Today's News

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.

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.

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."

When I was a child I was curious about the mysteries of our planet. I still am to this day.

Soon I will be going to the Hawaiian Islands and have been doing a little research in preparation. This will be especially helpful when I fly above, but low over them in a small airplane. I have reserved a Cessna like mine for when I arrive.

The beginnings of the Hawaiian island chain are intriguing. They started in one of the most remote places on earth from the movement of tectonic plates deep below the Pacific Ocean over 70 million years ago.