WEEK OF DECEMBER 13-19, 2018 www.FloridaWeekly.com Vol. IX, No. 7 • FREE For music lovers Boxed CD sets of favorite artists can make great gifts for music lovers. B1X FLORIDA ABUZZFlorida beekeepers supplement struggling bee population High notes Stephanie Blythe sings in Palm Beach Opera concert. B1 X BY KRISTINE GILL Florida Weekly Correspondent ON BENDER HAS ONE bee sticker on his mailbox — and about a half-mil- lion live bees in Business R his backyard. Ways you can manage like a The Golden boss. A14 X Gate Estates retiree traded electrical engineering for SEE BEES, A12 X Join in: 119th Audubon Christmas Bird Count to begin _________________________SPECIAL TO FLORIDA WEEKLY everything within 7.5 miles of a center Behind the Wheel point. Five to 15 birders typically work a We test-drive Rolls-Royce’s first For the next three weeks, volunteers circle on the appointed day. SUV, the Cullinan. 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PRSRT STD COLLECT A3 BEHIND THE WHEEL A15 CALENDAR B4-6 U.S. POSTAGE PAID OPINION A4 REAL ESTATE A17 FILM REVIEW B3 FORT MYERS, FL PETS A6 ARTS B1 PUZZLES B15 PERMIT NO. 715 BUSINESS A14 COLLECTING B2 CUISINE B18 Be prepared for an TAKE ME TO emergency. For your FREE first aid kit, call 855.831.2803 A2 NEWS WEEK OF DECEMBER 13-19, 2018 www.FloridaWeekly.com PALM BEACH FLORIDA WEEKLY COMMENTARY Name gaming tomed to Norman Love chocolates. (Look it Mr. Pendergrass is a politician, a county I was there in the “VIP section,” about up. Order some for the holidays. Or better, commissioner who was just re-elected last 50 feet from the president. So was Mr. order a lot for the holidays!) month. He’s also a native of the county Pendergrass, seemingly having a very roger WILLIAMS A glance at nicknames conjured by the of Lee — named, of course, for Robert E. good time. And learning everything he [email protected] president for those who have fallen out of “Fightin’-Bobby” Lee, West Point Class of could. his favor suggests he’s one of the best ever ’29 (that’s 1829), veteran of the Mexican- His political opponent and critics to come down the name-gaming political American War (1846-1848), commander of fairly took him to task for faithfully One of the great political talents born pike. the Confederate Army and loser in the supporting major development where of the school playgrounds of our nation’s He may write no speeches. He may read “War of Northern Aggression,” 1861 to 1865. wetlands and vulnerable environmental youth is name gaming: the art of renaming no books or their covers. He might not even Gen. Lee’s portrait smiles out on Mr. landscapes existed; for reducing impact or un-naming a person so he or she will read matchbook covers, for God’s sake. But Pendergrass and other commissioners at fees developers used to pay to cover the be glorified permanently, tarnished perma- here are a few, just a few, of the Trump- every commission meeting from the wall of infrastructure costs of their develop- nently or just forgotten. ster’s (sorry) greatest hits, conjured by No. their government chambers in downtown ments; and for ignoring the declining Whatever else his many failings — and 45 himself, possibly: One Percent, Crazy, Fort Myers. quality of water for too long, as he cham- one is extreme disassociation from facts Sleepy, the Dick, Moonbeam, Low-Energy, Well, “smiles” is an exaggeration. Fightin’ pioned developers who could pollute it. — the 45th president is a competent name Sleepin’, Crooked, Heartless, Lyin’, Nasty, Bobby looks as grim as a reaper, and prob- I guess Mr. Pendergrass took it person- gamer, a man at first glance cut from the Leakin’-lyin’, Slimeball, Slippery, Shady, ably for good reason. ally. Last week he managed to persuade same mold as people who once nicknamed Head Clown, Pocahontas, Sleazy, Wacky, Be that as it may, Mr. Pendergrass has his fellow commissioners to un-name Mafia figures or prize fighters. Goofy, Cryin’, Cheatin’, Lightweight, Dopey, never called for the removal of the portrait a bridge honoring one of his critics. Those colorful name-gamers conjured Psycho. of a man who did his level-best to break up He slipped it onto an agenda at the last such beautiful honorifics as Scarface, Tick- They’re breathtaking, especially if you the very United States Mr. Pendergrass now moment, so nobody knew. Tock, Ice Pick, Big Tuna, The Wizard, Joe read them fast. Put them together and works for. It was a beautiful move, politically Bananas, or Joey Brains among scores of they’ll lift off like a Russian rocket: A sleazy, But when some residents of his county speaking, right out of a bully-boy school- others in the Mafia naming game. Decades wacky, goofy, cryin’, cheatin’, lightweight, questioned why a statue of General Lee yard: the Don Eslick Bridge, named in later the names are still with us. dopey, psycho of a person’s rocket. would sit in downtown Fort Myers once, 2012 for a man who helped preserve In boxing, they gave us such blazing This is what makes politics fun. And it demanding its removal, Mr. Pendergrass and increase the value of Estero, will neon titles as Hitman, Boom-Boom, But- happens not just on the national level, but called for “the city to keep it up ’cause it’s a be renamed the Estero Community terbean, the Greatest, Iron Mike, Sugar, in local politics, too — though not quite in downtown monument.” He blamed one of Bridge, unless the commission reverses Bonecrusher, Marvelous, Sweet Pea and the the same way. the statue’s critics for trying “to get atten- its stance. Brown Bomber — all bestowed in a kind Take the case of a man who lives not just tion and get (a) fundraiser for (the) NAACP Trump would love this. of tawdry majesty by tawdry poets on the in the greatest country in the world — The and to bully other businesses to make Mr. Eslick had supported Mr. Pender- fighters of once-upon-a-tawdry-time. United States of America, land of the free, money,” a local television station reported. grass’s opponent. He’s a modest, kindly, As it happened, their names at least home of the brave; and not just in the sun- Oh, you know. Just good ol’ boys who determined do-gooder — an economist, loosely reflected something real. niest beachfront state in the continental love history. a baseball lover and a veteran (unlike Mr. Mr. Trump’s version of this, though ener- United States — Florida; and not just in But Mr. Pendergrass, like Donald Trump, Pendergrass) who was once the electron- getic and vivid, lacks both the romance Florida but in the most beautiful stretch has a mean streak. Maybe he learned it from ics warfare officer in a B-47. or the relative accuracy of historic name of red-tide Gulf Coast ever invented by Donald Trump, who came to Fort Myers And now he may slip namelessly into gamers. God, man or chambers of commerce — the on Halloween only a few days before Mr. history, the victim of … Mr. Cecil “Puff- But his opus is still irresistible the way southwest coast: Take the case of Mr. Cecil Pendergrass was re-elected, and conducted Adder” Pendergrass! 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