News-Press from Fort Myers, Florida • Page 53

Summertime safety Outdoor activities can lead to dangerous results 31 Crime Scene 61 Datebook 21 NEWS-PRESS REGIONAL EDITOR: HEIDI KNAPP RINELLA 1-800-468-0350 SUNDAY, JULY 1, 1990 Planned Koreshan Blvd. would give Esfero new 4-lane road By BRAD WINDSOR News-Press Staff Writer If the commission approves the plan, the road will cost $2.4 million, and the owners will pay for the project through assessments based on the front footage of their properties. owners. Alan Freeman, one of the owners, said he supports the project, although he has not seen the county's final assessment plan. Some other property owners include Kirk Beck, James Bernet and Williamsburg Pottery.

If the commission approves the plan, the road will cost $2.4 million, and the owners will pay for the project through assessments based on the front footage of their properties. The owners will pay $1 48 for each foot of their property that borders the road, Freshour said. The road probably will have four lanes. The owners decided to support the extra cost of a four-lane road because the additional lanes will ease traffic congestion in the area, Freeman said. See KORESHAN, page4l Estero could have a new four-lane road connecting Three Oaks Parkway and U.S.

Highway 41 by April if the Lee County Commission approves a plan to build Koreshan Boulevard. The county commission is expected to decide at a public hearing on July 18 whether or not to approve a plan by the property owners on the road's two-mile path to pay for the project through a municipal service benefit unit (MSBU). MSBUs are special assessments paid for by landowners over a long period of time. The property owners formed the MSBU three years ago with the intention of developing their properties, said Peggy Freshour, the county's coordinator for taxing units. She said she doesn't believe any of the owners will oppose the road at the hearing.

"We've met with them all many times," Freshour said. "They came to us wanting this, and we assume they're all still for it." The MSBU includes 12 properties that are owned by seven property I tire- r. i i jwrww i 8)(g(S(B Rental owners claim county law will force them out of business ByBRAD WINDSOR News-Press Staff Writer The owners of a Bonita Beach rental business intend to fight Lee County plans that could ultimately force them out of business, one of the owners said Saturday. Bill Hanson of Vanderbilt Beach Rentals said he has appealed a recent county ruling that would effectively force him to cease operations at Doc's Beach House, and his business will also actively oppose a proposed county law that would ban personal watercraft at Bonita Beach. The business leases property from Doc's, a Bonita Beach restaurant, to rent Waverunners, sail boats, cabanas and beach umbrellas.

The owners of the rental business appeared before County Hearing Examiner Robert Splitt in May because their business was not located behind a construction line, which runs along the restaurant's seaside wall. Splitt told the owners to move the business behind the line, and defined an establishment as the place where business is transacted. Vanderbilt Beach Rentals moved the wooden stand where money is exchanged behind the line and off the beach, but continued to store the rental equipment on the beach. Splitt held a follow-up hearing on Wednesday, and decided that moving the stand was not enough. He gave the business 30 days to obtain a special permit or begin storing the equipment behind the line, 4 i A KEN RIDDICKNews-Press Beach manager Mark Diephouse of Bonita Beach Rentals sets up rental Wave Runners along Bonita Beach Saturday morning.

The Lee County commissioners are trying to outlaw Jet Skis and Wave Runners on Bonita Beach because they say the machines are too dangerous. which would place the equipment in the sion to the district circuit court. Hanson said he hopes the court will ment Board. The board decided an earlier restaurant's parking lot. "We're a beach rental business," Han- eitner allow him to store the rental equip- case in favor of the rental business.

After the decision, Vanderbilt Beach son said. "It's obvious beach rental stuff is ment on the beach or grant him a new Rentals managers filed to appeal the deci- going to be stored on the beach." hearing before the county's Code Enforce- See BATTLE, page4l Marco jeweler remains jailed, awaits racketeering, fraud trial Redlands migrant group gets $175,000 from state By DENES HUSTY News-Piess Staff Writer By WENDY FULLERTON News-Press Staff Writer HAWKINS Children range from six weeks to five years and some are school-aged. The organization is also active in dropout prevention and family counseling. Because they were aware of the good work that the group has done, Hawkins and Rep. Tim Ireland, R-Cape Coral, worked to get the funding available, Hawkins said.

"We are all trying to help Immokalee these days," Hawkins said. Although key players Hawkins and Ireland had requested $400,000 for the proposed project, projects were cut back in the "11th hour of the legislative session," Ireland said. Renovations to the church are expected to be made in phases based on the amount of See REDLANDS, page 41 grand jury in Fort Lauderdale indicted Robilio and three other defendants on charges of racketeering, mail fraud, wire fraud and interstate transportation in execution of a scheme to defraud. If convicted of all the charges, each defendant could face 4 10 years in prison and fines of 1 8.75 million. The charges accuse Robilio and other defendants, who are not from Southwest Florida, of participating from March 1983 through May 1985 in a racketeering scheme that operated out of four South Florida businesses, but not including Robilio and Sons.

