The Palm Beach Post from West Palm Beach, Florida • Page 13

The Palm Beach Post SECTION SUNRISE TURMOIL Sunrise Health Ran pays its founder $475,000 just as the state threatens to take control. BUSINESS, 5B Manero's packing up grills, heading for Palm City WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 13, 1997 LOCAL NEWS Manero's, a fixture on Palm Beach Lakes -Boulevard in West Palm for 27 years, will reopen in Palm City in May. "There was the Nag's Head Pub down the street. There was the Okeechobee Drive-in that served fried catfish and barbecue sandwiches Mrs. Lewis owned that; it's now the Okeechobee Steak House.

The only other restaurant right around here was Junior's in the mall. "The big guys were Frederick's and Mama Gilda's on U.S. 1." Manero's quickly attracted the young legal crowd from downtown. "They're still regulars," Mahoney said. Please see RESTAURANT3? The owner says his landmark eatery is no longer in step with the area's younger patrons.

By JAN NORRIS Palm Beach Post Fond Editor WEST PALM BEACH Manero's restaurant, a 27-year fixture on Palm Beach Lakes Boulevard, is moving north. "The business has changed," owner John Mahoney said. "There's a new, younger market on Palm Beach Lakes. We feel we're just a little bit out of sync with them." Mi So he's taking Manero's to Palm City; it's scheduled to open in May. The building at Village and Palm Beach Lakes boulevards, including the red, white and green marquee with personal birthday greetings for friends, will be razed.

The property will go to developer Peter Cummings of Stuart. It will become a drugstore, Mahoney said. Though relatively young in calendar years Manero's opened in July 1970 it's considered a grandfather in restaurant years. When it opened, it was one of only a few high-end eateries in the city. RICHARD GRAULICH Staff Photographw 1 'fjrni A healthy type of stroke I 1 WW if', a 4'- Town set to pursue suit over water fee 'if 1 7 Palm Beach is outraged over the 25 surcharge it pays to West Palm and the mayor's intention to use the 1 million for extra police.

By TIM O'MEILIA Palm Beach Post Staff Writer PALM BEACH For the third time, the town council agreed Tuesday to sue West Palm Beach over the 25 percent surcharge town residents must pay for water supplied by their neighbor. This time they mean it. Really. Mayor Paul Ilyinsky, who urged negotiation two years ago, accused West Palm Beach officials of playing "money games" and said the city's conduct has been "shameless." "I'm going to change my mind and I'm going to say, 'Go and Ilyinsky said. The council took no vote Tuesday, but said it will 1- lollow through on a January decision to sue.

The surcharge has been a sticking point in off-and-on negotiations since West Palm Beach Mayor Nancy Graham pushed its passage in July 1994. The two cities have been talking since 1993 about renewing a franchise that expired in January 1995. Graham further riled Palm SHERMAN ZENTStaff Photographer ing. Gorman swam 1,000 yards in under half an hour. 'I'm not training for the he said, smiling.

'My only intent is to get the heart rate up to 120 or 125 for at least 25 NORTH PALM BEACH Hank Gorman (left) of North Palm Beach does the sidestroke during the last laps Tuesday morning at the North Palm Beach Country Club. The lane markers were removed at noon for div- Horses pump $214 million into Wellington first year's surcharge $1 mil- lion for more police for West Palm Beach. Palm Beach wants a surcharge, if any, spent on rebuilding its deteriorating water lines. West Palm Beach bought the island water system from the Flagler Water Co. in 1955, including the 56 miles of pipe that runs beneath the town.

The surcharge amounted to nearly $1.4 million in the 1996-97 fiscal year. West Palm Beach budget figures show that 37.7 percent of its water revenue comes from island residents. Palm Beach first voted to sue in March 1995, then put it off when talks resumed. They voted to sue again in January but postponed filing after a joint meeting with West Palm Beach commissioners. State law permits the city to charge the 25 percent premium, but Palm Beach officials say it was meant to apply to residents in unincorporated areas Please see WATERJfl the amount of revenue generated for Wellington by the equestrians.

