The Palm Beach Post from West Palm Beach, Florida • Page 132

i -r -t x. ti' .1 SECTION The Palm Beach Post -iyRDWjANUARY 18, 1992 i Crews dig to find '28 mass grave in I A lawyer requests an injunction, calling excavation of the West Palm grave for hurricane victims 'basic human By BARTHOLOMEW SULLIVAN Palm Beach Post Staff Writer WEST PALM BEACH Three months after people gathered to pay their respects to victims of the 1928 hurricane who were buried in a mass grave on Tamarind Avenue, city work crews Friday used a backhoe to try to find the boundaries of the site But as the crews dug trenches at 25th Street and Tamarind Avenue, uncovering bones, it became apparent that city maps of the area were inaccurate. Jennings also reported the excavation to the Police Department. A detective investigated the complaint, Chief Billy Riggs said, but Riggs did not know the result of the probe. "If there hadn't been a ceremony in October bringing attention to that site, I could see such a callous disregard," Jennings said.

"This is insen-sitivity and a basic human indecency." Jennings has been working to have the mass burial site placed on the National Register of Historic Places. But some city officials want to use the portion of the 8-acre tract where there are no remains for an affordable-housing project. City Commissioner Robbie Littles said the excavation was necessary to determine whether Please see GRAVES4B More than 1,800 people were killed in the hurricane on Sept. 16, 1928, when Lake Okeechobee breached its levees and put towns such as Belle Glade under 10 feet of water. Many of the bodies were trucked to the mass grave at what was then the city's dump and thrown into trenches lined with quick lime, according to contemporary accounts and survivors' memories.

Lawyer Janice L. Jennings, who organized the October ceremony, filed a request for an emergency injunction Friday to stop what she and others called grave desecration. The request will be considered by Circuit Judge Stephen A. Rapp. Under state law, it is a felony to disturb a known grave site and a misdemeanor to know of such desecration and not report it.

fc MARK MIRKOStaff Photographer Supervisor Dick Scott sifts through dirt from a backhoe Friday. 'We're trying our best not to desecrate a he said. Savior of river Engineer candidate selected Boynton employee needs commission OK 0 vfT. J. rf V.

mourned Lund fought to stop Loxahatchee dredging By STEPHEN POUNDS Palm Beach Post Staff Writer JUPITER The Loxahatchee River needed a big brother and Bill Lund volunteered. "The Loxahatchee River became Bill's love and fascination the winding dark water, the great cypress stands, the mangrove jungles, the river full of fish," environmentalist Nat Reed of Hobe Sound said. "There is not a river in the world that has not been preserved without a river keeper. Bill was the river keeper of the Loxahatchee." Mr. Lund died Monday of emphysema at his Jupiter home along the river.

He was 69. About 180 people on Friday filled two galleries at Aycock Funeral Home in Jupiter for his memorial service. "He was the great conservationist of north county. He sat with me many a night teaching me about taking care of the environment," said George Gentile, Loxahatchee River Environmental Control District board chairman. Mr.

Lund was its first chairman. The two also served on the Jupiter Planning and Zoning Commission, of which Mr. Lund was a member until last year. Friends said Mr. Lund never stopped volunteering to save the environment.

When other jewels of Florida's landscape cried for protection, he answered. He was instrumental in negotiating a land swap that brought the southern portion of Jonathan Dickinson State Park into state hands, park biologist Dick Roberts said. Environmentalist Rosa Dur-ando said Mr. Lund stood up against millionaire insurance executive John D. MacArthur when he pushed for development of north TV By JOE CAPOZZI Palm Beach Post Staff Writer BOYNTON BEACH City Manager J.

