News-Press from Fort Myers, Florida • Page 65

f. iJfiiiifi'jfiiiii Your guide for what to do, where to go. See inside for a complete listing of weekend events. Minority view Collier teachers see special needs Obituary 2F Local crime NEWS-PRESS THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 1989 Maples I Vi 1 Naples Christmas Walk Take a pen and paper for making out your own holiday wish list during the Fifth Avenue Association's annual Christmas Walk along Naples' Fifth Avenue from 5:30 to 9 p.m. Monday.

The street will be closed off from U.S. 41 to Third Street South. More than 25 groups will provide entertainment along the street throughout the evening. Christmas In The Park Have a good time and for a good reason. It's Christmas In The Park from a.m.

to 2 p.m. Saturday with arts and crafts, bed races, entertainment in the bandshell, an auction and best of all, the arrival of jolly old St. Nick at Naples' Cambier Park. All proceeds will benefit the Special Olympics of FloridaCollier County. Call 643-3644.

Holiday in Estero Celebrate "Home For The Holidays" Saturday and Sunday from noon to 4 p.m. at Fountain Lakes, a community midway between Fort Myers and Naples on U.S. 41 in Estero. Visitors are encouraged to bring a child's present for the holiday gift tree. All gifts will be donated to the children at the Child Care Southwest Florida, a non-profit, private organization.

See story on page Edison Holiday House It's not a long drive from the Naples area to Fort Myers, and a trip to the Edison Home any night between now and Dec. 10 is well worth it. It's the annual Edison Home Holiday House, an extraordinary exhibition of Christmas lights and decorations at the estate on McGregor Boulevard. Thousands trek through the winter residence of Thomas and Mina Edison each year during the holidays, and no one leaves disappointed. Starting Friday, the house and all its holiday trimmings will be open to the public, with continuous live entertainment from a variety of community organization, from 4 to 9 p.m.

every day. Admission is $2 for adults (children under 12 free). Call 334-7419. Christmas bazaars Start collecting not only the Christmas spirit but some pretty nifty holiday gifts at the Goodland Christmas Bazaar Arts and Crafts Fair from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Saturday. Craftsmen will offer an abundance of Christime goodies from ornaments and wreaths to gift baskets and toys. Call 394-3525 in Goodland. If you want to make the rounds of See BEST, page 2F I i 1 Two dead, one cnriltDcaD iimi accidemrS Tractor-trailer rig hits vehicle east of Naples i wmmmmmmsm mmmm Courtesy Naples Philharmonic These dancers from the Miami City Ballet will perform George Balan-chine's "Square Dance" as part of the company's show at the Philharmonic Center for the Arts on Monday and Tuesday evenings. For details about this and other upcoming programs at the center, see page 3F.

it- 1 1 1 III! It few. ii By MICHELLE H.MENDELSON News-Press Staff Writer CLOSE UP BUNNIE NICHOLS She'll read In paperback edition 66 onfessions of an ft S.O.B."byAl 1 1 Neuharth may be the IV fifth best-selling book Nh in the country, but Sue Roper isn't impressed. "That's a good title for his book because Al gloried in being known as one, but I don't have very much interest in reading about him," said Roper, who worked with the now retired media magnate at the Miami Herald in 1957. Roper, who's now the public relations director for the Koreshan Unity in Estero, said she was the Miami Herald's Key West bureau chief while Neuharth was an editor on the paper's metro desk. She said she still remembers her first "experience" with the budding journalist who became the head of Gannett Co.

and creator of the newspaper USA TODAY. Gannett also publishes the News-Press. "A garbled radio message came in one Sunday from a ham operator saying that a freighter was sinking off the Florida Keys," Roper said. Roper said she tracked down and interviewed the helicopter pilot who'd been sent to check out the reported sinking. "The freighter wasn't sinking," she said.

"It just needed a new propeller." Roper said the pilot told her the ship's crew was having a great time swimming and sunning themselves in lifeboats while the new propeller was being installed by divers. She relayed the information to Neuharth, a new editor. She said she was stunned when she saw the colorful story the next morning, which said the crew was stranded in lifeboats in shark-infested waters. Al expected a scandal a day," Roper said. "It took him a while to calm down and learn the Miami Herald's way of doing things, which was to be colorful, but not too vivid.

