Florida Today from Cocoa, Florida • Page 29

Indian River On a narrow stretch of tha Indian Rlvar, tha unexpected discovery of an underwater 'gold mine' has spawned Florida's fastest growing seafood Industry Clam harvesting. Story, 2B. Clamming bounty grows Section Friday, January 18, 1985 State news, 5-6 Goo: cousin aided in sJayongs Treasure Coast l. By BEVERLY KENEAGY TODAY Stall Writer TAVARES Convicted killer David Alan Gore testifed Thursday in the murder trial of Frederick Waterfield that he implicated his cousin in his past crimes because Waterfield was "just as guilty" as he was. "He was really just as guilty, he's done just as much," Gore told jurors Thursday.

Gore has confessed to killing six women. He has been sentenced to death for the murder of 17-year-old Vero Beach resident Lynn Elliott. Waterfield, 32, is on trial in Tavares, near Orlando, for the murder of two of the six women. He is accused of kidnapping and killing 14-year-old Orlando residents Barbara Ann Byer and Angelica LaVallee. Gore, 31, has admitted that he lied in past statements when he told investigators that it was Waterfield who killed Byer and LaVallee.

However, Gore said he began telling the truth after he had a religious experience in a Punta Gorda jail cell, where he was waiting to testify against Water-field for Elliott's death. Waterfield was found guilty of manslaughter for her death in the May 1984 and sentenced to 15 years in prison. Gore confessed to killing Byer and LaVallee after his religious experience, but has testified that Waterfield told him to get rid of the girls. Gore said he and Waterfield kidnapped the teen-agers together, and his cousin also helped him bury the bodies. But Waterfield's court-appointed public defender, Robert Pegg, pointed out Thursday that Gore underwent another religious experience after he was arrested for killing Elliott in July 1983.

Gore said he still continued to lie after being bom-again the first time. "I backslided a little," Gore said. "Satan puts lies in you. Satan controls you just as God controls you." "How are we supposed to know when you are telling the truth," Pegg asked. "Do bells go off or lights go on or do we have to depend upon your integrity?" "I tell the truth now," Gore answered.

Gore said his second religious experience in May 1984 has made him a stronger man. He said he has not lied since then. Since the trial began this week, Pegg has attempted to discredit Gore's testimony by showing that he is a pathological liar and is capable of kidnapping, raping and killing woman on his own without ever needing help from Water-field. Gore testified Thursday that although he once told investigators that Waterfield had killed 34-year-old Judy Kay Daley, he actually kidnapped, raped and killed her himself. He said Water-field had nothing to do with her murder.

Gore has also said that he has made three unsuccessful attempts to kidnap three other woman on his own. However, Gore has testified that he and Waterfield have acted together in kidnapping, raping and killing women. TODAY AP INDIAN RIVER COUNTY CIRCUIT JUDGE L.B. VOCELLE, MIDDLE confers with attorney Robert Pegg, left, State Attorney Robert Stone Woman critical in 1-95 wreck TODAY Stan Wrlttrt VERO BEACH A Delray Beach woman was critically injured Thursday when her automobile veered off Interstate 95 west of here and struck a tractor-trailer truck parked in the emergency lane, authorities said. Antoinette Geverd, 41, was southbound on 1-95 at about 2 p.m.

in a 1980 Pontiac when she swerved off the road and rear-ended the truck, driven by John Reynolds, 33, of Haines City, according to the Florida Highway Patrol. She was taken to Indian River Memorial in Vero Beach, where she was listed late Thursday in critical condition. Reynolds was uninjured. Charges are pending, the FHP said. Injuries claim accident victim A Massachusetts'man has died from injuries sustained in a Jan.

