The Palm Beach Post from West Palm Beach, Florida • Page 1

Behind history's lens: An insider's view Defense lawyer appeals to jury to give Simpson 'his life back'2A West Palm Beach to offer valet parking for downtown visitorsIB WEATHER: Partly cloudy, pleasant. High 79, low 68. 2A HEAT 125, SUNS 97SPORTS, 1C Eyes on the The Beachdogs' very 4 intense Eric Musselmai, SPORTS, 1C (f accent; id The Palm Beach Post FINAL EDITION 50 PAGES 50 CENTS TUESDAY, JANUARY 28, 1997 4 14-YEAR-OLD GUNNED DOWN AT SCHOOL Family 'He kill ed all of The victim: John Kamel The suspect: Tronneal Mangum 3 SUPPORT "4i i I I r)ii if a r. i I Hit Report: Berries caused illnesses Tainted water sprayed on raspberries is likely behind an outbreak of cyclospora sickness. By STEPHANIE ARTERO Palm Beach Post Staff Writer A federal report has concluded that Guatemalan raspberries caused a "multistate outbreak" of a gastrointestinal illness last year, most likely because parasite-contaminated water was mixed with pesticides and sprayed on the berries.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that pesticides were probably mixed with contaminated water from wells, reservoirs, rivers or springs before they were sprayed on soil or plants. Its report said people or animals may have contaminated the water with cyclospora, a parasite that sickened more than 100 people in Palm Beach and Martin counties and hundreds of other North Americans last year. Reservoirs and shallow wells, the report said, could have been tainted by surface water during the rainy season. Investigators reported finding, evidence of fecal contamination in five of 10 samples of water taken from Guatemalan farms.

"In at least one farm, the river from which the farm obtains its water supply was noted to have people bathing in it upstream in addition to garbage floating in it," said the report, which stemmed from a CDC epidemiologist's summer trip to Guatemala. Dr. Marta Ackers outlined seven recommendations, which included using only water that meets drinking standards. In Palm Beach County, where residents have been socked by the bug for the last two springs, officials aren't counting on the recommendations to prevent another outbreak. The illness isn't considered fatal, but can lead to diarrhea, weight loss and dehydration.

It may take a while to carry out the recommendations and there may be other sources of the bug, said Dr. Jean Malecki, director of the county health department. "We had people who got sick who claim they didn't even get close to a raspberry," she said Monday. "Until we have answers to all the questions, I'm going to anticipate more cases." Guatemalan berry growers disagree with the conclusion tying U.S. cyclospora outbreaks to their produce, noting that lab tests have Please see BERRIES9A 1 -f i Two Conniston Middle School students argued before school, police say, when one pulled a gun and shot the other in the chest.

By SONJA ISGER and JOE BROGAN Palm Beach Post Staff Writers WEST PALM BEACH Seventh-grader John Pierre Kamel was scared to come to Conniston Middle School on Monday morning. He thought a fight might be brewing over a wrist-watch and he asked his 19-year-old cousin, Tony Attalla, to intervene. "I was supposed to come here before school and talk to the other kid," Attalla said. But Attalla was 20 minutes too late. "I got here exactly 9 o'clock.

I saw blood, and the ambulance was leaving. I couldn't believe it." Kamel was shot in the chest by another student about 8:40 a.m., police said. He died at St. Mary's Medical Center at 9:04 a.m. Police have charged Conniston seventh-grader Tronneal Mangum, 13, with first-degree murder in Kamel's death.

They've also charged Mangum with discharging a firearm on school property and carrying a concealed firearm, West Palm Beach police reported Monday night. "He killed all of us," said Shereen Francis, Kamel's 21-year-old cousin. As the family grieved, so did the campus. "Clearly this is tragic and there are no words, no words for loss of human life," Schools Superintendent Joan Kowal said, as counselors began their wrenching routine of meeting with the students and teachers who needed a shoulder to cry on or someone to talk to. Student after student called Kamel a friend.

