News-Press from Fort Myers, Florida • Page 25

'Fort Myers News-Press, Tuesday, February 15, 1983 3B Testimony of drug informants banned because Charlotte police paid them By KEVIN BLOOM Charlotte Bureau Chief PUNTA GORDA Two men who earned an estimated $9,000 for introducing undercover agents to six alleged smugglers will be prohibited from testifying in court. A circuit judge ruled the financial arrangement between the Charlotte County Sheriffs Department and two confidential informants creates too much potential for abuse. The Impact of the decision on the state's case against the six defendants is not clear because the prosecution has not decided if it will appeal the ruling. In a written opinion, Circuit Judge Rich ard M. Stanley found the method by which informants Jerry Waldron and Jimmle Russell were paid "cast a cloud upon the defendant's right to due process of fair and equitable trial." Waldron and Russell were hired by the sheriffs department to set up narcotics deals between buyers and undercover lawmen.

For their assistance, the two would split 1 0 percent of any cash seized and 10 percent of the value of any property confiscated. In 1982, Waldron and Russell introduced agents to a group of men the state alleges later agreed to buy nearly 400 pounds of marijuana. Each defendant is charged with conspira cy and trafficking in marijuana. Defense attorneys attacked the financial arrangements, claiming It gave Waldron and Russell incentive to alter their testimony to suit the prosecution's purposes. There has been no suggestion the state attempted to have the men change their statements, only that the potential existed.

Defense attorneys acknowledged the state knew nothing of the deal between the informants and the sheriffs department But prosecutors, once they learned of the payments, should not have offered Waldron and Russell as witnesses, according to the defense. Without addressing the conduct of the prosecutor's office, Stanley ruled Waldron and Russell will not be permitted to testify. In his ruling, the judge wrote, "the potential for abuse for the compensatorial arrangement set forth herein is so great as to shock the conscience of the Sheriff Glen E. Sapp said the decision means, "We will not be offering percentage payments." Sapp said the department's special investigation (narcotics) division "will probably reevaluate" the way it pays informants. Assistant State Attorney J.

Michael Hussey said he has not decided if he will appeal. The opinion did not address the issue of prosecutorial misconduct whether state attorneys acted improperly in trying to use Waldron and Russell as witnesses. Hussey said he does not interpret the omission as vindication. "I would have preferred for the court to say this (suggestion of misconduct) is absurd, ludicrous, ridiculous," Hussey said. "The court has been very artful in his wording." Defense attorneys had asked for dismissal of all charges.

But Stanley's ruling still allows a trial on the conspiracy and trafficking charges. The suspects in the alleged sale have been identified as Thomas E. Barko, Joseph A. DuBoice, John Shongood, Jeffrey Woods, William Wood and David T. Godwin.

County Democratic Party once again has a leader Vet's dream of Vietnam memorial lee appears to be nearly impossible making the appointment rendered their work futile. "He's running as a Democrat and acting as an independent and I'm sick and tired of it," said Long, who had served two years as chairman and was to serve two more. Although Bedell and Smith said that few followed Long and Evans from the party, both said one of their primary goals is to unify the party. "It's a challenge of significant magnitude," said Bedell, 69, of east Fort Myers. Members of the 15-member steering committee indicated they would resign in order to give Bedell "the latitude to mold the party the way he wants." The retired United Auto Worker lobbyist said he intends to launch a fund-raising drive and seek to bolster party membership.

While the resignations of Long and Evans may have dealt the party a temporary setback, he said, "I think the party is ready to work." Smith, who served as vice chair- After operating for nearly a month without top leadership, the Lee County Democratic Party returned to full strength Monday night In a unanimous vote, 76 members of the local executive committee elected Daniel Bedell to fill an unexpired four-year term as party chairman. In a contested election, Joanne Smith was elected vice chairman. The two positions became vacant Jan. 17 when Chairman James Long and Vice Chairman Madeline Evans resigned, saying that Democratic Gov. Bob Graham had betrayed the party when he appointed Republican Porter Goss to temporarily replace suspended Lee County Commissioner Mike Roeder.

