News-Press du lieu suivant : Fort Myers, Florida • Page 59

1 Crime scene South LeeCollier arrests Datebook 3F Pet of the week 3F NEWS-PRESS' REGIONAL EDITOR: HEIDI KNAPP RINELLA 1-800-468-0350 SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 1990 US Conservancy president hired by political group i responsible public officials and to support public issues, principally those related to growth management," Kessler said. Tammerk also is chairman of the Naples Airport Authority Board and is the Conservancy's appointed representative to the Rookery Bay Research Reserve Management Board. He said he will evaluate his positions on both boards to avoid any appearance of a conflict of interest. Tammerk led the Conservancy when it received national recognition for its efforts in coastal resource conservation, ecological research and environmental education. During his tenure, the Conservancy also tripled its base of financial support and doubled its membership, Young said.

See PRESIDENT, page 2F By WENDY FULLERTON News-Press Staff Writer Toivo Tammerk, president and chief ex ecutive officer of The Conservancy of Collier County, was named president of the Citizen's Political Committee on Friday. Tammerk, 45, is the first paid employee of the non-profit organization, according to Dick Young, vice president of the group. James Kessler had served as chairman and president of the committee and is ex pected to remain as chairman, Young said. The Citizen's Political Committee was formed last year in an effort "to elect fiscally Fesfi to focus on empire commum M' .1 Beauty and the beast cal process. "The quality of life in Collier County depends on more than just environmental factors," he said.

He said he expects to sit down with Kessler at the end of the month to evaluate the group's goals and strategic plan. "I have respect for Jim Kessler, and feel that his is a dynamic organization," Tammerk said. He is to resign within a month as the Conservancy's president and CEO, a post he has held for six years. "I am proud of the accomplishments at the Conservancy and feel that now is the appropriate time to leave," he said. GARTH FRANCISNews-Press off at Cambier Park in Naples Friday.

checks, making it appear that the accounts had sufficient funds when, in fact, they didn't. This, in a nutshell, is check kiting. In preparation for the trial, lawyers for the financial institutions asked Beardsley to make statements under oath (called a deposition) about any knowledge he may have about a check kiting scheme being perpetrated on National Bank and BancFlorida. However, Beardsley, according to transcripts of the deposition, refused to answer any questions about whether he knew of the check kiting scheme, whether the scheme involved his personal bank accounts and the accounts of his corporations, whether he ever wrote checks on these accounts for See KITING, page 2F Capri during certain hours?" To further complicate matters, the suit contends, the second half of the ballot question asked voters if they favored repealing a previous state law that banned commercial fishing in Marco Island and Isles of Capri canals in the county's unincorporated area. For these reasons, Johnson and Flowers in the lawsuit ask that the Collier County Circuit Court "invalidate the referendum approved by county voters on Nov.

6." In responding to the lawsuit Friday, Morgan said, "I only put on the ballot what the board (county commission) told me to put on the ballot." Whether the wording of the ballot question is confusing or not is something for the court to decide, Morgan said. Morgan and the canvassing board that certified the election results are being represented by the county attorney's office. Johnson and Flowers are being represented by local lawyer Donald P. Day. The committee first orga-, nized campaign support during the Naples city elections in February.

It most recently campaigned against the proposed countywide 1-cent in crease in the sales tax, which was defeated in a referendum earlier this month. Tammerk said TAMMERK he is looking forward to working within the politi 11' 'X tr trying to prove to the jury of five women and one man that Beardsley committed civil theft, fraud and racketeering in swindling the financial institutions out of funds. Beardsley is accused of masterminding through his firms Naples-based Gulf Coast Coin Brokers, Fort Myers-based Gulf Coast Precious Metals and Gulf Coast Coin Brokers of St. Petersburg, among others a complicated check kiting scheme to steal money from the financial institutions. Under the scheme, according to trial testimony: The firms had numerous checking accounts with the two financial institutions and other banks.