He came on way too hot for the Herald, which was stuffier than the New York Times back then." "I didn't get along with him, but I must admit he's very good at what he does," Roper said. "He has excellent managerial skills." Roper finally admitted that she might read Neuharth's book someday. "I'll probably buy it when it comes out as a paperback," she said. Manilow magic? Paul Easton, director of ABA Entertainment Consultants in Naples, said he was shocked by the low turnout for Barry Manilow's Nov. 1 5 concert at the Lee Civic Center.

Easton attended the concert with his father, Eric Easton owner of Easton's Music Center in Naples and the Rolling Stones' first manager. Both are former London residents. "Only about two-thirds of the seats were filled," Easton said. "Tickets were being given away to provide a bigger audience. It was a real shame." Easton, a booking agent, said this area is difficult and unpredictable for concert promoters.

"Barry sells out in England," said Easton, who had nothing to do with the Manilow show. "He's taking the same show he presented in Fort Myers to the London Palladium for a two-week, sold-out run." Stocking stuffers Bill Ives a nationally known silversmith, whose work is showcased in collections around the country will be bringing a treasure trove of metal masterpieces to Bonita Springs Saturday. Ives and 2 1 other top Southwest Florida artists will be spotlighted during the Southwest Florida Craft Guild's annual show, which will be from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Center of Bonita Springs.

"We are really excited that Bill is going to be with us for the first time in Bonita Springs," said Danish McGurl, show organizer. Ives, an Englewood resident, will be bringing jewelry, sculptures and hollow and flatware crafted of gold, silver, copper and bronze to the show. Joanne Milani, Tampa Tribune art critic, described one of Ives' pieces in a show review on Oct. 1 8. She said his silver teapot was "hammered into circular perfection like an 18th-century teapot by Paul Revere." Major silver collectors who collect his work include William H.

Elett of Naples and R.C.Kessler of Atlanta. Ives' work has been exhibited at many shows and art galleries, including the Tampa Fine Arts Museum. The metal master said his love affair with his craft began at the age of 1 3, when he read a how-to-article on silversmithing and jewelry making. Bunnie Nichols' Close Up column appears in the News-Press Tuesday through Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. If you have an item for Bunnie, please send it to her care of the News-Press, 28441 Tamiami Trail Suite 214, Bonita Springs 33923, or call BEST BETS There's lots going on around Bonita Springs and Collier County this weekend and in the week ahead.

To help you plan your days and nights of leisure and entertainment, we offer our Best Bets. Insidethis section, on page 5, we've got an expanded Calendar. And don't forget to check out Gulf Coasting magazine in Friday's News-Press for a roundup of regional activities. To get you started on your weekend plans: Marco tree lighting The Marco Island Chamber of Commerce will light up the town Christmas tree a 35-foot-tall live fir at the Towne Center shopping mall at 6 p.m. Friday.

More than 2,000 miniature lights will light up the night, and local musicians will add to the festive air with Christmas tunes. Bring your blankets and lawn chairs (you might even consider raincoats and umbrellas). 4 i 'f MARC Highway in Estero and hit a utility pole. The car then overturned, struck a pine tree and burst into flames, according to Florida Highway Patrol. And in April, two others were killed in two more unrelated accidents near the same intersection.

Hoping to spur officials into action regarding this intersection, Lott earlier this week contacted Lee County transportation officials about an "interim project" that would place a traffic signal at the intersection. Lott tentatively has scheduled to meet Tuesday in Fort Myers with county transportation official Bill McGrath, among others, to discuss a joint project. The county would provide the traffic signal equipment, which costs about $10,000, Lott said, and the state would provide the labor. It's difficult to estimate the total cost of the project, he said, but added that splitting the cost between the two agencies would be Vl "4 Ij'J 9 of 4. Two people died and one was critically injured Wednesday in a wreck east of Naples when a semi tractor-trailer rig side-swiped a station wagon, crushing the passenger side of the car.

The deaths raise the toll on Collier County roads to 75 this year with one month remaining, compared to 40 on the same date last year. The 10:10 a.m. crash, which tied up traffic all day, was the 1 Oth accident this year resulting in multiple deaths. Betty and William Carden of 3215 Gulf Shore Blvd. Apartment 204, were sitting on the passenger side of the brown 1987 Ford station wagon and died at the scene.