7 accident south of Melbourne Beach, the Florida Highway Patrol has reported. Calvin Thorpe, 36, of Clinton, was pronounced dead Wednesday at Holmes Regional Medical Center in Melbourne, officials said. Thorpe was thrown from his car on Jan. 7 after it spun out of control on SR A1A. He was driving in the road's northbound lane at about 8:30 p.m.

when the accident occurred. He had been passing another vehicle when he lost control of his car, officials said. Thorpe was Brevard County's fourth traffic fatality so far this year. Festival to benefit starving Africans Sponsors of the Grant Seafood Festival will donate the proceeds from a 6 p.m. Monday "preview party" at Grant Community Center to the Ethiopian hunger-relief effort, organizers said.

Margaret Senne, chairman of the 19th Annual Grant Seafood Festival, scheduled for Feb. 16-17, said $4.50 of each $7 ticket to the preview party will be donated to the Brevard Hunger Awareness Committee. Indian River County State Attorney Robert Stone has attempted this week to show jurors that Gore and Waterfield acted as a team in hunting women to kidnap, rape and kill them. On Thursday, a 28-year old woman testified that in July 1976 Gore and Waterfield raped her at gunpoint. "I remember Freddie's (Waterfield) voice saying, 'You must do it or you'll be said the woman, a former Vero Beach resident who now lives in Denver.

The rape victim said she reported the incident. It was was not prosecuted. Another woman, Dianne Sullivan Smalley, testified Thursday that Water-field and Gore attempted to kidnap her in June 1976. She said the men shot out the tires of her car as she was driving on SR 60 west of Yeehaw Junction. After her car was disabled, Smalley said, Gore and Waterfield stopped their car and offered to help her.

Once she got out of her car, she said, Waterfield pulled out a gun and ordered her into the pair's car. Smalley said she escaped unharmed by getting out of the car and running toward an approaching vehicle. Planners fear soil holds DDT rrj Site of planned 45th Street Indian River It Memorial Hospital LJL office in Atlanta. Evidence showed that the long-lasting chemical became concentrated through the food chain. However, tests showed DDT did not appear to be toxic to humans, the EPA spokesman said.

"We'll address this very honestly," said Richard Schaub a developer who, with his father, is proposing the residential and commercial development on property between 45th and 53rd streets north of Vero Beach. The developer said he has environmental experts researching the matter. Grove records will be researched to see if DDT was used in the area. "It would not be that unusual that it was used," Schaub said Thursday. He added that his experts already are in contact with federal and state envi-ronmental officials to determine a course of action if By ELLIOTT JONES TODAY Sta Writer VERO BEACH A regional planning council is concerned that a massive residential development proposed for north of here may unearth long-buried traces of the banned agricultural pesticide DDT.

Construction of the proposed 677-acre Grand Harbor project east of U.S. 1 near Gifford calls for digging some 120 acres of waterways and lakes on citrus land. Members of the Treasure Coast Regional Planning Council in Stuart are concerned that earth-moving and dredging-required for the project could unearth DDT that could end up in surface soils and waters. In 1972, the U.S. government forbade the use of DDT as an agricultural pesticide for environmental reasons, said a spokesman for the federal Environmental Protection Agency traces of the pesticide are found.

The DDT question is one of hundreds the planning council is asking to find out what effects the project will have on the environment, local governments and public services, officials said. Answers will be combined in a report on what the developer should be required to do to get permission to complete the Grand Harbor project. The council's governing board may review the report as soon as April; it then will be sent on to local governments, officials said. The $85.7 million project is in the unincorporated parts of Indian River County. County staffers already are discusssing their concerns about the proposed massive development's impact with the developer, officials say.