Roeder, a Republican, was suspended from office pending trial on a charge of lying to a grand jury about whether there were women present on a boat trip three county commissioners took with contractor Louis "Butch" Stramaglia. Both Long and Evans said Graham's disregard of party lines in man of the party in 1977 and 1978, said she will work to educate the public about the Democratic Party and try to get apathetic Democratic voters to the polls. Although there are more Democrats than Republicans registered in Lee County, fewer go to the polls and public bodies such as the Lee County Commission are Republican domains. Of the effect the resignations of Long and Evans had on the party, she noted that after they unexpectedly announced their resignations and walked out of last month's meeting, the meeting continued without incident Smith has lived in Lee County for 13 years. She is a bookkeeper at Bill Branch Chevrolet and lives in North Fort Myers.

She defeated Sandy Komito for the post. Other party officials are Lucy Shepard, secretary, and Bill Bloch, treasurer. ORLANDO (AP) Tyrone McLeod had a dream: to build a 25-acre memorial to Vietnam veterans near Walt Disney World. McLeod, 33, from Miami, had no connection with veterans' groups and no fund-raising experience. So he started his own organization, the Society of American Vietnam Veterans.

All he needs, he says, is for a million veterans to pay a dollar apiece for lifetime memberships in the society to finance the materials and for someone to give him a big chunk of land. But McLeod has run into a host of problems with his project. Some people are suspicious. Veterans groups say they need more information. And the plans have attracted no material endorsements.

Florida and Orlando officials say McLeod's group has not complied with laws on charitable solicitations of property, which he acknowledges. The American Legion issued a warning that someone was soliciting money for the park, "which doesn't exist." A postal inspector investigated complaints that businesses were billed for unordered advertising space in a Vietnam memorial book, the proceeds of which were to go to the memorial park. The businesses were misled into thinking they were dealing with an organization in Washington D.C., the inspector said. "No, I don't have a great track record. I'm not known as a great leader of vets," McLeod told a reporter last week.

"That's irrelevant. What matters is that my heart is in the right place." McLeod is an Army veteran. He was stationed in Japan with a medical evacuation unit which went to Vietnam on cargo planes to pick up injured servicemen. He says he got his idea for a memorial after waft ing the television dedication of the Vietnam War memorial in Washington. "It didn't have a flag.

It didn't have statue. It didn't have anything," he said. "The president of the United States didn't even show up to dedicate lt. Just 57,000 names slapped up on a wall. It's a sad statement" McLeod said the fund raising for a "Vietnam Veterans Album for the Construction of a National Vietnam Veterans Memorial Park" was the idea of Ryan Emerson, a Hollywood, publisher.

He said he knew nothing about billings to a number of businesses that had not ordered ads or the book. Emerson said the company he hired for telephone solicitation had fired two employees for claiming commissions on unsold ads. "I don't see it as any big deal," said McLeod about the fund-solicitation problems. "No biggie." McLeod said he considered South Florida, Tampa and Tallahassee as locations for the memorial before settling on the Orlando area. He said he met with "community leaders" in Orlando in mid-January and that they were "very, very, very positive." But he refused to name the community leaders.

He said he made progress toward getting a site. The Vietnam Veterans of Central Florida has issued a statement advising that McLeod is not connected with that group nor with a memorial it is helping build at a new Orange County civic center. "I'm not trying to step on anybody's toes," McLeod says. "Unfortunately, some people seem to think I've upstaged them. "I thought big instead of small.

I gues that's what I'm guilty of." Woman was trying to get home when she was killed By JEFF ROBERTS News-Press Staff Writer A Fort Myers Beach woman, whose nude, beaten body was found at the east end of the Cape Coral Bridge on Saturday, was trying to get back home from Fort Myers when she was killed, a Lee County lawman said Monday. Michelle Hart, 20, hitchhiked to Fort Myers to see her attorney about a drunken driving arrest at about 4 p.m. Friday and then stayed in the city several more hours visiting bars, loosahatchee River. She had been dead about 1 2 hours, according to the Medical Examiner's office. Hart, who lived in a van off Main Street, suffocated after she was struck at least four times in the neck and upper chest with a heavy blunt instrument, an autopsy revealed.

