The Palm Beach Post from West Palm Beach, Florida • Page 4

INTERNATIONAL NEWS, 10A: CHOOSING CARE FOR YOUR CHILD 4 FAMILIES TELL THEIR STORIES OF FACING TOUGH QUESTIONS ACCENT, IF RUN COULD CCiVIH UP ROSES WELLINGTON OWNER HOPES STRIKE THE GOLD CAN WIN SPORTS, 1C SPECIAL REPORT ON KURDISH CRISIS MOSTLY SUNNY A 20 percent chance of thunderstorms for inland areas. Highs will range from mid-80s to lower 90s. WEATHER, 2A TRAVEL, 1G: MATURE TRAVELERS FIND PERFECT TRIPS 420 PAGES ONE DOLLAR MARTINST. LUCIE FINAL 4 In Be QIIMHAV APDII 0 1QQ1 Port plan: Boon or boondoggle? Murky expansion plan leaves questions The Port-Deepening Project WHAT: The harbor will be dredged from 25 feet to 28 feet and the entrance channel from 27 to 30 feet. Some of the dredged material will be used to renourish eroded beaches south of the Fort Pierce Inlet.

Dredging is expected to start late this year. WHY: To allow bigger ships to use the port and encourage construction of wharves, ship terminals, warehouses, manufacturing plants and other businesses in the port area. COST: Estimated at $6.3 million. Additional dredging near the proposed port expansion would cost more. POSSIBLE EFFECTS: Proponents say port development will attract industry and create jobs, improving the area's economy.

Opponents fear the dredging and subsequent port operations will harm water quality in the Indian River Lagoon, ruining the fishing industry and a prime lure for tourists. wishing to locate there. Whether the port would be large enough or deep enough to handle the increased citrus shipments envisioned by the Corps of Engineers. How the dredging and expanded port would affect the Indian River Lagoon. Environmentalists hoping to block the work say valuable sea-grass beds would be destroyed.

Port proponents say any damage would be minimal and worth the eventual benefits. Two St. Lucie County conserva- Please see PORT16A viewed the project. The Army Corps of Engineers, which oversees federal navigation projects, didn't have to obtain state environmental permits to dredge the harbor, unlike other developers. Whether the costly expansion project is economically feasible.

The county doesn't know how much it would cost to buy land for expansion, hasn't decided how to pay for construction of terminals and wharves and has yet to reveal specific information on businesses that would draw freighters and cruise ships to the seaport. Those disparate views are not surprising. No one seems to have a clear idea of what an expanded port would mean for Fort Pierce. Though a $6.3 million dredging project is scheduled to start by the end of the year, questions about the attractiveness and viability of a bigger port haven't been answered. Some of those questions include: Whether state environmental agencies have adequately re By JIM REEDER Palm Beach Post Staff Writer FORT PIERCE Fish kills, chemical spills, dirty water and dying sea grass.

That's what some in St. Lucie County picture when they hear the words "dredging" and "port expansion." Others see booming business and more jobs when describing the county's plans to deepen the Port of Fort Pierce's harbor and turn vacant land into a bustling operation 1 wisters leave intense suitenn Twisters leave i 70 tornadoes kill 29 i across seven states; thousands homeless m-: stiff -I ---i j-, Mf 1 11 11,11 1 1 1 THE ASSOCIATED PRESS New York Times News Service ANDOVER, Kan. Like swaths from a more than 70 tornadoes slashed through seven states Friday night, killing at least 29 people, including 17 or more in this small town on the Kansas prairie ringed by horse farms and wheat fields. Authorities said that they expected the toll to mount as the digging-out continues, and that thousands of people had been left homeless, 1,500 in Andover alone. Residents of the Plains should expect, fear annual tornado onslaught 8A In addition to Kansas, where one of a half dozen major twisters tore 40 miles from the town of Clearwater to El Dorado in the south-central part of the state, tornadoes touched down in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Nebraska and Iowa.

In Wichita, hospital officials confirmed at least five deaths, as well as two in communities southeast of Wichita. Twisters killed another three people across the state line in northern Oklahoma. One tornado left cars "rolled up like little balls" in the community of Copan, just south of the Kansas border, said Larry Topping, fire chief in Bartlesville. Several tornadoes also touched down in southeast Nebraska, damaging at least 11 homes. Golf ball-sized hail pummeled Arkansas, knocking out power to thousands of homes and businesses.