One bad check after another was written on the different accounts to cover other bad leading." The first half of the ballot question, the suit alleges, was so confusing that many voters didn't understand the issue. "The wording caused many voters to vote 'yes' on the canal closure (to commercial fishing) when, in fact, they were opposed to the closure of the canals. Thus, the will of the people may have been substantially impacted by the vague, ambiguous nature of the referendum the will of the people may not have been served," the suit claims. The exact wording of the referendum, according to the lawsuit, was: "Do you approve House Bill 3389, which prohibits the taking of saltwater fish, except by hook and line, hand-held cast nets, and with no more than five crab traps, in the residential man-made saltwater canals in the unincorporated area of Collier County and repeals Chapter 83-389, Laws of Florida, which prohibits the setting of fishing nets within 100 feet of man-made seawalls on Marco Island or the Isles of W. 1 I i CLOSE UP BUNNIE NICHOLS Man who discovered Stones unsurprised by No.

1 ranking as Eric Easton of Naples the man who discovered the Rolling Stones shocked when Entertainment Weekly magazine picked the "Bad Boys" as the No. 1 act in rock 'n' roll's 35-year history in its Nov. 9 issue? "No, it doesn't surprise me at all because I've always thought the Rolling Stones was the best in rock 'n' roll band in the world," said Easton, who wasn't aware of the magazine's "35 Years of Rock 'n' Roll" issue, or the wire service stories about its ranking of rock's 35 greatest performers. According to Entertainment Weekly, the ranking which places Elvis Presley second, Bob Dylan third, the Beatles fourth and Jiml Hendrix fifth reflects the rock performers who "mattered the most: those who started it all, challenged us most sharply, changed the course of music and simply gave us the most pleasure." The magazine lauds the Rolling Stones for "having done so much, having done it better and longer than anybody else and for being the sound of rock." It also applauds the band's "Hot Rocks 1964-1971" album as being its "essential" work. "I'm absolutely delighted for the Rolling Stones, and it makes me feel good, too," said Easton, a London native who discovered the unknown band in a small London club in 1963, and was its manager until 1966.

"It sort of shows that I know what I'm doing, too, doesn't it?" Easton said the Rolling Stones are "fantastic visually rock's most exciting and earthy attraction." "They're all superb entertainers, and absolutely nobody can hold a candle to Jagger," he said. "There are hundreds of better singers, but there will never be other Mick. In fact, the band could never be duplicated. It's hard to pinpoint exactly why they're the best a lot of it has to do with their electrifying charisma and the fact they always give their best." Easton who's now 61 and owns Easton's Music Center in Naples said the hectic life of managing the "Bad Boys" did him in. "But, the Rolling Stones are by far one of the most professional and talented acts in the business," he said.

"In all these years, they've never missed one engagement, or given a short performance. They moan, but they always do their very best." For example, Easton said, when the legendary performers took a 10-day, rest-and-relaxation break from the "Steel Wheels" tour last November at the Ritz-Carlton in Naples, they still practiced every day in the resort's ballroom and fine tuned their act to the point that they ended up performing a slightly different program for each town on the exhausting tour. "It's amazing that they've been able to stay on top and keep going this long," he said. Easton said the band was built on a controversial, anti-establishment image. "But none of them were ever prima donnas even when they became superstars," he said.

As an interesting aside, Easton said the "old man" of the Rolling Stones guitarist Bill Wyman, 53 just called him the other day from London to say that he was sending him an autographed copy of his newly released book, "Stone Alone The Story of a Rock 'n' Roll Band." Easton said the book which was ghost written by one of his friends, Ray Coleman is the "most factual and truest history that's been written about the Rolling Stones." It's based, he said, on Wyman's personal diaries. "Bill kept fantastic, detailed diaries, which he calls his 'bleeding Easton said. "He's an immaculate record keeper, so he really knows more about the band than anyone. Easton said Wyman was always the "really quiet Rolling Stone," so he was really surprised that he talks about "all the women he's slept with in his book." According to Easton, Entertainment Weekly's ranking of the Rolling Stones as the No. 1 band should really help the book sell.

"Gosh, just think, he could have called it 'Stone Alone The Story of the World's No. 1 Rock 'n' Roll Easton said. It's really too bad that Wyman due to "personal problems" won't be able to come to the U.S. for his promotional booK tour, he said. Bunnie Nichols' Close Up column ap pears in the News-Press from Estero to Marco Island Tuesday through Thursday, Saturday and Sunday.

