News-Press from Fort Myers, Florida • Page 9

1S4aft Family reunion After two decades apart, mother, child together Almanac 4B 8B o) NEWS-PRESS TUESDAY, MAY 2, 1989 ID) Rehabilitated 'Wiggins' passes through local waters By DENES HUSTY News-Press Staff Writer The transmitters enable scientists "to see how well rehabilitated manatees do after they have been released and whether they readjust to the wild," Frohlich said. Wiggins. Frohlich said, is the second rehabilitated manatee on Florida's west coast to be returned to the water wearing a transmitter. The other manatee is Myers, who was rescued by biologists after the male sea cow became entangled in crab trap lines in Lee County, Frohlich said. He said the lines had cut into the animals flippers.

After Myers was nursed back to health, the manatee was released in February into the Caloosahatchee River near an electric power plant, Frohlich said. The manatee is now frolicking with other sea cows in the Peace River in Charlotte County, Frohlich said. Wiggins' problems began when the manatee got stuck in about a foot of water on a sandbar in Wiggins Pass in northern Collier County on Jan. 29, 1988, said Jamie L. Serino, spokesman for the natural resources department.

The manatee was suffering from the cold water and air temperatures and had to be rescued by personnel from the natural resources department, the nearby Wiggins Park State Recreation Area and the Sea World marine exhibition near Orlando, Serino said. Wiggins was taken Sea World where she was given fluids and put in warmer waters suitable for manatees, Serino said. During her last six months in captivity, the sea cow gained 50 pounds, bringing Wiggins' total weight to 638 pounds, Serino said. He said the animal is 7 feet 9 inches long. Frohlich said that Wiggins is a young adult manatee from 3 to 5 years old.

He said Wiggins will likely reach a weight of about 2,000 pounds when she gets older. During the next several days, Frohlich said biologists will monitor the manatee's movements frequently to make sure the sea cow is adjusting to being back in the wild. He said the animal's movements will be tracked less frequently when biologists are convinced it has readjusted to sea life. With a flip of its tail, a gray female sea cow returned Monday to the waters in Wiggins Pass in Collier County where she was rescued in January 1988 after being found stranded on a sandbar. Trailing behind the manatee, named "Wiggins" by her rescuers, is a buoy containing a radio transmitter that will help state wildlife officials to keep track of the seagoing mammal, said R.

Kipp Frohlich, a marine biologist with the Florida Department of Natural Resources. The buoy is attached to the manatee by a belt wrapped around the animal's tail. ON CAPE CORAL DEVI SEN Staff dismissals not a reflection on all workers oimds ape Coral's city management says it has harvested some bad apples, but they shouldn't reflect poorly on the whole crop the other 800 or so city 1 J) employees. II- (IK sv? 1 BRUCE FINENews-Press Reaching for goals Karen Pelletier, 16, left, Kim Kunzweiler, 17, dnd Trish Gurnham, 17, all juniors at North Fort Myers High School, participate in a motivational session led by David Gillum, director of music at Cypress Lake High School. They all were taking part in the fifth annual Lee County Leadership Conference held Monday.

The one-day seminar gave more than 350 students from Lee, Collier and Charlotte cbiinty high schools the chance to learn about reaching goals and aspects of being a leader. biggest! isstuie Debate dominates council meeting By DEVI SEN News-Press Staff Writer The proposed $20 million general obligation bond issue scheduled to go to Cape Coral voters today in a special referendum was the hot topic of discussion at the Cape Coral City Council meeting Monday. If passed, the 20-year bond will provide money for Cape roads, parks and recreation projects, as well as modernized Cape police and fire departments. Former councilman Larry Hyman lent his support to the proposed bond issue and then blasted the anti-bond group, the Do Not Pass Go Committee, for its tactics. "That concerns the storm trooper mentality and tactics of a number of people who think that because they booed, cajoled and threatened in the last election and the side they supported won, that this style of denying your opponents the right of free speech is an acceptable form of winning and controlling," Hyman said.

Hyman referred to last week's Cape Civic Association meeting, where bond proponents were booed and cat-called when their speaking turns came up. 1 Both Cape Mayor Joe Mazurkiewicz and City Manager Bill Noonan were absent from the first 1 yA hours of the council meeting because they were giving their final bond issue presentation Monday afternoon at a local luncheon. Despite their absence, Cape resident and bond issue opponent Lou DiBauda shouted that Noonan has been brainwashed by other city officials into believing that a general obligation bond (and the controversial dual-water system) are in the city's best interests. "You're managing the city the way you're told to manage it," yelled DiBauda into the podium microphone. "You allowed city officials to convince you that this was a good plan." At least five other Cape residents spoke out on the bond issue during the citizen input time.

