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

The Palm Beach Post SECTION FESTIVAL OF PRIDE Kwanzaa celebration spotlights black culture STORY, 4B Local Ne AWAITING WORD Pratt expects decision on new fighter project BUSINESS, 6B Fear spurs water district to switch pumps to seed oil TUESDAY, DECEMBER 27. 1994 polluted millions of acres of pristine Alaskan wilderness with crude oil. But in South Florida, the threat of spills into unspoiled habitat or drinking water supplies is greatest from governments whose job is to keep the supplies safe the water management district, whose big pumps move water across South Florida, or city utilities, whose equipment often sits directly; Park Map area i Homestead CjMfr i entrance (fOW Ingraham l-hy. f4r( 3 JF Taylor' jvTPj. Slough The Rape Plant A member of the mustard family, the rape plant is primarily used as a pasture crop and for processing into livestock feed by farmers.

One variety is grown for its oilbearing seeds, used in cooking and salad oil, and in the manufacture of such products as margarine, soap and industrial lubricants. The plant grows mostly in Asia, Europe and New Zealand. Source: The World Book Encyclopedia. Spills from converted engines are no threat to native habitats. By ANGIE FRANCALANCIA Palm Beach Post Staff Writer A big diesel-powered pump in the middle of Florida's most pristine habitat it's enough to scare anyone who has heard of the Exxon Valdez.

But in Palm Beach and the other 15 counties in the South Florida Water Management District, the big engines are becoming a little less formidable to the environment. That's because water managers are replacing potentially harmful petroleum-based oils with a vegetable-based oil that's harmless to plants, fish and animals. Although the oil, called rapeseed oil, costs four times that of a petroleum product, it has already saved the district countless dollars. This month, 130 gallons of the environmentally friendly oil spilled from a pump in Taylor Slough near the entrance to Everglades National Park. It damaged nothing and the district must clean nothing.

"This would have been catastrophic if it had been the conventional hydraulic fluid," said Pete Rhoads, Everglades restoration chief for the district. The rape is a stalky plant with a yellow flower that grows mostly in Europe. When the Exxon Valdez grounded in Prince William Sound in 1989, a private company had above the drinking water wells. It was the fear of oil spills that persuaded water managers to try the new oil. Already, seven Palm Beach County pumps have been converted.

One Broward County and 12 Dade County pumps also have the new oil. And managers will continue converting their pumps, they said. Thieves I 'V iT I- Palm Beach Inlet needs i dredging, sand plant By TIM O'MEILIA Palm Beach Post Staff Writer PALM BEACH Upgrading a 39-year-old sand transfer plant, dredging the channel and renourishing the shoreline are the best ways to keep the Palm Beach Inlet clear and save the town's dwindling north beach, the first draft of an inlet study concludes. 4 -1 -K it A combina- Palm Beach Inlet StUdy il nl Blue Heron Blvd. i-il 1 7 pVy' Palm Beach Shores Bravado Sand transfer pump Xane North plunder aid group $20,000 in equipment taken from office that helps the disabled.

By JOE BROGAN Palm Beach Post Staff Writer WEST PALM BEACH Burglars spoiled Christmas for an agency that helps the disabled by stealing its office equipment, including a machine that converts written words into Braille for the blind. The Sunday break-in at the Coalition for Independent Living Options Inc. at 2326 S. Congress Ave. caused a loss of about $20,000, said acting Executive Director Kristi Smith.

After tearing out the door lock, thieves took five computers, four printers, copying and fax machines, a refrigerator, microwave Oven, videotape machine and a television set, Smith said. It was the second time this year that burglars stole the agency's office equipment. On April 1, someone took two computers, a printer and a video camera, Smith said. "We really just recovered from time before," Smith said. "We "have insurance, but it won't come through for a while." I Smith said the nonprofit gets its $120,000 annual budget from the state Division of Vocational Rehabilitation, will be open today since its files are still Intact.

jThe agency has helped several hundred disabled people this year, she said. "We do information and and work with people to teach independent living skills for the newly injured or those whose problem is caused by age," she said. In some cases, the clients are matched with someone who has learned to function with a similar disability, she said. I I Anyone wishing to help in replacing some of the stolen items pan call the agency at 966-4288. nothing else comes of this, perhaps it will let more people know we're here and what we do," Smith said.

Hjetty Peanut Island Palm Beach Inlet South IJetty tion of the three is the best and cheapest of several alternatives and would cost $851,000 annually or $42.6 million over 50 years according to the preliminary findings of Ap- plied Technol-. ogy Management of West Palm Beach. also suggests that Palm Beach seek money from federal agencies and the Port of Palm Beach to make the plan work. The firm's conclusions may change after town, Palm Present sand discharge point 1 Lake Worth Palm 11 BeachJfT 14 Mile a Garden 1 1 laa in STAFF GRAPHIC vy -V" SHERMAN ZENTStaff Photographer Beach County and state officials make recommendations. A final draft will be presented for public comment in February, and a final report will be issued by early summer.

