And The Winner Is… - Fun And Games, Key West Style!
Down in Key West, Florida, conch shells not only make a great musical instrument, there have been festivities surrounding the art form for nearly 50 years!
I don’t know what’s cooler, a sixth-generation Key West, Florida resident, or the fact that he just won the 48th Annual Conch Shell Blowing Contest. Clinton Curry dazzled the crowd with the traditional “two-toned toot” last Saturday, and then absolutely floored them by playing a bit of Aram Khachaturian's "Sabre Dance" on a single shell. Several hundred spectators went wild with applause.
Blowing the fluted, pink-lined conch shell has been a Key West tradition for nearly 200 years. The shells made a great signaling device for the seafaring population. More than 40 contestants were judged on quality, novelty, duration, and loudness, and when all was said and done Curry won the gold medal.
I think locals, known as Conchs, should lobby ESPN to come down to the Keys to film the contest and make a big deal about it. DISH Network could bring it to us in stunning High Definition and we’d all get a great feel for the local culture of the Florida Keys! Maybe it will take some of the heat off of Dorell Wright in Miami. Check out MiamiUpdates.com for more information about that!
Addicted to 911 - Man Calls 911 More Than 200 Times!
Not really sure what’s going on in Avon Park, Florida, but nothing good can come out of dialing 911 non-stop for an entire weekend. Maybe the dude was bored, or maybe he just likes prank phone calls, but for some reason a man allegedly called 911 more than 200 times in a recent 3-day span.
Highlands County sheriff's deputies said Timothy Todd Lawrence spoke only to female dispatchers, and made remarks with romantic and sexual overtones to at least one of them. He told dispatchers he did not need emergency assistance. In one span of just under 11 hours, Lawrence allegedly made 151 calls.
Apparently the guy got 911 confused with a dating hotline. Imagine how much more havoc the guy would have created if he had an ADT monitored home security system. Instead of dialing the number, all he would have had to do is push a button. ADT monitored security systems dispatch local emergency response units usually much faster than 911. Of course, I doubt he'd be able to sweet talk ADT since it's all automatic.
Check Please! - Do You Have Two Forms Of ID, Ma'am?
An 85-year-old South Florida woman went looking for a photo of her ex-husband, but found something she hadn’t figured on: a $17,500 insurance claim check from 1978! Barbara Cosgrove of Lauderhill, Florida found the check, dated January 23, 1978, in an unopened envelope inside a nightstand drawer at her home.
Claiming to have looked through that very drawer “a thousand times”, she said she doesn't know how it’s possible she hadn't found the check sooner. Cosgrove said the check stems from an accident that occurred under the Brooklyn Bridge in 1976. A rain tarp filled with, you guessed it, rainwater, fell some 200 feet onto her car, damaging the vehicle.
Unfortunately, it's unclear if she can claim the money from the check, but it doesn’t look promising. It was issued by an insurance company that has been declared insolvent and liquidated, which seems strange since people didn’t seem to be in any big hurry to cash their checks!
Guns 'N Blammo Light Up Jupiter FL - Man, As Usual, Is His Own Worst Enemy!
I don’t make it a habit to laugh at the misfortunes of others, so I won’t do it now, but seriously, how do seemingly experienced gun owners accidentally shoot themselves?
A Jupiter, Florida man accidentally shot himself in the leg shortly after leaving a local gun store. Police say the unidentified man went to Chuck's Guns and Ammo Monday afternoon, looking for batteries for the laser sight on a small handgun.
The man apparently found what he was looking for, left the gun store and made his way back to his car where one of two things happened. He either took solid aim on his thigh and squeezed the trigger, or the gun accidentally fired, hitting him in the leg. Fortunately, the man wasn’t seriously injured and was taken to a West Palm Beach hospital for treatment.
Bogus Traffic Tickets - A Cop In Florida Has Been Busy Writing Fake Traffic Tickets!
A Florida Highway Patrol trooper based in South Florida has been arrested on charges of official misconduct. State authorities allege he has written hundreds of fake traffic tickets to drivers.
Florida Highway Patrol trooper Paul C. Lawrence has been accused of trying to manipulate an increase the number of citations he issued by writing a lot of bogus tickets. How many is “a lot”? How about more than 200! The fake traffic tickets trooper Lawrence issued since November have all been dismissed, and , as authorities are quickly discovering, there may be more.
Suspicion grew when the ticketed motorists began complaining they knew nothing about the citations. Prosecutors say Lawrence used information from drivers he previously stopped to draft the bogus traffic tickets.
Contrary to popular opinion, a spokesman for the Florida Highway Patrol said they don’t operate on a quota system.
