The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1947-10-07
The
OBSERVATIONS
OF A FOOL

lAOt~ AuAkhhkS
I made me think to call the
/ weather bureau.
..How many inches has it rain
ed since September 30?' was the
question we asked Sam Gold
smith.
ooh, not so much, was the
swift reply. "Only 6.66 inches
so far in October. In October,
1888, we had 1856 inches, and
in one day of "a hours. October
4, 1888, we had 1884 inches. So
you see it was relatively dry 50
far this month"
Oh. ysh? Well. ! much pre-
fer the sunshine in Key West.
4 4. 4
We wonder why so many Key
Westers are cutting down the
beautiful trees and fine flower
ed foliage around the town. We
came across man in Olivia
street pulling down all the flow
ering shrubs and trees in his
yard.
.'Why are you doing that?'
we innocently asked.
.I'm sick of the mess around
my yard
Well, his house, which has pre-
scented "a beautiful vista during
the weeks with his yard all COW
cred by red flowers and things
sure looked awfully bad. 1t was
as though you undressed in your
own front yard. Nothing to cheer
about.
We told a man, an architect,
about the crime of spelling the
old city of Key West with its
atmosphere.
It's a shame" he said.
There ought to be a commit
tee or something to keep our
old style architecture and the
trees and shrubs from being
destroyed! Without the trees
and shrubs and the old lines Of
our houses. Key West is just
another spot-not glorious
place in which to live"
4 4 4
We happened to run into Peter
J. Ross. He's half owner of the
Mumford and Ross, which sells
refrigerators and air condition
ing equipment, and owner OF
Ross Trailer Cottage Court.
He's very interested in the
Lodge of Elks. He was an exalted
ruler of Key West Lodge and
was vice president last year of
the State Elks Association. Now
he is district deputy exalted rul-
er of the Lodge of Elks in
Southern Florida.
He explained that beginning
on October 20 and ending on De-
cember 5 he is going to pay Off
cial calls on the ii lodges over
which he has jurisdiction.
1T is very interesting work.
said Ross. 1T will interfere
with my own business. but 1t
will be a real pleasure for me
to go from lodge to lodge and
visit them"
Then bumped into Howard
E. Wilson, our genial county tax
collector. Have known Howard
since away back there when he
was chairman of the Overseas
Road and Toll Bridge Commits
sion. They built Overseas High
way virtually under Towards
direction.
We were then working for the
now defunct Miami Tribune. The
city editor wanted a story on the
progress of the work of trans
forming the old railroad line and
bridges into 9. highway. a,.a;,'55. i
Wen, anyway, Howard was, ell
ated because he, had collectsd
$3.50 per cent of Monroe taxes in
the last fiscal year.
Well, Howard knows how to
collect. That's what he's there
for. He's probably handled more
money in the last IA years for
Monroe than any other single
person.
Upwards of Slo.o0o.0oe he's
collected. first as US. Internal
Revenue chief Of Monroe and
then as county tax collector.
X 4 X
Next on the list of persons ]
met was County Tax Assessor
Claude A. Gandolfo. He was sore
about the stories going around
about taxes being so high in the
: county.
Eve are saving the taxpayers
of the county exactly $4,000 in
the next fiscal year over what
they paid in the last one, said
Gandolfo.
Last, but not least, was Miss
Helen Williams, librarian at
Harris Elementary School. She
: was all smiles, for said she, eve
have the finest library in the
state and the only one in Key
West elementary schools"
ITS a pleasure to work in
the library" she said. They
: made \ nice room with 10