The Palm Beach Post from West Palm Beach, Florida • Page 1

PARTLY CLOUDY Windy conditions today with southerly winds at 15 to 20 mph. Thursday. afternoon, showers are possible. WEATHER, 2A ORIOLES' PALMER HALTS COiViEBACEC CITES HAMSTRING INJURY SPORTS, 1C LAKERS SQUEEZE BY HEAT 102-95 CLINCH PLAYOFF SPOT SPORTS, 1C GLADES GIRLS KEEP UP SPIRIT 'WE'LL BE BACK' ACCENT, ID EalmB eacJii Fost WEDNESDAY, MARCH 13, 1991 FINAL EDITION 70 PAGES 35 CENTS Ex-governor LeRoy Collins dies I960 segregation speech set state on path to 4 justice' JjT Is I 1989 FILE PHOTO Editorial: Collins was the greatest governor in Florida's history 16A I will always Gov. Lawton mitment to public service, quietly thank God for him, Thomas LeRoy Collins Governor of Florida, 1955-1961, and 'Florldian of the Century' PEACEFULLY brought about the desegregation of Florida while other Southern states were embroiled in violent confrontations.

INITIATED 'Government-in EXPANDED the state community college system from five to 22. BUILT Florida Atlantic University and established Florida's interstate highway system. By BELINDA BROCKMAN Palm Beach Post Staff Writer Former Gov. LeRoy Collins, who bucked his own Southern heritage to peacefully desegregate Florida amid the turmoil that bloodied other states, died Tuesday. Though his stand cost him lifelong friends and eventually his political career, Gov.

Collins held fast. "Each time I see the fruits of Gov. Collins' work for equality, honesty and com- Chiles said. Diagnosed in 1989 with lung cancer, Gov. Collins died at The Grove, his Tallahassee Please see COLLINS8A in 1989, Gov.

Col- Diagnosed with lung cancer lins died Tuesday at age 82. Home From The Persian Gulf Voters OK taxes to preserve land. $100 million plan passes by 2-1 margin i 'i ft i lie I Land Bonds 100 of precincts reporting Winner Commission Chairman Karen Marcus aude-l, 'This is great. People support protecting the environment not more development." The program will cost the owner of a $100,000 house with a homestead exemption an extra $15.50 a year in property taxes if assessments remain about the same. The bonds must be repaid in 20 years.

"It's going to be another add-on tax," said Louis Pryor, president of the Palm Beach-based Committee for Good Government, which op-Please see LAND14A By MEG JAMES Palm Beach Post Staff Writer WEST PALM BEACH Palm Beach County voters Tuesday overwhelmingly agreed to pay more in property taxes to save some of the county's vanishing scrub and wetlands. The $100 million bond issue passed by a 2-1 margin, or 66.5 percent of the vote. Turnout in the special election, which cost $140,000, was light, with 16.6 percent of the county's 470,768 voters casting ballots. "I think voters have really Yes No 46,910 66.5 23,617 33.5 shown some vision," said a beaming Joanne Davis, who led the environmentalists' campaign for the bond issue. "I am just thrilled I can't believe it." 'The people spoke': Strong mayor approved for West Palm Beach West Palm I -) ,7 'zy w- if -y A I i spoke." But one city commissioner said the ballot initiative is incomplete and doesn't properly spell out everyone's new duties.

"The petition changes nothing in the charter except two sections," Commissioner Jeff Koons said. "That leaves us as the City Commission to pretty much rewrite the whole charter Mr. Miller, he kind of left a Pandora's box there. There's a lot of legal questions that we need to have answered." Another supporter of the weaker elected mayor proposal, put on the ballot by the City Commission, said he was concerned that people did not realize how powerful the strong mayor will be. "I was surprised," said Bill Please see STRONG MAYOR 14A By ANGELA BRADBERY Palm Beach Post Staff Writer WEST PALM BEACH Declaring that West Palm Beach is entering an era of "dynamic leadership," supporters of a strong mayor ballot proposal celebrated a resounding victory Tuesday over a proposal for a weaker elected mayor.

