The Palm Beach Post from West Palm Beach, Florida • Page 20

SATURDAY, JANUARY 25, 1997 The Palm Beach Post SECTION DISASTER AID Chiles seeks federal money to help 20 counties damaged by recent cold weather. BUSINESS, 5B ARENA PLANS Development teams differ over how big Palm Beach County's new sports arena should be. STORY, 2B LOCAL NEWS 1 V- will it cost to defend Garrison said. "This happens every single day in the private sector." But Jack Goldberger, Palm Beach Association of Criminal Defense Attorneys president, said: "It cheapens the criminal justice system to put cases out to bid. The bottom line is the defense Bar is opposed to it." Nearly all defendants charged with first-degree murder are too poor to hire a lawyer.

The public defender's office withdraws from most of the cases, citing conflicts of interest. That means private attorneys must be appointed from a rotation of lawyers who have met a rigid set of qualifications to represent the ac cused. The process is supposed to eliminate politics and favoritism and ensure that murder defendants get the most-qualified attorneys. Murder cases, the most expensive in the justice system, cost taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars every year in legal fees for the appointed lawyers. A local administrative order pays attorneys handling death-penalty cases $100 an hour and those with non-death-penalty cases $75 an hour.

The death penalty has been waived in Garrison's two cases: Lawrence K. Johnson, a homeless man accused of strangling a 76-year-old Palm Springs woman Aug. and Chanel Nomnombre, accused of stab By CHRISTINE STAPLETON Palm Beach Post Staff Writer WEST PALM BEACH Capitalism came to court on Friday and attorneys who represent accused killers didn't like it at all. Circuit Judge Edward Garrison, the chief felony court judge, gathered some of the county's top criminal defense lawyers and told them he wants them to bid for murder cases. The attorneys who submit the lowest bids by 5 p.m.

on Monday will get the two new first-degree murder cases assigned to his division. "It's no different than a person charged with grand theft going to a private lawyer and asking 'how much ing in a lengthy trial. Garrison, who presented his plan during an icy lunchtime meeting with attorneys, said he'd done a little research. The average bill for a first-degree murder case in the county iff $22,000. Garrison said he had reviewed the list of the 20 attorneys qualified to handle first-degree murder cases and selected the five next in line for assignments.

If those attorneys want one of the murder cases, their bid must be less than $22,000. "This is going to continue the. practice of justice being for sale," Wilensky said. "The real concern is, the decision will be based on reasons other than who can do the best job." bing a Riviera Beach woman Sept. 14.

Florida law requires an hourly fee rather than a flat fee because attorneys who are paid a flat fee might not be motivated to put in much time defending a complicated case. Defense attorneys say Garrison's plan violates the law because the bid is essentially a flat fee. "He's basically said I'm violating this statute but I can get away with it if you agree to waive the hourly fee," attorney Mark Wilensky said. Attorneys also wondered how they can estimate the complexity of a case when they know nothing about it. It could end quickly in a plea bargain or could drag on before end Judge Edward Garrison wants bids to be less than $22,000.

'All I could think of was getting her out of sheldon upthegrove "Tr'AT; 1 hp laxi rirm owner gets 6 years in fraud case Charles Falana, whose Blue Front taxi firm bilked Medicaid of millions of dollars for bogus rides, must also pay $2.55 million in restitution. By GARY KANE Palm Beach Post Staff Writer FORT LAUDERDALE A pioneer in West Palm Beach's taxi industry was sentenced Friday to nearly six years in prison for conspiring to swindle millions in Medicaid cab fares. Charles Falana, former owner of the Blue Front taxi company, also was ordered to pay $2.55 million in restitution to Medicaid, a program that uses state and federal dollars to help the poor pay medical bills. The sentencing in federal court marked a high point in the probe of Palm Beach County taxi companies, which billed Medicaid for more fares in P. 1-4' i-tv 1 1994 than all other cabbies in the state combined.

Investigators viewed Falana, who started his company more than four decades ago, as the major figure in the "systemic" defrauding of Medicaid by local taxi companies. "This fraud goes to the heart of why people distrust government programs designed to help the needy," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael McAuliffe, who ALLEN EYESTONEStaff Photographer Lt. David Salustri retrieves a jack handle used to break out the window of Fran Novello's car. Novello was trapped when the car overturned.

Neighbors rescue woman trapped in car in canal alana friends for lunch when she swerved her 1990 Lincoln Towncar to avoid hitting some kids on bikes who had driven in front of her, said bystander Danny Christofori. The accident took place on a narrow corner of the dirt road in the Seminole Ranches community near State Road 7 and Lake Worth Road. Upthegrove said area residents have urged county officials to improve the road for three years. "I've seen half a dozen cars land in that canal since I moved here eight years ago," he said. "It's easy to skid off this road." Novello's family was with her Friday night as she had tests at St.

Mary's. "I just hope God lets us have her for a little while longer," said Pam McAfee, Novello's daughter. side of the canal, where Upthegrove began five minutes of CPR. By the time Palm Beach County fire-rescue units arrived, Novello had gone without breathing for almost 20 minutes, sheriffs officials said. Rescue workers continued CPR for another 20 minutes, as friends and bystanders slowly gave up and left the scene.

