Florida Today from Cocoa, Florida • Page 1

lir.rlllrittVinBiilWi CRUISE REVENUES UP AT PORT Disney Magic contributes to 42 percent increase during August, 12C. VOLS SET TO HIT THE WALL Gators' Reggie McGrew, Ed Chester hope to stop Tennessee run Saturday, 1 C. AWV 1 ED CHESTER AGENCIES PUT KIDS FIRST, 1D. SOSA HITS HOMER NO. 63, 1C.

THURSDAY, September 17, 1998 HEADLINES m' IMtt IKS fii TODAYS NEWS AT A GLANCE Clinton's taped testimony may go public today Minivan rams school bus reporters during a joint news conference with Czech President Vaclav Havel. Clinton gave no day Clinton saw no point iR battling the inevitable. "It's not of so much concern to me," Clinton said. "I you know that I acknowledged an improper relationship and that I declined to discuss the de tails" during the testimony. Republicans took the position that they had little choice, espe; cially since rules given broad ap proval by the House last week called for releasing most of the 18 boxes of evidence that Stair included with the report he sent Congress.

More coverage, 5A. By Jon Frandsen Gannett News Service WASHINGTON President Clinton, facing growing calls for his resignation and the release of his videotaped acknowledgment of a relationship with Monica Lewinsky, claimed public support for his leadership Wednesday. Americans "want me to go on and do my job," the president said. "The right thing for our country is not to get mired in all the details here, but for me to focus on what I did, to acknowledge it, to atone for it and to lead this country," Clinton told As Clinton sought to reassure the nation that his and America's global influence have not been weakened by the sex and perjury scandal, House Republicans prepared to release his four-hour taped grand jury testimony. The tape is likely to be nearly as embarrassing to Clinton as the lurid details of Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr's report.

While Democrats protested the public airing of the grand jury testimony which could be on family television sets by to Meanwhile, Rep. Gene Taylor, asked conservative "Blue Dog" Democrats to consider sending a letter to Clinton asking the president to resign. Members of the group, which does not take positions on nonfi-nancial matters jointly, said they would mull Taylor's request. "The group is not taking a position," said Jeff Fleming, press secretary of Rep. John Tanner, co-chairman of the Blue Dogs.

Taylor himself has stopped short of asking Clinton to resign. CLINTON sign he was seriously considering the calls for his resignation from more than 40 members of Congress, all Republicans save one retiring Democrat. More rain "T1 1 C. '45; "i "-J Science or free ride? expected through wz i I' -f ir.r jH 1 i 1 weekend Ml Susan Decker, FLORIDA TODAY PARAMEDICS TREAT Seria Bauers, 14, who was injured after a minivan slammed into the back of a school bus in Palm Bay on Wednesday afternoon. Bauers and Donna Hoover, students at Bayside High School, were treated at Palm Bay Community Hospital and released.

The driver of the minivan, Nancy Lazare LaFuente, also was treated at the hospital. Story, 1B. y.o i.f 1 2 SPACE: Next shuttle launch: Discovery on a nine-day science mission Oct. 29. The flight will feature the return to space of Sen.

John Glenn. Next rocket launch: Lockheed Martin Atlas rocket Oct 6, carrying a European communications satellite. Launch window: 5:51 to 7:14 p.m. Space Update: Florida Todays hot line carries the latest on space program developments. Call 633-6397 in Brevard or 728-8118 in Barefoot BaySebastian and enter code 4321.

Another Infant's piercing cries may have prompted day care center worker Ann Barber to "throw" a 3-month-old baby girl into a crib, a Rockledge police detective testifies, IB. FLORIDA: Prosecutor portrays Juan Carlos Chavez as a man who continually made up stories, most notably that his boss' son was responsible for 9-year-old Jimmy I i I I I i -4" By Marilyn Meyer FLORIDA TODAY Keep your umbrellas handy. The rain that soaked much of the area Wednesday is expected to continue falling through the weekend, according to the National Weather Service in Melbourne. The chance of rain is 80 percent today in Brevard and Indian River counties. A low pressure system centered over the Gulf of Mexico, which brought in tropical moisture with southeasterly winds, is responsible for the rain, said meteorologist Jeff Bozilleri.

"How wet it will be here depends on which way the low centered over the Gulf moves." The system's clouds brought the area cooler temperatures. Wednesday's high in Melbourne was 82 degrees, tying a record for the lowest high for this day, set in 1948. The system, about 400 miles southeast of New Orleans on Wednesday afternoon, appeared to be turning into a tropical depression, Bozilleri said. By Wednesday evening, 1.89 inches of rain had fallen in Melbourne, but some sections of Brevard received heavier rain. One area northwest of Cocoa received 4.14 inches during an eight-hour period beginning at midnight, he said.

Tim Troutman, senior forecaster, said rain was heavy from Mims to Cocoa. "An urban and small-stream flood advisory was issued due to the locally heavy rainfall in North and Central Brevard this morning," he said. Recent rainfall has more than made up for this summer's drought, with 41.36 inches of rain recorded this year in Melbourne as of Wednesday night. That is 8.31 inches above normal for this date. Melbourne's rainfall for September also is above normal, with 5.92 inches to date, compared with a normal of 3.6 inches.

NASA photo JOHN GLENN prepares for training last April at U.S. senator will become the oldest person in space Johnson Space Center in Houston. The 77-year-old when he flies aboard shuttle Discovery this fall. Merits of Glenn's shuttle flight stir heated debate Ryce's death, 8B. Computer disks seized from the apartment of an accused Cuban spy ring leader contained coded references to Cuban leader Fidel Castro and plans to sabotage an aircraft hangar, federal authorities say, 8B.

