The recent stuff about opening up Cuba, including some of the stupid thoughts by people who aspire to lead the United States, suggests a further look at the history of the Caribbean Cold War. By that we mean the fact that trying to work with Cuba's leadership is nothing new. As we recently wrote, President Kennedy initiated a secret dialogue with Fidel Castro back in 1963, and it was one of the decisions that got him murdered.
Is it not possible that Raul Castro’s (above) comments about continuing a socialist program, delivered in military uniform, were also meant for his local audience? And we wonder just how committed that audience might be. Certainly some of the recent candid comments from ordinary Cubans suggest they may be fed up with the Castro government. And they obviously don’t hate the U.S.
Is it not possible that Raul Castro’s (above) comments about continuing a socialist program, delivered in military uniform, were also meant for his local audience? And we wonder just how committed that audience might be. Certainly some of the recent candid comments from ordinary Cubans suggest they may be fed up with the Castro government. And they obviously don’t hate the U.S.
JFK was not sympathetic to the Castro regime. His concern was preventing a nuclear war, which, as he knew better than anyone, was close during the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. Most of the leadership of our military, and certainly the intelligence community, were in favor of attacking Cuba, which might have been the spark to set off an exchange that could have killed millions. That includes most of you who were living in South Florida at the time.
Last week's report elicited a reply that may put current events in perspective. We are told that in his private negotiations, JFK required certain stipulations before serious talks could begin. Castro had to pledge to break off relations with the Soviet Union and had to cease all efforts to spread communism in Latin America. The source for this info is Marie Fonzi. We don’t know how she knew this, but we know why should would know. Her late husband, Gaeton Fonzi, spent much of his last 40 years investigating the Kennedy assassination. It resulted in his book “The Last Investigation,” now considered a must-read for anyone interested in the subject.
It also resulted in Gaeton Fonzi acquiring a vast amount of information about U.S. intelligence relating to Cuba. Marie Fonzi was looking over his shoulder all the way, and since his death two years ago she has continued his work (although not on the government payroll as Gaeton Fonzi was for five years).
Her information suggests we not jump to conclusions about President Obama’s present overtures toward Cuba. The guess here — based on the announcement that talks have been underway for 18 months — is that there is more to the situation than anyone will announce. Who knows what private understandings might be behind recent events. We know that Fidel Castro back in 1963 got word to Washington not to take his belligerent speeches seriously. They were political, meant for home consumption.
As in much of our affairs — public and private — we don't know what we don't know. We don't know that maybe five years from now, the whole rotten Castro bunch will be gone, and replaced by another bunch that will steal — as in the good old days.
When President Obama announced his intention to improve relations with Cuba, Republican politicians received the news with great shock— particularly those who benefit from the status quo. Sen. Marco Rubio called it a "precedent" that encourages oppressive regimes everywhere. He described the president as naive and ignorant. But, Rubio is the one who shows ignorance if he really believes reaching out to countries with whom we disagree has no precedent. Has he heard of China, Vietnam? Did he ever read Abraham Lincoln's Second Inaugural, spoken as the Civil War was ending and some northerners would have hung southern leaders for starting a war that killed 600,000 young men? Lincoln said, "With malice toward none, with charity for all..." If that isn't reaching out to an enemy, what is? Gen. Douglas MacArthur made similar conciliatory remarks in accepting the Japanese surrender in World War II.
If Rubio read James W. Douglass' remarkable book, JFK and the Unspeakable, he would learn that more than 50 years ago, when Fidel Castro's rule was young, another American president sought better relations with Cuba. And, it helped in the result of his murder. As Douglass points out, declassified documents confirm what some American and Cuban diplomats suspected, but very few knew for certain at the time. Douglass’ book, 12 years in the making, benefitted from decades of work by other researchers, including Gaeton Fonzi’s “The Last Investigation,” which first appeared as a magazine article in a 1980 issue of Gold
Coast magazine.
Coast magazine.President John F. Kennedy, as a senator, had been a strong critic of the corrupt and brutal Batista regime, and when Castro’s revolution overthrew it, he and many others were hopeful for a better Cuba. But after the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, JFK realized that Cuba's ties to the Soviets could start a nuclear war. He was determined to defuse that bomb. He simultaneously, and in extreme secrecy, opened channels to both Soviet Union leader Nikita Khrushchev, and Fidel Castro.
