The Palm Beach Post from West Palm Beach, Florida • Page 87

i SECTION 0 The Palm Beach Post MONDAY, JUNE 20, 1994 MSI LOCAL 1WS 1 1 Shop talk: Computer labs edge out woodworking grams that introduce them to career field. Each program lastjf; about one week and most include We're trying to be relevant to today's higher-tech MARK HUETER, vocational education specialist research Droiect and a test Hueter said. Students on the other side thought of," he said. "(The lab) really opens up a whole world of possibilities for these kids." The freshly renovated North-port Middle School lab spans the length of three classrooms and will contain 100 Macintosh computers one per student by the time school opens in the fall. Students on one side of the lab will work through computer pro- Middle School and Fort Pierce Westwood High School.

Another half-million-dollar lab is scheduled to open at Dan McCarty Middle School in late 1995. "We're trying to be relevant to today's higher-tech society," said Mark Hueter, school vocational education specialist. He cited decreasing enrollment in woodworking, agriculture and auto-me- By MARY LOU PICKEL Palm Beach Post Staff Writer FORT PIERCE Flight technology, computer-aided drafting and environmental management are just a few of the careers St. Lucie County students will explore with the help of two computer labs opening this fall. The labs, which together cost nearly $1 million, are replacing the woodworking shops at Northport ing will be computer literacy, science and technology, Hueter said.

"There's a lot of career opportunities out there that a lot of (students) may have never chanics classes at some schools as a reason to open the labs. While the technology labs will contain one room with the familiar saws and lathes of shop class, the new emphasis in vocational learn the lab will study business skills; ranging from word processing tj desktop publishing to databas management, Northport busines Please see COMPUTERS38, ti Reaching For A Career Giving back helps mentally retarded learn life skills The mentally retarded teens and adults who live at Ranch in Indiantown often accept help from others. Now they are learning to give back, Jeanette Gray said. Jeanette is the new director of development at the ranch, where 22 residents learn to shop, cook, clean, balance a checkbook and other skills they need to live independently. Part of independent living includes being a good neighbor, said Bill Taylor, the former state legislator who started the ranch in 1981.

ly I 'A 1 1: i ML To that end, ranchers are working as volunteers at the Nature Conservancy native plant nursery on Jupiter Island. They're marching in walkathons for such charities as the March of Dimes. And they recently received a grant from the Indiantown Community Trust Fund to plant flowers and shrubs near the library and civic center in Indiantown. The ranchers also are spending time with the elderly at Okeechobee Health i 4 Sally Swartz ft iifl mm i i mmy 2 tare facility, Jeanette said. "Once a month, our ranchers go out and play Bingo with the people who live there.

It's very different for them to be helping others. And they are good companions for the elderly. Our people are very huggy, and many of the older people like that." The ranch may be best known for the Angels of the World ceramic Christmas ornaments it made and distributed for sale over the last decade. That project ended, and the nonprofit ranch is finding new ways to provide for its residents. State money, Social Security and fees from parents support the ranch, along with donations.

Ranchers also earn small amounts of money working at a plant nursery on the grounds. Ranchers spend two or more years at learning survival basics. While some are able to leave the ranch and live and work independently, others need help from family or group homes. Wherever they wind up, "giving back" helps the ranchers. "We want them to be involved in the community," Jeanette said, "to get out and do things that aren't 'retarded' things.

We want them to try new things and begin to fit in society. It makes them feel really good." What a great idea and what a good example the ranchers are for the rest of the community. Birthday celebration Friends and relatives of Stuart native Fred Bentel are gathering at Stuart Recreation Center Saturday to celebrate his 80th birthday. Fred's well-known to Martin County oldtimers from Greene's Department Store, which once was located in downtown Stuart. Fred worked at the store for 40 years, until he retired in 1983.

Real oldtimers may remember that Fred's father, Karl H. Bentel, owned Bentel's Bakery in downtown Stuart next to what now is the Triangle Lounge. The bakery, also the family home, was torn down in 1971. The gathering, scheduled from 2-4 p.m., is open to any other oldtimers who'd like to stop by and remember the good ol' days with Fred. BARRY C.

ALLENStaff Photographer Seaman Apprentice Deborah Pate holds Sea Cadet Christine Bailey, 14, as the cadet learns how to retrieve a flotation device from the water. Teens get a taste of Coast Guard, Navy life something that's real, that they can put their hands on. That's what makes the difference." The four girls, all from Okeechobee, had only one day of vacation from school before they began their temporary duty in Fort Pierce. Dressed in navy blue overalls, blue caps and black shoes, they tasted Coast Guard life, from the mundane pulling weeds and polishing chrome to searching for two Port St. Lucie men who failed to return at the Coast Guard station through the United States Naval Sea Cadets Corps program, based in Okeechobee.

More intensive than the JROTC program, the Sea Cadets Corps gives teens a professional, hands-on orientation to careers in the Navy and the Coast Guard. "They want training or they want education that is mentally and physically challenging," said Lt. Marshall Muros, commanding officer of the Cadet Corps. "Kids today do not want to be treated as little kids. They don't want to go to the camps.

