The Palm Beach Post from West Palm Beach, Florida • Page 19

The Palm Beach Post SECTION Witt mm in Worried tourism officials blame cancellations on crime FRIDOCTOBER 15, 1993 Local I 'I'd say there's a high level of A frustration and a great deal of 1 VL? WILLIAM UPSHAW iife- I convention and visitors bureau chairman By GEORGE BENNETT Palm Beach Post Staff Writer WEST PALM BEACH Recent hotel cancellations by foreign groups have tourism officials and hoteliers concerned about the effects of crime on Palm Beach County's $1.6 billion tourist industry. "We are starting to get impact- ed by the crime situation," Palm Beach County Convention and Visitors Bureau President W.E. "Mac" McLaughlin told the Tourist Development Council Beach County Hotel and Motel Association. "We each now have had one or two cancellations." Korpi, manager of the PGA National Resort and Spa in Palm Beach Gardens, said a group of about 20 European vacationers canceled reservations last week, A group of about 100 Canadians last week chose to hold its meeting in California instead of at The Breakers in Palm Beach, spokeswoman Dale Carlson said. Carlson said a few other small Please see CANCELLATIONS3B "I really feel concern about our winter business," he added.

McLaughlin said he knew of three groups representing more than 400 people that had canceled plans in the past 10 days to come to Palm Beach County. The groups two from Great Britain and one from Canada probably would have accounted for 1,200 hotel "room-nights" and $500,000 in spending, he said. An estimated 3.2 million people visit Palm Beach County each year, the convention and visitors bureau says. About 22 percent, or "I'd say there's a high level of frustration and a great deal of worry" in the county hotel industry, said William Upshaw, chairman of the convention and visitors bureau and manager of the Palm Beach Gardens Marriott. Upshaw said foreign tourists seem more worried about crime than domestic visitors.

But at the Ocean Grand hotel in Palm Beach, three U.S. companies cited crime last month when they canceled tentative plans to book 750 rooms. "It is a concern," said John Korpi, president of the Palm man tourist was slain in Miami and a British visitor was killed near Tallahassee last month. Nine foreign visitors have been slain in the state since October 1992. more than 700,000, are from outside the United States.

Florida's $31 billion tourism industry has been rocked by bad worldwide publicity after a Ger 10 Hissing, 4-inch immigrants not welcome in Fla. 11 1 It seems like such a waste. Buying a cockroach in Florida. Sort of like buying humidity. Cockroaches, you'd think, would always be free of charge the sprig of parsley that comes with the Florida platter.

But no. Some people actually pay for cockroaches. As pets. Madagascar hissing cockroaches. "They're huge and grotesque," said Maeve McConnell, a spokesman for the state it.

i. AIL: Department of Agriculture. "And when you irritate them, they hiss at you." We're talking about pets for people who might better spend the money on exploratory CAT scans. Madagascar hissing cockroaches get to be 4 inches long. And they live as long as four years not like some of the local, smaller species that have six-month life spans.

The Madagascar's got a thick shell too. If you swat v-. k4 Frank Cerabino New source for stadium cash urged By GEORGE BENNETT Palm Beach Post Staff Writer WEST PALM BEACH The county should look for a source other than the hotel tax to pay for new spring training stadiums for the Atlanta Braves and Montreal Expos, a tourism advisory group said Thursday. The Tourist Development Council didn't specify the alternative source in a resolution it sent to county commissioners, but some members mentioned a new tax on restaurant meals. Commissioners are set to vote next week on hiking the county's tax on hotel and motel rooms from 3 percent to 4 percent.

The commission has made tentative pledges to use the added money to build a Braves stadium and to split the cost of an Expos ballpark with the city of West Palm Beach. "There's a concern that hotels are paying an unfair share," said Leo Gillespie, a hotelier and member of the tourism council. The meals tax Gillespie favors was also mentioned Thursday as a potential revenue source for a $60 million convention center being pitched by the county Economic Council. The business group will suggest a "menu of financing alternatives" rather than a specific tax when it presents the idea to county commissioners next Please see TAX3B Channel 34 boss gives up control By ELIOT KLEINBERG Palm Beach Post Staff Writer MIAMI Faced with losing control of his two besieged Florida television stations to a bankruptcy trustee, broadcasting magnate Elvin Feltner agreed Thursday to turn over their operations to one of his aides. Under the settlement, Feltner, chairman of Krypton International, would turn over all operations of WTVX-Channel 34 in Fort Pierce and WNFT-Chan-nel 47 in Jacksonville to the stations' current chief operating officer, Dan Dayton, until a reorganization plan is approved by the court or the stations are sold.

"Elvin Feltner shall have no further right or power to participate in the management, direction, operation or setting of policy," the agreement says. "Dan's been running the stations anyway," said Daniel Bakst, bankruptcy attorney for the stations. "They just don't like Elvin, and Elvin's agreed he won't take part in decision-making." Please see KRYPT0N3B one with a glancing blow, you're liable just to get it hissed off. "They'd just hiss at you," said University of Florida entomology Professor Phil Kochler, who's raising a research colony of Madagascars. "To kill one, you'd need to step on it." So basically, we're dealing with a Robo-roach.

