A YEAR OF NEWS IN THE MIDDLE KEYS AS TOLD BY THE BIGGEST HEADLINES

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Drinks flowed and the race was on for Santa, the Grinch and a military of reindeer and elves to finish the perfect poker hand within the inaugural 7 Mile SantaCon on Dec. 14. PHOTO DESIGN BY NATALIE/Contributed

We firmly imagine that native information ought to come from native sources – the individuals who dwell and breathe these tales in actual time with our communities. As we glance again on the headlines that caught probably the most consideration in 2024 – the joyful, the sad, the triumphant and the controversial – it’s our honor to current the annual Yr in Evaluation for Marathon. 

January

Key Colony Seashore settled a highly-publicized lawsuit over development of a brand new Metropolis Corridor, repealing a earlier contract to construct a brand new $8.4 million constructing. 

In the meantime, draft laws despatched from Marathon Metropolis Corridor posing as much as 8,000 potential constructing rights for the Keys drew the ire of residents and county leaders, earlier than town agreed to delay its ask for one yr. 

On the opposite finish of city, a lodge redevelopment ordinance that some mentioned appeared to assist the upcoming Florida Keys Resort on Sombrero Boulevard met scrutiny from the Marathon Metropolis Council.

a split in half picture of a house and a boat
With its 4-0 Dec. 20 vote, the KCB Metropolis Fee repealed its July award of an $8.375 million contract to Arms On Builders, LLC for development of a brand new corridor. PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY KEYS WEEKLY.

February

Citing her upcoming transfer to Marathon, former KCB commissioner Beth Ramsay-Vickrey turned the second fee member to resign in 4 months. She wasn’t alone, as a number of staff, together with Code Enforcement Officer Barry Goldman and Constructing Official Lenny Leggett, resigned later within the month. As town turned the web page to discovering methods to enhance its present constructing, KCB celebrated a long-awaited reopening of Metropolis Corridor.

In Marathon, a pivot by town council on the design of the Quay property so as to add a second boat ramp noticed wholesome debate and loads of neighborhood suggestions, and the council scaled again provisions permitting for large-scale redevelopment of lodge and motel rooms.

a woman with long blonde hair wearing a yellow shirt
Beth Ramsay-Vickrey. KEYS WEEKLY FILE PHOTO

March

The month started on a darkish be aware, as former First Baptist Marathon pastor Monte Chitty was accused of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old woman after serving her alcohol. Chitty skipped his arraignment and fled the county, however was discovered 4 days later after approaching a church group in Texas.

A new Florida invoice banning homeless tenting thrust Marathon’s twentieth Avenue encampment into the highlight as leaders grappled with a everlasting resolution for town. And over in Key Colony Seashore, commissioner Doug Colonell was appointed to exchange Ramsay-Vickrey, ultimately securing re-election in November.

a man sitting in the passenger seat of a car
Monte Chitty is caught in Texas and returns to jail after skipping his arraignment for sexually assaulting a Marathon teen. MCSO/Contributed
a row of tents sitting on the side of a road
Tents line a recently-cleaned portion of the twentieth Avenue homeless encampment in Marathon. ALEX RICKERT/Keys Weekly

April

Well being care within the Center Keys took a leap ahead with the unveiling of Baptist Well being’s new Walsh Household Medical Arts Constructing on April 4. The Keys’ most beloved tree, Fred, turned a Hollywood star in Amazon Prime’s “Street Home” remake, and a redesigned skate park at Marathon Neighborhood Park, a years-long lightning rod of debate, took middle stage on the Marathon Metropolis Council’s month-to-month workshop.

After telling the Keys Weekly they “hope (we’re) utilizing the phrase allegedly, as a result of (they’re) harmless till confirmed responsible” once they had been launched from jail in late 2023, a Boot Key Harbor liveaboard couple who took half within the January 6 U.S. Capitol riots each pled responsible to their expenses on April 30. Bryan Bishop, who confronted felony expenses after spraying a chemical irritant within the face of a capitol police officer, was later sentenced to 45 months in jail.

Images:

a group of people cutting a ribbon in front of a building
Baptist leaders minimize the ribbon to open BHSF’s new Walsh Household Medical Arts Constructing on April 4 in Marathon. BAPTIST HEALTH SOUTH FLORIDA/Contributed
a man in a hat and scarf holding a flag
Pictures and video from outdoors and inside the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 helped establish Bryan Bishop as one in every of a number of people who assaulted Metropolitan Police Division officers earlier than getting into the Capitol. SEDITION HUNTERS/Contributed

Could

Celebrations closed the tip of the varsity yr as Marathon bid farewell to the Class of 2024, together with 64 Take Inventory in Youngsters students who earned a mixed $1.6 million in Florida Pay as you go scholarships. Valedictorian Marquisha Abraham and salutatorian Cami Wrinn ended the yr on the high of their class.

