Thursday, December 17, 2009

Sadly, Key West lacks a functioning college

Ms. O'Bannon's letter about the graduation of students from the nursing program points out one shining pinpoint from the inside of a garbage bag. A college is meant to educate at the highest level possible. Teachers at a college are meant to have at least master's degrees. If a school can attract PhDs to head their departments, they can become a four-year school and begin to offer higher degrees to their students.

Any hope of Florida Keys Community College attracting PhDs to head departments is quashed because of what happened to President Jill Landesberg-Boyle. What happened to her is emblematic of what continues to plague our city. Nepotism and cronyism outweigh talent and experience at every turn. The iron fist of ignorance repeatedly strangles the neck of progress.

President Landesberg-Boyle took over from a leadership that had nearly cost the college its accreditation. Just a few years before she took over it was found out that three teachers were not properly accredited to teach the classes they were teaching, and every student that had taken those classes lost the credits that they thought they had earned.

The previous president even made statements saying that he didn't think it mattered if the college lost its accreditation. It is profoundly saddening that Key West cannot have a properly functioning college. If FKCC could find its way to becoming a four-year school, Key West could diversify its economy. The building of dorms is a step in the right direction, but not if the iron fist of ignorance uses that as a pretense for a real estate developer's land grab. Having a local college is a good thing if it provides high levels of education and excellence, but when it doesn't, it may as well be on its way out to the curb.

Dave Anderson

Key West

Help with restoration of historic schooner

For an island as small as Key West, it never ceases to amaze me how many "secret" treasures are here.

We have Nancy Forrester's Secret Garden, one of the most interesting cemeteries in the country, neighborhood "joints," places where you can buy fish right off the boat, a burgeoning maritime museum on Truman Annex. We also have the Schooner Western Union. Built here in 1939, and there is no other vessel like her.

The Western Union, after being donated to the Schooner Western Union Preservation Society by Historic Tours of America, has been undergoing restoration on Truman Annex led by master shipwright Leon Poindexter. Grants were made from the Tourist Development Council "bricks and mortar" funds and from the Historic Florida Keys Foundation. Gracious donations also were made by Edward Knight, whose father-in-law had the vessel built, and Roger Bernstein.

Leon Poindexter has worked on such storied vessels as the USS Constitution and the HMS Surprise (used in the movie "Master and Commander"). He has been documenting the restoration of the Western Union and has a PowerPoint presentation available to civic groups and schools of our community. It is an extraordinary opportunity to see this restoration progress and hear the history of one of Florida's oldest and most famous sailing vessels. If your civic organization or school would like to see Mr. Poindexter's presentation, please call him directly at 617-908-8224.

The Western Union now belongs to Key West and it needs your help. Despite the grants and donations, we still need funding to finish the vessel, which has to be completed before April.

Won't you help by making a donation, large or small, to help us get the Western Union back on the water where she belongs? Donations should be mailed to the Schooner Western Union Preservation Society, P.O. Box 4379, Key West, FL 33041. We are hoping that, once finished, we can prevail upon the state to designate your Schooner Western Union as the official sailing vessel for the state of Florida. What an honor for us all.

Chris Belland

Schooner Western Union

Preservation Society

Key West