Novello then was taken to Wellington Regional Medical Center, where emergency room doctors kept working on her. Novello, who had a cancerous lung removed a few years ago, slowly began responding and was taken to St. Mary's Medical Center, where she remained in very critical condition Friday night. Novello was on her way to meet By LYCIA NAFF Palm Beach Post Staff Writer By the time Sheldon Upthegrove arrived at 11:30 a.m. Friday, it seemed too late.

His neighbor, Fran Novello, 58, had been caught under water seven minutes after missing a curve on Anderson Lane and flipping her car into a canal. "All I could think of was getting her out of there," Upthegrove said. "Someone tossed me a tire iron, so I held my breath and swam down there and broke the window. But she was trapped in by her seat belt." A worker from a nearby nursery dove in and used his tree clippers to cut Novello's seat belt. Both men pulled her to the prosecuted Falana.

The 69-year-old businessman denied any wrongdoing and said he was guilty only of failing to keep an eye on his drivers. "I had some good, hard-working people working for me," he said before being sentenced. "Some of these people violated my trust." Falana's friends and supporters packed the small courtroom. Many dabbed at teary eyes as Falana spoke of his faith in God and community. Several stood to lobby the court for leniency.

"Our county and our city would be better off if brother Falana was put on probation," asserted the Rev. W.J. Jackson, pastor of Payne Chapel AME Church, who recited a list of church offices held by Falana. Moses Stubbs a longtime friend of Falanaj noted that the taxi operator also was well-known for Sheldon Upthegrove helped rescue his neighbor, Fran Novello, from a canal. Please see FALANA2B New state-run radio service to target tourist-filled roads frit fc igse A.

JS a II WXEL board OKs Barry plan, snubs WPBT bid, regents By ELIOT KLEINBERG Palm Beach Post Staff Writer BOYNTON BEACH WXEL directors formally approved a merger with Dade County-based Barry University Friday even as WXEL's Miami competitor and state university officials continued courting the public broadcasting station. The unanimous vote came in a hastily called meeting directors were notified by overnight mail that took place four days before WXEL was to hold its annual membership meeting. Members do not need to approve the merger. Station spokesman Phil DiComo could not say why directors did not wait to vote until Tuesday. "That was when the meeting was scheduled and they voted on it," DiComo said.

"The members have been voicing their opinion both to the board and the staff. So far, the overriding opinion has been extremely positive." DiComo declined to release the merger agreement because it had not yet been signed by both parties. The vote came one day after Miami public station WPBT voted to offer to buy WXEL-Channel 42 and WXEL-FM 90.7 for $200,000, and the same day Florida regents discussed a plan for a consortium of public South Florida colleges to make an offer as well. Florida Attorney General Robert Butterworth also is investigating whether the merger with Barry is the best use of money the state has poured into Signs on major highways will give the frequency for drivers to turn to. By SCOTT SHIFREL Palm Beach Post Staff Writer Florida will be going into the radio business this spring when it begins a two-year experiment with an Orlando-based network aimed at the 45 million tourists who travel the state's major highways every year.

"Nobody's ever tried to do this on a statewide basis," said Dick Kane, the Florida Department of Transportation official heading up the project. State officials signed an agreement this month to work with the Traveler Information Radio Network to produce programs that will be heard on 18 radio stations across the state within the next six months. The network agreed to spend $12 million for equipment and staffing in return for what it expects to be valuable advertising segments, Kane said. The state, which will run the system, will fulfill a 1984 legislative mandate for a statewide radio network and get a free public service spot every 10 minutes. Stations that carry the network, calling itself TIRN, will change to a 24-hour format that will highlight "weather, traffic and travel information, Kane said.

Blue and white signs on Florida's Turnpike, Interstate 95 and other major roadways will give the local frequency for drivers to turn to TIRN. But what Kane and network President Joe Gettys have in mind is much bigger than the small radio loops that tell drivers about deer in the Florida Keys or parking at Disney World. Instead, they hope to put everything travelers could want into a talk-show format that will become the official state radio station in case of a hurricane or other emergency. Six out of every 10 minutes will be produced from an Orlando studio in one of that town's theme parks and will include statewide programs. The other four minutes will be produced locally.

Network officials, who hope to go on the air in Miami, Fort Lauderdale and Palm Beach County by June, have started talking with at least one station in West Palm Beach, Gettys said. Gettys also hopes to subscribe to Metro Traffic, which already provides traffic updates to two dozen radio sta-' tions in the Palm Beach County area. If the station is not successful, the state could pull the plug on it, Kane said. Department of Transportation officials' required a $250,000 bond that would pay! for taking down the ,11 V1 1 IANNIS WATERSStaff Photographer Sand-Tastic Work Of Art Rocky Courser of Kelso, works on a sand sculpture, Calgary Stampede, themed after the famed Canadian rodeo of the same name. Courser and California sand sculpture artist Dave Henderson have been working with 400 tons of sand at the South Florida Fair since Jan.

10 to create the piece. Please see MERGER3B.