The Morning News from Wilmington, Delaware • Page 1

1st EDiBOH The News Journal, Wilmington, Saturday, March 30, 198S A3 In the region State employee's coinivktioE probed said, two geese were given to Flores, who was running a part-time taxidermy business. He stuffed the geese and later sold them, Wilson said. Another instance involved the stuffing of a bird similar to a hawk, an act that went unrecorded, Wilson said. Federal law requires that a record be kept of the stuffing of wild birds. On Feb.

21, Flores paid $300 in fines in federal court on two charges of selling migratory birds without a permit and one charge of illegal possession of a protected bird. The offenses occurred in August 1982. But Wilson said Flores, apparently was not charged until Feb. 8 because the incidents occurred during a federal sting operation that ended this year. Flores, 24, also paid a $100 fine on one count of failure to maintain accurate records of birds received in January.

Wilson has said he was not aware of the convictions until Monday. "They're all pretty dumb mistakes," said Wilson, who added that he doesn't consider the offenses serious. In one instance, Wilson Joseph R. Smith, the department's personnel officer, and Peter Gel-dolf parks section manager, to appraise the situation and make a recommendation within 10 days on any personnel action against Guil-lermo Flores. Wilson said Flores has an outstanding record with the department.

Meanwhile, Flores, who enforces boating and game laws, will remain on the job, Wilson said. By NANCY KESLER Dover Bureau reporter DOVER An internal inquiry has been launched by the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control into the conviction of a state marine policeman who violated federal wildlife laws. Department Secretary John Wilson III said Friday he has asked Frawley hits S.Africa for apartheid policies Wilmington Mayor Daniels. Erawley said Friday he would "certainly encourage any business" to stop investing in South Africa because of that country's apartheid system. At a press conference, Frawley denounced South Africa's "repressive, racist policies." An anti-apartheid conference is scheduled for today at 8:30 a.m.

at the Ezion Mt. Carmel Church. "Disinvestment is what most threatens the government of South Africa, but their refusal to admit the cruelty of their apartheid policy is a crime against humanity that is stirring the consciousness of our country," Frawley said. Cashstream machine lost $260 in mixup -A preliminary audit Friday showed that a Mellon Bank Delaware automatic teller lost $260 Wednesday night after it dispensed $20 bills instead of $10 bills. Don- aid Jones, Mellon's retail manager for Delaware, described the money lost from a Cashstream machine at 10th and Market streets as "not a significant amount." The incident occurred when a technician put stacks of $20 bills in the $10 bin of the machine, and stacks of $10 bills in the $20 bin.

I ill v.yhv.-.: :8 it. Ji A If Suit says firm owes back pay By BRUCE PRINGLE Sussex Bureau reporter GEORGETOWN Eleven employees of a home health care firm run by state Sen. David B. McBride and his wife, Mary, have sued for more than $8,000 they allegedly were owed when the business closed in February. The firm, the Southern Delaware Home Health Care Agency is the subject of a federal investigation because of alleged fraudulent overbilling.

The employees charged in Court of Commons Pleas that they are entitled to "wages, benefits and wage supplements, including overtime, compensatory time, unused vacation time, automobile mileage reimbursement and medical payment reimbursement." The lawsuit was filed by Georgetown Attorney Richard E. Berl whose wife, Sheree is one of the plaintiffs. Sheree Berl claimed she is owed $1,839.88. In all, $8,681.55 allegedly is owed to the workers. Sen.

McBride declined to comment on the lawsuit when reached Friday at the state public defender's office in Wilmington, where he began a temporary job last week as a management assistant. Mary McBride, in an interview Feb. 6, acknowledged that billing errors occurred, blaming them on poor accounting. She said the firm provided health care to Medicare patients through doctors' referrals. She was the founder and administrator of the business.

Her husband joined it as director of operations following their marriage last year. Group voices fears over zoning ordinance FENWICK ISLAND A group of more than 200 area builders, developers and realtors met Friday to review its objections to Sus-. sex County's proposed new zoning ordinance. The group is calling itself "Coalition for Survival." C. Coleman Bunting one of the group's organizers, predicted the proposed ordinance would "have disastrous effects on the building industry." Under the proposed 1 ordinance the maximum multi-; family housing density would drop from 18 to eight units per acre and I the areas in which multi-family housing is now allowed would be further limited.