Kansas Gov. Joan Finney, who flew over Andover in a helicopter, issued a state disaster declaration, the first step in getting federal assistance. Please see TORNADOES9A Early Saturday, residents survey rubbleJeft by Friday's tornado in Andover, Kan. Damage in the town was estimated at more than $50 million. I A Gumshoes seek tales of sleaze to discredit Kennedy accuser March 30 at the Kennedys' Palm Beach estate, three of South Florida's private detectives have become very valuable to one of America's most famous families.

"If your investigator is good enough, any lawyer will do," the famous defense attorney Melvin Belli once said. Acting on that belief, the Kennedy family has hired some of the area's best private eyes. Dramatic cally different, the detectives have Please see INVESTIGATORS 14A By JODI MAILANDER Palm Beach Post Staff Writer WEST PALM BEACH The combined forces of a former cop, FBI agent and U.S. Marine are bent on the same mission as they infiltrate Palm Beach's posh bars and neighborhoods. They're known as the other Kennedy men.

They are shadowy figures, peeking under bar stools and flinging open closets in search of skeletons. Their assignment is to dig up such a discrediting profile of the Jupiter woman who says she was WJNO's Jack Cole is all talk when it comes to Kennedys IB raped that prosecutors will balk at filing charges against her accused attacker, William Kennedy Smith. If state attorneys decide to charge Smith, evidence these men uncover will go to trial as the foundation for the 30-year-old medical student's defense. In the monthlong scramble for the story behind what occurred Brady bill challenges NRA clout Lobby pits faded image against waiting period By CHARLES HOLMES Palm Beach Post Washington Bureau WASHINGTON The National Rifle Association is in a new and unfamiliar struggle to retain its image as the all-powerful protector of gun owners' rights. The gun lobby faces a decline in membership, the defection of old friends such as Ronald Reagan who support a national seven-day waiting period for handgun purchases and signals from President Bush that he is ready to negotiate with Congress on gun-control measures.

As usual, the NRA this spring has launched a multimillion-dollar public relations effort to prevent the waiting-period bill named after James Brady, Reagan's press secretary who was left disabled by an assassin's bullet in 1981 from passing Congress. But the NRA has a new tactic against the Brady bill: its own gun regulation proposal. Sponsors promote it as a reasonable alternative to the waiting period. Gun control proponents assert that the NRA has made a key concession that steps are necessary to limit the over-the-counter sale of guns by supporting a measure by Rep. Harley Staggers a West Virginia Democrat.

The bill would Please see NRA4A Inside Special police teams stir excessive force charges I'v- ii 3L COMICS BOOKS BRIDGE LOTTERIES 2.17A BILLMcGOUN IE DAN MOFFETT 1C NEWS SHOW 11 A i. ID 1J 2F ID 2E 8B 2E BUSINESS CLASSIFIED DEAR ABBY DOUGLAS EDITORIALS FLA. NEWS HATHAWAY 8B IE 4D IB 2C OBITUARIES SCHULTZ STOCKS SWARTZ THEATERS TV SPORTS ANN LANDERS 2F LETTERS 5E RON WIGGINS IF i Vol. 58 No. 17 1991 The Palm Beach Post 1 3 Sections 0 FOR HOME DELIVERY SERVICE 8204663 1800654 1231 POSTLINES: IN TRAVEL from 1988 to 1990 shows that nearly half the investigations of tac team officers involved the use of excessive force.

At the five departments with the most complete records, the review showed the average ratio of force complaints to total complaints for tac officers was more than twice the ratio for other sworn officers. "We're not dealing with John and Jane Q. Citizen. We're dealing with scum," said Riviera Beach police tac officer James Patterson. The work is risky.

Tac officers raid drug houses that are armed to Please see TACS15A First of two parts By DOUGLAS T. COHEN Palm Beach Post Staff Writer Police departments nationwide added paramilitary tactics to their strategy in the mid-1980s as they stepped up their war against crack and its new breed of criminals. But against the backdrop of the fatal arrest of Robert Jewett by West Palm Beach tactical team officers and the videotaped beating of a motorist by Los Angeles uniformed officers, all police and tactical teams in particular are under fire. A Palm Beach Post review of internal affairs records for eight area law enforcement agencies i if RICHARD GRAULICHStaff Photographer Keys For Success RIVIERA BEACH Army Spec. 4 Andre Davis (left) and 27 other Desert Storm veterans with ties to Riviera Beach were handed keys to the city after marching in a parade to City Hall Saturday morning.

STORY, 2B WE RECYCLE For information, call 1 800 432 7598 ext. 4638 7 I.