The Palm Beach Post from West Palm Beach, Florida • Page 81

TUESDAY, MARCH 22. 1994 The Palm Beach Post SECTION oca: lease i these allegations of discrimination." The club wants a five-year lease for the 2 acres of submerged land where its 70 boat slips are built, but Shawe said it would not object to being monitored. The club has maintained that it does not discriminate and has numerous Jewish, Hispanic, Asian and single women members. It has admitted several Jewish members recently but no black members. Deputy Attorney General Pete Anton-acci said his office would have no comment until Attorney General Bob Butter-worth is briefed on the ADL's report.

Butterworth is out of town until The Anti-Defamation League says the club has made progress in eliminating discriminatory policies. By TIM O'MEILIA Palm Beach Post Staff Writer PALM BEACH One of the most vocal critics of restrictive clubs using public land recommended Monday that the Sailfish Club be allowed a new lease on state-owned underwater land for its docks. The Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith suggested that the new lease be for one year instead of five years and that the state monitor the club's efforts to eliminate discriminatory membership policies. "It is the view of the Anti-Defamation League that the Sailfish Club has made meaningful progress in eliminating discriminatory policies and practices. At this juncture, the Sailfish Club's efforts must be regarded as a work begun, far from completion," said the ADL's statement to the Florida Attorney General's Office.

In February, ADL officials questioned club officers and Jewish members on the club's efforts to show it does not discriminate against blacks, Jews, women or other minorities. The attorney general's office asked the ADL to be the middleman and interview club members face-to-face while preserving the members' privacy. Sailfish Club President George Slaton was pleased with the ADL statement, said attorney Earle Shawe of Shawe Rosenthal, the Baltimore law firm representing the club. The ADL statement lauded Slaton's goodwill. The private sailing and fishing club on the northern end of Palm Beach has asked officially for a new lease, Shawe said.

"The club has done everything within its power to address that state's concerns about Other state Cabinet members also will be briefed, Antonacci said. In August, the Cabinet refused to renew the club's lease because the club refused to show it does not discriminate. The state had sought documentation from the club for two years. Since then, the club has rewritten its bylaws and membership application and softened its membership-denial process in addition to admitting several Jewish members. Club officials say they have been recruiting black applicants.

Although the $9,400 annual lease has expired, the club has continued using the docks while talks continue. t. I if 7 M. 1 I -i 7VCv-ir--- -f City pushes for orchid conservatory West Palm may sell bonds to ensure the facility is built in Howard Park. By JOEL ENGELHARDT Palm Beach Post Staff Writer WEST PALM BEACH City commissioners scrambling to ensure construction of an orchid conservatory in Howard Park agreed Monday to consider selling bonds to help make the project work.

The bonds may never be needed. But by making them available, commissioners said they would ensure construction of both a conservatory and an office building to house the American Orchid Society. The society, which judges orchid events and oversees several publications, wants a 90-year lease for 10 acres in Howard Park just south of the Kravis Center. The group plans to spend $20 million on the project and expect the conservatory to attract 250,000 people a year. Orchid Society officials did not attend Monday's meeting, which was extraordinary for give-and-take on key negotiating points between commissioners and residents.

Neighbors of the 35-acre park have objected to any deal that would allow construction of the office building and a greenhouse unless construction of the conservatory is guaranteed. The city proposal, initiated by Commissioners Sarah Nuckles and Jeff Koons, would ensure conservatory construction by pledging the proceeds from a bond sale backed by a $1 surcharge on tickets. The only threshold the Orchid Society would have to meet is to raise within three years 25 percent of the estimated $10 million needed to build the conservatory. Once that is met, construction of the office building would be allowed. If, two years later, the Orchid Society still doesn't have enough money to build the conservatory, the city would sell bonds; coupling bond money with whatever amount the Orchid Society could contribute.

The Orchid Society would not take ownership of the building until the bonds are repaid. If they fail to make payments, the city would own the conservatory. "We build it and we own it until they pay for it," City Commissioner Howard Warshauer said. The society's board will consider the proposal Thursday and have threatened to move elsewhere if they're not happy. But the proposal sounds like it may work, society Executive Director Lee Cooke said late Monday.

Residents appeared pleased with the plan but had questions about what the city would get if for some reason the bonds are not sold. "It's better than nothing but it's nowhere near, where we should be to protect ourselves," said Tom Tribby, president of the El Cid Historic Neighborhood Association. CAROLINE E. COUIGStaff Photographer ing to the National Weather Service. The moisture cools off when it moves over land and the fog forms.

Temperatures today will range from a low in the mid-60s to highs in the upper 80s. A Misty Morning On Lake Osborne LAKE WORTH John and Sandy Cimbara of Palm Springs spend a foggy Monday morning fishing on Lake Osborne in John Prince Park. Warm moist air from the south created the early morning fog, accord- Owner of Fort Pierce station sues TV syndicators By ELIOT KLEINBERG Palm Beach Post Staff Writer South Florida broadcasting entrepreneur Elvin Feltner, owner of Fort Pierce television station WTVX, has sued some of the nation's largest program syndicators for up to $150 million, claiming they criminally conspired against him. Feltner's suit, filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Fort Lauderdale, alleges that when his company, Krypton Broadcasting, bought WTVX-Channel 34 and stations in Jacksonville and in Birmingham, it realized it had inherited program contracts it couldn't possibly honor.

