GERONIMO LIVE! And Other Florida Stories

By Ray Kania

Real places and People of the Sunshine State; “GERONIMO LIVE! And Other Florida Stories” covers the overlooked, sometimes unusual history of the Sunshine State. The stories include photos and information for visitors where applicable. Stories include “Florida’s Communist Tree,” “The Barefoot (Sometimes Naked) Mailmen of Southeast Florida,” and “Black Point: NASA’s Wild Kingdom.”

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ray Kania
• Release date: Feb 18, 2012
• ISBN: 9781466002456

Ray Kania

Ray Kania is a writer whose work has appeared in a variety of publications, from scholarly journals to the sports pages of newspapers. Ray is also an artist and photographer (Magazine covers of of Florida Living,The Orlando Sentinel Insight, newspapers, articles and books.) Ray uses pen and ink, and color pencil.Kania, a former Vietnamese/Thai-Lao interpreter, was the senior coordinator (USAFSS) for National Security Agency intelligence gathering missions along the Ho Chi Minh Trail. During this period, as a personal project, he collected information that would lead to an ethnography of the So people of Northeast Thailand. Included in the study is a phonetic alphabet, the first for this spoken language. (Documentation)As a licensed private investigator in the early 1980s he worked undercover for a NASA contractor.Kania signed a SAG agreement to work in movies and commercials from 1984-85. He did work on the CBS series SPACE and in the movie D.A.R.Y.L., including precision driving for chase scenes so the stunt drivers could do their thing on the Orlando East-West Expressway.As a Marshallese police officer, he was directly involved with operations against Russian (Soviet) special forces units at Kwajalein Atoll in the Republic of the Marshall Islands from 1986-1988. He was part of an operation against the Russian efforts to gather data from the impact zone on Illeginni Island on Feb.13,1987 on orders from President Reagan (Documentation)Kania also worked on a contract for the Air Force Space Command at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida and later as a federal officer at Kennedy Space Center, protecting the space shuttle, astronauts and KSC facilities. Click image.He has written about a number of diverse subjects as a result of his travels and eclectic interests. They include: Southeast Asia (politics, sociology, and language), sports, physical fitness, nature, Pacific Islanders, intelligence gathering, and human interest. His latest effort has been the publication of his 7 epub books.He has participated in several sports (primarily basketball and soccer) at several levels, from college to a prison league. Along the way he has collected BA degrees in philosophy and political science from the University of Central Florida. Among his language skills are a working knowledge or better (speaking, reading and writing) of Spanish, Thai, Vietnamese and Arabic. (little or no active use for over 15 years.)Partial list of credits/clients:Asian Survey, September 1980, Volume XX, Number 9, Explaining Recent Vietnamese Behavior, Lee E. Dutter and Raymond S. Kania.Florida LivingSt. Petersburg Times, high school sports, North Suncoast.The Asia MailThe Orlando Sentinel (Insight) Tropical Isles Play Lab For U.S. Defense Tests. Oct. 30, 1988.South Pacific’s Paradise Lost: Ebeye Has Become Slum In The Marshall Islands. April 23, 1989.Journal of the Siam Society, January 1979, Volume 67 part 1, Patron, His Majesty the King, The So people of Kusuman, northeastern Thailand, Raymond S. Kania and Siriphan Hatuwong.Vietnam MagazineRay Kania's ThelastGringo.com is archived in the University of Texas, San Antonio Immigration/Borderlands Web Collection. It contains well-documented articles on the uncontrolled immigration across the U.S. southern border.Ray has been a member of the Eastern Florida State College Foundation Heritage Society since 2002 and a sponsor of the annual Eastern Florida State College (Melbourne Campus) Student Art Exhibit at the King Center for the Performing Arts. He provides scholarships for best of show in two dimensional, three dimensional, and the Ray Kania Award of Excellence categories.2004 – Ray was the model for the winning image in the SEPPA, Southeastern Professional Photographers of America contest, international competition. It was the First Place winner in male image, illustrative category, and Best of Show. The image was also on the 2005 SEPPA calendar and at the Imaging Asia convention in South Korea.

Book preview

GERONIMO LIVE! And Other Florida Stories

By Ray Kania

ISBN # 978-1-4660-0245-6

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

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More ebooks by Ray Kania:

Almost Paradise

Edgar's Studebaker -- And Other Memorable Stories

Kampuchea, Year Zero

Seniors' Corner: For a Better Life

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GERONIMO LIVE! And Other Florida Stories covers the overlooked, sometimes unusual history of the Sunshine State. The articles feature photos (in most articles) and information for visitors where applicable. Stories include Florida’s Communist Tree, The Barefoot (Sometimes Naked) Mailmen of Southeast Florida, and Black Point: NASA’s Wild Kingdom.

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Index

Blackpoint: NASA’S wild kingdom

Florida’s Communist Tree

Fort Christmas

The Barefoot (Sometimes Naked) Mailmen of Southeast Florida

Geronimo, Live at Fort Pickens

Koreshan Unity: Living inside the World in South Florida

Ambush at Wahoo Swamp

Florida’s Prehistoric Rock Quarries

Wacahoota: Florida signs and what they mean

Running through the Withlacoochee

Ma Barker’s Last Stand

About Ray Kania

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Blackpoint: NASA’S wild kingdom

I followed the otter as it swam underwater. It occasionally poked its head above the narrow canal, checking to see if I had left. Nearby, white ibis used their downward curving beaks to probe the water for food while a great blue heron stood motionless, waiting for any small fish to venture close enough for a strike from its dagger-like beak. I noticed some turbulence below and, a second later, the otter broke the surface of the water with a large fish in its mouth. Wasting no time, the sleek brown creature slipped into the brush on the opposite bank and noisily commenced its morning meal.

A myriad of creatures stalked their food in the morning light of an early June day across this part of the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. The refuge land, owned by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), is one of Florida’s best kept secrets.

More than 500 species of animals live here at some time during the year and the place to see them is Black Point Wildlife Drive, a seven-mile dirt road which meanders through the changing habitats that make up the refuge.

These diverse habitats, from salt marshes and shallow water to pine flat woods, are maintained by the refuge managers. This diversity is the reason the area can attract and sustain such a variety of animals.

Although Black Point is located in the non-operational part of the Kennedy Space Center (KSC), it is in the glide path of the KSC landing strip. Whenever the Space Shuttle returns from the north, it passes over the refuge only seconds before touchdown.

Merritt Island is a well-known vacation spot for several hundred thousand snowbirds migrating south for the winter. Many of these visitors, from ducks and raptors to songbirds, can be found here from October to March.

The refuge remains an active place year round, however, as residents move across the land in their search for food. In the spring, when mating takes place, nests are built and in a matter of weeks, another generation begins life throughout the marsh environment.

If you have a few weeks to spare, one of the more enjoyable creatures you will encounter is the black-necked stilt. This fragile-looking bird is black on top and