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By the way, all material on this site is copyrighted James Ciano over the years |
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Gate House Two
Now that the General is dead and his wife is back in Chile the mansion is up for sale. Their asking 22 million, but I'll be surprised if it brings in more than 15 million in this market.
There is a new family in the Ericson Mansion on Spy Glass Lane named The Cote-Evans family from London England. They have a 21 year old daughter living with them and an older, married son still living back in London, but he visits regularly. The husband is in oil, (a vice president of BP Oil Company) and he commutes a couple of times a month from his English office in London.
Apparently the wife has trouble with the English weather and hopes the Florida Sunshine will cure all that.
On another note Walter Cotton the Realtor stopped by today to find out how much their asking for the Chilean Mansion. I told him 22 million, and he couldn't believe it either. I got him talking about Esmeralda and he admitted that he dodged a bullet in that fiasco because he and she were an item for a while. We are all still in shock, the General, who we all liked, actually attempted to assassinate the President of the United States. I guess you never know what anyone will do under pressure.
The Cote-Evans' are planning a big wedding for their daughter this winter season (from Oct. to Mar.). Mrs. Cote-Evans said maybe Dec 15 for the wedding. They were asking everyone “What kind of help they could expect from the Home Owners Association and the Security contingent here at the complex?” The answer she is getting is, “The Home Owners Association and the Security Contingent will be glad to do anything we can to help.” All we need is to be asked. Of course, once they ask we can bill them for over time and that's only right.
The Cote-Evans property has two acres of garden behind the Olympic pool on their property and that will make a perfect spot for the wedding of the year. They're planning one large tent for the guests and several smaller tents scattered around for amenities and support personnel. They are expecting around 500 guests and another 100 people for support. They are arranging everything first class. The food and food service will be Jenkins Catering locally, which is one of the top caterers in the country. They're flying in a special cook from London just for the cake. It will be a five tier extravaganza and cost about 1000 pounds English which a Florida Senator is paying for, as his gift to the bride and groom. It's rumored that the Senator has been a large recipient of campaign largesse from Mr. Cote-Evans over the years and feels obligated to be generous to the daughter. As the hours to the wedding dwindle to a precious few, the pace of those putting it all together has increased to a frantic level. I hope there is no unpleasantness or demonstrations against the family because of the recent oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Although the spill was months ago the spreading damage is a daily news item and will continue to be so for years to come.
With 500 guests the plan is to utilize all the local hotels. There is not enough room at the mansion for even a few of them so the big plan is to hire 10 luxury vans to shuttle them back and forth. It is expected that the vans will need to run continuously throughout the days before and after the event.
Becky Cote-Evans, the bride, will arrive about the 10th of December. Her mother says if she got here any earlier they would be in each others hair, literally. Apparently the husband, who is no help in this type of event will also arrive around the same date. Mrs. Cote-Evans says this type of pre-planning and keeping each person doing what they do best, is why, after 30 years, the Mr. and Mrs. Cote-Evans are still married, which is very unusual for people in this wealthy a position. Mrs. Cote-Evans says the Mister has had his little peccadillos now and then, but always comes back to her. She's not admitting to anything, but what is “sauce for the goose is good for the gander”, she always says. Apparently she has had her share of peccadillo's herself.
I say “Good for her!”
In the month of December there are a lot of parties at the complex and it is always very hectic. Everyone is having guests for Christmas and also there are a lot of back and forth parties among the local home owners. There are more support personnel and caterers moving around this month than all the rest of the year.
December 10th of all days, we had a little excitement at the main gate. About a week before, Suzy Freeman of the Freeman Mansion, let us know her one time boy friend Eddie Ballard and his red Jeep Cherokee is no longer welcome at the Freeman residence and we are to “Deny Him Access.” Well, on the 10th Eddie had a little bit too much to drink and showed up at the gate screaming: “Suzy” like Brando in the movie “On the Water Front.” When we told him he was “Denied Access” he went ballistic. At first we thought he would drive his jeep through the gate, but then he suddenly pulled out a revolver and said he would start shooting. Well the police were called and they arrived moments after the gun made its appearance. The police took over and had Eddie on the ground crying and puking all over himself. This little melodrama will have Eddie in jail for at least a year and maybe more. What a high price to pay for a few drinks and a lost girlfriend.