If Obama's action is volatile now, it is nothing compared to 1963 when Kennedy's initiatives, if made public, would have created a thunderstorm of anger in South Florida. It was a time when many in our military/industrial establishment actually wanted a war with the Communists, on the grounds that we could still win a nuclear showdown that they saw as inevitable. Our own government was still plotting to kill Castro. Even JFK's closest confidant, his brother Robert, disagreed with the president's ideas for a more "flexible" policy toward Cuba. Bobby Kennedy was fostering assassination plans against Castro even as his brother was trying to ease tensions. While our CIA was funding guerilla operations against Castro, President Kennedy was using the Coast Guard to stop those attacks and arrest anti-Castro fighters. For that he was hated and considered a traitor by the anti-Castro crowd. Traitor is the same word Miami Cuban demonstrators have used for Obama.
According to Douglass, whose book is extensively documented with almost 100 pages of footnotes, both Khrushchev and Castro had begun to trust Kennedy. It reached a point where Castro got word to Washington not to take his belligerent speeches too seriously. They were meant for local consumption. And, more than almost all Americans, the two enemy leaders were in a position to recognize the conspiracy that led to the assassination. Khrushchev had his information from the highest level. Within weeks of his brother's death, Robert Kennedy got word to the Russians that the assassination was a domestic plot. Robert Kennedy realized that part of that plot was to blame it on the Soviets and Castro, hopefully provoking a war, or at least an invasion of Cuba.
JFK’s overtures to Castro were subtle. He largely avoided contacts by official government figures. He used journalists who had access to Castro to relay hints about his thinking. Only two days before JFK’s death, French journalist Jean Daniel met with Castro in Havana, with Kennedy’s knowledge, exploring a possible dialogue between the two countries.
These contacts were invisible to the American public, but the motive behind them was clear to anti-Castro Cubans and their CIA sponsors. They knew Kennedy was thwarting their aims to overthrow Castro. That, combined with indications the president was reaching out to the Soviet Union and planned to disengage from the war in Vietnam, convinced our shadow government that the man was a traitor and needed to be removed. Rubio should know that President Obama’s actions have a precedent. Another president, and our country, paid a terrible price for it.
Broward County had an unusual distinction this high school football season. Two of its elite programs won state championships in the larger school categories. St. Thomas Aquinas won its 8th state title in the 7A category. American Heritage School won its second straight 5A championship. Both schools had a fairly easy time of it. St. Thomas tore through most of its season, winning most games with a running clock, also known as the mercy rule, when a team gets so far ahead that they dispense with the usual stoppages for first downs, incomplete passes, out of bounds, etc. Its star players, and they were loaded with them, often sat out the second half of games. It won the championship game, 31-0. American Heritage too overwhelmed most opponents in its championship run. It won the state title 38-0.
The season was unusual for other reasons. Both St. Thomas and American Heritage had outstanding players who transferred from University School. University had won a state championship two years ago, but when its coach left for a job at Florida Atlantic the program virtually collapsed. University went 3-8 this year. It was also the year that the excesses of college football spread to a local high school. Miramar High, which had built a powerhouse program, was caught paying players.
Many thought St. Thomas had its best team ever, and yet it was not undefeated. It was handled early in the season by Don Bosco Prep of North Jersey, a traditional powerhouse. The score was an embarrassing 24-7, made more painful because the game was played at West Point on national TV. St. Thomas just did not play its game. It gave away two early touchdowns and never found its groove. Reliable players dropped passes in key situations, and its star running back, Jordan Scarlett (a University School transfer) got past the line of scrimmage only once, and turned it into a long run.
At the time it was thought Don Bosco was as good a team as it looked that day. It had already destroyed the defending Pennsylvania state champion, Philadelphia's St. Joseph's Prep, 35-7. And yet Don Bosco went on to a mediocre season, 7-4. Whereas the Prep, as everybody in Philadelphia calls St. Joseph's, last weekend won its second straight Pennsylvania large school championship. What must former Pennsylvanians Dan Marino, John Cappelletti and Joe Namath be thinking?