Seaford's change in its electric rate has merchants hot Construction of mall set to begin Monday GEORGETOWN Construction of the proposed $9 million Reho-; both Mall is expected to begin Monday, according to the president of Rehoboth Mall Limited Partner- ship, Richard M. Singer. The Sus-; sex County Planning and Zoning Commission on Thursday endorsed a 2-acre rezoning on the 22-acre property along Delaware 1 at Mid-. way. Singer said the 2-acre strip would be used for parking and an access road.

Staff photo by Chuck McGowen Browsing Sally Buttner, of near Wilmington, selects a book Friday at the Ninth Street Book Shop, as her, son Doug, 16 months, scrutinizes her choice. Man given 25 years in jail for armed attack on aunt were eliminated and the commercial demand charge rose from $6.16 per kilowatt to $9.61. Smaller businesses "were impacted very hard," conceded City Councilman Mark T. Berry-man who headed the city's electric rate committee. "Maybe we went too far, too fast." C.

Bryan "Spuck" Bennett, who owned a restaurant and deli on High Street, saw his total electric bill go from $302.87 in November-December to $407.18 after the January increase. That 34 percent jump in the bill reflected a 23 percent increase in the total amount of electricity used. "It really hurts," said Bennett, who recently sold his restaurant for reasons unrelated to the electric rates. Fred B. Thomas a roofing contractor, complained to city councilors Tuesday that his demand charges were so high he closed off two unrented offices he owns.

"You're not going to keep businesses here with these rates," Thomas said. The electric committee plans to review the rate structure in April Berryman said, adding that some type of relief or revision may be required. "We don't want to put anybody out of business," the councilman said. The idea behind the rate increase was to bring the city's commercial electric rates closer to those charged retail customers by Del-marva Power and Light Co. The city buys its electricity from at wholesale rates.

"We were drastically, drastically underselling Berryman said. The city had not increased commercial or residential electric rates since 1982. The rate committee also felt additional money should be raised to run the electric department, Berryman said, adding that money collected from the demand charge is used for maintenance of the By MOLLY MURRAY Sussex Bureau reporter SEAFORD Several merchants are fuming over a two-month-old change in the city's commercial electric rate structure which has surprised them with jumps of 25 percent or more in monthly bills. The city, which buys power wholesale and resells it to Seaford residents and businesses, bases electric bills on two factors: overall use and the peak period of demand during the month. The use charge was reduced slightly in the new commercial rate structure.

But the demand charge, collected by the city to maintain the electric system, increased by more than 50 percent. "They look like they're giving you something with one hand and taking it away with another," said Donald Webb, owner of D.M. Webb a clothing store in the Nylon Capital Shopping Center. Webb and other commercial customers are concerned about the higher monthly demand charge, which is based upon the 15-minute period during which a customer uses the most electric power. For example, if a restaurant served an unusually large crowd for one meal and was nearly empty for the rest of the month, the 15-minute period of peak demand during that meal would significantly influence the total electric bill.

Each morning, Webb and his employees gradually turn on appliances in an effort to beat the demand charge. As a result, the store's electric bill has gone down, despite the new rates. But Webb is still concerned. "We can't beat the system when we turn on air conditioners," he said in an interview recently. Webb and others believe the use of air conditioners during warm weather will make their demand rate and, therefore, the total electric bill increase substantially.

In the past, commercial customers got their first 10 kilowatts of demand at no charge. With the change in January, free kilowatts Chapman kicked in her bedroom door, talked wildly and beat her with his fists and hands. The witness said that Pierre Chapman, who had formerly lived at her home, came to her apartment to get the registration papers for a moped he had given her as Residents protest town house proposal GEORGETOWN Two busloads of Bethany Beach area residents, totaling about 60 people, protested against a proposal Thursday night to build 27 town houses on 2.2 acres just outside 'their community. The developers, Bethany Limited Partnership, want to rezone the land on Delaware 1 at Sussex 361A from a 'medium-density residential use to a high-rise classification. The opponents contend 27 units is too dense for the two acres.

The Sussex County Planning and Zoning Com-mission deferred action on the request. Ex-SPCA employees agree to repay money GEORGETOWN Two former employees of the Sussex Chapter of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals agreed Thursday to repay $1,712 stolen from the agency. The agreement was part of a plea bargain in which Betsy Mar-, veL 37, and Karin L. Downs, 33, both of Georgetown, each pleaded guilty to misdemeanor theft and falsifying business records. Court of Common Pleas Judge Paul E.

