The Palm Beach Post from West Palm Beach, Florida • Page 231

To Whom It May Concern: Salu! Ts Wis Steve Mitchell I get more than my fair share of weird mail, but never before have I received an orange postcard from somebody named Tarn Deachman in Vancouver, Canada, that opens with the salutation "Salu." Deachman, who apparently thinks columnists don't have enough to worry about, poses the following questions: "When you write to a company do you begin 'Dear Sirs' or 'Gentlemen' and feel awkward because such a salutation may very well be a put-down to the women who, in today's business world, are likely to end up handling your letter? "If you are writing to a title, say 'The President' or 'Sales do you begin 'Dear Sir or Madam' except that that sounds kind of dumb, too? "And even when you have a name to write to, do you wonder why you still use the archaic 'Dear' Mr. Jones or 'Dear' Ms. Brown when they probably aren't dear to you at all?" The first question didn't bother me that much. When I write to a company, I have been provoked to such an extent that I usual ly begin the letter with "You Incredible Idiots' or something equally cordial. This salutation, of course, can apply to either sex.

so there's no need to worry atout offending any woman who might open it. Deachman has me cold, though, on the archaic term I have even started out a letter with "Dear Internal Revenue Service, and the IRS is about as dear to me as the congressional committee that writes tax laws. Deachman says he has a solution: 'I have coined the word Salu' (say sa LOO) which can be us-d to answer all these problems. By all means, feel free to use it. "Salu is a root sound in words that mean Salutations' or I salute you' or even 'To your health' in English.

French, Spanish, German, Italian and other languages. So once you start using it on letters, it will be instantly meaningful to almost everyone. You won't have to explain it." Emboldened by Deachman's assurance that "Salu" would be "instantly meaningful" and "You won't have to explain it," I decided to Turn to MITCHELL, B2 Indian River Uf News of the fTl The Palm Beach Post-Times MICTION Sl'NDVV Jl IA I97B Coast Okeefhobpe 1 reasure ISt. Lucie 1 ssw Indian River County has a wide range of residential assessments going higher than $200,000 for a home and lot in the exclusive John's Island down to $10,000 in some of the older areas of Wabasso and Uifford. Land Values 1 0 rp.

Si-- 1 9- 4 I 9 Jr. V. lei -I Rise 1V1 ay- 4 IT A i I 10 ercent 1 I' 1 Si. 4 'MM Mi '4 J'- Staff Photo by Mike Oipmer Florida's Grand Dragon John Paul Rogers Leads KKK March in Davie Yesterday Klan March in Davie Uneventful 1 A I -v -(v 4 1 7V.v Assessments Expected This Week By J'UIN KOTLER Post Stall Writer VKRO BEACH Chances are better than even you'll receive a letter from the Indian River County property appraiser this week telling you your home is worth more than ever before. Of more than 50,000 parcels in the county, about 33.000 have increased in value, said Property Appraiser William Law.

A conservative estimate is that the value of all taxable property will rise by at least 10 percent $85 million more than last year's $855 million tax roll but Law won't say how much higher he expects it to go until all values are tallied this week. It's going to be sizable, more than 10 percent," he said. "But I won't stick mv head out any farther than that." Already construction has raised taxable property value hy about million and changes in regulations on agricultural assessments could hike real estate values by as much as $20 million because some property will no longer be eligible for special Green Belt assessments. By law. the property appraiser must review the entire county with on-site inspections every three years, and this is the year for Indian River County.

Two major factors are considered in most residential reassessments. First is the replacement value of home what it would cost to build today less depreciation. Second is neighborhood real estate values. Once a residence is assessed, the appraiser checks his findings jgainst market sales of comparable homes the same area. The market value is the final test." he said.

"If we are too far off one way or the other, we'd go back and check again i'ropei ty is reassessed on a yearly basis, too but not every piece of property is visited. The last total reassessment in this county was in 1973 so people can expect to see a jump in values. Indian River County has a wide range of residential assessments going higher than $200,000 for a home and lot in the exclusive John's Island down to $10,000 in some of the older areas of Wabasso and Gifford. But the assessed property value alone does not determine raises in taxes. Law said.

The tax rate is determined by the County Commission, the School Board and other taxing bodies that levy millage on assessed taxable proper ty values. Last year the millage rates "ranged from $23.18 for each $1,000 of property value to $13.97 in lightly populated areas in the northwest part of the county. Vero Beach residents paid $20.46 for every $1,000 worth of taxable property value. Law said there was no one big factor increasing property value comparable to the giant, hike last year when the Florida Power Light (FPL) nuclear plant went on the tax rolls in St. Lucie County.

He said hikes in assessments generally are caused by the increasing cost material and labor exaggerated by inflation. If you don't agree with your property assessment, you can go to Law and try to work it out. But he says you have to back your argument up with valid reasons based on values of comparable property and homes. If you can't agree, you may file a petition to have the case reviewed hy the County Tax Adjustment Board composed of three county commissioners and two School Board members The petition must be filed by July 27. Law said he hopes people won't blame him for rising assessments because he's doing his job as the law requires.

"I sympathize, want to help," he said. "But I call them like I see them." the march, although uniformed black police from the Davie Police Department and the Broward Sheriff's Office provided security for the march. The message Rogers carried in his drawling but urbane delivery sounded little like the nightriding credo of past klan generations. "People are concerned in this country for high taxes and inflation." Rogers said. The klan, known as "The Invisible Empire," has ahvays kept its membership rolls secret, referring to its numbers with phrases, "the klan covers Florida like the morning dew." Rogers said the secret, white supremeist society is attracting younger members from all walks of life.

