Friday, January 8, 2010

Tropics Drive In & 41 Construction


This is for all the followers of the Facebook page "Naples - BEFORE everyone ELSE moved here" check it out if you're on Facebook!

PS: Could they be digging for Mrs. Waples killer?

11 comments:

  1. I'll just say this about the facebook page "Naples - BEFORE everyone Else moved here"

    There's 15 year old people posting there. No disrespect intended, but you need to go back to at least the 60's before anyone can say "Naples - Before everyone else moved here"

    Carry on Naples Neapolitans....

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  2. I have shoes in my closet older than 15 years.

    And who did kill Mrs. Waples? I remember it as such an odd thing that such a gruesome murder could happen in Naples. I really don’t remember any details at all, just the ghastly rumors that surrounded the event.

    Does anyone know the real story?

    And what are they digging for in this picture?

    Inquiring minds want to know. Slow, old, feeble and weak minds want to know too.

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  3. Mrs. Waples went on the game show Jeopardy, the 60's version with Art Fleming hosting, and wound up with a negative score. Would love for Brookside Homeboy to show us his kinescope of that show.

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  4. I understand Mrs. Waples had a run in with the famed F. Lee Bailey also. When Mrs. Waples was called for jury duty in the Carl Coppolino murder trial, F. Lee writes in his book…

    “Like the chief in New Jersey, we had one candidate who was bound and determined to be on the Jury. “She announced herself as “Mrs. Waples from Naples” and went on to recount that her recently deceased husband, a lawyer, had relied heavily on her advice throughout his years of legal practice. She opined that she could be an excellent juror. The courtroom was all a-chuckle as she carried on. When it came my turn to examine her, I had already decided to use a peremptory challenge to eliminate her, I could not resist a little fun:

    “Are you truly Mrs. Waples from Naples?” I asked almost reverently.
    “I am.” She beamed.
    “Well,” I said sweetly, “this gentleman is Coppolino from Portofino, and you are excused.”
    Most everyone laughed. Mrs. Waples did not.”….(From the book “When the Husband is the Suspect, by F. Lee Bailey.)

    Geez, that F. Lee is a smug son-of-a-youknowwhat, isn’t he? Even his name is pretentious. What does the “F” stand for anyway? Oh let me guess…

    Lake Park Home Girl
    (Sorry, forgot to sign the earlier post.I'm the one with the old shoes in her closet.)

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  5. Memory serves that in the late 60s or early 70s Mrs. Waples confronted an intruder/thief in her Aqualane shores home.

    Said intruder noticed the expensive jewelry/rings on many of Mrs. Waples gnarley/bloated fingers.

    The rings wouldn't come off the customary way so the fingers were removed to access the loot.

    Don't know if Mrs. W. was dispatched before or after the digital removal, but the word grizzly certainly applies.

    Seagate Homeboy
    NHS Class of 67

    9:06 a.m. PST

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  6. Seagate Homeboy,

    Yeah, that’s what I heard also and that’s what sticks in my head when I think of the Waples thing. Gruesome.

    Did they ever catch or identify the culprit?

    Lake Park Home Girl

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  7. I believe the road construction was for a drainage project. And if memory serves me there was an contruction accident resulting in a death right around this area.

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  8. As for the digging in front of "The Tropics Drive In" I believe there were sink holes that used to appear along that stretch of 41. Because of 41 being a State Highway the Florida DOT would make you remove any old road bed material and repair to DOT standards.

    PS: Didn't Mrs. Waples live on Murex Dr. (Coquina Sands)when the murder happened?

    Anyone remember the Howard Johnson heist circa 1972ish that went Horribly wrong for Frank Blackmon and his cohorts. Detectives heard of the plan, so they placed undercover officers as patrons and busboys. And wacked'em all when they came in and tried to rob the place. I'm thinking 4 or 5 robbers got it that late night/early morning.

    C3R

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  9. Note to C3R:

    I think you're right about Murex Drive location (where in the heck did I get Aqualane?).


    P.S. I was a carpenter out at "Wilderness" too.

    SH

    1:00 a.m. PST

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  10. Hey sorry to barge in but my mother was just a little girl living In Fort Myers Florida when Mrs Waples from Naples was murdered. My mother actually had a run in with Mrs Waples and actually talked to her at some kind of swimming pool. Mrs Waples repeatedly told my mother that she had healing powers in her hands? My mother was just a little girl with my Grandmother and Grandfather. But this Mrs waples from Naples most certainly left an impression on my mother. Come to find out when my mother had returned to Fort Myers she saw in the news "mrs Waples from Naples murdered her hands had been cut off. Really creepy isn't it.

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  11. I played with Frankie Boy Blackmon on the Naples High Basketball team.
    He was always on the rough and tough side trying to intimidate.
    I was not surprised about him getting killed robbing the Howard Johnsons.
    He had become a gangsta.

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