The Palm Beach Post from West Palm Beach, Florida • Page 47

Fur Flies Over Incongruity of Socialites' Behavior that goes with it," the woman said, adding that it is "past my comprehension" how socialites can participate in an event to benefit wildlife and wear fur coats while being interviewed about it. It is incongruous, isn't it? I suppose they justify it through the same sort of tortuous process the Soviets use in saying "Workers of the world, unite" while crushing the Solidarity labor union in Poland. I can't reconcile it, which probably is why I am neither a socialite nor a Communist. George C. Updegraff of North Palm Beach, former chief tax attorney for the District of Columbia, found the Feb.

1 column on tax inequities "very interesting and well-written," but pointed out that the situation for the average taxpayer is even worse than I depicted it. "I hate to shake you up any more, but did you know that all the taxes paid by corporations in fact, all the taxes imposed upon such manufacturers and producers, are ultimately paid by the consumer?" Updegraff said. "And to cap it all, Uncle Sam takes some of your money each payday and doesn't pay you a damned cent of interest. How about supporting a law that will provide for the payment of interest Jhe same as would be paid by banks on such deductions and then permit deduction of the total amount of such accrued interest to be deducted from the federal income tax found to be due?" He is right, of course. Corporations don't pay taxes.

For corporations, taxes are a cost of doing business that, if possible, will be passed along to the consumer in the form of higher prices. As for the second point, I think the government should pay me interest on the money it withholds from my paycheck all year, since the government has the use of it and I don't. As many readers know, I have an ironclad, adamantine rule against using verse in this column. Let the camel's nose in the tent, and the first thing you know the camel is in the tent and you're outside in the cold. At the same time, I also believe rules must be broken occasionally, if only to preserve one's sense of independence.

That's why I will break my self-imposed rule in the case of Jim Capone of Vero Beach, who was moved to write the following hilarious verse about the conviction of eight retired men who were Turn to MITCHELL, C2 It is said that "There are no problems only opportunities in disguise." That is how I regard reader responses that are too short to make into a followup column but too interesting to throw away an opportunity to do a mailbag column. I recently wrote that women ought to wear live dogs around their necks instead of buying fur coats made from the skins of innocent animals, which endeared me to animal lovers and elicited a thoughtful comment from a West Palm Beach woman who enclosed a clipping from the Palm Beach Daily News about a "sparkling soiree" to be held at the Palm Beach Polo and Country Club to benefit the World Wildlife Fund. A Palm Beach socialite who is chairman emeritus of the ball was interviewed in New York "as she wrapped her full-length sable Steve Mitchell about her," the Palm Beach newspaper said. Another socialite was described as "wrapping her snow-leopard coat even tighter about her." "This only confirms my suspicions that people like this are really not interested in the cause but in the title and the publicity J. Serving South Palm Beach County SECTION THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 1982 The Post Appointee To Manage Arcuri Firm Fugitive's Auto Business May Be Seized by State By Jeff Stanfield Put Staff Writer While a bondsman continued his search for fugitive Giacomo (Jack) Arcuri, Circuit Judge John Wessel decided yesterday to put the suspected auto theft ringleader's business under a court-appointed manager.

The business, A Used Auto Parts, 728 N. Military Trail, Delray Beach, is a 9-acre junkyard and garage. Police charge that A received and disassembled hundreds of motor vehicles at the rate of three or four cars a week from the Fort Lauderdale and Miami areas. Informants told police that truckloads of stolen parts were shipped to many states and to islands in the Caribbean. State Atty.

David Bludworth and Brian Ahrens, who claims half ownership of the junkyard, want the proceeds from the business if and when it is sold. Assistant State Atty. Lisa Campbell said the state will continue to seek an injunction to close the business and seize its assets under the state's Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. Ahrens, who is Arcuri's estranged business partner, filed suit a year ago asking for a court-appointed receiver to manage the liquidation of the company. Ms.