Scott Miller ended a nationwide search for a licensed engineer Friday by selecting an official from the city's Utilities Department. Assistant Utilities Director Mike Kazunas would become the city's first full-time licensed engi-; neer since February 1989 if he is confirmed Tuesday by the City Commission. "I'm looking forward to it, if that's their decision," said Ka-; zunas, 42, who was hired in August 1989 and received his engineering license three months later. Officials have been consulting with the West Palm Beach engineering firm Gee Jenson for about $24,800 a year since January 1990, when commissioners raised concerns about potential liabilities. Because an unlicensed engineer has coordinated the department since 1989, commissioners were worried the city could violate state rules that require only licensed engineers to review documents prepared by other licensed engineers.

Vice Mayor Ed Harmening and Commissioner Jose Aguila both said they would confirm Kazunas, Mayor Arline Weiner and Commissioners Lillian Artis and Lynne Matson could not be reached. 1 "I think he would be an excellent city engineer. He would give us a double-barrel capacity," Harmening said, referring to Kazunas' experience with utilities. Miller's selection got a cool reception from Vince Finizio, who does not have an engineering license but coordinates the Engi- Please see ENGINEER4B GREG LOVETTStaff Photographer Home, Brush Burn In Acreage THE ACREAGE A brush fire on Friday destroyed an unoccu- Pratt Whitney Road. Firefighters were called to the blaze along pied $30,000 mobile home, consumed 7.5 acres of land and 77th Lane at 10:14 a.m.

and emptied two 750-gallon pumpers came within a half-mile of several houses west of Seminole- before bringing the fire under control about noon. STORY, 2B Smith jury-pool deserter guilty mm By MEG JAMES Palm Beach Post Staff Writer WEST PALM BEACH A Palm Beach Gardens salesman who became a fugitive from the William Kennedy Smith jury pool in November was handcuffed and hustled to jail Friday after a judge found him guilty of criminal contempt. As law enforcement officers surrounded Robert Darr and Daniel T.K. Hurley declared that Darr "arrogantly and willfully" disobeyed Circuit Judge Mary Lu-po's order to return to her courtroom following a mid-morning recess so attorneys could question potential jurors for the Smith trial. Friday, Hurley found Darr guilty of criminal contempt of court and ordered him to spend five Please see DARR4B snapped handcuffs around his wrists, Darr whispered incredulously to his lawyer, "Is this necessary?" Darr, 46, had claimed he panicked and fled from jury selection Nov.

20 because he had a sudden phobic reaction to public scrutiny. He didn't want to embarrass himself in front of other potential jurors or reporters, Darr said. However, Chief Circuit Judge Please see LUND4B Darr Students, teachers cheer move to new Boca school Miami man convicted of Boynton assault Leisureville resident beaten, robbed in home Vf V- me $7.9 million Hammock Sunte Elementary brought a cfjprus of ByELISA NEWSOME Palm Beach Post Staff Writer BOCA RATON After a year of watching the construction crew members from a distance, Sean McGarry got the chance Friday to take a closer look at their workmanship. The fourth-grader was one of nearly 900 students to christen Hammock Pointe Elementary, which officially opened Friday. At 9:50 a.m., busloads of children and their teachers started arriving at the school in the 8400 block of Southwest Eighth Street.

They got off the buses with cheers and their arms weighed down with jackets, book bags and brown sacks containing the possessions they didn't want to leave behind at their old schools, Verde and Whispering Pines. They also carried school pride. Many of the students and faculty wore T-shirts with No one seemed to mind that the grounds weren't landscaped or that workers still were adding finishing touches. The students and their teachers started the day at their old schools about 590 of them at Verde and 290 at Whispering Pines. They were awestruck by the new school, which sits on 15 acres and cost $7.9 million to build.

"Wow, wow, wow, wow," was all that was heard as Sean and his classmates in Mary Barnett's room filed into their new home. The children had been in a portable classroom at Verde. Their new room is self-contained, with a sink, water fountain, coat racks, cubby holes and a bathroom. For Yadira Irizarry, 10, that means she won't have to find a buddy to trek across campus to the bathroom. And it means the bathroom should stay clean.