That's the first time anyone has pulled a gun at the Gate House that anyone can remember. We'll be talking about this for a while.
Well the wedding day is here and everyone is running around nuts. There doesn't seem to be any specific problem, just the “wedding day” jitters. We at the Gate House are going nuts as well. We didn't plan this very well, we're stopping every van to get the names of every guest arriving, something we need to do as part of the Home Owners Association Policy, but the line of waiting vehicles at the gate is miles long. Finally the Gate House Captain came up with the solution. We have one of our guys walking back along the line passing out small note pads and asking them to fill out the names of the guests, this way we only have to verify the names we already have and keep the list after. This got the line moving again. You might think, “What difference does it make if we know the names of the guests.” But, actually the reason we do it is so the guest know we have their names. This helps us keep control and the guests behave better when they know we can identify them. One of our guys is collecting the lists of names and entering them in the computer so we can give Mrs. Cote-Evans the finished list later. This is something she will appreciate later, especially when she makes out the “Thank You” notes. This shows we are on the ball and they, the Home Owners, are getting their money's worth with us.
We have most of our off duty people working today. There are more guests roaming around than at any other time. With all these strangers we had to double our patrol people in anticipation. You never know who will “Stow Away” with arriving guests for nefarious purposes.
It turns out that was a good calling the “Stow Away” thoughts anyway. Two of our extra patrols managed to coral two different groups wandering around other people's property. One group they caught “Red Handed” with the goods before they could leave the property. Apparently three young men, dressed in suites, were strolling along with plastic bags filled with “Swag” (stolen property) from one of the mansions. Of course they said they found the bags by the side of the road, even the police laughed at that one. The second group tripped a silent alarm and the red alarm light was flashing outside the property. Our guys went on the property and captured them inside the house piling goods in the foyer of the mansion, with a stolen Ferrari parked at the door ready to load and leave. We would have stopped the Ferrari at the gate leaving anyway. We know the owner, and he is about 75 years old and the car is a Gate House favorite.
I ask you, “Who do they thing they're dealing with?” This is the Gate House; we don't fool around when it comes to our client’s safety and possessions. We go all out to protect and serve, to the limits of our franchise. We are not the police and in Florida we don't have any additional powers of arrest. We have the same powers of arrest as a private citizen, but when we stop someone the police take over the arrest. For the most part we are the front line of protection for our people. We come first and then the police are called. Especially now in these times of layoffs and cut backs, the private security field is exploding. Unfortunately we only protect the very rich. The tax payer is short changed because the politicians are spending taxes on none essential items like office furniture and trips around the world not more protection and service for the ordinary citizen. Remember the “speeding ticket” money the police collect does not go to the general fund but is used for police toys and police social functions.
The private security force is strictly about protection, the home owners have a direct say in what we do and how we do it. The home owners in this complex pay an incredible amount of money for this protection. The average home owner needs to earn at least a million dollars a year to afford his local taxes, fees and other associated costs for his home ownership. The average home in this complex costs between 10 and 40 million dollars and without the private security force crime would be rampant and out of control.
The two groups caught stealing while the Cote-Evans' event were not invited guests of the bride or groom. They tagged along and guessed we would let them in, not knowing they were interlopers. Unfortunately for them, we suspected this would happen and added the extra security patrols which are what tripped them up. The Cote-Evans family caught on that there were extra names that arrived, who were not on anyone's guest lists. However they caught on days after the event. We, on the other hand, were prepared and the interlopers were arrested. The remainder of the wedding went off without a hitch. Actually the wedding party did not find out about the unpleasantness until they returned from their honeymoon. -
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