Deaths TODAY Stall Map SCHAUB PROJECT TO BE LOCATED ON CITRUS LAND regional planning council fears soil may hold DDT Voter sign-up ends in school bond referendum -TODAY Start Photo br Elliott Jonee A fine sign Craftsman earns award By ELLIOTT JONES TODAY Stall Writer SEBASTIAN Resident Curt Oxford tried his hand at being a commercial artist; he said he couldn't stand sitting behind a desk all day. He then moved to Sebastian to find construction work; he said he soon grew tired of smoothing stucco. One day, he walked into a garage in Indian River County, where some people were using machinery to mold wood into signs. Someone showed him a photo of a carved wooden sign in Colorado, Oxford recalled, and he "was in love." Since that day five years ago, Oxford has used chisels, mallets and electric routers to carve himself a big niche in the local carved-sign market. And this month, his work received national attention.

"Signs of the Times," a trade magazine, ranked one of his signs third of several hundred entries in the publication's annual free-standing sign competition, a spokesman for the 180-page publication said. The third-place prize was for the sign he carved for the Pelican Pointe residential development on U.S. 1 near here. The redwood and cedar sign features a carved pelican and decoratively bent wood. "It blends in with the surroundings," Oxford observed.

Oxford is recognized in the publication's January issue, which is in the mail to 17,000 subscribers. Oxford started out with a few carved signs for developments in south Vero Beach and slowly found KARIN CARLSON VERO BEACH Services for Karin Idalia Carlson, 69, of 1455 90th will be held at a later date in Bridgeport, Conn. A homemaker and an Indian River County for six years, Mrs. Carlson died Tuesday at home. Survivors include her husband, Knute Carlson of Vero Beach; daughters, Janet Petitti of Huntington, Beverly Wolf of Hollywood and Linda Evans of Ansonia, son, Eric Carlson of Farfield, Conn; brother, Eric Lindman of Bridgeport; and 12 grandchildren.

No local calling hours are scheduled. Cox-Gifford Funeral Home in Vero Beach is in charge of local arrangments. ROBERT EBITZ VERO BEACH Services for Robert Ebitz, 82, of 208 Midway Estates, will be held at a later date in Pittsburgh. A retired beverage distributor and an Indian River County resident for four years, Mr. Ebitz died Wednesday at Indian River Village Care Center in Vero Beach.

Survivors include his wife, Josephine Ebitz of Vero Beach; daughters, Dorothy Murphy of Vero Beach and Evelyn Geyer of Sewickley, sons, Robert A. Ebitz of New Stanton, and a sister living outside the state. Cox-Gifford Funeral Home in Vero Beach is in charge of local arrangements. EDNA RIEBER VERO BEACH Services for Edna Louise Rieber, 87, of 1310 37th were held Thursday at Cox-Gifford Funeral Home in Vero Beach. A homemaker and an Indian River County resident for several years, Mrs.

Rieber died Sunday at Indian River Memorial Hospital in Vero Beach. Survivors include her husband, George Rieber Sr. of Vero Beach; son, George Rieber Jr. of Potomac, and two grandchildren. RALPH SHEATS VERO BEACH Services for Ralph Everett Sheats, 25, of 775 Old Dixie Highway, are scheduled for noon today at Cox-Gifford Funeral Home in Vero Beach.

A construction worker and an Indian River County Resident for 11 years, Mr. Sheats died Tuesday in a traffic accident. Survivors include his wife, Connie Sheats of Vero Beach; sons, Ralph Sheats Jr. of Cocoa and Frank Barnard Jr. of Vero Beach; daughter, Tina Barnard of Vero Beach; brothers, Leroy Sheats of Leesburg, Richard and Kenneth Sheats, both of Verq(iBeach, Gene Sheats of Melbourne, William and Daniel CURT OXFORD'S AWARD-WINNING SIGN placed third in national competition that they became a "prestige" item.

Three times crooks made off with a sign he carved for the Red Tail. Hawk restaurant on the beach in northern St. Lucie County, Oxford said. Each time he was called in to carve a new one, until the owner finally asked if it was he who was stealing them. "No way," Oxford recalled replying.