The indictment said the defendants used these businesses to conduct telephone solicitations for the sale of fake or fraudulently overvalued gems. The customers, authorities said, were bilked out of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Robilio's jewelry store, according to the federal investigation, was opened to launder cash from these illegal operations. Members of a child care organization based in Immokalee are turning in their church pews for desks. The Redlands Christian Migrant Association has received $175,000 from Gov.

Bob Martinez and the state Legislature to begin renovations of the old Immokalee Baptist Church for its state headquarters. We need to help to give these kids a better start, said Rep. Mary Ellen Hawkins, R-Naples. The Redlands Christian Migrant Association offers child care to more than 5,000 children every day in 20 Florida counties. A Marco Island jeweler arrested by federal agents in March on racketeering and fraud charges will continue to be held behind bars until his trial.

In making her decision, U.S. Magistrate Lurana Snow rejected arguments that Joseph John Robilio should be released on bail prior to trial. She said Friday that Robilio was a danger to the community. He is at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Dade County. A trial date for Robilio and other defendants in the case has not yet been scheduled.

A case status conference with prosecution and defense lawyers is scheduled for Aug. 20 in Fort Lauderdale. U.S. District Judge Norman Roettger will preside. Robilio, 51, owner of Robilio and Sons, was arrested March 1 6 at the jewelry store on Marco Island.

A federal IRELAND Naples businessman nurtured roots of rock'n' roll i i if, CLOSE UP BUNNIE NICHOLS ock, roll 'n' remember! A week ago today, Dick For those who aren't familiar with the who's who of table tennis competition, Hanley explained that competing against Bellak is like playing golf against Lee Trevino. Bravo Bonita As foretold in last Sunday's column, two of Bonita Bay's upcoming fitness competitions were spotlighted along with events from around the United States in Thursday's edition of USA TODAY. The featured local events are the Lee County YMCABonita Bay Triathlon on Aug. 12 and the Lee County YMCA Bonita Bay Biathlon on Sept 9. What's really neat is that the Bonita Springs-based events were listed in USA TODAY'S our-times-a-year USA AT PLAY feature along with only three other Florida sporting events.

Those other events are being held in Key West, St. Petersburg and Miami. Bunnle Nichols' Close Up column appearsin theNews-Press Tuesday through Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. The Miami Herald for about four years, is just as comical in person as he is in his column. "I'll never forget the night he called us after winning the Pulitizer Prize a couple of years ago," Lenox said.

"I don't think I've ever heard anyone act so crazily excited. He was literally screaming and hollering." Table top terror By day, Bill Hanley the city of Naples' finance director, dabbles in dollars. But by night, he's the terror of the table top tennis circuit. According to the local government grapevine, Hanley just won big at the 1990 Florida State Open Table Tennis Championship in Miami. Competing against the best table tennis champs from around the state and neighboring regions including Lazlo Bellak, current owner of 20 world titles Hanley took first place in the Senior Division (35 years and older) playing in five matches (best two out of three games) and not giving up a game.

November when they took over the top floor of the Ritz-Carlton in Naples for some rest and relaxation. Barry's link to Bonita Don't be surprised if some day soon you see zany syndicated columnist Dave Barry wandering around Bonita Springs. According to Nancy Lenox of Bonita Springs, Barry's wife Beth is her husband Walter Lenox's niece. "They call us frequently and we've stayed at their house in Miami several times," said Lenox, a Bonita Springs real estate agent and president of American Legion Post 303's Auxiliary. "But we haven't been able to get back over there in more than a year.

And they haven't been able to get over here yet for a visit, but they're trying. "It's hard to get together because I'm working all hours selling real estate and they're traveling quite a bit now that his column is syndicated." And Lenox said, the Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist, who's been writing for '60s, and got them warmed up for the Beatles." Ironically, Clark said, the group decided to disband when the Beatles' popularity skyrocketed and set off the British musical invasion of this country by numerous bands. you say, what do all these musical memories have to do with this area? A lot. Former Londoner Eric Easton, 61, and owner of Easton's Music Center in Naples, staged the Dave Clark Five's first American tour. In fact, he discovered and managed the group.

According to Easton, he was the group's manager until he discovered a new British band in 1 963 that was performing in a London club and became the new group's manager. What a wise decision. That unknown band was the Rolling Stones. Easton managed the bad boys of rock 'n' roll from 1963 until 1966, and also staged their first American tour. Rumor has it, he did some very nostalgic "rock, roll 'n' remembering" with them last Clark saluted the Dave Clark Five on his syndicated "Rock, Roll 'n' Remember" program, which is broadcast locally on Naples' radio station Class 103 FM.

He pointed out that the 1960s rock group, which had chart busters such as "Glad All Over," "Catch Us If You Can" and "Because," was the first British group to tour the United States, not the Beatles. According to Clark: "It was the Dave Clark Five who got American audiences used to no-frills, British rock n' roll in the early.