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Today we buried a life long friend of mine. It hurt. Joey and I go back many years when Kst was till a dirt road. Joeys death is the beginning of the end of an era. A time where people worked and fought and drank and played downtown. Many of you you have no idea who we are. As I stared at his casket in the church , I guess I wanted to say say good bye one more time. Maybe I wanted to hear a story about riding out a hurricane 100s of miles off shore and the waves blowing out windows in the wheel house and having to come back to port with only a compass and their mattresses stuffed in the windows to keep out the water. Maybe I wanted to hear one more time how he fixed the engines with a hose clamp and a lid from the galley. But I will not hear those stories any more.. He is gone...Joey and I fought many of the same demons that caused us a lot of grief. If he had money, you had money. He was a vet but he rarely spoke of his service. He was part of what Pensacola used to be. A damn great place that I am very proud of. I guess I am a little arrogant maybe even hyper critical of the direction my city has taken. Times change but many people do not. People like Joey valued friendship and hard work over style and money. I am sad. I lost a part of me today. Ricks Blog and the PNJ will not write a glowing tribute to a person who lived his own life in his own way. Like me, Joey made a lot of mistakes in his life. The price you pay for following the road less traveled. If you never met him, then you missed a part of what makes America great...Vaya con Dios ,my friend..Hope to catch you on the other side.
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Just saying.