News-Press from Fort Myers, Florida • Page 21

9 Local Reports From Staff Writers, Bureaus And Wire Services News-Press SECTION THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 1974 First All-Republican County Commission 1 Assumes Lee Chairmanship Sweeney I few '-'iTN. Oh Deer Santa's Grounded sion also refused a similar request from the Cape Coral Lions Club. Goldtrap said he thought the mall's request smacked of And he said approval of one request would set precedents for others. Santa Claus could not be reached for Santa Claus will have to stick to his sled when he visits Lee County this Christmas. On a motion by George Goldtrap, the Lee County Commission Wednesday, unanimously "bah-humbugged" a request by the Edison Mall Merchant's Association to use a county helicopter to fly Santa into the mall parking lot.

On another motion by Goldtrap the commis By SUSAN TAYLOR News-Press Staff Writer The first all-Republican Lee County Commission in history got down to business Wednesday with two new members, two new officers, and enough seat swapping to "rival a game of musical chairs," one observer quipped. After four years in office and nearly three as vice chairman, James Sweeney moved into the chairmanship held for the past two years by George Goldtrap. "I shall do my utmost to prove my worth," Sweeney said to a standing ovation. "I will start out each morning asking for God's help." The 56-year-old Dist. 3 commissioner promised there would be several changes "hopefully for the better" during his chairmanship.

"I hope I can have the commissioners oversee every one of the departments of county government, not to take over but merely to assist and help so we behind this table can know what's going on," he said. "I feel that in the past, part of our problem is we lost part of our grip on county government." Sweeney said he expects to receive plenty of "constructive criticism" and territory around the circular table but not before considerable seat swapping. At first Sweeney moved into Gold-trap's chair, Qpldtrap, moved next.to Whan and Mrs; Bowen wound up at the end of the table next to Skyers After a mid-morning break, though, Mrs. Bowen hastily changed places with Goldtrap. "I didn't realize the end of the table was cut away," she confessed.

"I hope I wasn't sitting in art unladylike posture." The Nov. 5 election of Mrs. Boweri, who replaced Kenneth Daniels, and Whan who defeated Walter Shirey, marked the end of the Democratic reign in courthouse politics. However, P. Geraci, who 10 years ago became the first Republican ever elected to the board, warned his sue-cessors that "the problems of this county can't be handled by partisan politics.

"I hope all the squabbling and fracases that have been a disgrace in the past have ended today," he said. He also urged the board to tighten its belt economically by "removing those people who aren't carrying their weight" in county government. SSSSSSSISSi promised that he'd be in his office five days a week to listen to "those who don't feel they've gotten a fair shake." And he said he favors a one-year limit on the chairman's term so "everybody can have a chance at the job." Although Sweeney's election to the chairmanship came as no surprise, murmurs went through the crowd when Goldtrap began the reorganization by nominating newcomer Betty Bowen. Commissioner Dick Sayers then nominated Sweeney and drew a second from the board's other new member, Bob Whan. The final tally showed four votes for Sweeney with Goldtrap casting the lone vote for Mrs.

Bowen, the first woman ever elected to the commission. However, the trim 44-year-old grandmother became vice chairman a few minutes later by unanimous vote. Prior to reorganization, Circuit Court Clerk Sal Geraci administered the oath of office to a cheerful Whan and a nervous Mrs. Bowen. The only hitch came when Mrs.

Bowen accidentally raised the wrong hand as she was about to take the oath. "I'm too excited," she laughed as she quickly raised her right hand and placed the left one on a Bible held by her husband, Clifton. Mrs. Bowen, sporting a purple corsage, later pledged to "protect and defend the people of Lee County with honesty, sincerity and with dignity." By the end of the day each commissioner had staked out his (or her) own JAMES SWEENEY commission chairman rO County Briefs! Hearing Continued On Garbage Rates LEE COUNTY BANKS are now finding county deposits more equally distributed under a new program started, by Circuit Court Clerk Sal GeracD When he first took office two years ago. Geraci said he discovered that 77 per cent of the county's operating funds were deposited in one bank "which I felt was very inequitable;" Now, though, the county has opened checking accounts in nine different banks "benefitting the people who live in those Wv ij If communities" Geraci told the county commission.

The combined total of the checking accounts is about $2.2 million, the amount the county is required to keep in demand deposits to meet budgeted expenses, he said. THE LEE COUNTY COMMISSION delayed action on setting a rate hearing request date from the Sanibel Island Water Association Wednesday Until, it could determine jurisdiction. The water association, which supplies both the newly incorporated Sanibel Island and Captiva Island, is requesting a hike in both hookup fee rates and the cost of water. Board member Cecil Rhodes said the association has been losing money because of increased chemical, salary and electricity costs at the desalination plant on Sanibel-Captiva Road. The county commissioners asked County Atty.

