Published by former Mayor George Gardner March 9 2016
The Report is an independent publication serving our community
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City commissioner's son arrested
 Jacob Kline, son of St. Augustine City Commissioner Nancy and Roger Sikes-Kline and a golf title holder, was arrested Monday on a charge of principal to home invasion robbery with a firearm or deadly weapon.
Kline, 19, is one of five charged in a January robbery at a West Jayce Way home in West Augustine.
No link has yet been found to a February 26 firebombing at the Sikes Kline home in Davis Shores, when a Snapple bottle with a flammable liquid was thrown through a bedroom window.
Jacob was a rising star in the golf world, capturing the Florida State Boys' Junior Championship in 2013.
Sheriff's spokesman Kevin Kelshaw says the charges, principal to a home invasion robbery with a firearm or deadly weapon, "constitute a first-degree felony."
Previously charged were 18-year-old Sean Edmund Riggs, 21-year-old Larry Thomas Travis Jr., 20-year-old Ronald Tyrone Burch, and 19-year-old Marcus Theodore Lewis.
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Menorcan Heritage
Celebration
The annual Menorcan Heritage Celebration hosted by the Menorcan Cultural Society celebrates a unique heritage Saturday 10:30 am-2:30 pm at the Llambias House on St. Francis Street.
The free event features mullet net making, Menorcan t-shirts and books, Datil pepper sauce and jelly, storytelling and songs, but the perennial favorite is the menu of Menorcan clam chowder, pilau of all kinds, and baked goods, serving 11 am-2 pm.
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 Los Angeles Times columnist Doyle McManus visits Flagler College Thursday, March 17 at 7 pm with a timely lecture, The Voters' Revolt: How and why voters in both parties have shaken the political establishment. The talk is part of the college's Forum on Government and Public Policy Road to the White House series. McManus, who has covered wars, revolutions and presidential campaigns for 35 years, will also examine the factors that indicate this pattern of revolt is likely to persist in the future.
Bernie Rally - The St. Augustine Environmental Youth Council and The St. Augustine Symposium are sponsoring a Pep Rally for Bernie Sanders tomorrow 6 - 9 pm at DOS Coffee, 300 San Marco Avenue. It's a fundraiser and Florida Primary Vote Awareness gathering. Local food & music & presentations on the issues NE Florida faces and how Bernie will address them.
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Here comes New York
thru Daily News piece
"St. Augustine may be America's oldest city, but hip bars, restaurants and shops make it one of today's coolest" writes New York Daily News Lifestyles' Karen Tina Harrison in last Friday's edition. Read it here.
Admitting it was the Fountain of Youth that lured her - and it didn't work, she writes - "This tiny Northeastern Florida town of only 14,000 - America's oldest city - is very old and very new at the same time.
"A visitor's attention is pulled in two directions: to authentic, absorbing historical attractions, and to the seductions of a creative burg coming into its own."
Harrison cites Flagler College grad Ryan Dettra, who says he "fell for St. Augustine. There's nostalgia and energy. This is a great place to have fun and then settle down. The 25-to-40-year-olds dislike the tourist traps of the past, so they're opening innovative businesses here." Dettra is co-founder, co-owner and marketing director of St. Augustine Distillery and its Ice Plant bar.
"'This town has always stood behind its creative people,'" adds Wendy Mandel McDaniel, a Queens-born artist who moved here in 1994. 'Henry Flagler supported a stable of artists-in-residence. Today, lots of us here are artists, and there's a proud sense of non-conformity.'"
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A plan comes together
One item that wasn't on last Tuesday's Planning and Zoning Board agenda was for removal of preserved trees, including two 22 inch diameter oak trees, to construct a new single family home.  After a February session with the board, the March agenda noted, "The applicant has amended the site plan. Therefore the new single family home will not require the removal of the preserved trees. The applicant has requested that the application be withdrawn." Years back the city's Code Enforcement Board acted on tree removal applications, and too often approved removals because they were in the proposed building footprint. The City Commission shifted the process to the Planning and Zoning Board, which reviews building plans and can work with builders to redesign building footprints. Roland Stonaker was applicant for David Ponce, Vice President-Owner CHB, LLC, for an Inlet Place parcel where that tree canopy will be saved.
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A weekend for the Irish
 Francis Field goes green this weekend as Celtic clans from around the world show their ancestral pride alongside the popular Highland Games' athletes at the St. Augustine Celtic Music & Heritage Festival.
On Friday Memorial Presbyterian Church will host Dublin's Irish Tenors and the Celtic Ladies for an evening of timeless traditional folk ballads and contemporary and classical songs. Tickets $25-$65.
The weekend opens with a 10 am St. Patrick's Day Parade Saturday along Orange Street and the bayfront, then vendors offer up Celtic cuisine and hand-made crafts. Scottish and Irish bands will appear live on stage throughout the two-day festival. At 2 pm Sunday is the Bartender Challenge.
Festival hours Friday, 7 - 9 pm; Saturday 11 am - 9 pm; Sunday, 11 am - 6 pm. Tickets $10 general admission, VIP all-weekend $55. Visit http://www.celticstaugustine.com.
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History's Highlight
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Excerpts from http://roypbower.tripod.com/minorcans/ of the Menorcan exodus from the failed British indigo plantation at New Smyrna. Dr. Andrew Turnbull's 1,500 indentured Menorcans had endured nine years of horrendous conditions and overseer beatings. East Florida was at the time a British colony.
 June, 1777, a visitor to New Smyrna remarked that "it is fortunate for Turnbull that these people do not know their rights." A worker overheard this and went to tell the others. The settlers selected three men to go to St. Augustine and plead their case to British Governor Tonyn. The men told the overseers that they were off to hunt, and took a skiff across the inlet. From the inlet, they walked along the beach to avoid detection by the overseers. They journeyed to St. Augustine walking all day and night with only sticks to protect them from marauding Indians.
They were given a warm welcome by Governor Tonyn and were supplied with food and clean clothes. Governor Tonyn listened closely to their predicament and issued a written order that all settlers must be freed immediately.
The three men carried the order back to New Smyrna where they advised their friends and families as well as the small military garrison.
The exodus began.
Roughly 600 were left to make it to St. Augustine and it is believed that another 150 stayed in New Smyrna hoping to claim the land they'd been promised. Assuming that the 150 did indeed stay at New Smyrna or settled elsewhere in the outback, the figures would indicate that nearly half the population, 700 individuals, died during their nine years in Turnbull's employ.
St. Augustine was swamped with Loyalist refugees from the north, fleeing the American Revolution. Naturally there was a shortage of nearly everything but the Menorcans, having arrived before the others, were at least able to stake out lots and abandoned houses.
The Menorcans began to thrive, as many of the new northern refugees were town dwellers and, although skilled, were not farmers. The Menorcans took to the sea as they had done for so many centuries and supplied the town with fresh fish.
Those that did not go to sea started small farms outside the city gates. These farms were within view of the Castillo (100 years old at that time) as the Indians were an ever increasing threat with so many whites moving through their lands on the way to St. Augustine.
In 1783, the American Revolution came to a close. The Spanish were ceded both Menorca and the Floridas. Again, it was time for another exodus, but this time it was the Menorcans' turn to stay, to establish a heritage that lives today in their descendants.
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The St. Augustine Report is published weekly, with additional Reports previewing City Commission meetings as well as Special Reports. The Report is written and distributed by George Gardner, St. Augustine Mayor (2002-2006) and a former newspaper reporter and editor. Contact the Report at gardner@aug.com or gardnerstaug@yahoo.com
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