Marchers yesterday were men of all ages. "We're getting a lot of Vietnam veterans," Rogers said. "We're getting a lot of people who haven't gotten job promotions. I don't think any person has the right to tell how many people of one kind they should hire. "We've been getting new applications every day after we put in for this parade permit." While Rogers said the klan has held bigger marches in the state, few have had a tougher time getting started.

The klan first applied to march in a Boy Scout parade here on Memorial Day in 1976. The application was rejected, as was a similar request last year. Weeks ago, however, the town council in a 3-2 vote approved yesterday's march. At least one council member, alluding to legal maneuvering surrounding a proposed Nazi march in Skokie, 111., said he voted to sanction the parade rather than saddle the town with potentially high litigation fees. The klan marchers appeared tense, as did police, at the start of the march.

The klansmen wore everything from tennis shoes to boots, jeans to double-knit slacks under their robes. While they wore the traditional sheets and peaked dunce caps of the society, they wore no masks. A state anti-masking law prohibits masks in public By JOHN PETERSON Poit Staff Writer DAVIE After a three-year battle to get a parade permit, 75 robed but maskless members of the Ku Klux Klan marched for 15 minutes down streets in this former cow and citrus town yesterday afternoon. The marchers proclaimed a political philosophy that made them sound more like tax rebels than a Klan notorious for its racial and religious beliefs. The klan was met by 65 law enforcement officers who had "planned for anything" and a crowd of 800 laced with as many klan supporters as curiosity seekers.

Leading the klan was 37-year-old John Paul Rogers, a former barber from Lake Wales, who rode a masked and robed horse and who was flanked by guards wearing Confederate gray uniforms and holding Doberman pinchers on leashes. Rogers, the soft-spoken and neatly trimmed United Klans of America (UKA) Grand Dragon for the realm of Florida, said the 9 -block march held only after a prolonged permit fight with the Town Council was a success. "Anytime we get through without an altercation, I think it's a success," Rogers said. "I think the people of Davie and the police department treated us very well." Townspeople were uncertain what effect, if any, the march had. "It's just a lot of people marching about nothing," said Bob Sanguigni, of Davie.

"I think they should have let them march a long time ago." The marchers stepped off two abreast carrying American and rebel flags down the main streets of Davie, a one-time Southern-oriented cow town that has sprouted to a population as the Broward County metropolitan area spread westward past Florida's Turnpike. The route began near the adjacent Broward Community College and Nova University campuses and wound past shopping centers and franchise food restaurants to Town Hall, a rustic ranchstyle building. Many people took pictures of the white-satin clad klansmen while others clapped and shouted. "All right, white Few blacks watched 1 i 5 1 4J Stall Photo by 1 Scott Apiifev- nilc Guard and Doberman Escort KKK Marchers Okeechobee May Escape Consolidation Woes By KEN McKINNON Post Staff Writer OKEECHOBEE Not yet burdened by the problems troubling nearby metropolitan areas, a rapidly growing Okeechobee county and c'ty are now a "combination of being and coming to be." That is what one of the designers of one of the oldest and most successful county-city consolidated governments told the Okeechobee County Consolidation Charter Commission last week. "You don't have the problems we had," said Robert Horton, who was instrumental in the 1962 creation of the Metropolitan Government of Nashville City-Davidson County, Tenn.

"You are very fortunate to have only one incorporated area in your county, fortunate that you are still small enough to get ahead before you get too far behind like so many of the urban swells in your state," he said. The architects of the Nashville-Davidson plan had to deal with 86 voting districts, two school systems and a number of incorporated cities. Horton said city-county consolidation in Okeechobee is a much simpler proposition. "There is no ideally set government," he told the Charter Commission. "But try to avoid major detraction of authority.

"You can become one of the pilot demonstration areas for the rest of this centu ry in the country. But you must plan for it. "You must concentrate on conserving your resources and improving the productivity of your rich agricultural centers, which must be preserved above all else," he said. "Then, make those family farms compatible to well-thought out urban development that you know is coming. In the process, you will help people become less dependent on government." Horton was the major architect of the Nashville-Davidson consolidation effort.

He wrote the charter that was the blueprint for the newer, more streamlined government there. "In 1943, I was the member of a local forum group that sat down and disncsed what we wanted to be 25 years hence." Horton said. "The group was not unlike the Chamber of Commerce group you had here that led to the adoption of this commission." The difference between the Nashville-Davidson resident group of 1943 and the chamber committee here, however, was that it took 14 years for the Tennessee group's discussions to amount to anything. The Okeechobee chamber group took little time earlier this year getting the County Commission to establish the present Consolidation Commission. "We lost the consolidation effort of 1957 in Nashville because we took a stiff, textbook approach." Horton said.

Horton said the charter was approved in a referendum in Nashville-Davidson in 1962 because of innovative planning, developed through iong months of in-depth research. Some of the more unique aspects of the charter, he said, were the combining of the school and park systems, giving women a larger role in the government and having separate taxes for countywide and urban services. Horton is the highest paid employee in the Nashville-Davidson government. He carries five titles, but serves primarily as the fiscal assistant to the mayor, who makes less than his chief aide because he is elected and his salary is fixed in the charter. i h.

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