Maybe they are thinking, as many are, that high school sports are out of control, with Florida teams playing teams from New Jersey and California, often on national TV, with polls deciding national champions, with Florida having eight divisions in football (and an absurd eight state champs), with players transferring left and right, with teenagers getting paid to play, with a few schools in each area attracting all the top talent.
And maybe we should all be thinking back to a gentler age, say 1960, when St. Thomas Aquinas was not a football powerhouse. Its team at the time was called Central Catholic and was not attracting players transferring for a higher profile program. In fact, the word “program” was rarely used on the high school level. The team went 4-4, but what its players did later is hard to match on any level. Brian Piccolo (pictured above) went on to lead the country in rushing at Wake Forest, and then his early death while playing for the Chicago Bears inspired the film “Brian’s Song” and made him a legend. The quarterback, Bill Zloch, went on to quarterback at Notre Dame and is a long-time and highly respected U.S. District Judge. A halfback, Dr. Dan Arnold, became a leading children’s dentist. The fullback, John Graham, had a successful career in sales and management with Nabisco, the baking company giant, and later operated a food brokerage business.
In those days, nobody got recruited, much less paid. Ah, nostalgia.
As Gold Coast magazine gears up for its 50thanniversary celebration, we have been noting all of the things that aren’t here anymore – along with a few that have been around as long, if not longer. Nearly none of the original 1965 advertisers still exists, at least not in the form they had then. Virtually every bank has changed its name through mergers. Even the Sun-Sentinel goes by a different name. The Fort Lauderdale News belongs to the archives. Even most of the older hotels go by different names. The exception is the hallowed, modernized Riverside.
Maus & Hoffman is still here. It is 75 years since William Maus and Frank Hoffman opened their high-end men’s clothing store on Las Olas Boulevard. And Carroll’s Jewelers, which started in Dade County and later opened on Las Olas, was among the handful of 1965 advertisers. Mark McCormick, our company president, likes to joke that their original ad pulled so well that Carroll’s didn’t have to buy another for 40 years.
Two now large educational centers, Florida Atlantic University and Nova Southeastern University, both started one year before the magazine, but they were just abandoned World War II runways looking for a second act. Broward County, of course, was already here. It celebrates 100 years in October of 2015. And it was just three years later that the Florida East Coast gave up passenger service, ironically just at a time when the rapid growth in cities up and down its tracks were making its rails ripe for a commuter train. That train came, but not on the FEC tracks, and now Henry Flagler’s railroad is having trouble convincing people that its renewed passenger service is a good idea.
Naturally, the magazine is pleased to tie in with companies and institutions celebrating anniversaries. Its April issue will salute many of them, and the individuals – many now gone – who altered and illuminated our times. An interesting anniversary, and this is hard to believe it has been that long, is the 30thanniversary of Covenant House. It seems like just yesterday that we wrote about the Rev. Bruce Ritter who brought the idea from New York, and made his center for runaway kids flourish with the community support of such people as Judge Estela Moriarity and Keith Koenig of Furniture City, who with his late brother took the water bed craze into a major furniture enterprise.
Covenant House is planning a big time celebration. The Night of Broadway Stars will be Feb. 21 at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts (speaking of things that weren’t here in 1965). This year’s honoree is Harry Durkin, who has volunteered at Covenant House for 25 years. A retired criminal attorney in New Jersey, Durkin is also known locally as a staunch supporter of his alma mater, Notre Dame. For six years he was president of the Notre Dame Club of New Jersey, and held the same office for eight years for the large and influential ND Club of Fort Lauderdale.
Recently a senior acquaintance made a profound observation.
"These days, when I get together with friends, they don't talk about things they used to talk about," he said. "Nobody is talking about last night's hot date, or who won the FSU game, the weather, or any of the stuff we used to talk about. All they talk about is their health. Who died, who is dying, what medications they are taking, what their wives are taking, what doctors they go to. How much does Medicare cover? It's all about health. That's all they talk about."