If you have an item for Kristina Shope, 2, from Naples reaches into a lion's mouth to rinse her hands The lion has a water fountain inside its mouth. No hands were lost. Tomato-Snook set for March 8-9 By KATHY BECKER News-Press Staff Writer The groundwork for next year's Tomato-Snook Festival in Bonita Springs was set Friday morning at the first organizational meetingforthe March 8-9 festival. Tina Schucklat-Boole, president of the Olde 41 Association and a co-chair for the event, stressed to representatives of various groups at the meeting that the festival, formerly put on by the association, should be a community effort with all organizations involved. "We want every organization in town to come together once a year for this festival that's the purpose of this meeting," she said.

"This year we'd like to make it better than ever, with more people involved. We don't want the organizations to just participate in the festival but to help plan it." Last year, the event spanned three days, included chefs and a wine queen from.Ger-many and was held near the Naples-Fort Myers Greyhound track. The event also lost money. Ingrid Hammerle, who organized the event last year, said about three people ended up doing most of the organizing. This year the event will include a fish fry and entertainment on Friday night, entertainment and booths during the day Saturday and a party Saturday night.

Initial planning for the event includes tomato farm tours, boat rides on the Imperial River and a queen contest. The event will be held at the Community Hall, Old 41 ballpark and Depot site on Old Highway 41. Over the years, the festival has taken various forms. Initially it was organized by the Bonita Springs Area Chamber of Commerce and then taken over by the Olde 41 Association. One year the name was changed to the Tomato-Mullet Festival and another year it was called the Bonita Springs Festival.

Last year, as organized by Jakob and Ingrid Hammerle, the event had a Bavarian flavor. Schucklat-Boole said she would like to see the festival become a community event that See FEST, page2F Officials identify dead man By LINDA KESLER News-Press Staff Writer Collier County sheriff's officials have identified the body of a man found shot to death last Sunday as Wayne Russell Crull, 43. Officials say Crull, found at a hunting camp near his home on Old Florida Trail, about 2y2 miles south of Alligator Alley at mile marker 38, had been dead anywhere from 5 to 1 4 days. Crull was caretaker of three or four hunting camps in what is known as the Bamboo Strand area, according to his sister-in-law, Peggy Crull of Miami. Reports indicate the body was identified through fingerprints from the Okeechobee County Sheriff's Department, but Okeechobee officials were not available Friday for comment.

Peggy Crull said she and her husband, Michael, were notified of Wayne Crull's death Thursday afternoon. She said sheriff's officials gave the family little information and that she had not even known for sure the death was being investigated as a homicide until told by a News-Press staff writer. Crull's body is still being held by the Collier County Medical Examiner's Office, Peggy Crull said. "They told us the Collier County coroner is out of town, but that we would be able to get the body on Tuesday. I don't know what they have to do yet," she said.

Sheriff's officials say they are following several leads in the case. Crull is survived by his mother, Alice McQuaide, and two brothers, Michael Crull and Donald Crull. Accused swindler refuses to answer questions about alleged check kiting By DENES HUSTY News-Press Staff Writer During pretrial depositions, accused swindler Brian Beardsley repeatedly refused to answer questions about any knowledge he may have had about an elaborate alleged check-kiting scheme that defrauded financial institutions of some $2 million, according to evidence introduced Friday duringa civil trial in Naples. The financial institutions National Bank of Florida and BancFlorida are suing Beardsley, a coin and precious metals dealer, for both compensatory and punitive damages. BancFlorida and National Bank are Lawsuit claims canal ballot was fishy By DENES HUSTY News-Press Staff Writer A lawsuit has been filed against Collier County Supervisor of Elections Mary Morgan and the County Canvassing Board that seeks to overturn a Nov.

6 referendum vote endorsing the banning of commercial fishing in canals in the county's unincorporated area. The lawsuit filed late Thursday by Pamela G. Johnson, an official with the local chapter of the Organized Fisherman of Florida, and Buck Flowers, a county voter -claims that the ballot question was so confusing that people didn't know what they were voting for. In the election, 22,500 votes were cast in favor of banning commercial fishing in county canals, while 11,324 votes were cast against the fishing ban. However, the ballot question, the lawsuit contends, "was vague, ambiguous and mis Bunnie, call 992-1345..