News-Press from Fort Myers, Florida • Page 1

To) Top A GANNETT NEWSPAPER ONE DOLLAR SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 1988 FORT MYERS, FLORIDA 1 FS ad mSm blooms xx DATING Services make BIG ONE Daytona 500 roars todayIB IRELAND The other side is revealed1H More saying it with flowers1 matches1F' A mpJ Qhua inrimQAp cime faanim 50-year-old pageant still burning brightly 4-41141 ftll UlIIIGI U1 III DJWVjl I Olympics open with simple pomp, bitter cold weather and the wave Ru MIKP I mure man aimeies ana nun-siup music ana dancing. suuw yuu mc iicai ij uays More than 2,700 athletes and non-stop music and dancing. show you the next 15 days is real," said Frank King, chairman of the local organzing committee. "The 6,000 performers took part in the Instead of using some high-tech Gannett News Service today, 50 years after its inception. The Edison Pageant of Light.

On stage at Town Hall in 1938, James E. Hendry, Jr. and Virginia Sheppard were crowned the first king and queen of the mythical Land of Edisonia. For the next two days, the small town of 9,000 celebrated the memory of Thomas Edison, the genius who spent 48 of his winters tinkering with inventions at his lush estate sandwiched between the Caloosahatchee River and dusty McGregor Boulevard. See LIGHT, page 6A By PHIL FERNANDEZ News-Press Staff Writer It was 1938 and German Chancellor Adolf Hitler was gaining control over Austria and Czechoslovakia.

In 1938 Orson Welles was striking fear into the hearts of Americans in a radio dramatization of "The War of the Worlds." Welles had a nationwide audience believing that aliens from space were taking over. And that same year a somewhat more placid Fort Myers put together an event that remains emotional ceremony, each and every one sharing two things in common: The Olympic spirit. Cold hands, noses and feet. An arctic front roared through Calgary early in the morning, dropping temperatures into the teens with winds gusting to 40 miles an hour. "Look out for one another," the man said over the loud speaker before the ceremony, warning fans to be wary of the signs of frostbite.

But Calgary had worked a long time for this, and weather wasn't going to stop a celebration of nearly acts such as Los Angeles did four years ago in the Summer Olympics, the Calgary organizers preferred to stick to simple music and dance with a western theme, mostly by thousands of area children who had practiced up to a year for their five minutes on the world's stage. Calgary was eager for its moment in the sun, even if the sun was behind the snow cloud. Nearly everything went smoothly with the performers, from the Indians who still honor a 1 1 1-year treaty with the Canadian government to the jet precision team flying overhead. "What these athletes are going to dream has become a reality." There were the traditional rituals of lighting the Olympic torch, with the honors done by Robyn Perry, 12, an area seventh-grader. There, too, were the trappings and realities of a modern Olympics.

An hour before the ceremony started, the announcer chirped instructions for all fans to find the parkas that were left in their seats and wear them a certain way way "for better television effect." The See OLYMPICS, back page this section CALGARY Somewhere between the march of the athletes and the lighting of the flame, the frozen fans started the wave, possibly an Olympic first. Two times around Mc-Mahon Stadium and even the Russians were into it, so who knows when it'll hit Kiev? Amid such quadrennial pomp and circumstance; in color, song and dance; before 60,000 shivering fans on site and two billion considerably more comfortable television viewers around the world, the 15th Winter Olympiad officially began Saturday. MM- irw WOOD ir ((-mm Mr A $1 million won by man who found winning ticket By The Associated Press -1 1 i ROBIN TINAY SALLIENews-Press CLEARWATER Tom Sawyer doesn't believe in lotteries and wouldn't spend $1 on a ticket. But he became Florida's first million-dollar lottery winner Saturday with a ticket he found on the ground outside his paint store. "You cannot beat dumb luck," said Sawyer, 45, after beating six other finalists in a random drawing for the whopping cash prize.

"If I had $5 that I was going to spend, I'd rather go to a two-hour movie than spend a minute and a half scratching off five tickets," he said. Winning didn't change his mind about the month-old record-breaking game of chance which reached sales of $95 million during its first week. The drawing at the Belleview Biltmore resort in tiny Belleair had a game-show format with a St. Valentine's Day theme and was televised by 24 stations around the state. Actually, all seven finalists were already winners, since $10,000 was the least any of them could collect.

Runner-up Jeffrey F. Mora, 35, an engineer from Orlando, won $50,000. Paul A. Harrison, 34, a shipping clerk from St. Augustine, won $25,000.

Stephanie J. Nixon, 30, a data entry operator from North Mi John-Paul Lambert of Cape Coral so loves his wife, Bertha, that back yard. They're shown standing by the pool. "This was the he built her a heart-shaped pool as a permanent valentine In their best way to say I love you," John-Paul said. Swimming pool with heart is ready just in time Associated Press Big winner Thomas Sawyer: 'You can't beat dumb luck.

Sawyer called himself "fantastically lucky," and said he would use his winnings to educate his children, two of whom are approaching college age. One daughter is engaged, so he expects to soon pay for a wedding. He said 10 percent would go to his church, The Northwest Church of Christ in his hometown of St. Petersburg. Before he spends anymore, he said he would seek advise from his accountant.