We agreed that this is a serious national health problem. Studies have shown that people who talk about nothing but health tend to die three or four hours sooner than people who never talk about health. But, based on our own recent experience, we offered our friend a suggestion.
"There is only one subject that can stop older people from talking about health," we said.
"What's that?" he asked, quite sincerely.
"Dogs."
"Dogs?"
"Dogs. We recently attended a gathering of what we expected to be interesting people. One worked for the power company and was an expert on wind and solar energy. Another was a former cleric who ran off with a 17-year-old he met in a drug program. Another was a woman who had been married to a former mob hit man. One man had been with the Rumanian army at Stalingrad. We looked forward to an illuminating night. The only problem was that our hostess had just gotten a dog and had also invited the dog to the party. As soon as the guests saw the dog, they began playing with him, or her, or it – whatever it was. All we know is that it was one of those little hair-in-the-eye dogs that kept sniffing our feet.
"We let them go for about 20 minutes, well into our second cocktail, but every time somebody told a story about their dog, somebody else wanted to talk about their dog. We tried to change the subject. We asked the energy expert if it was true that Florida is not that great of a wind state. We said it blows here all the time. The others kept talking about dogs, and he, trying to manage two conversations, said Texas had a lot more wind, and did we see the TV show about the dog that knew 10,000 words?"
“I saw that show,” said our acquaintance. “That dog was amazing. But, you know, dogs are smart. My dog knows people by names. And he remembers everybody. If somebody comes in that he doesn’t know, he gets shy and runs away. But if he knows you, he goes crazy. If I go away for a week he jumps all over me. And if he hasn’t seen you for a few days, he gets very excited, but not quite as much. But if he just saw you a couple hours ago, no big deal. And dogs know each other. I walk my dog in the morning and there are five or six other dogs that we see, and they know each other. It is Illegal to live on my street unless you have a least two dogs. Some families have enough to pull a sled in the Arctic. Some dogs my dog like better than others. You know, walking your dog is a great way to meet neighbors. People you never see at a homeowner’s meeting are out there walking dogs. And you meet interesting people. They love to talk about their dogs. There’s one woman who has a mongrel, looks like a little deer, and believe it or not, that dog is on tranquilizers. She thinks a previous owner abused him, and it was probably a man. The dog hates men, loves women. And if he sees a dog on television he goes nuts, attacking the screen. My boss has three tiny dogs that should be on tranquilizers. You walk in and they attack, you. One actually tore my pants. And he says ‘don’t move, he thinks he’s an attack dog.' Thinks he is. I saw online there are 20 breeds of dogs that should not be around small children. They are all loving, friendly dogs and very loyal and protective. But some are just too big. They can mistake very small children for biscuits and eat them. I hate people who don’t pick up after dogs. There’s one guy who has this enormous Great Dane and he lets him do it on my swale and he doesn’t pick it up. He would need a shovel and a wheelbarrow for that. But my dog isn’t afraid of him. He doesn’t know he’s barely as big as a mouse. He wants to fight all these big dogs.“
Our acquaintance paused for air, and we moved in.
“Everything okay. You feeling good?”
“Yeah, but I volunteered for a study on who has the potential for Alzheimer’s. Sometimes I forget names. And sometimes I mix up my telephone with the TV changer. I think a lot of people do that. Boy, get people on that subject and they never stop. All they talk about is health, and all the pills they take. Did I say this before?”
“Yeah, but don’t worry. They can give you something for that. And they say dogs help. Maybe you should get one.”
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| Grand Central Station |
There were hundreds of them, all over the place. Like most major rail terminals, Grand Central devoted a considerable amount of space for benches where travelers could wait until their train was called. But there were almost no travelers using the benches because homeless people were sprawled every which way in the waiting room, trash around them, aisles blocked by stuffed plastic bags. It was, to one who remembered Grand Central from an earlier time, an appalling scene, something from the third world, a dirty chaotic affront to thousands of travelers, many of them visitors from afar.
Fortunately, for those awaiting trains, there was a place of public refuge. In a mezzanine overlooking the many gates to the tracks, there was a bar, a New York landmark of sorts. It was always busy, especially at rush hour. It was hard to find a seat there and the drinkers were often several deep. No homeless were among that crowd; they couldn’t afford the drink prices.
