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The Palm Beach Post from West Palm Beach, Florida • Page 498

Location:
West Palm Beach, Florida
Issue Date:
Page:
498
Extracted Article Text (OCR)

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 26, 1986 The Palm Beach Post st SECTION lEW: ST. LUCIE LAKE OKEECHOBEE Bathers tell officials of more Soviet arms "These are set to explode on impart." Kreling said. "It doesn't take much to set them off. If someone took one home, or had it sitting on his desk, and knocked it over, that would do it." The unmarked metal container, which looks like a large child's lunch box, was spotted about 9:30 a.m., Heck said. It is now sitting in a large metal container at the Palm Beach Sheriff's Office awaiting pickup this morning by the U.S.

Army's 66th Ordnance Detachment, based at Patrick's Air Force Base at Cape Canaveral. Kreling was not sure of the explosive power of the rockets themselves. "The fuse is like a hand grenade, so you can take it from there," he said. sheriff's bomb technician. And they're set to explode on impact, Kreling said.

Soviet explosives began washing ashore on Oct. 19 and now 52 of the fuses, used to detonate 122mm mortar rockets, have been picked up in Palm Beach County. More have washed ashore farther north, including three shoulder-fired, bazooka-style rockets and six canon shells. Deputies said they fear some people may have found explosives and taken them home. They said they also worry that a boater may accidentally ram one of the boxes floating in the surf and detonate it.

"I think eventually we're going to wind up doing a post-explosion investigation," Kreling said. By SCOTT G. CAMPBELL Palm Beach Post Staff Writer JUPITER ISLAND Another box of Soviet-made explosives has washed ashore and alert beach-goers at Coral Cove Park spotted it Saturday morning and warned authorities. "Some beachcombers came up to lifeguard tower and said they found this box up on the beach," said park lifeguard Kathy Heck. "They said they left it up there where they found it.

All I did was call the sheriff. No one went anywhere near it." Good thing, deputies said. The box contains at least five fuses and each has the explosive power of a hand grenade a killing radius of 33 feet, said Ralf Kreling, a Palm Beach Marine Patrol officer angry state's apathy led to dog's 'retirement' Opinions vary on appointing superintendent By RODGER MULLEN Palm Beach Post Staff Writer FORT PIERCE If the St. Lucie County School Board's feelings are any indication, the Nov. 4 vote on whether to make the superintendent an appointive position rather than an elective one will be a close one.

The board in July unanimously approved putting the question on the ballot, but some members expressed strong reservations about the request, saying they didn't want to take the right to elect the superintendent away from voters. George Hill, who was elected school superintendent in 1984, said he proposed the referendum question as a way of taking politics out of the position while providing stability to the school system. Currently, the St. Lucie County school superintendent is elected every four years. Under Hill's proposal, the superintendent would be appointed by the School Board and would not face voters.

The new system would become effective in 1988. Among Florida's 67 counties, 18 currently appoint their school superintendent. Martin County also is asking voters next month to approve a system with an appointed superintendent. In asking for the change, Hill noted that no St. Lucie County school superintendent since Ben L.

Bryan Sr. has served consecutive terms. Bryan served from 1956 to 1968. A change every four years in the school district's top administrative position has resulted in a school administration that lacks consistency, Hill said. The question has raised little vocal opposition in St.

Lucie County. The local Republican and Democratic parties have taken no stand on the issue. But county Republican chairman Hank Dunn and Democratic chairman George Miller say they support the request. "My personal opinion is that it should absolutely be appointed and taken out of politics," Miller said. "You don't get the best person (with the current Dunn said making the job appointive would make the superintendent more responsive to the board.

Bryan, now retired, supported making the position appointive during his 12-year tenure in the job and lobbied unsucessfully for the proposal when it was on the ballot twice before. i i I-W 1 cases but in conservation," Traylor said. But now when Traylor puts on his uniform and heads for work, Lance stays behind with Traylor's wife, Renate, and the other seven dogs in the household. One of his playmates is Panzer, a 10-month-old German shepherd puppy Traylor had hoped would be the second dog in Florida to work By JILL TAYLOR Palm Beach Post Staff Writer STUART Lance, a 6-year-old German shepherd, has retired from the Florida Marine Patrol, taking with him his talent for sniffing out marijuana and his unique ability to track down pilfered turtle eggs and off-season snook. "Lance is the only dog in the world who can sniff turtle eggs and snook in addition to marijuana," said Florida Marine Patrol officer Ed Traylor.

Traylor bought Lance with his own money, trained him and worked with him for five years before Traylor's frustrations prompted him to end his dog's career as a crime fighter. "There was a lack of support and a lack of communication from the people who set policy in Tallahassee," Traylor said. Traylor said he asked for written authorization to use Lance and for the marine patrol to establish some guidelines for using canines in the field. He said he did not want any financial help, just some indication of support for using dogs. "I never heard anything back.

I got so frustrated, it was affecting my work and I was taking all this frustration home with me I fi-, nally retired Lance on my own accord," Traylor said. Police dogs are commonplace in area sheriff's offices, police departments and even the Florida Highway Patrol, but Traylor said Lance was the only dog in the state helping the Florida Marine Patrol catch drug smugglers and violators of wildlife laws. "There's a great potential for dogs to help out not just with drug ffim IT" 1 for the Marine Patrol. "That was the plan. I thought by the time Panzer was fully trained, Lance would be ready to retire.