Cape banker Levic Bentley is in favor of the bond, saying the economics of the bond, a 7.4 percent fixed-interest rate for the next 20 years, would be "a very attractive financial plan." If passed, each Cape home would pay about $33 in taxes the first year and a lesser amount each year for the next 1 9 years. Cape resident Carol Haba disagreed with Bentley. "Vote no tomorrow and save this city $20 million," she said, adding that the bond, in her opinion, is not economically feasible and cannot pay for itself as it states on paper. A 17-year-old Cape Coral High School junior attended the evening session and "whole-heartedly endorsed" the bond. Vincent A.

Cummings, on behalf of his high school's student government, admitted that a majority of his classmates were too young to vote, but said, "Within 10 years, we'll be homeowners and taxpayers and See CAPE, page 2B Colonial extension funding cut By PHIL FERNANDEZ News-Press Staff Writer Lee commissioners say budget change won't delay project with property along the proposed 2.3-mile route to pay for the road, in return for the waiver of impact fees, which are taxes on construction, Fussell said. If that funding strategy fails, Fussell said the county may be forced to pay for the project. Regardless, he said the extension will be built. The cut was made to free up money for the design of more new road construction. Commissioners vote this Wednesday or next on the preliminary draft of the capital improvements plan.

Final approval is planned for September. The plan gets updated every year. A 17-year battle with the state to get Colonial extended through the Six Mile Cypress Swamp was won by the county after Gov. Bob Martinez was elected in 1 986. Martinez and the Cabinet approved the plans in 1987 to build a 500-foot bridge over part of the narrow, 9-mile-long swamp, which drains 57 square miles of rapidly developing land.

The heavy vegetation of the swamp acts See COLONIAL, page2B Lee County officials have cut $4 million intended for construction of the Colonial Boulevard extension to Lehigh Acres from their capital improvement budget. But county commissioners say the long-awaited project won't be delayed beyond its scheduled November start date. "I don't want these people in Lehigh Acres thinking they're not going to have a road," Commissioner Bill Fussell said Monday. The county is trying to get developers City Manager William Noonan talked recently about the dismissal of two city workers, both in the parks and recreation department, before they were fired. Both now face drug charges.

"I don't want to leave it in the minds of the public that we've got a city work force that abuses drugs," Noonan said Monday. "Just because we had a few bad apples, it shouldn't cast a negative image over the entire work force." At least one former employee of Cape Coral's Parks and Recreation Department is expected to go to trial later this month for allegedly selling cocaine to an undercover Cape police officer. Michael DiMatteo, 22, of 1 725 S.E. 39th Cape Coral, used to be a crew leader for the city's parks department. After 5 2 years in city service, he was fired Feb.

10. On that date, DiMatteo was arrested and charged with five counts of selling cocaine and marijuana to an undercover police officer, Lee County Jail records show. DiMatteo was released the next day on $25,000 bond. He and his attorney, Wilbur Smith of Fort Myers, are expected to go before a judge Thursday to determine if a trial will start in two weeks. Smith also is mayor of Fort Myers.

John Guarneri, 22, of 1,26 S.E.lst Terrace, Cape Coral, was a former groundskeeper for the parks department. After three years of city service, he was fired Feb. 1 4. Guarneri allegedly was seen using marijuana Feb. 1-3 by an undercover police officer.

Lee County Jail records show Guarneri was charged with three counts of possession of marijuana, and was released from jail on day of his arrest Valentine's Day on $375 cash bond. In a statement to the City Council, dated March 9, Noonan said the Cape Coral Police Department recently had concluded an investigation after an undercover officer witnessed drug transactions of some kind. "Illegal drug use by city employees cannot and will not be tolerated, particularly in the course of the work day. Not only is it a major liability for the city, it violates the trust of citizens who pay our wages and expect an honest and proficient completion of duties," Noonan stated in his letter. A councilman's best friend Veteran Cape Coral City Councilman Tony Rotino probably doesn't want his best secret let out, but it was just too good not to pass on.