Now, to people from New York, the homeless situation was no revelation. But to those from outside the city, seeing it for the first time was a shock, for the national news did not pay much attention, and no television satirists mocked the officials who tried to do something about it. And the city did try, constantly removing the people, sometimes busing them to shelters, trying to keep the waiting room orderly and available for travelers. Advocates for the homeless called this heartless, forcing people into the cold nights and citing the constitutional right of poor people to mingle with those better off.
Cops were quoted as feeling constrained; they could not arrest people for simply being in a public place. Some homeless were quoted, saying they did not like public shelters because of the rules. Homeless people do not like rules.
We did not see it firsthand, but eventually over 25 years the situation improved. That is, until recently. News reports on the Internet from last year said the situation at the terminal was returning to the 1980s. One newspaper, clearly no friend of the homeless, described “hobos” picking through trash cans for food. And again, the city was confronted by advocates defending the constitutional right of people to exist where they want to.
To this observer, the situation at Grand Central was light years more serious, and far more of a public nuisance, than what has been happening in Fort Lauderdale, with the efforts of the city to keep homeless from congregating in public parks and being fed on its popular beach. And yet Fort Lauderdale got a storm of bad national press, making the city look callous in its approach to a problem that is growing nationally, and which is not being handled well anywhere.
It has been pointed out that South Florida may be bearing more than its share of the problem, for it is warm and when people drift toward the sun, this is as far as they can go, unless they try Central America. Perhaps that’s what happened to New York’s unfortunates in the 1980s. They may have simply moved to Florida, but probably not by train.
***
The recent issue of Gold Coast and Boca Lifemagazines carried a story on the transformation of Dillard Elementary School in northwest Broward from a failing school to one that is much in demand. Enrollment is the best indication of a community’s response to a school. We failed to note that in just three years under the leadership of Principal Angela Brown, Dillard Elementary has proved so successful that it went from under-enrolled to almost doubling its enrollment to more than 800 students. It is now over-enrolled, and has become one of the larger grade schools in Broward County.
Coast and Boca Lifemagazines carried a story on the transformation of Dillard Elementary School in northwest Broward from a failing school to one that is much in demand. Enrollment is the best indication of a community’s response to a school. We failed to note that in just three years under the leadership of Principal Angela Brown, Dillard Elementary has proved so successful that it went from under-enrolled to almost doubling its enrollment to more than 800 students. It is now over-enrolled, and has become one of the larger grade schools in Broward County. |
| Jason Robards (left) and Ben Bradlee |
The death of legendary Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee a few weeks ago was widely noted, especially in Washington, D.C. where his funeral was the biggest send-off since Tim Russert six years ago. Bradlee was universally praised as a great editor, who took over an average newspaper in the 1960s and turned it into one of the best, exceeded today in influence by only The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. He was the man who broke the Watergate story that brought down an American president. He had the unusual advantage of becoming a media star when Jason Robards captured his appearance and style so vividly in the 1976 film “All the President’s Men.”
Say nothing but good of the dead. However, with the 51st anniversary of President Kennedy’s assassination upon us this weekend, we must note that Ben Bradlee was not a flawless editor. One of the great curiosities of his long tenure at the Post is that for a man who was friendly with JFK, and one who was constantly pushing his paper to greatness, he seemed to take little interest in one of the biggest stories of the 20th century – the murder of an American president.
We will never know exactly why for sure, and it was not until late in his life that Bradlee discussed the matter publicly. In 2007, David Talbot interviewed him for his book, Brothers: The Hidden History of the Kennedy Years, and asked why his paper was not more aggressive in investigating that tragic incident. Bradlee answered vaguely, saying that he was new in his job at the time and was cautious about getting involved in what most people thought was reckless speculation about a high level conspiracy. He was speaking of 1968, five years after the assassination. It took that much time for the first critics to begin gaining credibility with challenges to the Warren Commission’s findings that a lone gunman killed Kennedy.