Campbell asked the court to close the business shortly after Arcuri and co-defendant Hal Huffman were arrested Nov. 25 on charges of racketeering and grand theft. Bludworth has charged that A was the headquarters for one of the largest auto theft rings in South Florida. Ms. Campbell said yesterday that Ahrens is not a suspect in the auto theft ring.

Ahrens charged in his civil suit that Arcuri has exclusively operated and controlled the business without his consent for the past year after the two men had a business disagreement. Just before the breakup, Carol Arcuri, wife of the suspected fugitive, disappeared under mysterious circumstances and police have long suspected that foul play was involved. Mrs. Arcuri is Ahrens' sister. Wessel advised Ahrens to close the business.

"I suggest you close the place up. I'm going to appoint a receiver, probably today," he said. Extortion Attempt Claimed Parent Plans Action Against School Board By Joe Schwerdt Pest Staff Wrltir DELRAY BEACH A Delray Beach mother charged yesterday that her 11-year-old son was beaten and had two teeth broken in an extortion attempt by older classmates at Carver Middle School. Patty Keats, of 650 Heron Drive in Delray Beach, said she will sue the Palm Beach County School Board and the parents of the two 14-year-olds whom she said attacked her son. Mrs.

Keats and the mother of another 11-year-old told the same story of an extortion attempt against the two boys by the two 14-year-olds. All four boys are in the sixth grade. The older boys have been suspended from school for 10 days, a punishment the parents of the victims describe as inadequate. Mrs. Keats said her son Harry is afraid to go to school after the older boys threatened him and tried to extort protection money.

"These two boys in eighth period English said they would beat me up if I didn't bring them a dollar each," Harry said. "I told them I would bring it tomorrow (Tuesday)." Harry said after class the two youths said they were only kidding. But he said that once they were out of the classroom, one of the boys held him while the other punched him in the mouth, breaking his two lower front teeth. Maria Hudyman, 559 NE 48th Boca Raton, said her son Louis was threatened by the same boys for the same reason. The Hudymans also are considering legal action, she said.

"These boys were bothering (Louis)," she said. "And he told the teacher and got them into trouble. So they told Louis that if he didn't bring in two dollars they were going to beat him up. He was afraid to go to school." The Hudymans and Keats gave statements to the Delray Beach Police Department, which is investigating the incident, Capt. Ed Dalton said.

Carver Middle School Principal Kelly Brown Jr. said the 10-day suspension is the maximum penalty a school can impose. "The rules are specific as far as what a school can do," he said. "For serious infractions we can only suspend a student for 10 days." The School Board can suspend students for 30 days and eventually expel However, as of late yesterday Wessel's secretary said no appointment had been made. Ahren's attorney, Stanley Narkier, said a dispute between Ahrens and the state attorney is likely over the assets of the company.

Detective Dennis O'Hara of the Boca Raton Police Department said Ahrens has had a clean record since an arrest in 1974 on an auto theft charge, which was later dropped. Ahrens is not suspected of involvement in any criminal activity although several law enforcement agencies have had case files on him as an auto theft suspect for years, O'Hara said. When law officials arrested Arcuri, 44, and two other men last November, they said they counted 130 engines with serial numbers that had been altered. They confiscated a large amount of stolen car parts, but had to leave $50,000 to $100,000 worth of parts they could not prove were stolen, O'Hara said. Since the arrests and seizures, Arcuri has systematically sold off the remaining parts, O'Hara said.

Arcuri's $100,000 bond was revoked Tuesday when he failed to make a court appearance and could not be located by his bondsman, Tommy Brodrick. Brodrick continued yesterday to follow up local leads in his search for Arcuri. If he does not find Arcuri soon, the bonding agency will probably send an investigator to Costa Rica, where an informant told police Arcuri had planned to flee, Brodrick said. He said the agency may also post a reward for information concerning Arcuri's whereabouts. The agency must find Arcuri in one month or forfeit the bond.