On the mainland, the Marathon unified soccer group scored gold within the Particular Olympics Summer season Video games on the ESPN Broad World of Sports activities Complicated in Orlando. The group has been a game-changer for particular schooling gamers, whose classmates at Marathon Excessive have totally embraced and celebrated their accomplishments.

Images:

a group of people in blue graduation gowns
The Class of 2024 prepares to enter the Marathon Excessive Faculty Performing Arts Middle for the final time as college students. ROSS SMITH/Keys Weekly
a group of young men standing next to each other
The Marathon unified soccer group exhibits off well-earned gold medals on the ESPN Broad World of Sports activities Complicated in Orlando. From left: coach Cathy Warner, Mykah Nelson, Sebastian Gonzalez, Ashley Strama, Mikayla Schubert, Lucian Burns, Billy Roberts, Alex Chavala, Cindy Augustin, Tony Barrera. CONTRIBUTED

June

As scrutiny across the Florida Keys Resort intensified, so did flooding issues on the neighboring Sombrero Boulevard. (Although town will NOT, as instructed by the Weekly’s annual April Idiot’s article, be changing the street right into a neighborhood lagoon.) A multimillion-dollar energetic pumping and drainage system is scheduled for set up in 2025.

A milestone settlement introduced years of authorized proceedings to a detailed in Marathon’s notorious “Boatworks” case, and over in KCB, the Key Colony Seashore Police Division turned the ultimate municipal drive within the Florida Keys to unionize.

a red fire hydrant sitting in a flooded street
A disabled Mustang sits in a fully-flooded Sombrero Boulevard throughout a historic rain occasion on Could 20. CONTRIBUTED
a group of people standing around a table
The Key Colony Seashore Metropolis Fee and police division maintain a signing ceremony with South Florida Police Benevolent Affiliation president Steadman Stahl and lawyer Andrew Axelrad to commemorate town’s newly-approved police union contract. ALEX RICKERT/Keys Weekly

July

As the topic of future plans for the Florida Keys Resort turned a serious political speaking level across the metropolis, proprietor Peter Rosasco pulled again the curtains on plans for his upcoming improvement, together with a accomplished golf course, aquatic driving vary, restaurant, pool and extra alongside a lodge and waterfront villas. 

A controversial proper of approach abandonment that some locals mentioned was not correctly described led to a push for town council to put in a brand new kayak launch and protect waterfront entry for residents on 109th Avenue.

Over in Key Colony, following months of twin service by Mayor Joey Raspe as town’s interim Metropolis Administrator, the fee put in former Marathon councilman John Bartus within the reworked employees publish to exchange former administrator Dave Turner, who was fired in December 2023.

a map of a park with lots of trees
Plans for the upcoming Florida Keys Resort despatched to the Weekly by metropolis of Marathon officers and resort co-owner Peter Rosasco comprise vital variations in areas allotted for a golf course, on-site leisure facilities and a central lagoon. CONTRIBUTED

August

Although a collection of hats had been thrown in, and in the end withdrawn from, the ring, 5 candidates certified in August to run for Marathon Metropolis Council: Jody “Lynny” Del Gaizo, incumbent Kenny Matlock, Dustin Huff, Mark Senmartin and Ray Wooden. Although he ended the marketing campaign with the most important struggle chest, Huff later withdrew from the race in October citing household well being issues.

A tragic private watercraft accident claimed the lives of Jose Dominguez and his son Daniel after the pair slammed right into a Boot Key Harbor canal’s seawall on Aug. 14. And with additions to a rising record of indictments within the county’s Trauma Star drug theft case, former hearth rescue captain Andrea Thompson acquired an outcry of assist from Marathon locals with a slogan “Stand with Andrea.” Thompson was ultimately terminated in late September.

a blue and white jet ski sitting on top of a body of water
A wrecked watercraft serves as a grim reminder of a tragic accident that claimed the lives of a father and son in a Boot Key Harbor canal in August. MCSO/Contributed

September

A city-wide go to from the FBI on Sept. 5 rocked Marathon because the company unsealed an indictment charging 27 defendants, together with Florida Keys Aqueduct Authority staff, business constitution boat operators and a former Metropolis of Marathon worker, with federal drug and firearm offenses in and across the Florida Keys and Miami-Dade County.