The preliminary study recommends increasing the pumping capacity of the inoperative sand-transfer plant on the north jetty of the inlet with booster pumps so it can shoot 60 percent more sand across the inlet. The improved plant still could pump only 100,000 cubic yards annually, short of the 170,000 cubic yards scientists estimate should cross the inlet to the shrunken beaches to the south. To make up for that, the inlet must be dredged more often to prevent shoaling, and the north Please see INLET2B Looks Like A Good Place To Take A Break LAKE WORTH Rather than brave crowds of after- Lake Worth Beach. Monday's sunshine drew many Christmas-sale seekers at the malls on Monday, people to the beach. Today's high should be near Montreal resident Aline Martin prefers to read on 70, with northeast winds at 10 to 15 mph.

Trump's club lures Di, Chuck one at a time 'Twas the day after Christmas and all over town items for Tasmanian Devil and Marvin the Martian merchandise, Bradley said. Many shoppers came for the returns but stayed for the mark-downs. Pat Brown of Boynton Beach and her daughter Tara returned the Liz Claiborne outfits they gave each other for Christmas. Then they shopped for more clothes. "We're shopaholics," Pat Brown said after 3Vi hours at the mall.

"We have plenty to go. What time do they close? We'll be here." Mall mania didn't extend to pricey Worth Avenue in Palm Beach, however, where merchants said returns are rare. "Our customers mostly buy for themselves," said Antonio Cagliarini of the Salvatore Fer-ragamo store, where a handbag can cost $6,000. "Our clientele, they know what they want. They know what their friends want." r- llOi By GEORGE BENNETT Palm Beach Post Staff Writer Wrong size, wrong color, 7 wrong style, wrong fragrance, wrong climate, wrong Warner Brothers character whatever the reason, it was returned or exchanged Monday.

"You name it, we've got the complaint today," said Joline Toole, a supervisor at the Kmart on Okeechobee Boulevard, where the day-after-Christmas reject pile included a a waterbed heater and a Stretch Armstrong doll. Similar refrains echoed across the nation Monday as shoppers flocked to retail outlets to unload unwanted gifts and take advantage of post-Christmas markdowns on the American consumer's favorite day to binge and purge. "The lines are terrible. You have to stand in line a long time to pay for something. But there are good bargains," said Sherry Razi while holding a bag of half-priced Christmas merchandise at The Gardens mall in Palm Beach Gardens.

"It looks like the economy's better. People are buying more and exchanging more," said Ra- zi's husband, John. SHERMAN ZENTStaff Photographer Owner Donald Trump personally handled the paperwork for the estranged royal couple. By SCOTT MONTGOMERY Palm Beach Post Staff Writer PALM BEACH If they had stayed together, the Prince and Princess of Wales could have gotten a two-for-one deal. But with their marriage given the royal flush, Charles and Diana signed up for separate memberships in Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago Club, the club's membership director said Monday.

The royal couple, who stopped being a couple when they separated in 1992, each filed their own application and paid their own $50,000 initiation fee, according to director Katharine Merlin. Ordinarily, a single membership is good for the member's spouse and children as well. And Merlin, who has handled applications for the likes of Steven Spielberg, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Elizabeth Taylor, didn't see any of paperwork for Charles or Dfc Kathryn Kaminski of Tequesta waits for her mother, Marie, at Target in West Palm Beach, where a harried Post reporter worked the customer service counter Monday. STORY, 2B Separate memberships cost the Prince and Princess of Wales $50,000 each. "That, Mr.

Trump handled," she said. Since October, rumors have circulated following a New York Post report that Princess Diana is negotiating to buy a 12-room apartment worth $3.5 million in Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue. Buckingham Palace called the report "rubbish." The Mar-a-Lago Club, which must limit membership to 500, is about half booked and is expected to open in mid-January, Merlin said. She said interest has been so high, the initiation fee will rig to $75,000 on Sunday. shirt for a lighter-weight dress at Lane Bryant in the Palm Beach Mall.

"A lot of warm stuffs coming back sweaters and turtle-necks," said Heather Jackson at The Gap in the Gardens. Sweatshirts were among the return leaders at The Gardens' Warner Brothers store, manager Tory Bradley said. Customers also tended to trade in Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck Indeed, national analysts say retail sales were better this Christmas season than last, but not as strong as expected. Home furnishings, electronics and computers sold well, while clothing slumped. Cold-weather clothes topped the return lists at many Palm Beach County stores.

"I don't wear flannel, especially not in Florida," said Can Iacovelli, who traded in a flannel Staff writer Christine Walker and The Associated Press contributed to this report..