A Robo-roach with an attitude. A Schwarzeneggcrized version of an already irksome brand of pest. You flip on the kitchen light, and instead of scampering for cover, this mega-roach just looks at you and hisses, "Hasta la vista, baby." Do we need another brand of roach in Florida? rrs AW A rv -will 7 i -y- sl (v SANDY SKLARStaff Photographer Through Fire And Water WEST PALM BEACH Robin Herring of Palm after exiting a structure set ablaze by the fire Beach County Fire-Rescue cools off Thursday department as part of a training exercise. McCarty to be reimbursed for false ethics complaint a' In 1990, McDermott accused McCarty, then a Delray Beach city commissioner, of violating state law by failing to report a trip by private jet, a ride in a limousine and a ticket to a Republican fund-raiser paid for by a bond company that was doing business with the city. McCarty denied ever taking gifts Please see ETHICS3B By MARY ELLEN KLAS Palm Beach Post Capital Bureau TALLAHASSEE In a decision that could have broad implications for foes of public officials, the Florida Commission on Ethics ordered a prominent civil rights leader Thursday to reimburse Palm Beach County Commissioner Mary McCarty for legal fees she spent defending an ethics complaint against her.

Les McDermott, the director of the south county branch of the NAACP, must pay McCarty $12,876 because his claim against her was unsubstantiated and intended to damage her reputation, the ethics commission ruled in a unanimous decision. McDermott's attorney, Jim Green, said they will challenge the ruling in federal court, arguing that the decision violates First Amendment rights to free speech. Does somebody consider us roach-deficient? "I wonder if we sent a bunch of Florida roaches to Madagascar, whether they'd take them," said Mark Bullock, the owner of a Lake Worth pet store called Mark's Ark. Somebody ought to ask. Because for some reason, we Americans have been importing these African island roaches and selling them here for pets.

"They're almost the size of small mouse and 1 live longer than a mouse," Koehler said. "I wouldn't want one, but they are kind of interesting." $5,000 for mega-roach possession They move slowly, making them less apt to escape while people play with them. People in desperate need of recreation. Fortunately, we've banned this form of recreation in Florida. Madagascar roach possession in Florida can get you a $5,000 fine.

We're trying to hold the line. No more roaches. We're already full. We have a bad feeling about this new wave of immigration. We suspect that Adam Madagascar and his wife, Eve, are going to find their way to Florida, wave their antennae in the heavy, humid air, redolent with decaying organic matter, and say, "This wouldn't be a bad place to raise several dozen kids and retire." (We could end up with the insect equivalent of the New Yorker infestation of South Florida.) There's precedent.

So many other roaches we have in Florida came from someplace else. The Asian, German and smokey brown were all exotic species at one time. But they dug in and made themselves permanent residents. We don't want that to happen to the Madagascar. So Madagascars entering the state for educational purposes must have permits, and if one tries to escape, the orders are squish to kill.

Agents all over illegal roach sales The ag department is so worked up about these roaches that Commissioner Bob Crawford issued an advisory asking for "anyone who knows ef pet stores or individuals who have Madagascar hissing cockroaches to notify the nearest Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services office." "They are tropical insects and probably would do well in our state's climate from Central Florida south if they ever escaped and proliferated." They might enjoy sampling Florida's $6 billion agricultural industry or enjoy setting up shop in your kitchen, rattling the stemware with their tanklike armored bodies. We've got enough problems without putting jumbo hissing roaches on the list. So roach agents have fanned through the state looking for illegal roach sales. So far, two pet stores in Pensacola and one in Fort Myers have been busted this year for selling the Madagascars which go anywhere from $7 to $12 apiece. "They're expensive for a roach," Bullock said.

Anything's expensive for a roach. It seems like such a waste. Buying a cockroach in Florida. McCarty McDermott )' Evert Lake Worth welcome sign unwelcome after protest UrrtRS i Advice WEST PALM BEACH Tennis star Chris Evert (left) talks with her sister Clare Evert Thursday before speaking to a group of students at Berkshire Elementary School. She urged them to take up sports to stay away from drugs and gangs.

the right-of-way where the sign would have been placed. Because of Quevedo's objections, district board members killed plans for the sign at their meeting. They also rejected the city's request to refund its $550 permit application fee after learning that no city officials were at the meeting. Lake Worth Mayor Rodney Romano said Vice Mayor Daniel Shepherd had planned to attend Thursday's meeting but was forced to make an unscheduled trip. "It is not a mega-issue," said Romano, adding that he hopes another location can be found for the sign, which is being given to the city by a private donor.

By KIRK BROWN Palm Beach Post Staff Writer WEST PALM BEACH Jesus Quevedo won a victory Thursday against Lake Worth city officials. Of course, it helped that no one from the city showed up. Lake Worth officials had proposed putting a large illuminated sign welcoming visitors near a bridge on Olive Avenue that acts as the boundary between their city and West Palm Beach. But Quevedo, who is building a home near the bridge, didn't like the idea. "The sign is not safe for my family.

It will be a good spot for burglars to hide," Quevedo said in a letter to the South Florida Water Management District, which owns MM SCOn WISEMAN Staff Photographer.