"The citizens gave their opinions loud and strong," said Alan Miller, chairman of a five-member petition committee that gathered enough signatures to get a strong mayor initiative on Tuesday's ballot. "It's obvious that the voters wanted a change in the way the city's being run There will be dynamic leadership in West Palm Beach." Said a happy Harry Dahl, also a petition supporter, "The people Two elected-mayor proposals passed, but Question 2 the 'strong mayor' proposal supported by a citizens' group got the most 'yes' votes. Under the city's charter, that means Question 2 will prevail. MAYORAL PROPOSITION 1 Yes 2,944 52.6 No 2,655 47.4 MAYORAL PROPOSITION 2 Yes 3,779 65.7 No 1,972 34.3 More Inside DISTRICT 4: IB LAKE WORTH: IB ROYAL PALM BEACH: 3B DOWNTOWN WEST PALM BEACH TAX: IB RICHARD GRAUUCHStaff Photographer WEST PALM BEACH Navy reservist James International Airport after he and five col-Genna of Boynton Beach greets his son Mat- leagues returned Tuesday from duty in Opera-thew, 3, and his wife, Robin, at Palm Beach tion Desert Storm. STORY, 13A Inside Gallagher spent campaign money on meals, limos after election By MARY ELLEN KLAS Palm Beach Post Capital Bureau TALLAHASSEE Insurance Commissioner Tom Gallagher improperly used campaign contributions for dinners at New York and Seattle restaurants after his re-election and for a rental car while staying at an exclusive resort in Phoenix, records show.

He also used his campaign VISA card to pay for limousine rides for supporters to attend his election night victory party. Gallagher used his campaign surplus to pay the credit card bill and two months after the election paid his sister more than $8,600 for campaign work, reports Please see GALLAGHER9A PIZZA CALL Domino's Pizza to test a national pizza hotline. BUSINESS, 6B LAND DEAL South Africa unveils plan to end bias in land ownership. STORY, 3A DEAD WRONG In ignoring the numbers of Iraqi dead, are we fooling ourselves? OPINION, 16A JUST SAY NO Florida Senate President Gwen Margolis lays down the budget law. STORY, 7A 47 YEARS LATER Investigator says 1944 circus fire that killed 168 was arson.

STORY, 3A Tom Gallagher: 1 ,900 in per- sonal ex- penses. i January storm pushed tons of phosphorus into lake, Everglades By MARY McLACHLIN Palm Beach Post Staff Writer WEST PALM BEACH The January storm that drowned up to $15 million worth of winter vegetables also flushed huge doses of algae-feeding, weed-growing phosphorus into Lake Okeechobee and the Everglades, water managers say. The storm also exposed weaknesses in the area's water-moving system and bureaucratic conflicts in managing it. Growers have blamed the district for their losses and are considering a lawsuit. The Jan.

15-17 deluge was the worst dry-season storm on record in the farming area between the lake and the three Everglades Water Conservation Areas to the south, says a report by the South Florida Water Management District. The report is based on nearly 600 water samples taken at 136 sites throughout the Everglades Agricultural Area during and after the storm. The agency's nine-member board will review the report at a workshop today. It will be the first meeting for five new members appointed March 1 by Gov. Lawton Chiles.

The storm dropped 6 inches of rain uniformly over the vast farming area and nearly twice that much in some spots. It added a much-needed 6 inches of water to the lake, which was 2 feet below normal for January. Drought-plagued farmers were holding irrigation water in fallow fields, adding to the mass of floodwater that overwhelmed canals and pumps. Frantic pumping by growers and the district swept 67 metric, tons of phosphorus south from sug.y cane Please see ST0RM8A County engineer resigns, again BUSINESS CLASSIFIED COMICS 6B 10C 10D 2D DEAR ABBY 15A 2A 16A 5B 2A 10 7B 6D 8D 2C LETTERS LOTTERY McGOUN OBITUARIES PEOPLE TH0M SMITH STOCKS THEATERS TV LISTINGS TV SPORTS EDITORIALS 16A FLA. NEWS 12A DAVE GEORGE 1C HOROSCOPE 9D IN CANADA 10A ANN LANDERS 2D By MATT PRICHARD Palm Beach Post Staff Writer WEST PALM BEACH Faced with a new round of politically damaging publicity and the disapproval of a fourth county commissioner, beleaguered County Engineer Herb Kahlert Tuesday resigned for the second time in less than a week.

The resignation, which took effect at 5 p.m., was announced by an embarrassed County Administrator Jan Winters at the County Commission's meeting. "I apologize for the vacillations that have occurred over this issue. However, thisissue is not simple," Winters told commissioners. Winters' announcement reversed his decision Monday to let Kahlert withdraw his first resignation and take an unpaid leave of up to 60 days. It was, according to county staff members and political observers, one of the most startling flip-flops in the recent political history of Palm Beach County.

Kahlert has been under pressure to resign since January, when The Palm Beach Post reported his role as co-trustee of a family trust that has extensive land holdings near roads supervised by his department. Please see KAHLERT 1 OA Vol. 83 Nv21 1991 The Palm Beach Post 4 Sections THE ASSOCIATED PRESS 'Daily News' Agreement NEW YORK Pickets celebrate an agreement between unions and prospective buyer Robert Maxwell. He described the deal as 'historical, unprecedented and necessary to guarantee the return of the Daily News to the streets of New 4 STORY, 6B WE RECYCLE: For more information on paper recycling, call 1 800-432-7595, ext. 4638.

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