News-Press from Fort Myers, Florida • Page 21

I I I ITX News-Press ri 111 (TTl DEATHS 4 Vis -1 kJJ VV I THURSDAY, APRIL 18, 1985 near dry am By BARBARA JOHNSON News-Press Staff Writer TAMPA For the first time since a federal investigation of him began in 1 982, Lee County sheriff's Col. David Wilson denied under oath Wednesday being anywhere near a plane of marijuana that landed in Corkscrew July 9,1981. Wilson, second in command at the Sheriff's Department, denied making a telephone call to his office that night to have deputies pulled off the investigation of the plane while the smugglers were still hiding in nearby woods. He testified as a defense witness in the federal perjury and obstruction-of-justice trial of Debra Moss, 32, wife of his friend, former Special Deputy Danny Moss. The federal government has been trying to link Wilson and Danny Moss to a smuggling ring responsible that night for landing 800 pounds of marijuana in a Cessna 337 on a grassy airstrip near Moss' home.

In cross-examination, federal prosecutor Warren Zimmerman took the opportunity to get Wilson to admit under oath that he did not originally report all his 1980-82 income to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Wilson said he later filed an amended tax return, but denied that he did so only after he learned the IRS was investigating him. Zimmerman indicated in his questions that the unreported income came from special off-duty security jobs he, Lt. Steve Adams and Major Roy Yahl arranged outside normal Sheriff's Department channels. Also under cross-examination, Wilson denied having direct knowledge of and not doing anything about Illegal gambling at the Rod and Gun Club in Fort Myers. He denied filing false information about his qualifications as a pilot on the Sheriff's Department insurance policy, and he denied being flown to the Florida Keys by then-Deputy William Weaver the morning after the Corkscrew incident.

Wilson took the stand at 9 p.m. He contradicted two prosecution witnesses in the case against Debra Moss. Earlier in the day, former Lee County Deputy Frank Richbourg, one of the officers who investigated the downed pot plane in Corkscrew in southeast Lee County, testified that he saw Wilson standing by the airstrip that night. Dispatcher Sherry Baker testified Tuesday that she took a call that night at the Sheriff's Department from Wilson soon after the plane landed, and that she transferred his call to the squad room. Zimmerman's theory is that Wilson was present at the airstrip where the plane landed and that he made a 13-minute call to the Sheriff's Department from an extension of Moss' home phone in the Corkscrew Country Store to have deputies, who were starting to swarm the area, pulled off the case.

The store sits next to the airstrip. A 13-minute call is logged on Moss' telephone toll records shortly after the See PLANE, page3B Citations on State A 4 i 1 4 a 1 double Road 80 County to pay for installation of two lights By TOM BUTLER News-Press Staff Writer Two new traffic lights soon will hang over accident-plagued State Road 80 near Fort Myers Shores. County commissioners approved a $15,000 budget amendment Wednesday to pay for installing the lights after construction crews finish widening the road in the fall. The lights will be installed at Davis Road and at Tropic Drive in Fort Myers Shores. Commissioner Bill Fussell, who has been campaigning for improvements on State Road 80 since his election 2'2 years ago, said the light will give people trying to turn left against traffic a chance to get into Fort Myers Shores.

The lights will be installed after the road is widened to three lanes from State Road 31 to Buckingham Road, giving drivers a left-turn lane, Fussell said. "At least it will give people a longer chance to get out of those streets with these lights," Fussell said. Bill Gross, chairman of the Survivors of State Road 80 civic group, said the two traffic lights have been a long time coming. He said state Department of Transportation (DOT) officials promised the traffic lights in 1983, but withdrew the plans in September when the car counts showed that there wasn't enough traffic to warrant a light at those locations. DOT regulations require certain traffic counts before signals can be put in at an intersection.

But the county can offer to pay for the lights, as has been done at other hazardous intersections in Lee County. DOT officials authorized the traffic lights and arranged to supply them on the condition that the county pay for installing and operating them. Commissioners had to approve a budget amendment because funds to install and operate the lights were not set aside in this year's county budget. "We're lucky they (DOT) offered to buy them for us this time," Fussell said. "We had to buy the one at State Road 31 and SR 80." News-PressBob Pearson There they go By MARK ANDERSEN News-Press Staff Writer Florida Highway Patrol troopers patrolling State Road 80 handed out more than double the number of traffic tickets in the past week than during the first three months of the year, officials said Wednesday.

Troopers handed out 396 traffic citations since the patrol began a crackdown April 9 in hopes of reducing the number of accidents and fatalities along the road that some have dubbed "the killer highway," patrol Sgt. J.M. Rhodes said. That compares with 169 tickets issued on SR 80 between Jan. 1 and March 31, according to patrol records.

