Wildfire

Every New Year, breaking news and gossip always spreads like wildfire. When Christmas and the holidays are upon us, everyone is focused on friendship and family gatherings. During December, there is time to reflect on the past and what we could have done to make our lives better in the last year, but when the Christmas lights come down, we have time to speculate on the future.

During the early years of the modern development of Marco, big changes for the island were underway and the gossip and guesswork of what would happen to the Marco Beach Boys was fueling a wildfire of worry and concern.

The Deltona Corporation and the Mackle brothers, it seemed, were going to sell the Marco Beach Hotel and Villas, The Marco Island Yacht Club, and the Island Country Club and Golf Course, and possibly. . . Marco Island Airways.

This was when modern Marco was young and when everyone that was not retired was very happy working on the island. The early islanders were working at the golf course and the country club, the restaurants in all the Deltona outlets, the yacht club, and in the daily airplane service between Tampa and Miami, and on the big beach at the hotel where the Marco Beach Boys began.

The rumor mill of what was going to happen to our island, and to our way of life was grinding at full speed. Because no one really knew what was going on, tempers grew short, sparks began to fly, and soon the quickly spreading wildfire of bad news, false information, and doom and gloom began to darken our horizons - even with winter sunshine seemingly impervious to the troubled politics of a developing tropical island.

Everyone loved Marco. Everyone wanted our paradise to remain special. No one wanted to have strangers arrive and take our places in paradise. Everyone wanted news!

Finally, with the wildfire of speculation and fear fanning the flames of frustration, and no real news of the certainty of our future coming forward, Mr. Ed Shanks came down from the hotel personnel department and gathered the Beach Boys together for a lesson we will never forget.

“I know all of you are worried about the future,” Ed began. “For this New Year, there is a lot of talk flying around. I don't know what to believe either. If we look to the past, maybe we can learn something for the future. Accurate news is what we need, and that will never go out of style.”

With Mr. Shanks holding court and all the Beach Boys and Girls hungry for anything to quench the wildfire, Ed began.

“Fifty-nine years before the birth of Christ, Julius Caesar proclaimed to the citizens of Rome that an information scroll would be posted throughout the city. There would be information gatherers and an organized bureau to oversee the process, and with typical Roman efficiency, any pertinent information with value to the public was posted on a regular basis. The “Acta Diurna” or “Daily Events” became so popular that early morning Romans would wait for the first newspapers well before the information sheets were dispatched. On some occasions, when no one was watching, an entire edition of Acta Diurna would be snatched away from the official public station to be taken home and privately cherished. Eventually, legislation was passed offering severe punishment for any ordinary citizen caught with a Roman newsheet.”

After a few nods from the watching beach crew Mr. Shanks continued.

“During the winter of 1451, Johannes Guttenberg fabricated a press to print an old but popular German poem. Two years later, Gutenberg used his new technology to print the first best seller. A 42-line bible printed in German quickly became so popular that Guttenberg was compelled to train and hire apprentice printers to keep up with the overwhelming demand.

In the late 1400s, German pamphlets were printed with the Gutenberg-style presses and told dark and terrifying tales of troubles in Transylvania. In the untamed mountainous regions of Eastern Europe there was a monstrous and sadistic tyrant raging against Germans living in the province. The inhuman creature that reigned over a mysterious army of gypsies reportedly gave himself the ominous title of Vlad Tepes Dracul. The exaggerated tales of horror printed in the first German “Times'' became the wildfire folklore that propagated Count Dracula and the entire concept of vampires.”

“By the end of the 15th century, the beginnings of a postal system were emerging in France and nothing was more important and relished that the news and stories that were circulating in the early French newspapers,” Mr. Shanks explained.

“In England, informative “Broadsheets” or “Broadsides” were printed but only distributed when special events occurred or were planned for the near future. In 1622, “The Weekly News” became the first broadside sheet to be printed and later in 1666, the “London Gazette” became the first newspaper with print formatted into columns.”

“During the spring of 1690, in the new world American colony of Boston, a broadside sheet began to emerge with the tentative title, “Public Occurrences,” Mr. Shanks continued. “The local British magistrate did not authorize the Bostonian “Broadsheet,” and as a result, all copies were confiscated and burned. The writers and printers were thrown in jail or placed in stocks for public ridicule and a severe warning was shouted out by the town criers against any future foolishness. At the time of the Boston Tea Party, the American colonies were ready for a change. The British “taxation without representation,” was enough to curl any colonial’s hair and when over two dozen newspapers began touting the disgruntled public in favor of independence, the rise of the American Revolution was not far away. In 1791, the Bill of Rights guaranteed free press, and as a result, the newspaper industry began to grow faster than many early Americans could read. In 1777, the first French Daily newspaper was the “Journal de Paris”, with the “Pennsylvania Packet” following a few years later as America’s first daily paper.”

When Mr. Shanks paused with his narrative, everyone felt better. We all suddenly realized that wildfires eventually burn out and that with stability and a good newspaper, good news happens.

“Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.”

~  Thomas Jefferson 1787.

Tom Williams is a Marco Islander and the author of two books: “Lost and Found” and “Surrounded by Thunder - The Story of Darrell Loan and the Rocket Men.” Both books are available on Kindle and Nook.