Very few knew it then, and by 1968 he was also dead, but Robert Kennedy suspected all along that his brother had been killed by a conspiracy of government figures. Whether he ever shared that view with Bradlee is unknown. What we do know is that in 1980, by which time the Washington Post had broken the Pentagon Papers and the Watergate stories, Bradlee was at the top of his game. He had no reason to be insecure. But that was the year a sensational story broke right under his nose, in another publication.
The publication was Washingtonian magazine, which had been around for some time and was widely read throughout D.C., particularly when it covered political matters. It ran a story that appeared at the same time in Gold Coast magazine and its related Florida publication, Indian River Life. The story by Gaeton Fonzi was the result of his five years work for two congressional committees that had reopened the JFK investigation. It began with Pennsylvania Sen. Richard Schweiker, who had made his own examination of the information advanced by various critics. Schweiker concluded that the accused killer, Lee Harvey Oswald, was not the “lone nut” the Warren Commission claimed. Schweiker said Oswald “had the fingerprints of intelligence all over him.” He asked Fonzi to check it out.
Coast magazine and its related Florida publication, Indian River Life. The story by Gaeton Fonzi was the result of his five years work for two congressional committees that had reopened the JFK investigation. It began with Pennsylvania Sen. Richard Schweiker, who had made his own examination of the information advanced by various critics. Schweiker concluded that the accused killer, Lee Harvey Oswald, was not the “lone nut” the Warren Commission claimed. Schweiker said Oswald “had the fingerprints of intelligence all over him.” He asked Fonzi to check it out.Fonzi, working in South Florida with anti-Castro Cuban sources, developed a link between an important CIA agent and Oswald. A very credible Cuban source had seen his handler, a mysterious Maurice Bishop, with Oswald in Dallas shortly before the assassination. Out of understandable fear, and the fact that he wanted to keep working with his CIA contact in efforts to overthrow Castro, he had kept the story to himself for years. It was a sensational piece of information, made even more credible with corroboration by other sources over the years. It was to become the germ of Fonzi’s book, The Last Investigation, which was published in 1993, and is now recognized as a landmark work on the JFK assassination. But in 1980, it was just a long magazine article.
In Florida it created little stir. Our presentation was not ideal. The story was so long we printed it on cheap paper and ran it as in insert. Gold Coast’s lifestyle audience was not the natural readership for such matter. Washingtonian, however, had been doing the kind of provocative journalism that Ben Bradlee admired. The publication of Fonzi’s story was a major event, so major that David Atlee Phillips, the CIA agent identified with Oswald, sued the magazine for $7 million, serious money at the time. The suit was ultimately dismissed. In Florida, we had expected all hell to break loose when the Washington Post followed up. We figured it would go all over the world fast. But Ben Bradlee’s crusading Washington Post also dismissed the story. It did nothing.
Coast’s lifestyle audience was not the natural readership for such matter. Washingtonian, however, had been doing the kind of provocative journalism that Ben Bradlee admired. The publication of Fonzi’s story was a major event, so major that David Atlee Phillips, the CIA agent identified with Oswald, sued the magazine for $7 million, serious money at the time. The suit was ultimately dismissed. In Florida, we had expected all hell to break loose when the Washington Post followed up. We figured it would go all over the world fast. But Ben Bradlee’s crusading Washington Post also dismissed the story. It did nothing.Jack Limpert, editor of Washingtonian at the time, recently recalled the non-reaction. “The Post and pretty much everyone else ignored Gaeton’s piece,” he said.
Now, it is not unusual for publications to ignore being scooped by a rival. When Gaeton Fonzi exposed a corrupt Philadelphia Inquirer reporter in the 1960s, both the Inquirer and rival Evening Bulletin ignored the story – until it broke nationally a few weeks later. Fonzi in the 1960s also challenged Arlen Specter, the man who came up with the impossible “single bullet” theory, in Philadelphia magazine. It set the city buzzing, but again the newspapers remained mute. Even compared to those important stories, Washingtonian’s JFK piece was a giant, and for the Post to ignore it seems an inexcusable lapse of integrity.