But now I don't know what's going to happen," Traylor said. Last week, Traylor and his human partner, officer Bob Saunders, chased two suspects in a boat loaded with marijuana along the Intra-coastal Waterway until the suspects ran their boat into a sandbar, jumped ashore and took off on foot. The suspects' 29-foot boat and more than 1,500 pounds of marijuana were seized. But the suspects got away, and that makes Traylor angry- "Lance would have got at least one of 'em. I know that for a fact," Traylor said.

Capt. Ross Iseminger, one of Traylor's superior officers in the District 10 office that covers Palm Beach, Martin, St. Lucie and Okeechobee counties, said he, too, missed having Lance on patrol. "I felt the dog was impressive. It was nice to have one of our own without having to go through another agency," Iseminger said.

"From a personal standpoint, I think it was beneficial, but it's out of our hands at a local level," he said. ML 'AMM)mXH lit'; WiUW.lr. X'l IUM KAUtbldlf Pnutugtdpher Renate Traylor with Lance (top) and Panzer. Lance worked with Renate's husband, Ed, in the Florida Marine Patrol. a- -ill 3 TOM KANEStaff Photographer if 1 I i My Helen Grieser, daughter Star and son Kit display 'blob' found on beach.

Helen thought it might be ambergris, produced in the large intestine of the male sperm whale and used in the manufacture of expensive perfumes. Treasure Coast shores receiving a real 'trashing' By CHRISTINE VAN METER Palm Beach Post Staff Writer STUART The surf-information sign at Stuart Beach said it best, Saturday: "Air 80 degrees. Water 77 degrees. Surf is trashed." During the past week, the golden beaches of the Treasure Coast have been bombarded with everything from sticky globs of tar to Soviet-made weapons. Strong northeasterly winds bring ocean trash ashore every fall, but this year the finds have been unusual.

What is trash to one beachcomber is treasure to another and this year's wave of debris is like an oceanside flea market for the curious. "The worst thing you can say is 'Don't go to the said Bob Goddard, ranger at the Blowing Rocks Park on Jupiter Island, who claims beachcombers have been out en masse looking for souvenirs from the Soviet weapons that washed up on Jupiter Island. "But anything that looks like any- Please see BEACHES5B Approximately 400 people gathered to celebrate the start of an Okeechobee rail stop Saturday. 100 celebrate new rail slop in Okeeebobee Classes' floats instill magic in homecoming Veteran observers say parade best in history of Martin High By CHRISTINE VAN METER Palm Beach Post Staff Writer STUART They were sick of looking at paper napkins and tired from working into the early hours of Saturday morning on their floats, but Martin County High School students put on what some veteran observers called the best homecoming parade in the school's history. Thousands of paradegoers lined the parade route Saturday afternoon that snaked its way down East Ocean Boulevard to Colorado Avenue and finished on East Seventh Street.

The theme of this year's float contest was Walt Disney and competition was especially fierce between the junior and senior classes. The juniors, who won the competition last year, defended their title with a life-size version of the Disney elephant character Dumbo. "Our's is all handmade," Junior class president Randall Foreman said from inside Dumbo's stomach, where he controlled the contraption's huge ears. "You see that big top hat up there that gives him class? We're going to have balloons coming out of there." Indeed, Dumbo did have balloons coming out of his top hat but the crowd seemed more amused by the smoke that came from PVC cannons mounted in the hull of the Senior class' replica of Peter Pan's pirate ship. The seniors, who prided themselves on being the only class to ever take down a powerline during the parade, finished the 27-foot replica of the animated ship just minutes before the parade began.

"It's made of millions of napkins, wood and chicken wire," explained senior Jeff Maxwell who road atop the float during the parade. "I'm the chicken wire specialist" Senior John Romano, "chief in charge of firepower," blasted fire extinguishers out of small cannons mounted in the ship's hull. Hours of hard work and napkin folding were nearly ruined during the parade when the mast of the ship caught a powerline in front of the courthouse on East Ocean Boulevard. The line snapped the mast but quickly was raised again thanks to a hammer aboard and the highly competitive crew. "It's so nice to see the good part of it," said I -v, VWv.

(.." Elsewhere In The Post By JOHN STEMEN Palm Beach Post Staff Writer OKEECHOBEE An enthusiastic crowd of about 400 people celebrated the start of a railway stop that will link area residents to a rail line running from Miami to New York. James "Wick" Leatherwood, state and community affairs officer for Amtrak, told the crowd Saturday attending ceremonies at the Okeechobee railway station that the Silver Meteor has many stops on its lengthy run. Connections are available to many other areas. The northbound train will stop once a day in Okeechobee at 11:05 a.m. at the railroad depot at 801 N.

Parrott Ave. The southbound train will stop daily at 3:46 p.m. The former railroad station won't be opened, although Okeechobee city and county officials did spend more than $13,000 to upgrade a concrete platform and pas-Please see AMTRAK8B REEB OUT OF SPOTLIGHT Paul Reeb, 74, ended a journey last week that led him from the vaudeville stage to the Port St. Lucie City Council spotlight. STORY, 2B REROUTING DADE COUNTY Dade County's bus system will compete with a private line in a test that could determine the future route of the nation's transportation networks.

STATE NEWS, 16B SCOTT WISfcMANSlafl Photographer of Okeechobee attended Amtrak stop dedication. Please see PARADE8B James Craig.

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