Capt. John McDougall of the Lee County Sheriff's Department said deputies have handed out another 255 tickets since that agency began intensified patrols April 4 between State Road 31 and the Lee-Hendry county line. Rhodes and McDougall said the crackdown has been effective. "The most immediate effect is that cars are slowing down," McDougall said. "Before it was like getting out on a race track." "I think that the people who are driving on State Road 80 are definitely aware of the situation (beefed-up patrols by lawmen) and are using morecaution," Rhodessaid.

"Everybody out there is aware of our presence," he said. "It's too early to tell if the accident rate has been affected," Rhodes said. He said troopers have investigated six accidents along SR 80 since the patrol began Its crackdown. The patrol worked an average of about six accidents a week during the first three months of the year, he added. Traffic accidents along SR 80 have claimed 25 lives in the past 25 months in Lee and Hendry counties 10 during an 11 -day period in March and numerous others have been Injured.

Two people were treated for minor injuries at Lee Memorial Hospital and released Wednesday morning after a four-car, chain-reaction collision near the Hickey Creek Bridge about 7 a.m., according to patrol officials. The accident occurred when one car stopped to make a left turn and the three cars behind it were unable to stop, offi-See SR 80, page 2B More than 800 colorful helium-filled balloons took to the sky David Richards said. Students will use the information to track Wednesday during the second "Great Balloon Release" at Tice wind direction and study geography, he said. The same project Elementary School. Cards detailing the name and address of the school, along with each student name, were attached to the a balloons.

School officials hope people who find the balloons will Myers, Sanibel, Captiva, Fort Myers Beach and Punta Gorda, write to the children and tell where they were found, Tice Principal Richards said. New membrane may clean up water researcher, told commissioners Wednesday that water-filtering membranes can remove enough contamination from water to prevent THMs from forming. "It's probably the most significant breakthrough in water treatment in 15 years," Taylor told the commissioners. The new membrane, manufactured by Film- By TOM BUTLER News-Press Staff Writer Trihalomethanes (THMs), a suspected cancer-causing agent that appears in Lee County water treated with chlorine, may have met its match in a thin sheet of white plastic. James Taylor, a University of Central Florida Tec of Minneapolis, removed 93 percent of the dissolved organic material and about 40 percent of the dissolved minerals in a 700-gallon-per-day test at the Olga water plant, Taylor said.

Commissioners last week approved spending $130,000 to match a grant from the U.S. Geological Survey for further testing of the use of membranes See MEMBRANE, page2B County leaves developer in twilight zone Judge throws out election challenge sit vacant two years, but Burges said he will try to schedule a rehearing as soon as possible "to appeal to their better judgment," he said. The county's policy on rehear-ings is that an applicant must wait at least a year unless new evidence comes to light. In this case, a firm commitment by city officials on redrawing boundaries could reopen the case, according to County Administrator Jerry Maxwell. The commission directed Maxwell to start talking to city officials about possible solutions to the enclaves of county land inside city limits, an increasing problem with the recent rash of annexations.

The county has filed and won two lawsuits against the city in the past year over annexations and resulting irregularities in boundary lines. Maxwell suggested that the needed annexations could be done in a series of five-year plans that would smooth out the borders within the next 15 years. The commission had asked Lee County legislators to solve the problem for them with legislation that would bring numerous pockets of county land into more uniform city limits. But commissioners are no longer looking in that direction for relief, at least this year, because of the City Council's lukewarm response to the idea. The action on the Burges property also was significant because of the number of other annexation cases that are awaiting county action, Maxwell said.

Asked about the implication of the commission's action Wednesday, Maxwell said, "That's something I have to go sit in a quiet place and think about." Burges said he did not think the commission would use his project as a "sacrificial lamb," but hoped it could be a kind of catalyst for the county and city to finally solve the annexation problem. officials prove they are serious about straightening out the boundary lines. The action came over the objections of Commissioners Porter Goss and Roland Eastwood, who both said it was unfair to hold up the developer in this city-county dispute. "I'm devastated. I'm crushed.

I'm confused," Burges said after the vote. The action has the effect of putting the Burges property into a kind of limbo, because the city does not have any agricultural zoning. The Fort Myers City Council approved the light-industrial zoning Monday, but made it contingent on approval by the County Commission. Without that approval, "we're not zoned anything," Burges said. Any property annexed into the city must have the county's approval before the density can be increased within the first two years after annexation.

