News-Press du lieu suivant : Fort Myers, Florida • Page 1

SBk News-Press Serving Southwest Florida Since 1884 A Gannett Newspaper The Weather Fair skies; high in the upper 80s; low inthe mid-60s. Details on Page 2A. "There it only one Fort Myers and 90 million people are going to find it out." Thomas A. Edison, 1914 94th Year Issue No. 175 Fort Myers, Florida, Monday Morning, May 15, 1978 20c Daily, 50c Sunday- Fire destroys Pete Miranda's Barge 1 Ml ft jr Hit' Restauranf burns like huge grill By JIM McGEE News-Press Staff Writer When Fire Chief Jack Kaune pulled up to Pete Miranda's Barge Restaurant Sunday night, he knew a landmark was dying.

Strong, bright-orange flames were already dancing through the rustic pine wound barge and smoke was billowing out the kitchen and dining room. "When I came around the corner, it was already hollowed out," he said, shouting over the roar of the fire and the surge of the three pumpers that were churning out 2,500 gallons of water a minute. "I sent four men on inside to get at the seat of the fire. But they couldn't get to it, so I pulled them out. I didn't want to lose any men.

The building, which sits out over the the water adjacent to the shrimp docks, resembled a huge grill, sucking in giant gulps of oxygen from above the Caloosahatchee River. The wind was coming from the north, slipping up under the dock and tunneling out through the roof, creating a swirling, black tornado armed with fist-Turn To RESTAURANT, Page 2A By BETTY PRICE and JIM McGEE News-Press staff Writers A Fort Myers riverside landmark Pete Miranda's Barge restaurant and lounge was destroyed by fire late Sunday night. The restaurant at 2024 W. First St. was closed when the fire broke out at 11:20 p.m.

No one was believed to be in the building, although firemen said an elderly cleaning man was expected to be at the scene and reportedly was missing. No injuries had been reported by 1:30 a.m. today. Fort Myers Fire Chief Jack Kaune said he initially sent four men into the building to fight the blaze. "But I pulled them out.

I didn't want to lose any men," he said. Firemen were expected to be on the scene throughout the nfght and morning. Clean-up work began at 1:30 a.m. today. At one point, an explosion thundered from the center of the The source of the explosion had not been identified by late last night.

Officials could not pin down a cause for the fire, but said it was believed to have started in the back room nearest the water, part of the dining area. No signs of arson had been found, according to the fire department. A preliminary arson investigation will begin today. As the old wooden building crumbled into the water below, owner Pete Miranda leaned against a nearby wall with former Barge owner Cloyde Pate and watched his newly remodeled restaurant blow Turn to FIRE, Page 2a 4 1 ,1 1 3 Flames Barge restaurant Sunday night roll out of Pete Miranda 's PreisMary Gordon Duvendack Inside Today's NEWS-PRESS Local LISTEN FOR the rattles of history's wars between Southwest Florida and the Legislature over a fair share of the pie. Listen but you won't hear them' this year IB Sports DAVID Thompson keeps Denver's hopes alive as he leads the Nuggets to a 123-114 victory over the Seattle SuperSonics in the NBA semifinal series 1C Action Editor 3D Classified 7-17C Comics 5D Crossword 5D Deaths 4B Movies 4D Newsmakers 8A Opinion 6-7A People Section Sports Section TV 6D Weather 2A Klon chief soft-peddles message By LEE MELSEK News-Press Staff Writer TAMPA Imperial Wizard Robert Shelton his leadership of the Ku Klux Klan imperiled is soft-peddling his brotherhood of white supremacy and is bidding for help from other right-wing militant groups across the country.