Investigators aren't sure if she was raped. Lawmen were able to identify Hart when her boyfriend, commercial fisherman Mickey Kirlln, saw her description printed In the News-Press, Bonsall said. Sgt. David Bonsall said. "We don't know where she went afterward or who she was with," Bonsall said.

"She was trying to get back (to Fort Myers Beach). She missed the last bus and was looking for a ride. "I'm not going to say she hitchhiked back. She might have just met somebody she got a ride with." Three boys discovered Hart's body clad only in a pair of brown sandals and unmatched pierced earrings the next afternoon in the water near the shoreline of the Ca- mpaFp lip soldi SawS jes Dally News geKo Bases nf" I 1 iV I4 -v 1 Uwtiiwi. i it mil ill Unit iir.

MmmmJ fa.i.iA News-PressMlchael Dunn Yoti-iiainirST .34 per month! INMATES WORKING ON PRISON FARM AT COLLIER COUNTY STOCKADE the Inmates harvested more than 15 tons of produce In 1982 Fs From page 18 That's more than $16 per year. Go with the leader the News-Press with more local news for less money. To start your money-saving subscription faster, call: 597-4274 or 992-2015 Your only local morning newspaper. JL FORT MYERS News- Press A GANNETT NEWSPAPER CLIP AND SAVE- YES! Start my money-saving subscription to the News-Press immediately for just $6.20 per month for six-day home delivery. SEND NO MONEY NOW.

I understand you'll bill me and lhat I'll save 17 by buying the News-Press instead of the Naples Daily News. Name "They're (inmates) very happy with the program," Fussell said. "Many have problems when they get here, and they kind of get out here and work their problems out. It's a rehabilitation-type program. It's been a learning experience for me, too." Fussell said getting the men out of their cells and letting them work in the fresh air has improved their morale, and many Inmates look forward to working together to produce food they can share with school children and needy organizations.

"They're working together. The attitude of the men has changed," he said. "A lot of them who have learned to work on this farm go out and get jobs on farms when they get out of here." Lt Dan Hall, director of the stockade, said the program might be expanded. Currently, the inmates are working on 2 acres, but 10 acres are available If need-. sentence on drug charges, said he enjoys taking care of the livestock, feeding the pigs, cows and chickens, and even hatching eggs from a small Incubator.

"It's pretty nice for a jail. I've learned a lot here," he said. "Keeping up with the animals takes a lot." He agreed the program has helped the morale of prisoners, Including himself. "I think it's good for everyone to get out and work. Everyone seems to get along working together.

It takes a lot of pressure off everyone to get out and work. I really enjoy it" And when the chickens overpo-pulate, the hogs get plump and the farm Is producing lots of vegetables, Fussell said, the men are rewarded for their labors with an old-fashioned barbecue. "I've really seen a change in the Inmates and the community Itself," Fussell said. ed. The complex will hold 172 inmates, but Hall said there are about 130 there now.

"We had some guys in there who were going crazy but we get them out here working and everything's OK," Hall said. "We've had guys that when they get out of here, they wanted to come back and show others what to do." But not everyone has a green thumb and enjoys working with seedlings and soil. No problem, Fussell said. Carpenters are allowed to make tables, workbenches and other wooden objects, while mechanics work on dune buggies and swamp buggies. Other men work in the shop making handicrafts.

The prison also has livestock, chickens, puppies and other animals the Inmates take care of. All of the animals are donated, Fussell said. One Inmate, serving a one-year Apt. No. Phone- Zip- Mail to: Circulation Department Nawt-Prass P.O.

Box 10 Fort Myara, Fla. 33902.