James Humphrey to talk to the water association's attorney to determine their role. The water association had asked-for a Dec, 11 hearing, but County Administrator Lavon Wisher told the commissioners that Environmental Protection Services However, Thompson said the cost of properly operated" convenience stations would be prohibitive and argued that they wouldn't solve the problem of illegal dumping. "We've had our men (at the stations) held at gunpoint while residents of Lee County dumped their garbage on the ground," Thompson said. "The people we hire usually last a week and a half and leave He did not elaborate. Commissioner George Goldtrap repeatedly complained that the county's garbage disposal problems wouldn't be as costly if it weren't for "ridiculous" state laws that ban open trash burning but allow campfires.

"I could burn three-fifths of my trash in a wire basket in my backyard," he said. "I could burn it legally if I hold a marshallow over it. It'd be cheaper for us to buy everybody a sack of marsh-mallows and let them burn their own trash." In other action, the commission approved leasing space in the county airport's new ter-, minal for a cocktail lounge, refused to lift a smoking ban in the commissioners' meeting room, reaffirmed previous action ordering expansion of the Florida Cities Water Co. Waterway Estates sewer plant and agreed to schedule an "orientation" on the county's land-use plan. The board also voted to file suit against the state's Internal Improvement Trust Fund unless it grants the county jurisdiction over Spring Creek, which is in the path of the U.S.

41 bypass around Bonita Springs. Work on a portion of the road spanning the creek was halted Sept. 6 after state officials decided the creek is actually a navigable waterway under the trust fund's control. However, county officials maintain the creek was artifically widened by developers and is nothing more than a ditch in its natural state. Commissioners Goldtrap and Sayers'argued that the county should immediately file suit challenging the trust fund's jurisdiction over the creek and similar waterways.

Bill Pickhaver, right-of-way agent with the state road department's Bartow office, agreed with the commission but said the state could further delay the project unless he gets trust fund approval of the bulkhead and dredge and fill permits. He estimated the permitting would take a month and a half and the project could be back underway in January. On County Atty. James Humphrey's advice, the board ordered Pickhaver to continue with the permit applications but sent a resolution to the state cabinet which sits as the trust fund warning of possible legal action. Turn To HEARING, Page 2B By SUSAN TAYLOR And JIM PRATT News-Press Staff Writers A public hearing on rates for mandatory garbage collection was continued until Jan.

22 after Lee County Commissioners complained that the rate structure showed a "lack of research" and "poor communications" with the county's franchise garbage haulers. The entire mandatory garbage program nearly wound up on the trash heap Wednesday as commissioners, haulers and the public agreed that the problems are far from being resolved. "I don't think this ordinance is in any kind of shape for us or the public to be discussing it," Commissioner Dick Sayers said. "I think it shows a lack of communications between the (Environmental Protection Services) division and the franchise haulers. There's not enough research." Sayers added that division Director Bill Thompson should "go back to the drawing board and consider alternate programs." The commission began discussing mandatory garbage collection nearly two years ago as a way of halting illegal, unsightly dumping on public grounds.

Last winter the board approved the principle of mandatory pickup but decided to hold separate hearings on the rates. The rate structure drawn up by Thompson calls for a $3.30 monthly fee for residential customers, slightly less than what is now being charged by franchise haulers. The fees for commercial customers would range from $1.20 to $1.50 for each cubic yard of refuse. The county would handle the billing. However, Bob Himschoot of Gulf Disposal, the county's largest garbage hauling firm, said, "About the only things we and the county agree on is the need for mandatory garbage pickup." In a Nov.

14 letter to Thompson, Himschoot said the $3.30 monthly fee was "too low" and "inconsistent" with rates charged elsewhere throughout the state. Several speakers urged that the county abandon the idea of mandatory garbagecollection and set up more convenience stations, such as the ones in Harlem Heights and Pine Island, where residents could dump their trash free of charge. Debby Watson of Pine Island told the board that "this (debate over mandatory collection) has been going on too long. You've just been fighting back and forth. Convenience stations work well in other states, why can't they work here?" Director Bill Thompson would not be ready until at least Dec.

18. A DISCUSSION OF LIQUOR SALES at the new Lee County Airport terminal propelled county commis-' sioners into worries about security at Page Field from midnight to 6 a.m. The commissioners learned there was only one watchman, stationed aboard a National Airlines jet, at the airport during the night: They coris'ideredv hiring two watchmen to patrol the field, but deferred action. Sheriff's deputies are on duty during scheduled flight times, but only make patrol car cruises past Page Field at night. COL.

I. J. TURON, who resigned his post as civil defense planning coordinator in was reinstated as a county employe by the Lee County. Commission. On a motion by Commissioner George Goldtrap; the, commission voted to reinstate Turon but not' within the Protective Service Division, which includes citii defense.

News-Press Photo By MIKE sierra Commissioner Bob Whan said Tufon Will be placed in another county position. Turon was reinstated following Small Car Rams Tractor-Trailer an investigation which he requested by a county grievance committee. Turon resignedhis position following controversy between the commission and civil defense members when Whan was fired from his post as civil defense communications chief. Theodore' A. Baumann of 468 Greenier Drive, North Fort Myers, was seriously injured late Wednesday on North U.S.