Shelton's latest pitch for support already has taken him to Louisville, Joplin, and Orlando in the past week. Los Angeles will become the stage for Shelton's next appearance, sometime this week, as he tries to muster new support for his 17-year-old kingdom, the United Klans of America. Shelton's latest antagonist, a 27-year-old college graduate, may be the chief cause of Shelton's recent goodwill ventures, according to Klan watchers. David Duke, a graduate of Loui News-PressThomas A. Prfc WEVU slip televises skin flick By PATTY SNYDER News-Press Staff Writer Television station WEVU, Bonita Springs, inadvertently broadcasts; an X-rated film from about 11:301 p.m.

to midnight Sunday, accord ing to one station executive and nu-J meiuus viewers. 4(t The film, reportedly complete with nudity and profanity, was the result of a distribution mix-up, act-j cording to Joseph Buerry, WEVU; general manager. The film origt- nally to be shown, "Daring Game," was accidently returned to the dis- tributors and the X-rated picture! sent in its place, Buerry said. Buerry said he was not aware that the picture had been showit adding that the pornographic filmt; was a last-minute substitute and had not been previewed before time. The station had "assumed- Turn to PORN, Page 2A HELEN SORKAU faces another problem 3 1 Newi IMPERIAL WIZARD ROBERT SHELTON ADDRESSES KLAN RALLY he seeks support from other right-wing groups Long-suffering pair siana State University with a degree in history and English, is challenging Shelton's grip on the Klan.

Duke has mobilized a new realm of the Klan, known as the Knights of Ku Klux Klan. They remain apart from Shelton's United Klans of America and are aiming their rhetoric at illegal aliens and Jews. While Shelton's group concentrates on the old Klan pursuit of segregation, Duke's White Knights have vowed to patrol the nation's bor- day night Shelton strolled to the microphone in a charcoal, pinstripped business suit and spoke softly about the nation's educational system. He also picked on another Klan favorite, reverse discrimination. But the fiery bombasts and care'ully chosen words that once incited feverish hostilities were missing.

Turn To SHELTON, Page 5A ders against illegal aliens. Jews and blacks still are the targets of the Klan's nighttime white supremacy rallies across the South but Shelton's own speeches, at least when the press is watching, have softened some of the traditional rhetoric. In a cow pasture near Plant Cily on Satur faces more woes in zoning tiff 0 I I) 0 ft 0 A night of special importance By LEE MELSEK Staff Writer TAMPA The red disc of the sun slid beneath the rural horizon and a stiff wind whistled through the Florida pines as white-robed men hurried across a cow pasture to greet a Wizard and a Grand Dragon. Muscular guards, pistols strapped across each hip, stood stiff-legged at the pasture entrance off State Road 39 near Plant City. Menancing scowls crossed their lips.

A 30-foot, kerosene-soaked cross teetered in the wind. Leathery-skinned men and deep-tanned women sipped beer and flipped cigarette butts across the dimly lit field. The Invisible Empire of the Ku Turn To RALLY, Page 3A By FRANCES D. WILLIAMS News-Press Staff Writer Helen Sorkau, 68, and Stanislaw Miecierz, 71, have endured a lifetime of suffering and hardship. The memories of their headlong flight from advancing armies across Europe are almost as vivid as the 18 years they spent in Polish prisoner of war camps.

Eight years ago, the couple purchased a small home on Palm Lane in North Fort Myers and settled into their first lifestyle free of adversity. For eight years, they have raised chickens and ducks selling the birds and eggs for enough money to feed themselves once a day. They supplement their meager income by scouring highways on foot each dawn for bottles and cans to be recycled. That existence now is threatened by a zoning violation that came to light after they said a man tried unsuccessfully to purchase the elderly couple's land for a parking lot. On March 3, Miecierz and Mrs.

Sorkau received an official letter from the Lee County Zoning Department citing them for "a considerable amount of chickens, New PreMary Gordon Duvendack ducks and rabbits in a residential zone. Also large amounts of trash, bottles and debris of all kinds scattered about the yard." Neither Mrs. Sorkau nor MieQi-; erz speak or read English, so they; took the paper to a neighbor fori Turn To COUPLE, Page 2A jl; KLANSMEN SURROUND BURNING CROSS IN PASTURE NEAR PLANT CITY burlap soaked In kerosene burns on an aluminum frame.