Fonzi’s magazine article evolved into a book, by which time he had developed considerably more information and his work was being followed up by a number of researchers. Even then, the Post largely ignored him. Ironically, one of those influenced by Fonzi was former Washington Post reporter Jefferson Morley, but he had a difficult time getting the paper to run some of his dramatic revelations. He wound up giving a story about Oswald’s CIA connections, and the efforts by the CIA to impede Fonzi’s investigation, to the Miami New Times.
One can only speculate on what might have been if the Post had used its investigative resources to follow Washingtonian’s 1980 story. Most of the people now identified as part of the conspiracy, and its equally sinister coverup by the Warren Commission, were still alive. Today all are dead, safe from the arms of justice. The list included high-ranking members of the CIA, important elected officials, possibly military leaders and mafia figures – although the latter, if involved, were not the prime movers of the crime. Jack Ruby, who killed the alleged assassin, was mobbed up, but also had CIA connections. That has come out in dribs and drabs over the last 30 years, but the Washington Post long ago could have broken down the wall of silence and provided the truth – if only it had the will.
Ben Bradlee – great editor. But.
Rank has its privilege. That is a term used in the military to explain why generals live better than privates. And why, at a cocktail party, the general never need get his own martini. He simply says to the colonel, “I want a martini.” And the colonel asks the major, who asks the lieutenant, who asks the sergeant who asks the corporal who asks the private (if one is available) to get the general a martini.
The private gets the martini and gives it to the corporal, who gives it to the sergeant, who gives it to the lieutenant who gives it to the captain who gives it to the major who gives it to the colonel, who says to the general, “Sir, your martini, sir.” And, because rank has its privilege, the general may take a sip and say to the colonel, “too much vermouth” and hand it back for a repeat performance.
Rank also has its privilege in civilian life, as we see all the time. And as one who has followed the John Goodman DUI homicide trial as a fan of both polo and expert witnesses, we note that the “rank has its privilege” mantra still thrives. The average poor slob would be three years into a jail term right now, but Goodman is still trying to extend his limited freedom (he’s in the brig as we write) with legal maneuvers.
Unlike many commentators, we sympathize with the man. We met him once and he seemed like a good sport. And, while it is clear the poor rich guy is guilty, one has to feel for anyone who has spent so much money and still may do serious time. Many people forget that he gave the family of the man who died some $46 million. We don’t think the jury in his two trials heard that piece of trivia.
We wonder if he could do it again, would Goodman have used his wealth more wisely at the early stages of his problem. Perhaps he was not thinking clearly (who could, after a night of fun and a serious accident?) but Goodman might have just disappeared for a day or so, on the grounds that he was disoriented with a concussion. Therefore the very incriminating blood test might never have occurred. Alternatively, he might have gotten a total transfusion, getting the bad stuff out of his body, before reporting for a test. There certainly must be some bloody technician out there that could be bought for the right amount.
Expert witnesses could be bought to cover any discrepancies in this strategy. Experts always tell the truth as they see it. Ask any career expert witness what is the truth, and he or she, under oath, would say the truth depends on the size of their fee. And that’s the truth.
There are other legal precedents up with which creative lawyers might have come. For instance, why not argue that Goodman be allowed to send a substitute to jail, much as rich guys did in the Civil War? You could certainly find some fellow who deserves to be in jail for a crime he intended to commit, which obviously Goodman did not.
Perhaps it is time for us, as a society, to consider whether a rich man should simply pay to stay out of jail, providing he also makes a perfect act of contrition. Many would suggest that Gov. Rick Scott would make an excellent expert witness in that case.
Rank has its privilege.
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| Attendees at the Cox's Landing dedication ceremony. Photo by Art Seitz. |
As the monstrously successful Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show was in full sail around them, a high-powered group of local people met to celebrate the memory of a man who started it all. Cox's Landing, a modern boat launching facility, was inaugurated under perfect Saturday morning skies at Lauderdale Marina, founded by Bob Cox 67 years ago. His son-in-law, Ted Drum, who now runs the operation along with his own high-profile real estate company, reminded the audience of Bob Cox's history with the boat show. Although the modern show is rightly credited to Kaye Pearson, who in 1977 came up with the idea of having it in the water at Bahia Mar, it was Cox, who 55 years ago, decided that a boating capital such as Fort Lauderdale deserved a marine show. It began in an armory off State Road 84 (which is still there), quite a distance from today’s sprawling seven water-related venues.