The driver of the car, Howard A. Miller, 76, remained in critical condition at Naples Community Hospital Wednesday night. He lives in an apartment in the same complex as the deceased. The driver of the semi, James Michael Leach, 33, of Green Acres, was treated for minor injuries at Naples Community Hospital and released. A homicide investigator with the Florida Highway Patrol was questioning Leach Wednesday night.

Alcohol was not a factor in the crash, according to Trooper Larry Monts, who remained on the scene most of the day. No further information was yet available regarding the cause of the accident, Monts said. The accident occurred at County Road 951 and Davis Boulevard, seven miles east of BEAUDINNews-Press Naples. The intersection is marked as a four-way stop with stop signs and flashing red lights in all directions. Florida Highway Patrol troopers said Leach, who was traveling northbound on CR 951, ran the stop sign.

He smashed into the right side of the station wagon, which was traveling east on Davis Boulevard across the intersection, ramming it off the road and onto a wide, grassy shoulder. The truck skidded to a stop nearby, mostly off the road. The accident was the worst reported Wednesday, but rainy weather contributed to many other accidents in the county yesterday, law enforcement officials said. Most of them were minor. "We have our winter visitors back, so we have an increase in traffic on the roads.

And we haven't had a rain in a long time, so there is a build-up of oils on the road," said Capt. Paul Sireci of the Naples Police Department. Troopers agreed. "What we attribute the number of accidents to in the county is it's been quite a while since we've had rain. It turns the roads into what they call black ice.

That's actually worse than driving on regular snow," said Monts. Twenty-four accidents took place in the county, according to the Collier County Sheriff's Office, and Naples police reported 11 or 12 accidents had occurred within city limits by early evening. One accident involved a school bus loaded with 29 children, but no one was hurt, Monts said. The bus was in the turn lane of Pine Ridge Road. troublesome bump as well.

"This is just a stop-gap measure until we can get the real job done," Lott said. "We're going to have to re-do everything we did" when the time comes to implement the original plan, he said. Even with these improvements, Lott expects the numbers of accidents to increase but the additional accidents will be fender benders instead of fatalities. It's worth the trade-off, he says. "It will help the accident problems involving people on Broadway crossing 4 1 he said, "but it will increase the number of rear-end accidentson41.

"Whenever you put in a traffic signal, you'll always get more rear-enders especially on a curve," Lott said. Greg Sibert of Bonita Springs puts a bow and some other Christmas decorations at one of the 72 lamp posts at the Fountain Lakes development south of Fort Myers Wednesday. Workers are preparing for "Home for the Holidays," which will be held there this weekend. See story, Page 4F Light may flash early at key Estero intersection By VALERIE HERSCH News-Press Staff Writer 1 A troublesome intersection at U.S. Highway 41 and Broadway in Estero will be getting a traffic light more than a year ahead of schedule, despite a lack of money in the Florida Department of Transportation (DOT) coffers to pay for the improvements, a DOT official said Wednesday.

A state traffic study this spring showed that the intersection called for major improvements, "but because of a lack of monies, it wasn't going to get done until May 1992," said Gerald Lott, DOT district traffic operations engineer. "Looking at the accident history, I didn't think we could wait that long," he said. The intersection just this Monday was the site of a one-car accident that killed 16-year-old Kerri Shaughnessy of Fort Myers. She was a passenger in a car traveling amid heavy fog that went off a curve on U.S. substantially less than the $35,000 that a contractor would charge.

The state money will come from FDOT's routine maintenance fund, instead of the work program where such projects routinely are funded, Lott said. This interim project would include installation of a traffic signal with a "split-phase operation," where traffic on only one side of Broadway at a time would get the green light. This type of traffic signal was called for because of a curve and a bad bump in the road at the intersection. "It's not as efficient, but it's safer," Lott said. Also, the left-turn lanes from U.S.

Highway 4 1 onto Broadway would be lengthened. "Right now on the south side, there's only a diagonal separation with hardly any turn lane, and on the north side, there's only about 50 feet," he said. "That's dangerous." The original improvement plan scheduled for 1992 includes the removal of the -vw-f w-.