20 Years ago

[Bobcat]

1963: Two reporters from the Key West Citizen visited No Name Key to investigate reports that anti-Castro Revolutionaries were using the island for training. They found a secret camp with nine young Cubans training on the island. At the time, there was no bridge to the island.

[Bobcat]

1982: The U.S. Border Patrol established a roadblock at Florida City and began checking everyone leaving the Florida Keys for citizenship causing a traffic jam extending 15 miles. The Border Patrol had received information that illegal aliens were entering the country from the Keys.

[Ratickle]

We need those same agents on the Mexican border now!!

[Bobcat]

1982: Tourism business in the Keys claimed that the roadblock established by the U.S. Border Patrol to check the citizenship of everyone leaving the Florida Keys had frightened away legitimate traffic to the Keys.

[fund razor]

1963: Two reporters from the Key West Citizen visited No Name Key to investigate reports that anti-Castro Revolutionaries were using the island for training. They found a secret camp with nine young Cubans training on the island. At the time, there was no bridge to the island.

When pressed for what they had been training, one of the Cubans opened his closed hand and revealed a piece of paper with a small amount of writing on it. Undisclosed for more than 50 years, we can now share what that paper said:

1 loaf Cuban bread
3 tablespoons butter
1 pound ham
1 pound Cuban pork (lechón asado)
1/2 pound Swiss cheese
15 slices dill pickles

[Bobcat]

1982: A group of locals led by attorney David Paul Horan filed suit in federal court in Miami to have the U.S. Border Patrol's roadblock at Florida City removed.

[Bobcat]

1953: The crew filming the movie "12 Mile Reef" arrived and took over the Casa Marina Hotel. The movie starred Terry Moore, Robert Wagner, Gilbert Roland and J. Carroll Nash who arrived with the rest of the crew. A total of 75 locals were used as extras in the film.

[Bobcat]

Boats at Garrison Bight waiting to launch during the Mariel Boat Lift of 1980.

1980: The Monroe County Sheriff's office reported a steady stream of boats being trailed south as the Miami exile community converged on Key West to sail to Cuba to pick up relatives that the Castro government was reported letting leave. By the end of the day, 280 Cuban refugees had arrived in Key West and another 68 in Miami.


1982: The Florida Keys officially seceded from the Union in a mock ceremony to protest the Border Patrol establishing a road block at Florida City to check the citizenship of everyone leaving Monroe County. Traffic delays caused by the roadblock had resulted in a dramatic drop in tourist traffic to the Keys. Prime Minister DennisWardlow then announced the establishment of the Conch Republic

[Bobcat]

(looks like a Cigarette or a Magnum on the left)





Garrison Bight during the Mariel Boat Lift in 1980.

1980: Every five minutes, two boats were being launched at Garrison Bight to form an armada of small crafts bound to Cuba in hope of bringing their families to the U.S. The total number of refugees that arrived in Key West was estimated at 765.

[Bobcat]

1980: The Coast Guard ordered extra cutters to the Florida Straits to handle the increased flow of refugees from Cuba. This was the beginning of the largest peacetime operation in Coast Guard history.

1980: More than 2,000 small boats and a large fleet of commercial fishing boats left Key West for the Port of Mariel. More than 1,200 refugees landed in Key West since the boat lift began.

[Ratickle]

(looks like a Cigarette or a Magnum on the left)





Garrison Bight during the Mariel Boat Lift in 1980.

1980: Every five minutes, two boats were being launched at Garrison Bight to form an armada of small crafts bound to Cuba in hope of bringing their families to the U.S. The total number of refugees that arrived in Key West was estimated at 765.

Some of those boats sure seem small for that trip.

[fund razor]

The one has a 55 gallon aux fuel tank.

[Bobcat]

1980: More than 1,000 Cuban refugees arrived in Key West pushing the week's total to around 2,500. Hundreds of other boats ignored government warnings, high winds and seas to cross to Cuba for more refugees.

1980: U.S. Customs Service begins seizing boats returning from Cuba for landing illegal aliens in the United States.

1982: The Monroe County Commission passed, by unanimous vote, a resolution calling for an immediate end to the U.S. Board Patrol's roadblock at Florida City.

[Bobcat]

Some of those boats sure seem small for that trip.

1980: A squall line lasting 45 minutes swept across the island and the Straits of Florida. Wind gusts at 73 mph were recorded on the island. The wind struck the Cuban boat lift, sinking a number of crafts and leaving at least a dozen dead. At one point during the storm, the Coast Guard Center Key West received 22 "May Day" calls in five minutes.

1980: The U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Dallas, Capt. William J. Brogdon Jr. in command, arrived in the area and assumed duty as the on-scene commander for the Mariel Boat Lift.

1992: The film "Matinee," starring John Goodman and Cathy Moriarty, began shooting on Smather's Beach.

[Bobcat]

Africans on the slave deck of the Bark Wildfire and brought to Key West by the U.S. Navy 1860.From Harper's Weekly of June 2, 1860


1860: The USS Mohawk escorted the captured slave ship Wildfire into the harbor. The Wildfire had 510 Africans from the Congo River area that were being taken to Cuba to be sold in the slave trade. The Wildfire was in violation of American and international law and the U.S. Navy was actively searching for violators.

1898: War prices ruled in Key West. A tall glass of soda cost $.15, lemonade was $.20 and beer $.25. Drinking water was becoming more valuable every day as the water shortage grew worse because of no rain.



1980: Gov. Bob Graham ordered the Florida National Guard to Key West, and the first unit company of military police arrived to assist handling the Cuban refugees crisis.

1980: Six more boats arrived from Mariel with about 200 Cuban refugees. This brought the number of refugees to arrive in Key West to more than 4,700.

1982: The establishment of the Conch Republic was getting worldwide attention. Stella Cisneros, Mayor Wardlow's secretary, was busy responding to requests about the Conch Republic.

[Bobcat]

1934: Fishermen from Thompson Fish Company found human foot bones and a slipper in a shark’s stomach while skinning the animal. No identification was ever made of the remains.

[Ratickle]

So, why would the victim be in slippers?

[Bobcat]

Killed at Home and buried at Sea?

[Bobcat]

1929: Congressman M. Alfred Michaelson of Chicago was found not guilty in federal court on charges of smuggling and transporting intoxicating liquors. The congressman’s brother-in-law claimed the two trunks with the liquor were his, but had been included with Michaelson’s baggage, which was given a free pass through customs.

[Bobcat]

1982: A study by the Federation for American Immigration Reform reported that the 1980 Mariel Boat Lift cost American taxpayers more than $1 billion and demonstrated the need for stringent immigration laws.