The Palm Beach Post from West Palm Beach, Florida • Page 167

Kids Humor Parents Who Don't Believe in Santa Two years ago I asked my brother Patrick, who was going through the throes of "correct parenthood," how he proposed to handle the Santa Claus issue with his 2-year-old. "I will not lie to my child," he said. "You mean you're going to tell her there's no such thing as Santa?" I asked. "Well, of course when she asks, she won't need elaborate explanations. We'll just simply say that Santa is make-believe." I didn't argue, but of course Patrick sensed how I felt when I unbuttoned my sleeve to chortle up it I believe in Santa and do not wish to be acquainted with children who do not share my theology.

My brother since has mellowed on the subject, according to a highly reliable source Mom. I am assured he has admitted to Claire Marie, now 4, there is a Santa, which is on the subject probably rolled her eyes skyward and said, "Ask your father." Later, cornered on the sofa, Patrick answered; "That's Santa Claus. He's make-believe." "What does he do?" "He is the make-believe spirit of Christmas who lives at a make-believe shop at the North Pole with make-believe elves and make-believe Mrs. Santa Claus and on Christmas Eve, which is real, he hops in his make-believe sled and brings toys to all the girls and boys." The kid, of course, pays no attention whatsoever to the make-believe part. Later on, as her understanding grows, so grows her perplexity.

What is this delusion of her father's that Santa is make-believe when Santa's picture is all over the place? How can Santa be make-believe when half the kids at Montessori school have seen Santa, sat on his lap and gotten toys from him? (The other half of theclass, of course, had been afflicted with correct parents). She sees Santa 200 times on television commercials. He smiles down at her from billboards. She hears songs about Santa, sees him on Christmas cards and wrapping paper and newspaper ads. To top it off, what does every adult say to her when they meet? "What is Santa Claus bringing you this year?" "Have you written your letter to Santa yet?" What is the child to think after hearing about Santa from every child she knows, the entire media, 50 adults and getting assurances the U.S.

Postal Service delivers the fat elf's mail? It all adds up to one of two ugly propositions: Either her father is lying or he's insane. The poor child cannot accept the former, and now must do what any reasonable person does in the presence of a large, deranged person. Humor them. "Yes, Santa is only make-believe," the poor child agrees, hoping Santa doesn't have the room bugged. If you're a new or prospective parent don't fall into the anti-Santa trap.

Remember the following and you'll be OK until the kid reaches third grade: Santa is real and lives at the North Pole With elves and Mrs. Gaus and eight reindeer plus Rudolph. Santa is for children not just good children (whatever they are), but noisy, messy, generic all-purpose children. Also remember that Santa accepts Visa and MasterCard. Ron Wiggins the truth.

I can imagine how it went When Claire Marie was 3, she no doubt brought a picture of Santa with his bag of toys to her mother Mary Beth and asked, "Who is this?" Mary Beth, knowing her husband's feelings Okeechobee The Post FRIDAY, DECEMBER 7, 1984 SECTION 1 Woman To Serve Full Term for Aid To Jailed Friend cr Vi I Top Speller Should Get A Sarsaparilla By Jean Dubail Staff Writer BELLE GLADE Of 20 finalists in Palm Beach County's high school spelling bee, only Jupiter senior Kendra Morrill escaped a stinging. The slender, curly-haired 17-year-old watched as competitors from nine schools tripped over words such as tautological, verdigris and sibylline. Pharisaical knocked out three people, auscultation and noncommittal two each. With Kendra and four other students left, the judges switched from the long list of words everybody had studied to a secret list designed to end the bee quickly. Consummatory eliminated one contestant Ouster and kaleidoscope did in two more.

That left Kendra and Kim Darby, a junior at Jupiter High. Neither one could spell rotogravure. Nor did they get derailleur. Then Kim missed markka the monetary unit of Finland. Kendra got it, then spelled sarsaparilla to nail down the victory.

How on earth did she know the spelling of a Finnish word? "I vaguely remember seeing it before," Kendra said. As for sarsaparilla: "I knew that." "I'm glad Kendra got It," Kim said. "This is her last year. I can do this next year." More than 100 students from nine high schools took part in the bee. Kendra received a trophy and a $100 savings bond.