Town council renewed its debate over town’s twentieth Avenue encampment after neighborhood members petitioned the board to offer higher help for the road’s residents. And when it got here time to sharpen pencils for Marathon’s annual finances, raises for metropolis employees had been as soon as once more the recent matter of the month’s finances hearings. Council members confused the necessity for constant analysis procedures for workers shifting ahead, together with a primary construction to be adjusted with annual knowledge for future years’ raises, and managed to not increase property taxes for 2024-25.

Held for the primary time ever at Hawks Cay resort, the Weekly’s annual Better of Marathon Awards introduced the neighborhood collectively for an evening of celebration, laughs and roasts aplenty.

And in just below two years of development, Monroe County accomplished its model new Emergency Operations Middle, holding a grand opening on Sept. 23.

Images:

a group of men standing next to a black suv
On Sept. 5, FBI brokers arrested greater than 20 suspects within the Center and Decrease Florida Keys on suspected cocaine trafficking. ALEX RICKERT/Keys Weekly
a group of people sitting around a table
Spotless Pool Cleansing’s Dubier and Alicia Rojas can’t conceal their pleasure after profitable Greatest Pool Service on the 2024 Better of Marathon Awards. PHOTO DESIGN BY NATALIE/Contributed
a group of people holding a blue ribbon
Monroe County Mayor Holly Merrill Raschein and Director of Emergency Administration Shannon Weiner minimize the ribbon to formally open the brand new Emergency Operations Middle. ALEX RICKERT/Keys Weekly

October

At its October session, the Marathon Metropolis Council greenlit numerous new developments, together with a highly-scrutinized 20-home improvement with a meals truck ring and tiki bar between 61st and 62nd Avenue Gulf, together with a wholesome debate over a switch mechanism for inexpensive housing allocations from different Keys governments.

Candidates in native races squared off within the Weekly and Larger Marathon Chamber of Commerce’s candidate discussion board on Oct. 7, with harder-hitting questions addressing controversial features of metropolis council candidates’ campaigns.

November

Matlock and Del Gaizo noticed their marketing campaign efforts rewarded with wins by convincing margins on Nov. 5 and had been sworn in a single week later. Although initially scheduled to resolve Marathon’s request for constructing rights at its common November session, the Marathon Metropolis Council postponed the choice till December, electing to carry a particular workshop that stuffed the room to gauge resident enter

Over at Marathon Excessive Faculty, Particular Olympics weightlifters Cindy Augustin and Alex Chavala returned to their classmates as champions on Nov. 12, contemporary off gold medal performances at Particular Olympics Florida’s state meet. Each Augustin and Chavala shall be thought-about for competitors within the June 2026 Particular Olympics nationwide meet on the College of Minnesota as representatives for Florida.

a group of women standing next to each other
A commanding lead in early and mail-in ballots places Jody ‘Lynny’ Del Gaizo within the driver’s seat for a spot on the Marathon Metropolis Council. Pictured along with her are supporters Beth Ramsay-Vickrey, left, and Aimee Kornetti. ALEX RICKERT/Keys Weekly
a group of people standing in front of a fire truck
Gold medalists Cindy Augustin, proper, and Alex Chavala, left, returned from their state meet with coach Cathy Warner after delivering personal-best performances. ALEX RICKERT/Keys Weekly

December

Following a Dec. 3 workshop, the Marathon Metropolis Council unanimously elected to maneuver ahead with a request to state officers for modifications in hurricane evacuation occasions that might enhance the variety of constructing rights all through the Florida Keys – a change from 24 to 26 hours, together with a brand new constructing proper per vacant buildable lot within the metropolis.

Amid a flurry of vacation occasions, two first-time happenings on the identical day look to have cemented their locations as annual highlights of the vacation season with an amazing neighborhood response to Pigeon Key’s Vacation Spectacular and the 7 Mile SantaCon.

a group of people standing around a bar
Drinks flowed and the race was on for Santa, the Grinch and a military of reindeer and elves to finish the perfect poker hand within the inaugural 7 Mile SantaCon on Dec. 14. PHOTO DESIGN BY NATALIE/Contributed
a couple of people that are sitting in a chair
Grayson Koers, 5, asks Santa for a race automotive through the 2024 Pigeon Key Vacation Spectacular Saturday, December 14, 2024. DOUG FINGER/Keys Weekly

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