The state would also like to seize Arcuri's plush Boca Raton residence at 1366 14th St. SW if authorities can prove that he used it in the course of auto theft transactions. Brodrick said he has also filed a lien against the house. Arcuri's former attorney, Joel Weissman, who also has been unable to find him, withdrew yesterday from representing him. His March 1 trial remains on the docket until next week when the court will decide whether to reschedule it.

vf Lf a 1.7 yr-'w-x? V.i. Ifc i I them. But Barbara Hegler of the School Board information office said that punishment is used for repeat offenders only. Mrs. Keats believes the punishment is too lenient.

"If they're causing that much trouble in the schools they shouldn't be there in the first placed Mrs. Keats said. "I feel the schoolystem isn't fair when everybody has td take their kids out of school because of the few who are animals and don't want to be there. I think it should be the other way around." Although details of the lawsuit were not revealed, attorney Joel Kenwood said the Keats family has a very strong case. "I would have to say the school and the parents are responsible," Kenwood said.

"It's a difficult situation, but the school board is also responsible. They have to take stronger action to prevent this from happening." Turn to Extortion, C2 Stiff Phots by Trish Lowis the Boca Raton Center for the Arts. Story, C5 'PHANTASMIC IMPULSES' That is the title of an exhibit part of which Verna Flood is admiring (above) presently at Water Board's Backpumping Proposal Draws Criticism By Glenn R. Singer Pott Stiff wrlttr The South Florida Water Management District (WMD) governing board is expected to vote this week on whether to initiate a controversial plan in which storm drainage would be pumped from canals into the Everglades rather than discharged into the ocean. "This will be a major policy decision for the lower east coast of Florida.

The staff has recommended that we go ahead with back-pumping," John Wodraska, the district's deputy executive director, said yesterday. "Historically, there has been a ideological split among members of the governing board," Wodraska said, adding he could not yedict the a vote on the propos- "The conservation areas will become polluted," he said. "The result will be a catastrophe for wetlands wildlife. There will be more endangered species. On top of that, we're going to be drinking that filthy water.

"The reason the staff is supporting this plan is that they're hysterical. Their system is collapsing, they know it and they don't know what to do about it," Jones said. Of the four sites under consideration, the basin that feeds the West Palm Beach Canal probably will receive priority, Wodraska said. The area affected is bordered roughly by 20-Mile Bend on the east, SR 7 on the west, Lake Worth Road on the south and an imaginary extension of 45th StreeLon the north. "Of all the canal basins, thoone is perhaps 1, Wodraska said.

The' idea was sharply criticized yesterday by John C. Jones, executive director of the Florida Wildlife Federation, as "environmentally unsound" and "a danger to man and beast alike." "I'm unequivocably opposed to the idea. It's not well planned or well thought out and is merely an attempt to patch up a very poor system. Rube Goldberg would have loved it," said Jones, whose group is based in West Palm Beach and has 50,000 members. "I would favor the idea if the water that was to be backpumped would be of high quality," Jones said.

"But the stuff on the east coast is highly polluted with all kinds of chemicals. the worst flood hazard," Wodraska said. "We had to evacuate people from that area during hurricanes David and Frederick, and there have been road washouts in the Loxahatchee area." That observation, critics have charged, added weight to their contention that the pumping plan is merely a guise for a massive flood control system that would allow drainage and development of the wetlands. Wodraska discounted that allegation. "Protection of the lowlands is a valid concern, but safeguards are available now that were not available in years past," he said.

"Since 1974, we have been working very closely with local governments to ure Turn to WlkTER, C2 al, which is expected at Friday's meeting. But sources outside the WMD said the governing board probably would approve the proposal because it is viewed by Executive Director John Maloy as a means of supplementing an increasingly scarce water supply for urban areas. The plan, similar to others that have been suggested and then discarded over the years, is to be discussed at a workshop session this morning at the district headquarters in West Palm Beach. It involves pumping water into conservation areas from as many as four sites one in Palm Beach County and three in Dade and Broward and could be implemented by the tpditional start of the rainy season on -y.