A few years back, Rotino tapped some extra campaign funds to buy a personal computer that he uses for his council business. Every time a constituent calls on Rotino to solve a problem, he logs in their name, the date, the problem, how he solved the problem and if not, why not. Rotino isn't just an avid record keeper; his computer system also happens to be a nifty campaign tool. "I'll never forget one time this woman called me up and said, 'Tony, can you help me get some paving done in front of my I put her name in the computer while I was talking to her and come to find out, I had worked on a similar problem for her before. I said, 'Didn't I help you get paving done a couple years and she said 'What a memory you So Rotino isn't only able to keep a log of his activities, he gets to flatter his callers by remembering them.

What taxpayer wouldn't love to believe that their favorite politician remembered their pothole problem? Says Rotino: "I don't know how I ever did without it." Staff writer Devi Sen cover Cape Coral. Mother sentenced in child abuse case ByTONYKATSULOS News-Press Staff Writer The original charge of aggravated child abuse, a second-degree felony, was dropped in exchange for a no-contest plea to child abuse, a third-degree felo ny, Assistant State Attorney I psychologists determined that the child was unfit to appear in court. Ahlbrand said the foster parents and state Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services workers also requested that he end the child's trauma by avoiding an arduous trial. Thompson admitted to being present when her child was beaten, but said she didn't inflict any harm herself, Ahlbrand said. The person who allegedly beat the child is known to police.

However, his whereabouts aren't known. Charges were brought against Thompson See ABUSE, page 2B Mark Ahlbrand said. There was little difference, however, in the sen A Fort Myers woman was sentenced to five years in prison Monday in connection-with the beating of her 2 y2 -year-old daughter. Annie Louise Thompson, 33, of 3224 Franklin wasn't only sent to prison Monday, but also was stripped of her parental claim to the toddler, who has been placed with foster parents. Lee Circuit Judge William Nelson found Thompson guilty of child abuse for allowing her child to be harmed.

Thompson answered Nelson's questions almost in a whisper. THOMPSON tences. Upon conviction, the aggravated child abuse charge would have carried a 5 12 -year prison term instead of five years, Ahlbrand said. Prosecutors decided to accept the plea after Child Protection Team physicians and Goss: Graduates are turning onto toughest road By EILEEN BARRETT News-Press Staff Writer he real test for graduates from the University of South Florida now faces them as they exitthe, cocoon-like confines of the campus in Fort Myjrs, Congressman Porter Goss told tt.A.t AMnffimfAct AnnAaT ntnht uiusc 51 auuaica oaiu iviunuctj 1115111.. The business student had no warning that she had a tumor, just went to bed one night and woke up en route to the hospital.

She had a seizure and hadn't shown any previous symptoms. The tumor has accelerated her learning, because she knows if she has a relapse she may go blind. "In case this sucker comes back, I wanted to get done with what faculties I had," said Heape, who gave the thumbs-up sign for her condition now. Other achievements were reached with the help of others. Barbara J.

Hollis, 42, earned the Outstanding-Graduate Award for her grades, which were all As except for two Bs since beginning in 1982, and her participation in three clubs. She credits her success in part to her husband, Tom. "My husband deserves a Purple Heart," said Hollis, who plans to return to school for her to be a certified public accountant Sheila K. Black earned the Golden Signet Award for contributing to student affairs. The 1989 class of 190 was the largest in the history of the college, which now numbers 1,600 alumni.

pollution of the air and water. Answers are also needed for national problems, such as drugs and illiteracy. "I'm really not trying to depress you with this litany," said Goss, who predicted that in 10 years several nationwide problems, such as national debt and global tensions, will still exist. "I promise you my generation won't solve all the problems. We'll leave some for you." Two difficulties conservation and ethics will affect every graduate's life, Goss said, i "There can be no real glory if we fail our ethical responsibility or trash the planet Earth," he said.

Each graduate should measure up to his or her individual values, and not simply go along with the crowd. Each graduate can make a difference through small changes, such as conserving water or refusing to buy aerosol products. "May we all be little heroes," he said. For some, making a difference in the world requires conquering some ptersonal problems. Martha Heape, 37, had to overcome her malignant brain tumor last March to graduate Monday.

"Seemingly, you who are graduating here are throughwjth report cards," said the Sanibef that's not true. The toughest lies ahead. It's the report card you have to fill out yourself." The gloomy realism of tough problems facing Southwest Florida and the nation was portrayed by Goss, who gave his commencement address at the Barbara B. Mann Performing Arts Hall for the class of 190 graduates. The former chairman of the Lee County Commission said that Floridians face additional challenges because of the state's exploding population.

The extra demands include such issues as senior health care costs and i4iiiii ffirVti ilmt rffilwi. i i i 1.