Ellis ordered each to pay a $50 fine, serve 50 hours of community service and repay half the missing money. Several other charges were dropped. Marvel and Downs were arrested last week after an inter-nal audit. Compiled from dispatches The prosecutor said the case involved a "bloody, violent attack on a defenseless woman" cent. Doelze asked the judge to take into consideration the fact that Pierre Chapman did not have a record of violence.

Deputy Attorney General Kathleen M. Jennings told Bifferato that the case involved a "bloody, violent attack on a defenseless woman" who received life-threatening injuries. The victim still required therapy three times a week and was left with "horrible scars," Jennings said. She recommended "very lengthy incarceration," followed by a long probation. Pierre Chapman told the judge he was convicted on "hearsay evidence." He complained that he was not represented correctly at trial, and that his witnesses were not there.

Bifferato said it was not "hearsay evidence" that the victim had testified that Pierre Chapman came at her with a meat cleaver and cut her throat. "Basically, it was a very vicious attack," he said. "A lengthy jail sentence is required." By TOM GREER Staff reporter A 19-year-old Marshallton man was sentenced to 25 years in jail Friday for breaking into his aunt's home and cutting her throat and left hand with a meat cleaver. Judge Vincent A. Bifferato sentenced Pierre M.

Chapman to 10 years each on charges of first-degree burglary and first-degree assault. The judge imposed five years for possession of a deadly weapon during commission of a felony. The sentences are to run consecutively, and the five-year term must be served without any probation, parole or reduction. Chapman, of the 100 block of Meadowbrook was convicted in November by a Superior Court jury. At his trial, Fedelia Chapman, 27, testified that her nephew attacked her with a meat cleaver and cut her throat and her left hand, which she had raised to protect herself.

The incident occurred in the early morning of June 20 at her apartment in the 300 block of Concord where, she said, Pierre payment for rent, but which he had taken back when he moved out. Pierre Chapman claimed at the trial that Fedelia Chapman had held the cleaver and a stick. He said that she attacked him, that both fell in the struggle and her throat was cut accidently. Pierre Chapman's lawyer, Kurt J. Doelze, told Bifferato on Friday that his client believed he was inno- Ex-prosecutor defends man he helped send to jail a victim of his foolish actions." She asked the judge to give her husband the minimum prison time required "so he can come back and help me with the baby so we can try to make a go of it." Lapinsky, who according to News-Journal files has a record of burglaries and thefts dating from 1978, assured Ridgely: "I'm sorry for what I did and what I did to my wife and baby I don't plan on getting in any more trouble." The state also took a lenient stance with Lapinsky, recommending the minimum mandatory sentence of three years for drug trafficking.

Ridgely fined Lapinsky $50,000, ordered that the $1,230 found in his possession at the time of his arrest go to a crime reduction fund and ordered Lapinsky imprisoned for the mandatory three years without probation, parole, work release, furlough or time off for good behavior. The prison term is to be followed by 17 years probation. Liguori, noting that everyone, including Lapinsky's probation officer, was surprised when he again ran afoul of the law. Lapinsky used poor judgment in taking what he saw as an opportunity for easy money, Liguori said. Lapinsky's wife was pregnant at the time and the couple needed money, the attorney said.

Karen Lapinsky, introduced by Liguori as "a victim of this crime," told Superior Court Judge Henry du Pont Ridgely: "I'm arrested in September after a five-month probe into illegal drug transactions. Cocaine and methamphetamines valued at more than $11,000 were found in his car along with $1,230 in cash, police said. Liguori, who had prosecuted Lapinsky on robbery and burglary charges which saw him sentenced to four years in prison in January 1980, told the court Friday that his client had "grown up a lot" in prison. "He's a hard worker," said By JANE BROOKS Dover Bureau reporter DOVER Former Kent County prosecutor James E. Liguori on Friday found himself seeking leniency for a criminal he had helped send to prison more than five years ago.

Liguori, now in private practice im Dover, was defending Lane Lapinsky, 25, of Felton, who had pleaded guilty to trafficking in cocaine. According to police, Lapinsky was.