Kim got a trophy and a $50 savings bond. Winners at each grade level also got trophies. The team from Santaluces High School, having earned the highest number of points during the semifinal and final rounds, won the overall trophy. Kendra, Kim and six other contestants will represent Palm Beach County in the state invitational spelling bee in March. Glades Central High School, which played host for yesterday's tournament will play host Turn to SPELLING, B2 w7 li I XV Mia i i vmm ihmr i.

By Chuck McGinness Staff Wrlttr BELLE GLADE A Clewiston woman will have to serve her full six-month jail sentence for trying to smuggle hacksaw blades and marijuana to her boyfriend who is in jail awaiting trial for first-degree murder, County Judge Don T. Adams ruled yesterday. Adams denied a request for an early release for Sharon Smith, 18. She is scheduled to be released Jan. 2.

Assistant Public Defender Mamie Washington said Ms. Smith plans to leave the county and go to New Jersey. Ms. Washington told Adams she would make sure Ms. Smith leaves immediately after getting out of jail.

Adams said he received a letter from Ms. Smith in which she expressed remorse for her crimes. However, Adams agreed with Assistant State Atty. Rick Barlow the integrity of the criminal justice system would be in question if Ms. Smith is granted an early release.

Barlow said Ms. Smith was "lucky to get six months rather than six years" for trying to aid the escape of Richard Dean Romena, 20. Romena is charged with the May 15 stabbing death of Tina Kirchman, 18, at her 424 S.E. Ave. apartment after allegedly arguing about sharing some cocaine.

Police said Mrs. Kirchman's 15-month-old son followed her around the apartment as she was repeatedly stabbed and slashed. Romena is to face trial next month. Sheriff's detectives said Ms. Smith tried to smuggle the contraband to an outside trusty.

She has been in jail since her Aug. 6 arrest. In another case, Adams sentenced Jacqueline Cerniglia, 19, of New York City to 18 months' probation after she pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of accessory after the fact in connection with the May 1983 armed robbery of a South Bay gas station. Police said John M. Spero, 22, and Ms.

Cerniglia stole a car in Broward County and drove to South Bay, where they robbed an Exxon service station at SR 80 and U.S. 27. They were arrested just outside Clewiston by the Florida Highway Patrol. Ms. Cerniglia entered the plea after Adams denied a motion to dismiss the robbery charge.

Her attorney, Robert Amsel, argued the state did not bring the case to trial within the Don PrtijwvTHE POST Jupiter senior Kendra Morrill spelled 'markka 'sarsaparilla' Hopes Dim for Okeechobee Amtrak Stop Judge Don T. Adams denies early release plea 180-day limit. Barlow said Ms. Cerniglia was arrested by FHP troopers in Broward County but never was formally charged in Palm Beach County. She was arrested on a warrant before entering the plea.

Spero was sentenced to seven years in prison in October 1983 after pleading guilty to robbery charges. In other court action: Haywood L. McClendon, 26, of Pahokee was sentenced to one year in jail for burglary and grand theft. He was charged with the Sept. 22 burglary at Florida Department Store, 349 W.

Ave. A. Mary Belinda Sloan, 28, of Belle Glade was sentenced to the 27 days she served in jail after pleading guilty to a reduced charge of battery. She was arrested Nov. 10 for aggravated battery and was charged with slashing Richard Roberts, 40, in the face with a razor blade outside Tiny's Liquors, 536 S.W.

Ave. E. The case of Charles (Buddy) Harper, 49, of Pahokee was transferred to West Palm Beach at the defendant's request. Harper is charged with alligator poaching, possession or sale of alligator skin and possession of alligator meat. Adams told Harper two months ago he would not be lenient if he had to impose sentence.

Adams sentenced Harper to three years in prison for sale of marijuana in August 1982. By Rob Kinneberg Stiff Wrlttr OKEECHOBEE Okeechobee's chance of getting Amtrak's Silver Palm to make regular flag Stops in town appear slimmer each time legislators and state transportation officials consider the train's fate. The Silver Palm has been in jeopardy of losing state money necessary to keep it running. Only a suit by the Florida Coalition of Railroad Passengers last month kept the train from being derailed permanently. It had been scheduled to stop running Nov.