41 when his Volkswagen ran up under a truck driven by Vestel Woods of Virginia, according to Vernon Welsh of the Florida Highway Patrol. Baumann was admitted to Lee Memorial Hospital with internal and head injuries and a possible broken leg, hospital authorities said. Fort Myers police were investigating another accident at the same time on Palm Beach Boulevard in front of the East First National Bank in which BarryBurks of Fad Myers Shores was injured in a one car accident. Charges are pending in both accidents, lawmen said. PUBLIC HEARINGS ON TWO NEW county ordinances fire prevention and safety were continued until the" Dec.

4 commission meeting. Action was postponed, Mrs. Bowen could have a chance to study the fire prevention ordinance and safety ordinance, both of which duplicate national standards. 3 THE COMMISSION SET a public hearing in SOays on a dredge and fill. permit application for preliminary work on the 1-75 bridge over the Caloosahatchee rver; Or Chilling Tale Unfolds In Murder Tria dinarily, the commission waits 70 days, but at the request of Transportation Director Ben Pratt, the board moved the date to 30 Pratt explained that contracts for bridge work have been let and that more than 100 jobs inside Today's B-Section would open up (or Lee CountiahsT IN A LETTER, THE STATE Department of Transportation told the commission is deleting from the state primary road system the stretch of McGregor Boulevard from Punta Rassa to Gladiolus Drive.

The county now will have the olbigation to maintain the road. CHAIRMAN JAMES SWEENEY was authorized by the commission to sign a grant application to receive $205,000 from the federal government for county airport fire and rescue equipment. The money willl go to purchase two foam-equipped trucks and one shortly before the couple's death, authorities said. The Petraks' blood-smeared deeie overed by Lee County deputies Aug. 20, 1972, and one day later McCubbin was arrested in Michigan at which time, police say, he confessed to killing his mother and the Cape Coral couple.

Beals described that alleged confession in court here Wednesday as the crippled, bewhiskered McCubbin looked on, sometimes shaking his head negatively as the police officer testified. or 13 and let himself in with a key the couple had given him when he boarded with them. Beals said McCubbin told him and other officers that he injected himself with "three or four bottles" of pain killer that he often took to numb a lingering leg injury he got on a former job in Michigan. According to Beals, the former house guest went directly to the bedroom where the couple was sleeping, armed with a carpenter's level he had brought from Michigan. "He said he hit Mrs.

Petrak first," Beals recounted, "because he thought that since she Turn To CHILLING, Page 2B A Michigan judge ruled McCubbin innocent by reason of insanity in his 84-year-old mother's death. McCubbin has also pleaded innocent by reason of insanity in the Petrak slayings and waived a jury trial, putting his case in the hands of Circuit Judge Wallace Pack. During Wednesday's testimony, Beals described how McCubbin said he went to the Petrak home on an August night in 1972 and methodically bludgeoned the couple to death with a carpenter's level as they slept in their beds. Michigan authorities, in Fort Myers to testify in thjpal, say McCubbin came here after his mother's death and temporarily moved in with the Petraks at their Cape Coral home while he looked for a house to buy. Michigan police told the News-Press that they tried to charge McCubbin with his mother's death but were told by prosecutors they did not have enough evidence and had to release him.

Shortly afterward, they say, McCubbin left for Fort Myers. McCubbin became an unwelcome guest in the Petrak home and moved to a Naples motel The Revenue Department can-: not remove a property owner's tax exemption without notifying him and giving him a chance to explain, the Florida Supreme Court rules 8B Reader's Line By LEE MELSEK News-Press Staff Writer A Michigan lawman Wednesday unfolded a chilling tale of methodical murders allegedly described to him by Max McCubbin, accused slayer of an elderly Cape Coral couple. Michigan Highway Patrolman Larry Beals, during the second day of trial, detailed what he said was McCubbin's confession to the 1972 murders of Joseph and Mary Petrak of Cape Coral. Following Beals' testimony the prosecution rested its first degree murder case against the 49-year-old Michigan mental patient, and defense attorney Steve Wallace was granted a continuance until next Tuesday to present his case for McCubbin. Wallace is expected to produce a Michigan doctor to testify about McCubbin's mental condition.

McCubbin was brought here to stand trial for the Petrak slayings from a Michigan mental hospital where he was committed following a confession that he beat his invalid mother to death with a frying pan while she slept in her Michigan home in 1971. quick-action response" fire-fighting vehicle. VACANCIES ON THREE REGIONAL AGENCIES created by the retirement of former Commissioner Kenneth Daniels were filled at Wednesday's meeting by present commissioners. Betty Bowen will serve on the Southwest Florida Regional Planning council with Dick Savers, already a member. George Goldtrap will take A READER wants his senior exemption, but a mistake in the application raises questions 5B Daniels's place on the West Coast Inland Navigation District board and will serve as an alternate on the regional planning council.

L.H. "Bob" Whan joines Goldtrap on the Southwest Florida Regional Airport Council..