The Palm Beach Post from West Palm Beach, Florida • Page 6

A THE PALM BEACH POST SATURDAY, MARCH 26, 1994 StateRegional News Reserve unit breathes new life into Homestead air base third of the old base's acreage. The rest ultimately will be turned over to Dade County, which has ambitious plans for aviation and other business uses. Before the hurricane, the base pumped $450 million a year into the economy of south Dade County. Though it's widely believed reservists devote only several weekends each year to their military duties, the average reservist spends from 80 to 100 days a year working and training, D'Angelo said. He estimates the reborn base should contribute $180 million to $200 million to the still-battered area, where many businesses and houses stand derelict, mostly untouched in the year and a half since the hurricane.

da's Turnpike could see life at the base. "They wanted people to know this base is open," said Maj. Bobby D'Angelo, spokesman for the Air Force reserve wing. Unlikely as it seemed after Andrew hit on the morning of Aug. 24, 1992, the Homestead base survives.

While its days as an active-duty base are over, Homestead will go forward as an air reserve base. Its pride, the F-16 Fighting Falcon jets, return today, and the base will officially be renamed Homestead Air Reserve Base next week. The former host unit, the 31st Fighter Wing, will relinquish command to the 482nd Fighter Wing. The reserve unit will occupy just a The Associated Press HOMESTEAD The flag has been raised again at Homestead Air Force Base, but it's not the white signal of surrender. Many people thought the base, wiped out by Hurricane Andrew in August 1992, would never reopen.

But now, it's getting a second life as an air reserve base. The 482nd Fighter Wing's F-16 jets will return today in triumphant formation for the first time since they were evacuated before the vicious storm tore apart the base's buildings and aircraft. The U.S. flag flaps in a warm breeze atop a new 80-foot pole donated by local business groups, which wanted to be certain motorists whizzing past on Flori But Kim Sovia, president of the Homestead-Florida City Chamber of Commerce, said the impact of the base's revival is far greater. The roar of the jets, to which south Dade residents were as accustomed as city dwellers to traffic noise, will be a sign that normal life is returning.

That quality remains elusive in an area sprouting piles of twisted steel rods and other parts of broken buildings. "The hurricane tore away something that was really prideful here," Sovia said. "Not only is it a money situation for the economic development, but it's also a good shot of hope for the people." Those people battled to save their base, which federal officials had in their sights before Andrew hit. Eighteen buses filled with supporters journeyed to Orlando last June in an effort to persuade the Base Realignment and Closure Commission to spare the Homestead base in any form. I In addition to the 482nd, the Air Forc Reserve's 301st Rescue Squadron, Detachment 1 of the Florida Air National Guard's 125th Fighter Interceptor Group and the U.S.

Customs Service Air Branch, a drug interdiction operation, will return to Homestead later. Their facilities were more severely damaged than the 482nd's. Damage from Andrew is evident. Many buildings have been restored or torn down, others have holes. All housing units stand empty, awaiting demolition." In Brief Officials hope Rolling will solve 3 La.

murders i j. L--- i. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Seven injured in chopper crash Palm Beach Post Wire Services ORLANDO A sightseeing helicopter crashed Friday into a construction site near Interstate 4, injuring the pilot and six passengers. The pilot and one passenger were in serious but stable condition at Orlando Regional Medical Center. The other five passengers, including a 5-year-old, were less seriously hurt, said Clay Coleman of the Orange County Fire-Rescue Department.

All of the passengers were members of a family from Puerto Rico, but they were not immediately identified. The helicopter belongs to Falcon Helicopter Service, which is in the tourist corridor along International Drive, southwest of downtown Orlando, Coleman said. Rating stops movie visit Associated Press I BRADENTON Plans were scrapped for a high school field trip Jo. see the award-winning Holocaust film Schindler's List when an anonymous caller complained the R-rated movie contains a sex gcfne. Parents of Southeast High School sophomore English students signed permission forms and paid the $3.75 matinee price, but administrators went along with the lone complaint from a Woman who acknowledged she had no children at the school.

Superintendent Gene Witt backed the decision, which came just before the planned trip three Weeks ago. Other counties have arranged viewings of the film, and state legislators had a special viewing this week after the Florida Senate voted 38-0 to endorse a statewide Holocaust curriculum. Woman Cited For Not Having Dog Licenses PALM HARBOR Pat Weber loves her dogs Weber in a double-wide mobile home in north all 79 of them. The dogs, longhaired Pinellas County. Animal control officials have dachshunds and a few Chihuahuas, live with cited her and she's moving to Tennessee.

The Associated Press Louisiana officials do not want Danny Harold Rolling. They only want him to say if he slaughtered a family in his hometown before his killing spree in Gainesville. "I don't think that we'd try to extradite him," Caddo Parish District Attorney Paul Carmouche said Friday. "We would like to be able to close this case though, and put the family's minds to rest." Two Shreveport detectives went to Gainesville Monday to monitor the final stage of Rolling's trial for the August 1990 murders-of five college students. A jury recommended Thursday that the 39-year-old drifter and career criminal die in the electric chair.

