CONNECTING OURRESIDENTS HOME TOURS AKeyswide art Get inside Key project makes its West living at way to Big Pine, 1B these houses, 1B VOLUME 65-NO.20 STAY CONNECTED /KEYSINFONET NEWSALL DAY. YOUR WAY. WWW.FLKEYSNEWS.COM FACEBOOK.COM WEDNESDAY MARCH14,2018 50 cents THE FLORIDAKEYS 7786790 22222 CRIME FRONT KeyWest woman is named victim of homicide in St.Pete Police want help finding out hathappened to Christie New, an equestrian and alover of stray animals. BY GWEN FILOSA [email protected] St. Petersburg police want the KATIE ATKINS Keynoter public’s help untangling the story behind the homicide of aKey West woman. ECLECTIC ARTATSEAFOOD FEST Christie New, 43, who divided her time between Key West and Noel Skiba of Michigan paints as people dance to music by Howard Livingston &the Mile Marker 24 Band at the Morgantown, N.C., died March 7 Original Marathon Seafood Festival Sunday. The annual two-dayevent started in 1976 and is put on by the after being found six days earlier in Greater Marathon Chamber of Commerce and Organized Fishermen of Florida. Held everyMarch, it features apark by amaintenance worker local seafood, liveentertainmentand morethan 220vendors, along with aboatshow. who heard her moaning, according to the Tampa Bay Times. She suffered “severe trauma,” police investigators said, declining to give details. Police haven’t given acause of death. MIDDLE KEYS “We can’t say whether or not it’s abeating,” said Samantha Wil- liams, aspokeswoman for the St. Keys church Petersburg Police Department. “I can’t say one way or another.” Asked if it could have been a gunshot wound, Williams said, “It’s takes on housing apossibility. Any form of trauma at this point is apossibility.” New, anative of Chambersburg, St.Columba Episcopal Church ey. Pa., left adaughter, Hunter, 9. is looking to buy an apartment “We understand there is a New was discovered about 11:30 building. It’salready housing need for housing for people that a.m. March 1inLake Maggiore lots of people in RVsfollowing live here and we are negotiating Park with life-threatening injuries, thehurricane. for aproperty in Marathon,” she police said. She was taken to ahos- said, adding it will be profession- pital, where she remained in critical ally renovated if all goes as condition until she died. BY KATIE ATKINS planned. KATIE ATKINS Keynoter Police don’t know why New was [email protected] She did not give theaddress of Acouple stands outside the RV trailer they’ve been living in at St. in St. Petersburg and neither does the apartment building or pro- Columba Episcopal Church in Marathon. her sister, who told FOX 13 news The shortage of affordable vide atime line for when reno- that New was on aroad trip from housing throughout the Florida vations will be done, but said Key West to Ocala, where her horse Keys is nothing new. It was a monthly rentamounts will be nationofevents from before and 200people have transitioned in trainer lives, and then planned to problem long before Hurricane calculated based on income. after. and out of the trailersfor afew drive to the bay area. Irma came along in September “It’s ahybrid type of program, Three weeksafter the storm, months at atime while finding New’s sister told the local press and exacerbated the issue, but a so it’s arental but it’s also a the churchbought22RVtrailers otherarrangements. that New had met amale acquain- Middle Keys church is working co-op,” she said. “We know andput 10 of them on the “We are flexible on that but on its own solution. from people in our parish and church property. The other 12 we try to give people achance to SEE INVESTIGATION,2A St. Columba EpiscopalChurch communitythat peopleare really were stationed from Islamorada get their feet on the ground, on 52nd Street near mile marker struggling, and we want to help.” to Key West. then we networkwith our people 50 bayside is in the processof St. Columba has already been “It’s atemporary disaster to get themintoapermanent buying a16-unit apartment helping people with their hous- recoverysite for people who had place,” she said. “We’retrying to building that will potentially ing situations since the Sept. 10 different reasons why they supportthe communityand have house those in need at a“doa- hurricane. It wasn’t the storm couldn’t find other housing arelationship with it.” ble” monthly rate, according to that set the apartmentbuilding while fixing up their homes,” Rev. Canon Debra Maconaugh- purchase in motion, but acombi- Maconaughey said, adding about Katie Atkins: 305-440-3219 STATELEGISLATURE Legislators agree to more than $21M forKeys projects The initial ask was$60 million, statelawmakers After the mass shooting Feb. ful in bringing home asignif- New turn down some Monroe County requests formajor 14 that killed 17 at Broward icant amount of funding for the land purchases but approve other proposals. County’s Marjory Stoneman district this session,” state Rep. Douglas High School, legislators Holly Raschein said in aTues- lature under astate $88.7 billion rewrote adraft budget to fund day