Sawyer said he still won't support the lottery or buy a ticket. He voted against it, and maintains those who play are the ones who can least afford it. jacent spa and an inlaid ceramic cupid's heart on the bottom. Why all this fuss over Valentine's Day? "I've been around the world several times," said Lambert, a retired Navy journalist. "I've seen and learned a lot.

And I know not to take a good wife for granted. She deserves this gift. And I'm not just saying this because she's sitting here." "You want me to leave the room?" Bertha asked. Seems Bertha had been wanting a pool ever since the couple married and moved to SL Petersburg in 1981. thing "more fruitful" for awhile.

And the pool became a reality. John-Paul didn't decide on a heart-shaped pool right away. He and Bertha had called a pool installer for an estimate, and the man showed them about 40 different diagrams of available pool shapes. "We chose a cloud shape because it fit into the space we had," Bertha said. "But when we laid out the outlines it looked awful." Nothing seemed to work.

"Then, out of the blue, I realized I didn't see a heart-shaped pool See POOL, back page this section But no matter how hard they tried, they couldn't find room on their lot for a pool. When they moved to Cape Coral a year and a half ago, each secretly envisioned a pool behind their present home. But John-Paul had always wanted a boat. Because of their financial situation, he knew it had to be one or the other. Then last fall, they got back from a trip that had included major national parks in Colorado, Wyoming and Canada.

"We were exhausted," recalled Bertha. They needed to take the money they would have spent on future trips and turn it into some By DEBORAH KARTHEISER Special to the News-Press This year, John-Paul Lambert decided to give his wife a Valentine she could really get into. It took him a long time to find someone who would make it the way he wanted. Then it took three months to make. But it's finally ready, just In time for Bertha Lambert's birthday today which also happens to be Valentine's Day.

It is a heart-shaped, self-cleaning swimming pool, complete with temperature-controlled water, ad ami Beach, won $15,000. James E. Smithson, 52, a Portland, Maine, carpenter working in Miami, won $15,000. Annicia Brice, 31, a Haitian refugee from Homestead, won $10,000. Robert L.

Braymiller, 46, a truck driver and grandfather from Ruskin, won $10,000. It's do-or-die time in New Hampshire 1 By The Associated Press SUMMIT President Reagan is in Mexico for a summit where drugs is a thorny issue. 16A. rivals to stick to the issues and stop playing "how bruised I am." The debate heated up quickly with Rep. Richard Gephardt and Sen.

Paul Simon Ml A ULANUL SPORTS The Goody's 300 sets the pace for Jack Kemp and Michael Dukakis did their campaigning Saturday at dog sled races while Pete du Pont went rummaging for votes at the continuing their running dispute over Simon commercials that attack Gephardt. Then Sen. Albert Gore Jr. and Gephardt had a run-in over remarks Gephardt's campaign manager made about Gore. New Hampshire Democratic front-runner Michael Dukakis attacked "This is a budget issue," chimed in former Gov.

Bruce Babbitt of Arizona. "Can I finish my answer?" asked Dukakis. The nationally televised one-hour debate, sponsored by the League of Women Voters, took place at St. Anselm College in Goffstown. The League was sponsoring a Republican debate at the college today.

At his first campaign stop of the day, Gephardt, the winner in Iowa last Monday, warned his rivals particularly Simon that negative campaigning now could hurt the party's chance to win the presidency. "We're not going- to win this if we're brawling in the mud," said Gephardt, who has been the target of Simon commercials focusing on the Missouri congressman's votes in favor of the B-l bomber and nuclear power. See PRIMARY, page 3A CONCORD, N.H. Presidential candidates plunged Saturday into the final weekend of campaigning before New Hampshire's do-or-die primary, with Democrats staging a spirited debate and Republican Sen. Bob Dole encountering hecklers from opposition camps.

Dole, locked in a tight race in New Hampshire with Vice President George Bush, was campaigning at a shopping mall in Bedford when he found himself surrounded by chanting supporters of Bush and Rep. Jack Kemp. The scene quickly became a shouting contest with sign-waving supporters from the three campaigns vying for attention. The shouting continued in the parking lot after Dole's motorcade departed. The Democratic debaters engaged in a little shouting of their own, with Jesse Jackson acting as peacemaker and urging his DAYS TIL Bedford, N.H.

town dump. Pat Robertson said Saturday that he "wouldn't have hesitated" to kill Moammar Gadhafi. "He's a terrorist," Robertson said. A look at where the first votes will be cast.3A Oil fees question heats up New Hampshire.3A HAMPSHIRE STATE California and Texas don't want Florida's fruit yet.12C. Classified 23-33D12-24B Dear Abby 2F Deaths 8C Movies 7F Star Gazing 2A Opinion 2-3G Stocks 5-7E Weather 24A Copyright 1987, The News-Press DUKAKIS Gephardt for accepting money from political action committees and also for supporting an oil import fee.

At times it was hard to distinguish who was shouting at whom. "What's your energy policy?" Gary Hart asked the Massachusetts governor. if5 iit'ffliinXrihi-V i -Tmjzz. i.