The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1951-08-15
HIS
ROCK
OF
OURS
BY BILL GIBE
n n d N 4 q Il n q . a

Ted Bailey tells me the rest
rooms at Bahia Honda were IN
a deplorable condition two weeks
ago. He was up there on a picnic.
Hearing something Ike this. a
fellow at first feels like jumping
the manager OF the Project. On
second thought however, the
public itself must be blamed.
How many OF you are as care
ful 10 maintain cleanliness and
neatness in public park as you
are in your own home2
It's your money-thousands
upon thousands of dollars-that
has made the Overseas Road and
Toll Bridge District SO beautiful.
Can't you show some pride and
decency toward your own invest
ment? Or Will it be necessary to
install patrol of armed guards
and watchmen to maintain the
various buildings and grounds?
DANGEROUS WATERS
Several months ago. this CO.
lumn mentioned the danger of
swimming at Bahia Hon d a
bridge. It's repeating that warm
ing again because there have
been several near tragedies late
Iy.
There should be lifeguard on
duty at the beach at all times.
But even this precaution will
not be enough to save a person
foolish enough to swim out into
the swift current. At flood tide,
that current travels six to eight
knots and even small boats find
difficulty in beating it.
There is also another danger
shark and barracuda
The sharks are not TOO num-
housekeeping pretty well ont
from sh ore. The barracuda
though, can be counted by the
hundreds and they come right up
TO the beach. Don't kid yourself
that they can't take a hunk of
muscle out of an arm or leg.
Those babies are the same type
you'll find down around Dry
Tortugas-big and vicious.
BRIDGE WORKERS
live dangerously and its Gus
tomary to knock off work for
the day if one Of their number
strays off a narrow girder into
thin air. BY all the rules OF the
game, the guy who falls is sup
pose to mangle himself on stesl
as he goes down To his watery
grave. Rescue work is apt 10 be
useless.
This columnist worked on
Bahia Honda bridge and revers-
ed ali the rules. At quitting time
one day. we were scrambling off
the job when someone shouted,
Man overheard. Looking
around it was rather startling to
discover that / was the guy who
was going overheard.
Steel flashed by and just over
head, the heavy piece of timber
that had caused the accident was
following me down.
The fellows on top of the
bridge swear that / made a crat
er deep enough to expose the
ocean floor upon hitting the
water. The timber that had ac-
companied me grazed my leg
My clothing was almost split off
and my cap proceeded to float
downstream.
This. was the moment my CO.
workers figured I had gone crazy
because ] started swimming like
mad away from the bridge. Sim
ply had to rescue that twenty
five cent capi
With the cap once back on my
head, felt more like a we'll
dressed man should feel out in
the middle Of Bahia Honda cham
mel. The boys pitched a life ring
overheard and pulled me back
on the bridge There they pro-
ceeded to curse me out--not for
having fallen but because I didn't
fall in the morning when they
could have taken the rest Of the
day off.
At any other time the buns
would probably have let me float
10 sea while they rushed up Ia
Marathon and drowned their
sorrow with beer mug and the
funereai, Spike Jones music Of
juke box
CONTEST