A high school freshman forced to endure hours in Rik Jesse, FLORIDA TODAY MORNING RAIN in Melbourne didn't deter Heidie Hornstra, center, from giving a tour of the Florida Institute of Technology campus to two potential students. Although the system in the Gulf will continue to bring rain, the cool days are expected to warm. The forecast calls for temperatures to rise into the mid-80s today, the upper 80s Friday and the upper 80s to low 90s Saturday and Sunday. Lows will be in the low to mid-70s tonight and Friday, and in the mid- to upper 70s Saturday and Sunday. Meanwhile, in the eastern Atlantic, the seventh tropical storm of the season formed Wednesday morning.

Georges is expected to be a minimal hurricane by Saturday, said Lixion Avila of the National Hurricane. Center. At 11 p.m., Georges was about 1,750 miles east of the Lesser Antilles. With winds of 50 mph; Georges was moving west at nearly 20 mph. Complete weather, 16A.

CASTRO It's all part of NASA's justification for sending Glenn back into space: to conduct intensive research on aging that might alleviate elderly problems such as balance disorders, brittle bones and weak muscles. Despite all the trappings of top-shelf science, critics say the potential research payoff of Glenn's flight is slim at best and a sham at worst. They contend that findings based on one elderly man and an extremely healthy one at that cannot be translated to the 34 million Americans who are 65 or older. The result is a rancorous debate on the merits of flying the first American to orbit the Earth in 1962, with critics calling it pure political payback and supporters staunchly endorsing the mission's scientific goals. See FLIGHT, Next Page By Robyn Surlano FLORIDA TODAY CAPE CANAVERAL John Glenn: Mercury astronaut, American hero, prestigious U.S.

senator. Now, a willing guinea pig. During his planned Oct. 29 mission aboard shuttle Discovery, every beat of Glenn's 77-year-old heart will be tracked by a monitor strapped around his waist. A tube will be inserted into a vein in his arm, allowing blood samples to be drawn regularly without him getting stuck with a needle each time.

He will swallow bullet-size thermometer pills to detect his temperature, wince through shots, give urine samples and wear an electrode-covered cap to bed so the quality of his slumber can be monitored. GLENN'S RETURN TO SPACE This story is part of continuing coverage of John. Glenn Oct. 29 shuttle flight. the "Slacker's Box" a space under the classroom sink has filed a federal lawsuit against the teacher who put him there, 8B.

NATION: Rep. Henry Hyde, the House member leading the impeachment review of President Clinton, admits to "indiscretions" with a woman during the 1960s, at a time when both were married, 5A. More than one-third of heavy truck crashes are related to driver fatigue, and the administration needs to move quickly to change rules covering hours of service, industry representatives and lawmakers say, 12A. WORLD: Mobs rampage through a town in Indonesia, setting fire to hundreds of homes and shops owned by ethnic Chinese, whom they blame for country's economic crisis, 11 A. OPINIONS: Join in the annual coast cleanup Saturday to help spruce up local beaches, 14A.

Elderly driver plows car into Melbourne home: Man refused order to give up license minutes earlier office in Melbourne to renew his license. "They wanted him to take a vision test, and he didn't want to," Melbourne police Capt. Ron Bell said. "There was a confrontation, and he left" before police arrived, Bell said. The license examiner could not be reached for comment.

About 10 minutes later, police received a second call, this time telling them a 1989 Lincoln had crashed through the wall of a triplex at 786 Sunset Drive. The home, just off U.S. 1, is about three miles from the driver's license office at Rivercrest Village, 3442 Harbor City Blvd. See ELDERLY, Next Page She sustained a bruised left eye and cheek. Mara and his wife, Janet Mara, 79, both were listed in critical condition Wednesday night at Holmes Regional Medical Center in Melbourne, where they were taken after the 2 p.m.

accident Minutes before the crash, John Mara had refused to relinquish his driver's license after a state license examiner demanded he do so, Melbourne police said. Mara had refused to take a vision test, police said. A confrontation took place, and police were called. Mara, of 1031 Park Drive, No. 2, Satellite Beach, apparently went to the driver's license By R.

Norman Moody FLORIDA TODAY MELBOURNE Shortly after refusing to relinquish his driver's license, a 74-year-old man crashed his car into a house, injuring the occupant and critically injuring himself and his wife. Theresa Erny was taking an afternoon nap in bed Wednesday afternoon when John M. Mara's 1989 Lincoln crashed through her bedroom, knocking her against another wall and pushing the bed and two dressers across the room. "I sat up stunned to death, screaming for help," Erny said. "It was the most frightening experience I've ever had in my life." 1 Across Space Coast, 2B Movies, 2D Business, 11-12C Obituaries, 3B Classified, 1-16F Opinions, 14-1 5A Comics, 6D Outdoors, 7C Crossword, 5D People, 1-6D Dear Abby, 5D Space Coast Report, 6B Food, ME Sports, 1-7C 6B State News, 7-8B Local News, 1-6B Stocks, Lottery, 1B, 88 Television, 3D arTT '--tji Theresa DeCapua, FLORIDA TODAY THERESA ERNY and her fiance, Michael Shelby, inspect damage t(S their Melbourne home after a car crashed into it Wednesday afternoon.

Emy was taking a nap when a car driven by an elderly man smashed through her bedroom. She was slightly injured. 2 Weather, 16A Milt Salamon, 16A 23 "reran.