"We exhaust ourselves doing the signs, and when we get through, I don't want to see them again." His business has grown from a one- to a three-man operation that has produced signs for businesses and developments from Palm Beach County to Brevard County, he said. Customers now are even calling for signs inlaid with gold leaf, said Oxford, adding that the increased businees is "outrageous." His largest project so far is a 13-foot-long sign with a carved sea captain that he's making for the Mariner Square office complex in Cocoa, Oxford said. By ELLIOTT JONES TODAY Staff Writer VERO BEACH Today is the last day to register to vote in the Feb. 19 countywide referendum on the proposed sale of $9.39 million in school bonds. Indian River County school officials say the money is needed to keep pace with an escalated birth rate that is putting more and more elementary-age students into county schools yearly.

School officials are starting to appear before community groups to make pitches for the bond issue. Bums and School Board members are approaching organizations such as the Taxpayers Association of Indian River County, various parent-teacher groups and civic clubs. "We are getting a very positive reaction," said School Board member Carol Johnson. "If the bond referendum fails, the school district would have to raise taxes one-half mill" to pay for needed construction, she said. Since 1970, Indian River County's birth rate has doubled to a point where about 900 newborns arrive each year, according to county officials.

The bond money would pay for construction of; elementary schools and for the purchase of land for proposed high school near Sebastian. The 20-year bond issue includes $4.3 million for an elementary school west of Vero Beach; $3.6 million for! a Sebastian Highlands elementary school; and million for school additions. Another $340,000 is earmarked for buying land for a high school in northern Indian River County. Voters are being asked to agree to a property tax to pay off the bonds. The tax would be set at 0.68 mills, or 68 cents for every $1,000 of taxable property value.

The bond Issue would not increase the school's property tax for construction. It would remain at 1.315 mills, school officials say. The $9.39 million bond issue is part of a $30 million, 10-year construction program aimed at keeping facilities in pace with student enrollment, according to Superintendent James Bums. People wanting to vote on the issue must register by 5 p.m. today.

Registration will be held at the county Elections Office in the county Administration Building on 25th Street In Vero Beach, and at city halls In Sebastian, Fellsmere and Indian River Shores, according to Elections Supervisor Ann Robinson. Some 39,651 people already are registered to vote In Indian River County, Including 18,131 Democrats, 19,076 Republicans and 2,444 independents. The school bond issue is the only item scheduled for the Feb. 19 ballot. City holds fast on Sunday liquor sales speak up at the council meeting, but Mark McGuire, a local pastor, did.

"The Issue I stand on is that we do not necessarily make this a better city by following the leader," said McGuire, of Highlands Chapel Church of God in Sebastian. "It's shocking that we have as many arrests and wrecks" linked to drinking, he said. 'There Is not a problem buying liquor (locally), and on Sunday morning people are going to church and Sunday school. Children going down the street might have to pass someone going to a liquor store," McGuire added. Allowing sales to begin earlier would have made the hours of city liquor sales match those in Vero Beach and in the unincorporated parts of the county.

The Vero Beach City Council and the Indian River County Commission recently made the change In what was described as a "modernization" of local liquor laws. Owners of some Sebastian businesses became concerned that they would lose customers on Sunday if liquor sales continued to start at 1 p.m. a city official said. By ELLIOTT JONES TODAY Stall Writer 1 SEBASTIAN City Council members have decided against extending the hours of Sunday liquor sales. The decision means that legal sales of liquor in Sebastian will continue to be from 1 p.m.

to midnight. Council members, at the re-truest of area businesses, had considered allowing liquor sales to begin at 7 a.m. The decision came at Wednesday night's council ing-' Business operators did not Dorn oi locoa v.iinorutneais oi run Pie Don Passman of Clearwater and Billy Lux of Sarasota; and sisters, Darlele Gambia of Leesburg, Clarice Slmifibnfl Half-of Fellsmere, Madeline jcCinfmon of Codoai Loretta Gcodson of Stuart and Vivian Sheats 6f Cocoa i x. -V Calling hours were held Thursday..