It was just one of several fascinating anecdotes relayed by Drum about the man who died last year at 95, and who for 67 of those years was devoted to the South Florida marine industry, and equally strongly identified with sensible government at a time of spectacular growth in the city. He was on the Fort Lauderdale City Commission for more than two decades, five of them as mayor. His language was often as flamboyant as the sport coats he fancied, and it got him in trouble a few times, but he never lost the respect of those who knew him and appreciated his contributions to the area. Among them were deepening canals that have given Fort Lauderdale the nickname "Venice of America." That grew from his first experience in town when he arrived with a boat in 1946 and found it difficult to find a place to dock. He found a spot where the Navy had tested torpedoes in World War II and turned it into Lauderdale Marina.
Not many knew that this old salt had exceptional academic credentials; he was a graduate of prestigious Cal Tech. He was also a masterful marine mechanic, a skill that served him well in his early days. He was also a bit of a journalist, contributing several articles on the marine industry in the early years of Gold Coastmagazine. Later in politics, he was a mix of conservative social values and progressive ideas when it came to city planning. He was among those who discouraged the out-of-control spring break by supporting a major rebuilding of Fort Lauderdale's public beach.
To those living in the city's old Colee Hammock section, at least those who have been there long enough to remember the occasion, Bob Cox's memory has a special place. In the mid-1980s that neighborhood, which was once the eastern border of the city, found itself besieged by fast-moving traffic headed to and from the developing beach. Its once quiet, oak-shaded streets were becoming dangerous speedways. There was a quiet movement, led by real estate man Tom Adler, to close off the busiest streets. It was approved by the city with little comment, and then all hell broke loose when people on the beach and Las Olas Isles realized their raceways were gone. There was a contentious hearing at city hall - contentious until Bob Cox took charge. He explained the history of the city's growth, and how Colee Hammock was the last neighborhood before the beach – which was once virtually an island, before all the bridges were built. He said the city should not have let the traffic problem go unaddressed for years.
"We made a mistake, and now what we're doing is correcting it," he said. His argument prevailed, and soon neighborhoods all over the city saw similar street closures. The benefits of that movement have been widespread. With the naming of Cox's Landing, it is good to see the man's legacy preserved.
Browardization. New term, old refrain.
We heard this refrain before. Back in the 1970s, Boca Raton officials were alarmed at the threat of runaway development. They were looking south toward Broward County, especially Fort Lauderdale, where new oceanfront condominiums were leaping from the ground like spring tulips. “We don’t want to become another Fort Lauderdale” was the battle cry of the day.
The result was a density cap, limiting the number of people allowed in the city. It was eventually overturned by the courts, but it gave time for Boca to enact other rules that effectively slowed and controlled development. Indeed “Perfect Town,” as we once called it, is much different from Fort Lauderdale.
Now they are at it again. The Palm Beach Postreports opposition to ambitious development plans for the western part of Palm Beach County, some of it on land that was supposedly reserved as open space. People are again looking south for a bogeyman, with the slogan “We don’t want the Browardization of Palm Beach County.”
Different phrase, same idea. Alas, the complaint has merit. In both Dade and Broward counties, growth has been permitted well into what was once the Everglades. Miles of farmland is gone, wetlands turned to asphalt. Some think it sets us up for an ecological disaster, or at least a water crisis that could destroy much of the environment that draws people to South Florida in the first place.
For Broward, it is too late to retain the lifestyle that brought people here in the beginning. The traffic seems beyond the point of repair, even if All Aboard Florida and Tri-Rail achieve their desirable goals. All that will do is slow traffic growth a bit; it cannot correct the past. As we prepare for Gold Coast’s 50th anniversary next spring, we ask old timers what they think of growth. Almost all, including some who have prospered conspicuously with the development of Broward, say it was a much better place to live and raise a family 30 or 40 years ago.
And those are just the people still here. Many of those who grew up in the 1950s and ’60s have fled to places such as Stuart and Vero Beach, where high-rise buildings are non-existent.
Browardization. It’s an unfortunate, but apt term.