According to the draft report released this week, the horse industry generated $124.9 million in direct expenditures and employment last year, including 887 full-time jobs. Millions more flowed into the village indirectly through spending on veterinarians, insurance, animal feed and bedding, the study found, creating another $89.4 million in jobs and income. Together, the two types of revenue totaled $214.3 million. Please see H0RSES3B The figure shocks some officials, but equestrians aren't surprised. By AFRICA RAGLAND Palm Beach Post Staff Writer WELLINGTON Village commissioners learned this week just how valuable horses and the people who ride them are to the local economy: at least $214 million a year.

That figure, generated by a Lexington, consultant, shocked some officials. But it came as no surprise to equestrians. Dean Turney, executive director of the Wellington Equestrian Alliance, called the industry's contribution "very significant, especially when you look at the geographic area of Wellington (26.9 square miles)." "It's in Wellington's best interest to protect the industry," said Bill Moss, whose marketing firm, the Baldrica Group, represented the Wellington Equestrian Alliance for about a year. "There are a lot of communities that would welcome $200 million." The village council paid Thalheimer Research Associates $25,000 for a study that would pinpoint 7- Higher demand driving price of gasoline back up z'- iV Plane crash victim sought new career i in aviation Trent Nosker was one of three people killed in the North County airport plane crash. ByJOECAPOZZI Palm Beach Post Staff Writer Trent Nosker's last-minute decision to tag along on a plane ride with newfound friends turned deadly.

Always smiling and quick with a joke, Nosker had just gotten over a divorce and recently recovered from a serious back ail-! ment when he graduated June 20 from the I New England Institute of Technology as an aviation technician. A week later he walked into the office of Palm Beach Avionics President Jim Cook at the North County airport in suburban Palm Beach Gardens. The company had no job openings. But Cook said: "He had such genuine enthusiasm to do something he wanted to do. hired him after spending 30 minutes with By MATT REED Palm Beach Post Staff Writer Say goodbye to the cheaper gas that made driving a relative bargain these past three months.

Prices per gallon of unleaded self-serve gasoline have begun to rise again in Palm Beach County and the Treasure Coast, due largely to higher-than-expected demand. Nationwide, the average per-gallon cost of unleaded gas has increased about 5 cents since last month. AAA will release a city-by-city survey of Florida prices next week. "A lot of our members have noticed it and have called to complain about it," said Rena Callahan, spokeswoman for AAA Clubs of Florida. In July, Floridians paid a statewide average of $1.21 per gallon of self-serve unleaded gas, the association found.

In Palm Beach County, where local gas taxes are high, prices averaged more than $1.30 per gallon in Defray Beach and West Palm Beach. By comparison, a gallon of self-serve unleaded fuel averaged $1.04 in Georgia, $1.14 in Ohio, $1.29 in Nev York and $1.34 in California. Why prices differ for gas The current increases defy a steady downward trend in gasoline prices in 1997. Causes include: Increased demand: Americans are driving more in general and, with the strong economy, are taking more road-trip vacations this summer, the American Petroleum Institute says. To keep up, gasoline companies have refined an additional 500,000 barrels a day about 6 percent more than they expected to this summer.

Less-efficient vehicles: Americans are buying more gas-guzzling luxury cars and sport-utility vehicles. For the first time in two decades, car and truck models heading for junk yards are more fuel efficient than those now on the road. SHERMAN ZENTStaff Photographer Air safety investigator Paul Lehman inspects the wreckage of a Piper Comanche plane Tuesday at the North County General Aviation Airport in Palm Beach Gardens. him." Nosker went back to work Monday. Cook Six weeks later, Cook took his new hire believes Nosker was planning to return to the Experimental Aircraft Association's home to Lantana after his shift ended when annual air show in Wisconsin, where Nosker he was invited to ride along while a pilot gave met Top Gun actor Val Kilmer and hob- flying lessons to Charles Hogan, one of nobbed with hundreds of aviation enthusi- Nosker's co-workers, asts.

Hogan, a 40-year-old student pilot from They returned from the two-week show Lantana, was taking lessons from Derris Sunday night when Nosker, an only child, Williams, 26, a licensed pilot from Palm had dinner with his parents in their RV on Lake Osborne. Please see CRASH5B.