Carmouche admits Shreveport authorities do not have enough evidence to indict Rolling in the murders of William T. Grissom, his daughter, Julie, 24, and his grandson, Sean, 8. They were stabbed to death at home about six months before the Gainesville murders. Rolling was living with his family in Shreveport at the time, and witnesses told police that Rolling and Grissom jogged on the same track at a tennis center. A DNA test that compared Rolling's bodily fluids with saliva on a bite mark on Grissom's breast were inconclusive, but Rolling's blood type matches the Shreveport killer.

"He's our main suspect but that is all he is right now," Carmouche said. If Rolling confessed, Carmouche said he would probably not try to have him returned to Louisiana for fear he might avoid the death penalty in Florida. "I don't want to in any way 'We would like to be: able to close this case and put the i family's minds to i paul carmouche; assist Danny Rolling," Carmouche said. "I think he needs the death penalty if anyone ever did. Assumi ing the judge gives it to him, don't want to delay that conciu-" sion." The similarities between the! killings are striking.

Police believe Grissom was, the focus of the Shreveport mun ders and the killer directed his violence at her. In Gainesville, Rolling targeted women, though, he also killed one of the girls' male; roommate. A large knife was thf murder weapon in all cases. Among the other similarities:" Grissom was a petite brunette student at Louisiana State in Shreveport. The four Gainesville women were all petite brunettes, and one particularly resembled his ex-wife.

Grissom's nude body had been posed to shock the finder. In Gainesville one woman's decapitated body and severed head were posed. The Shreveport killer used tape during the killings but removed it from the victims and took it with him. The same thing was done in Gainesville. In Shreveport, the kille used vinegar to clean the bodies to destroy evidence of the assailant) In Gainesville, Rolling used house-J hold cleaner.

Many ineligible for implant settlement The Associated Press ORLANDO A lawyer coordinating breast implant cases in Florida says up to 30 percent of Florida victims may not qualify for a share of a landmark $3.75 billion settlement with manufacturers. Mike Papantonio is planning a meeting with lawyers and victims to discuss the agreement and pending cases. More than 25,000 women nationwide are seeking damages, contending their silicone implants caused many health problems. Florida has an estimated 5,000 cases. Manufacturers Dow Corning Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.

and. Baxter Healthcare Corp. agreed to pay for medical care and surgery for implant victims receiving their products. Details are being worked out, and it must be approved by a federal judge presiding over more than 7,000 lawsuits in Birmingham, Ala. Not all women will be able to qualify for the settlement, because some received implants from manufacturers that have gone out of business and others cannot prove who made their gel packs, Papantonio said.

In addition, many do not have any of the illnesses listed in the settlement. "I think most women have mixed feelings about it, but I think the settlement is good for those who can qualify," said Jackie Clark of Merritt Island. She does not qualify for any settlement money because her systemic lupus disease was caused by implants made by Hyer-Schulte, which settled with her a few years ago. "I am not counting on a dime of that money," said Angela Loper of Longwood, who had implants and suffers from fibromyalgia. "There are so many loopholes and a ratcheting down to determine who gets what.

You have to be really sick with severe lupus to get the highest amount." Florida has a large number of cases because many women with implants moved from other places, Papantonio said. USF gets largest gift TAMPA A Fort Myers builder and his wife have donated the largest gift in the University of bouth Honda history, $5 million fps cutting-edge health care to those who otherwise would not feteive it. University officials lauded fjea and Jviaxine Wright at a news conference Thursday. Wright, 73, said the gift grew out of the memory of some rough times" when he and his wife were starting out. "We want to make it It fa V- i i mmMBM 0 possible for someone who gets into medical trouble to have a helping hand." Since the Wrights moved to Honda 10 years ago, Wnght Con struction Corp.

has grown into one of the Southeast's largest con struction firms. Teachers OK contract MELBOURNE Eighty ri -A v. 0 ,4 1 eight percent of Brevard County ieachers voted "yup," approving a hW contract with a 3 percent pay raise while sending administrators A a message that the vote was Yes, iinder protest." I "The vote would have been an overwhelming no vote" without immmmm mm mm wmmmw mm im i nm mmm mmm mm sssxm qsgso the option to cast a ballot for yup, rather than yes, said Fran Baer, Brevard Federation of Teachers president. I The union and school board 'were at an impasse since October lover the contract for the current school year, and many teachers joined a slowdown, limiting lectures and after-school work. "A no vote would have meant were without a contract.

This we will have a contract even though it was imposed" by the board against the teachers' wishes, said Richard Red, a guidance counselor at Southwest Junior High in Palm Bay. District labor relations director Bob Barrett called in a mediator Oct. 22 when negotiations stalled. In late February, special master Marvin Wahl recommended 12 provisions to settle the issue. School Superintendent David Sawyer approved some measures and discarded others.

The union now wants to begin negotiating a new 1994-95 school year contract in April, nam 4-T-5'tvCT hnv.