Fallout continues from the bizarre firing of Assistant Director Joe Pais at the Key West Art & Historical Society (KWAHS).
James Bogoeff, the local sales manager for Coca-Cola, has informed the City Commissioners that, as of Jan. 17, Coke will be turning off all interior illuminated signs on the company's vending machines in the Historic District.
Pais was fired by KWAHS Director Kevin O'Brien on Dec. 3, the same day Pais wrote in his regular column in Key West The Newspaper that brightly lighted soft drink vending machines should be banned in Old Town.
"O'Brien repeatedly told me that I was being fired because he had gotten heat from Donn Vecchie-Campbell," Pais said. "There was no question about why he was firing me."
Vecchie-Campbell is an owner of the local Pepsi-Cola operation, a former KWAHS board member and a major contributor.
But a source close to Vecchie-Campbell now tells KWTN that, while she was upset with the tone of the column, she says she did not pressure O'Brien to fire Pais.
So now, a new question arises: Was O'Brien's firing of Pais a "rogue" act. Did he fire Pais in a fit of pique without any board approval?
So far, the board has taken a "no comment" position— even in the face of threats by former members to withdraw support and boycott the organization's events unless the firing of Pais is rescinded.
What makes the incident so bizarre is that Pais had, weeks earlier, given notice that he would be resigning at year-end to accept a job in Tallahassee with the State Division of Historic Resources— the agency that doles out grant money to museums across the state.
And now the lawyers are involved.
At press time, local Pepsi-Cola management had not indicated whether or not they would be following Coke's lead in turning off the interior illumination in their vending machines in Old Town.
But just turning off the lights may not be enough. City Attorney Bob Tischenkel, responding to an inquiry by City Commissioner Harry Bethel, said that, in the Historic District, HARC (Historic Architecture Review Commission) guidelines prohibit vending machines that are "visible from the public way."
Plastic signs are also prohibited in the Historic District.
So it all boils down to a matter of interpretation, Tischenkel says. Does a HARC guideline have the same force as an ordinance? Is a backlighted plastic sign still a sign if the light's turned off?
Meanwhile, life goes on at the KWAHS. "Under the Sun," a new exhibit at the Key West Museum of Art & History, opens tomorrow Jan. 15. About 75 works, culled from almost 200 submissions, represent new work from a cross-section of Florida artists.