Though he walked with a limp from an artificial leg, he enjoyed bike riding and hanging out with friends he'd made over several years. He was a good kid, who liked where he went to school, they said. The tragedy unfolded there just before the first bell rang as hundreds of students gathered on the lawn and street out front Please see SHOOTING8A GREG LOVETTStaff Photographer Conniston Middle student Chris Hartman, 13, cries as his friend John Kamel, 14, is put in an ambulance after being shot. r.l. 1 14 7 i 66 They were just talking and all of a sudden the guy took out a gun.

I just ran. I didn't want to get shot." CHRIS HARTMAN, who was talking with his friend John Kamel before Kamel was shot INSIDE: School violence: Other shootings in the past five years John Kamel: A profile of I 1 I i vm w--t a Vn Sf DARRON R. SILVAStaff Photographer the 14-year-old victim Grieving family members of John Kamel rush to St. Mary's Medical Center. Page 8A (prom left) Cousin Shereen Francis, aunt Fifi Attalla, and cousin Tamer Attalla Inside South Florida art auction rife with fakes, experts say Swiss ambassador resigns amid furor i V4 i who was scheduled to retire this summer, also concluded his strategy paper with a warning that the groups representing Holocaust victims seeking recompense from Swiss Jagmetti State officials are investigating a Pompano Beach dealer.

By JUDITH H. DOBRZYNSKI The New York Times NEW YORK Fakes are a fact of life in the art world. They slip into even the finest museum collections and auction or gallery offerings, usually one at a time. But on Sunday some prominent art dealers charge a South Florida auctioneer plans to put not one, not two, but dozens on the block, attributed to artists such as Georgia O'Keeffe, Jasper Johns, Pict Mondrian and Helen Fran-kenthaler. "It looks like virtually nothing in the catalog is authentic," said Robert C.

Graham president of New York City gallery James Graham Sons. Richard York, another prominent New York gallery THE ASSOCIATED PRESS SAN JOSE, Calif. Tri Phan carries his wife, Tran Phan, to safety out of their second-story apartment through waist-deep flood waters Monday after a major storm hit the area over the weekend. STORY, 9A owner, said, "It's the most outrageous catalog of questionable paintings any of us has ever seen." And James Goodman, president of the Art Dealers Association of America, said, "We're trying to get the authorities down there to do something." But C.B. Charles, the 70-year-old with at least one blemish on his auction record who is planning to wield the gavel, said the sale would go on.

He said the 294 works of art being offered, all from his gallery in Pompano Beach, are authentic. Law enforcement officials confirm they are on the case. "We are looking into allegations to determine if there are any that are criminal in nature," said Scott Dressier, a Florida assistant state attorney who is head of Broward County's Economic Crimes Divi- Please see FAKES 1 OA Remarks that likened the dispute over lost Holocaust bank accounts with 'war' angered Jewish groups. By DAVID E. SANGER The New York Times WASHINGTON Switzerland's ambassador to the United States resigned on Monday after the publication of a long diplomatic cable in which he advised his government to make up its mind about how to deal with disclosures about its role as banker to Nazi Germany, and concluded with a warning that "this is a war which Switzerland must conduct on the foreign and domestic front, and must win." The ambassador, Carlo Jag-metti, a longtime Swiss diplomat FOR HOME DELIVERY SERVICE 820-4663 1-800-654-1231 banks are "opponents" who "cannot be trusted." On Monday, in a letter to the Swiss president and the federal councilors who have struggled in recent weeks to contain the controversy, Jagmetti said that he regretted "having offended the sensibilities of Jewish groups and the public with some expressions ANN ABBY 2D LOTTERY 2A BUSINESS 4B OBITUARIES 3B CLASSIFIEDS 10C SCORES 9C COMICS 6D STOCKS SB EDITORIALS 14A THEATERS 40 FLA.

NEWS 12A TV LISTINGS SD HOROSCOPE 2D TV SPORTS 2C CROSSWORDS SECTIONS Copyright 1997 Palm Beach Pott Vol. 88 No. 249 4 lections 7 'zscHnoooo1 4 Please see SWISS10A i.