email. “Hurricane Irma BY KEVIN WADLOW budget passed Sunday. about $400 million for in- placed astrain on both our local Classifieds 5B [email protected] County officials asked for a creased school security state- and state budgets, and securing Living 1B total of about $60million in wide and mental-health out- funding to help our community Obituaries 2A Monroe County will receive money for housing-site and reach. recover was my top priority.” Opinion 5A nearly $21million in state fund- conservation purchases, anew “Like in years past, we had to Monroe County Commission- Puzzles 2B Printedon ing for its major money requests emergency operations center fight for every single state dollar Puzzles 100% recycled submitted to the Florida Legis- and water projects. but once again we were success- SEE KEYS MONEY, 2A answers 2B newsprint 305-743 - 5680 www.DiscountDemolitions.com Lic#CGC1523252 DEMOLITION SITE WORK HAULING DUMPSTERS 2A KEYNOTER WEDNESDAY MARCH142018 Keys News FLKEYSNEWS.COM KN HURRICANE CLEANUP Canal-debris crews hit some rough water Contractorslearn Key canalstargeted by a smaller equipment,” she debris, appliances and won’t stay at this location um” impact. thatsomeFlorida Keys $6 million debris-removal saidTuesday. “It was more. long beforebeing hauled “Basedonaerialphotos, canals requiresmaller program of the Florida nothingearth-shattering.” “This is notdredging. by trucks to the [Lower there is an estimated debris-removalgear. Department of Environ- Contractors DRC Envi- It’s something that’s never Keys] debris management 100,000 cubicyardsof mental Protection, Mon- ronmental Services, work- been done before,” Mur- site at the former Big Pine marine hurricane debris roe County officials told ing underDEP and Mon- phy said.“They’re going in Key Prison site.” thatneedstoberemoved BY KEVIN WADLOW Upper Keys residents at a roe County supervision, to clean out the canals and The Florida Keys have fromKeys’ waters at a [email protected] recent meeting of the areexpected to focusoN see what’s down thereoN “513 canals,” which refers total removal cost of $15to Tavernier Community thehardest-hitareas for the bottom.” to asingle entrance to $30million,” acounty Contractors working to Association. thesix four to six months. “Collecting marine de- open water. Anetwork of report says.” The numbers clean hurricanedebris “The work has not come For the overall county, bris is aslower process community canalsthat could change once actual from Florida Keys canals to astandstill butthere work could continue for than collectingland de- lead to asingle entrance debris amounts are got some early lessons. were some unexpected more than ayear. bris,” county information counts as one canal. known.” Awork barge —actually glitches,” CountyCom- TheCategory 4hurri- officer CammyClark said. Officials estimate that two smaller bargeslashed mission Sylvia Murphy cane on Sept. 10 filled “Marinedebris that is “all [canals] wereimpact- Kevin Wadlow: together —proved tobe said. numerous canalssystems collectedwill be takenby ed to some degree.” About 305-440-3206 too large to make it down “Theyhad to take the with damaged docks, barge to atemporary off- 247are consideredtohave some of the first Big Pine bargesapart and use some downed trees,structural loading site,” she said.“It suffered “high” or “medi- LOWER KEYS IN THE COURTS Two men die in Ex-Realtorsstaffer separatecrashes expected to admit stealing$276,000 Ascooter driver is dragged beneath acar on Stock Island, motorcyclist Some of the stolen tenced Thursday, Poist dies on Big Pine. moneywenttowarda2012 said. Camaroand a2016Nissan Wood’s attorney Frontier pickup,according couldn’tbereached for BY GWEN FILOSA to reports. comment. [email protected] The Realtors associ- ation, at 3422Duck Ave. Two menwere killediN BY GWEN FILOSA at the time, didn’t at first separate crashes in the Low- [email protected] listthe stolen amounts. er Keys thisweek: Amotor- They werelater detailed cyclist on U.S. 1. on Big Pine Prosecutors expect a in theKey West arrest Wood Key and ascooter rider on former executive of the report. The finalnumber: Stock Island. Key West Association of $276,000. In the scooterdeath Mon- GOOGLE MAPS Realtorstopleadguilty Woodworked for the day,Richard M. King,35, of Ascooter driver wasstruck and killed outside the Tom this weektostealing association for 11 years Fort Myerswas struck by a Thumb storeonStock Island Mondaymorning. morethan aquartermil- and was its executive for car that entered an intersec- liondollars fromthe fiveyears. In March tion directlyinfront of him, agency last year. 2017,Wood abruptly the Florida Highway Patrol ond Street and stopped at Sunday night, James Yadiris Wood, 35,who resignedvia email, citing said. He was pinnedand the intersection’sstop sign. Wade Dillinger, 49, died in gaveher currenttownas personal and medical draggedbeneath the Honda After the utility truckturned amotorcycle crash on Big Elizabethtown, Ky., is reasons,according to &,/B6@ Accord driven by ArielCruz right onto Second, the scoot- Pine.