The commission action could have the effect of leaving the land to By KATHLEEN HALLORAN News-Press Staff Writer The Lee County Commission threw up a roadblock in an annexation case Wednesday to prove a point about the need to straighten out the tangle of Fort Myers boundary lines. A 125-acre piece of property just north of Anderson Avenue was annexed into the city in recent months. Developer Jack Burges appeared before the commission with a routine request on a zoning change to increase the density. Commissioners, who approved the annexation in February, balked at the zoning change from a county agricultural designation to the city's light-industrial category. Instead, they aired their frustrations with city officials over the longstanding problem of zigzagging city limits.

Led by Commissioner Bill Fussell, commissioners voted 3-2 to deny the zoning change until city State plans hearings on sewer rate hike Inside FDA left powerless Bevan produced a memorandum contained in court documents. "Are politicians to be considered privileged and taxpayers non-privileged?" Bevan wrote in the memo. "Are these privileged politicians the best guardians of our election law? If the voters have only the politicians to guarantee the sanctity of the ballot and the integrity of the election process then God help us." Enid Earle, Lee County elections supervisor, said only, "We are very thankful." The news of the judge's ruling spread to the county commission's afternoon meeting. "We won the election," Commissioner Don Slisher said. "Congratulations, commissioners." Bevan's suit named numerous successful candidates, both local and national.

The list included President Ronald Reagan, Vice President George Bush, state legislators, Lee County commissioners, Sheriff Frank Wanicka and members of the Lee County Canvassing Board. The November election was the subject of a grand jury investigation earlier this year which found that there were no improprieties. They were asked to look into complaints made by mortgage broker Clyde Bowles, who alleged similar problems with the election. Bowles, who attended Wednesday's hearing, said he will wait to see how Bevan's suit is resolved before pursuingany other legal action. By SANDRA BOWER ROSS News-Press Staff Writer A suit challenging the results of the November general election was thrown out of court Wednesday when a judge ruled that the Fort Myers man who filed it did not have the legal authority to do so.

Circuit Judge William A. Norris Jr. of Bartow ruled that as a taxpayer, Brian Bevan could challenge only the results of a referendum on the ballot. The state law under which Bevan filed his suit clearly provides that only an unsuccessful candidate can challenge the rights of the elected officeholders, Norris ruled. Bevan sued in February, alleging 21 "specific errors" in which the "the sanctity of the ballot and the Integrity of the election process" was violated.

He alleged that there were 4,000 missing ballots, one ballot box disappeared, citizens voted after 7 p.m., two ballot boxes were delivered by unauthorized people and there were broken seals on 1 7 boxes. Norris, who presided over the case because two local judges were named In the suit, ruled that Bevan did not have "standing" to bring the action and prohibited him from refiling It. Bevan, an Inventor who has lived In Fort Myers about 10 years, said afterward that he will appeal the judge's decision and also will pursue the case In federal court, In commenting on the ruling, Authorities say they're powerless to stop the sale of a supposed aphrodisiac that left a Lake Worth mother of three dead. current $13.80 to a $7.40 service charge, plus $2.65 per 1,000 gallons. This would produce an extra $155,000 annually for the sewer system.

Both water usage charges apply only on the first 6,000 gallons used by single-family residences. The proposed rate hikes don't affect Florida Cities Water Co. customers in Fort Myers Beach, officials said. Today's hearing with PSC staff will deal with the south Fort Myers rate increase and Friday's hearing will be on North Fort Myers, although customers who are unable to attend today's hearing can address the staff Friday. The utility had requested interim rate increases subject to refunds pending the PSC's final decision, which is expected to be made at a July 2 meeting in Tallahassee.

The interim increase recently was denied for the south Fort Myers system but approved for North Fort Myers, according to George Hanna, the PSC's director of consumer affairs. Until a final decision by the PSC, North Fort Myers residents will be paying $15.39 monthly instead of $13.80, Hannasaid. By KATHLEEN HALLORAN News-Press Staff Writer Customers of Florida Cities Water Co. will have a chance today and Friday to voice their opinions on 'proposed sewer rate increases that total more than $2 million annually. The Florida Public Service Commission (PSC), which is studying the utility's rate request, will have two public hearings.

The first will be at 1:45 p.m. today at Fort Myers City Hall council chambers on Second Street, followed by a second hearing at 9:45 a.m. Friday at the same location. About 6,000 residential customers in south Fort Myers, now paying monthly rates of $13.80, are faced with possible increases of up to 177 percent for households using 6,000 gallons of water or more per month. Sewer rates are based on water usage.

The proposed rate in south Fort Myers breaks down to a $12 service charge plus $4.37 per 1,000 gallons, and would produce an extra $1.6 million annually for the sewer system. For the estimated 3,000 North Fort Myers customers of Florida Cities, the rate as proposed will go from the Growth bill revised 12 A revised version of a growth management bill by Rep. Jon Mills, D-Gainesville, meets with mixed reviews..