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THE FLORIDA KEYS’ TOP-SELLING WEEKLY NEWSPAPER • 25 CENTS
Vol. 47 | 30 | keysInfonet.com FRIDAY, JULY 25, 2014
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KEY LARGO MARATHON KEY WEST305-451-5700 MM 99 in the Median
305-295-6400By Publix, Searstown
305-743-4397 MM 47.5 Ocean
SHANE HAMILTON
‘Like going through hell all over again’BY DAVID [email protected]
SWAIN COUNTY, N.C. -- Right off the Great Smoky Mountains Expressway in western North Carolina, the narrow, two-lane Lower Alarka Road turns into the winding Grassy Branch Road, which descends in tight circles banked by a tribu-tary of Fontana Lake.
Dilapidated trailers are common sights, as are quaint log cabins not quite hidden in the thick woods just past the Alarka Creek, which runs parallel to parts of the road.
If you can get over the fear of head-on collisions, the scenic drive is quite enjoy-able. But for friends of Shane Hamilton, who died in an ATV wreck earlier this month after he struck a low-lying metal cable that someone tied between two trees, the journey is eerie.
“It’s a weird feeling going up there again,” said Hamilton’s friend Daryn Page. “It was like going through hell all over again.”
Daryn and her husband Mark Page, who was Hamilton’s Key Largo business partner, were last in Nantahala Township over the July 4 weekend to take Hamilton’s wife
and children back to the Keys after their husband and father died.
This time, the Pages wanted answers they were unable to get from making phone calls from the Keys. The crash hap-pened on July 3, and Hamilton died the next day at a hospital in nearby Asheville.
The Pages and Mark’s brother Guy Hill went back to the Swain County town this week to attempt to find out who owns the land where Hamilton, 45, struck the cable.
“I’m trying to find who owns the prop-erty where the accident happened, because the sheriff won’t give it out,” said Page, owner of Page Excavating.
The Swain County Sheriff’s Office quickly dismissed Hamilton’s death as an accident and is not conducting fur-ther investigation. The Reporter/Keynoter interviewed Sheriff Curtis Cochran and Deputy Chief Jason Gardner in Cochran’s office on Monday. Cochran ended the
interview in less than two minutes.“It’s a civil matter, not a criminal
matter, and therefore, we’re out of it,” Gardner said.
Photo by Vincent DeVriesA wooden cross is posted at the spot where Shane Hamilton crashed his ATV into a metal cable in North Carolina. Friends and family want to know who placed the cable there, and why.
BUG HUNT BEGINS
Keys prepare for onslaught of spiny lobster seekers
Miniseason is next Wednesday and Thursday
BY RYAN [email protected]
Get ready for the onslaught: Tens of thousands of lobster hunters from far and wide descend upon the Florida Keys next week for the annu-al two-day head start on com-mercial and regular lobster season.
Free-divers and tank-divers will crowd Atlantic Ocean, Florida Bay and Gulf of Mexico waters up and down the Keys during mini-sea-son, running from 12:01 a.m. Wednesday until 11:59 p.m. Thursday looking for the tasty crustaceans.
Pre-scouting for lobster is an important aspect of mini-season, so don’t be sur-prised to see a lot of boat
trailers heading south into the Keys early in the week.
“It’s already crazy busy,” said Wendy Hall, owner of Tilden’s Scuba Center and Dive Duck Key.
Mini-season is always the last Wednesday and Thursday of each July, and falls espe-cially last this year.
“Because it runs so late this year, some people have actually made the mistake of coming in the wrong week,” Hall said.
The eight-month commer-cial and regular recreational lobster season opens Aug. 6, with commercial fishermen allowed to drop traps in the water on Aug. 1 (beginning the so-called soak season), the day after mini-season closes.
Captain Pip’s Marina and Hideaway owner Ernie Crawford purchased that Marathon business in late
COURTS
N.J. Turnpike Authority sues Tavernier pizza parlor
DIVE FATALITY
Jersey man dies after diving the ‘Spiegel Grove’ off Key Largo
A New Jersey man died after diving off Key Largo Wednesday morning, says the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office.
Agency spokeswoman Becky Herrin says Gary Lanier, 45, of Kenvil, N.J., was on a dive trip with his two children, ages 15 and 18, at the Spiegel Grove wreck with Blue Water Divers out of Key Largo.
The Spiegel Grove is a 510-foot former military ship scuttled in 2002. It’s at Dixie Shoal and its top deck is
in about 60 feet underwater.Herrin said that according to wit-
nesses, including his children, Lanier began having trouble as he surfaced from his dive. One of the dive mates who with the group said Lanier began having trouble while at the surface.
Herrin said the dive mate helped get Lanier aboard the dive boat. At that point, he lost consciousness and stopped breathing so she started car-diopulmonary resuscitation.
The U.S. Coast Guard responded
to distress calls and brought Lanier in to Marina Avenue in Key Largo. Paramedics transported Lanier to Mariners Hospital in Tavernier, where he was pronounced dead.
An autopsy will be performed to determine the cause of his death.
Since its scuttling, at least seven other people have died at the Spiegel Grove or after diving it -- including an incident in 2007, when three New Jersey divers died inside the ship doing a penetration dive.
Lawsuit says Boardwalk Pizza’s logo infringes on trademark
BY DAVID [email protected]
The New Jersey Turnpike Authority filed a trademark infringe-ment lawsuit against Plantation Key’s Jersey Boardwalk Pizza this week.
The suit, filed July 21 in New Jersey federal court, claims the mile marker 90.5 pizza and sandwich shop’s logo is too similar the Garden State Parkway logo. Both circular logos are green with a yellow border.
The turnpike’s says “Garden State” along the top, while Boardwalk’s says “Jersey Boardwalk.” The mid-dle of the Turnpike Authority’s logo say’s “Parkway” while Boardwalk’s says “Pizza Co.” The Turnpike Authority logo has no words along the bottom of the circle; Boardwalk’s says “Subs. Cheesesteaks. Pasta.”
Both logos contain an image of the map of New Jersey in their center.
FRIENDS REVISIT DEATH SCENE FOR MORE ANSWERS
• Turn to HAMILTON, 3A
• Turn to MINISEASON, 3A • Turn to TRADEMARK, 2A
Photo by DAVID GOODHUEFlorida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission Officer Robert Dube checks the sizes and numbers of lobsters caught by a boat crew during the 2013 lobster mini-season.
Photo by DAVID GOODHUEJersey Boardwalk Pizza’s logo is based on the Garden State Parkway logo.
L’ATTITUDES
LOBSTERFESTKey West celebrates the Florida spiny lobster during the 18th annual festival, 4B
CELEBRATION
HISTORY ON DISPLAYKeys History & Discovery Center readies for permanent exhibits, 1B
FISHING
MAHIACTIONDolphin bite continues to impress anglers and captains offshore, 3B
INDEX BRIEFS 6B | CLASSIFIEDS 7B | L’ATTITUDES 4B | MARKET CHART 18A | OBITUARIES 2A | OPINION 19A | PUZZLES 5B | Follow us on Facebook/keysinfonet