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Today's News

  • Trouble in Cedar Key: Naked in the Streets

    Naked in the streets. How long has it been since you've read those words? Let me guess. Sometime seven or eight years ago I bet, in the Cedar Key Beacon. Those words marked the heading of a long-running weekly column written by Van Proctor. The heading featured a picture of Van wearing a broad-rimmed straw hat, a hat few have ever seen, at least not in public. Van was a standard of sorts. He wrote whatever he wanted and he got away with it.

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  • Reflections: Hawaiian revision

    Last week I wrote about the Hawaiian Islands and made a boo-boo. I said the Island of Kawai was known for its popular places. I mentioned Honolulu, Waikiki Beach and a few others like Diamond Head. But, duh! Anyone knows those places are not on Kawai. What I meant to say was the Island of Oahu. Honolulu and the other places are on Oahu.

    The funny thing is I have been to Hawaii. It was just drain bramage that made me do it. As a matter of fact I have been to Hawaii twice before, so I don't know how I made the boo-boo. Well, anyway, here's some accurate information:

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  • No 'Tinkering' with success: Kelley's latest is best yet

    With its thrilling juxtaposition of Miami Vice and the Irish Troubles, Pierce Kelley's latest legal thriller, A Tinker's Damn! may be his best work yet.

    Kevin Coffee, Kelley's latest protagonist, is an Irish immigrant growing up in New York City when the story begins. Poverty and prejudice lead him into the criminal world for the benefit of his family. With no father and no outside help, he learns to steal food so his family can eat. As an adult, he develops a morally ambiguous worldview, moving to Mariel boatlift-era Miami to become an opportunistic drug smuggler.

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  • Shark News

    Gallery and auction event for middle school photographers

    The First Annual Middle School Photography Gallery and Silent Auction will be held Thursday, May 15 from 5-7 p.m. at The Cedar Key Community Center (formerly Lions Club).

    All students auctioning art will be present. Please come and see the wonderful pictures these students have taken! Refreshments will be served!

    Upcoming Dates

    By Jessi Robinson

    With the end of the school year coming closer, students and teachers at CKS are going be busier than ever these next few weeks.

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  • Cops, residents grow more estranged

    In the wake of the April 28 Taser incident on Dock Street, police admit that residents are talking amongst themselves. They for their part, are waiting to see if complaints roll in.

    Since the night two weeks ago when area fisherman Danny Beckham was subdued with a Taser in an altercation about a friend's traffic stop, police chief Bubba Castell says he has waited for phone calls and complaints about his officers, but so far has received none.

    No formal ones, anyway.

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  • District thanks McCain for 30 years of service

    Cedar Key Water and Sewer District Superintendent James McCain recently celebrated 30 years of service for that organization. In honor of his distinguished service, past and current Water District board members and employees gathered at the district office to fête McCain with punch and doughnuts and a collection of anecdotes detailing his dedicated work and excellent character.

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  • Stun incident appalls locals

    Cedar Key residents say police are out of control. Police say the most recent polarizing incident started over a misunderstanding. But the outcome leaves police and citizens on either side of a widening divide.

    On April 28, Cedar Key fisherman Danny Beckham, who resides in Archer, was drive-stunned repeatedly with a Taser following a vociferous dispute with police over his double-parked vehicle. Beckham was charged with resisting arrest without violence and obstruction, and also with resisting arrest with violence.

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  • Fishing Lines: The ultimate challenge: Who knew?

    Throughout my fishing career I have always tried to seek new challenges. Challenges are what bring us back to the water time after time to reach new goals or overcome extreme adversities.

    I have pursued and won challenges like light line tarpon, huge sharks, bull redfish on 10-pound test, spear fishing, and guiding, all of which can test your skills and patience.

    But none of these difficult challenges compares with the task I took on last week on the FFA trip out to Seahorse Key.

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  • Trouble in Cedar Key: Spring in the Refuge

    Some days back, I was off to the Refuge to note how things have changed over the past several weeks. It is not yet dawn. I take loop road. Fields and uplands come awake. Little birds are in an impromptu chorus led by tiny wrens with uplifted tail feathers and loud crisp songs, notes grouped in two, three, four, and more, "Cedar, Cedar, Cedar Key," "Veeger, veeger, veeger, veeger, veeger."

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  • Abort-Retry-Fail: On the road again...

    Remember how simple it used to be to go on a vacation or any other trip? All you had to do was throw some clothes and toilet articles into a suitcase, throw the suitcase into the car and off you go. Now we have so many other necessities to take along, it is such a major undertaking that you have to start packing days ahead of time.

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