26, according to Al Tompkins, manager of rail development for the state Department of Transportation. A flag stop means the train would stop briefly just to board or let off passengers. Ticket sales would be on the train. The Silver Palm runs daily (rom Miami to Tampa and passes though Okeecho the Silver Palm would make enough money to continue operations. A district judge in Quincy ruled in favor of the coalition, Tompkins said.

The ruling is confusing and "a poor accounting practice. We plan to appeal the ruling," Tompkins said. Amtrak officials have been negotiating with Seaboard Systems Railroad, which owns the tracks, for cost estimates to build a train platform in Okeechobee. "Everything right now is pure speculation. The Silver Palm's longevity is the big question mark.

It might not even be running by the time construction on a platform could begin," said Cliff Black of Amtrak's Washington, D.C., office. Black also said Amtrak is not considering stops in Okeechobee by the Silver Star or Silver Meteor. Both also pass through Okeechobee on their way to Washington, D.C., and New York City. bee without stopping. The Legislature appropriated $1.1 million to help Amtrak finance the Silver Palm through next June with the stipulation that the train recover at least 60 percent of its expenses from passenger fares.

The Silver Palm, however, has been recovering only about 45 percent of its costs and sometimes even less since the appearance of publicity about the train's possible demise, DOT officials said. The $1.1 million appropriation is expected to run out in April instead of June, said Jim Rankin of the DOT in Tallahassee. The state is financing 65 percent of the Silver Palm's operating deficit. The railroad coalition's suit claims that the money Amtrak pays to make up its 35 percent share of the operational deficit should be considered as income along with money from fares. If that money was considered income, ii.fi i i vii liitf "fin i rn Milt PutnamTHE POST Damage from the storm (above) is slowly being cleaned up at Vero Beach.

Tracks in the sand (right) were made by a bulldozer used to rebuild dunes on Hutchinson Island. ftTMJMWWIMUMaMMi 'it Ifltl Mjl'ITlwi DNR Official Says 'No-Name' St orm a Blessing for Coast By Cathy Sims Stiff Wrlttr FORT PIERCE Thanksgiving's "no-name" storm could boost popular support for government policies that discourage building on Hutchinson Island and other parts of Florida's east coast, the chief of the state Department of Natural Resources said yesterday. "In many ways this storm was a blessing," Elton Gissendanner said. got a lesson without all the damage and threat to human life of a hurricane. We thought a hurricane would bring us to this point, not a storm like this." Gissendanner visited Fort Pierce for a and low pressure areas off Vero Beach did more damage to the Treasure Coast than Hurricane David in 1979, state and local officials have said.

The storm devoured beaches along the Treasure Coast and caused an estimated $8.15 million in property damage from Flagler County south to Palm Beach County. While state assessors say that probably is not enough to qualify the state for federal disaster aid, it was a good hint of what damage could happen. Several hotel rooms and one house in Vero Beach fell into the ocean and sea walls washed out. High seas forced a 500-ton freighter agains'the sea wall of a Palm Beach society matron's mansion. The state will prohibit many of those property owners from rebuilding toward the ocean.

"They will not be permitted if the foundations are destroyed or damaged. They'll have to redesign those buildings," Gissendanner said. The seminar armed local planners from Martin, St. Lucie and Indian River counties with answers for beachfront property owners who want to know what they should do with their storm-ravaged land. "A lot of people want to live on the oceanfront," said Chris Jores, a coastal management engineer University daylong regional seminar on coastal management that had been scheduled months before the storm.

The timing was good, all the same, since government planners and elected officials have been deluged with questions from beachfront property owners shocked by the damage left from what is seen as a relatively minor storm. The threats from a major hurricane seem more real now, Gissendanner said. Florida's east coast has not been hit by a severely damaging hurricane since Hurricane Betsy in 1965. That means thousands of Florida residents have never seen major storm damage in the state. Thanksgiving's chance meeting ofhigh of Florida.

"We're trying to decide what is a reasonable expectation, what are the risks, and who should assume those risks." During the seminar, Jones discussed the movement away from structural answers to beach erosion like sea walls to answers that pattern themselves after nature like beach renourishment He also discussed policies that discourage building on the undeveloped parts of the fragile barrier islands, including restricting flood insurance, setback rules and local building codes. The seminar also included sales pitches from companies that have done beach renourishment and protection projects along the Treasuf Coast..