They want Moerls says as the boat glides closer. With the boat idling about 10 feet from the fender, Farmer throws the rope so that, if it were a person, the person could grab the line and pull himself to safety. The life-saving skill is part of the training Farmer, Johnson and two other teens, Laura Powell, 14, and Christine Bailey, 14, received during a 10-day temporary duty assignment at the Coast Guard station. The assignment ended Tuesday. This summer, a steady flow of boys and girls ages 13 to 18 will work By SARAH K.

DURAN Palm Beach Post Staff Writer FORT PIERCE Sheyenne Farmer holds an orange rope ready as TaraLa Johnson steers the Coast Guard boat to a white fender floating in the water. The fender is the "man overboard" that Farmer, 13, and Johnson, 16, are rescuing. "You're making the boat pivot," Petty Officer James Moerls warns Johnson as she backs up closer. "Starboard back." The engines give a brief roar. "There you go," Please see CADETS2B 1 Patients didn't get AIDS from Acer, doctor claim Family will aid search for bird buyer, aunt expert for the insurance company.

The show reported that all six of the Acer patients had engaged in somJ! risky behaviors from which they might; have contracted the AIDS virus. But Montgomery and If By TIM PALLESEN Palm Beach Post Staff Writer CBS' 60 Minutes on Sunday reported a Miami doctor's claim that six patients of David Acer did not contract the virus that causes AIDS from the Jensen Beach dentist. wenn. one ni Hrpr nanonto i BUU UHl AIDS, say at least two of the pieces evidence were wrong. ror examoie.

the show rwwto that Bergalis had genital warts, indirat Dr. Lionel Resnick of Mount Sinai Hospital in Miami said the U.S. Centers for Disease Control overlooked evidence to conclude that patients Kim-berly Bergalis, Barbara Webb and four others were infected by Acer. ing she might have contracted tha, AIDS virus because of her sexual activity. Bergalis had claimed she was virgin before her death.

said Sunday that a biopsy already discredited a pathologist's claim thai! she had a sexually transmitted disease4 Wfhh rallpH rti PRC nnr tn I By CAROLYN FRETZ Palm Beach Post Staff Writer Relatives of a man and woman miss-jing from their Loxahatchee bird farm flew from Guyana to South Florida over the weekend to search for clues to explain the disappearance and to assist detectives working on the case, i Mahadai Lall, the mother of Bhag-Iwan "Moses" Lall and the sister of 'Lilawattie "Lila" Buerattan, told Palm Beach County Sheriffs Office investi-'gators: Besides her son and sister, there Iwere two men staying at the ranch a worker from Guyana and a guest from Africa. Her son occasionally had as Imuch as $25,000 in cash at the house. Her son telephoned June 4. Detectives discovered Moses Lall, '31, and his aunt, Buerattan, 35, missing from their 5-acre Velazquez Road bird breeding farm Wednesday after a deliv- man reported that seed he left at front gate was unused there days 4 later. I Florida Game and Fresh Water Fish 'Commission officers were the first to lenter the property, and they found jmore than 400 dead parrots, macaws, 'tot Cans and other orotic birds in cages behind the house.

Investigators are focusing their efforts on finding Buerattan because acquaintances said she should be at the ranch, said Detective Sgt. Ken Deischer. "The reports we're getting on him (Moses Lall) are that he was supposed to be out of the country," Deischer said. "So we're not really sure he's missing." Bird experts said the retail value of the dead birds is about $500,000, but, since the deserted farm was discovered, more birds have died. Mahadai Lall stressed that her son would never willingly abandon his investment, and her sister would never leave the birds she loved.

The two men who were staying at the ranch are also missing, Mahadai Lall said. The ranch hand from Guyana is Daljeet "Harry" Gobin. She doesn't know the name of the guest her son met while he was on a bird-buying trip in Africa. That man, thought to be in his mid-30s, has called Lall's Deerfield Beach veterinarian twice this month to ask for news about Moses Lall, the doctor said. Lall took cash when he went on bird-buying trips, and he was planning to travel this month, his mother said.

i Acer biased garbage" late Sunday. The showf reported that Webb might have con-f tracted the AIDS virus either through blood transfusion or extramarital sex. i PAUL J. MILETTEStaff Photographer Driver Hurt In Crash FORT PIERCE Medics Denny Pileggi (left) and Rusty Hines attend to Delroy H. Williams after Williams' car hit a tree at 7801 S.

Indian River Drive on Sunday. Williams was taken to a hospital in Port St. Lucie. He was charged with careless driving. "This is absolute junk journalism based on junk science," Bergalis' attorney Robert Montgomery responded Sunday night.

He said the theories of Resnick were discredited by other scientists before the insurance company settled lawsuits brought by the patients against Acer's estate. CBS did not report that Resnick had been paid about as a medical Webb, married for 44 years, ac-i! knowledged Sunday that she had affair 22 years ago while separated from her husband but not since then. She; said doctors had prepared her for aj blood transfusion during surgery inj! 1982, but decided against giving it to! her..