Krypton says the suppliers promised to work with Krypton by delaying payments, then conspired against it and later sued the company. It says that drove the three stations and Krypton Broadcasting into bankruptcy protection and accelerated a $20 million loan made by a Dutch bank that Krypton International, parent of Krypton Broadcasting, used to buy and maintain the two Florida stations. The Dutch bank later sued Krypton International for the loan; the two reached a tentative settlement this month. Krypton is assembling a plan that would settle the bankruptcy cases involving all three stations and Krypton Broadcasting. It claims the stations are worth less than half their original value.

The lawsuit claims the suppliers conspired to commit wire and mail fraud, which amounts to racketeering. It asks for $50 million, the amount Krypton claims it has lost; because the case includes claims of antitrust and racketeering, Krypton could be awarded triple that. Krypton's attorneys declined to comment Monday. Attorneys for the syndicators said Monday that they had not seen the lawsuit. The suppliers had originally sued Krypton for $11 million, claiming the stations didn't pay for the programs and continued to use them even after suppliers had ordered them to stop.

Krypton's lawsuit says the suppliers have conspired to boycott the Krypton stations and canceled programs that were paid for, then sold them to competing stations for lower fees. English teacher Anne Keesee dies challenges indictment ft nuakMT aw i -f By JOUNICE L. NEALY Palm Beach Post Staff Writer Anne Keesee was known for the high standards she expected her English students to reach and maintain. Mrs. Keesee, a teacher for 34 years, died Sunday at her Palm Beach Gardens home after a battle with cancer.

She was 60. Mrs. Keesee demanded excellence from her students, said Ethel Isaacs, a friend and fellow teacher. "She was a very dedicated teacher to maintaining the basics of gram-mar. Isaacs said Mrs.

Keesee was active in the Palm Beach Council of English Teachers. Mrs. Keesee was born in Murfreesboro, and graduated from Middle Tennessee State College. She moved to Palm Beach County in 1954 and earned a master's degree from Florida Atlantic University. She retired from the school system in 1990 after teaching at Conniston Middle School and Palm Beach Gardens High.

Area Superintendent Calvin Taylor, a former principal at Palm Beach Gardens, said Mrs. Keesee was "always a serious teacher who took care of kids in a serious manner." Mrs. Keesee is survived by her mother, Mary Jarrat Lamb of West Palm Beach, and one sister, Jane Lamb Sidler of Baton Rouge, La. The funeral is 3 p.m. Thursday at St.

Mark's Episcopal Church in Palm Beach Gardens. Contributions may be given to cancer research or Hospice of Palm Beach County. By VAL ELLICOTT Palm Beach Post Staff Writer WEST PALM BEACH A state health worker accused of threatening a woman who reported a now notorious child abuse case is demanding to know why grand jurors who initially refused to indict her later changed their minds. Barbara Black, a caseworker for the Department of Health and Rehabilitative Ser-vices, is charged with extortion for allegedly vowing i nr. iii'h Black Plan for car-free Al A opposed said.

"You'd be closing off one of the major roads that we have." Another man said simply, "How many signatures do we need to get on a petition to get a referendum vote on this?" Mayor Frank Harris outlined the proposal to members of the Loxahatchee Council of Governments, an advisory body made up of officials from cities and districts in northern Palm Beach and southern Martin counties. Jupiter Mayor Karen Golonka and Jupiter Inlet District Commissioner Mike Martinez, both council members, said they prefer to see the road remain open. "I see it flying in the face of has Please see PROMENA6E3B By JOE BROGAN Palm Beach Post Staff Writer JUNO BEACH More than 100 people were vocal in their opposition Monday night to a plan that would close a section of oceanfront highway to traffic and create a pedestrian-bicylist promenade. The plan calls for closing State Road A1A from just south of Marcinski Road south to the southern boundary of Loggerhead Park and enlarging bikeways, putting in shade trees and adding dune walkovers to the beach. A man who said he was a new resident said parking for the promenade will be inadequate.

"Will Juno Beach bus people in?" he to take away Eileen Callahan's children if Callahan continued ing HRS to say that a neighbor's child was being abused. The child, Andrew "A.J." Schwarz, was later found dead. His stepmother, Jessica Schwarz, has been charged with second-degree murder. Grand jurors who reviewed the extortion case against Black in November initially declined to in-. diet her, but a month later, on Dec.

Please BLACK3B BOB SHANLEYStaff Photographer Reunion With Rescuer BOCA RATON Lucretia Mingolla of Middletown, N.Y., on Monday hugs paramedic Tom Carroll, a member of the rescue team that helped revive Mingolla after she collapsed on Feb. 1. Mingolla, 67, was visiting last month when she had a heart attack. Her daughter began CPR and called 911. Mingolla, who has almost completely recovered from the heart attack, dropped by the station Monday to meet and thank the crew that resuscitated her.

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