"Whenever we would come in from P.E., there would be dirt on the floor," Yadira said. Sean was so eager to see the new school that he and a friend rode their bikes through the campus last Saturday. "I really like it," the 10-year-old concluded. By MEG JAMES Palm Beach Post Staff Writer WEST PALM BEACH A 24-year-old Miami man who took advantage of a Boynton Beach man's generosity was found guilty on Friday of beating and robbing the 71-year-old man in his Leisureville home. A six-member jury pronounced Darnell F.

Bostic guilty of three charges: burglary with assault, grand theft and aggravated battery on a person over 65. The severity of the charges could bring Bostic, who has other criminal convictions, a life sentence, Assistant State Attorney Carrie Soden said. Circuit Judge Hubert Lindsey said he would sentence Bostic on Feb. 20. On April 23, Bostic and a companion drove up to Oscar Nelson's home in Leisureville while Nelson they were having car trouble, an arrest record shows.

Bostic's companion then asked Nelson if he could use the bathroom. Nelson agreed and showed the man into the house. After he emerged from the bathroom, the man grabbed Nelson around the neck in a choke-hold and Bostic beat Nelson in the head, breaking his jaw and cutting his head. Nelson's wife found her husband about an hour later, lying in blood. The elderly couple's bedroom had been ransacked and Olga Nelson's diamond ring was stolen.

Police identified Bostic as the assailant after finding fingerprints on Olga Nelson's jewelry boxes. Oscar Nelson declined Friday to discuss the jury's verdict, delivered after a three-day trial. Bostic had previous convictions for burglary, trafficking in hallucinogens and sale of cocaine. He is also wanted in Broward County, Soden said. BOB SHANLEYStaff Photographer an emblem of Hammock Pointe mascot, the "Mighty Hawk." The fifth-graders gave a the "Mighty Hawk.

The fifth-graders gave a around in his garage. Nelson if they could of pliers because' Sunday, parents will get a chance to tour was puttering i concert in the court yard. Blue ribbons were Hammock Pointe. The school is having an Danielle Fortunato, 6, celebrates as youngsters Tne pairasked strung across each classroom door. open house from 2 to 4 p.m.

move to Hammock Pointe Elementary School. borrow a paii Graham leads group in fight to limit county planning power By KIRK BROWN including Boca Raton, Delray Beach water supplies, environmental protec- But Graham also said she would be Palm Beach Post Staff Writer an(j paim Beach Gardens. tion, mass transit, affordable housing willing to work with county officials to WEST PALM BEACH A political "Our goal is to educate the people and boundaries throughout the county. form a countywide planning agency. was puttering The pair asked borrow a pair "Our goal is to educate the people Inside Local News DRUG FARM OPENS The drug farm criminal justice leaders say might be Palm Beach County's best weapon against crime opens near Belle Glade STORY, 2B committee was created Friday that will Voters approved the creation of such an organization, the Countywide Planning Council, in 1986.

But a majority of cities agreed to disband the council in December. Graham said the agency she envisions would be smaller than the previous council, which had 17 members. She also said the new agency's members should all be elected officials. It commissioners are given the added authority, municipal officials fear a costly, time-consuming layer of bureaucracy will be created that will dilute the power of city governments. Graham said she is confident her committee can defeat the initiative.

"If you look at the so-called out-of-control growth," she said, "it is all out in the county." truthfully about what (the referendum) means," Graham said. But County Commissioner Carole Phillips predicted that organizers of Save Our Local Environment will try to confuse the public. "If people can't see through this, then we are all in trouble." Voters will be asked on March 10 whether county commissioners should be allowed to make decisions about urge residents to vote against a oanoi question that would give county commissioners more power to make county-wide planning decisions. West Palm Beach Mayor Nancy Graham said she agreed to be chairman of the Save Our Local Environment committee at the request of officials in several of the county's larger cities, IN BRIEF 7 AREA DEATHS ii HfiTi flin iftnt ftrpi pry iffiii nTHi iQui ipiuLjim.