customary spectacular, we had the whole place to ourselves and we could wander without fear of random scooter encounters. We had happy hours in the streets, chatted from the curb with friends on their porches and figured this would be over shortly. Shortly being a somewhat relative term, ranging from weeks to years, depending on oneâs optimism meter.
The total number of COVID-19 cases in the Florida Keys reached 6,711, with the Florida Department of Health in Monroe County reporting 16 new cases on Friday.
The increase includes six new cases in Key West, four in Key Largo, two each in Marathon and Tavernier, and one new case on Stock Island.
Key West has reported 3,134 cases of COVID-19 since the pandemic began a little more than a year ago. Key Largo has 1,019, Marathon 767, Tavernier 506 and Islamorada 232.
Every resident 18 and older is eligible to sign up for COVID-19 vaccinations and nearly 8 million Floridians have been vaccinated, according to the Florida Department of Health.
A group of Sugarloaf Key homeowners have appealed an approval by the Monroe County Planning Commission of a development of an 88-unit housing project at the entrance to the South Point neighborhood in Sugarloaf Shores.
The residents have also filed a petition to Monroe County Commission, who will hear the appeal, by 672 owners and full-time residents in Sugarloaf Shores opposing the project called the Dockside & the Landings Apartments. Key West restaurateur Joe Walsh has partnered with the South Florida-based Rural Neighborhoods on the project.
The residents oppose an 88-unit housing project at this location, but would not oppose the project if it included not more than 40 dwelling units with no portion of the land reserved for future development, according to the residents, who have formed a group called the Lower Density for Lower Sugarloaf.
While the ongoing pandemic is the prominent health crisis at the moment, Monroe County Sheriff Rick Ramsay is warning about a lingering, insidious public health emergency: opioid addiction.
In recent weeks, the arrest log has seen a large number of local arrests for trafficking, dealing and possession of drugs such as oxycodone and heroin, as well as cocaine and sometimes even methamphetamine, which Ramsay said never used to appear in the Florida Keys.
Speaking from his office at the Marathon substation recently, Ramsay pointed out a woman being brought down the hallway in handcuffs, arrested that day for dealing. She is one who Ramsay describes as a âfrequent flyerâ with the Monroe County Sheriffâs Office.